There are two goals facing the PCs in “The End of Eternity.”
First, there are many places and NPCs the characters can interact with during the course of the adventure to learn about Jhavhul, his goals, and Kakishon’s history.
Use these NPCs to bring the characters up to date, to inform them about the backstory of Legacy of Fire, and to foreshadow what’s coming at the end of the adventure path. In particular, if one of the PCs is the windspeaker (see Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #19), you can use visions from the Templar bound to his soul to fill in gaps. The primary goal for the PCs, though, should be to escape from Kakishon. There are three routes out of Kakishon available to the PCs, each of which is described below.
Under the Isles of Not, in the protean caverns, there exist a number of entropy pools. These pools represent physical manifestations of the power of change. The proteans themselves do not have the power to build worlds and destroy them on their own—they must use these pools of entropy to effect such changes.
A protean (and only a protean) can use an entropy pool to “eject” a non-protean that’s not a native to Kakishon who stands within the pool. This is a full-round action, and an unwilling subject can resist being ejected with a Level 4 Intellect save. Those who fail to resist, or who accept the ejection, are hurled out of Kakishon and reappear in the real world within 10 feet of the current location of the Scroll of Kakishon. If the PCs do not have an alliance with the proteans, they’ll need to use magic (like charm monster or suggestion) to effect such an escape—if all of the proteans in Kakishon are slain, this route to escape is closed to them.
As the only remaining “pure” elemental seed of the four used to create Kakishon, the Earth Seed in area D2 retains a tenuous link to the multiverse—in this case, the Plane of Earth. Any outsider with the earth subtype that has the ability to merge with stone can enhance this link by entering the Earth Seed. One minute after the earth creature enters the stone, the link between the Earth Seed is magnified enough that the block of stone itself creates a temporary link back to the Scroll of Kakishon, wherever it may be. This link persists as long as the earth creature remains merged with the Earth Seed. As long as this link persists, the Earth Seed functions similarly to how the various Wayports functioned before Kakishon was damaged. A non-native of Kakishon who touches the Earth Seed and concentrates on the Scroll of Kakishon is immediately transported via plane shift back to a point within 10 feet of the scroll’s current location.
Unlike the transportation granted by the entropy pool, however, this is a somewhat risky journey—any creatures that use this method to escape Kakishon must make a Level 3 Might Check or take 4 ambient Intellect damage as they perceive the instantaneous transportation between worlds not as a flash of light, but as an interminably long gulf of time that lasts for years, emerging into the Scroll of Kakishon’s vicinity somewhat unhinged and deranged from the strange stretching of perceived passage of time.
If the PCs killed Obherak and his shaitans, they can still call upon Dilix Mahad to help them escape. If Dilix is slain, the PCs still have hope—they’ll need to befriend one of the xorns on the crystalline island of Ismaizade to enter the Earth Seed and enable its use as an exit portal. Of course, if the PCs kill Obherak and his shaitans before they can explain to the PCs the theory, the PCs will need to discover the exit on their own. They can learn this by bringing Dilix to area D2 if she still lives—the shaitan, like others of her kind, swiftly comes to the conclusion of how to use the Earth Seed to effect an escape after a few minutes of study. Alternatively, the PCs could learn of this method from Andrathi’s spirit, either through discussion with Venema or via dreams from Spooky. A Level 6 Knowledge (the planes) check (or a Level 6 Spellcraft check made by a PC with detect magic active) can lead a PC who studies the Earth Seed for several minutes to this same conclusion.
Although the PCs’ escape from Kakishon is destined to finish the job that Andrathi unintentionally began so long ago when he separated the demiplane completely from the rest of the multiverse, the actual destruction of Kakishon is not necessary for the PCs to escape. The demiplane’s destruction is merely a goal of the proteans. As long as the proteans exist in Kakishon, the plane’s destruction is ensured—along with all of the plane’s natives. In order to save these creatures from destruction, the PCs must either see to the destruction of all 6 naunets and the 3 imenteshes (including insane Thaiyanathan in area A5), or must engineer a method for all of these proteans to escape from Kakishon. Although it’s unlikely the PCs will be able to cast gate, this is one method of providing an exit for the proteans. A more likely method of leading the proteans to safety requires the PCs to convince them to transport themselves to area D2 and use the Earth Seed to escape—and if the shaitans still exist, the PCs will need to be pretty impressive with their diplomacy in order to secure even a temporary peace between the two factions, a feat likely requiring several Level 8 Diplomacy checks to make the two hostile factions friendly to each other.
Ad Hoc Experience Bonus: If the PCs manage to solve the protean problem (either by slaying them all or engineering a non-destructive escape for them), award them 2 XP.
This adventure ends as the PCs escape from Kakishon, yet as they soon discover at the start of the next adventure, “The Impossible Eye,” their escape from one strange realm has only placed them in another—for Jhavhul has sent the Scroll of Kakishon to lie in his palace treasury in the legendary City of Brass. Here, the PCs will have a unique opportunity not only to learn everything there is to know about Jhavhul, but also perhaps to ally with several of his greatest enemies and secure even more weapons they can use against the efreeti warlord in the upcoming climax to Legacy of Fire.