Pathfinder Tales: "The Ironroot Deception" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Ironroot Deception, a four-part series of free Pathfinder web fiction available on the Paizo website here, is a real cyber-page turner!  The story involves characters like Gad and Vitta who also appear in the excellent Pathfinder Tales novel The Worldwound Gambit.  Twists abound, and the reader will quickly realize that all is not what it seems.  An adventure story is only as good as its villains, and this one has some deliciously evil ones (in a pull-no-punches Game of Thrones style).  The story also has an original plot, which is hard to come across in the fantasy genre.  It’s definitely one worth checking out, at a price that can’t be beat.

SPOILERS

Gad and his gang are up to another heist, this time in the Shudderwood, a demon-infested forest in the Worldwound.  Getting the goods is going to hurt, however, as they have to get themselves captured and forced into slavery as mining laborers by a group of xenophobic, aristocratic, and quite merciless elves called the Reclaimers.  An elf named Dualal, the leader of the Reclaimers, thinks she’s been prophesied to rule the entire region once she finds a gem called the Opal of Command which will allow her to control an immensely powerful creature called the Thornbeast.  Much of the fun in the story comes from the narrative not leading the reader know what the protagonists know, and being surprised by twists and turns throughout.  It’s really clever writing, and a great companion piece to the characters’ appearance in the novels.