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Chapter 3: The City of Toil

Unlike the Candlestone Caverns, Hagegraf has a full gazetteer and map in the adventure allowing GMs to flesh out a great set piece of the adventure. The used 3 main themes from the gazetteer to impress on my players:
- Always be toiling
- Pyramid scheme level for education and economy. If you can teach someone something or create something, you will make money for life and have societal status
- The Clergy of Droskar are ever present and the law

The party arrived at the Highhelm embassy to meet the ambassador who was accompanied by Thivaldgo. The building was a highly vulnerable structure outside the city walls. The ambassador provided them 100 gold each to be used for taxes and fees likely to be levied against them for being surface dwarves. They warned the PCs not to cause trouble because of on going negotiations. Thivaldgo continued to be snooty towards the PCs.

The PCs plan was to be a group working and toiling under the wizard, who wanted to get a business license in Hagegraf. Their cover story worked along with the Cleric citing some Droskar religious tenants that were false but true enough to fool regular guards. They had to pay a surface dwarf tax, magic item tax, hands were not calloused tax, visitor tax, and the tax tax for not being taxed enough…. You get the idea.

A day before approaching Hagegraf, they heard King Taargick being ripped from their relics/minds. They actually enjoyed the silence and did not think anything of this.

Party wandered the city, often trying to take back alleys to avoid being taxed by random law enforcement, here are the highlights:

Day 1
- They found the Silent Forge Inn where they were treated normally
- Found Duruzzin in the Lightend Lamp, avoided two Caligni and their shadow, Durruzzin said 4 days to decipher the map after a negotiated price. Party decided to investigate Narseigus.
- Failed to make it into the Central district which lead the wizard to spend time getting a business license
- Druid found some work at a food gathering place, the Hyrngar manager asked for some of the spores from the Spore Staff (item in book 1) and the druid declined to share the spores or give the IP over to the hryngar.
- Players made multiple toiling attempts to great hiliarity. Two of them carried brooms and swept cavern dust wherever they walked, successfully toiling and not getting taxed.

- Night one, the druid was ambushed in the embassy by a Hryngar assassin trying to steal the spore staff, the assassin had clockwork tech. Almost got away if not for the wizard long range fireball.
They let the assassin go after taking her equipment, in return, the assassin would get them into the central district where the rumors of Narseigus led.

Day 2
- Taxed again upon entry but this time the brought disguises to avoid paying many taxes.
- More rumor collecting
- Debate with a clergy hryngar led to the hryndar being murdered, the wizard casting instant parade multiple times as everyone escaped to the silent forge to lay low.
- To further escape the authorities the spent the rest of the day in forge district
- They discovered a large shipment of weapons and armor designed for various people other than hryngars was sent out weeks ago
- They met and help Rorbek in her smithy, provided rumors and clues to Narseigus’ surprising rise to power. He skipped over Rorbek’s friend, Bronwyl, in the Bureau of Magic.
- They visited the Infinite Quarry and Qualto. Discovering Jhbek they wanted to free him.
- Challenging Qualto to some gambling, beating him, then catching him cheating.They chose to free Jhbek who would allow them to do some stone shaping when called upon.
- Party choose to stay at the Silent Forge to avoid more taxes

Day 3

- At this point the party could tell there were more guards around Hagegraf. They decided to check in on Durruzzin who was trying to sell the map to the two Caligni and their shadow. The combat was not difficult and they threatened Durruzzin who helped.
- They learned that the Worm seemed to make a tunnel to the Volcano, Avernakkus. He guesses that would be its home for brooding.
- Wanting to speak with Bronwyl in the Bureau of magic, the party grabs a magic item from Durruzzin. They used this item to lie about a business appointment with the bureau of magic to get to the inner city.
- Continuing crazy deception rolls, they get a meeting with Bronwyl who is not fooled. She is spiteful against Narseigus and any chance to embarrass him the better.
- Narseigus has the King’s ear and had access to the piece of the Great King’s Crown but do not know what he is planning. Narseigus left a few days ago with a large caravan of equipment.
- She casually leaves the address of Narseigus’ home on the table stating it would be a shame if someone broke in. She would have to investigate.

At Narseigus’ home, they scale the next building and then fly/jump over starting combat with the guards. Inside, they find all the information they need about Narseigus’ plans
- Wormcalling ritual
- Wormcalling experiments on others
- Drootorca Cavern and the bloodbane coalition, Rolgrimdur
- Books on Dwarven history and King Taargick
- Hryngar history of Quest for the Sky

There are 3 books on the 3 different archetypes that the adventure path offers in the Toolbox sections. After the party rests, I reward each of them with one of those free archetypes and a free feat within their chosen archetype.

The party managed to trigger all the potential combats at once that almost led to a TPK with the Glass Golem, Kurobozus, Crimson Worm Statue, Frozen mist trap.A piece of the King’s crown was on the statue and the party could hear King Taargick’s calls for help.

After the combat he reveals that he got trapped in the statue because of his connection to Crimson Worm, he thinks Narseigus is going to use the worm to lead an attack on Rolgrimdur as Narseigus used him for information. The party uses their power of jumping (barbarian), flying (cleric, wizard, monk, rogue), and animal form (druid), to escape the inner city but the alarm was raised. They have a couple of encounters but nothing serious as they race to the embassy.

The ambassador is there with Thivaldgo demanding answers as their negotiations got sidelined the previous day. Upon showing the King’s Crown piece and impending situation with Narseigus. The ambassador is impressed and Thivaldgo is fuming mad. The ambassador breaks out the emergency teleportation scroll and they flee to Highhelm.

All in All, this was the longest book for my players because of two sandboxy cities. They enjoyed both places with the changes I made and the freedom they had to make decisions. For anyone running this book, I recommend having fast travel options through the Darklands if you want to keep the story moving at a steady pace.

Book 3: Heavy is the Crown

I found book 3 to be very fast like book 1. The objectives become clear, the action is constant, and some encounters can be completely bypassed or are unnecessary (The Sky King’s Tomb for example). I did more fast travel between Highhelm and Rolgrimdur and then using the Everywhen Map, Rolgrimdur to Drootorca Cavern.

In my experience, the party leveled up incredibly fast in this book using the milestone leveling system.

Chapter 1: Shadow War

Back in Highhelm with Clan Tolorr, the party informs Bulgra what happened. They hand over the Great King’s Crown piece, and she tells them to teleport to Rolgrimdur to raise the warning. She will handle talking to Highhelm’s King and other clans. Before going, Bulgra says they should take Krohan who has Rivethun magic. The plays vaguely know about the magic barriers sealing the lift in Rolgrimdurr through lore checks

They have a successful meeting in Rolgrimdur getting scouts and sapper squads. General Sagginsdotter wants to attack the coalition but recommends sabotaging the camp before proceeding up the Kor Well to disable the barriers. She gives the PCs a signal horn connected to Rolgrimdurr’s security system. After using the horn, the army will descend 24hrs later.

Drootorca Cavern was a lot of fun because of the sabotage elements with the different factions. The open ended nature of the operation allows for tons of creativity. My party focused on 3 things:

Scouting Caravans and eventually collapsing that tunnel
Sabotaging the Dam and flooding different camps
Freeing the cavern dragon, which almost led to 2 player deaths. The rogue survived with one 1hp trying to escape the Dragon vs Troll fight

The players did not interact with the Orcs until there was lots of chaos going around and this caused a perceived problem for them. They figured out that they would need the Volcanic Vigor tattoo because Narseigus got one but they were out of many spells and hit points on day 3 of sabotaging. The camp was also falling into in fighting so they forwent sleep so everyone could get a tattoo. The party then raced to the Kor Well entrance and deceived the Hryngar Guards before ambushing them.

Chapter 2: Kor Well

The Kor Well was pretty straight forward dungeon crawl. Running the dungeons as is went pretty quickly. Krohan was tagging along with them to help in rituals and calm spirits. My party went in this order:

- Cave D, turn around because of cave in. We had the barbarian, who missed the two sessions, move all the rocks.
- Cave C, cleared easily but party finds signs of demonic corruption which was a theme everywhere
- Cave B, the rogue disabled all the constructs with the saboteur ability. It probably saved the party due to lack of resources. Barbarian meets them for a long rest
- While resting, the Assassin they spared in Hagegraf finds them and makes them a deal. They realize the folly of Narseigus’ plans but her group cannot simply abandon him. The party gives the Assassin a magic item they were not using in the deal. This avoids that encounter in the book.

Next Day

- Cave E made the druid happy
- Cave D, the party found the barbarian laying down on the ground after setting off the explosive run trap.
- Big combat involving the alchemist and traps. The Monk used the genie Jhbek’s gift to carve a new passage to the alchemist’s hideout and took him out. The party fought with the Monk who picked up the Demon Knot. Critical success from a high level Cleric spell to free the Monk of holding on to it.
Party uses horn to signal Rolgrimdurr and rests in Cave B.

Since the party nearly achieved a crazy amount of sabotage points by splitting up and did the Kor-Well in with only 1 sleep, I ruled that the army encounter was handily won by Rolgrimdurr without the need for Party intervention.

Chapter 3: Taargick’s Legacy

Down towards Avernakkus, they hear Narseigus’ voice echo and taunt them (he has tremor sense after all), he monologues about carving a new breach in the Five Kings Mountains and being the best Worm Caller in a generation. He will use the Sky King’s Tomb to blackmail dwarven clergy to worship Droskar.

I presented Narseigus with a nasally, higher pitched voice that was insufferable. The party never interacts with him, so I present him as a threat but someone who does not inspire fear. It worked in the final combat as my players just wanted me to stop taunting them in that voice.

The encounter with Narseigus and Zogotataru works well as written. As I had 6 players, I increased the successes need to free the worm, added another brood, and made environmental hazard of Zogotataru more deadly.

After 4 rounds of combat, the barbarian was in the magma, the monk saved 2 attempts of the Nevermind Spell, the rogue did not like Narseigus’ precision resistance, the druid pacifying the cave worm swarms, and the wizard and cleric casting enough dispel magics to break the worm free. The monk finished off Narseigus holding a necklace of fireballs and flying directly into him, setting them all off at once. The monk still had 50 hp after all the damage rolls.

This mini dungeon was fun but I thought the encounters were mostly fluff. No one in the party was against the dwarven pantheon so the celestial archons were more there as guards when the tomb was opened. I played them as dwarves reminiscing about the Quest for the Sky. The party got a bunch of free loot, learned from Taargick’s etchings on walls, and came to his tomb where 4 offerings had to be made.

For this part, I made it more of a skill challenge in King Taargick’s memory, and see if they would act as their Relics wanted them to. 3 out of 4 players succeed, which put the final encounter with Stone River in an indifferent mood. This is where the crux of the main theme comes to a head in the adventure. Does the party want to keep the dogma that the Quest for the Sky has become or risk the chaos with Taargick’s truth in his tomb.

At the end of their questions (which i took from the book) with Stone River, I had Thivaldgo appear. He is sweaty, taken lots of heat damage and 2 archons were behind him. He branished a King’s badge, same as the wizard. He stated that the High King was concerned about what the party would find and ask Stone River and the wizard PC to follow the current King’s orders and not risk the schism Stone River fears.

The Wizard PC tossed his badge into the magma pool and gave a speech convincing Stone River to side with them, avoiding one last combat and sending Thivaldgo into madness of being upstaged one last time.

Epilogue

Stoneriver took the Demon's Knot to celestial jail.

Druid retired to her mushroom tower and spent time making more spore born and sharing healing rocks within the Darklands and spreading spores.

The Barbarian married Mr Pearlcask and succeed the waterfall climbing challenge from Chapter one. She did this by simply jumping twice.

The Wizard renounced working for the current King in Highhelm and devoted his life to retelling Taargick’s tale and studying Kalmaug’s journal that the druid passed to him. A true Archelogist.

The Monk, carrying Sky Sunder, acted as a guide to the Sky King’s Tomb. More followers of Trudd joined him, providing safe passage in Avernakkus. He is seen as an example of dwarven doughtiness. The Mountain Stance monk that could fly like a mountain.

The rogue went on to research and track down more pieces of the Great King’s Crown. She became a famous dungeon delver.

The Cleric of Grunnidar skyrocketed within the clergy and Clan Tolorr. She was seen as a new example of dwarven forgiveness and reconciliation with past history. The player did not know what had happened in Pathfinder Lore so I informed her that during the Gods Reign, Grunnidar sacrificed himself to try and save a dwarven town (I forget which). She added that she likely became the head of Grunnidar’s faith and gained mythic power.

My last thoughts are that Sky King’s Tomb is an excellent introduction to PF2e adventure. The three biggest things I think each GM should do in preparing players for the adventure are:

1) Explain that this adventure is not a save the world adventure against a terribly compelling villain.
2) Have King Taargick stick around through the Relics. He is a great exposition tool and a recurring NPC
3) Fast Travel. Do not be afraid to do this, it can keep the pace of the adventure moving nicely.

Feel free to ask me any questions and if you ran this adventure, what changes did you make?

Book 2: Cult of the Cave Worm

Preface: My party enjoyed this book the most but the book is potentially the longest with 2 cities open to exploration and role playing.

Chapter 1: Candlestone Cult

Since my group was meeting inconsistently I did not want to spend a lot of time on surviving in the Darklands but it is an excellent setting for those wanting to take more time exploring. A random table or two could have been provided for monster ideas, but other than simulating what the Darklands are like, I recommend skipping travel time and just encountering the obstacles as presented. The Morlock Swarm can provide good chase pressure.

Candlestone Caverns is the only place in the adventure path that seems like a missed opportunity. A Fey Darklands city built into stalactites over a bottomless cave to a deeper level of the Darklands. One of Redcaps is named Interhoff so I decided to give all the redcaps an overly bad German accent. The party had no trouble with the combat encounters in the city.

The PCs helped the poor ratfolk reclaim his name from a tricky satyr, made fun of Interhoff who lost his hat in order to get past the gate, and found a place of refuge in the Bottom Feeder’s inn. This is where I wish there was more of a gazetteer in the back of the adventure just like for the Hryngar city of Hagegraf because my group liked all the NPCs in Candlestone, especially Queen Frilogarma.

The group helped Interhoff get a new purple hat from the Cap Killa, and the wizard made one for himself. At this point they were a bit lost in their investigation. One lead was a mitflit, Yakazak, talking about the cult but they noticed Yakazak was being followed by secretive guards. The other lead were stories of a Hryngar who had stopped by about a month ago and a heist occurred. After 2 sleeps in Candlestone I decided that Queen Frilo would have them summoned, being surface dwarves down here made them stick out.

They enjoyed Queen Frilo a lot. I did have to make up a bunch of background lore for the palace but the adventure path has a good synopsis of events that happened
- Crimson Worm comes through Candlestone and the Queen fights it off.
- Relic of Worm Skin cloak survives
- Years later, Narseigus shows up and tries to work with the Queen to get the map. Fails
- Narseigus amplifies the Cult of the Cave worm into a threat, meets Vaevieve.
- Cult steals the Everywhen map. Vaevieve wins control of the cult and Narseigus leaves
- Queen Frilo monitors the cult, Narseigus plans to steal the map during the ritual to summon the worm

In the book, Queen Frilo offers the party support to disrupt the cult and the players kind of show up at the ritual time. I found this a little too railroady. In our game, Queen Frilo describes who the cult consists of, a little bit of this mysterious Hryngar who helped them, the politics of taking them on. She is willing to aid the PCs with a trade, she pulls out a piece of the Great King’s Crown that was left behind during a heist and offers to trade it for the Everywhen map. My players accepted the offer, promising to return. The Queen points them to a cave system connected to the Redcap and Bloodseeker Hatchery for last sightings.

In my mind, Candlestone and the Queen needed a steady supply of Redcaps (who keep dying) and Bloodseekers for their guards and airforce. I narrated a race that I thought was in the book but I can’t find it.

The race was a bunch of Redcaps racing on bloodseekers around the stalactites competing for stature within the guard and to sate their violent needs. When the party followed the Queen’s information to the bloodseeker and Redcap hatchery, I looked up lore how Redcaps come to be. To me it tied in the ecosystem of Candlestone as a long standing and functioning town. The players appreciated how dark and violent “growing” a redcap was and could not stop laughing.

At the hatchery, the party found cultists trying to sabotage the operation. Instead of listening to other red caps, the Cleric with the Uniter of Clans, spared them and convinced them to take them to their hideout. I pulled a rough cavern hideout map from my own resources and described the inhabitants as the drown trodden and disenfranchised with Queen Frilo’s rule. They hope the worm could come back and defeat her this time.

Eventually they met Vaevieve. They confirm that a mysterious Hryngar helped them, and they get the name Nargseigus. The party also offers to help with the ritual, which Vaevieve is happy to have accomplished spellcasters help her. After the next sleep, they conduct the ritual. The Dwarf Rogue snuck ahead to the ritual site after getting lucky in navigating the caves. They found the Avernal Cape and felt Targgick’s presence calling to them, they now had a relic. They switch the cloak with their own for the ritual.

Ritual goes off and minor earthquakes start followed by an explosion as the ritual is not complete. Chaos breaks loose as Narseigus allied Ulat-Kini appear after climbing up the cavern walls, and Grelten, Queen Frilo’s secret agent, also shows up. Everyone trying to get the Everywhen Map. The party defeated the Ulat-Kini’s with Grelten but then he demanded the map, the party needed it to find the Crimson Worm so they betrayed their handshake deal with the Queen and killed Grelten. This was the toughest combat in the adventure so far. The Wizard took the Instant Parade spell so everything was always chaotic. Due to the earthquakes, the party had to find a way back to Highhelm.

Two notes on important NPCs in the book:
- Jirelga got left behind in Candlestone and does not have much of a role in the book or my adventure
- I used Pheargas as a weird story teller in the bottom feeder's inn but decided against the relationship with Vaeveive as it seemed pointless. He was a one and done character like Jirelga

Chapter 2: On the Trail of the Worm

Having more information on Zogotataru and the Everywhen map, the party wanted to make it back to Highhelm to decipher the map in a safe environment. This is another straight forward chapter focused on exploration events. Again, ripe area for more exploration with a random encounter table with cool Darklands Monsters but not needed. I did not need to make many changes.

- Party encounters Ulat-Kini camp, as there was a Monk in party, they successfully made friends and exposed the leader Ulgat, as a slime. They also heard more about this Hryngar Narseigus.

- Cave Troll made friends to trade, the Druid’s healing rocks were highly valued. Troll reported on Narseigus passed by not too long ago

- Bauble Beasts were slain

- Ghoul Barracks was completely bypassed. Some of the party failed some checks to resist the Haute Ghoul Cuisine and ate some nasty stuff. When seeing the leader, Yimraan, the Wizard trade his purple, redcap hat for the tricorn hat. They became friends

- Attacked by 2 Caligni sent by Queen Frilo but survived the deadly ambush with a wall of fire taking away the shadow abilities.

- Morlocks found the party again and chased them to the City of the Snake Queen.

The old Dwarven outpost allowed King Targgick to narrate lore on the structure. We almost encountered the first death in the run the bridge/door trap, and then again with the Naga Nest which was only a few lucky rolls preventing a TPK. They did not expect the Naga at all which is why it was so deadly. In this chapter they recovered all of Kalmaug’s Journal. It provided another lore dump from King Taargick but posed questions regarding the hard decisions Taargick had to make, like leaving a battalion of dwarves behind and never to return.

The party decided to continue to Highhelm instead of Hagegraf. I don’t think there is a logical reason to go to Hagegraf at this point. The adventure uses Hagegraf as a place to decipher the Everywhen Map so I decided to impress on that but add more meat to that narrative bone. Here is what I did.

Back in Highhelm, the party was allowed to sell the wares they collected in the Darklands and purchase magic items. My Monk and Cleric of clan Tolorr got more narrative focus as Bulgra was impressed by these young dwarves, giving them more respect within their extended family. The barbarian who had the adamantine echo as their relic, hung out with Mr Pearlcask as she fancied him. The rogue and wizard worked on poisons and scrolls. The druid went to their Mushroom Tower and back.

At the end of a week of downtime, Bulgra called them back for a meeting. At the meeting there were the following NPCs. Each of these could be followed up with the Highhelm Lost Omens book by Paizo. I was more focused on the ideas of each faction
- a representative of current King of Highhelm
- Bulgra from Clan Tolorr,
- A representative of clergy of Torag and other dwarven gods
- Representative of the mining guild and magic guild.

After examining the Everywhen Map:
- the magic guild and clergy could not understand the map. Their routes of the Darklands are outdated and cannot tell which path of the Worm the party should follow.
- Clan Tolorr and the King’s representative have come up with the idea of sending the party to Hagegraf because Highhelm recently opened up an embassy there to re-establish relations and overcome distrust of each other.
- The ambassador there has the mission of trying to negotiate a piece of the king’s crown they know the Hryngar’s of Hagegraf have, the rival archaeologist, Thivaldgo, as a neutral party and to verify the crown piece.
- The party, still listening to King Taargick grumble once and a while, should be the ones to try and get the map deciphered as Taargick has chosen them.

After the initial meeting the party had a separate social encounters
- The clergy members and the PC Cleric debate the Quest for the Sky. The Cleric could see signs of an early schism.
- The King’s representative deputized the Wizard to be a King’s Agent as the King wanted a tad more influence in the party’s operations.
- The Magic Guild was interested in the Relics but Clan Tolorr prevented them from study.
- The mining guild was interested in any possible updated tunnel maps in Hagegraf and how best to use the Everywhen Map.

I fast travelled the party down to Hagegraf after their downtime due to time constraints within our group.

Sky King's Tomb Review

Greetings to my fellow Pathfinders. I completed GMing Sky King's Tomb ( in person) after 2 years and I thought I would make a review of the adventure for anyone looking at, what I consider, an excellent adventure for new players who are learning PF2e.

Details:
- Party of 6 players, not all were present in each session.
- Played in person
- Frequency, sometimes many months between games but 4-6 hour sessions
- 0 character deaths
- Rule of cool GMing
- Plenty of PF1e experience in my players but new to 2nd edition.

Party Comp:
- Construct Gunslinger, changed to Dwarf Wizard, focusing on mental spells, at Clan Tolor festival in book 1.
- Dwarf Fire Elemental Instinct Barbarian, jumping build with dwarven long hammer
- Dwarf Cleric on Grunnidar, healing font
- Dwarf Monk, mountain, follower of Trudd
- Dwarf Druid, focus on spell casting related to spores, fungus, and healing rocks.

Campaign Hook:

At our session 0, I went over the two main themes that I understood from reading. Exploration in terms of Archeology, and how history changes. This was done with a history of The Quest For the Sky, and history of Highhelm.

Breaking immersion, I also informed them that we would be following the major plot points of the book and that this is not an adventure where you are not being a hero by defeating a villain. The antagonist of the book is not very present so I felt it important to tell my players, it helped shape their character building by focusing on Archeology related feats/themes

Homebrew changes:
- A rival famous archeologist that they meet before the story telling festival. They become a bit of an antagonist as they compete for fame
- Narseigus breadcrumbs are more present in book 2
- Ghost of King Taargick as a lore dump/guide. At the end of book 1 where the party researches the quest for the sky, they awaken King Taargick in Skysunder and later, the other relics. He speaks to them about his regrets and asks them to find his Tomb. Clan Tolorr sees this as a great honor and the party should follow their own divine quest to find The Sky King's hidden tomb. I choose to keep him as a NPC for the whole adventure.

Book 1

Chapter 1 Highhelm Heroes

- Went pretty much as written. Every player enjoyed the festival and the different challenges. They befriended Fazil the Kobold, Mr Pearlcask, Ria, and Mr Beetsmith. They saved Lady Shimmersnip.
- They ruined the pie eating contest saying that it was poisoned after successive nat 1s.
- They encounter the rival archeologist who boasts that he was invited by the King for a special project.
- Krohan recruits them a week before the party hosted by Clan Tolorr.

Chapter 2 Path of the Dagger

Not many details here. The party enjoyed travelling with Krohan and he was a good NPC to showcase the importance of clan culture in Highhelm.

The fungal field and tower were fun for my druid player who claimed the Fungal Tower and eventually made their own sporeborn named Toad.

Gulderge and workshop heights have some good exploration and combat. The party stalked the Xulgath camp for a few days in order to capture prisoners and get information. I took this opportunity to explain the harsh hunting and living conditions of the Darklands. Xulgath were not just monsters to be slain
They managed to convince the Mimic to eat the Xulgath cleric and scare off the rest of the tribe.

Chapter 3: A Relic Reunited

I changed the goals for Tolorr Clan Festival because many of the NPCs the party meet, do not reoccur in the book. Bulgaria Veldollow became the person responsible for excommunicating Krohan, and the party spent most of their time trying to keep Krohan’s surprise repentance a secret.

Many of the NPCs from the story telling festival were present: Fazil the Kobold, Mr Pearlcask. Ria, Etkar Beetsmith, were all there to sing the praises of the party.

The rival archeologist, Thivaldgo (borrowed from Strength of Thousands AP as a Indianna Jones type Halfing) spent most of their time talking with important looking party goers and Bulgra. Bulgra announced that Thivaldgo, who had dealings with Clan Tolorr before had been selected by the High King to work on retrieving fragments of the lost relic of Dwarven pride, The Great King’s Crown.

-At the time for the PCs to have the spotlight, each NPC they helped spoke and Thivaldgo quipped about a ruined pie eating contest hurting a local business. Krohan then revealed himself with Sky Sunder, telling the story of how the PCs, utter strangers to him, helped find and retrieve the lost Clan Dagger of King Taargick.

Krohan’s reveal upstaged the spotlight on Thivaldgo, Bulgaria was proud of the PC Monk and Cleric as they were part of Clan Tolorr. Bulgaria brought the PCs to the old archive to research the relics the party and Krohan had currently found: Adamantine Echo, Sky Sunder, Uniter of Clans

Doing the research subsystem, this is where our Construct Gunslinger switched to a Dwarven Wizard who ran the archive. Another lore dump on quest for the sky,

Constructs awakened by the angry spirits proved quite a challenge as their wild swings brought the risk of destroying research material. They enjoyed the side challenge of protecting the environment. The ritual to reconnect Sky Sunder blade with the gem was successful

King Taargick awakened in the PC’s minds, more potently in those with a relic. He gave them the quest of uncovering his tomb and finding his friend, the great Crimson Worm Zogotataru, who was in distress. He could feel there was a survivor of Guldredge in the lower levels of Highhelm. I then chose to keep King Taargick around for the rest of the adventure.
Bulgra and Clan Tolorr took this as the highest honour and would provide their financial support to the PCs on their own quest from King Taargick. This would be a detriment to the now jealous Thivaldgo.

I chose to declare this the end of book 1 to my players because it felt like the natural end of the adventure in Highhelm as a location and were given a new quest by Sky King Taargick. I stressed to them that this quest would be seen akin to “A quest from god” level of importance and belief to others. The players did get the hint of lost/forgotten truths regarding The Quest for the Sky, and I would use King Taargick to pop in and out with old reminiscing.

I put the last bit of notes on book 1 to keep this review together.

After the Clan Tolorr festival and King Targgick manifesting in the relics, the party got some supplies from Bulgra and money to buy supplies. While Bulgra is getting all their requests, the PC’s descend into Highhelm’s lower quarters to find the Drathlanar, Jirelga.

They found the jail she was kept in, and she promised to help the PCs if they could get the charges dropped. The Warden of the jail pointed them to a debt he was owed by the Tuom Molgrade, last seen at the Blacknoon Bakery.

The Cleric was also the charismatic face of the party with The Uniter of Clans so they often tried the diplomatic and de-escalation solutions. They were successful with Tuom but it revealed Ygrin Oathcarver as a monster. For sparing Tuom, she brought them to the forge and the Sparkwarden Tattoo for another relic.
Jirelga, saved from prison, tells them about the Court of Ether where a Crimson Worm appeared not too long ago and its Fey Queen defended the town.

Thank you Vance, for the indepth math breakdown.

As someone who is about 4 sessions from giving my players their first taste of kingdom management I have one question. Do you recommend all these solutions at once or picking and choosing some?

OneCrazyCanadian