ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

On my recent run, I initially failed the race to get south fast enough in time. My game then crashed as I tried to alt-tab out to figure out just how bad a thing this was....and my most recent save was far enough back that I could try the race again, and made it. Essentially I cheated without meaning to.

I'm curious what would have happened had I played through after failing the race. Is the game still winnable? What happens?

The game is still winnable, but the ending has some differences.

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Check out my addons: Nullpack (classes), Null Tweaks (items & talents), and New Gems fork.

Since it's the spoilers forum I think we can be a bit more specific. Aeryn will be a bit upset with you later on but you can "convince" her to still join your cause.
I've dealt with her once and I gotta say it was worse than 1 on 1 against either of the end bosses.

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Stronk is a potent combatant with a terrifying appearance.

I was in a hurry one time and just rushed through the prides... it turns out that you can entirely skip the quest! That's how I found out about the alternate ending

There's also a good chance that High Peak will become a one-way trip for you. If Aeryn falls in the final battle (or if you kill her yourself, or bypass her), you won't be making it back.