Just finished up, and it was great!
This was my Alpha group- currently 8 pcs ranging between levels 10 and 18. And they had a truly epic session. Most of it was spent in conversation with the goddess of time, Coila, who gave them a metric buttload of information about the Big Threat that is coming in a few days, game time. In short, Chaos is rising and has been doing so for quite some time (largely thanks to the actions of pcs going back to 3e), and it's about to swallow the world as the pcs know it. Salient points include:
- Time is shaped like a Moebius strip, and there is a hole in it.
- That hole punches through one side only, so if reality can surf around the hole, it is safe for an entire cycle of eternity.
- The true danger of pushing reality through that hole comes from the rise of Chaos.
- Chaos’ power is reaching its apex, ushered in it part by the freeing of Ygorl, a slaad lord.
- Even direct divine intervention cannot prevent the rise of Chaos, or even mitigate its effects on any but the smallest of scales.
- The pcs must gather every resource at their disposal to defend the last remnants of civilization. They may have to sacrifice almost everything they hold dear to preserve anything at all. They will have to choose very carefully where to place and how to spend the resources they have. Without staunch defenders, Fandelose is doomed, and even with them, it may not survive.
- Ygorl’s existence violates the rules of time. He largely moves through time backwards, so whoever released him was actually the one who bound him, and vice-versa, even unknowingly.
- This means that Ygorl can’t truly be defeated by conventional means. “Slaying” him simply banishes him back to Limbo, but in the past, not the future- so even though it is necessary that he be destroyed, that will be ineffective in stopping him from attacking again in the near future, and will in fact draw his attention to the spot of his banishing. Anything else will result in a terrific and world-shattering paradox.
- To truly defeat Ygorl requires traveling to the beginning of time, when he is at his very strongest. Only then can he be destroyed for good, which won’t prevent him from manifesting again in the future, because it is his past- but it will break the cycle that otherwise attracts him to the point of his future defeat.
- Traveling to the beginning of time is a very harrowing prospect that few can survive. But Tade’s own hands (Tade being the god of craftsmanship, artifice, and smithing) can craft a vehicle that will partially shield the travelers from the forces involved. Even so, only the most epic travelers can hope to triumph at the dawn of time (Team Omega).
- Travelers will be forced to pay time’s price thrice, once for their past, present, and future selves. The price can be paid in one of three ways:
- A creature can permanently reduce its maximum hit points by 75. There is no way to recover these hps, period.
- A creature can pay 50,000 xp. This will not lower a creature’s level if it is 20th level, but will otherwise.
- A creature can spend a time point.
What's a time point, you ask? Well, Coila gave each of them three time points, which can be used to pay said price, can be passed to another creature, or can be used as a legendary action to take a full turn.
Oh, and defeating Ygorl is just the start of what they have to do to turn the tide against Chaos- they also have to invest seven Arrows of Law, individuals who will represent Law on a cosmic scale, while being mindful to keep a balance between good and evil; and they have to re-establish the Citadel of Order, overthrown by the chaos-happy 3e pcs, which was the manifestation of stability created by Law in the Material Plane.
And then they fought an epic dragon and its minions and got a truly insane amount of treasure, including over 100,000 gp in coins and gems and two dozen magic items (!). Sure, most were potions and scrolls, but there were still quite an array of magic weapons, helmets, a cloak, etc.