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What should Aldern tell the PCs about his marital status, particularly if he's flirting with one of them? The PCs could feasibly roll a knowledge (local or nobility) and find out that he is married. Should he tell them she died (of course lying about the circumstances)?

2. They probably will try to use Xaliasa to gain information about their enemy - after all, he worked for both Karzoug and Alaznist, but ended up loyal only to Lamashtu. Canny PCs will reason that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," and they're right to a point, but he's still an antagonist, and will try to kill them.

4. I'd say the whole effect is covered by the strong abjuration aura. I don't have my book with me, so I can't figure out the DC for the Lost Doors effect for ya.

For 2, I meant to ask how the PCs know he's alive, before they go into the hole. The chapter intro suggests the PCs may want to find him to ally with him, as a potential motivation to hurry back to Sandpoint. But as far as I can tell, at this point the PCs know only that he was a traitor to Karzoug, and that he may have lived where Sandpoint is now. With this information, the PCs should rightly assume he died thousands of years ago, and they have no way to know he's been resurrected. Is there something I'm missing?

For 4, I guess a more general question would be, do I treat the individual effects as their own spells (silent image,suggestion, etc) for auras and DCS, or are they all the same as part of the guards and wards spell?

Thank you for all of your input!

I'm not very far through this book (though I've skimmed the whole AP) but I have some questions about Xaliasa and the shrine.

1. How long has he been resurrected? From page 238 of the anniversary edition, it sounds like Lamashtu resurrects him right after the PCs defeat Mokmurian. For my players in particular, I believe they will spend a day or less at the library, then teleport back to Sandpoint, and go poking around the sinkhole within 2 days of Xaliasa's resurrection. I'm not sure that's enough time for him to fill up all the paper and all the walls in the shrine with his crazy writings.

2. Page 239 suggests the PCs may try to find him to ally with him. As far as I can tell, the PCs should think he is long dead, and know nothing of his resurrection? My players don't need this bit of motivation, but I'm wondering if I missed a plot point somewhere.

3. Is the constant Guards and Wards on the entire shrine cast by Xaliasa, or is this just putting a name to the "ancient protective magics" on all the Thassilonian ruins? I see Xaliasa has it once per day at CL 14. This gives him 112 squares, lasting 28 hours. The shrine is about twice that size. Maybe it's just on the doors, corridors, and the small areas that are called out?

4. These are just generic rules questions about how Guards and Wards works. Does Detect Magic see auras for all the effects (eg. faint illusion on all the doors), or do they all count as part of the Strong Abjuration aura? Also, this might be a dumb question, but where does the DC22 for the Lost Doors come from, if it's Xaliasa casting it? It should be 10 + CHA + Spell level, so 10+2+6=18 if the DC comes from Guards and Wards, or 10+2+1=13 if the DC comes from Silent Image. If the DC is based on WIS, then I get either 19 or 24. This is my first time GMing, so I'm worried I'm missing something really obvious.

Thanks!

Does Lucrecia have her own reasons (or reasons related to her collecting-greedy-souls project) for taking over Fort Rannick? My impression was the Kaven was the only Black Arrow who got the mark, or at least one of very few. Or was she just helping Barl out, to keep the rangers from messing up his ogre army project?

Also, why does she go to Shimmerglens to attack Lamatar and Myriana? Would Lamatar's survival have been that detrimental to their plans?

Well, the main one I'm worried about is the first one, when you first find her. If the PCs move the mirror, the first thing she does is "she stands up and unleashes a baleful shriek". I think a lot of players will get very stabby if the first thing a creature does can reasonably be interpreted as hostile. I might do this as normal screaming depending on how my players approach her.

Thanks for your input!

In a couple of places, it says that Iesha "unleashes a baleful shriek". Is that meant to be the revenant Special Ability "Baleful Shriek", or just normal creepy screaming? It's not clear to me if it was just meant to set the scene, or if it should be mechanically resolved.

if your group is not into role play or interacting with the Sandpoint citizens ignore everything I write

That's them, but some of your suggestions sound helpful nonetheless. Thanks for your very thorough reply!

If your group is mostly focused on the next monster to kill, and not interested in role-playing the character's interactions with the townsfolk, I would recommend Wayfinder #7, a free fan magazine here. Issue #7 has fan-created content to add to the early Varisia-based APs, especially Rise of the Runelords. You can find some useful material in there, such as the Vault of Greed mini-adventure, which can substitute for one or more of the "Local Heroes" chapter events.

Thanks, I'll definitely check it out when I'm not on my phone. I think my group would be better described as "always looking for the next objective". They'll grumble if they have to talk to some guy just to get to know him, but not if I tell them they're trying to get some specific main-plot-related info out of him. We're used to having important NPCs be introduced in the same session in which they're important, and then forgotten about immediately.

I've only ever played with this group so I didn't know if people play any other way. So, this chapter confused me a little with how things happen while the PCS are walking around town - I never gave them a mission that involves wandering around town! I guess the sheriff instructing them to do so could work for that, though they'll probably think they're actually secretly looking for clues of some kind hidden all over the city.

Many have noticed a lack of loot early in the AP. It works itself out later on. However, I'm guessing that if your party is always looking for the next monster to kill, it follows that they're also looking for the loot to go with the monster.

In that case, I'd suggest that you toss in some loot on your own or make some artifacts that seem like loot, but end up being worthless.

Real loot: works fine if you don't mind your party being a little overpowered. Thistletop isn't a cake walk, so it might not hurt, especially if your players are inexperienced and/or subpar tacticians.

Fake loot: could me mounds and mounds of copper; something that radiates magic, but isn't magical; a piece of art that looks like a plot hook and/or valuable, but isn't; a map(what if a child drew a map of a fictional place but did well enough to pass as real?)

COMBO: sprinkle in a mix of real and fake loot

Thanks! I'm totally new to GMing and pretty new to tabletop rpgs in general (all my players are far more experienced than me...), so I might be overly cautious about deviating from what's written, for fear of making things unbalanced. I wasn't sure if "add loot as you see fit, using wealth by level as a guideline" was implied, or if what the PCs are explicitly given is the right amount for it to be balanced.

This is my first time GMing, but I've played with my group a few times. I think "Local Heroes" is going to be problematic for everyone involved - I think they are going to find most of it filler-y and pointless, even if I tell them that the NPCs are going to be important later. Since it's so early in the campaign, I'm worried they'll end up turned off to the whole thing. Does anyone have ideas for how I can string together the events a little more cohesively?

A bunch of events look like they're going to start with "You're chilling at the Rusty Dragon when ___ comes up to you and asks you to do ___", and I'd like to avoid doing that more than once per session. Any ideas for more organically getting the PCs into the Vinder basement, on the Boar Hunt, to the Baretts' house, to meet with Shalelu, and/or to talk to Ameiko's maid?

I'm thinking of somehow having the PCs end up in the Boneyard immediately after the goblin attack, instead of having Zantus and Hemlock fetch them later. This shouldn't make the skeleton fight too hard, should it? It looks pretty easy but I'm pretty inexperienced.

There's a decent chance they kill Ven Vinder. Is sending the PC to Magnimar for trial meant to just remove them from the game for the forseeable future? What's the punishment for murder over there? Is there a plausible way I could get them out of a murder charge without a series of really high diplomacy/bluff checks?

The scene with Lonjiku and Ameiko is going to really confuse them, when they neither fight anything, nor are given an obvious quest hook. Hmmm... I'm not sure I have a question here.

Are there maps for the combats in this section? Should I make some up or just use a plain grid?

PCs get most of the way to level 2 in this section. Shouldn't they get more more stuff? All I see is the horses and 50gp Aldern gives them.