It's been a few days since your group has left the riverfront town of Laria, and each of you currently find yourselves topside as the boat you're riding, The Wani, is pulled along towards the cursed nation of Ulnswhere. Already you've bared witness to the signs of a shifting climate, the golden fields Elininlitroi had been known for taking on a brown, parched hue the longer you pass by. Along the Alivari life still clings and the plants are green and full, though the heavy forests have never taken root on this river's banks this far upstream.
You don't need to be told by the helmsman that when you finally pass the international border between the two nations, it's something you can sense almost instinctively. All around you the air seems to have become dryer, the temperature no longer the mild range you experienced along your journey Northwest, and clouds have vanished from the horizon. When you look up, you can see with clarity just where the borders of the curse extends. It had been overcast just that very morning, with a promise of rain.
You're not likely to see a single drop of natural rain for months, depending on just how long your journey will take you.
"Sometimes," A shiphand speaks up, an older woman with dark brown hair and eyes. "Avis brings her wind to bare and a good storm will skirt past the border. I've never seen one make it much farther then Wind's Edge though. Not the rainstorms at least. Dry clouds sometimes make it to the plainsland proper, never good when that happens though I hear. The grass is parched in most places, you see. Catches easily."
With a shake of her head, she leaves your motley band to attend back to her duties.
In the distance you see dark shadow rising from the riverbank, those with keen eyes make out the crumbled stonework of an old tower. Perhaps one that watched over the river against invaders during the days when Ulnswhere actually had land that was worth being taken. With the rate at which you're traveling, it might be about half an hour until you pass it by.
In the kingdom of Talingarde, many crimes may send you to Branderscar Prison, but the sentence has but one meaning. You are wicked and irredeemable. Each of you received the same greeting when you arrived. You were held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with a runic F. The mark signifies ‘forsaken’ and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the great and eternal love of Mitra and his chosen mortal vassals.
Condemned, you face at best a life of shackles and servitude in the nearby salt mines. Others might await the “gentle” ministrations of the inquisitors so that co-conspirators may be revealed and confessions extracted. Perhaps, some of you will be spared this ordeal. Perhaps instead you have come to Branderscar to face the final judgment. In three days, the executioner arrives and the axe falls or the pyre will be lit. Through fire or steel, your crimes will be answered.
You have all been chained toguether in the same communal cell dressed in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. Manhandled and mistreated, any finery you once possessed is either ruined or long lost. No special treatment has been given any prisoner – male or female, commoner or noble – all of the forsaken are bound and imprisoned together. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain. Your arms are secured to the wall above by manacles. A guard is posted right outside the cell day and night. Little thought is given to long term accommodations. At Branderscar, justice comes swift and sure.
Escape seems hopeless. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? Who from your former life would want anything to do with the forsaken? Despised, alone and shackled – all that you can do now is await your doom.
For each of you, your old life is over. For each of you, hope is a fading memory. For each of you, justice will be fairly meted. And who can blame fair Talingarde after what each of you has done?
When Everyone is ready, please describe your characters. You're all chained up in a cell toguther, but are free to talk.
Hey, is there a way for me to get the name of this alias changed to what I have listed as it's full name? I didn't really understand what I was doing when I made it a few weeks ago, and I'm a bit stuck now with having my character's name instead of my own.
This module drips theme. A seemingly empty ship that turns out to be infested by zombies, which are particularly effective at this level in the confined quarters of a ship. Boss zombies. Fun ways to try to kill the boss zombies. A mad scientist's lab in an extradimensional space. A related, very nice magic item the players will love to have.
The module includes a battlemat of the ship, allowing you to print out the whole ship for miniatures use.
Unfortunately, there are problems that need fixing.
Spoiler:
Vossian's suicide makes no sense. Why would he leave crew members in the adjacent cabin to commit suicide in his cabin - a room which contains a wand of 9 10d6 fireballs and an exit to an extradimensional space where the olive slime couldn't get to him? Worse, the extradimensional space contains the green slime Vossian knows harms olive slime along with alchemical items his crew could have used on the slime creatures. Essentially, the PCs are expected to find and use these items against the slime creatures whereas the wizard, who is an expert on plants and oozes, decided suicide was a better option.
Stat blocks are not accurate, to put it kindly. There is a rogue 4 / assassin 2 with +6 BAB and +4d6 sneak attack. A CR6 Shambling Mound with +11 attack and 67hp has been advanced to a CR8 slime version with +20 attack, 144hp, DR 15/-, spores that release when struck causing 1d3 Con damage with Fort DC 17 to resist, plus slime abilities. Smaller errors can be found in other stat blocks.
Two areas are said to have been looted, but there is no indication where the items ended up. Vossian's quarters were not looted, but his spellbook is not listed.
There is no template for creating a slime zombie. There are no details on the magic item players will be most happy about acquiring - the wardrobe.
The problems are enough to lower my rating to 3 stars, but still recommend the adventure because the ideas are fun.
The biggest disappointment in the Pathfinder dice series (made worse by the long wait for them). I like the shade of green used for the die, but the silver is flat making the numbers hard to read. The leaf patterns are excellent and evocative of the AP, but they make the numbers even more difficult to pick out. This set might have worked if the same bright silver from the Second Darkness set had been used. As is, they are too difficult to read and were placed in my "retired" collection a mere week after I bought them.
The yellow die with red print is a good color combo. The red outlined numbers with red behind and around them look great while still being very readable. I was initially disappointed the dice don't have an Arabian feel to them and don't really evoke the AP, but they've really grown on me and they've become a regular choice in the primary five dice sets I pick out before each game session.
The black and silver look great and are flavorful for the AP. While not as bright as the silver from Second Darkness they are still readable. The chain motif looks decent while the dripping from the numbers is great. Then there's the ravens. I LOVE the ravens on top of the numbers. They look great and are perfect for the AP. But the ravens are only on the d10 and d00. The rest of the dice only have the chain and dripping motifs. Overall, a solid set but the disappearance of the ravens keeps me from giving this set a 5.
These minis look great. Really great. I have over 2000 unique pre-painted minis appropriate for fantasy RPGS that could be used for my Pathfinder campaign. I don't need more. But these minis look better than 90% of my collection. I'm very happy I bought a case (plus a bunch of singles) and I look forward to the Rise of the Runelords set in the summer.
Getting a complete set in a case is wonderful. WizKids' Heroclix customers struggle with this (most cases of the LotR set released in November didn't even have a complete set of commons - forget the uncommons, rares and chase pieces). WotC's cases only had half the rares in a set. Pazio did a great job convincing WizKids to give us a full set in a case.
Negatives:
There is little difference between commons, uncommons, and rares. On average a case contains 2.55 of each common, 2.22 of each uncommon, 2 of each medium rare, and 2 of each large rare (the ultra-rares are 1.33 of each medium and 1 of each large). It would probably be better to eliminate the uncommon level, making all monsters commons and all PCs rares. But maybe WizKids has a business reason for the commonalities being so similar.
Distribution is uneven. Commons may average 2.55 each, but reality is most cases have a 1 quantity common and a 4 quantity common. There's a range of 1-4 for commons. Uncommons have a range of 1-3. The medium and large rares also have a 1-3 range despite the average which suggests there should be a flat 2 each in a case. This results in almost all cases having a rare with a higher quantity then some commons and uncommons in the case. For example, one person who purchased 3 cases ended up with 4 common Wolves and 9 rare Medusas. The randomness of the distribution means it's often better to buy singles on the secondary market than to gamble on buying another case.
First set issues like scaling problems, sculpts similar to Mage Knight pieces, repaints of the same goblin sculpt. These have been discussed at length. With more lead time on the Runelords set, I don't expect these to happen again.
Good choice of colors. Very readable. Well designed with runes decorating the die and the runes of sin replacing the highest number on each die. Very flavorful for the AP it's designed for. These are one of my favorite sets of dice in my collection and have always been part of the five primary dice I use each game session.
Good colors that are natural together and easy to read. A crown replaces the highest number on each die, which is flavorful, but the rest of the design seems flat and doesn't evoke the AP. Overall I like the set and it's one of the twenty sets I carry with me each week, but it's lacking that special something.
The blue and bright silver look excellent together and the numbers are easy to read. The varying web motif throughout and the symbol replacing the highest number on each die are perfect for the AP. I often choose this set as part of the primary five I use for a game session.
