Spitfire and the Troubleshooters [COMICS]

It's hard to believe it's been thirty years since the launch of Marvel's New Universe line.  I remember being so excited about the idea when I was a kid--what could be cooler than to be in on the launch of a whole new crop of heroes and stories?  It would be like buying an issue of Fantastic Four # 1 in 1961 and never looking back!  Or so I thought.  The entire New Universe was shut down in just three years, with half of the original titles ending after the first year.  I actually only purchased a few issues when I was a kid (availability was quite limited where I grew up), but now I can go back and see what I missed.

Spitfire and the Troubleshooters was one of the New Universe launch titles that only made it to thirteen issues.  At first blush it might seem like an Iron Man rip-off (the idea of an armored super-suit is and was nothing new), but the title had a new spin on the concept.  The protagonist, Jenny "Spitfire" Swensen, is a university professor at M.I.T. with a brilliant crop of graduate students.  When Jenny's father is killed over the design for a new construction exoskeleton, Jenny finds herself in a running battle with the killers in a bid for both revenge and to keep the suit out of their hands.  Her students give her a hand, with some developing minor physical enhancements to become more useful. This isn't a story of a super hero fighting crime but instead a much more personal story.  Near the end of the series, with cancellation on the horizon, the comic takes a different tack and Jenny (and her super-suit) becomes an agent for a government agency akin to the CIA!  It was an odd shift, and unfortunately not a very successful one.

Issue # 1 starts with the murder of Jenny's father by an armored figure.  Jenny and her students soon hear about it, and Jenny finds a cryptic message left to her by her father--but to decode it, she needs to break into his (now sealed) office with the help of her graduate students (nicknamed "The Troubleshooters").  She finds a advanced "M.A.X. II" exoskeleton her father hid from his employer, a suspicious fellow named Fritz Krotze, and has to jump into it to do battle with someone wearing the original "M.A.X. I" design.  The robot battle is great, seeing Jenny and her students in their element at M.I.T. is fun, and overall it's a nice, solid start to the series.

Issue # 2 has a loveably cheesy cover caption "For the life of a Troubleshooter--Spitfire vs. THE DEATH TANK!"  Comics are so fun.  Jenny tests out the M.A.X. II suit out in an isolated area, while her Troubleshooters, back at M.I.T., sneak into Krotze's office to see if he knows that Jenny "stole" the suit that is (legally speaking) his property.  It turns out Krotze does know, and has send a secret Department of Defense project, a massive tank named Behemoth, to go get it back!  One of of the Troubleshooters, Giotti, ends up getting kidnapped and there's a huge battle between Spitfire and the tank, which ends with the tank getting hurled over the cliff.  Please avert your eyes whilst I say "tanks for nothing."

The Troubleshooters start to develop their augmentations in Issue # 3, with Tim adding mechanical legs so he can run fast ("Fastball") and Terry designing a cybernetic helmet that allows her to tap into nearby electronics ("Think-Thank").  I like the Troubleshooters as graduate students, but the augmentations and nicknames place them into partial super hero territory and I don't think it works well.  Anyway, Jenny wears the armor and breaks into Krotze's lab to gather proof of his wrongdoing and is caught by a visiting army general--she blasts him and flees, full of guilt.  We get the introduction of Krotze's mysterious backers ("The Club") and a professional terrorist/assassin named Steel Hawk.  Ominous!  Hey, I never promised Shakespeare.

Todd MacFarlane does the interior art to Issue # 4, and I don't mind pre-Image MacFarlane.  Jenny flies the Spitfire armor to Washington, D.C., to address a congressional committee.  She reveals who she is and Krotze's link to "The Club".  Because this is a New Universe title, each issue has a month's break "in story" to match the month's break between issues being published, which creates some interesting story angles.  Steel Hawk, for example, has held Krotze prisoner for the past few weeks and then murders him in a quite bloody fashion.  Once the body's found, Jenny's arrested for murder, and, coming on the heels of the Spitfire suit being wrecked by small arms fire, this is a blow.  Irony on the letters page:  "Trust us, this one's here to stay!"

Issue # 5 starts with three of the Troubleshooters breaking into a police evidence room where the damaged Spitfire suit has been stored while Jenny's been in jail.  There's a nice theme in this issue of her realizing she's messed up by repeatedly taking the law into her own hands, and coming to terms with what she's done.  This issue is the first crossover with another New Universe title, Star Brand, and it comes off a bit forced but is solid overall.

Issue # 6 has a really dumb cover, but for some reason I like it anyway.  While the Club gets Steel Hawk ready to assassinate the British Prime Minister, the criminal case against Jenny is dismissed.  The Troubleshooters track down Steel Hawk's hide-out and survive his machine gun fire by hiding behind a hay bale! (who knew they were bulletproof?)  Steel Hawk gets away, and the Troubleshooters discover the assassination plot with only minutes to spare!

Issue # 7 shows how a month "in story" between issues makes cliffhangers really awkward, as Jenny's stopping of the assassination is done through a less exciting flashback.  Still, I like the book because it's not not a "villain of the month" super hero story.  Steel Hawk, who was foiled but escaped, identifies the Troubleshooters and travels to M.I.T. with a freakin' bazooka!  He blows the legs off Terry ("Fastball") and kills poor Andy ("Beam-Splitter").  Things just got real, y'all!

"Revenge!" shouts the cover of Issue # 8.  The comic has taken an interesting direction at this point, as the Spitfire armor is still wrecked and the Troubleshooters are getting knocked off.  Not what one would expect!  Jenny is "abducted by mysterious abductor" according to my notes, and asked to work on building a new M.A.X. suit.  It turns out, the United States government is testing her.  Meanwhile, the alive/mobile Troubleshooters track down Steel Hawk and ambush him at a massage parlor (is nothing sacred?), but then a ninja rescues him!  Bet you didn't see that coming.

So it turns out the ninja was Varna, Steel Hawk's lover.  Issue # 9 reveals that Jenny's spent a couple of weeks more or less imprisoned at a secret government facility led by a certain Edmund Roth.  Jenny's steadfastly refused to recreate the M.A.X. suit (knowing the government will make it into a weapon), but then she sees a video recording of her father that makes her reconsider--not realizing that the video was a fake!  Jenny thinks she's leaving the facility with another detainee, Jake Travest, but then it turns out the plane they're on is taking them to Afghanistan because the Russkies have knock-off M.A.X. suits!

After disabling one of the Russian suits in the beginning of Issue # 10, Jake and Jenny fall in with Afghani "freedom-fighters.  Jenny gradually realizes that Jake is bat-shit crazy.  The series is renamed "Codename: Spitfire" as the Troubleshooters are dropped for this new "secret agent" direction as Jenny and Jake work as government operatives against The Club.  I'm sad, because I'd rather see more M.I.T. shenanigans.

Issue # 11 helps us remember that the Sandinistas were a thing in American consciousness in the late 1980s, as Jake gets captured and interrogated by them.  This issue is poorly written and confusing with flashbacks, but it turns out that Jake and Jenny are on a mission to rescue a journalist when the Spitfire suit gets scrambled, Jake gets captured, and the journalist turns out to have been already killed.  Jenny disobeys orders to "disavow" Jake and rescues him instead.  Why she's loyal to the little psychopath I'm not sure.

There's been a bunch of different writers in the last few issues, which contributes to the storylines being all over the place.  Issue # 12 sports bad artwork, but an okay story that has something to do with a stolen fighter plane and Jenny's father's anti-militarism.  My notes are vague, but I don't plan to re-read it!

Issue # 13 is the big send off.  Jenny receives orders to rescue a captured CIA agent in "Puerto Roja" who was attempting to infiltrate the facility of a technology developer named Saxon St. John.  Saxon has been developing armor to sell to The Club, and has to be stopped.  Jenny gets a new partner for this gig (a tech expert named Willy Deeve) and a new suit that sports pecs and abs!  I would I had those.  Jenny & Willy defeat an armored dude on Puerto Roja, infiltrate Saxon's castle stronghold, destroy the lab after a big fight, and (I think) rescue the CIA agent.  There's a lot of agonizing in the issue about the dehumanizing influence of technology, but I'm too busy surfing my IPhone to give the matter any serious thought right now.  The ending of the series is actually kind of depressing.  "This concludes the adventures of Spitfire", we're told.

If tears are in your eyes, buck up with the knowledge that Spitfire makes some appearances in other New Universe titles.  As for the Troubleshooters?  Hm, that I don't know if I can help you with.

The Gem [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Oza

Gary Kloster's The Gem, a 4-part series of free Pathfinder web fiction (available here), is something very different than the norm.  Rather than featuring adventurers and Golarion's well-established locations, The Gem spotlights the apprentice shaman of a small village in the Mwangi Expanse.  A prequel to the Pathfinder Tales novel Firesoul, The Gem is about coming of age and coming into power, plus the threats posed by outsiders who have more greed than wisdom.  There's plenty of action and some great cliffhangars.  Although the main character, Jiri, still needs some additional definition in order to be fully fleshed-out, on the whole this was a solid story with a protagonist much different than the norm.

SPOILERS

In the village of Thirty Trees, Jiri is a young woman with fire powers she has difficulty controlling.  After a terrible accident, she's not fully trusted by her fellow villagers but has a kindly older mentor named Oza.  When Oza has to leave the village on a brief trip, he leaves Jiri in the role of village shaman.  That's of course when danger comes in the form of outsiders who are attempting to bring back the intact egg of a monster I hadn't heard of until this story: a grootslang!  Grootslangs are a monstrous mix of elephant and serpent with six fangs (!), but in this story they almost seem like something out of the movie Alien as one bursts from its egg and starts a grisly killing rampage.  It's exciting stuff, but the story has a nice arc and is more than just fight scenes.  I'm not necessarily over the moon about The Gem, but I'm curious to see Jiri in a longer story like Firesoul.

SFS # 1-00 "Claim to Salvation" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

It all starts here!  The first official Starfinder Society scenario, “Claim to Salvation” is different than most in that it takes the form of a so-called “Special.”  It’s not one of the big multi-table “interactive specials” that some players might be familiar with from Pathfinder Society, but it is unusual for two reasons: first, everyone runs a 4^th-level pre-generated Iconic character; and second, those characters aren’t members of the Starfinder Society but are actually mercenaries hired by the Society to undertake a mission that can’t be officially linked back to it.  It’s perhaps a tad strange to launch an organized play program with a scenario that requires players to run 4^th-level characters, but in practice it seemed to work out fine as the Iconic character sheets explain the abilities really well.  I ran this for a table of four experienced Pathfinder players (using the four player alterations) and everyone had a good time.  The only complaints I heard about the scenario specifically (as opposed to the system itself) was that it didn’t give a chance for some classes to shine and that there wasn’t anything in particular to do during starship travel.  From my GM’s perspective, I thought it had a nice mix of role-playing and combat encounters and a solid plot that lends itself to some very intriguing possibilities in the season to come.  It also contained a really well-done sort of “sub-story” adjacent to the main plot. There are some places where I would have appreciated some more originality in opponents or more detail (as described below), but on the whole I think Starfinder Society is off to a good start.

SPOILERS

The premise of “Claim to Salvation” is that, in the wake of the Scoured Stars incident (which trapped 80% of the Society behind an impenetrable barrier), the new First Seeker has to find a major discovery to attract investors and keep the Society focussed.  One such possibility is a strange moon called Salvation’s End that displays some signs of being artificially constructed.  The Society has obtained exclusive rights to investigate Salvation’s End, but they’re not sure whether it’s worth a full-scale expedition.  While they were trying to decide, a rogue group of claim-jumping treasure-seekers approached Salvation’s End only to find their ship destroyed—the lone known survivor was picked up in an escape pod and imprisoned.  Now, the Society is ready to make a first approach to Salvation’s End, but they don’t want to make the same mistake the claim-jumpers did.  But the prison where the lone survivor is held has refused access to the Society (it’s not perfectly clear why), so outsiders must be used: and this is where the PCs come in.  As mercenaries hired by the Society and provided with a cover story, they’re charged with travelling to the prison, questioning the surviving claim-jumper, and then continuing on to Salvation’s End to report back whether it’s worthy of devoted exploration.  All in all, it’s a good SF set-up to a story.

The scenario begins, like most scenarios do, with a mission briefing.  The briefer is the head of the Society itself, First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo.  The scenario includes a nice picture and some solid dialogue for Luwazi, as well as additional pieces of information to answer likely PC questions.  It’s fairly unremarkable but does lead to the cool moment where Luwazi leads the PCs to a hangar and reveals the brand-new ship that is their’s for the mission.  Since the scenario includes the possibility of a tour of the ship, it’s a natural moment for a GM to explain to players how starship combat roles work, give them the (much appreciated!) handout summaries of the roles, and get them to decide for themselves who will be filling what role.

The next section of the scenario is a role-playing encounter.  The PCs land on Varos, a volcanic moon of the gas giant Bretheda, to visit the Sauna, a prison colony.  In order to gain access to the imprisoned claim-jumper inside, they first have to negotiate access with the prison’s warden.  The warden and the guards here are floating, telepathic, jellyfish-like aliens called barathu.  There’s just enough background on the barathu and the strange, organic prison, for the GM, and it’s good for the players to see almost right from the bat that they need to bring in entirely different expectations from Pathfinder!  My favourite part of running this encounter, and perhaps of the scenario altogether, was role-playing the warden.  He’s described as “fawning” so I played this to the hilt, having him shamelessly flatter the PCs.  The warden essentially needs to be bribed with some or all of the credits given to the characters by Luwazi for expenses, and once that’s done, they’re allowed to enter the prison yard to speak with Livewire, the survivor of the last approach to Salvation’s End.

Livewire is a good-hearted ysoki who regrets falling into a life skirting the law with the crew of the Archer (the ship that crashed).  Before the last mission, she fell in love with a fellow crew member named Bago, and the two of them planned to leave the ship (and its domineering captain, Bago’s brother Borgor) behind to start an honest living once the Salvation’s End mission was done.  The writing here is done quite well, because the GM knows, but the players almost certainly won’t yet gather, that Bago and Borgor are two different heads of the same ettin!  This story thread comes back soon.  In the meantime, in order to persuade Livewire to talk about what happened, they have to bribe her with 1,000 credits of “hygiene products.”  This plot-thread is a bit odd and undeveloped, and I had to improvise a lot (from prison TV-shows) about how she needed something valuable to trade other prisoners in order to stay safe.

From this point, the PCs presumably get back on their borrowed ship and jump into the Drift towards Salvation’s End.  The scenario tells us that 5d6 days pass, but the number of days doesn’t really matter at all since there’s not really much that can happen on the ship.  Anyway, the instant the ship returns to normal space, it is set upon goblin junkers (primitive one-man space fighters made out of scrap).  This is the first taste most players will have of starship combat, and it was probably wise to make sure the enemies were very little threat.  The four-person party I was GMing for had to decide which role to leave empty, and that was the Science Officer.  Because they couldn’t really scan to find out weapon arcs or shield weaknesses, the combat was a pretty straightforward affair, but I did appreciate the inclusion of a goblin-operated tractor beam that could immobilize the PCs’ vessel.

Assuming the PCs survive the battle (and they better!), they detect a strong, strange signal coming from a huge spire of scrapped ships.  Landing nearby, they make their way into the hangar of a large transport ship to see several space goblins attempting to cut their way into the interior of the Archer, the crashed vessel operated by the claim-jumpers.  The PCs are slightly outnumbered by the space goblins, but even with the presence of two “space goblin bullies” that are tougher than normal, I can’t see them posing any sort of threat: their laser pistols only do 1d4 or 1d6 damage and, remember, we’re talking about 4^th level PCs here.  The encounter map is well-done though, with fun terrain features like catwalks above and starship scrap all over.

After the battle, there’s a lot for the PCs to do.  They can figure out how to gain entry themselves to the Archer, and discover inside audio logs that provide some further backstory on how it crashed and what was going on with the crew.  They can repair a mainframe computer and hack into nearby terminals to gain access to things like lights, doors, and (potentially the most fun) gravity.  It’s a good chance for any PC skilled in Computers or Engineering to shine (though there’s a very nasty trap here that will likely zap the PCs for far more damage than the goblins could inflict!).  Last, there is a sealed door leading to what turns out to be an elevator that the PCs will need to take in order to get closer to the source of the mysterious signal they detected from orbit.  If they paid really close attention to an earlier clue, they’ll figure out how to operate the elevator—otherwise, they’ll suffer a minor trap and may have to resort to trial-and-error in the form of Wisdom checks.

The elevator whisks the PCs to the final encounter of the scenario: a battle against BorgorBago.  Borgor, the mean, malevolent head, has used charm monster on Bago, the gentle, kind head, but there’s some clever ways provided in the scenario to allow Bago to make another Will save to try to break free, in which case he’ll fight with Borgor for control of their shared body.  BorgorBago is a much more dangerous threat than the goblins, as he can both cast a spell and make an attack every round (being an ettin), and some of his spells are “save-or-suck” like hold person.  (The PCs in my group managed to take him down without any casualties, but the solarion almost dropped.)  This was a clever encounter, as the PCs could have made use of their control over the computers to harass and disorient BorgorBago, and the role-playing opportunities between the two heads was great.  He wasn’t just a standard, forgettable monster. 

Finally, in an adjacent room, the PCs discover a mysterious hatch leading to a deep, artificial substructure of Salvation’s End.  The scenario ends once they get the hatch open, which I understand from a season-long perspective but it plays out a bit abruptly within the scenario as most PCs are natural adventurers and want to see what the hatch leads to.  But, in any event, it sets up things nicely for the future.  In addition, if the PCs capture BorgorBago alive, they can commit to returning him to Absalom Station to face justice, in which case Bago will achieve his dream of having his consciousness downloaded into an android body (!), Borgor (now in full control of the ettin body) will be incarcerated, and Livewire will be released so she and Bago can be reunited.  If you have a hardcore “just give us the XP and loot!” group of players, they might not care, but I thought it was well-done and very sweet.  Perhaps we’ll encounter those crazy kids in love again in a future scenario?

I can report a few quibbles.  Literally seconds after Luwazi tells the PCs how they can’t let *anyone* know they’re working with the Starfinder Society, she presents them with a new ship that contains “a stylized symbol of the Starfinder Society along its hull.”  Much is made of how the Warden warns the PCs they can’t bring any weapons or contraband into the prison (and, indeed, the plot partially depends on them not having anything to give to Livewire), but there isn’t any information, not even Perception modifiers, for what sorts of searches or scans the guards do if the PCs (being cautious types and worried about getting shanked) decide to smuggle something in (Ysoki check pouches are natural temptations here).  The “space goblin bullies” have “souped-up junklasers” that, on a natural 1, create a warp in the fabric of reality that summons another space goblin to their side—a whimsical, if not downright silly, effect that undermines the tone I hope these scenarios develop.  Last, the DCs for a couple of checks don’t match up with what’s provided to do the same thing in the Core Rulebook.  Really though, these are fairly minor points (more in the nature of nitpicks), that don’t substantially take away from the quality of the scenario.

In closing, I thought this was a strong, solid scenario.  I don’t think it hits the height of storytelling that Starfinder can reach, but it’s pretty much guaranteed to provide an enjoyable first session for new players as it gives them a little taste of everything: role-playing with strange aliens, battles against goblins armed with laser guns, starship battles, mysterious planets, computer hacking, etc.  With some of these conventions established, I’m looking forward to seeing how they can be sculpted into even more exciting directions in the future.

Halflings of Golarion [RPG]

I've never had particularly strong feelings about halflings one way or another, and I don't think I've ever had one for a PC, so I wasn't sure what to expect with Halflings of Golarion, a 32-page entry in Pathfinder's Player Companion line written by Hal MacLean and Amber Scott.  I ended up having new appreciation for the race and good ideas for characters, which makes the book a success as far as I'm concerned.

The cover is great, with Lem, the halfling bard Iconic, using Countersong to distress a flight of harpies (it's only now that I'm prepping some harpies for use in an adventure that I understand why having a bard along would be so useful!).  The same art forms the inside back cover, while the inside front cover is a list of halfling racial abilities (as per the Core Rulebook) and a list of favored halfling deities, along with their portfolios, domains, favored weapons, etc.  All of this information is available elsewhere, but it's convenient to have it in one place.

The second page features a "halfling proverb" which sums up the theme of the book (and Golarion's approach to halflings) perfectly: they're a race that's usually overlooked and often forgotten, but their contributions to society as laborers, artisans, musicians, farmers, and more is inarguable.  Often enslaved and mistreated, halflings have made a virtue of blending in with the crowd: they survive and thrive by rarely being noticed by the far larger, stronger, and more dramatic races around them.  Whether the famed "halfling luck" is an actual phenomena or just halflings' knack for being in the right place at the right time is left for the reader to decide.  The rest of the book does a fantastic job incorporating these themes, making it a far more coherent Player Companion than some (more recent) ones that sometimes seem to be little more than a random collection of feats and spells.  The first five pages, covering the history of halflings in Golarion and exploring their physical and mental traits, are well-written and interesting.

A section titled "Halfling Culture" starts on page 8 and runs to page 21.  A *lot* of material is covered: birth, coming of age, and death rituals; how halflings are treated in various different parts of Golarion; communities that have a major halfling presence; religion; how well the different adventuring classes fit halflings; and much more.  You might expect some of the topics to be pretty dry, but it's actually very engaging.  In particular, there's interesting bits about halfling buildings (large first floors to accommodate human-size visitors, with small-size upper stories that are cleverly disguised to appear "normal" from the outside), gods (especially the halfling-specific ones), etc.  It's all "flavour" and no "crunch", but I didn't mind a bit.

The next section (2 pages) is "Combat", focusing on halfling slingcraft.  I really like the treatment given here, as several new types of slings and ammunition plus new sling-related feats make a halfling slingthrower sound like a fun and moderately viable build (even though it'd still be inferior to an archer).

"Faith", the next two-page long section, introduces the idea of "Sacred Keepsakes" which are items that a halfling receives as part of their coming of age task and that they continue to hold dear ever after.  The nature of the keepsake depends on the type of coming of age task they've been sent on, with several examples given.  In game terms, the different keepsakes allow for the halfling to make minor changes to first level divine spells.  It's fun and flavourful, but I'm not sure how the idea would be incorporated into character generation.

The concept of "halfling jinxes" is the topic of the "Magic" section (two pages).  The idea here is that, a handful of times in each generation, a halfling is born not with innate good luck but with the ability to spread bad luck to others.  In game terms, a halfling PC loses the "halfling luck" racial ability and substitutes the "halfling jinx" ability which allows them to curse other creatures to impose penalties to saving throws.  The section then includes almost a dozen feats to expand on the concept.  I've never seen a halfling jinx character in play, but it sounds like a really fun, debuffing-oriented character.  I might have to give it a try (combining some of the sling-fighting stuff from the Combat section), but I think it'd be even more fun to have an enemy NPC jinx, as the curses last for 24 hours.

The oddly-named "Social" section introduces a new five-level prestige class, the Halfling Opportunist.  It's not difficult to get into the class, and it has an interesting conceit that there are some halflings who are extremely skilled at taking advantage of other's mistakes to help themselves.  In game terms, the core ability of the prestige class ("Exploitive Maneuver") allows the Halfling Opportunist to use a combat maneuver check to force an enemy to use Aid Another on them, (+2) while the enemy takes the same penalty on an opposed roll (in essence, a 4-point swing).  The opportunities to use it are dependent on GM-discretion, but I think the core idea is well-suited to a very cinematic-oriented game.  The prestige class also receives some other solid abilities at higher levels.

The last two pages of the book introduce
new traits: 5 new race traits (including the fantastic "Helpful" which raises Aid Another bonuses to +4, which is crucial to certain builds), 8 new regional traits, and 9 new religion traits.  Most are definitely situational in nature, but they're interesting and tie in well to the theme of the book.

I have no reservations about recommending Halflings of Golarion.  I was quite pleasantly surprised by how much I got from this book, and I'll see it as a sign that an oft-neglected race in Pathfinder should perhaps get a little more attention.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 24 [RPG]

[5 Neth 4707 continued]

Farm Trail at Night

Having successfully fought off an ambush by several ghouls just as dusk falls, the adventurers pause to allow Bey’s healing magicks to take effect.  From the light cast by Arnald’s and Briza’s everburning torches, the group continues on in the darkness towards Habe’s Sanatorium.  The farm trail they follow branches off at points, leading them to get lost for about an hour, but soon they find their way again.  Walking at night in a circle of light makes the group visible from some distance, however, and thus they become a beacon for anything lurking in the darkness.  The first hint that the group is being followed comes when Ome, Artemis, and Briza hear something rustling in the cornfields around them.  Artemis’ keen eyesight makes out a trio of figures spread out to surround the group.  Ghouls, obviously hunters in their mortal lives, have been stalking the group and have crossbows at the ready!

Artemis whispers for Ome to follow him, and the two duck into the cornfield to sneak up on one of the accursed foes.  The darkness, rain, and cornstalks blowing in the wind help conceal their presence.  The ghouls realize they’ve been detected, however, and open fire on those still on the trail, bathed in light.  Briza is grazed by a crossbow bolt in the first volley, and seconds later Arnald is struck.  Fortunately, neither are seriously hurt.  As the projectiles continue to rain down on Bey, Briza, and Arnald, they catch sight of one of their attackers and decide to charge in unison.  Arnald lands a powerful blow with his greataxe, and he and his allies destroy the ghoul crossbowman easily.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the trail, Artemis’ and Ome’s stratagem appears to work at first.  They emerge silently from the darkness on either side of the unwitting ghoul. Artemis buries his pick deep into the ghoul’s back, while Ome shreds the unliving creature’s belly with her claws!  But the ghoul somehow withstands the surprise attacks and unleashes its own savagery.  In seconds, both Artemis and Ome find themselves fixed in place, unable to move as their muscles are paralyzed by the supernatural touch of the ghoul!  Ome’s giant wasp familiar emerges to protect its master, but is torn asunder by the ghoul who now has two victims at its complete mercy.

Ghoul Stalkers

Arnald, Bey, and Briza begin to move south in search of the ghoul they know is still unaccounted for.  It leaps out at Briza from the darkness, but she gets her sword up in time and its claws break against her blade.  Bey employs her bardiche skilfully, and the creature is destroyed.  Alas, their victory is a pyrrhic one in light of what happens next.

Artemis regains control of his body and manages throw off the ghoul that had been feasting on his flesh.  Ome, however, is not so lucky.  With one squeeze of its powerful claws, it crushes the tengu’s throat!  Arnald arrives seconds later and cuts the cruel abomination in twain, but the damage has already been done: Ome is dead.

Briza bursts into tears to see her friend from the Pixie’s Kitten slain in such a heartless manner, while Bey utters several prayers to Desna.  The decision is quickly made that, if at all possible, Ome will be brought back to life through powerful divine magicks.  But first, the survivors have to make it through the night.  Arnald picks up Ome’s lifeless corpse and Briza carries that of the valiant giant wasp, and the party turns back in the direction of Sandpoint.  After about twenty minutes’ walk, Bey spots a farmhouse and the group decide to take shelter there.

Bey scouts ahead and sneaks up to a window.  She can see the farmhouse is locked up tight, but she hears voices within and can tell it’s a family cleaning up after supper.  She knocks, and Desna’s grace shines: when a curtain is pulled back ever so slightly, Bey is recognized by the family as one of Sandpoint’s famous local heroes!  Bey and her new allies are allowed to enter the farmhouse and stay for the night, though they’re forced to leave Ome’s corpse outside for fear it will turn into a ghoul.  And, despite their best efforts, Bey and Briza are unable to convince the family that they should seek refuge in Sandpoint as it’s no longer safe to dwell in their home.  After being fed a hearty meal, the mournful adventurers plan watches and then bed down for the night.

[6 Neth 4707]

Having said their farewells to the good samaritans who took them in, the adventurers head for Sandpoint.  The way back is much less foreboding in the morning sunlight, and they reach the town without incident.

The evils that have plagued Sandpoint in recent months have claimed another life, convincing those bound for Foxglove Manor to turn back, leaving many questions unanswered.  Can Ome be brought back to life?  Is her spirit willing?  And, perhaps most importantly, have the horrific spate of serial murders and marauding ghouls been brought to an end or will the delay only make things worse?

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Director's Commentary

The PCs had fought a lot of ordinary ghouls lately, so I thought it might be fun to switch things up just a little.  I took advantage of the fantastic Monster Codex, which has several stat-blocks for different types of ghouls, and used the "Ghoul Huntsman" to create a scary encounter of the PCs being stalked through cornfields at night.  I really hate running ghouls though, as it's so easy for for a battle that the PCs are winning to suddenly turn tragic with some paralysis and a coup de grace, and that's what happened to Ome.  Losing the character hit the player hard, but fortunately he rallied and created a very cool new PC we'll meet next session.

Song of the Serpent [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I've now read the first several books in the Pathfinder Tales line, and I'm sorry to say that Song of the Serpent is the worst of the lot.  The novel has a few interesting ideas, but it's the most "generic fantasy" book in the line, with many somewhat cheesy setting elements seemingly closer to the very high-magic Forgotten Realms than to Golarion.  The plotting is unsatisfactory, with vague mysteries standing in the place of cohesive story-telling.  For almost all of the book, the primary protagonist lacks agency, which makes him a hard character to cheer for. The overall tone is a bit off, with some surprisingly gory scenes mixed into an often lighthearted story, and bits of world lore that just strike the reader as wrong, such as half-orcs being depicted as "not uncommonly cannibals."  The conclusion is overlong and surprisingly boring for what should be a climactic, tension-filled moment.   I don't want to be too uncharitable, as there are some fun scenes here and there and the direction the book takes is definitely unpredictable, which is a plus.  The action scenes are fine, and the dialogue is passable.   Still, on the whole, only completists like me should pick up this one.

SPOILERS

The book is set in Druma, land of the merchant lords known as Kalistocrats.  A thief named Krunzle the Quick is captured by a prominent Kalistocrat and forced to set off on a quest to recover the merchant's daughter, who absconded with a dashing but slimy knight.  In order to ensure Krunzle's loyalty, the Kalistocrat has his personal wizard place a magical torc in the shape of a snake around the thief's neck: the snakelike torc is semi-sentient and able to choke Krunzle into submission should he stray from the path.  This leads to the problem of Krunzle's lack of agency, as he spends almost the entire book as the puppet of this magical device which seems to come from out of nowhere (and is never satisfactorily explained in the novel).  Anyway, Krunzle makes some friends along the way, such as a former slave named Raimeau (who receives an oddly-placed and unnecessary flashback chapter), a troll named Skanderbrog, and a dwarf named Brond.  The "damsel in distress" (Gylanna) is portrayed well as a strong character who is very much her father's daughter.    As Gylanna is rescued midway through the book, the overall plot is actually to retrieve something that was taken along with Gylanna: a mysterious magical item.  The story really starts to break down here, as there's something about an incredibly ancient, incredibly powerful entity buried in a mountain that has led the heroes to this point to free it, etc.  But it's all very vague in the end, with a long, weird ritual that simply ends unsatisfactorily with far more questions than answers.  The book does integrate some Golarion world-lore (and is one of the few novels to this point to have an interest in dwarfs), but much of the book could take place in any generic fantasy land with little change.  Even the main villain, an evil wizard from Tian Xia, is about as cliche as it gets.  So as I said above, this is one to avoid.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 23 [RPG]

[5 Neth 4707 continued]

A vision of Foxglove Manor

The rainclouds over Sandpoint have not abated when Bey finally emerges from her mystery, finding herself in her room at the Rusty Dragon, Sandpoint’s most popular inn and tavern.  She remembers undergoing an intense apocalyptic vision of dozens, even hundreds of ghouls swarming over the town, all of them linked to, or even directed by, some malevolent intelligence housed in a decaying mansion of unspeakable evil somewhere high up on cliffs overlooking the ocean below.  Bey hurries to the common room of the inn to find her allies and share with them her vision.  The common room is packed with townsfolk bored by the inclement weather, and swelled beyond normal by dozens of farmers from the southern hinterlands who have fled to Sandpoint.  Bey sees Arnald there, eating lunch and massaging his joints and muscles which are still sore from the paralysis which has finally worn off.  The two don’t know where Ome and Artemis are, and Bey decides to trust in her patron deity Desna by embracing pure luck: she and Arnald start randomly knocking on doors all over Sandpoint!

Meanwhile, emerging from a far more disreputable tavern named the Fatman’s Feedbag, Ome talks to Artemis and summarizes his encounter with Jubrayl Vhiski.  The tengu says Jubrayl is almost certainly implicated in the arson somehow, but that she wasn’t able to glean any hard evidence.  The two decide to walk over to the Sandpoint Garrison, home of the Town Watch.  When they arrive, they see a distressing sight: the small force that Sheriff Hemlock sent to the southern farmlands to sweep up any ghoul stragglers after the adventurers cleared the Hambley farm has returned, and its members are in poor shape.  Many of the soldiers are wounded, and two are incapacitated, though alive.  Ome and Artemis ask the group’s leader, Jodar Provolost, what happened.  Jodar, who is far from his usual jolly self, explains that at first things went well: the expedition force found a ghoul here or there, often disguised as a scarecrow, and dealt with it, destroying a total of five.  The fact that Sheriff Hemlock persuaded experienced former adventurers like Ilsoari Gandethus and Deverin Hosk to accompany the group was a real asset, Jodar explains.  But then, he continues, the ghouls started appearing in bunches of twos and threes and the Sandpoint contingent risked being overwhelmed!  They managed to withdraw with no fatalities, Jodar concludes, but it was a near thing.  He says he plans to report to Sheriff Hemlock and suggest declaring that portion of the Lost Coast Road off-limit to travellers until the problem can be dealt with.

Artemis and Ome decide there’s one person who might just be able to help them understand why this ghoul infestation is growing:  Caizarlu Zerren, the necromancer they subdued at Habe’s Sanatorium!  The town jailer, a bald Shoanti named Vachedi, shrugs when the pair ask to interrogate his prisoner.  Caizarlu is hostile and uncooperative at first, until Artemis promises to slip the old wizard’s spell component pouch through the bars if he talks.  Caizarlu says he started noting the ghoul outbreaks in recent weeks and that he believes they originally started from a single location near the coast.  Caizarlu says he’s willing to tell more once Artemis fulfils his end of the bargain, but the guardsman on detachment from Magnimar has tricked him!  Artemis slips the *empty* spell component pouch through the bars, leading Caizarlu to fly into a rage.  Vachedi happily unlocks the cell and subdues the prisoner with his cudgel.

Briza

Over near the Rusty Dragon, Bey’s decision to knock on random doors bears fruit, but not in the way she expected.  She finds herself drenched from the rain and turned away from house after house, often with angry muttering, as she asks about her friends and shares the “news” about an impending apocalypse.  When she comes across a tall woman wearing a mithral breastplate, carrying a greatsword, and bearing the distinctive facial tattoos of a Shoanti, Bey gets a glimmer of inspiration.  She asks the stranger if she knows Ome and Artemis, and, indeed, the stranger does!  The stout warrior, whose name is Briza, has spent recent months working as a bouncer at the Pixie’s Kitten and made Ome’s acquaintance through the tengu’s frequent visits there to sing or speak to the brothel’s owner, Kaye Tesarani.  Briza admits she’s at her wit’s end as to what to do now, since the Pixie’s Kitten will be closed for a couple of weeks due to last night’s fire. When Bey invites her to come along to “stem the tide of apocalypse,” the Shoanti woman shrugs and agrees.  They meet up with Arnald and after some more time spent talking to townspeople, they finally hear word that Ome and Artemis were spotted near the Garrison.

The adventurers are reunited in the rain-swept courtyard of the Garrison and Bey introduces Briza to Artemis.  The sanguine seer shares with Ome and Artemis her vision of the foreboding mansion which she believes could be the source of the ghoul attacks, and the decision is made to see if anyone in Sandpoint recognizes the place from Bey’s description.  As Sheriff Hemlock is quite busy with planning how to contain the ghouls, which now threaten to spill over to the northern farmlands, the group turn to Bosk Hartigan, the oldest member of the Town Watch who has served since Sandpoint’s founding over forty years ago.  From Bey’s nightmarish account, Bosk says the place sounds a little like The Misgivings—the nickname given to the long-abandoned Foxglove Manor several miles southwest of Sandpoint.  Bosk just shakes his head when asked for more information, saying the place is well-known to be haunted, and that even vandals and squatters know enough to stay away.

Artemis, who did a lot of research on the area around Sandpoint prior to his secondment there, says he remembers a little about Foxglove Manor.  He says the building is over eighty years old, and confirms it certainly has a bad reputation: sightings of strange lights in the attic windows, muffled sounds of screaming from above and below, and even rumours of a huge, bat-winged devil living in the caves are just some of the stories passed around campfires by superstitious travellers who see “The Misgivings” from a distance.  Artemis says that the house has been lived in only sporadically by members of the Foxglove family, with the most recent time about two decades ago when Traver Foxglove, his wife Cyralie, and their children Aldern, Sendeli, and Zeeva moved in for a few years.  But after Cyralie was found dead, burnt and dashed on the rocks below the cliffs behind the house, Traver committed suicide and the children were sent away to be raised in Korvosa by distant relations.

Discussion turns to whether anyone else in Sandpoint might have more information, and the answer comes quickly:  Ilsoari Gandethus, local historian, former adventurer, and Headmaster of Turandarok Academy.  The group’s entry to this orphanage and school for local children is, at first, blocked by Head Mother Dorienne Vilch, a prim woman with grey hair wrapped into a tight bun.  However, Ome has a way with words and manages to persuade her of the importance of the group’s visit by mentioning ghouls.  Eventually, the group is led inside, past children playing, and into Ilsoari Gandethus’ study.  Ilsoari, a stern-looking man in his mid-60s, welcomes the group in but quickly loses interest when he learns they’re not here about his planned expedition to track down the Sandpoint Devil.  Still, he’s reluctantly persuaded to talk about The Misgivings and it turns out he knows an awful lot.  He confirms most of what Artemis said, but explains that Foxglove Manor was actually lived in much more recently: about a year ago, Aldern Foxglove, newly returned to the Lost Coast from his time abroad, set about refurbishing the manor.  Aldern had an extremely difficult time finding locals to work on the old building given its reputation.  As work was slow and intermittent, Aldern had the place looked after by Rogors Craesby, a retired innkeeper.  Once enough of the major rooms were inhabitable, Aldern moved in with his new Varisian bride.

Ilsoari Gandethus

Ilsoari shuffles through some old papers in a cabinet and says that Foxglove Manor was originally built in the year 4624 by Vorel Foxglove, a merchant prince from Magnimar.  Vorel and his family lived in the place for about twenty years until the entire family perished from disease.  The place was then deserted and shunned for almost forty years until Traver and Cyralie moved in.  Ilsoari concludes by saying he’s heard rumors the Foxgloves were associated with a “semi-secret” society (really a gentlemen’s club) in Magnimar called the Brothers of the Seven.  When asked about caverns under the manor, he says ancient Varisian legend (whose details are lost to history) say that the land may have been consecrated to a dark god or demon lord.  Having finished his task, Ilsoari is anxious to get back to his plans for the Sandpoint Devil.  He shares with Arnald his intention to set forth on an expedition to the Devil’s Platter and confirm the existence of the legendary creature once and for all.

The adventurers decide that the key to preventing Bey’s vision of ghouls overrunning Sandpoint is to set out towards Foxglove Manor that very night with plans to stop and rest at Habe’s Sanatorium.  They spend the afternoon buying supplies for the trip and selling items both magical and mundane acquired from earlier adventures.   The sun is starting to set behind grey rain clouds as the defenders of Sandpoint set out on foot south.  The first few miles of their journey along the Lost Coast Road is uneventful, though they notice several travellers racing to get within the safety of the town by nightfall, while local farmers have almost barricaded themselves in their homes.

Ghoul

 As the group leave the wide road and start to follow a narrow, winding trail between farms, over hills, and through patches of wild forest, they come to a place where a narrow stream is bridged by a wide log.  Just as they’re about to cross, their vigilance against attack fails: ghouls emerge from the cover of twilight all around them!  Caught flat-footed, the adventurers are sorely pressed by the first wave of attacks.  Artemis is paralyzed by sharp claws and starts getting dragged into nearby bushes!  Ome tries to fight back but is knocked unconscious in the fighting; fortunately, her giant wasp emerges from her backpack and hovers protectively over her.  Just as the battle seems like it might be lost, however, the tide suddenly turns!  Artemis receives the luckiest stroke of luck in his life, as a tentacled creature from the stream grabs the ghoul that was about to feast on him.  Bey calls upon her divine gifts and bursts into flame to burn the ghouls surrounding her, while Briza and Arnald set to work with their greatsword and greataxe, respectively.  Buoyed by the two professional warriors, the adventurers survive the harrowing encounter and the ghouls are destroyed.

Jodar Provolost’s report that there’s far more than occasional ghoul stragglers to deal with has been confirmed.  Will the adventurers be able to survive the journey to Foxglove Manor?  And if they do, what fresh horror will they find there?

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Director's Commentary (August 6, 2017)

Bey, an oracle with the apocalypse mystery, had a trait that gave her a prophetic dream each night.  I went all out this session with a description of a foreboding mansion.  I intended my description to be quite figurative and more about setting up a mood of impending danger, but the PCs took the description quite literally and cleverly used it to figure out where to go next!

Speaking of apocalypse, I did increase the urgency of the PCs' mission by accelerating how quickly the ghouls spread through the farms.  The AP left a lot of it to GM discretion, so I chose what sounded like the most exciting way of portraying the story.

Briza!  The group expanded to five players this session, with the new PC taking the role of a Shoanti barbarian.  Briza was a really fun, good-natured character who, in many ways, was the compassionate heart of an otherwise cynical group.  She and Arnald made a great team as tough martial characters who could stand toe-to-toe with a lot of threats and buy time for their squishier allies in the back ranks to cast spells, etc.

Artemis came *very* close to meeting an untimely end in this session.  Fortunately, Bey's player used her once per chapter plot twist card, which was "Tentacles".  It was a fun and clever way to save a PC, and I don't begrudge it at all.