Flying up to the main entrance was quickly ruled out, and they made their way into a cave entrance, skirting along the edge of the Maggot Pit. As they entered the castle, Tselem transformed into a generic Dragonborn, and used an illusion to make it look like she was a servant bringing the rest of the party in chains up to the audience chamber. The fortress was a twisting web of tunnels and corridors. Gems and jewels and gold and treasure lay scattered on the floor, more treasure than a even a dragon could collect in a lifetime. The party could hear the roars of dragons & guards in the bowels of the structure beneath them, as well as the screams of damned prisoners. Taumir happened across a watch he'd lost years ago.
The party was able to bluff and sneak their way up to the audience chamber with little difficulty. And there they finally beheld her: Tiamat. Her five heads looked every direction, her eyes shining with rage and madness. One of the heads took note of them as they entered, but did not seem to really care. The party positioned themselves for battle, and then dropped the illusion of the chains and called to their foe.
Tiamat turned, to them, and her faces showed surprise. "Well, well, well," she rumbled, "I never thought Bahamut would have the guts."
And thus the battle commenced! Taumir fired first, landing a substantial blow! Tiamt retaliated, and missed! Tselem mocked her failure, which may have been a mistake, as Tiamat then responded with a devastating set of attacks and that left Taumir and Tselem unconscious and bleeding out! Azeri was able to heal them and get them back on their feet.
Taumir quickly realized that a direct assault on Tiamat was not going to work, that they were going to have be more clever. He pulled out his Exodus Knife, and created an impenetrable pit (a pocket dimension) where they could take cover and strike out from. They had to dodge around Tiamat's attacks to get in, and Maak Tol was blinded in the process, but they all made it!
At this point they were safe from Tiamat, and in no shape to continue the battle, so they decided to rest for 6 hours and try again. Tiamat was no fool, and realized what they were doing, but she didn't seem impressed. She flew off to attend to other matters, and then later returned to wait them out.
Tselem tried to create a portal around one of Tiamat's necks to decapitate (or least severely wound) her. Regrettably, his brilliant strategy was foiled when the spell failed. The party then developed a strategy where they would quickly open the door to the pit, fire out an attack, and then shut the door before Tiamat could retaliate. This kept them safe from her awesome power but allowed them to strike at her somewhat with impunity. Tiamat seemed unconcerned about the hits but irritated enough to keep trying to get to them.
Maak Tol and Tselem took turns using the two bags of tricks the party had to send out random creatures to attack Tiamat. A flying Gorgon and a large spider both tried their best, but were dashed to pieces against the power of Tiamat's evil aura.
The party knew their most important weapon in this fight though was the weapon Orisis had forged for them. If they could strike Tiamat with it just once, they could prevent her from disincorporating, and then they could truly kill her! They elected Maak Tol to wield the sword, but he was having trouble getting close enough to land a hit.
It was then that the party hit on an idea: what if they gave the sword to Taumir, and he shot it from his bow?
It was an audacious plan, so naturally they immediately put it into motion. Taumir notched the massive weapon in his bow, using all his strength to hold it steady. The door to their pit was flung open, and he let it fly. And it struck true! Their godslaying weapon had found its mark!
Tiamat was properly affected but was by no means dead. In fact, she barely seemed to notice. The sword fell back into the pit and returned to Maak Tol's hand. Maak Tol then flew out of the pit - he'd taken on his animal forms so he could - and began to engage the dragon at point-blank range, trying to ensure she'd stay put long enough for them to defeat her, and also to draw some of her fire and ire away from his fellows.
The rest of the party took full advantage of this! Tselem was even able to force her to land, and then to attack herself! Tiamat tried to dominate Maak Tol several times as the battle raged on, but Azeri always cast off the curse as soon as it could land, leaving Maak Tol a little dazed but everyone unharmed. After the third or fourth time however they decided to bring him under cover again.
All this while spells and arrows and blast of radiant light had been striking at Tiamat, and now she began to truly feel weary. And then she reached that point that she could have disincorporated ... and she did not.
And at that moment the Exarchs of the Platinum Trinity saw something that probably no other mortal had ever seen. They saw fear on the faces of a God.
Tiamat's fear erupted into rage. She let forth a vicious stream of attacks that they were not able to shut the door against beforehand. The party shuddered under the force of her anger. But when it had passed, the party was still alive, and safe behind their cover. The true possibility of victory roused them, and they began attacking from cover once more.
Maak Tol even felt confident enough to moon their foe! Tiamat repaid this by dominating him when he came out, and then sending him back in to attack his fellows before the door could be shut. But Azeri once again saved the day!
The volleys continued back and forth, Maak Tol sometimes sharing the cover, other times keeping the dragon from fleeing. But this tactic would not work forever, and as Tiamat's strength ebbed out of her little by little, with no way to recover, she began to make as to flee. But Azeri would have none of this. She flew out on her cloud chariot and immobilized Tiamat! The party wasted no time striking at her in this weakened state. When Tiamat was free, she knocked Azeri out of the sky, but Azeri merely teleported herself back into position. She once again healed the party and they resumed their assault.
And then Taumir let an arrow fly and it struck beneath Tiamat's massive scales, and with the scream that seemed to split the Astral Sea itself, Tiamat began to disintegrate! Poisoned blood and fire spewed from her guts as ice froze and shattered her bones.
The evil god Tiamat was forever and truly dead!
The party rejoiced, but their glee was quickly tempered by the fact that the entire Endless Night began to collapse. The Fortress began falling apart, the Maggot Pit began burning up, the forest they'd traveled though was eaten up with blight in seconds. Tiamat's evil servants burned around them, and the treasure was swallowed up into a black hole as all of Tiamat's realm began to disappear into nothingness. The party took flight, either on their own power or on the cloud chariot, and made their escape!
They emerged into the Astral Sea to the sounds of joy and rejoicing!
VICTORY!
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