PaizoCon 2015 Weekend in Pictures!

Friday, May 29, 2015

Another PaizoCon is done, and while we're still recovering from the backlog of emails, or trying to make our Fortitude saves from Con Crud, we've rounded up a veritable cornucopia of pictures of all the excitement at the show! We also live blogged over the weekend, so be sure to check out the other PaizoCon 2015 posts on the blog!

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game app from Obsidian Entertainment in action!	Guest of Honor and contributing author, Brandon Hodge, Erik Mona, and a wayward Daigle spirit.	Tro, the artist behind The Littlest Lovecraft strikes a pose for the camera!	Sales Associate Cosmo Eisele makes his Aid Another check to Pathfinder Tales author Dave Gross during a delve.
RPG Superstar 2010 Matt Goodall was one among quite a few other former RPG Superstar contestants at PaizoCon 2015.	CEO Lisa Stevens has some game time with fellow Pathfinder Online players!	Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn guides this party of adventurers through the life of being a minion.	Senior Editor Judy Bauer running We Be Goblins.
Miniatures painting with Dallas Kemp!	Lone Wolf was at the show demoing RealmWorks and HeroLab.	Pathfinder Tales authors Chris A. Jackson, Dave Gross, and James Sutter doing signings in the PaizoCon store.	Erik Keith's Goblins of the Opera Group!
We were blown away by community member Seamstress_Druid's Pathfinder Society faction patches!	POOG!	We've seen a lot of cool PFS table setups, but this light table during the Friday night special was undeniably awesome!	The villian Rob has chosen for this Delve looks like it may have caused a lot of PC skeleton stickers!

It's a... wrap!

And we're not the only ones rounding up PaizoCon! Be sure to check out the Adventure Card Game post from this Tuesday, recordings from the show done by our volunteer of the year, Ryan Costello of the Know Direction podcast, and Geek Dads's convention recap.

Thank you to all the attendees, volunteers, and guests for making this show so special! While we think PaizoCon 2015 was our best one yet, we're always striving for improvements. If you have a moment, go ahead and leave us your thoughts, good and bad, in our official feedback thread.

Liz Courts and Chris Lambertz
Community Team

Of the Occult and Psychic Obscura!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The content we showed off from July's Occult Adventures hardcover at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet whetted some appetites for a few more details. I know many of you are looking forward to sinking your teeth into the book even more, especially after we previewed all of the art of the new iconics—and don't worry, you'll be seeing more of them soon! But for now, enjoy this curated selection of art from Occult Adventures!

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski and Caio Maciel Monteiro

Illustrations by Nickolai Ostertag and Roberto Pitturru

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski, Emiliano Petrozzi, Roberto Pitturru, and Suzanne Helmigh

Liz Courts
Community Manager

The Price Paid

by Josh Vogt

Chapter Two: Shaken Foundations

Akina trailed Ondorum across the main threshold, which he said the hobgoblins had been using to come and go. The air turned chilly and musty, with an underlying reek that flared the embers in Akina's gut—a fetid mix of blood, grease, dung, and rotting meat unique to hobgoblins. It conjured up too-fresh memories of their hideous warcries and how they'd clamber over the corpses of allies and foes alike to slaughter all in their path.

Once they left the sunlight behind, all color washed away into shades of gray. Ondorum navigated the darkness without stumbling, so she figured he could see as well as her or had some monkish sensitivity that guided him. At least he wouldn't be a liability that way.

The initial hall ended in what once might've been a large meeting chamber. Portions of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking off stretches with earth-packed debris. Side halls and chambers offered themselves on either side, while cracked columns stood in rows. A few sections of the floor had broken, gaping holes hinting at lower levels.

Akina kept a steady watch as they advanced, eager for the beasts to attack and end any pretense at peace. Sure, there was the gold to be gotten by laying them low, but this job went deeper than that for her. Since the war ended, surviving hobgoblins and their ilk had scattered to every pit they could crawl into. It was time to claim vengeance for those who'd fallen before their hordes. So many friends to remember. So many faces locked in death masks, covered in blood or ravaged beyond recognition.

"You never told me your name."

"Hm?" She roused from her morbid recollections. "Oh. Akina."

Ondorum skirted rubble. "Just that? I thought dwarves identified with their families or clans."

"We're working together to scatter a few beasts, not compare bloodlines."

"They're not mindless beasts, you know."

She snorted. "True. They're worse. They're savages just smart enough to be deadly, and there's only one way to deal with savages. Where are they, anyway? I thought you arranged a meeting."

Ondorum surveyed the chamber with a frown. "I believe your arrival spooked them. No doubt they've retreated a bit. Hopefully we can contact them and explain the misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? Funny way to describe raids and butchery."

"These claim they took no part in the war."

"You believe them?"

"Until there's evidence to the contrary, I try to give others the benefit of the doubt."

"How are you even still alive? You're either really lucky or—" Akina hesitated. Had that been a faint chuckle just then? A pebble clattering? She inspected the dismal chamber.

"Come out," she said. "No point in hiding."

A wheedling voice trickled over. "I hides so you not kill me."

"We won't kill you," Ondorum said. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Akina barely sealed a Says you behind her lips.

A creature even shorter than her hopped into view from behind a pile of rocks and stood just on the other side of a set of columns. Its melon-shaped head wobbled on a spindly neck while its grin revealed dozens of needle-sharp teeth. Filthy rags draped a scrawny body.

"Hello!" it said. "Are you my dinner?"

"Goblin." Akina hunched, gripping her maulaxe in both hands. "Keep an eye out."

Ondorum glanced her way. "You fear this creature?"

"Not afraid of anything," she said. "But I'm not stupid, either. Goblins are like roaches. Where there's one, there's a hundred waiting to stick you from behind."

"Roaches!" The goblin picked up several stones and juggled them, the columns framing its display. "Loves me crunchy roaches. So tasty." It giggled. "But it just me. Me and the biggies. But the biggies no share their food and I—" The goblin's voice lowered several octaves, grating across Akina's ears.

"I am quite famished."

It flung the stones at them with surprising speed. Ondorum snagged two from midair while the third pinged off Akina's helm.

"Something's wrong here." Akina growled and stepped forward. "I'll fill your gut with—"

Pressure against her shin made her freeze, but too late. A near-invisible cord stretched across the way. Even as she backpedaled, a rumbling noise shook the chamber and the cord went slack.

Mouth wide in shrieking laughter, the goblin cartwheeled aside as the two columns crumbled and fell toward Akina and Ondorum.

They dove in opposite directions, and the crash rattled Akina's bones. She raised her head to see the toppled columns had set off a chain reaction throughout the chamber. Sections of the floor dropped away into pits. The ceiling sagged as more columns collapsed, and fresh dirt sifted down through gaps where walls had collapsed.

She looked up just as a slab as big as she was dropped from above. Akina raised an arm in pointless defense.

Ondorum appeared, standing over her with palms toward the ceiling. The slab slammed into his upraised hands and he held it aloft, teeth gritted with effort.

"Showoff," she muttered.

With a grunt, he heaved the stone away. She ignored his proffered hand and grabbed her maulaxe, using it to brace herself back to her feet. Ondorum placed a hand on her shoulder and she almost knocked it away until he pointed out wider cracks spreading through the chamber ceiling. Whatever trap the goblin had laid, it'd been thorough.

"We should make haste," he said.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

He dashed ahead while she clomped after. Rocks clattered off her helm and pauldrons, and she knocked away others. Ondorum stayed just ahead, weaving through the falling rubble. It almost looked like he knew just where the stones would fall and shifted half a second before or half a step far enough to let them plummet past.

He aimed for a wide hall at the far end of the chamber, Akina grumbled as she tried to keep up. Clumps of earth pounded into the floor, plenty enough to bury her if a collapse happened right on her head.

"Hello!" The goblin screeched as it appeared a few feet away, popping into being from nowhere to wave a claw. "Goodbye!" It snapped out a round object at her face.

Thinking it another rock, Akina raised her maulaxe to knock it aside. At the last second, she realized it glinted like glass rather than stone.

The flask shattered against her weapon. Akina stumbled back, barely closing her eyes in time as the cloud of flame enveloped her. She struck a wall and hit the floor, maulaxe tumbling from her hands. Lurching upright, she slapped herself all over to smother the droplets of liquid fire that had splattered her armor and burned like white-hot sparks on her exposed face.

She opened her eyes, stinging from the foul smoke. Flames lit the chamber in sickly yellow. She scrambled to her feet and snatched up her maulaxe, ready to bash the goblin's head in. At last, she spotted the creature grinning at her from the opposite side of a growing crack in the floor that rent the chamber in two. When she blinked grit from her eyes, the creature seemed to puff away into thin air.

As stones tumbled into the widening gap, Akina turned and threw herself through the hall's archway, where Ondorum had already taken refuge. He caught her arm so she didn't tumble down the flight of stairs beyond. A final clatter and crash announced rock and dirt blocking the way they'd come.

Once the dust cleared, Akina eyed the hall at the bottom of the stairs, little more than a tunnel cutting down into the earth. She assumed more temple ruins waited within the hillside.

Not all goblins are as weak as they appear.

She hacked against the acrid fumes lingering in the air. After clearing her throat, she cupped hands around her mouth and shouted down.

"That's it! I'm mashing every last one of you mongrels to pulp. Hear me? I'm wiping out the whole lot of you!"

Ondorum winced as the echoes faded. "We agreed to try the diplomatic approach first."

"Sorry. I forgot." Turning back to the tunnel, she hollered again. "I'll be sure to wipe you out diplomatically!" She raised a hand to the monk. "Better?"

He sighed. "You hold much anger."

"Nearly getting buried alive brings it out in me. Forget your parley. That little attempt on our lives should prove these creatures don't have a smidge of honor."

"Perhaps it's our role to show them a better way," he said. "Even if others refuse to live with integrity and honor and mercy, we should still strive for such. Otherwise we risk losing touch with our true selves. Our higher selves."

Akina leveled a flat look. "Higher selves? Was that a short joke?"

His eyes widened. "I meant no offense. I simply—"

She huffed. "What'd I say about having a sense of humor?" She lead the way down the stairs. "Besides, it costs too much."

"Humor?"

"Mercy."

"What does mercy cost?"

"Focus. The advantage in a fight. Lives."

"Some prices are worth paying."

"Not this one." She blew dust from her nostrils. "Sounds like you've already forgotten that I've fought more of their kind than I can count. I've seen how they really are. Every single one I killed would've returned the favor if I'd shown them so much as a speck of mercy."

"I haven't forgotten," he said. "I simply feel it's rash to judge any species as a whole by one representative, or judge any individual on the actions of others. Would you have me judge all dwarves by your example?"

She groaned. "Would you please stop?"

His brow furrowed. "Stop what?"

"Talking. It's annoying."

They emerged into a smaller, rounded room with old cracks spearing every which way through the stone floor. Several passages fed away from it, and Akina studied them while trying to shrug off Ondorum's words. Her, acting like a dwarven representative? Ridiculous. Hard enough to just be her old self, these days. Hopefully she could keep a cap on the bloodthirsty fury that kept flaring through her veins, rather than losing herself to it again. She wanted clarity when she ended the hobgoblins—cold satisfaction as she killed each one. Not like during the war. Especially not in front of this infuriating monk who clearly thought himself the lone voice of reason in a world gone mad.

"You losties?"

A goblin peeped out from the passage on the far right. The same one, as far as she could tell. How had it gotten down there?

"You little slimespit." She shook her maulaxe. "Get over here. I got a really funny joke to tell you."

"No thanks!" Without moving, the goblin vanished.

Akina stared. Since when could goblins turn invisible? She rushed for the spot where it had just crouched, determined to corner it before it could pull other tricks.

"Wait," Ondorum cried. "I don't think—"

A loud clang halted her. She glanced behind. A circular cage had dropped from a hidden slot in the ceiling. Ondorum stood encased, looking abashed.

"That was unexpected."

He tested the bronze bars. Nothing budged. Akina went over and gave it a few good whacks, sending gongs through the chamber, but the bottom had somehow glued itself to the stone floor. Ondorum gripped the base and tried to heft the whole thing, giving up after several straining attempts that didn't so much as shift a pebble. The cracks in the floor had fractured further under the impact, but otherwise the trap appeared immovable.

Breathing hard, he sat in the center of the cage, legs folded, hands propped on his knees. "I will meditate on this dilemma. There's always a solution."

"You do that," she said. "I'll go find our little friend and have a nice chat."

"We's friends?"

She whirled to find the goblin standing just down the hall it had appeared in before. Akina tensed for it to attack with a dozen of its vile friends, but it just stared at her.

"Run out of tricks, have you? Right. I'm smearing you so thin you'll—"

Her nostrils flared, picking up the creature's stench. She'd had goblin stink rammed up her nose often enough she could pick it out of the smelliest crowd or most chaotic battlefield. A scratchy scent of urine and sour sap.

This creature emanated a muskier odor. Beyond that, its shadow looked wrong. It formed a broad pool of darkness, giving the appearance of a hunched animal readying to spring rather than a stick-limbed goblin. Now that she thought of it, how did it cast a shadow in the lightless space?

The goblin's grin went impossibly wide, even for its huge mouth. The deeper, more eloquent voice vibrated out again.

"Join me for a meal, won't you?"

Its body rippled and swelled, blocking the passage with fur and fangs.

Coming Next Week: Unwelcome guests in chapter three of Josh Vogt's "The Price Paid"!

Josh Vogt is the author of the Pathfinder Tales novel Forge of Ashes, also starring Akina and Ondorum, as well as the web fiction stories "The Weeping Blade" and "Hunter's Folly." His first creator-owned novel, Enter the Janitor, just released, and his short fiction has been published in such venues as Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show and Shimmer. For more information, see his website at jrvogt.com.

Illustration by Marjorie Davis.

"I Also Attack Butt-First"—PaizoCon 2015 and the Adventure Card Game

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Another PaizoCon is in the books, and I'm happy to say we mostly survived (R.I.P., Sad Ezren). This was the biggest con yet for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. More people then ever are getting involved!

Adventure Card Guild Launches Season of the Righteous

Several hundred players jumped into the new Season of the Righteous with bared blades and a fierce sense of adventure. This week, those of you who play in the Adventure Card Guild at your friendly local game store will be able to launch the new season with Scenarios 1-1A (Cloven Trail) and 1-1B (Instant Inquisition). You'll get your first introduction to your patron and friend, the Herald of Iomedae.

If you're a little nervous that we're giving you such a helpful cohort right away... you should be.

Adventure Card Game Announcements

Adventure Card Game panel attendees put up with a fair amount of ridiculousness from the panelists to get their questions answered. Vic Wertz added to the legend of the bunyip. Liz Spain provided a colorful anecdote about African porcupines that only have quills on their hindquarters: When they become aggressive, they can run backwards at a predator to stab it. I then took the opportunity to inform the room that... well, read the headline.

Banquet attendees at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet got a sackful of good tidbits. I announced the launch of a Class Decks monthly subscription through paizo.com (coming next month) and the names of some upcoming Class Decks: the barbarian and the alchemist. Mike talked about various awesome bits of Wrath of the Righteous and then announced the next base set: it's Mummy's Mask!

PACG Playtesting

The design team also got an opportunity to test out some new material on enthusiastic victimsconvention-goers. We'd like to thank Sarah Bull, Eric Ruocco, Alejandro Valdivia, Denise Panciera, Rob Zemlicka, Jennifer Pesek, Darran Caldemeyer, Michelle Caldemeyer, Daniel Powell, Jason Windham, Michael Huguenard, James Wronowski, Sarah Lehmann, and many others for their feedback on the Adventure Card Guild Open tournament format and some scenario testing for Mummy's Mask. Here's a note on the Open: We plan to release some more tickets for the ACG Open. We'll let you know on the blog when that's going to happen.

The "Best Character Ever" debate returns next week with designer Liz Spain's argument. Until then, I leave you with this.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Fin.

Mon, May 25, 2015 at 03:26 PM Pacific

And PaizoCon 2015 comes to a close. It was a genuine pleasure seeing so
many of you this weekend, and we hope to see many more of you at GenCon!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Last day...

Mon, May 25, 2015 at 03:15 PM Pacific

I know that feel, bro.

Cosmo
Sales Associate

Monday morning delve!

Mon, May 25, 2015 at 11:35 AM Pacific

Killer breakfast with Jason Bulmahn!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Gaming in action!

Sun, May 24, 2015 at 05:59 PM Pacific

I managed to snag these pictures on my way to running "Pharasma's Spiral!"

Liz Courts
Community Manager

The Goblins Have Taken the Shackles!

Sun, May 24, 2015 at 04:08 PM Pacific

Behold the loot from a Rum Punch run with 3 Ekkies and 3 Ranzaks:

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Is it Krampus already?!

Sun, May 24, 2015 at 02:38 PM Pacific

Saint Nikolai and some of the AAW Games team pass out goodies to all the good little children at PaizoCon.

Katina Mathieson
Customer Service Representative

PaizoCon Product Announcements and Sneak Peeks!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

One of the exciting parts about PaizoCon for a lot of our attendees, fans, and onlookers are the juicy spoilers and announcements that come out of the show (whether it comes from one our RPG or Adventure Path panels, or the Preview Banquet). So, let's take a look at what's coming this November and beyond!

Gather Your Forces!

The Season of the Righteous for the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild starts this week! Be sure to take a peek at the newly released Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide to get yourself ready for laying down cards and taking down the evil that's begun spilling out of the Worldwound. You can also check out the whole line Wrath of the Righteous products here due out later this year.

We also announced our return to Osirion, land of the pharaohs, in the next Adventure Card Game base set, Mummy's Mask! Look out for more details about this release soon!

Hell's Rebels Continues!

There's been a lot of speculation surrounding the 100th issue of the Pathfinder Adventure Path. Now we can tell you! Pathfinder Adventure Path #100: A Song of Silver will be a 128-page softcover issue with several new monsters, revelations about the great mystery himself—Aroden, and a retrospective of the previous 16 Adventure Path campaigns.

You might have noticed that we haven't been saying much about the Adventure Path line lately, or announced what's coming next. And since we've been talking quite a bit so far about hell, it's evil denizens, and the good fight against 'em, it only makes sense to mention what's coming up next:

Hell's Vengeance!

Friends, Food, Good Times!

Whether it's the start of a long adventure, tracking down contacts, interrogating suspects, or just plain enjoying some downtime, inns and pubs are a mainstay of many roleplaying campaigns. During the PaizoCon Preview Banquet, Erik took time to give us a glimpse of what's coming in the next set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. This next set, The Rusty Dragon Inn comes with set dressings, just like the June release Dungeons Deep, some friendly faces, and monsters that fit in perfectly with any bar brawling, plot scheming, or memory making game sessions.

Other November Releases

In addition to the products above, we've also just announced the following on paizo.com today:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Barbarian
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Occult Realms
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Weapon Master's Handbook
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Winter Forest

Trust No One

As if it wasn't stressful enough to be a Pathfinder adventurer, a new tome of monsters and other worldly beings is coming your way! Within the pages of Bestiary 5 are creatures that warp the minds of their victims, monsters from beyond the stars, as well as an array of other monsters, familiars, and other allies.

And as much as we know you love monsters, we also know you want more... so I'm going to leave you all with a mockup of the hardcover coming up after Bestiary 5:

Ultimate Intrigue will reveal new options for skill-based classes (like the alchemist, bard, druid, hunter, inquisitor, investigator, mesmerist, ranger, rogue, slayer, or spiritualist), a complete influence system, feats and spells that can be used in social settings, and THE VIGILANTE!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Of course.

Sat, May 23, 2015 at 10:14 PM Pacific

Of course Valeros shows up to the bar.

Liz Courts
Community Manager

DRINK THIS!

Sat, May 23, 2015 at 07:23 PM Pacific

Merisiel probably shouldn't trust whatever Damiel is offering if Valeros won't even touch it...

Cosmo
Sales Associate

PaizoCon Superstar!

Sat, May 23, 2015 at 02:14 PM Pacific

Photo of the one time I'll ever be asked to sign a body part. (Monica Marlowe, our 2015 RPG Superstar!)

Posted on behalf of Owen K.C. Stephens, Developer.

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

It's Not a "Happy" Delve

Sat, May 23, 2015 at 02:08 PM Pacific

The real question surrounding Cosmo's next Delve table is: what template has he put on Mayor McCheese?

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Friday night Pathfinder Society Special is up!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 10:12 PM Pacific

John Compton emcees the Special!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

The Ultimate Villain

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 08:59 PM Pacific

Wes Schneider, King on the Iron Throne, at the Delve.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Red Dragon Goblin has a new friend!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 08:50 PM Pacific

It's Poog!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

"Every GM has a decision they regret."

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 04:17 PM Pacific

James Jacobs recalls past characters killed by Jason Bulmahn.

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Avengers v Iconics

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 02:41 PM Pacific

When Merisiel, Ezren, Valeros, and Kyra found a strange, glowing gem,
strangers came to Sandpoint to take it from them. Meri tried to use it and
got herself vaporized. Sandpoint took some damage from the raging orc, and
the strangely talking hammer man went down. A few shield bashes from the
acrobat and a few magic missiles from the man in red celestial armor later,
the strangers took back their "infinity gem" and left in their invisible
dragon.

Mark Moreland
Developer

Inside the "Forging Heroes" seminar!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:26 PM Pacific

Paizo's own James Sutter and F. Wesley Schneider discuss creating vibrant characters with Rat Queens creator Kurtis Wiebe!

Katina Mathieson
Customer Service Representative

Have a break in your schedule? Come play at the Delve tables!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 11:44 AM Pacific

The Delves are short adventures run by Paizo staffers and guests. Stop by either table located near registration for a fast paced race for survival against an array of monsters and other denizens.

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Way to go Thursty!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 11:11 AM Pacific

Now we can't have Catfolk in PFS.

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Ready, Set, Game!

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 09:05 AM Pacific

We've made it through Registration and the first games of PaizoCon are starting! The Great Gobbly, Zordinni, welcomes you!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

"Who wants to be killed by Owen K. C. Stephens?"

Fri, May 22, 2015 at 08:47 AM Pacific

When you ask a crowd of people if they want to be killed by Owen K.C. Stephens, some people run. Some people don't.

I'm not going to speculate which is the better choice.

Cosmo
Sales Associate

Deity sighting!

Thu, May 21, 2015 at 11:50 PM Pacific

It looks like the god-king of magic will be joining us this weekend at PaizoCon!

Katina Mathieson
Customer Service Representative

Mission complete!

Thu, May 21, 2015 at 11:44 PM Pacific

PaizoCon store setup is complete! The loot we found included pizza, beer,
and camaraderie.

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Pathfinder Society room at PaizoCon!

Thu, May 21, 2015 at 02:39 PM Pacific

This room is fairly empty now... But not for long!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

The reason to be here!

Thu, May 21, 2015 at 02:11 PM Pacific

A cadre of early arrivals passing the time like you should at a game
convention!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Before the show begins...

Thu, May 21, 2015 at 12:25 PM Pacific

...there's hard work to be done!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

The Price Paid

by Josh Vogt

Chapter One: A Meeting in Ruins

"There!" Akina thrust her maulaxe out, pointing to the craggy ruins on the hillside. "Told you I smelled hobgoblin stink. We'll have our pay by morning."

Durgan sniffed the crisp air as they emerged from the woods. "Dunno how you do it, Kina. I can't smell a thing beyond all this pine."

One of the other mercenaries, a shaggy-haired human with a notched lip, belted a coarse laugh. "I betcha it's 'cause dwarves got such big sniffers, y'know?"

His mirth died off as Akina turned and glared at him from under the brim of her iron helm, which had been fashioned in the shape of a ram's head with curling horns. The rest of the band stepped ever so slightly away from the would-be-jester. Their number included a dozen human men and women, a half-elven swordsman, and a gnome whose crimson hair flared up like the flames he often conjured. Most, like Akina, wore mismatched leather and iron armor while carrying assorted blades, hammers, shields, and bows. Not the prettiest lot to wander the land, but Akina cared more for getting the job done well than in style.

She tapped the side of her nose. "Be glad I'm distracted by the killing that's coming. Otherwise I might've taken that personally." She returned to eyeing the ruins. "Right. Let's figure our approach."

Durgen scowled. "You leading this band or me?"

"You make all the contracts and collect all the pay. That's a heavy burden to bear. I'm just trying to lighten your load." She grinned. "If we work in slow, we can hopefully take down any scouts before they raise an alarm. So long as we—"

"There's one!" A man jumped forward, crossbow raised, and loosed a bolt.

Akina cursed as a hobgoblin darted through the shadows of teetering columns. The bolt clacked off stone, wide afield. Clad in jagged armor, the hobgoblin loped along on muscled legs and ducked into a walled courtyard.

She growled at the archer. "Shattered stones, Gherb! What've I told you about being so jumpy? Bastard wasn't even in range. You want to lose your share?"

Ignoring his muttered apologies, she tromped ahead, the band falling in alongside. On the surface, the ruins appeared as a jumble of worked stone with toppled pillars, sagging arches, and overgrown paths. Gray-green moss slicked many surfaces, while shrubs and a few trees poked up through the mess. A number of weathered carvings peeked out from the few walls that remained standing; some looked recently defaced, likely when the hobgoblins moved in.

They reached the spot the hobgoblin had bolted from. Akina scanned the area, noting a few crude barricades of spiked branches and piles of gnawed bones. A couple of dark thresholds at the far side of the courtyard suggested entrances to deeper levels.

"Figure they've dug in," she said. "We should scout around, see if there's a back door or two they might scuttle out of."

"There isn't. I've already checked."

The mercenaries rounded on the source of the voice, but nobody appeared. Several worn statues of robed figures sat on nearby pedestals, backs to the group.

"Magic?" Durgan nodded to the gnome. "Piquwit, can you sense anything?"

"No magic," said the same voice. "Merely myself."

One of the statues rose and faced them. Not a statue, Akina realized, but a man in a dusty robe that blended with the rest of the rubble. He'd been sitting so still, he might as well have been made of stone.

Ondorum is as stubborn as the stone he resembles.

When he lowered his hood, though, she corrected herself on both points. Not a man... and maybe he was made of stone. His gray skin had a rough texture, while his hair hung a few shades darker, looking like rows of chiseled granite. Odder yet, where most folk had eyebrows, rows of purple crystals glinted in the sunlight above malachite-green eyes.

"Who're you?" She squinted. "What are you?"

"He's one o' those that's got a bit of mud in their blood," Durgan said. "Whaddya call them?" He clicked his tongue. "Oreads. Yeah. A touch of the earthy elements somewhere down the line."

Earthy elements? Akina reconsidered the strange person. He did have a solid bearing, and she had to look hard to catch a hint of him breathing under the robe. Her mind jumped to assessing potential weaknesses. Did he bleed like other fleshy folks? Would the axe edge of her weapon work best if he proved a threat, or would it be better to go at it with the hammer side? Would he pound down to dust?

He smiled and bowed. "I am Ondorum. Apologies for interrupting, but I didn't wish for you to proceed without knowing the full situation."

"Uh... thanks?" She shook away the violent thoughts. "What situation?"

Ondorum pointed at the inner ruins. "A small hobgoblin warband has claimed this place as their hideout."

"We know," Akina said. "That's why we're here."

His flinty gaze roved over the band. "Ah. You are sell-swords."

She bumped one shoulder up, indicating the maulaxe propped over it. "Swords... bows... clubs... axes... We don't like to limit ourselves."

"I'd request restraint in this instance." Ondorum nodded to where clawed footprints disturbed the earth. "I was speaking with their second-in-command. He calls himself Skurl."

"And I call him fair game. You talked to that beast?"

Fine lines cracked his placid expression. "They're just trying to survive. They've been amenable to civilized discussions so far." He looked aside. "Though I did have to rebuff several attacks before they allowed for negotiations."

"You're trying to make peace with hobgoblins? What are you, some kind of priest?" Aside from her brother's service as a cleric back in Taggoret, Akina held little patience for priests. They always viewed the world from such skewed perspectives, trying to make people conform to their gods' ideals.

"I come from a monastic order that follows the enlightened teachings of Irori." He pressed open palms together. "While I left my temple under unfortunate circumstances, I continue to pursue perfection in all things, traveling in search of new experiences and deeper wisdom. This seemed a good opportunity to offer these troubled creatures the chance to follow a higher path."

She ratcheted her initial estimation of him from potential threat down to naive fool. "Don't you know we just got out of a war with hobgoblins and their kind? They slaughtered thousands!" She ground her teeth as a long list of the dead squirmed through her mind. "This lot's been raiding around Falcon's Hollow for months."

He folded arms across his broad chest. "Of course I'm aware of the battling. But these claim they held no part in it. And, as you said, the goblinoid armies have been routed. Isn't post-war the perfect time to attempt more peaceful solutions?"

She stared. "You're one of those mad monks, aren't you? Look, go back to staring at your bellybutton, if you've got one, and let us do our job, hm?"

She moved to lead the band into the ruins, but stopped when he planted himself in her way.

"I insist you reconsider."

This time, Akina let the fury simmer in her stomach, an enlivening heat. "Move or I'll make you."

Durgan coughed. "I'd back off while y' got the chance, monk. She don't give warnings too often."

The slightest grin tweaked Ondorum's lips. "Consider your warning appreciated but unnecessary."

"Right." Akina hefted her maulaxe and charged.

At the last second, the oread swiveled on a heel. She bulled by, checked her rush, and tried for a backhand swing. He shifted so it swept past less than an inch from his robe. A few hoots went up from the mercenaries at the near miss.

Growling, Akina let the heat at her core churn like boiling water. She sped up, not bothering to arrest her swings. He continued to dance around her, feet sweeping patterns in the dirt, nimbly dodging, bending and swaying just so. With every whiff of her weapon, Akina's hits went a little wilder, the flames inside her blazed brighter, singing her bones.

She raised the maulaxe over her head. "Hold. Still!"

As she brought it down, he went motionless. The maulaxe slammed into the earth right between his feet. He stepped on the head, planted a hand atop her helm, and used the brace to flip over and behind her.

Akina released her maulaxe and spun, fist lashing out to drive into his gut. He blocked the strike with an open palm. The force of the impact knocked her back a step, as if she'd punched a granite statue. He didn't so much as quiver.

The recoil stunned her just enough that the rising flames inside her snuffed back to embers. Akina shuddered, realizing how close she'd been to losing control. She focused on sucking cool air into her lungs, forcing her bloodlust back down before it overwhelmed her—as it so often did these days. She avoided glancing at her companions, knowing even the slightest smirk or snigger would send her barreling back into the fight.

Instead, she retrieved her maulaxe and leaned on it, casual-like, as if his showing her up meant nothing.

"Listen," she said through a forced smile, "you ever try making peace with other monsters before?"

Ondorum nodded. "I've done so with a pair of trolls that were assaulting caravans and also with a band of orcs attacking a monastery."

"Yeah? How'd that go?"

"They had to be destroyed in both instances. With the trolls, I was able to keep collateral damage to a minimum." His posture drooped slightly, like a mountainside threatening an avalanche. "The orcs, however, killed many and destroyed much before they were eliminated."

Akina studied the monk closer, sensing more to that confrontation than the monk wished to reveal.

Ondorum seemed to notice her attention and firmed up. "They were dealt with. No longer a threat."

The mercenaries murmured among themselves.

Akina cleared her throat. "If you aren't lying about all that, how about getting paid good coin to put that skill to use here? Could give you a share in the work."

"I live simply," he said. "Never needed much coin. The people I've saved have often been willing to donate food and shelter until I moved on."

"But you care about saving people, right? And sounds like every time you've tried to do that with just words, it's all gone to hell."

His lips turned down at the edges. "I admit I've succumbed to discouragement at times. That is one of my numerous flaws. This land is a violent one, and many do not respect anything but force. Yet the path to perfection is never without its stumbles." Ondorum mused in silence for a few moments. "Were you hired to kill the hobgoblins, or simply to ensure they don't attack Falcon's Hollow and its lumber camps any longer?"

Akina raised an eyebrow Durgan's way.

The mercenary captain shrugged. "Technically? The second one. Killing's just always been the easiest way for us to see it done."

Ondorum fixed back on Akina. "A bargain, then. Skurl had just delivered word that their leader would meet me within the ruins and discuss terms of a peaceful withdrawal. If you join me, they may recognize leaving without further violence is their best choice. You can complete your contract without having to shed any blood."

"You're kidding," Akina said.

"I'm quite serious."

"Hang on," Durgan said, stepping in. "You want me to just let one of my folks wander in with you? You'll be outnumbered and cut off if they come from behind."

Ondorum glanced at the mercenary leader. "You believe she cannot handle the challenge? Very well. I swear I will keep her safe."

Durgan spluttered as Akina made fists.

"I can handle myself," she said.

"I'd rather send a few extra folks down with you two," said Durgan, regaining his composure. "Just in case."

"If you give a show of force," Ondorum said, "the hobgoblins would likely respond in kind. I fear bringing even one extra might disrupt the accord I've made."

"You're going in anyways," Akina said. "Whatever we do, you're still planning to just... talk."

He bowed.

She pressed a fist to her forehead. "Unbelievable." She glowered at nothing in particular for another moment, then huffed. "Fine. We'll try it your way first. I'll watch your back so long as you watch mine."

The monk bobbed his head as if this had been a foregone conclusion.

"Why not?" Durgan asked acidly. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Akina scowled. "Never ask that." She waved toward the ruins. "Lead on, oh perfect one."

"Perfection remains far outside my grasp," Ondorum said. "It's often a lifelong pursuit."

She sighed. "Priests and monks. None of you ever have a sense of humor."

"Humor, eh?" Durgan snorted. "Your idea of a joke is yanking the ears off a goblin and making him choke to death on 'em."

She blinked up at him. "What's your point?"

Ondorum bowed, then began striding for the ruined courtyard. As he headed off, Akina and Durgan exchanged a knowing look. Wouldn't be the first time they'd used the ruse of peace talks. The monk's parley effort would let her get to the hobgoblin leader, split his skull, and rout the rest straight into the hands of the waiting mercenaries.

They'd be swapping blood for gold soon enough.

Coming Next Week: A delve into ancient ruins in the second chapter in Josh Vogt's "The Price Paid"!

Josh Vogt is the author of the Pathfinder Tales novel Forge of Ashes, also starring Akina and Ondorum, as well as the web fiction stories "The Weeping Blade" and "Hunter's Folly." His first creator-owned novel, Enter the Janitor, just released, and his short fiction has been published in such venues as Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show and Shimmer. For more information, see his website at jrvogt.com.

Illustration by Marjorie Davis.

Here There Be Demons

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Welcome to "The Worldwound Incursion", the first adventure of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. (I think I just about used up my allotment of capital letters there, but I'll try to soldier on.)

Note: This blog post, including previewed cards, features substantial spoilers of the plot and events in the first installment of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. Please tread carefully if you plan to play through the Pathfinder RPG version of the story, or if you like to be surprised by turns of event in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

When you get your Wrath box, you'll get the first adventure, along with the shiny new rulebook you can grab from the product page. It includes all the knowledge you'll need to defeat the scenarios in the base set and begin your journey through the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path. Those of you who are interested in Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild will also want to grab your copy of the new Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide so you can start playing the first scenario of the Season of the Righteous when it's released to stores next Wednesday.

If you're one of the lucky subscribers who has already received your Wrath box, you've hopefully sharpened your skills on the introductory base set scenarios. Once you've done that, you're ready to begin the journey set forth in the Adventure Path. This is where the story truly starts: the Fall of Kenabres.

Have a nice trip!

Remember Khorramzadeh from my previous blog post? He's a demon lord that destroys the city of Kenabres, decapitating the silver dragon Terendelev in the process. You get to use him here by shuffling him into the blessings deck as he rampages through the dying city.

Did you think we would make you encounter him in Adventure 1? We aren't that cruel, but does show up again in [Mike: NOPE!] though. Each time he pops out of the blessings deck, he shakes things up and throws some fire around before popping right back into the deck, only to show up more and more as the deck dwindles away. You better hurry!

Want to know what happens next? The rest of the adventure involves falling into the underground, fighting your way back to the surface, rallying the survivors in the town, assaulting the demons in their base, and finally stealing back the wardstone they shattered to breach the Worldwound in the first place. Fortunately for you, the wardstone still has some juice left.

All we need is some Krazy Glue and some time.

Running Themes

You'll notice a couple of new features as you play through this adventure. The first is the set of cohorts you'll have available. One of the themes in Wrath of the Righteous is the importance of NPCs, both good and bad. You'll see these faces again and again, and you'll come to depend on them.

We get by with a little help from our friends.

There's one other thing to notice about some of these cohorts. Take a closer look at the phrases on them, such as "if you have a role card." This is our tricky way of making them more powerful as the game progresses.

Another thing you'll note are the Scales. When the Storm King slew the silver dragon Terendelev, her dying gift to the characters was her scales. The party can choose one of them as loot at the end of each of these scenarios. However, there's only one of each type, so players must decide who will wield them. I suggest single combat!

Not to scale. BOOM.

Bring on the Demons!

As promised, the demons start ramping up a bit, and a few new ones are introduced here.

All demons chosen based on their good looks and excellent senses of humor.

Faxon is the villain for the fourth scenario, and he's nasty. Everyone has to recharge all of their healing when he pops up, and it costs you cards to play cards against him. Even when you win, you'll have to pay a high price.

Don't get me started on the Demonic Fly. I hate that thing. It's tough to beat, and if you don't, it goes and messes up someone else's plans. And the Wrecker Demon is even tougher, and he takes out your items, and he's ugly, too.

Everyone Loves a Mutt

The mongrels are a group of patchwork mutants living under the city. They also make a strong showing here, both as monsters and allies.

Whose side are you on?!

Their defining characteristic is their random nature. You'll have to pull a card from the box to see how difficult they are to defeat or acquire. I love this variation on the Veteran trait. As you add more powerful cards to the box in later adventures, encountering the mongrels is going to get tougher as well.

One Last Cool Thing

There's a sword you'll find in this set called Radiance.

Well, it isn't glowing blue, so at least there aren't any orcs around.

In the adventure path, Radiance is just a simple sword that you find early on, but as you perform brave deeds, more of its abilities unlock, and it grows along with the characters. You'll see more about how we are doing this in a really cool way in adventure...

Mike: And I think that about does it for this blog! Paul will be released from his dungeon in a month to preview adventure 2, if he can prove he can keep his mouth shut.

Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer

Pathfinder Society at PaizoCon

Monday, May 18, 2015

PaizoCon is nearly here! That means a big batch of adventures are heading out the doors and landing is our volunteers' downloads. In the past, we have released June and July scenarios all at once and run a playtest of the upcoming Gen Con Special at PaizoCon. This year the assortment is a little different, due in large part to the convention's four-day schedule and shift to Memorial Day weekend. We've instead released the May scenarios a little earlier than usual and have created two new Special events specifically for the convention. Let's see what's in store.

The Numerian device known as the Sky Key is finally coming together as we track down its last remaining pieces. Travel to the star-strewn wastelands of Numeria's interior in Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-20: Returned to Sky—back where the dwarves first found the Sky Key. Perhaps you would rather return to the Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane in Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-21: Tapestry's Toil. On second thought, you won't want to miss either one!

Of course excitement is on its way to the Grand Lodge, too, thanks to the imminent Grand Convocation. Everyone's invited—apparently including some of the Pathfinder Society's foes in Pathfinder Society Special #6-97: Siege of Serpents. We're also trying something a little different with Pathfinder Society Special #6-98: Serpents Rise, in which the players get to experience the adventure from another organization's perspective.

All of this calls for some art! I present the Statue of Durvin Gest (based on a line drawing from way back in Pathfinder #18) and the Sky Key itself. After all, where's the fun in assembling a technological artifact if we don't get a great illustration?

Illustrations by Marko Horvatin

See you at PaizoCon!

John Compton
Developer

Summon Monster X

Friday, May 15, 2015

We're getting closer and closer to the June release of Dungeons Deep, the latest, greatest set of prepainted plastic Pathfinder Battles miniatures from our friends at WizKids! By my count, we've revealed nearly the entire set so far, but I've been holding off on two figures in particular, waiting for the right time to show them off. Lots of folks have been asking if Dungeons Deep will have any iconic characters, now that we're also releasing those characters in the form of the spectacularly detailed Iconic Heroes Base Sets. The answer, my friends, is a resounding YES, and this set's iconic hero rounds out the ranks of the iconic characters we featured in our second class-centered RPG release, the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide.

I speak, of course of Balazar the summoner and his beloved "pet," the otherworldly eidolon Padrig!

Let's take a closer look at Balazar, Gnome Summoner.

Balazar's sculpt captures him mid-spell, or perhaps directing the actions of his eidolon from afar. While the sculpt is similar to Balazar's appearance in the just-released Iconic Heroes Set 3, here the colors are somewhat brighter, and if I'm being honest I think I like this version of Balazar just a little bit more than the Iconic Heroes version, which is a bit darker. Balazar is, as I mentioned, the final iconic character of the original 17 to appear as a prepainted miniature in one of the random Pathfinder Battles sets. While the stand-alone Iconic Heroes boxes will delve further into the ranks of iconic heroes from the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide (and possibly beyond), Balazar is also the last iconic character to show up in the regular Pathfinder Battles line, at least for the next set, which contains none.

So let's take a moment to celebrate our tour through the iconic characters of our first two major hardcover rulebook releases. We knew we'd get to you eventually, little guy! Balazar, Gnome Summoner is a Small, rare figure.

Balazar is just a wee gnome without his best buddy Padrig, who in Dungeons Deep is called simply "Eidolon." The Eidolon represents a class feature with lots of variability, so it's probably fitting that Padrig is a weird snake/chicken hybrid. He'll see plenty of table use for folks playing the Balazar pregenerated character in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild organized play program, but I'm also hoping he gets use as a generic eidolon figure, or just as a weird monster used to throw off players who think they have every Bestiary memorized.

The sculpt here is a bit meatier than the Padrig figure in Iconic Heroes Set 3. Check out the back view to see Padrig's snake body fading away into clear plastic, taking a cue from his original Wayne Reynolds illustration. The figure twists and turns with some real dynamism, and it's growing on me even more as I sit and look at it now. Yes, he's a weirdo, but he's a fun weirdo. The Eidolon is a rare, Medium figure.

I leave you this week with a look at Balazar and his Eidolon as they face off against the vicious Gargantuan Red Dragon Case Incentive figure from the Dungeons Deep set.

Don't forget to order our most recent Iconic Heroes boxed sets: Iconic Heroes Set 1, Iconic Heroes Set 2, and Iconic Heroes Set 3, all of which are shipping now to paizo.com customers.

Better yet, set up a Pathfinder Battles Ongoing Case Subscription to unlock a whopping 30% discount on Iconic Heroes box purchases (the discount for new subscribers goes into effect only after your first case ships next month). Existing subscribers should also consider ordering the Iconic Heroes sets soon, as they've proven to be very popular and they will not last forever!

There will be no Pathfinder Battles preview blog next week, as we'll all be rolling dice and hanging out with fellow gamers at PaizoCon 2015! I'm going to try to have the entire Dungeons Deep set on display in the Paizo store at the convention, so swing by there to see these awesome figures in person.

I'd also like to remind all PaizoCon attendees that I host an annual Miniatures Trading Afterparty in the hotel bar following the formal close of the show. I'll have a bunch of Pathfinder Battles figures for trade, as well as remnants from my own personal miniatures collection that I'm looking to unload. We've been doing this event for something like 6 years now, and it's always a highlight of the show. Bring any minis (painted preferred, but there's a market in unpainted figures too) you don't want and trade them with other gamers for figures you do. It's awesome, and I'll see you there!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Sneak a Peek at the Occult

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Illustration by David Alvarez

While Occult Adventures is not due to hit stores and mailboxes until the end of July, other mysterious forces have found a way to glean advanced knowledge about what the tome contains. Perhaps it was spied through the dimension of dreams or ripped from the minds of one of the developers through psychic combat, but whatever the means one thing is certain. These secrets are out there and ready for you to investigate!

To gain visions of the fantastic art that lies within the tome as well as read the auras of those responsible, head over to io9.com. Whoever is behind this theft must possess incredible power to have garnered so many works of beauty.

If, instead you see to learn more about the nefarious masters behind this mental-burglary, you should investigate the lore found at EN World. Here you can learn about the abilities of the Cult Master, a nefarious new archetype!

That is all there is to share for now. There will, undoubtedly, be additional clues and revelations in the coming weeks. Until then, keep your mind safe!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Forge of Ashes Sample Chapter

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

In Forge of Ashes, the dwarven warrior Akina returns home to the Five Kings Mountains after years as a soldier and mercenary, accompanied by Ondorum, her silent companion of living stone. What she finds there is far from what she remembers: a disgraced brother, an obsessive suitor, and a missing mother presumed dead. Yet the damage runs deeper than anyone knows, and when Akina’s brother is kidnapped by ancient enemies from the legendary Darklands, she and Ondorum must venture below the surface—and into danger as old as the stones themselves.

Chapter Four: Contemplation of Stone

Ondorum watched the snoring dwarf for a little while after Akina left. He looked for any sign that Brakisten might wake, or even be sensible enough to work the door latch if he did. He studied Brakisten's twitches and briefly wondered what he might've been like before drink, deception, and grief took such a harsh toll. Little use, however, in questioning what might have been. Better to focus on what could be.

Ondorum searched the rooms for stashed alcohol, but the den lacked any hiding places he could discern. He guessed it'd be a while yet before Brakisten woke. Perhaps he could use the time to explore a bit on his own.

While he'd encountered other dwarves besides Akina, he'd never visited one of their kingdoms before. What glimpses he had so far proved fascinating. He'd been looking forward to meeting Akina's family—at least, the brother and mother. She'd told him how her father had died while she'd been in battle training, buried in an avalanche during a Kingtower Pass patrol. In the years they'd traveled and fought together with the swords-for-hire, she'd occasionally spoken of her home and remaining kin. Her tone had initially been dismissive, but had grown increasingly wistful until her return had been inevitable. Her asking him to come along had been one of the great joys of his existence, but he possessed no certainty of how long it'd last.

Best to make the most of it, then.

Believing it safe to stroll for a bit, he bowed to Brakisten and prayed to Irori that the dwarf might have a soothed mind and soul when he woke. Then he stepped outside and took a moment to orient himself. Fortunately, he had an excellent sense of direction, a talent the mercenaries had often put to use when navigating unknown territory.

As he wound through the district, he admired the roads and bridges. The dwarves had fashioned well-situated thoroughfares, yet their constructions retained the sense of having sprung whole from the earth. Studying the dwarves themselves, he almost believed the legends that their earliest ancestors had been formed of living stone with fire baked into their hearts. He sensed their joy and peace in knowing who they were and where they belonged—a peace he knew Akina no longer held. Even though she'd never said it outright, he reckoned she'd hoped to regain that centering of herself by coming home. Could she still, he wondered, despite the unfortunate beginnings?

An inconsistency nagged him as he wandered. Something about the city itself...

Ah! Of course. The light. He should've realized. Akina said her people worked all hours, taking shifts to ensure the forge fires never dimmed, the mining carts never rolled in empty, and the tunnels and buildings never stopped being strengthened or lengthened. While Ondorum knew dwarves could see in the dark just as well as he could, the artificial light displayed their handiwork in far greater glory.

He paused on the corner of a four-way intersection atop a rise. From here, he could see down one of the massive rifts dividing the city. Structures appeared to be built into the depths of the rift itself, with chain-and-pulley lifts providing transportation up and down. Mining entrances? Homes?

He gazed upward and let himself feel the weight of the cavern. Not a claustrophobic press like many humans or elves complained of after spending time underground. To him, it offered a soothing weight, like a warm blanket beneath a frigid sky.

It seemed a city an oread might be right at home in. Oread culture was a loose thing, in itself. They had no central government. No real inclination to congregate with others of their kind. Most, like him, chose their own paths. He'd heard of other oreads finding homes among dwarven settlements, their inclinations toward stone helping them blend in well enough. He'd even heard of oreads and dwarves who'd married and had children, though he and Akina had never discussed such. Not that they'd been talking much lately.

Akina doesn't control her temper, so her temper controls her.

Guilt cracked his concentration at that thought. He knew Akina detested his self-imposed vow, sometimes opining that he must've taken it just to provoke her. But did she realize how much it tormented him as well? Ever since they'd first begun traveling together, he'd enjoyed the steady way they'd drawn ever closer. Now he'd distanced them in a way neither of them could bridge. In the pursuit of perfecting himself, did he now fail her?

Trying to restore a more contemplative focus, he shut his eyes and visualized his ki as a golden ball at the core of his being. Palms opened to the ground, he imagined lines of ki stretching out into the stone, connecting him with the essence of the city. A futile effort to gain a sense of the place, perhaps, since he'd only seen a fraction of Taggoret, but all lessons began somewhere.

As he attempted to meditate, a memory of screams teased his thoughts. Past mistakes and failures rose to taunt him, as they so often did. The golden ball of ki turned to granite. He fought to corral the riot of sudden emotion and steady his breathing, but everywhere he turned, regret threatened to overwhelm him. Akina. The monastery. The village. All of them hurt or lost despite his best efforts. The wrong words. The wrong actions. Yet he still struggled to know what he could've done or said differently in the circumstances.

Irori, please. I'm trying. Truly. I've ever believed yours is the hand that should guide my path, but it can be so difficult to know which way you're pointing. Is Akina's solace more important than my silence? Is my vow meant to be broken? Or is this a test to refine both of us?

He waited, listening for an answer, memories still haunted by screams. Then he opened his eyes, realizing some screams weren't in his mind. A faint roar sounded nearby, followed by a cry and crash. Someone in trouble?

He reached into his robe and drew out an iron rod no bigger than his thumb. He carried a small collection of such metal rods and chips to be employed when circumstances required. While he could fight decently enough with empty hands, he knew better than to overlook the advantage of an extended reach.

Calling on his elemental heritage, he let earthen power flow through him and infuse the metal, giving it the potential to be so much more than it appeared. The rod lengthened into a full quarterstaff. While it was a temporary transformation, and one he could only repeat after a lengthy delay, it could help if he needed to intervene in a scene of violence.

So armed, Ondorum stepped out into the middle of the street, looking for the source of the disturbance. A dwarf walking by jumped aside, fists cocked. Then he gave a grating laugh.

"Flaming beards, boy. Thought you were a statue."

Ondorum pointed down the road and cupped a hand to his ear. The dwarf frowned, but then brightened."Oh, that's the Scarred Knuckles. Best fighting hole in all the mountains. There's a tournament tonight. Was on my way, myself." He sidled up and nudged Ondorum."My bet's on the Silver Skewer, but it'll be a good fight either way. For some of us, blood gleams brighter than gold, eh?"

Quarterstaff tapping along, Ondorum fell in step with the dwarf, who talked as they went. The dwarf didn't seem to notice the oread's failure to reply as he guided Ondorum to one building and ushered him inside. The noise quadrupled in force, and Ondorum tried to let the cacophony flow over and past him. At least two hundred dwarves crammed into multi-tiered seats surrounding four sunken arenas. Each ring held a pair of fighters. The crowd loosed another roar as one combatant hit the ground and didn't move.

His dwarven escort cackled."Remember! All bets on the Silver Skewer."

Others called out names such as The Haunch and One-Nostril. Ondorum shifted through the crowd as the audience slapped and pounded one another in revelry, celebrating with what would've been bruising—or bone-breaking—force for many other races.

Ondorum's attention fixed on a cage set off in a corner. At first, it appeared to contain nothing but darkness; then the slightest movement suggested a figure huddled within. Ondorum got closer until he discerned the captive.

Clad in filthy rags, the person looked dwarven in shape and size. However, his skin was a dull gray, and what hair remained in his beard hung in white patches. He lay curled up beside a chamber pot, withered arms and legs weighed down by chains bolted to the stone wall. The wrinkles and heavy folds of his forehead and cheeks made him seem practically ancient.

Duergar. Ondorum had heard of the dwarves' fallen cousins but never seen one before. By the look of him, this one had been kept there as a spectacle for many years. The duergar stared out past the cage bars, dark eyes unblinking, face slack.

Ondorum frowned, uncomfortable with seeing any creature imprisoned. Akina had once entertained the mercenary band with tales of the outcast race. Once dwarves themselves, they'd rejected the call of Torag to seek the surface millennia ago. They'd remained below and, to survive in the treacherous Darklands, sworn themselves to Droskar, the Master of the Dark Furnace. Now the duergar continued to toil down in the Darklands, ruling their fell kingdom in cruelty and malice.

After a few minutes, he moved on, realizing he wasn't about to solve the ancient enmity between the two races with a little sympathy for a prisoner. He approached one of the nearer rings and looked easily over the heads of those crowding around it. The two fighters exchanged a barrage of hits and kicks before stumbling back from each other. The brief pause gave him a clear view of one bare-knuckled combatant and her platinum-streaked hair.

Akina.

The crowd might as well have vanished as he focused on her in dismay. Her half-crazed eyes, the flex of her jaw, and the hunch of her shoulders told him she rode the edge of fury. Ondorum gripped his staff, uncertain. Even if he broke his vow to shout her name, his voice would be lost in the riot. She always thought she could control her rage, and so often proved herself wrong as she rode the swell up and over into temporary madness. The others here didn't know the danger, and would find out too late.

∗ ∗ ∗

Akina howled in glee as her fist cracked across her opponent's cheek, sending him somersaulting. Every landed blow meant more coin added to the wagers on the bout. She didn't know her enemy's name. Didn't care. She bounded after and forced him up against a wall to pummel his belly while he beat at her skull. Might as well have been knocking stones against stones.

Here. She belonged here, dealing pain to any and all.

The longer her blood boiled, the more the world altered around her. Her nostrils flared as she picked out others by their sweat, by the auras of smoke clinging to them, by their reeking fear. The air itself felt like a rich current of magma through which she flowed as easily as thought, while those around her slogged and stumbled and burned.

With an incoherent battle cry, her opponent sprinted in. She took the hit and tangled fingers in his thick hair. Turning with his momentum, she drove him face-first into the wall. He rebounded, and she threw her weight into another slam. Then another. He went limp after the fourth, but she held him upright and cracked bone to stone, wanting to smash his skull through and beyond. Blood spattered her and the wall. He gargled in her grip as she reared back for a final thrust.

A hand grabbed her shoulder. She dropped her victim and spun, aiming a blow, but something slapped her fists aside and threw her off-balance. As she recovered, the newcomer scooped up the fallen dwarf and threw him out of the ring.

Akina shook bloodstained fists."No! I was winning!"

Cheated on the brink of victory. For a moment she thought she recognized the new enemy, but then it didn't matter. Yet as she charged, he stood solid and took her strikes as they came. Open palms intercepted her fists; his arms didn't even as tremble at the hits. When she tried to grapple him to the floor, he stepped aside and let her sweep past.

"Stand still!"

Each missed attempt stoked the fires higher.

"Stand—" One moment to the next, the flames in her belly turned to a block of ice. The cold weight of it dragged her to her knees. She shook her head, hands planted, trying to rise."No, I was winning..." Quivering limbs refused to support her.

As she collapsed, a pair of hands caught her. She blinked away the gray haze long enough to focus on Ondorum before a curtain of ashes enveloped her.

"Sorry," she said."It's the only way I know how to pray."

Purchase the whole novel here!

In addition to Forge of Ashes, Josh Vogt is the author of the Pathfinder Tales stories "The Weeping Blade" and "Hunter's Folly," as well as the forthcoming creator-owned novel Enter the Janitor. His short fiction has been published in such venues as Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show and Shimmer. For more information, see his website at jrvogt.com.

Illustration by Davi Blight.

Come Together—Adventure Card Guild and Summer Conventions

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

As we head into summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, convention activity is heating up. But before we talk about the Adventure Card Guild at a convention near you, we have some news to wrap up Season of the Shackles!

Season of the Shackles Cards Available at DriveThru!

The Season of the Shackles Complete Card Set is now available via our print-on-demand partners at DriveThru Cards. It includes all of the new cards we created throughout the season, including 6 copies of the Councilor's Ring reward. It also includes additional copies of the Skull & Shackles cards that previously required you to use proxy cards during the season. (It does *not* include the Season of the Shackles scenarios—those are available here.) We have also made available the Councilor's Ring as a single card. (Note that DriveThru has a 10-card minimum, which you could meet with multiple copies of the Ring, the Rise of the Runelords errata sets, cards made with DriveThru's PACG Custom Card Creator, or any other cards DriveThru sells.)

May 2015: PaizoCon

In just under two weeks, Paizo will be hosting the eighth annual PaizoCon, a celebration of Paizo's games and the fans who play them. This year, PaizoCon coincides with the launch of the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set, as well as the launch of the Season of the Righteous for the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. PaizoCon attendees will be able to play Adventure 1 of the new season before it's released to stores and regional shows, as well as testing a tournament format that will run at Gen Con. More on that in a bit. (PaizoCon attendees: Prepare to be my guinea pigs!)

It's likely we'll run an impromptu marathon of Skull & Shackles and/or Season of the Shackles for the nautically minded among you. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet the entire Pathfinder Adventure Card Game design, editorial, and production teams (except the lovely but deeply wrong-headed Keith Richmond, who lives on the incorrect coast and knows nothing about what makes a character great.) Obsidian Entertainment will also be at the show. If you're one of the sad people who can't make it to Seattle for the show, Scenarios A and B of Adventure 1 and Version 2 of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide will be out that week as well. Badges are available until May 14, so register today if you want to come and play with us!

June 2015: Origins

The first weekend in June, Mike, Chad, I will be traveling to to Columbus, Ohio for the Origins Game Fair. Paizo will have an Adventure Card Game area in Hall D; we're on the right side behind the AEG booth. We'll be running demos of Wrath of the Righteous, as well as Adventures 1 and 2 (!) of the Season of the Righteous. (Origins attendees: Prepare to be my guinea pigs!) Hopefully, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream will back up and running so we can get some tasty dairy treats. Mmmm, Jeni's.

Origins Adventure Card Guild events will run from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Wednesday through Saturday in Hall D, and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday.

July 2015: Gen Con

The best four days in gaming happen at the end of July in Indianapolis at Gen Con . Paizo takes over the massive Sagamore Ballroom at the Indiana Convention Center. We'll be bringing the first three adventures of Season of the Righteous, as well as my new baby, the first annual Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Open. The PACG Open is a team-based card game tournament, where your team of four players will test your mettle and your PACG rules knowledge against a mean, cruel, fiendish, dastardly scenario designed by yours truly. If your team does well enough, you could advance to the semi-finals and maybe even to the finals of the event on Sunday morning. The tournament winners will each receive truly epic bragging rights and a complete set of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set of their choice, including promo cards (must be an already-released AP, rules lawyers) and whatever other exciting things we come up with.

Gen Con Adventure Card Guild events will run from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Thursday and Friday, 8:00 AM to midnight on Saturday, and 8:00 AM to noon on Sunday. PACG Open first-round tables will run at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM (buy tickets!), semi-final rounds will run at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Saturday, and the final round will run at 10:00 AM Sunday. Gen Con event registration opens Sunday at noon Eastern Standard Time, so get ready to sign up!

August 2015: PAX

The Card Team will be at PAX! We'll be running card games and handing out promos. That's all I know for now.

Finally, because I couldn't bear to let a week go by without another card spoiler, I give you... the Splendiferous Hat!

In case you couldn't tell, I made this.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Pulling Back the Veil: Fall 2015 Releases!

Monday, May 11, 2015

One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to add upcoming products to the website. Often it's the first time that I'm hearing about the latest adventure, realm to explore, or new player options, and now we're going to round up all the announcements to make sure you don't miss out on the latest additions to Pathfinder, coming to you this summer and fall!

Welcome to Kintargo—hope you survive your stay!
Illustration by Shen Fei

This month is going to be a triple feature, as we're going to talk about not one month's releases, but three, starting with August.

August 2015: Hell's Rebels Adventure Path begins!

With Gen Con a wee bit earlier this year than normal, we won't be starting the Adventure Path at the show, which means that the Hell's Rebels Adventure Path will begin in August, starting with "In Hell's Bright Shadow" by Crystal Frasier! With the city of Kintargo under martial law, what starts as a protest turns into a riot, and your hero is at the center of it!

Other August releases include:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Wrath of the Righteous, Deck #4: "The Midnight Isles"
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Deck: Paladin
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Occult Bestiary
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Streets
• Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Island by Tim Pratt
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Forest
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Swamp
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Forest Dangers

September 2015: Hail and Well Met, Traveler!

The feature of this month is one that we've all been waiting for—Inner Sea Races! Filled with details on all of the races common to the Inner Sea, this also gives you juicy tidbits on rarer denizens like aasimar, tieflings, and ooh, do I spy a [[REDACTED]]?!

More September releases include:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Wrath of the Righteous, Deck 5: "Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth"
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Deck: Monk
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #98—Hell's Rebels, Part 2: "Turn of the Torrent"
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Occult Origins
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Slum Quarter
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: City Streets
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Prison

October 2015: The Night is Dark, and Full of Terrors!

We like spooky things—turns out, they are a grand thing when writing adventures and designing campaigns, and what could be grander than returning to one of our earliest Varisian stomping grounds? As anybody who's visited Elm Street can attest, dreams can be a dangerous thing, and "The House on Hook Street" promises to make a pleasant afternoon nap into a nightmare in this Pathfinder Module for 6th level adventurers. Written by Brandon Hodge, one of our own key resources when Occult Adventures was first on the drawing board, would-be heroes attempting to survive this adventure may want to stock up on their elixir of choice to stay awake through the night!

Additional releases in October include:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Wrath of the Righteous, Deck 6: "City of Locusts"
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Deck: Druid
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #99—Hell's Rebels, Part 3: "Dance of the Damned"
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Shores Gazetteer
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Black Markets
• Pathfinder Tales: Beyond the Pool of Stars
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Slum Quarter Alleys
• Pathfinder Pawns: Giantslayer Adventure Path

As always, the release dates are subject to change, but you can see the most up-to-date information on the Product Schedule page, or on each individual product page.

Is there any particular release you're excited for? Have a hankering for learning more about the denizens of the Inner Sea with the Inner Sea Races hardcover? Maybe want try to divine the details of Occult Origins? Let us know in the discussion thread!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

PS: With PaizoCon just around the corner and adventures to wrap up before then for our GMs, the Pathfinder Society team is busily developing and editing the May releases. The regular PFS blog will return next week! And if you're attending PaizoCon, be sure to attend the Pathfinder Society Q&A on Saturday, May 23 at 2:00 PM!

Giantslayer Marathon: Part 2!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

If you read last month’s Giantslayer Marathon blog and were eager for part 2, your wait is over! Before I let those guys get to their highlights from their second marathon session, I wanted to warn people playing through the Giantslayer Adventure Path that this blog post contains some spoilers. Read at your own risk!

The Order of the Amber Die is back with the second update on our ambitious record-breaking endeavor to complete the Giantslayer Adventure Path in just 6 months!

Let's dig right in:

After a bloody nose in the first round of the Giantslayer AP, our players set about making improvements for a better showing in "The Hill Giant's Pledge". These included extreme measures such as holding Pathfinder combat training sessions at one player's apartment, as well as reaching out to an old member and retired giant slayer from G1-2-3 (Against the Giants) that we last played with 16 years ago. From the frozen wastes of North Dakota, this grizzled veteran answered the call and flew to NJ to play the role of NPC Kurst Grath for this 72-hour marathon. On the other side of the screen, our GM locked himself away for a Spring Break to prep an entire module at once, emerging with adventure accouterments that included an exact three-dimensional replica of the riverboat from the module and a massive map of Redlake Fort.

Highlights From our Experience With "The Hill Giant's Pledge"

• The authors continued to surprise us: in a chosen mission to locate magic weapons, we spent nearly 20 hours inside a druidic demiplane complete with high stakes lily pad hopping and flowers that were deadly to stop and smell, along with unique opportunities to gain familiars or animal companions possessing traits not found anywhere else. We used a fog machine for the greenhouse mist (as pictured), which helped make the Vault of Thorns a place we shall not soon forget.
• During a riverboat journey through Belkzen that was not for tourists, an ambush by a group of wicked merrow forced Crowe the bloodrager to leap from the crow's nest (we just had to put him there) and deliver a mid-air natural 20 with Agrimmosh, the Hammer of Unmaking, to put one of the ogres face down on the deck.
• Our players spent precious marathon time coming up with a detailed plan to assassinate Grenseldek the hill giant chieftain. To pull it off, they would have to lead an incursion against a nearly impregnable fort controlled by hill giants, overseen by ogres, and surrounded by orcs. After dozens of modules where plans like this have gone awry, props to the players of strike teams Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie for their rendition of Zero Dark Thirty that gave us a brilliant victory and proved wrong the adage: "Never split the party."
• Every now and then a character finds an item suited perfectly for them. A nod to author Larry Wilhelm for Oloch's discovery of the legendary greatsword known as Gorum's Thorn. Giants will fear it.

Character Deaths

• With one character disabled and two others near death, the party found themselves deep in the Ghostlight Marsh. Daylight was fading, and soon the wisps would come. Rather than take their chances with the marsh at night, a tense party vote resulted in a decision to penetrate the Vault of Thorns and then rest. A few moments after entering, two twigjack defenders of the druidic sanctum laid waste to the party with a barrage of brambles. When the leaves settled, Oloch and Kurst were dead.
• Quinn's encounters with dangerous heights weren't over after the first module. In a precarious struggle against a giant dragonfly from the First World, the investigator was bitten, pulled from a ledge, and dropped 100 feet into a compost pile that wasn't quite thick enough.
• Melira the vengeful human-slaying ranger took up an advantageous position in the forecastle during a multi-deck riverboat battle. Overlooking our party of 5 human-premium targets, she selected our warpriest. For the second time in this AP, our GM threw down a 20-20 and sent Oloch to Gorum.

Current Situation

This AP continues to challenge our team of Iconics, but with the help of two of Giantslayer's capable NPCs they managed to secure along the way, our heroes did triumph over the hill giant chieftain—in 3 rounds. The party has now taken down its first few giants in single combat and continues to prove itself capable of surviving Giantslayer, but entering "Forge of the Giant God"with low resources and three characters under-level is daunting. We play a tight game to create intensity, and as always, CRs will not be adjusted down. We will just have to step up

Best Quote from Marathon 2

Adam (GM): "Guys, don't feel so bad about the deaths. What if Giantslayer is supposed to be Paizo's 'tough' AP?"

More Content

Read through the entirety of The Giantslayer Endeavor. For more pictures, campaigns, and information on the Order of the Amber Die, you can find them on Facebook and Instagram. The miniatures used are again painted by Blue Table Painting.

I hope everyone is enjoying reading this super campaign journal as much as I am! Keep your eyes peeled for next month when we invite the Order of the Amber Die back to let everyone know how they fared in the Giantslayer Marathon Part 3! Until then, confirm those crits!

Adam Daigle
Developer

Creepy, Crawlie, Terror Birdie

Friday, May 8, 2015

We're getting closer and closer to the June release of the Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures, and I couldn't be more excited! This set focuses (for the most part) on the nasty critters that live in dungeons and the people that kill them. That means demons and adventurers and oozes and such, but it also means some horrible denizens of the animal and insect kingdoms, as well. This week we reveal photos of three such menaces from the set.

Up first is the Mining Beetle, the slightly more powerful cousin of the Fire Beetle, from page 33 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Beetles tend to get overlooked in minis, but they're a great low-level dungeon monster, so I wanted to make sure to include at least one in this set. The Mining Beetle is a Small, common figure.

But beetles aren't the only creepy-crawlies to be found in dungeons. Here we have a Giant Centipede. Hint: He isn't reaching out to hug your player characters. The Giant Centipede is a Medium, common figure.

And here's a back view to show off a few more details.

Last up today is one of my favorites from the set, the Terror Bird. This feathered fiend was originally going to appear in the Reign of Winter set ages ago, but got bounced to Dungeons Deep when we had to cut a few minis from that set. We're happy to have him. The Terror Bird is a Large, uncommon figure.

And that's it for this week. Next week I'll reveal two brand new figures from the set I don't believe anyone has seen outside the office, so be sure to come back in seven days!

Erik Mona
Publisher

PaizoCon Badge Sales and Open Registration Ending Soon!

Friday, May 8, 2015

It's almost time for us to start printing PaizoCon 2015 badges and tickets! This means that open event registration (including event trades), online 4-Day Badge sales and e-Ticket transfers will be ending on Thursday, May 14 at 2:00 PM Pacific time.

If you haven't purchased a badge yet, go ahead and grab yourself a 4-Day Badge or a Deluxe 4-Day Badge (which includes a ticket to the PaizoCon Banquet!) and register for events now! We also have a Kid's 4-Day Badge option for attendees 10 and under, as well as Banquet Tickets that are sold individually.

Also, if you've already locked in some events on your schedule, be sure to check out the event's discussion thread! You can find or start a discussion about an event by viewing the individual event listing.

There's only 14 days left until the show! Don't delay and get your PaizoCon 2015 badge and events confirmed now!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Illuminating Darkness

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Light and darkness. Given how powerful it is to take away someone's sight in Pathfinder, few topics share the three 'C's that make light and darkness such an important topic: Common, Crucial, and Confusing. In this blog, I will thoroughly explain light and darkness, providing a detailed example, so by the end, you will be armed and ready to run light and darkness in your games, even the edgiest of edge cases. Lets start by covering a number of important guidelines for dealing with light and darkness in your game.

1. Let There Be Light

Illustration by Craig J Spearing

In the absence of darkness magic, light magic is fairly straightforward. Without magic involved, there are four light levels: darkness, dim light, normal light, and bright light. Each light spell tells you what light level it creates, and in what radius. So that's not bad at all!

2. What a Nice Ambience

Darkness magic by itself isn't too bad either, but it's harder to deal with than light magic. Darkness spells first negate nonmagical light sources like lanterns and sunrods, and then they tell you how many steps to reduce the "ambient" light, and some of them can create a new fifth light level called supernatural darkness below darkness, in which even darkvision is useless (but the devil/darkfolk ability see in darkness still reigns supreme). However, there's one tricky nuance in darkness magic, and that's the question "what is ambient anyway?" The FAQ from October 2010 tells us a little more: it defines ambient light as "the light level from natural sources, such as the sun, moon, and stars—not torches, campfires, light spells, and so on." This is a good start, but it leads into a debate about "natural." So here's the strongest rule of thumb for what kind of light is ambient, "If a creature is moving it around with them, it's almost never ambient, and if the light is quite different in pockets instead of spread throughout an area uniformly, it's probably not ambient (with exceptions for holes in the ceiling streaming down sunlight in patches, for example)." For example, in a Darklands cavern lit by luminescent fungi, that light is ambient. If a svirfneblin plucked some of the fungi and put them in a lantern-frame and carried them around, the light is not ambient. If a svirfneblin took some seeds and grew a cavern of the fungi equivalent to the first, it's ambient. Use your judgment, but with an eye towards most corner cases not being ambient.

3. And Ne'er the Two Shall Meet

OK, we can do light, and we can do darkness. But what if the two of them meet? There's quite a few interactions, including a special exception for the spell daylight, so first let's focus on the basic interactions. From the descriptors and the spells themselves, we glean the following facts: Spells with the light descriptor only raise the light level within an area of a darkness descriptor spell if they are higher level than the darkness descriptor spell. Apparently also, darkness spells can counter or dispel light spells of equal or lower level (and light spells can do the same to darkness spells). So what does that mean?

4. I Counter Your Counter!

There are many ways to misinterpret the "counter or dispel" text for light and darkness spells. Here's how that particular rule actually works. To counter a spell of the opposing descriptor, you ready an action just like any other counterspell. Just as normal for counterspell, the target of the spell must be within range (which, without Reach Spell metamagic, is touch for most light and darkness spells). If the target is in range, you automatically counter the opposing spell and it has no effect, just like always for counterspell. To dispel, you simply cast your spell on the same target (just like with enlarge person and reduce person) and then they cancel each other out, leaving no spell. Again, the range is usually touch and the target is the object that radiates the darkness or light; you can't just touch an arbitrary spot within the darkness or light.

5. Pierce the Darkness

Now that we have those out of the way, let's assume the more typical case where someone cast a darkness spell on one object, somebody else cast a light spell on another object, and the areas overlap. We're still not dealing with daylight yet. Based on the rules of light and darkness, here's how to adjudicate this situation within the overlap:

First, the darkness spell turns off nonmagical light sources and lowers the ambient light level. If there are multiple darkness spells, figure out the highest spell level (not caster level!)

Next, the light spells attempt to shine through. For every light spell, check to see if it has a higher spell level (not caster level!) than the highest spell level of any of the darkness spells. If so, that light spell has its normal effect, as per the spell. Do not reduce its light level again for the darkness spell; that already happened. This is true in all overlapping areas, as per the May 2013 FAQ, whether the light spell's source object is within the area of darkness or not.

6. Here I Stand, in the Light of Day

OK, so what about daylight? We've been putting that one off until now because it simply doesn't work like other light and darkness spells. As it says "Daylight brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa) is temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect." Daylight comes in, if necessary right after those last two bullet points in section 5:

If no other light spell is sufficient to overcome the darkness spells in the overlapping area, and if there is a daylight spell active in the overlapping area, the daylight spell's special negation clause kicks in (regardless of the spell level of daylight and the darkness spell; it just works, always). This means that you negate all the magical light changes in the area and bring it back to prevailing conditions. As a side effect of negating the magical darkness, those nonmagical light sources activate again (while they are not ambient, they were still part of prevailing conditions). Other magical light sources still are not active in the area; they had their chance to attempt to negate the darkness spells and didn't, so they were not part of the prevailing light conditions, instead subsumed by daylight's more powerful special negation clause.

7. Will Anyone Think of the Elves?

So what about low-light vision anyway? Those guys can see twice as far via light sources. However, they don't change the actual radius of the magic at all. We'll examine what that means for each step separately, using elves as an example instead of always saying "creatures with low-light vision" all the time:

• In areas with light magic only, elves see twice as far. So with daylight, elves get 120 feet of bright light followed by 120 feet of one step up from normal.
• In areas with darkness magic only, elves are affected by darkness spells in the same region. Since darkness spells quench the effects of nonmagical light sources before applying their reduction, elves should almost always be experiencing the same light level as everyone else (if supposedly "ambient" light was dispersed enough in pockets that the elf's low-light vision was giving it a different light level, chances are the light wasn't ambient to begin with). In the rare cases with odd pockets of ambient light, it is possible that an elf experiences a different light level in the darkness spell due to the ambient light being different for the elf.
• In areas with both light and darkness magic, the elf being an elf does not change where the magics overlap. But where is that? The spells target an object, rather than stating an emanation. For the purpose of determining where light and darkness magics have an overlapping region, look at the spell and determine the farthest radius where it has an effect (for example, that would be 120 feet for daylight, 20 feet for darkness, and 40 feet for continual flame).

So, using these guidelines, lets take a look at a complicated example that brings each one of these into play:

---

Extended Example

Level 8 Feiya, Kyra, Ezren, and Damiel are traveling through the Darklands. Damiel brewed Ezren an infusion of darkvision, which he has active, as well as comprehend languages. Damiel also has low-light vision because he's an elf. The rest of the group had been relying on Kyra's heightened continual flame (heightened to spell level 4) to see, as well as various light cantrips, since the ambient light level is darkness. The group is ambushed by a group of darkfolk in a large cavern. In the first wave, dark creepers emerge from the darkness, each of them having cast darkness prior to the encounter. From the distance, no one, not even Ezren, can see the creepers, as they are beyond the range of his 60 foot darkvision. As they approach to 60 feet, Ezren spots them because of his darkvision. Damiel still can't see them because Kyra's heightened continual flame counts as extending 40 feet for the purpose of determining where it overlaps their darkness. As they approach within 40 feet, everyone can see them, as Kyra's heightened continual flame defeats the darkness in the area of overlap. The other light spells stop working, though.

Next, the dark stalkers advance, with their deeper darkness spells active. Even when they get to 60 feet, Ezren can't see them because it's supernatural darkness. However, since Kyra's heightened continual flame is heightened to 4th level, it keeps shining brightly. Since no one ever takes the Dark Folk language, the darkfolk use it to coordinate their attacks. Sadly for them, Ezren understands them anyway, and he warns Feiya that the darkfolk have a dark slayer who somehow heightened his spell-like ability deeper darkness to 4th level once per day through numerous blood sacrifices. Feiya nods, pulls out her rod of lesser reach metamagic and readies an action to counterspell with wandering star motes (which now has a range of 180 feet). Since wandering star motes is a 4th level light spell, the heightened deeper darkness is equal or lower level, so the counterspell ruins the dark slayer's big chance! The dark slayer snarls in anger and sends in its last big wildcard, a dark creeper barbarian, who sunders Kyra's heightened continual flame. This allows all those deeper darkness spells to defeat the remaining light sources easily, plunging the entire area into supernatural darkness, much to the darkfolks' delight.

Ezren ends their victory cheers early by casting daylight on his cane, which negates everything in the overlapping area, leaving the fight at the prevailing light level, normal darkness (hey, at least Ezren can see now!). Damiel, alchemist that he is, cracks a sunrod, which now provides light to everyone else. Desperate now, the dark slayer sends in the dark stalkers, who cast deeper darkness and then deliver the touch spell to Ezren's cane. They succeed, which dispels the daylight because daylight is equal or lower spell level.

Fed up with the whole situation, Kyra uses her 8th level sun domain ability nimbus of light, which instantly dispels all the darkness spells in 30 feet and then shines like a daylight. The battle is over soon after.

---

Mark Seifter
Designer

The Gem

by Gary Kloster

Chapter Four: Great Beasts

The grootslang coiled in the ruins of its egg and hissed. Its body was thick and muscular, like a snake's, armored with red and dull golden scales and supported at one end by two legs. Each leg was as wide as Jiri, and ended in thick claws. From the heavy chest between those legs a long neck stretched, ending in a blunt, triangular head. It looked like a viper's head, with slitted yellow eyes and a wide mouth lined with fangs, but from either side of that mouth grew three sharp tusks, six in all. A forked tongue flickered out of the grootslang's mouth, tasting the air before sliding back over one of the tusks, stripping the blood and tissue from it.

The grootslang blinked at them, then reached out with one claw, pinning Taba's broken corpse. Its head dipped and it bit into the remains and pulled back, tearing the body apart. Jiri shuddered at the terrible ripping sound, but she forced herself to watch, to not take her eyes off the beast, to not turn and run.

"Dahren. Do something!" Khair had drawn his sword, a thin thing that looked like a pretty toy compared to the grootslang's tusks.

"What?" Dahren asked, his eyes wide, darting from Khair, to Jiri, then back to the beast.

"You're a mage, cast something!"

"What?"

"Something that will get us out of your stupid idea alive!"

The grootslang gathered up the rest of Taba and bolted him down as Jiri watched, her stomach clenching. A man turned to nothing but meat in a moment, and now that meat was gone too.

Fire blossomed in Jiri's hand, bright and hot, and the monster looked at her, tilting its head. Then it moved.

It shot like a dart from a blowgun, moving too fast for something that was the size of a crocodile, and it was in the water, its scaled body splitting the river, and when Jiri threw her fire it only hissed against the splashing surface, doing nothing to the beast.

"Is it gone?" Khair said, his sword still up.

"Gone. Gone, and all that coin, all that time spent wading through this miserable jungle, that's gone too." Dahren spat at the river. "Curse this place and everything that lives in it. The gods should burn it all."

Jiri ignored him, her clenched hands still hot. For once, the fire that she had so much trouble containing felt insufficient. "It's not gone," she said, watching the river, listening. The jungle had gone too quiet around them, birds and monkeys silent, the only sounds the hum of insects and the rush of the water.

"Where is it?" Dahren said, stepping back from the river, toward her. His hands moved, and he spoke, the words slurred and sibilant, and Jiri felt the air near Dahren grow prickly as he gathered his magic.

"I don't—" Jiri started, then she heard it, the sound of mud shifting behind her, and spun.

The grootslang was there, rearing up out of a shallow pool that stretched across the mud behind her. Far too shallow to hide the beast, but Jiri remembered what Oza had taught her: water was a door to the grootslang, one it could pass through, vanishing and reappearing where it willed. The beast reared up over Jiri, balancing on its coils, its tusks shining white as bone, white as the fangs of its gaping mouth. Without thinking, Jiri threw her fire at it, striking the monster in its broad chest.

The flames hissed across the grootslang's scales, barely marking them.

"Ah, heat. Pain." The words hissed free from the grootslang's mouth, though its jaws didn't move and its tongue flickered, tasting the air. "I had expected... more."

"It talks?" Khair was moving back, his sword up, his eyes wide.

"Grootslangs are cunning," Jiri said. Fire filled her hand again, but its heat felt useless.

"It just hatched," Dahren said from close behind her.

"My mother shared her thoughts. My father his voice." The grootslang tilted its head, staring down at them. "I've been listening to you speak for weeks as I chipped my way out of my shell. Stupid, greedy words, but they comforted me. Because I knew you were out there, and I was so hungry."

Jiri stepped back, putting worthless space between her and the beast, but Dahren was there. The man grabbed her and she felt his hand, crackling with the threat of magic, pressed against her back.

"No! Dahren shouted. "Not us. Not me or my companion."

Baby's hungry.

"Why not?" Dark amusement filled the grootslang's words. "Because of you, human flesh was my first food. I found it very satisfying."

"And we can give you more." Dahren shook Jiri. "Take her. A morsel, I know, but her village is close. We'll lead you there to eat your fill."

"You—" Jiri started, but Dahren cut her curse off with a wrench of her arm.

"A whole village," the grootslang hissed. "That's what you offer, for your lives?" The beast lowered its head, staring at Jiri, at Dahren. "A sweet gift. Would you lead them to me? Would you portion out their flesh with your own hands and offer it to me, like a sacrifice?"

"Yes," Dahren said. "Just let me live."

The grootslang blinked once, slow, and laughter spilled from its jaws, low and terrible. "I think you would, you miserable creature. I think you would."

"Me too," Jiri growled, and she spun. She ignored the pain as he pulled at her arm, and the mud splattered across her made her slick. Ripping herself out of Dahren's grip, Jiri pulled away from the man. She could see the blue glow that limned his fingers, bright even in the sunlight, and she threw herself back, raising her own hand as she did, and threw her fire.

The flames caught the man in his beard and the oiled hair flared up. Dahren's lunge after her faltered, his hands flailing as he beat at the fire racing across his chest and up toward his face. Jiri lurched through the mud as fast as she could, dimly aware of Dahren shrieking curses, of Khair turning and running, splashing through mud and water as he raced downstream, his sword flashing as his arms pumped. What she was watching, though, was the grootslang.

The beast laughed again, reared up and then drove itself down. Its tusks slammed into Dahren's back, pinning him to the ground. Jiri's hair rose as magic and electricity flared out of the man, tiny bolts of lighting forking through the mud. The grootslang barely seemed to notice, and lifted its head.

Dahren came up with it, screaming. His clothes were soaked in blood, and the spear-sharp tusks of the beast jutted from his belly and chest. He writhed on them, trying to get away, and then jerked when the grootslang's jaws clenched shut on his back with an awful tearing sound. The grootslang bit again, and Dahren fell, legs to one side, chest and head to the other.

The grootslang looked at Jiri, blood dripping from its tusks. "If you're to scream and run, you best start now. It won't take me long to finish this." It dropped its jaws down, plucking flesh bone from the mud, but Jiri had already turned away.

Where?

Thoughts flared through her, desperate, useless. The grootslang was faster than her, and with its ability to pass through water there was almost no chance she could get away. There was only one thing she could do.

Jiri ran for the river, dove in and started swimming. For once, she didn't look for crocodiles. There was something worse behind her now, and she expected that at any moment it would appear under her, rising out of the water, snapping her down. When she reached the far bank, she stumbled out, shocked to still be alive. The other side of the river was empty now, the place where the beast had been marked only with its tracks in the mud and Dahren's blood.

Maybe—but she cut off that thought.

She couldn't escape.

"Useless, ugly, snake-thing! Stupid, scaly, animal! Eater of idiots! You'll never catch me!" Jiri started forward, running as fast as she could, gasping for the spirits to help her. In answer, the brush and vines parted around her, opening a space in the green wall of the jungle, letting her run. And maybe it was an answer to her prayers, too, that she heard a low laugh coming from the water behind her.

∗ ∗ ∗

Jiri didn't make it far.

She stopped, breathing hard, staring at the lake in front of her. It was thin and curved, probably an old loop of the river that had been cut off. Now it stood before her, water still as a mirror. She started moving down its bank, trying to get around it, but she hadn't gone five steps before the beast found her.

"Eater of idiots." The grootslang reared up from the lake, its blunt claws digging into the soft red dirt of the bank. Its eyes stared down at her over the thicket of its tusks. "I like that name. I like that idea."

Jiri raised her hands, fire gathering in them. Maybe if she caught the thing in an eye, it would blind it, slow it. Let her get away, so she could lead it farther. She threw the fire, and it struck the beast square in its face.

The grootslang shook its head, its low laugh a hiss. "And you called me useless," it said, rearing up, its tusks flashing in the sunlight. Jiri whispered to the ancestors she was about to meet, gathering her fire one last time.

Because of that, she missed the water moving behind the beast. Pulling in, rising into a column thicker than the grootslang. She saw it rear up behind the monster, a huge liquid shape, something like a snake but with a vaguely human face and a thousand shifting tendrils that constantly rose and fell from its surface. Those tendrils lashed out at the grootslang, wrapped around its scaly body and pulled it up, away from Jiri.

The beast hissed and writhed, its tail smashing through the column of water, splashing, but the elemental held it close, kept its tusks and jaws and claws away. The grootslang fought, trying to twist like a snake in the elemental's grip, and it didn't notice the massive tiger racing out of the trees toward it until the cat's claws were digging furrows through the scales of the grootslang's belly.

The grootslang shrieked, its writhing struggle scattering the dark-red blood that flowed from its wounds. It whipped its head around, glaring with hate at the great cat that stood on the bank in front of it, and its tail slapped out. The tiger snarled, its gray-shot muzzle pulling back from huge teeth as it ducked the blow, then reared up and slapped at the grootslang's belly again. The cat fell back, and as it moved it changed, drew in on itself, fur and fang swallowed by skin and mud cloth.

"Eater of idiots," Oza growled. "Start with your own tail then, grootslang."

The grootslang stopped moving, hung limp in the water elemental's constantly shifting embrace. "Who are you?" it hissed.

"I'm the one who claims this territory, and all in it. I'm the one that will tear you open and leave your guts for the gars if I ever find you near here again." Oza glared up at the beast, his brown eyes shifting yellow, his hands twisting toward claws. "Do you understand that?"

The grootslang hissed, but its head dipped.

"Go. Find a hunting ground far from here. And if you ever see a human again, think carefully before you strike. We are not all easy meals."

The grootslang's tongue flickered, but it said nothing as the elemental shifted around it, placing its liquid body in front of Oza and Jiri as it let the beast go. The grootslang slipped into the water and vanished, gone, leaving only the reek of its blood behind.

Jiri stood shaking in the mud, staring at her teacher.

"Hadzi couldn't have reached you that fast."

"I never saw Hadzi. The wara sent for me, after hearing that you and the boy and his father were swept away. I came back as fast as I could. Just fast enough, it seems." Oza raised his hand, touched it to the necklace of carved fetishes that he wore, and bowed his head to the elemental. The shifting column of water bobbed in acknowledgment of his thanks and slowly collapsed back into the lake, leaving barely a ripple behind.

Oza held out his hand, and Jiri took it, felt his skin cool against her palm, still hot with the fire she had been ready to throw before she died.

"I—" Jiri shuddered, and made herself breathe. She wanted to collapse, or to throw herself into Oza's arms, but she made herself stand still, straight. "I didn't catch Thirty Trees on fire. But I'm not sure this went well."

"You're not?" Oza said. "Boro is well, along with all of those that had gathered around the wreck. Fumo and Hadzi are safe. And you." Oza looked around at the jungle that surrounded them. "I almost didn't make it, almost didn't find you. Because you didn't run toward the village, or toward the city where I was. You ran to nowhere. You were leading that thing away, weren't you? From the village, from the city."

"I wasn't strong enough to stop it," Jiri said. "I couldn't do anything else."

"You did all that you could."

"All that I could," Jiri said. "And it wasn't enough."

"Jiri," Oza said. "The beast is gone. Thirty Trees is safe. And you're still alive. All that you could was just exactly enough."

"Oh," she said, and the vast, sudden relief she felt at his words made her legs weak. She gripped his hand tighter. "Can we go home, then?"

"Yes." Oza began to walk back, the jungle bending around him, the spirits of the plants honoring him with a clear path.

Jiri followed, suddenly very, very tired. But a thought snagged at her. "Are you angry at Fumo?"

"We will have words," Oza said, his voice suddenly ominous, traced, it seemed, with a tiger's growl.

"Good," Jiri said. "Can I watch?"

Coming Next Week: A sample chapter from Josh Vogt's brand-new Pathfinder Tales novel, Forge of Ashes.

Gary Kloster is the author of the Pathfinder Tales novel Firesoul, featuring the further adventures of Jiri. His short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Apex, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Writers of the Future 25. Find him online at garykloster.com.

Illustration by Jasper Sandner.

Keith's Best Character Ever: Enora

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Greetings! I'm Keith Richmond, the newest member of the Adventure Card Game design team. I joined during the middle of work on Wrath of the Righteous, but you'll see more of my work in the Class Decks and future sets. I'm super excited about the work I'm doing on a set I can't tell you about until next year.

Chad believes that Seelah is the best PACG character ever, even as he admits that no one agrees with him. Mike believes that Darago is the best ever, despite Darago's problems when he can't find enough undead minions. Enora, the best character in Wrath, is here to show you utterly deluded they are.

Enora is an arcanist, a class that blends the best elements of wizards and sorcerers. Her parents are both professors at the Occularium, and she grew up studying in its libraries. She's a super-smart halfling whose curiosity and luck led her to discover great cosmic power with hardly any downsides. It's true that her devotion to Nethys would cause problems for her back home, but what adventurer doesn't need a great reason to go on adventures? In terms of looks alone, she's already beaten Darago. Check out her sweet robes!

The true flaw in Chad's pick is that Seelah isn't a real caster. True casters are both the most powerful and the most versatile characters in the Pathfinder ACG, just as they are in the RPG. It's true that they require more care and planning, but that pays off in so many ways. Spells, especially the mythic ones found in Wrath of the Righteous, can be powerful because they're not just revealed. Instead, you choose when and where they're most effective.

The best casters—and Enora is the best of the best—never need to worry about failing to recharge their spells. You can set up a card engine, constantly cycling your deck as you cast spells. An optimal use of this engine, modified by the unique nature of each caster, enables you to have the right cards when they are most needed. Your greater hand size ensures you have more solutions available, and the added perception of danger makes the game more exciting. At the end of the day, being fragile only truly matters when you fail, and Enora has enough tricks to ensure success.

Enora uses her best skill, Knowledge, to acquire spells and items, the boons most useful to her. This can be a scenario saver when used to acquire Divine spells (such as Cure) that she can use as scrolls or to give to her friends. Enora is a caster's caster who never runs out of spells. Her second power is a beautiful cycle mechanic to recharge a spell from her discard pile whenever she casts a spell. This means it's safe to discard spells to absorb damage, since they'll be back soon enough. Check off a power feat, and she can even extend her magical shields to protect her friends. This is particularly helpful against "before you act" damage, a common trick of dragons and demons.

Enora's deck is unburdened by dead or filler cards such as armor or weapons. She can focus fully on her love of spells and items, and by items, I mostly mean books. Like Enora, I love books, but instead of using them to escape reality, she uses them to rewrite reality. How awesome is that? Many books are recharged with Knowledge, so she can cycle them just like spells. The remainder of her deck, allies and blessings, can be used for extra explorations.

My first development task when I joined the team was to brainstorm ideas for Wrath of the Righteous roles. I'll admit the rest of the team had some grueling work to hack my gibberish into sensible mechanics, so I didn't help as much as I might have hoped. That said, Enora barely required any modification. Everyone knew she was just too awesome to change. She has two solid role choices: expand her mastery of the arcane as an Eldritch Savant or grab a library card and learn all the things as an Occularium Scholar.

As an Eldritch Savant, Enora gains power feats to fine-tune her casting engine. She can learn to cycle spells into her hand and shuffle spells into her deck instead of recharging them. She also gains the ability to bypass any pesky defenses the demons of the Worldwound might possess by changing the energy types of her spells. This ability is even sweeter when you use it to exploit a monster's vulnerability.

Knowledge is power, and Enora the Occularium Scholar and her books hold all the knowledge. She can cite page and passage to overcome any barrier. With her divinations and tomes of lore, she can determine the optimal solution to any location's closing requirements and even do a little self-help. Thankfully, Wrath features many books—and codices, handbooks, journals, and tomes—for Enora to collect. I visualize her as venturing down into the Abyss while constantly pulling out relevant guidebooks (perhaps carried for her by Seelah or Darago.)

There's another really important reason why Enora is the best Wrath character. Knowledge is the most important skill in Wrath of the Righteous. This won't be obvious until you get to see more of the horrible banes that await you, but many of them have a secret weakness that only the most knowledgeable can exploit. Whether you're facing Baphomet's minotaurs or Khorramzadeh's elder fire demons, Enora will prove that her pen is mightier than any sword.

According to page 34 of the Demon Hunter's Handbook, Mr. Demon, you die now.

So that's my argument for Enora as the best character ever. Accept no substitutes. We'll return to this debate in a month or so, because Tanis has some delicious things to share with you about convention season goodies!

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Developer

Sand and Snow

Monday, May 4, 2015

Illustration by Marek Madej

April has been a busy month. In addition to the hard work we're putting in on PaizoCon's adventures, there have also been big announcements with each of the past three Monday blogs. First it was the release of Faction Journal Cards, then the announcement of Pathfinder Unchained, and most recently an announcement about the role of Pathfinder Unchained in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign.

Phew! With all of that, there's hardly been time to preview the April scenarios! As the Year of the Sky Key starts to wrap up, we're finding more and more pieces of that broken Numerian relic.

The first scenario is Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-18: From Under Ice by Venture-Captain (and Open Call participant) Andrew Hoskins. The PCs are bound for the tumultuous border between the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and Irrisen—a tough voyage made easier by their Varki guide. This is a particularly exciting adventure because of how important the PCs' decisions are and how many ways the adventure can turn out.

Our second adventure is Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-19: Test of Tar Kuata by Pedro Coelho, whom you may remember from the finale of the thrilling Destiny of the Sands series. He returns us to Osirion once more, but this time to visit one of the most famous monasteries in northern Garund: Tar Kuata, home to Iroran monks and the dwarven ascetics known as the Ouat. Despite being a temple of self-perfection, Tar Kuata lacks the heroes needed to chase a growing threat from the desert.

Illustrations by Bryan Sola and Marek Madej

John Compton
Developer

I Can See Clearly Now

Friday, May 1, 2015

We're now a little over a month away from the release of the Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures, and I'm getting very excited! I can see the set clearly on the horizon, so today let's talk about some of the "clear" figures in the set!

Clear plastic is one of my very favorite "tricks" WizKids pulls to make our figures look incredible. From the elementals and incorporeal undead of past sets to a few knock-outs from Dungeons Deep, these figures always seem to deliver something special.

Here we have the Ochre Jelly, one of the deadliest oozes in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. You definitely don't want to get enveloped by one of these acidic bastards, that's for sure. The Ochre Jelly is a Large, uncommon figure, making it the first Large ooze we've yet created for the line. Best of all, the clear plastic of the Ochre Jelly allows us to take a peek at what he's been eating, as you can clearly see skeletal remains floating around inside him. Or it. I dunno how to sex a jelly.

The Daughter of Urgathoa appears on page 309 of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide hardcover. Clocking in at an imposing CR 8, the Daughter of Urgathoa are monstrous undead creatures "promoted" from Urgathoa's wickedest priestesses at the moment of their death. As the book says, "Even after their transformation into things of pestilence and dead flesh, Daughters of Urgathoa remain social beings who typically surround themselves with fanatical cults." We've already supplied lots of cultists (notably in The Lost Coast), so we thought it high time to add something worth idolizing to the line. The Daughter's diaphanous dress is a chilling blue clear plastic fading up into a dark black skirt. It looks gorgeous.

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and meet the Pickled Punk, a disgusting little creature straight from the pages of Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4! You may not have realized that you need a "deformed, often humanoid fetus raised by necromancers and stored in jars of embalming fluid" until now, but once you get a look at this adorable little rascal, you'll want to adopt him into your campaigns with no time to lose. Although the Pickled Punk is quite small relative to the other figures in the Dungeons Deep set (and especially when compared to the other figures in this week's preview), he is exceptionally gross, and rewards you with some new discovery each time you look at him (not unlike an adorable child). The contours of his skin folds mix with expert inking to create a hideous skin texture I really think you will enjoy. Here's looking at you, kid! The Pickled Punk is a Small, rare figure.

And that's it for this week. Be sure to check back next week for an early look at three more figures from the Dungeons Deep set!

In the meantime, please swing by my donation page for Paizo's team in this year's "The Gauntlet" Seattle area game company charity tournament. This year we're raising money for Hopelink, a great charity that helps homeless families, and your support will help the Paizo team get the edge it needs to retain the Gauntlet trophy, which we won last year. I've added some fun personal "thank-you" rewards to folks who participate, so if you're in a giving mood, please swing by the link and help us out if you can!

Thanks, and we'll see you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher