Alice finds herself in a brilliant and beautiful field, literal ethereal beauty surrounds her. Trees rustle in the wind, grass sways in rhythmic fashion, and the sky is a beautiful dark blue, so dark that pinpoints of stars can be seen even in full daylight. The sun however is absent, somehow light is filtered and falling in a bright yellow hue but there doesn't seem to be any source.
Having assumed Nezzner would either teleport her into the broom closet or straight into the Negative Plane full of eldritch horrors, this comes as a surprise. Finding herself in a sufficiently warm and pleasant environment for the first time since she came to this planet, Alice hugs a tree and lets out a sigh or relaxation.Haa, finally! I hate cold and caves! This is how it should be! Is this what humans call paradise? Is Ashley slacking off here somewhere?

She finds herself in a body that doesn't quite feel right, it's not her in a way. Standing next to her is a tall beautiful drow with all his fingers intact, she can only barely recognize him as Nezzner.
Alice's eyes narrow for a moment, staring up to Nezzner's ears, but this dream-like scenery is not to be sulled by conflict. Alice observes and waits how things play out, expecting Nezzner to give an explanation, justifying his actions.Sitting at a table near the two, in the middle of the field, under a bright yellow umbrella and sipping tea are two very young catgirls, one that could almost pass as Ashley but much younger and another SheShe but also very young, finally there is an elf with a very powerful aura sitting with them.
Alice wonders if Ashley is indeed sipping tea with the gods here while her friends fight for their lives in a cold cave, but keeps quiet.Alice remembers the feeling of his aura as Corellon, Ashley's stand-in god for the Raven Queen.
Being absolutely magic-deaf in her normal Living Metal form, Alice is surprised by herself - but attributes this to her weak body in this form that is much similar to biological life and thus receptive to magic.Do I know this guy?
How odd, just like when we encountered the dragon at first...
But this aura does not appear hostile. Yet Alice knows nothing about Corellon or any other local gods and their intentions or relationships.The dark haired girl stares at Alice and Nezzner then points to Nezzner. Corellon turns and upon seeing the drow, he stands without a word, whips around with a shining elven longsword in his hand and relieves the drow of his head.
Alice is startled by this unexpected turn of events and stumbles backwards a few stepsWhoa what the hell?
The lifeless body of the drow falls to the ground and a shadowy wisp of grey mist rises from it. It's all so very dreamlike as, without warning, a whirling funnel cloud comes down in the field next to them and a vortex forms; a loud cackling is heard.
Alice recognizes something about the dark energy vortex from witnessing Ashley's summons spawn and die so many times, and concludes it must be a portal to the negative plane. The grey wisp is sucked into it and the portal collapses--it's gone before she can react.
Having seen the effect of the Negative Plane spilling into Real Space and turning it into a hell on earth before, Alice is terrified, Just like when Freya opened a portal to Orcas. While Alice has no idea what is going on with Nezzner's body, she attributes the closing of the portal to Corellon's power.The little blonde catgirl jumps off her chair, takes the head and hands it to Alice.
Still trying to make sense of what happened, Alice hesitantly takes the head and eyes it suspiciously from all sides.Uhh, thank you very much! I need to give this head to Mormesk so he will let us go so thank you for saving it... he's not gonna become an undead like this, right?
Alice searches her pockets but realizes she's not wearing her own clothes and has nothing on her.I'm sorry I can't even give you a candy in return. But if you visit me in the material plane, I have collected a lot of ears, you an have some in exchange!
Corellon bows to Alice respectfully then says, "now is not your time, you must return."
Alice stares at the god with a mixture of awe and disbelief.Even though I brought such peril to your world, you still treat me with kindness and respect? Alice shall not forget this! Wherever I went before, I was either seen as a monster to be hunted with torches and pitchforks, or a valuable specimen to be captured and experimented on. This is a good world. And yet...
Alice looks at Nezzner's head again with an unexpected feeling of sadness.This man - what was he even about? What was he trying to achieve there? I feel whatever his plan was, it was utterly foolish and a huge waste of his talent...
Alice turns to Corellon, pointing at Nezzner's head.I appreciate your help, but I am afraid there is still far greater danger to this world than this strange man. My ship! I never planned to land it here, the Mechatherial Candygoddess confessed to crashing it on purpose. Don't ask me why. But regardless of that, I need to get it back and have it repair itself or it will eventually bring doom to this world one way or another. You cannot seal it with magic forever, that would just postpone the problem. And if you teleport it to the Negative Plane it will fall into the hands of demons like Orcas. If it stays here for too long it will attract the attention of either its former or its current owners who will come looking for it. And believe me, you don't want to meet either. Only when I leave this world, it will be safe again. Reasonably at least. I'm sorry for the trouble but I had never expected there was someone powerful enough to crash my ship on this - uh - remote world. But in exchange, I will help you remove any pests while I'm here...
Upon returning, Corellon's words echo in her head
"now is not your time"What did he mean? When's my time supposed to be? I can't die, don't have a soul either. Or do I in this despicable body? I'm not making any contracts with gods, they're all crazy...
Alice is left deep in thought but strengthens her resolve to get her old form back as soon as possible.And my ship! The owl guy still has my ship goddamned!