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.

Starfinder Module: "The Liberation of Locus-1" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

 

The Liberation of Locus-1 is a 64-page entry in Starfinder’s adventure module series.  Designed to take characters from level 4 to 7, it can be run as a standalone adventure, a natural follow-up to Junker’s Delight, or as a replacement volume for an adventure path.  I played it with my fun characters Nixxer and Professor Kipe and thought it was a solid adventure even if those PCs didn’t quite fit what the story expected.  As the title indicates, the adventure centers around Locus-1, which is a scientific space station orbiting a mysterious “metastar” in a recently-discovered star system.

 

First up, let’s talk about art.  The cover is solid, and it’s nice to see the Sunset Maiden again, but it would have been even better to have Locus-1 depicted as part of the action.  That’s because, inside the book, there’s not really a good exterior shot of what the space station looks like!  I find this a common problem with Paizo books—minor NPCs get artwork, but key settings which are hard to describe in words are left to the imagination.  As for the interior art, it’s okay, though a bit cartoony and undetailed for my tastes compared to the hyper-realistic art in the Core Rulebook.  The interior maps are well-designed, but they are *large* in scale and a GM will need to prepare accordingly (more a concern for an actual tabletop game than for a virtual tabletop one).  It would be nice to have a visual representation of the Locus System to go along with the written description in the gazetteer.

 

Speaking of the gazetteer of Locus-1 and the Locus System, that’s the first piece of back matter.  In eight pages, we get a well-written history and overview of the star system and the space station built to investigate the mysterious metastar at its center.  There’s some particular good bits I like, such as a small Starfinder Society lodge and a bar called the Hard Stop that tries to present itself as a classic “seedy cantina/dive bar” but can’t pull it off because Locus-1 is just too civilised!  The setting has all the elements that would make it a great “home base” for the PCs: it has basic infrastructure, good NPCs, isn’t overwhelming by having information spread across a dozen books, and it supports some interesting adventure hooks.  In other words, it’s easy to envision a campaign set entirely in the Locus System.

 

The second piece of back matter is the “Adventure Toolbox” (6 pages).  This starts with a page of weaponry that utilise special Locus crystals that give a weapon a special property: Healing.  In short, blast someone with one of these, and they heal hit points instead of taking damage!  They’re limited use, of course, but still pretty neat in concept.  The section then moves on to an Alien Archive, with three new creatures.  There are two playable races whose homeworlds are in Azlanti space: gathols (hulking but frankly forgettable mountain-dwelling humanoids) and tromlins (dinosaur-humanoids that will surely meet a burning desire in some player’s hearts).  The third new creature is mindshroud rays, which can attach themselves and take over a humanoid’s body—they’re probably more a story aid then a direct threat.

 

Onto the adventure!

 

SPOILERS!

 

The adventure hooks for The Liberation of Locus-1 are a bit sketchy.  There are a few short ideas on reasons the PCs might have come to the station, but this is an area each GM will have to expand on their own because it doesn’t really matter from the adventure’s perspective.  Instead, this is one of those adventures where the PCs are in the wrong place at the wrong time and simply get drawn into a course of dramatic and dangerous events.

 

Part 1 (“Four Alarms”) starts with a bang, as the PCs are in a marketplace on Locus-1 when suddenly a dinosaur crashes through the area, goaded on by a pirate!  An exterior window gets shattered in the fracas, causing a hull breach and exposure to vacuum that threatens to suck nearby civilians outside!  The module divides the situation into four separate “Events” and explains how the order they’re ran can be rearranged depending on the PCs’ response.  This is smart because it keeps the action from becoming overly scripted and rail-roady.  The encounters are very detailed in terms of terrain, hazards, enemy tactics, and other special considerations, which helps give each one a special feel.  In other words, the writing was done carefully instead of lazily.  Various NPCs intervene in the encounters, which is important to establish Locus-1 as a “real” place instead of a cardboard background for the PCs to run rampant.  The overall goal of Part 1 is to introduce the PCs to Locus-1, some of its key NPCs (including its ruling Science Council), and to give the impression that life on board may be far from sedate.

 

Part 2 (“Chaos System”) consists of four mini-adventures that can be presented in any order (though there is a natural progression to them, it’s again good that the GM can be flexible depending on what the PCs do).  Before the adventures are described, several pages in this Part are devoted to helping the GM continue to introduce the setting, major plot points, and how key NPCs adjust their attitudes depending on the PCs’ interactions with them.  It’s an intelligent way of integrating a lot of material.  As for the missions, the first one is “Research Recovery” and has the PCs leave Locus-1 to travel to the planet Tyru, where magic is unstable and the weather is awful, to recover some data from a research station that was recently destroyed.  The second one is “Mining Camp 001”, and this is where the PCs may first learn that the Azlanti Star Empire is interested in the Locus System as well.  The action takes place on the planet Godrum, where the Azlanti are using android slaves to mine crystals.  There’s a lot of great detail to reward careful planning on the players’ part.  Alas, I think my group accidentally/on purpose blew this planet up!  The third mission is “Pirate Problems” and sees the PCs confront the pirate group responsible for the drama in Part 1.  They’ll have to repulse an ambush on the station (I like how civilians can accidentally be hit) and engage in a starship battle against the pirates’ flagship.  This leads naturally into the fourth mission (“Besmara’s Head”) which sees the PCs storming the pirates’ base in the Locus System, a floating asteroid in the shape of a skull!  This is the longest mission, as the base has several surface chambers and catacombs to explore and multiple encounters. In effect, it’s a big “space dungeon”, but one that’s done well and is interesting.

 

Part 3 (“Battle for Locus-1”) is something I can review only as it comes across on the page, because my group didn’t play through most of it.  The premise is that Locus-1 has become the target of the Glaive of Remulis, an Azlanti destroyer, and ordered to surrender.  Most members of the ruling Science Council are ready to capitulate, but one member thinks the attack can be repulsed if the station’s Locus array (some high magic/tech) can be activated.  It all looks very exciting, with the PCs expected to hold back waves of Azlanti troopers as they simultaneously work furiously to get the Locus array activated and then engage in battle with the Azlanti destroyer.  It also looks like a big GMing task, as there’s a *lot* to handle.  The reason my group ducked out of it was that we were playing mercenary types and this part of the adventure was designed for straight-out heroes.  Most adventures hedge their bets by offering some sort of reward, but this one didn’t, so our group thought fleeing for their cowardly lives was the most profitable outcome!  I know this disappointed the GM, but it really wasn’t his fault—we were having a blast but wanted to stay true to our characters’ motivations.

 

Anyway, that’s The Liberation of Locus-1.  I definitely recommend it for some of the best Starfinder adventure design the game has to offer.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 78 [RPG]

[Oathday, 6 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

 

There is no rest for the weary in Castle Scarwall—as soon as one wave of necromantic abominations are cut down, a second assaults the group’s campsite.  More skeletal monsters and rotting corpses are dispatched, but although Yraelzin calls out that the Castle has found them, the group decide to stay in the same place.  Before long, spectral apparitions glide through the walls and plunge icy hands into the Harrowed Heroes, sapping their lifeforce.  The battle is won, but Yraelzin looks like a parched old man when it’s over—and even worse, Anorak is missing!

 

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

 

Somehow, after a long night of enduring Castle Scarwall’s vented fury at their trespass, three intruders live to see dawn.  Lorien expends several hundred gold pieces’ worth of diamond dust in a ritual to restore everyone’s drained life energies, while The Reckoner expends the last vestiges of magic in a healing wand to address their more obvious physical wounds.  Having prayed on the matter overnight, Lorien feels that if he can just glimpse the strange chained ghost again, he might be able to understand how to defeat it.  The trio hatch a plan involving giving a lit lantern to one of the walking dead they’ve managed to take magical control over, and having it advance toward the dais in the throne room to illuminate its bound resident for Lorien.  But although the plan starts well, Lorien’s inspiration deserts him at the crucial moment, and he remains unsure of what the spirit is or how to defeat it.

True illumination comes not from a lantern, but a much more bizarre source: the apparition from ancient Azlant that has repeatedly appeared to level its disapproving stare at Yraelzin!  Reluctantly translating from the Old Azlanti tongue, Yraelzin says his chastiser claims even a feebleminded street urchin would deduce that the ghost chained to the dais can only be permanently banished by first depriving it of its spiritual anchors—four creatures somewhere else in the castle that serve to bind the chained ghost to the Material Plane.  With a sigh, Yraelzin says the apparition claims he’s missed his destiny by abandoning a planned expedition to try to find the remnants of Azlant in the sea.

If the apparition that Yraelzin serves as interlocutor for is correct, there seems no alternative than to hunt down the chained spirit’s anchors one by one.  The trio of adventurers decide to explore one of the many chambers off the long, twisting corridor that runs through Castle Scarwall’s second floor.  The door opens to reveal a room with furnishings that leave no doubt as to its original purpose: racks, iron maidens, cages, and other implements of torture abound, all in fine working order.  A not-quite-human figure dressed in a long dark coat and tall hat exudes an almost palpable aura of horror as it looms over a table that contains an unconscious Anorak! “More toys!  How delightful!” chuckles the figure in a disturbing voice that sets everyone’s teeth on edge.  Controlling his fear, The Reckoner advances and quickly cuts down the monster before freeing Anorak.

Continued exploration on the second floor turns up a garderobe and a bedroom with rotted furniture.  Not long after extracting a keyring from under a decomposing writing desk, The Reckoner suddenly hears a now-familiar voice in his head: Bishop Keppira d’Bear, his connection with Cressida Kroft’s resistance band in Korvosa.  The message, constrained by the limitations of magic, is short:

 

“Good: Triffacia unmasked by Grau as efreeti working for Crimson Throne.  Bad: Dozens/hundreds of civilians dying spontaneously.  Dark blood magic.  Factions discussing Palace assault.”

 

As the Harrowed Heroes explore Castle Scarwall, the world outside isn’t standing still.  What will they find when they finally emerge?

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

GM Commentary

The idea that the spirit controlling Castle Scarwall had located the PCs and was targeting them wasn't exactly subtle, but the players were determined (or stubborn) to stand their ground and fight off the waves of attacks.  They all survived it, though it did drain a lot of healing and restorative resources.

The bit with Lorien and the lantern was because they wanted the PC to make a Knowledge (religion) check vs the chained spirit but (due to the the light levels in Scarwall) they needed him to get close enough to see it.  From the result, I'm guessing the player rolled a natural 1 or something similarly awful on the check.  Fortunately, Yraelzin's ancestral spirit was there (discussed in my previous commentary) because, mechanically, it allowed him some sort of free check or bonus on Knowledge attempts a limited number of times per day.

I'm guessing Anorak's player was either late or absent, thus the kidnapping by the monster (a boogeyman).

Having Grau defeat/unmask the "vigilante" Trifaccia (secretly an agent of Ileosa) was to further one of my guiding principles: don't make it seem like every NPC is helpless and the world just sits around waiting for the PCs to drive events forward.  Plus, I really wanted each of the three "rebel leaders" (Kroft, Grau, and Glorio Arkona) to have some successes and reasons for supporting them, so that the decision which to ultimately back would not be obvious.

Pathfinder Map Pack: "Cave Tunnels"

 So there I was, minutes until the session started.  I had a tenebrous worm ready to attack the PCs in some tunnels deep under a d'ziriak hive, and all the flip-mats and map-packs I looked at had traditional constructed dungeon corridors instead of the natural tunnels I needed.  And then I spotted Cave Tunnels unopened on my shelf, and knew it would be perfect!  There's nothing fancy about it, but it does exactly what you need it to do: natural rocky tunnels in dim light with plenty of branches.  Certainly something one could use for all sorts of quick random encounters underground.  The players might not have been happy about the resulting slaughter, but for a
harried GM, it was gold!

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 77 [RPG]

 [Oathday, 6 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

The quest to break the curse of Castle Scarwall—and thus the source of Queen Ileosa’s invincibility through her mysterious crown—continues.  As their exploration of the myriad hallways and chambers of the second floor of the castle continue, the Harrowed Heroes decide to try a stealthy approach.  Anorak, taking the lead due to The Reckoner’s perceived vulnerability, turns himself invisible to scout ahead.  The dwarf soon finds himself on a balcony overlooking the courtyard the group trudged through previously.  He also discovers a lone skeletal minotaur, obviously a sentinel, in a watch station on the balcony.  Anorak quietly backtracks to the group and shares what he’s seen.  The decision is made for everyone to approach stealthily and try to subdue the guard.  Anorak, The Reckoner, and Goldcape move on tiptoe through the hallway, while Yraelzin stays around the corner with Eldritch.  Everything seems to be going well until Lorien’s armor begins squeaking, instantly drawing the sentinel’s attention!  It begins ringing a brass bell, surely alerting everyone and everything in the vicinity, before Anorak blasts it to fragments with an electricity spell.

 

In seconds, skeletons and zombies begin pouring forth into the hallway from multiple entry points.  Yraelzin and Eldritch are in dire straits, but Goldcape rushes over to protect them.  Rocky smashes three skeletons with as many strikes, while The Reckoner uses a magical wand to take control of a zombie left unscathed by the black tentacles Anorak conjures out of thin air.  The group decide to retreat out of concern that other defenders could be on their way.

 

In the chamber the group has used for multiple days as a makeshift campsite, The Reckoner asks Anorak to check his sapient armor, Plate, for curses.  The dwarf reports nothing awry with his creation.  For its part, Plate says it feels great and just wishes they could break the curse quickly to keep Ileosa from wreaking further havoc in Korvosa.  As the group converse, they realise drops of what looks like blood have started trickling down the wall, one by one.  The Reckoner calls out in alarm, readying the group to run, until the blood drops begin to form an image of perhaps the last person the Harrowed Heroes would expect to see: Glorio Arkona, patriarch of House Arkona, a wealthy aristocratic family that has become the de facto ruler of Old Korvosa, the Black Tower, and Trail’s End.

Glorio looks to be in high spirits as he addresses the explorers each by name, awaiting an introduction to Lorien that comes with little information.  When asked about how his image has manifested, Glorio says only that “the old magicks are the best magicks!”—though it’s clear from the bloody knife and the open wound in his palm that once his bleeding stops, so will the spell.  After some attempts at genial chit-chat that the Harrowed Heroes don’t reciprocate, Glorio sighs and gets to the point.  He says that although one prong of the invasion by the giant armies of the north was repulsed at Urglin (something that makes Yraelzin puff out his chest with pride), it’s clear the enemy has regrouped with a new plan: a knockout blow to take Magnimar (the region’s largest city), split the defenders of Varisia in half, and then easily mop up the rest.  Glorio says the alliance of Varisian city-states, their holdings, and the independent cities in the region are meeting in Ilsurian for a defence summit to plan a strategy to repel the expected invasion.  But Queen Ileosa has refused Korvosa’s participation in the alliance or even to send a representative to the summit, a choice that puts the whole region at risk of being conquered.  However, Glorio is excited to announce, the city’s three rebel factions (his own, Grau Soldado’s, and Cressida Kroft’s) have agreed to jointly send a representative to the summit, promising Korvosa’s aid as soon as Ileosa is overthrown.

The problem, Glorio explains, is that the rebel factions can’t agree on who to send.  None of the leaders are willing to risk leaving the city, and they don’t trust one another.  But then they hit upon a possible solution: send someone from a group they’ve all worked with in the past: the Harrowed Heroes!  Glorio says he championed his “Royal Craftsdwarf” Anorak (something that leads the dwarf to roll his eyes), while Kroft suggested sending The Reckoner.  Grau, it seems, didn’t have a preference.  Glorio concludes that that leaves only two possibilities that the rebel factions could agree on: Yraelzin and Goldcape.  Yraelzin reluctantly volunteers to go, but says he has no way of getting there quickly—he had to bribe a shaman in Urglin to provide him magical passage to Scarwall. Anorak suggests teleporting someone to Ilsurian, but without having been there before and the risk of whatever magical defenses Castle Scarwall may have, it doesn’t seem likely such an attempt would succeed.  Goldcape bravely offers herself as the rebels’ emissary: she can fly at great speeds on Rocky’s back, has a contact in Ilsurian already, and can stay in touch with the group through Yraelzin’s magical sending spells.  Goldcape gives Yraelzin a dagger marked with a stylized B as a symbol that she won’t let the group—or Korvosa—down.

After Goldcape and Rocky’s departure, the group’s spirits are subdued.  Nonetheless, they decide to press on.  Anorak and The Reckoner have come up with a new plan to permanently destroy the spectral skulls that seem to keep the strange, chain-covered ghost in Scarwall’s throne room from being permanently banished.  For a third time, the group burst into the throne room, but their plan has overlooked a key element—light!  The dais on which the chained spirit and the anchoring skulls sit is too far from the door to be seen, even with a dwarf’s darkvision.  But the spirit has no such limitation, as it’s able to sense the living from hundreds of feet away.  It springs forth to attack as Anorak and The Reckoner fumble with enchanting a coin to glow and then hurling it toward the dais.  Aided by the added light, Anorak casts a spell designed negate the magic of objects.  But it has no effect on the spectral skulls!  Everyone retreats, but the spirit’s ability to burst through walls without restraint means the group doesn’t make it out unscathed.

 

Back at their campsite, the group debrief.  Anorak confirms he cast the spell correctly, and that another attempt along the same lines isn’t likely to succeed either.  Lorien speculates that she could magically hide the group from the senses of undead, while Yraelzin argues that there’s no point in the group hitting its head against the wall since there’s no reason to think the throne room ghost is important.  Changing the subject entirely, Eldritch adds his speculation that the whole visit by Glorio was just a trick to weaken the party.

 

The magical camping spike is used to once again camouflage the group’s location as Anorak uses his newly-crafted wand to allow everyone to rest while still awake.  But several hours into the night, zombies and skeletons literally burst out of the ground at their feet!  Eldritch is wounded before flying high for safety, and the battle is prolonged by The Reckoner’s and Anorak’s insistence on trying to gain magical control of the creatures.  Just as the battle seems to be over, more undead arise!  It seems Castle Scarwall has been awakened, and it is not happy.

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GM Commentary

At the beginning of the session, the group briefly try out scouting, and gain information about what lies ahead.  Smart!  They follow up with a group attempt at Stealth.  Dumb!  There are ways to deal with the "noisy group" problem (silence spells, special feats, etc.), but they take some planning.  Most groups just revert to the "we all move together and kick in every door" approach.

Several commentaries ago I referred to Goldcape's player leaving so he could become Assistant GM.  That shows my shoddy memory, as it actually happened this session.  We get to see some scenes at the summit in later sessions though.

A lot of zombies and skeletons appeared in this session--simply the result of random encounters.  At the PCs' level, such foes (even in large numbers) aren't really dangerous, but they do interrupt activities and drain resources.