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Vancaskerkin the Rumormonger is probably the most compelling member of the Twilight Four and kinda deserves to be the final antagonist more than Olansa. In this thread I'm going to detail some of the homebrew additions I've made to flesh him out more.

Lunch with the Eyes on Absalom

One way to spice up Vancaskerkin's relationship with the PCs is for him to invite them to socialise with him for informal interviews. Here's some ideas on specifics:

• • After beating the Skinner, he invites them over to his office for a dinner-interview. He turns his desk into a dining table with a beautiful blue silk Taldan tablecloth (putting all his documents and curios at a corner on the floor) and gets food catered from the "Mask and Moon" restaurant (see Grand Bazaar). The menu is exquisite and varied. Offers the PCs an Impossible Cake shaped like Norgorber's Mask for dessert. "Beating those skinsaws was a piece of cake for you!" Asks them all sorts of questions about what they found in the catacombs (the answers to most of which he already knows) and what their next moves will be now.
  
• • After beating the Infector, he invites them to dinner at the Golden Serprent, a high-end restaurant in Ivy District. He orders wyrmling green dragon wings. Asks them questions about their adventures guarding Flakfatter (knowing he's responsible for many of the waves of enemies they fought off) and proposes they put on a production of a play about a tyrannical primarch getting overthrown together. Might even mention something about a harrow serial killer on the loose.
  

Clockwork Halls
This is an expansion of the last chapter of book 5 where the party confronts Vancaskerkin for the final time.

You're not better than me!
If the PCs arrive at the Eyes on Absalom HQ to confront Vancaskerkin with evidence from Bottles & Blots or other evidence implicating him with the Twilight Four but while he's not publicly disgraced, they can meet him and debate him before he attempts to go into hiding in the clockwork halls below. He demands to know what evidence they have against him. If the PCs tell him, he starts making accusations against them. He lists any morally dubious and illegal action the PCs have taken during the whole campaign which his journalistic sources and green eyes all over the city have informed him of. The PCs will likely attempt to defend themselves by explaining how their actions served a noble goal. They might be shocked as he nods in agreement. "So you agree that the ends justify the means! What if that hypothetical norgorberite you are accusing also had a noble goal, just like you? Maybe then all these things you said about me would also be justified". He proceeds to rationalise how his deeds served the greater good, for example how overthrowing the primarch could improve the social situation in the city, leaning into everything he knows about the PC's morals and politics. If they seem unconvinved he reassures them there is an even greater purpose. If they seem curious, he invites them to follow him below ground to show them. If not, he attempts to escape below ground to the clockwork halls (preferably through K5 since the PCs will likely hesitate throwing themselves in there, buying him time). He continues debating anytime the PCs are near him, even during combat.

As above so below
As a practicioner of the occult, Vancaskerkin is particularly keen on the idea of belief affecting reality, the symbol substituting for the real thing, the map and the territory being one and the same. The Twilight Four plan to get the primarchy is to him not an end in itself but more so an experiment to validate his theories about how belief affects reality. He does that in many ways throughout the campaign:

• • Using fake news in his newspaper to undermine Starborn's authority, shaping the beliefs of the readers.
  
• • Putting on a play about overthrowing a tyrant while casting The World's A Stage ritual.
  
• • Turning Harrowland into a dark reflection of the Harrowed Realm, where storytelling reigns supreme over realism.
  

The clockwork halls underneath the newspaper HQ also serve the same purpose. The machinery as a whole is a symbolic map of the city so that anything that happens up there is reflected down here. And conversely, anything that happens down here should be reflected up there. "As above, so below".

There are three sources of power for the magic that makes the Machine as a whole function:

• • Absolute truth: The Shoggoth (L11 Pool of Secrets) holds absolute, terrifying truths about the nature of the universe.
  
• • Absolute realisation: The kraken's ink (L5 Levialar's Prison) holds the power to transform ideas into reality. A pipe connects the shoggoth in the pool of secrets with Levialar combining the powers of both in the produced ink.
  
• • Absolute lies: The glabrezu (L16 Den of the Lie-Masters) take that ink and use it to write an inordinate amount of audacious lies. Thus all three powers are intricatelly woven together.

This ink cycle, that also includes the publication of the Eyes on Absalom newspaper printed with the same ink, creates the metaphysical connection between the City Above and the Clockwork Machine Below, making them reflect each other. Thus the tapestry in L13 does not contain simple lies; instead it is like a system log detailing information from the operation of the Clockwork Machine with the end goal being that the information eventually perfectly corresponds to the city above, reality changing constantly to accomodate this feat. Vancaskerkin has not fully achieved this yet but is working on it.

Join me! And together we can rule the city!
If the PCs come peacefully, he shows them the Tapestry of Truth/Lies which displays, among other things, a literal narration of parts of their own story so far. Regardless of what the PCs do, Vancaskerkin continues debating, even during combat, and explains how he is making this Clockwork Machine that reflects the city of Absalom and the city is reflected back down here. He tells them this research is more important than anything else they've been fighting for and even offers to use it for good. He argues that change requires sacrifice but symbolic sacrifice that powers the Machine, even if it entails real lives, will always be smaller than the sacrifices required to enact change in the real world.

If the PCs seem to relent, he can even introduce them to the Transposition Machine (L17). He explains that if the Clockwork Halls are a map of the whole City, then the Transposition Machine room maps to the Gray Queen's throne room. It can literally shift the subjective perspective of the world's narration so that he can swap his own perspective with Olansa's, bypassing most magical and divine protections. Then they can use the position of primarch together for good. If they are sceptical, he offers to physically share the primarchy with them: some of the PCs can step into the machine with him and then they will share control of Olansa's body and perspective. The machine isn't fully operational yet so Vancaskerkin asks for their help to finish it in the following days (anyone with Crafting, Occultism, Arcana or Religion skills can contribute). The price to pay is that, once activated, the machine will break down and it will be almost impossible to reverse the swap. Smart players might realise they don't need Vancaskerkin at all, they can fix and use the machine themselves on Olansa. Doing any of this can end the campaign right here and now (or you can rule that Norgorber's divine power partially or fully blocks it).

Secret of Rebirth
If the PCs fight Vancaskerkin, here's some ideas to jazz up his immortality ability and the Secret Knowledge one needs to defeat it.

The reason Vancaskerkin cannot die is because he convinces his enemies to believe he cannot die. They become so attached to the idea and they believe it so strongly that reality bends to accomodate it; thus is he revived. The trick to defeating him is to reach a form of enlightment detaching the self from this persistent idea. Here's what each point in Secret Knowledge reveals:

• • You cannot kill an idea. He is immortal.
  
• • It is the power of belief that makes him immortal.
  
• • When he dies the thought that he cannot die gets stuck in our minds. It is not an outside power that revives him, it's just us.
  
• • Whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past.
  
• • You cannot kill a thought by thinking about it. It's like trying to forget something, a negative reference to a thought is still a reference so it gets reinforced in your brain. The solution is to just listen to the thought without reacting to it, without believing in it or disbelieving it. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the thought has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
  

Encore!

For more Vancaskerkin-related schemes, check out:

• • Pratchett asks to publish his memoirs from prison... Vancaskerkin tattles on him
  
• • Abducting Bolera
  
• • Murdering Bolera
  
• • Blackmailing politicians with spyware
  
• • Duplicating one of the PCs
  
• • Putting on a highly-symbolic play
  
• • Fixing Harrowland and framing a primarch
  

Thanks for reading and feel free to add your own ideas about Vancaskerkin!

This is a series of homebrew additions to the campaign to better flesh out the Twilight Four plan to replace the primarch and hopefully make it more interactive for the players.

Feel free to add your own.

I found that Detective Desdelen Bolera is an interesting character with lots of potential to interact with the PCs and the main plot. I set her up as the star of Edgewatch (but also a semi-famous detective mystery novel author on the side!) who was assigned the missing graveraker investigation. Having her check in with the PCs occassionally about that allows for this piece of the puzzle to stay in their minds, so that when the final revelation in book 4 about framing the primarch for the crime comes, it has more impact.

I've arranged what she might do into separate episodes that can be sprinkled throughout the campaign. I'll be posting mine below but feel free to add more if you like!

One of the players in my group requested to use one of the uncommon feats tied to Kassi Aziril from Lost Omens: Legends and I decided to oblige him by turning it into a mini-quest. This can play out right before or during the events of chapter 1 from book 4) but I think it's even better to do it even earlier in the campaign, during book 2 or 3 to foreshadow the Blackfingers Temple and the conference.

Background
Kassi Aziril is a prolific scientific healer, sometimes called "The Mother of Medicine". She is from Rahadoum and absolutely hates religion.

The Blackfingers Temple invites her to give some lectures as part of the Noxious Retort conference (from book 4). In the invitation they do not mention they are a religious institution knowing that she would decline if she knew. The hope of the trickery god's followers is that she arrives in Absalom after an arduous trip and at that point she will feel obliged to give the lectures because she has already committed all this time and effort. Alas the plan does not work out. When Kassi arrives at the Black Mask (where the church had offered to host her in one of the spare rooms on the first floor) she realises the ruse and is furious. She immediately leaves without a word which creates a huge gap in the conference agenda, not to mention the embarassment. Now the temple hopes to track her down and make her reconsider.

How the PCs come in
The PCs might, while travelling through the Ascended Court, come across the sign outside the Blackfingers Temple advertising the conference. "Noxious Retort: grand alchemical conference. Book your place now!" followed by the dates and a list of activities, including Kassi's lectures. They might also be pointed to the conference by any NPC knowledgeable about medicine related events throughout the city.

If the PCs inquire inside the temple, a distraught Kalyn Pounch will explain the situation and try to recruit their help. If the PCs show up looking like guards she will present this as a missing person case and feign worry about what might have happened to her guest lost in the big city. Or she might argue that Kassi is contractually obligated to appear in the conference because she formally accepted the invitation. She will not divulge all the details about how they tried to trick her.

Finding Kassi
To track her down the PCs will have to ask around town with Gather Information or Track or similar. If they think to start at the Black Mask, where she was last seen, they will be told by the shopkeeper Marli she left shortly after she arrived and went north. That should lower the DC. Don't forget to spring any plot hooks you have for the Black Mask at this point. One Gather Information check should be enough to narrow it down to a single district and a second one will give them her precise location. Using Track might be slightly harder since it's busy city cobble streets but it doable since Kassi brought lots of luggage (mostly plants) with her so there might be a very faint trail of leaves, smells and cart tracks.

After leaving the Black Mask, Kassi went to a Wise District inn called the Halcyon Hog (see book 5 for more info). She's staying there, mostly brooding and ruminating about what a waste this trip has been. But also not completely neglecting her research. You can use this opportunity to foreshadow the inn and perhaps even the enigmatic inventor Wakeiwa Atikak who is hiding there.

Talking to Kassi
If the PCs talk to Kassi, she will not miss an opportunity to question them about their philosophies. If anyone is openly religious she will 100% start an argument with them (see her entry in LO:Legends for things she might say). If the PCs try to convince her to actually attend the Noxious Retort conference she will be very angry and rant about how she was tricked. It will be very hard to change her mind. Another possibility -that she hasn't considered herself and the PCs might suggest- is that they organise a smaller alternative conference just for her lectures. In that case, any PC that helps organise it will earn her gratitude, access to her feats and item formulas.

Kassi's conference
It would be a one-day conference, during which Kassi delivers a number of lectures with only short breaks inbetween. If the PCs sufficiently advertise, a lot of high-profile people will show up, including: Asilia of Gyr, Wynsal Starborn, Grospek Lavarsus, Chun Hye-Seung, Simo of Wynsal, Runewulf the Unbeliever, Shristi Melipdra, Gaftrin, Urmas Sirola, Venla Sirola, Flevvid Grummlin, Sindoi of the Thousand Poems.

The agenda might look like this:

9.00 Divine poisons
10.00 break
10.30 Addiction
12.00 lunch
13.00 Battle Medicine
14.00 break
14.30 Vaccines
15.30 break
16.00 Kandlerae

The conference won't be completely uneventful. Left to her own devices, during the lecture about addiction Kassi will go off-script and start ranting about how the gods made mortals susceptible to addiction so they can be easily addicted to religion. If that happens Sindoi will intervene and impress/confuse everyone with a cryptic limerick about how Kassi's contempt for the gods might become ironic if she herself ever became a goddess of medicine.

No one from the Blackfingers Temple shows up because they don't want to draw any attention to themselves right before or after the terrorist attack at the Irorium since that could compromise Jonis Flakfatter, the high priest.

Epilogue
A few days/weeks after the conference, Kassi, ever industrious, will leave Absalom to find adventure and diseases to cure. She will write a letter to the PCs who helped her the most:

Dear [PC NAME],

Yours in truth,
Kassi Aziril

The foul stench of Snowdew Pond
Fairgoers have made complaints about a foul stench emanating from this pond (see book 1, page 72). The PCs might have also noticed during the patrol on their first day at Edgewatch or at some point later while investigating. One visitor has even seen a ghastly arm emerge for a moment before sinking back into the water.

The truth is Snowdew Pond was built over a haunted sank school, which explains the ghostly sightings but not the smell. The smell is due to an ofalth that was attracted to the location because of all the bodies that were dug up and rubish that was produced when the remains of the school were sealed up during the preparations for the Radiant Festival. The ofalth unsucessfully chased some otyughs and then set sight on an even better meal: the constant barrage of body parts produced by the Skinner.

Which means the smell at the pond will go away on its own but the danger it represents will still be lurking under the city and eventually reach the Catacombs under the Ascendent Court (where the PCs will eventually find it if they don't intervene in the meantime).

To represent this, assume the ofalth's initial location when the festival starts is area 2. Precipice necropolis. It will move through the shortest possible path towards the final area 12. Arodenite catacombs at a pace of 1 area every 3-4 days, so it will reach the destination in a little over a month.

The DC to Track the smell, discerning if an exit from an area leads closer to the ofalth, is 5 times the number of areas between the ofalth and the party. So it's DC 5 if it's an adjacent area, DC 10 if two areas over, DC 15 if it's three areas over and so on.

The first hurdle is tracking the smell to the precise location of a tightly screwed storm drain on the northern side of the pond. It takes a DC 25 to Force Open or more likely waiting a week of bureaucracy to get a crew to open it if they ask Edgewatch for official permission to investigate.

If the PCs reach the ofalth before they are at a level they stand a chance, make sure to telegraph its power, perhaps by letting them witness the strength of its Stench Aura ability or stealing a glance of its disgusting form from a safe distance. The ofalth will ignore the PCs thinking they are small fry until they get extremely close or attack.

Here is the map showing the pointcrawl areas.

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1. Drownyard (Level 1-2)
The once renowned school of Tri-Towers Yard sank in the sewer waters beneath it during the 4698 AR earthquake. Most of the students perished and their ghostly remnants haunt this place.

Cavernous space with derelict ruined buildings that once comprised the school. No light except for the ghostly presences.

PCs who go back to investigate what this school is about might find their way to Lady Dacilane who tells them the story of her daughter who was at the school, went missing and presumed dead but was eventually found and returned unharmed by the Pathfinders.

Check old PFS scenario Black Waters for more info and inspiration.

Exits:

• • Long ladder back to the surface next to Snowdew pond
  
• 2. Precipice necropolis: Dried up pool. Α severed human arm tightly gripping a metal handle connected to a heavy iron plug is blocking a hole in the ground, which leads to a series of slippery handholds.
  

Encounters:

• • A fence of black iron pikes. The padlocked gate that once was the sole entrance to the school grounds lies flat on the ground.
  
• • Backpack with appropriate minor art object. This was a school for rich children after all.
  
• • 1d4 ghost students. Curious and kinda friendly. They may try to possess you to piggyback a way out of here if interacted with. Figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up to help them move on to the afterlife.
  
• • Poltergeist. The area near this classroom gets noticeably colder and foreboding. A restless and naughty spirit of a student inhabits it. Throws rocks, loose bricks and school supplies at intruders. Strictly bound to this classroom where the kid met his demise.
  

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2. Precipice necropolis (Level 2-3)
A network of once ornate chambers, murals fading, stones crumbling, water seeping through the walls making puddles out of floor cracks. Wet unlit holders for torches, doors of stone -that could once be locked- left ajar. Alcoves filled with skeletal remains. It's quiet down here except for the drip drip drip of water and the occasional undead monstrocity.

Check old PFS scenario Black Waters for more info and inspiration.

Exits:

• 1. Drownyard: Climb handholds leading to dry pool.
  
• 3. Winding tunnels: Staircase leading down to a tunnel
  
• 4. Docks sewer: Wall weathered down from eons of humidity, breaking through causes a torrent of sewer water to be released.
  

Encounters:

• • 1d6 ghouls and a ghast gnawing on old bones excited for living prey
  
• • Draugr (still has a lesser sea touch elixir on his belt, if only he had managed to reach it in time when he was alive!), 2 skeleton guards and a constantly shifting magical tide making water rise and fall. Treat the tide as a hazard; init + 0; routine: 1 action each turn alternating area between high tide (Balance DC 15) and low tide (Balance DC 5).
  
• • Cairn Wight playing dead in sarcophagus filled with gold (150gp) holding a sword with glowing runes (vitalizing, ghost touch); will rise and attack looters until every last coin is returned
  
• • 1d4 ghost children sitting in a circle pantomiming ghost stories to each other, they think they're still taking refuge from the collapsed school.
  

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3. Winding tunnels (Level 2-3)
Winding maze-like passages, not man-made but a cave system (probably). The water reaches your knees if you're Medium-sized and you gotta bend awkwardly because the ceiling is so low.

Exits:

• 2. Precipice necropolis: Back to the city of the dead after a climb of that slippery staircase.
  
• 4. Docks sewer: One passage progressively widening, walls and floors show more and more signs of regularity, until it opens up to a sewer system.
  
• • Azarketi cave: Another passage leads to a cave that an underwater Azarketi community, the Seafoam Conclave, calls home. You can keep going to reach the surface of the water beneath the creaky boardwalks of the Docks district. If the Azarketi perceive you as honoured guests they might even show you the way from there to 8. Gilltown.
  

Encounters:

• • A shadow forms inside the shadow of whoever is holding any source of light. Needs it to be nice and dark again so it can whisper its sweet maddening limericks to passersby.
  
• • Fortune eater starts following the PCs. Comprised of Pathfinders, it will not shut up about defying sewer dragons, looting graves and finding a little girl alive and unaged 10 years after the earthquake hit.
  
• • The water level reaches the ceiling in this part. Gotta swim or find a way to drain it.
  

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4. Docks sewer (Level 3-4)
Part of an ancient sewer network that is still in use. There is a narrow sidewalk of sorts at the sides of the cylindrical corridors while the middle is filled with flowing raw sewage.

Exits:

• • Manholes or storm drains leading to Docks District at regular intervals.
  
• 2. Precipice necropolis: That weak -and possibly collapsed- wall behind which is the city of the dead.
  
• 3. Winding tunnels: Passage progressively narrowing, walls looking more and more like a cave.
  
• 5. Coins Sewer: Not an exit per se but this is where you end up if you keep going through the main tunnel.
  
• 6. Docks drainage: Squeezing through a slippery pipe that is intermittently gushing muddy water gets you to the drainage network of the district.
  

Encounters:

• • 1d4 sewer oozes in the way; 1d4 rat swarms gush out of old pipes if the PCs make a loud noise.
  
• • rust ooze + spraying foul water hazard (because the ooze ate through some pipes)
  
• • 1d6 chokers attempt to stalk the PCs, if succesful they will attack when the PCs are occupied and distracted.
  
• • 1d4 slurks huddling together upside-down in a manhole shaft, lazily competing for what feels to them like a prized hunting spot.
  
• • 1 otyugh strangler called King of Dirt, was left behind while his comrades led the Ofalth away. Not interested in a fight (unless provoked) he might attempt to impress friendly PCs by spitting out a Skinsaw Mask he's been unsuccessfully chewing for a few days now. Never has he faced such an inedible gummy delicacy!
  
• • Sewer gas, lasting until the next exit/encounter. Might throw them off the ofalth smell trail (+5 to Track DC). Will also explode (dealing 4d6 environmental fire damage) if exposed to a source of flame.
  

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5. Coins sewer (Level 4-5)
Inconspicuous change, the scenery is mostly the same (practically a continuation of the same sewer network as 4. Docks sewer) except the decor is slightly different (more chances to find signs of intelligent life).

Exits:

• • Manholes or storm drains leading to Coins District at regular intervals.
  
• • Temple of Lost Coins basement: Secret door hidden inside a comically oversized treasure chest that is made to look like an incompetently disguised mimic. A series of increasingly harder locked doors and non-lethal traps lead to the base of operations of the Forthright, the "honorable thieves" of Absalom. The PCs are welcomed with open arms and invited to join if they pass the aforementioned test chambers.
  
• • Band of the Palm basement: Secret door (permanent illusonary wall) leads to a heavily guarded labyrinthine complex of rooms and traps, traversing them to eventually reach the Bloody Barbers HQ is an adventure in itself, even the Bloody Barbers don't travel here alone, they have a special unit of albino chokers trained to guide them through this gods-forsaken place.
  
• 4. Docks sewer: Visually indistinguishable, you end up there if you follow the main tunnel.
  
• 7. Buried city ruins: Decrepit manhole without handholds and a stuck rusty cover on top. It's been unused for its original purpose for thousands of years. Instead of hearing the bustle of the city or seeing light from the cracks, there's darkness and silence.
  
• 10. Cursed slave holds: Part of the wall used to form a secret door for a slave smuggler tunnel but the hinges have corroded in the past few years so the passage is now comically obvious.
  

Encounters:

• • 2d4 [Bloody Barber ruffians](https://www.pf2easy.com/index.php?id=23391) making sure there are no nosy trespassers in their territory
  
• • 1d4 [Bloody Barber thieves](https://www.pf2easy.com/index.php?id=23392) returning after difficult heist with 1d6 x 10% HP each. They are carrying 100 gp worth of art objects, gems and coins each. Not looking for a fight but also not willing to give up the loot that easily. (If you decide they are members of the Forthright, they instead immediately agree to return the loot to their rightful owners if confronted about it)
  
• • 1d4 Forthright charlatans and burglars returning after a heist. They too are carrying 100 gp worth of art objects, gems and coins each. They will attempt to lie and feign innocence but if confronted forcefully they immediately agree to return the loot, but only to the rightful owners. If arrested they ask to be delivered to the Token Guard where they can easily buy their freedom with a token fee.
  
• • Drug stash behind loose brick (DC 20). Contents: Critical failure = didn't even notice it; Failure = 20 doses of qat; Success = 50 doses of grit; Critical success = 5 doses of either demon dust or succumbus kiss
  
• • Mutated Sewer Ooze and Wizard Sponge. Escaped experiments from the Gallery of Innovation. Not very aggressive but their normal behaviour poses a danger to everyone around them. They kinda stick together instictively but they are not really consciously allied.
  

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6. Docks drainage (Level 3-4)
Similar environment to 4. Docks sewer except it is narrower, closer to the surface (the noise and bustle of the Docks above can be often heard, and the grates are only 5 feet above the flow). Also no raised paths along the walls, you will have to get your feet wet. The water is also cleaner since this network is meant to drain excess water from the rain or the sea until it later joins the sewage.

Exits:

• 4. Docks sewer: A slippery pipe allows the muddy water outflow to join the sewer network. It's tight enough to be considered greater difficult terrain but not so tight it would require a skill check to Squeeze.
  
• 7. Buried city ruins: Following the drainage system to the east leads to an old rusty storm drain, part of a street that has been unused and buried for centuries. Very silent, dark and dry compared to a normal current-era storm drain.
  
• • Eventually following the drainage system to the west leads all the way to the Groundwater Tunnel (see book 3 for more info). But some of the openings between here and there might be too narrow for most people. It might be possible proceed by breaking through the walls or squeezing through the pipes or magically shrinking down.
  • Azarketi cave: Another passage leads to a cave that an underwater Azarketi community, the Seafoam Conclave, calls home. You can keep going to reach the surface of the water beneath the creaky boardwalks of the Docks district. If the Azarketi perceive you as honoured guests they might even show you the way from there to 8. Gilltown.
  

Encounters:

• • Very narrow passage. Squeeze DC 15.
  
• • Diobel sweeper tough or washboard dog tough. Will warn any transpassers to get out of their gang's territory. Might have to demonstrate the point and toughen someone up (no killing of course!). Might ask 1d6x10gp as a toll.
  
• • 1d12 Dockside Dozen urchins. Their small bodies can fit through some very narrow water pipes; perfect for evading the law and other gangs.
  
• • Jossie Slimfin, azarketi junk merchant
  
• • Cecaelia Trapper washed through the pipes from the sea and lost his way. Extremely xenophobic and wary of land-dwellers.
  
• • Emergency watery wave floods the whole tunnel, pushing PCs in one direction unless they Grab an Edge (Reflex DC 20). Failure could mean the PCs are separated, they have to re-tread some way or even get some bruises or hit their heads somewhere.
  

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7. Buried city ruins (Level 4-5)
Disused part of the city that has caved into the ground. Actually this general area includes remnants of buildings from different epochs that have been pressured together from eons of newer construction built on top of each other into a sort of labyrinthine amalgamation.

Exits:

• 5. Coins sewer: Decrepit manhole, DC 20 Force Open to get it unstuck.
  
• 6. Docks drainage: Rusty storm drain. Perception DC 20 to notice it's in use.
  
• 8. Gilltown: Underwater tunnel, the entrance hidden behind carefully nurtured seaweed. Must hold breath at least for 10 minutes (Survival DC 25 to not waste extra time lost in the circuitous passages) to fully explore. And then you have to deal with Azarketis who might not appreciate you finding their secret home base.
  
• 9. Mother Venom lair: Ancient outhouse in collapsed building (DC 30 to Squeeze through the cracks) leading to the Eastgate sewer network.
  
• • House of Planes back door: One of the passages leads to an area of olds buildings that are currently inhabited by members of the Hookclaw kobold clan. Further down this way you eventually reach area D6 from book 1. From there you can visit the House of Planes or just exit through the Raptor's Rest graveyard to the surface in Eastgate.
  
• • Dark dark cave leading to the Darklands.
  

Encounters:

• • Kekker & Gref, ratfolk drug smugglers.
  
• • 1d6 Vargouilles. They want to turn you into one of them.
  
• • 1d4 Poltergeists. Restless echoes of citizens of old, confused their home lies in pieces.
  
• • 1 caligni caller and 2 caligni stalkers on an unholy quest to find owbs here in the ruins of long ago.
  
• • Owb. It has come to bargain. With caligni or others. If it won't get a good price, it is not above issuing threats, curses, ultra-violence or strange omens (in that order).
  
• Unlooted ruins of aristocrat's mansion. Perception DC 20: Critical failure: didn't even notice; Failure: 1d4 lesser art objects; Success: 1d6 moderate art objects; Critical Success: 1 greater art object.
  

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8. Gilltown
A network of mostly submerged caves where azarketis privately live, worship and trade among themselves. Few outsiders are permitted. Exploring here is beyond the scope of this write-up.

For more info, check out the Absalom book, page 141.

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9. Mother Venom lair (Level 10-15)
If the ooze-dripping ceilings and walls or the oozemorphic passage-blocking clots of this part of the sewer network don't dissuade PCs, describe the sense of foreboding and terror they feel as they catch a glimpse of one of the children of venom going about their business. If they insist you should probably tell them this area is too high-level for them or let them be kidnapped and turned into children of venom themselves.

For more info, see book 5.

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10. Cursed slave holds (Level 5-6)
This area consists of narrow man-made tunnels, passages and cells spread beneath Misery Row, the former slave pits of Absalom. They were used to hold slaves in awful conditions or to smuggle them to nobles in other areas (the law allowed buying and selling slaves only within three-quarters of a mile of the sea). While slavery is outlawed now, slaver activity even in this obvious place has not completely ceased. And the legacy of past sins still echoes in the dark, metaphorically or literally.

Exits:

• 5. Coins sewer: Through that not-so-inconspicuous secret door.
  
• 11. Ascended Court ancient sewer mainline:Finding your way through all the passages without going in circles is a challenge in itself (Survival DC 23) but eventually you might reach another secret door (Perception DC 23) which leads to the oldest sewer network of the city.
  
• • Grand Bazaar sewer: Another possibility is going west, eventually you get to yet another secret door that leads to the sewers below the Grand Bazaar, and from there to the Foreign Quarter sewers.
  
• • Ascending the pits will get you out through Misery Row, now turned into homes for the poor, empty lots and low-cost staffing agencies that are like slavery with extra steps.
  

Encounters:

• • 1d4 morlock engineers and 1d4 morlock cultists looking to abduct slaves or other stranglers and bring them back to Delirium's Tangle (a mind-bending labyrinth of chambers and tunnels) deep beneath the Ivy district.
  
• • The Stitchlip Man, who creeps at night to stitch shut the mouths of anyone who speaks ill of thieves and steal away their voices. Actually it's an act performed by a masked member of the Family Dogs gang (use elite copper hand rogue statblock) to scare people into paying them protection money. 10% chance it's the gang leader himself (Dras, level 9 fetchling rogue) reprising the role.
  
• • Denizen of Leng. Here to take in the sights and breath in the energy of the place.
  
• • Animate Dream made up of all the nightmares of the people enslaved here over time.
  

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11. Ascended Court ancient sewer mainline (Level 6-7)
This is the most ancient part of Absalom's sewer network, built in the time of Aroden. It's still in use although not by design; several more modern parts of the sewer network have collapsed or become blocked and through an emergent process the excess sewage from there ends up here.

Exits:

• 10. Cursed slave holds: Secret door that leads back to the pits and passages below Misery Row.
  
• 12. Arodenite catacombs (chasm entrance): There is a small hole that leads to the Starstone Cathedral chasm. From there you can sort of see another window a few hundred feet further. Climb DC 25 to get there. That puts you in area D2 of the catacombs.
  
• 12. Arodenite catacombs: Following the mainline sewer all the way circling the starstone chasm eventually leads you to a large opening in a naturally-formed cavern. That is area D25 of the catacombs. If you don't exit here, you can keep going north to the Wise Quarter sewers.
  
• Ivy District sewers: Branching of the mainline is a smaller newer sewer that eventually leads below Ivy District.
  

Encounters:

• • 1d4 skinstitches, the Skinsaws send them here to ward off guards and other people who could track them down.
  
• • 1d4 skinsaw murderers on their way to look for more victims to skin. Lucky for them they found you, saves them the trouble.
  
• • 1d4 shamblers usually survive with scraps that end up in the sewer. They are hidden among other normal vegetation that has overgrown and taken over this part of the sewer.
  
• • Mohrg, used to be part of the skinsaw cult until there was a scuffle with another member and he ended up left for dead in the sewer.
  

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12. Arodenite catacombs (Level 8-9)
These halls served as the final resting place of a niche sect of Aroden worshipers called the Fellowship of Prospectus. This is the final destination for the ofalth. It sets camp in area D25 and feeds off a steady diet of corpses provided by the Skinsaw cult.

For more details see book 2, page 30.

Did anyone else make special arrangements to make resurrection easier for their group? Here's what I did:

We had an unfortunate death in book 4 (the ankou shadow doubles body-blocked the ranger) and the player seemed inconsolable and really wanted the character back. The convenient thing was that the player also wouldn't be able to attend sessions for a while so we organised a few mini sessions for the rest of the players.

The basic structure we used was the Research Subsystem. The way it works is there are various places of knowledge (called "libraries" in the subsystem) and interacting with them (usually requires a skill check) gives you points. The more points you collect, the easier it gets. Each place of knowledge might have its own quirks and restrictions. When you achieve certain point thresholds you get a benefit, like a sudden realisation about what to do or even some unexpected extra.

For Absalom I chose the following "libraries":

• • Arcanamirium (complication: PCs found the dean annoying and had to stealth to avoid her)
  
• • Forae Logos
  
• • College of Mysteries (complication: requires payment)
  
• • Temple of the Shining Star
  
• • House of Healing (complication: need to talk to doctors to get info and they are busy)
  
• • Seventh Church of Iomedae (complication: traditionally only Iomedae worshippers are told the secrets)
  
• • Azari Palace (complication: the books aren't catalogued)
  
• • Ahnkamen estate (complication: only Eaters of Knowledge members may access)
  

Each place grants a maximum of 3 points. Each attempt takes at least 4 hours (half a day). The default DC was 30.

The thresholds I used were roughly as follows:

• 3: Learn the base Resurrect ritual (extras if applicable at location: healer's gel, firestarter pellets)
  
• 5: Learn that speeches made by friends of the dearly departed lower the DC. The more friends call on him the better. (extras if applicable at location: +1 point for a separate research towards the raise dead spell, staff of final rest, dawnlight)
  
• 7: Learn that decorations, sounds and smells that remind the dearly departed of their home, their homeland, their life lower the DC (extras if applicable at location: stumble upon instructions for another uncommon ritual, like commune or planar ally)
  
• 9: +1 point for a separate research towards the raise dead spell or something else important to the story
  

So what happened after that they arranged a speech from all the important people from his background, including the guy who set him free , the people who helped to his feet when he was poor, the colleague he had a fling with. They bought spices imported from the Mwangi Expanse where he came from and so on.

We also role-played him being a ghost for a bit, he encountered a lesser death (the same one the Twilight Four had called to deal with the Infector) who tried to send him to the Boneyard but he resisted. During the culmination of the ritual (which was a critical success) he briefly met Desna. All in all it was worthwhile and I don't think it trivialised the impact of character death.

They later re-used the same tricks to resurrect Harlo Doleen (which I initially thought would completely derail the plot but actually wasn't too difficult to deal with).

Before the trial:
After getting arrested, Pratchett will make several arrangements to minimise the chances of being convicted. With his charisma and connections, unless the PCs intervene, his cell at the Edgewatch jail will have lots of luxuries not afforded to other prisoners, like no cellmates, a desk, a real bed, good food but most importantly he is allowed to receive as many visitors as he wants for as long as he wants.

One of the people who are visiting him frequently is Mrs. Honeywall who fanatically believes in his innocence. Pratchett is slowly radicalising her and will eventually ask her to burn down the hotel (ostensibly as an act of defiance) to destroy any evidence the PCs haven't gotten around to gathering. If she succeeds and the PCs investigate the ruins, they might find and recognise her glasses (Perception DC 25). If she is arrested she will stand trial with the rest.

He is also very quickly writing his memoirs to "tell his side of the story", of course they will be full of lies to turn the public to his side. He asks Vancaskerkin to publish them but Vancaskerkin, recognising an opportunity, informs the PCs (he's eager to win their trust, hopes they will return the favour later or even prove useful pawns). If the PCs show no interest in stopping this, he goes ahead and does it but if they ask him not to he will respect the PCs' wishes.

Pratchett doesn't want a lawyer, he will represent himself.

Ralso might also be on trial as Pratchett's accomplish. Before the trial she might have cooperated with the PCs and Edgewatch, some of the PCs might have pitied her and want to help her. She makes no preparations on her own, so she won't even have a lawyer unless the PCs take an active interest in helping her and she will only remind them of the lawyer situation the day before the trial. If the PCs try to help her, she will play along with anything they suggest, including an Atone ritual.

Nobbindale (the redcap) might also have been arrested. In that case he will stand trial with the rest. He is completely unhinged and will refuse any cooperation.

The public prosecutor, Zendo Loreya, an old man with a white short well kept beard, comes by at Edgewatch HQ to get the list of all the evidence and all other info on the case the PCs might offer him.

The courthouse:
The trial takes place a few weeks after the PCs resolve the murder hotel adventure, whatever better fits your campaign's pacing and story. It takes place at the badly maintained Puddles courthouse. This happens because Ralso was once arrested while burgling a very well connected haberdasher who is still keeping a grudge and used his connections to make the trial happen at the corrupt and extremely harsh Puddles courthouse.

Lady Seichya of House Tevineg (high warden of the Brine prison, trademaster of the Salt Cartel) is the presiding judge. She has a conflict of interest of course, since her control of the private prison means she'd rather see defendants convincted than go free.

Outside the courthouse, the PCs might encounter Eunice (if they have saved both him and Kemeneles). He is standing next to the door with his arms crossed, clearly annoyed. He is watching a bunch of urchins around his age whose circumstances couldn't be more different than his own: they are selling newspapers and trinkets, shining shoes and possibly even picking pockets. Kemeneles forbid him to go inside on account of the gruesome descriptions that will no doubt be relayed during the trial. He feels this is unfair. Still, seeing the PCs might lift his mood if they were nice to him in the past.

The process:
For simplicity and brevity the trial will be depicted in a series of short episodes, each either from a witness deposition or from the presentation of a piece of evidence. At each episode, one PC will be either making a speech or will have the opportunity to make a retort/comment during someone else's speech. Example episodes:

• • A PC acts as a witness for the prosecution and recounts how the agents of Edgewatch solved the case and made the arrests.
  
• • Kemeneles testifies how he was captured and what he suffered
  
• • Lyrma testifies how she was captured and what she suffered
  
• • Nobbindale is called as a witness. He is extremely candid and incriminates everyone, most of all himself.
  
• • Corpseward pendants are presented as evidence of Pratchett's necromancy.
  
• • Books, scrolls and other magical items are presented as evidence of Pratchett's necromancy.
  
• • The skin with the dragon tattoo is presented as evidence connecting Pratchett with the missing Minkaians.
  
• • Roji Aozo corpse is presented (perhaps not directly) as evidence connecting Pratchett with the missing Minkaians.
  
• • “To Anastatia, my love” locket and rust monster ring are presented as evidence connecting Pratchett with the missing zoo keepers.
  
• • Pratchett is questioned about what possible innocent use he might have had for restoring and actively using the smelter in the basement.
  
• • Pratchett's dueling cane is presented as evidence of suspicious conduct. (note: poisons are illegal in Absalom)
  
• • Mrs. Honeywall's glasses are presented as evidence of her starting the hotel fire.
  

If things are not going favourably for Pratchett, he gets vindictive and tries to take down Ralso with him. In that case, consider adding the following episodes:

• • Pratchett testifies against Ralso, says she built the traps.
  
• • Pratchett testifies against Ralso, says she has confessed to murders in her diary.
  

If Ralso is cornered after Pratchett turns on her, she considers changing her plea to guilty, confessing her crimes. If there is a PC she trusts, she looks at them expectantly hoping for a sign in the form of a nod or other body language. She will follow their advice.

Make sure to modify or skip episodes based on what has transpired in your game (e.g. if a witness was not rescued they can't testify, if a piece of evidence was not recovered it cannot be presented and so on).

The verdict:

Each episode contributes 1 conviction point to all relevant defendants by default. But if some deposition or piece of evidence is doubted or objected to, then the point might be nullified. Pratchett will never miss an opportunity to do this.

If no PC is involved, the GM decides if the point is nullified or not. If a PC is involved in an episode, they roll a relevant skill check (mostly Diplomacy) with DC 20. If the involvement was against a defendent then:

• Critical success: +2 conviction points
  
• Success: +1 conviction point
  
• Failure: 0 conviction points
  
• Critical Failure: -1 conviction point
  

If the involvement was to object or cast doubt to a witness or piece of evidence then:

• Critical success: -1 conviction point
  
• Success: 0 conviction point
  
• Failure: +1 conviction points
  
• Critical Failure: +2 conviction points
  

Example objections that Pratchett might use:

• • Evidence has been tampered with by PCs/Edgewatch (especially if the PCs actually used some of Pratchett's magical items)
  
• • Corpseward pendants are needed because the Precipice Quarter is infested with undead
  
• • It wasn't a smelter in the basement, it was an oven for meatpies
  

Finally subtrack 1 conviction point for each extenuating circumstance, for instance:

• • Pratchett: he successfully published his memoirs.
  
• • Pratchett: the hotel was burned down
  
• • Ralso: cooperated with the authorities
  
• • Ralso: atoned for her deeds in a very public and dramatic manner.
  
• • Ralso: found a lawyer
  
• • Ralso: pleads guilty (don't subtract if it would bring the tally to 0)
  

Depending on conviction points, the verdict is:

• 0: innocent, free to go
  
• 1-2: 5 years in the Brine
  
• 3: 10 years in the Brine
  
• 4+: hanged until dead
  

Shreeve:
Introduced in the toolbox of the Gallery of Evil, Ventalie Shreeve owns a small potion shop on Vermillion Way in the Ivy District. A hidden cellar under the shop conceals a meeting room, where an elite circle of assassins for hire known as Norgorber’s Knot dedicates its kills to Norgorber.

Shreeve is intimately acquainted with the Blackfinger temple yet she has not been granted access to the inner sanctum under the temple proper. Nevertheless she knows a lot of secrets of the cult. Even though she is not directly involved with the twilight four, she knows a few things about the blackfingers. She has been trying to gain access to the blackfingers lower temple unsuccessfully for a while now. Jonis has word from Norgorber himself that she's not to be trusted. She has heard that Jonis the head priest of the Blackfingers temple is part of the twilight four, a conspiracy of high-level norgorberites. She does not know what the conspiracy involves exactly but she knows it's important. This information was fed to her by Vancaskerkin's agents, hoping it would lead investigators off his trail and destroy Jonis at the same time.

Shreeve was recently hired by Bloody Berleth to kill Maurissa Jonne but he had second thoughts, did not make the payment so the assassination never went through.

Possible hooks to start mini-adventure:

• • she frequently attends the midnight meetings at the Black Mask costume shop, the PCs might be doing a stakeout
  
• • one of the PCs might have dealt with her in his background, especially if the PC is from the Ivy district
  
• • there is a pile of unsolved cases at the Thistleguard, perhaps one of the PCs' contacts there tries to solicit their help to investigate the seemingly unsolvable ones.
  
• • they might be led to her while searching for possible norgorberite activity in the city
  
• • they might notice something suspicious (like a customer speaking in code) going on while purchasing potions from her shop
  
• • they meet her in person at the Noxious Retort conference and decide to investigate her further
  
• • somehow the PCs get Bloody Berleth to admit he almost hired an assassin to kill Morissa Jones
  

Potion shop:
I used this map. It includes the shop and her house and basement. Does not include the secret sub-basement.

Her shop seems like a normal potion shop, with a focus on alchemical consumables. False bottoms/backs in the cabinets she stores her usual wares conceal potent divine poisons (pretty much everything from the adventure toolbox of book 4 is available), those are for special clients or for her own use.

In her private chambers on the 2nd floor connected to the shop via a staircase, on her desk, one can find her formula book, where she keeps all her recipes: focus cathartic, vermin repellent agent, vexing vapor, skeptic's elixir, silvertongue mutagen, quicksilver mutagen, juggernaut mutagen, energy mutagen, dread ampoule, cognitive mutagen, drakeheart mutagen, tanglefoot bag, alchemist's fire, acid flask, snake oil, antidote, bravo's brew, elixir of life, wyvern poison (last one is encrypted, DC 30).

The same notebook also contains a list of her clientèle each associated with a 4-digit code. If studied, Perception or similar DC20 to notice some clients have no associated orders at all. Perception or similar DC25 to notice she has nowhere near 9999 clients so there's no sense in using 4-digit codes. These deductions will come into play later.

The altar:
In the middle of the basement, there is an oblong stone altar. Its surface is sculpted with a network of long winding grooves that connect in an intricate pattern. There is a hole in the middle like a drain. DC20 to observe that it is actually one continuous line with the drain at one end. Religion/crafting DC30 to realise it's a mixture or alchemical and norgorberite symbolism. Another appropriate DC30 check like Identify Magic reveals that it's a magic device that accepts sound and liquid as input.

The actual solution is to sing a skiprope rhyme called "No-No Norgorber" while pouring the right sort of liquid at certain times, as noted below. The players could figure this out on their own if they are familiar with the rhyme (try to foreshadow it), or they could remember it with an appropriate check (DC20 if they realise it's something like a song or poem or hymn, DC30 if they have no idea what they're supposed to be looking for).

The timings and liquid requirements can also be figured out with appropriate Identify Magic or similar checks. The device hums and glows more and more with each correct new liquid poured but if you pour something wrongly then the humming and glowing ends abruptly. This together with knowledge of Norgorber lore (as a lore-skill or just paying attention) will help the PCs figure it out. Someone who is a Master in Thievery can Disable Device DC30 to completely bypass it. Other similar brute-force solutions should be around DC35.

Here is the rhyme and liquids:

Reaper?
Master?
Skinsaw Man?
Where is the poison? (pour in any poison)
What is the plan? (pour in anything that fools senses)
No-No Norgorber!
Folks take care!
How many dark masks does he wear?
One Reaper! (pour in anything that manipulates knowledge or information)
Two Master! (pour in anything that fools senses)
Skinsaw Man! (pour in blood)
Quick leaper!
Jump faster!
Bogeyman!

What lies beneath the altar:
When someone sings the song and pours the right liquids at the right times, the whole altar moves out of the way revealing a small shaft with handholds on all walls. The sub-basement is a small square room, the floor decorated with Norgorber's symbol made out of dried blood. In the corner there is a desk, on the desk there is a small booklet.

Assassination log:
The booklet is the lightly encrypted assassination log. It's written in Elven. Decipher Writing DC30 to decode it in one go. The PCs get repeated tries with possibly a reduced DC every time they make a reasonable deduction from the following clues:

• • There are rows and columns filled with data.
  (rows represent assassinations, columns represent the properties of each assassination)
  
• • The columns are: 8-digit number, another number (range 500-2000), 2-3 comma-separated keywords (from a fixed set of about a dozen different ones), a date, another date, a third date (in some entries both 2nd and 3rd date are missing). The dates are always ordered: 1st is always earlier than 2nd, 2nd is always earlier than 3rd.
  (columns represent 1: combined 4-digit client code and 4-digit target code 2: price in gold coins 3: the aliases of the assassins that got assigned to this task 4: order date 5: payment date 6: completion date)
  
• • The possible keywords in the 3rd column are: "Unseen Hand", "Qat", "Demon Dust", "Arsenic", "Dagger", "Belladonna", "Wyvern", "Black Adder", "Centipede", "Wasp" etc
  (these are the aliases of each assassin in the circle, Shreeve is the "Unseen Hand", the rest are named after assassination methods, mostly poisons)
  

Once the PCs solve this they get a clear picture of all the assassinations Norgorber's Knot has conducted.

There is only one entry that is related to the main case though: The last row is an assassination ordered by Bloody Berleth to get Maurissa Jonne killed. The bounty was set to 1800 gold but was never paid (as indicated by the fact that the last two dates are not filled in). Bloody Berleth, despite his hatred for Maurissa, couldn't go through with it.

Behaviour and schedule:
Shreeve tends to her shop every day of the week during daytime. Sometimes she can be found in the Blackfinger temple. One night per week she attends secret meetings at the Black Mask costume shop. She meets up with her assassin buddies in her basement almost every other night. If she knows the PCs are investigating her she will feign ignorance. If they make a move to arrest her or attack she will attempt to flee at the first good opportunity (perhaps using her gaseous form potion). If the PCs are investigating her shop/house there is a good chance she will show up with her 2-4 assassin buddies (number determined either randomly or based on desired difficulty). She may or may not know the PCs are there but she always returns home eventually. She does not fight to the death, she might trade secrets for her life and freedom.

For Shreeve use the statblock of Japu Thelenger (AoE book 4, page 14). Add a gaseous form potion (and at your discretion, perhaps some more alchemical items for emergencies). For her assassin buddies use the assassin statblock from the Gamemastery Guide. As an example, for 4 level 10 PCs, Shreeve + 4 assassins is a severe encounter, Shreeve + 2 assassins is a moderate encounter.

What the PCs can gain from this scenario:

• • Jonis' omen/instinct about Shreeve being untrustworthy is correct: If she's interrogated or otherwise pressured, she's going to try to trade her freedom for secrets (most likely Jonis' secret identity). Such secret might be hard to be used in an official capacity since Shreeve will be either gone or refuse to repeat it in a court of law.
  
• • Putting Shreeve behind bars and/or dismantling her circle of assassins will make people in the city safer and the Thistleguard will be grateful.
  
• • If they unlock the second basement and decrypt the assassination log, they can hand over the info to the Thistleguard which will be even more thankful.
  
• • If Shreeve abandons her shop and the PCs impound the merchandise, give them unlimited access to alchemical consumables up to level 7.
  

Where do we go from here:

• • You may allow the PCs to skip some parts of the Adventure Path to get to the Blackfinger temple raid sooner.
  
• • Add a new downtime activity to help with cleaning up the cases in the assassination log. This might involve arresting the ones who ordered the assassinations, arresting the assassins themselves based on their aliases. Providing closure to victims' families and so on.
  
• • Or you can invent new scenarios with the PCs doing these things on-screen.
  
• • The PCs might be invited as witnesses for Shreeve's trial.
  
• • Use the info as leverage over Maurissa/Berleth in future encounters.
  
• • Shreeve's confessions and/or trading of secrets might lead to more investigations of norgorberites she has been associated with, the Black Mask costume shop for example.
  

I ran this module as a side-quest / foreshadowing for my Agents of Edgewatch campaign. My notes are very patchy but I thought I'd share them in case they are useful to someone else.

Should be okay for around level 10-11 PCs.

Playing the corresponding card against a storykin applies the weak adjustment to them for the rest of the fight.

Events:
Andera Paldreen as Algon the Ever-Seeking.

Α. Midnight circus
Combine A2 and A3 into one encounter. 2 reskinned Feathered Bears as the unicycle bears (Feathered Charge represents their exceptional ability with the unicycles). Raja Rakshasa as Bernaditi.

B. Briar
A leveled-down Rabbit Prince as the Rabbit Prince. (In foundry use the workbench module to do this automatically; otherwise just reverse-engineer it using the creature building rules).

C. Demon's Fen
Change the owl into a skill challenge without any combat. Xiuh Couatl as the couatl. Leng Ghoul as the Barrow King.

D. Manmolds
Steam Vents as the steam vents. Formian Queen as the ant queen; either level it down to be an appropriate challenge or turn into an threatening RP encounter with occasional attack/ability usage but not a full fight.

E. Prophet's Garden
Confounding Betrayal as the hunter's horn trap. Replace Sonnorae fight with a Flensing Blades hazard to simulate her haunted ghostly outburst.

F. Sanguine Playhouse
Grig as grig. A leveled-down (just reduce the DCs) Dance of Death as the fiddle hazard. Use Planar Terra-Cotta Soldier as Balio and Balimar with the following changes:

• • Occupies 2 adjacent spaces instead of 1
• • Add a simplified "Act Together" ability: Free action; Trigger Balimar Casts A Spell; Effect Balio can take a 1-action activity.
• • Add some spells: Vibrant Pattern, Mirror Malefactors, Wall of Stone, Chromatic Armor, Haste, Mirror Image.

G. Smith’s Caldera
Great Cyclops as the cyclops. Kolyarut as Ticktock.

H. Trackless Dearth
Denizen of Leng as Nightpeddler

I. Striding Fortress
Marid and Efreeti in I5, 3 Succubi in I9, Adult Blue Dragon as Zassrion. Simplify/skip the rest of the fights.

How about we share some statblocks we have made for those situations that aren't strictly in the AP but could potentially arise? I'll go first. Here's my take on Detective Desdelen “Skinny” Bolera:

Detective Bolera — Creature 6
Unique, NG, Medium, Humanoid, Half-Elf, Human
female half-elf investigator

Perception +18; low-light vision

Languages Common, Dwarven, Goblin, Undercommon, Kelish

Skills Arcana +15, Deception +13, Diplomacy +13, Occultism +15, Performance +13, Religion +15, Society +15, Stealth +13, Creative Writing +18

Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +2

Items acid flask, crystal shards, thunderstone, tanglefoot bag, dread ampoule, alchemist's fire, blight bomb, frost vial, ghost charge (all moderate), handcuffs (good), fingerprint kit, forensic dye, blindpepper tube, looter's lethargy

AC 23; Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +12

HP 90

Speed 25 feet

Ranged [1-action] Crossbow +18 (range increment 120 feet, reload 1), Damage 2d6 piercing

Bolera's Interrogation [3-action] (Frequency 3 times per day) She focuses her attention on a single creature within 30 feet. That creature must attempt a Will save against her Perception DC. On a failure, the creature finds itself unable to speak any deliberate and intentional lies and takes a -2 penalty to Deception checks. On a critical failure, the penalty to Deception checks is -4. This effect lasts for 10 minutes.

Devise a Stratagem [1-action] (Frequency once per round) She chooses a creature she can see, Recalls Knowledge on it and Strikes. If the Strike is a failure, the attack never happened. If it's a success, add 7 precision damage, the target becomes flat-footed for one ally's next attack, improve the Recall Knowledge result by one degree.

Expeditious Inspection [free action] (Frequency once per 10 minutes) Assesses surroundings with great speed. Recalls Knowledge, Seeks, or Senses Motive.

Inspire Imitation [reaction] Whenever she critically succeeds at a skill check, she automatically qualifies to use the Aid reaction when attempting to help an ally using the same skill, no preparation needed.

monster.pf2.tools/v/ojxs7sLL

I thought I would share my notes on how to expand the bank robbery investigation in the beginning of book 2.

Copper Hand missive
Instead of being handed a list of 6 leads and Ralso's journal entry about the letter, the players start with only a single clue: the letter Ralso got from the Copper Hands. If the players didn't recover this on their own, perhaps someone else cleaning up the murder hotel did or even better maybe Ralso willingly divulged its location to the PCs as part of a plea bargain. it simply says "R, Got a job if you’re interested. Big money in plain sight, strike while the streets are soaked with tourists. We need a jimmy. You in?" with a Copper Hand seal. To decode it they would either need Ralso's cooperation or a Decipher Writing DC 19 check (Lore Underworld or similar also work). If you think it's fun you can give the players partial clues like "R refers to Ralso", "streets soaked with tourists refers to the radiant parade", "big money in plain sight refers to a bank" and "the seal is from a gang called the Copper Hand"... and see if they can figure out the rest on their own. At any rate, at the end of this stage, one way or the other, they should have learned at least that there's a group of thieves called the Copper Hand who are planning to rob a bank using the radiant parade as a cover.

Radiant parade route
if the players express interest in investigating the radiant parade, they might learn that while the main event takes place on some specific date (of your choice), there is also a number of rehearsals they can attend. While the main event goes through every district (except the puddles), the rehearsals take place in one district at a time, cycling through districts each day, with partial attendance from floats while many floats show up in varying states of completion.

Here is the route of the radiant parade that your players should get access to soon after they express interest. Each district segment is marked with a different colour. On the big day, the parade will start at the Hall of Nations and end near the Starstone Chasm.

Rehearsals
By attending rehearsals the PCs can get info on the floats or speak with the participants. The Copper Hand thieves attend only the last rehearsal that takes place at the Coins, obviously with fewer people, unarmed, without the clown/stitchskin and their ship float has no mast nor sail.

Talking to the participants or following the participants back to their workshops after the rehearsal might trigger the scene that in the original AP happens at the tannery. Reflavour the NPCs and scenery as necessary depending on where it happens. The important clue that gets uncovered is that there was a float or theatre machinery depicting Aroden raising the Starstone out of the ocean but the pneumatic telescoping cylinder part that did the lifting was stolen, ruining the best part of the effect. Most of the float makers reside in the Ivy District having a background in theatre prop making. But of course if the PCs pay close attention they might notice that the ship float is one of the few that goes somewhere else: to the Foreign Quarter. They can follow it there to the thieves' warehouse on Richmore street in Vudratown.

Here's some descriptions you can use for the rehearsals:

(Coins district only) there's too many people, it's already crowded on a normal day, the addition of the floats and the tourists completely erase the notion of personal space

fireworks, crackers, kids in colourful costumes

some vendors have not packed up their stuff so some floats don't fit causing a traffic jam

most floats seem non-functional or half-finished, most are not yet painted and some props or details are missing

lots of ads, almost all floats are sponsored by some shop or church which is displayed prominently

Cayden Cailean float has the hiccups and appears to drink a never ending mug of beer, with illusionary foam and drink spilling continuously on his chin

clockwork Iomedae float with raise shield action

siege engine float with some sort of crowned angel statue on top (Kharnas)

empty chariot with decorative axes with a huge "Oggvurm Blood City Champion" sign

keleshite float with dancers dressed as djinns breathing out smoky clouds in various shapes and designs, the sign says "Lucky Nimbus" (this one might catch fire and cause a ruckus at your discretion)

ship float with no sails or mast

Potential banks

At some point the PCs need to try to narrow down the potential banks that might be targeted. They can cross-reference an index of the city's banks with the parade route or just walk the route and check what banks are on the way. If the players don't come up with this, have Ollo or Bolera gently nudge them e.g. "if only we had a way to filter the banks to know which ones to focus on". Letting them roll a skill check for ideas is also fine. One way or another, they get a list of banks located along the route of the parade.

Here's a map of possible locations for the banks in the Coins district.

Show a rough sketch of each bank's layout to the players if possible to help them visualise the place and how the robbery might play out.

Orvington: Run it as written. Extra clues if the PCs keep coming back: Perception DC 10 to notice Urthar is on unpaid leave, Craft DC 20 to notice the iron bars are of exceptional quality, Nature DC 15 the dogs are excellent guards. Security: dogs, iron bars and guards etc indicate it's pretty good (walls withstood the Fiendflesh Siege after all :P).

Penny & Sphinx: Run it as written. Extra clues if the PCs keep coming back: Perception DC 20 collapsible ladder, Craft DC 20 iron bars to conference room are decorative, Society DC 20 Kolo duties/salary reduced. Security: indirectly indicate that it's so-so, the decorative bars should be the best clue they can get about this fact. The large lawn and tall fence should be emphasised.

Stonesworn: Run as written, possibly simplifying the spider/xill encounter. Extra clues if the PCs keep coming back: Craft DC 20 walls are exceptionally thick, iron filigree is of exceptional hardness and very well integrated with the stone. Security: make a big show of the magical rune-covered vault "turn around so I can input the code that unlocks the door", make sure to comment on her obvious adventurer background or the proprietor.

Chadraxa: She might mistake the PCs for token guards and ask them about the complaint she has filed (Urthar owing her money; depending on the conversation she may inadvertently confess to the vandalism). She might also mistake the PCs for representatives of the Mudcrackers who came here to resolve her business permit approval case. She does not tell them about Percen Droan unless they ask specifically about him. Chadraxa insinuates she has some very valuable intel but helping her with her troubles or otherwise convincing her to talk should at best produce a simple clue like "talk to the float makers" or "X bank has very tight security". Extra clues if the PCs keep coming back: teenage couple trying to sell a grandfather clock they stole (red herring), smugglers and other criminal elements the PCs might have missed from elsewhere might show up here to do business.

Vault of Abadar: The only bank outside of the Coins that is on the parade route. Should be obvious from the construction and the Brotherhood of Abadar Vigilance Committee barracks being housed right next door that the security here is impeccable.

Asking other district guards
The PCs might decide to send a note to other districts to ask if they have heard of this Copper Hand gang. If they don't, maybe Ollo takes initiative and does this anyway. In that case only the Mudcrackers send a positive response. Ziraya tells them she's seen a symbol that depicts a copper hand on some smuggler delivery crates she witnessed a few days ago, leading the PCs to the smugglers' lair.

If the PCs actually visit other district guards and show Ralso's letter and the seal on it, they might learn more. Melipdra of the Sleepless Suns might recognise the seal but wouldn't know the exact location of the thieves' lair, knowing perhaps that they are based in Vudratown. Runewulf of the Graycloaks will for sure recognise the symbol but not the name, noting they've been looking for a gang like that. He might or might not be willing to talk about a patrol chasing the suspects and losing them after they descended into the catacombs. If the players insist on exploring the catacombs, gently remind them they are on a timer about a certain bank robbery.

The Token Guard is of course too corrupt to tell them the truth, but industrious PCs with some serious time investment might convince someone to spill the beans about the Copper Hand bribing them to delay their arrival at Penny & Sphinx on the parade day or find other evidence of the deal. If the PCs look up the goblin burglar Quidle, they are told no goblin of that name had ever been arrested but maybe they can manage to take a peek at the prisoner log and see that the name was actually in the files but crossed out. Don't forget to tell the PCs about how there's a queue of criminals outside the building, waiting to pay 1 copper each to bail out their comrades.

Vudratown
The PCs might get here by following the ship float during a rehearsal or asking Melipdra about the Copper Hand symbol or some other way. Gathering information (DC 15-20) might reveal the following info (takes at least 4-8 hours each): pickpockets have increased the past few years (crit: especially since this Donavon Rachoir showed up), some of the names of low-ranked Copper Hand associates (crit: names of higher-ups), sightings of weretigers and fiends (crit: the location of a building they were seen entering, which is of course the thieves' hideout), a troubled bespectacled young man that is never out and about by himself (Gribse). If they ask around specifically about Rachoir: his death was a result of some gang war business. If they ask around specifically about Fayati: enigmatic, quite the character, full of mystery and finesse.

If the PCs investigate the ownership of the warehouse or Rachoir at the Sleepless Suns, they might learn he owns a lot of properties in this neighbourhood: The warehouse where the ship float is stored, a 2-story townhouse where 4 poor families are squatting, an old 4-story tenement building with a doss house on the ground floor (the thieves' hideout), a dilapidated building, only the façade is okay, the insides are completely gutted and ruined.

Stake-out: If the PCs find the warehouse/workshop where the thieves store and work on their float, they might examine the float closely. A DC 20 Craft check should let them know it can be made to sway left and right wildly and that there is no hollow space to store loot or any other bulky object. If they decide to do a stake-out, run it like an infiltration subsystem. The objectives are a series of events that happen around the warehouse which the PCs might listen in if they bypass obstacles and get close enough.

The objectives/events are: (1) Aarushi stands guard since last night, (2) Timos comes from the hideout after sunrise and tells her the masts are ready and he needs help carrying them, (3) they leave together (the warehouse is left unguarded) and go to the thieves' hideout, which is about 15 minutes walk away, on the way they talk about how many cylinders there are and how all 3 must be placed inside each other to make up the mast, (4) they return carrying the thickest cylinder, which looks wooden but that's just a coat of paint, they discuss what tools they might need, (5) they go inside the warehouse and install the cylinder on the ship, they talk about how impossibly heavy the drill is and how they have a special carrier guy for it sent by "the others", (6) they go to the hideout to take the second cylinder, discuss about how the pocket stage works on the way nervous about whether it will malfunction, (7) while installing the cylinder they discuss how many teams there will be (initially two but second team will split later), (8) they are having trouble installing it and argue loudly about "why do we need it to extend so high?" "we need it to cover the distance between the fence and the window", (9) they leave arguing about how it should be installed all the way, (10) they come back with Gribse, joking on the way about him making an escape attempt, (11) inside the warehouse Gribse shows them how it must be installed and instructs them on how to press the button to activate it, (12) they leave for the day

Possible obstacles include: (long-distance) Avoiding the thieves noticing them, possible crash with children playing on wheelbarrow/skate, curious old man asking them lots of questions. (close distance) Thieves notice them as they leave or come back, thieves search and seek around the premises for anything odd. (inside the warehouse) too much noise, thieves are whispering, thieves angrily throwing tools around might hit them.

Accumulating awareness points causes complications: the thieves stop being so chatty, they lower their voices, they check the warehouse for signs of intrusion, they become suspicious of anyone approaching and so on. Too many awareness points and they call things off, possibly alerting Fayati that their whole operation is in jeopardy.

Hideout: If the PCs find the thieves' hideout before the robbery, the thieves will be more relaxed than as-written and won't be preparing to hightail it. If the PCs ask for advice, Ollo or someone else tells them that raiding the hideout now might not bring in enough evidence for a successful criminal conviction (if tested, this proves false actually, since there's lots of loot and other illegal things in the hideout) and will surely alert the thieves their bank robbery plans are not secret, which will make them change things up, invalidating any prior investigation and clues.

Smugglers' lair

The PCs might learn about this by asking the Mudcrackers whether they've heard of the Copper Hand or not. They haven't heard of it per-se but Ziraya is perceptive enough to connect the name with the symbol she's seen on some crates the smugglers have been moving around. Alternatively the PCs might wander to the Stilt House trying to help Chadraxa, in which case try to find any excuse for Ziraya to ask them about the case and comment on the related smugglers she has been watching.

If the PCs locate the smugglers' ledger, they do not automatically learn that the Penny & Sphinx is the target of the robbery. They discover instead that the Copper Hand had ordered some mundane items like sails, paint, clown make-up, pirate costumes and other things that would be appropriate for building a ship parade float. They also discover that they ordered some caltrops and other things they need for the robbery (check their inventories from the robbery chapter for examples). If they question Droan, he might reveal that the leader of the Copper Hand is called Fayati and is of Vudran descent, tidbits about her personality and possibly even that her hideout is in the Foreign Quarter. He can also reveal that she wanted to buy some sort of extendible pneumatic telescoping cylinder which he couldn't sell to her because he hasn't the slightest idea what that is or how to acquire it.

What happens if the PCs fail the smuggler lair? The smugglers won't stick around for long, they will split up, divide the loot and lay low for a few weeks. Luckily, if the PCs or Ziraya are in the vicinity they can follow one of them. After confronting them there might be a chase (sample obstacles: festival crowd, twisting alleyways, wooden fence, guard dog, rickety rooftops) and upon arrest they could exchange their freedom for the location of Percen Droan's hiding place, where the PCs get a second chance at fighting and catching him, this time with fewer grunts around.

Library
(Optional) If the PCs have any contacts with Forae Logos or the Learned Guard you can present them with a new "unrelated" case. A librarian insists a book has been stolen but that makes no sense because it's such a common book that is not worth stealing. In fact what happened is Fayati stole it for fun instead of purchasing it from a store like a normal person. The title of the book is "The Tallest Masts of the Inner Sea" and obviously she needs it to research her ship float.

Putting it all together
Cross-referencing the parade route with the bank registry yields 5 possible banks as targets. From investigating the banks, it's obvious Chadraxa isn't a serious target. The Vault and Stonesworn employ extremely serious defences and security measures. That leaves Orvington and Penny & Sphinx. Of those Orvington is probably a bit stronger. From investigating everything else they might learn that the Copper Hand will use a ship float which can sway left and right and has an extendible mast. Penny & Sphinx is the only bank where this sort of arrangement is relevant due to its tall fence and large lawn.

If they don't figure out which bank is the most likely target, they might have at least learned about the ship float, so all that is left is follow it during the parade and wait and see which bank it attacks. Obviously this way the thieves get a head start. Conversely, if they figured out the bank but not the float, they might be a bit more surprised when it sways and crashes into the lawn and the window.

Conclusion

The whole investigation took 9 sessions before my players were confident enough to skip to the day of the parade. If you want something shorter, just select some of the above parts you think are superfluous or long-winded and skip them.

Feel free to add your own notes and ideas about how to expand the bank robbery investigation in this thread. All contributions are welcome!