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[Moonday, 10 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

After the rebel war council is interrupted by news of trouble along the Avenue of Arms, the Harrowed Heroes decide to rush to the scene. Flying from the Grand Cathedral all the way to the Narrows takes time, however, and by the time they arrive, all Hell has broken loose! Standing near the bizarre assemblage of sculpted arms is a robed figure watching her work joyfully: a rippling hole in the air, through which the infernal landscape of another plane can be seen! And clearly, at least one denizen from Hell has already spotted the opening and come through, as a barbed devil is rampaging up and down the street, murdering civilians so terrorised they can’t even think to flee!

Goldcape drops her companions off a few dozen yards from the chaotic scene and then urges Rocky into action! Levelling a magical lance for the first time, the vanara catches the diabolist by surprise, though, oddly, chips of stone are mixed in with the blood from the resulting wound. Goldcape and Rocky fly past and begin circling around, but instead of giving chase, their foe selects their tightly-bunched allies for a rain of hellfire! Lorien and The Reckoner dodge the worst of the blast, but Yraelzin is lucky to still be standing.

At the same time, at a raucous tavern nearby, Protosilaus sees, through a grimy window, the column of hellfire erupt. Having previously dismissed talk of an irate applicant to the Order of the Nail as involving a bland carpentry dispute, the half-orc realises something exciting is happening! He teleports himself to a rooftop overlooking the scene, but slips off and tumbles to the ground below. The cause of the disturbance shouts “All will rue the day Janeska Hount mastered the infernal legions!” and begins casting a spell to disintegrate Protosilaus, but the diabolist doesn’t realise that The Reckoner has snuck up to her under the cover of an invisibility spell! A massive blow from his battle-maul leaves Hount reeling and her magic dissipated. Anger alights in Protosilaus’ eyes at his near-death experience, and he responds with a spell impossible to counter, encasing Hount in an icy tomb! The Reckoner promptly shatters it, however, to continue his attacks, giving the diabolist the opportunity to teleport away.

Nearby, Goldcape has wheeled Rocky around for a charge on the barbed devil, only to find herself yanked off her winged steed by the cunning foe. The devil wraps Goldcape in a spiny bearhug of pain, shaking the vanara about like a ragdoll! Lorien and Rocky try to rescue her, but the former’s arrows and the latter’s talons barely penetrate the devil’s skin. Fortunately, just as Goldcape, nearly dead from the experience, manages to slip free, Yraelzin arrives and successfully banishes the devil back to Hell.

Yet, the hazy portal that originally allowed it to enter remains. Protosilaus examines it and concludes that it’s deeply unstable--indeed, an attempt to close it might even make matters worse! But Yraelzin insists it can’t be left in the middle of Korvosa. After much discussion and several precautions, Protosilaus casts a spell to negate the portal’s magic, and it works! The portal folds in on itself and disappears completely. Not long after, a contingent of guards from House Arkona arrive, explaining that they were delayed on the way. Goldcape, annoyed at their obvious cowardice, shoos them away.

With the immediate danger passed, the time has come to plan an infiltration into Castle Korvosa. Goldcape flies back to the Grand Cathedral to pick up the maps that Sabina promised. Meanwhile, The Reckoner checks to see if his informant in House Arkona, the dandasuka named Xoza, has responded to his signal--but there’s no sign of the pint-size spy. Everyone assembles at The Reckoner’s safehouse for a planning session sure to go long into the night. Many ideas are proposed and rejected: using the secret passage into the armory, teleporting straight to the throne room, using magic to pass in cloud-like form through an arrow slit, and more. Yraelzin even raises the idea of capturing Ileosa alive so she can stand trial, but that notion is quickly shot down by the others. Eventually, a consensus begins to coalesce around a plan: flying slowly and invisibly with gaseous form onto the balcony of the fourth floor, sneaking into the salon, using a powerful spell called passwall to tunnel through the stone floor, and dropping down right into the wicked queen’s boudoir! But preparations are also made for several night’s magical surveillance to learn Ileosa’s schedule to ensure she’ll be in that room when the assassination attempt is made.

The Harrowed Heroes have embarked on what may be the final and most dangerous of all their efforts to save Korvosa to date, and the hopes of thousands rest on their shoulders.

The encounter this session was "Speak of the Devil", the bonus encounter for Chapter Six of Curse of the Crimson Throne from the Pathfinder Runescars comics. Reading this recap, I did better than I remembered at delivering the exposition as to why the devil conjurer was so angry. I'm glad I got a chance to integrate the Avenue of Arms, one of those weird but memorable features of Korvosa that stretch back to Thassilonian times.

Goldcape managed the classic double-damage by using a lance in a mounted charge, which was very cool. The PC was built to do lots of different things instead of being ultra-specialised, and didn't always get an opportunity to showcase some of these aspects of her build. My "stony flakes mixed with blood" is of course how I would subtly/not-so-subtly reveal a stoneskin was in place.

The Reckoner landing an (invisible) attack of opportunity to disrupt the conjurer's disintegrate was pretty awesome.

Protosilaus responded with an ice tomb witch hex; I don't remember the details of exactly why, but it's one of those abilities that can be pretty OP when combined with something else.

Yraelzin got a moment of awesomeness as well, saving Goldcape at the last minute with a very handy dismissal.

I've mentioned before that I always like sessions where the PCs have an extended in-character discussion about planning and tactics. Here, they came up with a pretty good plan for getting quickly into Castle Korvosa.

Secure in The Reckoner’s safehouse, the Harrowed Heroes plan long into the night.

[Toilday, 11 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

The ringing of handbells in the street outside wakens everyone at dawn. Goldcape sneaks out, invisibly, to see what all the clanging is about and learns it’s a horse-drawn cart to collect the bodies of those killed overnight by the terrible blood magic curse still striking down victims across the city! Sadly, Mifeg—the homeless woman the group had some contact with months ago—is one of the deceased. Goldcape returns to fill the others in on what she’s seen. But although bodies may continue to accumulate as long as Ileosa lives, the group agree to plan their strike on Castle Korvosa carefully instead of acting rashly.

Goldcape decides to walk to Old Korvosa to check on Sergeant Clenkins and the other members of the rebel cell she organised there. The vanara is recognised by friendly House Arkona soldiers at the bridge and waved across. Although the perpetual gloom of the nearby Black Tower puts a damper on things, she’s surprised to see how much the city’s most notorious slums have improved in recent weeks! Rubbish has been hauled away, no gangs roam the street, and there’s even early signs of new construction. But curiously, her rebel cell is nowhere to be found. There’s no sign of violence or disorder in the abandoned building, but it looks like everything other than Goldcape’s personal gear has been packed up and moved out.

She decides to learn the rebels’ fate by directly asking the most important man in Old Korvosa: Glorio Arkona himself! In Arkona Palace, after having her identity confirmed through a quiz from Glorio’s majordomo (apparently shapechanging assassins are a risk), Goldcape is immediately brought to meet the artistocrat in a well-appointed salon. Glorio is welcoming and flattering, and explains that Sergeant Clenkins and his troops found it “unnecessary” to maintain their protection of the Black Tower after the forces of House Arkona arrived. Instead, Glorio explains, they’ve joined the siege of Castle Korvosa. Along with refreshments and a gift of platinum coins, Glorio hints that, should he become leader of post-war Korvosa, he would offer her a major position of responsibility: Commandant of the Sable Company Marines!

After leaving the palace, Goldcape realises she’s near Vencarlo Orisini’s old fencing academy and decides to pay a visit to her mentor. The two speak carefully in case spies for the Queen are listening in, but Goldcape subtly confirms that the mission to Scarwall was a success while Vencarlo talks about rebuilding the academy with the aid of a wealthy student. He welcomes Goldcape to stop by for lessons anytime. Goldcape says her farewells and makes it back to The Reckoner’s safehouse in the early afternoon.

Meanwhile, Protosilaus and The Reckoner haven’t been sitting idle! Leaving Lorien and Yraelzin behind, the two walk to a particular alleyway not far from the safehouse to meet with one of The Reckoner’s informants. In this case, that informant is Xoza, a dandasuka in the employ of House Arkona who is magically-bound to spy for The Reckoner! Xoza reports progress on the three tasks assigned to him by The Reckoner before the Harrowed Heroes left the city for Scarwall. First, Xoza reports a (not-so-stunning) revelation: the vigilante Trifaccia was an efreeti agent of The Queen! Given that Grau Soldado took care of that problem some time ago, the information is now of little value. Second, Xoza was charged with learning what House Arkona was planning, and again the little spy has information that may be too late to be of much value: the aristocratic family has entered into an alliance with the queen of the xill from the Black Tower. In exchange for military support, House Arkona lets the xill implant their spawn in the bodies of captured Ileosan loyalists! Third, Xoza says his third task (to find out Glorio Arkona’s weaknesses) faltered due to the man’s security and that, as far as he knows, Glorio is just a human. But The Reckoner gets a hunch that Xoza has doubts about that, and presses him to reveal not just what he knows, but what he suspects: that Glorio is a rakshasa! Xoza doesn’t seem able to articulate exactly what that means or what the differences are between different kinds of rakshasa, but insists the only weakness of a “true rakshasa” is a blessed crossbow bolt. The Reckoner asks Xoza to next look into finding information about the Queen and her new seneschal, the bloodmage Togomor.

But as Protosilaus and The Reckoner leave the alleyway, they hear angry shouting nearby to the south. It seems that the rebel forces loyal to Kroft (the “New Korvosan Guard”) and the forces loyal to Glorio Arkona (his enlarged “Palace Guards”) are pushing, shoving, and yelling. And watching ominously, just behind the Arkonan side, are a contingent of the four-armed, flame-red insect-like xill, surely ready to intervene with lethal force at the least invitation! The Reckoner pulls the leaders of the two sides away from each other and learns that they’re arguing about a boundary dispute stemming from an ambiguously-drawn map. He’s able to calm the situation enough that the leader of the Arkonan forces agrees to return to the palace and verify the map with the majordomo. On the walk back to the safehouse, The Reckoner says that immediately after taking out Ileosa, they should go after Glorio Arkona! Protosilaus grins disturbingly at the notion, and The Reckoner continues by explaining that they can’t give the man any chance to seize power, and that allowing the xill to implant their eggs in captured loyalists is surely a sign he’s evil. Protosilaus shrugs and replies, “or just pragmatic."

Once everyone is back together, they plan their next steps: Yraelzin and Goldcape will visit Jeggare Library to check the castle blueprints (stashed there long ago by Goldcape) against the maps provided by Sabina to see if the latter are indeed accurate; meanwhile, Protosilaus and The Reckoner will do some long-range reconnaissance on the castle to determine if their current plan for entry is viable.

The research part of the plan goes off without a hitch, as the blueprints are exactly where Goldcape left them (in the “Fungi of the Mwangi Expanse” shelf) and, after an afternoon’s comparison, seem to support Sabina’s veracity. On the way back from the library, Yraelzin and Goldcape run into a strike organised by the city’s dockworkers. Seizing on a rare opportunity provided by the rebellion (trade unionism is illegal in Korvosa), the dockworkers are threatening to stop unloading grain shipments for the rebels unless they’re guaranteed bargaining rights in whatever regime follows Ileosa’s! Goldcape tries to explain to the strike’s apparent leader just how important the grain shipments are, but has no luck, even when she name-drops The Reckoner (it seems like Blackjack is the “people’s champion” to this particular dockworker). Eventually, Goldcape sends a message to the rebels camped around Castle Korvosa about the situation, and their commander, Sir Gyrad Tolgrith, comes himself! Tolgrith’s reputation precedes him, and, after Goldcape explains the situation, he’s able to give the needed assurances to get the ships unloaded. Interestingly, the well-respected leader pointedly refused to answer Goldcape’s question about which of the three rebel faction leaders he supports.

The surveillance part of the plan also provides valuable intelligence. Protosilaus conjures a magical invisible flying eye that he can somehow see through, and sends it on multiple journeys in and around the castle. The witch-doctor learns that the group’s originally-planned incursion site (a salon on the fourth floor) is the barracks for a contingent of Red Mantis assassins—one of whom spots the eye and sounds the alarm so another can dispel it! But Protosilaus always has another spell, and is able to conjure more eyes to continue the reconnaissance. He’s unable to see into the throne room or the queen’s bedroom due to the stained-glass windows, but is able to discern the shape of . . . something . . . in the latter. A look into the armory and Sabina’s room doesn’t provide confirmation that there really are secret doors as Sabina said, but the sight of a corpulent imp raiding the kitchen and barbed monsters in the mess hall support her story about Ileosa consorting with devils.

Still, the crucial question remains: has Sabina provided the group with everything they need for a surgical assault or instead simply set the bait for an irresistible trap?

One of the areas that a GM in a campaign like this really has to exercise judgement on is the control of information. I like it when PCs are smart and plan ahead with things like reconnaisaince, the recruitment of spies, divination magic, and so forth. But it can be challenging to decide what their efforts should yield. There's a balance between not giving them enough (leading to discouragement--"that was a waste of time, I guess we're supposed to just attack") and giving them too much ("hey guys, here's the adventure with room key and encounters, just read it yourselves"). A couple examples where I had to exercise that judgment came in this session, with Xoza (a player-favourite NPC) who had been spying on Arkona for weeks and the magical floating eyes used by Protosilaus to check out Castle Korvosa.

Sir Tolgrith is an NPC from the 3.5-era module Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. Bloodsworn Vale is an important aspect of Korvosa's history, and although Tolgrith isn't mentioned in Curse of the Crimson Throne, I thought it would make sense (and be fun) to include him in a cameo role since the module had been completed by a group of PCs in my Magic Mirror/Roots of Golarion campaign.

[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

For 800 years, Castle Scarwall has stood unchanging as a forlorn, haunted reminder of the cruelty of one would-be tyrant and the doomed fates of those who finally ended his reign of terror. For the orc tribes of the Hold of Belkzen, Scarwall has always been taboo—a place forbidden, generation after generation, long after the memories that explained its curse faded away. But the Deadwatcher tribe has always guarded Scarwall—from what could come out and from those who would foolishly enter—as part of a great ancestral legacy. The Deadwatchers paint their faces white to honour the legend of their ancestors’ flight from Scarwall, a flight said to have turned their flesh white from the shock. But a time of great change is about to come to Scarwall, and only one member of the Deadwatcher tribe has had premonitions of the cataclysm soon to unfold. Protosilaus, much-derided half-blood witch-doctor of the Deadwatchers, has seen a future of life outside the stifling responsibilities of tribal membership. A future of travel and excitement, a future of fun and frivolity, and, oddly enough, a future involving a golden monkey flying on a bird!

For Goldcape, the journey from Ilsurian back to Scarwall has been a grueling one that has tested even Rocky’s vaunted endurance. As the two finally crest the volcano and see the crater lake below, Scarwall looks the same as before—a fog-shrouded, imposing castle that seems bathed in perpetual gloom. As she prepares to take Rocky down, the roc suddenly banks and heads toward the ruined barbican on the shores of the crater lake—a barbican known to be infested by orcs! For Rocky is no longer flying under his own, or Goldcape’s command—he’s been magically compelled by Protosilaus! For Goldcape, seeing a skinny half-orc clad in rags is no reason to let down her guard. “Tell me who you are and what your weaknesses are so I can kill you!” the vanaran shouts. Protosilaus laughs uproariously and explains his visions of a new future while promising friendship. He says the rest of his tribe haven’t returned from a hunting expedition yet, and now is the time for him to escape for a new life.

But fate has decreed that escape will not be that easy. Shouts indicate the rest of the Deadwatchers have just returned to the barbican, and as their words are carried on the wind, a small tremor causes ripples in the normally calm lake. And then, as if it has suddenly exhaled its final breath and died, Castle Scarwall implodes! A massive cloud of dust, trapped for centuries, is released into the sky as thousands of tons of stone collapse into a pile of rubble. For the curse of Castle Scarwall has, at last, been broken! And floating in the air above the debris are three members of the legendary Harrowed Heroes—Lorien, Yraelzin, and The Reckoner--along with the body of a fourth, their fallen dwarf magus, Anorak.

For Ury Sevenskulls, chief of the Deadwatchers, the twin sights of his hated witch-doctor speaking to a well-dressed foreigner (and a monkey at that!) along with the collapse of the tribe’s sacred charge become inextricably linked. With an enraged battle cry, Sevenskulls orders the rest of the Deadwatchers to kill Protosilaus. But the focus of their outrage isn’t afraid. “I foresaw this, you idiots! I alone foresaw this! And I shall suffer your ignorance no more!” With an invocation of occult power, the cloud of dust over the ruins of Scarwall is drawn around him and Goldcape, obscuring them from sight of the orcs. Arrows begin flying and two graze Protosilaus, leaving Goldcape in a quandary of whether to trust this bizarre stranger. She makes her decision and offers the half-orc a hand to climb onto Rocky’s back, and together they fly to the pile of rubble to join the others, leaving the Deadwatchers to fume impotently on the shore.

Once reunited, Goldcape relates what happened at the summit in Ilsurian—how a military alliance between Varisia’s independent city-states has been formed to try to repel the wizard of the north’s army of giants, and how Rolth Lamm made an appearance only to escape again. Yraelzin quickly summarises how the curse of Scarwall was broken, and that Anorak died bravely. Protosilaus hears for the first time about the evil Queen of Korvosa, and how breaking the curse of Scarwall has finally made her vulnerable to attack. He offers to teleport the group there, but explains he needs to know what a particular location in the city looks like in order to make the magic work. Perhaps surprisingly, The Reckoner agrees to allow the newcomer to magically access one of his memories of Korvosa to facilitate the plan.

Meanwhile, Goldcape leads Yraelzin aside and says that if anything happens to her, she wants him to take up the mantle of Blackjack and train with Vencarlo Orisini. The former Razmiran is honoured, but says he couldn’t imagine himself running around on rooftops, dueling with a rapier, or catching criminals. He does promise, however, that he’ll either bring Goldcape back to life or work with Vencarlo to find a worthy successor. Touched by the trust Goldcape has shown in him, Yraelzin admits he’s not really a cleric! He says he could always do some magic, and sometimes secretly used wands to cast spells. He explains that the Church of Razmir booked him passage on a ship out of the country because he never really fit in with their training, and that they were trying to get rid of him. But when Goldcape hears about the strange apparition following him around, dressed like an ancient Azlanti, she makes a startling speculation: perhaps that’s one of Yraelzin’s ancestors! He’s startled by the idea at first, but then realises it could make sense—after all, a family heirloom (a ring) that he wears is said to be an artifact of that lost empire. But further discoveries have to wait, as the others are ready for the magical journey back to Korvosa.

Protosilaus is as good as his word, and succeeds in teleporting everyone just where The Reckoner told him: outside the Grand Cathedral of Pharasma in the city’s Gray District. The imposing black-marble building looks as much a fortress as a temple but is still a relief to see after days spent trapped inside the perpetual gloom of Scarwall. The Reckoner divulges his secret identity to Lorien and Protosilaus by changing to his alter ego of Ralph Blackfeather. While Goldcape goes off to collect information about what’s happening in the city, the others are (after some difficulty with security precautions) admitted inside. They’re soon led to a large embalming chamber filled with stone slabs that has been turned into a temporary hospital for those injured in the rebellion. Bishop Keppira d’Bear is there, tending to an unconscious Field Marshal Kroft. Ralph is circumspect with his words, but confirms that the job is done and that the final task can now be accomplished. Bishop d’Bear gives him a knowing nod, and says that Field Marshal Kroft has been placed under magical sleep to recover from grievous wounds—it seems she slew a dragon! d’Bear says she’ll awaken Kroft in the morning for a Council of War with the other rebel factions. She remarks, as an aside, that she’s never seen Yraelzin without his mask before, and the two engage in what the others see as flirting. Fittingly, the visitors decide to leave Anorak’s body in a temple devoted to The Lady of Graves.

Meanwhile, Goldcape (disguised as a human woman) passes through the gate out of the high walls of the Gray District and into the city proper. There, she can see smoke rising from the direction of Castle Korvosa—campfires of the rebel army that has surrounded it. And although it’s broad daylight, a darkness in the distance is surely the magical gloom of the Black Tower covering much of Trail’s End and even Old Korvosa in shadow. From gossip on the streets, she learns that House Arkona was instrumental in cleansing the streets of Gray Maidens, but that its methods trouble many: an army of insect-like monsters! Goldcape returns to the Grand Cathedral and tries to gain entry, but is refused by a particularly obnoxious elven priestess.

Fortunately, it’s not long until the others emerge to share information. Plans are made to learn more about the state of the city. Goldcape and Ralph discreetly talk about Blackjack and The Reckoner making a joint appearance that night to embolden the resistance. A visit for supplies to Phaeton Skoda’s shop Hedge Wizardry reveals that business is booming, with a line stretching out of the door! It is possible Korvosa has become better off in the absence of the Harrowed Heroes?

This was first session of the final chapter of the adventure path, and a lot happens. First, we get the introduction of Protosilaus, the new character run by Anorak's player. Protosilaus was a witch, and the player chose some pretty OP abilities. They ended up being manageable, but I was more concerned that the character wasn't really role-played as an orc, a Deadwatcher, or a non-Korvosan. I like to see function and form fit together! Second, Goldcape rejoins the main group as her player returns to that side of the gaming table after having been Assistant GM through the previous chapter. It was great to have one of the original PCs back in the group again. Third, we get the big "official" reveal that Yraelzin isn't actually a cleric at all! Instead, he's a sorcerer with the Razmiran Priest archetype. In addition, we get some insight into why the ghostly Azlanti has started appearing sometimes (a manifestation of his Vestige bloodline's Call Ancestor ability). And last, we have the PCs return to Korvosa for the first time in a long-time. As always, I try to keep off-screen events dynamic to reinforce the notion that the whole world doesn't resolve around the PCs. So, for example, I had Castle Korvosa under siege by the three rebel armies and had Field Marshall Kroft responsible for slaying the dragon Zarmangarof.

[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

Somewhere in the depths of Castle Scarwall, the Harrowed Heroes find themselves face to face with flaming, ghoulish apparitions of ash and smoke! The Reckoner destroys three of the monsters in short order, but a fourth slips past him and charges Yraelzin! Lorien slashes at the creature and slows it down just enough for Yraelzin to finish it off with a magical spray of razor-sharp shards of ice.

The trio continue searching the first floor of the haunted fortress for any signs of the dragon they believe is the fourth and final spirit anchor that binds the chained spirit and keeps the curse from being lifted. Unlike the slow and careful, room-by-room searches of previous days, this time the group moves speedily, throwing open doors and moving on quickly. Lorien makes sure The Reckoner doesn’t dawdle, and Yraelzin expresses his full support for the new approach. Still, the group can’t help but ruminate over some of their curious findings, such as an Orcish message scratched into a wall that reads “Ukwar Lives—We Die!” Yraelzin relates that, while in Urglin preparing to come to Scarwall, he learned of a small tribes of orcs called the Deadwatchers that see it as their duty to stand watch over the castle. Ukwar was an ancient chieftain of the Deadwatchers. As the group explore, discussion is also had about the group’s fallen member--Anorak. The decision is made to try to bring him back to life, and Yraelzin successfully reads a magical scroll to do so. He starts to fill the confused, newly-alive dwarf in on everything that’s happened since the fatal battle against the banshee but The Reckoner interrupts to hurry the group along--his magical protections dwindle with every minute!

The explorers decide to try some of the rooms off the castle’s interior courtyard. One room, an old livery, contains thick swaths of shadowy cobwebs that turn out to hide monstrously-sized pallid caterpillars! Anorak, bereft of spellcasting powers since his revival, decides to charge into the midst of the foes armed only with a borrowed battleaxe! The worms’ bites drip with acid that converts the dwarf’s flesh into shadowstuff! Quickly overwhelmed, he goes down and only Yraelzin’s stabilising magic keeps him alive. The Reckoner and Lorien are able to dispatch the beasts, and the latter is also able to heal some of the dwarf’s wounds. The Reckoner uses a wand for further healing, observing that its magical power is almost depleted. Time, it seems, is not in the Harrowed Heroes’ favour!

Soon, the group enter a large chamber, perhaps once a stable or kennel, that has been gutted. Wooden partitions that may have been stalls lie shattered and burned, leaving only divots in the walls, floor, ceiling, and a few stone support pillars. The floor is a tangle of broken beams, dung heaps crawling with vermin, and the occasional gleam of polished bone. The whole chamber is shadowy and dim, the darkness an almost palpable thing. Dead, on the floor, is the body of Laori Vaus. Here, the Harrowed Heroes find what they’ve been searching for: a massive but sleek, dark-winged serpent moving with speed and grace: an umbral dragon! The resulting battle will be remembered only as a blur of fangs, magic, and flashing blades, because the epic aftermath blocks out all else: with the dragon’s destruction, the floor of the chamber collapses! Anorak’s foot gets stuck in debris as he tries to flee with the others, and when the ceiling caves in, the dwarf is crushed to death! The curse of Scarwall is no mere legend, and the dreadful fate of all who enter is hard to escape.

The final battle against the chained spirit is a mere footnote, as The Reckoner dispatches it easily. When the tremors begin again and the entire castle beings collapsing, it’s almost as if Anorak’s spirit shows his allies what to do. Lorien’s windwalking magic allows the three heroes to survive a cataclysm that buries Anorak’s body, nightmares uncountable, and, finally, the curse of Castle Scarwall forever.

And with the connection between Scarwall and Ileosa’s Crown of Fangs broken, the Tyrant Queen of Korvosa has become vulnerable.

The end has begun.

This was the last session of Chapter Five, and a lot happened in it. Moving quickly because of The Reckoner's predilection for having constant protection from short-duration, wand-cast buffs, the group expended some precious resources to bring Anorak back from the dead (he was killed by a banshee a session or two previously). It was then the other players and myself realized that Anorak's player was secretly intent on bringing in a new PC, and so started having Anorak do more and more reckless things. After another combat left him in negative hit points and he was healed up, he then died in a later combat in this same session. It's a frustrating thing for the other players when they're working very hard to keep a party member alive and that player has a new shiny toy he's obsessed with and doesn't really care about the current one.

I don't honestly remember much about the battle with the shadow dragon. From reading the forums online, I know Laori Vaus became a lot of groups' favourite NPC--but she only really appeared in a couple of sessions in mine (since The Reckoner turned down the alliance when the PCs first arrived at Scarwall) and she entered Scarwall alone to try to find Serithtial (with random rolls determining her fate inside). It's another good reminder that you just never know what to expect when running an AP.

I added the collapsing building climax. It was something I remembered vividly as a kid the first time I defeated the big bad in Ultima III and was shocked to realise I had to escape his castle as it started to collapse all around me. I know the "building falls down when evil is destroyed" is something of a cliche, but I thought it would still be dramatic here and would make a clean ending to Chapter Five and set up Chapter Six nicely.

[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

The battle against Castle Scarwall’s third spirit anchor begins! Having gleaned from the song of the Sun Shaman that a powerful devil resides in one of the fortress’s towers, the Harrowed Heroes smash their way into the central spire. There, they find a tall, hollow tower, silent and menacing. Forty feet above, an opening at the tower’s peak lets in faint light, while at the bottom of the tower is a shallow pool of stagnant water, a wide bed swathed in rotten and moldy blankets, and a large gilt throne. To Lorien, the tower reeks from the presence of foul and abhorrent evils, though no creatures are visible. He and The Reckoner move inside cautiously, only to be set upon instantly by a pair of bony, nine-foot-tall scorpion-tailed devils emerging from nowhere! And to make matters worse, the beating of wings and whisper of a blade slicing through the air alert The Reckoner that another monster is hovering just above him, invisible!

“I’ve been watching you, little manling!” cackles the voice from above. “Little manling loves his toys—will he pout if they’re taken away?” A moment later, one of The Reckoner’s orbiting ioun stones is shattered into pieces! But the masked warrior focuses on a visible foe, and shatters one of the bone devils into dust with his hammer. From the doorway, Yraelzin calls out “I’ve been waiting to try this!” and briefly opens a portal to Hell itself that pulls the other bone devil through! Frustrated by The Reckoner’s layered defenses, the true danger in the room, still invisible, uses devilish magic to draw the moisture from the Harrowed Heroes flesh, nearly dropping Yraelzin. The arrival of several imps harry the former priest of Razmir and keep Lorien distracted, but The Reckoner stays focussed and somehow avoids being trapped in a cage of magical force.

Using his mask of the mantis, The Reckoner sees beyond the visible spectrum and spots his foe: a twisted, contorted humanoid with as much iron as flesh to her body, flapping batlike wings, and holding a brutal glowing scythe. Swooping and diving, the devil tries to destroy The Reckoner’s vast array of magical items, but can’t land a single blow! For his part, the vigilante has his enchanted armor lend him the power of flight to take the battle into the air. The outcome is never in doubt, and soon the devil is destroyed. A keening wail from somewhere in the castle confirms that another spirit anchor has been destroyed—as does the tower almost collapsing on the Harrowed Heroes! Lorien and Yraelzin barely survive. After extricating themselves from the rubble, the victors reap the spoils by recovering thousands and thousands of coins hidden under the bed, as well as a vast array of jewellery and precious artworks--so much treasure, in fact, that after hours of sorting much has to be left behind!

A return to the chamber where Anorak’s body lays shows that it fortunately remains unaffected by the curse of Scarwall. Discussion is had whether to rest for the night or continue on, with Plate and Lorien swaying the other two into starting an immediate search for the fourth and final spirit anchor. Despite having spent a week in Scarwall, the Harrowed Heroes discover many unexplored chambers: an elegant, well-preserved room with valuable bottles of wine, an abandoned workshop rigged to pull the corks out of bottles if the main doors to it were opened, a hallway that leads nowhere, and more. One room contains perhaps the strangest sight of all: a battered and nervous-looking halfling trapped in a net hanging from the walls! She pleads for help, claiming that a witch kidnapped her from the forest nearby and will be back soon. The lies are blatant and transparent, however, and the group starts to leave before the halfling changes her story. She says she can direct the group to the last spirit anchor if they’ll take her with them; but The Reckoner replies that they don’t need any help, and shuts the door with finality.

The Reckoner hammers a hole in an interior wall to reach a small room with rotting scrolls on a desk and a rusty iron footlocker near a bed. He starts fiddling with it before Lorien reminds him the group is looking for a dragon, not valuables, and should continue on. “Focus!” the half-orc says. A nearby guardroom looks out over the tarn and contains a dead orc inside; Lorien is able to read the Orcish message written in blood on the wall: “Beware of Ukwar”. With a shrug, the group continue on.

In the long hallway that runs adjacent to the courtyard, the trio spot some doors they hadn’t previously opened. The first one they breach reveals what must have been the castle kitchen: three huge ovens loom to the west of the room, each covered in layers of char and bits of blackened bone. Four outlines of humanoids in positions of agony and death are burned into the brick of the oven walls. After rubbing himself with magical Shoanti war point from the Cinderlands, The Reckoner proceeds into the room. He resists a spectral apparition of the ovens opening and filling the room with flames, but what happens next is very real: the four outlines on the wall suddenly peel away and ignite into horrifying monstrous clouds of burning ash and bone, reeking of scorched flesh and roaring like a wind-stoked fire!

The invisible foe with the scythe and a predilection for sundering magical items had a little luck at first, but then The Reckoner's high CMD helped him avoid more loss. When fully ready for a battle, he made for a pretty impressive combatant!

Yraelzin managed to use banish or dismissal (I can't remember witch) against one of the devils; a handy spell when it works.

If I remember right, the "halfling" was a hag of some type in disguise. It didn't fool the PCs for a single moment.

The last, fiery creature are custom Curse of the Crimson Throne monsters called Cinder Ghouls. Through the vagaries of exploration, the PCs ended up in one of the less dangerous areas of the of the castle near the end of their time there. Perhaps a bit anticlimactic, but that's how things turn out sometimes in a free-form adventure.

[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

Poised on the top of Castle Scarwall’s War Tower, a trio of brave explorers are preparing to magically fly across to the keep’s central tower. But before they can depart, a cry rings out from below in the unmistakeably shrill voice of Eldritch, Anorak’s familiar: “My master, my master awakens!” The vast, echoing corridors of the castle make it difficult for those on top of the tower to pinpoint the source of the shouting, but eventually they locate Eldritch on the opposite side of the smashed entrance to the castle’s donjon. Anorak is there, and no longer stone!

But there’s no time for explanations: The Reckoner is in a hurry to track down and destroy another spirit anchor before his protective magics wear off, and he shouts for the dwarf and his reptilian/birdlike familiar to hurry up. The two know that leaving the donjon will subject them to a protective ward designed to keep all but the purest of souls trapped within, but there seems to be no choice and they brave the doorway. The pain is intense for Anorak, but the dwarf survives. Unfortunately, Eldritch’s frail frame is wracked by an intense burst of magical energy and he’s killed instantly, falling to the ground, his body a smoking corpse. Anorak screams and goes white. But in a world of magic, death is not always the end, and so the dwarf wraps Eldritch’s body in spare clothes and places it on a newly-summoned floating disk of magical force.

Leading the group on toward the War Tower again, The Reckoner explains to Anorak what happened while the dwarf was turned to stone from the curse of Zev Ravenka. The vigilante says they’re about to fly over to the castle’s central tower where they think the devil referred to in the Sun Shaman’s song must dwell. Anorak worries that his reserves of magical energy are low, and says he should rest to regain his strength. The Reckoner replies that dozens in Korvosa are dying everyday due to dark blood magic, and that if they don’t hurry, the demilich they just destroyed could reform.

Once at the top of the War Tower, Lorien’s key role becomes apparent. With a brief prayer to Cayden Cailean, the war-priest grips the strand of prayer beads rescued from the unholy altar in the shrine of Zon-Kuthon below. Suddenly, he, The Reckoner, and Yraelzin begin to float into the air, their bodies becoming as insubstantial as mist. Anorak, preferring a more traditional flying spell, launches into the air to keep pace with them as the group start to float across the hundred feet and more that separate the two towers.

But then, disaster strikes! Emerging from a cupola partway up the tower, a ghostly elven woman, her face contorted with rage, points a spectral finger at Lorien and flies out to attack! Immediately recognising the foe as a banshee of a nature similar to the one that gave him a near-death experience in the Black Tower in Korvosa, The Reckoner prepares to swing his hammer before realising something even worse: in his insubstantial state, there’s no way for him to fight! He calls for a retreat and begins to fly back to the War Tower to begin the process of transitioning from immaterial to physical form. Meanwhile, the banshee must have a particular hatred for orcs and half-orcs, or perhaps worshippers of goodly gods, and it initially focuses all of its anger on Lorien. Fortunately, the warrior-priest had the foresight to put up a protective ward against attacks from certain undead creatures, and the banshee is unable to harm him. Nonetheless, Lorien also can’t fight or cast spells, and flies away in the hopes of escaping. Yraelzin does the same.

That leaves Anorak as the sole combatant to face down the dreadful foe, and the dwarf goes to it with relish, combining his dwarven waraxe with a powerful burst of electricity to weaken the banshee. But when the undead plunges its hand into the dwarf’s chest, he’s not protected by the same abjuration as Lorien and finds his very lifeforce draining away! The dwarf fights on valiantly, but what he told The Reckoner earlier seals his fate: he has little magic left to combat such a dire threat! Supernatural fear overcomes Anorak and he drops his axe in terror before instinctively trying to flee. But the banshee’s rage is not appeased by mere fear—she seeks death, and finds it by plunging another ghostly hand into Anorak’s heart. Killed instantly, the dwarf’s body plummets to the ground, crashing into the roof of the guest wing far below.

Regrouping inside the War Tower, the stunned survivors decide to recover Anorak’s body and see if they can find a way to the base of the central tower from inside the keep so as to avoid the banshee’s wrath. By staying low and in the shadows of the ever-present gloom, the survivors are able to recover Anorak’s body. They retreat to an inner chamber near the War Tower where they’ve often camped during their time in Scarwall and place Anorak’s body respectfully on a table. With few options other than to press on and complete the task of breaking the link between Scarwall and Ileosa’s crown as quickly as possible, the survivors set out to find the lower entrance to the central tower.

The Reckoner’s keen insight into architectural design allows him to traverse the maze of passageways and chambers of Scarwall relatively quickly in order to get near where the entrance to the central tower should be. A careful search of nearby areas finds multiple balconies, a portrait room that fills The Reckoner with sudden anger so that he destroys all of them, a damp old library, and more. When The Reckoner puts his ear to a door and hears movement on the other side, suspicion that the group is getting closer to their target grows. Bursting into the room, the survivors see a sparsely furnished guardroom with a bonze gong hanging above the table. A pair of devilish creatures, bristling with barbs, are surprised by the attack and quickly fall before The Reckoner’s hammer.

The way forward now seems clear, and Hell itself might tremble at the vengeance of the Harrowed Heroes!

One of the things I've talked a lot about in these recaps is not forgetting about giving personalities to animal companions and familiars. I had a lot of fun role-playing Eldritch's paranoid homicidal tendencies. Alas, the forbiddance/repulsion effect just inflicted too much damage for the familiar--a risk of a lot of area effect/field type spells that GMs often forget about in higher level play.

Windwalk is one of those spells that seems super awesome until you stop and read the details carefully. The time it takes to transition between the gaseous state (where you can be hurt but can't fight effectively) and a solid state is a real vulnerability, as the PCs found out in this session.

The sense of the rest of us at the table was that Anorak's death was essentially self-inflicted, as he had plenty of opportunities to escape and fought (uncharacteristically) to the death. It happens sometimes that a player wants to introduce a new PC and effective has their current PC commit suicide, but I hate to see it as I think it undermines character progression and the import of genuine loss that should accompany the death of a PC.

While most of the Harrowed Heroes brave the gloomy depths of Castle Scarwall, a fourth member of the group continues on an equally important mission: cementing an alliance of Varisian city-states to repel a Runelord-led giant army. In Ilsurian, Sheriff Feldane gives Goldcape an update on the situation. It seems the delegates to the summit refuse to sign the alliance agreement until they’re sure one of their own isn’t responsible for placing the demon-summoning pentagram under the bargaining table. Feldane explains that the true culprit needs to be found, immediately. She introduces Goldcape to two private “troubleshooters” she’s hired to assist with the investigation—a pale half-elf named Seltyiel and a professional investigator named Quinn. Quinn reports that he’s already made some progress: the pentagram could only have been placed by an experienced specialist in things arcane, not merely copied by an amateur or a dupe. Seltyiel adds that the summit delegates and their security staff check out—it probably wasn’t an inside job.

Before releasing the trio to continue the investigation, Feldane adds one last, startling thing: a masked man calling himself Blackjack apparently claimed responsibility for the pentagram last night at the Two Waters Tavern! She hands over a dagger recovered from the tavern that has a crude “B” etched in the pommel. Quinn smells a hint of brimstone on the dagger, which might indeed tie it to whomever placed the pentagram in the meeting room. Goldcape, herself having taken over the mantle of Blackjack from Vencarlo Orisini, knows immediately that the dagger is a fake—but she can’t share how she knows with the others!

Leaving Sheriff Feldane to continue overseeing security for the delegates, the three investigators start with the only real lead they have: the Two Waters Tavern. There, the owner of the establishment, Noria Arephion, excitedly relates the dramatic tale of what happened the previous night. It was late in the evening, she says, and the call for last orders had just gone round, when suddenly a man clad in all black crashed through a window and landed on a table! He hurled a dagger into the bar and proclaimed something about how he sabotaged the summit to keep the secret cabalists there from suppressing everyone’s freedom. He then, she says, jumped back out the window and disappeared into the night. The investigators express sympathy for the destruction of the window, but Nora waves their concerns away, saying it’s sure to result in a surge of business for weeks as customers recount the tale and hope for more excitement in the future. Before leaving, Quinn examines the window frame and finds some long, golden hairs. He looks at Goldcape with some suspicion before the vanara sniffs them and pronounces them to be lion hairs. Quinn and Seltyiel know immediately that lion hairs could only come from one place in Ilsurian: the circus that arrived a few days ago!

On the outskirts of Ilsurian, the investigators enter the Umbra Carnival, a travelling circus and festival that has been visiting towns across Varisia for the last few years. Goldcape (who brought Rocky along for the visit) can’t help but be lured into the archery range. She confidently proclaims her skill, but the carnie running the game (in which silver is paid out for landing a bullseye) only nods knowingly and hands her a bow and three arrows. Goldcape realizes that with a deformed bow and intentionally un-aerodynamic arrows, the game is rigged for failure. She berates the carnie, who summons the circus strongman to intervene. Quinn and Seltyiel manage to pull Goldcape away just before violence breaks out.

The trio decide to split up, with Goldcape investigating the circus’ travelling menagerie of exotic animals and Quinn and Seltyiel looking around the Bigtop. Goldcape walks past a “baby dragon” (a monitor lizard), a small elephant, an empty cage labelled “The Lair of the Sphinx”, and then reaches a cage where there are indeed a pair of lions. Just as she starts looking around for clues, a blast of burning hair nearly singes her fur. Turning around, she realises that, somehow, a massive hellhound has appeared right in the middle of the zoo and is attacking her! It seems that while she’s been hunting the summoner, the summoner may have noticed her. Goldcape backpedals as Rocky flies in to attack with beak and claws. Soon, Seltyiel and Quinn hear the disturbance and come running as well, though the battle is nearly over by the time they arrive: with a final lunge, Rocky bites down hard on the hellhound’s neck and it disappears in a pungent cloud of sulphur.

But although Quinn wasn’t able to contribute much to the fight, his keen eyes do spot something important: almost everyone attending this area of the zoo fled when the hellhound appeared, but one man stayed and watched with interest. Quinn points out this fact to Goldcape, and when she looks at the man, she knows instantly who it is: Rolth Lamm, a notorious necromancer and serial killer from Korvosa! Lamm grins evilly at his old foe and, with a few uttered arcane words, seems to transform into Blackjack before racing away. The three investigators give chase as Lamm, obviously enhanced by magic, dashes and leaps around the carnival.

Finally, Goldcape manages to cut him off and Seltyiel and Quinn close quickly from behind. Rolth dispenses with his Blackjack disguise and cackles “Ileosa gives her regards, and a reminder that no one besides her speaks for Korvosa!” He promptly conjures undead guardians to defend him as Goldcape attacks, but the ever-wily Rolth has another trick up his sleeve. Seltyiel suddenly turns, draws his bow, and shoots Quinn in the back! “Nothing personal,” says the half-elf with a shrug. “He pays better than Feldane.” But even with an ally, Rolth knows there’s no way he can stand up to Goldcape and Rocky for long. He uses a scroll to teleport away, escaping justice once again. Frustrated, Goldcape takes out her aggression on Seltyiel and, with Quinn’s help, they dispatch the mercenary.

Later that night, the real Blackjack makes another appearance in Ilsurian, announces that the culprit for the attack on the summit has fled the city, and that the people of Korvosa support the military alliance. After a difficult few days, it seems like there may be hope for a united Varisia after all.

This was a fun "meanwhile" session to provide the players with a break from the endless dungeon crawling of Scarwall and for the Chapter Five Assistant GM to get to run Goldcape again. The other players were given PFS Iconics to run. I again made use of Ilsurian (the home city of my long-running "Magic Mirror/Roots of Golarion" campaign), and also integrated the Umbra Carnival from the Murder's Mark module.

I thought it only natural that Ileosa would learn of the summit and send someone to remind the delegates that *she's* the leader of Korvosa. The chance to bring back Rolth Lamm was enticing, and I also wanted to give Goldcape a chance to use her new persona as Blackjack, so I went with the classic comics plot of a villain pretending to be the hero while doing nefarious things!

The scenes at the carnival were fun, and (if I remember right) I had a custom Chase set up to use all the various attractions and booths there. The big twist of Seltyiel being a double-agent worked well and was fitting if you know his character (he's Chaotic Neutral, after all!). In sum, a fun session and a nice break before getting back to the main story thread in the next session.

With a second spirit anchor destroyed, the intrepid explorers of Castle Scarwall are just on the stairs to the second floor of the donjon when the prophetic words of the demilich Zev Ravenka come to pass: a curse falls on the group! Anorak finds his feet stuck to the stone steps, and as he watches in horror, his very skin turns to stone, starting from his toes all the way up to the hair on his head! In a flash of instants, he’s no longer flesh and blood but an immobile stone statue! As Eldritch squawks about betrayal, Yraelzin and Lorien work to reverse the effects but are forced to admit the problem is beyond their ability to solve at the moment. The others reluctantly leave Anorak and Eldritch behind, with a promise to return.

The survivors decide to follow a clue from the Sun Shaman’s song:

A second foe, infernal soul

Waits high in tower cold.

Speculating that the foe must be a devil and could be at the top of the castle’s War Tower, the group return to the northeast part of the castle where they encountered hellhounds in what was only days ago but seems like months. The Reckoner and Lorien lead the way up the stairs, only to hear Yraelzin shouting at someone behind them to go away. The unearthly floating apparition of an ancient Azlanti aristocrat has returned! Encouraged by the others to interact with it, Yraelzin has a brief conversation. He sighs as he explains to his allies that the apparition continues to berate him for “failing his destiny” and “rejecting his birthright”. He adds that the apparition has proclaimed the group’s doom, for a dragon has its lair on the first floor and has already slain one intruder, while the devil at the top of the stairs is cunning and spiteful. The apparition soon melts into wet snow, leaving Yraelzin again angry and frustrated about his perception that everyone sees him as a failure.

With seeming confirmation that one of the spirit anchors is at the top of the War Tower, the Harrowed Heroes gird themselves for battle and advance. Their progress is halted by an assault of spectres which, though quickly destroyed, manage to sap some of Lorien’s strength. With The Reckoner still vulnerable from the battle against the demilich, the trio decide they need to rest and regain their strength. They decide to sleep on the roof of the guest wing. Lorien consecrates their sleeping area, and it seems to do the trick: the group is neither attacked nor the victim of the nightmares that plagued them on previous nights in Scarwall. Yraelzin magically contacts Goldcape and hears about the progress of the summit, while Bishop d'Bear contacts The Reckoner with news of progress: “Cleared opposition from city streets, advancing toward Castle Korvosa. Scores of civilians dying every day from blood magic. Is your mission still viable?” The Reckoner responds that their task is almost complete, but he asks for magical aid to be waiting for him to address his ongoing weakness after the battle with the demilich.

[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

Well-rested and primed for battle, The Reckoner, Lorien, and Yraelzin ascend the steps of the War Tower ready to do battle with a spirit anchor. After making short work of a lone spectre, they reach the top of the tower and are treated to a stunning view of the crater lake below. But there’s clearly no devil present. “We’ve been tricked!” laments Yraelzin, speculating that his spectral ancestor lured them up here because it would be tempting to give up on the quest and depart the castle. But there’s not much time for recriminations, as another pack of brutish four-armed gargoyles launch themselves into the air from distant minarets to attack! With Yraelzin’s magic slowing the creatures down and The Reckoner’s myriad magical protections, the foes are defeated with little difficulty.

In the distance, a tall tower in the center of the keep is visible—could that be the one spoken of in the Sun Shaman’s song? But if so, the challenge lies in getting there across hundreds of feet of open air or difficult backtracking through the heart of the castle below. But Lorien has the answer! Pulling out the strand of prayer beads found in the shrine to Zon-Kuthon, he says: “With these, we could fly like the wind!”

I always try to come up with a unique and interesting explanation of what happens to a PC to effectively remove them from player when a player can't make a session, so that's why Anorak suffered a "curse" and turned slowly to stone. I normally of course would not do such a thing by pure GM fiat, and sometimes I have to gently steer players away from having their characters expend precious resources trying to "solve" a problem that can only be "fixed" when the player returns the following session.

We some more development of Yraelzin this session, following the theme I've talked about in past commentaries of him always feeling a bit out of place and unappreciated.

Having the PCs reach the roof of a tower then created the challenging situation I've mentioned before of me as the GM, without a 3D model, trying to figure out and describe what they can and can't see from their new vantage point.

[Starday, 8 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

The shrine to Zon-Kuthon emanates an almost palpable gloom as the Harrowed Heroes decide to investigate the treasures on the altar. Fortunately, Lorien stirs and seems to be in his right mind as he wonders why he’s been manacled and is floating on a translucent magical disk. Once freed, he asks few questions and is quickly ready to help in the exploration. The consensus seems to be that something dreadful will happen if the enchanted objects on the altar (a string of prayer beads and a spiked chain) are disturbed, so Lorien takes the clever precaution of summoning a bralani from a realm far beyond his own to perform the task. But once the extraplanar visitor lifts the two treasures, the gem-encrusted skull on the altar suddenly rises into the air! The ashes and bone fragments on the altar begin to swirl in an unearthly vortex as the skull’s jaws move up and down in a ghastly simulacrum of speech: “Who dares disturb the eternal resting place of Bishop Zev Ravenka?”

Anorak instantly realises that the skull is a demilich: the final eldritch remains of a destroyed lich! “If we run, it won’t pursue!” shouts Anorak, but The Reckoner shouts back that it could be one of the four spirit anchors. Eldritch flees immediately, as does Yraelzin when he realises something disturbing: none of his spells work against the demilich! The others rush closer to attack, but Anorak finds his dwarven waraxe and spells completely ineffective, Lorien can’t reach the levitating foe, the bralani’s arrows crumple into dust upon impact, and The Reckoner finds his very lifeforce sucked out of him again and again! The situation looks so dire that Anorak turns invisible and shouts to retreat, leading The Reckoner to call him a coward! With Plate allowing him to fly, The Reckoner continues the fight, but the supernatural darkness and his ever-increasing weakness cannot be surmounted! With a final morbid chuckle, the demilich seizes full control of The Reckoner’s soul and readies to rip it out of his body--but the final blessing of The Harrower turns away instant death. Instead, The Reckoner falls and hits the ground hard, losing his weapon in the process. Anorak swoops down to grab The Reckoner’s hammer while Lorien picks up the defeated leader and rushes him to safety.

In the corridor outside the shrine, the dismayed heroes at least have the consolation that Anorak’s knowledge proved accurate: the demilich has not followed, and it was surely badly damaged during the fighting. But the group’s prospects seem dismal, with The Reckoner permanently weakened and Lorien unable to perform the necessary ritual to heal him without weeks of preparation and thousands of gold pieces worth of diamond dust. But persistence is a virtue the Harrowed Heroes have in spades, and they decide on the spur of the moment to try again! Flinging the doors to the shrine open, Lorien calls forth the holy power contained in the prayer beads to smite the demilich. The abomination survives the attack, but is unable to retaliate before The Reckoner flies in and deals it an awesome blow that shatters the skull completely! With the demilich’s destruction, an echoing cry of agony can be heard throughout the castle and a severe tremor shakes the building, raining dust and fist-sized chunks of stone down from the ceiling.

To the victors go the spoils, and the Harrowed Heroes reap a valuable array of rubies, silverware, and spell scrolls from the shrine and adjacent chapels. Confident they’ve cleared the ground floor of the donjon, Anorak suggests breaking a hole in the outer wall so the group could rest outside. The Reckoner, however, reminds the dwarf that there was something in the water there--not to mention, the possibility of more gargoyle attacks. The group talk about the ancient song they learned from the Sun Shaman in the Cinderlands, and decide to see if the castle’s War Tower is the one with the “infernal soul” at the top. Anorak expresses concern that the reference to a “stone cage crumbling” could mean the entire castle will fall down around their ears when they break the curse!

A second spirit anchor has been destroyed in a remarkable testament to courage and perseverance. But at what cost? With The Reckoner permanently weakened and the last vestige of The Harrower’s blessing extinguished from his soul, will he be able to survive the rest of what Castle Scarwall has to offer? And, if Anorak is right about the castle collapsing on them, could ultimate victory mean instant death?

The demilich was the toughest foe the PCs encountered in all of Scarwall. With virtual immunity to magic, incredibly high DR, flight, and life-draining attacks, it was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Speaking of, The Reckoner only managed to survive because upon entering Scarwall for the first time, each PC got a gift from The Harrower (either one automatic success on a save vs a death effect or a ghost touch weapon). Still, the negative levels would be a drag for a long time.

I'm not sure exactly why they decided to rush right back in for a second go, but the incredibly risky gamble actually paid off. Sometimes, once in a great while, bravery overcomes probability!

[Starday, 8 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

Hundreds of miles away from Scarwall, in the independent city of Ilsurian, the summit of leaders from across Varisia is about to conclude. The delegates have assembled to sign a mutual defence pact containing the terms negotiated over recent days. But Goldcape, suspicious that the document could be an infernal magical contract like that The Reckoner and Anorak had their spy in Old Korvosa sign, decides to first check if its magical. The document isn’t magical, but she is surprised to learn that something under the table radiates a powerful aura. She crouches down to see what it is and realises there’s an arcane pentagram drawn in dried blood on the underside of the table! Overlord Cromarcky of Riddleport follows suit but, untutored in magic, thinks it’s some kind of magical charming sigil to make the delegates more pliable. He draws his sword and starts shouting about treachery. The delegates start to argue amongst themselves as the pentagram glows brighter and brighter before the table suddenly splits down the middle to reveal a seven-foot-tall monster bristling with barbs from the tip of its lashing tail to the serrated features of its fang-filled visage. Goldcape was right about Infernal powers at work—just not in the way she anticipated!

The delegates react in a myriad of ways: some cower in fear, too terrified to move; others, like Lord-Mayor Grobaras of Magnimar and Overlord Cromarcky, run away from the table for the (closed) doors; and two, Goldcape and Sheriff Feldane of Ilsurian, stand to fight! Drawing a longsword that radiates the holy power of Heaven itself, Goldcape slashes at the monster while whistling for Rocky to join the fray. Goldcape’s enchanted blade cuts easily through the Hell-toughened skill of the beast, but Rocky finds many of his attacks blunted—and ends with a mouth full of barbs for his effort! But Sheriff Feldane fares the worst of the lot, as the barbed devil cuts her down in seconds. Again, Goldcape steps in, calling Feldane’s spirit to stay in her body and knitting her wounds back together through magic. The vanara conjures a cyclops to do battle with the devil, but the imposing monster is so terrified it, too, flees in fear! As he pounds on the door for help, Lord-Mayor Grobaras pulls a curious-looking pan flute from his pocket and blows on it--rats begin to pour forth from cracks in the walls to swarm over the devil. Simultaneously, Overlord Cromarcky makes a brave (but futile) show of attacking the devil with a crossbow while keeping a safe distance away. Finally, the doors burst open with Ilsurian guards who start pulling the delegates to safety just as Goldcape manages to dispatch the devil with another sizzling strike from her holy blade.

The summit has been saved with no casualties among the delegates, but a puzzling fact remains: who drew the summoning pentagram, and will they strike again?

Meanwhile, back in the damp and gloomy fastness named Castle Scarwall, the rest of the Harrowed Heroes continue their search for a way to break the curse that somehow fuels Queen Ileosa’s newfound invulnerability. As Yraelzin, Anorak, and The Reckoner discuss how to proceed, all three are startled to see that Lorien has walked up to the statue of Zon-Kuthon and embraced it! His holy symbol of Cayden Cailean begins to scorch before the others pull him away, realising he must be entranced again. When the battle-priest continues trying to embrace the statue, the others decide they have no choice but to bind him with chains and manacles. Eldritch offers his unwelcome opinion that they should just throw Lorien down the stairs. The Reckoner asks Yraelzin to drag Lorien around as they explore, but he refuses, citing the half-orc’s weight and his own burdensome possessions. With a sigh, The Reckoner agrees to do it himself, though before long Anorak conjures a floating disk of magical force to carry Lorien.

The decision is made to explore what lies beyond the (already open) secret door behind the statue. The Reckoner’s grasp of architecture leaves him confident that the group has passed beyond the donjon and into the star-shaped tower. Here, they find multiple prison cells with adamantine manacles embedded in the walls, a staircase to a small chamber on what must be the roof (where the nonfunctional phase door should lead), and another staircase below. The group decide to backtrack out of the Star Tower and search the rest of the donjon. Unfortunately, there’s little of interest: a row of small chambers that probably served as monastic cells, a crumbling common room, and what looks to be a larder full of glass jars of murky liquid on shelves. But as everyone turns to leave, The Reckoner is suddenly struck with an overwhelming desire to unscrew the lid of one of the jars and pull out the human kidney pickled within. Just as he’s about to take a bite, the compulsion suddenly fades, and he throws the mess away in disgust.

Returning to the Star Tower, the group decide to see where the staircase below leads. The walls and floor of the chamber they reach have a strange organic texture, appearing almost like black mummified flesh streaked with glistening swaths of ancient blood. Four pillars carved to look like coils of entwined arteries and spinal cords support the ceiling, with nails and surgical tools embedded in these pillars at key and painful-looking positions. But perhaps most notable is the ten-foot-diameter open shaft in the middle of the chamber, entirely filled with thick bluish mist! Anorak drops multiple pebbles into the shaft and never hears them hit bottom. He speculates that the mist is a sort of magical loop, traversable only by those with clear and focussed minds—perhaps a sort of prison of eternally falling! The Reckoner, however, seems very intrigued and speculates it could instead be a portal to someplace else. He seems poised to enter, but Anorak persuades him to leave it for another time--there’s still a lot of the castle to investigate, after all.

After climbing back up the stairs and returning to the donjon, the group descend another staircase. Here, a long corridor leads to a massive set of doors. On the other side, a vast chamber is floored in gray slate and supported by thick pillars of obsidian. Torches mounted on the pillars burn, yet their flames are strangely dim, barely lighting the cathedral-like space. White pinpoints of light seem to dance in the eye sockets of each skull that decorates the pillars and thick black curtains hang from the chamber’s walls. To the northwest, a tall statue of a skull-headed man dressed in dark robes stands behind a black marble altar, on which lies heaped mounds of ashes, bits of bone, and a single skull, its teeth and eye sockets set with glittering gemstones. Jagged, barbed chains dangle from the statue’s eye sockets. As Anorak’s enchanted eyes detect magical auras under the mounds of ash, Yraelzin whispers an ominous observation: “We have entered a shrine to the Midnight Lord . . .”

We got another entry this session in the subplot with Goldcape attending a summit of Varisian leaders in Ilsurian to try to form an alliance against Runelord Karzoug's armies. It was a funny stroke of pure luck that they detected the summoning circle early (with Cromarcky rolling a natural 1 to mis-identify it). The resulting battle was pretty exciting, as each of the NPCs had their actual stats and equipment (from other sources) and most were either under-leveled or not at all designed for combat. The players running them had to be pretty inventive sometimes. Still, the result of the summit ends up being pretty important, as it leads to a massive "Battle of Magnimar" which would play out in my "Roots of Golarion/The Magic Mirror" campaign and also had implications for my subsequent AP, Second Darkness.

Back in the main plotline, Lorien's player was absent again, so as usual I had to come up with a good explanation. This one put a bit of a burden on the other PCs, but nobody ever said adventuring would be easy!

I don't remember off-hand where the shaft of bluish mist went to. I think it might have descended down to the underground caverns where the gugs lived and Serithtial was originally to be found on an island in an underground lake. I do remember the PCs never backtracked or got there, anyway.