Pathfinder "Summon Monster Pawn Collection" [RPG]

I'm well-known for my disdain of pets (familiars, animal companions, etc.) and monster summoning in RPGs (both as a GM and as a player), but I've gotten a surprising amount of value out of the Summon Monster Pawn Collection.  The set contains an excellent array of the creatures that you suddenly realize you need a pawn for: animals, elementals, celestial and fiendish outsiders, and more are included.  There are multiples of most of the small and medium creatures, but also a good array of large and huge creatures.  Many of these pawns can be found scattered across other sets, but it's always useful to have additional ones.  I wouldn't say this set is essential, but it's a good value and one you'll also probably use a lot--even if, like me, you hate pets and summoners.

If you're new to Pathfinder pawns, note that this set doesn't include the bases, and you'll need to purchase those separately.

Starfinder Player Character Folio [RPG]

The Starfinder Player Character Folio is just chock-full of detailed sheets to record all sorts of information about your character, interspersed with handy summaries of common rules and game mechanics.  I used this for B'rrlb'lub, my late, lamented Dead Suns PC, and I found it a useful way to keep track of everything about him and the campaign.  The folio consists of 16 pages bound by glossy, full-colour covers, with the front cover folding out to pack more information and the back cover containing a pocket to store handouts and so forth.  The most accurate way to give a full account of what it includes is (I'm sorry to say) a page-by-page breakdown.

The inside flap of that cool cover features some more awesome artwork, a list of what type each action in combat is (i.e., a standard, a move, a swift, etc.), and the table that shows how many experience points it takes to level up and at what levels PCs get ability increases, feats, and theme bonuses.  That flap then folds out for a two-page interior.  The left side is the first part of the character sheet, with space for ability scores, armor class, saving throws, senses, speed, and initiative.  There's a lot of space provided here, so things will be easy to read.  The right side has a pocket for papers and a very useful summary of common combat actions and maneuvers, what different types of cover and concealment provide, and the effects of common conditions.  The general idea is that people don't have to pause the game to flip through the Core Rulebook to find out the effects of being fatigued, for example.

Page 1 ("Skill Checks") lists the tables of skill DCs from that section of the Core Rulebook.  There's not a description of the skills themselves, and usually the DCs would be something the GM would determine, so this may be of less usefulness to many players.

Page 2 ("Defense") contains a lot of space to record armor, defensive abilities, and any other pieces of equipment that contribute to armor class and saving throws.

Page 3 ("Offense") is basically the same thing in the other direction.  There's space to record full details for six different types of attacks, so if you're packing the veritable golf-bag of weapons, you will be all set here.

Page 4 ("Skills") is where you record everything skill-related about your character, including conditional modifiers and special skill abilities.  I appreciated having the extra space that traditional character sheets don't provide.

Page 5 ("Feats") has lines for *29* different feats, which tells me they maybe should have sectioned things off better--perhaps by leaving more room for descriptions of Racial Traits and Theme Benefits (also on this page).

Pages 6-7 (Equipment") has a really nice way to visually keep track of which augmentations are in what body parts, along with space to record weapons, armor, regular gear, money, and even "other valuables" and holdings".  I would have preferred more lines for regular gear (I came close to filling that up around Level 6) and a better section on Carrying Capacity.

Pages 8 ("Spells") and 9 ("Drone") are ones that you may or may not have any use for, depending on what class you're playing.  But if you are playing a Mystic, Technomancer, or Mechanic, you'll be glad they're there.

Pages 10-11 ("Background") are really important, and something that regular character sheets rarely have room for.  There's extensive place to record descriptions, personality, history, family members, homes, affiliation, and more.  Being asked to describe B'rrlb'lub's "Quirks", "Phobias," and "Catchphrases" really helped me flesh out the character before I even started playing him.

Pages 12-13 ("Adventure Log") contains a section to track the advancement of your PC as they level up, a section to list allies and foes ("What's that guy's name again?"), a full page to record brief notes about each session in the campaign, and (I guess just for fun) a section on "Achievements" where you can keep track of trivia like "Number of times hit by a crit", "Greatest number of foes in one fight", or "New Sentient Species Contacted".

Pages 14 ("Starship") and 15 ("Starship Combat") contain a starship character sheet and a summary of starship combat.  The character sheet is the same one from the Core Rulebook, but it's useful to have it here.  The summary of starship combat is more GM-oriented, and doesn't have what players would really need: summaries of common actions depending on crew role and their DCs.

Page 16 ("Notes") contains only a half-page space for miscellaneous notes, and I very quickly filled it up.  The bottom half of the page is for Starfinder Society information, including which boons are being slotted.

The inside back cover is just credits and license information, but the pocket continues the summaries of common conditions.

I do have two criticisms of the folio.  The first is there's no space specifically devoted to class features.  With B'rrlb'lub, for example, I had to squeeze the list and description of his envoy improvisations into the "Other Valuables" section of the equipment page.  Every class has their own special features that they'll have to find room to record.  Second, the layout of the pages wasn't always intuitive, and I often found myself flipping back and forth trying to find where something was located.

Still, even with those complaints taken into account, I found this a worthwhile and useful way to record information about my character, and being able to keep little things like handouts and post-it notes in one place was an added bonus.  When starting a new campaign, one could certainly do worse than forking over $ 10 to play in style.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 66 [RPG]

[24 Abadius 4708 continued]

The surprise attack by the stone giant watch post has been repulsed quickly, and now the intrepid travellers have a prisoner to deal with.  The giant, Syvariak, collapses to his knees muttering that he knew Mokmurian’s foolish crusade would lead to the downfall of the Plateau People.  With his life in their hands, Syvariak doesn’t hesitate to tell his captors what he knows about Mokmurian and Jorgenfist.  He says that Mokmurian was an exiled runt of the Kavarvatti tribe, the same one that Syvariak himself belongs to.  One day, Mokmurian returned to the tribe brimming with arcane power somehow discovered by his blasphemous venture into the Black Tower—a structure dating to the time of the magelords of legend!  Mokmurian slew the tribe’s male elder, Vandarrec, forcing the tribe’s female elder, Conna, to submit the tribe to his new leadership.  Mokmurian then had the Kavarvatti begin construction of a massive walled fortress around the Black Tower while he began rallying other tribes to his banner; though most refused, six other tribes of stone giants and giant-kin settled around Jorgenfist.  When asked, Syvariak says there is no way the adventurers (whom he assumes are advanced scouts of a Magnimarian army) will ever reach Jorgenfist through the treacherous wintery mountainscape and patrols, and that even if they somehow did, the hundreds of Plateau People camped around the fortress (not to mention the rocs and harpies!) would make short work of intruders.  Nonetheless, the adventurers seem determined to continue their quest, and ask Syvariak about whether Conna might be able to aid them.  Syvariak explains that Conna is usually found in the caverns underneath the fortress, and confirms she has a burning hatred of Mokmurian but is powerless to do anything about it.

The adventurers discuss what to do with Syvariak.  Given his candor and obvious sense of honour, they decide to let him go.  He accepts their decision stoically, and explains that he must do his duty by maintaining his watch post after the adventurers leave.  He wistfully remarks that he hopes as many of the Plateau People as possible survive the war to come.

[25 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers discuss plans to contact Conna magically.  Ava prepares a sending spell before realizing it won’t work because she doesn’t know Conna.  Salma tries scrying, but the attempt fails.  Preparing themselves for another day’s marching through the harsh terrain, the adventurers continue north.  Their progress continues to be slow, impeded this day by the necessity of making their way carefully down one side of a steep valley wall and up the other side.  That night, as they camp, Kang uncharacteristically gives Jinkatsyu some food when the latter expresses concern he’s running low on rations.

[26 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, Salma again tries to scry on Conna, but with no result.  The adventurers begin moving, and even continue to press on when a blizzard starts a few hours into their journey!  The zealous travellers push forward, barely able to see around them, slowly trudging on and covering about half a mile an hour until finally they decide to set up camp in the magical shelter provided by Salma’s spellcraft.

[27 Abadius 4708]

Just before dawn, Kang is already awake when he hears the sound of stone giant voices nearby, carried on the strong winds that continue to swirl snow all around them.  The tiefling alerts the others, and the adventurers who can speak Giant realize that the patrol’s dire bears have caught the adventurers’ scent and is slowly approaching the obscured campsite!  Salma lets loose with a massive fireball once one of the bears pokes its nose into the magical dome, alerting the giants that powerful foes are nearby.  They shout to each other and leave the bears to fight while running away to alert further watch posts.  The battle against the bears is over quickly as the adventurers have gained, sometimes the hard way, knowledge of how to withstand their might.  The adventurers quickly discuss whether to chase after the fleeing giants but, given the heavy snowfall that makes seeing and tracking impossible, they decide it would be futile.

The adventurers rest for a few more hours until the blizzard finally loses strength.  Another day’s slow travel through deep snowdrifts and jagged terrain is uneventful and the adventurers set camp, frustrated at their rate of progress through the forbidding terrain.  Late that night, resting comfortably again in Salma’s conjured dome, some of the slumbering warriors hear a low moaning sound carried on the wind.  Nerissa, relishing her new role as the party scout, stealthily approaches the source of the sound.  She spies a human male half-frozen in the snow, clearly suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite.  She drags the man back into the magical hut, where Ava is able to revive him. 

Veridian is one of the hardy mountainmen paid well
by Magnimar to alert the city to threats from central Varisia.

 The man is cagey at first, especially when he catches Kang lying about themselves being “simple travellers.”  After a lot of back and forth, the party manage to persuade him that they really have Varisia’s best interests at heart and he opens up.  He says his name is Veridian, and that he’s a scout for Magnimar’s military.  He says he had been sent to the Iron Peaks when rumors started to come of a new stone giant leader trying to unify the tribes.  Veridian explains that he managed to find a vantage point to spy on Jorgenfist and that, once he realized preparations were seriously under way for an imminent invasion of southwest Varisia, he started to make his way back to civilization to warn his superiors.  However, he got caught in the recent blizzard and couldn’t get to shelter in time.  Salma picks up on Veridian’s mention of having sketched a map of Jorgenfist, and barters with him: in exchange for a look at the map, she’ll teleport the man back to Magnimar and save him weeks of arduous travel!  It’s an offer even the distrustful scout can’t resist, and he shares the map—it details a handful of structures within the walls of Jorgenfist, as well as the location of the different tribal campsites and a pair of caves in the cliffside below the fortress.

While Veridian rests, the adventurers discuss strategies for what they should do once they reach the fortress.  Ideas include trying to sneak into the caves in the hope that they lead somewhere under the fortress or trying to provoke a fight between the tribes.  At last a consensus is reached to start with the caves and establish a staging area for further expeditions into the fortress.

[28 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers ask Veridian if he can ask specifically for the army to prepare a defense of Sandpoint.  The grizzled scout is sceptical, saying the town is of little ultimate strategic value and that Magnimar’s army is small, having rarely had to deal with a threat of this magnitude before.  Salma is as good as her word and teleports the man back to Magnimar, and then returns to where the others are.  They continue their journey north, and when the wind and swirling snow brings promise of another blizzard, they decide to press on.

A pair of fortunate events—the capture of a stone giant dissatisfied with Mokmurian’s ascension to power, and the rescue of a scout able to provide a map of Jorgenfist—have provided the adventurers with a major advantage in their quest to stop the stone giants from invading Varisia and bringing untold havoc and death.  But their journey through the Iron Peaks is slow, and time is running out.  Will they make it there in time?

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

Director's Commentary (21/4/19)

This session showed how useful random encounters can be.  The interrogation of the stone giant prisoner gave the party extensive information on the situation in Jorgenfist, including the presence of a potential ally (Conna the Wise).  The encounter with Varidian (which I think officially on the table was "mountain man" or "scout" or something) was cleverly used by the PCs to obtain a rough map of the area.  For my part, I liked it because it helped show that Magnimar was doing something about all this threat of giant invasions of Varisia (it can come across as far-fetched when only the PCs seem to notice something that everyone should care about).

Pathfinder Tales: "Inheritance" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Gabrielle Harbowy's Inheritance is a four-part series of free Pathfinder web fiction available here.  It's hard to describe without getting into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that there is excellent characterisation of the main characters, a strong understanding of the setting, and a mature plot that fits well into the short story format.  This one is definitely worth reading.

SPOILERS

Inheritance tells the story of Keren Rhinn, a Knight of Ozem in Lastwall, learning of her father's death and travelling into the Worldwound to deliver the news to her crusader brother.  Keren's lover is a gnome worshipper of Brigh named Zae, and the two have a very cute rapport--they've very clearly in love, and the story does a great job making them adorable but not cloying.  The story does an excellent job building on the lore for Lastwall and the Worldwound by showing how the two forces of mankind that stand vigil on them are very different from each other.  There's a lot of little details here that would be useful flavour for an adventure set in either location.  The story's ending is bittersweet but well done, and I would love to read a novel with Keren and Zae as the protagonists.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 65 [RPG]

[22 Abadius 4708 continued]

In a recovery room at the Sandpoint Cathedral, Nerissa starts to stir and eventually comes out of her catatonic state.  Ava is at her side, and explains how she seemed to remember her mysterious past before collapsing.  But whatever trauma led to her collapse has also again suppressed the secrets of her past—except for a haunting echo, “Forlorn, Not Forlorn.”  Nerissa remains in surprisingly good spirits, however, but is alarmed to hear that Kang, Salma, and Jinkatsyu have already set out for Jorgenfist.

[23 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, Ava telepathically contacts Kang and says that Nerissa has awaken and that the two of them are ready to rejoin the group.  Seconds later, Salma teleports to Sandpoint and finds Ava and Nerissa at the Cathedral.  The trio decide to take advantage of their time in the town by purchasing some additional gear for the difficult trek through the mountains.  While exiting a local shop, Ava sees that the town’s new clerk, Bimmy Beems, is waiting for her.  He hands her a scroll and says several confusing statements about her being a servant, being of service, etc., before finally landing on the right words: “You’ve been served.”  Ava unravels the scroll and can’t make heads or tails of the densely-written and archaic language within.  Salma manages to understand part of the scroll, and explains to Ava that she’s been sued by Nagol Scarnetti for damages over the incident a few days earlier outside the Garrison, alleging everything from assault to the wanton destruction of personal property to seditious libel!  Ava is on the verge of tears as Salma discerns that she’s expected to attend a hearing on the matter in just a week’s time.  However, Salma promises her that he can have her back in Sandpoint in time to avoid being held in default.

While they’re away, Kang and Jinkatsyu rest in the magical hemisphere conjured earlier by Salma’s magic to keep them warm.  The magic of the hemisphere allows them to easily see out, but others are blocked from seeing what’s inside.  The two adventurers spy a stone giant hunting party coming down a rocky hillside in their general direction.  The two prepare for a fight as best they can, hoping their campsite will be overlooked.  But shifting winds carries their scent to the trio of dire bears that accompany the stone giants, and the bears roar their discovery!  It doesn’t take long for the giants to spot the strange opaque dome on the otherwise mundane landscape, and they move up to investigate it cautiously.  Kang and Jinkatsyu decide to strike first with their usual weapons of bomb and rapier, respectively.  The battle is a difficult one, but at first the two heroes more than hold their own.  When one of the massive giants is badly hurt, the other decides that warning Jorgenfist that intruders are on the way must take priority, and he runs.  Kang unfolds his dragonfly wings and gives chase, but the maneuver leads Jinkatsyu alone in the dome against the surviving giant and the bears!  The kitsune fights bravely and skilfully, killing all but one of the attackers, until a series of missteps gives the last survivor an opening.  With a terrifying roar, the bear catches Jinkatsyu’s torso in its massive teeth and shakes its head back and forth several times before hurling the swordsman several feet into the air, dead before he even hits the ground.  A massive crater marks the spot where Kang’s bomb incinerated the fleeing stone giant, but the master alchemist is too late to do anything for Jinkatsyu except to destroy his killer.

Seconds later, Salma, Ava, and Nerissa appear back at the campsite and see Kang holding Jinkatsyu’s lifeless body.  Ava immediately drops to her knees and prays fervently to her god, Sinashakti, for the power to restore her friend to life . . . and it works!  Jinkatsyu awakens as if from a deep sleep with no memory of what happened since the battle against the bear.  Nerissa chastises the group for going off on their own on such a dangerous task, and both she and Ava express surprise at hearing the full story of what had happened over the past couple of days.  Kang is unapologetic, and says that death is simply part of what they’ve all signed up for, noting that every single one of his previous companions on this epic quest have died in battle.  Ava asks the members of the group to make a pact that they’ll stay together in the future so that what happened to Jinkatsyu doesn’t happen again.

The group continues on north.  When Ava explains her legal problems back in Sandpoint, Kang assures her that his “extensive knowledge of the legal system” (no doubt from encounters on the wrong side of the law) will be sufficient to have her acquitted of any charges.  Still, Ava is concerned that the Scarnettis will win the suit and she’ll lose access to the expensive spell components she needs to perform her most miraculous spells—including bringing the dead back to life!  Once it starts to get dark, the adventurers camp in another magical sphere conjured by Salma.

[24 Abadius 4708]

The party’s reliance on magic for almost every facet of their journey continues with the application of spellcraft to help them endure the freezing temperatures of the Iron Peaks.  After about four hours’ of walking, the adventurers realize there’s a problem with their plan to simply follow the Muschkal River right to Jorgenfist: the river disappears into underground tunnels for part of its length!  Magic again comes to the fore with a spell to prevent the party from getting lost in the endless rock-strewn terrain.  After the spell expires, however, the adventurers try to push on before realizing that they’re lost.  They decide to set up camp and continue on in the morning.

Little do they know that their camp, partially sheltered from the wind by being placed next to a cliff wall, is below the campsite for a stone giant patrol!  When massive boulders begin to roll through the adventurers’ camp, the danger becomes apparent.  None of the adventurers are hurt, however, and they charge the giants’ camp.  Salma’s fireball makes short work of the threat, despite the backblast harming some of his allies.  One of the stone giants, badly burned, throws down his club and announces his surrender.

The adventurers’ progress from Hook Mountain to Jorgenfist has been steady, but extremely slow.  Will they make it before Mokmurian launches his invasion of Varisia?  And how does the potential of having a prisoner change the calculation?

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

Director's Commentary (April 14, 2019)

This session had the start of a new subplot: a surprise lawsuit against Ava!  It was fun since she's such a likable character, and helped flesh out some of the loathsome Scarnetti kin.  There are some fun scenes coming up in future scenarios, but I later realised I had to be careful to not make Sandpoint into too much of a chore to be in--the PCs are supposed to want to save it, after all.

Jinks gets killed again!  I had forgotten about this one.  With the ready availability of raise dead, death becomes a temporary and somewhat expensive annoyance rather than a campaign-changer.  I actually prefer the old rule from previous editions that death permanently lowers your Constitution score by 1 so that there's a hard cap on the number of times a character can die and be raised.

It was interesting having the PCs come at Jorgenfist from a direction the AP wasn't expecting, and trying to adopt some of the outer patrols to a different terrain type.

GameMastery Map Pack: "Magic Academy" [RPG]

Magic Academy is a map pack I really appreciate because it's far superior than anything I could draw myself (unlike, say, the simple ability to draw parallel lines needed to duplicate the Road or River map packs).  The back panel shows six configurations of the tiles: a large lecture theatre, a spell-dueling hall, a laboratory, a dormitory, a classroom, and a headmaster's office.  Although there are the requisite arcane symbols and summoning circles, this map pack is more versatile than you might think, as the offices and classrooms could easily stand in for an elite boarding school, a bardic college, the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Ustalav, or any other institution of learning and study. The detail is impressive, as it's easy to distinguish book shelves, torch sconces, and even individual scrolls and quills on the tables.  Drawing classrooms and lecture halls is time-consuming, and this map pack makes it a snap and a worthwhile purchase.   The only addition I had to make was drawing hallways leading to the classrooms, for example, in case an encounter spilled out (two tiles makes for an intimate combat scene!).  I used Magic Academy for the module Academy of Secrets (which it was specifically designed for) as well a Beginner's Box mission for my kid.  Each time, it worked quite well, and I certainly envision using it again.

Pathfinder Module: "Academy of Secrets" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Academy of Secrets is memorable to me as the first Pathfinder adventure I ever owned.  I picked it up years before starting to regularly play Pathfinder, intending to use it as a side-quest during a long-running Forgotten Realms game.  When the PCs got to the right level in that campaign, I dangled the adventure hook and . . . nothing!  No bite.  "It's obviously a trap!" they said, and went off to do other random things.  Years later, I started running Rise of the Runelords (my first foray into the Golarion campaign setting) and when the PCs got up to the right level for Academy of Secrets, I dangled the hook.  This time, I got a bite, and hurried to do all the necessary prep between sessions.  But one of the PCs was unhappy with his spell selection after the first encounter, and, just a few pages into the module, they teleported away to do AP stuff.  Vexed but undeterred, I scheduled Academy of Secrets as a Pathfinder Society special.  I was going to run it, hell or high water!  It turned out I couldn't actually use it for PFS (there's no "campaign mode" for it, and the players didn't have characters of high enough level.)  But I convinced the players to play "just for fun" (such a weird notion!), and I finally got the module off the ground and justified the $ 13.95 Canadian dollars and cents I spent on it lo those many moons ago at The Hairy Tarantula.

Was it worth the wait?  Well . . .  maybe not exactly.  It's not an earth-shattering story.  But it is a fun module, easy to integrate into any campaign.  PCs can teleport in after receiving the hook anywhere in Golarion, take part in the adventure, and then teleport back to get on with whatever else they have going on.  Unlike many modules, it avoids the cliche of "stumble into a new village and help it solve its problems", and, unlike some modules, it won't take months to finish.  You can run through Academy of Secrets in two or three four-hour sessions and not feel like you hurried past a ton of content.  At 32 pages, it's just the right length for a satisfying side trek that won't derail an on-going campaign.  And frankly, there aren't that many modules for PCs in the Level 12-14 range, so I'm grateful for what we have.

It's not a spoiler to say (given the blurb, module title, and initial adventure hook) that the module involves the Acadamae, Korvosa's elite magical university.  Appendix 1 of the module is a three-page neutral presentation of the Acadamae suitable for use in any campaign.  If, for example, you're running or playing through Curse of the Crimson Throne and want to flesh out a wizard PC's background or add some colour when they go to get an item identified, the description here would be quite useful.  It contains a half-page map of the grounds of the Acadamae, description of the various buildings, and a list of notable personalities (the headmaster and deans of the various schools).  Setting lore completists would still find it useful to integrate the material on the Acadamae from the Guide to Korvosa, as there are some nuggets of slightly different information.  Appendix 2 introduces a new monster called a Garipan--a sort of outsider that often masquerades as a gargoyle. The artwork is cool, even if the concept isn't super exciting.  The inside front- and back- cover show how tiles from the Magic Academy map pack can be arranged to form rooms used in the module.  I thought this was a really clever idea, and I wish this concept (integrating adventures with map packs and flip-mats) had continued through future modules.

Anyway, that's enough background--on to the main event!

SPOILERS

Academy of Secrets is all about an annual event at the Acadamae called the Breaching Festival.  The Breaching Festival is a carnival-like day in which students and adventurers from around Golarion participate in a contest to see if they can penetrate the university's Hall of Wards and emerge before any other contestant.  From the Acadamae's point of view, it's a way to test the skill of its best abjurers, from the public's point of view it's an entertaining spectacle, and from the contestants' point of view, it's a way to win a prize of 153,000 gold pieces!  But what no one except the Acadamae's Headmaster, Toff Ornelos knows, is that the Breaching Festival is really a century's old trap to feed mortal souls to an archduke of Hell.  Those who enter the Hall of Wards aren't entering a building, they're entering a Hell-like demiplane facsimile of the building named Belzeragna!  The first couple of pages of the module go through the background of how the Breaching Festival came to be, summarizes the adventure, and offers a handy sidebar for GMs who want to try to fit it in or around a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign.

Part One ("An Unexpected Invitation") contains the adventure hook and preliminaries to the Breaching Festival.  The hook is simple but effective: a courtier sent by Headmaster Toff Ornelos teleports to wherever the PCs are, hand-delivers the invitation, and stands ready to teleport back with the PCs.  PCs of every level like gold, and 153,00 gp in cash is pretty sweet at any level.  As I said above, it's nice that you don't have to manipulate the PCs into already being in Korvosa for the adventure to work.  Assuming the PCs agree and teleport to the Acadamae, they'll be introduced to Toff Ornelos.  The artwork he's given (on page 27) is pretty imposing, so I role-played him as an imperious jerk and I think it worked well.  Ornelos explains the details of the Breaching Festival and isn't shy to say that it's been a century and a half since anyone won the prize--which is enough to raise the suspicions of necessarily-paranoid PCs.  They'll definitely suspect something is up, but won't know quite what, and that amount of gold should be worth the risk.

After the meeting with the Headmaster, the PCs will be guided toward the dormitories.  While passing by a classroom, they'll hear a disturbance and get their first encounter, as another contestant, hoping to get an edge, has summoned a demonic creature far beyond her prowess and paid for the mistake with (probably) her life.  The demon, an Advanced Retriever, has some nasty eye ray abilities (like petrification!).  It's an introductory taste to the desperation some contestants will get to, and can be used to set the tone for the Acadamae as a ruthless place.  I mention this last bit since sometimes the Acadamae is presented as a cut-throat place of strivers and back-stabbers (such as the Pathfinder Tales story "The Illusion" available here), whereas Academy of Secrets probably presents the Acadamae as a nicer place than that.  I went with the former view, as it's a lot more interesting.

This part of the module concludes with the PCs having an opportunity to meet the rest of their competition.  This is primarily a role-playing and story opportunity, as the fate of these competitors will be revealed later in the module.

Part Two ("The Breaching Festival") starts with Headmaster Ornelos giving a little speech on the morning of the festival before the assembled masses (including, perhaps Queen Ileosa!).  Ornelos goes over the rules, explaining that, before any contestant can actually enter the Hall of Wards, they have to find a small magical "key-light" in one of the other buildings on campus.  Once the competition starts, the NPC contestants scatter, and the PCs have seven different buildings (all representing different schools of magic) to choose from.  Each building's key-light is guarded by a magical trap and/or monstrous guardians, and the PCs need one key-light for each member of the group.  But although they'll need to enter multiple buildings, they don't need to enter every single one, and this part of the module plays pretty quickly because searching each building for the key-lilght is handled abstractly through a skill check.  The obstacles to getting a key-light are suitably challenging given the level of the PCs (with magical traps like phantasmal killer, baleful polymorph, confusion, and a heightened horrid wilting), and, when I ran this, one of the four PCs was killed before even making it into the Hall of Wards!  This is an opportunity for rogues with magical trap-finding abilities (or spellcasters with dispel magic at the ready) to really shine.

Part Three ("Belzeragna") starts once the PCs enter the Hall of Wards with the key-lights.  Without realizing it, they've arrived in a demi-plane that is very difficult to escape.  The mangled body of one of the NPC contestants is on the ground, reinforcing the tone that this competition is not for the faint of heart!  Another room, a library, contains a strange sight: a crazed wizard rushing back and forth trying to grab one of dozens of books and scrolls that continually fly through the room and evade his grasp.  The wizard, Terentius, is a former contestant from last year's Breaching Festival, but because time passes differently in the demi-plane, he's been trapped here for 25 years of local time!  He's searching for his spellbook, but doesn't realize that invisible stalkers are tormenting him by moving books around willy-nilly.  He's actually a potent threat if the PCs anger him, and thus it's best to get on Terentius' good side.  The next room, a lecture hall, also contains an NPC competitor, but one from this Breaching Festival who made it into the Hall of Wards before the PCs.  Illia Ean, a local member of the thieves' guild, has been tortured by a handmaiden devil.  She begs to be set free, but is not trustworthy as she'll betray the group to mollify any devils they encounter.  And devils are certainly going to be encountered: bone devils, handmaiden devils, barbed devils, and, in the final room of Belzeragna, a contract devil.

This last devil is a CR 15 threat named Chyvvom.  By the time my PCs reached him, another member of the group had fallen in combat (caught between a barbed devil and a devourer), so it was a "then there were two" situation.  I liked the encounter here because Chyvvom doesn't have to be fought.  He's a very "reasonable" fellow, and PCs can make a deal for their escape that doesn't even require them to pledge their mortal souls.  However, the module isn't clear on what terms Chyvvom will or will not agree to, as a sidebar on page 20 and the discussion on page 21 seem to disagree.  If the terms are too exacting, then combat is inevitable and the whole situation becomes less interesting.  I was also a bit fuzzy on how Chyvvom handled previous contestants, since there hasn't been a "winner" in a century and a half--does no one ever escape, or is there a contract term that they can't reveal what happened inside the Hall of Wards and arrive someplace else on Golarion? Anyway, although I did my best, the two PCs were unwilling to make a deal with the devil and decided to fight--and won!  Contract devils, as I also learned in a recent PFS scenario, really aren't that tough when cornered in melee.  Once Chyvvom is defeated (or a deal is in place), the PCs can escape Belzeragna.

Part Four ("Hells Breaching") felt tacked on, and, although I prepped it, I didn't run it.  Essentially, by escaping Belzeragna, the PCs have stretched the demiplane to the breaking point and a horde of devils pour out into the grounds of the Acadamae.  I didn't really understand the logic here, as Belzeragna isn't Hell itself (just a Hell-like demiplane).  Anyway, this part plays out as a series of little encounters that can be run in any order as everything from warmonger devils to bone devils to ice devils to erinyes run rampant.  Good-aligned PCs might stay to try and save the day, but I think many PCs (having narrowly survived Belzeragna after being screwed over by the Headmaster) won't have the appetite to intervene.  It comes across as rather anti-climactic.  After the encounters, the PCs have a choice to make in whether to implicate Headmaster Ornelos in what's been going on, and there's a good discussion of other fall-out from the adventure.

Academy of Secrets doesn't stick the landing, so I have to come down in the four out of five stars department.  That aside, it features an original setting  (and I could imagine further shenanigans at the Acadamae!), a robust hook, a classic adventure design, and balanced high-level play (which isn't always easy).  It took a while, but I'm glad I finally got to run this module and I imagine I'll make use of elements of it again in the future.