This is it. The Heroes of Sandpoint are no longer on Karzoug’s doorstep; they’re in his pantry. After a heavy dose of buffs and healing, the party hypes themselves up with one final, rousing speech from Trace. They step into the portal.
Instantly, they are whisked into the Eye of Avarice, a demiplane of Karzoug’s design. Surrounded by walls of swirling smoke, they stand on stone platforms poised precariously over a boiling pit of lava.
To the sides, a pair of twin balconies are supported by chains attached to these gigantic pillars. A wide stone staircase presents itself in front of you, leading up before it splits off into two directions before converging again before an intricately-carved throne.
An articulated adamantine frame hangs above a separate platform in front of the throne, holding what appears to be a glistening green lens of some kind.
A pair of storm giants stand on the split staircases, brandishing their huge greatswords with ease.
Two creatures stand on either side of the throne. Both tower over the central figure. One is a brilliant blue dragon, their scales sharply serrated, almost an iridescent purple as the dancing firelight reflects off of them.
The other is a gargantuan giant, covered head to toe in bright orange Thassilonian runes. His longsword edge is permanently stained crimson with blood.
And in the middle, floats Karzoug.
Several gemstones are fixed into his forehead, a reminder of his station as the Runelord of Greed. Gnarly long arms with jagged tattoos poke out from his resplendent juniper robes bearing further markings of Thassilon.
Lightning seems to crackle from his eyes as he lifts himself effortlessly into an upright position.
“At long last, the Heroes of the Age! The Age of Weakness. The Age of the Doldrums. The Age of Maggots. This is what the world could offer as their mightiest of the slithering pests! HAH! Even the lowest detritus scum scraped from the back alleys of Xin-Shalast is more worthy to challenge me, Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed! You think that defeating my minions deters me from my plans? What does it matter to me? I have hundreds, thousands waiting for me at the zenith of Thassilon’s mightiest hour, loyal armies that will make the world slip to its grubby knees and beg for mercy by my hand!”
He raises his arms above his shoulders, and his glaive erupts into flame.
“This world shall be mine! Thousands of years spent biding my time after my preparations went awry, but I shall be the first Runelord to return to power! Once again, Greed proves itself as the greatest of all of Thassilon’s Houses! And you all will NOT take this power away from me. It is mine!”
“Nobody can save you now except yourselves, for you are trapped in here with me. And you think you stand a chance? A cataclysm of meteroids, that consumed the world with earthquakes and tidal waves wasn’t enough to snuff out the burning fire of Karzoug! This Eye of Avarice has been my stasis chamber for ten thousand years, but it shall now fulfill a new purpose: your eternal graves! I am Avarice! I am Xin-Shalast! For Greed, and the Rise of the Runelord!”
The Final Battle
Krask doesn’t waste any time, firing off arrows at the approaching giants. Karzoug conjures up massive rocks, clashing them into the party with tremendous force. He also slows down time, buffing himself further against Golarion’s finest. In fact, the Runelord’s body converts entirely into flame.
Trace, Fobias, and El-Hadeen brace themselves to take on these enemies. Behind, Fyn follow’s Karzoug’s lead, slowing down time and summoning an army of bone devils and a trumpet archon to take provide some much-needed respite from the heat. The dragon also flies forward, preparing to unleash their electrical breath weapon on the party in the upcoming turn.
As Krask continues to fire off arrows from his invisibility, he begins opening bleeding wounds in Karzoug’s minions. The Runelord reaches into the persistent ticking of the aetherways to borrow time before hastening his party and surrounding himself in additional defenses.
El-Hadeen sees that the enemies are grouped together and engulfs them in a torrent of fire via a Sirocco spell. This fatigues the giants and the dragon, who are forced out of the area lest they suffer further from the extreme heat. The bone devils begin their annoying work of littering the battlefield with ice walls. This pens in the rune giant momentarily, before he bursts out fire from his runes, melting them into evaporated liquid. The giant leaves the walls in front of bone devils and bounds towards the center of the chamber.
Fyn summons a Nalfeshnee, which forces the northern giant to engage and protect Karzoug’s flank. The Runelord keeps stepping out from his protections, casting spells, and then retreating back into safety. His glaive also appears to be sentient, simultaneously casting Fireballs to go along with a well-placed Meteor Swarm by its master.
Because of the steady barrage of damage, and the dragon’s electrical breath, Richard is forced to retreat back, but still gets knocked unconscious. The trumpet archon heals the party back up substantially, but El-Hadeen is still looking worse for wear. Trace takes down one of the giants quickly, sending its body tumbling into the lava. He then moves up to engage the rune giant and immediately finds a weak spot. In a matter of moments, the rune giant is decapitated, leaving three enemies left.
The dragon flies out to the side platform, preparing to attack the party from another angle. On the approach, Krask sends an arrow straight through its skull. Two remaining.
As these minions perish, bright green light erupts from their corpses. It arcs upwards before entering the lens and into the pool near the center of the room.
Fyn sees his opening and goes toe-to-toe with Thassilon’s magic. He attempts to dispel Karzoug’s effects, but the spell gets rebounded back towards him. Luckily, some of the spell’s strength is lost in translation, and his active effects remain intact. Again, Fyn tries to dispel the magic on Karzoug and he is successful with the second try. With a smoky poof, Karzoug’s fiery body is no more, and several of his other magical effects drop.
To the north, the remaining giant takes care of the summoned Nalfeshnee, and starts heading back to Karzoug’s side. Fobias steps up to Karzoug and swings, putting the entire weight of Golarion behind his strike.
Has the party turned the tide of battle? Will they end up victorious? What’s up with the rune giant’s weird monocle?