There have been a few moments over the past twelve years of playing in front of the community, where the raw nature of “actual, actual play” has been on full display. This was one of them.
Our party, The Aroden 5, suffered a Total Party Kill in the Test of Aroden.
We’ll painfully relive it for you, but get caught up first if you need to:
This was our final playthrough session, and it’s hard to describe how much anticipation and nostalgia exist during the ending of our Paizo blog projects. No two rosters are the same, and some players may not join each other at the table for years after. For this final session, we dialed up two prospective Order of the Amber Die members to take the roles of live-NPCs that we had befriended during the adventure. The first was Blostin, a blacksmith we met during our time in captivity. The other was Heinrich, henceforth known as “hard luck Heinrich,” whom we had initially found dead and raised him to join us.
By now, we had escaped from our hryngar captors, delved the tomb of one of our church’s saints, and ventured into the lost Sanctum of Aroden. It was there that we placed our hands upon the replica of the Starstone and began the Test of Aroden. Our characters were built for this: All five of us were human, all five worshiped Aroden, and all five wielded the weapon of our lord. This test was a chance to prove that our party, The Aroden 5, were the ones capable of connecting with our dead god and bringing about his deliverance
Highlights from The Dead God’s Hand:
□ With several teachers at our table, we were apprehensively wondering if the Test of Aroden had a rubric. If it did, we were about to flip the tables and test the rubric. As we relived scenes from Aroden’s life, we had to make the correct choices and overcome challenges that the Last Azlanti had experienced during his time. If we failed and some of us perished, we thankfully reawakened in the next scene. As you read below, you’ll see why we asked our GM: How many points off is it per character death, exactly?
□ To pass one section of the Test, we had to infiltrate a fort and perform a daring rescue as Aroden had once done. We came up with a plan that involved splitting the party; don’t throw absolutes at us like “never split the party,” we’ve done it before when infiltrating a fort and achieved victory. This time, we used invisibility potions to cover our approach, but didn’t account for our armored characters being extra noisy on top of noisy. Though the plan failed and provoked a massive fight with a mirage dragon and its evil allies, the plan was still sound.
□ Remember the last blog, when we said to keep in mind the relatively innocent sword our commander found, called “Meloth’s Lifedrinker?” Well, there were consequences for taking it. In that same tough fight versus the mirage dragon, our friend Blostin found himself near death. Before we could get to him, we watched as our commander pointed the sword at Blostin – obviously a silent directive to try and reach him. Instead, the sword activated itself somehow, and our blacksmith friend was devoured by hundreds of unseen mouths in a horrific scene. It’s okay though, the sword devoured two enemies (and another PC) in a similar manner over the next couple of days. Would you keep the blade, or make your companion get rid of it?
□ Déjà vu. Remember when we mentioned that gem we took from the tomb, known as the “Heart of Sarnax?” Well, there were consequences for taking it. While visiting with high priest Sarnax on his ether ship during one of the Test’s interludes, the heart spawned a giant ruby-like construct, a parody of the cleric that had a singular goal: the destruction of Sarnax. When the unholy construct dealt 56 damage to Cassiel with a backswing, we weren’t sure if we could stop it from getting to Sarnax – or what terrible event would happen if it did. In a controversial decision designed to test the bounds of the Test itself, our commander threw high priest Sarnax overboard from the ether ship, possibly to his death in the Great Beyond. Our grade probably dropped a bit, but at least it prevented the heart construct from killing Sarnax.
The Deliverance
We entered this adventure with the optimistic goal of bringing our Lord Aroden back, or even to learn how we might enable his return in some way. Instead, we discovered the bygone Test of Aroden and ended up getting to walk in our god’s path, reliving some of the most important moments that shaped his life. Even devout worshippers such as us wouldn’t have thought this was even possible. While the The Dead God’s Hand is an adventure packed with powerful loot, the real treasures to be found are the lore and experiences you’ll walk away with.
As Pathfinder fans, knowing about Earthfall is just part of understanding Golarion. Did you ever think you’d experience Earthfall, though? The final part of the Test of Aroden put us there. This was something we’d only seen in the Pathfinder Comics or caught the aftereffects during The Azlant Odyssey. Now we were standing in the throne room of ancient Azlant with the cataclysm mere moments away, when Aroden had to decide who to bequeath his legendary sword, the Azlanti Diamond upon. Just when we had chosen who should get the sword and therefore the throne – Earthfall began. Gotta admit, we were torn between an in-game need to run like heck, and an out-of-game desire to just stand there and take it all in.
Character Deaths:
□ We said we’d talk about this, but it’s not easy. Twelve was the number of deaths, tying our second-highest tally in a marathon session since 2017. Seven deaths were part of the TPK caused by fighting the mirage dragon and too many of its allies at once, we should have taken the opportunity to fight them separately. Four deaths happened during Earthfall, with the best being our exemplar decapitated by falling throneglass. The last was Heinrich, again, killed by Meloth’s Lifedrinker – bringing his personal total to four deaths in the same adventure. As for the TPK, it does hurt, but we make decisions as a team, we win or lose as a team, and we bounce back as a team.
Best Quote from Marathon 3:
(inside the crumbling throne room of ancient Azlant)
Adam: “16 Will save? You’re confused.”
Matt: “I’m confused during the worst time in history, Earthfall.”
Shan: “All of the scholars would objectively agree.”
The Ending:
We finished the Test of Aroden without knowing our final grade. We found ourselves back in the Sanctum of Aroden, now able to approach the statue of the god of humanity that featured so heavily in the lore we had discovered. Our pilgrimage was at its end. For years, our characters had been searching for a way to reach our lord, to restore him – his deliverance was now right in front of us. If the legend was true, touching the hand of the statue would grant us an audience with Aroden himself…
“Nothing. Nothing happens at all. The dead god’s hand is cold. His ancient wisdom without a voice.”
--Erik Mona
More Content:
Blue Table Painting provided the excellent paintwork for the miniatures of The Aroden 5. For custom adventure-specific terrain/miniatures, that’s the handiwork of Black Bard Studios.
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