Clegg Zincher
Part 3 of the Return of the Runelords Adventure Path is on its way, and with it, the situation for Varisia in this latest Pathfinder Adventure Path kicks into high gear. Just in case there are potential players of the campaign checking this blog post out, I'll refrain from getting too "spoilery" about things, but one of my favorite parts about this Adventure Path lies in the fact that it's a sequel. This allows us to not only make some assumptions about characters we've established in prior adventures and campaigns, but lets us have old favorites, be they friends or foes, come back to enjoy some time in the limelight one more time. Folks have doubtless already noticed a few familiar faces in the first two adventures, be they Pathfinder agents or Vancaskerkin agents, but with the third adventure, Richard Pett's Runeplague, one of these older NPCs is getting more than a cameo role.
The last time we saw Clegg Zincher, he was having a real bad day on the small isle of Devil's Elbow just south of Riddleport. In Runeplague, we find out that his mis-adventures during the Second Darkness Adventure Path were but the start of a long, downward spiral into trouble. Once a significant mover and shaker in Riddleport's government, Clegg's prior clash with a group of heroes has left him in hard times. Now, as the PCs will learn in this adventure, Clegg's in more trouble than ever, even if he doesn't realize it, and rather than face the PCs in battle he's going to have to rely upon them for salvation!
In Runeplague, though, we don't just go to Riddleport. I challenged Richard Pett with a tall order—"Write me an adventure where the PCs go to all four of the significant cities of Varisia—Magnimar, Riddleport, Korvosa, and Kaer Maga." He knocked it out of the proverbial park, with each of this adventure's four parts having a very distinct feel and theme. All of which builds to a climax that, I suspect, some folks won't see coming!
In closing, I'll leave one more cryptic hint—there's another reason I wanted Richard Pett to write Runeplague. The time was right, after all, for another favorite villain from the past to rise once more!
But I promised to keep the spoilers as light as possible. So let me just close by showing off some cool art from Runeplague!
Preparing for the Crimson Festival
James Jacobs
Creative Director
