Part 95 Alignment May Vary: End of All Things
Here we are. I’ve been putting this off for a while, but this will be my final two-part post in the AMV campaign. This is the post that describes the end of our game, which happened on January 15th, 2021, over 4 years from our first campaign. It was an emotional moment for us all. I remember writing the notes the day before the session and then realizing I was sobbing openly as I wrote the campaign’s potential final lines. I thought, whew, well at least I’m getting it out of my system early. But the 4 hour session ended up being full of tears for us all, and once one of us started crying, the whole group couldn’t stop. It is impossibly hard to say goodbye to characters that you’ve essentially been the parents of, the creators of. And in writing this post, I’m doing it all over again.
This post was originally one long post, but I decided to break it into two pieces for ease of reading. If you’re reading this post after having read all 94 other posts, bless your heart. But regardless of how you arrived here, I’m glad you are here with us at the end of all things.
Our session begins right where the last one ended, at the foot of the Jarlberg mountain, at the summit of which Abenthy waits in the old cave of the stone giant Kirazov, for his ritual to complete and the plane of chaos merge with the material plane.
The PCs were saved in the final moments of the grand battle between the armies by Roger Krisp on board the renamed Anope intergalactic vessel, and a fleet of Githyanki who followed him to this planet to save the reality of those who had once aided them.
There is little time for reunion. Roger Krisp gives the PCs the last of the Surveyor’s remaining revitalization injection, which essentially long rests them all. They manage to save one: Imoaza took no damage during her stealth assassination in the last battle. Sasha, one of Aldric’s goblin children (his spunky daughter), has a brief and emotional greeting with the group. Time differentials in space travel (as well as speedy Goblin maturation) means she is an adult now, and she tells them that her father would be proud of them, and shows them that everyone on Anope has joined the Green Company to honor him. In death, he achieved what he had sought in life, the revival of his old Company.
(Cue our first round of tears).
Most surprising is the emergence of the The Old Surveyor from the ship. This is the old man from the Air Planet, who had disobeyed the orders of Primus centuries ago, and whose disobedience led to the creation of the “Progenitor Surveyor,” the one who created humanity and whom Imoaza’s ancestors worshipped long ago. He disembarks from the ship as well, now, and tells them that most will not be able to survive the “space beyond space” where Abenthy has fled to, so as to not be interrupted in his summoning of the Chaos Plane. He tells them that only Blackrazor can let them enter that space and allow them to do battle.
“He is no longer just Abenthy,” The Old Surveyor tells them. “He is a merging of three powers, three distinct lines of fate and alignment. Lawful, Evil, and Neutrality have all blended inside of that being. It carries the power of law, the knowledge of magic and the planes, and the determination of destiny.”
“We have the numbers,” Roger Krisp chimes in. ”It’s time to storm this mountain and end this!”
“Only these three can enter. Anyone else, anything else, would be torn assunder by trying to survive in that limbo. Blackrazor will keep Imoaza safe, the Surveyor’s Stone will keep Carrick safe, and Milosh's chest plate will keep him safe as it carries the true essence of Primus within it, the heartbeat of a god. Anyone else would be torn apart by what waits beyond. The fate of this plane of existence must be left in the hands of these three. Well, and one more, if you will grant him your protection.”
Out of the Surveyor's sleeve comes the Chi Chu, the little pet turned familiar that Imoaza hasn’t seen since entering the Abyssal plane ages ago. it flits over to Imoaza. They hear a "Chiiiii?" as if asking, you won't leave me behind this time, right?
(The return of a favored animal mascot? Cue our second round of tears).
With this, the group begins the ascent, though Carrick stays behind a moment to ask the Surveyor what will become of the Surveyors (of which Carrick and the old man are both technically the last) once Abenthy is defeated and Primus and Chaos’ soul erased in the process. The Surveyor says that for himself, it will be time to rest at last, and return to Primus’ side, even in oblivion. But for Carrick it will mean a different kind of freedom. Freedom to choose his own destiny.
"This is Where I First Learned to Hate”
As the group climbs the mountain, I remind them of the prophecy, to center us in on what this final session will cover. Friezurazov is the throne of power in the prophecy, a leyline in the world where reality can be weakened. It radiates power, and this power is what originally drew the Stone Giant Kirazov to the land, to make the Jarlberg (the seat of that psychic radiation) his lair. Now Abenthy has taken that seat back and from there plans the end of the world.
The party have to enter and pursue him, and Blackrazor Alpha, which Imoaza carries, is needed to cut through into that limbo space where the fight will occur. Once they face Abenthy, they will also face his Blackrazor, the one that is corrupt and filled with all the powers of chaos. But even destorying the sword cannot kill that which Abenthy has become. They can only weaken him enough to call upon another power to destroy him.
That power is the Source, Primus’ power which resides along with Primus’ soul inside Milosh's chest plate. Before this power is used, to truly win this fight, Carrick must use the Surveyor’s Stone to draw Primus' soul forth and Imoaza must weave that soul into one of them to become the shield in the prophecy, which is a word meaning sacrifice in the old languages.
Destroy both the shield (imbued with Primus’ soul) and Abenthy’s body (imbued with Chaos’ soul), and they will finally win and achieve the destruction of the abyssal plane forever, for it cannot be reborn if balance (Primus) is also gone. They were birthed of the same universe. This is all the true meaning of the prophecy of the Three.
Is that a mouthful? A mindful, maybe? Ah, but there is more! For another prophecy was given, this one specifically to Imoaza, and it concerns her fate.
As the group summits the mountain and enters the Stone Giants cave, I remind Imoaza of her prophecy. She got this from the ice tribe shaman, who used a Taroka deck to do her reading. She thinks back and remembers it as if it were happening again...
The first card she drew was the Collector and showed a pursed lip noble placing coins into a bag. “This is a decision made in your past,” the Shaman says. “The Collector represents a debt you must someday pay, and you have stolen from time itself. Time will have its due, in due time.”
Then he holds up a hand of cards and tells her to draw two, this time. She draws, and reveals first a cocky looking man gripping a sheathed blade with one hand and tossing a cloak over his shoulder with the other. Then a naked man, engulfed in flame and surrounded by a circle of swords, his head thrown back in either ecstasy or pain. The Shaman closes his eyes. “These cards represent a choice you will make. For you, the choice will be between two lives: the Rogue and the Tyrant. You shall choose one. The one chosen shall be saved, given a second chance. Those unchosen shall be lost forever, a sacrifice.”
The final card Imoaza draws depicts a skull inside a jar. It is labeled the Artifact. “The last card shows a bond, a bond embedded deep in your soul. All that you do is tied to this bond. And for you, that bond is to an item of power. When that artifact meets its destiny, only then shall you be free to pursue your own.”
Finally, the Shaman tells her that the power she wields, to see the Weave, is not one that is simply developed. It is a gift from Mystra, the goddess of the weave… some say she is the Weave itself. He tells her that the gift comes with responsibility and purpose. She does not need a teacher: the Weave itself will guide her to where she needs to be, when she needs to be there.
While Imoaza has been having this remembrance, they have completed the climb to Kirazov's old chamber, where they see the bones of the stone giant, where Abenthy struck him down long ago. There is a rumbling crack in the cave floor, like a rip in space time. They put Blackrazor in and split it open and jump into the Abyss to meet Abenthy.
Where they land is not where they expected. Things are quiet. There is the sound of lapping water and sea gulls. They are in an abandoned city, they see, a city of docks and ships, built on the edge of the ocean and looking out over its green-blue expanse. It is a peaceful, sunny day. And though the city seems deserted, they are not alone here. One figure stands near the docks, a beautiful man who radiates celestial power.
Abenthy stands over a bloodstain on the stone ground. He tells them “This is where I first learned to hate. This is where I was taught that people could not be trusted to govern themselves justly. It is also where I first learned failure.”
They have ended up, of course, at Ottoman’s Docks, abandoned as Abenthy sent his Tarasque there several weeks ago to empty the city. Abenthy refers here to one of his defining character moments, when he witnessed a child be put to death for stealing and was helpless to do anything about it.
(Cue, maybe not tears, but certainly chills from Milosh’s player, who used to play Abenthy).
The group tries to reason with Abenthy, tell him that what he has done since that time has only led to more evil and destruction, but it is not just Abenthy they speak with here. It is Nazragul, Karina, and Abenthy smashed into one... and Nazragul seems to be the dominant personality, though it is Abenthy’s form he controls.
Abenthy (as pushed to madness by Nazragul) says that crashing Chaos into this world will destroy both planes and usher in a new beginning for everyone. Carrick in particular derides him for this, saying that ending everything to start over is the ultimate act of cowardice. He also says it will not work: life by its nature is flawed. That is its beauty.
No, Abenthy says. This time it will not be flawed. This time he will be there to show life the proper way. As he will show them now.
He begins summoning chaos, they see it coming up into Ottoman's docks, ripping through the docks as the translucent purple tentacles that have plagued them before. Wings erupt from Abenthy’s back, one black and one white. Black Razor warps into the battlefield, gives a crass greeting to Imoaza and taunts her for not wielding him when she had the chance (to which she shows him Blackrazor Alpha and prepares to fight back). Finally, three small crystals rise into the air, floating around Abenthy. They are old surveyor stones! The last remaining, aside from Carricks. They glow with power, and from the edges of the docks, two shadowy monsters approach to aid Abenthy in this fight.
Roll initiative!
“I Will Show You”
As far as music goes, if you want to play something while reading this, I use Kefka’s theme from FFVI, Zeromous’ theme from FFIV, and the Final Lavos theme (this one) from Chrono Trigger. They are appropriate choices. A lot of this battle, and in fact the entire set up, has been inspired by both Chrono Trigger and FFVI in particular, which I think had some of the best final set ups of any JRPG ever. In FFVI Kefka wins and the party has to regather allies to face him like they do here. Chrono Trigger’s final battle takes place in time and space, which so does mine. And finally, there is the crystals that are so prevalent in early FF games (and sorely missed in more modern entries). They come into play in my design as well.
To get down to business... so I design Abenthy as a modified Solar from the Monster Manual, with some different spells that let him bring the Abyssal tentacles onto the battlefield (this is stuff like Evard’s tentacles, Shadows of Moil, Arms of Hadar) and which he can use as legendary actions in addition to a normal action. Note that the Solar is very deadly on his own, especially with his longbow:
Slaying Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 120/600 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) piercing damage plus 27 (6d8) radiant damage. If the target is a creature that has 190 hit points or fewer, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or die.
Holy instant kills batman. Especially with the Solar’s ability to teleport and fly, he can keep some massive distance between himself and the PCs and rain down destruction with that bow. That said, Abenthy does not start out combat using this deadly combo. Early on, he prefers to use his tentacles to suck the life from the PCs and use magic blasts to try to weaken them.
Abenthy also has four crystals floating around him, which serve to grant him different powers and which really should be targeted first in order to weaken him enough to fight. One crystal heals him every turn. Another two controls (one each) the shadowy monsters (which are themselves monsters from Tasha’s guide, beefed up versions of the Shadowspawn (pg 114, Tasha’s). This means the action economy is more balanced between the players and Abenthy, slightly skewed in his favor because of the legendary actions and the constant battlefield effects of the tentacles. Finally, the last crystal can block spells of up to 4th level, which helps mitigate Imoaza’s easy damage dealing cantrips (she is deadly with her Eldritch blasts).
Finally, there is Abenthy’s Blackrazor, which moves on its own and attacks with the same basic stats as a Solar’s Greatsword:
Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reaah 5 ft. , one. target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 8) slashing damage plus 27 (6d8) radiant damage.
Sooo shit tons of damage. Blackrazor is also indestructible and invulnerable, except for one caveat... which we’ll get to later.
The final gimmick of this fight is that each round, as Abenthy takes damage, he changes the battlefield, taking the party through space and time to places that were of import to him, with his tentacles (representing the plane of Chaos) ripping these places to shreds as they fight. Basically, they are witnessing the destruction of their world as they fight, beginning with places that meant something to the players (if not necessarily these specific characters). It’s a way for me to meta-nod to our previous adventures, while also hitting us all where it hurts, right in the nostalgia feels. At the same time, it reveals more about Abenthy’s psyche and fall from grace.
So, below, I’m going to go through each place Abenthy takes them, and the general progression of combat events there (I won’t be getting action-by-action specific).
Time and Space
The opening clashes take place at Ottoman’s docks, but quickly this falls away to reveal floating space, the limbo before combat begins in earnest. This lets the combatants get off some opening salvos, test each other’s strengths and powers, and then we really dive into things, as the battlefield shifts for the first time to another memorable place.
You hurtle through space towards the planet you recognize as your own, heading at the speed of a comet through the atmosphere, coming down towards the crater of some long ago crashed meteor, heading through the earth itself to come to rest in a gigantic cavern, the epicenter which is a forgotten Yuan Ti pyramid.
Abenthy says that this is the place where an entire people proved they did not have the foresight to handle the responsibilities of caring for a world. They only sought power. And it was granted to them. They used it to destroy themselves. This is the Yuan Ti he refers to, this is their fane, Imoaza’s ancestors in particular, who worshipped the Surveyor and ultimately killed him when they felt he was giving their world to the humans he had helped raise out of primitive apes. Imoaza was last here at the end of the Red Hand campaign and it is also where our current Carrick awoke inside a clone body more recently.
The fight progresses for a time, with Milosh focusing on the shadow spirits, Imoaza trying to deal with Blackrazor, sword against sword, and Carrick rushing to fight Abenthy directly. And eventually the battlefield changes again.
The world shifts and shatters around you and the first sign of the transition is the biting cold. You find yourself standing on the edge of a ruined village, floating on an icy glacier.
Abenthy says he has seen that they themselves dare to think themselves capable of judging others, referring to the ice village that Milosh destroyed. “You have eradicated an entire village out of anger. What I do, I do out of foresight, not anger.”
Carrick gets some critical hits in this round and the PCs begin to figure out that they need to be targeting the surveyor stones floating around Abenthy. Their strategy changes, and as it does, something seems to split inside of Abenthy... his confidence changes to something more like sorrow.
Your next destination smells of brine and your ears fill with the roar of the sea as you stand aboard a wrecked seaship. Fog emanates from all around the dilapidated vessel and you can see bits of debris from its hull floating in the choppy waters. One board has the name STORM painted across it.
“Here is where she learned sorrow,” Abenthy says, and they wonder who he refers to. “Where she learned that she could not save the world. Her friends died here. The one who helped kill them she later took as lover. She never told you that, did she? Karina didn’t tell many that story. But I know it. For I know Karina, better maybe than she knows even herself.”
One of the stones, one controlling one of the shadow demons, is destroyed this round, by Milosh, while Carrick distracts Abenthy. However, this sends Abenthy into a rage and he unleashes his Bow of Slaying on Carrick, nearly taking him out of the fight completely. Carrick has to pull back to heal, and the map changes again.
This place you all recognize, for you were here but recently. It is the inside of the volcano in which Haggemoth’s tomb resides. Lava fills its chambers now, except for one high precipice on which you all find yourselves facing Abenthy.
This area ends up being the most critical of their fight. Imoaza finally realizes that Blackrazor is indestructible, but has the thought that her version of it, Blackrazor Alpha, is the promise of all that the evil sword will become. And if it never existed... the sword Alpha actually finishes this thought for her, telling her that, yes, this is the only way. And so, with her action, Imoaza throws Blackrazor Alpha into the lava flow, destroying it forever.
This is a shockingly intense moment for the player. Once she starts crying, we all do. She explains it as a huge arc for Imoaza. Blackrazor Alpha was made in part from her Drosselgreymer, the weapon she stole from her people. It represented her desire for power, her class as a Hexblade. It was her Hexblade. To destroy it all now symbolizes her letting go of that pursuit of power. It also dooms her people to being a simpler folk, for the power of their hexblades is drawn from Blackrazor, and now that is forever destroyed. This also fulfills a piece of her personal prophecy: she has let go of the artifact, and freed her fate from it.
The more evil Blackrazor lets out a mighty scream, saying that its destruction is impossible, that time has already decided it exists. But the lava of Haggemoth’s lair was imbued with his magical energy in order to destroy artifacts. What’s more, with such a powerful artifact destroyed here, the sacrifice offered to the gods is complete. The balancing of Haggemoth’s soul, so long ago disrupted by Abenthy, is finally complete. Attonement is given to the dwarf. He appears briefly, thanks the party, and finally goes to rest in the halls of his ancestors.
However, though Blackrazor is destroyed, the fight goes on. Abenthy begins to spiral back towards his old self, remembering... and as he remembers...
The roar of lava is replaced by the roar of the sea, crashing against a sandy shore. Above you looms a great cliff, at the top of which can be seen a broken pagoda. Another roar sounds, a quake shudders the island, and the pagoda begins to split apart even more.
This is the Island of the Oracle. “Here,” Abenthy says, “is the sanctum of one who could have changed things. She saw. She knew. But she choose to send me on the quest. Because she knew what needed to happen.”
As they fight here, the island continues to fall apart. The Oracle is dying, her power being drawn from the world, for she received her power from the surveyor’s stones, and Abenthy has channeled the last of that energy into this fight.
In the fight, the stones are all but destroyed now by the PCs. The last one remaining under Abenthy’s control is the one that heals him, and Carrick makes a desperate gambit to snag it out of the air and flee from Abenthy with it, getting ready to destroy it at all costs.
You are in a cool, calm place. Books and shelves surround you, as does an aura of austerity. A shield depicting a woman’s profile, her head wrapped in a laurel crown, is set in a place of honor overlooking this large library.
“And this is where it happened. This is where I met my father. He thought he knew the way. He thought he could control me. But he was wrong. He was only a lesser evil. He had failed so long ago, he had become irrelevant. I ignored him and he met his fate at the hands of the demons he fought with over power.”
Abenthy’s voice rings through the halls of the Sisters of Celaenos. And then suddenly a new voice takes over. It speaks in an arcane tongue and tentacles erupt all over the battlefield.
“Enough of this whining and melancholic tripe,” the cruel voice of Nazragul speaks, though it comes from Abenthy’s body. “I have indulged you all long enough. Now it is time to end this.”
The battle changes drastically at this point. The tentacles snatch at the party, trying to tie them to the ground, while Abenthy/Nazragul flies high into the air, far beyond their reach, and begins raining magic down on them. His blasts destroy the final crystal, but he doesn’t seem to care. He is raining destruction on the party, seeking to end them before they have a chance to recover.
Imoaza uses her last remaining injection from Roger Krisp to heal Carrick to full health. MIlosh frees everyone from the tentacles, Imoaza uses the last of her magic to cast fly on them all and they rush to reach Abenthy. They rush as the battlefield continues to shift to other places they know... Waterdeep... the ruins of Vraath Keep... and finally as they reach Abenthy and strike a grevious blow against him, it becomes a temple, darkly familiar, a temple that should destroyed.
You stare at a place you thought you would never see again, hoped to never see again. Its dark corridors have been rebuilt and blue flame flickers in torch brackets all around the rebuilt altar room of the Maakengorge temple. Where the Tarrasque once blocked the view of the abyssal chasm of the Maakengorge, now instead there is only space beyond that opening, a void without color or definition.
Nazragul sees the end coming for him and so he curses the players, telling them that there is no way for them to win here... there never was a way. He is inevitable. He is timeless. He is the death beyond the end of the world. He is the new beginning.
And as he speaks, he summons his final spell. A storm of meteors crashes through the high roof of the temple above him, fire raining down on him and the players alike, dealing hundreds of damage, utterly destroying the temple and leaving Nazragul alone, broken but regenerating, floating in space.
The players have been defeated.
Next time, the second part of this final session!