Champions of Time

Backstory

Death and Time are having an argument. Death says that they are inevitable and therefor time is the lesser of the two. Time argues that Death cannot exist without the time to be alive and therefor Death is the lesser of the two.
To settle this they each choose their own champions to fight for them and Time is looking at a band of Adventurers.

Quest

Time contacts the adventurers in the form of an apple which rots and un-rots to form the shape of a mouth at a time that the adventurers are not going to be overheard.
Time offers them a boon should they fight for Time until they finish the task or they yield.
If they accept the players are transported to the entrance of The Sunrise Rose at some point in time where they hear Time in their mind:

Burn the champions of Death in the offspring of Fire. The champions of Death know what happened.

These lines are also repeated at every cycle. If anyone dies by the hands of the champions of Death the PCs are taken back to the starting point until they yield. The offspring of Fire is the fire elemental in the cellar.
The champions of Death should be played as if they know they are in a time loop and are learning from the previous times while growing more and more frustrated that they are not able to break the loop, increasingly starting to target the PCs, rather than the one provided by Death.
The champions of Death yield to Time (and the players) after 20-40 Time Loops , depending on how well the players are doing.

Yielding

What counts as yielding to Death is up for interpretation by the players. Having the PCs stating out loud that they yield is just as valid as them seeking out the champions of Death and letting themselves be killed by them.
Should they yield place them where they found the apple, which is now completely rotten, moments after they left.

Reward

The Gift of Time

I grant you enough time to undo a mistake.

Completely undo six seconds (1 round) with the adventurers memory of the event intact. If they perform the same actions as previously they gain advantage, and actions against the adventurers are made with disadvantage if they are the same as previously. Collectively the adventurers can do this once.

If there is more than three minutes left on the clock when the task is completed each PC gains the Gift of Time instead.

Gamesystem

DnD 5e

Players

4-5

Level

6th level

Plot type

Time loop adventure

Related Locations

• The Sunrise Rose