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I started this AP with my group last night. The party consists of a good old fashioned tank Fighter, a Gunslinger,a Cleric, a Rogue, and a Magus.
They easily dispatched the Pugwampis, got the mission details from Sheila and headed to the Arvensoar first. For some reason this was unexpected but why should it be? The Adventure sort of assumes an order of following up leads. My group went out of order and went to the cops first. After the Arvensoar, they went to see Zograthy, where they failed Diplomacy checks to get him to lower his price for information and started brawling with the 12 thugs that came running to Zograthy's shouts. As soon as I planted all 12 of these thugs on the battle board I knew it was too many. The combat became a much longer encounter than was necessary for the early stage of the adventure or even the type of encounter, I think. I almost dropped one or two PCs too. One of my PCs kept attacking Zograthy instead of the thugs. So finally, with Zograthy down to 2 hp and the room still full of thugs who have barely been touched because their AC is too high for my 1st level players to hit, Zograthy falls to his knees, begs for mercy and calls off the thugs. The party next went to see Fenster. I played Fenster as more than a little touched. It was a lot of fun and got a lot more mileage for the group, I think, than had I played up how disgusting he's written. Not that the way he's written is great but my group likes the slow, dim-witted, idiot voice I gave to Fenster. He might become a recurring character. From Fenster, the party head straight for Natalya's hideout. The battle lasted a LONG time. Partly because I decided it'd be fun if the guards in the shack had added a bolt to the inside of the door. The dragged the Cleric inside and started beating her while the Fighter tried unsuccessfully to beat down the door. The Gunslinger finally got the door open by putting enough holes in it that she was able to get part of her hand in enough to use Disable Device but not before the Cleric was unconscious. Meanwhile, the Rogue upstairs who had taken the unlikely and most unexpected route of through the roof to get inside, got dropped to -11 by one of the sewer goblins who rolled a natty 20 and another to confirm. The Magus was then dropped to 0 by Natalya and tied up, unconscious but stable after spending a benny. Natalya charms the Fighter who takes the Gunslingers gun away from her to take to Natalya. Eventually Natalya is defeated by the Gunslinger throwing four powder packs into the air infront of Natalya and the Cleric casting Fire Bolt. Quick, on the fly adjudication of these ingenious moves that I'm pretty sure there are no rules for, had me making a reflex save for half damage the fire bolt and 1d6 for each powder bag.
The party was seriously considering leaving Natalya and taking the shard for themselves. The Cleric convinced them to at least take Natalya to Sheila to get the rest of their pay and not tell her about the shard. Sheila, of course, revives Natalya who spills the beans about the shard and says the PCs probably have it. Some bluffing and some failed bluffing go down and the Rogue finally produces the cursed item. Sheila gives him the ioun stone to insert; he does and the curse is lifted. They get all the info they need to keep going; next stop, The Crow.
Tons of fun. Group had a great time with this. Lots of roleplaying, plenty of combat.