Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 70 [RPG]

[Moonday, 3 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

Flying on Rocky’s back across the crater lake surrounding Scarwall, three of the Harrowed Heroes are stunned when Goldcape suddenly veers the winged mount away and to the eastern shore.  The vanara hops off and shouts for the others to dismount before stripping Rocky’s bulky passenger saddle.  “Thousand Bones is in trouble and needs me!” she explains hurriedly.  “He’s been poisoned!”  With that, Goldcape leaps on to Rocky’s bare back and shouts for him to take to the skies.  In a matter of seconds, the pair are no more than a distant speck in the sky heading southwest.

For The Reckoner and Anorak, the sudden change in plan is disastrous—not only did their transportation across the crater lake surrounding Scarwall (hopefully to an unguarded entrance) disappear, but their magical protections are waning with every passing moment.  Fortunately, Yraelzin has the solution—a magical wand with the ability to teleport a small group of people short distances.  With a flick of the wand and an arcane word, a magical doorway appears, and when the three step through it, they find themselves right in the middle of the 400’ stone causeway leading from the (orc-infested!) barbican on the southern shores of the lake to the front gates of Scarwall itself.

But if a stealthy approach were ever possible, it surely isn’t now!  As the group manifest in broad daylight, loud signal horns sound from the upper levels of Castle Scarwall.  Flanked by large statues of sinister gargoyles, the massive main gates of Scarwall begin to slowly open as a threshold portcullis rises.  Worried they’re about to be trapped on two sides, Anorak glances behind to see that not a single orc is advancing along the causeway—their superstitious fear of Scarwall must be holding them back!  But although the danger is coming from only one direction, it remains very real.  Massive crossbow bolts as long as an arm begin to pelt down toward the Korvosans, and when the front gates of Scarwall are completely open, it seems like an army is ready to charge out.  Led by a fearsome, lance-wielding skeletal warrior mounted on a nightmarish steed, a full dozen skeletal warriors are poised for battle.

With Plate’s help, The Reckoner turns briefly invisible and waits for his moment.  It comes just an instant later as the skeletal knight charges down the causeway, his mount galloping at full speed even as its flaming hooves don’t seem to even touch the ground!  The Reckoner unleashes a devastating blow on the rider, and Anorak jumps to the side with perfect timing so that, in an inexplicable turn of events, the skeleton is somehow hoisted on his own petard!  With its rider crumbling into an inert heap of bones, the flame-hooved mount is no match for The Reckoner’s enchanted war-maul and is quickly dispatched.

 

Girded for war, the troop of skeletal infantry march forward with relentless determination under the cover of a rain of crossbow bolts launched from hidden arrow slits above.  Yraelzin is wounded multiple times as Anorak and The Reckoner struggle to put into effect a plan they’d privately decided on earlier: they want to turn some of Scarwall’s undead defenders into allies!  A magical wand to control undead is crucial to this strategy, so Yraelzin and Anorak trade the wand back and forth trying to get it to work as the skeletons attack.  Two skeletons end up falling under their control, but after several uses (and many failed attempts), magical feedback makes it temporarily impossible for either spellcaster to use the wand.  The Reckoner is forced to destroy the remaining undead, with the only consolation being that the hidden crossbowmen above seem to have run out of ammunition.

 

With two new allies temporarily under Yraelzin’s control, the attackers stride forward without further obstacle to the gates of Castle Scarwall.  The massive doors stand open, but what lays beyond them is shrouded in a darkness so profound that neither the sun’s rays nor Anorak’s magical light can pierce it.  When the dwarf attempts to discern which magical auras are causing the darkness, he’s almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of necromantic energy infusing the castle.  A powerful curse lays like a pall over Scarwall, a curse that cannot be lifted through mere mortal magic.  With the darkness beyond emanating an almost palpable sense of menace and dread, only The Reckoner could be brave enough to step in first.  Immersed in total darkness, a noticeable breeze rises into a gale around him as vague shapes of abhorrent, distorted faces appear.  The spirits of Scarwall’s restless dead tear and pull at The Reckoner, until a sudden burst of spiritual power from within drives them away! 

 

Carrying within themselves the final gift of The Harrower and the last, desperate hopes of the Korvosan people, the Harrowed Heroes have breached Castle Scarwall. 

 

May the gods have mercy on their souls.

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GM Commentary

For many sessions by this point, Goldcape's player (an adolescent) was pretty unhappy because the other two players (adults) rarely listened to his suggestions even though his were usually proven to be correct.  The frustrations escalated to the point where the player wanted to leave the campaign, but we came up with the solution of having him serve as "Assistant GM" for the rest of Chapter 5.  He reduced my workload by taking over various duties and running some of the minor encounters, while I focussed on the overall narrative and major encounters.  It was nice having a sounding board given how complicated Scarwall was to run, and t worked out pretty well (even though it was a bummer of course not to have Goldcape around).

The control undead wand strategy took me by surprise.  It was an interesting idea, but made for a *long* combat against the skeletons because neither The Reckoner nor Anorak were very good at Use Magic Device!  Eventually they each rolled a natural 1 and couldn't use it for 24 hours.  They did end up getting a few low-level minions out of the deal, but they didn't seem to have a well-planned strategy for how to use them.  (I would have gone with trap-springers!)

As we had already has the big final scene for The Harrower, I gave the PCs her (final) special boons as a special moment when they went to enter Castle Scarwall.  The one-time boon about turning a failed save against a death effect into a success turned out to be a pretty big deal!

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 8-24: "Raid on Cloudborne Keep" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

Jeepers, I need to catch up on these reviews--I finished playing this one in June of 2023, and it's now May of 2024.  Raid on Cloudborne Keep is memorable to me in that my PC died in the first encounter!  Fortunately, undine psychic-monk Arrius Vext continues to walk Golarion as I had enough Prestige Points to get him raised.  But enough about me!  Raid on Cloudborne Keep is the last scenario of Season 8 and (I assume) leads into the big interactive special that would finish that season's meta-plot.  As an adventure, it has a reasonably interesting setting, but (apart from the opening) it's fairly rail-roady and, underneath the cool decor, is pretty combat heavy.  It's also bloody *hard* for those (admittedly rare) groups who don't have an over-powered PC or two in the ranks, and TPKs are certainly possible.  I'd place this one relatively far down on the list of PFS scenarios to experience.

SPOILERS!

Raid on Cloudborne Keep starts in the city of Port Eclipse in the Plane of Air with a briefing from Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir and a suli named Ashasar from the Concordance of Elements.  I imagine there must be a lot of backstory to all of this throughout the season, but the scenario does a reasonable job of filling in the essential bits: the Pathfinder Society is working towards releasing a captive elemental lord named Ranginori.  However, Ranginori's rival, Hshurha, doesn't want that to happen.  But this time, the PFS is going to move first by taking out one of Hshurha's key lieutenants, a belker (air monster) named Grasping Storm.  It's a little like on Survivor when a rival alliance leader can't be targeted for some reason, so you go after their number 2 instead to weaken them.

Grasping Storm reigns over a castle on the Plane of Air called Purest Air, and is currently assembling mercenaries to help his master.  Thus, the PCs are tasked with getting on one of the airships ferrying mercenaries to the castle, hopefully disposing of those mercs along the way, and then taking out Grasping Storm.  To be honest, it's basically an assassination mission!

The scenario is a bit open-ended on boarding the merc-ferrying airship, with possibilities ranging from bribery to stowing away to fighting and essentially taking it over.  As written, this is a big part of the scenario, and would be perfect for those skilled in Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, etc.  The group I was in hatched a plan to stake out the docks near the airship so we could dispatch the mercenaries before they even got on board (and thus pretend we were them).  But, as my PC's death showed, that plan sounded better in theory than in practice.  The mercs are air elementals and invisible stalkers, and the former's whirlwind ability rampaged through our ranks.  Thus, I spent the rest of the scenario observing.  For what it's worth, the scenario makes smart use of what I imagine is a rarely used Flip-Mat, Airship, and has cool artwork for the ship's captain.

The airship docks with Purest Air's roof (again making great use of a Flip-Mat, this time from the Elemental Planes Multipack), where the PCs encounter guards in the form of a "hala demon" named Bothizar and some mephits or drakes (depending on subtier).  This probably ends in a fight, but if the PCs managed to successfully disguise themselves as the mercenaries, they can get into the castle proper.  Here, it turns out that Grasping Storm has planned some (potentially lethal) "tests" for his mercenaries, so, in the words of the Killers, 'there's gonna be opposition--ain't no way around it'.  These "tests" take the form of a nasty hungry fog, cloud golems, sylph druids, and more.  Assuming the PCs make it through all of that, they can then confront Grasping Storm itself, a unique belker.  Much of this fighting is in a three-dimensional environment with the special rules for movement on the Plane of Air.  It's always harder rules-wise to handle 3D environments whether it's underwater or aerial combats, and I certainly wouldn't recommend this scenario for novice GMs or players.

Overall, I'd say Raid on Cloudborne Keep was well-written, but just pitched for the wrong crowd.  It really should be in the "Bonekeep" vein of special adventures for well-experienced players running combat-hardened PCs prepared for some of the harder challenges the game has to offer.  For an average group of generalists, I fear it may be overwhelming.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 69 [RPG]

 [Sunday, 2 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

On the eastern shores of a crater lake high above the plains of Belkzen, the Harrowed Heroes have arrived to find potential allies—or enemies.  Realising he may have acted too hastily in refusing to sign Shadowcount Sial’s magical contract, The Reckoner calls him back and asks to look it over.  Having just arrived at the doorstep of his magical bone house, Sial purses his lips in annoyance, but complies.  Although no one in the group is particularly knowledgeable about lawyerly drafting, the contract seems to embody the substantive terms discussed between them and the Brotherhood of Bone just a little while ago.  The Reckoner announces to Sial that he’ll think about it, a reply which only further irritates the haughty arcanist.  Followed by his bodyguard, he turns in place and enters the tower without another word.  Laori Vaus, the surprisingly-cheerful Kuthite member of the Brotherhood, smiles apologetically before following them in.  It’s clear there’s no love lost between the pompous Sial and the amiable Laori.

 

Once they’re gone, Yraelzin rounds on The Reckoner, shouting that he spent days negotiating with the Brotherhood for their assistance in Scarwall, and that in a matter of minutes the alliance has been completely destroyed!  The Reckoner says entering into a partnership with the Brotherhood would be too dangerous.  Yraelzin stomps away to try to salvage something of the deal, only to find himself locked out of the bone house.  Sial, it seems, has considered the newcomers’ actions a personal affront.

 

Anorak speaks up and says he needs to return to Kaer Maga to collect his familiar, Eldritch.  The Reckoner and Goldcape are interested in going as well, having realised during the journey here that some additional enchanted items would be useful for their explorations of the castle.  Forgetting to mention anything to Yraelzin, the three travellers teleport to the City of Strangers.  Anorak finds Eldritch right where he left him.  Unfortunately, the shops they need have already closed for the day, so the trio decide to spend the night in the same inn they rested in previously.

 

[Moonday, 3 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

In the morning, various purchases are made in Kaer Maga—a magical iron spike that allows for safe camps even in dangerous areas, arrows that may slay powerful foes with a mere graze, and (provoking some disagreement) a powerful healing wand.  When the trio teleport back to the crater lake, they find a very annoyed Yraelzin who was forced to sleep out in the open, alone, in hostile territory, with no idea where his supposed friends had gone.  The bone house is also missing, and Yraelzin grumpily explains that Shadowcount Sial and Laori had a very loud argument earlier in the morning and went their separate ways after Sial shrunk the tower back to figurine size.

But whether they have allies or not, the Harrowed Heroes haven’t come this far to turn back now.  They discuss the best way to approach Castle Scarwall and decide against a crossing by land (the causeway) or sea (the lake), and instead choose air, hoping to slip in quietly through an entrance into the massive structure’s upper works.  Goldcape takes out the miniature figurine of Rocky and, with an arcane syllable, returns the roc to its normal size.  The vanara then exchanges Rocky’s barding for a custom-made, four-person passenger saddle, everyone climbs on, and Rocky takes to the air.

 

The final approach to Scarwall has begun, but under a portentous omen.  For upon the third of Arodus falls a new moon, and this night will surely be covered in darkness.

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

GM's Commentary

A lot of disrespect for poor Yraelzin in this session.  First, tearing up the contract he spent loads of time negotiating off-screen, and then the rest of the party completely forgets to tell him they're teleporting back to Kaer Maga--thus leaving him all by himself in Belkzen!  I was a bit personally irked, because although he was a GMPC, I worked really hard to make Yraelzin a well-rounded figure who could contribute to the party since the group was usually under the expected 4 PCs.

Otherwise, this was a very short session and frankly, not a lot happened!