Quote Originally Posted by zimmerwald1915 View Post
...Okay, then the priority shifts from "stop Tarquin from achieving his definition of victory or, what amounts to the same thing, from spinning whatever outcome comes up into something he can accept as a victory" to "stop Tarquin from harming as many people as possible as quickly as the current mission's pressures allow." There's wanting to see a villain get hoisted by his own petard, and then there's just wanting the villainy to stop because darn it, fictional people are suffering on their account. Unless you're suggesting that Tarquin should just be left to die of old age (or gain eleven levels in Wizard and make the transition to Lichdom), which would not only leave a plot thread hanging, it would give him an outcome he can spin into a victory and would do nothing to arrest the ongoing harms he's perpetrating on the people of the Western Continent.
The problem with Tarquin's death right now is that then the heroes will have no reason to come to the western continent ever again and deal with the four remaining Tarquin's allies, who aren't likely to come into play this arc. So even if Tarquin's personal evil deeds cease, his grand scheme of conquest will live on. The obvious way to deal with it would be to leave Tarquin safe and sound right now and deal with him and his allies after the Gate plot arc is over.