Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 74 [RPG]

 [Wealday, 5 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

The Harrowed Heroes have made the fateful choice to spend a second night in Scarwall, a choice that brings with it great danger.  Goldcape, standing watch with Rocky, sounds the alarm as long fingers of black smoke somehow press through the walls all around the ostensibly-disguised campsite!  Two vaguely-humanoid shadowy shapes and a translucent ghostly figure emerge.  Rocky panicks at the unnatural sight and bolts, carrying Goldcape (and the room’s only source of light) with him!  “Hammer . . . bearer . . . “ croaks the ghostly figure, pointing a long, skeletal finger at The Reckoner.  Blinded by the total darkness and still wrapped in his bedroll, The Reckoner’s completely unable to defend himself as the shapes swarm and begin to drain his life force with the merest touch!

Anorak leaps to his feet, ready to do battle as The Reckoner pulls on his mask of the mantis so he can see his attackers.  Severely weakened, he nonetheless manages to pull himself up and race from the room.  Yraelzin utters some arcane words to make his robes glow, shouts “spectre!” and attacks with a volley of glowing missiles launched from a nearly-drained wand.  Goldcape bravely rushes back on foot, her blessed longsword at the ready, and joins the fray.  Once Rocky’s initial panic abates, he flies back in and together he and her master destroy one of the spectral haunts.  When The Reckoner returns, having had time to recover thanks to the others’ intervention, he quickly dispatches the remaining foes.  Magical scrolls and wands manage to assuage the wounds—physical and spiritual—incurred in the early morning assault.

Nonetheless, The Reckoner is frustrated and angry that no one detected the attack, that Rocky panicked, and that somehow the attackers knew to target him.  He proposes the group should leave Scarwall, purchase more supplies, and return.  Anorak, however, is reluctant to leave—he says he’s not even sure it’s possible, and even if it is, wonders if it would be possible to return. Goldcape and Anorak, who both suffered intense and unnerving dreams overnight, discuss whether there’s a safer way to rest in Scarwall.  Anorak comes up with the potential solution of crafting a magical wand that will allow everyone to stay awake, all night long, while feeling as if they’ve had a good night’s sleep—at least until they exert themselves.  The decision is made for Anorak to start on the project immediately.  Although it will take several hours, Goldcape can rest while The Reckoner and Yraelzin stand guard.

 

But after the traumatic attack and angry debate that followed, one crucial question has been forgotten.  What happened to Lorien?

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GM Commentary

This scenario seems very short (just one encounter and some RP about crafting a wand), but I honestly can't remember why.  There must have been an interruption of some kind that forced us to call it short.

A lot of GMs forget about the Unnatural Aura ability of wraiths, but they can wreak havoc on mounts and animal companions, as we saw in the opening round here.  Similarly, this encounter showed the advantage of having darkvision because The Reckoner's need to don and activate his mask of the mantis in order to fight the attackers left him very vulnerable.

I think the wand that Anorak intended to craft was for the keep watch spell, which has always been a problematic spell for the game.  The rules for sleep and fatigue aren't detailed well, and the addition of a low-level spell that allows PCs to bypass one of the key limitations in the game (the need to rest) is problematic because it then opens the door to players asking questions about what other activities they can do while magically awake on watch all night.  It's also an example of "magical trivializes all obstacles" in the game.

Lorien's player was absent from the session, but I think returns in the next one.

Pathfinder Module: "The Demon Within" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

 

I’ve run a lot of 3.5-era Pathfinder modules in my long-running “Roots of Golarion” campaign.  Sometimes it’s a challenge to integrate them, like forcing a jigsaw puzzle piece into the wrong place with the help of some scissors and tape.  The Demon Within, however, slotted perfectly thanks to a happy coincidence with one of the campaign’s PCs.  We ended up having a great time, with the events in the module creating a potential retirement opportunity when the campaign is all over.  Not every module will work the same for every group, but all I can say is that it worked for ours.

 

Some general points: the adventure is written for level 11 PCs, but it’s still pretty tough with a lot of encounters in a short space of time (depending on how the PCs proceed).  The writing and detail are fantastically gruesome, which fits the circumstances of the adventure perfectly but could offend some squeamish sensibilities.  In terms of art, I love the front cover (its thematically appropriate), but the interior art is mostly mediocre.  Maps are very good, though very large (in terms of 5’ scale) and may be a challenge to represent on the gaming table.  One of my favourite things about these early Paizo modules is the “Designer Sidebars” throughout, in which the writer discusses potential snags and provides tips for the GM to overcome them.  The adventure itself takes up 26 pages, with the remaining six pages devoted to appendices that I’ll discuss in the next section because they might be a bit spoilery.

 

SPOILERS!

 

The Demon Within is set in two locations in the city of Kenabres in Mendev, a country adjacent to the demon-infested Worldwound.  Because countless teleporting demons are impossible to fight and contain through normal means, salvation for Mendev came in the form of the wardstones: a linked chain of artifacts along the border between Mendev and the Worldwound that prevents demons from teleporting across.  I’m not sure whether the concept of the wardstones first appears in The Demon Within, but they certainly receive their earliest full development here.  The module goes into great backstory detail about the heroic warriors of Iomedae, led by Saint Clydwell, who discovered the wardstones and how they could be linked and empowered by a powerful artifact from the Worldwound called The Demonscope  However, keeping The Demonscope (and thus wardstones) operational requires constant vigilance by a trio of the most faithful and selfless of Iomedae’s knights: the Order of Holy Sentinels.  Even if a GM doesn’t run the adventure, the module is great for the amount of lore and depth it adds to Mendev and the Church of Iomedae, and could probably (I’m guessing) be fitted into a side adventure for Wrath of the Righteous.

 

The adventure’s premise is that a danger has arisen that no one in Mendev realises: one of the Holy Sentinels has been corrupted!  Plagued by doubt and constant fears of failure, Sir Holton Albright, the newest Holy Sentinel, has been tricked by a demon into removing one of the sacred relics that keeps The Demonscope operational.  And at the public ceremony where he’ll be formally consecrated to the order, all hell (or, should I say, the Abyss) breaks loose!  This is where the adventure starts for the PCs, as they’re guests during the consecration ceremony when a massive glabrezu, disguised as Albright, transforms into its true form and begins wreaking havoc, while mobs of dretches appear to attack the various emissaries and guests, and a pair of vrocks crash through the temple’s stained-glass windows.  It should be a scene of utter chaos (fitting for demons) as the PCs try to figure out where to go and what to do first when pulled in so many directions.  In other words, an exciting start to the adventure!  (Getting the PCs to the consecration ceremony could be hard part; for my group, it was a snap, as one of the PCs is an inquisitor of Iomedae.)

 

Following the battle, word spreads that Clydwell Keep, home of The Demonscope, has fallen!  Kanebres’s official demonologist, Kutholiam Vuere, notices how (presumably) well the PCs fought and says there’s a secret tunnel from the temple into the lower levels of Clydwell Keep, and that perhaps it’s not too late.  Vuere only appears in the adventure in this section to give exposition—he has a lot of it and it’s important, but the PCs may understandably feel pressure to take action instead of talking and miss much of it.  In any event, I imagine Vuere could be a very useful NPC for other adventures set in Mendev.

 

There’s a cool scene in the escape tunnel when the PCs reach the door that leads into the keep’s mausoleum.  A few paladins—wounded, fatigued, and almost overwhelmed--hold the door from the PCs’ side.  Something powerful and massive must be on the other side and is slamming into the door—BOOM BOOM BOOM!  The PCs have three rounds to prepare before the door crashes in and a massive balban demon appears with a swarm of dretches underfoot.  The mausoleum itself is notable for three things: 1)  Statues, with plaques, naming the various holy warriors interred within—PCs who pay attention will gain a vital clue for the adventure’s endgame; 2)  A statue that provides unlimited magical healing to any good-aligned creature that touches it—making it a crucial place to rest and recover between forays into the keep; and 3) An invisible quasit spy named Frqazzikal who secretly follows the PCs, warning the demons in every chamber of their approach and generally harassing them at the worst possible moment. Devious!

 

The PCs emerge from the mausoleum into a chapel on the surface level of the keep.  As an example of the grisly writing I mentioned in the opening, there’s a demon-possessed paladin to fight, and he’s nailed his own squire (who’s still alive!) to his tower shield!  Jeepers.  A GM who wants a fast-paced adventure with elements of horror has come to the right place with this module.

 

The grounds of Clydwell Keep are divided into an Upper and Lower Bailey.  Here, different groups will make very different decisions.  Some will take it upon themselves to clear out every single building and tower, and there are enough demons to provide a dozen or more encounters (and a ton of XP).  Other groups will keep their eye on the prize (restoring The Demonscope to empower the wardstones before its too late) and bypass most of the optional encounters.  My group (I think smartly) chose the second option.

 

To reach The Demonscope, the PCs need to breach the keep proper and descend into the dungeons beneath it.  Here they have to overcome paladins turned into zombies, babaus, dretches, a demon-possessed Holy Sentinel, a new type of monster called chatterer swarms (a great and memorable monster that should be used again), a black pudding, succubi, a demon knight, a lesser nabasu, and more!  Saving civilisation from demon hordes isn’t easy, but a group with a paladin, lawful good cleric, or (as in my group) an inquisitor able to make their weapons into demon-bane ones will get plenty of time in the spotlight.

 

The module does a really good job with Sir Holton Albright—he’s actually a sympathetic figure as he’s now filled with remorse and disgust at himself for being manipulated by the demon.  Once found, he’ll help the group understand the problem with The Demonscope and how it can be fixed.  This involves locating and placing sacred relics in the correct location, which is where the clues from the mausoleum come into play.  Or, the PCs can try to brute force the solution, which can work, but the longer it takes them to figure it out, the more a CR15 balor demon emerges!  The balor has limited powers at this point, but it still filled me with joy to have its massive arm appear and take some swipes at the PCs in a very climactic ending.  Fortunately, my PCs reactivated The Demonscope and saved Mendev from becoming just another demon-infested wasteland like the Worldwound.  You’re welcome!

 

For back matter, the module contains three appendices.  The first is a few paragraphs on Kenabres, which really isn’t enough.  Although the module doesn’t give the PCs a chance to spend time in the city, a GM should see if they can find more on it elsewhere in case they want to do some stuff there before or after the adventure.  The second appendix contains two new monsters: the aforementioned chatterer swarms and sons of perdition; both good additions to the game.  Appendix 3 contains stats for The Demonscope and some other magic items, our favourites of which were faith orbs (holy hand grenades!) and water scorpions (squirt guns with endless supply of holy water!).

 

I suppose if one wanted to quibble, there’s not a lot of opportunity for role-playing or skill challenges in The Demon Within and, from one point of view, it’s pretty much a hack-fest.  But it’s a really good hack-fest, with a great backstory and excellent use of the setting.  I’d recommend it.