Loki_Thief's page

As someone who recently started taking his 10-year-old niece through the Beginner Box this is excellent news!

Please tell me the five difficulty levels are Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master and Legendary.

Okay, that went faster than expected. Here's the sixth letter. If the party successfully rescues the Count at Renchurch, it's found (sealed) among the Grey Friar's effects, with a note instructing the Friar to leave it behind when he departs with Galdana. If they don't succeed, for whatever reason, he's already done so, and they find it waiting for them in the Necrotic Sanctum.

At this point, A is getting very worried about the party, but he's doing his best not to show it. The resolution I came up with to the dilemma I mentioned is that he's not (consciously) considering the possibility of them successfully rescuing Galdana, assuming that his minions can at least slow the party down long enough to let the Grey Friar finish prepping the Count and leave with him for Gallowspire. This (along with the fact that he would honestly prefer not to face the party himself) is why he doesn't stay at Renchurch to help defend it. But since he subconsciously knows they could succeed, he deliberately phrases the letter to imply that he doesn't need Galdana physically present at the ritual site (which may even be true, at the GM's option), thus incentivizing the party to come after him there even if they succeed in their rescue at Renchurch. He would prefer not to risk his neck by fighting them at all, but if it's inevitable, he's pretty sure he has the best odds if he can force the fight at Gallowspire.
So there you go. A few years late, but better late than never. Thanks for all the kind words and suggestions. I'd forgotten how much fun it was slipping into the mindset of an arrogant misanthrope like A to write these letters. I hope the last one lived up to expectations.

A

Just was prompted to come back to these posts by a PM (I don't frequent the boards much anymore) and am extremely flattered that this thread is still of interest to people, over eight years later.
My campaign did finish up, though it took a while. I don't remember if events transpired to cause me not to write a sixth letter, or whether I did and forgot to post it. I've switched computers since then, so if there was one it's been lost.
Since people still seem interested in these (and since it was kind of fun getting into A's head and indulging my inner villain) I'll work on finishing out the collection with a sixth letter. I want to refresh my memory of the campaign and try to match up the tone with the earlier ones, so it may take me a few days, but I've kept you waiting seven and a half years since my last post, so hopefully you won't begrudge me a few more days.
Once again, thank you for all the kind words, they mean a lot to me.

Given that multiple people have stated that they're not experiencing problems with any other websites, it's highly probable that the culprit for this issue is somewhere on Paizo's end. Even if it's not affecting everyone, it's happening for a large enough number of users to make it a serious problem. I understand that problems like this can be difficult to suss out, but even if they don't have a solution right away, they could at least say "we're not sure what's going on, we'll continue to look into it". That would still be better than complete silence.

Got it! Must've been getting the cached download before, but after closing the browser and turning off the computer for the night, I got it first try this morning.

I was going to post and say that the only place I'd be surprised to see is the Mana Wastes, because of how drastically that would affect arcane PCs, but then I got thinking, and I'm pretty sure with the right support, even that's not impossible. Never underestimate Paizo's creativity.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Loki_Thief wrote:

Very nice. I'm consistently impressed by the cool backstories of Paizo's iconics. It occurs to me that the Meet the Iconics series is still incomplete, though-- we've never gotten a story for the iconic Antipaladin! What dark events drove him onto the path of wickedness? What nefarious goals does he seek to accomplish? And most of all, what's the story behind the illustration on page 248 of the Advanced Class Guide? That poor pig's family deserve some answers!

I need an image macro or something that I can paste, which just says NOT AN ICONIC.

(No offense meant. ^_^)

None taken, I know what you mean. I just think that if the Samurai and Ninja can get official iconics, the Antipaladin deserves one too. :-)

Very nice. I'm consistently impressed by the cool backstories of Paizo's iconics. It occurs to me that the Meet the Iconics series is still incomplete, though-- we've never gotten a story for the iconic Antipaladin! What dark events drove him onto the path of wickedness? What nefarious goals does he seek to accomplish? And most of all, what's the story behind the illustration on page 248 of the Advanced Class Guide? That poor pig's family deserve some answers!

Ooh! The Shemhazian Demon promo fig! Can't wait to see it!

I literally laughed out loud at the GM Tip. Which probably says something interesting about my alignment, but oh well...

@ scadgrad: I just sent you the PM.

For everyone: My campaign has been slowed down lately due to player absences, but it is progressing. My group is just now heading down to the lower levels of Renchurch, and I intend the next letter to show up somewhere in there. It'll probably be before the 'rescue' encounter, as opposed to what I thought previously. Expect it soon. Sorry for the delays, and as always, thanks for all the kind words.

A

Honestly, the werewolves are fairly inconsequential to A. He could care less about the power dynamics of the Shudderwood-- the lycans are only important because he needs the Packlord's Heart to achieve his goals. He might find the resulting turmoil among the tribes (and the PCs' entanglement in the mess) to be a source of mild amusement, but that's about the extent of it. Ultimately, A has bigger fish to fry.
Plus, he's trying to take a deliberately disinterested tone in these letters, to give the impression that he's not particularly worried by the heroes' successes. Glossing over the details of what they've encountered is one way he does this. (In the beginning, this disinterested tone is pretty genuine. As the campaign progresses, particularly once Vrood is dead, it becomes a facade, as A tries to mask his rising concern from both the PCs and himself.)
This is, of course, all based on my interpretation of A, which is ultimately subjective. Your mileage may vary.

A

Also, GeeSeeBee's letter is pretty cool, too. It's nice seeing other people's takes on A's interactions with the players.

Thanks for all the kind words, folks; they're very much appreciated. Sorry it's been taking so long, my group's had to miss a couple of sessions due to various thing (and we only play this campaign every other week to begin with). But, the fifth letter is here, intended for the end of Book 5. I recommend the PCs find it in a certain nobleman's chambers when they find him missing.

Note that this assumes that the PCs either cooperated with the vampires, or at least failed to destroy them all. If the PCs went to the trouble of tracking down and finishing the vamps, a slight revision is in order:

Note that whether they left the vamps alive or destroyed them, A is going to mock them for it. There may be a final letter at some point in Book 6, probably at some point after the rescue at Renchurch. I'll also post about what happens when the PCs and A finally come face to face. Until then.

A

Very disappointed that this thread wasn't a call for adventurers to protect you from a Marut. ;-)

That video is awesome.

There absolutely no chance, however, of many of us Paizoians coming down with a case of sanity. Several of us just got our annual booster inoculation against it.

Touche. I said myself recently that I worry less about whether I'm insane, and more about whether I'm insane *enough*. So I can relate. :-)

Okay people, just over 24 hours remain until the top 32 get revealed. If it's anything like in previous years, here's what's going to happen:
Everyone who submitted will rush to see if they made it. In the vast majority of cases, the answer will be 'No'. Then they will look at the items that *did* make top 32. Most of these hopefuls will admire those selected, sigh in disappointment, and hopefully try to take away some lessons for next year.
Some people, however, will get angry. Very angry. They will treat the fact that *their* item wasn't picked as a personal insult, and go into full-on, Hulk-smash, rage mode. They will post on the boards ranting and raving about how the idiocy of the voters, the bias of the judges, and most of all, about how every single member of the top 32 is a steaming pile of hodag dung next to the shining brilliance of their own overlooked masterpiece.
Please, for the love of Cayden, don't be that person! If you're angry about not being picked, do yourself a favor and stay off the message boards until you've had a chance to cool down. The only thing that you'll accomplish by posting your rant is to make yourself look petty and childish. Keep your cool, let the top 32 have their moment in the sun, and don't be a jerk.

Thanks,

A

Yeah, there are spells that can work (and even if A can't cast them himself, he has minions who can). I don't stress the details, because my players are fairly tolerant of that sort of hand-waving. If you want more detail, charmed messengers (or disguised, unintelligent undead) can easily explain direct deliveries.
I also like the idea of A being smart enough to anticipate where the PCs will be next, and leaving letters there ahead of time. That's what I did with the most recent letter-- the characters found it waiting for them in the empty safehouse. High Intelligence isn't the same as precognition, but they can look a lot alike from a distance.
An even more hilarious idea (suggested by F Wesley Schneider in the same editorial that inspired these letters) is that A pre-writes the letters and gives them, sealed, to his minions, so that the PCs find them while looting the bodies. Helps maintain his illusion (and it *is* an illusion) that the PCs' successes against his minions are all accounted for in his plans. I used this tactic with the letter at the end of Book 3-- the characters found it on Vrood's corpse. (And if Vrood had escaped, or defeated the PCs, well, no harm done, A would just reclaim the letter. Since noone else knew what was in it, his facade of omniscience is preserved.)
As for how A knows what the PCs have been up to, the right spells can simplify this, too. Directly scrying on the PCs is chancy-- they might make the save, or worse, have detect scrying up. (Remember that Divination specialist wizards get constant detect scrying at 8th level, too!) But scrying on his own minions, or innocent bystanders, can indirectly learn of the characters' actions, and other divinations can also fill in the blanks. In my game, he has access to a variant of the spirit planchettes described in Book 1, which lets him interrogate the souls of his fallen minions to learn about the party. Something similar should work well for most campaigns, since it's entirely reasonable for the head of the Whispering Way to have access to powerful necromantic magic that isn't widely known.
Ultimately, you only need as much detail as your players demand. But even if they're sticklers, it's all workable while still playing fair.

Funny, I'm usually pretty good at proofreading myself. Just pretend that the second-to-last sentence says, "...in time to reach me...". The minions responsible for the error have been... dealt with.

A

As I was printing off the latest letter to hand to my players, I noticed a couple minor details that were less than perfect. Obviously, this was unacceptable :-) , so here's a revised version of the fourth letter:

And scadgrad, those look awesome! I may have to print them out myself, so my players have a more awesome-looking version of the letters to look at. Very cool.

...and here it is, the letter from near the start of book 5.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. ;-) My players just started Book 5, and I should have an appropriate letter done fairly shortly. My intent is for them to find it...

A

Something else I forgot to mention that is highly relevant to A's attempted recruitment of the party Sorcerer-- it's possible it might succeed. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't treat this as a realistic possibility, but as it happens, life circumstances may result in the sorcerer's player moving away in the semi-near future. If he ends up having to leave before the campaign is over, I may work with him to see if he's up for having his character exit the party by switching sides. It would certainly be more interesting than having his character retire after taking an arrow to the knee.
So like I said, it's unknown whether he'll actually be moving, so this may all come to nothing. But if it does happen, I've planted the seeds for something potentially awesome.

Thanks for all the kind words. Still going to be a while until the next letter (my group is heading into Undiomede House tonight), but A hasn't been idle.
The PCs have each received a minor boon of some sort near the start of book 4, based on their individual backstories. For the sorcerer who reanimated the assassin, that boon (an unusual magic rod which will appear in his gear following a dream) is actually a gift from 'A'. The rod has minor, but useful, magic powers, but is also intelligent and will eventually begin to communicate with him. It's going to give him (good) advice, with a long-term goal of persuading the sorcerer to switch sides. Of course, it's not going to out-and-out suggest this for a while, until after it's laid the groundwork. 'A' is hoping that this might win him a powerful new ally, one who will be perfectly positioned for a devastating betrayal of his former friends. For now, though, the rod will simply try to win its wielder's trust by being as helpful as possible.
Also, I've been thinking about the role of Raven's Head in the Carrion Crown formula. The adventure implies that it's intended to be an ingredient, but the formula is apparently completed in book six, without the Way recovering the mace in the interim.
My solution is that Raven's Head is *not* actually a necessary ingredient of the Carrion Crown. The cryptic mention in the poem is actually warning that the mace will reappear to oppose the Carrion Crown's creation and use. The Whispering Way wants the mace to keep it out of the hands of those who would try to stop them. This adds some nice irony, in the fact that the Way's attempts to secure Raven's Head are what end up leading to its recovery by the PCs. It also ensures that the PCs don't relax in their pursuit because they think the Way needs the mace to complete their scheme.
So that's where we're at. I'll keep you posted!

Right. Using all 25 allowed words without sounding awkward is just a minor way of showing off. If the PCs' reply had gotten cut off by the word limit, or sounded 'off' due to it, A would have lowered his opinion of them somewhat. Conversely, had they elegantly used all 25 words, his evaluation of them would have improved. As is, their answer met neither criteria, but still scored the PCs points with A for cheekiness. (I'm paying attention to what kind of impression the PCs make on him with the intention that it might affect things later in the Adventure Path. For one thing, A may make some subtle overtures to the Sanguine Sorcerer, who clearly doesn't object to undead as a matter of principle.)

At the session last night, I mixed it up a bit. After the assassination attempt, as the PCs were searching the stable, they got a sending from "A".

This was the villain's attempt to reassert his superiority over the PCs-- his last letter kind of admitted that they could be a problem for him, and he doesn't want them to feel too confident. I also made sure that the sending used exactly 25 words, without sounding awkward, since A is quite intelligent.

The funniest thing about the situation is that, when the sending triggered, one of the PCs (a Sanguine-bloodline Sorcerer) was already in the process of raising the assassin as a skeleton of his own. As a result, their response back was basically, "Too late". (They have no way of knowing right now, but A found this quite amusing.)

They may not hear from A again until the end of book 4 (due to circumstances, it's hard for A to monitor what's going on with the PCs during that book), but when they do, I'll update you!

Good point. Also, it's worth noting that one of the notes the PCs can find in Book 3 mentions the name 'Adivion Adrissant'. If you've been signing the letters A.A., the PCs are very likely to assume this is the same person. With just A, it's less clear cut.
Also, in the unlikely event that the characters seem to be seriously considering abandoning the chase as the third letter suggests, remember that they likely know a fair bit about the Whispering Way, due to the research they've done in Books 1 & 3. Feel free to flat-out tell them, "The Whispering Way is a bunch of evil necromancers who value secrecy, and A is clearly not a total moron, so there's no way he'd actually let you live with everything you know". Not likely to be a concern with most players, I know, but just in case.

A

Okay, finally got the third letter written up!

(Incidentally, he's pretty sure the PCs aren't going to take his suggestion to retire and leave him alone, but if they did, he'd send assassins after them anyway. They know too much to be allowed to live.)

Next letter may happen during Book 4, rather than waiting until the end. I'll post it when my group gets to it.

I like just going with A. I mostly did A.A. so the players could have the "Aha!" moment when they first heard the name, but that might actually have been too much of a giveaway. Oh well.
I tried to make him very smart and arrogant, like he's just writing this to see what will happen. And yes, the tone will shift in future letters as he realizes, "These guys might actually be a threat to me!" Still arrogant, but less amused and more directly threatening.
Glad you approve of my efforts!

So, in the intro to book 6, F. Wes Schneider suggests amping up the main bad guy's presence throughout the campaign. When I started running Carrion Crown, I decided to run with this idea, and had the villain correspond with the PCs via magically delivered letters. When I mentioned this on Twitter, Mr. Schneider himself expressed interest in them, so I'm posting them here for him, and anyone else who's interested.

I'll add the one from the end of Book 3 soon (I had it written once, but my word processor ate it), and additional ones whenever the campaign gets to appropriate points. Let me know what you think!