Pathfinder Adventure Path #62: Curse of the Lady's Light (Shattered Star 2 of 6) (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #62: Curse of the Lady's Light (Shattered Star 2 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Chapter 2: "Curse of the Lady's Light"
by Mike Shel

Varisia’s newest heroes have stumbled across a powerful relic from the ancient empire of Thassilon—yet the artifact has been sundered into seven fragments. The third of these fragments lies in the swampy Mushfens south of the city of Magnimar, hidden within an ancient, towering lighthouse known as the Lady’s Light. With squabbling boggards, troglodytes, and other swamp monsters dwelling around the ruins, approaching the Light will require either stealth or bravado. But the threats posed by slimy and scaly humanoids pale in comparison to the exiled Gray Maidens who have claimed the interior of the Light as their new headquarters, or to the sinister curse that afflicts the powerful, ancient caretaker of the ruin.

    This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path continues the Shattered Star Adventure Path and includes:
  • “Curse of the Lady’s Light,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 5th-level characters, by Mike Shel.
  • The sadistic secrets of the Gray Maidens, a militaristic order once fiercely loyal to an evil, deposed queen, by F. Wesley Schneider.
  • The secret ways, peerless techniques, and ancient traditions of Torag, stern god of the forge, protection, and strategy, by Sean K Reynolds.
  • Alchemy and housebreaking in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Bill Ward.
  • Four new monsters, by Levi Miles, Sean K Reynolds, and Mike Shel.

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-459-7

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Curse of the Lady's Light is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (512 KB zip/PDF).


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Brilliant dungeon crawl

5/5

I ran a group of 4 players through this module as part of the Shattered Star adventure path using roll20 and the excellent maps from bigrin42. It was an awesome experience!

Trying to keep in tune with the generally old-school feel of Shattered Star, our group is essentially the classic four, but each member has a unique twist:

Daario Vanderale, happy-go-lucky male human rogue, an outcast of the aristocratic Magnimarian family, currently residing in the body of Sorshen.

Carmelizzia, female human fighter (cad) / shadowdancer, a Varisian dancer skilled in using her bladed scarf.

Iozif, male human bard / cleric of Shelyn, Carmelizzia's husband and bodyguard, brilliant fiddle player.

Jasmin, female human transmuter, adaptation of the insane cleric of Groetus Jasper from the web enhancement.

The group had a great time with this module, which does an excellent job of bringing its backstory to life. Almost the entire adventure takes place in a single dungeon but never gets boring. The place itself drips ancient history and all the creatures that can be encountered have a motivation to be where they are and can interact with other rooms without giving the GM a headache trying to keep everything together.

The difficulty is fair and challenging, and the final encounter can range from deadly to cakewalk depending on how well the players try to use the history of the place to their advantage. Very rewarding!

I fully recommend this adventure to everyone interested in a brilliant dungeon crawl, even outside of the Shattered Star adventure path. The entire adventure can be fit into any other campaign with only a few seconds of work.


Amazingly Good Dungeon

5/5

I'm neither one to enjoy dungeon crawls nor write reviews, but the quality of this adventure has me putting in my 2 cents. This is an exemplary adventure: from the use of entertainingly malicious traps, puzzles for the players, and role-playing opportunities mixed throughout the combat encounters, Curse of the Lady's Light finds my dungeon crawl sweet spot and dances on it for the length of the adventure. Mike Shel has created what is, for me, the perfect synthesis of modern game adventure and old-school module. It feels like what my best friend in junior high would have written if he had been a professional game designer. Good show Paizo!


A dungeon made right

5/5

My group and I had a real blast running through the Curse of the Lady's Light. Although this chapter of the AP, just like the others, features a prominent dungeon, the story is full of opportunity for roleplay: dealing with the tribes in the marshes, the encounters with the Gray Maidens, the possibility to have to Gray Maidens' leader join the PCs, etc. The final encounter is tough and tense, but not necessarily over the top if the players are smart.

That one famous trap in the dungeon is also a wonderful opportunity for great gaming if your players tag along, and mine sure did! Its repercussions through the rest of the campaign are going to be fun to play.

Bottom line? Keep Mike Shel on the payroll, he sure knows how to invent a dungeon with a twist!


Brilliant Dungeon - Fun Enemies

5/5

Curse of the Lady's Light follows in the steps of Shards of Sin, presenting an adventure mostly comprising of one big dungeon crawl. Like Shards of Sin, it suceeds in presenting an interesting array of characters, encounters, and tricks. If the players are paying attention, they can gradually begin to uncover the truth behind the dungeon's denizens and leader, using her real identity to their advantage in what should be a climactic and entertaining final encounter.

The NPCs have all been fun to interact with, and they all truly feel like they belong in the Lady's Light. Clever PCs can find clever ways to bypass encounters, especially if they make use of a particularly devious trap early in the dungeon.

Overall, this has been a pleasure to run, and possibly the best dungeon I've ever seen in an adventure path. I hope Mike Shell is here to stay as an AP author.


Dungeon Crawl Done Right

5/5

Read my full review on my blog.

In Curse of the Lady’s Light by Mike Shel, the second instalment of the Shattered Star Adventure Path, the player characters set out to find the next piece of the titular Shattered Star, the Shard of Lust. This quest takes them to the Lady’s Light, an ancient monument to Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust. Like Shards of Sin before it and the rest of the adventure path still to come, it is primarily a dungeon-based adventure. As I mentioned in my review of Shards of Sin, I can be somewhat critical of dungeon crawls. However, when they’re good, I give them the praise they deserve. Curse of the Lady’s Light is definitely one of those good dungeon crawls. While the actual dungeon itself is somewhat linear, the events that can occur within are surprisingly non-linear, with a wide variety of options for how things might progress. Most importantly, it has a selection of interesting and compelling NPCs. In fact, its two principal villains are amongst the best villains I’ve seen in an adventure path instalment: one sympathetic and tragic, the other irredeemably evil yet uniquely insane. This adventure is definitely a step up from the competent, but not-particularly-awe-inspiring Shards of Sin and could prove a good sign for the rest of the adventure path to come.


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Contributor

Announced! Cover image is a mock-up and will change.

Sovereign Court

Gray Maidens again?
That's awesome!


Cool we get to fight Boggarts and Troglodytes.


Am I alone in wishing that the mock-up covers for the Shattered Star volumes revealed so far is a subtle (perhaps even subconscious) hint that Eva Widermann will be doing the real covers? ;)

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

What is cool is Mike Shel is writing it. Good to see him finally writing an AP!

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Next stop Windsong Abbey?


wow, absolutely awesome

Liberty's Edge

Mike Shel will write this? For 4th level characters?!? *winces*

Better be a few 5,000 GP diamonds in Vol 1 then... :)


I'm not too big on the premise of this AP (artifact pieces, gotta catch 'em all!), but parts of this could make a super-sweet shore excursion for a Skull & Shackles party if it's moved to the Sodden Lands. Yes, I will definitely be awaiting this book!


are they having a deity article in this?, or are they done with it now that the core deities have all been done.


To be honest Macharius, I have never seen an adventure were you capture monsters alive and "collect them all". With that being said it has been awhile since I have seen the "collect the artifact pieces", so I will wait and see how they do it. I would like some dungeon crawl but it would nice if the "dungeons" were very different like one being underwater, a crystal cavern, the ruins of a city or castle, a pocket dimension, a shopping mall, you know some weird stuff.

Contributor

Steel_Wind wrote:
Mike Shel will write this? For 4th level characters?!? *winces*

Sent in my final turnover more than a week ago and I can assure you that there are hardly any froghemoth encounters.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

captain yesterday wrote:
are they having a deity article in this?, or are they done with it now that the core deities have all been done.

No deity article in this volume.

By this point, we'll have (in theory) covered all of the 20 core deities. And one thing we've noticed as we've closed out those 20 core deities is that it became increasingly difficult to work themes of those deities into each adventure.

Going forward, we'll continue to do two deity articles in each AP... but those articles will appear in the AP installments where they're the most helpful and logical for the AP. We'll be focusing on the non-core deities, from gods like Groetus or Zyphus, to all of the outsider demigods, like demon lords and the eldest and empyreal lords, from now on.


Dragon78 wrote:
To be honest Macharius, I have never seen an adventure were you capture monsters alive and "collect them all". With that being said it has been awhile since I have seen the "collect the artifact pieces", so I will wait and see how they do it. I would like some dungeon crawl but it would nice if the "dungeons" were very different like one being underwater, a crystal cavern, the ruins of a city or castle, a pocket dimension, a shopping mall, you know some weird stuff.

It was an inapt analogy, so "my bad" on that: I'm just saying that the "collection" aspect of this AP doesn't appeal to me, personally.

Extremely varied and dangerous locations to explore? Super-sweet. Troglodytes, boggards, and swamp monsters - oh, my!


James Jacobs wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
are they having a deity article in this?, or are they done with it now that the core deities have all been done.

No deity article in this volume.

By this point, we'll have (in theory) covered all of the 20 core deities. And one thing we've noticed as we've closed out those 20 core deities is that it became increasingly difficult to work themes of those deities into each adventure.

Going forward, we'll continue to do two deity articles in each AP... but those articles will appear in the AP installments where they're the most helpful and logical for the AP. We'll be focusing on the non-core deities, from gods like Groetus or Zyphus, to all of the outsider demigods, like demon lords and the eldest and empyreal lords, from now on.

i like that. sounds dandy:)


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Mike Shel? Wooh! Let's get him in the regular rotation.

Liberty's Edge

Oh I love the Mushfens!!


logic_poet wrote:
Next stop Windsong Abbey?

Nope, that will be the fourth adventure. Next stop something with Kaer Maga and Distant Worlds.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Going forward, we'll continue to do two deity articles in each AP... but those articles will appear in the AP installments where they're the most helpful and logical for the AP. We'll be focusing on the non-core deities, from gods like Groetus or Zyphus, to all of the outsider demigods, like demon lords and the eldest and empyreal lords, from now on.

Will you be showcasing any of the Tian-Xia pantheon? I wouldn't mind an Article on Sun Wukong, though, not in this adventure path obviously.

Generic Villain wrote:
Nope, that will be the fourth adventure. Next stop something with Kaer Maga and Distant Worlds.

Actually that makes me wonder, Will this adventure path crash into Kaer Maga? It certainly seems as likely a place as any for a shard of the Sihedron to pop up.

As a Side note. Are you going to include a map of the holdings of Ancient Thassilon? I'm a sucker for maps (not battle maps mind you, but regional and world maps) but I can't seem to find anything showing how ancient Thassilon looked in anything you've already published.


Stratagemini wrote:

...

As a Side note. Are you going to include a map of the holdings of Ancient Thassilon? I'm a sucker for maps (not battle maps mind you, but regional and world maps) but I can't seem to find anything showing how ancient Thassilon looked in anything you've already published.

Inner Sea World Guide p. 213. It's not much, but...

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
macabre dragon wrote:
Inner Sea World Guide p. 213. It's not much, but...

Huh. Must have missed that one first run through. But to my understanding, Bakrakhan was a mountainous region that sunk beneath the waves due to the cataclysm. That map shows where the kingdoms would be (approximately) in Present day. I still want a map that shows the nation as it was. Mostly because it's always neat seeing how the world changes over time, but also because it would make it a lot easier to run a game where the PCs head back in time to ancient Thassilon.


Stratagemini wrote:


Actually that makes me wonder, Will this adventure path crash into Kaer Maga? It certainly seems as likely a place as any for a shard of the Sihedron to pop up.

I read in a post from James Sutter (author of Distant Worlds and City of Strangers) that the third SS adventure would feature elements from both sourcebooks. I'm not sure if that's still the case, as I forget when the post was.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Stratagemini wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Going forward, we'll continue to do two deity articles in each AP... but those articles will appear in the AP installments where they're the most helpful and logical for the AP. We'll be focusing on the non-core deities, from gods like Groetus or Zyphus, to all of the outsider demigods, like demon lords and the eldest and empyreal lords, from now on.

Will you be showcasing any of the Tian-Xia pantheon? I wouldn't mind an Article on Sun Wukong, though, not in this adventure path obviously.

Generic Villain wrote:
Nope, that will be the fourth adventure. Next stop something with Kaer Maga and Distant Worlds.

Actually that makes me wonder, Will this adventure path crash into Kaer Maga? It certainly seems as likely a place as any for a shard of the Sihedron to pop up.

As a Side note. Are you going to include a map of the holdings of Ancient Thassilon? I'm a sucker for maps (not battle maps mind you, but regional and world maps) but I can't seem to find anything showing how ancient Thassilon looked in anything you've already published.

At this point, once we finish up with Torag, ALL of the deities we've mentioned are open territory for expansion articles... be they other gods from the Inner Sea World Guide to demon lords to deities from the Tian Xia pantheon or so on.

And yeah... for now, the map of the lost empires in the Inner Sea World Guide is it for the borders of Thassilon (no need to call it "Ancient" Thassilon, since that's all there is). Further complicating things is the fact that, with that Thassilon article from Pathfinder 1 being one of the first things we ever did for the world... well... some of the info in there is just plain wrong. Blame it on mistranslations on 10,000 year old artifacts if you will...

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
And yeah... for now, the map of the lost empires in the Inner Sea World Guide is it for the borders of Thassilon (no need to call it "Ancient" Thassilon, since that's all there is). Further complicating things is the fact that, with that Thassilon article from Pathfinder 1 being one of the first things we ever did for the world... well... some of the info in there is just plain wrong. Blame it on mistranslations on 10,000 year old artifacts if you will...

Wait, some information is wrong? I'm trying to run a Runelords game currently using a friend's books, what information should I avoid telling the players? or should I just cover it all under a caveat of "this is what the current school of thought about Thassilon is from what Brodert Quink has told you"?


Gray Maidens again? Did not see that one coming. But that's great news - there is probably no chance wie could get a glimpse of information of how these babies will be used again?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Stratagemini wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
And yeah... for now, the map of the lost empires in the Inner Sea World Guide is it for the borders of Thassilon (no need to call it "Ancient" Thassilon, since that's all there is). Further complicating things is the fact that, with that Thassilon article from Pathfinder 1 being one of the first things we ever did for the world... well... some of the info in there is just plain wrong. Blame it on mistranslations on 10,000 year old artifacts if you will...
Wait, some information is wrong? I'm trying to run a Runelords game currently using a friend's books, what information should I avoid telling the players? or should I just cover it all under a caveat of "this is what the current school of thought about Thassilon is from what Brodert Quink has told you"?

The information that's "wrong" is really not all that important to the overall plot. If you can wait for "Lost Kingdoms" to come out before revealing much more about Thassilon, that book'll give you lots more info. For now... the stuff we ended up not going with includes a few minor elements in the descriptions of the realms of Thassilon—elements that aren't load-bearing bits of information for the entire AP.

If any of your players calls you on something that they think is wrong... blaming it on Brodert Quink's inaccurate translation is completely legit.

The information that's "wrong" is probably not something most people would notice as being wrong anyway... the big thing that comes to mind would be Pathfinder #1's claim that some of the Thassilonian city names are well-remembered today (they're not), or that the lands of Gastash remain fertile (since Gastash is mostly located in modern Belkzen... they're not all that fertile today). Pretty minor stuff overall, and not anything that would impact a Runelords game anyway.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Exeter wrote:
Gray Maidens again? Did not see that one coming. But that's great news - there is probably no chance wie could get a glimpse of information of how these babies will be used again?

There will be a LOT of information about them in this volume.


Jepp, but why? :) Ever thought the Gray Maidens vanished along with Ileosa. And as I am currently GMing Crown of Fangs it would be great to know how things turned out for them so I could adjust my game. But as they are such a bad ass an elite unit I suppose that is all top secret? ^^

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Exeter wrote:
Jepp, but why? :) Ever thought the Gray Maidens vanished along with Ileosa. And as I am currently GMing Crown of Fangs it would be great to know how things turned out for them so I could adjust my game. But as they are such a bad ass an elite unit I suppose that is all top secret? ^^

There were plenty of holdouts by the time our group finished that AP. They're too cool to just finish them off completely. :)

Spoiler:
In our game, most of the captured Grey Maidens have been living in a newly established Sarenraen-run insane asylum, but those that skipped town during CotCT's endgame have become a sort of mercenary cult worshipping Ileosa as a goddess. They're still recruiting and sometimes abducting new members and doing the brainwashing number that was done to them originally. They even have some divine casters dedicated to Ileosa, though they're actually getting their spells from the devil that now holds Ileosa's soul.

Part of why I'm really excited to see what's being done with them here! :)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Exeter wrote:
Jepp, but why? :) Ever thought the Gray Maidens vanished along with Ileosa. And as I am currently GMing Crown of Fangs it would be great to know how things turned out for them so I could adjust my game. But as they are such a bad ass an elite unit I suppose that is all top secret? ^^

What happened to the order of the Gray Maidens after Curse of the Crimson Throne ended isn't completely apparent yet... finding out more is part of what "Curse of the Lady's Light" is all about, actually...


James, that is even better than what I wanted to know. Sounds really awesome, thanks a lot for the information! You made my day.

Liberty's Edge

So, this AP assumes CotCT already happened?

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Paladinosaur wrote:
So, this AP assumes CotCT already happened?

CotCT, RotRL and SD all are presumed to have happened.

Silver Crusade

Can't believe this just clicked in my head:

Curse of the Crimson Throne
Curse of the Lady's Light

Wonder if we'll see any other parallel titles in this AP. :)


2 people marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Exeter wrote:
Gray Maidens again? Did not see that one coming. But that's great news - there is probably no chance wie could get a glimpse of information of how these babies will be used again?
There will be a LOT of information about them in this volume.

Very exciting. Curse of the Crimson Throne is my favorite AP and I'm guessing there was a ton of demand for more Grey Maiden material. Can't wait to see what happens to them following Ileosa's reign. :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

So all I have to do is collect the seven dragon bal....star pieces and I can save the world?

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Tagion wrote:
So all I have to do is collect the seven dragon bal....star pieces and I can save the world?

Or doom it. Probably won't grant you immortality though, or bring your dead friends back from hell.

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Stratagemini wrote:
Tagion wrote:
So all I have to do is collect the seven dragon bal....star pieces and I can save the world?
Or doom it. Probably won't grant you immortality though, or bring your dead friends back from hell.

must.. not... play a halfling monk... named... Krillin...

Sovereign Court

I can't wait to continue the adventure of those who survive CURSE OF THE CRIMSON THRONE with this Adventure Path.


John Collins wrote:
I can't wait to continue the adventure of those who survive CURSE OF THE CRIMSON THRONE with this Adventure Path.

Actually, that's a good idea. I would LOVE to see an encounter or sidebar or something where the writers just say "if your players played this AP, replace these NPCs with their old PCs."


You don't think it'll be a lot of work to up the encounter levels to challenge them/a cakewalk for the PCs?


When will the cover be updated?


More then likely the cover and info will be updated sometime next month.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Image and description have been updated to match the finished product.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Neat, Grey Maidens and frogs what more could you ask for?


I like the look of the boggards.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dark_Mistress wrote:
Neat, Grey Maidens and frogs what more could you ask for?

Butter. And some garlic. And perhaps some chips in plenty of vinegar.

The Exchange

Nice cover. Please pass that picture of the Grey Maiden onto the people at Reaper as I'd love a figure of that to go with the Grey Maiden figure they've already done (which I have a trio of), would make for a great commander type for them, just as the Chivane figure does for the regular Red Mantis Assassin figure.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I must echo the praises of the rest of my fellows Paizoians and say that the cover absolutely ROCKS! (If I'm not mistaken this is the first time in a long time that all 4 iconics (of a particular AP) have been featured together. (I'm thinking the last time this happened was Adventure Path #5 Sins of the Saviors)). Very Cool!

Oh... will there be a Pawns Collections for Shattered Star? (Oh and Jade Regent too)? Thinking about adding a Pawns subscription in the near future.

Dean

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Brakkart wrote:
Nice cover. Please pass that picture of the Grey Maiden onto the people at Reaper as I'd love a figure of that to go with the Grey Maiden figure they've already done (which I have a trio of), would make for a great commander type for them, just as the Chivane figure does for the regular Red Mantis Assassin figure.

I'm sure Erik will pass it to Reaper if he hasn't already done so; I *know* he passed it to WizKids.

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