Pathfinder Module: "Heroes for Highdelve" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Heroes for Highdelve has an interesting background.  Produced for the 50^th anniversary of GenCon, it’s a combination of introductory Pathfinder adventure (plus incentive to buy the related Cavernous Lair flip-mat), advertisement for GenCon’s four iconic characters (presented in Pathfinder rules for the first time), and mini-product catalog for a miniatures & paint accessories company called Games & Gears (Booth # 2402!).  The product is 22 pages long, with maps on the inside front- and back-covers, 12 pages of adventure, 4 pages for the GenCon Iconics (integrated into the adventure with individual story hooks), and 4 pages for the Games & Gears products (which include minis of the Iconics and one of the villains).  Although obviously produced with commercial partners, the module is very professionally done, with excellent interior maps, artwork, and solid writing.  And, an awesome cover—if they made that into a poster, I’d hang it up!  I got to play Heroes for Highdelve via play-by-post for Pathfinder Society, and we used custom PCs (I had no idea the product was even intended for pre-gens).  For me, the module is most memorable as the first appearance of my Prophet of Kalistrade character, Nistivo Cirek.  For everyone else, the adventure itself is fine but forgettable. It does have value as a one-shot with a 2-3 hour running time (perfect for when the usual PFS 4-5 hour scenario running time won’t work).

SPOILERS!

 

Heroes for Highdelve is set in the eponymous town, which is located at the foot of the Goluskhin Mountains in Brevoy.  The PCs arrive during the annual Brightbloom Jubilee, a spring festival, and can have fun with various low-stakes games like sack races, kick-sack (hacky-sack), a puppet show, and more.  The adventure assumes the use of the pre-gens, who each have a reason for coming to Highdelve, and expects the PCs to be asking a lot of questions of the locals during this time.  Perhaps oddly though, but fortunately for custom PCs, most of the NPCs just give the questions the runaround or say the equivalent of “I’m busy now, but ask me tomorrow”; the actual adventure itself has nothing to do with the PCs’ individual quests.  My GM did an excellent job adapting the adventure for PFS, as it wasn’t until I read the module for this review that I realise how much he had to make up in order to get us hooked into the adventure.  Anyway, after some relaxed fun at the jubilee, the adventure kicks into gear when a pair of town youth stumble in, bruised and bloodied.  The pair were the town’s celebratory “Bloomgivers” this year, given the honour of walking to the nearby Dendra’s Slope to collect special flowers for the jubilee.  It turns out, however, that they were attacked by two other youths in town (Richelle and Tolwin) who were angry about not being chosen as Bloomgivers.  And worse, the (rather violent) juvenile delinquents even took the golden amulet of Aurelliax (the town’s gold dragon protector, who hangs out in human form) from the Bloomgivers!  “Are there any among you who are willing to be heroes for Highdelve?” asks Aurelliax.  Nistivo Cirek will—for the right price!

 

Part 2 of the module has the PCs travelling to Dendra’s Slope.  After finding the site of the attack, they’ll soon find (hiding nearby) Richelle and Tolwin.  What the PCs won’t be expecting is that the two aren’t by themselves—their attack on the Bloomgivers was prompted by an evil tiefling rogue named Feran the Pale.  (Feran had some sort of unrealistic plan to distract the townsfolk so he could steal from them, but the motivation here is pretty week).  I’ll just note as an aside that Richelle and Tolwin fight with longswords and Feran has sneak attack, so it’s perfectly possible that this seeming “playground bullies”-style adventure could become lethal (combats are first level being notoriously swingy in Pathfinder).

 

Part 3 of the module has the PCs facing off against what could be a pretty big threat: an ettin that is wearing Aurelliax’s amulet (it was part of Feran’s plan).  Alas, the ettin doesn’t have much in the way of personality, so this is a pure combat encounter.

 

And that’s it—there is a *very* short (one sentence) conclusion to the adventure.  As an introductory experience to Pathfinder, Heroes for Highdelve is certainly serviceable, though I don’t imagine the plot or writing will be especially impressive to newcomers to the game.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 81 [RPG]

[Fireday, 7 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

Having explored most of the second floor of Castle Scarwall proper, the Harrowed Heroes decide to turn their efforts to the roof of the guest wing.  A stubborn door has to be broken down.  But once The Reckoner and Anorak pass through it, the pieces of the door suddenly reassemble and Lorien’s voice can be heard shouting in an ominous tone: “Destroy the weak to weaken the strong!”  Yraelzin calls out “she’s been entranced!  Run!”  Eldritch and Yraelzin, trapped on the other side of the door with a suddenly-dangerous ally-turned-foe, flee at top speed while The Reckoner hammers furiously to break the door down again.  He succeeds just in time for Anorak to wrap Lorien up in a conjured mass of writhing black tentacles.  Soon, the group’s newest member is safely manacled, although bruised severely from the crushing grip of the tentacles.  The group’s two controlled zombies also perished in the fighting, but none consider that a great loss.

When he returns to the scene, Eldritch whispers to Anorak that he’s been saying all along there were assassins in the group!  The reptilian bird says they should slit Lorien’s throat while they still can, and that you can never trust a half-orc.  Anorak rebuffs the paranoid rantings as the group explores the roof of the guest wing to discover little of interest save a staircase leading down into it.  They decide to instead turn their attention to Castle Scarwall’s donjon (a fortified inner keep) and approach the set of bronze double doors leading to it.  The doors are so tarnished that they almost appear black, and gruesome images of devils and priests cavorting among the corpses and tortured souls of the damned are cast in bas-relief on its exterior while a skull and spiked chain overlook the entire scene from the center of the doors.

The Reckoner examines the doors carefully and realises two surprising things.  First, the stone wall around the doors has been magically altered to form a seal around their edges.  Second, the central seam has likewise been sealed with lead.  But where keys and picks may fail, The Reckoner’s trusty adamantine hammer never does!  He smashes down the door with several swings to reveal a foyer tiled in blood-red marble.  An altar resembling a skull, its lower section wrapped in iron chains and its top cut off flat to form a level surface, stands in an alcove to the east, while an alcove to the west contains a ten-foot-diameter pool of what appears to be stagnant water.

The Reckoner moves in cautiously, but is suddenly hurled back by blinding waves of magical force that would have killed a lesser man!  As he uses a wand of healing to recover, Anorak scrutinises the wards protecting the donjon and comes to a startling conclusion: there are two separate wards to keep people out, and two additional wards to keep people in!  Is the castle’s donjon a vault or a prison?  Anorak explains that it may be possible for he or Yraelzin to dispel the repulsion field, but the pain ward is far too powerful to remove.

Finding their efforts to force their way in stymied, the Harrowed Heroes regroup and decide to try to get in through the roof!  The Reckoner tries to climb the smooth stone walls of the donjon, but finds himself sliding back down repeatedly.  Anorak levitates up, a smirk on his face, and lowers a rope.  Soon, everyone is on the roof of the donjon.  Weak sunlight filters through the ever-present thin mist that hangs around Castle Scarwall like a gloomy veil.  Even the chill wind that blows off the crater lake at this altitude doesn’t disturb the mist at all.  Plate urges the group to hurry, reminding them that the rebels in Korvosa are planning to attack Castle Korvosa immediately because of the dark blood magicks killing random civilians.  In just minutes, the group find themselves at the point where the rest of Castle Scarwall connects to the strange, star-shaped tower that looms over it.  Interestingly, it becomes immediately obvious that the “Star Tower” is in fact much, much older than the rest of the castle—perhaps dating to Thassilonian times or even before!

With Anorak’s help, the group fly to the top of the Star Tower.  There, they find a single stone building with no obvious entrance.  The marble of both the building and the surrounding tower show no seams and are polished to a sheen, almost as if the entire structure were carved from a single immense shaft of stone.  But on the southeastern wall of the small stone building, a carving of a ten-foot-wide skull with spiked chains dangling from its eye sockets looks out over the castle below.  The carving can only represent one thing: Zon-Kuthon! Anorak examines the symbol carefully with his magically-enhanced senses, and realises that the carving is a type of magical entrance called a phase door, normally passable only by a true worshipper of the Midnight Lord.  But alas, with the curse affecting Scarwall, even the potent magic of the phase door cannot operate.

Although scarcely an hour has passed since they broke camp, the explorers are concerned that they’ve exhausted too many of their arcane resources and decide they should rest.  As they go about the procedure to set up camp on the roof of the Star Tower, little do they realize that their actions have been observed from afar ever since they first ascended.  For Castle Scarwall has many guardians, and not all stand sentinel inside the building.  Almost before it’s too late, the Harrowed Heroes see a quartet of four-armed brutish gargoyles swooping toward them!  Eldritch happens to be the closest to the gargoyles, and two immediately turn their attention (and appetites) to an exotic meal!  Anorak’s familiar flees with grievous wounds.  Yraelzin conjures spheres of crackling lightning to down two of the foes, but Anorak and The Reckoner (with the help of Plate’s limited enchantments) fly off the roof to help Eldritch.  It’s a near thing, but they manage to get there just in time!  The strange reptilian-bird that is Eldritch will live to fly another day . . .

Repulsed by the magical protections guarding the donjon and the Star Tower, the Harrowed Heroes have certainly learned one thing: nowhere in Scarwall is truly safe . . .

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

GM Commentary

As I've commented before, I really like to give familiars, intelligent weapons, hirelings, eidolons, and so forth a real personality and presence in the game if I can.  Eldritch was always fun to role-play, as he was paranoid and psychotic, always convinced that everyone was out to betray and kill him and Anorak.  When an NPC is only going to get limited screen time, you really have to give them some extreme personality characteristics to make them "pop", and that worked well with Eldritch.

The combination repulsion and forbiddance (if I remember correctly) wards were complex and a little confusing to run, because they had very different effects depending on each PC's alignment and the results had to be applied in a particular order.  The damage really hit animal companions and familiars hard.

I made it sound all smooth here, but I found Castle Scarwall a real challenge to run just given its enormous size and complexity.  (even physically juggling several flip-mats and finding table space was a logistical issue)  The challenge was even harder when the PCs went outside, because then I had to try to match up the (very detailed) interior maps with the (very sketchy) external drawing.  The gargoyle brutes ended up being pretty nasty, mostly because they were able to get in close before the PCs spotted them.  Eldritch just happened to be the closest, and the psycho bird barely escaped with his life.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 2-S: "Year of the Shadow Lodge" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Year of the Shadow Lodge was the first Pathfinder Society multi-table Special event.  Compared to later Specials, it seems incredibly streamlined and straightforward, as there's no later innovations like different tables choosing different missions, aid tokens, mustering activities, etc.  Honestly, it was kind of refreshing.  That being said, although I liked the general idea of the scenario, I don't think the plot holds together very well and many of the combats are repetitive, very easy, and fairly bland.  I played it at highest subtier (10-11) with my Kellid Shaman, Gurkagh, via play-by-post last year.  I find the play-by-post conventions run Specials at incredible speeds (usually finishing weeks before the convention is set to end), which is unfortunate as everything becomes a bit of a blur.  Anyway, today, the Special is certainly playable but probably mostly of interest as an interesting development in the history of both the fictional and the real Pathfinder Society.

SPOILERS!

Prior to the events of Year of the Shadow Lodge, the fictional Pathfinder Society is largely unaware that there is a secret network of members dissatisfied with the group's slow pace and bureaucratic nature.  Apparently, there are dozens and dozens of members working to change the organisation within and plotting an eventual overthrow of its leadership, the masked Decemvirate.  However, the members of the Shadow Lodge are, by nature, cautious and secretive, and thus want to carefully lay in wait while developing the strength to make the revelation of their existence simultaneous with successfully seizing control.  Unfortunately, for the Shadow Lodge, one of its members, a sorcerer named Charvion, is tired of waiting--he wants to act now!  Charvion has planned a major (and by major, I mean several dragons and a horde of goblins) assault on the Grand Lodge.  But there's intrigue within intrigue, because the rest of the Shadow Lodge thinks Charvion is foolish.  So, they feed him red herrings that the Decemvirate's secrets are on scrolls buried beneath the Mortuary at the Grand Lodge.  They hope that, in the likely event Charvion's very public attack fails miserably, the Pathfinder Society either continues to disbelieve in or greatly underestimates the Shadow Lodge's real strength.

Charvion's plan is a bit convoluted, and I don't really understand it.  The general premise is that he plans to use a minor Azlanti artifact recently discovered in the Mwangi Expanse called the Cage of Spirit Echoes.  The Cage allows the user to communicate with the dead.  As hundreds of Pathfinders will be present at the unveiling of the Cage during a major Absalom holiday event (the Passion of the First Siege of Absalom), Charvion plans to have his dragons attack as a distraction while he then takes the Cage and rushes over to the Grand Lodge and fights his way into the Pathfinder Society Mortuary to dig up the Decemvirate secrets.  I'm honestly fuzzy why he needs the Cage to dig up the scrolls, how he has managed to secretly amass an army of dragons and goblins and sneak them into Absalom, and why, as a sorcerer and a Pathfinder in good standing, he couldn't just walk right into the Mortuary in the middle of the night, bump off anyone there, and do his digging without all the drama!  In other words, the plot just doesn't really hold up, and nor do I understand why the rest of the Shadow Lodge would let it go forward--after all, anyone who can amass an army of dragons and goblins and wield an artifact is going to seem like a major threat, so surely the Pathfinder Society will take the Shadow Lodge seriously in the future.  And, that is exactly what happens at the end of the scenario: the existence of the Shadow Lodge is confirmed.  It really makes the Shadow Lodge look kinda dumb, which undermines the dark conspiracy storyline the PFS organisers wanted to tell.

Anyway, the Special moves quickly.  Act 1 starts at a massive stadium in Absalom called the Irorium, where the festival is to take place.  I love that only PCs of the highest subtier gets the "good" seats (next to the field); more scenarios should give perks to those who have earned it!  For some reason, the scenario spends several paragraphs describing the physical features of the Irorium, even though none of it matters because the combat will take place on a flip-mat that is only a pale, symbolic version of it.  When Charvion makes his move and seizes the Cage, the dragons and goblins attack and the PCs need to fight them off in order to escape.

Act 2 has the PCs hearing of an assault on the Grand Lodge, but needing to fight their way through an ambush in the Foreign Quarter before they can get there.  The ambush is more goblins, obstacles (that mechanically function as traps--a bit odd), and a Shadow Lodge cleric of Groetus named Melyra.  If the PCs actually capture Melyra alive and interrogate her, they can get the broad outlines of what is happening; otherwise, they'll probably be completely in the dark.

Act 3 has the PCs needing to fight their way into the Grand Lodge by breaching its falls and overcoming yet more goblin defenders.

Act 4 is interesting, as an old black dragon named Zythrustianax is perched on the roof of the Mortuary.  PCs of the highest subtier can actually fight it if they want, while PCs of every other subtier need to try to sneak in, with failed Stealth checks resulting in the dragon's tail slaps dislodging rubble to drop on them!  There's a nice cooperative element here, as tables can work together to distract Zythrustianax so others can get inside (and, similarly, the first table that manages to break the door down makes things easier for every subsequent table to get in).  There's a nice custom map of the Mortuary to handle multiple encounters inside (more goblins, beetle swarms, spectral undead somehow unleashed by the Cage), and finally Charvion himself.  Unless the PCs were completely devastated by the earlier encounters, they'll probably have no trouble defeating a lone sorcerer (unless, at high subtier, he manages to get off a death spell or two).  When Charvion is defeated, his body and soul are sucked into the Cage of Soul Echoes in a gleeful bit of flavour text.  And now we know: the Shadow Lodge is real!

Pathfinder Society # 9-20: "Fury of the Final Blade" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

 

I got to play Fury of the Final Blade with my half-orc Paladin, Trokkus.  The scenario takes place in a country I find really interesting but have hardly ever adventured in: Galt.  Galt is Golarion’s analogue to the French Revolution, but as the title of the scenario implies, the guillotines here take not just your head, but your soul!  Although my PC wasn’t particularly well-suited to the scenario, I think it’s well-written and well-designed.  It’s open-ended and allows for some player creativity, develops an NPC arc that had been in progress for years, and is fairly original in terms of plot and gameplay.  These later season PF1 scenarios tend to be steeped in lore, rich in plot, and carefully written.  Fury of the Final Blade is no exception.  It’s definitely worth playing, and perhaps a must-do for members of the Liberty’s Edge.

 

SPOILERS!

 

Major Colson Maldris, long-time leader of Liberty’s Edge, may have gotten (literally) in over his head.  Tying in heavily to # 9-02, we learn in Fury of the Final Blade that Maldris’s plan for the recalcitrant and corrupt nobles of Andoran to face justice in Galt has gone dramatically awry.  Not only are the nobles going to be executed without trial, but Maldris himself faces the chopping block!  Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro (amazing artwork, but with a personality that doesn’t match) sends the PCs in to Isarn to rescue the Andoren nobles and, if possible, Maldris.  The stakes are high, because if the PCs fail, the Pathfinder Society, Galt, and Andoran could become locked in conflict, and the Red Revolution could spread.  Pretty cool set-up for an adventure!

 

The PCs arrive in Isarn the night before the executions are scheduled, so they don’t have time to rest and need to get into planning the prison break immediately.  There’s lots of options available in terms of preparation, such as trying to time guard patrols, steal uniforms, etc., and this part is fairly open-ended. The scenario is actually a bit confusing on the time element, because in one place it says the group has time to conduct two investigations to prep for the prison break, but elsewhere it gives the specific number of hours different tasks take (without telling the GM how many hours are available).  I like how the prison has sensible precautions in a fantasy world; for example, you can’t just teleport in or easily scry to discern the facility’s layout.

 

The scenario features a cool villain—a Gray Gardener mesmerist named Citizen Dread—along with some tough foes like sakhils and (potentially instantly deadly) banshees.  More, the PCs are likely to rouse the ire of mobs of Galtans, bringing the troop rules into play.  The whole sequence of events can play out differently depending on the PCs’ actions (something every scenario should envision), down to the question of whether the PCs think Maldris is worth rescuing at all since he’s been disloyal to both the Society and to Andoran.

 

In short, Fury of the Final Blade presents lots for the players to work with.  There’s plenty of room for role-playing, combat, strategy, and moral debate, all in the context of a solid story and development of a major NPC and faction.  Putting all of that together in one scenario isn’t easy to do!

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 4-07: "Severing Ties" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Severing Ties via play-by-post way back in 2018 and apparently completely forgot to write a review for it!  I might never have noticed, but for the fact that I'm running the Second Darkness adventure path, which starts in the city of Riddleport, and I try to do a thorough read of related Pathfinder setting materials before running a game.  Severing Ties is also set in Riddleport, and helped flesh out some key locations in the city for me.  I also ended up stealing bits and pieces of the scenario's plot as an optional side-quest (but ended up disguising that fact too well, leading the PCs to spend a lot of time on it!)  Such are the perils of GMing.  Anyway, as for the scenario proper, I think it's done reasonably well but I imagine many groups struggle with an expectation that they'll avoid direct combat in a particular area, which could mean PC death or even a TPK.  Most Pathfinder PCs just aren't very subtle, and this is a scenario that expects subtlety.

SPOILERS!

The backstory to Severing Ties involves the Aspis Consortium trying to improve its relationship with the Cult of Lissala after some drama involving the Hao Jin Tapestry in previous scenarios.  What the Consortium, led in Riddleport by a silver agent named Vidrin Jenk, wants to do is gift the cultists with three items sacred to other faiths in the city (presumably, so it can sacrifice or desecrate them in some way).  As each of these faiths owe the Aspis Consortium a financial debt, it should be a simple matter of having someone pick up the sacred items as payment and deliver them to the cult's secret safehouse.  But what those Aspis snakes don't know is that the Pathfinder Society is on to their plan, and intends to throw a wrench in the works!  Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch explains to the PCs (in a quick flashback briefing in Magnimar) that she's arranged for a group of Aspis specialists to be intercepted en route to Riddleport so that the PCs can impersonate them.  Once they've collected the three gifts and learn the location of the hidden cult safehouse, they're to sabotage it to discredit the Consortium in Lissalan eyes and break the alliance.  It's a creative premise for a scenario.

Despite the premise, those rare PCs who invest a lot of ranks or abilities in skills like Disguise and Bluff will probably be disappointed to learn that the scenario handwaves any checks.  Vidrin Jenk and the other Aspis thugs at their headquarters in Riddleport (Barracuda Cartage) automatically believe the PCs are out-of-town agents once they see the brass coins that Heidmarch has provided.  The Consortium really needs to invest in photo ID membership cards!

The PCs can visit each of the three temples to collect the gifts in any order.  One is Publican House, the city's temple to Cayden Cailean, which is of course a raucous tavern.  The sacred mug the PCs need to obtain has been inadvertently entered as a prize into a drinking challenge, and this presents a fun opportunity for a light-hearted contest of strength, dexterity, and intestinal fortitude.  Another temple is the House of the Silken Veil, a brothel dedicated to Calistria.  Here, the PCs need to negotiate with the temple high priestess/madame, Shorafa Pamodae.  It's very possible they get tricked into accepting a fake sacred relic (a dagger in a locked case that has magic aura cast on it), but the way the scenario plays out, getting fooled probably won't matter in the end.  A third temple is the Fish Bowl, the city's temple to Besmara; here, to obtain a sacred bicorne hat, the PCs will have to fight some sea creatures feasting on some human sacrifices!  For Riddleport aficionados, the scenario doesn't do much to give the city a distinct feel (as a pirate haven/gang town), but it's still nice to have these temples and NPCs fleshed out.

Assuming the PCs can get at least two out of the three sacred objects, Jenk then provides them with the location of the Lissalan safehouse to deliver the gifts; the safehouse is hidden under an abandoned tattoo parlor.  Here's where it's vitally important that the PCs remember their mission: sabotage the safehouse, don't get into traditional dungeon crawl and try to fight their way through!  The threats in the underground complex are very real: basilisks that can easily turn someone to stone, a couple of dozen cultists, an animated stone guardian statue, etc.  PCs can succeed in the sabotage by doing things like setting the basilisks free, causing a gas leak, flooding it, and more, but the scenario instructs GMs to allow creative options the PCs come up with.  Once the sabotage has been performed and a clue left to implicate the Aspis Consortium, the PCs can escape and consider it a job well done.  The overall lesson of this part of the scenario is: fights probably mean failure, so be smart!

All in all, I like the general story and approach taken in Severing Ties; it's certainly different than a run of the mill scenario.  It also helps flesh out a key location in Varisia.  I'd recommend it, but probably only for more experienced players who will pay close attention to the exact instructions given to them in the briefing.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 80 [RPG]

 [Fireday, 7 Arodus 4708 continued]

 

Having learned that the key to defeating the chained spirit in the throne room is to first destroy each of the “anchors” that keep it bound to the Material Plane, the Harrowed Heroes discuss how to find them.  Yraelzin laments that no one in the group is skilled in divination, adding that the group has already spent days in Scarwall and could easily spend several more before they’ve searched it thoroughly.  But with no better options available, the group continue their room-by-room search of the second floor.  After looking over what must have been servants’ quarters, now containing only sagging bunks, the group head toward the front of the castle where the winch mechanism sits to raise and lower the main portcullis.  Murder holes in the floor alongside troughs of magically-cold oil testify that it must have been from this vantage point that the group was attacked on their way into the castle.  But, mysteriously, evidence that the defenders were destroyed here recently is everywhere: scattered and broken bones, dented weapons, and small impact craters in the wall from something small but powerful.

 

Adjacent guardhouses contain stairs descending to the first floor, but The Reckoner is most interested in the ladders providing access to wide trap doors above.  Climbing up quietly, he puts an ear to the bottom of the trap door and can hear creaking sounds—something heavy is walking around up there!  He climbs back down and whispers to the group.  After more discussion about the shattered bones and the pock-marked walls, The Reckoner has an insight: what if Shadowcount Sial and his bodyguard are still exploring the castle?  Or could there be other, even more mysterious, forces at work in Scarwall?

The decision is made to investigate where the trapdoor leads.  Anorak takes point, but he’s not nearly as stealthy as The Reckoner, and the trapdoor creaks loudly when he raises it just a few inches to peer out onto a rooftop turret overlooking the castle’s main gate.  A pair of massive skeletal minotaurs, presumably the reanimated remnants of the castle guard, hear the creeping of the trapdoor and spring to attack!  The Reckoner hurries up to do battle, activating his mask of the mantis to see through the supernatural gloom, but even he isn’t fast enough to stop the guards from shouting an alarm in some foul tongue.  Lorien ascends quickly and channels the glories of Cayden Cailean through his rapier, shattering one of the massive skeletons, and the other one falls soon thereafter.  The group decide to retreat back down the ladder before anything can respond to the alarm, but Anorak can’t help but gaze over the castle’s parapets into the crater lake below.  Was that a shadow just below the surface of the water?  If something’s swimming there, it must be enormous!

Back in the winch room, the sounds of pursuit are clear.  The group decide to stand and fight, hastily blockading the doors.  But doors can be no obstacle to the incorporeal, and two shadowy apparitions drift down from the ceiling!  Seconds later, one of the blockaded doors bursts open to reveal a skeletal figure with a flaming skull and a wicked-looking battleaxe.  But when fully prepared for battle, the Harrowed Heroes are unstoppable!  Anorak utters a spell that forces one of the shadows to flee and the other is quickly dispatched.  The fearsome looking skeletal warrior withstands only a few quick blows from one of The Reckoner’s many enchanted mauls before crumbling to dust.  And not only is no one seriously hurt in the fighting, but a breakthrough has been accomplished: tremors shake the castle, the gloom recedes somewhat, and a shriek can be heard from the direction of the throne room.  A spirit anchor has been destroyed!

 

With its primary defender dispatched, the castle’s heights are now open for investigating.  The Harrowed Heroes find little of interest beyond more evidence that others beyond themselves are exploring (and occasionally fighting) in the castle.  The Reckoner says that if it’s Shadowcount Sial and his bodyguard, the group needs to get to the chained spirit as quickly as possible once the fourth spirit anchor is destroyed before their rivals can get Serithtial.

 

Extensive discussion is held about whether to rest or press on.  Anorak pushes to keep moving, and agrees to take the lead as the group searches more rooms on the second floor, finding little of interest apart from a sparring chamber manifesting splotches of blood and a haunting that grabs hold of Yraelzin’s psyche, convincing him that he needs to clean the castle before the spiritual hold over the former Priest of Razmir is broken by Lorien’s magic.  Before long, the Harrowed Heroes have cleared the second floor proper, and are ready to move on to the roof of the guest wing.

 

With one of the spirit anchors destroyed, only three more remain before the curse of Castle Scarwall can be broken forever.  But if they are in a race against time—or Shadowcount Sial—are the Harrowed Heroes winning or falling behind?

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

GM Commentary

Yraelzin's mention of divination is a shout-out to the most underappreciated school of magic--there are so many great divination spells that would save adventuring parties loads of time if they were used more often.

The PCs quickly picked up the clues that they weren't the only ones exploring Castle Scarwall.  Indeed, Shadowcount Sial and Laori Vaus were each (separately) exploring the castle and hoping to find Serithtial.  I assigned odds and rolled randomly each in-game day to see if they found the weapon or died in the attempt.

It was just sheer good luck that the first spirit anchor, a skeletal champion named Castothrane, happened to be in the area to respond to the alarm.  He was no challenge for the PCs.  One day, three to go!

Armageddon: Inferno # 1-4 (DC Comics) (Ltd. 1992) [COMICS]

The second limited series that DC spun out of the Armageddon: 2001 crossover event in the early 1990s was Armageddon: Inferno.  Written by John Ostrander, it's clear that this was done in a hurry: the first issue has 5 pencillers and inkers, the second issue has 3 of each, and the last issue has *six* of each!  That might be some kind of record for a standard 22 page comic :)

I thought Issue # 1 was pretty good (definitely better than Armageddon: The Alien Agenda).  The time-travelling hero Waverider is drawn to a dangerous rupture in time and space: cultists have opened a doorway to the evil demon realm of Abraxas!  (hey, the PCs just encountered a drow priestess of Abraxas in Second Darkness!)  Four of the cultists are transformed by Abraxas into massive "Daemen" monsters and sent to different points in time to prepare the way for him to merge into Earth's reality.  Waverider hurries to assemble groups of heroes to stop each of the Daemen.  This issue takes place in Moscow during the (then very recent) fall of the Soviet Union and features Batman, Creeper, Jo Nah (aka, Ultra Boy), the Spectre, and the classic Firestorm.  There's lots of good action, but it looks like they're losing the fight!

Issue # 2 is pretty hard to follow.  Waverider goes to Metropolis to recruit Superman, and along with Guy Gardner, Lobo, the Red Baron (yes, really), Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and Sgt. Rock and company, and some others I've forgotten, they fight an army of demons too.  I know it's a forgettable issue because I've completely forgotten it.

Issue # 3 has Superman and his team fighting in a future where the moon has crashed into the Earth!  Meanwhile, Guy Gardner is back in the dinosaur age, while Waverider and the Spectre are getting the Justice Society of America out of perpetual limbo to help out.  A lot of new named villains are introduced, and Ostrander tries to give each one a line here or a line there to explain their powers or origin, but I the artwork is pretty crappy and there's just not enough time to develop any of them.

"The Return of the Justice Society!" is heralded on the cover of Issue # 4, and I felt like the whole mini-series might have been conceived as a justification for bringing them back.  The issue is pretty crappy and feels very rushed (with the aforementioned art team of 12 people, there are five lazy full-page splashes to save them time).  The Justice Society invades Abraxas' castle.  Abraxas is a very generic "giant demon bad guy" and it somehow eventuates that he takes over the fight in limbo to prevent Ragnorak, which lets the JSA off the hook and free to reintegrate into the mainstream DCU.

I felt pretty good about Armageddon: Inferno in the first issue (and I generally like John Ostrander), but it quickly went downhill.  I guess the series is important for JSA history, but otherwise has little to offer.

Armageddon: The Alien Agenda # 1-4 (DC Comics) (Ltd. 1991) [COMICS]

After the debacle of Armageddon 2001, DC nonetheless tried to cash in with a couple of subsequent mini series.  The first one out was Armageddon: The Alien Agenda, a four issue limited series that follows Captain Atom and Monarch after they've been blasted back in time by the former's climactic atomic explosion at the end of the big crossover.

In Issue # 1, we find out that Captain Atom has been blasted all the way back to the dinosaur age!  (I know, I know, that's a completely unscientific descriptor since dinosaurs occupied the Earth for millions of years).  Anyway, a T-Rex tries to make a meal of of the silver stud, but obviously fails.  Then, Hawk/Monarch (40 year old spoiler alert!) attacks.  And then it turns out there is an alien base on Earth!  The aliens initially pretend to be friendly, but secretly they plan to blow up the entire solar system (because it interferes with an ongoing war they have with another alien race).  Cap uses a bomb on the alien base/fleet, but the resulting explosion blasts him all the way into Roman Empire times, and he arrives, unarmored, before hostile legionnaires during Nero's reign!  Honestly, it's pretty crappy, Saturday morning cartoon style stuff.  Hawk/Monarch has hardly any personality, the alien invaders are pretty silly, and the time-travel stuff is pretty cliché.  But a serious reader never gives up, so on to the next instalment.

Issue # 2 has the drama of Cap's powers flickering on and off as he (of course) is forced to be a gladiator and fight hungry lions.  Triumphing, he becomes Nero's favorite.  "Meanwhile", back in dinosaur times, we learn that the hostile aliens need Captain Atom to act as a detonator to open a wormhole, so they put Monarch and a pair of their own into suspended animation to wait out millennia to "catch up" to Captain Atom.  But Atom triggers another explosion in a fight and is blasted all the way forward into the Old West, just in front of a stampede! (the explosion causes Rome to burn, so Nero must fiddle).  Again, pretty silly.  I also find the printing pretty poor, making the art hard to follow.

In Issue # 3, classic cowboy characters turn up as Atom stumbles into town.  There's a two-page bar brawl sequence that is genuinely really fun.  Another explosion sees Atom apparently start the great San Francisco fire before getting blasted into a Nazi camp during World War II.  (Geez, he's got some bad luck!)  Meanwhile, Hawk/Monarch and the aliens continue trying to catch up to him.  Hawk/Monarch seems to just be classic Hawk personality, with no real trace of all the stuff that led him to becoming Monarch and slaughtering all of Earth's heroes during the "future" side of the big crossover.  It's really poorly written in that respect.

Captain Atom, in his human form as Nathaniel Adam, is interrogated by the Nazis before being thrown into a concentration camp in Issue # 4.  He bonds with some children there and powers up to set them free.  Meanwhile, generation after generation of aliens in a secret dome have come and gone, and eventually they've started to believe that the ones frozen in suspended animation have mythical/religious significance.  Somehow, Monarch/Hawk and Captain Atom end up on an island that has a secret (1944) atomic bomb test!  The explosion hurtles Atom all the way to the present, where we are promised "The All-New Captain Atom Returns! Coming to a Comics Rack Near You Soon!"  I'm pretty sure that's a bald-faced lie.  We don't learn (in this series) what happened to Monarch.  And obviously, the aliens didn't succeed in destroying the Earth.

My overall verdict: eminently skippable.

Pathfinder (GameMastery) Compleat Encounter: "The Vault of the Whispering Tyrant" [RPG]

The Vault of the Whispering Tyrant is the highest level (13-16) of the encounter packs released under the "Compleat Encounter" line.  Regular Pathfinder players will have heard of the Whispering Tyrant, of course, but I think this may actually be the character's first appearance (even if non-canonical).  The rough idea that Tar-Baphon is an ancient lich-king appears here, though he's more of an occasional pest for the (generic fantasy) outside world than the world-shaking threat he is in modern Golarion.  The encounter set doesn't really have an adventure hook, but the general idea is that the PCs have located Tar-Baphon's hidden vault to put an end to him once and for all.  The set includes three metal miniatures that are very nicely done and three cards with (mediocre pencil) drawings and stats for the following:

* Tar-Baphon himself, presented here as "only" a level 12 wizard/lich;

* Lar-Tasha, his mummy "queen", a level 7 monk/mummy (whom I don't think reappears in any future Paizo lore);

* The soulstone, a minor artifact that provides some fast healing, remote sensing, and image projecting ability to the single creature it's bonded to.

I ran The Vault of the Whispering Tyrant as a single session in my "Roots of Golarion (The Magic Mirror)" campaign, with the canon-preserving premise that it wasn't actually Tar-Baphon in the vault, but one of his senior apprentices.  I found the brief adventure felt very cramped because the four map cards provide very little fighting room and would (logically) force multiple encounters to happen at the same time.  There's a neat trap (a mass suggestion to take it easy and relax combined with a simultaneous crushing walls mechanism), but otherwise there's not anything particularly memorable about it.  The soulstone does make for a nice souvenir, and the primary PC in the group that played it has it follow him around for the fast healing effect.  I think the adventure would have been better if, instead of double-sided map tiles (one "before" and one "after" each encounter) there were several single side map tiles with adventure text on the other side, which would allow for a longer adventure.  In any event, this is primarily of interest now to only to collectors.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-15: "The Asmodeus Mirage" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Asmodeus Mirage is one of the notorious "retired" Pathfinder Society scenarios from Season Zero.  I played it "just for fun" with my summoner, Jakeric, and it's pretty easy to see why it was retired: the chance of a TPK (and need for a body recovery) is pretty bloody high!  The underlying premise is kinda neat, but the actual execution of the story is a let-down and there's not necessarily a lot the PCs can do to control their fate.  An enterprising GM might be able to steal an interesting idea or two for a homebrew game, but overall, there's not a lot to recommend the scenario.

SPOILERS!

The backstory to The Asmodeus Mirage is cool: when the gods battled Rovagug across the face of Golarion eons ago, the crystalline bone devil that served as the Herald of Asmodeus was struck down in what became Katapesh.  Ever since, for 24 hours every century, a pocket dimension opens up with the crystal skeleton at its center.  Anyone who ventures in and doesn't leave before those 24 hours are up risks being trapped there until it opens again 100 years later!  And, of course, the Pathfinder Society has managed to pinpoint the location and opening schedule of the so-called "Asmodeus Mirage" and wants to send a team in to investigate, with the goal of returning with the crystal skeleton before it disappears for another century.  Why exactly the PFs might select a group of Level 1-2 PCs for this mission is beyond me; maybe there was a mix-up in the cabinet containing lists of field agents?

After a briefing by Venture-Captain Rafmeln (only ever seen in this scenario; perhaps he was "retired" for sending agents on this mission?) in the Katapeshi Pathfinder Lodge,  the PCs have a chance to buy gear before an off-screen journey to the Asmodeus Mirage.  Once inside the pocket dimension, the 24-hour countdown clock starts.  The scenario is structured as a set of four encounters in the mirage that the GM selects randomly, with the journey between each encounter taking a random number of hours (that can be reduced with a good Survival check).  The pocket dimension is morphic in the sense that there's no reliable directions or fixed geographic points, meaning that depending on dice rolls, PCs might stumble into the same encounter multiple times (despite trying not to).  PCs also need to attempt Fortitude saves against the heat (it is the desert, after all), which makes perfect sense but can be quite draining for low-level characters (especially with any time spent resting counting against the 24-hour limit).

The encounters range from fairly pedestrian combat (like groups of illusory skeletons) to some with role-playing potential (like a peaceful gnoll village menaced by ankhegs) to intriguing mixed-bags (like an insane CR 19 brass dragon who wants the PCs to clear his lair of pesky vermin) to the main event (the crystalline skeleton, which will be guarded by different foes depending on subtier).  I imagine that at higher subtier (6-7), the encounters and environment would be far more manageable than the more swingy low subtier ones.  In any event, the main risk facing the PCs is becoming trapped in the pocket dimension and officially ruled dead.  The PCs can choose at any time before that to try to return "home", and so from the scenario's sidebar point of view, the chance of groups getting trapped should be low.  However, the scenario only gives the PCs a 25% chance of making it home with each attempt, and as each attempt takes 1d4 hours, a group that waits too close to the end of the 24 hours and has some bad dice luck could easily end up being trapped and effectively TPK'd (unless they have pieces of the crystalline skeleton, which shunts them out of the demiplane automatically when it closes).

There is a part of me that loves high stakes scenarios where genuinely bad things can happen to PCs--a game with no risk isn't nearly as much fun, after all.  But for The Asmodeus Mirage in particular, I think the stakes need to be better fitted to the level of the characters involved and with a little bit more transparency on just how heavy the odds are against them.  Not to mention, there's not really a lot of discoveries or mysteries to resolve once inside the mirage--it's just "get the skeleton and get out" with little opportunity for the PCs to understand the backstory.  I imagine more than one group ended up trapped in the mirage, and this probably fueled the push to retire the scenario.  I can't really argue against the decision.  Fortunately, with the demiplane having just appeared, no one needs to worry about it for another 100 years!

I have to append a coda to remark on a Chronicle boon from the scenario that is a classic, and hilarious, example of stingy rewards (or what we would, today, call trolling): PCs, after having somehow survived the risk of being trapped in another plane of existence for a century, receive a whole +1 to Diplomacy or Intimidate checks vs "western Katapesh gnolls"!  Talk about earning bonuses the hard way!

Pathfinder Map Pack: "Elven City" [RPG]

Sometimes I have map packs sit on my shelves for *years* before the right time comes along to pull them out.  Such was the case for Elven City, as my players visited the elven village of Crying Leaf in my Second Darkness campaign.  A visual representation of the village wasn't strictly necessary, but I thought these cards gave a good feel for what elven architecture is like: curved, flowing, in-tune with nature, and with few right angles or harsh lines.  The map pack includes several elven homes, an excellent meeting hall, a water feature/garden, and even what could stand in well for an elf gate.  The artwork is crisp and colorful.

To be frank, most campaigns won't call upon this map pack very often--but it's still a nice addition to a GM's library.

Starfinder Bounty # 5: "Echoes of Woe" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

 

I’m of two minds about Echoes of Woe, the fifth in the series of Starfinder “Bounties” (short adventures meant to be played in 60-90 minutes).  The premise is solid and at points it has a good feel, but I also think it’s overlong and a bit too “video-gamey” to really make the best use of that feel.  I ran it via play-by-post for Starfinder Society, but I think it would probably be best as a home game one-shot where the GM can customise it more and not feel rushed to finish in a certain time frame.

 

I think the cover is good, but the interior artwork doesn’t quite fit the bill.

 

SPOILERS!

 

Echoes of Woe is set in the growing town of Ysantro in the Qabarat region of Castrovel.  Because the city is expanding, a company named TeleWright wants to redevelop an old, abandoned hospital—but it can’t do that until the site receives a final inspection, and no one’s willing to go in it because of rumors that it’s haunted!  Thus, the PCs get hired for the job.  It’s a classic set-up (everyone loves creepy hospitals, asylums, and orphanages).

 

The backstory to the Bounty is good too.  Back when the hospital was in operation, the hospital’s head doctor, Sikooli, tried to cure her son, Ajanu, of a degenerative disease caused by exposure to sunlight.  Sikooli hit on the idea of combining particles from the Shadow Plane with nanites, but the resulting “venumbrites” drained the life of everyone inside the hospital, including Sikooli!  Today, Sikooli roams the hospital as a grieving ghost, while her son, Ajanu, is an undead borai who still lives in the hospital to care for her.

 

One of the issues in terms of duration is that the Hospital flip-mat has a *lot* of rooms (14), and players of this type of RPG are trained to cautiously explore each one.  Add in a bit of good role-playing and some combat, and 60-90 minutes isn’t realistic for most groups.  The atmosphere set up by the scenario is pretty good, and I especially liked a sidebar’s tips on how the GM can make it darker or lighten it up depending the group’s comfort level with horror.  Still, some of the hard-coded elements (like scouring the hospital for multiple pieces of a ritual to set things right, dealing with four different squoxes) seemed a bit repetitive and detracted from the feel.  And one of my common mechanical complaint—asking for skill checks to accomplish something but providing no penalties if they fail (so you just have endless retrying until success) definitely rears its ugly head here.

 

So my advice (noting that Halloween is just a few weeks away as I write this) is to draw upon the broad outlines of the scenario, dispense with all the squoxes but one (and make it a shadowy, venumbrite-affected one), and do the whole thing theatre-of-the-mind without even showing a flip-mat.  The game will be faster, spookier, and more fun.

 

 

Pathfinder Tales: "Beyond the Pool of Stars" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Beyond the Pool of Stars is a fantastic trade paperback in the Pathfinder Tales line.  Set in Sargava (a jungle, coastal region in the Mwangi Expanse that has thrown off Chelish control), the novel follows the exploits of Mirian Raas, part-Pathfinder/part deep sea salvager.  I thought Howard Andrew Jones' previous novels in the Pathfinder Tales line were fine, but this one really impressed me.  It's full of heart, surprises, action, and makes great use of an interesting setting.  I definitely recommend it.

SPOILERS!

After her father dies in the course of running the family salvaging business, Pathfinder Mirian Raas returns to Sargava to (reluctantly) lend a hand.  She and her small crew of salvagers get involved with a trio of lizardfolk who wish to recover the contents of an ancestral vault deep in an area of the jungle now overrun by boggards.  A representative of the Sargavan government (and her son) join the expedition, as the salvaging business is deeply in debt to the government and it's counting on Raas finding a real score of gems to help pay the protection money it owes the pirates of the Shackles to help defend it from Cheliax.  However, Mirian's brother is in love with a secret Chelish agent who'll stop at nothing to sabotage the whole endeavour.  That's the barest brushstrokes of the plot, but Jones adds layers of flavour and detail to flesh everything out.  The action scenes are genuinely suspenseful, as no one is immune to danger from "plot armor".  Devotees of underwater combat will be impressed by the fidelity to Pathfinder rules and incorporation of magical gear, while readers interested in Sargava will find its portrayal rich in detail (the depictions of race and class issues in a post-colonial setting are skillful).  I've actually become a fan of lizardfolk because of the novel thanks to their description in the book.  I genuinely can't think of any criticisms (unusual for me!), so do yourself a favour and buy this book.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 4-16: "Hope for the Future" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

If, like me, you're not fortunate to have a regular group methodically playing through PFS or SFS scenarios in orders, there are occasional downsides to just signing up for what's available online.  For me, I didn't realise that Hope for the Future was the big capstone scenario to the Season 4 ("Year of the Data Scourge") metaplot.  Playing it not only spoiled me on some of the twists in the season's storyline, but it also fell fairly flat because I wasn't really aware/invested in what was happening.  The scenario itself is (almost) one long "boss battle" that might have been satisfying if I had played steadily through the season.  But them's the breaks!  As a scenario, it has more of the feel of a Special--high stakes, lots of combat, and limited role-playing.  Not my favourite style of game, but your tastes may vary.

Oh, but awesome cover!  The art design team has really picked things up in Season Four.

SPOILERS!

Hope for the Future takes place on (and technically around) Absalom Station.  Apparently, the Starfinder Society has learned that the mysterious Data Scourge virus was engineered by the revived Historia-Prime.  The Stewards have dispatched a fleet to the coordinates where the virus' "source location" is and expect to finally confront Historia-Prime in the process.  The PCs, and hundreds of other Starfinders, gather together in the Forum in the Lorespire Complex to learn (and grumble about) not getting to be part of the action.  There's a good opportunity for some role-playing before the drama actually starts, and I liked the premise of Royo and some of the Society's other tech-adverse NPCs starting a movement to limit the organisation's reliance on technology.

First Seeker Ehu Hadif has just started addressing the assembled crowd when suddenly Absalom Station comes under attack by a massive, ever-shifting, silvery fluid vessel!  The Armada tries to defend the station but isn't having much luck.  Ixthia the Unbreakable gathers together the PCs and rushes to their shuttle to be part of the action.  Curiously though, by the time the shuttle gets into space, the silvery vessel has transformed into a massive space-platform--a near-perfect copy of the Lorespire Complex floating in orbit around Absalom Station!  Apparently, Historia-Prime has pulled a sneaky trick and, instead of waiting around for the Stewards to arrive, has launched a sneak attack to take over Absalom Station.  As a player, I found all of this fairly confusing, but I can appreciate it as a cool image if the GM is able to really sell it.

From this point, we have a classic "space-dungeon crawl" as the shuttle lands on the surface of the complex and the PCs disembark to investigate.  (Ixthia the Unreliable conveniently stays behind to "harry the defences from the outside").  The PCs encounter artificial nanite-composed simulacra of Celita and jinsuls before encountering someone "real"--an android named Hope-01 (from SFS # 4-13).  The group better rescue him, because he says he can delete Historia-Prime's digital back-up copies so the PCs can defeat him once and for all.  Along the way there are "nanite mounds" which function both as traps and as a resource that PCs can manipulate for advantages (I don't think our group did much with them)

Most of the scenario is taken up by a three-phase combat versus different forms of Historia-Prime in a (admittedly cool) chamber called the Prime Core.  History-Prime does lots of classic villain monologuing during the battle, which helps to fill in some of the backstory, but in essence this is a long boss battle.  Once it's over, and assuming the PCs win, they face an interesting moral choice.  Hope-01 explains he still retains part of the memory and personality of Historia-Prime and could someday evolve into a threat, and should therefore be destroyed himself.  The scenario supports either course of action (though subtly rewards the "let him live" choice by providing additional Reputation).  There's also a whole thing about the artifact that apparently let Historia-Prime continue to clone his consciousness, but the scenario takes the lazy opt-out of providing no detail about it and saying it'll be locked in an SFS vault.  

Anyway, that's the end of the Year of the Data Scourge!  I wasn't particularly impressed by the finale, but, as I said, part of that may be me coming in without much background.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 79 [RPG]

[Fireday, 7 Arodus 4708 continued]

In Castle Scarwall, Anorak awakens to find concerned allies looking over him.  He has no recollection of what happened, so The Reckoner fills the dwarf in on his disappearance and subsequent rescue.  The Reckoner, Lorien, and Yraelzin agree to wait for the dwarf to consult his spellbook before continuing their exploration of the second level of the foreboding fortress.

With the aid of a recently-found keyring, The Reckoner is able to open a lock that stymied him before, gaining access to the castle’s armory!  Unfortunately, the weapons inside have rotted shafts and rusty, pitted blades, testament to just how long Castle Scarwall has been abandoned.  Curiously, an iron statue of an imposing man with long stair stands in the corner of the room.  The statue looks just like the figure in the paintings the group saw elsewhere in the tower.  As Anorak enters the room to search, the statue suddenly animates!  Huddled near the doorway, the Harrowed Heroes prepare to meet its charge, though they aren’t expecting it to breathe poisonous fumes!  Yraelzin finds himself overwhelmed and begins coughing and choking.  Lorien takes a staggering blow to the chin and is lucky to keep his feet (not to mention his head!), but The Reckoner is always prepared, and his adamantine war-maul makes short work of the construct.

Nearby, an investigation of what once must have been a lounge turns up one curious thing: an area where motes of dust seem to be gusting.  Suspecting the presence of spirits nearby, the group prepare for another attack—and their expectations are met as four disembodied phantoms with sharp-toothed maws covered by swirling robes soon arrive!  Anorak finds himself overcome by a terrible fear and he sprints away, but The Reckoner and Lorien’s enchanted weapons and extensive magical protections again overcome the foes quickly.  Yraelzin decides that with such powerful allies, simply staying out of the way might be his biggest contribution!

 
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, the lone distaff member of the Harrowed Heroes participates in an assembly of leaders from across Varisia.  Gathered together in Ilsurian to determine whether the scattered city-states and independent towns of the vast wilderness can band together against the giant army of the north, the representatives attending this summit could decide the fate of thousands.  Sheriff Kyra Feldane, Ilsurian’s no-nonsense representative at the meeting, delivers a background and summary of the current crisis, using a hand-painted, wall-sized map to illustrate key points.

We gather here today to decide how to respond to the biggest threat Varisia has seen in living memory.  There have always been giants in the region’s vast interior wilderness.  Giants tend toward tribal cultures and are territorial, but they have never been expansionist beyond scattered raids.

 

But last year it became apparent the security situation had changed.  The giants were unifying under a single banner, that of a stone giant named Mokmurian.  Many smaller towns and villages held as outposts by the major city-states came under attack. For example, ogres and trolls destroyed a dam holding back the Storval Deep, flooding the entire valley to the south and completely destroying the village of Turtleback Ferry.

 

After a heavy raid on Magnimar’s holding of Sandpoint on the Lost Coast, a band of adventurers followed the giants back to their fortress in a place called Jorgenfist and managed to assassinate the giant leader Mokmurian.  But what these “Heroes of Sandpoint” discovered was that Mokmurian was merely a general acting on the behest of an extraordinarily powerful wizard from millennia past dating to the days of the empire of ancient Thassilon: a so-called “Runelord” named Karzoug.  Although Karzoug had been magically imprisoned at some point in the past, he was beginning to break free and influence events in Varisia.

 

The Heroes of Sandpoint travelled to the site of Karzoug’s imprisonment, the ruins of a Thassilonian city called Xin-Shalast, high in the freezing mountains.  There, they slew countless giants and lieutenants of Karzoug and approached the Pinnacle of Avarice, the fortress of Karzoug himself.  We know all of this because that is the point one member of the Heroes of Sandpoint lost her courage; this half-orc, “Morgiana”, was found days later by rangers loyal to Ilsurian.

We’ll never know exactly what happened to the other Heroes of Sandpoint, but one thing is perfectly clear: they failed in their quest to defeat the Runelord Karzoug, and now that wizard is free.  Although it has taken him months to regain strength, rebuild his army, and acclimate to our time, his dreams of conquering all of Varisia—and perhaps more—haven’t abated.

Many of you will have heard of the recent military thrust into the Cinderlands, aimed no doubt to capture Kaer Maga and seize the entire Storval Plateau.  Fortunately, and perhaps surprisingly from our point of view, this attack was broken during a siege of Urglin.  However, a disturbing new weapon was discovered: magical teleportation spikes capable of moving entire units hundreds of miles in a matter of minutes; word has filtered down that such spikes were used to launch a surprise attack on the Shoanti camp of Flameford; I believe we have one survivor of that battle in attendance—Goldcape.

 

The current situation we face is thus: our long-range reconnaissance patrols and divination magicks have detected that the attack on the Cinderlands was only exploratory; the bulk of Karzoug’s army of northern giants will soon march directly on Magnimar, splitting Varisia in half and capturing the region’s largest city-state.

 

I now leave it to you to determine whether and how we should respond.

 

The silence following Sheriff Feldane’s speech is broken by Lord-Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras, elected ruler of Magnimar—the largest city-state in Varisia and the apparent target of Karzoug’s next thrust.  Grobaras immediately calls for a full military alliance to repel the assault, but this meets with immediate opposition from Overlord Gaston Cromarky of Riddleport, who cites the enormous expense of fielding such a massive force.  When Cromarky is reminded that he has little in the way of ground forces to contribute (his “gendarmes” are little more than a group of thus and enforcers), he says his ships could play a crucial role in delivering grain and other supplies to Magnimar for the duration of the war—for a price!  Goldcape, there on behalf of the rebel factions in Korvosa, promises that the city will lend support once Queen Ileosa is overthrown.  The others scoff, and it seems the city’s reputation from past interactions have made the other leaders sceptical a new ruler would make a difference.  An elven general by the name of Kaerishiel Neirenar, representing the elves of the Mierani forests, reluctantly agrees to lend his people’s support as skirmishers since the giant army will surely savage the forests to help fuel their war.

 

The discussion is long and contentious, and full of personal insults.  The main sticking point seems to be how to fund a joint force and how to ensure that Korvosa pays its fair share.  Eventually, a breakthrough is reached when Grobaras proposes that if the city can’t send troops, the rebel leaders will have to commit to repaying the others’ expenses on a per-soldier basis.  Sheriff Feldane adds that Ilsurian will only lend its support if Korvosa’s rebels agree to an immediate and permanent non-aggression pact.  Goldcape thinks this is manageable, and agrees to discuss it with the rebel leaders.  She immediately sends a magical silver raven with a message to Glorio Arkona.  The assembled representatives agree to reconvene in a few days with the hope of finalising the details.

 

Twin efforts are simultaneously underway, one in Castle Scarwall and one in Ilsurian, to stop terrible threats that have emerged in the past year.  If either effort fails, thousands of innocents could pay the price . . .

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

GM Commentary

The first part of this session says the PCs tromping through encounters in Scarwall with little difficulty.  The Reckoner, at least, was a bit OP (and super-prepared), but that might have been a good thing considering Anorak and Lorien were run by first-time Pathfinder players.

I thought the summit was great and worked out even better than I had planned.  Sheriff Feldane's recounting of the events draws directly on what happened in Rise of the Runelords when I ran it before this campaign, even the bit with a PC (and player) dropping out right before the final push!  The summit was a great way to get Goldcape (whose player had otherwise transitioned to Assistant GM during this Chapter) some screentime, to show off some major Varisian NPCs (some I had had the opportunity to use in RotRL, such as Grobaras and others I would be previewing a presence in my next AP to run, Second Darkness, like Overlord Cromarky and Kaerishiel).  I actually had the other non-Goldcape players at the table run these NPCs, having secretly briefed each one before hand on what their goals and personalities were like.  I always say part of the fun of being a GM is not knowing what's going to happen, and that was certainly the case here--I had no idea whether a mutual defense pact would be reached for this major plot-point.