Alrighty, this is the story of my favorite campaign I've played in so far. There are many great moments throughout this campaign, so I will summarize the highlights as best I can. This 5e campaign was ran using the Odyssey of the Dragonlords, a Greek-themed setting funded on Kickstarter, so spoiler warning for that.

In the world of Thylea, there are Gods and Titans who have physical forms, walk among mortals, and are flawed like the gods in Greek myth. The Titans came first. The world itself is named after Thylea, the Great Mother of All, who takes the form of a gigantic tree. Kentimane, the Hundred Handed, is her husband, protector, and the most powerful of the titans. Their twin children are Sydon, the Lord of Storms, and Lutheria, the Lady of Dreams. The Five Gods appeared later and freed the people of Thylea from the tyranny of Sydon and Lutheria. They are: Mytros (married to Volkan), Goddess of the Dawn; Volkan, God of the Forges; Vallus (married to Pythor), Goddess of Wisdom; Pythor, God of Battle; and Kyrah, Goddess of Music. Mytros was slain over five hundred years ago in a battle against Sydon and Lutheria. This terrible battle ended in the Oath of Peace. This oath decreed that the Titans would take no aggressive action against the Gods and the people of Thylea for 500 years as long as they received sacrifices, their temples were cared for, and they were not attacked themselves. Our adventure begins when the Oath of Peace ends.

I'll start by introducing our party and their great/noteworthy deeds before we get to the ultimate outcome of this campaign.

Theashamanes (Thee-uh-shah-muh-nees), our triton bard of the College of Epic Poetry. He is the youngest of the royal family of an underwater triton kingdom. When we met him, he was living in a tavern wasting his days away as a drunkard. Some time later we learn that, over a decade ago, he had foreseen a great tragedy befalling his kingdom. He didn't know when it would happen, but he knew it was coming. He left for the surface to seek aid. However, his search ended being fruitless and he lost himself to despair, drinking his days away and playing music for room and board. One day when we are speaking to our druid's adoptive mother, she gives him a vision that shows the tragedy has finally come to pass. His kingdom laid in ruins, overrun by undead creatures. From the Oracle, he learns the name of the one responsible: the Depth Strider. He also sees a vision of an undead kraken residing in the abandoned underwater city.

In our journeys, he tended to be the voice of reason and restraint. Whenever we came up with a plan of action he didn't like, he was never afraid to say, "No, that's stupid." It was the sort of attitude that would make him a good king. When we discovered refugees of his kingdom, including his older brother Jenralones, they took note of this. However, he had no real desire to be king. He was never power hungry. In our quest to defeat the Medusa, which was my character's primary task, he was the one that struck the killing blow. This, as it turned out, made him the new Medusa. It did not curse him with snake hair, but gave him the title of Medusa, which had been passed down to the strongest gorgans. Even though he could have taken that throne, he chose not to. This was partially because we had more to do.

He came to be the owner of the magical, golden pelt of the Nemean Lion, which he wore as armor; wielded the Trident of Triton; and was the proud owner of a griffon mount, whom he gave the Golden Saddle of Pegasus. Pegasus (a talking, flying horse) was evidently cool with him doing that, so that was nice. He also bludgeoned a giant wolf to death with gold coins he animated through the Animate Objects spell. That was fun.

Laodamia Nysa (lau-dahm-ee-uh), our fallen aasimar druid of the Circle of Sacrifice. One of her primary abilities was that she got bonuses for burning her enemies to death. Her circle was focused on pyrrhic sacrifices and whatnot. At the beginning, she was trying to find her father, Raphael, who vanished when she was young and left her with the druidic cult (?), led by a creepy woman called the Woad Mother (prounounced "Wode"), who taught her magic. We end up finding him petrified in the Medusa's lair and we restore him. He hadn't aged, so now they were about the same age, physically. He reveals that Laodamia's mother was a great warrior: Drelhena, the Immortal Dragon Soul. She was also the heir to a wealthy estate, the Neurdragon Estate, in the capital city of Mytros (Mee-trohs).

Eventually, we obtain the deed to this estate and reveal her ancestry to the city. Her cousins that were in control of the estate were selfish and snobby, and we luckily are able to convince them to step down. In this estate, we find treasure, including the golden saddle and the written record of her family history. In this record, we discover that her given name was Korrina and that she has a twin brother! His name was Korros. In turns out that, while she was given to a cult worshipping Thylea, her brother was given to a cult worshipping Kentimane. Later on we end up fighting him. He had become one of the three Furies, who were responsible for punishing people who betrayed sacred oaths sworn to the gods. We kill the other two, but let him go free, and don't see him again before the campaign ends.

Another tragic detail we discover is the manner in which her mother died. Drelhena had lived for 400 years before she died (aasimar in this world are long-lived). She was a dragonlord, a warrior who fights with a dragon at their side. However, the dragons had all been killed before she was born. She learned that the souls of these dragons were being held captive. She made a deal with the Fates (like the three crones with scissors from Hercules) to free the souls. The Fates agreed, but declared that she would die if she ever fell in love. She lived for 400 years, but she died the day her twins were born. Because she loved them.

Of course, that also means that she didn't actually love their father. Poor Raphael can't catch a break. To be honest, he was a disaster of a person. Still, we are devastated later on in the campaign when he is murdered at the hands of Lutheria.

First Bonus: at one point she earned the ire of a revenant. He made a few appearances in few different forms and would always announce himself my yelling, "LLLAAAOOODDDAAAMMMMIIIIAAAA!!!"

Tropo, our siren Odyssean rogue sailor. Sirens are a half-bird, half-human race in this world. He was not with us as long in this campaign, as his schedule eventually prevented him from playing. The DM had his character pop up a couple times afterwards and join us as part of our crew for our final quest. At one point he is reintroduced, along with our paladin, by having been turned into a satyr. We're exploring a ship controlled by Lutheria, the Lady of Dreams, and we find some random satyrs in the lower deck. They can't speak, but want something. After some investigating, one of our NPC allies casts Remove Curse on them and find out they were taken prisoner and transformed by Lutheria. It was a pretty funny and memorable way to bring back PCs.

In his time with us, we learned that he had arrived in Thylea on a ship from across the sea. He and his crew were exploring the seas when they were caught up in a storm. This wrecked his ship and separated him from his crew. He wound up on a foreign shore and did his best to survive. Eventually, through a vision from the Oracle, we discover his crew had sought refuge in a giant statue, called the Colossus, that stands at the entrance to the port of Mytros. Now, you might be wondering how his whole crew survived that shipwreck, and you'd be right to wonder. None of them survived. Not even Tropo.

Apparently, before this shipwreck, Tropo and the rest of his crew were human, not sirens. Somehow they were all resurrected after the shipwreck and given new siren bodies. Later on, we learn that the Depth Strider had something to do with it, but we never learn how or why. In this world, sirens are also gifted with the ability to sing beautifully, but he and his crew, notably, cannot sing. For this unusual trait, they are known as the Sirens Without Voice.

Tropo's player was always a fun person to have in a game. He loved exploring lore. Honestly, if we didn't stop him, he would spend the whole session talking to all the NPCs in one location. He was down for anything that happened, even if it was bad for his character. He always laughed about it and understood that, in the end, it was a game.

Eirene (like Irene) Zervas, a scourge aasimar Oath of Devotion paladin who joins us later in the campaign. She had been petrified by the Medusa about 500 years ago and was freed by Kyrah, the Goddess of Music, for reasons we find out later. The primary civilization of Thylea was founded by warriors known as dragonlords who rode dragons into battle. She was one of the these dragonlords. However, all the other dragonlords, and their dragons, are gone now. Her goal was to find out what happened to them, especially her own dragon, Zoey. She wasn't always able to show up, so sometimes she would be DM-piloted or have a reason not to be around.

She and Kyrah developed a fun relationship. Kyrah was a very irresponsible god who only cared about having a good time. Her tab at one of the taverns we went to was absolutely ridiculous. Decades of accumulated debt. Eirene herself was pretty straightforward and responsible. They balanced each other out.

When we discover Laodamia's heritage, we also discover who Eirene's descendants are. As it turns out, Laodamia and Eirene are family. Drelhena, Laodamia's mother, was her niece, which made Laodamia her great niece. The owners of the Neurdragon Estate are also her descendents, but she was very disappointed with them. They weren't warriors at all, not worthy of those they came from. In addition to the treasure we found in the estate, we also found a ship that belonged to her family, the Valorant. We eventually sail this ship into the underworld itself. The Evernight.

Another important detail of Eirene's story comes when we discover the true nature of the Five Gods. In Thylean lore, the Titans Sydon and Lutheria were born from Thylea and Kentimane, along with 6 other siblings. These siblings held the powers of Strength, Wisdom, Craft, Prophecy, Swiftness, and Beauty. The twins defeated/imprisoned/subjugated their siblings, but, centuries later, the Five Gods appeared. They were powerful and inspiring, but no one really knew where they came from.

At some point, our group is able to converse with a sphinx, one that has a vast knowledge of Thylea. During this conversation he reveals the true nature of the Five. Over 500 years ago there was a queen named Mytros and a king named Volkan. The war against the Titans was raging and they were losing. In a desperate attempt to win, they called for an expedition to the underworld, which is called the Evernight in this world. They held a tournament to determine the greatest warriors in the kingdom, and the four winners were named Vallus, Pythor, Kyrah, and Narssus. They sail down into the Evernight where eventually they discover a gargantuan tree covered in Golden Olives. This tree, they discover, is Thylea herself. Thylea requests a favor of them, so that her children might be stopped from destroying the world. They are each given an olive to consume. These olives turn out to contain the souls of the dragons that were slain. When they eat the olives, the dragon souls fuse with their own.

These six dragons now have new human forms. In addition, Thylea granted them the powers of her lost children. Mytros, Goddess of the Dawn (prophecy); Volkan, God of the Forges (craft); Vallus, Goddess of Wisdom; Pythor, God of Battle (Strength); Kyrah, Goddess of Music (Swiftness); and Narssus, God of Beauty. With their newfound power, they are able to fight the Titans and eventually the Oath of Peace is sworn. Mytros perishes in the fighting, but she is said to have ascended to the Heavens, still able to grant her power and be a member of the Five. They become known as "The Five" and not "The Six", because Narssus grew selfish and rejected his responsibilities to the world, vanishing into obscurity to pursue his own desires. The Five rule for the next 500 years, until the Oath of Peace ends.

Remember, Kyrah, the Goddess of Music, had been the one to find Eirene and free her from her petrification. The reason Kyrah chose Eirene was because she knew her. Kyrah was, in fact, Eirene's dragon, Zoey. Kyrah, aka Zoey, remembered the whole time. They shared an embrace, and Eirene was thrilled that the one she had been worried about the most was actually there the first time she opened her eyes in this strange time.

Second Bonus: there was a demi god individual named Helios who desperately wanted to marry Kyrah (Zoey), we end up meeting him and Eirene gives him a stern talking to about consent and taking no for an answer.

An honorable mention: We started the game with an Amazonian barbarian centaur named Rhaena, but after a handful of sessions her player was no longer able to play with us. She kicked ass, couldn't swim, and galloped into the sunset with flowing hair and rippling muscles.

Lastly, my character, Pannikos, who appeared to be a siren warlock, Pact of the Fates. In reality, he was a gorgan, which is a snake-haired creature with the ability to turn people to stone. Like the Medusa. His original race was siren (the DM allowed me to keep the wings), but his pact with the Fates cursed him to be a gorgan. He had been extremely ugly growing up and treated with contempt because he was also bad luck. Bad weather and other unfortunate events followed him. He sought out the Fates and asked that they cure him of this bad luck and make him beautiful. They did as he requested, but made him a gorgan as well so that, despite being beautiful, no one would want to look upon him. I took the Mask of Many Faces invocation to disguise my true appearance. This allows him to cast Disguise Self at will, which lasts an hour. The DM allowed me to cast it without verbal or somatic components so that I could discretely recast it each hour. The Fates also tasked him with killing the Medusa, or else he would face dire consequences.

As mentioned previously, Theashamanes is the one who ends up killing the Medusa, not Pannikos. My character actually died during that encounter. Thankfully, Eirene was able to save him with a revivify scroll. He breaks off his pact with the Fates after that and becomes powerless for a while, except for the abilities granted by his curse. Later on, he becomes a cleric of the Prophecy Domain, serving the Oracle, Versi. The DM let me keep Charisma as my spellcasting ability, because my Wisdom was terrible.

My character underwent a few name changes during our campaign. His birthname was Icarus (chosen very intentionally). He changed it to Pannikos after making his Pact with the Fates; then he changed it to Adonis when he broke his pact with the Fates and became a charisma-based cleric of the Oracle. Eirene actually suggested the name Adonis because that was the name of her elder brother who died a long time ago. He also went by "The Golden Serpent" when he tried to create a cult by entering people's dreams using the Dream spell and appearing as a golden snake. Turns out gorgans have a tendency to start cults, because the Medusa had a cult and we found out the leader of another cult, the Lady of Coins, was also a gorgan. The Lady and my character had a chat and decided to have a tentative alliance.

He was polymorphed into a goat for a bit by Lutheria, the Lady of Dreams, during a festival where people chase and kill goats to sacrifice to Lutheria. If I died as the goat, I would be perma dead. I wouldn't change back. Our party ended up talking to the other goats involved in the festival, and it turns out they were all polymorphed. I don't remember if they all survived. After 24 hours passed in goat form, I was turned back to normal and earned Lutheria's favor. Didn't end up doing anything with her favor because she was evil and I didn't trust it.

Our adventure culminates in our expedition into the Evernight, where the dead are said to dwell. We need to go there because we were told Pythor, the God of Battle, and Vallus, the Goddess of Wisdom were imprisoned there in the Prison of Mirrors by Sydon and Lutheria. We end up entering the Evernight by being swallowed by a giant sea monster because someone we trusted told us to. It worked. We didn't actually die and came out of a tunnel into the Evernight, which is a underground ocean, called the Nether Sea, filled with islands, ships, and other oddities. The water there is special because, if you touch it, the souls within will suck your memories out of you and you'll forget who you are. I don't know if the writers intended this, but I like to think it's called the Nether Sea because, if someone falls into it, you'll "nether sea them again".

We later find out that the Nether Sea can also cause strange mutations. During one of our expeditions on one of the islands, we run into Theashamanes's brother, Successones. He comes crawling out of the Nether Sea, his lower half transformed into a crab. We have to kill him, but before he does, he drags two of our companions into the sea: Theashamanes's griffon Arkantos and Amadeus, who is one of Pythor's illegitimate demigod children. Arkantos loses it's memory and grows to Huge size, which is actually not too bad. However, Amadeus loses his memory and is transformed into a hydra. He attacks us and we are forced to kill him. Without a way to revive him, Laodamia cremates his remains.

In our travels through the Evernight, we are drawn towards the same tree that the Five found when they ventured into the Evernight. A older, feminine voice speaks to us and reveals itself as Thylea. She tells us that the tree is called the Heart Tree. There is one like it protected by the tribe who raised Laodamia, but this is the true Heart Tree. The tree is covered in golden olives. My character and Laodamia begin to glow and feel warm when they get closer to the tree. They have golden olives inside of them and have been chosen to join the tree when they die. The Mother of All tells us that every soul on the tree will be reborn into the next world once this one has come to an end. Events have already been set in motion that spell the end of the world. There are gargantuan monsters who were created long ago to destroy the world and a few of them are already rampaging on the surface as we journey through the Evernight. We are also informed that the souls of Raphael and Amadeus are on the tree. In hopes of resurrecting them somehow, we ask to take their golden olives with us. She obliges and we leave.

Finally, we find the Prison of Mirrors. We are warned that we cannot view our reflections in the mirrors, or bad things will happen. We circumvent this by turning some of us invisible and the others closing their eyes. We manage to find and free Pythor and Vallus. We also discover Triton, one of Theashamanes's ancestors. He was fated to slay that Kraken that the Depth Strider now controls, but failed and perished. He is now tormented here for his failure. We do not have the items we need to free him, so we must leave him. Before we go, he tells us that we must revive more of the dragons to aid us in our fight against the titans.

In another corner of this maze/prison of mirrors we come across a pool of water that calls to my character, Adonis. There is a sign next to it that reads "Here Lies Tethylus." The pool speaks to Adonis and mentions Kosmos. Kosmos is a being who appeared in Adonis's dreams previously, saying that we created the cosmos and time itself. It says that it IS Kosmos, but not yet. There's some weird timey-wimey stuff going on. It says that if Adonis wants to know the secrets of the universe, he should jump into the pool. This sounds like being offered candy from a white van, so obviously Adonis jumps in without hesitation. The DM proceeds to send me a document that reveals the ancient history of Thylea that NONE OF US knew ANYTHING about. Before the titans Thylea and Kentimane, there were the Empyreans (including Kosmos), and before the Empyreans there were the Primos (such as Erebias, True Darkness, and Hemera, True Light and mother of Kosmos) and before that there was only Kaos, the Void itself. Basically, the titans and gods that existed today are miniscule compared to what came before. After I emerge from Tethylus, I am gifted shield bearing constellations that grants me power. Tethylus says that Adonis will have his name changed again soon.

The last thing we find in the Prison of Mirrors is a mausoleum bearing the Eirene's surname, Zervas. Inside this mausoleum we find the bones of many different dragons, relics of the Zervas family, and Eirene's ancestor, Achilles. He tells us that this is a pocket dimension that can be accessed from many different parts of Thylea. He guards the entrance to the Hall of Heroes, which is where the dragonlords and dragons go when they die. It lies in between the Evernight and the Beyond. The Heart Tree offers reincarnation in the next world and Lutheria traps souls in the Evernight, but the Beyond is the true afterlife.

We tell him of our desire to resurrect more dragons, and he allows us to speak with some of the dragon souls. Mytros is there, as is Volkan. He had died fighting Sydon as we left for the Evernight. There are three others we did not know. The twin white dragons Apollita and Artemandias, the Wild Souls. Artemandias is an expert tracker and Apollita is clairvoyant. Then there is the black dragon, Tisphone, Thorn of Titans. She really hates titans and is a formidable fighter. However, she comes off as very unstable and… evil. The only way we can resurrect dragons is to use the golden olives in our possession, Raphael and Amadeus.

An important note to make: in the real world, Laodamia's player is starting university soon, so this is the last session she will be able to play with us. As part of her departure from the game, she decides Laodamia will make a sacrifice to ensure the success of their fight against the titans. She offers up the golden olive within herself so that we can revive three dragons instead of two. She also declares that, before she goes, she would like to be known by her birth name, Korrina. Collectively we decide to give Raphael's olive to Artemandias, Korrina's olive to Apollita, and Amadeus's olive to Mytros. Tisphone seemed like too much of a wildcard to us.

The most touching part of this sacrifice to me was that now Korrina, her father, and her mother would all be together in the afterlife. Traditionally, her father would not have been welcomed in the Hall of Heroes and she herself was destined to be reborn in the next world. Now, however, they were all welcomed in the Hall of Heroes. In addition to that, when Artemandias and Apollita take mortal forms, they look just like Raphael and Korrina.

Before we leave the Mausoleum, Achilles gives Eirene the sword he wields, Titansbane, and advises that we seek out Praxys, the Tower of Heaven, which Sydon has dominion over. Then with six (count 'em, SIX) dragons on our side, we leave the Prison of Mirrors and go to face Lutheria on the ship she sails through the Evernight.

Something that I forgot to mention earlier is that Sydon and Lutheria each had a child (not together, though. DM stayed away from the incest part of Greek mythology). Sydon's son was named Taleius (Tal-ee-us), whom we defeated before venturing into the Evernight. Lutheria's daughter is Chalcia (Chal-see-uh), who was secretly the Woad Mother, the leader of the cult who raised Korrina. She appeared on Lutheria's ship with her mother and we had to fight them both. Even with six dragons on our side, it took some time to bring them both down, but we did with zero casualties. Well, zero casualties until a minotaur NPC we had with us, named Bullbug, looked into a cursed mirror on the ship and his head shrunk until he died. Other than that, zero casualties.

After we escape the Evernight, we sailed to the Tower of Praxys. Honestly, we cheesed this one a little bit. We had flying dragons, so we just used them to fly up the side of the tower into the window of the level third from the top. That was as close as we could get. On this level, we greeted with a mysterious doorway.

This doorway takes us into a palace that does not match the Tower of Praxys. We find several individuals lounging and relaxing without a care in the world. One of them approaches us and introduces himself as Kosmos, the very same Kosmos who had appeared in my dream and was, in fact, an Empyrean, older than the titans.

He informed us that we have been brought to the Aether, the Heavens. They had been watching our adventures and were impressed by our accomplishments. We ask them why they aren't doing anything about Sydon, Lutheria, and the monsters that are currently bringing about the end of the world. They say the world has been reborn a few times, so they are not concerned about one more apocalypse. In fact, they granted Sydon and Lutheria some of their power. Lutheria was made the Goddess of Death and given the Gift of Lies. Sydon was made the God of Time and given dominion over the sea and skies.

We go into debate with them about the value of life and how irresponsible they've been with their power. Sydon and Lutheria have been tormenting mortals for centuries and the Empyreans don't even care. I'm not sure if we convinced them to care, but we got them interested in us. They offered to take power away from Sydon and Lutheria and give it to us instead. We could then use that power to save the world ourselves, if we cared so much. Eirene was made the Goddess of Dragons, Theashamanes was made God of the Skies, and Kosmos granted me his power as the God of Time. Tropo's player was not here for this session, so he did not receive the power of a god. However, Theashamanes said, once the fighting is over, he would take the power of the God of Peace, and then pass on the power of God of the Skies to Tropo.

Unfortunately, this is where the campaign ended. Eirene and Tropo's players were no longer able to play, and I had recently entered a management position that was making my schedule inconsistent. We were also so far into the campaign that we didn't want to bring in new players. It would be too much to catch up on and it wouldn't feel the same. The last parts of the campaign were a bit rushed so that the DM could give us a satisfactory conclusion.

All that's left of the campaign is an image frozen in my mind. World-ending monsters rampage across the continent, but valiant heroes fly through sky to defeat them. Theashamanes, God of the Skies, flies in atop his giant golden griffon, wearing the pelt of a golden lion and wielding the Trident of the Seas; Eirene, Goddess of Dragons, riding her blue dragon, Zoe, the sword Titansbane thrust forward; Tropo, leader of the Sirens Without Voice, astride the white dragon Raphael followed by his band of sirens; and Icarus, aka Pannikos, aka Adonis, the God of Time, soaring on the white dragon Korrina, the remnants of his dear friend, bearing a shield adorned in constellations.

Final Bonus: Before we left Aether, Kosmos informed me that, as the creator of time itself, his timeline was a bit… skewed. His past, present, and future did not occur in chronological order. Some parts of his future have already occurred and some parts of his past have not happened yet. He was not born Kosmos. In his life, he has changed his name many times. He gave me a knowing look and said that I would go on to change my name many more times. Thus, the God of Time changed his name once more to… Chronikos.