Zaister's page

So when the PCs finally get their own ship, I was thinking of introducing 8 Officer positions which must be filled in order for the ship to function properly. The ranks are:

Captain
First Mate
Boatswain
Master Gunner
Ship’s Cook
Quartermaster
Sailing Master
Surgeon/Carpenter

The PCs will be expected to fill these roles although NPCs can be drafted in to fill gaps or to replace PCs who aren't that good at sailin'. Each officer (except Captain and First Mate) can also select a mate from the NPCs who will assist them in their duties (no mechanical benefit other than delegation, see below) and take over duties when the PC is away a-swashbucklin'. In the absence of the Captain/First mate, the Boatswain (or Boatswain's mate) takes command of the ship.

Each day, the officers will be given tasks just as they did when they were swabs on the Wormwood (and any PCs who choose to remain as Riggers/Swabs will still use those tables). These tasks are slightly harder but some grant mechanical bonuses or penalties to the ship or crew.

I am unsure as to the mechanical penalties for failing checks (any ideas?) but possibly some sort of penalty to infamy/disrepute or negatives to influence the NPCs? If things get bad enough maybe the NPCs will mutiny themselves!

I guess the idea was to allow PCs to perform ship actions in the same way as the early adventures, but I was planning to expand the ship actions list to include crafting/magic item creation/NPC development/exploration etc so as to give PCs a reason for delegating or 'shirking'.

1d8 Captain’s Tasks
1 Must I do everything myself? - roll on random duties table then roll on this table again. All tasks must be completed.
2-3 Bark orders- DC 10 Profession (sailor) and DC 10 Diplomacy or Intimidate checks
4 Swing the lead- DC 10 Intimidate and grant one crew member +1 to today’s checks. If he fails his check all crew gain -1 tomorrow’s check if he is not punished.
5 Captain’s eye- DC 15 Profession (sailor) and DC 10 Perception checks to notice a something which grants Sailing Master +2 to today’s checks. Fail both: Sailing Master takes -2 to today’s checks.
6 Difficult decision- Choose two crew members. DC 15 Profession (sailor) check. Pass: one gets +4 to today’s check, one get’s -2. Fail: both get -4 to today’s check.
7 Entertain the crew- DC 12 Perform check or spend 1d6x100gp in throwing a party.
8 Piracy!- must use one imposition today. If not, make a DC 20 Profession (sailor) and DC 12 Intimidate or Diplomacy check or lose 1 plunder as crew demand more shares.

1d8 First Mate’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Captain’s stead- roll on Captain’s table
4 Assess the ship- roll on Boatswain’s table
5 Shallow waters- roll on Sailing Master’s table
6Master at arms- roll on Master Gunner’s table
7 Man the helm- DC 10 Profession (sailor) check and a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid fatigue
8 Quell talk of mutiny- DC 12 Intimidate or Diplomacy check plus DC 10 Sense Motive check. If pass all three: Captain gains +2 to next task check. If fail all three: Captain takes -4 to next check.

1d8 Boatswain’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Report to the Captain- DC 10 Profession (sailor) check and DC 10 Appraise or Perception check
4 Assess the Rigging- DC 10 Climb check and DC 10 Appraise or Perception check
5 Assess the crew- DC 10 Sense Motive and DC 10 Profession (sailor) checks.
6 Crack the whip- DC 12 Intimidate check and DC 5 Constitution check to avoid fatigue.
7 Man the watch- DC 12 Perception check and DC 10 Profession (sailor) check.
8 The bloody hour- DC 12 Intimidate check and 3 Attack rolls with whip, cat or rope bash. Pass all 4: 1 crew member per Cha bonus gains +2 morale to next task check

1d8 Ship’s Cook Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Cooking- basic tasks. DC 5 Profession (cook) check
4 Fishing- DC 10 Profession (fisherman or sailor) or Survival. Fail: DC 5 Constitution check or fatigued.
5 Change of shift- DC 10 Profession (cook) check and DC 10 Perception check
6 Slaughter the Pig- DC 12 Profession (cook) or Survival check
7 Exotic animal- DC 10 Knowledge (any) and DC 12 Profession (cook) checks
8 Special treat- DC 15 Profession (cook) check. If successful: two crew member per Cha bonus gain +2 morale to next task check. If fail: cook and mate are fatigued (no check).

1d8 Master Gunner’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Clean Ordinance- DC 10 Profession (soldier or sailor) check
4 Re-calibrate weapons- DM selects one random weapon. Profession (sailor or siege engineer) DC 12. May re-roll until succeed check, each attempt wastes 1d3 shots of ammunition.
5 Boarding School- teach swabs to board. DC 10 Intimidate check and either DC 10 Appraise or Knowledge (soldier) check.
6 Combat school- teach swabs to fight. DC 10 Intimidate check and DC 15 melee attack roll or CMB check.
7 Target Practice- DC 12 Intimidate check and hit AC 15 with ranged weapon. Each attempt wastes 1d3 ammunition. May re-roll failed checks. Roll a natural 20 to shoot down a rare animal (granting +2 to cook or cook’s mate’s next check).
8 Break up a fight- DC 20 Intimidate check or DC 15 CMB check. Failed check: 1d6 non-lethal damage and one crew member is knocked unconscious (-2 to surgeon’s next check).

1d8 Quartermaster’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Organise stock- DC 5 Intelligence check or DC 10 Profession (merchant or sailor) check instead
4 Find a missing item- DC 10 Search check, can re-roll but must test for fatigue (DC 5 Constitution check)
5 Purchase stock- DC 10 Appraise check and DC 10 Diplomacy check
6 Sell stock- DC 10 Diplomacy check and DC 10 Sense Motive check
7 Spot a thief- DC 12 Perception check or DC 12 Intimidate check
8 Rare acquisition: DC 20 Appraise check to provide +2 to next attempt to sell plunder or influence notoriety. No repercussions for failing check.

1d8 Sailing Master’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Read the skies- DC 10 Knowledge (nature or geography)
4 Plot a course- DC 10 Profession (sailor) check and DC 10 Survival or Knowledge (nature)
5 Shallow waters- DC 10 Survival or Knowledge (geography check) and a DC 10 Perception check
6 Avoid a storm- DC 12 Knowledge (nature or geography) check
7 Man the helm- DC 10 Profession (sailor) check and a DC 12 Constitution check to avoid fatigue
8 Changing weather- 2 DC 15 checks, either Survival, Knowledge (nature or geography), Profession (sailor) or Perception. Required skills chosen by DM or rolled randomly.

1d8 Surgeon/Carpenter’s Tasks
1 Re-assigned- roll on random duties table
2-3 Minor repairs- DC 10 Craft (ships or carpentry) check
4 Sprained joints- 2 DC 10 Heal checks
5 Extensive damage- DC 12 Craft (ships or carpentry) check and a DC 5 Constitution check to avoid fatigue
6 Amputation!- DC 12 Heal or Craft (carpentry) check and a DC 5 Constitution check to avoid sickened for 1d3 hours
7 Hard to reach damage- DC 10 Climb check followed by DC 10 Craft (ships or carpentry) check
8 Scurvy dogs! DC 15 Heal check and make Fortitude save vs. one random disease

1d20 Random Duties:
1-4 Swab
5-6 Cook’s Mate
7-9 Rigger
10 Surgeon/Carpenter
11-13 Sailing Master
14 Quartermaster
15-16 Master Gunner
17 Boatswain
18 Ship's Cook
19-20 First Mate

An Officer can delegate his tasks to his mate.That crewmember must complete his own tasks in addition to any tasks from his superior. All checks performed by the mate are at -2 and he must also test for fatigue at the end of his shift (DC 5 Constitution). If the crew member’s tasks already required a Constitution check, the DC is increased by 2 instead. Delegating in this way leaves the Officer free to act as normal and not take any checks that day. The Captain can delegate to any member of the crew (though usually the First Mate)

Page 25: Animal Speaker archetype for the bard gets an ability at 3rd level called soothing performance...[/ooc]

True. Noted. (IMO, the "soothing performance" Core Rulebook ability is poorly named.)

Page 48: Bladebound archetype, Life Drinker ability, last sentence, "must have" should be changed to "must have at least".

The "must have at least" language isn't actually needed. A 20 HD opponent has 10 HD and qualifies as a valid target for life drinker, in the same sense that a 20 Str opponent has 13 Str and qualifies for Power Attack.

Page 55: Metal mystery, bonus spells, 14th-level spell statue, the part in parenthesis should be changed from "(metal statue instead of iron)" to "(metal statue instead of stone)."

When we compile errata for a book, we sort it into two categories: stuff that affects the rules, and stuff that doesn't affect the rules (like typos, misplaced commas, and so on). We make all of the corrections in the file that goes to the printer, but only the stuff that affects the rules gets posted as the errata for the book. I'm holding a 2nd printing Ultimate Magic, and the entry you're talking about has been changed to "metal statue instead of stone," so the error was fixed, it's just not listed in the game-affecting public part of the errata. I'll make a note to have it moved to the other category, as "instead of iron" vs. "instead of stone" is a rule-affecting change.

Page 70: Header for the Arial wild bloodline should be changed to "Aerial."

This is in the typo category, and is corrected in the 2nd printing.

Page 85: Hedge Witch archetype, Spontaneous Healing ability, 2nd sentence, "an orison" should be changed to "a cantrip".

This is in the typo category, and is corrected in the 2nd printing.

Page 98: Optional: Benefits of Harmful Conditions section, Bleed paragraph, last sentence, "when using an inflict wounds spell" should be changed to "when using an inflict wounds spell to cause damage".

Clarification not really needed.

Page 101: Wizards, Sorcerers, and Summoners section, first sentence, "binding insiders" should be changed to "binding outsiders".

Typo, corrected in second printing (hereafter I'll just say "typo" in response to this sort of thing).

Page 112: Bestiary and Bestiary 2 Construct table, doesn't include the new construct added to the first Bestiary via errata, the Cold Iron Cobra.

We don't design new content for a book's next printing in response to material added to another book in errata; that way lies madness.

Page 115: Construct Armor, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence, says "regains all the hindrances" but the FAQ says this should say "retains all the hindrances".

Typo.

Page 119: Pig stat block, wrong XP value. "XP 100" should be changed to "XP 135".

Noted for errata. More XP for the heroic pig-killers out there!

Page 122: Book of the Grave, 3rd-level spells, the spell vitriol does not exist.

Noted for errata. It should be vitriolic mist.

Page 123: Tome of the Transmuter, 1st-level spells, the spell hush does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to forced quiet.

Noted for errata. It should be time stop. Just kidding.

Page 124: Manuscript of Jack Were-Son, 2nd-level spells, the spell metabolize does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to accelerate poison.

Noted for errata.

Page 124: Insights of Far-Seeing Taernis, 2nd-level spells, the spell fantastic reach does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to alter self.

Noted for errata.

Page 124: Insights of Far-Seeing Taernis, 2nd-level spells, the spell metabolize does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to accelerate poison.

Noted for errata.

Page 127: Library of the Dancer of Skins, 6th-level spells, the spell lightning field does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to chain lightning.

Noted for errata.

Page 127: Library of the Dancer of Skins, 5th-level spells, the spell comet does not exist. The errata had another book with this spell change it to life bubble.

Noted for errata.

Page 135: Depletable Statistics sidebar, 2nd paragraph, 2nd sentence, "-10 penalty on her Wisdom saving throw" should be changed to "-10 penalty on her Will saving throw".

Typo.

Page 144: Greater Blighted Critical table entry, prerequisites, "Greater Blighted Critical" should be changed to "Blighted Critical" (in other words, it shouldn't have itself as its own prerequisite).

Good catch, noted for errata.

Page 147: Concussion Spell metamagic feat, "Concussion" should be changed to "Concussive".

Meh, doesn't really matter, the metamagic feat names don't follow a consistent style. Some are regular verbs (Extend, Maximize), some are adjectives (Elemental, Focused), some are gerund verbs (Bouncing, Burning).

Page 147 and 158: Toppling Spell metamagic feat, table on page 147 says the spell affects spells with the [sonic] descriptor, but the feat description on page 158 says it affects spells with the [force] descriptor.

The feat description is correct and the table was corrected in the 2nd printing, but it looks like the public errata document doesn't include it, as if it were a typo. I'll make a note to have the public errata document fixed.

Page 196: Antipaladin spells, 1st-level antipaladin spells, summon minor monster, all of the summon monster spells available to the antipaladin in the Advanced Players guide have a special mention in parenthesis saying "(evil creatures only)". This should as well.

Hmmm. I see the point of making that consistent, but adding that text would make that spell run over to a 2nd line, and that would shift everything down one line, in particular the 3rd-Level Antipaladin Spells header, and that would just leave 1 line of spell text before the column break, and publishers generally don't do that. So I'll note it, but I don't think it'll actually get changed because it'll affect the spell lists for the rest of this chapter Cleric 1, Druid 5, Inquisitor 3, and Ranger 1 would also be affected by this change).

Page 208: Bestow grace of the champion spell, [law] descriptor should be changed to [lawful].

Noted for errata.

Page 208: Bestow grace of the champion spell, Saving throw line says "yes (harmless)". This is not a valid saving throw entry.

Heh, nice. Noted.

Page 208: Blessing of the mole spell, Area entry, should actually say "Target" instead of "Area"

Noted.

Page 209: Bungle spell, Core Rulebook says all enchantment spells are [mind-affecting] spells, so it needs this descriptor.

Noted.

Page 210: Burst of nettles spell, all conjuration spells belong to one of the 5 conjuration subschools. This one is probably (creation).

Noted.

Page 210: Caustic eruption spell, first sentence of description says the spell originates from your space but the range of the spell is medium range.

That's how centered-on-you spells are written; Range is how far from you the spell can reach, not necessarily how far away from you the origin can be. See prayer as another example.

Page 211: Cold ice strike spell, the errata implemented only part of the FAQ update for this spell, saying to add a Components entry with "V, S". The FAQ, however, mentions a third component of "M (a small crystal or glass rod)".

I cut the material component when creating the errata. I'll update the FAQ. Thanks!

Page 213: Create demiplane spell, description mentions gp required to make permanent with a permanency spell, but not the minimum caster level required. Going by other spells of this level that can be made permanent, it's likely CL 17.

... which is the minimum level to cast the spell for all classes except summoner (CL 16th). Doesn't matter, really.

Page 214: Create demiplane, greater spell, description mentions gp required to make permanent with a permanency spell, but not the minimum caster level required. Going by other spells of this level that can be made permanent, it's likely CL 18.

Considering that you can't cast the spell until CL 17th, it doesn't really matter.

Page 214: Create demiplane, lesser spell, description mentions gp required to make permanent with a permanency spell, but not the minimum caster level required. Going by other spells of this level that can be made permanent, it's likely CL 16.

As above, doesn't matter, really.

Page 215: Curse of disgust spell, Compulsion should be moved from the list of descriptors and made into the spell's subschool.

Noted.

Page 216: Delay pain spell, Core Rulebook says all enchantment spells are [mind-affecting] spells, so it needs this descriptor. Additionally the book doesn't say so, but all enchantment spells in that book belong to a subschool, and it's likely this one's supposed to, too.

Noted. It should be a compulsion subschool spell.

Page 218: (Possibly not errata) Ear-piercing scream spell, based on the description, a 1st-level character actually wouldn't do any damage with this spell, but they would pull off the dazing ability of the spell. It's hard to tell if this was intentional or not.

Not errata.

Page 218: Eldritch fever spell, casting time says "1 standard" but should be "1 standard action".

Noted.

Page 219: Fickle winds spell, missing its Components entry and its Range entry. The Components entry should be "V, S" as stated in the FAQ (but somehow left out of the errata). The Range entry is still up in the air. The spell doesn't mention specifically mention the words "this spell functions like wind wall except..." but it does mention that spell, so it's possible the range was intended to be medium like that spell. Lastly, the Targets line should have the words "or more" deleted.

Hmm, I had this noted for errata in my 1st printing copy of the book, but it didn't make it into the errata. I'll note it again. Range should be Medium. The "or more" in the Targets line is correct. Noted.

Page 225: Ki arrow spell, all conjuration spells belong to a subschool. (Creation) seems the most logical choice. Additionally the Saving Throw entry just says "Fortitude (object)" and leaves out the key words negates, partial, half, etc. It's most likely "negates".

Noted and noted.

Page 227: Mad hallucination spell, Range entry. says "close (20 ft.)" but close range is not simply 20 ft. it's 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels.

Noted.

Page 228: Mad monkeys spell, 4th sentence of the description, mentions oracles and how Wisdom is used to determine the effects of the spell for them but 1)Oracles use Charisma for that stuff and 2)Oracles can't cast this spell.

Typo.

Page 228: Malfunction spell, transformation school should be changed to "transmutation".

Typo.

Page 228: Marionette possession spell, Saving Throw entry says "Will negates (see text)" but this spell can only be cast on willing creatures, so why would they need a saving throw.

Noted (should be "none").

Page 229: Monstrous physique I spell, 1st paragraph of description, last sentence says "you gain the aquatic and amphibious subtypes" but it should say "you gain the aquatic subtype and the amphibious special quality." Additionally there is a section for Small monstrous humaonids, but the only ones from the three bestiaries are the charda (Bestiary 2), kappa, and pukwudgie (both Bestiary 3). It's uncertain if applying the Young Creature simple template to Medium monstrous humanoids is allowed for this spell.

Amphibious: noted.
Small: just because few such creatures exist in the hardcovers doesn't mean the spell can't allow you to do it for future/AP/3rd-party content.
Templates: from the Core Rulebook, "Polymorph spells cannot be used to assume the form of a creature with a template or an advanced version of a creature."

Page 229: Monstrous physique II spell, has a section for Tiny monstrous humanoids, but in all three bestiaries, there are no Tiny monstrous humanoids. The only way would be to apply the Young Creature simple template to the charda (Bestiary 2), kappa, or pukwudgie (both Bestiary 3), but it's uncertain if this is allowed.

See above.

Page 229: Monstrous physique III spell, has a section for Diminutive monstrous humanoids, but in all three bestiaries, there are no Diminutive monstrous humanoids, or Tiny ones that could be made smaller using the Young Creature simple template as described in the previous entry. There is also a Huge monstrous humanoid section. The only Huge monstrous humanoid in all three bestiaries is the Thriae Queen from Bestiary 3. It is uncertain if applying the Giant Creature simple template to Large monstrous humanoids is allowed when casting this spell.

See above.

Page 233: Protective penumbra spell, the S in the Components entry has a suggestive little comma after it. It's uncertain if this is a typo or if there was supposed to be an additional component. The penumbra cantrip that was cut from the book had a material component in the form of "a bit of soot."

Typo.

Page 237: Shard of chaos spell, the chaos descriptor should be changed to "[chaotic]".

Noted.

Page 238: Smug narcissism spell, has two, conflicting Duration entries.

Noted (the non-instantaneous duration is correct).

Page 241: Summon minor monster spell, as mentioned before, the last sentence of this spell should have ", except for antipaladins which may only apply the Fiendish Creature template" added to the end of it.

Meh.

Page 241: Surmount affliction spell, the Range entry and the Target entry should be exchanged.

Noted.

Page 241: Symbol of revelation spell, since it operates like faerie fire, it's possible it should have the [light] descriptor.

Noted.

Page 243: Temporary resurrection spell, doesn't have a Saving Throw or Spell Resistance entry like other resurrection-type spells have. Usually it should say "Saving Throw none; see text; SR yes (harmless)" where "see text" refers to a section in the description that mentions that if a target is unwilling to return from the dead, the spell fails (which this spell doesn't mention, either). Additionally the spell fails to mention what condition the corpse needs to be in first. Also, and this may be strictly a flavor thing, it doesn't really say what the appearance of the temporarily resurrected creature has, whether it looks good as new or if it still bears the marks of its demise or decay.

Save: true (should be same as resurrection).
Body condition: true (ditto).
Flavor: You've been resurrected, so you don't look beat up. The spell doesn't say you look beat up, so it's safe to assume that it's like other resurrection-type spells, just temporary.

Page 246: Utter contempt spell, Core Rulebook says all enchantment spells are [mind-affecting] spells, so it needs this descriptor. Additionally the book doesn't say so, but all enchantment spells in that book belong to a subschool, and it's likely this one's supposed to, too.

Noted (it should be a compulsion).

Page 249: Youthful appearance spell, fails to mention a Saving Throw and Spell Resistance entries.

Noted (Fort negates, yes).

-Negatives:

A)Liebdaga the Twit: There's been a similarly titled thread that goes into more details on this. This encounter took what could have been one of the best modules and turned it into a major disappointment. Its always hard to gauge a party's capabilities, but against Liebdaga, the numerous ways of weakening the Pit Fiend neutered him to the point of being completely ineffective. I think he got off three standard actions the whole fight. I like the idea of having a lower level party of PCs going up against a high CR that's been weakened in some way (like Dragotha), but the weakening goes too far here.

Fix: In hindsight, I would have removed the staggered condition and the "Stun him with the Contract" mechanic to make the fight more exciting. Afterall, the party KNOWS its going up against a pit fiend of sorts and are going to be ready for him.

B)5' Tunnels and other Map Woes: The biggest issue with the dungeon itself is the map. Not only are a lot of the fights (as written) condensed into 5' funnel-tunnels or narrow catwalks but the size of the map makes translating it to the battlegrid problematic. Large sized maps aren't the issue, its more of its non-conformity to a standard shape (a spiral) that renders a lot of grid-using tools ineffective, like tiles or even a vinyl map (since the dungeons size requires multiple erasing and redrawing)

Fix: I would consider widening and shortening the tunnels between the rooms to avoid the "base the monster and roll dice til one party dies" tactic that can't help but present itself in such a narrow area.

C)This city's going to burn??...Cool!: With all of the infernal-powered decadence presented in the last couple modules as well as the lack of participation in the events by the Hellknights and clergy, I can see groups getting disgusted with the city and "doing the wrong thing"...like killing the mayor or skipping the whole module by doing nothing. It really is kind of how the DM up to this point has presented the city and its citizens as to whether the group decides to save it.

Fix: Not really a weakness of the module as a whole, I would just consider having NPCs the PCs value present at the scene, either fighting devils, captured by the present council agents, or even bravely plunging into the Nessian Spiral. It feels like despite the catastrophe, no one in the city is doing anything to stop it.

D)A succubus walks into an Infernal Wheel...: Is this a dig at 4th ed? It just seemed really out of place with the feel of the rest of the module, especially considering the environment in which you encounter her. As written, her tactics don't work because of the nature of the Spiral itself: no teleporting without a real high CL check. This leads one to wonder how the succubus got into the dungeon in the first place.

Fix: There's a number of other similarly powered CR devils from the newer books (B2, B3, BotD1) that would work better, (though to be fair, I ended up using her as a partner for the Doppelganger in the final module. Seemed to fit a lot better)

E) Better "meltdown mechanics" needed: It just seemed like a lot of the mechanics for the destabilization of the complex felt a little repetitive. I think all of the hazards required "reflex save for half damage", rewarding those with evasion and spamming others. Blinding Flashes and Deafening Roars requiring Fortitude saves or Infernal Wailing requiring Will saves might have been nice instead of repeated "more bolts of energy erupt from the pipes" cliche.

-Positives:

A)Awesome hellscape: Thematically and descriptively, the module worked really well in presenting an image of not only the possible immediate doom given by abused infernal power, but also the possible eventual fate of the city at the end of the last module. From the pentagonal columns of hellfire to the illusory vistas before Liebdaga's chambers, all of it is presented very well.

B)Best Encounters in AP: Jerusen. Mayor Vheed. Zol. Jezeletrix. Zovarue. There are so many uniquely challenging creatures in this module that it definitely has some of the best fights of the AP. Even the stock monsters all have some degree of flavor or reason for being there.

C)Let's save this city!!!: My PCs dove wholeheartedly into the idea of saving the city from catastrophe. They all felt a real sense of impending doom ticking down until a point of irreversible damage. If the DM conveys it properly, there is a real potential for daring and heroics in the face of disaster. Everyone seemed to like the idea of beginning to take control of the city and lead its citizenry.

-PC Advancement: Another death, averted thanks to Hero points. Mayor Vheed's death throws got Blaustein the Monk. Many of the fights were a bit tougher this module. Anyways, advancement stayed pretty much the same, with the exception of Alario. [Monk 9, Wizard 9, Cleric 8/Rogue 1, Fighter 2/Monk 2/Rogue 4/ Shadowdancer 1]

-Encounter Assessment:
-Good Encounters: All but listed beneath
-Bad Encounters: Gargoyles (over CR'd monster) Tiefling Tunnel Rats, Burning Guardian (too easily bypassed), Liebdaga the Twit
-Toughest Fight: Erinyes (under CR'd monster)
-Weakest Fight: Liebdaga

-Negatives-

A)Walcourt Monster Boredom: In this module and the next, there is an overuse of stock badguys that repeats itself throughout the dungeon complex. Many of the lower CR monsters such as the Dark Creepers, Thieves, Dogs, and even Shadow Mastiffs pose absolutely no threat to a group of 9th to 11th level PCs. Not only are these encounters not challenging but they repeat themselves through Walcourt. This takes away from the mysterious ambiance that should be present in the main guildhouse of the Council of Thieves. Also, for the supposed heart of the shadow curse, there is absolutely no change in the environment or creatures noticable, with the exception of the Nihiloi. PCs that have already fought Shadowgarms (which aren't even here), Shadow Mastiffs, and Shadows are going to be disenchanted with the lack of increase in shadowy foes. In fact, most of the monsters with the exception of the Nihiloi and Calikang are decidedly mundane considering the supernatural nature of the Shadow Curse.

Fix: As mentioned above about the Shadow Curse, many of the stock badguys should be swapped out with some of the newer monsters from the Bestiary 2 and 3. Also, there seems to be some sort of conflict between the Shadowfolk and the council agents that is hinted at, but there's nothing left to work with here. It seems almost like there's some sort of political intrigue between the Nidalese shadow agents and the Chelish thieves, yet there's no way to take advantage of this as written.. perhaps a weary Council agent who is tired of the Shadowfolk?

B)The Totemrix does... Nothing?: Another moment of disappointment for my PCs (yet secret relief) as everyone was expecting the thing to have powers similar to that of the Marrowfall. Not all treasure or magical items have to be useful, but as near as I can tell, this thing just kills people or worse. Sure, you can summon really weak shadow critters if you're a vampire, but it seems like the dark half of the split artifact gets the shaft as far as powers. Everyone was expecting Ilnerik to open up with an Enervation, Energy Drain, or something equally terrible. Even Deeper Darkness would have been preferable to well.. nothing. It's kind of hard to sell that a Vampire just using its Children of the Night ability is entirely responsible for perpetuating a curse that has caused the social decay of an entire city. Also, if the Totemrix just kills you, why would any PC (especially a pathfinder with the knowledge Ilnerik possesses) want it? Never mind the problem that whatever PC picks it up receives the curse inherent in owning it. There's absolutely no reason to rejoin the two halves as written, as doing so not only deprives the PCs of a major tool but also potentially curses one of them with eventual death.

Fix: I would consider giving the artifact some Spell-like abilites, the power mentioned in my Shadowcurse synopsis, and better shadow critters to summon. This also gives the PCs a dilemma of using another powerful tool at the possible cost of eventual destruction. As it is, uncaring PCs might just leave the Totemrix where it is and go on their merry way. Heck, they could just drop it in the channels around the city and without an ego, the thing is just liable to sit there forever, with no consequences.

C)Attack of the weak enemy NPC: What's up with Stiglor and Maglin?? Two of the Council's "named" killers should be significantly powerful, yet these two have a number of sub-optimal choices in classes, feats, and gear selection. Maglin's artwork (which looks awesome) completely doesn't match his stats as presented and Stiglor's stat-block is incorrect (attack values as miscalculated). Furthermore, these two in particular (and Kruthe the Hammer) just don't have the numbers to be an equal challenge to a 9th level party. Their attack values are too low (even with Stiglor's miscalc) and ACs laughable enough that even a 3/4 BAB PC is going to hit either most of the time. Furthermore, their saves are one roll away from being nerfed by a 'save or sink' spell like Phantasmal Killer, Blindness Deafness, and a host of others. I think all three of these guys went down in less than a couple rounds, and that's even after tweaking their gear and swapping a couple of feats out. It's strange that after The Dealer, the Priestess of Mammon, and Crosael in the last module, the power of the newer players are lower compared to these older ones.

Fix: I would completely rewrite Maglin as a straight rogue (drop the assassin level, it gives nothing but a hard to pull off, easy to save against death attack) or a Ranger/Rogue Hybrid. Pay attention to Stiglor's stat block and consider giving him a few Bane arrows of the appropriate type. Also, remember by that at this point of the path, the Council should know who the PCs are and what their capabilities are. If they overuse invisibility, teleporting, or other means, give these guys the appropriate counters to deal with them.

D)Poor dungeon design: Sorry, but Walcourt is a strange complex with narrow corridors, rooms that don't make sense, and encounters where the enemies are limited by their own environment. There should have been way more murder-holes, trapped doors, poison, pits, areas of utter shadow, and most importantly secret doors. The top two floors have a few strange traps that are poorly executed in that they either have no warning as to their location (as with the candelabra/cone of cold trap) or are awesome but easily bypassed or not encountered at all (like the guillotine trap). Furthermore, the placement of traps and guardians doesn't correlate with what the Council or any organization would know about the PCs. At this point, most PCs have a means to fly, yet the rooftop is sparsely guarded by a couple of lowly thieves and no traps, and its easy enough to just go from there straight into Sandor's chambers and take him out. Futhermore, nothing is to stop uncanny PCs from just exploring the sewers beneath the complex and going straight to Ilnerik. This struck me as odd considering Vaughan's track record on awesome dungeons. As written, there's little that the enemies do to shore up their defenses once they realize that their secret safehouse is under attack.

Fix: Quite Frankly, I completely redrew the dungeon, keeping the rooms and traps I liked but laying them out in a more cohesive order. I also added an upstairs false vault that was really just a series of deathtrap chambers, and a summoning area with a bound Contract Devil (who the PCs could question without reprisal.. made good RP). Also, in my campaign, I utiliized Sian as a vampire, and her lair was also in the basement. Also, if you're a vampire in a massive thieves organization, why isn't your coffin trapped?

-Positives-

A) Awesome new monsters: Despite the boredom with the stock monsters, that new additions in the bestiary were awesome and thoroughly usable in the path. The Nihiloi, Calikang, Vrylovakas, and Possession Devils all saw use in my campaign, The Calikang is particularly awesome, so much that I decided to preface its appearance with a "100,000 gp receipt from Vudra" clue amidst the paperwork of the Council to foreshadow this deadly guardian.

B) Good traps: Again, the traps here are good as written, just their placement is a little strange in places. I thought the guillotine was particularly nasty.

C) Good final encounter: The fight against Ilnerik is quite memorable despite his lack of Totemrix powers. High AC and a real threat from his slam attacks make him a dangerous foe to confront, especially if the PCs have just faced the Calikang. The complication of captured allies in the tanks (in this case, kidnapped prostitutes from Fiamma's brothel) helps the fight even more. Great end fight for the module.

D) Great mini-mass battle: Despite its simplicity, I like the mechanics for the Hagwood Siege. It gives the PCs ways to deal with their enemies besides just fighting them in mass (such as putting out the fires, destroying tents) and also affecting the battle with their previous actions. I enjoyed describing the carnage of the redcaps and the destruction wrought by the giant beetle, and it made the PCs feel like their previous actions mattered, despite the fact that as they were then, the PCs could have defeated the entire invading force without breaking much of a sweat. Oh yeah, and there's that one-shot, high DC, 80' radius burst from the Marrowfall that also kind of ends the fight too.Good luck retreating when you're blind...

E)Hagwood and the Mother of Flies are creepily awesome: The ambiance of the dark forest and the words and actions of the Mother of Flies help keep with the brooding mood of the adventure path. This is something I occasionally like: A single high level enemy who could destroy the party, but for the time being has similiar goals in mind (like Iggwvyl in 'Enemies of my Enemy'). Also, the whole 'flies' thing was creepy, a hag who utilizes pestilence and vermin as her mode of operation.

-Added Stuff: I added a subquest: Ilnerik and his minions had used the power of the Totemrix to create a rift into the Plane of Shadow. This rift was located at the burnt at corpse of the old Hagwood tree that served before the Mother of Flies was forced to relocate. Since this AP has not one single dragon in it (?) I decided to add a third part to the Hagwood quests, defeat the dragon and close the portal so reinforcements can't be called upon in the Hagwood assault. The portal was guarded by a Young Umbral Dragon and populated by a host of Gloomwing eggs (preparing to transform in Tenebrous Worms). While they easily defeated the dragon, it was fun to run. I also added the aforementioned parts to Walcourt to make it more memorable.

-PC advancement: At the beginning of this module, the APG had just come out, so we allowed some "retraining" in between modules 4 and 5. Biggest change was me swapping out Diviner school powers for the Foresight school. My NPCs luck bonus from the diviner ability was becoming a little too powerful when thrown on the monk. Also, it stacked with bardic performances (competence bonus) and morale bonuses (Good Hope), raising almost every d20 roll the monk would make by +8 (which with flurry of blows, got ridiculous. This was also due to the inclusion of a bard from Alario's Leadership feat, Calseinica Nymmis, the source of the competence and morale bonuses. Rather than having one character gaining an 8 point swing over everything else, I figured a +2 or -2 all around would be more balanced. It only became powerful when the -2 luck and -2 morale from dirge of doom would be used to spam a save or sink spell, like Flesh to Stone, Dismissal, or a number of others. Blaustein stayed the same, as did Fiamma. Alario took a couple of archetypes for Fighter (Free Hand) and Monk (Monk of the Sacred Mountain). By end of the module, we looked like this: [Wizard 11(Diviner), Monk 11 (No Archetype), Rogue 1/Cleric 10 (Calistra), Fighter 2/Monk 2/Rogue 4/Shadowdancer 3, Bard 7(Cohort)] Also, Greater Feint and Medusa's Wrath are an awesome combo for two PCs to use. Despite this, we had two PC deaths (averted with hero points) due to the fireball bead ambush that happens at the beginning.

-Encounter Assessment
-Good Encounters: Madjaw, Jinkins, Stiglor, Sandor the Strange, Calikang, Nihiloi, Ogre Mage, Ilnerik, Vampire Sorceress, Chuuls, Shadow Rat Swarm, Mohrg
-Bad Encounters: Fireball Bead Ambush/Maglin and Kruthe, Shadowfolk, Thieves, Dogs, Shadow Mastiffs, Ogres, Hill Giants, Vampire Spawn
-Toughest Fight: Calikang
-Weakest Fight: Council Mooks (Thieves)

Overall Assessment: I've liked this path up until now, but everything from start to finish in this module feels rushed and disconnected,especially from the rest of the path as a whole. This made me use the module as a blueprint for my own custom end chapter, which I think worked a lot better than the repetitive slugfest and anticlimatic finale. I don't understand why this module is not only such a departure from the rest of the path but also decides to introduce a host of new NPCs that supposedly have been influencing the city the whole time... yet you don't hear about them in even a DM's capacity until this module. I feel like this path is guilty of this as a whole: introducing an NPC whose been behind the scenes the whole time, thrown at the party too late to have meaningful impact. Anyways, here's the problems I have with this module and how I tried to make it work. I succeeded, but not without a lot of effort, effort the module itself should have covered. I'm aware James Jacobs had a hand in this one, which is why I'm kind of shocked at the quality of this adventure considering his flawless (until now) track record. No disrespect intended, let the criticisms below be an effort to question and improve what I feel is a bad module.

A) Send in the mooks...: And man, there's a lot of them. It seems like the idea is either to make the PCs feel good about themselves before a hard fight or overwhelm them with numbers. The problem is that there are no hard fights coming and most of the mooks can't even make an effective dent on the party, even if they're all aiding each other and using every trick they can. I'm looking at you, Cutpurses, Thieves, and Rolan's Toys... Why stat out something that's going to be 6 levels lower than the party?

Fix: Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be the case with later APs..

B) Repeating identical high-level NPCs: The space devoted to the mooks could have been used to develop unique council captains other than the sample one that 's meant to represent 16+ sub-leaders of the Council of Thieves. There's lots of problems with this. The Council of Thieves is not a military organization and none of its members should be employing the same attack methods, especially when you're an 11th level, classed NPC. The module recommends using the Council Captain stat block for every enemy leader involved in most of the subquests. This is ill-conceived, simply because these captains are all ranged sniper builds that are being put into close-quarter areas. Range assassins function best with lots of space, terrain, and movement ability... and not one encounter with the exception of the Tannarik siege utilizes this kind of terrain. Furthermore, for an organization so connected to the nobility of the city, only one of these captains is given a name. After about the fourth encounter with the same kind of leader-type, PCs are going to already know what the guy's gear and tactics are before they even fight, depersonalizing what should be a fight with one of the mysterious, shadowy leaders the Council. Nevermind the fact that each captain as written has two arrows of Human Slaying, and they themselves are human (what if PCs aren't...why give a whole bunch of treasure that's just going to be used against them??) How many of these damn things do you get by the end? Enough to almost fill half a quiver if you're crafty in getting the drop on the repeating-stat captains

Fix: This single-handedly takes the most work to fix. Not only should each Council captain be given a name and a connection to the city's nobility, but should also be redesigned to work in the encounters they are featured in. Why not have a master of disguise/sleight of hand present for the "Noble Lure" subquest instead of ranged snipers? Why not use a duelist or two weapon fighter for defense of the Arodenama instead of... ranged snipers? It makes the Council seem stupid for putting the wrong people at the wrong places. There are a few usable NPCs of the appropriate level in the Game Mastery guide that can substitute, but about eight of different captains were written up on my part to lend flavor and history to the encounters. Heck.. What if one of the Children of Westcrown ended up being a Council Captain? I didn't do it in my game, but I think it would be pretty cool to try it.

C)Sandbox on a timetable is a tricky act: So.. the party has a number of subquests to complete but a limited time to accomplish them. Unfortunately, the details of this timetable are left kind of vague. It says that by the end of the adventure, General Vourne shows up with his navy to bring the city to order, and before that happens, the council attempts to put on the big show and take control of the city. However, the groupings of quests in Parts 1-6 of the module don't specify in exactly what order they occur in, how the correlate to one another, and how individuals who escape or die in one fight might influence another. There is no way to tell if its appropriate to spring the hooks to lead into the next series of quests or not. A lot of this seems like arbitrary DM interpretation rather than a clear-cut map of how events play out in the final act. For example, at what point do you introduce the rumors of the undead in the Dead Sector? When does all the off-camera stuff at Tannarik house (the defection, etc.) take place? Is Verennie already a ghost during the initial assault or not? I like the fact that the subquests can be presented in any order, I do not like the fact that there is little cohesiveness to link them together, other than saying "This starts to happen over here".

Fix: I mentally did this, but have a clear and concise plan of how the Council is causing chaos in the city and how they are keeping those who could do something about it busy. For example, I had the Church of Asmodeus investigating the rise of the undead in the Dead Sector, at least until they bit off more than they could chew with the Devourer. This makes it seem like these events don't just happen out of the blue and that people are also responding in their own way to the crisis, whatever that might be.

D) Weakest final fight of any AP written so far. Sorry, but as a solo BBEG (or even teamed up with Melevangian) Eccardian has nothing going for him. The PCs have faced Ilnerik, the Calikang, and other tough fights, yet Eccardian is weaker than these. Duelist is a wasted class when you don't have the action economy to do anything but use parry for defense, especially since he seems entirely reliant on his weapon, which has no real defense against being disarmed from him. His saves, particularly Will saves, are a joke for a final villian of a campaign, even against a 15 pt build party. If you run him solo (without Melevangian) or with Chammady helping the party, he's going to die very anti-climatically, probably against a save-or-suck effect like Blindness, Flesh to Stone, or Phantasmal Killer. Knowing this, I was able to have my wizard NPC "hold back" on using such spells, but he shouldn't have had to. In the end, even upping his AC by 3, his HP by 60 and his saves by +5 didn't save him from getting pummeled to death by a flurrying monk. Also, there's a Horned Devil on the cover of the module, but no Horned Devil?? WTF?

Fix: I changed a couple of things in the final fight, which in the end worked for my game, including the presence of a Horned Devil.

E) A cast of dozens.. appearing only in the last act??: Vuiper Ghivel, the Mhartises, Ciuccis, Rolan Derswitter, Paralictor Chard, and Signifer Verennie all seem like major players in the scenes behind Westcrown, yet we hear about all of them in the last act. This is disrespectful to the DM that bought the module: no matter what story has been developed by the NPCs presented in previous modules, it all stands aside as these new players step in to stir the final events. This is one of the biggest disconnects between this module and the others.

Fix: See below, as I added a 'dinner and theater' prelude scene to at least introduce these people so they weren't just "random crazy noble" and "hostage noble" types.

F) Popularity Mechanic is flawed: Mathematically, this doesn't work. Even with maximum popularity points earned and minimal Fame points spent, I'm having a hard time coming up with the 111 or higher, especially in a 15 pt build game where a PC may not possess leadership and maxed out Charisma as ours did. I like the idea of "spending Fame points to make stuff happen", yet having the PCs final score be based on the amount of unspent points feels like it punishes PCs for interacting with events and people. I myself changed a couple things in this regard since it's obvious that as its written, its impossible for players to both get the best possible ending and also interact meaningfully with the city's groups. Why would the PCs have less of a chance to secure control of the city if they spent efforts to let everyone know of their allegiance with either the Nobility or the Hellknights? Points spent should not reflect a lesser amount of purpose or willingness to help the city, if anything, it should be opposite. This was somewhat of a disappointment, as the other modules had built up Fame points as an important score used to influence the course of the ending. Unfortunately, the mechanics of Popularity and the final fame check make this unwieldy at best.

Fix: This took a minor rewrite on my part, but basically I had some of the point expenditures be greater to accomplish tasks. I also reflected the expenditure of Fame points by actions taken by the Children of Westcrown (warning away future assassination attempts by displaying assassin's body in the streets, as one example). The main change was scraping the entire final roll and replacing it with Fame check+ Doubled Number of Acquired Popularity Points= Final Score. This made it so they never regretted spending Fame Points, whether it was to reroll a Diplomacy check against Chammady or using them to have Rolan's toys guard Alario's safehouse. In the end, it made more sense than what's written.

G) Easiest module of the AP is the last?? Seriously, as written, there is not one tough fight in this whole module, with the possible exception of Melavengian. 12th level PCs that know they're fighting Devils and thieves and are going to roll every encounter written here. Things like DR, evasion, and elemental resistances are meaningless against a group of prepared PCs. Keep in mind, most PCs are going to be packing Holy Weapons, Dismissal, Banishment, and a host of other tools that are going to ruin the day of anything written in the module. In a way, its almost as if what the PCs have already faced has been forgotten. These encounters might be tough if the module was stand-alone and not as part of a series against devils and thieves. I guess the ghost is tough, but only because she is completely out of place.

Fix: Let's just say I substituted lots of encounters, advanced some monsters, created unique 11th level NPC assassins and so forth. Took a lot of work to at least make it challenging

H)Bestiary is a waste of space: No. really. A whole bunch of high CR (16+) monsters in an AP that ends at 13th level, and furthermore some aren't even in the right flavor of the module's final events. Why are these monsters here? Other than the Ebon Acolytus, which doesn't even appear in the module, not a one of these is ever going to be used at my gaming table, especially when the artwork for them is atrocious. This is one of the first times I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the artwork in a Pathfinder module, or any Paizo product for that matter.

-Module Start- This module has no clear beginning event. I changed this with a celebration of the lifting of the shadow curse, as a night-time play and dinner party were being held at the Nightshade theater. With Robahl Nonon dusting off his director's cap, the play performed was "The Ruby of Maledov", an allegory for the price paid when hell's treasures are taken (if anyone wants details, let me know). At any rate, this let me drop Thesing in at the end as he crashes the performance then flees. I then used the pretext of a dinner party to detail the majority of the players, past and present who are involved in the city. This let me setup a who's who of the finale. It also let me introduce my first custom assassin at the end of dinner party, an alchemist bomber who used Delay Bomb shenanigans to "Carriage Bomb" the PCs as they were leaving the party.

-Wanted: Assassins- Here's a small list of what I swapped out for the council captains. (1)Alchemist 11 (aforementioned), (2)Master Summoner 11, (3) Tiefling Magus 11, (4) Halfling Rogue (sniper) 11, (5) Ranger 5/Fighter 4/Assassin 2, (6), Tiefling Monk 7/Fighter 4, (7) Rogue 1/Fighter 6/Duelist 3/Assassin 1, (8) Rogue 6/Assassin 5, (9) Tiefling Rogue 2/Fighter 6/Assassin 3, (10) Bandit Lord [GMG], (11) Pirate Captain [GMG], (12) Guild Master [GMG], (13) General [GMG].

-Part 2- 1) Gave Mhartis situation less of a hostage feel and more of a protection from assassination feel.I had one of the Council Captains also be a Dottari captain, having her going door to door with her Council brothers under the guise of protection and eliminating the last traditionalists in their own homes. I changed the Mhartises into a family beheld to the Council.
2) Give Delilee a playmate... Cause lone rogues are never good opponents. Added Joraviah here from "Infernal Syndrome" as an associate of Delilee. I took away the Doppelganger's connection to the Council because I couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't already be employed if not in control of the Council. These two are my "bad things taking advantage of the chaos to create their own" enemies.

-Part 4-Assault on Safehouse and the Maleficus Spike- As I mentioned earlier, this artifact was a piece of legacy treasure revealed between parts five and six. The item (which basically creates a super version of Forbiddance in the structure its placed in) let me run a high scale assault involving my Master Summoner assassin and an army of devils, without wiping the whole party. Seeing a legion of bearded, bone, and barbed devils formed outside their house definitely gave my players pause, even if most of the devils couldn't directly harm anyone inside the structure.
-Hellknight Siege- I introduced some more written out NPCs for the Hellknights. I advanced Paralictor Chard to 11th level and had him mirrored by 3 Maralictors of varying prowess (I believe one was a Cavalier/Hellknight, the second an Inquisitor/Fighter/Hellknight, the third a Ranger/Hellknight, all about 8th level. This helped eliminate the "repeating bad guy" syndrome that threatened this encounter, and I omitted the second Hellknight fight in the next part entirely for this very reason. This made the siege more dynamic since they not only had to defeat the maralictors (one of whom becomes a Graveknight within two days of his defeat) but also drive back Signifer Verennie (not dead yet in my game) and eliminate the Council captain present.
-Blacknapes: Added a Council Captain, as one PC almost threatened to "Solo" this whole group of thugs.
-Rolan's Toys: Changed his Toys into Infernalized versions of themselves... Ebon Acolytes, cause CR 3 monsters have no place in an 11th level module. Basically he used a form of minor wish to ask that his creations be given the power to defend the city, and each of the living statues eyes were golden Mammon coins.

-Part 5- City of Death- As stated, I brought back one of the Maralictors as a Graveknight, placing him at the Sunset gate and putting the Devourer there in the Boneyard instead (which with its Animate Dead ability, made more sense) . Thesing's lair was replaced with an abandoned theater. I was fortunate enough to possess a copy of "Ashes at Dawn", so I ported over some of the Vampire nobles in that adventure as audience members of his newest performance. I also put some of the captured Children of Westcrown in as audience members, dominated into watching numerous terrible plays again and again. Palaveen became a Fiendish Mohrg from the "Undead Revisited" book instead of a normal Mohrg, which almost wiped a party member. The biggest change was to Signifer Verennie. I had her suicide result from ingesting hundreds of gold coins and choking on them. This let me add a haunt that forced the PCs to possibly recreate this death. Furthermore, I had the Animate Hoard from the Mammon article in the back come to life and attack at the same time as her. The only real nail-biting moment of this module occurred here: my NPC wizard got possessed. Without even knowing what we were up against (party assumed we were going against a living Sorceress), the cleric was packing a Dispel Evil, the only thing that kept my wizard from teleporting away.

-Part 6: Infernal Invasions:Skipped Hell's Defectors. Replaced with the Infernal Doomsayer, a disguised Heresy Devil and Contract Devil attempting to convert the masses with hellish preaching. Opposing them took DC 25 Know Religion checks to initiate discourse and then DC 50 fame checks to sway the crowd, followed by defeating them in combat.
-Skarx's Prison: Added Zol, Barbed Devil, two Bone Devils, and changed Skarx to Tetori Monk archetype. Made Zol able to be convinced to fight on PC's side with a Fame check. Made for a much more memorable encounter than plain-Jane monk and her four mooks.
-Erinyes: Made leader an advanced version.
-Hellish Cavalry: Gave each Bearded Devil 2 levels of fighter, which gave them Mounted Combat, Ride-by-Attack, and Spirited Charge, as well as all the weapon and armor proficiencies they could need to be an actual threat. Made Paralictor Chard the target of their attacks.
-Added Burning Inn scenario: Two Chartovs and bearded devil were setting an Inn on fire. Using fire rules from "catastrophe" article in same module and Fame checks to move people (DC 35 moves 1+1 per 5 over check) combined with a fight against the fire immune devils made for a neat encounter.

-Part 7: So there's a Well of Many Worlds.. a direct two-way portal to Erebus and a focal point for all of the Council's plans... So why isn't it guarded in any way? I had issues with this, and placed a quartet of assassin devils and 'Stinking Cloud Incense' censors in the room preceding the well, and a Malbolgian Cerberi in the room containing the portal (as well as Chammady). When Vuiper went to go get Chammady for them and didn't return (thanks to the strict orders of the recently placed devils), it made for some good role-playing as disembodied voices in the smoke discussed the fate of the city.

-Part 8:For the Finale, I gave Eccardian and Melavengian Potions of Barkskin+4 to offset the point-buy of my group as well as different prepared spells for Melavengian. The fight went better than expected, with Chammady participating and getting some licks in on Eccardian before being sent to run from the Devil's fear aura. The battle went outside of the statue's head and onto its arms, with Alario eventually Bull-Rushing Eccardian off the statue to the ground below. The final blows on the Tiefling were given by Chammady (her fear removed by a potion from my wizard), yet I felt I would fulfill my player's expectations and give them one last fight, the one on the cover of the module. When Melavengian died, I had him bubble into a pool of liquid gold. When Eccardian died, I had him do a transformation coupled with Melavengian's animate golden remains covering his body, the end result being a golden statue of a Horned Devil. I then gave the party one round before the transformation was complete as Mammon made one last bid for power in the city using the remains of both as a temporary body. The ensuing fight was tough, with the one round being crucial in getting enough hits in before the thing broke bad and stunned half the party. In the end, it was a little bit of a nail biter but the PCs prevailed and went on to the final roll. In the end, they not only achieved the best possible result for the city (Independence), but also achieved leadership positions, foremost being Alario who serves as Mayor of the city. Ironically enough, the PCs decided that they wanted to see a new "Council of Thieves" set in place to govern crime within the city. Eirtein Obberigo and Alario are its leaders. Also, the city has been given the exception of forbidance with regards to the worship of a chaotic deity. In Westcrown it is now legal to worship Calistra, though no other chaotic deities are really allowed, thanks to the efforts and guile of La Fiamma Diosa Thrune. Finally, Elias (being a member of the Pathfinders) begins traveling again, seeking a means to reverse his accelerated age and trading relics in the new kingdom burgeoning in the Stolen Lands (after all, someone's buying and selling those high GP magic items that keep appearing in our campaign).

PCs finishing campaign at 12th, technically 13th if they decide to play them in the future-
Alario Jeggare: Fighter 2, Monk 2, Rogue 4, Shadowdancer 4
La Fiamma Diosa: Rogue 1, Cleric 11
Blaustein Aalfanger: Monk 12
Elias Lucca: Male Old Diviner 12

This was the first campaign that I ran as the modules were released, and so a lot of plot points and NPCs for me weren't really available until certain points of running the campaign. For instance, I would loved to have foreshadowed Vuiper Ghivel, The Mhartises and Ciuccis, and some of the other major families that appear in the sixth part. This is sort of the inherent danger of running an AP as the modules are released: there may be a disconnect between modules in what occurred in a group's story versus what is written in the module. It's a lot harder to wander off the railroad if you don't have all the pieces present to build the sandbox. The only thing I wish would be an extra page maybe in the Campaign Summary in the first module that lists off key NPCs (with whatever class levels are envisioned for that NPC, even if they are changed by the end) and what events they have to play in the campaign.
Overall, this seemed to be a very event driven campaign, with the majority of the campaign taking place in one city. This worked very well for my group, as all of them were interested in role-playing with the various citizens of Westcrown and forming relationships within. It helped to raise the importance of cetain events if NPCs such as Janiven, Arael, Calseinica,and Paralictor Chard were taking place in them. For instance, in the final module, when the Bearded Devils mounted on Hellcats are terrifying the nobility, I had their current victim be the Paralictor, valiantly fighting off the legion and giving the PCs a chance to join swords with him again, possibly saving his life.
At any rate, I feel that the over-arching story of the campaign is strong as a whole, its just the disconnection between the various modules that weakens it and makes it not as strong as other APs (like RotR and KM). Players who reclaimed the Marrowfall in part 3 may not understand why they're going after a Pit Fiend in Part 4 or going into the woods in part 5. I made it work, but I can easily see how other groups lose their motivation to react to certain events. Individually, the modules (with one exception) are written very well. My players all loved the idea of reclaiming a benighted city and eventually controlling it, and the elements of theater, nobility, and shadow conspiracies are done quite well. Overall, this campaign lends itself quite easily to the Gothic mood, with the presence of the dangerous night, vampires, and Faustian contracts reinforcing this feel . Its important for DMs not to forget this: Westcrown starts out not as an ordinary city but a center of decay suffering under the intangible horror of the shadow curse.

This campaign, we used a 'roll 4d6 and drop the lowest result' six times, resulting in heroic stat builds. At the time, this seemed like a time honored tradition for campaigns and thus a good idea. In hindsight, I now realize that most APs and even Bestiary monsters to a degree utilize an assumption that the PCs will have a 15 point build. As the sixth module began, we calculated our point buys, and they were about 40 point builds. This might be why I find some disparity between the power levels of the PCs and the modules as written, especially at higher levels. Without getting into the current argument about what sort of point buy is best, I WISH PAIZO HAD SOME GUIDELINES FOR RUNNING THEIR APS WITH HIGHER POINT BUILDS. I feel like this is different than having more players, as higher stats means higher DCs, better saves, more HPs, and the extreme viability of many of the MAD classes like Paladin or (as in our campaign), Monk. However, since at the time I only had three players for the AP, I considered adding my own NPC to the party to add survivability.. Three was the fewest number I'd ever ran, and felt like the party wouldn't be balanced enough without 4 players. [Again, Pathfinder had just come out when we began the AP, and since I had run Age of Worms twice and Runelords by then, I expected a deadly path that would be brutal with just 3 PCs]. Thus, I added my own NPC, who I thought would be relatively easy to run and able to springboard story events due to his abilities. Anyways.we start with a variant of the classic four:

-Blaustein Aalfanger: Dwarf Monk
-Fiamma Diosa: Half Elf Cleric (Calistra)
-Alario Jeggare: Human Rogue
-Elias Lucca: Human Wizard (Diviner)

My NPC is the Wizard, whose background I loosely tied to Rance Lucca but also made him a former colleague of Sandor the Strange (added later). Blaustein's background was fairly neutral and easy to tie in as well. Alario and Fiamma had very extensive backgrounds that eventually influenced how the remainder of the path played out, especially the fifith and sixth modules; This deserves a bit of explanation. While Fiamma's adopted name is Diosa, her half elf status makes that name inherited rather than her true bloodline. This is due to some minor events written to tie the PC backgrounds in that I created:

-In 4681, An ancient elfgate was discovered in the depths of the catacombs of Westcrown, a portal that connected the city to a clearing outside of the capital of Kyonin.

-A diplomatic envoy consisting of Alario's father (Volaire Jeggare), Fiamma's real father (Meggare Thrune), Sidonnai Drovenge, and Andreo Diosa was sent to Iadara. Over the course of a year, the group convinced the xenophobic elves to trade a powerful magical relic (The Maleficus Spike from 'A Memory of Darkness') for a large amount of Evil-Outsider Bane Weapons, tools normally used to hold the devils of the empire in check, re-purposed for the conflict against the Tanglebrair.

-During these meetings, an elven maiden (Shuraneen Thurwyn) had a dalliance with Meggare Thrune, resulting in the birth of Fiamma. However, to protect to the good name of Thrune, the offspring was neither claimed by the maiden (also a priestess of Calistra) nor by Meggare Thrune, whose family name would be tarnished by the presence of the offspring. Rather than do the unthinkable, the child was passed onto Andreo Diosa by Meggare Thrune (for the price of the ownership of a lucrative brothel.)

-In the end, Andreo grew bolder with the knowledge and possession off this bastard, so eventually he was silenced by the Council of Thieves (specifically Maglin from part 5).

-As a side-clause of the contract between Meggare and Andreo, possession of the brothel reverted to Fiamma upon her coming of age. Thus, at the start of the campaign, Fiamma was a Half-Elven Cleric of Calistra who owned a brothel, using it as a cover for her outlawed religion.

-As for house Jeggare, I set Alario up with a two-story manor house owned by his family (in the crown sector). I liked the idea of a home-base, but felt like the safehouse to Aroden was a little impersonal and I wanted somewhere that really was a player's home. I must admit, some of what follows got inspired by a combination of Assassin's Creed and Batman. I gave the manor its own secret vault whose contents weren't made immediately accessible (due to be completely hidden in plain sight) until later in the path. Eventually, a poster-map version of the manor was created so I could send assassination attempts against the PC and run assaults on his manor with a tactical map. Storywise, Alario's father became involved with the Pathfinders in the years following the Kyonin excursion. Eventually, the power of the Maleficus Spike became a focal point of a power struggle between the Pathfinders and agents of Thrune. Coupled with events in Delvehaven, Volaire Jeggare took possession of the Spike and hid it in the depths of manor's vault. After this, he is presumed to have disappeared (player's knowledge for first four modules) while in fact was he assailed by the same purge that took the other pathfinders, petrified into a statue and stored inside the vaults of Walcourt.

-As the campaign began, Alario's family fortunes had begun to run out and tax collectors began growing bolder and bolder in attempts to extort what little funds Alario possessed. This setup a couple minor villains in the employ of the Council that I could use later.

-Negatives-

A) Janiven's Speech: The biggest criticism that has been voiced about this module is the largely anti-Thrune sentiment that sets sort of the wrong tone about the events to come. I tried to mitigate Janiven's speech a little bit about taking back the city from Thrune and instead utilized the idea that only those with the courage to stand against the night could help lift the city, and Arael was one of those. There's already been threads about this, and they are relevant.

-Fix: Tempering her speech with the themes mentioned above.

B) Hellknight Interactions: As it is, the Hellknights are setup as the bad guys, stomping on freedom of speech and wronglfully incarcerating the good priest of Iomedae, Arael. I do like the idea that the PCs get an extra Fame point for not killing any of them, though the module gives the PCs no indication of this as written (in a way, rewarding actions based on alignment and in some ways, circumstance). Also, I've heard of many groups (not mine) that butchered the Armigers and dared any pursuers to go after them into the sewers. As written, there's nothing that suggests what the Hellknights will do if the PCs slaughter the entire platoon of them, escalating the conflict. Indeed, after the firebrand political speech of Janiven, I could see unscrupulous PCs leaving dead Hellknights as messages. At any rate, the heart of the module isn't about fighting the Hellknights, yet the first part makes fighting them somewhat of a red herring. Indeed, as far as an organization, they are completely silent until module 6, despite any actions the PCs may or may not take against them, which at the very least involves defeating a small group of them to rescue Arael. I and a lot of other players were disappointed that despite the excellent side articles published in the later modules, very little was used with them in the actual modules themselves.

-Fix: Wish I'd done more with this. I'd take some work, but Hellknights could be used as a more interactive force of law that supplements the Dottari. In a way, the PCs powers will eventually eclipse that of the guards. That's where the Hellknights come in, the least of which is a 5th level fighter/ Hellknight 1. I would show them as a force that hounds the PCs efforts in modules 1-3, and then tries to maintain order in the city in parts 4-6. This makes the schism all the more dramatic in part 6, especially when it becomes clear that all the efforts against the PC are being directed by a Hellknight in the pocket of the Council of Thieves (Signifer Verennie). This allows her and the Paralictor to be introduced far earlier and make them more memorable.

C)Great Backstories... Why are they left on the shelf??: As written, you've got 11 pseudo-PCs in the Children of Westcrown, one for each core class, all of whom have interesting backstories. Unfortunately, after this module, little is done with them as a whole. I know its up to the DM to utilize these extras in their own way, but little is given in any other module as to how to use these NPCs. This is also the case with almost all of the nobility presented in the 'Westcrown' article, leaving it up to the DM to expand upon these. Personally, I think it would have added a lot of depth if one of them had turned out to be a mole for the council, forcing the PCs to investigate the backgrounds and events surrounding their allies.

-Fix: DMs should consider using the Children for a lot of the errand work that the PCs might normally do, such as gathering information, sending and spreading messages, buying mundane items, and so forth. This allows them to be used as a way to gauge the 'word on the street' for purposes of events and rumors. Also, I utilized the Children heaviliy in part 6 where the expenditure of Fame Points reflected the Children of Westcrown "spreading the word" about the PCs deeds.

D) Shadowcurse: There is a fundamental lack of menace to the shadowcurse as written. The main thing that people need to fear on the darkened streets of Westcrown are the lowly Shadowgarms and the outrageously powerful Shadow Mastiffs, two creatures with a great disparity of power levels. Also, the Mastiffs bay constantly, which is not mentioned anywhere in the description of Westcrown despite the fact that something like that would be very noticeable and disturbing. At any rate, with only these two creatures (and possibly the even deadlier Shadow), its unclear what the true menace of the Shadow Curse is other than the fact that sometimes you might cross paths with a weird shadow creature that gets staggered in any kind of light (which every non-darkvision using PC is going to carry). There's just not enough shadow creatures in all of the modules to give that feeling of wonder and menace that the PCs might very well be swallowed up by the night.

-Fix: Well, at least the newer Bestiarys have some interesting Shadow based critters, like the Gloomwing, Tenebrous Worm, and Dark Slayer, so this helps a little. I would honestly consider giving the Totemrix a special power that causes the ambient light within a mile to grow one step darker as long as the sun isn't shining. Also, having areas of the deepest shadow be areas where the boundaries between the Material Plane and the Plane of Shadow are thin is also an idea... alleyways where its always colder and a little bit darker. This makes finding a Shadowgarm to kill for a fame point more of a memorable and dangerous task. Perhaps the PCs have to shore up the light in certain places to lessen the chances of leaks from the Plane of Shadow. Just a couple tips to help increase the menace of what has caused an entire city to decline artistically and spiritually. I'm sure this has been said before, but it'd be awesome if the Bestiaries in the back of the modules actually used most of their monsters in the adventure. I don't buy the APs for more monsters, I buy them for cool encounters which sometimes utilize new and unknown menaces. This has gotten better with the Carrion Crown AP, so others words are being taken to heart.

-Positives-:

A) Good Rescue Encounter: Despite the above critique, rescuing Arael is a pretty good part of the module and well written as an encounter.

B) Well designed mini-dungeon: The final lair where the Bastards live is well thought out, being slightly sand-boxy as far as how the PCs can approach it, and the way the enemies respond is completely dynamic based on the PCs actions. These are my favorite kind of fights, especially when they have flavor (like the fake mummy tieflings and the dog). It reminds me of the another well-written encounter, the final one of the 'Stolen Lands' from KM as far as encounter flexibility.

C)Well designed city!: Everyone loved the feel and flavor of Westcrown as presented. The waterways and alleyways, curfews and decadence, and secret organizations all give the city a gritty, realistic feel. Well done. Also, a lot of information on the noble lines and city sectors, which is very flavorful, if underused in the rest of the path.

-PC Advancement-
No character deaths in this module. Overall, no specific encounter was really hard, though I remember that the group got lucky against Palaveen. PCs advanced as follows: [Monk 3, Wizard 3, Rogue 2/Fighter 1, Cleric 2/Rogue 1]

-Encounter Assessment-
Good Encounters: Arael's Rescue, Tieflings, Scabby, Wolf Skeletons, Giant Rot Grub, Ostengo, Hell dogs,Dravano, Palaveen
Bad Encounters: Hellknight Armigers, Sewer Goblins, Shadowgarms
Toughest fight: Palaveen
Weakest fight: Shadowgarms

-Negatives-

A)Trickiness of "Become Actors to Get into the Mayor's party" Hook: This completely worked for my group, but I would warn other GMs to gauge their groups motivations and use those to get them to perform the play. If its going after the girl, use Calseinica as a hook, or if its safeguarding an actor using clerical magic, PCs need a good motivation to be actors beyond what's given in the module. My group had no problem playing actors (the player of Fiamma even cross-classed into rogue so she could have Perform as a class skill), but I could see other groups rebelling against the idea of performing a play with not only extremely infernal overtones but also the possibility of being killed. Not necessarily a negative, just a caution for other DMs.

B) Room of Endless Shadows: Really?? No one saw the possible problem with this one? You either have the potential for an XP farm or a TPK for unwary players. Somehow, I was able to use the threat of this room to herd my PCs deeper into the Asmodean Knot, but I think it's only because of my group's build that they were able to survive without too much damage (Basically, buff the monk's AC as high as possible then make him the target of the shadows while everyone else runs by). There could be a huge potential problem here for some groups.

Fix: Either enforce an XP cap on the encounter as a whole (treating the Shadows almost like summoned monsters from a trap) for stronger groups, or lessen the number of rounds that pass between shadows appearing (even requiring a Shadow to take a full-round to materialize) for weaker groups.

C) Need more dinner guests!: Not really a weakness considered the space allowed by the module, its just an excellent place to introduce any future NPCs that have parts to play in the coming adventures, specifically parts 4 and 6. Considering how pervasive the Council of Thieves is supposed to be with the city's nobility, I was hoping for another dinner guest besides Chammady. This is a weakness of the AP as a whole: there isn't enough of the actual members of the Council of Thieves developed to present a clear picture of who they are and how they influence the city.

Fix: Use the dinner party to fill out with any NPCs that seem important to the future of the path, and allow more checks per PC to talk to the various dinner guests. This might make the dinner party itself an entire session (a la Prince of Redhand), but allows the DM to flush out whatever aspects of the city and nobility that they want to represent and at the same time serve mock-up version of the food presented in the module (though probably without as much alcohol).

-Positives-

A) The Six Trials...: Outstanding. Just absolutely brilliant. The whole idea of having the PCs perform a play, experience dangerous trials onstage, and possibly even act out lines if they wish is just a phenomenal idea, and this is brilliantly executed.

B) Asmodean Knot: This is a well thought out dungeon, with enough unique enemies and strange dungeon features to make it memorable. My group won't forget the endless staircases or infinite maze-like rooms, nor the insane bearded devil or imp with its various trials. Every monster within the dungeon had a unique backstory, which I absolutely loved.

C) Sian Daemodus: I completely love it when the writers give you a unique villian with lots of tools sent to wreck havoc on the party. Sian became a recurring villain, eventually a dark reflection of Alario's character. By the fifth module, she became a vampire under Ilnerik's control. I wish they would do this in every module: a unique villain with enough powers and gear to tax the PCs as they go about their other goals.

D) Dinner Party!: Well, I must admit that after 'Prince of Redhand', I have a soft spot for this sort of thing. I love this idea of impressing the nobility and other power players in a massive social setting. While sort of a lighter version of the aforementioned adventure, this was still good.

E)Runecurse: Wish this was used again in the AP, as the idea was brilliant. The only downside was that since I was playing the NPC with with highest Intelligence and Knowledge skills, it was hard to fudge the effectiveness of the runecurse. Still, the trap's potency was not lost on the PCs, and in the end, the item was gifted to the insane Imp. Again, I love the whole idea of this and wish it had been used again.

-PC Advancement-
No deaths again, but there was at one point an extreme potential for some character deaths. The party had just fought the mummy, bearded devil, and had tangled with Sian, besides suffering ability damage. I believe in the fight with the mummy, Rot was contracted. My solution was to have an extremely curious Calseinica Nymmis find the hidden cache of priestly gear in the spare room (which unless your PCs are the unscrupulous sort, there's no way they are going to find this huge cache of treasure), wander through the maze, and show up with 6 strength damage from the shadows but also a scroll of Remove Curse. This was the beginning of many acts that endeared Cal to the PCs, eventually setting her up to become a cohort with leadership.
PCs: [Wizard 5, Monk 5, Rogue 3/Fighter 2, Cleric 4/Rogue 1]

-Encounter Assessment-
Good Encounters: All but Shadow Room
Toughest Fight: Shadow Room
Weakest Fight: Nothing too bad here.. Maybe Troll Skeletons, but that's only because the Monk destroyed them in two breaths.

-Negatives:

A)Chained Quest Sequence:Getting the intelligence from the vanquished pathfinders feels too much like a chain-quest sequence. The items in the wave door, while extremely helpful aren't necessary for completing the path. What's more, a lot of the background information about the vanquished pathfinders isn't available for the PCs to recover unless they ask specific questions with the grave candles. Also, too much plot point hinges on a failed will save, which while statistically likely, might cause some problems for groups. Missing out on all this backstory due to hot rolling on the DM seems problematic. Also, some groups resent the idea of chained-quest sequences.

Fix: Not sure, except not giving a will save (or fudging roll) on grave candles. Or maybe instead, having some personal memento of the deceased imparting a -5 on the will save. Also, the riddle solution is kind of clunky so that even if the PCs solve the mystery with the candles, they might not interpret what they're supposed to do.

B)Devildrome: For a module written for 5th level PCs, the power level in the first part of the module (chained quest sequence) is horribly low, and the Devil Drome is the best case of this. If the PCs aren't playing a Summoner or Arcane Caster, they throw in their champion... except any 5th level fighter type is going to make mincemeat of any Summon Monster critter of 4th level or less, especially lots of low powered mooks. The dretches are no threat whatsoever, and this fight turned into a comedy. Even when Thrax attacked, it was treated as a joke as the Monk quickly beat and humiliated him. The other problem is that the rules for how the combat itself works aren't very clear, so many interpretations of what is or is not allowed in the arena can get thrown in.

Fix: Rewrite Thrax as a Summoner and up his levels by 2-3. This will give him more dangerous summons and make the fight more memorable. Also, make sure the rules of the Devildrome are clear. When Thrax attacked the monk with direct spells, it took a moment for the PCs to realize that he had broken the rules.

C)Imbalance in encounters: The fights in this module go from being ridiculously easy at points to downright deadly in others, with no warning given in either case. Some of the encounters, like the Sisters of Eiseth and the Evil Dolls, while very flavorful, have no potential to be challenging at all. I'm aware of the point build of my group, yet I think the Sisters would have just as hard a time hitting a 15 pt buy, 5th level Human Fighter. At any rate, this is imbalanced by ridiculous monsters like the Shadowy Triceratops and the Vampires.

D) Marrowfall Powers Inconsistency: Bisby eventually goes insane from possessing the Marrowfall, yet there is absolutely nothing in the description of its powers or abilities. From Bisby's fate, one might assume that the artifact has an ego, intelligence, or at least a curse, yet there's nothing written for it. This just doesn't seem to make sense, especially when there's a haunt present illustrating his insane demise. My PCs were initially afraid of touching the thing because of the flavor surrounding it. At any rate, I felt there should have been some drawback to the thing since its almost too good of an item against the path's enemies (vampires, shadow things).

Fix: Give the thing either an Ego or something similar to the point system that the Totemrix utilizes, having insanity instead of death being the end result.

E) Unnecessary Traps: While most of the traps in Delvehaven were pretty cool, the ones in the hallways (Transposition traps) are not only located in places the party is unlikely to encounter them but are also ineffective in terms of doing anything. It suggests using the dolls simultaneously with the traps, but since they are so weak on their own, neither is a challenge and just eats up game time.

-Positives:

A)Pathfinder Lodge: Everyone liked the feel and the flavor of the abandoned lodge. The flavorful treasure, paintings, and haunts all helped convey the dark ambiance of the lodge. Good use of descriptive text. Other than the encounter imbalance issues and the traps, the lodge is pretty solid.

B)Vampires!: This was a good introduction to PF Vampires, and the three presented here are all awesome. They all have interesting backstories (especially the former vampire-hunter) and each of them was fun to run. Again, I liked the versatility of their usage: I could use any of them in any combination in any room, depending on where I felt that they fit best thematically.

C)Cool Treasure: Marrowfall issues notwithstanding, the unique treasure presented in this path was pretty good. Grave Candles, the Chelish Crux and the head of the Erinyes were all nce bits of flavorful loot. I especially loved role-playing the crazy devil head, made for some fun RP.

-Added Stuff: We were all tired of Shadows at that point, so instead of using them again at the Wave Door, I created a monster I called "The Black Water", a homemade hybrid of a gray ooze and a shadow. I also began realizing the lack of shadow monsters in general and began taking the Shadowgarms and advancing them, giving them a few new powers and less of a weakness towards light.

-PC Advancement: First real death of the campaign with Fiamma perishing against the monstrosity that is the Shadowy Triceratops. This sort of stopped the module for a session as a sidequest was enacted to get her raised. Basically, we all felt it inappropriate for a Cleric of Calistra to be raised by a Cleric of Asmodeus, so a number of other means and Arael were utilized to bring her back. As far as leveling, it pretty much stays singular class for everyone except Alario. Again inspired by Assassin's Creed and Batman, his character begins developing fighting styles that utilize an enemy's weapons against them. He also wanted to keep a theme of 'no magical abilities, all mundane gear' with the character, an aesthetic I thought fit itself quite nicely to the feel of the city. [Monk 7, Wizard 7, Cleric 6/Rogue 1, Fighter 2/Monk 2/ Rogue 3]

-Encounter Assessment-
-Good Encounters: Shadow Mastiffs, Shadowy Triceratops, Water Elemental, Haunts, Hellcat, Vampires
-Bad Encounters:Devildrome, Sisters of Eiseth, Shadows, Evil Dolls, Will-o-Wisp,
-Toughest Fight: Shadowy Triceratops
-Weakest Fight: Evil Dolls

Your scenario is good, but it can get even better if the PCs must do as Indy did and find another way to get out.

As you say, the party druid can just stone shape the next morning. So put a clock on it. I'd suggest the classic "bad air", myself. Give the dungeon gases gradually rising from some subterranean source, no big deal as long as the passage is open but gradually increasing to lethal concentrations once it's closed. Have Team Evil point this out as the druid is closing the door; Alicette can politely explain that they have an hour, perhaps two, and suggest that they spend the time making peace with their gods.

I would turn up the salt-in-the-wounds aspect, too, especially if you catch them fair and square. Alicette doesn't strike me as a gloater, but she could totally do the Bellocq ("you have worked so hard, my friends. Ah, well.")

Aliciette hired Rickets the caravan master running the cock fights to take them out or slow them down. So the whole gambling argument thing was a pretext with him angling for his best opportunity- whether it be claiming some of their horses in payment or the inevitable fight.

Aliciette also hired the assassins in Kalabuto to take them out. They were paid with Aspis minted currency from Bloodcove. She had also paid Kibi to deliver a note the next day to taunt them a little if they survived.

So generally the Aspis advance team is ahead of the PCs on the trail to Tazion, but they aren't staying close enough to the main Aspis expedition to help them out directly.

pull the Indiana Jones move. When they have finally figured out the Pillars of Light and used them to display the route to Tazion, I would like to use the HoS to steal the knowledge the PCs have worked so hard for and use their druid with stone shape to seal them into a room in the pyramid. My PCs also have a druid so worst case scenario he preps stone shape the next day and unseals the door.
Might throw in a scroll of wall of force to allow for some taunting while the stone slowly closes in.