
mardaddy |

PC party started as:
Half Elf Bonded Witch
Half Elf Ninja
Human Gunslinger
Played up until the assault on Natalya (until then, they RPed so well and made such good decisions they never rolled a die in combat, even with the sorcerer ambush, they thought that guy was the one kidnapping the residents, and brought the City Watch - turns out he was wanted.)
Climbing the roof of a building to scout out Natalya's crib, it happens to be Tarisha's perch - she fell to her death trying to escape poison shurikens and gunfire after engaging the PC's.
They barely survived Natalya with three PC's. Finally a decent fight. The Gunslinger got Charmed and Suggested and Natalya fumbled her coup de grace on him. He knocked her out.
Invaded the Crow with Natalya as an NPC - so they now have a map and forewarning of Ayala and have silvered their weapons in preparation. The Witch player decided to drop out of the game so I arbitrarily fireball-trap-killed her (had not encountered any Tower Girls yet.)
In joins a Shoanti Barbarian and a Human Sorcerer/Cleric to the party during a forced recovery break at Heidmarch manor, then back to the Crow...
They WIPE THE FLOOR with the Tower Girls, smart tactics against prepared defenses (even when I gave all the Girls Alchemetic Fire in addition to their other weapons. Eventually reaching Ayala, and even doubling her infected minions and making them invisible and silent waiting for their chance to sneak attack & ambush them at her room, the PC's survive handily - Ayala hit them w/her poison, no effect, and failed to bite altogether (unless I had went total die-roll fudge.)
They have had it far too easy - I mean, reward smart play, yes, but they are playing ti so smart it is becoming a walk-through with no tension or fear of PC loss... So for chapter two, I am KICKING IT UP A NOTCH. Started with adding a green slime to the dressing room next to the amoeba-bath.
Almost killed the Sorcerer/Cleric, who is now permanently disfigured and almost hairless after her 8-day CON recovery from slime acid damage.
They were too prepared to use ranged fire only from a safe distance against the (now doubled) water spiders, so I held them back for later deployment and hit them with a spider swarm (which they handily countered with oil and alchemetic fire.)
Next level down - good fight. The ant mounds took their toll. I made them Soldier instead of Worker Ants, a couple PC's got poisoned, grappled and manhandled about, coming *this* close to being drug back into the mounds as a meal.
Much better...

mardaddy |

Had a side-adventure off-AP, it's New Years in Varisia, and the Serpent's Run is the place to be!
A Korvosan contingent that was there to compete in the golem-fights part of the celebration cast a gate to the elemental plane of fire and brought in a Salamander, three large, six medium and sixteen small fire elementals to wreck havoc as a distraction while thugs they hired hit the Venture Captain with an assassination attempt, three hand-crossbows and daggers, Purple Worm poison and all... Sheila Heidmarch failed a few saves and was down for the count.
The PC's helped take on both the elementals and the thugs, it was real touch-and-go. Raced Sheila off to a local villa neighboring the Serpents Run to beg some Neutralize Poison assistance. Other PC's captured two of the wounded thugs and questioned them, receiving false info and the PC's failed their Sense Motive; they think The Amazing Zogathy is behind the assassination attempt.
They *really* botched up trying to capture Zogathy when they could have just walked up and questioned him. We roleplayed it all out, complete with Sczarni gang help taking on the PC's in the carnival as they subdued and tried to drag off Zogathy (the unmitigated gall!)
Obscuring Mist, some Color Sprays and the forethought to wear disguises helped them escape the City Watch and a patrol of Hellknights as they arrived on the scene to maintain the peace and make arrests.
In a hidden locale, Zogathy "proved" his innocence, and wanted 100gp a month every month to keep quiet about what they did to him and the carnival, and not reporting them all to the watch. He thinks the Aspis Consortium is responsible for the attempt on Sheila's life.
They bargained for a bit and made a deal; the party Wizard agreed to teach this con artist scum, "real," magic in exchange for his permanent silence.
So yea, the fight at the Serpents Run and the attack on teh carnival to capture Zogathy were both overwhelming things, but the PC's pulled them off - had a great time, and a good change from the constant dungeon-delve of the Crow.
Maybe later on in the adventure I'll drop more clues about how the Korvosans do not like the Pathfinder Society, their members tend to keep countering Asmodean plots and aspirations, and they want the Society GONE from Magnimar before it takes hold permanently.

Beercifer |

I stacked the fight before Ayala with instead of using the Donkey Rats, I pulled out two CR4's from the Creature Collection...Fleshcrawlers. Pretty good fight, actually paralyzed four out of five PC's. But nobody died or even went below hit points, so I did my job of scaring the Peacock Spirit out of them without actually putting their names in the Obituary Thread.

Anastasius Brightstar |

My players have been pretty smart too, but they've been far more successful at roleplay (and some dumb luck on skill checks).
For example, the attack on Natalya's Lair had them completely tapped out and they barely finished (she charmed the barbarian - which was really the only reason they had any trouble). But either way, they're exhausted, and have just left the shack when Terisha and her minions confront them to demand they hand over Natalya. Obviously, they didn't want to, but had little choice; they were all out of spells, healing, and were still down on hp.
I figured it'd be a no brainer that they'd hand her over. But nope. The Barbarian decides he's not having any of that. But before he can do anything, our tiny little gnome oracle of Pharasma rolls to intimidate and nat 20s. Then the sorcerer burned his last 1st level spell on a Burning Hands to intimidate them into backing up a bit (which came with a natural 18 on intimidate). Then instead of rolling to intimidate, the rolls diplomacy (because he's Charming) and nat 20s.
At this point, I pretty much just roll with whatever the PCs are wanting to do and let the baddies die whenever I decide it's best to. (Even if that requires some random healing mid-battle)