|
Ported over from the Alpha 2 General Discussion thread....
We now have four committed players, with two more likely joining us in the near future. Our group is diverse in its experience with tabletop RPGs, from two who started playing with the advent of 3rd Edition D&D to veteran RPG creator and writer Steven Schend. They've created an eclectic group of characters that I'm sure they'll share here as our playtest proceeds.
Our plan is to play through "Curse of the Crimson Throne" with a combination of on-the-fly and full conversions of NPCs and other material. We'll be making good use of our extensive collection of 3rd Edition/3.5 source books to test for backwards compatibility, as well.
Our first game is planned for June 5th, and we'll gather on a mostly-weekly basis for between 3 and 4 hours of play with rules-related discussions (and the usual gamer jokes sneaked in, too) in the hours or so before each session.
West Michigan, really?
I'm in Holland. Cheers!
|
|
West Michigan, really?
I'm in Holland. Cheers!
Cool! If the posts in the Alpha 2 thread are any indication, there are quite a few of us in this area. Perhaps some would be interested in organizing a sort of Pathfinder Society for the region that met every other month, seasonally, or for an annual mini-convention.
For those in Lansing, check out CARP. It's a gaming club.
My friend Jae Walker helps run it, and they do events twice-a-month.
http://www.carp-mi.net/
For those in the west michigan area, if you want to ever plan a gathering, contact me at my gmail address, username vicpolites.
-VIC
|
Reposted from Alpha 2 forum:I'm creating a human Paladin for this playtest. She's based off a 3.5 bard/paladin I'm playing in another game.
I love the gnome flavor, and tried as hard as I could to get a gnome to work with the paladin/bard thing, but the strength penalty hurt more than the constitution helped. Ah well, human works.
We did introduce a house rule with regard to the human martial proficiency. Both of us that created martial character builds were humans with full martial weapon proficiency, so we asked if there might be something we could gain instead.
Exotic weapon proficiency seemed too much - all of sudden I saw a lot of spiked chain fighters or something. It was decided a single weapon focus would be a nice bonus that wasn't too over the top, so both of us took that.
We have a generous 32 point buy rule (under the old point buy), since there's currently only three of us for the adventure. As of now, two of us are planning on multiclassing, so we'll be able to see how rules changes with skills and hit point bonuses, etc. might affect multiclassing.
***************
I redid my point buy using the rules posted in Alpha 3, and was able to get the exact same score using the high fantasy points. My character has changed a bit since I posted her in the Alpha 2 forums.
First of all, we decided to run Curse of the Crimson Thone. I took the "Religious" trait (shocking with a Paladin character, I know!), and wrote a little backstory and drew a quick face for Wryll Sharsan.
Wryll is a Female Human Paladin. She's 16, 5'8 and 130 pounds, with a little more growing to do. Her favored class is Bard.
Stats: Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 16 (human bonus)
We opted for the 6 bonus hit points at 1st level, so she has 18 HP.
With studded leather and a light shield, she has an AC of 16.
For feats, I picked Harrowed (fit flavorfully with the whole lost Varisian heritage, I figured), Power Attack (Divine Might prereq.), and for the human weapon focus, I picked Weapon Focus (Glaive), since it's Shelyn's favored weapon. Future plans will probably include Divine Might, Knowledge Devotion, and Short Haft.
She carries the usual fighter's golf bag of weapons, including the Glaive for flavor, a longsword, longbow, club and dagger.
Wryll's taken ranks in quite a few cross class skills that fit her character background, and will become class skills as soon as she takes a level of bard. She's chosen Diplomacy, Knowledge (Local), Perform (Sing), Perform (Dance) and Sense Motive.
Weight, even with her relatively good strength, was really an issue for Wryll, so her other items are mostly a mishmash of sewing needles, pieces of chalk, one day worth of food and water for emergencies, and only 25' of silk rope. She does carry around the silver holy symbol given to her by the priest of Shelyn, even though she has no use for it yet.
|
|
We had our first session this past Thursday, June 5th. It was quite the scramble to have everything ready as I envisioned it in time for the evening with my school year also winding down, but it went off well. Non-college students take note: as eager as you are for the break from your one or several cranky teachers, the teachers are that much more eager for the break from the many more whiny students, heheh!
The characters include a precocious halfling rogue paradoxically focusing on the subtler aspects of scoundrel-hood, Caspar Mistletoe; a human fighter who carries a big stick with an even bigger earthbreaker hammer head on its end, Taync; the paladin of Shelyn described by Jess above, Wryll; and Steven Schend's half-orc cleric of Nethys destined to rediscover his sorcerous talents, Khernnus. Characters were created with the DMG 32-point buy with the exception or Wryll; I didn't ask that the others redo their abilities, but will do so once the Beta arrives and again--assuming we're still doing "CotCT" at that time--when the Pathfinder RPG releases next summer. We are using the flat hit points rule.
*WARNING: here there be "CotCT" SPOILERS*
The action began as each of them received a Harrow card with the same mysterious note: the Rabbit Prince for Caspar, the Forge for Taync, the Courtesan for Wryll, and the Twin for Khernnus. Caspar and Khernnus did some scouting of the area, while both Caspar and Wryll sought information on the owner of the home. When they all eventually entered and introduced themselves, Zellara was not present, but her welcome gift and note were. (I added some "dire llama cheese" much to the enjoyment of the group.)
After Zellara arrived and explained her reasons for bringing them together, they discussed how best to proceed. She offered to give them some additional insight through the Harrow. In the Choosing, Wryll drew the Demon's Lantern, Khernnus the Avalanche, Caspar the Juggler, and Taync the Rabbit Prince (there he is again!).
The Harrowing itself resulted in the following alignment of cards:
The Eclipse... The Empty Throne... The Trumpet...
The Beating... The Crows... The Theater...
The Waxworks... The Fiend... The Brass Dwarf...
...arranged in that configuration. Zellara interpreted this as past inaction suddenly altered by the appearance of an otherworldly power, the impending death of a person presently in a position of power, and a declaration of new authority in the future.
Taking care not to be seen together leaving Zellara's home--one even asked to stay, but she felt "uncomfortable" with that arrangement--they reunited before daybreak the next morning at Westpier 17. Wryll urged against an aggressive raid, knowing from her experience that orphans pressed into service by Lamm were likely to be present. After watching many of the children on "street duty" leave the fishery from their vantage point on the roof of the neighboring abandoned warehouse, they settled on concealing their activities on the western side of the building (main entrance) with obscuring mist summoned by Khernnus.
He worked to barricade the other double doors while Wryll and Taync sought entry through the front; Taync ended up smashing the lock. Caspar intended to make a flashy leap from the warehouse roof to the area of the outside deck near the single door on the south side, but even as small as he was, the force of his landing took him through the rotting boards and almost into the mouth of a jigsaw shark. (He made good use of a Harrow point to double his movement and swim out of the water with all haste.)
The conflict inside was fast and furious. Bloo was encountered first, and put up more of a fight than Yargin, who was knocked silly by a (nonlethal) blow to the chest from Taync's huge weapon. While Khernnus further impeded passage in the northern area by rolling barrels of slurry down the steps to shatter in front of the door to the northeast, Wryll convinced her once-and-former Lamm's Lamb Kester to rebel against Hookshanks in the most disgusting of ways--I really played up the fish guts spewing along with gnomish curses from his mouth while he tried to clear his eyes. Hearing Caspar working unsuccessfully on the lock to the southern door (I replaced the boards on the inside with a bar there and a lock to give him a chance to do some Device Disabling), Taync let him in. In the meantime, Wryll knocked out Hookshanks with the pommel of her longsword and Khernnus made his way around the fishery.
Giggles was found investigating the fishy slop seeping under the northeastern door. Caspar sent an arrow into him, and though he was injured by a jump to the main floor, Taync was soon upon the scarred, oddly laughing half-orc. The one "oh, crap!" moment came when Giggles unsuccessfully attempted to use his flail to relieve Taync of his earthbreaker. One thundrous charge-fueld Power Attack later, and Giggles too was on the floor.
Hookshanks having spilled to Wryll that Gaedren hid "down below", Khernnus and Caspar investigated the decrepit boat to the east while she tended to Giggles (they are on a subdue-not-slay mission) and Taync worked on making his own exit... through the wooden wall of the fishery from the southern interior catwalk. The priest and halfling found only vicious, hairy spiders, and returned to the others to help bind and search the defeated and eventually search for their quarry.
On the DM side of the screen, the Pathfinder RPG alpha rules mechanics only came into play twice, once when Giggles (retooled to have Improved Disarm, +5 to his attempt) narrowly missed with a 19 to beat Taync's CMB of 20. While packing up, we discussed as we had before whether the base CMB of 15 was a bit too high. No resolution there, but I'll be looking for chances to test it more in the future. There was also a moment when I was fearful I'd have to adjudicate an attempt to flood the fishery with repeated orison castings of Create Water, but that idea quickly (and thankfully) passed. Khernnus is currently under the effects of Guidance. I have nudged the player towards liberal use of this spell to see whether its continuous casting makes a major difference; it would've if Giggles had someone cast it on him!
I loved the introductory scenarios with Zellara and the Fishery; Steven in particular commented on the bit with Kester rebelling against Hookshanks, and I conceded that it was Mr. Logue and not me who included that fun bit. I believe that both Wryll and Caspar are skilled in Diplomacy, so the near-future events should be interesting.
We'll post more as we play more!
|
|
I'm using the method described in Pathfinder Alpha 3 to note XP. Even though they weren't individually involved in the combat in each area of the fishery, they did all take actions against the occupants. I'll award the per-encounter XP to the group.
That's for the sake of playtesting. Were I running an Adventure Path without consideration of giving the new rules a go, especially since XP costs are gone, I would do away with XP entirely since it's pretty clear when characters should be advancing in level, and I'd do so at appropriate times so they could "keep pace" with the adventure challenges.
|
|
We had our second session yesterday evening. I'll put [Pathfinder RPG rules-related notes] in brackets.
Again, *SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS* for "Curse of the Crimson Throne"!
After securing all of the unconscious henchmen in the sparse bedroom in the fishery, they investigated the hole in the main floor and discovered the sodden understructure. Caspar's stealthy approach to and opening of the door was met with a hoarse and sinister greeting--Lamm assumed the noise above was some commotion stirred up by a rebellious Lamb, who was now being sent "down below" for punishment.
Taync dispelled that notion by bursting through the door waving his earthbreaker.
Lamm managed to get initiative and shot Taync squarely in the chest (nasty sneak attack damage). The others hastily rushed to join Taync, Khernnus healing him and Wryll moving as swiftly as she dared along the wet decking with the jigsaw shark still circling nearby. Taync marched to strike down Lamm, but was intercepted by Gobblegut leaping from the water. The gator took a good chunk of his leg back into the water, but failed to drag the bearded brawler down.
[The tough Jump check became even tougher for the croc when using Acrobatics from p. 54 in the Alpha 3 document, since it's based on Dexterity rather than Strength. It still managed to make this and two subsequent lunges.]
While Caspar and Gaedren exchanged arrow and bolt-fire, Wryll joined Taync in fighting off Gobblegut and Khernnus called on Nethys to bless his companions.
[First use of positive energy channeling, and there was some question as to whether the burst of energy might affect the unconscious thugs just above. We were ready to dismiss the thought, as it's a burst and should need line of effect to have its affect, but Steven then remembered that he had the Selective Channeling feat... all was good!]
Taync and Wryll struggled to hit Gobblegut, but Caspar drew its attention with a well-placed arrow. Their attacks against the croc's unguarded flank almost brought it low, but it managed to jump at Caspar and drag the thrashing halfling into the water. Yikes!
[We were impressed with how quickly Hand of the Acolyte, p. 91, launched into the action with Khernnus' sickle. The attack roll of 1 wasn't as impressive, alas.]
After putting Lamm down with a gut-wrenching knockout blow, Taync joined Wryll in coming to Caspar's aid. Together they smashed the last bit of life out of the crocodile. Good thing; one more solid bite and Caspar would've been history.
The protracted search of Lamm's lair turned up a number of... interesting things, including a gruesome discovery that called into question the events of the day before. Suspicions of what the tolling bells outside portended--along with Khernnus' prayers to Nethys and the Harrow divinations--were confirmed when the group left the fishery. They brought the defeated villains and evidence of their crimes in a cart to the Citadel, where an obviously overwhelmed officer recorded their accounts of Lamm's deeds. They've pressed to have Gaedren and company tried to Zenobia Zenderholm, heheh. Nervous about handling the queen's recovered brooch but unwilling to let the matter go entirely unresolved, he offered an escort of two guardsmen to the Castle.
The characters are all now 2nd level. Wryll is a Paladin/Bard, Khernnus a Cleric/Sorcerer, and Taync and Caspar opted to focus on Fighter and Rogue, respectively. [The bleeding attack talent, p. 39, looks nasty; we'll be seeing how it plays in the near future.]
Great game so far, and my only rules issue is that healing/turning pulse of positive energy. Even with Selective Channeling, there was the question that paused our game--Does this energy go through floors/ceilings to affect all within 30' of the cleric, or is this strictly a line-of-sight effect? I suspect the latter, but the rules don't specify exactly.
Sounds very cool! Glad to see folks doing this kind of playtest report!
Been jonesing to get back into serious gaming myself, but moved back to Michigan (the Sterling Heights area) a bit over a year ago, which meant I lost my old gaming group. One of these days I will have to dig up my Skype info and run something using that and Gametable!
In the meantime, glad to see posts like these and am seriously looking forward to seeing the Beta (and of course, final version) of Pathfinder!
|
|
A little late with the session report due to a week-long vacation that happened immediately after our game. It was a full several days since then, so my memory might be rusty on this one. Still, I figure I'd better post, as our next session is tonight!
I'll put Pathfinder RPG Alpha 3 rules-related stuff in [brackets and bold text] this time for easy reference.
*
*
*
*Again, SPOILERS for "CotCT" follow*
*
*
*
We picked with Lamm and his thugs in custody, and two Korvosan Guards assigned to escort them (and Queen Ileosa's recovered brooch) to the castle. One of them was preoccupied with smoke rising in North Shore and the possible danger posed to his family living there. Wryll convinced him (through Diplomacy) to keep his post with the promise that they'd check in on his family together as soon as their current business was done.
Following the main avenue from the Citadel to the castle, they encountered a group of toughs threatening an unarmed noble. Wryll recognized him as Amin Jalento, a fellow student at the Orisini swordfighting academy. Taync pounded the mob's leader unconscious with a single earthbeaker blow to the gut, while Caspar borrowed a blade from one of his companions and rushed forward to arm Jalento. The remaining toughs quickly dispersed, Khernnus humorously dousing one of them with magically-summoned water. [Steven seems to be really enjoying the at-will 0-level spells]
A couple of the heroes noticed that the longswords drawn by the guardsmen during this brief skirmish were silvered. I used the "good guards" from Mike Mearls' "Cityworks" sourcebook in Fantasy Flight Games' Legends & Lairs line, whose weapons were already silvered as written. I felt that fit especially well for Korvosa, as the next encounter emphasized.
The guards pressed them to travel instead on the less-hazardous alleyways, safe for a time until a flight of four imps emboldened by the chaotic state of the city set upon them. They were bent on avenging slain kin by killing the guards. Three of their magical suggestions to flee were denied, but the one guard who'd shown the most courage dropped his sword as commanded and ran. (So ironic--the would-be deserter's save was a 20, while the other's was an unmodified 2.) [As these pests had been living in a human city for an extended period of time, I substituted Common for Celestial as one of their languages.]
The fight was tough. I allowed Wryll and Khernnus to call upon finally- and just -realized powers of a multiclass level in Bard and Sorcerer, respectively, while Caspar advanced as a rogue and Taync as a fighter. [The high AC (even before Dodge), damage reduction, fast healing, flight, and poison of one imp would've made it substantially more than a CR 1 threat, I think. Add in three more and it was pretty wild! Because Khernnus and his spells would've been the only one able to ding them good for lack of magic weapons, I kept with the OGL 3.5 damage reduction; add my name to those that doesn't care for the PRPG Alpha revision on this mechanic.]
Taync and Wryll struggled to connect with the tiny fiends, Caspar used the silversheen just recovered from Gaedren Lamm, and Khernnus had fun with magic missiles, which his player described as magically extended points of his arcane focus/holy symbol morningstar. The guard was stung three times by different imps, eventually succumbing to Dexterity damage and falling paralyzed. [Caspar's bleeding attack worked well to somewhat-offset the imp's fast healing. Speaking of which, there was some question as to whether that ability would function if they were brought below 0 hp. I had looked into it briefly before the session, ruled that it did, but am still unsure.] Eventually, three imps were squashed with coup de grace attacks, and one fled after failing to fly away with one of the guards' swords. It was a long, sometimes-frustrating combat for the players and their characters, but I didn't have to bring in the "rescue squad" of pseudodragons after all.
[[b]This was our first time using the Fly skill. I recalculated the imps' Fly as an impressive +17, which allowed them to hover without trouble and avoid taking the plunge after being damaged. They would've been even more dangerous if they weren't tiny, and didn't need to enter a foe's space to attack (provoking attacks of opportunity).
They returned to the Citadel with the paralyzed guardsman, weapons drawn and made more menacing by light and pretidigitation spells. Along the way, they spotted a small group of Lamm's Lambs lurking in the shadows. They spoke with Kester, who'd fought back against Hookshanks and impressed his fellow urchins, which was apparently enough to be deputized "leader." The young thieves welcomed the escort through the still-dangerous streets.
The guard who'd fled gratefully received his comrade, and notified them of the other's address. While homes nearby were damaged by fire, his was untouched, and his wife and children were safe and thankful enough to share some food (I doubled its general cost in the city) with them so they could feed the hungry orphans who were holed up in the fishery. They also visited Taync's weaponsmith master in North Point, sold some of their loot, and finally returned to the fishery to secure it, see to the safety of the kids, and rest for the remainder of the day. Caspar gave a sometimes-humorous and stirring speech about making one's way honestly, with a warning that Blackjack would be on the lookout for looters and thieves.
Fun times! I look forward to tonight's meeting with the Queen and the events that'll follow.
|
|
If we ever make it there! ^_-
...Stupid imps...
Oh! One thing that came up that I've asked about but haven't seen answered to my satisfaction is the alpha's description of Smite Evil does not say that a missed smite attempt is lost - it's only lost on a successful hit to a non-evil creature. This came into effect with the imps because I couldn't hit the little jerks. :P
(I've been informed that my icon is the queen. Always knew I deserved to be royalty! haha!)
|
|
A long time coming with this update, from our June 26th session. Khernnus' player was absent, so the devotee of Nethys was played by the housemate of Taync's player.
Need I say it again... "Curse of the Crimson Throne" ***SPOILERS*** ahead!
The Lambs slept in relative mental, if not physical, comfort for the first time in as long as most of them could remember, with their liberators resting the night (on bedrolls!) in the rooms and offices once home to Gaedren's cronies. Answering a knock at the northern doors, they met Jirrato (as described by JD above), who was overjoyed to be reunited with his sister. She would accompany them to Castle Korvosa after the remaining urchins were relocated to the secret "clubhouse" of the older kids in the neighboring abandoned warehouse.
After presenting the documents penned at the Citadel the day before and being escorted through the arrayed forces of the city's various militant groups, they met Queen Ileosa's handmaiden Sabina Merrin. Wryll had a faint memory of her being a former student of Vencarlo Orisini. Sabina eventually led them deep into the Castle and introduced them to Her Royal Highness.
The Queen, obviously sorrowful at the loss of her husband, nevertheless thanked the group for their service to the city in apprehending the criminals and returning her missing brooch. She rewarded them with an exquisite silver coffer containing their reward in gold, and they made three other requests of her: assistance in finding apprenticeships or other safe arrangements for the freed children, use of the warehouse in the meantime, and (from a bold Caspar) information on the Cerulean Society. All but the last were promised, with the Queen asking for their further assistance in restoring order to the city by revisiting the Citadel and meeting with Field Marshal Cressida Kroft.
In spite of her obvious exhaustion, Cressida proved more welcoming than Sabina had been, and sought their help in dealing with a small group of deserting guards led by one Verik Vancaskerkin. Investigations over the next two days led them to North Point, and eventually North Gate. They heard rumors of a group of four guards calling themselves "The Cow Hammer Boys" offering assistance to those in the area. Further digging gained descriptions of the men. [Some impressive use of Diplomacy to gather information! The group liked that it no longer required passing around coin, too. The old skill was not missed.]
Late in the evening, after being warned to return home to safer quarters by guards twice (none of them matching the descriptions gained earlier), the group's search of the area revealed a storefront with a sign bearing a smiling cow.
(More later; my 3-month old calls!)
|
|
What follows happened during the late stages of our June 26th session, along with our July 11th session. For the benefit of Jason and others involved in reviewing Pathfinder RPG playtests, and for dear readers could do without a detailed summary of others' gaming sessions, [rules references and discussion] are again bracketed and bolded.
*
*
*
*
***SPOILERS*** for the "Curse of the Crimson Throne" adventure path!
*
*
*
*
Trusting that they were facing at most a number of renegade guardsmen equal to their group's size and that the Cow Hammer Boys were profit-minded mercenaries, the heroes set up an ambush. Finding they shared another craft in addition to tailoring, Caspar [halfling rogue 2] and Jirrato [Varisian human rogue 2] worked together to disguise Khernnus [half-orc cleric/sorcerer 1/1] as a fresh corpse. [Disguise is not included in Pathfinder RPG Alpha 3. Referencing the 3.5 PHB, it's not clear whether this skill can be used to disguise someone other than oneself, but... that seems silly. All actors and nobles costume themselves and apply their own makeup, right? Hm. No.]
Khernnus then played the part of earthbreaker-swinging Taync's [human fighter 2] victim, while Jirrato ran screaming away from him to bang furiously on the door of the butcher shop, calling for aid and swinging a necklace as an offer of payment. Malder foolishly opened the door to him. The group recognized the beefy man from a resident's description of one of the Cow Hammer Boys.
Meanwhile, Wryll [Varisian human paladin/bard 1/1] and Caspar crouched at the back of the building, thinking that the rebels may attempt to sneak a peek through the back doors. Wryll detected two relatively weak evil auras in the back area of the butcher shop. [I was again surprised at the potency of the spell on which this ability is based; it cuts through everything but very solid surfaces and that pesky lead. I see a lot of use of this ability ahead.] When all of the action seemed to be taking place at the storefront, she and Caspar rushed around from opposite sides. Khernnus, too, crept along the northeast side with Wryll.
Baldrago (or, as he soon appeared on our initiative white board, "UNIBROW") noticed Jirrato ambushing Malder and pegged the Varisian with a crossbow bolt. We had our first use of the Critical Fumble deck--our rules for it and the Crit deck found here, where I misnamed the clumsy one--when Taync parried Malder's swordstroke with the haft of his hammer, sending the pommel roughly back in his face. Knocked prone and blinded for three rounds, with a rogue nearby and another closing in... ouch. Taync took the chance to rush through the open door and put down Baldrago with a nonlethal blow, but not before he called for Parns and Karralo. Jirrato rushed inside, loaded his hand crossbow, and crouched hidden behind the customer side of the counter.
Malder put up a heroic (villainous?) fight even in his bad state, but a nasty sneak attack shot from Caspar and combined assault from Wryll and Khernnus putting him down. [Regarding bleeding attack on p. 39, it does not specify the ability applies to only melee attacks, so we assumed that ranged sneak attacks would work, too. At any rate, Caspar elected not to use the ability as they were hoping to subdue rather than kill the guards.]
Aid from Parns and Karralo was strangely slow to arrive from the back area. Karralo came first and fell quickly to Jirrato's bolt and Taync's earthbreaker. Sensing that the stealthy approach had played out, Wryll entered and bolstered everyone with song--[inspire courage still rocks]--and was followed in by Khernnus and Caspar. Parns finally came rushing down the hallway threatening death and swinging a bloody sledge, but suffered the same fate as Karralo.
Unknown to them, Verik Vancaskerkin observed the battle on the street from a window above, and lay in wait on the steps with an arrow nocked and another ready. [I replaced his no-longer-in-existence in Pathfinder RPG Precise Shot feat with Rapid Shot.] Jirrato was the first to step within range, and the first arrow was a critical hit. Damn, with Point Blank shot, the +1 arrows, and the mighty composite longbow, if I'd have rolled anything higher than a 1 on damage, I think Jirrato would've been dead right there. Seriously--that's 12 damage before rolling and multiplying 1d8 x 3. At any rate, a second shot did drop him, but not kill him.
By the time Taync turned away from his brief look at the killing floor and rushed past the fallen Jirrato, Verik had dropped the bow and readied his spear. [Strangely, this was the first time I'd had an NPC make good use of Quick Draw to transition from ranged to melee.] Caspar watched the doorway to make sure nobody would follow them, Khernnus brought Jirrato back from the brink with a swap of obscuring mist for cure light wounds--[yes, there is still a place for cure spells even with channel energy]--and Wryll rushed behind Taync to aid him against Verik, who fought with the advantage of higher ground.
Words exchanged in the heat of combat lead Taync and Wryll to question whether Verik was aware of the "Cow Hammer Boys" and a hasty cease to hostilities was called. While they pressed Verik further and eventually lead the way downstairs to continue the discussion, the others pulled Baldrago and Malder off the street and closed the front door. They were close enough to the nearby window to see the form of Verik fall from the window in a shower of broken glass. The renegade's desperate flight was short-lived, though, as Caspar headed upstairs and sniped from a window and Wryll, Taync, and Khernnus (who again tried hand of the acolyte to little effect) caught up to him on foot. Assuming he'd be killed, Verik mouthed what he thought would be a final apology to "Melyia."
Wryll heard this and recognized it as an uncommon name, and one belonging to Glorio Arkona's cousin. [Most of the characters have Knowledge {local) and this is proving to be an outstanding asset.] This information turned out to be one of many puzzling things in the interrogations that followed. Caspar searched through the upper level and snatched up the interesting things before joining the others downstairs. The group took a considerable amount of time securing the area and discussing how best to deal with Verik and the guards.
With Verik manacled to the huge bench in the storefront and watched by Caspar, and the other three gagged and bound to the metal poles supporting the tracks in the killing floor, Karralo was taken into the pens. Jirrato and Taync planned to intimidate the others and stage his killing with the bloody slaughter of a hog. Karralo immediately gave up Parns as the ringleader of the dirty work, and tried to buy his escape with the promise of rich treasure. The offer was refused. Things went awry--humorous for the players, not so much for the PCs--when Taync stabbed the boar with Verik's spear, and the enraged beast broke through the wooden wall of the pen. They eventually brought down the beast, but Taync was hurt again. [I'm recalling already the very real need for more than one hero to soak up the brunt of the adventuring beating, lest he or she perpetually fear death. This hasn't changed by converting to the Pathfinder RPG rules. Thankfully, Wryll and a soon-to-be-joining Shoati human monk 2 are also capable front-liners.]
The interrogations that followed were done mostly diceless; Sense Motive and Bluff came into play once in awhile, but I don't recall a single Diplomacy or Intimidate check. After hours of in-game at table time, the awful extent of the Cow Hammer Boys' depravity and Verik's apparent obliviousness was revealed. They judged Verik to be of good intentions in feeding the needy, and set him free. [Sometime during these events, the comment was made that it'd be nice if paladins were also able to detect good! I agree that this'd be an interesting feat or somesuch.] Before Verik left, he pressed Karralo to reveal the location of the blood money, which the turned over to the heroes in the hope that good could come of it where his intentions of the same had been darkly twisted. Wryll encouraged/warned him to stay to his duty in the future.
In all, this was one of the more unusual and memorable sessions in which I've participated as a player or DM; very challenging to adjudicate all of the happenings in different areas as separate interrogations and investigations were going on.
FYI: I think Precise Shot still exists in Pathfinder (since rangers and fey-blooded sorcerers can take it as a bonus feat); it's Improved Precise Shot that was removed (replaced by Careful/Exact/Pinpoint Targeting).