Ostium ad Aliquod (3.5e Epic Spell)

The strange caravan rolled into town near sundown.

Merchants were preparing to close down their stalls and there were very few people still walking the hot cobbles of Main Street, but everyone there stopped what they may have been working on when they saw the procession pass by.

''Wagons of indigo metal dotted with white and blue lights slid in, two at a time, floating a few feet off the ground. Between and to either side of these strange vessels walked creatures that defied explanation. Some were short and appeared made of indigo metal like the wagons, while others were towering tall and possessed giant hands at the end of their necks in place of heads, and still more seemed to be conglomerations of stones that orbited one another. Riding on the wagons were characters wrapped in black cloth like satin or velvet, with blindingly bright white light pouring out from where their eyes peered through that cloth.''

''Some were terrified by these sights, and ran. Others simply stared on with wide eyes. Eventually the mayor and the head of the town guard was called to the scene, and approached what appeared to be the head of the caravan: one of the figures in the black satin with the blinding eyes. This one was taller than the others and rode on the head wagon. It was to this character that the mayor first spoke, fear etched across his face, "Hello strangers. Welcome to Gahti. We weren't expecting any caravans for another month. May I ask you the purpose of your visit?"''

''The creature the mayor spoke to stared back at him in motionless silence for a few moments, before reaching into a pouch at it's side, and, pulling out a small disc of that indigo metal, tossed it on the ground at the mayors feet. It sat there on the cobbles for a second, and then, a light came out of it's top, congealing into an indistinct humanoid shape, as a voice filtered through the air, "Greetings primitive one. My creators come in peace. I'm afraid there is some communication barrier between your kind and theirs, or else I would not have been employed. Hopefully I have learned your methods of commune accurately and you understand me."''

"I understand your words," the mayor replied, "I was just now asking your purpose here in Gahti. We weren't expecting any caravans for a month."

"This is understandable. We come from a different reality in our shared continuum, after all, fleeing a cosmos in it's death throes. The Grtfvgrbr opened a door for us to come here. Hallowed be the Grtfvgrbr."

Now this, the mayor didn't understand.

Of all elder spells, Ostium ad Aliquod is actually one of the weakest. Granted, it is still an elder spell and even reaching the point where you can cast any elder spell means that you are likely the most powerful spellcaster to live in a hundred thousand years, but, as far as elder spells go, it is almost manageable.

Yet, despite this, Ostium ad Aliquod is actually one of the most prominent and famous of elder spells. After all, it proves the existence of other universes resting even beyond the Far Realms.

The spell actually has something of a mythology behind it as well. A few theorists, mainly those who subscribe to the theory that elder spells are weapons and tools being stockpiled for a distant future calamity, argue that Ostium ad Aliquod must be the first elder spell. The reasoning behind this is rooted in the nature of the spell, which allows the caster to travel between different universes. The theory holds that in one particular universe, a mage of some sort had a premonition of a great calamity coming, which would threaten every single universe, the whole continuum. That mage knew that helping prepare all realities for the coming storm was it's new life's work. So, their first act was to create the elder spell Ostium ad Aliquod, and travel to other worlds to try and galvanize sapient souls to work on other elder spells.

Not everyone holds to this theory, and some believe that the maker of the spell simply wanted to travel to other existences. However, those who do hold to this story, revere the spell, and many great archmagi have earned places in history books as singularly powerful souls just because they sought to master this particular elder spell.

After all even researching the spell requires six million three hundred thousand gold pieces worth of research equipment and, over the course of one hundred and twenty eight days, the expenditure of two hundred and fifty two thousand experience points (which means you would own 63 tons of gold and be using up enough experience to get you from level 1 to level 23). Also, more importantly, you must succeed on a DC 700 Spellcraft check. After these things have been done, the actual casting of the spell only takes 10 minutes. It uses up 10,400 additional experience points and a material component of a piece of parchment or paper with the word "Ticket" printed across it.

Once the spell is completed, then, directly in front of the caster, a door pops into existence. The caster specifies the material of the door, it's appearance, and it's dimensions, though it can't be wider than 20 feet, taller than 40 feet, or more than 3 inches thick. This door exists for 8 hours, after which it fades into nothing. Only the caster can open and close these doors.

At the conclusion of the spell, the caster specifies the place that the door will lead. This location can be anywhere which does not prohibit interplanar travel, even on another planet in the same material plane or an outer plane in the same cosmology. Further, the caster can actually specify that the door leads into another cosmology, in which case, unless a specific cosmology is chosen, the door will select a material plane with atmosphere and terrain suitable to the caster from a random cosmology. If a specific cosmology is chosen, the caster can specify a destination in that reality just as easily as they could specify a destination in their starting reality.

At the destination, a door identical to the one summoned pops into existence. They are the same door. So, walking through the door takes you directly to the other location, without passing through any other plane. Essentially existence is bent and the two places are forced to touch in the form of the door.

What other cosmologies you can access in your game's continuum, is up to the DM, however, any cosmology is potentially viable. Maybe you go to a world full of space marines or a world which is just a slightly different version of your original cosmology.

Material Component: A scrap of paper with the word "Ticket" written across it.

XP Cost: 10,400 xp