The encounters in this scenario need some additional review, especially the final one.
Encounter 1:
Spoiler:
The Pangolins are way too beefy for a level 8 creature, having 160 HP, which when combined with the tar ability makes the combat drag on.
Encounter 3:
Spoiler:
Specifically the haunt, with a High Attack and Damage bonus, along with being able to hit everyone at full MAP, and a +26 Stealth bonus, this level 9 hazard can easily TPK a part without them even being able to act. We were only saved by the grace of poor attack rolls and good skill checks, otherwise we would likely have lost in a very anti-climatic way. It reminds me of the old "rocks fall, everyone dies" meme.
I really hope you do more playtesting for the next scenario in this series, as recently it's either been too easy, or insanely difficult.
Pros: The influence NPCs have nice art and their backgrounds and motivations are well fleshed out.
Cons: The Influence subsystem, combats are too easy, there's no motivation to follow the plot.
The influence subsystem is never fun, especially when there's 5 NPCs across 8 rounds. The only scenario I've experienced where it worked was The Blakros Deception, where there was only one NPC to focus on.
There are too many low level enemies, rather than increasing the power of the boss. This isn't to say we should have a APL+3 boss, but fighting 3 +0 enemies is less interesting than a +1 and two -1s. Incapacitate is a trait for a reason, and having bosses at the same level as the PCs make it too easy for them to finish the boss in a single spell. Please consider increasing the difficulty on bosses to make fights more interesting, like they were back in season 2.
The motivation for the party to snoop in the manor just doesn't exist. When a new friend is injured, the party is expected to sneak into a restricted area... why? There's just no reason! The person who's missing isn't suspicious, and there's nothing to signify that they went into the manor. For all the party knows, they could have left the grounds completely. Also, please stop having us loot innocent people. Stealing from the servants should give infamy, not treasure bundles.
Finally, the title of this scenario makes no sense. We go to an auction and stop a heist, the fact that there are crocodiles has absolutely no bearing on the plot. They could have been literally any other creature and the story would have been exactly the same. If the title mentions a creature, I would expect them to be at least somewhat important to the plot.
I was so looking forward to this scenario, but was disappointed. There's very little variety in the types of undead. This is the level range of some really cool creatures, like Graveknights or Zombie Dragons, and instead we just get a bunch of Wights and a few Sulfur Zombies. There was so much potential here, and it was wasted. I only cast Heal once, and it was at Rank 3. I didn't even cast a Rank 6 spell in the final fight, because I thought there would be an actual boss after.
The final fight, while technically a "Severe" encounter, was super easy due to the constant damage the enemies take, and them only being level 12. I was hoping for at least a level 13 creature as the final fight, along side some lower level creatures. For example, a Skeletal Titan would have made for a fantastic final boss, and is especially fitting for a siege on a town. It would have natural resistance to the wildfires it has to push through, so you would only have to give it the same smokesight ability everything else has.
On the topic of the wildfires, it just doesn't make sense that the one pulling the strings, knowing ahead of time that their minions would need to see through smoke, wouldn't have the foresight to also give them Energy Resistance. It makes them seem a lot less intelligent than they are supposed to be, considering the story.
Overall, I was very disappointed in this one. I hope we get more interesting and challenging creatures in the future high level scenarios, as at this level healers have a bunch more spells available, and death is not as big of a deal as it is at lower levels.
