I guess it all started when the group hit Magnimar. They had just been through a reasonably tough run through Foxglove Manor in which they had lost a cleric. I'd given them sufficient hints on how to cleanse the house, so they managed to cobble together a magic item (via the Wizard) that would set off a one-time cast of Consecrate.
Perhaps I was feeling that I'd been to easy on them. Perhaps it was simply a miscued introduction of their new cleric. In any case, when they hit the town, they went to turn in the bounty on that bandit corpse that you find below the Manor. At the same time, their cleric, who was native to Magnimar, and had an interest in Thassilonian lore, was looking for someone in the guard to listen to her theories on how those strange seven-pointed star markings were related to an ancient civilization. She encountered Ironbriar, who blew her off immediately.
She made (and failed) a Sense Motive check on him, so she just got the idea that he was over-worked and perhaps a bit stressed. The rest of the group overheard her conversation, and after exchanging information, they all decided that they needed to find Ironbriar again. So wherever they went (even when they were scoping out the Townhouse), they would talk to a guard, and let them know that they were looking for Ironbriar. They even made sure to tell me that as soon as they decided on an inn, they would send him a message with their location.
Recall, if you will, that Ironbriar at this point in the story knows that the PCs are coming to follow up on the clues that Aldern foolishly left behind, and is already trying to kill them. So *of course* he sends assassins to kill them in the night at their inn.
The PCs left no watch, and slept in separate rooms, so in the end two of them died in their sleep (of course I gave them perception checks, and fort saves for the coup de grace; I even left out the sneak attack damage that the cultists should have been getting from their rogue level). The rest of the group, now very, very paranoid, fled into the night after a brief attempt to interrogate a captured assassin (and looting the dead ones, of course).
I'm going to repeat that: they fled the scene of an attempt on their lives, carrying their assailants weapons with them. One player made a new character, and decided to introduce him by sending a Message spell to the party's rogue while he was hidden, offering to help them flee to a safe spot. Yes, that's right: at the time of the group's greatest paranoia, he chose the creepiest way possible to introduce himself. I'd already given him an intro of tracking the Skinsaw cult after a drinking buddy of his was killed, but he thought this would be the best way. I digress.
This all comes to a head the next day, when they decide to check out the townhouse. They decide to have the new guy, a creepy summoner, create a distraction by summoning wolves nearby. He does so, and escapes handily with an invisibility spell. Meanwhile, they check the backyard, then use the key they found in Foxglove manor to open the front door. They're greeted by what appears to be Iesha Foxglove, a woman they know to be dead. They are understandably suspicious, and question her. Then, the Oracle decides to open combat by drawing/readying his weapon on her. She keeps it cool (his intimidate check fails), insists on her innocence, and tries to step forward, showing that she has nothing in her hands. He takes an AoO with his guisarme and trips her, and all hell breaks loose.
She cries out to "Aldern" to run, and he escapes outside and begins calling for the guards, shouting "ASSASSINS!". The group runs out after him, but fails to prevent him from escaping, ultimately. They also manage to kill "Iesha"...but the thing is, Faceless Stalkers can maintain their form indefinitely, so now they've kinda-sorta framed themselves for murder in one of the nicer districts of Magnimar, and this is looking way too much like one of my Shadowrun games.
Suggestions?
While Faceless Stalkers can maintain their shape "indefinitely" it does not state they retain that shape upon death. In addition, the changes are only to the face and maybe some parts of the body. They cannot eat food (and must drink blood) while "human" which means the body is going to be obviously not human, especially as it was cut open.
If you want to rule it retains its "shape" as human and that this includes the innards? You can. In that case, technically the group can prove that Iesha is dead if they flee to Foxglove Manor and retrieve her body. They can probably get Aldern's body as well though as he was ghouled identifying him might be problematic.
The word "indefinitely", by definition, implies that it extends beyond death. The flavor text also describes the process as being very slow and painful, as they are reshaping their bodies completely.
Presumably an autopsy would reveal the nature of the creature, but who performs autopsies in Golarion? It's hardly a standard practice. They already brought Aldern's ghast body to Sandpoint, so the fake Aldern would eventually be proven a fake, but I imagine a clever faceless stalker could talk his way out of that.
I mean, who are you going to believe? The living noble speaking to you, or the putrid remains of an animated corpse that some sheriff from an outlying town sent you? Recall also that we have a dirty judge in the equation; they've basically handed him the perfect situation to set the guards against the only people who can reveal what he really is.
That makes no sense, and I'll explain why.
A Faceless Stalker needs to take 10 minutes to take on the new form.
It can, with an Immediate Action, undo all that work.
This suggests that there is some "tension" at keeping that form. Why else would they be able to "snap back" in a second?
Also there's this: Faceless stalkers retain their own innate abilities when they assume their new form and do not gain any of those belonging to the creature they mimic.
And this: Faceless stalkers cannot digest solid food even when in the form of a creature with a mouth. Instead, they subsist on liquids, including blood. In their natural forms, they have three hollow tongues which they use to penetrate and lap blood from their victims.
So again. You can say "they remain in the new form" if you want. It's your game. But given that their "adjustment" is not a polymorph or other such enchantment and is instead "reshaping their skin and contorting their rubbery bodies" then it's muscle control rather than magic, and upon death should be undone.
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As an aside, you also had the creatures "go off the rails" in that they were supposed to attack the PCs, not call for the guards. We're talking about a house that has been boarded up on the lower floor. People have not seen anyone living there recently (because Aldern was turned and has been in Sandpoint) - in fact, "Aldern" and "Iesha" only were sent here a couple of days ago.
So you have a boarded up house... and a noble who's not been there for a while. Its orders were "kill the PCs" and in its write-up, the Stalker will flee once its companion is dead. So "Aldern" isn't going to stick around but will instead vanish and hope its failure doesn't get it killed by Mama X.
They were supposed to gain the PCs trust, then try to kill them; they aren't described in the module as attacking immediately.
There is an argument for the body snapping back upon death, certainly, but the monster's description isn't terribly specific on that point; no circumstances for involuntary loss of shape is described, and the transformation IS described as "indefinite" in length.
These are not mindless creatures, and the encounter is occuring *after* the PCs already went "off the rails" by telling Ironbriar exactly where they were going to sleep that night. It made no sense for him to twiddle his thumbs and wait for them to show up at the townhouse when they practically gave him an engraved invitation to murder them.
The assassination attempt made sense. I was talking about the Faceless Stalkers' actions.
The best course of action is for "Aldern" to vanish. Thus all that's left is the "body" of Iesha... which lacks significant intestines and the like as the body is described as "rubbery" and the like. Having her cut open (ie, she was hacked by the PCs) would reveal she's not human, even if you ruled her appearance was still humanform. And they don't form intestines as this is not a magical transformation (which is why the Aboleth used them as spies - they can't be detected magically).
You can always ask on the General Board on if Faceless Stalkers turn back when they die.
She was killed with a truncheon, no slashing damage. IIRC, autopsies are not common in Golarion.
As it is, I may just have to give them a side adventure in underbridge. They have some hints as to where the cultists are hiding (sawdust on the boots of the assassins...) but in a city the size of Magnimar it's not nearly good enough.
Perhaps an offical(Like the mayor) springs them on the condition they now work for him/them. The mayor has been suspecting about Ironbriar's actions but can't make a move on his own and so sends the PCs as a denable assest.
I think it is pretty standard to assume that something like a faceless stalker resumes its normal form upon death. It is much more of a stretch to assume it does not. It is a non-human creature that can appear human. Not a creature magically transformed into a human. Just have the body slowly assume its natural form. This gets the adventure "back on the rails". No murder, no officials or guards to deal with.
If you don't want that to happen, however,do what you like. There is room for the adventure to take some twists and turns and maybe being wanted criminals while solving the mystery is something your group will really enjoy. However, I do think you should have "Aldern" eventually confront them again and not merely disappear. This will force the adventure back in the right direction rather than leading off into who knows where.
I'm not sure they'll put that together, and it'd take them a while to check each sawmill in Magnimar.
Another thing to recall is this: Faceless Stalkers are not unknown creatures. They live in the local swamps. So the guard would would be initially skeptical... but would likely realize she's not human fairly quickly. And as I said, seeing that its partner is dead, "Aldern" should vanish. This is in the write-up on the encounter. Only if you have these things remain "human" past death is there a reason for "Aldern" to stick around.
DC 5 Kn (local) figures out the sawmills.
Another thing to recall is this: Faceless Stalkers are not unknown creatures. They live in the local swamps. So the guard would would be initially skeptical... but would likely realize she's not human fairly quickly. And as I said, seeing that its partner is dead, "Aldern" should vanish. This is in the write-up on the encounter. Only if you have these things remain "human" past death is there a reason for "Aldern" to stick around.
All of this assumes that these creatures lack the intelligence to understand the concept of framing someone for a crime, which seems awfully unlikely. A faceless stalker has an intelligence of 13. Surely it can understand the concept. The idea that it simply flees and never returns is ridiculous; it would report to Ironbriar, who can easily use this to frame the party, even if the dead stalker did revert to it's previous form. The group was seen chasing/attacking "Aldern" in public, outside of the house grounds. The other stalker was killed in the back yard, and wasn't visible to the public...but she was screaming the entire time that she was being killed.
As for the DC 5 Knowledge:Local check, that is for locating the Seven's Sawmill once you know that you're looking for the Seven's Sawmill; they haven't located that clue yet because they never searched the house.
You seem to have concerns that the game has gone a bit too 'Shadowrun-ey", and it seems rightly so to a certain degree. Unfortunately, and in my experience, Pathfinder players in general have neither the mentality or the toolset to deal with that all consuming level of conspiracy. I find its fine to ramp up the paranoia, but only if I have a "release valve" for that.
In this case, if I were in your position (and as I recall this is how I ran the faceless stalker event a million years ago), I chose to go with the "snap back" idea and show the players that the obviously dead Aldern/Iesha were in fact horrible monsters beyond their reckoning. Also, body horror (even displaced to NPCs) is fun. While my run through that engagement didn't have such complications with Ironbriar, kudos to your handling by the way, I'd recommend going with a "snap" solution. As it stands, the rules are ambiguous at best on this one, so in the face of such ambiguity I try to choose the path that will better facilitate the gameplay. If you want your players to go full on vigilante and now have a 2 fronted (or even 3) conflict between them, the Guards, & the Cult, you've got the set up you need. If you'd like to get the party a little bit more on the Path, have the Faceless melt back into their real forms, exonerating them of the immediate threat of imprisonment.
You have the unique chance to preserve the role of Ironbriar as confidante and ultimate betrayer as well. The party seems to have built a minor but relevant relationship with him, and you can keep the paranoia aspect going, as well as give them more direct encounters with him, enabling them more of a chance to detect his deception, etc.
I'm out. I've offering methods by which the adventure can be put back on its rails. I'm not going to provide affirmation on your decision to screw over your players. You've already killed two characters (and I felt your actions were fairly justified in that situation). Now you're just adding insult to injury.
If you don't want to follow what's in the book concerning the actions of the Faceless Stalkers, then feel free to do whatever you want to screw over your players completely and utterly. The end result will be the game ending in Magnimar. If you want your adventure to continue down its regularly-epic path, there are plenty of suggestions in here on what you can do to ensure the adventure get back on track.
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Going on what Tangent101 said, you need to be looking for bridges, not barriers. If you want to stitch things back together, try and find plausible methods.
Anyway your sessions seem to have lost their focus. The entire goal of this chapter should be discovering that Ironbriar's cult has been subverted to farm greedy souls. Focus on that, and anything subverting that (like red herrings and compounding circumstances that could have gone a lot of different ways) should be minimized.
So, ask yourself, how do I reveal this to them (and to Ironbriar)?