Pathfinder Society Scenario # 9-05: "Call of the Copper Gate" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Call of the Copper Gate with my vigilante (shh!) character, The Shining Knight (a.k.a., Siegfried).  I have to admit, I didn't have a lot of fun, but I think that was mostly because the GM frankly wasn't very good.  In reading the scenario for the purposes of this review, it looks like a really solid adventure that makes great use of previous PFS scenarios and continues a long-running subplot.  For PFS lore aficionados, this is a must-play scenario.  For others, it has a good mix of combat and role-playing, and features some creatures and concepts from later in the bestiaries that may be unfamiliar.

SPOILERS!

Call of the Copper Gate is another adventure involving the long-running saga of the Blakros Museum.  Before it was a museum, it was the estate of a powerful wizard and astrologer named Ralzeros the Overwatched.  Ralzeros became obsessed with the endless expanses between the stars and the unfathomable creatures thought to live there (the Dark Tapestry) and created an extradimensional observatory to watch them.  He reinforced the door to this observatory with a mystically warded copper gate linked to three magic beacons to alert him to danger.  In past scenarios (going as far back as Season Zero), the Society has become wrapped up in the dangers presented by the legacy of Ralzeros the Overwatched and its effect on Imrizade Blakros as well as the museum's current curator, Nigel Aldain.  Call of the Copper Gate involves these key elements and a servant of an Outer God!

The initial "briefing" is a fun and fast start, as the PCs are in the Grand Lodge when alarms sound and Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin and Paracountess Zarta Dralneen rush around the corner, agitated and arguing.  One of the vaults below the Grand Lodge is suddenly being overrun with magical plant matter presumably being spewed from one of the arcane devices stored there.  Zarta persuades a reluctant Valsin to let the Dark Archive handle the emergency, and she enlists the nearest Pathfinders she sees (the PCs) to follow her into the vault.  There's no time for questions, no time for Knowledge checks, and no time to prep--it's straight into danger!  It's a great change of pace from the way scenarios normally start.

The vault is filled with fungal strands that are hard to move through and coated with toxins harmful to living creatures because they aren't native to this world--they're from the foreboding planet Aucturn!  And more, an "Aucturn Shard Golem" (a variant junk golem) is in the chamber as well, protecting the device responsible for bringing it and the fungus into the vault: a magical beacon (one of the three Ralzeros created to protect the copper gate to his extradimensional observatory).  The Shining Knight rushed in to smash the beacon to pieces and would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for meddling kids a GM mistakenly thinking the scenario didn't allow it.  In a nice story addition, Zarta takes part in the battle (though if she has to do everything, the PCs get fewer rewards, which makes sense).  

Zarta recognises the beacon as something the Society purchased recently from the Arcanamirium (the largest school of magic in the Inner Sea) and says it was one of three.  She suggests that if this one has malfunctioned, the other two could as well, and sends the PCs off to find them and place them in special warding containers.  At the Arcanamirium, the PCs face the most fearsome foe of all: bureaucracy!  I really like it, as dealing with a large institution can be enormously challenging.  The PCs eventually find their way to journeyman wizard Maren Fuln (from # 3-07) conversing with a denizen of Aucturn named Nggith-Tsa.  This part is handled really well.  There's a lot of information to be gained from Nggith-Tsa before an (inevitable battle), and the scenario is detailed about how conversational strands affect the fight to come.  I'm not explaining it well, but suffice it to say, a well-prepared GM will find themselves well-supported by the scenario here.  Like Zarta, Fuln will also participate in the battle.

With two beacons secured, the PCs learn that the third is in the Blakros Museum.  Once the PCs arrive, curator Nigel Aldain reports that intruders broke into the basement and have taken Imrizade Blakros prisoner.  Nigel joins the PCs in the assault (I like how he tells them he's learned to start preparing combat spells every day given all the previous problems at the museum) where they learn the culprits are cerebric fungi and a psychic worshipper of Nyalathotep (with bad art) named Fylzilka.  (I liked that the longer it takes the PCs to bash down the door to the basement, the longer Fylzilka gets to buff--trade-offs like that make for a game where actions matter).  The beacon is spewing Aucturn's poisonous atmosphere into the room, so the rare PC who has prepared gust of wind will feel very clever!  Imrizade is unconscious from wounds, but if healed, will also participate in the battle.  It's nice to see key NPCs be more than just plot- and RP-fodder and instead feel like active participants.

With the third beacon in safe hands, the present danger is over--though the lure of the mysterious copper door remains (perhaps for a future adventure?).  Zarta asks the PCs to do additional research and write a report on the beacons for her, which is a neat way of allowing them to make a Knowledge (arcana) check for their Day Job if they wish.  In the end, I thought Call of the Copper Gate was an excellent continuation of the Pathfinder Society's involvement with the Blakros Museum.  Someday, it might be a fun idea to run these scenarios in order as part of a mini campaign.

Armageddon 2001 # 1-2 (DC Comics, 1991) [COMICS]

 Armageddon 2001 is a famous DC Comics crossover not because of its merits (good or bad) but because of the how the company handled it.  As most fans of the era will know, the whole premise of the 1991 series was that a hero named Waverider travelled back in time from 2001 to the then-present to warn super heroes (sequentially, in each book, of course) that one of their number would become a despotic tyrant named Monarch in a decade’s time.  The crossover lasted almost six months in real time, launched and concluded with a 64-page special. 

The driving force of the entire crossover is the attempt to figure out who becomes Monarch and stop them before it’s too late.  What made the crossover notorious is that, due to some clues in early issues, readers put together a pretty solid theory that made the fan press: it was Captain Atom!  When DC saw the theory and, knowing it was absolutely correct, they panicked.  Thinking that if everyone knew who done it in a whodunnit the crossover would flop, they changed, mid-stream, who it was!  Instead of Captain Atom (a character with truly astounding cosmic-level powers that one could imagine defeating most of earth’s heroes) it became Hawk (a third-tier character who was one half of a duo and could mostly just jump around and punch low-level threats).  In other words, it was a desperate attempt to “salvage” the crossover, and resulted in clues and character motivations that no longer really made sense. 

The general takeaway, which I think is right, is that it’s okay if clever fans put the pieces together to figure out where a story is going—they can still have a great deal of fun along the way along with the satisfaction of seeing themselves proved correct at the end, whereas no one will really be satisfied by a resolution that seems to come out of nowhere because it was a last-minute, knee-jerk switch.  Writing a true whodunnit-type mystery is hard, and it’s better that it’s a little too easy to identify the culprit than that the reader feels they’ve been treated unfairly all along.

Anyway!  This post covers the two specials that bookended the crossover.

Issue # 1 has a great cover, with the tagline: “Ten years from now the world will survive.  These heroes won’t.”  As a child, Matthew Ryder was saved from an earthquake by a super hero, but he never knew which one.  In the year 2001, an unknown super hero betrayed all the others and killed them!  Now, in 2030, Matthew Ryder lives in a world ruled by the fascist Monarch, and even Ryder’s own daughter is a member of the authoritarian government.  Learning that time-travel has just been discovered, Ryder sneaks into the facility and (through some trickery) manages to get sent back in time, though the process transforms him into Waverider (because he’s riding the waves of time!) with the super power of being able to touch someone and see their future.  It’s a classic, compelling story and an excellent start to the crossover.  It also gives a natural reason why Waverider needs to visit each character’s book, because by touching them he can see whether or not they’re the one who becomes Monarch.  The artwork isn’t stellar, but reading this 30 years later, I really enjoyed the story.

Issue # 2 has “At last! The shocking identity of Monarch revealed!” on the cover.  It seems that Captain Atom’s future is to see his children and grandchildren murdered by street gangs, their bodies sent by the “police” to the town dump in a world that has slid into anarchy and degradation.  Enraged and perhaps a little insane with grief, he destroys entire city blocks!  I wonder if this was the core of DC’s original plan, because it’s easy to see just a step further that future Captain Atom decides he has to intervene to set the world on the right course, and thus becomes Monarch.  But instead, back in the present, Monarch arrives from the future and abducts Hawk and Dove.  Monarch kills Dove to force Hawk to become him in a completely unpersuasive story twist (that is, I can see why Hawk would hate Monarch, but why would Hawk then decide to take over the world?).  Anyway, Monarch lures all the world’s heroes into a huge battle where he plans to detonate a neutron bomb to kill them, but Captain Atom absorbs the blast and is sent way back in time to the era of the dinosaurs! (a story told in some subsequent limited series).  The only nice bit is that it’s revealed the hero who pulled a young Matthew Ryder out of the rubble was . . . Waverider!  Nice.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-11: 'The Third Riddle' [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Third Riddle was one of the first dozen scenarios published for Pathfinder Society, and was one of the  handful of "Season 0" scenarios unceremoniously retired later on.  The reason this one was retired isn't a mystery: it's bloody hard!  I played through it with a new character (a summoner named Jakeric with an "uplifted" bear eidolon named Grizzlebin) and a couple of others, and we were lucky to survive the very first encounter.  We had to abandon the mission soon thereafter, when it became clear that proceeding any further would be suicidal.  A modern group of six optimised Pathfinder PCs would probably be okay, but why the writer thought four 3.5-era PCs would be able to handle this mission is beyond me.  The scenario does establish some interesting historical Osirion lore that is reflected in later setting materials, but is otherwise a very old school style mission that doesn't have a lot to recommend it today.

SPOILERS!

There's a fairly elaborate (and interesting) backstory to The Third Riddle.  It seems that thousands of years ago, a wizard-priest named Mektep-Han discovered the last of three known locations of the dread riddles of the insane god of magic Nethys.  Solving these riddles would apparently unbind the universe, so Mektep-Han wisely had the locations hidden away.  He even had his soul bound to the third location, the Ravenous Sphinx, to guard it for all eternity.  Yet recently, a scholarly Pathfinder named Colm Safan uncovered the Ravenous Sphinx.  The poor sod was immediately killed by a trap in the structure's entryway, but news of his discovery reached the Pathfinder Lodge in Sothis.  This is where the PCs come in, with a mission to find out what happened to the missing Safan.

The briefing is told in the odd flashback style used in many Season 0 scenarios, with Act 1 starting in media res as the PCs are in a caravan on their way to the Ravenous Sphinx.  They're promptly attacked by *eight* Aspis Consortium warriors.  Our Level 1 PCs were pretty clearly outmatched, and at that level a few bad die rolls can become catastrophic.  I liked the *idea* of the encounter (a mobile run-n-gun chase with mounted warriors attacking a fleeing wagon caravan), but despite a neat table of random events, the actual execution was problematic.

The exterior of the sphinx doesn't get much in terms of description, so reaching it may feel somewhat anti-climactic.  It's essentially just a housing for a puzzle-ridden dozen crawl.  The layout and room descriptions are given separately from the actual puzzles/encounters in the rooms, which can make for a lot of confusing back-and-forth for an unprepared GM (there was a similar problem with King Xeros of Old Azlant).  

The entryway to the Ravenous Sphinx is a corridor in which the body of Colm Safan is clearly visible (he was obviously a much better scholar than tomb-raider!).  The body is impaled on the blade of a scythe trap, and removing the body resets the trap: it's a +8 attack that does *5d8* damage (x3 crit) at Level 1!  That's an automatic PC kill right there.  More, the corridor has two more (though less lethal) traps beyond that one.  When I played, we managed to detect the traps but then realised we had no way to disable or safely bypass them, which admittedly was a limitation on our group, and not the scenario's fault.  Anyway, we decided that, since our mission was to find out what happened to Safan and we had done that, we'd take his body back to Sothis and call it a win.  Hopefully, the Pathfinder Lodge could send out some professional dungeon-delvers to explore the tomb!

It was certainly wise of us not to proceed any further.  The rest of the sphinx consists of three large puzzle chambers branching off from a central point.  The central point contains the spirit of Mektap-Han, but he's not dangerous and there are some good role-playing opportunities there to learn more about the backstory to the scenario.  As for the puzzle chambers, one features several zombies and a shadow, one features a real giant scorpion mixed with two illusory ones (a clever trick), and the third has a large viper snake.  Each chamber has an additional hazard relating to the puzzle (like being burned up in one or drowned in another).  

One can definitely see the vestiges of classic, 1980s-style dungeon design in The Third Riddle, and although there's certainly nothing wrong with it, I wouldn't recommend it for Level 1 PCs--they just don't have the necessary margin of error or resources to have a fair chance of success.  Perhaps playing it at high subtier with Level 4 or 5 PCs would be a much better experience.   Anyway, I'm still glad I got a chance to play.  The Ravenous Sphinx may sit unexplored, but at last Colm Safan's next of kin knows what happened to him . . .

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 61 [RPG]

[Starday, 25 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

It’s barely an hour after midnight when, having narrowly escaped a nightime attack by strange extradimensional predators known as xill, Anorak races into the slums of Old Korvosa.  Panting with exertion, he finds an alley to hide in and waits to see if there are any sounds of pursuit.  Hearing none, he cautiously returns to his workshop to find his assailants have gone but that the place is in shambles.  After ensuring that the dandasuka is still bound tightly in a chest, the dwarf takes the box that Mortimont gave him and heads for the safety of Goldcape’s new resistance base.  Goldcape opens the door with a rapier levelled at Anorak’s throat, but Anorak’s fresh wounds lend proof to his words that he was just attacked by “monstrosities from another plane”.  Goldcape lets him enter, and wakes up Mishimia, the self-proclaimed “Acolyte of Razmir” to help tend to Anorak’s wounds.  Goldcape’s magic seems to do all of the real healing work, however.  She reluctantly agrees to let the dwarf stay the night, little realising that in the morning, he’ll ask to stay for the next four days!

Across town, Ralph Blackfeather slips out of his own safehouse in North Point.  He signals for Majenko, the house drake who swore service for a year, and asks him to look out for the city’s mysterious new vigilante, Trifaccia.  Afterwards, Ralph visits The Bookmaker and learns that Costa has completed his task as promised: the magical contract is ready for signing.  Soon after, Ralph changes into The Reckoner in a secluded alleyway, uses a wand to turn himself invisible, and heads towards the single bridge still spanning the channel that separates Old Korvosa from the rest of the city.  The Reckoner spots the moving blurs that indicate imp devils are about, and as he’s unsure whether they can also see invisible creatures, he asks Plate to teleport him across.  Plate reiterates his views that instead of all this dithering, they should just go attack the Queen, but he does as The Reckoner asks.

The Reckoner heads over to Anorak’s workshop, picks the lock to get inside when no one answers, and seems unconcerned by the destruction and heavy sprays of blood throughout.  He shows the dandasuka, who gives its name as “Xoza”, the contract and the two negotiate a price of ten gold pieces a month for the shameless creature to spy on its former master.  Xoza rushes to the palace to report to Glorio Arkona’s majordomo that nothing of interest happened the previous night, and then returns to tell The Reckoner that there was a big battle in the workshop but that the dwarf ran away surprisingly fast on his little stumpy legs.  Xoza agrees to keep learning what he can about Glorio’s plans for The Reckoner and his allies.

Later, on the way to Goldcape’s resistance base, the masked vigilante notices at least a couple of the houses in the area have stylised “B”s written in tar on their doors.  Although one old woman slams a door in his face, another resident explains that it means “Blackjack is back, and I’m on his side!”  When The Reckoner arrives at Goldcape’s new residence, she explains what apparently happened at Anorak’s workshop overnight.  He asks for her help in gathering clues about Trifaccia.  While they’re talking, Anorak is in an adjacent room performing some sort of intense magical ritual and is reluctant to be interrupted, but acknowledges the news about Xoza signing the contract—something they now share with Goldcape.

Leaving Anorak to his ritual, Goldcape and The Reckoner talk about the best way to get across to the main section of the city.  They decide to fly on Rocky’s back to Trail’s End, where the predominantly Varisian population has been friendly towards them since they provided assistance in the blood veil crisis.  There, the two leave Rocky in good hands and disguise themselves as ordinary Korvosans before crossing the bridge into the city without incident.  Goldcape stops at the Bank of Abadar to obtain one of the newly minted coins and shows it to Ralph, explaining that they now know exactly what the Queen’s crown looks like.  Plate is excited to see it, and proposes a dazzling array of ideas involving smashing, swiping, sundering, or otherwise getting it off of Ileosa’s head so they can win a fair fight against her and depose her and then make The Reckoner King of Korvosa!  Ralph appreciates the enthusiasm, but has to tamp down Plate’s confidence in their abilities for now.  The two warriors split up briefly, as Goldcape makes some purchases at Hedge Wizardry and Ralph tries but fails to find anything new on Trifaccia.  It seems like the new vigilante has appeared for a few days, and gossip on the street hasn’t added anything credible since then.

When the two reunite, Ralph proposes a bold plan.  He tells Goldcape that they need to do something visible to assure Kroft they weren’t captured and turned during the raid on Deathhead Vault.  Ralph suggests a frontal attack to wipe out the entire Gray Maiden contingent guarding one of the bridges into the city would surely suffice.  Goldcape agrees and sneaks out of the city with Ralph to fetch Rocky.  Ralph pulls on the fearsome raiment of The Reckoner while Goldcape checks Rocky’s barding for the upcoming battle.  Turning them all invisible with a wand, the three get into position on the Trail’s End side of North Bridge and then attack!  The Reckoner’s sudden appearance from nowhere terrifies hardened Gray Maidens and innocent bystanders alike, while Goldcape uses ice magic on her foes.  The Reckoner has a brief argument with Plate over whether the sapient armor should cast strength-enhancing magic, but the fight goes so well and so quickly that in the end, it doesn’t matter.  Eight Gray Maidens are slain within thirty seconds, and none of the victors are even scratched!  One of the Gray Maidens did manage to ring an alarm bell for reinforcements, so Goldcape and The Reckoner decide to split up and get back into hiding.

Back in disguise, Ralph makes his way to the Grand Cathedral of Pharasma—the largest building in the Gray District.  Intent on speaking with Bishop d’Bear, he turns himself invisible and tries to sneak in the fortress-like structure, only to be covered in sparkling glitter at the entryway!  Retreating quickly, Ralph hires a messenger to deliver a scroll that’s to be personally delivered to the Bishop: “I believe I’ve demonstrated my loyalty, it would be good if you and our associates get back in contact.”

When Goldcape returns on Rocky to the safehouse, she tells Anorak what just happened on the bridge.  The dwarf is irked that he missed out on the excitement.

[Sunday, 26 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

Shortly after three bells in the morning, the warm night air in Goldcape’s base is disturbed by a faint shimmering.  Appearing out of thin air over the course of a few seconds, what can only be described as monsters with insect-like mandibles and four arms ending in claws take shape.  The xill have returned for the box, and the gods have mercy on anyone who stands in their way!

------------

GM Commentary

I was glad Goldcape went to the bank to get one of the new coins, as it was a great chance to show off the actual Korvosan coin that Paizo had minted.  They make great souvenirs from the campaign.

With everything going on, I often forgot to role-play The Reckoner's intelligent armor, Plate, but in this session at least, I remembered and had a lot of fun with it.

At this stage in the campaign, the PCs are tough enough that even a couple of them can devastate several ordinary Gray Maidens without suffering a scratch.

Pathfinder Tales: "Liar's Island" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Wow, there's a lot happening in Liar's Island!  It's a fast-paced, action-packed, and often downright hilarious novel that I highly recommend.  The con man with a heart of gold Rodrick is back, along with his intelligent ice sword Hrym, and this time they'll be leaving the mainland behind for an adventure in rarely-seen Jalmeray!  I'm a Tim Pratt fanboy, and this novel represents him at his best.  It's full of careful attention to Golarion setting lore without becoming dense, has a knack for fun without becoming silly, and somehow makes you really *care* about a talking magical sword.  It's one of my favourite Pathinder Tales novels, so go read it! (though I give you permission to read the prior novel with Rodrick and Hrym--Liar's Blade--first.)

SPOILERS!

Rodrick and Hrym are up to their thieving ways in Absalom when they're interrupted by, of all things, a djinn with an invitation: come to exotic Jalmeray and meet the thakur (king)!  It's an invitation that's not easy to refuse, but the journey to Jalmeray is interrupted when their ship is interdicted by a vessel from the rival country of Nex.  There's some downright hilarious banter and we start seeing signs that Hrym isn't quite "himself"--the reader will realise that Hrym is being unknowingly affected by a demonic taint received at the end of the previous novel that causes him to act out violently when he's "asleep."  In Jalmeray, Rodrick and Hrym meet the thakur's advisor, Nagesh, who turns out to want the pair to help assassinate someone!  Rodrick and Hrym decide to rob the palace and make a run for it instead, only to get swept up in a jungle treasure hunt for the fabled Scepter of the Arclords and a close encounter with the murderous Knife in the Dark cult.  It's really funny, really exciting, and the ending promises to take the characters in a new direction.  It's a book I want to reread while looking forward to Liar's Bargain.

Pathfinder Module: "Guardians of Dragonfall" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Guardians of Dragonfall is a really interesting, memorable, and lore-heavy module that deserves better recognition.  I ran it in my "Roots of Golarion" campaign of 3.5-era Pathfinder material and found it was a rich and densely-packed adventure.  It's certainly not one to try and run on the fly, but instead rewards careful GM preparation (and some patience for 3D map visualisation).  For reasons that are inexplicable to me, the setting material in the module has been labelled "non-canon" (an issue I'll take up in the section below).  Despite that, I think this is an adventure well worth revisiting.

I'll get to the adventure itself in a moment, but first I'll briefly cover general design and back matter.  This is a 32-page, full-colour module.  The cover is great (undead dragons should be scary!), and the interior artwork is solid.  The cartography is excellent, though they're trying to convey some challenging 3D relationships which isn't easy for Pathfinder tactical combat to encompass.  I love the "Designer Notes" sidebars in these early modules, and still can't fathom why they were done away with in later products.  Backmatter consists of five short appendices:  "Dragonfall and Draconic Belief" (a brief summary of lore covered extensively in the adventure), "New Feats" (two new feats only for true dragons, with "slow exhalation" being a particularly nasty combination of bite and breath attack), "New Magic Items" (featuring a major artifact called a bellwether brooch and a CL15 wondrous item called a hand of the theurge--it fires wands for you!), "New Monsters" (includes cool raw magic elementals called arcanatons and flying snakelike constructs called tongues of rebuke and wings of protection), and "New Spell" (featuring apparent master which is essentially a charm spell for constructs).  Level 11 Iconics (Valeros, Seoni, Merisiel, and Kyra) round out the collection.

SPOILERS!

Apart from a brief opening, almost the entirety of the module takes place in the eponymous Dragonfall.  Dragonfall is the fabled graveyard of the dragons, a remote mountain in the highest range of peaks in Golarion, and the place that dragons who are reaching the end of their normal lifespan fly to in order to be entombed with their ancestors.  To dragonkind, it is the most sacred place in existence, and outsiders are never welcomed.  The module provides extensive background and detail on Dragonfall and the history of dragons in general, and I imagine some readers will eat it up with a spoon!  I might be one of those readers who isn't particularly fussed about dragons, but even I can admire the effort and thought that went into constructing an original and unique contribution to the campaign setting like this.  It was also integrated into the first deep treatment of dragons in Golarion (in Pathfinder AP # 4).  It's excellent, well-written material, and thus I'm baffled that Paizo declared it non-canon as if it were a passing throwaway reference in a product as opposed to a deeply thought-out and integrated aspect of the setting.  I guess that's my mini-rant, and I'll let dragon aficionados hash it out from there.

The adventure is premised on the idea that a tiefling sorcerer named Tornulis (amusingly christened "Tortilla Chip" by my son) learned of the existence of Dragonfall and, with the help of a pair of renegade dragons (a mother-undead son duo) breached the mountain's defenses and has taken over its magical guardian constructs.  Tornulis' motivations are admittedly pretty cheesy--she literally wants to rule the world!  (The artwork for her is also unfortunately top-heavy)  The GM may want to adjust her motivation and perhaps even add some backstory to better fit the plot.

Part 1, "The Herbalist's Home", gets the ball rolling.  The way the PCs get involved isn't necessarily great as an adventure hook--they receive a letter delivered by a young boy named Curthew from a herbalist named Aroon who wishes to hire them.  When the PCs show up at Aroon's residence, another (very long!) letter reveals that he is actually a gold dragon named Auronorex!  The letter indicates Auronorex learned of the intrusion at Dragonfall and has gone to investigate, but, fearing the worst, he is willing to do the unthinkable and invite a band of mortals he trusts to follow in his footsteps, promising them great treasures if they succeed.  Hidden in his basement is a magic teleportation circle that will take everyone to an outlying area of Dragonfall called the Bone Field.  It's a hook that is premised on the notion that Auronorex has been watching the PCs and entrusts them with a mission of the utmost sacred responsibility which, frankly, doesn't seem realistic for most tables of "kill-the-bad-guys&take-their-stuff" adventurers.  Ideally, a GM who is able to plan ahead could have the PCs interact with Aroon earlier and thus provide retroactive justification for his trust in them.  (When I ran it, I came up with the idea that Curthew was Aroon's nephew, and the boy had no idea he was actually a dragon too!  Perhaps also cheesy and implausible, but it made for a fun NPC to accompany the group on the adventure) 

Part 2, "The Bone Field", has the PCs arriving in a vast field of draconic skeletons--the bones of those dragons who were deemed unworthy to enter the sacred mountain.  Not every dragon gets to enter the crypts, as they must first present the Dragonfall Seneschal with an offering worthy of their power.  Normally the construct guardians quickly destroy any undead who arise in the Bone Field, but as Tornulis has seized on the guardians for her own ends, the PCs will have to fight some young adult red skeletons and potentially other undead.  (I like the random encounter table with entries like "avalanche [of bones]" and "bone storm", though the PCs probably won't linger in the Bone Field long enough for the GM to roll very often on it)  Assuming they head toward the mountain in the center of the Bone Field, the PCs will encounter the ghostly spirit of Auronorex, and probably have their first (and potentially only) major role-playing opportunity in the module.  It's revealed that each type of dragon has its own entrance to the sacred mountain, and Auronorex suggests the group try the portal to the Emerald Shrine as the closest.  They need to fight their way through some "half-dragon satyr" barbarians called the Winterhorns who (through some contrivances) have taken up residence near the entrance.

Part 3, "Shearphorus," is the middle sequence of the adventure and the longest.  Shearphorus is the name of the tower of rock that contains the crypts in Dragonfall.  The PCs most likely enter inside the mountain through a magic portal to the Emerald Shrine, arriving on the other side in total darkness to plunge into a roiling and corrosive lake of bone shards!  Called the Maelstrom, this led to one of the most exciting (to me!) or scary (to the PCs!) sequence in the adventure, as some of the PCs were still fighting the Winterhorns on one side of the portal while those on the other side were fighting for their lives against some particularly nasty environmental hazards.  PCs who can't fly or climb well are in big trouble if they don't escape the acid pool quickly.  Further travel through the Emerald Shrine involves encounters with mohrgs, Winterhorn zombies, and an undead green dragon named Lephrelourge who enjoys participating in ritual magic that will not be convenient for the safety of intruders!

A long spiral passageway leads up from the Emerald Shrine into the hollow span of Shearphorus above.  Here, the PCs will have multiple encounters with Dragonfall's construct guardians: tongues of rebuke and wings of protection.  They do different types of elemental damage and explode when destroyed.  It's a great opportunity for me to pull out the flying rules, much to the consternation of my son.  Tornulis' half-fiend ogre wizard apprentice, Trauzek, is also encountered here.  Last up is Tornulis herself.  A level 11 wizard with the disintegrate spell should never be taken for granted, but with just 40 hp (D&D 3.5 rules), she probably won't put up much of a fight.  After capturing her, my PCs made an incredible Bluff check to persuade her they were divine emissaries and she should assist them!

Part 4, "The Gauntlet of Challenge-Cry" has the PCs traversing a series of chambers meant to test the worthiness of dragons who seek to be interred in Dragonfall.  They're doing this, despite having killed or captured Tornulis, because they need to recover the bellwether brooch, the artifact that controls Dragonfall's construct guardians.  Tornulis had given it to her green dragon ally Culpangia (mother of Lephrelourge) for safekeeping.  It's a lot of names, but it all fits together, I think.  Obstacles here include a great wyrm bronze dragon suffering from delirium (diplomatic and compassionate PCs may be able to avoid a fight), more constructs, and the raw magic elementals (arcanatons) that I think are a clever addition to the game and should appear more.  Assuming the PCs can defeat Culpangia, they'll be able to retrieve the Bellwether Brooch and set things right in Dragonfall, and bear witness to the spirit of Auronorex becoming the new location's new seneschal.

Guardians of Dragonfall certainly isn't perfect--there are some character motivations and plot points that could have used a second pass--but as an adventure, it's solid and makes use of a great location.  I think I'll integrate Dragonfall into my Golarion, no matter what Paizo says!

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 60 [RPG]

 [Fireday, 24 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

It’s a hot summer’s day in Korvosa when the Harrowed Heroes, having spent several days apart to tend to their own affairs, reunite to continue planning their voyage to Castle Scarwall.  The meeting takes place at an abandoned building in Old Korvosa repurposed by Goldcape to house her own resistance cell.  After some confusion and banter over code words and security, the three get down to business.  Goldcape shares some information about The Harrower’s final words and that Yraelzin is leaving the Cinderlands after helping to repulse the giant army.  The Reckoner shares his discovery that Marcus Endrin is still alive and kept in a secret cell in Deathhead Vault, and adds his suspicions that the new “hero” Trifaccia is really an agent of the Queen.  He also informs them that Kroft and her band of rebels are safe and are awaiting reassurances before revealing the location of their new headquarters.  Anorak says he hasn’t learned much, as he’s been busy upgrading Plate to make The Reckoner more mobile on the battlefield; the only side-effect of the process is that the intelligent suit of armor seems to be growing confident and outspoken.  Although Plate is ready, Anorak says he wants to spend at least four more days in Korvosa to prepare himself for the journey, and the others agree.  The three agree on a signal for future meetings, with Anorak to hang an old towel outside his workshop and Goldcape to put an old mattress against the wall outside if either wish to talk.

As The Reckoner and Anorak are leaving Goldcape’s new quarters, the two discuss how Glorio let slip that a spy was watching the dwarf’s workshop.  The Reckoner explains it’s probably one of the strange gnomelike creatures that he and Goldcape once scuffled with, as they seem to lurk all over as hidden agents for House Arkona.  Talk slides into how such a spy could be detected or captured, and suddenly a plan is hatched.  Deciding there’s no time like the present, the two make their way to Anorak’s workshop.  The dwarf returns to work normally, while The Reckoner (invisible) hides in an alleyway watching.  Soon, he spots the spy crouching on the workshop’s roof, barely visible in the shadows of the chimney—the creature must be watching Anorak through a chink in the roof tiles!  Anorak later leaves and finds The Reckoner in the alleyway.  With the help of a memory-enhancing spell, he recognises the “gnome” as a type of rakshasa called a dandasuka.  The spell alerts the dandasuka to the presence of hidden watchers, but before it can flee, Anorak uses a short-range teleportation spell to take him and The Reckoner to the roof.  There, with one mighty swipe of his hammer, The Reckoner knocks the creature unconscious.  Fortunately, the fight was so fast that no one appeared to notice, even in broad daylight.

After the pair haul the unconscious dandasuka into the workshop and bind him securely, The Reckoner uses a wand to heal it back to consciousness.  The creature seems surprisingly unconcerned by its dire predicament—perhaps even happy to have some excitement, and readily admits it was spying on Anorak and reports to Glorio Arkona’s majordomo every morning.  It gleefully insults its captors for what it sees as a ham-fisted attempt at interrogation, and cheerfully volunteers to become a double agent for them, while noting that it could just as easily become a triple agent.  Perhaps flummoxed by the creature’s attitude, The Reckoner and Anorak decide to gag it and lock it in a chest until they can decide what to do with it.

Since he’s already in the workshop, The Reckoner decides to put on Plate.  The sapient armor is so enthused about his new abilities he shows off by lifting his wearer into the air without being asked—much to the vigilante’s consternation.  The Reckoner and Anorak discuss what to do with their captive, and eventually hit upon the idea of ensuring its loyalty through a contract—but no ordinary contract, a magical contract that coerces signatories to observe its terms!  Disguising himself as an ordinary day labourer, Ralph Blackfeather leaves the workshop with a plan to buy the contract at Hedge Wizardry, but then remembers there’s only one land crossing left between Old Korvosa and the rest of the city—and it’s guarded by the Gray Maidens!  Fortunately, Anorak is able to teleport him just across the river so he can make the rest of the journey on foot.

At Hedge Wizardry, Phaeton is dismayed when Ralph discloses who he really is underneath the disguise—which means the storekeeper will have to list him as the purchaser for anything he buys.  Ralph decides to go ahead, and scrapes together almost seven thousand gold pieces—nearly the last of his funds—to buy the magical contract.  A tip from Phaeton directs Ralph to a bookstore in Midland where the proprietor, Costa Serimus, has the legal skills to write out the terms that Ralph wants it to say.  It’s going to be quite an elaborate document, as Ralph and Anorak spent a long time thinking of loopholes the dandasuka might try to exploit.  One issues that Costa points out is that the contract will only be binding if entered into voluntarily (not through force or duress), and so Ralph should think of what he will offer in the way of consideration (value).  The nominal sum of 1 gold piece per month is decided, and Costa says he’ll have it ready the next day.  As Ralph is leaving, he notices a handbill posted by Costa offering a reward to anyone who can cleanse his store of a ghostly presence.  When asked, Costa explains that whenever he’s alone in the building, spooky things start to happen—he hears noises, feels chills, and find things have moved from where he left them.  Ralph says he might look into it.

His journey back to Old Korvosa is initially stymied by the Gray Maiden’s barricade of the bridge.  His first plan to rely on Plate’s ability to fly fails (after its resounding battle cry of “For the good of Korvosa!”) because the armor has already exhausted its magic for the day.  Fortunately, the resourceful vigilante combines invisibility and amazing physical prowess to scale the barricade without being noticed by the guards.  After a brief stop at Anorak’s workshop to share the news about the contract being drafted, The Reckoner goes to inform Goldcape of what they’ve been doing.  Once there, the two hear from Clenkins that House Arkona guards arrested several people nearby just minutes ago.  Goldcape and The Reckoner are alarmed to hear the news (fearing Glorio may be emulating Ileosa’s authoritarianism) and decide to investigate under the cover of invisibility.  But a pleasant surprise is awaiting them: the guards have only arrested a band of street robbers unlicensed by the Cerulean Society.  And more to the point, the criminals were bound and waiting for the guards after Blackjack foiled their brazen daylight attack on residents of Old Korvosa!  The return of Korvosa’s foremost hero is sure to improve morale in the neighbourhood.

After easily foiling an attempted theft by a strange spider-like humanoid creature called an ettercap, the Harrowed Heroes teleport across the river to investigate whether the city’s largest bookstore is haunted.  They perform a careful search using means mundane and magical, but fail to turn up signs of any spectral infestation.  Remembering that Costa said the haunting only occurs when he’s alone in the building, Ralph offers to spend the night alone in the bookstore, but Costa reluctantly declines—there are just too many valuable tomes in the store, and he just met Ralph hours ago.  Ralph is understanding and returns to his safehouse in Northpoint, while Anorak teleports Goldcape home and then returns to his workshop.

[Starday, 25 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

It’s just one bell past midnight when Anorak wakes from a sound sleep with tremendous pain—something is trying to tear out his throat!  As his life flashes before his eyes, a sudden burst of strength allows him to push the attacker away.  But the situation somehow becomes even worse, as the dwarf realizes there’s not just one attacker, but three, and they’re not remotely human!  Flame-red mixtures of insect and reptiles, the attackers have four arms and mandibles dripping with what must surely be poison.  As Anorak throws off the bedclothes, turns himself invisible with a mystic intonation and scrambles to his feet, one of the intruders breaks open the chest where the dandasuka is held, but snaps it shut and kicks it away.  The sound of breaking furniture in an adjacent room reveals another has found what it has been seeking: the box left by Mortimont!  Despite being invisible, the dwarf’s attacker has a rough idea of where his prey must be and continues clawing and biting.  Nearly succumbing from his wounds, Anorak makes the desperate decision to grab the box, throw open the door, and race out into the night towards the one source of aid nearby—Goldcape’s resistance cell.  As he runs—not knowing whether the creatures are following—he feels a peculiar sense of ownership over the box and the knowledge that it would let him open it . . .

-------------------

GM Commentary

This was the first session of Chapter Five, and some of the players used their 3d6 days of Downtime to gather some very handy bits of information that they shared to each other in the first scene.  During Downtime, I guarantee to players that there will be no combat interruptions and all ticking clocks in the background will be paused, but I also tell them if they want to continue Downtime activities after the 3d6 days is up, everything is fair game.  Anorak's player wanted to keep crafting, but it's hard to craft when xill are after the box you were supposed to ditch!

The idea of capturing one of Glorio's spies and turning him into a double-agent took me completely by surprise but became a pretty important subplot!  The Reckoner invested not only a substantial amount of money in that contract, but a lot of time trying to avoid any legalistic loopholes.  I tried to make the effort worthwhile in terms of the information received.  I had to improv the dandasuka's personality on the spot and came up with this crazy/creepy/enthusiastic vibe that really hit a chord with the players; he was voted the best NPC in the game when the campaign finished!

The stuff about the bookstore being haunted was my attempt to implement a reference from the Guide to Korvosa, but it didn't really pan out well.  I didn't have anything prepped.  Sometimes improv goes great, and sometimes it falls flat!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: "Bandit Outpost" [RPG]

I've had the Bandit Outpost flip-mat for a while now and never used it, but the advantage of having a big collection is that, sometimes, you happen to have exactly what you need when you need it!  I needed something that could serve as the walled Aspis Consortium compound, and Bandit Outpost fit the description perfectly.  It has a good array of features, such as buildings and their interiors, stables, an inner parapet and ladders to reach it, etc.  It's the sort of thing that would fit the bill anytime the PCs are out in the wilderness and you need a bad-guy hideout, or, as the packaging says, something that could also serve as the PCs' own headquarters.  The only downside is that, as with a lot of the early flip-mat releases, the other side is just plain grassland with a bit of a clearing in the middle of it.  I've come to find these blank sides more useful than I would have thought, but it's still not the best use of space.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 4-S: "Ruins of Bonekeep, Level One: The Silent Grave" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I imagine anyone who's played Pathfinder Society for a while will have heard of the legendary Bonekeep scenarios: a series designed to test the most experienced character optimisers around!  Famously lethal (but with higher-than-normal rewards), these scenarios are not for your average, run-of-the-mill PCs.  It was thus with a great deal of trepidation (but with plenty of Prestige Points for a raise dead) that I entered my completely-randomly-generated-multiclass character Jilla into a play-by-post game of The Silent Grave, the first of the Bonekeep scenarios.  It was very exciting to play with a real sense of fear (usually absent from most scenarios), though I think the scenario wasn't as hard as rumour has it or the GM was taking it easy on us (or perhaps both) because we all made it out in one piece.  I'd certainly like to play the next one with a no-holds-barred vibe and see what happens!


SPOILERS!

The in-game premise behind the scenario is pretty simple: a crumbling white-stoned siege castle outside of Absalom named Bonekeep is ripe for exploration, and Pathfinders are the ones to do it.  Two hundred years ago, Bonekeep was the fortress of a necromancer named Volzaras who planned to open a portal to the Negative Energy Plane under the siege castle, command an army of undead, and take over City at the Center of the World (Absalom).  Of course, Volzaras' plan went awry; he was destroyed and his keep was razed.  Various expeditions in the years since never turned up anything of interest in the ruins of Bonekeep, until two Pathfinders recently discovered a secret staircase to its lower levels.  One was decapitated by a trap, and the other ran for help.  The PCs are assigned by Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin to explore the place.  Out of game, the PCs can only explore the first level of the dungeon, as other scenarios in the series are for deeper levels.  This first level was home to the laboratories of Volzaras' apprentice, and have since been taken over by a ratfolk alchemist named Korsan.  

The scenario is pure dungeon-crawl, with no NPCs, skill challenges, wilderness travel, etc.  It's classic, old school, check-every-square-for-traps gaming that can feel very nostalgic to those of us who played in the era of graph-paper maps.  The scenario definitely has some appropriately ruthless features: multiple creatures like caryatid columns and grey oozes that can destroy equipment (this happened early in the game I played and really limited one of the PCs who until then had the modern luxury of never needing to carry a backup weapon), combats that can get out of hand quickly with poor tactics or bad luck on the dice (an alchemist that buffs for five rounds can be scary), and some great traps (I love one trap that is armed only by the PCs adding their weight to a pedestal to disarm a more obvious trap).  Disease seems to be a special theme of this particular scenario, as there are multiple ways to catch one and the scenario even includes a special GM handout to keep track of who has one and their progression!  (and there's a negative boon associated with disease as well)  

The Pathfinder experience it reminds me of the most of is Thornkeep, which came out after this, but that was also pure (and sometimes pretty tough) dungeon crawling.  There must be some rules for running the adventure that are outside the scenario itself, as there's some references to time limits in the text (and for PBP, we were limited to a route of about half the rooms, chosen by the GM)

I certainly had fun with The Silent Grave.  I wouldn't want hard old-school dungeon crawls to be the only type of Pathfinder adventure, but as a change of pace, it was great and escaping the first level came with a sense of accomplishment.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 59 [RPG]

[15 Erastus 4708 to 23 Erastus 4708]

After weeks of exhaustive trudging through the Cinderlands and a narrow escape from Deathhead Vault, the Harrowed Heroes decide to spend several days in Korvosa to rest and plan the next steps of their quest.  The raid on Deathhead Vault has clearly broken the back of the Red Mantis assassins, as rumor holds they were effectively wiped out and are unlikely to return.  In addition, several mid-ranking officers in the Gray Maidens were slain, and the effects are clear: patrols are less frequent and more cautious.  Without adequate troops to enforce it, Ileosa has “graciously” lifted martial law from Korvosa.  Unrest and violence remain—along with the knowledge that the cruel queen could tighten her fist at any time—but for now the city is better off than it has been since just before the arrival of blood veil. 

Across the city, various factions are also planning their next moves.  With the Church of Asmodeus and the Church of Abadar officially endorsing Ileosa, the “neutral” faiths of Sarenrae and Pharasma are coming under increasing pressure.   In Old Korvosa, House Arkona continues to take advantage of the power-vacuum on Endrin’s Isle by exerting more influence over local affairs.  The city’s only thieves’ guild, the Cerulean Society, seems to be laying low for the moment—always an ominous sign.  Merchant shipping has resumed, though at a slower pace, as chaos is bad for business.  Cressida Kroft arranges for word to be sent to The Reckoner that the surface raid on the Longacre Building was easily repulsed, but that she and the others successfully escaped and have set up in a different location than before.  Rumors run rampant that a new vigilante named Trifaccia has appeared in the city—an expert swordsman wearing a gold mask and red robe, he allegedly saves ordinary law-abiding Korvosans from the depredations of violent rebels trying to extort money from them.  And of course, events continue to churn outside the city, with Yraelzin sending a magical message to Goldcape that the giant siege on Urglin has been broken, and that he’ll be heading east after a dream vision from The Harrower.

In the days after their return, The Reckoner commissions Anorak to further enchant Plate (his sapient suit of armor) and gathers information on Trifaccia.  Goldcape collects an assortment of rumors and researches at the University of Korvosa to learn about Belkzen.  Anorak puts in hour after hour in his workshop.  But even during these days of preparation, portentous events still occur.

Goldcape rides Nipper out of Korvosa and to the nearby village of Harse.  There, she easily finds Blackbird Ranch, the place Vencarlo Orisini asked her to come after finishing her time in the Cinderlands.  Goldcape is greeted by a friendly rancher (and former adventuring companion of Vencarlo) named Jasan Adriel.  Jasan invites Goldcape to dinner with his wife and children, and they have a fun meal as Goldcape tells stories and answers a lot of questions from the kids.  They’re especially interested in Nipper, and amazed that Goldcape can speak to a horse!  After dinner, Jasan leads Goldcape to an outbuilding on the ranch, asks for help pushing a bay of hale to the side, and opens a trapdoor underneath it.  After climbing down the exposed ladder, Goldcape finds herself in a fully-furnished underground apartment!  Vencarlo and Neolandus Kalepopolis (Castle Korvosa’s presumed-dead seneschal) are there, and happy to receive a visitor.  Goldcape confirms that in the Cinderlands, she and her allies found information that will lead them to a way to render Ileosa vulnerable to attack.  Vencarlo sends Neolandus to talk with Jasan on the surface, and leads Goldcape over to a small black trunk.  He smiles at Goldcape, and says she probably knows what he’s about to reveal.  Flipping the latches on the trunk, he reveals the distinctive costume and equipment of Blackjack!  Vencarlo says he’s past his prime and needs to keep Neolandus safe, but that Korvosa still needs a hero who will live up to the ideals of Blackjack: justice, mercy, and the rights of the common folk.  “Korvosa needs you, Goldcape, and Korvosa needs Blackjack. Will you be take on the mantle of the city’s greatest hero?”  Goldcape happily accepts.  She gets confirmation of something else she suspected—that Vencarlo had hoped that one of his former fencing students, Grau Soldado or Sabina Merrin, would be suited to the role, but after the three had a falling out, it was clear neither could be Blackjack.  Before leaving, Goldcape shares some tragic news with Vencarlo.  His former partner (romantically and in crimefighting), The Harrower, is dead.  Vencarlo looks stricken and tries not to weep, as Goldcape puts a consoling hand on his shoulder.

Having spent hours enchanting The Reckoner’s sapient armor with new capabilities, Anorak is just finishing up a long, sweaty day when he hears a gentle tap on the door.  He opens it to reveal Mortimont, the unsettling baker from across the street.  Mortimont explains that he’s brought cupcakes, and urges Anorak to try one, but the dwarf remains cautious and declines.  He does let Mortimont in to talk though, and the baker says that unfortunately, he’ll be leaving Korvosa soon.  He asks Anorak to dispose of the mysterious box he had paid him to watch over, suggesting “the heart of a volcano” or “the depths of the ocean” as suitable places for it.  Several times, Mortimont reminds Anorak not to open the box.  Anorak receives the news that the box has been abandoned by Mortimont in good spirits, muttering as the baker departs that he’s certainly going to open the box.

Having returned to his original safe-house in North Point, Ralph Blackfeather is working hard to prepare for the impending journey to Scarwall.  Given that his lair is meant to be well-hidden, he’s surprised to hear a sharp rap at a back exit.  Instead of answering directly, Ralph quickly changes into The Reckoner and sneaks out another exit to see what’s waiting for him.  There, wearing a deep-hooded cloak and signs of burn scarring, is Grau Soldado!  Having been brought to the safe-house months ago by Goldcape during the initial riots, Grau must have remembered its location.  The Reckoner calls out to him cautiously, and Grau says it would be safer to speak inside, out of prying eyes and ears.  When both men are in, The Reckoner says he heard Grau was severely injured.  Grau nods, stating that a battle against Ileosa’s new “seneschal”—a powerful wizard—left him with severe burns.  Fortunately, the Temple of Sarenrae took him in and hid him away, healing him with their magic.  Grau gets to the point quickly: he wants The Reckoner’s band to join his resistance.  He says Cressida Kroft has her heart in the right place, but is too cautious and lacks the edge to get the job done.  When The Reckoner raises the recent raid on the Longacre Building, Grau concedes it was an example of smart planning.  But, he says, that’s the only operation her resistance group has conducted since martial law was imposed.  In contrast, Grau says his fighters’ constant hit-and-run attacks have forced the Gray Maidens completely out of the Shingles, effectively freeing a sizable portion of the city’s population from Ileosa’s grip.  The Reckoner is impressed, but explains that for now, it’s a moot point about which resistance group has the better prospects, so long as Ileosa is invulnerable—but that may soon change.  Grau is intrigued, and says when it does, there’s another reason why the Harrowed Heroes should throw their support behind him; he has a person on the inside of Castle Korvosa.  The two warriors agree to go their separate ways for now, but establish a system of communication involving squares of red cloth should they need to meet again.

In the slums of Old Korvosa, one of the projects Goldcape has expended days of effort (and a lot of gold) to accomplish is to set up her own resistance cell in an abandoned building.  Outfitted with defensive traps, cots and bedrolls, and a small armory, the hidden base seems safe from the Queen’s forces as long as it remains in the still-quarantined part of the city.  Drawing upon thugs formerly loyal to the “Emperor of Old Korvosa”, regular citizens out of work since they can’t cross the blockaded bridge to the rest of the city, soldiers left to their own devices after the abolition of the Sable Company and the Korvosan Guard, and even a former acolyte of Yraelzin’s “Temple of Razmir,” Goldcape has assembled a potentially formidable force.  Her greatest bit of luck was finding Sergeant Clenkins, the aged Korvosan Guardsman formerly responsible for watching the gate of Citadel Volshyenek.  Clenkins promises to train the disparate members of the cell so they can work well together once Goldcape gives them their first mission.  Goldcape says she’ll be leaving for a couple of weeks and that it would be too dangerous to do any raids for now, but when she returns, she’ll have a target for them.

One day, enjoying lunch in his workshop, Anorak hears the sounds of horse hooves, carriage wheels, and marching soldiers out front.  He opens the door cautiously to see that Glorio Arkona, patriarch of House Arkona, has come by with “an exciting proposition”!  The dwarf lets Glorio in but refuses him a seat, putting himself in the power position.  Glorio beats around the bush for a bit, explaining that “a little bird—or an invisible spy” told him Anorak was working on some truly “crafty crafting”.  The aristocrat looks meaningfully at Plate, strapped down to the worktable.  Glorio says that “quality is what House Arkona stands for”, and that he wants Anorak to come to work for him as Chief Armorer.  Anorak is frank that he doesn’t trust Glorio, but Glorio tries to reassure him that all of the danger and manipulation the dwarf experienced was due to his sister, who has surely fled the city.  Glorio goes on to say that instead of the unpredictability and constant danger of adventuring, Anorak would receive a steady, stable, and very lucrative experience working in an exquisite workspace in Arkona Palace itself.  Anorak seems mildly tempted, but still turns down the offer, saying it wouldn’t be exciting enough.  Glorio makes a final pitch, subtly hinting that with someone as unpredictable as Ileosa as Queen, having friends like House Arkona could be very fruitful indeed.  Anorak says that will only matter if Ileosa can be defeated, and right now she has world-breaking magic, is quite evil, and could live for centuries.  Glorio sighs in resignation, remarking that if Anorak thinks he would survive such a direct confrontation, his father told him never to do business with those who have a loose grasp on reality.

Another startling event during this period begins when Ralph Blackfeather makes one of his many visits to Hedge Wizardry to purchase enchanted items for the group.  Phaeton Skoda, the cluttered store’s proprietor, pulls Ralph in, locks the door, and puts a “closed” sign on display in the window.  Looking nervous, Phaeton begins by staying something dreadful has happened.  Before he can continue, Ralph hurries to reassure him that he was responsible for the recent attempted break-in at the back door and was sorry for any damages caused.  Phaeton’s eyes widen, as he had no idea about that.  He mutters something about how it was lucky “the guardian” hadn’t been awakened, but continues to explain that something far more serious has taken place: an inquisitor of the Church of Abadar visited just a couple of days ago and seized Phaeton’s accounts books.  But the inquisitor wasn’t after records of last year’s transactions (taxes on which Phaeton assures Ralph were fully paid), but of the last few months!  In other words, Phaeton thinks there’s a high-level investigation into who has been buying expensive or powerful magical items in the city.  Ralph remains calm, and says he’ll likely be leaving the city for some time.  He promises to work out a way to make future purchases anonymously so that Phaeton can record the buyer or seller as “unknown” in good faith and without violating any laws.

The days of downtime pass by quickly, but soon the time will come again when the Harrowed Heroes need to assemble for the next step of their epic quest.  The stakes are clear: either Queen Ileosa survives, or Korvosa does.

----------------------------

GM Commentary

In this campaign, I offered the players 3d6 days of "downtime" between each chapter: a time where they could retrain, craft, research new spells, earn coin, etc. with a guarantee that the downtime wouldn't count against any ticking clocks in the background or be interrupted by sudden attack.  I used a slightly modified version of the Downtime rules from Ultimate Campaign (I think) for this, and it worked out pretty well as the rules state how much different activities cost and how long they take.

Most of the downtime stuff was handled between sessions, but I promised my players they'd each get one or two role-playing scenes set during downtime.  That's what this session consisted of.  I knew the PCs would be off for Scarwall soon (and there for the entirety of Chapter Five), so I foreshadowed as much as I reasonably could about Chapter Six:  the vigilante Trifaccia, the new seneschal (the bloodmage Togomor), Grau's "man on the inside" of Castle Korvosa (Sabina!), and more.  I also tried to advance the three factions (Kroft's, Grau's, and Glorio's) plotline by showing what each has to offer and, hopefully, making the choice of which to support not be an obvious one for the group.

Two key moments during this session were Goldcape being selected as the new Blackjack (a rooftop-running, rapier-wielding chaotic good character fit the bill perfectly!) and Anorak being left with the mysterious box and advised to dispose of it (in a volcano or the ocean depths, no less!).  I loved the Blackjack element of Curse of the Crimson Throne, and it makes for a really memorable part of the campaign--and I know Goldcape's player loved it too.  As for the mysterious box, we'll soon see that Anorak was unable to resist temptation, and the startling consequences that has on the rest of the campaign.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 58 [RPG]

[Toilday, 14 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

A tremendous victory has been won, but the Battle of Deathhead Vault isn’t over yet!  As The Reckoner and Anorak search the bodies of the fallen Gray Maidens, the sound of reinforcements trying to break down the locked doors to the chamber echoes throughout the Vault.  The Reckoner says he wants to free the other prisoners in the facility, but The Harrower says cryptically that her power is waning and she has much to tell them.  She says she can’t stay much longer, and when she leaves, she’ll never see them again.  But The Reckoner is adamant that there’s more to do in the Vault and, using keys found on Kordaitra Destaid, the Gray Maidens’ second-in-command, he unlocks the door to a series of back rooms.  In one of them, he spots a secret door that opens to reveal a hidden closet full of potions, wands, scrolls, and more—a veritable treasure trove of supplies kept by the Gray Maidens in case of emergency!  But suddenly the outer doors to the main chamber burst in, and Gray Maidens begin to spill in.  The Harrower shouts her farewell, saying she’ll try to find Goldcape to listen to her final Harrowing.  She disappears in a swirling chain of cards.

The Reckoner and Anorak conceal themselves in the closet, shutting the secret door behind them.  They can hear the heavy footsteps of Gray Maidens searching the back rooms thoroughly for the intruders and decide to begin sweeping everything in the closet into The Reckoner’s handy haversack.  But one of the items must have also been enchanted as an extra-dimensional repository, as The Reckoner’s bag—and everything in it—implodes!  Trapped in the closet as dozens of Gray Maidens, led by a superior with an elvish accent, search for them, The Reckoner and Anorak decide it’s time to escape.  Taking the remaining valuables in the emergency stash, they use teleportation magic to vanish, reappearing safely elsewhere.

Meanwhile, The Harrower—frantic and dishevelled and somehow . . . less real—appears suddenly in Old Lady Cloggins’ kitchen!  The house’s owner is understandably quite startled, but quickly regains her composure, promising to make Goldcape and her guest some tea while they talk.  The Harrower pulls Goldcape into a back room, pulls the blinds, pushes a table to the center of the room, and spreads cards on it.  She performs a final Harrowing, pouring out her insight into what the future holds.  When she finishes, her body glows and becomes mist-like as she’s slowly drawn to a realm that perhaps mankind was never meant to witness.  “I’ve held on for as long as I could,” she says.  “But I can’t resist the pull any longer.  I have to say goodbye.  Remember what you’ve learned.  It may just be enough to see you and the others through.”  With a sad smile, The Harrower’s spirit moves on toward its final resting place.

Goldcape emerges into the kitchen to find Old Lady Cloggins feeding Rocky some scones in the backyard.  Goldcape explains she has to leave for a while, but promises to return soon.  She flies on Rocky’s back to Old Korvosa, fortunate that the Gray Maiden aerial scouts still haven’t returned from patrolling the skies above the statue unveiling to the west.  Once near The Reckoner’s hidden safehouse, Goldcape calls out and tries to get his attention, enraging the security-conscious vigilante.  The two argue, and Goldcape ends up flying away in a huff.

As another chapter in the epic tale of Queen Ileosa’s reign closes, the Harrowed Heroes have won a resounding victory against her forces.  But will constant internal fighting tear the group apart just short of their goal?
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GM Commentary

A correction to my commentary from last session.  One of the players reminded me that the reason I had the Harrower appear was as a fill-in for Goldcape's player being absent.  As I said in that post, the memory gets fuzzy the further away we get from the campaign!

When The Reckoner got going after blood and treasure, it was hard to get him to stop!  Thus, The Harrower's final message (meant to be a solemn and sad turning point for the campaign) was delivered only to Goldcape with the other players in another room.

We see here another exploded magic container, and believe it or not, despite warnings, this isn't the only time it happens in the campaign!

In the real world, personality conflicts between Goldcape's player and The Reckoner's player made Chapter Four a bit rocky, but things really come to a head here in a way that affects Chapter Five.  Soon, Goldcape's player decides to take a break from running a PC and instead becomes a temporary Assistant GM, helping me run combats and keep track of things.