Xer0 said:
Ouch, that's sobering. And a really good way to capture the hopelessness of the setting.
Well, I was considering letting them return with a "second price" - perhaps the secret of psionics, which work as normal and wouldn't be detected by astiraxes...
Another possibility I entertained was to make them encounter some sort of planar civilization where they could ask the locals for help - but they would have a very tough case getting anyone to volunteer for the fight, since that means that those volunteers are unlikely to be able to come back and get trapped on Aeryth after their death. Even pointing out that the alternative - allowing Izrador to get powerful enough until he returns to the planes as a true deity - will only convince the most heroic and brave individuals.
Still, these people might help slowing or even turning the tide back. But it certainly won't be an easy fight, even then - and the civilizations of men, elves, and dwarves will remain weakened and even less able to stop the inevitable return of Izrador...
Very cool idea. I assume the fiend got away? Did the players ever realize they were being played?
Well, when the nice old challenger transformed into a hideous monstrosity and shouted "Finally! I am free!" while being sucked through a weird hole in the air where the mirror used to be, they did sort of get the impression that something went wrong...
He had also promised them that the spell he would be casting at the same time as they destroyed the mirror would not only prevent the explosion of energy into the surrounding area near
this mirror, but also cause a chain reaction that would burst many other nearby mirrors. No such luck...
How exactly did you handle the breaking of a mirror to escape to the outer planes?
Casting a "plane shift" spell at the exact same time as breaking a mid-sized mirror will do it. Of course, learning even of the
Existence of such a spell would be the hard part - especially considering that it has been
very long since such a spell actually worked...