Pathfinder Adventure Path #161: Belly of the Black Whale (Agents of Edgewatch 5 of 6)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #161: Belly of the Black Whale (Agents of Edgewatch 5 of 6)
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The Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path continues! Having been betrayed by their confidants and stripped of their badges, the Edgewatch agents must perform a daring prison break to spring the wrongly incarcerated primarch. Old enemies become new friends as the heroes work for an infamous underworld crime lord in order to prove their fealty and receive blueprints to the enchanted prison galley known as the Black Whale. Once they've rescued their key ally, the heroes must find a way to clear their sullied names and, in the process, exact justice upon the treacherous business mogul who betrayed them in the first place.

"Belly of the Black Whale" is a Pathfinder adventure for four 15th-level characters. This adventure continues the Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path, a six-part monthly campaign in which players take on the role of city watchdogs and dole out justice to Absalom's most nefarious criminal elements. This volume also includes new rules and exciting lore regarding Absalom's notorious prisons, the slithering snake goddess Ravithra, and a throng of new monsters and villains for urban fantasy campaigns.

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world's oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN: 978-1-64078-287-7

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My personal favorite to be honest

2/5

This book is a weird one to review since while I have a lot of feedback to give, I actually like the book. The "railroad" part isn't really as bad as I thought it would be based on general reception, though it does have stuff to criticize. I don't really do the thing where I'm like "premise shouldn't be done at all", I tend to review things from a "let's say I accept the premise, how it's done" perspective, for most parts at least. Especially since it's ultimately the end of the last book that sets up this premise. I do still that the premise is something that works better as premise of first adventure.

I mean it IS the premise of Outlaws of Alkenstar more or less. That ap isn't really about playing as criminals, its about playing a bunch of people who got framed and turned into fugitives working as agents for Alkenstar, so Outlaws kinda takes the premise of this book and also the whole secret agent aspect of the latter half of edgewatch. That ap could have been called Agents of Alkenstar instead. Its kinda weird how as a result we have two different bait-and-switch premises meaning we lack a town guard focused campaign and outlaw focused campaign.

But I digress, so to the spoilery part of review:

So this is the book that tries to emulate the "loose cannon cop was taken off the force and now has to clear their name!" part of cop movies, but in the kinda weird soft-balling way.

It does help make it more palatable since players have to buy into the premise actively make themselves look bad (or at least try not to defend themselves) so that they are taken off the force because your previous allies aren't that dumb to assume you are guilty of what you are framed off. Heck by all accounts, it should be really easy to clear your name based on how relatively easy its later on. Well besides Lavarsus since his character assassination kinda continues here.(from my perspective since I don't like him as just sitcom archnemesis) But anyway, the main problem with chapter 1 is that it's ultimately filler to gain levels and none of it is actually as necessary as it's presented to players.

The book's sidebars at least acknowledge it and provide alternate options on how to handle the situation rather than the previous book which just suggested convincing players. I consider that's a great thing, but I do still have to review the segment as written.

So while it makes sense to learn from only the person who escaped Blackwhale how they did it, the book really forgets to address the possibility of "Well if he figured out how to do it IN the prison, there is a chance we can do so as well". Plus if story is changed so that players aren't framed, even if prison is co-opted by hags, you'd think there would be other options even for undercover agents. I don't really dock a point from adventure for this though because it'd be silly to expect players break into inescapable prison purely on blind faith without them having good plan in check. Still, idea that ONLY way to escape prison is to learn how Miogimo did it is weird presentation since it works better if PCs choose to do this than them being told its necessary, especially since they actually don't need to do it.

The whole part of gaining Miogimo's trust feels off when you don't actually need to do that either, you just learn how he did it from his journal if you betray him. Sure he'll give best amount of information if trust level was high and chance for redemption(more on that as well later), but it kinda feels off that Grimwold suggests you to gain his trust when he will be part of raid to get rid of him anyway.(it makes it sound like book's default assumption is him being killed off and Kapral ruining plan out of anger towards Miogimo)

Also, why does Miogimo exactly trust corrupt looking guard more? I mean yeah, he wouldn't trust guards who seem like obvious moles, but his whole dealio seems to be some sort of Vigilante gang that forces tributes from other gangs and kills criminals. Miogimo in general being presented as one of most dangerous criminal lords of Absalom feels off when we haven't heard of him before either in this ap or in previous books(even if it makes sense setting wise since he was in black whale until his escape for some time at least, I don't exactly know why he is so dangerous if his primary aim is violence towards other criminals. Is he a hypocrite who affects innocents as well or is his vigilanteism so extreme that they might kill non criminals as threat to the city or what? At least he doesn't bother treating white collar crime with violence.) Grimwold I can at least believe having personal grudge and Miogimo isn't above killing guard members, but is that main reason he is considered dangerous? Because he is guard killer? Either way, he feels like someone who should have been foreshadowed long ago in ap so we already know what his deal is.

(it also feels like Miogimo is both meant to be seen as noble demon trope like anti hero and as evil bastard at same time. So at same time adventure is making sure you don't feel too comfortable, but might have reason to not hate guy completely. It feels bit inconsistent as result of again him being introduced out of nowhere and we don't really get good picture of what his gang is about.)

Book also kinda bends too much over to make infiltrating Miogimo be easy. Like okay sure he is fine with using pawns he doesn't trust as pawns, but it feels silly book expects players to attempt rejoin his gang if deal falls through and he tries to kill them off.

I do in general actually like section having difficult choices with benefits to both choices. Like, not doing convincing job to seem corrupt doesn't gain trust points, but Asilia still trusts you. It is possible to gain Miogimo's trust and still remain moral(but players wouldn't know that and thus would be under stress and maybe even resentment towards gm or game for "forcing" them to do this since this cloak & dagger stuff isn't really what people expected from ap's premise.

Like let's be clear, player's guide is all about recommending LG paragons of detectives yet vast majority of investigation segments are undercover visits to criminal dens, heisting a casino, infiltrating cultists, etc. It fits the secret agent thing, but not town guard thing as their main operation.)

There also that ap keeps having theme of making deals with criminals to deal with worse problem (copperhands, washboard dogs, now Miogimo) which each case being bigger scale than previous one. It really is going to make people who were expecting LG paladin type honest paragon thing feel bad even if you use idea of it being undercover mission by Starwatch. It also makes me wonder why AP is really fascinated with idea of cops making shady deals with criminals as something heroes should do.

It also bit confuses me how book keeps kinda flip flopping between remembering PCs focus on nonlethal and not. Like Miogimio clearly wants Twisted Jack dead(newspaper even confirms it), but doesn't mind if players just leave suspects to guard (so either he sends someone else to finish him off, or that doesn't happen, but newspaper just assumed that did because its more dramatic sounding option).

But oki, missions for Miogimimo themselves are pretty cool shady cloak and dagger flavor, also Batiste makes cameo(her only appearance after first book, think that means Bolera is now only one who never has appearances after sidebar. Yeah I still think Edgewatch cast should have been more involved with entire plot, it was surprising to realize how much our gm had to work on that). Its kinda weird to realize this is essentially come back tour of House of the Planes guests from first book, so this was apparently considered important enough in outline to setup this much in advance.

Garrote Sisterhood one is weird one though since its basically just trap for players who buy too much into trying to earn Miogimo's trust. You don't even get or lose trust for opening the box and all you do is make things harder for you for 30 exp and get played for sucker if you fail skill check to realize tail and shake her off. (also I do find 20k bribe the book assumes multiple times funny because this ap is rather low on loot, so players might legit not have that much extra money even at these levels)

Mother Venom's mini dungeon also bit confuses me due to how extensive it is, I would have thought she is Rumormonger's slime naga ally that supplied Infector's supplies for blackfinger blight, but there is no mention of that here.

But yeah so ultimately, chapter 1 is introducing new character for cool cloak and dagger "balance your ethics and allegiances" where pcs might go out of their way to help Miogimo or betray him to guard, but that's also why its feels off for this AP. Because AP's initial promise was being Lawful ap about heroic detectives trying to do good in corrupt city. It really isn't town guard ap, it really is secret agent ap. Also nitpick: Kinda sad we don't have art of Miogimo with his mask, especially since his maskless art just looks like dude who is purple. I feel mixed on lot of character art for this ap in general, like the painterly look some of them have doesn't feel right for the mood and atmosphere.

Okay so chapter 2. In our table we just skipped entire book 1(we did do mother venom thing though, while Grimwold captured Miogimo for interrogation), chapter 2 had GM turn prison into having been overtaken by hags with mind control magic and we had to break in because we knew Rumormonger had sent assassin to kill Wynsal (and Jonis Flakfatter as it turned out since he was sent to Blackwhale too in our campaign). We got entrance to prison by having talked to Oirel about our conspiracy theories about Flakfatter planning to get into Blackwhale for some reason, so he had written us prisoner transfer document we could use to switch place with wardens since he was going to retirement anyway and we essentially saved his life from lesser death x'D

Reading the version as written, I actually like both as written and sidebar inspired versions, at least as an infiltration scenario. Though admittedly this is section which really could have been heist scene instead of casino from book 3. Like in this version there really isn't as much planning of prison break, you just obtain the tattoo, then try to bluff you way through to Wynsal. I do find it amusing that to get to the binding crystals, they kinda have to fight through the evil hags.

Binding crystals being superior locks is bit harsh though because six successes with level 40 dc is... Well hard. 35 + 5 is exactly very hard level 16 difficulty. Like reason its level 17 item is because "level 17 and lower creatures can't open this one easily". So as result its extremely likely math wise pcs trigger alarm.

I do find it bit confusing though how Absalom book makes it clear this is Gyr's prison for political prisoners while book seems to assume its just where worst of worst are sent to. Its also interesting how absalom book version of Warden is listed as LE while this one is LN but in progress of being corrupted by hags.

I do think the main thing that I find problematic about this part as written is that its ending is basically "Mimmurath breaks out and is good distraction" since we already know you can't leave demiplane that easily(he is kinda dumb for blue dragon as written since it doesn't seem like he is bothering to make sure he can leave demiplane first by convincing pcs to take him with them or such), so logically he and guards just stay there fighting each other which uh... Feels bit weird spot to leave place? I mean even if they take friendly prisoners with them, that seems like lot of casualties to rescue primarch for... Barely any urgency besides making plan together on how to deal with Rumormonger?

In general though yeah, I do think main risk here is that stormholt seems to be mostly assumed to be normal combat dungeon, with infiltration being more of special option rather than norm and honestly kinda hard because there are multiple ways for pcs cover to blow especially with hag fight. (I do like that guards are level 12 creatures so -4 threats to level 16 party in case alarm happens and they gang up on pcs) Like... It kinda just adds to as another morally grey thing for pcs to deal with (even if guards are bastards, its still them doing their job which you'd think for law enforcement pcs is hard thing to swallow even if they fight non lethally, when in the end they see "oops, dragon broke out") and it kinda feels the "hags mind control everyone" option is better for combat while normal version is better as heist infiltration scenario with ending needing to be adjusted somehow to feel less like you indirectly killed lot of people. I think that's why our GM had Mimmurath just leave place with us while being all creepy about it.

But yeah so after breaking out Primarch there is small (bit fillery/clean up like) segment of clearing your names. And due to how easy it is, it kinda ends up feeling like only difficulty here is due to you on purpose making things harder for yourself by refusing to help clean your names before. Its why I noted that while soft-balling makes it easier to buy into premise, it also results in it feeling like "we just did bunch of unpleasant stuff to make things harder to ourselves and it turned out it wasn't actually absolutely necessary".

I do like that its bit of throw back to allowing pcs do some investigating again, so I take any opportunity of that being allowed in this ap. Our gm did cut this part but that's because our group was so heavy into roleplaying our entire campaign took 94 sessions and there was heavy burnout towards end so we started skipping "extra" stuff after book 5 started and eventually took on milestones when we skipped more stuff in final book.

I do find Wynsal's "failsafe in case pcs missed chance to ask about it from Rabbit Prince, here is confirmation that who Rumormonger is" thing bit silly because it both feels like another example of answer to mystery being handed down to players instead of giving them new chance to figure it out AND it makes Rumormonger seem too obvious due to reasons Wynsal could figure it out.

But yeah so I do have commentary on mini investigations: Graveraker one is bit funny in that this is first time pcs actually investigate it personally in campaign since its disappearance in first book, which ends up being setup for next book as well. Graveraker is really weird thing in that how its literally stolen just to implicate Wynsal, then it turns out its really bizarre magical protean chaos magic thing so you are like "wait, the heck, they stole chaos warping construction machine... To frame Primarch?" Also bit convenient graveraker's creator also recognize 's Rumormonger's clockwork and thus can implicate his identity as well. It kinda ends up becoming this entire "this feels too important thing to not have been foreshadowed since book 1" and "wow so we could have found this early if we had used free time to go around asking".

Anyway so pcs fulfill investigation and have evidence to implicate Rumormonger, with help of Wynsal's contacts with makes Rumormonger's all unknowing innocent employees abandon him conveniently and finally Starwatch will raid his lai- yeah no that doesn't happen.

Okay so I think its time to address one thing I haven't really addressed: The ap overall doesn't really focus much on city of Absalom itself. There are couple times there are reminders of "oh right this is supposed to take place during Radiant Festival" in most books even if Radiant Festival isn't really important for most of them. There is another example where this is notable: whole Twilight Four's plan rests on civil unrest created by framing Primarch. There are multiple mentions of this to GM and even Wynsal's article foreshadows it and... In this book its only mention really is certain Hellknight who executed rioters after Rumormonger freed them(presumably to continue rioting).

I don't think its case of real life events causing changes due to production timeline of AP but its really weird of how its REALLY plot important to AP, but we barely see any of it on screen. And as result, its


5/5


Off piste

3/5

This book felt very off-piste compared to the promised themes and as a player was very frustrating as it forced my characters to make decisions they would not have made in any circumstance to get through it.

The ending of this book very much felt like it should be the end of the whole AP due to the previous foreshadowing.

The reason I have chosen to give it 3 stars not 4 is the well-written thematic dungeon towards the end (I would prefer not to play the first parts of the book).


Fantastic!

5/5

Book 4 was already pretty good but this book alone makes running this AP worth it. There's tension in every chapter, the story is great and even the main villain can't be defeated by using brute force.


Evil acts and unnecessary twists, with few rewards and no real consequences

3/5

The first two parts of the adventure expect, or require, the PCs to perform multiple clearly evil acts. For an AP where the PCs are stood up as famously virtuous public servants (or at least mildly corrupt public servants generally doing good in the end), forcing them down an evil path is a hard swerve that should have serious consequences.

For instance, it's an opportunity for some meaty and complex situations for players to navigate, not just in the plot but also how far they're willing to go against the grain of their characters' development, and how (or if) the PCs come back from that. Or, it's a chance to seriously interrogate the PCs' work as police by making them criminals, facing consequences for their actions and mistakes, and seeing first-hand the brutality that the criminals they've arrested face in Absalom's prisons.

Instead, at each juncture it takes a strangely consequence-free middle ground that's neither all that dynamic nor meaningful, then...

Spoiler:
... punches an utterly unearned reset button going into the third act that forgives, no questions asked, any heinous stuff the PCs likely did or enabled in the first two acts, like setting up the undercover agent who got them in front of the crime lord to be assassinated (and hand-delivering the kill order!), or aiding or releasing a fascist mass-murderer so she can... lend the PCs some gear? (Why does she have magic gear?? She's under arrest on a prison barge?????)

--

It's all a particular bummer because the elements of a cool adventure are all here — the set up looks like an undercover heist and prison break, in order to confront a villain with a reputation as a socially invulnerable (but otherwise mundane) manipulator. However, at each juncture the adventure throws in a left-field twist seemingly just for the sake of doing it, and the result is unrewarding.

Spoiler:
--

The crime lord cooperation is just in pursuit of a MacGuffin; there's no grand plan to break into or out of prison, it's mostly just "cast ''get out of jail ritual''". The prison break winds up being a dungeon crawl with a brute-force ending that defies any attempts at subtlety. Afterward, being on the run as fugitives is just a few skill checks against amnesiac witnesses in order to set up a combat encounter, the result of which automatically clears the PCs' names and gets them back on the force, with no questions asked.

All of that is in service of a final act that looks like it'll be an engaging social/roleplaying reckoning for the PCs and their role in Absalom up to this point, and against a compelling foe who should be able to use their evil actions from the first two acts to manipulate them into considering staying outside of the law — like telling them the first-act crime lord had the right idea to foster order by building power outside the broken legal systems, but he clearly wasn't as well equipped or right-minded as the PCs to pull it off.

But it instead just winds up throwing one left-field twist after another (Reginald is literally made of the ink of an enslaved kraken??? His head writer is a devil with eight prosthetic pen limbs so it can libel faster??????) that sets up a series of underwhelming demon/devil/clockwork combat encounters and boss fight.

The most distressing part is the chance that players will find out during the prison break that the first act wasn't even necessary — a second person knows the ritual required to escape, they're already inside the prison, they're good-aligned, and they're explicitly amiable to working with the PCs. So not only is the first-act crime lord a frustrating mess to deal with as both a GM and player, he's also ultimately redundant to the plot. The AP doesn't seem to acknowledge this, but the PCs almost certainly will if they investigate like the previous four issues have trained them to do.

In other words, the PCs commit evil acts for nothing, will almost certainly find out that it wasn't necessary, and end up getting away with commiting evil acts by being above the law. If the PCs don't reckon with this themselves (and do so entirely unprompted by the AP), and they're lawful or good, they need to move a step toward both chaos and evil if they finish the adventure as written. Not ideal!

--

Like any published adventure, I can (and you should) replace what's frustrating in order to suit a table. The opening chapter of this adventure seems to know this is necessary, because it openly encourages replacing major plot points in service of making it more fun and suggests some ways to do it, though it presents only about a paragraph's worth of alternatives.

But then why buy it? It'll take about as much prep to rewrite two-thirds of this adventure to meet a minimum requirement of having more difficult but not inherently evil options, as it would to build an adventure from scratch.

The prisons of the Inner Sea article has some good hooks, but goes for quantity over depth. It's nice to have a bestiary with aquatic creatures that don't have Elder God/aboleth baggage, but the lusca is the only truly necessary creature (and it had already been statted for 1E). The Ravithra article is informative, but in the context of the adventure, it's filler — if she's mentioned in it, I missed it in two readthroughs.

It's tough to recommend this issue as a result.


Paizo Employee Webstore Coordinator

Announced for November! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Oooooh sounds like we may have some Naga in the AP, with that info on Ravithra... Also anything more on Vudrani deities is welcome!


The slithering snake goddess Ravithra? Hmm... color me intrigued.


Wait, the "wrongly incarcerated primarch"? So here's where Lord Gyr has been all this time?


3 people marked this as a favorite.
The Gold Sovereign wrote:
Wait, the "wrongly incarcerated primarch"? So here's where Lord Gyr has been all this time?

It's funny how, when hearing the word "primarch", my brain automatically goes to the 41st Millennium and Warhammer 40,000. "So this is where Leman Russ has been all this time?!"


This keeps getting better. I keep finding these new volumes and waiting for the other shoe to drop and it doesn't. This sounds so cool! Can it be November yet??

Sovereign Court

This sounds awesome!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Valantrix1 wrote:
The slithering snake goddess Ravithra? Hmm... color me intrigued.

Apparently Vudrani goddess of snakes


I wonder if Lord Gyr is going to be among the legends in this month's release, Lost Omens Legends. And also, is the primarch mentioned here really Lord Gyr? Or is it the acting primarch.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yay, snake deity!

The Gold Sovereign wrote:
I wonder if Lord Gyr is going to be among the legends in this month's release, Lost Omens Legends. And also, is the primarch mentioned here really Lord Gyr? Or is it the acting primarch.

The acting.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Ooh, a lusca on the cover!

Silver Crusade

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Those things really freak me out, not gonna lie.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

I'm wondering if this chapter is going to break from AP norms and use a flip mat, namely the new flip mat Bigger Pirate Ship. I cannot wait!

Contributor

Love that cover art!

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Rysky wrote:
Those things really freak me out, not gonna lie.

Cranky pan-Caribbean shark-octopi? Don't blame ya!

Also blue holes are kind of unnerving. >.>

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

What an amazing cover


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Okay I haven't read the whole book yet but I just wanted to say that I LOVE the article on Ravithra! It really read like a real world myth. She seems like a very cool and complex deity, not just goddess of nagas. Great work


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Can anyone share what's in the toolbox this month? I am really eager to get some new player stuff and monsters.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
GGSigmar wrote:
Can anyone share what's in the toolbox this month? I am really eager to get some new player stuff and monsters.

I can do the beasties!:

Clockwork amalgam: clockwork construct made up of various parts and magic. Has quite a few attack options, and can become a viscous slice 'n dice with those same weapons.

Water Elemental - Vessel: elemental bound and empowered by magic. Can toss some spells, and get boosted by mages.

Lusca: Can create abnormal weather and viscous bites aplenty.
Blue holes are mentioned :3

Minchgorm: fey that can control water and swallow quickly. Illustration is terrifying.

Myrucarx: shadow realm visitors that employ illusions to lure prey.

Obrousian: undead merfolk that manipulates and lures it's victims (this seems to be a theme for the monsters in this one!).

Zealborn: mortals who chose to become undead for noble intentions. It does not go well.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

This cover art is so phenomenal!


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Who's that on the cover, and what is that staff she's holding?

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.

If I had to take an educated guess, I believe the cover character is..

spoiler! You were warned!:
Absalom's Town Planner, Olansa Terimor. Why is she on the cover? I won't say. You'll have to read or play it and find out!

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Really enjoyed the idea and layout of the prison, though I have one minor quibble...

Spoiler:
The chapter states that only the very worst can end up here, and the villains that heroes have encountered thus far wouldn't end up here. I'm sorry, but With the exclusion of one of the prisoners shown* (Mimnurath, maybe Amata), none of them rank with fantasy H.H. Holmes from the first part of the campaign.

*yes, I know it's a brief list to flesh out the prison, but still.


DeciusNero wrote:

Really enjoyed the idea and layout of the prison, though I have one minor quibble...

** spoiler omitted **

To me, it seems more like

Spoiler:
the Black Whale is more designed for political prisoners than criminal ones. So while the psychopathic killers in the first couple of books are real bad, they didn't try to actively topple the government. Or perhaps it's not the crime itself but the power and capabilities of the prisoner--as in, they're not locked here because their crimes were so heinous but because they could easily escape a normal prison. Maybe? Definitely worth playing up at your table.
Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Sporkedup wrote:
DeciusNero wrote:

Really enjoyed the idea and layout of the prison, though I have one minor quibble...

** spoiler omitted **

To me, it seems more like ** spoiler omitted **

Good point.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
DeciusNero wrote:
Ooh, a lusca on the cover!

Ooh, sharktopus! The rare multi-headed kind! (Hopefully not a Lernean sharktopus!)

And another fine beastie in the glorious tradition of the owlbear, griffon, chimera, etc. mashing multiple mundane critters together. :)

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

....I was legit worried about going past the word limit. Also feels weird to rate low on my favorite book in ap :'D I really like that single chapter of ap the best

Edit: Oh crap, my review DID get cut due to word limit x'D Ah well I have copy paste ready so here is rest of review:
I don't think its case of real life events causing changes due to production timeline of AP but its really weird of how its REALLY plot important to AP, but we barely see any of it on screen. And as result, its really hard for AP to sell idea that city is in so much chaos that Starwatch really has no man power to help PCs arrest main cause of the chaos.

And also Wynsal uses this opportunity to take stage exit left after telling pcs to arrest Rumormonger alive. On this later, but yeah I kinda wish book had be instead like "allow possibility of Wynsal and maybe other allies they might have freed from prison like Calinnea and Marato to join party to take down Rumormonger. Heck this would be good opportunity to Miogimo's gang to help if pcs really decided to stay in good graces with Shadow Guard for some reason :p Because again, pcs have no way of knowing that Rumormonger is biding his time and hunkering down in his lair to fulfill final stage of his plan and even then they wouldn't know how long it takes for that to happen(aka speed of plot completion), so they are encouraged to deal with entire dungeon in single day like almost every dungeon in this ap. (npc allies worked as decently for us even if we split to explore different rooms x'D)

But oki, so we finally get to my favorite part in entire ap, aka Rumormonger's stronhold. I know some might prefer idea of "what if he is political enemy pcs can't take down in combat", but I love the ultimate reveal that Rumormonger is behind all weird clockwork inventions and that he is ultimately really high level inventor. It both fits Reaper of Reputation aspect in surprising way(he relies predictability of his enemies and on minions that work his commands perfectly so that his plans run like clock) and it helps dungeon itself is really cool. His resurrection gimmick is bit harsh, but its fitting for someone who is essentially climax villain(admittedly realization that Rumormonger is basically true big bad of AP does mean Gray Queen in final book feels even weaker, but even if his identity is obvious to some parties, he being present at start of AP makes him feel much more personal villain than the final villain of AP. Rumormonger's nature also means he could be literally anyone, so our GM used his book identity as red herring, which still works because separating Rumormonger and his actual identity as two different characters just gives you two good characters to work with. My own personal option would be just to hope pcs end up liking rumormonger's true identity(I do like him being his book identity) in sort of rascally way rather than treat him as completely sleaze "oh no this guy again" so it actually hurts a bit to realize he indeed is working against you xD

So yeah I like final's dungeon gimmick, I like the big "what the hell" rooms you can find ("the" machine is one, as so is pool and the "prison" room.) My main confusion is that nature of his resurrection makes it confusing if he is meant to be impossible to take alive as prisoner since nothing really in rules say its impossible, if pcs fulfill the condition, but at same time I could see tricking him using altered "machine" as the intended way to capture him alive. Either way, here is why its issue: the next book super assumes he is dead x'D So it ends up creating plothole.

But yeah overall even with how much I like final chapter of book, I feel like book overall suffers from problems entire AP has (this really is AP where its hard to review books in vacuum, you really have to see how books affects each other for the whole experience). Sidenote, I like prison article, but geezus it really shows how horribly corrupt Absalom is. Its kinda bummer in a way how little of this AP is dealing about corruption in the system and just focusing on Norgorberite plot, like Token Guard background in player's guide kinda plays with idea of joining guard to address corruption, but ultimately there isn't really much of opportunity for change as presented in ap.

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