Meeting with Avarice

The book presents a lot of random rolls to determine when and where Avarice’s cultists are encountered. You can make things easier by deciding that:

• Shortly after Avarice’s arrival, the characters run into 5 Zhentarim Thugs who attack them on sight. If interrogated and magically coerced, a fanatic can tell the party that Avarice (along with Skath, Naerth, Karthus and Drog) is in the city and lead them to her base in ‘Y28. Skydock Spire’.
• If the characters don’t seek out Avarice on their own, she eventually sends her raven to give them a message once she learns of her scouting party’s destruction. She invites them to meet her in the rotating glass chamber above ‘Y28. Skydock Spire’, where she is surrounded by all her surviving minions, along with the Zhentarim Agents)
• Avarice offers to partner with the characters if they eject Vellynne from their group and promise her the first pick of any spellbooks they find.
• If the characters haven’t defeated Auril yet, Avarice urges the characters to accept her aid by telling them that “the Frostmaiden was not far behind us when we entered the glacier – I can help you claim your prize before its too late!” Avarice and her minions can aid them by gathering inscriptions from the eight towers.
• If the characters ally with Avarice, she doesn’t go with them personally, but has her cultists help gather inscriptions to figure out the Rite of the Arcane Octad. She will follow them inside the spire, but is likely to betray them after Iriolarthas has been dealt with – if she feels she has much to gain by doing so (such as the staff of power) without putting herself at great risk.

Encounter with Avarice

If the characters refuse Avarice’s diplomatic overtures, or refuse to meet with her at all, Avarice decides that they have to be eliminated. She may wait until they show her how to pass through the force field or even until they have reached Iriolarthas’ treasures. The latter makes good sense if Iriolarthas was defeated earlier in the adventure, but you still want to have a final encounter in the study before the characters can claim his treasures.

In combat, Avarice keeps her distance, letting her gargoyles and the Zhentarim Agents engage the characters in melee combat, while she uses fly to stay out of reach, fire shield to dissuade melee attackers, and powerful evocation spells such as fireball and cone of cold to target clusters of enemies.

An Unwelcome Surprise

At the beginning of the fight, the party will notice that Skath is wearing a ring made of Black Ice. Wearing this ring causes Skath to look feverish, with eratic eye movement, and a lot of sweating.

When Skath reaches half health, or below, he will begin to convulse and change form. Read or paraphrase the following:

As you hit Skath with [INSERT WEAPON ATTACK] his face turns pale, even more than before and his throat begins to convulse. He drops his longsword and starts scratching at it, scraping, anything to stop what he’s feeling. Blood drops to the floor, and his hands fall to his side, the tips of his fingers red raw. Collapsing to his knees, Skath coughs vicerally before a collection of large black spikes shoot out from his mouth, eyes, throat and hands. His body is covered for but a second before he can be seen again. The creature in front of you is not Skath anymore, but a creature made of chardalyn with a shackle on either wrist, chains dangling off of them. One of them forms a shield, the other a spear, as he gets into a battle stance, pointing the weapon at you all.