erucsbo's page

One other possibility is that multiple authors could better divide their areas of expertise.

The 5th module of the Ironfang Invasion adventure path had a weird gap in its story. The module began in the dwarven Sky-Citadel of Kraggodan, where the PCs had ended the previous module. Their dwarven ally Karburtin Lightbrand persuades them to run an errand for Kraggodan to go to the Blighted Region deep in the Fangwood in order to discover the fate of the missing goddess Gendowyn, Lady of Fangwood. After 2 pages of establishing this plot hook, the scene jumps 75 miles north to deep in the Fangwood. My players objected to that, because that 75 miles would be heading through territory conquered by the Ironfang Legion and they wanted to fight the legion on the way north. So I wrote new material for that journey.

Perhaps author Amanda Hamon Kunz skipped that journey to reduce the page count. Or maybe she skipped it because she would have had to review the first three modules and the overall invasion plan in order to write material that fits the main theme of the adventure path but would be only a side theme to Prisoners of the Blight.
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It was handwaved on p8 "At this point, the PCs likely have access to magical means of transportation, such as greater teleport or overland flight."

Expectation IMHO is that if the party didn't have access to that sort of magical transportation, that Karburtin could play Uber-driver for them.
But yes it did seem like a big assumption and side quest.

Head off, not dead? Wondering what would happen if people swapped heads (shades of Head of Vecna here - and for those who don't get this reference I won't spoil it for you - look it up and have a good chuckle).

I'm almost done but am struggling to get my head around D2.
"Embedded in the wall nearest the entrance is a large metal pin panel" yet "Suddenly, the text on the pin panel goes flat, and a humanlike face emerges from it."
The map has the face on the wall *furthest* from the entrance and *hidden* behind the wall backing the workstations.
Is the pin panel / face horizontal as per the map - making it difficult for it to attack with pin spears unless people are swimming over it, or vertical (fold up the northmost 15' of the map of the room)?
The cogborn appear adjacent to squares with cogs in them, but there aren't really any gear filled squares marked and only those on the side walls of the dais look like they might depict gears.
Have had to do some cleaning up of the map anyway to remove the green spray that really shouldn't be there - it's underwater - either the mutagens have dispersed or there are clouds in the water that would affect anyone moving through them without it having to spray more.

How did others handle this mess?

On p. 48 Taurgreth XP is listed as 51200 (CR15), but on p. 58 it is 76800 (CR16). Which is correct? Is because he does not initiate combat he is downgraded to CR15?

It's probably because of all the errors in the book. The editing to find and correct mistakes definitely took a turn for the worse after book 3.

I think a merchant archetype shouldn't involve crafting.

Being a merchant (trader) is different from someone who crafts items. I think you shouldn't dilute the idea of the archetype by trying to do too much(although a dedicated crafting archetype is probably as valid as a merchant one).

[...].

you could do it within the Archetype.

There are definitely spoilers in the book; there's discussion about the troubles Talmandor's Bounty experienced during it's early years and the state of the town itself is a bit of a spoiler to that premise. I don't think anything I've seen hits the heaviest parts of the plot, but I'm also not the best to evaluate since I haven't played RoA. But reading SoB definitely builds on the region and the impacts of RoA are noted as relevant so I'd be careful here.

thanks - hoping that someone else who has played RoA can chime in as well. Some of the troubles from RoA are easy enough to lift from the AP descriptions, so I wouldn't count them too spoilery if that is all that is mentioned in SoB. The SoB players guide definitely has spoilers for the first 2 books of RoA, but after that it seems mostly OK.

Wondering if there are any spoilers for Ruins of Azlant that are contained in Shades of Blood.
I'm currently GMing RoA (2/3 through Book 3) and one of my players is interested in GMing SoB with a different group and wanted to check if it would reveal anything in RoA that a player shouldn't know.

@erucsbo With the exception of the mithral golem, the rest seem to have plenty of room - and the trolls are specifically called out as being in the courtyard, due to it being the only place that can hold them all. I can only find a single minotaur, Grimhorn, and he seems to fit comfortably in the archery area of the citadel - have I missed anything?

The adamantine golem that Mathmuse mentioned. No there aren't too many others.

They need to be 10' for the golems, minotaurs, and trolls among others. It also provides a degree of grandeur for the citadel. If they were 5' squares it would feel cramped.
I used 10' squares and it allowed for more dynamic encounters.

Only thing on my subscriptions is the rerelease of Gatewalkers that I don't want.

Had this happen too and only just realized it as I don't check that email address all that often. How come AP material is coming out on the Adventure subscription?

erucsbo wrote:

anyone have the rusalkas in G2 flood the chamber?

By my reckoning one of them could raise the water level up to 40', but that would essentially spill out and flood G1, G3, G4, G5, G7, and G8 before spilling down the hole in G9.
No saving throw or spell resistance, so without flight or good swim skill (and insofar as this AP is concerned I'd be surprised if anyone invested in Swim), anyone west of G2 is likely to be swept into the pit in G9 (if they don't catch a stalagmite or get caught by a roper).

Is this how you ended up playing it? I like the idea of this encounter but surely this would wash away PCs and all the creatures in subsequent areas and create an encounter soup around the hole in G9?

One started raising the level but it didn't last long. The rusalkas were killed before the party moved further in. My campaign details are in the "How are your APs doing thread" and the rusalka encounter is in this post.

It's giving me an Invite Invalid message. I'm currently almost at the end of book 2 (as GM) so have accumulated a few resources.

Could use the grid and building resources from Kingmaker, it won't be an exact map but would at least be representational of what exists in the town?

Didn't have Kingmaker until the recent Humble Bundle (which still has 18 days to go), so will have a look thanks.

I am just starting this, but I think it's worth creating a map yourself and then editing it as the colony grows

yep - that's what I'm doing. :-)

Re: Ruins of Azlant

The GM should (personally, I'd say it's almost "must") tell the players in advance that much of the AP will be underwater and make the appropriate choices (race, class/archetype, etc.)...

The Player's Guide calls this out explicitly.

There is heaps of time and lots of ways to have land-lubber characters get prepared for underwater combat, but knowing that a ranged combat character is going to be at more of a disadvantage than melee is definitely worth knowing straight up. There is time for retraining, but expectations set early and covered off in Session 0 are a must.
[my group is currently nearing the end of book 2 and we've had the first PC death - goblin barbarian/eagle knight is being replaced with merfolk paladin].

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The Wizard is not a complex class. There is nothing inherently more difficult to playing a Wizard than any other prepared caster.

The "higher difficulty curve" often cited to the Wizard comes from the Wizard have fewer and weaker options outside of spell preparation. The Wizard's function and role lives and dies on largely on spell preparation alone.

True. That has been my experience. But if you skimp on the actual preparation of spells (i.e. optimize a generic spell list) then imho you're playing to weakness rather than strength.

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The 4 slot prepared caster with access to the largest spell list. Versatility is meant to be their jam.

The problem is, it's not really. Not anymore. And it's why the change to the school system is so fundamentally wrongheaded.
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"Having less" is also something that ripples across the whole Wizard design.

The nerfing of schools for spells for the specialist slot showcased that.

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Once people will stop considering that a Wizard has to adapt to the unforseeable future and start concentrating on optimizing spell lists for the average adventuring day, the Wizard will be both less complex and more efficient.
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I'm calling bullshit on this.

Not neglecting all the other interesting things about the class that have been mentioned I just want to focus on arcane school - the problem (if my summation is correct) is the nerfing of the school slot from a large swathe of spells related by how the spells are made, to a very narrow slice of spells related by their resultant effects. And the reason why this has been done is to remove an artificial construct of magical theory (and distance PF2e from the OGL) and replace it with more exhibited flavour (and allow for new spells that don't fit one of the legacy traditions).
But the upshot is that by showcasing flavour over spell construction, the options for the curriculum (school spell list) have devolved to something niche.
I admit to being surprised when seeing the school curriculum lists being so small. For a student of the arcane to only study a core of so few spells seems negligent on the part of the school. It's more like a vocational certificate course or summer extension program rather than a school curriculum.
I have no problem with exhibited flavour being the driving factor, but the spell curriculum should be vastly expanded, and if a wizard should be favouring spells from their school, then have some other benefit beyond just a limited slot to cast them (eg. increase DC or to hit AC by 1, or add a metamagic effect (provided they also have the feat) as a free action instead of a single action, or create scrolls/wands of those spells at half cost, etc.)

The only sticking point I've encountered so far is that the spell can only be cast on a target that already happens to be flying. XD

Leaving aside that you aren't really "throwing yourself at the ground" (and yes I get and love the reference) it does give another tick to using air walk over fly as air walk doesn't qualify as flying.

Earthbind does give a quicker way of getting to the ground safely than Gentle Landing (Feather Fall) if you have a slow fly speed and are within 120'.

It's also unclear whether Unfettered Movement (Freedom of Movement) would neutralize Earthbind, as it calls out specific conditions. I'd probably rule that it does neutralize it in the spirit of the game and being a higher level spell if I was making the call.

Earthbind uses the "weight of the earth" against a flying creature, so if it was up to me I'd probably have it pull a creature 5' underwater, but then stop as the creature is no longer flying but swimming/sinking instead. Could still be damaging if it was a pool of acid. If it was lava then I'd have them on the surface of the lava as it is technically "earth" (just very very hot and molten earth).

I really appreciate the discussion and that I'm not missing anything in the rules already.
I do like finding inventive ways to use spells and cool interactions. I find they are more likely to create the memories that get recalled and reminisced over years later.
When discussing gaseous atmosphere, what about the interaction with solid fog? What about dropping the target into the middle of heightened (4th) earthworks?

Oh no, it was 100% on theme and foreseeable.

Every character should always have a plan for what they do when their main shtick gets shut down. And occassionally, spellcasting will be impossible.

Not knowing what is being referenced I'll bow to superior knowledge.

For whether an archetype can fix the wizard? No - if one exists then it becomes the only valid option imho further restricting what one can do with the class.
I'm glad Paizo has fixed the math to allow for more balance across classes across low to high levels.
I'm not glad that wizards (which should be the arcane spellcasting master) have to eye enviously what other classes can do with arcane magic without being able to match or do better themselves (except in narrow areas).

If earthbind is cast on a creature flying over water, does the falling stop when it hits the water (assuming it is within 120')? Or does it continue to sink towards the "earth" / "ground"?
Same if netting is rigged above the ground? Effectively grappling the earthbind target as it sinks through layers of nets?
Earthbind over Grease to force a Reflex Save / Acrobatic check or fall prone, making getting away even more difficult?

So, I'm going to be vague to avoid spoilers, but even as a full caster, you should *always* have a weapon you can use. Just got through a section in an AP that was utterly designed to shut down spellcasting -- the thing that got us through it was that my Wizard had a Returning Spear she could throw.

Sounds like bad AP encounter design. It happens. Yes, a spellcaster should have a weapon or two (ranged and melee) they can use, but IMHO it is last resort (leaving aside archetypes and other myriad options to vary the character). In a 1e AP I was running the wizard PC used his dagger once in 20 levels, and that was only because he was out of relevant spells (none of the cantrips learned that day were suitable for this specific instance - ambush attack - hard to prepare for).

Some of the benefits from the Remaster are things that I doubt I would ever use. Do I care that Wizards can now use all simple weapons? Not really. Why would I use a weapon when I have cantrips that do more damage, especially now that Needle Darts is available?
The change to some of the feats is nice (Conceal Spell), but as already has been mentioned this just brings the wizard up to some of the abilities of others without letting it shine in its own space.
Likewise with some of the spells - though this makes them more useful to arcane sorcerers than wizards.
I don't play "bang" mages. I prefer to use magic to do things that others can't do - change the rules of engagement and throw opponents off their guard. Makes for a more memorable game (imho), lets the martials shine in dealing damage (they are the blunt instrument in "my" toolbox"), and helps me showcase intelligent play over brute strength or magical blasting might.
The wizard (imho) should be the one who always has another (magical) trick up the sleeve. They should never try and beat someone else at the other person's game, but force/trick the other into playing by the wizard's rules instead.

Arcane Bond is nice as a pull a rabbit out of the hat - but you have to have worn the right hat earlier in the day (to horribly mangle the metaphor).
Arcane Thesis allows for some shifting of resources but is essentially a zero-sum game - so a bit of flexibility but no net advantage.
Arcane School has been fully nerfed and makes the new schools more like "sorcerer-love" than focus on an aspect of magic.

What would I do?
I haven't thought it through too much but for Arcane Bond I would give more benefits - like using it to increase the DC of a spell by 1, or extend the duration of a spell by a round, or other things to show a mastery of magic - at the expense of using it to recast an already cast spell.
Arcane Thesis should allow the wizard to get more out of items - use a wand twice per day (limit number or wands or level of wands), or add extra spells to a staff (beyond what Staff Nexus initially allows), or flat check to reuse a scroll, or things like that.
Again - these are just top of mind but I feel play more to distinguishing a wizard from the other spellcasters than drawing them closer.

The new schools seriously limit the value of the extra school spell slot. While I haven't played much 2e yet, I have an illusionist at the moment and except for a few spells improving in the remaster, overall it feels like I'm going backwards.
For me the value of wizards was all about the ability to plan and have a spell for everything. The premier magic-user in the game. It certainly seems like the other spell-casting classes have been shown far more love to bring them up to wizard levels (and have their other tricks and benefits as well) while wizards have to suffer the limits of the tools that were traditionally theirs (wands, staves, scrolls, etc.)

Would the Dryads Song (even corrupted version) work on the mind slaver mold?

I can't see why it wouldn't that stuff HAS to be blighted.

The mindslaver mold is blighted. It is mentioned on pages 43, 44, and 45.

I haven't done many APs but I would suggest that for a new GM that Ironfang Invasion is pretty good. The Ironfang Invasion channel here contains lots of recaps from a few of us. There is also a podcast (This Golarion Life) I used to listen to that went through II (and had other stuff which I ignored) which was good for GM prep.
You can handwave away the subsystems and keep things fairly simple, or you can allow the players to go admin-heavy if they want. Plenty of opportunities to role-play NPC interactions if you want, or can work for murder-hobo groups too.
There isn't much city-based stuff (until the end of book 3).
Also very easy to scale things up or down if required.

Anyone change the map for Talmandor's Bounty to account for more buildings and infrastructure over the course of the AP?
And are willing to share what you came up with?

got the remaster Player and GM Core hardcovers before Christmas. Yay!

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I have pretty much all of book 3 prepped, except for the last battle, because I don't know what they will negate before hand, and also because it confuses the heck out of me.

The one combat round per turn thing seems really brutal, because they could potentially get bogged down in a combat slog due to some poor rolls and then have a bunch of the events go down without them interfering. Did everyone basically run this exactly as written?
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yeah - pretty much.

late, but for the Shellcracker caves I handwaved it as the bottom of the passage being rock filled rather than just sand. Wasn't 100% believable but reckon I succeeded my bluff check. Fortunately, I got to the quicksand rescue map and managed to edit that before it had to be used.
My group is already used to map mistakes from the last AP.

I had a replacement occur in Ristin as well.

Brother Fen wrote:

Page 18 descirbes Area J3. Prisoner Cages as being "along an abrupt cliff which drops 80 feet below".

The map alone is very confusing, but I used this bit of description to help layout the area by placing the cages up high on a cliff meaning the area leading to it is an incline with the rest of the camp being in the valley below it.

If anyone else is having difficulties, here's a version I did that might make it slightly clearer, though perhaps not entirely accurate - I essentially had the entire map sloping from left to right, with the left part of the map being too steep / inaccessible, and the right side sloping down to ground level:

Ridgeline Camp 52 x 62

However, it's probably supposed to be sloping down on both sides - which I might fix before running it.

Can't access your maps, but yes it is supposed to be sloping down on both sides rather than the left side being higher than the camp.

"The camp is visible from afar" and the sentry towers are keeping an eye out on both sides.
I had the slope on the left side a lot less steep than the right side (which is basically a cliff where the cages are, and a bit to the north). PCs can either follow the ridgeline to come at the camp from north or south, have a gentle climb up the left side, or a very steep climb up the right side.
If the party can get to the base of the cliff on the right hand side unseen and can get up the cliff, then they have a good chance of being able to attack before the sentries see them.

finally got the shipping notice and access to the PDFs.
Now to see if the physical copies arrive before Christmas.

N9ne of mine has shipped, no pdfs, no response from CS. No updates here.

same - emailed 4 days ago and <crickets chirping>.

Glad to hear that others (especially in Straya) have received books. Still waiting on PDFs here after emailing last week. :-(

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Anyway, my question is, how were you managing the river crossing by the PC's getting to the munitions camp? Using the ferry or were they relying on other magics, Walk on Water and such?

Thanks.

Mine took the ferry. Keeps the locals involved. Wizard could cast mount so easy to travel fast overland (faster than a boat can go upriver).

erucsbo wrote:

we have completed the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path

Congrats! Sounded like a pretty great last battle, where it wasn't an automatic win for the PCs! That's about all you can hope for!

Did you do any kind of thing like an epilogue to what happened to the region, the PCs, et cetera? Anyone stay and make their home or kingdom there? What happened to ownership of the Onyx Citadel and it's magics?

Not really. I gave the players the opportunity to do so and there were some general comments by some on what their character was planning on doing but I think they were more keen to get started on Ruins of Azlant with new characters.

Avoiding any spoilers:
You are better off reacting to the AP rather than trying to metagame it.
The Player's Guide gives you enough information to avoid nerfing yourself later.

Couple map questions:

The western wall of H18 looks like it's made of bars. Is it actually or is that just a mistake due to the jail cells in H17?

H34 has two stairways leading into/out of it, L and R. L clearly corresponds to the L on H35, but I can't find another R. I'm assuming it's a mistype and it corresponds to K just north of H27, but swapping R for K seems like an odd typo (not anywhere near each other on the keyboard).

Quality control on this book is a step down from the last 2 which were a step down from the first 3. They even issued an update for the map pack and still left in errors (door colours, staircase D, etc.).

we have completed the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path

I used Opportune Parry and Riposte and Dodging Dance and at the end Azaersi got another go with Cheat Death.
Killed the Trickster and Fighter and sent the eidolon away as well as a last gasp attack.
Party managed to trap one of the obsidian golems in Create Pit.
I gave Azaersi displacement and a ring of spell turning and bumped up her equipment as well. Also had Azaersi and Zanathura with True Seeing.

They had watched the party and had prepared, casting the longer duration spells as soon as the mana battery was discharged.
Also had energy resistance to fire and cold.

Rolled really well for Azaersi and with auto crit x4 on 17-20 she did significant damage and taking out the Trickster (party healer) early certainly slowed the fighter being able to keep getting filled up after taking damage. Resorted to begging the Enthroned King for temp hit points before going down after another couple of critical hits from Azaersi.

Ended up being the eidolon using blind sight that landed enough hits on Azaersi to force her to use Cheat Death.
A bit of extra summoning went on with 3 ice elementals, 3 angels, 3 centipede swarms all joining the fight.
Spell turning never got used - was hoping the Summoner would try a Dismissal but only spells used were area of effect or ray (disintegrate).

Could have been more casualties if Zanathura had lasted another round but the Fighter was extra keen to make sure she was paste before engaging Azaersi.

On to Ruins of Azlant next but will lurk here to see how others go, so please post your campaign updates.

... However, my player characters decided to fly in invisibly to H28, Upper Terrace, so they never had a battle on the bridge ...

And mine teleported invisibly on to the balcony below that.

IMHO it is very poorly designed for any party with at least a smidgeon of intelligence.

The Ironfang are lawful and unlikely to just send waves of mooks. They would more likely pepper the party with arrows and javelins and rely on those already stationed in the citadel and other citadel defenses to deal with anyone trying to get in.

If the party are stupid enough to try a frontal assault then have them deal with a hail of troop missile fire until they get under cover.
Alarm is raised and expect any defenses inside the citadel to be alert and prepared.

almost but not quite finished.

Party headed up to the mana battery where the trickster (with permanent detect magic) peeked around the corner. I gave her a will save to pull back from the blinding display but she failed, so developed colourblindness. I said the room was blazing with octarine. Most of the players got the reference.
As far as I can find there is nothing about the effects of colourblindness, so I've ruled at our table that it washed out the colours making perception harder for things that required seeing variations in colour, and that while detect magic could still pick up auras, it was impossible to distinguish between schools of magic - kinda like having darkvision for magic.
Rogue had a couple of potions of remove blindness so casually tossed one to the trickster to set her right.
There was discussion about how to discharge the battery and ended up just letting the rogue do it. With her evasion and high reflex, plus a feat that allowed rerolling a 1 on saving throw, there was really no chance for her to fail. The rest of the party hid on the staircase.
Afterwards I changed the room description to say that small arcs of magical lightning were slowly travelling down from the ceiling to the metallic diagrams.
Party searched some more in the level below and found Zanathura's journal scrap and the switch in the armoire.
By then the alarm had been raised and the faerie dragon (still back where the party entered and maintaining the illusion of hobgoblins) informed the party that troops were starting to mobilize from below the citadel and make their way through the gatehouse into the citadel proper.
The rogue offered to create a mess and distraction and rescue her familiar (who couldn't get through the doors back into the citadel) while the party headed through the secret door. (Rogue is an NPC - so this was a way of getting her sneak attack damage and insta-kills away from future encounters and letting the PCs have more spotlight)
Wizard cast wall of stone to block off the dueling academy from the rest of the citadel after the rogue left (but not before making sure she was attuned to the bracelet of friends held by the wizard).
Party headed down and triggered the golem in the false ritual room. Some major damage dealt both to and by the fighter. Wizard also cast shapechange on her familiar (bat) and both of them changed into brass dragons and breathed on the golem. Fighter hit the golem with a critical hit (auto-confirmed and multiplier one better due to fighter capstone) doing more than 200 points of damage (when the golem had about 50 left).
I described the hammer blow as acting like Newton's cradle where parts of the golem on the other side flew off before other bits popped apart and it eventually crumbed in a heap.
Felt that the indestructible nature of the golem was a bit much and didn't add to the story at this point. Fighter wanted to scoop all of the bits of the shattered golem into his bags of holding (due to the value of the metal) but when informed that the bags wouldn't hold that much (4000 pounds!) the summoner opened a gate back to Longshadow and it was shovelled through.
Down again and to the transposition engine - Zanathura got off an acid fog but failed to trap the fighter in a force cage. The wizard managed to trap Azaersi in a maze for a round. Obsidian golems came out and were spraying damage.
Zanathura tried polymorph any object on the wizard, but as she still had shapechange going it was ineffective.
So far Zanathura has been knocked down, and one of the golems has been destroyed, but Azaersi is still up as well as 3 other golems.
I have a bit of time to brush up on swashbuckler tactics before we conclude the AP in the next session.

If you decide to advance things so that the PCs get to have 20th level characters before the end of the AP - just know that the rogue capstone is wicked. Of the 4 Ironfang Shadows, Azlowe and 3 Witcheater Cultists, and Henra with 4 Ironfang Honor Guards encountered so far in the assault on the Citadel, only 1 Shadow, 1 Cultist, and 1 Honor Guard have survived being one-shotted by the rogue.
Actually one of the Honor Guards was baleful polymorphed before the rogue had her action (full round of sneak attack with bow).
Greater Invisibility (on the rogue) plus sniper goggles = sneak attack at any distance. And with skill unlock on Sense Motive to give bonus to initiative she clears most of the field before they get a chance to act.

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It used the magic sandbox to create a 3d model of the Onyx Citadel and explained its floorplan to the party. ...

Thankfully my players didn't think to ask that, as I might have come up with bogus maps if they did as the citadel (and towers) can be rearranged.

p34 "It can display a detailed model of the Onyx Citadel, reflecting the castle as it was long before the Ironfang Legion overran it."

GM prep really ramps up in this one with some totally ineffective enemy tactics.
Azlowe uses Dispel Magic? If the PCs haven't multiclassed then caster level is likely to be 17. Mine are 20. DC for Dispel Magic is 11+Caster level, so likely at least 28, and for mine 31. Azlowe is CL10. That means he'd need to roll an 18 to affect by the book PC spells and has no chance working on mine. I think Debilitating Portent, with Firewalker's Meditation from the day before might be on the cards instead.
Witcheater cultists cast Blasphemy? "Creatures whose Hit Dice exceed your caster level are unaffected by blasphemy." Totally ineffective unless the cultists are bumped up 3 levels (or 6 in my case).
Comments have already been made on other named enemy builds.
Was this never playtested or did the development team just think it was a good idea to give freebies to the PCs?

Wizard cast Polymorph Any Object on the fighter to turn him into a duplicate - sneaky way to get a permanent +2 strength, but we'll see if Dispel Magic ends up knocking it off.
Party wind walked across Argent Lake then spied out the Citadel (rogue with skill unlock on perception and a spyglass can essentially see forever), before deciding to teleport behind the hobgoblins in H23.
It was over before the hobgoblins got a chance to react and the fighter stuffed the bodies in a spare type IV bag of holding as the rogue's familiar (faerie dragon) cast silent image to make it look to the patrolling gargoyles like the hobgoblins were still there.
Bypassed the alarm in H24 and combat is about to start in H25.
If they are quick and go in the right direction they could get to the encounter with Azaersi while 3/4 of the citadel are unaware of the incursion.

Aubrin gets hit by a ballista.
Your choice on what to do with your campaign, but IMHO a crippling blow rather than death is more representative of what the campaign is about.
Ironfang Invasion is actually more about finding your place in the world, and how do you do that when others think your place should belong to them.
The Ironfang are just doing to Nirmathas what Nirmathas did to Molthune and what Molthune did to Cheliax.
The canonical ending actually breaks that cycle.
It ain't going to happen in my campaign which turned very much to revenge, but at least the players have been having fun all the way through.

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I am also trying to mentally untangle the 35 rooms in the Onyx Citadel in preparation for the party arriving there. It is quite a maze. ...

And there is no guarantee that the PCs will enter via the main entrance, especially given flight and dimensional travel are commonplace.

I'm having to add extra defenses to every opening - since the PCs have been watched in previous encounters (either by reports from those involved or by the crystal ball - which I changed to have True Sight instead of Telepathy).