So my current home group is in the final stretch of our Hell’s Rebels campaign, and since I saw Tyrant’s Grasp during the 2018 PaizoCon banquet I immediately decided that that was what I would run after Hell’s Rebels. So, I’m choosing to do a campaign log—both for documentation and to get some assistance from the Pathfinder hivemind while I run it. Haven’t done one of these before, but we’ll give it a shot.
Our current setup is that we all meet once per week at the apartment of one of the players, who hooks up one of his laptops to this TV so that the Roll20 maps are up on a big screen while the players lounge on the couch while I sit at a small table to the side with my laptop.
One of my players, due to work situations, moved to Finland, so he wakes up at 4:00 am (Finland time) and Skypes in while using Roll20 on his end. This started to affect his health, so the group compromised that we would move our weekly sessions from Thursdays from 7 to 11 pm (not-Finland time) to Saturdays from 12 to 4 pm (not-Finland time), so that our Finnish player isn’t playing at the buttcrack of dawn.
Unfortunately, I’m also going to be moving away for college this coming semester, so I’ve got two options: tank the gas price of making a weekly ~182 mile (round trip) drive through a canyon, or accept that the GM has to Skype in as well. Let’s just say that my car doesn’t get the best mileage (~24 miles per gallon, so not bad, but not great), so I’ll be Skyping in, which will be interesting.
Anyway, enough about the real-world stuff (and probably a bit too much personal information); let’s talk about the gaming stuff.
I have long come to find that Paizo’s APs can be lacking in many cases and fail to challenge players who have even a moderate mastery of the game, and my group tend towards power-gaming (not munchkin levels of shenanigans, but enough that they curbstomp most as-written AP encounters at the higher levels). Because of this (and apparently because I hate myself), I go through every encounter in an AP and re-optimize it to be able to keep up with how my players play without taking away from the flavor of the encounter. My players have expressed that they like that I do this, so I’m not just working them to the bone because I’m mean. However, for this AP I had to tone it down in quite a few instances because of just how brutal the AP can be.
The following is the character creation guidelines I gave my players (verbatim from the Facebook post I made in our private Facebook group):
150 gp worth of starting equipment
One of your traits MUST be a campaign trait from the Player’s Guide and no single trait may be picked by more than one PC at a time; you are allowed to take a drawback to get an extra trait.
The following drawbacks are not allowed due to unnecessary bookkeeping: Hedonistic, Avarice, Envy, Insatiable.
As a general rule, anything that is PFS legal is fine by me. Anything that is not PFS legal must be brought to my attention before you can use it.
Teleport and Greater Teleport cannot be learned through the free spells earned by leveling up; this is to keep true to the feel of the AP of “you use what you find.”
As a rather interesting addition, we’ll be using the sanity subsystem for this AP, the rules for which are here: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/sanity/
Finally, I feel I need to emphasize this: this AP is a survival horror, and it is HARD! This is the culmination of Paizo’s work on 1e, so they had finally gotten the quirks and strangeness of the system down by this point in time and they put out an AP that is just plain mean in some cases. Power gaming in this AP (to a certain extent, of course) is actually fairly expected. There will be only three chances to truly purchase equipment through shopping: your 150 gp of starting gear, Book 3, and Book 5. You have been warned.
I haven’t gotten much in the way of character sheets, etc., but I do have the basic gist. I’ll be referring to my players as simply A, B, C, and D.
B (a mutual friend C and I play PFS with who joined the group after one of our players got married and had a kid following our Mummy’s Mask campaign) is playing a ratfolk alchemist (mindchemist, trap breaker ) who seems to experiment on the remains of destroyed undead. Campaign trait: TBD
C (a five-star PFS GM That I’ve gamed with for some time; we host our games at his place) is playing a [race TBD] wizard (exploiter wizard) who’s gonna take some item creation feats to alleviate the pain of the party only being able to shop twice in the AP (there’ll be some downtime between Books 2 and 3, and Books 3 and 4, and maybe some between Books 5 and 6, so it’s not a bad option). Campaign trait: TBD
D (a 3-star PFS GM and a friend B, C, and I played PFS with for some time. When A and C’s previous GM for the home group stepped down due to a lack of interest in Pathfinder anymore [as well as another player who wasn’t that interested in the game in the first place], I was invited into the group and took the GM mantle and we invited D because he wasn’t a bad player and we enjoyed playing with him. He has since moved to Finland, but we stay friends through Skyping for the home game and through PbP) is playing a human Life oracle (Pei Zin practitioner) with the wasting curse. His entire backstory is that he was a simple farmer, and has no idea how he got these magical powers (in truth, it’s because of the obol and its connection to Aroden’s divine powers; he basically was inadvertently gifted power from “Aroden” following the blast on Roslar’s Coffer. His mystery/curse is indicative of the Radiant Fire, because he’s wasting away to nothingness [the Radiant Fire’s inner radius of negative energy] while being a font of healing and overflowing with life [the Radiant Fire’s outer radius of positive energy]). Campaign trait: The Word.
I’m expecting us to start the campaign on February 29th, and the Wednesday before I’ll try to run Reaver’s Roar for my weekly PFS group (which B and C are a part of) as a segue to the campaign.
I think that’s everything for now, but if folks with Syrinscape could help me figure out appropriate sound combinations for the various parts of this AP I’d be much appreciative.
Alright, an update on the party:
C is playing an elf wizard (exploiter Wizard) that came to Roslar’s Coffer from Kyonin to help rebuild the town. Worshiper of Nethys and is planning on going through the Evangelist prestige class. Campaign trait: The Artisan.
We actually went through the finale of Hell’s Rebels rather quickly last week, so we’re actually starting the AP tomorrow!
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Alrighty, first session down.
In the initial dusty crate in Roslar’s Tomb I put a fully-charged wand of cure light wounds, because I knew that the party would get good use out of it.
The first combat was kinda funny—the newly-created oracle went and cowered in the corner while the party dealt with the skeleton. When it was a pile of bones but before the ostovite crawled out, I asked the shifter what she did and they responded with “I keep beating on the bones.” I had her roll an attack roll and a 50% miss chance and she ended up killing the ostovite without realizing it.
The ostovite inside of the celedon was a lot more trouble, and managed to down the alchemist once and the wizard twice. It was a matter of just hitting the dang thing!
The shifter charged the horse bone chariot and got a crit, knocking it out completely.
The bone cobra wasn’t memorable at all. Didn’t even hit once.
I skipped the ostovite in the fire beetle because it was just too repetitive.
The alchemist threw a bomb and the fire beetles (which are ironically not immune to fire) went down before they even got to act.
The mites and the animate hair weren’t too memorable.
Holy crap cockroaches are stupid! Diehard means they have 31 hp, and three of them was just tedious. The party managed to hear Barple’s spellcasting and engaged before the enlarge person on the shifter went away. It got weird because the wizard greased the room Barple was in and the Large shifter was in the way. Once the shifter squeezed through the door, though, it was basically over. Barple only got one attack off.
I had to do a bit of prodding, but the wizard actually touched the crystal with the spectre, and I planted the seed of the obols inside them.
I kinda hand-waved the fight against Number Three, because they would’ve surrendered after one attack from the shifter. It wasn’t written in, but I had Number Three go with the party to deal with the caterpillar and to the other two celedons (who I named Number One and Number Two).
No one in the party was proficient with longswords, so they just didn’t bother dealing with the caterpillar.
I had Numbers One and Two start out unfriendly (rather than hostile) against the party because Number 3 was with them. The wizard botched the Diplomacy, but I let them have it because the oracle rolled really high with his “I just wanna go home!” This prompted a silent conversation among the celedons that was along the lines of “Are they serious?”
The party exited and took significant sanity damage when they saw Groetus in the sky and realized what was going on. I made a house rule that the party could make a save to avoid a madness rather just automatically getting one once they take sanity damage that equals or exceeded their threshold—I just felt it was more fair to the party.
The shifter and the oracle dropped to the ground in tears when Umble and Thoot passed by and explained things. I ended the session right as Umble was talking about helping the denizens of Roslar’s Coffer accept their death.
Overall, we went a little long this session, but we were okay with it because I just really wanted to get everyone to level 2, because level 1 just sucks, plain and simple.
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Alrighty, so the ratfolk alchemist decided to swap out the Pessimist trait for the Optimist trait for better roleplay and the wizard took Zealous for his drawback instead.
The talk with the townsfolk went rather smoothly—it started with a lot of “Well, has the moon always looked like that?” and the townsfolk responding with “I don’t know.” Once the party knew about the timetable required and the risk of the townsfolk becoming undead, they started taking it more seriously.
The fights weren’t too memorable, but the PCs were really iffy about Mictena and the witchcrow after the wizard recognized them as usually evil. I roleplayed Mictena as almost being like an exasperated parent trying to explain something to a child that they couldn’t possibly understand.
The party decided to go to the scriptorium first, and I’m running that each of the nightmare stuff causes 1 sanity damage (DC 12 Will), and if a PC gets a Clarity Point then they regain 1 sanity for seeing through the nightmare. The party negotiated with Berthold and discovered that the wizard’s detect magic doesn’t work in the scriptorium (part of the nightmare weirdness inside of the building).
I replaced the 12 CR ¼ spiders with some spider swarms because I felt that it made more sense. They gave the party a bit of trouble, but there was an alchemist, so they were fine.
The PCs had a bit of fun with the weirdness of the storage room doors—I had them slam shut behind a person each time someone went through for the ease of walking through a door and coming out the exact same way. Colulus had a bit of fun with the shifter and used shadow conjuration to summon an Ettercap (bit more powerful than what the spell allows, but it was fun flavor). Unfortunately she succeeded at the will save, so it went down in one blow.
The session ended with the party finding the door hidden behind the illusion, and I gotta say, I’m really excited to be running the three way stations, because they’re all interesting for their own reasons.
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OOOKAAY! Got a bit of a doozy for today.
The fight against the wyrwoods—both no-armed and many-armed—were uninteresting; just some nice mindless slaughter combats.
The haunt was odd, but only the shifter managed to fail a will save, so not much to note.
Crab spiders were meh.
Colulus. Good lord this was a trainwreck. The only silver in the party was a naginata and some expensive silverware (which I ruled had to be pure silver to be that expensive), and no one is proficient with martial weapons, plus Colulus’s poison is a slow chip away toward death, AND no one was able to consistently get over the thing’s DR.
The shifter was desperately trying to hit it with the naginata, the alchemist quickly ran out of bombs, and the tank of the group was the oracle with Roslar’s shield and breastplate. The oracle barely ended up surviving with an effective Dex of 1 and running away while the others got knocked out and stayed in the garden with Colulus.
Now, I have yet to legitimately death with PC death at one of my tables, but I try to avoid it as much as possible during the early levels, because you didn’t die because of anything besides everyone being made of glass at the early levels, so I try to account for that by powering my players through the early levels so they can get the “Now I can actually take a hit” stuff.
Because of this, I’m implementing something to prevent what I consider to be unfair death: The PCs’ obols react strangely to the energy of the Boneyard, so every time they die in the Boneyard they wake back up in Roslar’s Tomb but it siphons off of the power of the obols—for each time a particular party member has died within the Boneyard, they treat their effective level for the purposes of the obols’ benefits (negative energy resistance and SR) as 1 lower, so that it’s still a mechanical detriment, but not enough of one to be a super big hindrance while also not making the PCs basically immune to death. I’m going to have Barzahk say that the obols’ no-death thing won’t function outside of the Boneyard once they meet them. I’ll try to think of some downsides on the per-death scale for later on when the benefits of the obols swap from keeping out negative energy to allowing in positive energy, but I’ve got nothing—if anyone in the hivemind happens to have ideas I’m very willing to listen.
Anyway, due to vague wording on the AP’s part, I just let the party level up to 3 after this session (I do milestone leveling), so now the oracle has both Life Link and Channel, so the party is overall a lot tankier.
Alright, so it turns out that I completely misread Colulus’s statblock in Hero Lab and didn’t see DR/good or silver and the specific condition on his frightful presence, so I had to apologize to my players about running it incorrectly and informed them that they did indeed kill him and did not die. After a single night of rest and Heal checks, they were back into the fray.
For the impossible corridor I had the penalty for a failed check just be 1 sanity damage (no save), which the alchemist unfortunately experienced firsthand when he was the first one to say “May we please go to the other side?”
The nightgaunt fight caught the players off-guard—especially since the aforementioned naginata was the only reach weapon. I changed the 1d4 Wis. damage from falling down the stairs into 1d2 sanity damage (no save), which the shifter got enough of when she tried and failed to jump onto the railing. Twice. They eventually got it down and it retreated.
Time for the first big stat revision to the AP: Mrs. Pedipalp.
XP 1,600
Old nightmare aranea mesmerist (dreamstalker) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 30, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 204, Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures 60, Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 38)
NE Medium magical beast (shapechanger)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8
Aura fear (60 ft., DC 18), frightful presence (30 ft., DC 18)
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+1 armor, +4 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 38 (6 HD; 1d8+5d10+7); regeneration 5 (good spells and weapons, silver)
Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +7; +4 vs. illusion effects
Defensive Abilities illusion resistance, protection from good; DR 5/good or silver
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Offense
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Speed 50 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 10 ft. (perfect)
Melee bite +9 (1d6-1)
Special Attacks dreams of pain, hypnotic stare (-2), mesmerist tricks 7/day (slumber [DC 16]), night terrors (DC 18), painful stare (+1), poison, web (+9 ranged, DC 13, 6 hp)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +11)
. . Constant—protection from good
. . 3/day—detect thoughts (DC 18), dream, nightmare (DC 21), suggestion (DC 20)
. . 1/day—shadow walk (DC 21)
Mesmerist (Dreamstalker) Spells Known (CL 6th; concentration +12)
. . 2nd (5/day)—false life, mirror image, oneiric horror[OA] (DC 18), unadulterated loathing[UM] (DC 19)
. . 1st (6/day)—color spray (DC 17), heightened awareness[ACG], sleep (DC 18), undetectable alignment (DC 17)
. . 0 (at will)—daze (DC 17), detect magic, lullaby (DC 17), mage hand, read magic, unwitting ally[APG] (DC 17)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +11)
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 22
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 18
Feats Eschew Materials, Iron Will, Spell Focus (enchantment), Weapon Finesse
[b]Skills Acrobatics +10 (+26 to jump), Bluff +16, Climb +7, Escape Artist +13, Fly +21, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (planes) +10, Perception +8, Stealth +12, Use Magic Device +15; Racial Modifiers +2 Acrobatics, +4 Intimidate, +2 Perception, +4 Stealth
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ change shape, consummate liar +1, feign death (DC 18)
Other Gear belt of mighty constitution +2, bracers of armor +1
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Special Abilities
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Change Shape (Su) You can change your form.
Climb (30 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Consummate Liar +1 Counts as Combat Expertise for some feats.
Damage Reduction (5/good or silver) You have Damage Reduction against all except Good or Silver attacks.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Dreams of Pain Painful Stare deals nonlethal damage
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fear Aura (60 feet, DC 18) (Su) Creatures in range are shaken while within aura. (Will neg.)
Feign Death (DC 18) (Ex) Appears dead when unconscious, or as immediate action. Heal or Will save to recognize.
Fly (10 feet, Perfect) You can fly!
Frightful Presence (30 ft., 5d6 rounds, DC 18) Those in area of effect become frightened or shaken (Will neg.)
Hypnotic Stare (-2, 30 feet) (Su) As swift action, target creature takes penalty on Will saves.
Illusion Resistance (Ex) Automatically disbelieves illusions, +4 to resist illusion effects.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mesmerist Tricks (110 feet, 7/day) (Su) Implant hypnotic bond with allies. granting edge vs. foes.
Night Terrors (DC 18) (Su) After entering dream, deals 1d4 Cha damage each our. Will each hour to neg.
Painful Stare (+1, 1/round) (Su) As a free action, hyp. stare target takes extra precision dam from a hit.
Poison: Bite—Injury (DC 13) (Ex) Poison—Injury; save Fort DC 13; freq 1/rd for 6 rds; effect 1d3 Str; cure 1 save.
Regeneration 5 (good spells and weapons, silver) Heal HP quickly and cannot die.
Spell Focus (Enchantment) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Web (+9 ranged, 6 hp, 8/day, DC 13) (Ex) You can set or toss webbing.
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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
With an unfortunate natural 2 on Pedipalp’s Bluff, it basically went straight into initiative. And hoo boy, for a fight that didn’t have a lot of HP damage going around it was nonsense! No one succeeded at the Will save to be in the surprise round, so she got an oneiric horror off on the shifter (manifesting as Colulus). The oracle got hit with unadulterated loathing (followed by a sincere apology, because I’ve made it clear that I hate spells like that [basically nauseated for days/level], but that was the tactics), and the wizard with a suggestion. It was ONLY because the oracle had protection from evil did the party make it through.
The party then decided to go to the Palace of Teeth, and the combats weren’t too interesting since it was just mindless slaughter. Except for the esobok.
The esobok on the way to Queen Carnassial (kudos to Ron Lundeen for the subtle-but-clever teeth puns in the monarchs’ names) got a pounce off on the shifter before anyone else made it up the ladder and got a crit on the claws. People started filing up the ladder—except the wizard who was fighting from halfway up the ladder. The alchemist did a poorly-timed throw and got grabbed on an AoO, followed by having his soul torn out and him paralyzed for the next three-ish rounds.
The oracle opted for a tactical retreat, rolled a nat 20 on the combat maneuver to reposition the unconscious shifter right over the wizard (mid-ladder) and the two then tumbled to the ground. He then did the same with the alchemist’s paralyzed body and then went down the ladder, took an AoO, fell unconscious, and got a breath of life, since Salighara’s gift was about to run out anyways.
The alchemist made the Will save and the PCs finally got a look at the obols as the alchemist’s soul (visible to them) was returning to his body: amid the shimmering form of his soul, there was a circular light about the size of a coin (which is what an obol actually is) right over where his heart should’ve been.
Session ended with the esobok looking down menacingly at the party who just threw themselves down a ladder.
Okay, this week was a bit of a roller coaster.
So, having been curb-stomped by the esobok (who I named Scruffy; on that later), the party decided that whatever was up the ladder wasn’t worth it and went back up the staircase. They discovered the mosaic, but only the wizard managed to actually succeed at the Acrobatics check.
I ruled that the soulbound dolls only attacked if someone came adjacent to the stage, and curiosity about the candy-cane pole got the better of them, so they approached the stage. The dolls are pathetic—only able to deal 1 nonlethal damage on a hit no matter what is just ridiculous.
They met with Prince Uspid, and I went full Lollypop Guild with this guy—high-pitched voice and everything. I also emphasized just how big he was compared to the other fairies—I said it was the equivalent difference between me and an elephant. No one managed to roll the secret Sense Motive check successfully, so the party gave up their teeth. When Uspid said that they needed to kill his mother and that she was exiled upstairs, the party immediately asked about the esobok, to which Uspid responded “Scruffy! That’s my mother’s guard dog.” Seeing little else to do, the party pre-buffed and went up the ladder to fight Scruffy. The prince’s parting words were “Next time I see you you’d better have her head, otherwise I’ll take your heads!” and ordering the four palm-sized fairies to slam the door. (I later discovered he had open/close at will, which actually made that even funnier).
The esobok heard them pre-buffing, so it went invisible and got a surprise-round-pounce off. Got another crit on one of the claws and managed to down the shifter in one round. Alchemist went up, provoking from Scruffy, and chucked a bomb, killing it since it only had 12 HP from the previous time they encountered it.
The bridge and tooth fairy rippers was something akin to a carnival show. Alchemist got an extended vanish and went across the bridge to the door, where he unfortunately noticed that the door did not have a lock. The rippers heard him messing with the door and got a surprise round. The managed to get the alchemist asleep (sleep is a 10-foot burst), followed by the shifter and the oracle (the latter two not on the bridge). Alchemist threw a bomb and the fairies were right on him. The wizard started casting enlarge person as the shifter went onto the bridge in only a single move action (standard action to get up from prone) and said “It’s only 10’ to the portion that only drops 10’ and I can make that Acrobatics check [to jump] on a 6.” Proceeds to roll a 1 and falls all the way down 30’. Oracle goes onto the bridge to assist the alchemist. Wizard’s spell finishes and, in an in- and out-of-character panic, enlarges the oracle, who proceeded to constantly succeed at their Acrobatics checks despite having a -2 modifier. When the second fairy went poof, the remaining one decided to go for the oracle, who was constantly flat-footed due to having to balance on the bridge. Eventually it got down to 1 hit point and ran away due to morale.
The mimic was kinda fun. Never actually ran a mimic before. The alchemist went first and bombed the mannequin and decided NOT to bomb the folding screen because “he doesn’t commit wanton destruction.” Got attacked by the folding screen for his errors and got stuck to it. It eventually ended with the mimic at 6 HP and surrendering.
The mimic (whom we ironically named Trademark) proceeded to explain that Queen Carnassial had the stamp and not Uspid. They asked if Carnassial had anyone with her:
“There’s Skritcher.”
“What’s he?”
“What Scruffy is.”
“Oh f~%$ that!”
The party decided to knock, catching Carnassial completely off-guard as she was expecting assassins. She allowed them in, seeing they clearly wanted to talk, and the party explained their circumstances. They then immediately requested to see the stamp, to which Carnassial complied. She demanded her son’s teeth before stamping the party, which then led to the highlight of the night. From the oracle:
“What if we had Trademark change into a bag that looked filled with something, like a head?”
I just had to walk away for a bit, because this was one of those circumstances I have heard stories of where an RPG party does something so off-the-wall and crazy that I never could have planned for. After a bit of negotiation, Trademark changed into a Medium-sized bag that looked like it had a head in it.
They returned to Uspid and threw down the “bag with the queen’s head” and I had them roll a Bluff check. +5 bonus because Uspid wanted to believe them, and a +5 bonus for having evidence. Oracle rolled an 8 for an effective 18. Uspid rolled a 17 Sense Motive. He ordered one of the fairies to open the bag and I said “The tooth fairy opens the bag and instead of a head, sees rows and rows of teeth. His face lights up in excitement before dropping immediately.”
The fight went about as you’d expect. Two of the tooth fairies decided that they were screwed no matter what, so they dropped their pliers, grabbed armfuls of teeth, and booked it, leaving Uspid in the dust. Uspid’s last word, amid a sh*t-eating grin, was “Mercy?”
They brought back Uspid’s teeth, which Carnassial then devoured, and got their second way station stamp.
We got to Nine-Eaves—which I renamed to Nine-Gables to more accurately fit the third puzzle of the ninth triangle. The boilborns and the stirges were pathetically easy—though we did have a laugh/groan on leprosy having an onset time of 2d4 weeks. The session ended with the party meeting Kishokish’s portrait and it asking for help.
Alrighty, we decided that it was for the best that, until further notice, we would be having our weekly game digitally, especially with the recent COVID stuff.
Anyway, Nine-Gables was pretty interesting. The party made it through the first puzzle pretty easily—it’s one that I’ve personally seen before.
The esipil was a speed bump, but with sahkils being explicitly horrifying, they deal a lot more sanity damage. The party had a bit of trouble with the second puzzle, but eventually got to the answer.
They decided to go into the drawing room with the harp, until the shifter decided that they wanted to play the fiddle and triggered the trap. The shifter and wizard got panicked and ran off.
As the party was regrouping (the non-panicked party getting the panicked party back), they ran right into Farf as it was searching the ground floor and managed to also bring the fleas into the combat. The shifter ended up with the mania madness toward maggots.
I really had to urge the party into reading the grasshopper origami notes, because they were very untrusting, and I had to make quite a few rules changes so that the final trap wasn’t just overcome by casting detect magic. The alchemist rolled a nat 19 on the Perception check against the last grasshopper, so he saw the trap.
I skipped the assassin bug and the wasp swarm because I really wanted to get Nine-Gables done today. Ayuki was a bit of a threat, but she generally was a speed bump.
The party basically guessed the correct key on the first try because “Nine-Gables, so nine.” I was kinda upset because they didn’t figure out why that was correct without me explaining it, but whatever.
Vithiz (hard name to say, by the way) is actually pretty difficult, even to a level 3 party. An enlarge person allowed the shifter to be able to reach the sahkil, but everyone took some serious sanity damage as they looked at the thing. Eventually the sahkil was disarmed and got bonked with the staff. Party got their third stamp and they’re on their way back home. But not before they run into Mictena.
Alright, really productive day. In this session I decided to implement a variant on the Hero Point system to make it more like how Hero Points are in 2e, because I feel like for a good chunk of time my players are flailing without it.
The party went to Deathbower and didn’t have too much of a difficult time. They decided to knock on the door and it was opened by one of the gardeners who attacked. There was a glitterdust, and because I rebuilt them into unchained monks they didn’t stand a chance.
The party managed to bypass the graven guardian by ID-ing it with stealth and putting on the gardeners’ holy symbols.
The bonewrought willow and the witchcrows (including Duskfeathers) was actually quite challenging. There wasn’t a point where I was thinking “they might not win,” but I did manage to get a Cleave off with the willow staggered.
The party went through the opening in the vines and came across Aydie, who I roleplayed as being concerned less about righting wrongs and more about ensuring that they don’t fall to Mictena’s cruel hands. The oracle brought up the good point of “how would you react if you were shoved in a strange circumstance and were told that you needed to die?” That left me speechless. Combat started, but she didn’t really get to do anything because her DCs suck and she ran into the PCs’ SR. The wizard accidentally engaged the other four gardeners when he was trying to get out of spectral hand range.
The party met Reedreaper, who basically agreed that Mictena was becoming too overblown and needed to be stopped. Reedreaper chose to join them to Golarion.
I skipped the Deathbower oozes due to time.
The party got to Mictena’s gazebo and were helped by both Reedreaper and Aydie. The DC is insane, so I ruled that both of them would be able to aid the primary roller in addition to the +5 from their mere presence. Because the party face is an oracle with the wasting curse, they only barely managed to make it on their first roll, and the only reason they didn’t screw up on the second one was because I allowed the oracle to use another person’s Hero Point to reroll (since it was to the benefit of the entire party).
Mictena looked around at her withering garden and said, as if seeing it for the first time: “What have I done? Go. Leave, now.” And the party just bolted at that. I actually kept Mictena largely the same for if the PCs fought her, because even as written she is an absolute force to be reckoned with!
Had to end the session before the party met Barzahk, but that’s purely roleplay and is something we can take care of at the beginning of the next session.
The party did a decent time talking with Barzahk. I had them create a separate road for Reedreaper to go down because I didn’t want to play an NPC through all of book 2 when there was already Jando.
I had the livery instead be the oracle’s house that he converted from a livery. I had the party fight against a gurgist mortic in there, because I wanted to have the party face off against one of each mortic over the course of the AP. The gurgist was two-weapon fighting with fish that she was devouring. It was fun.
The weedwhips were not memorable.
The party chose to visit their houses, and were disturbed to find that everything has basically aged a hundred years despite it still being the same time (the gurgist mortic was the oracle’s apprentice that was transformed due to the Radiant Fire). They ran into the zombie elk in the streets (I changed them from advanced to giant because it’s a running joke in my local PFS group that elk are Medium in Pathfinder when they are very clearly the size of horses). They saw Jando, but opted not to follow him.
They met with the spirit at the graveyard. Not much else to say.
The pitcher plant was an absolute menace, because the DC to realize it’s a creature is so freaking high and it does quite a bit of damage. Not to mention the poison is ridiculous. The party barely managed to get rid of it.
The party rested and saw Jando again (this time a much better view), who then ran away again. They once again opted not to follow.
The party went to the jewelry store next and there were a few audible eyerolls at the logic puzzle, especially since the oracle’s player realized that it would be a three-dimensional matrix if they did it in a spreadsheet. EDIT: From that player: "At least this puzzle was only three dimensions. The one I've seen before was five."
Session ended with the Whispering Way cultists arriving and my Finland player not wanting to get into another combat at 1 a.m.
The party went through the rest of Roslar’s Coffer—they questioned one of the cultists (named Bob) and managed to figure out about Valthazar and Chatar. They let Bob get away, but he was then struck in the neck by Jando and he finally approached the party.
The lurkers in light were annoying, but the party eventually figured out that they needed to calm down the children. It was funny that they were trying so desperately to blind the alchemist who had see invisibility going.
Hoo boy. The fight against Chatar was insane. The party managed to get the jump on them, but because of written-in stuff I ruled that Chatar did manage to buff prior. Chatar got two attacks off on the shifter and downed her. The oracle came running to heal and Chatar then attacked the prone shifter, who was now conscious, and killed her. I feel really bad because this is the first time I’ve ever really had to deal with PC death. But my players assured me it was fine.
Next week: Roslar’s Tomb Redux.
The shifter’s player decided to play a weird occultist build, which got introduced to the party by waiting at the entrance to the cemetery.
I replaced the fight against the bone golem with 2 jitterbone mortics and 4 angheuvore mortics, because I wanted the party to have fought every single kind of mortic by the end of the adventure. They were a bit of a speedbump, but nothing too ridiculous.
XP 1,600
Elf animus shade sorcerer 4 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 10)
CE Medium undead (humanoid, elf, incorporeal)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +9
Aura mental static (30 ft., DC 15)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+5 deflection, +3 Dex)
hp 40 (4d6+24)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, mental schism; Immune sleep, undead traits; Resist cold 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Melee incorporeal touch +5 (animus insinuation, DC 15)
Ranged rend psyche +5 touch (2d4 plus 1d6 Charisma damage, DC 15)
Special Attacks animus insinuation, corrupt intent, rend psyche
Bloodline Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +9)
. . 8/day—elemental ray (1d6+2 cold)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 4th; concentration +9)
. . 2nd (4/day)—spectral hand
. . 1st (8/day)—burning hands (cold) (DC 16), chill touch (DC 16), grease, magic missile
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, mage hand, message, read magic, touch of fatigue (DC 15)
. . Bloodline Elemental (water)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str —, Dex 16, Con —, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 20
Base Atk +2; CMB +5; CMD 20
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Eschew Materials
Skills Fly +18, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Perception +9, Spellcraft +8; Racial Modifiers +8 Intimidate, +8 Perception
Languages Common, Elven, Gnome
SQ bloodline arcana (change energy damage spells to match bloodline energy)
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Animus Insinuation (DC 15) (Sp) Affect touched creature with id insinuation i,id insinuation ii for 1 rd.
Bloodline Arcana: Elemental (Ex) You may change any energy spell to use Cold energy.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Combat Expertise +/-1 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Corrupt Intent (Su) When creature strikes you, it takes -1 pen on further atks for 1d4 rds (Will negates).
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Elemental Ray (1d6+2 cold, 8/day) (Sp) As a standard action, ranged touch attack deals damage to foe.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fly (30 feet, Perfect) You can fly!
Immunity to Critical Hits You are immune to Critical Hits
Immunity to Precision Damage You are immune to Precision Damage
Incorporeal (Ex) You aren't quite here.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mental Schism You are immune to effects that are dependent on alignment.
Mental Static Aura (30 ft., DC 15) (Su) Living creature in aura must make conc chk to cast spells with thought component.
Rend Psyche (DC 15) (Su) As std act, deal 2d4 dmg plus 1d6 Charisma dmg (Will half).
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
--------------------
Kadraz CR 5
XP 1,600
Human skeletal champion slayer 6 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 53, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 252)
NE Medium undead
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+3 armor, +5 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 60 (8 HD; 2d8+6d10+14)
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +7
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, trap sense +2; DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d4+1)
Ranged +1 composite longbow +14/+9 (1d8+4/×3)
Special Attacks sneak attack +2d6, studied target +2 (2nd, move action)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 20, Con —, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 25
Feats Deadly Aim, Improved Initiative, Improved Precise Shot, Manyshot, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow)
Skills Acrobatics +16, Disable Device +17, Intimidate +9, Perception +13, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +16
Languages Common
SQ combat style (archery), slayer talents (ranger combat style[ACG], ranger combat style[ACG], trapfinding[ACG]), track +3, trapfinding +3
Combat Gear adamantine durable arrow (50), ghost salted durable arrow (50), durable arrow (60); Other Gear mwk studded leather, +1 composite longbow (+3 Str), blunt arrows[APG] (20), 8 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadly Aim -2/+4 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Improved Precise Shot Ignore AC bonuses and miss chance from anything less than total cover/concealment.
Manyshot You can shoot two arrows as the first attack of a full attack action.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Sneak Attack +2d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Studied Target +2 (move action, 2 at a time) (Ex) Study foe as a Move action, gain +2 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
Track +3 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.
Trap Sense +2 (Ex) +2 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Trapfinding +3 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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Trondus CR 5
XP 1,600
Dwarf zombie lord unchained monk 5 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 286, Pathfinder Unchained 14)
LE Medium undead
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13 (+15 to notice unusual stonework)
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Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 19, flat-footed 18 (+1 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 monk, +2 natural, +3 Wis)
hp 53 (7 HD; 2d8+5d10+12)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +7; +2 vs. poison, spells, and spell-like abilities, +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, defensive training, evasion; DR 5/slashing; Immune undead traits
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +9/+9/+4 (1d8+3) or
. . slam +9 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks flurry of blows (unchained), hatred, stunning fist (5/day, DC 16), style strike
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +6; CMB +9; CMD 28 (32 vs. bull rush, 32 vs. trip)
Feats Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Following Step[APG], Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Step Up, Step Up And Strike[APG], Stunning Fist, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +13 (+18 to jump), Appraise +0 (+2 to assess nonmagical metals or gemstones), Intimidate +10, Perception +13 (+15 to notice unusual stonework), Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers +2 Appraise to assess nonmagical metals or gemstones, +2 Perception to notice unusual stonework
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ fast movement (unchained), ki pool (5 points, magic), ki power (high jump), style strike (flying kick)
Other Gear bracers of armor +1, ring of protection +1
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Defensive Training +4 Gain a dodge bonus to AC vs. monsters of the Giant subtype.
Deflect Arrows (1/round) While have an empty hand, negate one ranged weapon hit you are aware of (unless from a massive weapon).
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Fast Movement (Unchained) (+10 ft.) The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows (Unchained) (Ex) As full-rd action, gain extra attacks with unarmed strike/monk weapons.
Flying Kick (max 10 ft.) Before kick attack, move up to fast move bonus as part of flurry.
Following Step You may move 10' with Step Up, and still get a 5' step on your next turn.
Greed +2 to Appraise to determine price of nonmagic goods with precious metals or gemstones.
Hatred +1 Gain a racial bonus to attacks vs. Goblinoids/Orcs.
High Jump (Ex) Add level to jump and always running. As a swift action, use 1 ki for +20 to jump for 1 rd.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ki Pool (5/day) (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Step Up When a foe makes a 5 ft step away from you, you can move 5 ft to follow them.
Step Up and Strike With Step Up or Following Step, use one atk of opp to make attack against followed target.
Stonecunning +2 +2 bonus to Perception vs. unusual stonework. Free check within 10 feet.
Stunning Fist (5/day, DC 16) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Style Strike (1/round) (Ex) During flurry of blows, one or more unarmed strikes has an extra effect.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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Holy crap, the Coffer Crew was a fun fight! The occultist went in invisible and everyone just happily explained the circumstances, so the crew fought back. The monk wasn’t anything to sneeze at, but he failed to get his stunning fist off. The sorceress started off pretty strong, but after an enlarge person went off she targeted the occultist and failed to hit her touch AC of 12 every time! The archer (rebuilt as a slayer) was an absolute beast! I forget sometimes that archer builds win the DpR race, so when he started combat by immediately knocking out the alchemist I was taken aback. Eventually the wizard greased the bow and he failed the save, so he was reduced to using his 1d4 claws pathetically. The party won, but holy crap was it nasty!
--------------------
Xenopterid Spore Zombie CR 8
XP 4,800
Xenopterid spore zombie (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 283, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 287)
CE Medium undead (augmented vermin)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., lifesense; Perception +19
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+3 Dex, +10 natural)
hp 123 (13d8+65)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +9
Defensive Abilities ferocity; Immune undead traits
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft., fly 20 ft. (clumsy)
Melee unarmed strike +16/+11 (1d3+7) or
. . bite +16 (1d6+7 plus poison), 2 claws +16 (1d8+7/19-20 plus grab)
Special Attacks blood drain (1d2 Con), poison, spore burst (DC 20)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 24, Dex 17, Con —, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 19
Base Atk +9; CMB +16 (+24 grapple); CMD 29 (31 vs. grapple, 37 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Body Shield[UC], Greater Grapple, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Toughness
[b]Skills Acrobatics +3 (+7 to jump), Climb +29, Disguise +28 (+36 when disguised as a humanoid), Fly +4, Perception +19, Sense Motive +3, Stealth +25; Racial Modifiers +8 Disguise, +8 Disguise when disguised as a humanoid, +8 Stealth
Languages Abyssal
SQ entangling slime
--------------------
Ecology
--------------------
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, pair, or hive (3-30)
Treasure none
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Blood Drain (1d2 Con) (Ex) Drain blood to inflict Con dam to foe grappled at end of your turn.
Body Shield Gain cover against attacks while grappling
Climb (20 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Entangling Slime (DC 20) (Ex) Can slime a 10 ft square over 10 min. Foes entering may be stuck and entangled (Str check)
Ferocity (Ex) Fight without penalty even while disabled or dying.
Fly (20 feet, Clumsy) You can fly!
Grab: Claw (Medium) (Ex) You can start a grapple as a free action if you hit with the designated weapon.
Greater Grapple Maintaining a grapple is a move action, allowing you to make 2 checks a round.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Grapple You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling a foe.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Lifesense (60 ft.) (Ex) Sense living things and creatures without seeing them.
Poison: Bite-injury (DC 20) (Ex) Bite—Injury; save Fort DC 20; freq 1/rd for 6 rds; effect 1d4 Dex; cure 2 cons saves.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Spore Burst (1/day, DC 20) (Ex) Spray cloud of spores (dealing 2d6 dmg to self) in area to reach that nauseates for 1d4 rds and infests vermin (Fort neg).
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
I went full-on with the grapple stuff and it was a dreadful fight! The frontliner went next to it and took the nauseation for 5 rounds and got immediately grappled. From there it was just slowly sucking her blood and dealing poison until the oracle moved adjacent and it could bite him. The moment the nauseation ended it was basically just a full-attack away from death, but holy crap! The party was trying everything they could to stop it from grappling—bull’s strength, grease, etc.—but it just wouldn’t budge with its +24 to grapple and the +5 to maintain. The occultist also kept forgetting to use the greater heroism from the loci spirit throughout all of that.
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I forgot to mention that last week the party discovered that they have negative energy resistance after they failed to notice/disable the mass inflict moderate wounds trap.
The vampiric mists were cool flavor, but really weren’t too great on the combat side.
The guecubu. Holy crap that thing was horrifying! No one in the party had a way of getting rid of curses, so the party just chose to power through the -4 to basically everything, because everyone got cursed. That was a hard fight that was frankly only won by the alchemist’s wings.
The venedaemons were a pretty fun fight, but largely unremarkable.
I skipped the living walls; they weren’t too big of a deal.
The occultist, who had insane strength and ant haul decided to carry everyone up through the hole so that people wouldn’t be going one-by-one (they remember the esobok psychopomp too well). It worked out in their favor, because that rot grub swarm is absurd. They had an alchemist, so it wasn’t too bad, but still required the wizard to fireball everyone to destroy the remaining rot grubs.
Party leveled up (a little earlier than recommended, but they went through some really tough battles in Roslar’s Tomb, so I let them have it) and retroactively spent five days trying to remove the curses (since the alchemist got remove curse). They traveled through the tunnel and made it to the Bastion of Light, and I ended the session with them peeking through into the cathedral and just seeing the massive headless red reaver zombie (when I ran the PFS scenario, one of my players said that they chopped off the reaver’s head as a trophy for Roslar’s Coffer, so I decided that the zombie would be headless). I’m really excited that the party is finally at the Bastion of Light, because this place is fun!
Before the Reaver fight, the party chose to buff up to hell and back for the Red Reaver, which I changed to originally have the giant template (to be more consistent with the PFS scenario). It ended up being a 20 HD creature and it was scary! It only ever got one attack since the frontliner and alchemist mauled it, but still. Silly situation occurred with the wizard casting web and getting all of the combatants. That said, the party is now aware of all of the obol benefits because they’ve managed to extrapolate it.
I changed K5 to be more consistent with how it was in the PFS scenario, including giving 2d8 temporary hit points and a +2 to skill checks in the Bastion whenever the party drank the water from the font. The party did manage to trigger the trap, but it was just a nuisance than anything else.
The crypt things were really just a speed bump; their teleporting burst thing only managed to get one PC, and they literally only managed to teleport 30’ because of it.
Holy crap, that polong is nasty! It does so much damage on a hit and just screws parties over. If it weren’t for Legacy Weapon shenanigans to get ghost touch it would’ve been so much harder, but the occultist did misidentify it as another vampiric mist, so she didn’t manage to get undead-bane. The party cleaned out the fountain because the oracle apparently had purify food and drink.
The party chose to unbar the door to the mutant bear. They left a door open to the cathedral for it to go through and everyone except the invisible occultist went into K15 and shut the door. Unfortunately, the bear still has scent, so as soon as it moved adjacent to the occultist it knew where she was and attacked. Managed to cause a good amount of sanity damage to the oracle and wizard.
I kinda want to skip some of the encounters so that we can get to book 3 quicker, but the encounters in the Bastion are so good and interesting, though…
The fight against the bear was rather nasty—folks moved out of the way so the only one the bear could reach was the wizard casting enlarge person. A crit from the occultist’s falcata just wasted the bear.
The deathless researchers were odd; two were caught inside of a web, but their touch of idiocy is nasty, but lesser restoration got rid of it.
I just adjusted the bodak to be a young creature, but it was basically a ticking bomb. I ruled that it uses its standard to direct its gaze to make best use of its gaze. Thankfully only one person got the negative levels, and they went away on the save to prevent them from becoming permanent.
The oracle actually approached the disguised nekomata and petted it, but the nekomata didn’t manage to hit him. Due to poor stealth rolls the party knew the nekomatas were there, so they weren’t completely flat-footed, so I just could not get a freaking bite attack to work! Because of that, I ruled that they grew bored and decided to just attack. It wasn’t much to write about.
First thing about Ellot: he’s Medium, so he cannot trample other Medium creatures, so his tactics were immediately out the window. I instead had him do Flyby Attacks with his incorporeal touch and fly back up to the ceiling. The party had a bit of fun listening to Ellot’s unintelligent play-by-play, but grew worried about why he was talking. No one failed a save against the slime, and the party only barely managed to destroy him because of occultist Legacy Weapon shenanigans.
The party should be about done with Book 2 within the next session or two, so that’s exciting.
Party went straight to Valthazar from the fetoring maw. It was fun to roleplay him, and the party got some serious sanity damage after seeing their own zombies (wizard got schizophrenia). The oracle didn’t want to talk and decided to do a channel energy to start off combat.
XP 600
Advanced human juju zombie oracle (pei zin practitioner) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Healer's Handbook 20, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 42, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 291)
NE Medium undead
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3 (+1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+3 armor, +4 Dex, +5 natural, +1 shield)
hp 18 (1d8+10)
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +4; +4 Competence bonus vs. disease
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/magic, 5/slashing; Immune cold, electricity, magic missile, undead traits; Resist fire 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee club +6 (1d6+6) or
. . dagger +6 (1d4+6/19-20) or
. . slam +6 (1d6+9)
Ranged sling +4 (1d4+6)
Oracle (Pei Zin Practitioner) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +7)
. . 1st (5/day)—bless, cure light wounds, protection from evil
. . 0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, guidance, stabilize
. . Mystery Life
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 22, Dex 18, Con —, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 22
Base Atk +0; CMB +6; CMD 20
Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Profession [herbalist]), Toughness
[b]Traits sacred conduit, simple disciple, the word
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Appraise +1 (-1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Bluff +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Climb +12 (+10 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Diplomacy +6 (+4 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Disguise +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Escape Artist +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Fly +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Heal +8 (+6 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Intimidate +7 (+5 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Perception +3 (+1 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Profession (herbalist) +11 (+9 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Ride +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Sense Motive +6 (+4 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Stealth +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Survival +2 (+0 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally), Swim +4 (+2 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally); Racial Modifiers +8 Climb
Languages Common, Necril
SQ healer's way (0d6), master herbalist, oracle's curse (wasting), overprotective
Combat Gear healer's kit; Other Gear studded leather, buckler, club, dagger, sling, sling bullets (10), backpack, flint and steel, hemp rope (50 ft.), pot, waterskin, 62 gp, 1 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Healer's Way (0d6 hit points, 7/day) (Su) As a standard action (swift on self), touch channels positive energy to heal.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Magic Missile You are immune to magic missile.
Master Herbalist (Su) Can ID potions using Profession (herbalist) and in 1 rd.
Overprotective -2 to attacks and skill checks when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Wasting +4 competence bonus to save vs. Disease
--------------------
Juju Timi CR 2
XP 600
Advanced elf juju zombie wizard (exploiter wizard) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 133, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 291)
NE Medium undead
Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+1 armor, +5 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 13 (1d6+7)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +5; +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/magic, 5/slashing; Immune sleep, cold, electricity, magic missile, undead traits; Resist fire 10
Weaknesses light sensitivity
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +2 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . slam +2 (1d6+3)
Special Attacks arcane reservoir (1/4)
Wizard (Exploiter Wizard) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +7)
. . 1st—color spray (DC 17), enlarge person (DC 17), grease
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, mage hand
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 15, Dex 20, Con —, Int 22, Wis 14, Cha 18
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 17
Feats Extra Arcanist Exploit[ACG], Improved Initiative, Run, Scribe Scroll, Toughness[B]
[b]Traits indomitable faith, magical lineage, the artisan
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+9 to jump with a running start), Appraise +11, Climb +10, Heal +7, Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Knowledge (planes) +10, Knowledge (religion) +10, Perception +3, Spellcraft +10 (+12 to identify magic item properties); Racial Modifiers +8 Climb, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Necril, Orc, Sylvan
SQ elven magic, paranoid
Combat Gear scroll of enlarge person, scroll of grease, scroll of magic weapon, scroll of mount, scroll of obscuring mist, scroll of protection from evil, scroll of shield; Other Gear haramaki[UC], dagger, artisan's outfit, backpack, bandolier[UE], belt pouch, silk rope (50 ft.), wizard starting spellbook, wrist sheath, spring loaded, wrist sheath, spring loaded, 34 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Reservoir +2 DC or CL (4/day) (Su) Pool of points fuel exploits, or can expend to add +2 CL or DC while cast spell.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Magic Missile You are immune to magic missile.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Paranoid Aid Another DC 15 for attempts to help you.
Quick Study (Ex) Use 1 reservoir as a full rd action, consult spellbook to switch out mem spell (provokes AoO).
Run Run 5x your speed in light/medium armor or 4x speed in heavy armor and keep Dex when running.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
--------------------
Juju Velynd CR 2
XP 600
Advanced human juju zombie shifter (feyform shifter, wild effigy) 1 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook 15, Pathfinder Player Companion: Wilderness Origins 6, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 291, Ultimate Wilderness 26)
NE Medium undead
Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 14 (1d10+4)
Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/magic, 5/slashing; Immune cold, electricity, magic missile, undead traits; Resist fire 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +9 (1d4+8/19-20) or
. . quarterstaff +9 (1d6+12) or
. . shortspear +9 (1d6+8) or
. . 2 claws +9 (1d4+8), slam +9 (1d6+8)
Special Attacks aspect (mouse[UW]), shifter claws
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 26, Dex 20, Con —, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 11
Base Atk +1; CMB +9; CMD 24
Feats Athletic, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Toughness[B]
[b]Traits reactionary, the outsider
Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +16, Perception +8, Profession (charm weaver) +8, Stealth +6, Survival +9, Swim +8; Racial Modifiers +8 Climb
Languages Common, Druidic, Necril
SQ armor plating, fey aspect, shifter aspect (minor: 4)
Other Gear lamellar (leather) armor[UC], dagger, quarterstaff, shortspear, artisan's outfit, backpack, bedroll, bell net[UE], belt pouch, cold weather outfit, flint and steel, hemp rope (50 ft.), mess kit[UE], pot, signal whistle, small tent, soap, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, wooden holy symbol of Andoletta, 55 gp, 4 sp, 9 cp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Armor Plating +1 (Su) While shifted, +1 enhancement to nat armor, DR 1/adamantine.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fey Aspect (4 minutes/day) (Su) Swift, gain DR X/Cold Iron, concealment, and Low-light or Darkvision, plus more at high level.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Magic Missile You are immune to magic missile.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Shifter Aspect (Mouse, evasion) (Su) Minor Form: evasion. Major Form: tiny mouse.
Shifter Aspect (Su) Gain abilities of selected animal aspects.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
--------------------
Juju Zag CR 2
XP 600
Advanced ratfolk juju zombie alchemist (mindchemist, trap breaker) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Dungeoneer's Handbook, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 26, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 291, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 231, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 19)
NE Small undead
Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 24, touch 17, flat-footed 18 (+2 armor, +6 Dex, +5 natural, +1 size)
hp 12 (1d8+4)
Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +4; +2 vs. disease
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/magic, 5/slashing; Immune cold, electricity, magic missile, undead traits; Resist fire 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d3+3/19-20) or
. . slam +4 (1d4+4)
Ranged bomb +8 (1d6+6 fire)
Special Attacks bomb 7/day (1d6+6 fire, DC 16)
Alchemist (Mindchemist, Trap Breaker) Extracts Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +7)
. . 1st—monkey fish[ACG], targeted bomb admixture[UC] (2)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 22, Con —, Int 22, Wis 16, Cha 12
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 18
Feats Brew Potion, Improved Initiative, Point-Blank Shot, Throw Anything, Toughness[B]
[b]Traits child of the temple, clever wordplay, the pessimist
Skills Acrobatics +6 (+2 to jump), Climb +11, Craft (alchemy) +12 (+13 to create alchemical items), Disable Device +10, Heal +7, Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Knowledge (religion) +11, Linguistics +7, Perception +9, Spellcraft +10, Use Magic Device +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Climb, +2 Craft (alchemy), +2 Perception, +2 Use Magic Device
Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Goblin, Necril, Undercommon
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +1), cheek pouches, cleanliness, cognatogen (+4/-2, +2 natural armor, 10 minutes), umbral unmasking
Combat Gear alkali flask[APG], clear ear; Other Gear leather armor, dagger, alchemist starting formula book, alchemy crafting kit[APG], belt pouch, grappling hook, masterwork backpack[APG], silk rope (50 ft.), thieves' tools, vial (5), wrist sheath, spring loaded, 9 sp, 10 cp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Alchemy +1 (Su) +1 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Bomb 1d6+6 (7/day, DC 16) (Su) Thrown Splash Weapon deals 1d6+6 fire damage.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Cheek Pouches You can store things in cheeks, but suffer 20% failure with verbal spells.
Cleanliness +2 vs. disease, exceeding disease save by 5 counts as 2 cons. saves,
Cognatogen (DC 16) (Su) Mutagen adds +4 to a mental & -2 to a physical attribute, and +2 nat. armor for 10 minutes.
Damage Reduction (5/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Magic Missile You are immune to magic missile.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Throw Anything Proficient with improvised ranged weapons. +1 to hit with thrown splash weapons.
Umbral Unmasking You cast no shadow (DC 15 Perception to notice)
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
--------------------
Valthazar Quietus CR 10
XP 9,600
Dhampir agent of the grave 5/witch (gravewalker) 6 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 65, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 89, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 84)
NE Medium humanoid (dhampir)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., deathwatch (constant), low-light vision; Perception +4
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +3 Dex)
hp 87 (11 HD; 6d6+5d8+41)
Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +11; +2 vs. disease and mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities negative energy affinity; Resist undead resistance
Weaknesses light sensitivity
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +5 (1d4-1/19-20)
Special Attacks hexes (cackle[APG], misfortune[APG])
Witch (Gravewalker) Spells Prepared (CL 10th; concentration +14)
. . 5th—blood tentacles, wracking ray (DC 21)
. . 4th—boneshatter (DC 20), geb's hammer, sickening inflict moderate wounds (DC 18), litany of admonition (DC 20)
. . 3rd—bestow curse (DC 19), sickening inflict light wounds (DC 17), unliving rage[ACG], vampiric touch
. . 2nd—blood of the martyr (DC 18), false life, inflict moderate wounds (2, DC 18), lipstitch (DC 18)
. . 1st—ill omen[APG], inflict light wounds (DC 17), mage armor, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement (DC 17)
. . 0 (at will)—bleed (DC 16), detect magic, guidance, read magic
. . Patron Death
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 17
Feats Alertness, Craft Wondrous Item, Eldritch Heritage[UM], Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Sickening Spell[APG], Skill Focus (Knowledge [religion]), Spell Focus (necromancy)
Skills Appraise +7, Bluff +14, Diplomacy +9, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (planes) +18, Knowledge (religion) +24, Perception +4, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +18, Use Magic Device +18; Racial Modifiers +2 Bluff, +2 Perception
Languages Abyssal, Common, Giant, Infernal, Necril
SQ aura of desecration, bonethrall, bonus necromancy spells (bonus spell, bonus spell, bonus spell, bonus spell), death's shroud, deliver touch spells, fangs[ARG], inspired necromancy, lich's touch, negative energy affinity, negative energy conduit, resist level drain, undead manipulator, undeath initiate, unholy fortitude, witch's familiar (raven named Midnight)
Combat Gear riffle scroll of dimension door (CL 9th); Other Gear mwk dagger, cloak of resistance +3, deathwatch eyes[UE], gloves of bony power, headband of mental prowess +2 (Int, Cha), noble's outfit, signet ring
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Aura of Desecration (30 ft) (Su) At first level, a gravewalker can create a 20-foot-radius aura of evil power. This aura increases the DC of channeled negative energy by +1 and the turn resistance of undead by +1. At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the radius of the aura in
Bonethrall (DC 17) (Su) At 1st level, a gravewalker can take control of an undead creature within her aura of desecration by forcing her will upon it (Will negates, using her hex DC). If it fails the save, the creature falls under her control as if she had used command u
Cackle (Su) As a move action, extend the duration of other hexes by 1 rd.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Death's Shroud (1/day) (Su) As an agent of the grave gains power within the organization, he often must infiltrate other groups to gain further knowledge. At 4th level, he learns how to cloak his true intentions, gaining the ability to use nondetection or undetectable
Deliver Touch Spells (Su) At 3rd level or higher, a gravewalker can use her poppet to deliver touch spells. After casting a touch spell, as a full-round action, the witch can designate a target and stab a pin into her poppet, delivering the spell as a ranged touch attack. The
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Familiar Bonus: +3 to Appraise checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Fangs You can bite a helpless (automatic) or grappled (with a CMB check) foe for 1d3 dam.
Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy) +1 to the Save DC of spells from one school.
Inspired Necromancy (Ex) When determining the maximum number of Hit Dice of undead he can control with spells like animate dead, a character counts his agent of the grave levels twice. This ability does not factor into how many undead he can create with a single casti
Lich's Touch (7/day) (Su) At 1st level, the agent of the grave becomes a conduit for negative energy and the chill powers of death, allowing him to make a melee touch attack dealing 1d6 points of damage from negative energy per level of the agent of the grave class he attains
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Misfortune (1 round, DC 17) (Su) Foe in 30 ft must take the lower of 2d20 for rolls (Will neg).
Negative Energy Affinity (Ex) You are alive, but react to positive/negative energy as though you were undead.
Negative Energy Affinity (Ex) At 4th level, the agent of the grave, while still technically alive, reacts to positive and negative energy as if he were undead - positive energy harms him, while negative energy heals him. If the agent of the grave is already undead, this ability g
Negative Energy Conduit (1/day) (Ex) At 3rd level, an agent of the grave bolsters undead around him. As a standard action, an agent of the grave manifests an aura identical to the desecrate spell, except this foul aura has a duration of 10 minutes per level. An agent of the grave
Resist Level Drain (Ex) Negative levels don't impose penalties or become permanent, but still kill if exceed HD.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Sickening Spell You can cast a spell that sickens those injured by it (duration = spell's level in rounds, Fort negates).
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak with Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Spell Focus (Necromancy) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Undead Manipulator At 2nd level, the agent of the grave gains great insight into the minds and necromantic forces controlling undead creatures. An agent of the grave's spells and spell-like abilities with mind-affecting effects treat undead creatures as their original
Undead Resistance +2 bonus to saves vs. disease and mind affecting effects.
Undeath Initiate At 5th level, an agent of the grave has prepared his body and mind for the transition into undeath. He gains a +5 bonus on any ability check, skill check, or saving throw related to the process of transforming into an undead creature. This bonus can
Unholy Fortitude (Su) At 1st level, the agent of the grave can tap into his conviction and bolster his health. Starting with the hit points he rolls for gaining his first agent of the grave level and every time he gains a level in any class thereafter, the character may c
Witch's Familiar (Ex) Gain the services of a special familiar that stores spells.
--------------------
Midnight CR –
Raven (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 133)
N Tiny magical beast (animal)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +9
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +5 natural, +2 size)
hp 36 (1d8-1)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +10
Defensive Abilities improved evasion
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)
Melee bite +9 (1d3-4)
Space 2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks deliver touch spells
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 2, Dex 15, Con 8, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Atk +5; CMB +5; CMD 11
Feats Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Finesse
[b]Skills Acrobatics +2 (-6 to jump), Bluff +3, Diplomacy +3, Fly +6, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (arcana) +11, Knowledge (planes) +11, Knowledge (religion) +11, Perception +9, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +14, Use Magic Device +9
Languages Necril; speak with animal (same kind only), speak with master
SQ empathic link
Other Gear collar of sacrifice
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Deliver Touch Spells (Su) Deliever master's touch spells.
Empathic Link (Su) You have an empathic link with your master.
Fly (40 feet, Average) You can fly!
Improved Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save; half on failed save.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Share Spells Spells with a target of "You" can be delivered by a familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals of its Kind (Ex) You can communicate verbally with animals similar to yourself.
Speak with Master (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your master.
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I decided, instead of doing what the AP says, I decided to take the party’s level 1 stats and add advanced and juju zombie to it. It ended up with much lower HP, but was more personal. Literally everyone was laughing and confused when the very first thing that happened was Juju Timi starts casting enlarge person and the juju Samwise did a positive channel energy followed by a Healer’s Way, both of which did nothing for the undead. Oracle was the MVP because of the channeling; the moment the zombies were gone, Valthazar took a falcata-crit to the face and failed to run away with his scroll. Valthazar died from the oracle “throwing” a spiritual weapon at him!
I went full exposition with Valthazar’s journal, explaining basically everything about the radiant fire save that it’s from shards of the shield.
I really streamlined things after that, because I just knew things would be super easy from there on with the combats, and otherwise would just bog things down and cause the PCs to level up mid-session next week.
I kinda had to feed the party “you need to research in the library,” but other than that it wasn’t overly unexpected how things went with destroying the fetoring maw.
The party got about a day out from Roslar’s Coffer when they ran into Arazni on her wagon. The party was suspiciously compliant to talk as expected, and I had her call herself “Whisperbane.” Even though it said that she was just hiding in her cloak, but later on with Timberwood it was talking about the mask, so I did some photoshopping on an image of Arazni to put that mask on and that’s what I went with. She used the quickened dimension door to leave, because I just wanted to instill that “oh sh*t” in my players. I replaced 100 PP from the leather bag with 1000 gp of diamond dust.
Session ended with the party doing the 10-day journey to Vigil and figuring out how to take care of their sanity stuff.
Due to both PaizoCon Online and technical difficulties on my end, today’s was a short session. The party met with the NPCs in Vigil, only for it to amount to “you need evidence, come see us later.”
The main event of the session was meeting with Evni, who I had do a full-fledged harrow reading for the PCs (a la how CotCT handles it). The past and present columns during the harrow readings were pretty generic—an old evil (Tar Baphon) has sent you to a place of refuge (the Boneyard) where you were kicked out to maintain the natural order, you’re here bringing news, and so on. Of note, though, was the future column: The Midwife, The Beating, and The Crows. The Midwife represents new birth and doing good in even the worst situations (the PCs themselves). The Beating represents being attacked on all sides and overwhelmed, which definitely comes into play once the radiant fire goes off and Vigil is struggling to stay afloat. And finally The Crows represents theft and malicious cunning; I had the Six Wise Crows in mind when I was heavily emphasizing that card, but I honestly forgot that they were the Six Wise Crows, so that ended up being a lot more literal than I thought, as I was emphasizing their theft of the shards coming to light.
The party went to the Northroad station and saw the body. The alchemist flew up and triggered the fight against the wights (who were supposed to be advanced, but we were running low on time anyway, so meh). They saved the guy and learned about the Six Wise Crows attacking the station. Next week, they fight another mortic!
The fight against Usundra and Okagu was a bit lackluster, but because the party was loud they got time to buff to hell and back, but it didn’t really help.
The fire at the shop went about as expected, I chose to replace the Huge fire elemental with a Greater one, but it was really just a speed bump. Kinda annoying that the elemental couldn’t see through the smoke that was filling the building.
The party was ambushed by Kilibrandt and that was a really fun fight!
XP 6,400
Gnome unchained rogue (poisoner) 10 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 134, Pathfinder Unchained 20)
NE Small humanoid (gnome)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +5 Dex, +2 dodge, +1 size)
hp 88 (10d8+40)
Fort +8, Ref +14, Will +6; +2 vs. illusions
Defensive Abilities bond to the land[ARG], evasion, improved uncanny dodge
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +14/+9 (1d3+5/19-20)
Ranged +1 shortbow +14/+9 (1d4+1/×3)
Special Attacks sneak attack (unchained) +5d6
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 9
Base Atk +7; CMB +6; CMD 23
Feats Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Iron Will, Poison Focus, Ranged Feint[UI], Treacherous Toxin, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +18 (+14 to jump), Bluff +12, Craft (alchemy) +16 (+21 when working with poison), Diplomacy +12, Disguise +12, Escape Artist +18, Perception +12, Sleight of Hand +18, Stealth +22; Racial Modifiers +2 Craft (alchemy)
Languages Common, Elven, Gnome, Sylvan
SQ debilitating injury: bewildered, debilitating injury: disoriented, debilitating injury: hampered, master poisoner, poison use, rogue talents (combat trick, deadly range[UC], deadly range[UC], lasting poison, toxic regurgitation), vivacious
Combat Gear greater hushing arrow[UE] (3), burnt othur fumes, durable arrow (20), shadow essence (6); Other Gear +1 studded leather, +1 shortbow, mwk dagger, belt of incredible dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +2, 257 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Bond to the Land (Urban) +2 dodge bonus in selected terrain.
Combat Expertise +/-2 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Deadly Range +20 (Ex) Increase the range at which can make ranged sneak attacks.
Debilitating Injury: Bewildered -2/-6 (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage takes AC pen (more vs. striker) for 1 rd.
Debilitating Injury: Disoriented -2/-6 (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage takes attack pen (more vs. striker) for 1 rd.
Debilitating Injury: Hampered (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage has speed halved (and can't 5 ft step) for 1 rd.
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Improved Feint You can make a Bluff check to feint in combat as a move action.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >= 14) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 14+.
Lasting Poison (Ex) Applying poison as a full-rd action makes it last for 2 hits, but foes save at +2.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Master Poisoner +5 (Ex) Use Craft (alchemy) for 1 hr to change poison type (failure ruins). +5 Craft (Alchemy) for poisons.
Poison Focus +1 DC to poisons you craft with Craft (alchemy) and spells with the poison descriptor.
Poison Use You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Ranged Feint Feint with a ranged weapon
Sneak Attack (Unchained) +5d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Toxic Regurgitation (Ex) Store drunk noninhaled poison for up to 3 hours and spit it as ranged touch attack.
Treacherous Toxin (+2/max DC 20) Forgo Sneak Attack damage to increase poison DC by 1 per d6 sacrificed.
Vivacious Regain 50% more HP when resting, +1/2 caster's CL from healing spells.
--------------------
Onthur CR 5
XP 1,600
Human ranger (urban ranger) 3/unchained rogue (roof runner) 3 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 129, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 73, Pathfinder Unchained 20)
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +10
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 49 (6 HD; 3d8+3d10+15)
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities evasion
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk kukri +10 (1d4+4/18-20)
Ranged +1 composite longbow +10 (1d8+3/×3)
Special Attacks combat style (archery), favored enemy (humans +2), sneak attack (unchained) +3d6
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 21
Feats Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Extra Rogue Talent[APG], Iron Will, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +12, Climb +10, Disable Device +11, Knowledge (local) +8, Perception +10, Stealth +12, Survival +10
Languages Common
SQ favored terrain (urban +2), rogue talents (combat trick, ledge walker), roof running, track +1, trapfinding +1, tumbling descent, wild empathy +3
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds, thunderstone (2); Other Gear +1 chain shirt, +1 composite longbow (+2 Str), arrows (40), mwk kukri, 130 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Favored Enemy (Humans +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs. humans foes.
Favored Terrain (Urban +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls when in urban terrain.
Ledge Walker (Ex) No Acrobatics penalty at full speed on narrow, uneven, or slippery surfaces & not flat footed.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Roof Running (Ex) Can move across rooftops at full speed and without penalty to Dex skills/Ref saves.
Sneak Attack (Unchained) +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Track +1 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Tumbling Descent (Ex) Rapidly descend from great heights with a successful Acrobatics check.
Wild Empathy +3 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
--------------------
Ralidan CR 5
XP 1,600
Human ranger (urban ranger) 3/unchained rogue (roof runner) 3 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 129, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 73, Pathfinder Unchained 20)
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +10
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 49 (6 HD; 3d8+3d10+15)
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities evasion
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk kukri +10 (1d4+4/18-20)
Ranged +1 composite longbow +10 (1d8+3/×3)
Special Attacks combat style (archery), favored enemy (humans +2), sneak attack (unchained) +3d6
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 21
Feats Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Extra Rogue Talent[APG], Iron Will, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +12, Climb +10, Disable Device +11, Knowledge (local) +8, Perception +10, Stealth +12, Survival +10
Languages Common
SQ favored terrain (urban +2), rogue talents (combat trick, ledge walker), roof running, track +1, trapfinding +1, tumbling descent, wild empathy +3
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds, thunderstone (2); Other Gear +1 chain shirt, +1 composite longbow (+2 Str), arrows (40), mwk kukri, 130 gp
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Special Abilities
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Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Favored Enemy (Humans +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs. humans foes.
Favored Terrain (Urban +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls when in urban terrain.
Ledge Walker (Ex) No Acrobatics penalty at full speed on narrow, uneven, or slippery surfaces & not flat footed.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Roof Running (Ex) Can move across rooftops at full speed and without penalty to Dex skills/Ref saves.
Sneak Attack (Unchained) +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Track +1 Add the listed bonus to Survival checks made to track.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Tumbling Descent (Ex) Rapidly descend from great heights with a successful Acrobatics check.
Wild Empathy +3 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
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The baddies managed a surprise round, and the wizard was immediately targeted with one of the hushing arrows, realized he only barely succeeded against the poison on a nat 15, and hid under the awnings. Everyone was rather scrambling for something to do, because they had already expended their flying and teleportation, so the melee occultist was forced into using a bow. The alchemist got silenced (which sparked the conversation of if only he was affected or if it was a 20’ radius as per the spell; I left it to a roll of a die). Kilibrandt was just taking pot shots, but everyone managed to stay within 50’ of her, so she could still sneak attack/increase her poison’s DC. None of the Shadow Essences on her weapons went off, but when the alchemist staggered her with a frost bomb and moved to 10’ above her, she used Toxic Regurgitation to spit Burnt Othur Fumes at the alchemist since she didn’t have the move action to do a Ranged Feint.
The party barely managed to incapacitate (but not kill) Kilibrandt, so next week we’re going to be having that conversation.
Party chose, after a lot of deliberations, the party chose to release Kilibrandt, and she told everyone everything that she knew.
The spectres were actually really nasty! Two negative levels per hit is really freaking nasty! But occultist with ghost touch falcata just destroyed it.
The otyugh soothsayers were kinda meh; the only thing of note was confusing one of them, followed by the alchemist tripping it with a force bomb and being up in the air out of reach. The otyugh couldn’t possibly attack him in one round, so it just sat on the ground babbling for ages.
The putrid ooze was downright horrific! The party took care of it well, but holy crap it is just ridiculous how much damage it did!
The party caught the knights off-guard, so they didn’t really do much of anything. The party kept targeting their reflex saves, so yeah.
I sped through the other encounters in the sewers for expediency. The party allied with the otyughs, and I just handwaved the fight against the crocodile.
The party saw the trap outside of the door and managed to get into the room, catching the knights in there off-guard, so I handwaved that because they are only really a threat if they have time to buff.
Ended the session with the party coming down to the Redoubt. One of my players is starting to catch on that it was Arazni whom they met on the road to Vigil, but I'm just going to not say anything about it one way or the other.
The party just blew through the Redoubt.
They chose to burn one of the knights’ cloak of resistance in the brazier and got the bonus.
The graven guardians were meh. None of them attacked (because written tactics) and through shenanigans the party managed to pull out the holy symbols of Arazni from the knights.
The haunt was actually very interesting. The occultist had some stuff against haunts, so it was able to ask it questions and figure out that it just wanted to lay Arazni to rest. No one ever failed the save against the shout, so it wasn’t interesting.
The party saw the sump steward, who I roleplayed as “angry man yells at cloud.” I didn’t have him fight right off the bat because no one had entered his domain, so… Anyway, he got the party into the next room without anyone trying to Sense Motive. Snapper was really just a speed bump; a crit from the falcata just decimated it.
The party found the bloodstone, and since no one was able to use Spellcraft to ID it (CL 20), the occultist used object reading on it, which evoked a vision of Geb turning Arazni into a lich and extracting her organs, which caused some sanity damage. I replaced the lungs with the heart bloodstone, because the lungs one is just so poor and generic, whereas the heart one is actually pretty good.
Cleverquill did his thing of “halt or face certain death!” but the party caught on to his lack of intelligence and actually managed to bluff their way past him when only two people (one of whom dumped Cha.) were able to speak Draconic.
Noticed the alarm and disabled it. Saw the trap. Disabled it. Were still wearing the wooden holy symbols, so the golem didn’t attack.
I chose to combine Evark’s fight with the four knights, because they were all caught off guard and I felt the party was just blasting through things a bit too easily. Unfortunately, that means Evark didn’t buff, but it was actually a surprisingly fun fight despite the curb-stomping (though Evark’s first confusion did get two people in the party, but was immediately undone by calm emotions).
Dondun started negotiating with the party for his freedom, and basically everyone was against him. He pulled out the secret chest focus and agreed to allow the wizard and the alchemist to scribe from his spellbook (as long as they reciprocated); this swayed those two enough that the party was split right down the middle about what to do with him. Because folks were really split about it, I decided to end the session there (since we were already over time) and let them discuss it some more in the week before our next session. I’m heavily debating whether or not to increase Yosiduin’s mohrgs to 4 for the action economy, and I might do that if they take Dondun with them, but the paralysis seriously makes me hesitate.
XP 12,800
Old human arcane trickster 6/arcanist 4/unchained rogue 3 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 8, Pathfinder Unchained 20)
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +17
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +1 Dex)
hp 78 (13 HD; 10d6+3d8+27)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +9
Defensive Abilities danger sense +1, evasion
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 mithral dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . +1 mithral dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . +1 mithral dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . +1 mithral dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . +1 mithral dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20)
Special Attacks arcane reservoir (2/7), arcanist exploits (dimensional slide[ACG], item crafting[ACG], potent magic[ACG], quick study[ACG], swift consume[ACG]), consume spells, sneak attack (unchained) +2d6, sneak attack +3d6
Arcanist Spells Prepared (CL 10th; concentration +15)
. . 5th (3/day)—wreath of blades[UC] (DC 20)
. . 4th (5/day)—ice storm, greater invisibility
. . 3rd (5/day)—dispel magic, fireball (DC 19), suggestion (DC 19)
. . 2nd (5/day)—hideous laughter (DC 18), extended mage armor, mirror image, scorching ray
. . 1st (6/day)—ant haul[APG] (DC 16), infernal healing[ISWG], magic missile, shield, shocking grasp
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, disrupt undead, light, mage hand, message, open/close (DC 15), prestidigitation, read magic
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Statistics
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Str 4, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +7; CMB +4; CMD 15
Feats Craft Wondrous Item, Extend Spell, Extra Arcanist Exploit[ACG], Extra Arcanist Exploit[ACG], Extra Arcanist Exploit[ACG], Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Focus (evocation), Spell Mastery, Spell Mastery, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +17, Bluff +19, Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +16, Escape Artist +17, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (local) +21, Perception +17, Sleight of Hand +17, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +17
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Draconic, Gnome, Ignan
SQ impromptu sneak attack, ranged legerdemain, rogue talent (combat trick), trapfinding +1, tricky spells
Other Gear +1 mithral dagger, +1 mithral dagger, +1 mithral dagger, +1 mithral dagger, +1 mithral dagger, arcanist starting spellbook, spell component pouch, replica chest (worth 50 gp), 14,345 gp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Reservoir +2 DC or CL (7/day) (Su) Pool of points fuel exploits, or can expend to add +2 CL or DC while cast spell.
Consume Spells (3/day) (Su) As a swift action, expend a spell slot to add its spell levels to arcane reservoir.
Danger Sense +1 (Ex) +1 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Dimensional Slide (40 feet) (Su) Use 1 reservoir as part of move/withdraw, move to spot in sight for only 5 ft movement & no AoO.
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Extend Spell Spell duration lasts twice as normal. +1 Level.
Impromptu Sneak Attack (1/day) (Ex) You can declare any melee or ranged attack to be a sneak attack.
Quick Study (Ex) Use 1 reservoir as a full rd action, consult spellbook to switch out mem spell (provokes AoO).
Quicken Spell Cast a spell as a swift action. +4 Levels.
Ranged Legerdemain (Su) Can use Disable Device or Sleight of Hand from 30 ft away, but +5 DC.
Sneak Attack (Unchained) +2d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Sneak Attack +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Spell Focus (Enchantment) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Spell Focus (Evocation) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Spell Mastery (dispel magic) You can prepare the chosen spells without a spellbook.
Spell Mastery (secret chest, mage armor, magic missile, g.invis) You can prepare the chosen spells without a spellbook.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Tricky Spells (3/day) (Su) You can cast a spell without verbal or somatic components.
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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
After A LOT of deliberation, the party decided to lead Dondun Daradun out and back to Vigil, but he was not allowed to follow them through the rest of the redoubt, because they didn’t trust him to not stab them in the back. Looking over his stuff, I allowed it because he just wanted to get out of there.
The party disarmed the blade barrier trap and decided to go to the tower after dealing with Yosiduin (which never happened). They went against Roscasco, and he was a really generic combat; the party was never in a good enough position to bull rush into the iron maidens. Thankfully, the wizard, in an effort to get away, actually triggered one of the maidens, so that was fun! Dimension door as a verbal component got him out, though.
They ID’d the Urannag right off the bat and through a combination of flight and Disable Device got rid of it in one round.
XP 12,800
Middle-aged elf antipaladin (seal-breaker) 12 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Combat 43, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 118)
CE Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12
Aura death (10 ft.), rebirth (10 ft.), grave (10 ft., DC 20)
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Defense
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AC 23, touch 11, flat-footed 23 (+11 armor, +1 insight, +1 natural)
hp 130 (12d10+60)
Fort +17, Ref +12, Will +14; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep, disease
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor), fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee +1 grayflame speed spell storing warhammer +18/+14/+9/+4 (1d8+19/×3)
Special Attacks channel negative energy 5/day (DC 20, 6d6), smite good 4/day (+4 attack and AC, +12 damage)
Antipaladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +16)
. . At will—detect good
Antipaladin (Seal-Breaker) Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +13)
. . 3rd—defile armor[APG] (DC 17), second wind
. . 2nd—eagle's splendor, sense vitals, widen auras[ACG]
. . 1st—death knell (DC 15), litany of sloth[UC] (DC 15), protection from good
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Atk +12; CMB +12; CMD 27
Feats Cornugon Smash, Furious Focus[APG], Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Run, Toughness, Weapon Focus (warhammer)
Skills Acrobatics -5 (-1 to jump with a running start, -9 to jump), Bluff +19, Craft (taxidermy) +13, Fly -3, Intimidate +19 (+21 to demoralize), Perception +12, Sense Motive +9
Languages Celestial, Common, Elven, Gnome
SQ corpse rider (weapon +3, 2/day), creepy[HA], cruelties (diseased, frightened, shaken, staggered), touch of corruption 10/day (6d6)
Combat Gear potion of bear's endurance, potion of cure serious wounds (3), potion of fly; Other Gear mwk full plate, +1 grayflame speed spell storing warhammer, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of giant strength +2, cloak of resistance +2, dusty rose prism ioun stone, masterwork artisan tools, silver unholy symbol of Groetus, taxidermy tools, wooden holy symbol of Arazni the Red Crusader
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Special Abilities
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Antipaladin Channel Negative Energy 6d6 (5/day, DC 20) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Aura of Death (10 ft.) (Su) Undead creatures within 10' gain +2 profane bonus on saves.
Aura of Rebirth (standard action, 10 ft.) (Su) If creature slain within 10', spend 2 smite good to reanimate corpse as a mohrg.
Aura of the Grave (10 ft., DC 20) (Su) Mindless undead within 10' will not attack you unless directly ordered (Will negates).
Cornugon Smash When you damage an opponent with a Power Attack, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize your opponent.
Creepy Non-elf humanoids take -1 to save vs. your confusion/fear effects and +2 to intimidate for demoralize.
Cruelty (Diseased, DC 20) (Su) Touch of corruption can afflict target with disease, as per contagion (Fort neg).
Cruelty (Frightened, DC 20) (6 rounds) (Su) Touch of corrupution can frighten target for 6 rounds (Fort neg).
Cruelty (Shaken, DC 20) (12 rounds) (Su) Touch of corrupution can make target shaken for 12 rounds (Fort neg).
Cruelty (Staggered, DC 20) (6 rounds) (Su) Touch of corrupution can stagger target for 6 rounds (Fort neg).
Detect Good (At will) (Sp) You can use detect good at will (as the spell).
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Fiendish Boon (Weapon +3, 12 mins, 2/day) (Sp) Weapon shines with light and gains enhancement bonuses or chosen properties.
Fly (40 feet, Good) You can fly!
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Run Run 5x your speed in light/medium armor or 4x speed in heavy armor and keep Dex when running.
Smite Good (4/day) (Su) +4 to hit, +12 to damage, +4 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Touch of Corruption (6d6 hit points, 10/day) (Su) As a standard action, touch channels negative energy and applies cruelties.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
The Yosiduin fight was almost boring if it weren’t for the last-minute potion of fly I gave him to prevent the create pit from going off. The mohrgs and Yosiduin were mostly going at the occultist who had both mirror image and blur going, so it was A LOT of whiffing. After getting to 25 HP, Yosiduin decided to attack the oracle so he could get his vampiric touch to go off, and holy crap! Two attacks from Yosiduin sent the oracle from basically full to dead! It was only because of Hero Points that he was able to stay alive, but that alone made my saltiness about create pit being a “save-or-suck you’re out of the combat” disappear! Using a shadow conjurationed babau, the vampiric touch HP got dispelled, and Yosiduin just went down. The funniest thing, though, is that there was this one mohrg that would NOT roll above a 5! He got slowed, tripped, blinded, hit with channels, etc. That mohrg was just having a really bad day.
The party wanted to continue, but through the wizard’s scorpion familiar (who was sent to him from Nethys), I basically had a “you feel an urging from a higher power” to get the party to rest, because once they read Yosiduin’s manuscript, then they’re booking it back up to Vigil. I also decided to take it upon myself to actually write out the manuscript itself, both to further the story and to give some foreshadowing as to what Gildais is.
A lock forged from light would never yield to keys made from darkness.
“You have done well watching over the Six Wise Crows,” Gildais’s teeth chatter from behind his hooded cloak, his skeletal maw speaking with a unempathetic coldness. “And for that I will reward you: your search for the lesser seal has proven pointless.”
I wait in silence for the being before me to finish his thought, but when no more words came from the Count I realized that that was the extent of his “reward.”
“E-excuse me?” I manage to utter. “Our reward is that our search for the seal—our life’s goal—has become pointless? What of the Great Seal? Of Gallowspire? Of Tar-Baphon? You most of all should—“
Gildais holds up a hand for silence. “The Tyrant shall be freed.” A pause fills the room before the Count continues. “I can sense your confusion; allow me to explain. Tell me, how did Tar-Baphon find himself imprisoned under Gallowspire?”
I blinked in confusion. I thought for a moment that he was joking, but one look at Gildais’s hollow sockets sent a chill down my spine as I realized the sincerity of his question.
“During his fight against Generals Arnisant and Iomedae, the Tyrant wished for Arnisant’s heart to be in his hand. Arnisant was protected by the Shield of Aroden, and instead of the general’s heart, the Whispering Tyrant’s hand was embedded with a shard of the shield as it shattered. The Tyrant fled back to Gallowspire to regroup, during which the Shining Crusade built the Great Seal to trap the lich, giving three lesser seals to—“
“Indeed.” Gildais interrupted. “And so Tar-Baphon remained for the better part of a millennium; raging against the Great Seal in futility while also concocting a method of escape. Blast after blast was thrown at the Seal, but to no avail. The barrier would not budge. I, however, chose instead to push through the painful positive energy that made up the Seal, and to my astonishment, one day I simply walked through.
“That’s when the Whispering Tyrant had a revelation: this barrier, forged in desperation by an army of holy crusaders to finish the war once and for all, would never yield to the efforts of negative energy. They say insanity is repetition of actions and expecting different results; it was on this day that Tar-Baphon lost his insanity, for in order to destroy a barrier of positive energy, he would have to use just that: positive energy.”
I stared in astonishment at Gildais, listening intently without saying a word as to not interrupt him.
“You see, the Shield of Aroden, in its current state, was believed to be useless compared to what it once was—and in many ways that is true—but the Tyrant discovered that it was still able to protect its wielder from harm by taking the harm upon itself; not to the same degree as the whole shield, but enough.
“The lich crafted a powerful spell: one that would summon a great blast of positive energy concentrated upon the Tyrant himself. The shard in his hand would then absorb the blast, lethal to any undead, and takes the lethal energy and shunts it to another shard, which, unable to handle the energy, shunts it right back. This oscillation continues until one of the shards can no longer handle it. When this happens, the shard explodes in a cleansing fire with the force of Tar-Baphon’s blast multiplied by the latent power of a godly artifact. This is the Radiant Fire.
“The Tyrant, through me, employed the Six Wise Crows to steal the shards from Vigil and replace them with ten specially-made forgeries. With his new weapon in hand, Tar-Baphon needed to test it—bridge the gap from theory to practicality. He sent a shard to a small town in rural Lastwall and set it off in the middle of the night. The test proved better than expected, and thus the Whispering Tyrant was ready to strike with his new weapon!”
Ten forgeries...? I thought. Something clicked in my mind. “You left a shard in Vigil!”
“Indeed. Only ten of the eleven shards were taken from Vigil, leaving one true shard for the Whispering Tyrant to detonate. Thus far, two of the three lesser seals that bind Tar-Baphon have been destroyed—one well over a decade ago, and the other by a contingent of Seal-Breakers in Kaer Maga less than a year ago; leaving the seal kept by the Knights of Vigil. You have been searching for the lesser seal in Vigil for years to no avail, but thus comes your reward: your search for the seal has become moot, because,” A bony smile spreads across Gildais’s face. “When Vigil is targeted by the Radiant Fire, then the exact location of the seal is irrelevant; it shall be destroyed just the same.
“With the Radiant Fire, the Whispering Tyrant shall bring Golarion to its knees!” Gildais stands, arms outstretched in a pose of
(The rest of the document is filled with various lines of writing written in a less meticulous fashion, most of which has been scratched out, as if the author were writing out different phrasings for what came next, but didn’t like any of them.)
After seeing the manuscript, the party (with Dondun Daradun in tow) booked it back up to Vigil when they felt the Radiant Fire go off (I described it as a small earthquake or the aftershock of a bigger one). They came back up and I flavored their return to Vigil as being “where am I?” since it was so different. I spent a solid 15-20 minutes going over the sights before them at the ruins of Vigil just to get across the sense of “You knew this was a possibility—you came here to warn folks—but you never thought how real the situation was.” The oracle is having an in-character existential crisis of “Why did Nethys tell us to sleep? We could have stopped this!” which I am loving. I had Dondun fall to his knees at the sight of Vigil and just be completely speechless at it all, and the oracle just drove the nail further by responding to his “where are we” with “This is what you’ve created, what your actions have brought about!” It was just so good to see it be more organic with how Dondun just turns around and is suddenly repentant, because he’s not a killer (he was burning down the steelworks to destroy evidence; he didn’t know a child was in there), so seeing the death and destruction that is, frankly, directly his fault was just mind-shattering.
The session ended with the party hearing the toll from the Sancta Iomedaea and making their way there. I’m really scared about these next few sections, because I told myself that I wouldn’t tell the party directly that they’d only be able to do this all in one day, so I’m just hoping that they’re prepared.
Had to skip last week because I was out of town, so folks had two weeks before dealing with Vigil.
I’m normally not one for random encounters, but I decided to run the Unrisen Attack encounter because I wanted to give the unrisen’s essential salts to the party, and I liked how the encounter was done. The hammers of justice all survived, so there was that.
The troop/trench mist combat was ridiculous! Dondun, having not properly prepped from his spellbook, could do NOTHING to the troop. And while the troop was at 4 hit points, it entered basically everyone’s space, provoking from 7 separate people/summons. Because of their Mobility feat, they ALL missed and did an automatic 30 damage to a good number of folks. Then the mist came out and screwed up everything! The mist engulfed the hammers of justice and got right on top of the troop. The troop then died, and because their death burst doesn’t list a reflex save, the oracle took 18 damage automatically. He then tried to run at another player’s urging and ended up getting touched by the mist. Sure, he took 20 less damage because of the obols, but he was knocked out, and couldn’t take the immediate action to end his life link because he had already taken a swift action to use Healer’s Way on himself. The hammers of justice tried to get to him to use Lay on Hands on him, but all provoked from the mist and all of them flat-out died! If it got back around to the oracle’s turn, then he would have died because of life link, but right as I was about to finagle one player giving him his Hero Point, he had the idea to have the wizard dimension door him “some-hundred feet thataway” in order to get out of range of life link and have it end automatically. The occultist used some summon shenanigans to trap the mist in a cylindrical wind wall, and kept stacking those on top of each other, since it couldn’t get through them because it’s gaseous. I honestly did not think that that fight was going to be anything to write home about, but holy crap!
They got into the cathedral and met with Captain Shaylee, who started talking about the Haunting Dark, which prompted a “is it knowledge (arcana) to ID it?” “Can’t see it from where you are.” “Can I get a better description of the Haunting Dark?” “I [Shaylee] have been preoccupied with making sure folks don’t die, so I haven’t really been listening to the survivors’ accounts of the thing.” I also had Shaylee and her crew being out on a favor from Ceto when the blast hit, so that I could give the party a sense of “The only reason I’m alive right now is because of you guys.”
The session ended with the party going into the proper part of the Ossuaries of the Fallen, and having identified both abjuration and necromancy (arcane lock and bestow curse) on the central pillar where the secret door is. I had wanted to get to the Ceto fight today, but that troop/mist fight was surprisingly difficult. The party is minorly spent on resources—the alchemist has nine bombs left and the oracle hasn’t even tapped into his spells—so I have high hopes for them, but the fight against Ceto is going to be something else.
Hoo boy, I loved today’s session!
The party figured out the puzzle with the secret door, but decided to check out the northern tombs first.
Ceto had used a scroll of invoke deity for the War domain benefit (the random 1d6 sonic in her statblock is supposed to be the extra 1d6 from the spell), so when the party entered they heard the faint sounds of combat, so they rushed in, only to find Ceto with a bunch of gold in one hand and her sword in the other. Due to my lack of decent improv skills Ceto sounded kinda stammering and unable to figure out what she wanted to say, so I chalked that up to her being so angry. The party tried talking her down, but she only got angrier, as I was roleplaying her as almost nihilistic—believing that only the strongest people still left in Vigil had a chance of survival and retaliation against the Tyrant, and that every boring joe still alive was consigned to death the moment the Radiant Fire went off. I had the occultist notice some psychic energy flowing off of Ceto from her anger and to the two fallen. When the fallen came out, I had Ceto hesitate for a bit and then just say “I’m sorry, but you’ve seen too much.”
XP 12,800
Human (Taldan) warpriest of Iomedae 12 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 60)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +7; Senses Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 27, touch 15, flat-footed 26 (+12 armor, +4 deflection, +1 Dex)
hp 105 (12d8+48)
Fort +18, Ref +11, Will +16
Defensive Abilities freedom of movement, light fortification, sacred armor (+2, 12 minutes/day); DR 2/adamantine
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee jalnesin’s broken bonds (chain) +15/+10 (2d4+21) or
. . (L) lion's paw +17/+12 (2d6+25/17-20 plus 1d6 sonic)
Ranged mwk composite longbow +13/+8 (1d8+6/×3)
Special Attacks blessings 9/day (Glory: demoralizing glory, glorious presence, War: battle lust, war mind), channel positive energy 4/day (DC 18, 4d6), fervor 8/day (4d6), sacred weapon (1d10, +3, 12 rounds/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +11)
. . 1/day—searing light
Warpriest Spells Prepared (CL 12th; concentration +14)
. . 4th—divine power, freedom of movement, good hope
. . 3rd—daylight, dispel magic, invisibility purge, prayer
. . 2nd—align weapon, bull's strength, grace[APG], inheritor's smite, resist energy, shield of fortification[ACG]
. . 1st—bless, divine favor, endure elements, protection from evil, shield of faith (2)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, guidance, light, read magic, stabilize
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 22, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +9; CMB +14; CMD 30
Feats Additional Traits, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Deific Obedience, Greater Weapon Focus (longsword), Greater Weapon Specialization (longsword), Improved Critical (longsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Quicken Blessing[ACG], Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (longsword), Weapon Specialization (longsword)
Traits fate's favored, lastwall defender
Skills Acrobatics -1 (-5 to jump), Appraise +3, Bluff +4, Climb +4, Diplomacy +17, Disguise +4, Escape Artist -1, Fly -1, Heal +4, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (religion) +18, Perception +4, Ride -1, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +18, Stealth -1, Survival +4, Swim +4
Languages Celestial, Common
SQ belt of the last wall, glorious servant
Combat Gear adamantine durable arrow (50), potion of gaseous form, scroll of invoke deity; Other Gear banded mail of luck, lion's paw, mwk composite longbow (+4 Str), belt of the last wall, circlet of persuasion, cloak of resistance +4, corset of delicate moves, cracked opalescent white pyramid ioun stone, jalnesin's broken bonds, bejeweled holy symbol of iomedae (worth 2,500 gp)
--------------------
Special Abilities
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Belt of the Last Wall (Ex) Following the Radiant Fire exploding, Ceto saved the relic from destruction and led multiple civilians to safety from the various undead, earning the belt's favor.
Blessings (9/day) (Su) Pool of power used to activate Blessing abilities.
Damage Reduction (2/adamantine) You have Damage Reduction against all except Adamantine attacks.
Deific Obedience Purify yourself daily to prove devotion to a deity and gain benefits.
Fervor (4d6, 8/day) (Su) Standard action, touch channels positive/negative energy to heal or harm. Swift to cast spell on self.
Freedom of Movement (Sp) Subject moves normally despite impediments to movement.
Glorious Servant (Sp) shield of faith 3/day, enthrall 2/day, or searing light 1/day
Light Fortification (Ex) When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on this creature there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and damage is instead rolled normally.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quicken Blessing (Battle Lust [Su]) Expend 2 uses of blessings to deliver selected blessing as swift action.
Sacred Armor +2 (12 minutes/day) (Su) As a swift action, grant armor enhancement bonus or certain powers. Use 1 fervor as free action to also activate Sacred weapon.
Sacred Weapon +3 (12 rounds/day) (Su) As a swift action, grant weapon enhancement bonus or certain powers.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Warpriest Channel Positive Energy 4d6 (4/day, DC 18) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
--------------------
This ghostly crusader floats just above the ground, yet despite its phantomlike appearance, its armor and weapons seem quite solid.
--------------------
Fallen Ancestor #1 CR 9
XP 6,400
Advanced fallen (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 126)
LE Medium undead (incorporeal)
Init +5; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +19
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 28, touch 17, flat-footed 27 (+9 armor, +6 deflection, +1 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 115 (11d8+66)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits; Resist acid 5, fire 5
Weaknesses light sensitivity
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee longsword +20/+15 (1d8 force/19-20 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy) or
. . longsword +16/+11 (1d8 force/19-20 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy), heavy shield bash +15 (1d4 force plus despair and 2d6 negative energy)
Ranged longbow +13/+8 (1d8 force/×3 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy)
Special Attacks agent of despair, curse of the unburied, phantom armaments, touch of the grave
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +18)
. . 3/day—deeper darkness, telekinesis (DC 21)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str —, Dex 20, Con —, Int 17, Wis 21, Cha 22
Base Atk +8; CMB +19; CMD 35
Feats Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Fly +15, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (religion) +17, Perception +19, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +17, Survival +16
Languages Celestial, Common, Necril
--------------------
Ecology
--------------------
Environment any
Organization solitary, squad (2–6), or platoon (7–16)
Treasure none
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Agent of Despair (DC 21) (Su) Attacks inflict -4 penalty on saves vs. fear (Will neg).
Blindsense (60 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Curse of the Unburied (1/day, DC 21) (Su) Curse (-2 all abil. scores) divine character whose god is opposed to the creation of undead (Will neg).
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fly (30 feet, Good) You can fly!
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Critical Hits You are immune to Critical Hits
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Precision Damage You are immune to Precision Damage
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Shield Bash You still get your shield bonus while using Shield Bash.
Incorporeal (Ex) You aren't quite here.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Phantom Armaments (Su) All weapons and armor are made of force.
Rejuvenation (Su) Fallen return after a few days unless funeral rites are performed over remains or site where killed.
Shield Slam Shield Bash attack gives a free bull rush on a hit.
Touch of the Grave (Su) Attacks deal neg. energy damage that does not heal undead.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
--------------------
This ghostly crusader floats just above the ground, yet despite its phantomlike appearance, its armor and weapons seem quite solid.
--------------------
Fallen Ancestor #2 CR 9
XP 6,400
Advanced fallen (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 126)
LE Medium undead (incorporeal)
Init +5; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +19
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 28, touch 17, flat-footed 27 (+9 armor, +6 deflection, +1 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 115 (11d8+66)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits; Resist acid 5, fire 5
Weaknesses light sensitivity
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee longsword +20/+15 (1d8 force/19-20 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy) or
. . longsword +16/+11 (1d8 force/19-20 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy), heavy shield bash +15 (1d4 force plus despair and 2d6 negative energy)
Ranged longbow +13/+8 (1d8 force/×3 plus despair and 2d6 negative energy)
Special Attacks agent of despair, curse of the unburied, phantom armaments, touch of the grave
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +18)
. . 3/day—deeper darkness, telekinesis (DC 21)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str —, Dex 20, Con —, Int 17, Wis 21, Cha 22
Base Atk +8; CMB +19; CMD 35
Feats Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Fly +15, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (religion) +17, Perception +19, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +17, Survival +16
Languages Celestial, Common, Necril
--------------------
Ecology
--------------------
Environment any
Organization solitary, squad (2–6), or platoon (7–16)
Treasure none
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Agent of Despair (DC 21) (Su) Attacks inflict -4 penalty on saves vs. fear (Will neg).
Blindsense (60 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Curse of the Unburied (1/day, DC 21) (Su) Curse (-2 all abil. scores) divine character whose god is opposed to the creation of undead (Will neg).
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fly (30 feet, Good) You can fly!
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Critical Hits You are immune to Critical Hits
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Precision Damage You are immune to Precision Damage
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Shield Bash You still get your shield bonus while using Shield Bash.
Incorporeal (Ex) You aren't quite here.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Phantom Armaments (Su) All weapons and armor are made of force.
Rejuvenation (Su) Fallen return after a few days unless funeral rites are performed over remains or site where killed.
Shield Slam Shield Bash attack gives a free bull rush on a hit.
Touch of the Grave (Su) Attacks deal neg. energy damage that does not heal undead.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
I decided to really pound up the fallens’ AC by giving them full-plate and heavy shields because they could really only poke for damage because of the obols negating the negative energy damage. The party went after the fallen, because ghosts, and Ceto used her first turn to activate sacred weapon, her corset of delicate moves to activate her battle lust, then cast divine power. She wasn’t in range of a full-attack, but she moved up to the occultist and did an Improved Vital Strike for a whopping 9d6+33 damage! After taking 60 HP, the occultist actually started getting scared and trying to figure out what to do, because Ceto actually survived the occultist’s full-attack. The oracle did a grace followed by a drag combat maneuver on the alchemist to get him out of harm’s way, and the alchemist downed Ceto, but didn’t kill her. After that, there was some interesting shenanigans with emergency force sphere and the fallen coming in through the floor, but the fallen themselves weren’t too big of threats.
The party then healed up Ceto and tried to talk to her again, which was met with Ceto trying (and failing because of a dispel) to get away with gaseous form, then trying to just leave, but the party knocked her out again. They tied her up (after several failed attempts to dispel her freedom of movement, and after it was clear that she had lost, Ceto just tried explaining her side, which ended in a massive circular conversation where the good oracle wanted to save the citizens while Ceto believed that they honestly couldn’t save that many people. There was a funny line where Ceto was talking about “one bolt isn’t going to do squat” and the Nethysian wizard came back and said “But it’s a magical ballista bolt.” Ceto just looked at him and said “Big whoop! A little more damage and a little more accuracy? Not gonna mean much!”
Ceto eventually gave in to her fate and just stopped talking with the party. They brought her back up to the cathedral to explain the circumstances, which led to an uproar of despair and some people trying to escape the cathedral to just end their suffering at the hands of the Haunting Dark. Captain Shaylee took custody of Ceto, said some words of “You are disgusting!” and gave the party the two relics that Ceto had on her, believing that they were more worthy of them than Ceto ever would be.
They unlocked the secret door and we ended the session with them moving up to where Aylunna is being held. Thankfully, the fight against the greater shadows didn’t happen (because that would have wrecked some folks), but the alchemist is out of bombs and the wizard is a bit tapped for spells, so the rest of book 3 is going to be absolutely ridiculous. The oracle’s player was pushing people onward, but it’s going to be interesting going on with the remainder of this book, because I said that the big challenge of this section was that it all had to happen in one day, and that I wouldn’t be telling that to my players.
We’re going to be off next week due to my Finnish player being in a convention, though.
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The party started off by going up against the kalavakus demon and the swarm, and…it was more difficult than I expected. The demon actually managed to get a dominate person off, despite the party’s efforts to stop it. Though the save was successful. Overall, a surprisingly difficult fight that I expected to be a roadbump.
The party continued on as expected—Aylunna helps them get to the ballista tower and so on. The mutant stranglereed was a speedbump, as expected, but when it focus-fired on someone it was downright horrific! 2d8+9 plus grab with its tendrils.
The party overcame the trapped book easily without even needing to make a roll. I chose to give them the names of the three nightwings in the AP as well as a brief description of each (Vasdrauk having icicle teeth, Veyhas’s maw having “crimson cold,” and Anabarondye being skeletal) and let them figure it out from there. The alchemist stayed back to fire the ballista, combined with a bestow weapon proficiency scroll. The occultist used Legacy Weapon and other stuff to basically make the ballista a +1 undead-bane keen ballista, which was unexpected but welcomed. Anabarondye unfortunately succeeded at the save against iomedae’s needle (even with the sickened from the oracle casting daylight on the bolt), but the bolt got stuck in its ribcage, so the nightwing was basically stuck in bright light. It did a cone of cold straight down that did little because of prebuffing, and then used Snatch on the oracle and tried to fly away with him. Didn’t work out too well because of the rules being specific about that stuff. Ultimately, his demise was Aylunna, who had some searing lights prepped and was doing about 45 damage per ray.
It’s a bit of an awkward ending point right now, with there being only one fight before the party levels up, but I’m planning on doing the roleplay with Arazni next session, and I imagine that’ll take up quite some time, so I’m going to say that the party levels up after next session.
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Whoo boy! Today was fun!
The fight on the Golden Dawnrose was absolutely absurd. I kept rolling high for the turtle’s reflex saves and somehow it failed against the lipstitch. The draugrs—especially the troop—were absolutely stupid! That troop had some stupid stuff and nauseated the oracle for three rounds. Charkavo eventually got stuck into a pit and was just annihilated. The troop was only taken out because of some summons with lightning bolts.
The party managed to save 2,400 people from Vigil, and a number of the PCs were in single digits for their sanity by the end of it.
The party gave Timberward to Aylunna and immediately went off to the bastion to meet Arazni. The llorona was absolutely terrifying—half the party failed their save against the wail and was only able to be saved after several dimension doors to move away from the water. The only thing it had left was the freaking Con drain.
I have to say, the party had some fun interacting with Malachaih. I had him give the party four scrolls of greater restoration to offset the absolutely absurd 13 sanity damage Arazni’s presence would deal to the party. I got at least one “oh sh*t” when I said Arazni’s name in the box-text, so I felt good with how I set up the story. I ran it mostly as-written, but what was absolutely amazing was the oracle and Arazni, two people who were in situations they absolutely did not choose for themselves, glaring daggers at each other. The party chose to go along with Arazni’s plan, but the oracle was very frustrated with all of it, almost lashing out against Arazni as an effigy of the powers that be.
I have to say, I absolutely adore the new direction that Arazni’s character went. It’s so freaking good!
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So for the fight against Ossua and the troop, the occultist started combat by taking Ossua’s full-attack to the back. Other than that, the fight was kinda bleh.
The horse thing was ridiculous! The party knew what it was because of the deathwatch eyes they were still wearing, so the alchemist went up to try and blow it up, which caused it to attack. Because I couldn’t trample more than one person on the first round, it full-attacked the adjacent alchemist for 100 damage and 4 negative levels, which outright killed him (thank you breath of life). It only got to trample once and that was kinda pathetic.
The oracle tried to use calm emotions on Gibrous, and he succeeded at his save, so he attacked. I made the mistake of letting the boggles basically do a variant on sniping by stealthing right after casting the spells, and it just dragged out combat heavily. Everyone except the occultist got confused by the end of it, but the party managed to knock Gibrous out rather than kill him, so that’s good.
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Moving up to college screwed up last week’s game, so we had to skip it.
Fight against Calloagh was laughably easy. I added four more excavators to add in more action economy, but the oracle went out front and cast undeath ward, so the mindless creatures just face-planted into the barrier. Calloagh didn’t hit once with her rocks, but gave me and probably the player a heart attack on a crit threat with her scythe (didn’t confirm, though).
There was only one person in the party with a displayed holy symbol (the wizard), but the haunt got destroyed in the surprise round.
The party was at the exact caster level that they needed to be at to be able to dimension door all the way up the Wailing Cascade, so I ruled that since they didn’t even get near the dragon’s cave, Chunvexus had zero reason to believe that they were there to kill him, so the party just skipped a freaking dragon fight.
The party fell for the pegasi (had them all aiding Dawnwatch’s Bluff), and surprisingly everyone got bucked off of the pegasi. It only really mattered for two of them, but after a feather fall went off and two air elementals started doing whirlwind at the clumped up pegasi, I just handwaved it because any pegasi not stuck in the whirlwind would’ve just ran after seeing themselves outmatched. And I didn’t want to deal with whirlwind.
I spent a good amount of time describing Gallowgarden, because it is just so eerily creepy! I kept bringing up the juxtaposition of this beautiful lush land tied with all of this perverse weirdness and oddities. I ended up describing it as a being “pure life spawned from death.”
Instead of two flytraps, I had the party fight a single giant sundew to give more diversity in combats. That thing was vicious! It hits like a truck and automatically grapples! I wish I had noticed that its adhesive suppresses for 1 round after taking 10 or more cold damage, because that would have heavily changed the alchemist’s actions, but whatever.
Next week, I’m hoping we get through the encounters quickly, because I’m excited for the introduction of the Council Libertine.
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The party fell for Adenos’s schtick. I made her advanced and I had her cast her summon spell mid-combat in an attempt to “help” the party, but the summoned leukodaemon just started attacking. Otherwise, nothing too interesting.
Due to arcane eye shenanigans, the party saw through the furcifer’s stuff and just moved on.
The alchemist bombed the gold in the gully to get rid of the yellow mold, which provoked the moldwretches, but they weren’t really a threat, though.
XP 25,600
Human graveknight cavalier 12 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 32, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 138)
NE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +27
Aura sacriligious aura (30 ft., DC 21)
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Defense
--------------------
AC 29, touch 11, flat-footed 28 (+10 armor, +1 Dex, +4 natural, +4 shield)
hp 178 (12d10+108)
Fort +17, Ref +11, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; DR 10/magic; Immune acid, cold, electricity, undead traits; SR 24
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +1 valiant battleaxe +23/+18/+13 (1d8+9/19-20/×3 plus 1d6 vs. target of challenge and 3d6 acid) or
. . slam +16 (1d4+5)
Ranged mwk composite shortbow +16/+11/+6 (1d6+8/×3 plus 3d6 acid)
Special Attacks banner +3, cavalier's charge, challenge 5/day (+14 damage, allies gain +4 to hit), channel destruction (3d6 acid), demanding challenge, devastating blast (8d6 acid, DC 21, 3/day), greater tactician 3/day (Outflank or Shielded Caster, swift action, 9 rds), mighty charge, undead mastery (60 HD, DC 21)
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Statistics
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Str 22, Dex 12, Con —, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 20
Base Atk +12; CMB +19; CMD 29
Feats Improved Critical (battleaxe), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Mounted Blade, Mounted Combat[B], Outflank[APG], Power Attack, Ride-by Attack[B], Shield Focus, Shielded Caster[APG], Spirited Charge, Toughness[B], Trick Riding[APG], Weapon Focus (battleaxe), Wheeling Charge
[b]Skills Acrobatics -5 (-9 to jump), Handle Animal +20, Intimidate +28, Perception +27, Ride +18, Sense Motive +19, Survival +19 (+25 to provide food and water for allies or to protect allies from harsh weather)
Languages Common, Necril
SQ aid allies, expert trainer +6, graveknight armor, mount, order of the dragon, phantom mount, ruinous revivification (acid), strategy
Combat Gear scroll of air walk (x3), vambraces of the tactician[UE]; Other Gear +1 dastard full plate, +1 heavy steel shield, +1 valiant battleaxe, arrows (40), mwk composite shortbow (+6 Str), cloak of resistance +2
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Special Abilities
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Aid Allies +4 (Ex) Aid Another grants +4 bonus.
Animal Companion Link (Ex) Handle or push Animal Companion faster, +4 to checks vs. them.
Banner +3/+2 (60 ft.) (Ex) Allies within 60 ft. who can see your banner gain +3 save vs. fear & +2 to hit while charging.
Cavalier's Charge (Ex) Mounted charge grants +2 to hit and -0 AC rather than +2/-2.
Channel Destruction (3d6 acid) (Su) Add 3d6 acid damage to all weapon attacks.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (10/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Demanding Challenge (Ex) The target of your challenge takes -2 AC vs. anyone but you.
Devastating Blast (8d6 acid, 3/day, DC 21) (Su) 30' cone deals 8d6 acid damage.
Dragon's Demanding Challenge +14 (5/day) (Ex) +14 to damage target, -2 AC vs. others when used, allies gain +4 to hit the target of your challenge.
Expert Trainer +6 (Ex) +6 to train mounts, reduced training time option.
Graveknight Armor Armor acts as phylactery and must destroy utterly to kill a graveknight.
Greater Tactician (Outflank or Shielded Caster, 9 rds, 3/day) (Ex) As a swift action, grant the use of one of your teamwork bonus feats to all allies within 30 ft.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Acid You are immune to acid damage.
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Mighty Charge (Ex) Double weapon's threat range while charging and execute a maneuver if you hit.
Mount (Ex) Gain the services of a special animal companion.
Mounted Blade Attack an adjacent foe with Ride-By Attack.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Phantom Mount (1/hour) (Su) 1/hour, summon a phantom mount using your HD as caster level.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rejuvenation (Su) Return 1d10 days after being destroyed
Ride-By Attack You can move - attack - move when charging mounted.
Ruinous Revivification (Acid) (Su) At the time of its creation, the graveknight chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy type should be relevant to the graveknight’s life or death, defaulting to fire if none are especially appropriate.
Sacriligious Aura (30 ft., DC 21) (Su) Desecrate in 30 ft, using positive energy in area requires a concentration check.
Shielded Caster +4 to concentration if adj ally has same feat, more if they have a shield. Halve Conc DC increases.
Spell Resistance (24) You have Spell Resistance.
Spirited Charge Double damage when making a mounted charge (triple with a lance).
Strategy (Ex) Grant varying bonuses to allies within 30'
Undead Mastery (60 HD, DC 21) (Su) Control undead within 50'
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Wheeling Charge When you are mounted and use the charge action, your mount can make one turn of up to 90 degrees as part of the move, as long as each part of the move is at least 10 feet.
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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
The fight against Fallenstag was all over the place. I had to make a ruling that the mount wasn’t subject to saves because it doesn’t have a bonus to it, but the party managed to dispel the phantom mount, which required all of the daughters and Gustari to stop what they were doing, because she needed to get un-slowed, get her mount back, and get air walk re-applied to it. I only really managed to get two attacks off from Gustari, but that’s probably for the best. The fact that the phantom mount had 18 AC and 20 HP just made it absolutely garbage. I wish it was just a zombie griffon animal companion or something. Was just a bit peeved that the actual flavor of a graveknight—a cavalier riding a phantom mount—is just SOOOOO bad and not what the template is used for.
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The party managed to disintegrate Gustari’s armor, and from it I had fall a charm of a battleaxe that was affixed on the inside of the armor. I said this was the charm for the bracelet of friends that Amaretos has, even though that’s not how the item works, just to do some foreshadowing about Amaretos having it.
The fight against Vasdrauk was kinda pathetic as the alchemist used sunlight bombs to blind him and it was just downhill from there.
The party had a lot of fun interacting with Arazni’s handmaidens. It was hard to roleplay them because they were empathetic of Arazni’s strife but also wanted her to return to Geb. I basically played it off as the handmaidens talking about Arazni like she was a rebellious teenager who thinks she knows best but really doesn’t. While the adventure said that the handmaidens don’t say what other Gebbites came to Gallowspire, I had the handmaidens explain who was in the Council Libertine and how they fell from grace (including Bhedlis, who isn’t in this adventure), but fail to say which ones were here in Ustalav. I just really wanted to give the stories of the crusaders turning into graveknights because otherwise the PCs probably wouldn’t have known, as well as do some foreshadowing. The party was frustrated with the handmaidens still wanting to take Arazni back, but eventually just left them alone as they posed no hindrance.
The wizard used his weird Nethys-evangelist ability to get an arcane eye, so he scouted all throughout the Tyrant’s Wrath, save for the room with the Dybbuk and Yhalas. It’s kinda frustrating to have the players know my secrets, but it was a really good use of a nice ability.
The enervation trap was easily disabled.
I decided to add two more tempest guards to bring the difficulty up a bit, since a lot of this floor was kinda eh. It ended up being a nice curb-stompy combat that still had elements of minor threat mixed in.
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I decided to make Loambones not have the degenerate template to slightly increase the challenge at this level. Two party members had echolocation going and so the greater invisibility of the vampire did basically nothing. He barely survived three rounds.
The dybbuk encounter was interesting. The party picked the lock on the vault door and were greeted will all of the guys ready for combat to come through. The party managed to convince Durgao to tell them the confidential information that he had, but the cook started seeming to sow discord. When the wizard cast a detect magic, saying that it was just an innocent spell, I had combat start with the cook shouting that they were lying and trying to take over their minds (feigning a successful Spellcraft check in Durgao’s eyes). The alchemist miraculously managed to dispel the dybbuk’s possession on the cook and was as such immediately targeted (if you could stop my malevolence then clearly you’re the most powerful one here). It was interesting because the party had to do some weird work-arounds to make sure that they didn’t hurt the alchemist by accident. Eventually the dybbuk was at 10 HP and blind (making its AC a whopping 13), so I ruled that it would just run away.
The gravesludge was eh. Because of the obols its negative energy never went off, and it was dead before it even really got anything significant off.
In I3 I had the scraps of silk bear the crest of House Gildais, so the party knew GIldais was in here. The occultist used object reading and I gave the background: Gildais squeezing into the cavern followed by the Tyrant cursing and throwing explosions. The silhouette of the Tyrant passes by the small opening, and when it doesn’t notice Gildais inside, he just sighs in relief. He then goes into the fetal position in the corner and just starts weeping. Then things started moving rapidly, like a time lapse, as it becomes clear Gildais was in there for decades at a time.
Gildais is interesting. I’m not sure what the authors were actually going for, but I honestly see Gildais as more CN than CE, as he feels guilt for the things he’s done, but was forced to do the Tyrant’s work because he was still affected by Tar-Baphon’s Command Undead feat, so while he still had his mental capacity he was forced to go along with it. And by the time Book 6 rolls around, Gildais successfully saved against Command Undead (since he gets a daily save as an intelligent undead). I don’t know, I like the idea of Gildais actually being a redeemable—if frustrating—character that was acting against his own will.
Anyway, next week the party fights Yhalas the Serene and then delves deeper into the dungeons of the Gallowspire.
I just want you to know that I’m getting a lot of valuable foresight from these. Greatly appreciated!
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XP 38,400
Human graveknight barbarian 5/brawler (mutagenic mauler) 8 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 23, 86, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 138)
NE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +27
Aura sacriligious aura (30 ft., DC 23)
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Defense
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AC 28, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, -2 rage)
hp 219 (13 HD; 8d10+5d12+138) (currently 157)
Fort +22, Ref +15, Will +15; +3 morale bonus vs. spells, supernatural abilities, and spell-like abilities but must resist all spells, even allies'
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, improved uncanny dodge, rejuvenation, trap sense +1; DR 10/magic; Immune cold, electricity, fire, undead traits; SR 25
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Offense
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Speed 70 ft. (60 ft. in armor)
Melee unarmed strike +26/+26/+21/+16 (1d10+26 plus tear flesh (+2d6 and 1d6 bleed) and 2d6 on charge) or
. . unarmed strike flurry of blows +24/+24/+24/+19/+19/+14 (1d10+26 plus tear flesh (+2d6 and 1d6 bleed) and 2 plus tear flesh (+2d6 and 1d6 bleed) and 2d6 on charge) or
. . slam +19 (1d4+15 plus 2d6 on charge)
Special Attacks brawler's flurry, brawler's strike (magic), channel destruction (3d6 fire), close weapon mastery, devastating blast (8d6 fire, DC 23, 3/day), knockout 1/day (DC 24), maneuver training (trip +2, sunder +1), rage (17 rounds/day), rage powers (lesser spirit totem[APG], superstition +3), undead mastery (65 HD, DC 23)
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Statistics
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Str 30, Dex 14, Con —, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 24
Base Atk +13; CMB +20 (+21 sunder, +22 trip); CMD 35 (36 vs. sunder, 37 vs. trip)
Feats Boar Ferocity[UC], Boar Shred[UC], Boar Style[UC], Greater Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Hurtful, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Mounted Combat[B], Power Attack, Ride-by Attack[B], Skill Focus (Intimidate), Toughness[B], Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Weapon Specialization (unarmed strike)
[b]Skills Acrobatics +18 (+30 to jump), Diplomacy +14, Escape Artist +18, Intimidate +47 (+49 to demoralize opponents), Perception +27, Ride +19, Sense Motive +13, Swim +19
Languages Common, Necril
SQ brawler's cunning, fast movement, graveknight armor, martial training, mutagen (+4/-2, +2 natural armor, 80 minutes), mutagen damage bonus, phantom mount, ruinous revivification (fire)
Combat Gear boots of speed, mutagen[APG], potion of barkskin +4; Other Gear rhino hide, amulet of mighty fists +2, cloak of resistance +3, headband of alluring charisma +2, ring of protection +1
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Special Abilities
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Boar Ferocity Add piercing damage to unarmed attacks, and demoralize opponents
Boar Shred Unarmed attacks cause bleed damage
Boar Style Deal bludgeoning or slashing with unarmed, +2d6 if hit with two or more strikes.
Brawler's Cunning (Ex) Count as Int 13 for the purpose of combat feat pre-requisites.
Brawler's Flurry +11/+11/+6/+6/+1 (Ex) Can make full attack & gain two-wep fighting, but only with unarmed strike, close, or monk wep.
Brawler's Strike (magic) (Ex) Unarmed strikes overcome DR as various things.
Channel Destruction (3d6 fire) (Su) Add 3d6 fire damage to all weapon attacks.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Close Weapon Mastery (Ex) Weapons of the close group deal dam as unarmed strike at -4 levels.
Damage Reduction (10/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Devastating Blast (8d6 fire, 3/day, DC 23) (Su) 30' cone deals 8d6 fire damage.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Graveknight Armor Armor acts as phylactery and must destroy utterly to kill a graveknight.
Hurtful Make melee attack against creature you have just demoralized as free action.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Fire You are immune to fire damage.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >= 9) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 9+.
Knockout (1/day, DC 24) (Ex) Declare before attack, if hit then foe is unconscious 1d6 rds (Fort neg), resave each rd.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Maneuver Training
Martial Training (Ex) Brawler levels count as fighter/monk levels for feat/item pre-reqs and effects.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Mutagen (DC 14) (Su) Mutagen adds +4/-2 to physical/mental attributes, and +2 nat. armor for 80 minutes.
Mutagen Damage Bonus +2 (Su) When in mutagenic form, gain a bonus to melee damage.
Phantom Mount (1/hour) (Su) 1/hour, summon a phantom mount using your HD as caster level.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rage (17 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Cha, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Rejuvenation (Su) Return 1d10 days after being destroyed
Ride-By Attack You can move - attack - move when charging mounted.
Ruinous Revivification (Fire) (Su) At the time of its creation, the graveknight chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy type should be relevant to the graveknight’s life or death, defaulting to fire if none are especially appropriate.
Sacriligious Aura (30 ft., DC 23) (Su) Desecrate in 30 ft, using positive energy in area requires a concentration check.
Spell Resistance (25) You have Spell Resistance.
Spirit Totem, Lesser (+20, 1d4+7) (Su) Spirits attack 1/round at +20 to hit, dealing 1d4+7 negative energy damage.
Superstition +3 (Ex) While raging, gain bonus to save vs. magic, but must resist all spells, even allies'.
Trap Sense +1 (Ex) +1 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Undead Mastery (65 HD, DC 23) (Su) Control undead within 50'
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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Yhalas was a boring combat in a lot of ways. She spent the majority of the time going up the spiral, which just gave the PCs time to screw her along the way. She only got one attack off and it didn’t even hit because of miss chances.
The party descended down the Trepid Well into J8, where I made the bone golems advanced. The oracle kept slowing them with positive energy, so it wasn’t memorable.
I made some adjustments to Essarta’s spells—gave her divine power—and took away Combat Expertise (since she no longer met its prereqs) and gave her Power Attack. She was actually pretty threatening, basically having 5 attacks as well as Step Up and Strike is really scary! She was attacking the occultist who had mirror image and Arazni’s lesser cloak of displacement, so she didn’t really get to hit too often. The party took her head and, through occultist shenanigans, questioned her about why she was here and undead.
The party had telepathic bond going, so the wraiths’ fake puzzle didn’t do anything to them other than get a laugh out of everyone. The resistance from the obols made their touch attack basically useless unless someone failed a fort save against the Con drain. I decided to swap out the dread wraiths in the book with the dread wraith stats from Witchwar Legacy just to increase the challenge slightly.
The party was pleasantly surprised to find a belt of Str. and Con. +4 randomly, but otherwise had nothing else to say.
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One of my players was out of town last week, probably to celebrate his birthday, so we had to skip last week.
The party ended the Pallid Sunrise fight with a persistent command undead. Because of the magical shackles (which I said were made by the Tyrant himself), the party couldn’t take him out of the room he was in. The dragon did explain, in vague terms, of the other graveknights that came through, then, due to diplomacy, allowed the party to destroy him to end his suffering.
The party kinda-sorta failed to notice Tycha and the fleshhunters, but after the Gebbites didn’t do anything, they just went and did the thing with the crystal and the divot, then they attacked.
XP 38,400
Human graveknight antipaladin (tyrant) 5/assassin 8 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 118, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 138, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue 64)
LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +13; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +24
Aura cowardice (10 ft.), sacriligious aura (30 ft., DC 20)
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Defense
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AC 30, touch 16, flat-footed 24 (+7 armor, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural, +3 shield)
hp 164 (13 HD; 8d8+5d10+96)
Fort +17, Ref +16, Will +13; +4 vs. poison
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, improved uncanny dodge, rejuvenation; DR 10/magic; Immune cold, electricity, undead traits; SR 25
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 keen mithral longsword +19/+14/+9 (1d8+8/17-20 plus 3d6 cold) or
. . slam +13 (1d4+4)
Ranged light crossbow +18 (1d8+2/19-20 plus 3d6 cold)
Special Attacks channel destruction (3d6 cold), channel negative energy 3/day (DC 16, 3d6), death attack (DC 23), devastating blast (8d6 cold, DC 20, 3/day), quiet death, smite good 2/day (+4 attack and AC, +5 damage), sneak attack +4d6, true death (DC 23), undead mastery (65 HD, DC 20)
Antipaladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +9)
. . At will—detect good
Antipaladin (Tyrant) Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +6)
. . 1st—command (DC 15), litany of sloth[UC] (DC 15)
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 20, Con —, Int 20, Wis 11, Cha 18
Base Atk +11; CMB +16; CMD 32
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Outflank, Mobility, Mounted Combat[B], Outflank[APG], Ride-by Attack[B], Spring Attack, Spring-heeled Reaping, Spring-heeled Sprint, Spring-heeled Style, Toughness[B]
[b]Skills Acrobatics +20, Disguise +10, Escape Artist +20, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +24, Ride +25, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +45 (+65 when immobile)
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Dwarven, Infernal, Necril
SQ cruelty (shaken), diabolic boon (weapon +1, 1/day), graveknight armor, hidden weapons, hide in plain sight, phantom mount, poison use, ruinous revivification (cold), touch of corruption 6/day (2d6)
Combat Gear deathblade (2), nightmare vapor, purple worm poison (2); Other Gear +1 mithral breastplate, +1 mithral heavy steel shield, +1 keen mithral longsword, crossbow bolts (20), light crossbow, belt of incredible dexterity +2, cloak of elvenkind, headband of mental prowess +2 (Int, Cha), weapon cord[APG], platinum signet ring bearing the holy symbol of arazni atop the rune of geb (worth 1,100 gp)
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Special Abilities
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Antipaladin Channel Negative Energy 3d6 (3/day, DC 16) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Aura of Cowardice -4 (10 ft.) (Su) Enemies in aura are not Immune to fear and take -4 to saves vs. fear effects.
Channel Destruction (3d6 cold) (Su) Add 3d6 cold damage to all weapon attacks.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Cruelty (Shaken, DC 16) (5 rounds) (Su) Touch of corrupution can make target shaken for 5 rounds (Fort neg).
Damage Reduction (10/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Death Attack (1d6+8 rnds, DC 23) (Ex) You can kill or paralyze for 1d6+8 rnds with a prepared sneak attack.
Detect Good (At will) (Sp) You can use detect good at will (as the spell).
Devastating Blast (8d6 cold, 3/day, DC 20) (Su) 30' cone deals 8d6 cold damage.
Fiendish Boon (Weapon +1, 5 mins, 1/day) (Sp) Weapon shines with light and gains enhancement bonuses or chosen properties.
Graveknight Armor Armor acts as phylactery and must destroy utterly to kill a graveknight.
Hidden Weapons +8 (Ex) You gain +8 to Sleight of Hand checks made to hide weapons on your person.
Hide in Plain Sight (Su) Can use Stealth even while observed, if there is a shadow in 10 ft.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >= 12) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 12+.
Mobility +4 to AC vs. AoO provoked by moving out of or through a threatened area.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Phantom Mount (1/hour) (Su) 1/hour, summon a phantom mount using your HD as caster level.
Poison Use You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Quiet Death (Ex) If death attack kills a foe during a surprise round, others may not notice you are the cause.
Rejuvenation (Su) Return 1d10 days after being destroyed
Ride-By Attack You can move - attack - move when charging mounted.
Ruinous Revivification (Cold) (Su) At the time of its creation, the graveknight chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy type should be relevant to the graveknight’s life or death, defaulting to fire if none are especially appropriate.
Sacriligious Aura (30 ft., DC 20) (Su) Desecrate in 30 ft, using positive energy in area requires a concentration check.
Smite Good (2/day) (Su) +4 to hit, +5 to damage, +4 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Sneak Attack +4d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Spell Resistance (25) You have Spell Resistance.
Spring Attack You can move - attack - move when attacking with a melee weapon.
Spring-Heeled Reaping When use spring-heeled style can attack twice when spring att/shot on the run.
Spring-Heeled Sprint When use spring-heeled style can move up to 2x speed when spring att/shot on the run.
Spring-Heeled Style When move 10 ft gain +2 to att and add Mobility AC bonus when reload or fire ranged weapon.
Touch of Corruption (2d6 hit points, 6/day) (Su) As a standard action, touch channels negative energy and applies cruelties.
True Death (DC 23) (Su) Casting Raise Dead on a victim of your death attack requires a successful DC 23 caster level check.
Undead Mastery (65 HD, DC 20) (Su) Control undead within 50'
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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I really went with the Spring Attack route for Tycha, and it showed, because all of the creatures’ first actions were to drink infused extracts of haste, so he was just jumping around the battlefield without a care in the world. His damage kinda sucked, but the skirmishing was actually really fun. He eventually got blinded and then went down.
The party went down to the Catacombs by way of feather fall, so I didn’t have to worry about aerial stuff with the gallowdead fight. The gallowdead was an interesting beatstick, but like Tycha it got blind and it didn’t last long.
The wizard’s arcane eye came across the Tyrant’s simulacrum, and I decided to change some stuff up with the sanity by making the wizard make an Int check to avoid repressing the memory (he succeeded). The wizard then fainted and the party spent the rest of the day trying to wake him up (it was mostly a clever way for me to get the party to rest so that they level up).
The use of the sanity system was revisited because it just seemed too frequent for stuff to be happening that caused sanity damage that was kinda not too notable, like the gallowdead despite being just another skeleton. We decided to keep going with the subsystem, but with the modification that there’s certain things that the PCs are probably desensitized to at this point and that the sanity damage would be much less frequent, especially since the PCs don’t really have a choice in delving into these matters, unlike the Strange Aeons game I’m currently running, where they can decide just how deep they want to investigate into the stuff that’s going on.
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The wizard sent the arcane eye to scout out the right side of the outer Catacombs, so they know what’s coming up. They triggered the wall warden fight for staying in one place too long. The wall warden was really more annoying than anything—and I was frustrated that the tactics were wrong since it can’t Spring Attack using its ectoplasm ball. It eventually retreated into the wall and came back in the next fight to harry the party, but whatever.
The party went to the museum. I replaced the strangely-placed shining child with a gashadokuro, which got immediately commanded by persistent command undead, followed by having it get as far away as possible to get everyone out of the starvation aura.
One of my players mentioned that the alarms are only audible for so far, which would have kept the simulacrum from hearing it. I also ruled that the Tyrant himself put the alarms and made them permanent since he basically had nothing better to do, so dispelling them was hard. The party decided to use the staff to put up a wall of ice at each end of the room to muffle the sound while they broke into the cases. I ruled that since the simulacrum saw the arcane eye the day before and heard spellcasting coming from the museum (and it knows the gashadokuro doesn’t cast), it decided to check stuff out. It ran into the gashadokuro, used Command Undead on it, failed the Charisma check to give conflicting orders, then just dispelled the command undead on it. It had the gashadokuro attack the wall of ice, and by a miracle didn’t break through it in one hit, so the party saw the vague outline of the Tyrant and teleported the hell out of there, going to the theatre chamber because they panicked.
This was the most true survival horror that the AP has been as the party desperately tried to avoid the simulacrum. But they started to put the pieces together of “why didn’t he just teleport in? Why have the gashadokuro attack the wall?” And as they heard the loud footsteps of the gashadokuro approach, they decided, against their better judgement, to face it. They had three rounds to buff, and they chose not to indulge the simulacrum in its attempt to get information and just attacked.
I like what the AP did with the simulacrum, but I reworked him to make him more internally consistent with the spell simulacrum. Funnily enough, I ended up with the exact same CR as what was written.
XP 38,400
Human mythic lich necromancer 10 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 188, Pathfinder RPG Mythic Adventures 206)
NE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human, mythic)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., life sight (10 feet, 10 rounds/day); Perception +23
Aura fear (60 ft., DC 25)
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Defense
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AC 34, touch 13, flat-footed 31 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +12 natural, +4 shield)
hp 172 (10d6+135)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +15
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/epic, 15/magic; Immune cold, electricity, undead traits; Resist fire 20; SR 27
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee +1 keen dagger +7 (1d4+2/17-20) or
. . touch +6 (1d8+5 negative energy plus paralyzing touch)
Special Attacks animate touch, command undead (DC 20, 11/day), mythic power (5/day, surge +1d8), mythic spells, paralyzing touch (DC 25)
Arcane School Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +18)
. . 11/day—grave touch (5 rounds)
Necromancer Spells Prepared (CL 10th; concentration +18)
. . 5th—cone of cold (DC 23), empowered fireball[M] (DC 21), quickened magic missile, waves of fatigue
. . 4th—bestow curse (DC 24), black tentacles, dimension door, enervation, empowered scorching ray (2)
. . 3rd—dispel magic (2), fireball[M] (2, DC 21), fly, vampiric touch[M]
. . 2nd—blindness/deafness (DC 22), false life, false life, glitterdust (DC 20), lipstitch (DC 22), resist energy, scorching ray
. . 1st—burning hands (DC 19), grease, magic missile (2), ray of enfeeblement (DC 21), ray of enfeeblement (DC 21), shield
. . 0 (at will)—bleed (DC 20), detect magic, disrupt undead, read magic
. . Opposition Schools Enchantment, Illusion
. . M mythic spell
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 17, Con —, Int 26, Wis 14, Cha 21
Base Atk +5; CMB +6; CMD 19
Feats Command Undead, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Improved Initiative[M], Iron Will, Mythic Spell Lore[M], Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus[M], Toughness[M]
Skills Bluff +15, Diplomacy +15, Fly +21, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (history) +21, Knowledge (planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +11, Use Magic Device +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, Necril, Orc, Thassilonian
SQ arcane bond (amulet of natural armor +2), mythic phylactery
Other Gear +1 keen dagger, amulet of natural armor +2, belt of physical might +2 (Str, Dex), bracers of armor +5, cloak of resistance +4, headband of mental prowess +2 (Int, Cha), wizard starting spellbook, bronze horned helm (worth 150 gp), 60 gp
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Special Abilities
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Animate Touch (Su) Stnd act, animate corpses as animate dead, or 1 MP for create greater undead.
Arcane Bond (Amulet of natural armor +2) (1/day) (Sp) Use object to cast any spell in your spellbook. Without it, Concentration required to cast spells (DC20 + spell level).
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Command Undead (11/day, DC 20) Stnd act, 1 channel energy, undead in 30 ft. obey your commands as per control undead (Will neg).
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/epic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Epic attacks (weapons with a +6 bonus).
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Empower Spell Numeric effects of a spell are increased 50%. +2 Levels.
Enchantment You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Enchantment school.
Energy Resistance, Fire (20) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Extend Spell Spell duration lasts twice as normal. +1 Level.
Fear Aura (DC 25) Foes in 60 ft are frightened (below 5 HD) or shaken for 10 rds (Will neg).
Fly (60 feet, Good) You can fly!
Grave Touch (5 rounds, 11/day) (Sp) As a standard action, touch shakes living foe 5 rds (frighten 1 rd if already shaken).
Illusion You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Illusion school.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Initiative [Mythic] When rolling initiative, use 1 power to treat the roll as a natural 20.
Life Sight (10 feet, 10 rounds/day) (Su) Gain special blindsight which only sees living and undead.
Mythic Phylactery (Su) Phylactery can't be harmed by non-mythic sources. At Rank 8+ can only be destroyed 1 way.
Mythic Spells (2/day) (Su) Cast a Mythic spell without using any mythic power.
Necromancy The dread and feared necromancer commands undead and uses the foul power of unlife against his enemies.
Paralyzing Touch (1d8+5 negative energy dam, DC 25) Touched foe takes dam and permanent paralysis (Fort part). Seems dead unless examined.
Quicken Spell Cast a spell as a swift action. +4 Levels.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Spell Focus [Mythic, Necromancy] Use 1 power to force any of the spell's targets to save twice, taking lower roll.
Spell Resistance (27) You have Spell Resistance.
Surge (1d8) Spend a use of mythic power to add the roll of a die to a d20 you just rolled
Touch (DC 20) (Su) Touched foe is paralyzed permanently (Fort neg). Seems dead unless Percep DC 20 or Heal DC 15.
Toughness [Mythic] Gain DR 10/epic when below 0 hit points.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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One of the wall warden and the gashadokuro fought alongside the simulacrum.
The thing that absolutely made the combat was a specific occultist ability that created a sphere that negated the next 13 spell levels of stuff cast on the party. The alchemist using sunlight bombs got rid of the other undead, and a majority of the simulacrum’s HP (I may have cheated a bit and gave him 5 more HP mid battle so that he could’ve done at least one proper thing).
The simulacrum started with an impressive display by throwing an empowered mythic fireball right on the party! I flavored the “pea-sized bead” from the spell as being the size of a golf ball with how powerful that particular casting was. The simulacrum was just chucking spell after spell in frustration to try and get through the sphere, which I felt was a good bit of foreshadowing in the Tyrant’s hubris-turned-to-childlike-tantruming. The fight itself wasn’t difficult, but it was the buildup and subsequent empowered mythic fireball that REALLY put people on the edge (in a good way).
We’re going to be off next week because of a business thing with my Finnish player
Hoo boy! I know I said we didn’t play this week—and we didn’t—but I just finished something huge!
So, something that I’ve done is write up something I like to call “The Whole Story” for when my group finishes an AP—I did it for both Mummy’s Mask and Hell’s Rebels, I have one finished for my Strange Aeons PbP group, and I wrote one when I ran All for Immortality—where I tell an overview of the AP’s story in my own words (kinda). I just barely finished the one for Tyrant’s Grasp, and after putting it off so much, I think I’ve realized that this might be the last one that I do because it’s hard to sit down and do this when real life gets in the way.
Anyway, a lot of this takes certain creative liberties, but for the most part I tell the story as it is written. The only thing I expanded upon was the situation with Gildais—I basically decided that the Tyrant could only truly control Gildais for so long until the lingering magic set on him was used up, so he had to use the subliminal directives for the most part to get Gildais to do stuff before taking full control relatively briefly to set the final steps of his plan in motion. This was to consolidate Gildais’s knowledge of the Radiant Fire that he told to Yosiduin despite Gildais being a pawn in all of this. It’ll make more sense if you read it.
I also have to say, with both Arazni’s story retcon-thing and Gildais’s actions under the Tyrant’s control, this AP is a surprisingly good allegory for toxic/abusive relationships—Arazni getting the short end of the stick due to stuff out of her control, and Gildais being emotionally manipulated by Tar-Baphon into doing what he wants. No idea if that was intended, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Apologies for the lack of proper italics where they should be (like spell names and uses of obol and Radiant Fire). What's in the spoiler is long and required a LOT of lore-digging. You've been warned.
Long ago, in ages before the reckoning of the Isle of Kortos, the great Aroden wandered lands both near and far. His long and arduous journeys brought him to the far-off continent of Arcadia, in the great nation of Xopatl, a nation powered by the root system of the great kumaru tree—descended from the legendary Tree of the Thousand Eyes—that creates an artificial ley line known as the Veins of Creation.
Aroden, interested in the Veins, journeyed to Jolizpan—the protective city of the kumaru tree—and requested the chance to study the great tree. The Jolizpani, however, did not allow foreigners to enter the sacred Tumbaja Mountain, where the tree was kept, and denied the Azlanti’s request. Aroden, determined yet patient, spent several years in Jolizpan, learning much from the arcane botanists and hoping to gain approval from the citizens. It was during this time that an arcane botanist came to Jolizpan from Xopatl’s capital of Gujaraldi to research the Veins of Creation and to further apply her application of arcane botany to improve the cleanliness of water in local aquifers.
This woman’s name was Arazni.
Aroden saw this woman’s research as an opportunity and offered his assistance. Arazni agreed, and with their joint research proposal, were allowed limited, supervised access to Tumbaja Mountain. Voracious in their studies, Arazni quickly finished the necessary research for her project. She invited Aroden to journey with her across Xopatl to apply the fruits of their labors to communities all across the country, to which the man agreed.
On their journey, Aroden grew to admire the botanist, who was not only a great wizard but also a capable warrior. Years later the pair returned to Jolizpan, only, mere weeks later, to find the Razatlani warlord Imictal leading his Army of Fire over the Mildanesi Mountains toward Jolizpan. Imictal hoped to claim Xopatl and its Veins of Creation to bolster the declining Razatlani empire. Arazni and Aroden challenged the warlord, using their knowledge of the Veins of Creation to raise magical defenses from the artificial ley line. While the Jolizpani fought the Army of Fire, Arazni and Aroden went against Imictal themselves and slew the warlord. As thanks to their saviors, the Jolizpani granted unrestricted access to Tumbaja Mountain and the kumaru tree for Aroden and Arazni.
The pair studied the kumaru tree for several years. Arazni eventually felt content with the knowledge she had acquired and left once more to spread her research across Xopatl. This time, however, Aroden did not accompany her.
Aroden stayed behind to perform an experiment of his own at Tumbaja Mountain. The man severed a fragment of his soul and infused it into the kumaru tree. This granted Aroden power over the Veins of Creation unprecedented by even the greatest masters of arcane botany. Aroden used this power to make the tree grow a branch that twisted and swirled in on itself, which he severed from the tree. He sanded down and sculpted the severed branch until he had what he desired: a magical shield crafted from the wood of a powerful, magical tree. With the newly-crafted Shield of Aroden in hand, Aroden left Arcadia and continued his travels across Golarion.
Unknown to Aroden, though, as he was developing his mastery over the Veins of Creation, Arazni ushered in a golden age to Xopatl. During this time, Arazni faced a terrible beast named Tlochach, the Serpent of the Seven Hills. She defeated the monster after a titanic struggle, but its venom proved too potent and Arazni perished.
Years turned to centuries to a millennium, and Aroden found himself at the bottom of the Inner Sea, where he discovered another great artifact: the meteor sent by the ancient alghollthus to destroy the Azlanti empire: the Starstone. This celestial object brought Aroden up from mere mortality to the status of a deity. Aroden brought the Starstone and the surrounding sea floor up from the Inner Sea, creating the Isle of Kortos and founding Absalom, the City at the Center of the World.
With the founding of the church of the Last Azlanti and the creation of Absalom, Aroden ushered in a brand new age to Golarion, the Age of Enthronement, a golden age for the Inner Sea Region and beyond.
Nearly a millennium passed and so was born a Kellid man destined for great things—evil and dastardly things, but great things nonetheless: Tar-Baphon. At the mere age of 24, Tar-Baphon conquered the city of Kestrillon on Inteper Isle and renamed the city to Xin-Grafar and the island to the Isle of Terror. On this isle he discovered a strange planar thinness and sought to study it more.
The thinness, however, was in the domain of the great wyrm Karamorros and her children. Knowing he could not face a trio of black dragons as he was, Tar-Baphon sought for greater power and ventured into the Cenotaph and learned great necromantic secrets mastered by Zutha, the last Runelord of Gluttony. Tar-Baphon emerged with great power and went to visit with Karamorros.
Tar-Baphon negotiated with the dragons—managing to earn the favor of the siblings Istravek and Naraga and inviting them into his service. Karamorros, however, was stubborn and denied the human access. When Istravek was wounded in the service of Tar-Baphon, Karamorros became enraged at her son’s pain and destroyed one of Tar-Baphon’s hermitages.
Tar-Baphon realized just how protective of her children Karamorros was and decided to use that against her. He tricked the siblings and shackled them in his fortress. Tar-Baphon met with their mother and threw the scales of Karamorros’s children at her feet, demanding access to the rest of the isle lest he torture Istravek and Naraga further. The black dragon could not refuse.
Tar-Baphon dug down below the isle and he used the planar thinness to tear open a rift to the Negative Energy Plane, which he dubbed the Wizard-King’s Pit. To test his new portal, the human called upon Naraga, no longer needing her shackled as his experiments had been performed.
Unknown to the draconic matron, Tar-Baphon had performed experiments on Istravek and Naraga and transformed them into dreaded undead—raveners. Karamorros was furious and moved to destroy the necromancer, but was restrained by Naraga. Mother brutally fought daughter until Naraga clutched Karamorros and dove into the Wizard-King’s Pit, sending the dragons to the Negative Energy Plane. Tar-Baphon called for Naraga and the ravener came from the pit, crippled and on the verge of her unlife. The wizard blasted what remained into oblivion. Splinters of Naraga’s bones survived, having gained great necromantic properties. Tar-Baphon took these bones and crafted them into a helm: the Horns of Naraga.
Tar-Baphon then thoroughly researched into the ritual to become a lich, but the wizard did not just wish to become a lich, he wanted to be the most powerful lich the multiverse has ever known. Aroden, having received news of this mortal’s machinations, descended to the Isle of Terror to do away with this man and slew him.
Unknown to Aroden, this is precisely what Tar-Baphon wanted, for part of his ritual to revive as a lich he needed to receive a mortal wound from a god. Loyal followers of the wizard secretly moved his remains from the Isle of Terror to his homeland of Ustalav.
Centuries later, Aroden traveled the multiverse and, during an expedition in the plane of Nirvana, he met an astral deva angel that he knew: the botanist Arazni. Aroden requested Arazni’s soul and ascended the warrior-mage to near-deific power, turning her from “Arazni of Xopatl” to “Arazni the Red Crusader,” making her the new god’s herald.
Millennia passed, and the world forgot about the necromancer of the Isle of Terror, until 3203 AR, when Tar-Baphon’s body burst to life, becoming the dreaded Whispering Tyrant.
The newly-risen lich began to mobilize his army and take back his holdings in Avistan. During this time, he was confronted by a whimpering noble: Jomah Gildais, having inherited the title of count of the Ustalavic county of Grodlych following the death of his father and brother just a handful of years earlier. The count reluctantly rode at the head of his county’s forces and demanded the Whispering Tyrant cease his efforts. The Tyrant responded to the stuttering count’s demands by opening a gate to the Negative Energy Plane and casting the noble through. When brought out, Jomah was changed, having been transformed into a winterwight. The Whispering Tyrant reveled in the simpering count’s transformation and commanded his new servant—whom he called the “Failure of House Gildais” and later simply “Gildais”—to serve as the seneschal of his new conquests. Jomah had little choice; through a combination of necromantic domination and emotional abuse, Tar-Baphon broke his seneschal’s spirit. Thus manipulated, Gildais’s policies led to the torture, imprisonment, and deaths of untold thousands.
Tar-Baphon’s machinations did not go unnoticed, and the empire of Taldor, the Kingdom of Kraggodan (later the Five Kings Mountains), and the Knights of Ozem—a knightly order dedicated to Arazni that fought undeath—banded together to fight the forces of the Whispering Tyrant in the decades-long Shining Crusade. The crusade beseeched the assistance of the god Aroden, but in the years since his defeat of the mortal Tar-Baphon, the Last Azlanti had grown away from his wanderlust, now content to reside in his godly domain in Axis. Because of this, the Shining Crusade could not defeat the lich so easily, and the Crusade continued for years.
Ervin Roslar was a valiant Paladin and Knight of Ozem during the Shining Crusade. He admired Arazni and wished for more than her patronage—he wished for her love. Roslar listened to the whispers of unscrupulous agents claiming to help him gain Arazni’s love. In a moment of impulse—perhaps driven by a drunken stupor or over-infatuation (or a combination of the two)—Roslar said that he would tell Arazni of his adoration when she descended from the heavens. The Knights of Ozem were planning to call their patron saint to descend and overwhelm the Whispering Tyrant.
Unfortunately, Roslar revealed this information to an agent of the Whispering Way, who took this information directly to the lich-king. The Knights of Ozem called down the herald of Aroden at the Battle of Three Sorrows, but instead of overwhelming the lich, Tar-Baphon was prepared and annihilated the angelic herald in a pure massacre. Rather than animate her, Tar-Baphon approached what remained of the Knights of Ozem and presented the corpse of their patron saint before them, obliterating their morale. Roslar was particularly devastated by Arazni’s death, and in his depression threw himself into combat, fighting fiercely and viciously against the lich’s army, having nothing left to live for. When he fell in combat, he ironically died a valiant hero in the eyes of the people.
While many saw Arazni’s death as a blow to morale, others were motivated by it. Generals Arnisant and Iomedae moved to finish this fight once and for all! They brought the fight to the lich’s doorstep: Adorak, the city of the dead. The two fought their way to the base of the Whispering Tyrant’s capitol of Gallowspire. There, the generals revealed their secret weapons: artifacts used by Aroden himself to destroy the mortal Tar-Baphon millennia earlier!
What happened next came to be known for centuries to come: the lich was insulted at the generals’ presumption and used a Wish—the pinnacle of mortal magic—to wish for Arnisant’s still-beating heart into his hand. Legend goes that Arnisant’s heart lay with Aroden, which led to the wish’s unexpected outcome, but the truth is much more simple: unknown to the Whispering Tyrant, the Shield of Aroden, which Arnisant bore, had the power to protect the bearer from death. The lich’s magic ran into the shield and shattered it into twelve pieces. Instead of the general’s heart, the protection of the shield embedded one of its shards deep into the Tyrant’s withering hand, burning him with righteous light.
Surprised and severely weakened, the lich retreated into the dungeons below the Gallowspire. Knowing better than to confront the necromancer in the depths of his fortress, the Shining Crusade chose instead to seal the lich. Lead by Narthoc, high priest of Aroden, a Great Seal was constructed at the entrance to the dungeons of Gallowspire, further supported by three lesser seals. These lesser seals were presented to the three factions of the Shining Crusade—the dwarves of Kraggodan, the empire of Taldor, and the Knights of Ozem—for safekeeping far from Ustalav and Tar-Baphon’s influence, for if the lesser seals were destroyed, then much of the power of the Great Seal would diminish, leaving it vulnerable to the Whispering Tyrant’s power. Some, including House Malderra of the Knights of Ozem, were outraged at the decision to seal the Tyrant rather than fight, but this vocal minority was outvoted due to the Shining Crusade’s severe lack of resources.
And so the nation of Lastwall was born from the Knights of Ozem, and at the site of the Battle of Three Sorrows, Arazni’s body was laid to rest and the capital of Vigil was erected. Lastwall would stand as the last wall of defense against the Tyrant should he rise again, forever standing vigil against both the lich’s undead minions and the barbaric tribes of the Hold of Belkzen. The Shield of Aroden, now known as the Shattered Shield of Arnisant, was claimed as a relic of the Crusade by the Knights of Ozem, and their lesser seal protected inside of Vigil where agents of the Tyrant would never reach it. During this time, a town was established in the name of the hero Roslar, being named Roslar’s Coffer, and a tomb was to be erected for the hero. During its erection, however, rumors of Roslar’s involvement in Arazni’s death surfaced, and so, embarrassed by the paladin’s mistake, the tomb was never finished and Roslar never laid to rest there, the truth of Roslar’s involvement forever buried.
And so time went on, the Knights of Ozem watching vigil for any sign of the Tyrant’s possible return.
In 3889 AR, Master and Commander of the Lastwall Navy Claidius Barronmor, spurred on by the words of his grandson Amaretos, sought to reignite the flame of the Knights of Ozem by waging a Second Crusade against the undead nation of Geb to the south. He sent seven knights to infiltrate the capital of Mechitar in preparation for the invasion: Seldeg Bhedlis, Gustari Fallenstag, Tycha Ghuzmaar, Yhalas the Serene, Ammar Ilverazto, Andvard Prollin, and his own grandson Amaretos Barronmor.
The knights were swiftly discovered by Geb, ghostly king of the nation of the same name. The ghost played with the knights of the Second Crusade, eventually breaking them physically and mentally, so that by the time the ghost reformed the knights into a contingent of graveknights, they were completely loyal to the necromancer. He dubbed them the Council Libertine. Geb sent the graveknights back to their former home of Lastwall, where they infiltrated the grave of Arazni and stole her body. The Knights of Ozem managed to destroy Ammar Ilverazto and Andvard Prollin, but their new undead forms revived them in only a handful of days.
The Council Libertine returned to Geb with the corpse of Arazni, and so the ghost went to work. He performed the ritual to lichdom upon the corpse and created Arazni in a new form as a lich. He took the lich as his queen and, when his mind depressively warped by his ever-needing fulfilment of his conflict against Nex left Geb mentally incapacitated, Arazni ruled the undead nation with an iron fist.
The Knights of Ozem looked on at this affront to their patron saint and marched a contingent of knights into Mechitar, only to be shocked to find Arazni reborn as a lich, bearing the gowns of the queen of Geb and the seven former Lastwall knights of the Council Libertine defending her. The knights had to retreat, but not before they managed to abscond with four canopic jars containing the organs and divine power of their former patron saint. Since then, word spread of the new queen of Geb—how she had freely given in to Geb’s temptations and ruled the nation, taking the graveknights as her contingent of bodyguards/concubines—especially given the name of the Council LIBERTINE. These words spread quickly throughout Lastwall and beyond, cementing the story of Arazni’s rebirth as the supposed Harlot Queen of Geb.
The truth, however, was much more tragic.
The seeds of doubt within Arazni’s heart were sown the day she was called down to fight the Battle of Three Sorrows against her will when Aroden himself would not come to destroy the lich-king a second time. When she was killed, these seeds grew to saplings, for Aroden’s own refusal to destroy Tar-Baphon himself led to her own demise. Her next memories were of the nation of Geb, risen as the monstrosity that she once fought to destroy, being told that she was now Geb’s wife and ruler of his nation, which caused the saplings to take root—if she were not called down by the sanctimonious children to do the coward Aroden’s job for him, she would not have died and been reborn as THIS. And the Knights of Ozem couldn’t even keep the body of their patron saint properly protected! When the Knights of Ozem invaded Geb, the demigoddess’s anger got the better of her, and she fought against them not to protect her new kingdom, but as revenge for the fools’ arrogance! Any and all hope of salvation in Arazni died soon after, for her lapse of temperance led to the knights’ misunderstanding of the situation, and when word of the Harlot Queen of Geb and her harem of graveknights reached her ears, she realized just how much their arrogance was set in, for their “glorious” mission of the eradication of undeath blinded them to the truth: she was the victim.
Arazni rebelled against Geb and the Council Libertine and fought for her freedom, eventually destroying Ammar Ilverazto and Andvard Prollin—but permanently this time. But like the Council before her, she was broken in. Geb and the Council forced horrific psychological trauma onto their queen, such that she could not raise a hand or even utter a harsh word to any of them. Geb hid Arazni’s phylactery, so that she could not end her suffering through suicide, and the Council Libertine kept Arazni within Geb’s borders by any means necessary, become her jailers. She tried escaping, but would only be returned soon thereafter as the Council went to retrieve her, and her psychological conditioning prevented her from refusing. The only solace the queen had was in her rule of Geb—her one bit of freedom of choice that she had. But even then, her subjects would feel the lashes of their queen’s centuries of pent-up frustrations and cruelty against those who have wronged her. And so Arazni’s unlife continued, unable to make any meaningful choices for herself and constantly hearing the propagandist slander of the Harlot Queen of Geb.
Imprisonment did not sit well with the Whispering Tyrant. He spent much of the centuries following the Shining Crusade in a childlike tantrum—albeit with fireballs and lightning bolts. He blamed his many servants’ incompetence for his defeat and directed his lividity toward them—for some he destroyed them; others he subjected to necromantic control to perform their own torments; for the ravener Istravek, who looked to Tar-Baphon much like a ragged puppy on the streets would look to the owner who took them in, the Whispering Tyrant exiled the ravener to the lower levels of the Gallowspire and left him alone, stating that the lich no longer had use to the ravener, leaving Istravek to fall to a hollow husk in his grief.
The one who perhaps took the brunt of the Tyrant’s wrath—or perhaps reacted most negatively to it—was the lich’s seneschal: Gildais. Gildais hid within the levels of the Gallowspire from the Tyrant, staying in one place for decades at a time as he whimpered in terror at the lich. With this newfound silence, Gildais found newfound torments. His mind wandered in his isolation, and he reflected upon his unlife in service to the Whispering Tyrant. At first he had futilely resisted the Tyrant’s control, but as time went on he started to empathize with his captor—spurred on by the honeyed words of the lich himself—and began to eventually revel in the carnage that he was ordered to perform by Tar-Baphon, to the point where he would perform these actions without magical intervention by the lich.
Gildais lingered on these thoughts—the actions he took, the lives he cut short—and he realized the terror he razed. He could not even blame the lich for his actions—the winterwight had eventually taken them of his own volition. He began to feel horrid regret for his actions, and that regret turned to remorse. His current existence was an abomination, and he ended the lives of so many. He pleaded to any god that would listen for atonement and redemption for his actions.
Gildais lingered at the Great Seal and looked at the creation in the name of a god opposed to the Whispering Tyrant in longing. He was driven by remorse and a longing to end his suffering. He began to walk into the Great Seal, being burned by the positive energy that made up the seal, thinking that if he were destroyed here, in a holy creation in the name of Aroden, the gods would show him mercy. But Gildais was a coward. Gildais could not bring himself to end his own unlife, even in the name of atonement, and so he fled back into the Gallowspire. Gildais continued to return to the Great Seal, exposing himself to the painful positive energy until he eventually accepted the pain and continued through before it became too much and he retreated back into the Gallowspire. One day, however, GIldais exposed himself to the Great Seal like he did many times before, ignoring the pain he had grown tolerant of as he continued through, and much to his astonishment, the pain stopped. By some miracle, Gildais found himself on the other side of the Great Seal.
He was free. He was free to seek his own atonement for his sins. And so he fled from the Gallowspire once and for all.
But Tar-Baphon is always watching. He watched the winterwight’s efforts at the Great Seal, and was astonished to find that Gildais was actually GOING THROUGH! The Whispering Tyrant had an epiphany: the power of negative energy could never pierce the Great Seal, but positive energy could! And his mind returned to that fateful day against the generals of the Shining Crusade, and the shard embedded in his hand instead of the heart of the mortal Arnisant. He realized the true powers of the Shield of Aroden and began to formulate a plan. He began to subtly implant directives in the mind of Gildais that would trigger if he were to escape to further the Tyrant’s plans, all the while creating a specific mythical spell using a power that he had not dabbled in for thousands of years: positive energy. The Whispering Tyrant could take direct control of the winterwight once he was free, but the Great Seal being in the way interfered with the connection between the lich and the winterwight, so to conserve energy the directives had to be subconscious and subliminal.
When Gildais finally escaped, the magical directives activated, subliminally whispering in the winterwight’s mind that the key to his redemption was with the Shattered Shield of Arnisant. And so, after six years of being driven my subliminal whispers, Gildais infiltrated the Lastwall capital of Vigil and hired a group of ne’er-do-wells and created a group that he dubbed the Six Wise Crows. The group’s task was to steal all but one of the shards of the Shattered Shield of Arnisant, replacing them with specially created replicas. GIldais payed the group very generously, so the thieves did not ask questions. Gildais visited with a cell of Seal-Breakers—Whispering Way adherents dedicated to destroying the Great Seal—in Vigil to keep an eye on the thieves in case the heist went awry or some other complication occurred.
Gildais was pleased to find the Six Wise Crows succeeded, and so he absconded with the shards.
Tar-Baphon continued his creation into his liberation for another two years as he developed a spell that would call down a blast of positive energy upon himself, and he would empower the shard in his hand to absorb the blow and shunt it to another of the shards, which would not be able to take the power and shunt it right back. The power would oscillate until one of the shards could not take it anymore, and the power of Tar-Baphon’s mythic magic combined with the deific power of the shard would explode in a massive blast of positive and negative energy! This, the Whispering Tyrant dubbed his Radiant Fire. However, this oscillation was chaotic and prone to many points of failure—one wrong calculation or cease concentration one second too late and the shard that exploded could very well be the one in Tar-Baphon’s hand. So he needed to properly test it.
Using the last lingering essence of Tar-Baphon’s magic on Gildais’s mind, the lich took direct control of the winterwight—an effort that took much power from Tar-Baphon to send the orders through the seal, but a required step to be able to properly set things in motion. Gildais, now a simple thrall to the lich, handed off the shards to members of the Whispering Way, with orders to place one shard in the Gallowspire, a second in the Varisian city of Kaer Maga, and another in a small town near Lastwall’s southern border—Roslar’s Coffer. When the Tyrant learned that the lesser seal that resided in Kaer Maga was destroyed less than a year ago, he rescinded the order to send a shard there. He also ordered a cell of Whispering Way adherents to monitor Roslar’s Coffer in the aftermath of the Radiant Fire. Tar-Baphon, through Gildais, then spread the word of the Tyrant’s liberation, including returning to Vigil—the site of the last remaining lesser seal—to inform the Seal-Breakers there of the seal’s eventual destruction. And so, with the pieces in place, Tar-Baphon observed the overall effects of the Radiant Fire through divination magic, right in time for his lingering control over Gildais to run out—fortunately, the lich had no further need for the winterwight.
Tar-Baphon’s influence lingers in the minds of those souls he touches, and Arazni was no exception. Arazni was more aware than anyone else of the whispers in her mind that originate from the Whispering Tyrant, so she was shocked to find hope—something she had long since left for dead—in her mind. She felt the Tyrant’s hope and vague sights on Roslar’s Coffer through a tenuous psychic connection to the lich that was establish when she was slain. This was enough to drive the Unyielding to action, for all those who abused and manipulated the woman lay just beyond her reach, until now. She spirited away from Geb to Roslar’s Coffer, but when the test run of the Radiant Fire detonated, Arazni was caught in the blast, destroying her body.
When Arazni reformed in Geb, she realized something astounding—she was not perfectly recreated. For one reason or another, that blast had lessened her connection to her phylactery. She felt a minor essence of freedom, for with this knowledge she could finally be free from her suffering. She fled Geb once more and hid away in a secure, lead-lined bastion. She performed rituals that would further enhance the Radiant Fire’s effect on her and her phylactery, until it was enough that if she were at ground zero of the Radiant Fire, the connection would shatter, releasing her soul inside the phylactery and freeing her from her horrific existence once and for all!
Tar-Baphon was pleased with the fruits of his labor, and continued his plan. He used the Radiant Fire to detonate the shard in Vigil—the location of the last lesser seal. Arazni, who had gone to Vigil to retrieve several items used by her, could very well have prevented this detonation, but she had yet to finish her rituals to weaken her connection to her phylactery—and besides, if she had prevented it, she would not be able to finally seek vengeance, however small, on one of her abusers: Tar-Baphon.
With the lesser seals finally destroyed, Tar-Baphon detonated the shard at the Gallowspire, freeing him from his prison! Gildais, having seen the Gallowspire’s destruction, realized his errors: he was not truly free; he was still a simple pawn of the Whispering Tyrant through it all.
Finally free, the Whispering Tyrant ordered his many armies to rendezvous at the city of Renchurch. He ordered Istravek, who basked in the lich’s attention like a pet whose master has returned home, to go to far Arcadia to study the source of the wood of the Shattered Shield: the kumaru tree. Istravek, after devouring enough souls to ascend back from his husk state, complied, but was surprised to find the kumaru tree dead! When Aroden had died the portion of his soul in the tree, having become rooted into the tree’s wood for millennia, had corrupted the tree from the inside, rotting it beyond repair!
Umbarno Xipali—a priest of Kazutal—was tasked with finding a way to revitalize the Veins of Creation following the kumaru tree’s corruption, and when he discovered nothing, he drew the attention of a sahkil servitor of Ah Pook—god of death and destruction—who wished to entice the cleric to evil. Despite discovering nothing, Umbarno was given a hero’s welcome when he returned! Felt backed into a corner, he lied to his people, saying that he had discovered a way when he had none. He threw himself and a group of research partners into a way of reviving the Veins of Creation. When he found nothing still, he approached the ravener Istravek and offered knowledge of the Veins of Creation and the kumaru tree in exchange for the research equipment left by the previous researchers in Tumbaja Mountain following Istravek’s arrival. Istravek agreed, but even with this knowledge, the dragon could not revive the kumaru tree for use to his master.
As Tar-Baphon mobilized his army, the Council Libertine of Geb noticed Arazni’s absence and left the country to retrieve her as they have done before. Their magic led them to the remains of the Gallowspire, where they searched futilely for their queen.
Meanwhile, the Whispering Tyrant met up with his army in the city of Renchurch, but as he did, he is attacked by none other than his victim from so many years ago: Arazni. The two liches fought, until Tar-Baphon had had enough and threw one of the shards at her and cast the Radiant Fire, teleporting away with key members of his army using a contingent Teleport. Arazni realized that the wood from the shard belonged to the kumaru tree right then and discovered a way to destroy the Whispering Tyrant—but she could not do it herself.
As the Radiant Fire went off, Arazni met with the consequences of her choice: her destruction. Her connection to her phylactery shattered, and Arazni was obliterated—she knew that she was going to die, but she was content with it, for if she were to die, she wanted it to be her own choice and no one else’s. What Arazni didn’t realize, however, was her soul bound inside her phylactery was the last thing binding her divine existence to true mortality; with her soul back, she had actually ascended to the power of a true deity, rather than a simple quasi-deity.
Having laid waste to much of Lastwall and the Knights of Ozem, the Whispering Tyrant has turned his attention to larger goals: attaining an insurmountable amount of power and devastating the legacy of Aroden, his most reviled rival. Millennia ago it was Aroden’s blade that slew Tar-Baphon and helped him attain lichdom. Now the Whispering Tyrant intends to conquer Absalom, shatter the Starstone Cathedral, and absorb every remaining drop of divine potential from the Starstone enshrined within it. He is loath to demolish the city with the Radiant Fire, lest doing so destroy his path to godhood, so instead he needs an immense army to take the city by conventional means.
Tar-Baphon, sneaking a shard of the Shattered Shield into the belongings of a refugee family, detonated the Radiant Fire at the stronghold Hammer Rock, for beneath it was Fallowdeep, a shelter where he tasked a group of his finest agents—led by the half-orc cleric lich of Baalzebul Klrau Adleon—to create special troops for his army. When he arrived, however, he found Fallowdeep in turmoil as the other two agents—Aeonte and Moloum Cactoa—were fighting over control of Fallowdeep, and Klrau, having gone so long without word from the outside, fell into a torpor and became a demilich. Furious, Tar-Baphon left Lyanthari—a powerful Daughter of Urgathoa—in charge to keep things in line as he created Teleportation Circles to Absalom. Lyanthari decided to keep the situation in Fallowdeep at a standstill to teach the lich a lesson in humility for insulting the Pallid Princess.
And so, Tar-Baphon mobilized an army against Absalom, and commanded servants back in Ustalav to perform a ritual to raise a mass of undead to join him! The Pathfinder Society, seeing the danger of the ritual, went to Ustalav en mass to prevent the ritual’s completion. Meanwhile, troops from the Five Kings Mountains and Osirion as well as Absalom desperately worked to oppose the liches forces.
Spoilers for Pathfinder Society Scenario 10-23: Passing the Torch Part 2: Who Speaks for the Ten in the spoiler below.
The Whispering Tyrant continued his siege, and was surprised to find a group of people taking down key members of his army—and mocking him while they’re at it! His hubris getting the better of him, the lich ambushes the group to show them what real power looks like!
Unknown to Tar-Baphon, though, there was a side-effect of the Radiant Fire’s first test detonation. This unsteady first effort cracks the shield shard used instead of annihilating it entirely, spraying unfortunate victims nearby with artifact shrapnel infused with both positive and negative energy. This shrapnel essentially pins mortal souls to their flesh and blood, thrusting the mortals bodily into the Boneyard rather than sending away their souls alone. The obols have a secondary effect. Infused with negative energy, the obols slowly rot and corrupt the souls to which they affix. The process is slow and subtle, likely to leave anyone with one healthy and fit for years before finally causing them to wither and decay, leaving nothing to move on to the afterlife. Only powerful outsiders—and perhaps only gods themselves—have the skill and power to separate soul from shrapnel and grant such a person an eternal reward.
Four residents of Roslar’s Coffer were hit with these obols, and they assisted Arazni in confronting the lich. Arazni realized that the obols and the shield shards were made of the same wood as the kumaru tree, and teleported the group to Arcadia to learn of the obols properly and use them against Tar-Baphon. While there, this group modified the obols to absorb positive energy such that, if they were in the blast radius of the Radiant Fire, they would amplify the positive energy and reflect it back to the source, but in the process it would destroy the obol along with its bearer’s soul. The oscillation would continue to occur between the intended shard to be detonated and the shard in the lich’s hand, but with the added complication of another source of the oscillation, it would be enough to break the Whispering Tyrant’s tight calculations for the Radiant Fire and detonate the shard in his hand instead!
Thank you for this long campaign log, KingTreylll's.
The party went about the opposite direction the book expected. They went to the room with the inevitable and managed to get it to plane shift away.
They saw the door to the mirror room and dispelled the magic keeping the mercury vertical and sent the arcane eye to scout out the rest of the floor besides the one behind the ring puzzle door.
The bloody bones were kinda vicious. I added an extra one to increase the challenge and their staggering ability was downright nasty! But two of them got slowed so it wasn’t too interesting.
Instead of the two elementals I decided to add in all four elder elementals from Bestiary 1 (fire, earth, water, and air) and that combat was actually really fun! The earth elemental was slow, but eh.
I decided to change up Jandaroka’s affinity to asuras instead of devils because I wanted a bit of diversity since we came out of Hell’s Rebels.
XP 19,200
Elf lich conjurer 11 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 188)
LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, elf)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +27
Aura fear (60 ft., DC 18)
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Defense
--------------------
AC 26, touch 13, flat-footed 23 (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +5 natural, +4 shield)
hp 100 (11d6+59)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +15; +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation, warm shield (1d6+11 fire, DC 21); DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/magic; Immune sleep, cold, electricity, undead traits
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee touch +3 (1d8+5 negative energy plus paralyzing touch)
Special Attacks paralyzing touch (DC 18)
Arcane School Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +18)
. . At will—dimensional steps (330 feet/day)
. . 10/day—acid dart (1d6+5 acid)
Conjurer Spells Prepared (CL 11th; concentration +18)
. . 6th—chain lightning (DC 23), planar binding (DC 25), summon monster VI
. . 5th—acidic spray[UM] (DC 24), hungry pit[APG] (DC 24), mage's faithful hound, release the hounds
. . 4th—black tentacles, enervation, fire shield, poisonous cloud (DC 23), summon monster IV
. . 3rd—dispel magic (3), lightning bolt (DC 20), magic circle against evil, spiked pit[APG] (DC 22), summon monster III
. . 2nd—acid arrow, create pit[APG] (DC 21), false life, glitterdust (2, DC 21), extended mage armor, summon monster II
. . 1st—alarm, alarm, ant haul[APG] (DC 18), grease, magic missile, shield, summon monster I
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, mage hand, message, ray of frost
. . Opposition Schools Divination, Illusion
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Statistics
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Str 7, Dex 16, Con —, Int 24, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +5; CMB +3; CMD 16
Feats Augment Calling, Augment Summoning, Craft Wondrous Item, Extend Spell, Greater Spell Focus (conjuration), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (conjuration), Time Stutter
Skills Diplomacy +14, Fly +17, Heal +14, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Linguistics +21, Perception +27, Sense Motive +11, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +11; Racial Modifiers +10 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Abyssal, Ancient Osiriani, Aquan, Auran, Azlanti, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnome, Hallit, Ignan, Infernal, Kelish, Necril, Orc, Sylvan, Tekritanin, Terran, Thassilonian
SQ arcane bond (ring of summoning affinity [asura]), summoner's charm (5 rounds)
Other Gear cloak of resistance +3, headband of vast intelligence +4, ring of summoning affinity (asura)[ACG], wizard starting spellbook, 4,700 gp
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Special Abilities
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Acid Dart (1d6+5 acid, 10/day) (Sp) As a standard action, ranged touch deals acid dam vs. foe in 30 ft.
Arcane Bond (Ring of summoning affinity (asura)) (1/day) (Sp) Use object to cast any spell in your spellbook. Without it, Concentration required to cast spells (DC20 + spell level).
Augment Calling (Asura) When using planar ally/planar binding on subtype, call 2 HD additional outsides of subtype chosen.
Augment Summoning Summoned creatures have +4 to Strength and Constitution.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Conjuration The conjurer focuses on the study of summoning monsters and magic alike to bend to his will.
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Dimensional Steps (66 5-ft inc/day) (Sp) As a standard action, teleport in 5 foot increments. If carry another, double cost.
Divination You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Divination school.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Extend Spell Spell duration lasts twice as normal. +1 Level.
Fear Aura (DC 18) Foes in 60 ft are frightened (below 5 HD) or shaken for 11 rds (Will neg).
Greater Spell Focus (Conjuration) +1 to the Save DC of spells from one school.
Illusion You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Illusion school.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Paralyzing Touch (1d8+5 negative energy dam, DC 18) Touched foe takes dam and permanent paralysis (Fort part). Seems dead unless examined.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Spell Focus (Conjuration) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Summoner's Charm (+5 rds) (Su) Increase duration of summoning spells by 1/2 level (permanent at 20).
Time Stutter (1/day) (Sp) Use time stop for 1 round
Touch (DC 18) (Su) Touched foe is paralyzed permanently (Fort neg). Seems dead unless Percep DC 20 or Heal DC 15.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Warm Shield (1d6+11 fire, DC 21) (Sp) Creatures attacking you take fire damage; you're protected from cold.
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I had an Aghasura and Upasundra accompany Jandaroka and then have her use Time Stutter to summon an Adhukait. The party established a choke point and put another of that weird occultist variant globe of invulnerability in the way. It frustrated Jandaroka, but she eventually got through it and managed to get two chain lightnings off. When her allies were gone, though, she was basically a goner. The party then found her phylactery and was making jokes about the weird 5000 gp dice set.
The party got to the ring puzzle and solved it basically on the first try and used the right line of logic to do so.
Next week is the fight against Amaretos, and hopefully the remainder of Book 4 will be under our belts.
I had Amaretos explain that Arazni’s phylactery was damaged and that she was planning on getting blasted with the Radiant Fire to knock her out of alignment with her phylactery, because it’s very likely that the Council Libertine discovering this was the main reason for them to actually go out of their way to try and get Arazni back.
XP 51,200
Human graveknight magus 14 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 138, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9)
LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +22
Aura sacriligious aura (30 ft., DC 20)
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Defense
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AC 34, touch 16, flat-footed 30 (+8 armor, +2 deflection, +4 Dex, +6 natural, +4 shield)
hp 164 (14d8+98)
Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +13
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; DR 10/adamantine (140 points), 10/magic; Immune cold, electricity, undead traits; SR 26
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee +1 shocking burst adamantine falcata +21/+16 (1d8+12/17-20/×3 plus 3d6 electricity and 1d6 electricity) or
. . slam +14 (1d4+5)
Ranged mwk javelin +17 (1d6+9 plus 3d6 electricity) or
. . mwk javelin +17 (1d6+9 plus 3d6 electricity) or
. . mwk javelin +17 (1d6+9 plus 3d6 electricity)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+4, 12 points), channel destruction (3d6 electricity), devastating blast (8d6 electricity, DC 20, 3/day), greater spell combat, improved spell recall, magus arcana (critical strike[UM], disruptive[UC], hasted assault[UM], maximized magic[UM], natural spell combat, spellbreaker[UC]), spellstrike, undead mastery (70 HD, DC 20)
Magus Spells Prepared (CL 14th; concentration +19)
. . 5th—greater bladed dash, cloudkill (DC 20), teleport
. . 4th—arcana theft[UM], black tentacles, detonate[APG] (DC 19), fire shield, stoneskin
. . 3rd—dispel magic, fly, lightning bolt (DC 18), vampiric touch (2)
. . 2nd—bladed dash, bull's strength, mirror image, intensified shocking grasp (3)
. . 1st—long arm[ACG], magic missile (2), shield, shocking grasp (3)
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, disrupt undead, mage hand, read magic
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 24, Dex 19, Con —, Int 20, Wis 11, Cha 16
Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 33
Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Disruptive, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (falcata), Extra Arcana[UM], Extra Arcana[UM], Improved Critical (falcata), Improved Initiative, Intensified Spell[APG], Mounted Combat[B], Ride-by Attack[B], Spellbreaker, Toughness[B], Weapon Focus (falcata), Weapon Specialization (falcata)
[b]Skills Bluff +17, Fly +26, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (arcana) +22, Knowledge (planes) +22, Knowledge (religion) +19, Perception +22, Ride +10, Spellcraft +22
Languages Celestial, Common, Elven, Infernal, Kelish, Necril
SQ fighter training, graveknight armor, heavy armor, knowledge pool, phantom mount, ruinous revivification (electricity)
Combat Gear boots of escape[ARG]; Other Gear +2 mithral chainmail, +1 shocking burst adamantine falcata[APG], mwk javelin, mwk javelin, mwk javelin, amulet of natural armor +2, belt of incredible dexterity +2, bracelet of friends, cloak of resistance +2, headband of vast intelligence +2, ring of protection +2, magus starting spellbook, platinum torc emblazoned with the barronmor crest (worth 450 gp)
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Pool +4 (12/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Channel Destruction (3d6 electricity) (Su) Add 3d6 electricity damage to all weapon attacks.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Expertise +/-3 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Critical Strike (1/day) (Su) When you score a critical with a melee weapon, you may cast a touch range spell as a swift action and immediately make the touch attack.
Damage Reduction (10/adamantine [140 points]) You have Damage Reduction against all except Adamantine attacks.
Damage Reduction (10/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Devastating Blast (8d6 electricity, 3/day, DC 20) (Su) 30' cone deals 8d6 electricity damage.
Disruptive +4 DC to cast defensively for those you threaten.
Fighter Training (Ex) Add half your Magus level to your Fighter level for the purpose of feats.
Fly (60 feet, Good) You can fly!
Graveknight Armor Armor acts as phylactery and must destroy utterly to kill a graveknight.
Greater Spell Combat (Ex) Use weapon in one hand at -2 & cast a spell with the other. Concentration check bonus equal to x2 penalty taken.
Hasted Assault (5 rounds) (Su) 1 Arcane Pool, gain haste for the listed duration.
Heavy Armor (Ex) Heavy armor proficiency and no Arcane Failure chance in heavy armor.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Improved Spell Recall (Su) Spend your Arcane Pool to recall spells you have already cast.
Intensified Spell You can cast a spell that can exceed its normal damage die cap by 5 (if you have the caster level to reach beyond that cap).
Knowledge Pool (Su) Spend Arcane Pool points to prepare a magus spell that is not in your spellbook for 1 day.
Maximized Magic (1/day) (Su) 1/day, cast a spell as if Maximized without altering the casting time or level.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Natural Spell Combat (Slam) (Ex) You can use spell combat with selected attack, with +2 concentration bonus.
Phantom Mount (1/hour) (Su) 1/hour, summon a phantom mount using your HD as caster level.
Rejuvenation (Su) Return 1d10 days after being destroyed
Ride-By Attack You can move - attack - move when charging mounted.
Ruinous Revivification (Electricity) (Su) At the time of its creation, the graveknight chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy type should be relevant to the graveknight’s life or death, defaulting to fire if none are especially appropriate.
Sacriligious Aura (30 ft., DC 20) (Su) Desecrate in 30 ft, using positive energy in area requires a concentration check.
Spell Resistance (26) You have Spell Resistance.
Spellbreaker If an enemy you threaten fails to cast defensively, they provoke an AoO from you.
Spellbreaker (Ex) The magus gains Spellbreaker as a bonus feat. The magus must be at least 9th level before selecting this arcana.
Spellstrike (Su) Deliver touch spells as part of a melee attack.
Undead Mastery (70 HD, DC 20) (Su) Control undead within 50'
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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The fight against Amaretos and the necrosages was a bit lackluster—the alchemist demolished the necrosages and Amaretos kept whiffing against the occultist because of both blur and mirror image while the occultist was ignoring Amaretos’s mirror images due to closing their eyes and using echolocation. The graveknight only got a single attack to hit, and it should have been a crit if it weren’t for the oracle being an elemental of positive energy that was immune to crits.
The occultist claimed Amaretos’s falcata immediately. They also chose not to search through the bones in the pit due to time. The occultist desperately tried to avoid having to personally go to Renchurch, but I had to say that the story required it.
The party rewired the witchgates to only affect undead and evil outsiders as a middle finger to Tar-Baphon and everything continued as expected.
The party annihilated the war of words against the Knights of Ozem—the oracle hitting a 50 a few times. I had the effects of previous choices (Timberward, Deadre, etc.) come in gradually as the conversation went on. Another thing to mention is that GMs need to know how the PCs modify the witchgates, because if Krobdak (the marut inevitable) is still affected by them then he can’t come in during the war of words to give the PCs shield of law and affect the honor guard. I allowed the party to use skills other than Diplomacy if they could convince me, because this was mostly story-driven anyways.
When they finally made the request of Ulthun to retreat, I had him just staring at Arazni and the Whispering Tyrant’s fight for an uncomfortable amount of time before his voice was cracking and he ordered the army to retreat.
I explained to my players out of character (since they have no chance to know this during the AP) that Arazni ascended to godhood following her destruction at Renchurch.
Session ended with the party arriving in Xopatl from a wish cast by Arazni.
We’ll be skipping the next two weeks of play due to real life stuff occurring.
So, we have an issue where one of my players’ work forcibly changed his hours, so we’re having to figure out a temporary time to play while he changes his schedule back. As such, due to a series of events, the Finnish player was up at 4 am (Finland time), so I chose to have a rather laid-back session today—lot of exposition, but not combat oriented.
The party completely circumvented the dire crocodile fight and went straight into Jolizpan. I described and roleplayed Miraina as a “kindly little abuela.” I made it a point that, when the PCs went to Miraina’s house, that she insisted that they eat before she went expositioning. I described what happened to the kumaru tree as being less that it died and more that it rotted, because it makes more sense that way because wood would still “die” once it was removed from the tree. I made this distinction so that it would make more sense why Miraina was so interested in the obols, because it’s not that the shield of Aroden was “living” kumaru wood, it that it was non-rotten kumaru wood.
Basically the rest of the session was just spend doing purchases, etc. I allowed the PCs to be able to upgrade items up to a final item of 36,000 gp in Jolizpan because upgrading never a thing that’s mentioned and I can tell that the party needs those +6 headbands/belts.
The party learned about the Scion of Nightmares, and I regaled the party with the story of Tar-Baphon and the dragons Karramorros, Naraga, and Istravek, so now the party knows that Istravek is currently occupying Tumbaja Mountain.
So, we have an issue where one of my players’ work forcibly changed his hours, so we’re having to figure out a temporary time to play while he changes his schedule back.
The party learned about the Scion of Nightmares, and I regaled the party with the story of Tar-Baphon and the dragons Karramorros, Naraga, and Istravek, so now the party knows that Istravek is currently occupying Tumbaja Mountain.
I applaude your decision to allow players to upgrade their items.
Since you put the distinction between "sane" and "rooted" wood from the Kumaru, may I suggest to have Istravek working to "revitalize" a branch of the tree through some kind of necromantic transfert?A possible goal could be to harvest said branch to create more shield like shards and allow Baphon more nukes. Otherwise, the pc's victory over this book seems a bit inconsequential.
We are temporarily playing on Sundays until one of my players’ schedule changes.
The oracle figured out that the source of his power is that he has a slightly-larger sliver of the kumaru tree in him, which is confounding him and Miraina since the tree is more primal than divine (it’s from what’s left of Aroden’s soul).
While the oracle was contemplating this in the park I had the viper vines attack, and they were surprisingly horrifying. They actually managed to knock out the oracle at one point, but when the alchemist came in with frost bombs it was basically over.
The fire at the docks was a bit annoying. The party came in with resist energy to fire, so the fireballs were basically useless. And then they did the same thing with electricity, which basically shut down the mages. The occultist summoned a nuckelavee which did control water (1800 cubic feet of water) and took care of the fire, followed by air elementals doing whirlwind to suck up the smoke. Once the mages were revealed it was basically over.
The soldiers…just died. There wasn’t even anything memorable to note.
Due to occultist shenanigans the occultist saw a vision of Umbarno giving the wyrwoods orders with Palderren in his gas form floating behind him. While this was being relayed to the rest of the party, the wyrwood skulks attacked. The party ended up in an emergency force sphere or off of the ground, so they never got to do a single sneak attack.
The party approached the ypotryll from the air, so it only ever got one attack off with its tail (its statblock is also super weird; I think it accidentally mixed up its space and reach, because it says “space 10 feet; reach 15 feet (15 feet with tail)” despite it saying that it was a Huge creature). I had some fun with it becoming blind from glitterdust then “randomly” charging into the fountain. But a summoned efreet with regular and quickened scorching ray just annihilated the pig. The party then burned all of the wyrwoods’ bodies in a pyre and barbecued the ypotryll’s body over said pyre.
Finissario was really bland. The wall of thorns got dispelled and the occultist just mauled him.
The party used the wizard’s arcane eye to scout around, and because they took too long the wyrwoods ran into them, which got the attention of the wardens inside the building. The party established a choke point, so it was easy overall, but it was interesting watching them try not to kill the wardens, especially since the occultist accidentally killed one so the oracle had to use breath of life. I rebuilt the wardens to be Rougarou brawlers with the verdant grappler archetype to show off that races in Arcadia are different and because the archetype was appropriate.
The party explained the stuff that went down in Jolizpan to the wardens and the wardens decided that staying here wasn’t worth it anymore, so they fled, giving their masks to the party.
From here it was a generic dungeoncrawl without a number of the combats since the party can now talk to the Children of Kumaru without immediately being attacked. The blood brambles were a speed bump, especially since the botanists in that room were brought to the party’s side prior to combat. Putting two-and-two together, those botanists gave the party their masks, so now each PC has one. We also had some fun talking about how bad the sheltershrub is.
The party easily convinced the cook to run, and the alchemist immediately unlocked the door to the dining room/kitchen again for the heck of it.
I’m actually really scared, because we’re coming up on the “you need to die” part of the AP, and I really don’t know how my players are going to take that…
Current Children of Kumaru diplomatically taken care of: 4
The party continued through the Blue Gardens and easily convinced everyone to leave. The only thing of note was that they sent an unseen servant to get the stuff in the hazardous containment room without dealing with the corpse lotus.
The party fought against Palderren and it was actually kinda scary! I increased the DC to identify it in its miasma form significantly because I disagree with the DC as written. The alchemist identified the sahkil and learned about its isolation ability and the party desperately tried to prevent that from going off. The party actually managed to kill the sahkil before he fled, so they didn’t see his true form and take the whopping 17 sanity damage from it!
XP 51,200
Skinwalker cleric of Ah Pook 16 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 5)
N Medium humanoid (shapechanger, skinwalker)
Init +1; Senses low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +7
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Defense
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AC 24, touch 11, flat-footed 23 (+10 armor, +1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 139 (16d8+64)
Fort +16, Ref +8, Will +19
Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; SR 28
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +4 conductive terbutje +17/+12/+7 (1d8+22/19-20) or
. . +4 machete +16/+11/+6 (1d6+16/19-20)
Special Attacks channel negative energy 3/day (DC 18, 8d6), scythe of evil (8 rounds, 3/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +16)
. . 1/day—speak with animals
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +23)
. . 10/day—touch of darkness (8 rounds), touch of paranoia (8 rounds)
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 16th; concentration +23)
. . 8th—death clutch[HA] (DC 25), quickened divine power, unholy aura[D]
. . 7th—greater bestow curse (DC 24), quickened cure serious wounds, destruction (DC 24), quickened dispel magic, power word blind[D]
. . 6th—mass bull's strength, cold ice strike[UM] (DC 23), greater dispel magic, heal, phobia[D,HA] (DC 23)
. . 5th—flame strike (2, DC 22), slay living (DC 22), spell resistance, summon monster V (summons 1d3 shadows)[D], true seeing
. . 4th—air walk, blessing of fervor[APG] (DC 21), freedom of movement, greater magic weapon (2), they know[D,UI] (DC 21)
. . 3rd—deeper darkness[D], dispel magic, invisibility purge, magic vestment, screaming flames[HA] (DC 20), searing light, second wind
. . 2nd—grace[APG], haunting mists[D,UM] (DC 19), resist energy, lesser restoration (2), spiritual weapon, weapon of awe[APG] (DC 19)
. . 1st—ant haul[APG] (DC 18), bless, command (DC 18), cure light wounds, faerie fire[D], remove fear, sanctuary (DC 18)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, detect poison, guidance, read magic
. . D Domain spell; Domains Darkness (Moon subdomain), Evil (Sahkil subdomain)
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 24, Cha 10
Base Atk +12; CMB +12; CMD 27
Feats Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Martial Weapon Proficiency (machete), Power Attack, Quicken Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge [nature]), Weapon Focus (terbutje)
Skills Acrobatics -2 (-6 to jump), Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (nature) +24 (+27 on checks relating to plants, seasons, or the weather), Knowledge (religion) +21, Profession (gardener) +26, Spellcraft +21
Languages Abyssal, Infernal, Razatlani
SQ change shape, change shape (+1 natural armor), change shape (attributes), change shape (claws), change shape (darkvision), moonfire
Other Gear +1 breastplate, +1 conductive terbutje[UC], +1 machete, amulet of natural armor +3, belt of physical might +4 (Dex, Con), cloak of resistance +2, headband of mental prowess +4 (Int, Wis), tlil mask, verdant boots[UE], amulet of the master's reciprocation (worth 40,000 gp), platinum unholy symbol of Kazutal [actually Ah Pook][UE], eye ointment (worth 250 gp) (3)
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Special Abilities
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Change Shape (+1 Natural Armor) (Su) You chan choose to gain +1 natural armor when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Attributes, Strength) (Su) In bestial form, a skinwalker gains a +2 racial bonus to her choice of Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.
Change Shape (Claws) (Su) You choose to gain 2 claw attacks that each deal 1d4 points of damage when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Darkvision) (Su) You can choose to gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet when shifting into bestial form.
Change Shape (Su) Shapeshift into bestial form, granting animal-like powers.
Cleric Channel Negative Energy 8d6 (3/day, DC 18) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Cleric Domain (Moon) Even amid the darkness of night, the power of the illuminating moon has always fascinated you, be it the poetic beauty of its lunar glow or the more feral urges it stirs in the mind of a lunatic.
Cleric Domain (Sahkil) You tap into the fear inherent to the soul of every mortal to further your will.
Freedom of Movement (Sp) Subject moves normally despite impediments to movement.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Moonfire (8d8/16d10 vs. lycanthropes, 16 rounds, 3/day, DC 25) Shoot blast of divine moonlight as ranged touch attack vs. target in 30 ft.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quicken Spell Cast a spell as a swift action. +4 Levels.
Scythe of Evil (8 rounds, 3/day) (Su) Touched weapon temporarily becomes unholy.
Spell Resistance (28) You have Spell Resistance.
Touch of Darkness (8 rounds, 10/day) (Sp) With a melee touch attack, target suffers 20% miss chance
Touch of Paranoia (8 rounds, 10/day) (Sp) With a melee touch attack, target does not have allies and is not considered an ally.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
Through shenanigans, the occultist got control of the verdant bombardier. The party managed to convinced Umbarno. I made Umbarno a skinwalker to emphasize the different races in Arcadia. When the oracle managed a grand total of 72 on his Diplomacy check (after convincing Umbarno that they were not, in fact, hallucinations), Umbarno broke down in tears and explained everything that he had done. The party brought him back to Jolizpan where he was put on parole for his crimes.
I then explained that the PCs have to die at the end of the AP (explaining that each obol in the Radiant Fire’s area when it goes off increases the chance of the blast going off on the Tyrant’s shard, since the positive energy is inherently drawn to the caster’s shard). I also added in that in order to use the Radiant Fire, it required the shard in the caster’s possession to be in the same frequency of the caster, which the Tyrant only got from millennia with the shard in his hand. The players were actually pretty good with the “we have to die” thing, so I was stressed about it for nothing.
Next week: Tumbaja Mountain.
The party got a good laugh out of the incomplete tzitzimitl, until the wail of the banshee killed the alchemist (the oracle had resurrection).
I put a group of four relictner mortics in the central chamber to round out the encounters against mortics. They didn’t stand a chance.
The party recruited Numoz and got him to destroy the haunt. The party then sent an arcane eye down the stairs to Istravek (who immediately dispelled it) and then the party buffed.
The party didn’t bother to talk to Istavek, so they just outright attacked him. He managed to get a rather deadly horrid wilting off, but the wizard was using project image from the balcony above, so he didn’t get hit with it whatsoever. Numoz tried attacking Istravek and was very unsuccessful. When the Alchemist started doing some damage, Istravek focused his attacks on him (including a 74 damage Vital Strike), but the occultist kept hitting his AC 41, so the dragon only got two turns before he died.
The wizard sent the arcane eye forward through Tumbaja Mountain and discovered Cucuy. They rushed forward so Cucuy wouldn’t follow the eye and she brought the voidbones with her. The fight wasn’t super interesting.
The party didn’t go into the room with the sceaduinar and trigger the fire. They managed to talk to them and said that they’d get them back to the Negative Energy Plane, which the adventure didn’t account for, so I ruled that they just went along with it (because I didn’t want to run multiple witches).
I replaced the variant nightprowlers with six nightprowlers as they are presented in book 6 of Hell’s Rebels as well as one nightskitter, to emphasize the whole nightshade thing. It was a frustrating fight, because the nightskitter used its umbral webs to make the room unhallowed and in deeper darkness, so I had to deal with the weird light rules. Overall, though, the fight wasn’t too interesting as the party had stuff to overcome the nightprowlers’ stuff.
The nightwalker fight was short; she only got one attack off (which she used for a sunder with Greater Vital Strike). The party brought her down and blinded her, so she surrendered. The party managed to close the rift without even needing to roll.
I resumed as it was written in the conclusion (and including noticing that the party couldn’t have switched their obols until after Tumbaja Mountain), and had the botanists start crying tears of joy when the tree started sprouting again.
The rest of the session was mostly spend doing inventory stuff due to this being the last time the PCs can purchase stuff.
The party returned to Vellumis and was greeted by Aylunna. I had the Watcher-Lord depart to begin helping the people on the Absalom front (I’m planning on having him reappear during that section of the book). The party went as the book expected for the remainder—they decided to go to Hammer Rock and check that out.
The party dealt with the Barometz laughably easily. The wild hunt arrived and started arguing while the party was just looking on in confusion. The hunt eventually lassoed the party into the next hunt. The wizard initially didn’t want to do it, but the party eventually decided to do it.
I decided to handwave the rusalka fight since the party just flew over it. The viper vines were targeted with cold and eventually brought them down. I decided to run the blight without the degenerate template and the party just wrecked it, especially after it failed the persistent slow.
The party eventually outran the hunt, ending with 10 points. They then negotiated with the hunt to provide a reward, which they barely succeeded at.
The haunt around Hammer Rock was actually kinda annoying; the occultist kept failing the will save but not the subsequent fort save againt weird, so she kept getting stunned. The party eventually got through it, though.
Managed to play on Saturday due to situations.
I chose to railroad through most of Hammer Rock because it was such a massive map with next to nothing on it. The party had deathward when they fought the death coach (because they had the arcane eye scout), so the coach was absolutely miffed. Though, the occultist got frightened twice and the alchemist kept missing the 31 touch AC.
The halfling wraith went about as expected; it was a speedbump.
The party talked with Tsomar and got the information that they needed.
I added some dread wraiths to the wyrmwraith combat to make it more interesting. It was actually pretty fun, though the party wasn’t really in any desperate straits. It all went to hell for the undead when the oracle cast mass heal. And a second mass heal annihilated the remaining wraiths (including the dragon).
The party descended down into Glerhadring and went to the room with Rhal. I added an extra tomb giant to increase the difficulty a bit. The occultist actually managed to see through the bard’s Spellsong before combat, and when called out on it Rhal just had them. It was a surprising difficult combat, especially since my dice made a lot of scythe crit threats happen. When they dispatched the giants and pilfering handed the gnome’s bongos, he teleported out of there. Eastapiron then showed up and when the occultist two-shotted his armor due to a falcata crit, the tomb giants and the rawhead ended up getting into the fray. It was super fun, but the party was definitely able to handle it.
The party decided not to go down into the area where the oathhammer because they didn’t feel comfortable further desecrating the shrine (which was good, since there was an advanced nemhain).
Next week, we finally go down into Fallowdeep!
The party sent the arcane eye and distracted the corpse lotus with it. The nightwing then descended down and cone of cold on the backliners. I had Gildais show up in this combat and do a full attack before withdrawing away. The nightwing didn’t survive to get another round, and the corpse lotus was a minimal threat due to freedom of movement.
The party then entered Moloum’s domain and encountered the deceptive dwarves (I added an additional ecorche to up the difficulty). It was a weird circumstance with the oracle having true seeing, because the ecorches were mundanely disguised, so he didn’t see through it. With his deathwatch eyes, however, he saw that the dwarves did not detect as alive or dead, but their cavities (inside their mouths, inside their nostrils, and their eyes) detected as undead. They started theorizing about the dwarves being implanted with some kind of undead parasite, so they decided to open up the dwarves (I had the skin be vivisected then stitched up) and see what was inside. When they opened it and found a bunch of muscles that detected as undead, initiative was rolled. Unfortunately, the alchemist’s sunlight bombs basically incapacitated the ecorches.
I had the soulbound shells enter combat immediately after the ecorches were dispatched because I only noticed right then that they were supposed to come in. They were easily dispatched
The gholes were easily dispatched. Nothing else of interest in that combat.
XP 51,200
Ghast alchemist (reanimator) 14 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 26, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 20)
CE Medium undead
Init +15; Senses blindsight 40 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +24
Aura stench (DC 19)
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Defense
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AC 33, touch 17, flat-footed 26 (+3 armor, +7 Dex, +9 natural, +4 shield)
hp 239 (16d8+167)
Fort +17, Ref +16, Will +13
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2, freedom of movement; DR 10/adamantine (140 points); Immune undead traits; SR 26
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee bite +20 (1d6+9), 2 claws +20 (1d6+9)
Special Attacks bomb 22/day (5d4+8 fire, DC 25), disease, paralysis (1 round, DC 19)
Alchemist (Reanimator) Extracts Prepared (CL 14th; concentration +22)
. . 5th—delayed consumption[APG], overland flight, sending, spell resistance
. . 4th—echolocation[UM], greater false life[UM] (2), freedom of movement, stoneskin, vitriolic mist[UM]
. . 3rd—lesser animate dead[UM] (2), displacement (2), haste (2)
. . 2nd—barkskin, eagle's splendor, perceive cues[APG], skinsend[UM] (2), touch injection[UC] (2)
. . 1st—ant haul[APG] (DC 19), crafter's fortune[APG] (DC 19), heightened awareness[ACG], long arm[ACG], longshot[UC], negate aroma[APG] (DC 19), shield, targeted bomb admixture[UC]
--------------------
Statistics
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Str 26, Dex 24, Con —, Int 26, Wis 18, Cha 26
Base Atk +11; CMB +19; CMD 36
Feats Brew Potion, Craft Wondrous Item, Extra Discovery[APG], Extra Discovery[APG], Extra Discovery[APG], Implant Bomb[UM], Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Master Craftsman, Throw Anything
Skills Acrobatics +23, Craft (alchemy) +29 (+43 to create alchemical items), Fly +37, Heal +23, Knowledge (arcana) +27, Knowledge (nature) +27, Knowledge (religion) +27, Perception +24, Sense Motive +28, Sleight of Hand +26, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +26, Use Magic Device +27
Languages Abyssal, Common, Dwarven, Infernal, Necril, Orc, Osiriani, Sylvan, Varisian
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +14), discoveries (alchemical zombie[UM], boneshard bomb, delayed bomb, dispelling bomb, fast bombs, greater mutagen, plague bomb[UM], poison bomb, smoke bomb, stink bomb), mutagen (+6/+4/-2, +4 natural armor, 14 hours), poison use, simple reanimation, swift alchemy
Combat Gear boro bead (5th level)[UE], mutagen (greater)[APG], scroll of sending; Other Gear +2 padded armor, amulet of mighty fists +1, fog-cutting lenses, headband of vast intelligence +6, ioun torch ioun stone[APG], poisonous cloak, preserving flask (2nd level)[UE], alchemist starting formula book, 795 gp
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Special Abilities
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Alchemical Zombie The alchemist gains the ability to animate a relatively complete corpse as an alchemypowered zombie. This process takes 1 hour and costs 100 gp in alchemical reagents per HD of the corpse being animated; the dead creature gains the zombie template.{b
Alchemy +14 (Su) +14 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Blindsight (40 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Bomb 5d4+8 (22/day, DC 25) (Su) Thrown Splash Weapon deals 5d4+8 fire damage.
Boneshard Bomb Bomb damage becomes piercing instead of fire, Fort save vs. 1d4 bleed.
Channel Resistance +2 +2 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Create Undead At 7th level, a reanimator adds lesser animate dead* to his formula book as a 3rd-level extract. When he uses that extract, rather than drinking it, he injects it into the corpse he intends to animate, which rises as an undead creature under h
Damage Reduction (10/adamantine [140 points]) You have Damage Reduction against all except Adamantine attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Delayed Bomb (Su) Placed bomb gains timer, explodes up to level rounds later (1 at a time).
Disease (DC 19) (Su) Ghoul Fever: Bite-injury; save Fort DC 13; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based. A humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. A humanoid
Dispelling Bomb (CL 14) (Su) Deal targeted dispel magic effect to creature struck.
Fast Bombs (Su) Throw multiple bombs as a full-round action.
Fly (40 feet, Good) You can fly!
Freedom of Movement (Sp) Subject moves normally despite impediments to movement.
Greater Mutagen (Su) +4 nat AC, +6/+4 on two physical attributes, -2 on two mental attributes.
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Implant Bomb Implant a bomb in a willing or helpless creature
Master Craftsman (Craft [alchemy]) +2 to chosen craft skill, its ranks count as CL for Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item.
Paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, elves not immune, DC 19) (1 round) Attack renders victim unable to move or take actions (Fort neg.)
Persistent Mutagen (DC 25) (Su) Mutagen adds +6/+4/-2 to physical/mental attributes, and +4 nat. armor for 14 hours.
Plague Bomb (14 rds) (Su) The effects of the smoke created by an alchemist's bomb duplicates the effects of contagion instead of fog cloud, filling an area equal to twice the bomb's splash area for 1 round per level. An alchemist must be at least 8th level and m
Poison Bomb (14 rds) (Su) Smoke bombs slay weak creatures or deal Con dam as cloudkill.
Poison Use You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Smoke Bomb (14 rds) (Su) Thick smoke fills twice the splash radius, obscuring sight beyond 5 ft. as fog cloud.
Spell Resistance (26) You have Spell Resistance.
Stench (10 ft., sickened 1d6+4 minutes, DC 19) A creature with the stench special ability secretes an oily chemical that nearly every other creature finds offensive. All living creatures (except those with the stench special ability) within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 st
Stink Bomb (1 rd) (Su) Smoke bombs also nauseate living in area for 1d4+1 rds after leaving, as stinking cloud.
Swift Alchemy (Ex) Construct alchemical items in half the normal time.
Throw Anything Proficient with improvised ranged weapons. +1 to hit with thrown splash weapons.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
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The party talked with Moloum for a bit, but when it was clear that the party just wanted to stop him he attacked. I added two more siege necrocrafts to up the difficulty a bit. Moloum activated his fluid form immediately then drank a potion of haste. Then things went sour. The oracle used mass heal and everything failed their saves, so the necrocrafts were each dispatched in one hit (due to the occultist being able to full-attack everywhere with the Dimensional Dervish featline), and the implanted poison bombs didn’t even do anything due to an item the occultist had. Moloum was taken down in two attacks. Man, the amount of ability to just end a combat so quickly makes me excited for the Whispering Tyrant fight.