mousmous's page

The roleplay of Chellan lead to it succesfully dominating the party alchemist/monk while the party was recuperating from that fight. When the monk couldn't escape the pocket dimension that they created to join Karzoug, he turned on the party and nearly wiped them out. I have no regrets over the lack of an ambush moment. Chellan was terrifying to the party even before they figured out it could hijack a party member, so even if it had failed, they would have gotten a satisfying story out of interacting with it.

...reluctant heroes not feeling like they had a reason to get involved?

For me, this is the part that sticks out. If they aren't having their motivations piqued, then what are their motivations? Without that knowledge, there's no guarantee that anything will get the 'ol motor running. Which motivations does bringing in Svevenka tackle?

My suggestion, not knowing their motivations, is to have a talk about their characters and what drives them. Start editing your plothooks to follow suit. Weave in some personal story arcs that go parallel with the main story arc (or if you're lucky, get entwined with it, like the Myriana connection).

I will admit that my players also had trouble seeing the larger threat. I wrote stories between sessions that gave them glimpses (sans spoilers) of what the bad guys were up to, or how they originated. Even so, my players spent a good portion of time after Mokmurian's death wondering what came next. And; while they felt like they knew more about the Runelords from their time spent in Runeforge, they didn't fully understand what their next moves were supposed to be upon leaving it. The first reason for this was that they spent so much IRL time in it that the players forgot, and so the characters forgot. The second reason was that they hadn't connected the dots between the rising threat and the research they'd done on Xin-Shalast and Karzoug in the library.

Haha, I didn't catch the use of glamping before- perfect use!

Glamping = glamor camping. Think posh, high end cabins with all the amenities of day-to-day living. It's camping, but not really.

I can't remember if I read it in the AP, or if I put there myself, but in my head both Xanesha and Lucretia have rooms saved for them in the Pinnacle of Avarice. It's a nice throw-back when the PCs get there, but it also means that Xanesha has a home to go back to and start over: you can place her anywhere along the trip back to Xin-Shalast, if you make that her ultimate destination. She may need Mokmurian's help in getting back, or she might go back to being one of Most High Ceoptra's minions in the final book.

CONSERVE AIR: BREATHE LESS

If I ever run this again, I'm putting this in any divination my players attempt about Xin-Shalast.

...but it also wouldn't make sense to have an entire city filled with denizens that are constantly suffocating.

OR WOULD IT.

The evil DM worldbuilder in me is intrigued by the idea of an evil empire that just doesn't care if the enslaved inhabitants of a city die off at an alarming rate. What does it look like and/or function. How would my players react to their characters finding such a callous place? Mmmmmmmmm, delightful malevolence....

What a cruel joke it would be if you allowed them to keep her on ice for two books, bring her back, and find out that she's unhappy and ungrateful to return.

The above stems from my inability to think of anyone who would bother to interfere. I mean, assuming they know about her body's whereabouts, they would surely question why the party was keeping her in a state that would allow for a rez, and upon learning it really is to rez her- why would someone opposed to the party want to stop that? Free bringing back an evil ally/minion? YES PLEASE.

Perhaps a good-aligned entity would want to thwart bringing her back, and not listen to the party's explanation that she could be saved?

Also Erylium, as TheOrganGrinder stated; but some work or explanation concerning the quasit's madness would have to happen, and even then, how would she act on her desire, and who would she take Nualia to?

In my campaign, to tie up several loose ends and flesh out a character story, the contacts Svevenka had/has with residents of Xin-Shalast were intrepid and zealous Spared who ventured out to find the people the prophecy said would save them from the Hidden Beast. You could jury-rig the Silas knowledge and encounter using these Spared, if you did the same.

Long story short- my suggestion is that you have their divinations point them to Svevenka; Svevenka tells them about the Spared that have come out but been unable to go back (and maybe tell them where one or more perished); you revamp Silas so that he's now the ghost of a Spared who kept a journal.

If it were me, and knowing next to nothing about your player, I would likely give him an Irori-based encounter and use that to do some foreshadowing.

Maybe someone asks him to help them climb the Irespan to prove that they have done sufficient self-improvement, (and the climb has some added spice to keep it from being a series of climb checks), and in talking to this person on the climb, the monk learns a bit of gossip about the Foxgloves or the person mentions that they want to be in good enough shape to travel to see a relation living in Fort Rannick, because they haven't heard form them in over-long.

Someone reworked Mammy Graul into a gravewalker witch with the Flight, Cauldron and Cook People Hexes, and I shamelessly stole that build idea.

You should enjoy This Thread.

I'm with Bellona. You know your party better than we do, but a fully rested and optimized party with dominant weapons is likely to shrug their way through this encounter until K uses his wish to bring everyone back. The nice part about the stage you've set is that if mythic K, the lynx, and tomb giants aren't enough, it's not impossible for one or more of Bellona's suggestions to show up the same way the party did. You have real time and plausible control of how hard things are. Even if only one shows up in the same spot the PCs did, the party is likely to spend some resources to prevent any more from showing up, especially if your narration allows for a hint or two that more are available to show up. The threat of an enemy is sometimes just as good as the real thing!

I remember that they listed some valid reasons for not being able to print every single possible pawn, so being able to print your own seems extremely valuable. And well done on the Tangletooth!

Dungeon Novice wrote:

That's a great idea, but they're not available anywhere. (Amazon has a set for sale for $5,000)

I honestly thought you were joking about this. I now realize that you weren't. Holy friggin crap this is insane!

*Immediately scuttles off to ebay*

Bellona, I sent your example to my players to show them how a good backstory provides details, but also leaves openings for the DM to work subplots and foreshadowing into the campaign. Heh. Well done all around, there.

There's also a dinner party in Legacy of Fire which is a regional cultural norm for buying/selling very valuable items, such as the Scroll of Kakishon. The party puts the word out that they're selling, and people interested attend the party.

Foreshadowing and losing the stories of bad guys is why I started writing vignettes for them. In hindsight, I should have included Viorian among them. Viorian's a good one to highlight because, unlike some others(the Scribbler), she was out in the world and doing things prior to her place in the adventure and the party has a good chance of running into people who knew her.

I wholeheartedly agree with foreshadowing upcoming baddies for your players.

One of the reasons I love APs, is they validate many divination-based magic. Sounds like you're going a step further, which I applaud.

When I gave my players pieces of history from behind the DM veil, they really responded to it. Visions of puzzle pieces they aren't likely to run across, is another great way to increase immersion. It's also great foreshadowing. RotRL is dense with Lore- so much that all your ideas plus others (like the Scribbler, the Late Unpleasantness, Mokmurian first finding Xin-Shalast and/or Karzoug, the Denizens of Leng, the histroy aroudn the old Light's construction...etc) could be doled out to the players weekly and never even touch the plot or give anything away. I gave my players a bunch of campaign info, and they still felt challenged in every book. In fact, once we finished the campaign, I saw where I could have and should have given them more.

I think you're on to a great idea. To answer the question of your subject line: a LOT.

My party found lots of fun RP in book 4 with the fractious and unhappy npcs in Jorgenfist. It also helped that I rolled some unlikely encounters on the random encouter chart for their journey there. You may consider fudging in some social random encounters. I just got lucky.

Book 5 is a megadungeon, and there's no getting around that. However, many DMs on the board here have pointed at the potential for RP between the PCs and the denizens of the different wings in their games. It may take some foreshadowing to get your players in the right mindset to treat going there like an exploration rather than an invasion. In fact, a few of the wings (Gluttony, Sloth, and Lust) favor talking over fighting first.

Book 6 is where my players did the least RP (I'm thinking of Xin-Shalest and the Pinnacle of Avarice in particular), but I chalk that up to campaign fatigue and their assumption that they couldn't teleport out and back once they got there. I used the journey to Xin-Shalast to tie up the backstory subplots and personal goals for the PCs, which fit nicely within the frame of the AP plot, and sated their desire for RP.

Call it whatever you like, but be aware that your players might hang some unwanted meanings on a term that has a different historical and contemporary meaning. That's the long and short of the warning your getting from the board. You might want to explain the context of whatever term you ultimately decide to use before you use it.

I'm no good at linking to internal threads, but...
This will be a useful thread for you.

Well it finally happened. We played the final battle. My players took all the photos of the final build because I was absolutely wiped from the three days of straight build to finish it off in time for the game.

Updated the Flickr account with their pics .

Special thanks to TomParker for sending the file for the incredible 3D printable throne. Karzoug was most pleased!

New photos up of progress. Pics are horrible. I promise to make a real effort once I'm done. I didn't like the tiny marble of the test, and it would have taken for ever, since what I did do took 10 hours. These pieces need a final hi-gloss coat, then assembly. Once assembly's done, then I can paint the grid/base and add the pillars. Also I have to do the throne and Runewell. Whatever. This definitely isn't eating up my entire life.

Storm giant for scale.

He's the rogue, he wants hirelings that are ok with sketchy assignments, if needed. That's my bet, anyway. I like your group, Shadow_Hawk. If it were me, I'd take a little time before the next game and flesh out G&G's personalities. Give them some dreams and motivations and such- maybe base them off some mildly unsavory characters from life or media. Then I'd let things play out with the party, based on that. I'd probably also let the player know that they shouldn't lean too heavily on these NPCs, unless they plan on taking the Leadership feat.

A group that can overcome adversaries through diplomacy is going to make for a fun AP.

Agents

A rough semi-circle of lamia-kin bowed before Karzoug, their foreheads pressed to the jet marble. Such a position was near impossible for some of them in their true form, so all lamia-kin decided long ago that it was easier to shift to a pure human form when in audience with the runelord. Consequently there were neither scale nor fur in sight. Karzoug was pleased with the change in attitude. He had not needed to command them to make the change, but all lamia had. Even in their appetite for chaos, he thought¸ dwells the innate desire to please. He felt they were preferable to working with demons for this single trait. It was a comfort that at least one thing had not changed in all the years of his absence.

“Does that complete your report on Korvosa?” he asked.

“I wish only to add that Korvosa, unlike Magnimar, is in such turmoil that they will be unable to react to an external threat.” Said a prostrate lamia with blonde hair. “Nor willing. They have heard of your giant armies forming, Great Lord, and deem it less than the fifth most important threat. It is beneath other squabbles with Cheliax and other Inner Sea neighbors as well my culling of the greedy there.”

“And when my armies are east of Magnimar? What then?” The runelord gazed past his minions, up at the runewell. He thought of how soon he would be less dependent on so many minor pieces. He was shouldering much too much of the management of affairs himself, for lack of adequate intermediary handlers. He regretted the loss of Mokmurian only because the stone giant lacked peers. It was an uneasy balance to have subordinates capable enough to lead others and act independently in his interests without become overly ambitious. He relished the waiting challenge. “I do not desire their apathy towards my armies, Jhanecia. Apathy quickly becomes action when there is a present external foe. If you do not have rivals competing for command and undermining each other as our armies march on Korvosa, then you will have failed. Remember that.”

“Yes, Great Lord.”

Karzoug stood for a time, looking at the lamias where they knelt and looking at nothing. For their part, the lamia-kin held admirably still. They had had been stationed, thus, for twenty minutes. Fatigue had to be setting in. The pause in his questioning would serve to make them uneasy: was he angry? Did he approve of their work? It would be heightened by their inability to see him. He found these reports tedious, but often stretched them out for his own amusement. Boredom was not something the troubled him; there were thousands of scenarios to play out to keep him occupied. He pondered why, then, he felt the need to prolong the contact he had with those who visited. I am not one for self-reflection. In the moment, seize what you must. Move on. The next moment holds more treasures, and a mistake in the past is magnified by bringing it with you. So why? I do not crave physical pleasure from them. There is no leverage to be gleaned from them. They are not entertainment, bearers of wisdom, or to be traded. The value they bring is in the information their services have produced. The souls they add, I receive without them here, and their reports are more for their egos than my needs. I surveil them regularly. Is it the fealty they demonstrate? Enough. I have spent too long on this question, already.

“Solisha, I have not yet heard from you. Tell me of the Velashu Uplands you so foolishly gambled on.” There was the faintest breeze of hidden laughter from five of the lamia-kin. The lamia at the far right shifted slightly, and went still.

“Great lord, north of Riddleport is where the band led by the priest’s father made their camp. And it was there that my foolish gamble paid off. I hope my success can atone for any delay caused by not delivering more souls to you.” Her voice was steady. Karzoug could not see her eyes, but there must be hope and resignation in them for her to sound so measured. He was intrigued.

“You claim success? What piece of intelligence did the father possess that I do not already know?” Karzoug had sent agents to find information on the pests that killed Mokmurian as soon as he became aware of them. Not all of the lamia were adept at harvesting souls. There were several groups that were peripherally aware of his agents’ activities. Only one had managed to thwart any of his forthcoming plans, and they had bested a minor, if favored, minion. He had glimpsed them previously, but in taking out Mokmurian they had also come into possession of a library. He watched them study there for weeks, and their focus on his affairs was peculiar. In his mind, the web of traceable information formed again to reflect what his agents had documented since he learned of them. Points and pathways- from question to all possible answers- branched and intertwined. Karzoug learned that this adventurous group was comprised of a loose band of humanoids with strange partnerships and associates. There was a thread for that. It fragmented quickly as he tracked down members. There was a series of short threads leading to one named Lena, and another grouping bunched around one named Hopeful that broke free from the rest and tailed off into his disinterest. Other threads broke into the web from outside and departed swiftly, or were cut off for members with names like Jo and Shalelu. A number of thick threads of information looped around several deceased members. The usual bonds he could exploit did not seem to exist, or perished with the dead. And there was the familiar, singular line connecting old members and new. It was almost as if he looked at two webs superimposed over each other. His mind climbed among the pathways, upwards, sideways, and down. Karzoug’s followers turned their attention to the family of the current mix, at his direction. More threads; more dead ends, save two: a brother, and a father. Karzoug's attention flowed along the thread where the agent sent to find the brother of the dwarf had turned up dead, and Solisha was diverted to find out why. My resources are vast, but not unlimited. Yet. The thread was flimsy there; her report upon the previous agent’s failure was perfunctory. She, quite obviously, was attempting to hide a reluctance to pursue the matter, and if she had not also disclosed the discovery of the father, she would have been dealt with.

“Great lord, the father of the priest did not want to give up his secrets. Under other circumstances I would have attempted to recruit him. He was quite possessive of the priest. But I drew great pleasure in getting him to talk before he perished.”

“Hm. Did you mark him?"

Karzoug dismissed the multitudinous pathways of information from his mind. He long ago came to terms with the deficiencies of others, who could only hold two, or perhaps three, of these concepts in their own minds while discussing them. Even then, they stumbled along the paths, often needing to be led through their own cluttered thoughts. He'd found that the modern peoples could hold such cluster of concepts at a time; dangling from it with whitened knuckles. He shook his head in disappointment.

“Alas, Great Lord, in his heart he was a pawn of Envy. I did mark him, but that was not his great contribution.”

“Go on, then.”

“He was not the priest’s true father, only calling himself such. In his mind, he owned the boy. But they had a rich history together: Humiliation. Mayhem. Murder. Death. The latter is what the father was most proud of. He felt his son had strayed and the final punishment would be to bring the son back to him, even when the son thought he would be done with life.”

“He cannot die? I have no reason to believe the priest is secretly a lich.”

“My apologies, Great Lord,” the lamia reached beneath her and gathered something at her belt. She outstretched her arms horizontally along the marble floor, finally turning her hands to reveal an object. “The priest is still young. He is a vessel.”

Karzoug leaned forward, bringing his head closer to inspect a shriveled peach-colored lump with umber blotches on it. One eyebrow raised as far as the stone embedded in his forehead would allow.

“Is that an ear?”

By Gorum, that's good stuff TomParker!

If you get the throne, etc up in the next few weeks, I'd love to use them. It's those fiddly details that aren't shaping so well in my model.

As tall as five men, and just as wide, the image of Xin-Shalast hangs between two massive plinths as if it were the world’s largest tapestry. The city looks deceptively small, because the perspective is as if from the summit of Mhar Massif. One could walk through the image, despite thinking they might instantly fall thousands of feet upon touching it. Snowflakes float down like dust in the sky, but that is the only movement; the view is so far removed. Before this gossamer living picture floats a throne large enough to serve as a bed. It did, once, for the man seated there once rested upon it for ten thousand years before being reawakened. He now faces the colossal image, imperious, haughty, and possessive. He wipes the cruelty from his eyes and makes a practiced wave of his hand. The mighty image of the city morphs to a dark interior. Shadowed cobalt highlighted by a blade of dim light, the only clue that anything is there at all.

"Glorofaex. I have need of you."

"You honor me by coming to me personally, Great Lord."

A scaled head snakes into the slim light. The enormous skull is made even more massive by the image, accentuating the every faded scale, shriveled bit of webbing ,and desiccated skin marking the ancient wyrm.

"Is it time? Do you return to Golarion and restore the glory of our youths? I have not known feelings of anticipation and impatience in millennia, Great Lord."

Karzoug shifts on his immense throne.

"The time is at hand. It will happen at any moment, and I wish for you to be at my side when it does."

"Another honor."

Karzoug's brow wrinkles low over his eyes, and he nods in reply.

The great iridescent yellow eye narrows a fraction within the minuscule light.

"Might I be so bold, Great Lord," begins Glorofaex, "to ask if there is another reason for my presence?"

"Only you would dare." Karzoug says in a voice just above a growl. "I am not in the habit of justifying my commands. This has not changed since I ruled last. What is it you think you know?"

"Only that I have dreamt."

"The same dream?"

"Just the once; that it changed from the boy. In the new dream, humans of power intruded upon the boy’s tune. I fought them. I was invincible, and still they nearly defeated me."

Karzoug straightens upon his throne.

"You still won," he drawls.

"I'm not sure. The dream ended with the last two in my claws, not yet dead."

Karzoug digests the new revelation slowly. Glorofaex, remaining still, watches the Runelord's face subtly change from outrage over information previously withheld, to uncertainty in a new interpretation of the dream, to concern.

"Great Lord, I only wish to know what I should bring when in your presence. Do I exalt, or do I defend? I serve you poorly... with my death." Glorofaex's eye glints. "Unless my death... is intended? My greed is great."

"There was an incursion at the Pinnacle of Avarice," the Runelord admitted. "It did not breach the entrance, but it removed Chellan from my plans, temporarily. They and their methods matched your description of the dream, save one."

"It was a strange dream. Do we hunt?"

"The time is at hand. Either they will come to me, and I will deal with them here in the Eye, with your help; or they will be too late, and I will no longer be touchable by such… nuisances."

"I will come, Great Lord. I do not doubt that among the thousand plans you keep to yourself, reside contingencies upon contingencies. Very few would have the forethought to plan their return so that each defeated minion would hasten their quickening. I have often wondered how the human skull, so tiny, could house so many ideas, even with maps and writing. And you put even them to shame, needing no such aids."

“Very few have seen through my plans, to know that defeat brings victory.”

“Very few have known you as long. I will come, Great Lord.”

The eye leaves the light and a sea of faded blue scales shift within it.

"One more thing, Glorofaex."

The movement in the dark stops.

Reluctantly, Krazoug says "Do not think, Old Friend, that you, who will return the ranks of dragons to Thassilon, and command them… do not think these honors would not be yours under other circumstances. I require your presence as a temporary measure, but you would be here, regardless."

The eye returns to the dim light.

"My time in this world is short. Within the next few hundred years, not even your song can keep me here. Until that day, though, I serve."

Karzoug quickly dismisses the image, returning it to the view of Xin-Shalast. With a thought, the throne drifts through the air and settles to its accustomed spot on the marbled floor.

My primary thought, after also thinking this is very complicated, is that with these custom magical effects, you need to consider how spells will interact with them- specifically spells designed to counteract such effects.

First, you shouldn't shut these spells down. This is a tough fight even without the added stuff you're doing. It's easy to fall into the trap of wanting one's hard work to be seen so badly that one railroad's the PCs into fighting the way one wants, rather than allowing them to beat the system. That's just a general reminder.

Second, how will a Dispel Magic work against the randomizing spell effect? What aura(s) do they each give off if Detect Magic or the like is used? Faerie Fire, or Glitterdust- what will they do? What if they disbelieve the illusion that makes everyone Vraxeris? It's not so much that you have to know how every spell the party has access to works so much as knowing exactly what the spell effects you're creating are and do to a painstaking degree.

A low-tech alternative to the True Seeing scrolls, are a specific hand signal(or something similar) the Vraxeris' use to recognize each other. Having this gives the PCs an added way to be clever and rewards anyone who took ranks in Sense Motive, assuming that's what you'd use for PCs to pick up on the secret hand signal.

I have knee-jerk reactions to backstories that beg the question of why the character is only 1st level. An established lab does that for me. I'm making the assumption that the backstory includes the methods and structure the character has in place for keeping the lab a secret? My bias aside, Habe presents the world with a legal operation and as such, there's good reason to believe that your player's character would have heard of the sanitorium, simply by being a resident of Sandpoint, let alone having in similar interest.

Habe could be a supplier of subjects.
The character could be a supplier of alchemical items Habe uses to study/subdue his patients.
The character could be a supplier of alchemical items for Habe's "associate" (I forget his name).
They could be classmates from wherever they received training.
They could be relatives interested in the same subject.
They could be competitors for a supply that they both require, but is limited in supply, like equipment used to restrain patients.

The real question is why do you want the connection? If it's only to foreshadow the encounter, then the real connection could be to a shared supplier of some kind that gives information on other people in the area buying the same supplies. Whenever the PC needs something, and goes to that supplier, that's when the supplier reveals whatever complication that drops Habe's name.

Making a direct connection to Habe for the sake of foreshadowing carries some risks both for a premature encounter and for increased contact after. I'll tell you that the alchemist in my party took over Habe's sanitorium after they met him, and made it his new lab. It wasn't a strain on the campaign only because the player was cool enough to recognize that it was a side hustle, and left it's operation largely in the background of events (it became the thing he tended to when the group had any downtime, and nothing more).

Those pillars look fantastic. That's a very believable gold.

Not to mention that the design notes are really nice teaching moments that help us make our homebrew stuff better.

Progress pics

You can see the semi-gloss reflection (I hope) in the isometric shots on the horizontal surface. Have to make sure your sanding is perfect because every flaw in the surface shows up.

Marbling is still being fine-tuned. I took a close up of the left platform, and you can at least see it from a distance. But with the scale, I'm not convinced it looks like miniture marble rather than someone's formica countertop. All the other dark surfaces have the base coat and the under-marble.

Paints:
Base- Glidden Deep Onyx
Barely noticable under marble- Glidden Grey Hearth
Highlight marbling- Behr Chance of Rain
I also flicked some true black from my miniature paints over the top for subtle depth.

The youtube how-to-paint-fake marble vids I watched suggested a clear topcoat for extra glossy action, but I haven't done that yet. If I get things to look better, I'll update the pics.

I have my base coat down; a semi-gloss brownish/black. I'm going to attempt to "marble" it with a lighter brown and a gray/white to lighten things up. It is very dark. The good part about the semi-gloss is that the reflective surface keeps you from losing all definition to the shadows. I'll test the marbling tonight and take some pics. And I'll post the actual names and brands of the paints.

...they'll get to enjoy a sort of clip show of their relevant acts of sin and virtue...

Oooooooooooooo- I love a good montage! This would start arguments in my group, but I really like this idea.

I did not get the impression that there is supposed to be a map or that the PCs should go down there, as there isn't anything in the mines that moves the story forward. I nudged my players away from going down there.

Name of PC: Nissa, Female Half-Elf
Class/Level: Druid 18
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Chellan's trickery
Story: The halfling brawler/glass cannon, with the Mark of Wrath challenged Viorian to single combat and one, claiming Chellan as his own. Chellan had been speaking to one the dual-wielding warpriest before said challenge, and everyone after. The party thought an intelligent sword was too dangerous and decided to stow it in a bag of holding because that might prevent it from talking/influencing anyone. They let slip that they would not be bringing Chellan back out. Chellan no-likey. Contest of wills occurs upon brawler trying to give over the sword. Brawler critfails. Chellan says, relax my dude, put me in your own bag of holding, get me out when you camp. Chellan stops communicating when put in bag of holding (I was unsure if that would prevent Chellan's telepathy, so I went with it becuase Chellan would pretend to go silent anyway).
Druid casts Faerie Ring Retreat. Party enters pocket dimension that only the Druid can open and close. I had ruled previously that a)spells end upon caster death and b)anything in a pocket dimension from a spell like Faerie Ring Retreat or Rope Trick when it ends gets shunted out. Chellan discovers that the brawler can't leave, picks the brawler's brain to figure out how to get out, and commands brawler to kill the druid. Epic battle commences. If it was only hinted that the brawler could take out the entire party before; it was clear now. Lucky Prismatic Sphere failed save sends brawler to the Plane of Shadow. Party uses revelation quill to find him, cleric gates him back, battle recomenses, druid drops to a full round flurry that did 38 more hp than needed to kill before the brawler even rolled dice. The party manages to stun the brawler, and uses the stun to remove Chellan from his person, thinking that would end the influence. Chellan strikes a deal with new wielder where they deliver it to Khalib, and it let's go of hits hold on the brawler. They set out immediately, leaving a broken heap of druid at the base, for fear that the brawler would wipe them all out.

I would bet that your player(s) have the perception that these events are just part of the AP, and do not understand that they are responsible in the escalation of Bad Things happening. It may take you illustrating how their lazy choices lead to the next Bad Thing. Brainstorming off of Pnakotus; instead of assassins sent after the party, it could be that they send scouts that want to know where the party goes, and seeing that it's a major city, the scouts monologue for a bit, and tip their hand, by arrogantly thanking the PCs for giving them a magical trail to follow that lead them to such a ripe plum for the picking. They can now set up a directly connect portal from Xin Shalast to Magnimar (or wherever), invade very easily, and occupy the city. The PCs have saved them weeks of laborious travel to get to the heart of Varisia.

Almost all the foam was cut with a Proxxon hot wire cutter, including those platforms.

What was your process for those rounded edges, though? I had no problem with my circular pieces, but the rounded corners are not something I've puzzled out with a proxxon. I'm at the point where I might have to resort to hand cutting them. Yikes.

I snapped these before I started the painting process. Here's where I'm at.

It became apparent we weren’t going to get to the final battle last year, so I put the model on hold. We’re now getting ready to play. Here’s the progress—all foam is now cut and there’s just a lot of sanding, coating, fine tuning and more sanding to do.

That's very nice! I've almost caught up to you, in the meantime. When I get a chance I'll post some pics as well. I see you've reduced the number of gold pillars, which is something I think I might also have to do. I'd love to know how you cut the rounded edges of the two platforms the Storm giant archers stand on.

Very nice work!

I can see how the guide might seem lacking if your players are already familiar with Golarian and Varisia. For my group, none of which knew Golarion, it was great for giving them some baseline knowledge of the world their characters supposedly knew all about. Plus, the title of the AP gave them an idea of what they were going to be doing/facing.

I can't speak to character tips, etc., as I don't believe in them.

I think it's a bit gratuitous to suggest that the players are skinning a corpse. The spell doesn't call for anyone to be fully flayed to work. A DM could rule that people have an objection to any kind of mutilation of the corpse, but those same people also might not even know a piece of him has been used, considering the circumstances.

Anyway, to weigh in on your options, Raisu:
"The map reveals the locations of what the creature deemed most valuable within its area." is the bit I focus on with the spell, which doesn't always translate to straight gp value (as the spell itself hints). Is his personal stash more valuable to him than Katrine? Could be the map leads to where he last saw her. Does he know where the money is kept that he's embezzling from, and is that money greater than his personal amount? That could be where the map leads. Is there a local rumor of wealth within the area- as in, could the map just lead to one of the manor houses outside of town because everyone agrees that they are stinking rich?

Getting the party moving via a quick solution- I can empathize with this.
Second floor of the lumber mill- my memory fails me to the significance of the second floor, sorry.
Chopper's Isle- see above. Agreed that giving them a place to call home in Sandpoint is a good idea, though.
wild goose chase- I wouldn't do this to them.

Good assessment. My players loved the Therrasic Library, and researched the heck out of Karzoug and Xin-Shalast. By the time we got to book six, though, they had forgotten why they were doing any of this. No real idea why they went into Runeforge, and no idea where to go next. Much legwork was put into steering them in the right direction, and luckily one of my players' backstory provided the hook via a vague, invented-by-me, connection with the Vekker brothers to get them going again. Once in Xin-Shalast, they wandered around aimlessly, drawn towards the Heptaric Locus simply because they saw light there. When the Saved contacted them, they gleefully followed them, despite every single party member being convinced the Saved were leading them into a trap. They thought it was a bad direction to go, "but hey, it least it's a direction!"... and I had even heavily foreshadowed the Saved when the party encountered Svevenka.

Also worth noting- their motivation for searching for Xin-Shalast morphed from "Karzoug!" to hauling the gold the Vekkers found there back to cvilization, because the through-line of the plot dropped so completely during Runeforge. I want to take the blame for that, but Runeforge had gone through 10,000 years of evolution completely separate from reality, basically, so who would have kept the fires burning, so to speak? My players found Runeforge to be a place of self-reflection, what with being hindered or helped by their sins and all (and figuring out that sins were the reason for such effects).

I also think that, while the thread may not have wanted to come back, resurrecting it would appeal to Vraxeris' sense of vanity.

One thing I changed was the level of the party. It may only be tangentially relevant, though. My players were largely new to rpgs, so they began the AP at 2nd level, and they are on track to finish it at 19th level. They've become better players, but they don't focus on optimal fighting- either in tactics or in character optimization- so it only occasionally has presented unforeseen problems, like the Occluding Field being less of a barrier than I anticipated. Instead of being a full-stop barrier to be dealt with, it's taken a step down to a very-worrisome ongoing effect that they deal with. Other than that, we've still had three deaths and two narrowly-averted TPKs, so they haven't cake-walked through the AP.

On Latrecis' third point: it's very true that Rannick is deadly, even with the added cannon f- I mean, firepower. Should your PCs try an assault, or raise the alarm and not know to immediately get out of there, bad times await them.

My party just ran across their first Sihedron Ring- same spoiler when I looked for an online description to give them.

I use roll20, a projector and a mirror to project maps onto a table. If I knew then what I know now, I'd invest the money into what DreamingTree27 has done. Our system is great and all, don't get me wrong, but it can be a challenge when arms block the light from above when moving minis, or when someone bumps the (admittedly rickety) table.

Based off of this, I feel like I need to check out Ultimate Intrigue. This is good stuff.

This is argument over intent is precisely why I didn't track sin points. The last thing I want is to end up in a disagreement with my players over how sinful they've been. Much like alignment, everyone has their own opinion on what is what.

My problem is that I am having trouble figuring out how the devil will counter this, because the plan seems sound and he has taken plenty of precautions.I do not mind if the does become pit fiend bound, I just want it to be trickier for my PC so he will have more payoff for all the effort he put into shaping this character's fall and what not.

I'll echo blahpers' great suggestion and add that it's not the worst idea to utilize the hivemind of the forum to collectively problem solve a tricky intelligence greater than our own. The board might be slow to respond, but that's the only drawback I can see. Hit us with particulars of the contract and world/campaign and I'm sure more than one person will be happy to help find the holes and wiggleroom in the contract.