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At the beginning of Ezren's turn an elder air elemental appears 65 feet away from him and moves to flank the rune lord.
Ezren moves his hellfire spheres towards the location the storm giant was mazed, swift action teleports 25' closer to the rune lord for a clearer shot, and fires a dimensional anchor spell at the enemy.
Sharton moves his projected image to A*16 and a little down so that it is 60' from Karzoug and casts prismatic spray.
Sharton's image blasts of a panoply of multi-hued beams of light, a brilliant scarlet beam striking the Runelord. He almost non-chalantly sidesteps most of the beams effect, while the remainder of the beam's fiery energy seeming to be completely ineffective against him!
At the beginning of Ezren's turn an elder air elemental appears 65 feet away from him and moves to flank the rune lord.
The air elemental whooshes over to the Runelord, delivering a powerful slam to the wizard that causes him to spin several times in the air with the force of the blow!
...swift action teleports 25' closer to the rune lord for a clearer shot, and fires a dimensional anchor spell at the enemy.
Ezren fires a scintillating ray of green energy, which flies through the air and strikes the Runelord to envelop him in a shimmering emerald field of magic. Nearby, Jeb immediately hears the sound of the sharp cracking of stone sound from somewhere on the Runelord's person; resulting a burst of abjurative magic that rips the dimensional anchor off of Karzoug!
Round 8:
Grognar (Delaying)
Jeb
Shump (Delaying)
Storm Giants (North Fatigued/unconscious -246, South very glittery/mazed)
Griff (Pending Action)
Round 9:
Sharton
Ezren and Friend
Karzoug
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Quicken Dimensional Anchor
As Griff approaches to touch Grognar and Shump, he immediately finds himself invisible again as the source severance blocks the Runelord's invisibility purge effect! With the confidence granted by lack of cynosure, he teleports with a pop of displaced air to cause himself, Grognar, and Shump to appear abruptly next to the Runelord. Karzoug appears startled to find himself immediately surrounded, which Shump and Grognar take advantage of to unleash a flurry of deadly strikes upon the wizard!
All of Shump's attacks strike true, as do most of Grognar's as well. With Grognar's third strike, the assault is too much for the Runelord to bear and he finally falls into unconsciousness! His body falls slowly downwards into the lava below, the flaming glaive floating almost forlornly down with his spinning body towards the deadly fires that await. Karzoug's body sinks into the lava, the intense heat of it overpowering the Runelord's magical protections and burning him to an ancient crisp!
OUT OF INITIATIVE!!!
The instant the Runelord perishes, a blast of blinding white energy blasts out from the molten golden pool back up near the dais; the blast rippling out instantly to fill the entire area! The wave of light seems to almost carry a roar of thousands of relieved voices with it, the light washing over everyone to heal any injuries or maladies they might be enduring.
As the wave of light fades, the very fabric of the plane seems to waver and thin, quickly fading away as the reality of the Material Plane reasserts itself around the group. Everyone finds themselves standing at the base of the Spire back in Xin-Shalast, with the golden pool now transplanted from the demi-plane to the open area at the bottom of the ramp the group arrived at. Over a matter of seconds, the molten gold quickly cools and becomes hardened and brittle; the pool losing all of its magic and becoming inert. Karzoug's half-melted skeleton can be seen partially stuck in the hardened pool, one of his skeletal arms stretched out in a yearning reach; so close to his return, yet not close enough to come back alive! His glaive rests nearby, jutting out of the hardened substance in an almost comedic fashion.
Nearby to the pool, the group also sees the three giants and the dragon from the demi-plane; apparently also healed and brought back to life by the blast of light that emitted from the golden pool. The storm giants immediately throw themselves to the ground in surrender, while the dragon merely rests on its hind quarters to see what will happen next. The Rune Giant lets out a howl of grief and attempts to run out through the nearby arches into the howling blizzard beyond!
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Jebediah is momentarily startled by the blast of light, but with lightning-like reflexes, manages to close his eyes before it burns out his retinas.
When he sees what has happened to the Runelord, he nods in satisfaction.
"Well, I suppose that is *one* way to make it back to Golarion, but I doubt that it was what he had in mind..."
He then turns to the dragon.
"Do you intend to continue hostilities, or can we move past that, given what has happened to Karzoug...?"
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Seems like a good opportunity to spend two inspirations to aid that roll.
We do have an angel to check on and set free, and I doubt those denizens of Leng behind the trapped door are up to anything good, but then we can do a more thorough search of this place before heading back. I hope his spellbook didn't get destroyed with him!
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Ezren avoids the blinding light but his companion does not and clings to the wizard. The elder air elemental seems to not notice the light at all. Ezren takes note of the giants and dragon and watches closely as he casts detect magic and scans the remains of the ruin lord.
N Huge outsider (air, elemental, extraplanar)
Init +15; Senses darkvision 60 ft.;Perception +19
DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 20, flat-footed 16 (+11 Dex, +1 dodge, +8 natural, –2 size)
hp 184 (16d10+64)
Fort +16, Ref +21, Will +7
Defensive Abilities air mastery; DR 10/—; Immune elemental traits
OFFENSE
Speed fly 100 ft. (perfect)
Melee 2 slams +27 (2d8+11)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks whirlwind (DC 27, 10-60 ft.)
STATISTICS
Str 32, Dex 33, Con 22, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +16; CMB +29; CMD 51
Feats Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mobility, Power Attack, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +30, Escape Artist +30, Fly +34, Knowledge (planes) +19, Perception +19, Stealth +22
Languages Auran
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Air Mastery (Ex)
Airborne creatures take a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls against an air elemental.
He then turns to the dragon.
"Do you intend to continue hostilities, or can we move past that, given what has happened to Karzoug...?"
The dragon turns to focus its serpentine eyes on Jebediah, drumming its claws idly on the marbled stone beneath it. "I would intend you all no harm, unlesssss you intend to attack me. The wizard created me from that pool and I have no time as a wyrmling to have learned about this world much; I have much that I wisssssh to experience, sssightsss to sssee, and hoardsss to amasss." The creature looks wistfully out into the raging snowstorm with a mildly obvious wanderlust.
We do have an angel to check on and set free, and I doubt those denizens of Leng behind the trapped door are up to anything good, but then we can do a more thorough search of this place before heading back.
Sharton hears a smooth, gender-neutral voice sound out from up the ramp , almost in response to his comment. "Your concern is appreciated, mortal, but I am now what you would consider "back-to-normal." The group quickly notices the angel descending smoothly down the ramp with her softly fluttering wings. She appears to be herding a large group of cloud and storm giants down the ramp, as well as an attractive black-haired female human, though all of the giants covered in familiar looking battle injuries and blood. "The release of the souls Karzoug gathered in his runewell purged the bindings that held me in captivity. It also returned those he had held in magical thrall back to life, free from his command, amongst...others." The angel appears to be dragging the kicking, bound and gagged form of the grumpy wizard apprentice; who she unceremoniously dumps on the ground near a pillar with an almost un-angelic look of anticipation as she begins cracking her knuckles. "I am in your debt for freeing me and am happy to answer what questions you might have. All I ask is you leave this...mage," she gives the wiggling wizard a nudge with her foot. "I have much to...discuss...with him," the angel gives an ominous smile.
"You are welcome to check on that...device...those creatures were working on. I caution you, however," the angel says with a grimace, "the scene will not be pleasant. I am not sure what that device was meant to do, but the destruction of the runewell caused some kind of...backlash...from the machine. None of those creatures survived afterwards."
I hope his spellbook didn't get destroyed with him!
Sharton will notice that while it definitely appears that Karzoug's remains stick out from the petrified pool, his magical gear appeared to be undamaged from the lava and is certainly available for looting if one wishes to break it out of the pool!
Rod of Greater Quicken Metamagic (Exhausted for current day) (DC 32 Spellcraft)
Wand of Blood Money (32 charges)
Wand of Dispel Magic (CL 10th, 40 charges)
Wand of Magic Missile (CL 9th, 24 charges)
Wand of Stoneskin (CL 10th, 17 charges)
Talons of Leng (DC 30 Spellcraft)
Belt of Physical Might +6 (STR/DEX)
Ring of Protection +5
Ring of Freedom of Movement
Robes of Xin-Shalast (DC 31 Spellcraft)
A ruby inscribed with a Thassilonian rune of Wrath worth 1,000GP
Pouch of Ruby Dust worth 1,500GP
A large vial of powdered gemstones worth 10,000GP
A small jar of eye ointment worth 500 GP
42,000 GP worth of diamonds
Ioun Stones embedded into Karzoug's body:
3 crimson sphere ioun stones
12 emerald ellipsoid ioun stones
3 onyx rhomboid ioun stones
5 amber spindle ioun stones
The following items are difficult to identify their properties and may require additional investigation:
Karzoug's Glaive
An amulet of gold and red crystal
A black-leather bound tome with a Sihedron symbol on the cover
The large green crystal lens suspended above the petrified pool
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With heroism, if Sharton takes 10 on Spellcraft he can get a 36 +1d6, let's call it a 39 average. This pales in comparison to Ezren's +40, so his Take 10 is a whopping 50! Identify tomorrow can add another +20 for each wizard, which should be far beyond anything necessary.
We'll definitely want both wizards' spellbooks and the sihedron book.
Just for fun.
With heroism, if Sharton takes 10 on Spellcraft he can get a 36 +1d6, let's call it a 39 average. This pales in comparison to Ezren's +40, so his Take 10 is a whopping 50! Identify tomorrow can add another +20 for each wizard, which should be far beyond anything necessary
Sharton and Ezren eagerly gather around the more obscure magical items to pool their arcane expertise in identifying them. Together, they easily identify the glaive as one of the Alara'quin; the icon representing the Runelord of Greed's mastery over his domain and magic. It functions as a +2 flaming dancing glaive. They also quickly learn that it is an intelligent item as well, as the glaive almost immediately begins attempting to eject itself from Sharton's grasp the moment the illusionist touches its haft; alternating with attempts to smack the wizard in the face repeatedly with its blade while letting off ear-piercing shrieks of "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN SLAVE OF PRIDE!" in Thassilonian. The weapon calms down when Ezren takes over, returning to its immobile state.
The wizards resume their research of the items following the brief...intermission...with the glaive. Ezren and Sharton are a bit uncertain on the amulet, coming to the conclusion that it at least functions as a +5 amulet of natural armor; though they are pretty sure it might have other functions.
The pair of wizards almost salaciously move onto the leather-bound tome, identifying it as a Sihedron Tome; one of several spellbooks supposedly crafted by a dragon in service of Emperor Xin of Thassilon. The spellbook has an infinite number of pages, containing every non-Illusion and non-Enchantment spell known to Thassilon within its bindings. Additionally, preparing spells out of this book allows a spellcaster to treat their Intelligence as 6 points higher solely for the purpose of qualifying for bonus spells per day. The method of destroying such a book is unknown at this time.
Ezren and Sharton move on to the large green lens, identifying it as a soul lens; an artifact that has the sole purpose of painfully filtering the sinful fragments out of dying souls on their way to the afterlife. The wizards surmise that the lens would focus these fragments into the pool, empowering it with the greedy energy to assist with the pool's function to strengthen its Runelord. With its extreme alignment with Greed, Ezren is able to guess that the only way to destroy it is to forcefully sunder it with a weapon of great Pride or Lust, though he is certain that no one present possesses such an item.
When the group sends word back to the Society of the Runelord's demise, the Decemvirate wastes little time sending teams of agents in to glean what they can from Xin-Shalast. At least over a hundred Pathfinders appear in and around the Spire over the course of an hour, spreading quickly about to recover what artifacts they can gather. Aram Zey himself is one of the first to arrive, and takes the group aside to get a first hand accounting of their experiences defeating the Runelord. The Master of Spells makes detailed notes, showing a modicum of respect now for the agents (a large concession, for those that know him) and their achievement. Aram relieves the group of the artifacts they gathered and departs to bring them back to the Grand Lodge, though he requires several moments to "tame" the rambunctious glaive before leaving (by "taming," he actually just begins to voraciously berate the glaive; you can actually hear the weapon sobbing horribly afterwards before Aram teleports away).
In the following weeks, though the Society does its best to contain the evidence, word spreads quickly of the existence of Xin-Shalast and the near-miss on the return of Karzoug. The city and Spire are quickly swarmed by adventurers, scholars, and various others seeking to claim the treasures of Thassilon for themselves. While the Runelord may have perished, the danger of the city still remains; the Society (Sheila's Magnimar Lodge in particular) actually finds itself serving as wardens of sort, having to frequently send agents out to rescue or retrieve hapless sages who wandered into a den of ancient Thassilonian horrors hidden in unexplored parts of Xin-Shalast.
Everyone who took part in defeating Karzoug enjoy an unparalleled degree of prestige and attention (much to Griff's chagrin) from within and outside of the Society. The chronicle detailing the group's exploits, colloquially titled "Rise of the Runelords," becomes a best seller amongst those following the Society's tales; each reprint of the chronicle having added a number of completely untrue twists and dramatic turns depending on the bard doing the transcription. There even have been rumors of a potentially enterprising wizard selling enchanted action figures of these heroes with "Collector Edition" chronicles, though surely such a thing is a just a tale heard at the taverns. As time passes, the group finds themselves being frequently consulted for their expertise on Thassilon upon the discovery of additional Thassilonian artifacts, ruins, and dangers. Who knows, even their direct assistance might be needed should any of the other Runelords return back to Golarion. But that, perhaps, is for another tale and another time....