Welcome to "The Worldwound Incursion", the first adventure of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. (I think I just about used up my allotment of capital letters there, but I'll try to soldier on.)
Note: This blog post, including previewed cards, features substantial spoilers of the plot and events in the first installment of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. Please tread carefully if you plan to play through the Pathfinder RPG version of the story, or if you like to be surprised by turns of event in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.
When you get your Wrath box, you'll get the first adventure, along with the shiny new rulebook you can grab from the product page. It includes all the knowledge you'll need to defeat the scenarios in the base set and begin your journey through the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path. Those of you who are interested in Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild will also want to grab your copy of the new Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide so you can start playing the first scenario of the Season of the Righteous when it's released to stores next Wednesday.
If you're one of the lucky subscribers who has already received your Wrath box, you've hopefully sharpened your skills on the introductory base set scenarios. Once you've done that, you're ready to begin the journey set forth in the Adventure Path. This is where the story truly starts: the Fall of Kenabres.
Have a nice trip!
Remember Khorramzadeh from my previous blog post? He's a demon lord that destroys the city of Kenabres, decapitating the silver dragon Terendelev in the process. You get to use him here by shuffling him into the blessings deck as he rampages through the dying city.
Did you think we would make you encounter him in Adventure 1? We aren't that cruel, but does show up again in [Mike: NOPE!] though. Each time he pops out of the blessings deck, he shakes things up and throws some fire around before popping right back into the deck, only to show up more and more as the deck dwindles away. You better hurry!
Want to know what happens next? The rest of the adventure involves falling into the underground, fighting your way back to the surface, rallying the survivors in the town, assaulting the demons in their base, and finally stealing back the wardstone they shattered to breach the Worldwound in the first place. Fortunately for you, the wardstone still has some juice left.
All we need is some Krazy Glue and some time.
Running Themes
You'll notice a couple of new features as you play through this adventure. The first is the set of cohorts you'll have available. One of the themes in Wrath of the Righteous is the importance of NPCs, both good and bad. You'll see these faces again and again, and you'll come to depend on them.
We get by with a little help from our friends.
There's one other thing to notice about some of these cohorts. Take a closer look at the phrases on them, such as "if you have a role card." This is our tricky way of making them more powerful as the game progresses.
Another thing you'll note are the Scales. When the Storm King slew the silver dragon Terendelev, her dying gift to the characters was her scales. The party can choose one of them as loot at the end of each of these scenarios. However, there's only one of each type, so players must decide who will wield them. I suggest single combat!
Not to scale. BOOM.
Bring on the Demons!
As promised, the demons start ramping up a bit, and a few new ones are introduced here.
All demons chosen based on their good looks and excellent senses of humor.
Faxon is the villain for the fourth scenario, and he's nasty. Everyone has to recharge all of their healing when he pops up, and it costs you cards to play cards against him. Even when you win, you'll have to pay a high price.
Don't get me started on the Demonic Fly. I hate that thing. It's tough to beat, and if you don't, it goes and messes up someone else's plans. And the Wrecker Demon is even tougher, and he takes out your items, and he's ugly, too.
Everyone Loves a Mutt
The mongrels are a group of patchwork mutants living under the city. They also make a strong showing here, both as monsters and allies.
Whose side are you on?!
Their defining characteristic is their random nature. You'll have to pull a card from the box to see how difficult they are to defeat or acquire. I love this variation on the Veteran trait. As you add more powerful cards to the box in later adventures, encountering the mongrels is going to get tougher as well.
One Last Cool Thing
There's a sword you'll find in this set called Radiance.
Well, it isn't glowing blue, so at least there aren't any orcs around.
In the adventure path, Radiance is just a simple sword that you find early on, but as you perform brave deeds, more of its abilities unlock, and it grows along with the characters. You'll see more about how we are doing this in a really cool way in adventure...
Mike: And I think that about does it for this blog! Paul will be released from his dungeon in a month to preview adventure 2, if he can prove he can keep his mouth shut.
Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer
