5 Tips For Running The "Curse of The Crimson Throne" Adventure Path

A little while back I put together 4 Tips For Running The "Rise of The Runelords" Adventure Path, and readers generally seemed to respond well to it. As such, I figured I'd offer some more advice for game masters considering running Curse of The Crimson Throne for their tables this week. My Table Talk run through of the campaign starts with The Saga of Majenko, as I called it, so feel free to give it a read through if you want to see how my table completed the campaign. Of course there will be spoilers both there and here, so keep that in mind going forward.

It's a tough one... but well worth running with a few tweaks.

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Tip #1: Give Locations A Personality

Walk down the wrong alley in Korvosa, and who knows what you'll find.

While CoTCT isn't the only campaign that takes place in a major urban area, it was one of the first games Paizo put out that did. And Korvosa itself is large enough that a GM should really sit back and think of how to best bring across the personality of this city, as well as the feel of all its different districts and locations. The docks should feel different from the Shingles, which should feel different from the castle district, and so on, and so forth.

My personal take is that Korvosa should feel akin to Gotham City. It has splendor and grandeur, but there's dark alleys aplenty, crushing poverty, and a crazed vigilante that only half the populace believes is real. But don't worry, we'll get to Blackjack later.

For GMs who want to keep some resources on-hand for adding details to make things organic, consider some of the following:

- 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns: While we meet a few members of Korvosa's scummier side, given the roles the PCs get roped into it's good to have more. Whether they're snitches and contacts, former comrades, or just background information for you to feed your players when they go to the rough parts of the city, there's all sorts of options in this supplement to draw on.

- 100 Random Taverns: Though not all of the taverns in this collection are in a city, there's plenty of strange and unusual options that are. So if the PCs want to ask around for information, catch a bite to eat, or just have some RP time, consider adding some of these locations in between the margins in the setting.

- 100 NPCs You Might Meet at The Tavern: Whether the PCs are looking for informants, experts in history, gossip, or just somebody to fix a damaged boot, there's all sorts of strange and unusual NPCs in this collection... it's also (at time of writing) the only one of mine to reach Gold seller status!

Also, this tip applies to more than just Korvosa (though it will be where the bulk of the campaign first happens). It also applies to Scarwall, to the countryside you travel through, to Kaer Maga if you go there, to the lands of the Shoanti, each of these places needs to have its own personality in order for the players to really engage with it. Don't just read box text and roll some dice, either. Incorporate the environment, the culture, the feel, the smell, and the taste of things so that there's a real difference from block to block, street to street, region to region.

Tip #2: Prep Your Players For Their Upcoming Role

The city needs people like you. Will you volunteer today?

Like most other adventure paths, CoTC gives players a background trait to help tie them to the plot. I remember when I first tried the adventure that I thought Gaedren Lamm was going to be the antagonist of the whole first arc of the game. After all, he's such an ideal bad guy. He's just a ganglord with a decent gimmick, and he's been in power long enough that he's wronged an entire party of adventurers who are coming together to deal with him.

If you've read the adventure at all, though, you know that Lamm is confronted and defeated in the very first session. After that the party gets sort of unceremoniously shuffled to the "opportunity" to be a special part of the Korvosa City Watch, putting their unique talents to work under Cressida Kroft. The difficulty here is that if the players put together a party with mutual grievances against this one guy, then once he's dead/captured/no longer a threat, their primary motivation may be complete.

As such, "spoil" this plot development with your players, make sure it's the role they're comfortable in, and that they've given their characters proper motivation to do it. My game actually skipped the cloak and dagger, and just started off as a squad of low-level patrolmen to get ahead of this arc.

Additionally, you should actually prepare a list of dos and don'ts for players once they accept their role as special consultants/troubleshooters to make it more than just a pretense for the rest of the campaign. Does the city offer armaments to them, allowing you to bypass the clunky mechanic of coinage as a reward and so they can get better gear, for example? Are they expected to bring people in alive for trial? Will they have jurisdictional squabbles with the Order of The Nail, or the queen's Gray Maidens?

Since the first half of the game is basically a cop drama, lean into that aspect and make sure your players really enmesh themselves in the city, and understand they can make a difference... for good or ill, depending on how they choose to act.

Tip #3: Make Sure Actions Have Consequences

I will remember this. Always.

While this adventure path eventually leaves Korvosa, the players are going to meet the same NPCs, go back to the same districts, etc., over and over again. The most important thing you can do as a GM is to make sure that the players' actions have appropriate consequences... both good and bad.

I talked about some of this in Character Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend, but specific examples might be more helpful for applying this tip to your game.

Take the character of Thousand Bones, the Shoanti NPC. Early on the players have to find the body of someone important to him, and return it to Thousand Bones. This is a sensitive matter, both because of his grief, and because of the... fraught nature of relations between Korvosa and the tribes of Shoanti people. And since the PCs are eventually going to venture out into the harsh country where those tribes live, how they treat Thousand Bones, and how they approach his case should be reflected when they see him again later. If they were rude, dismissive, or disrespectful, they'll have a much harder time getting him to help them. If, on the other hand, they were helpful, sensitive, and acted in good faith, they'll find he's a far more willing ally to their cause.

There's countless opportunities for this to happen. Do the PCs kill Lamm, or take him prisoner and arrest him?  Does that create a power gap that other gangs move into, or are they lying low so as not to catch the attention of these new troubleshooters? What sort of situation do they create when they deal with the Spider? Do they form relationships with the community by doing outreach and helping, or do they hide behind their badge while abusing their authority? Do they form a bond with people that gets citizens to trust them over the plague doctors? Or are they seen as even less reliable than the hellknights, because at least the Order of The Nail has rules they follow?

The story shouldn't be happening in a vacuum. So keep track of what the PCs do, and ask how that affects the city, future scenarios, and how certain NPCs view them... as well as what sort of reputation it garners them.

Tip #4: Keep Track of Active NPCs and Relationships

I don't know who you are or how you got here, but it's in the box text.

This is related to the previous tip, but I felt it should be mentioned on its own just to drive home how important this is. Because CoTCT is jammed with named NPCs who can be more or less important, and if you want to create a cohesive narrative with your players it's important to look at who is going to matter going forward, and to ensure that you put in the effort to establish some kind of relationship with the party in order for those NPCs to actually matter to the party, and your players.

Cressida is a primary example of this. She is a major NPC, but if you just treat her like a stock quest giver then the party is going to have zero investment in her struggles trying to manage their actions along with the rest of the deteriorating situation in the city. Another big example of this is the mysterious vigilante Blackjack, who the PCs eventually have to go and save from a dungeon. But if they've never met Blackjack before (he never swooped in to assist them in a fight that was going poorly, he's never contacted them to provide plot-relevant information Batman-style, etc.), this is going to have zero impact on them. As such, what feels like a huge moment plot-wise is just going to fall flat because it comes out of left field.

Whether the NPCs are written into the module, or you want to add moments with individuals that aren't part of the established game (be it discussions with Severs DiViri from the Order of The Nail, or turning characters like Lamm into longer-running figures in the event the PCs don't kill them, etc.), you need to solidify those relationships to give them weight in the game. Otherwise they become just so much box text in the background that people forget about, or aren't interested in, and that sucks all the impact out of the story.

Tip #5: Keep Players Invested in The Overarching Plot

It's all connected!

CoTCT starts off as a minor story of revenge on a ganglord who personally wronged a bunch of people, and eventually spirals out into fighting a queen possessed by the spirit of a legendary dragon trying to re-conquer an empire that's centuries in the dust, and to subjugate thousands of people through blood magic. Unfortunately the sort of PC who'd be right at home in the former scenario may not be the sort of PC who has the motivation and drive to handle the latter scenario.

Without a little help from the GM, that is.

The early parts of the game are fairly straightforward. You're acting on behalf of the city because it's your job, this is where you live, it pays your bills, and whatever personal motivations you have as a character. As things spiral out of control with the queen actively engaging in conspiracy, becoming more and more extreme, etc., it is very important to make sure the PCs don't just say sod this, and flee the city so that Ileosa is no longer their concern.

There's a lot of things you can do, here. If the PC is loyal to the city because it's their home, or they view it as their duty to protect it, lean into that. Especially if it means establishing relationships with other protectors of the city so that the PC feels like part of an organization rather than just some unaccountable nobody who can book it if they get cold feet. If the PC is more selfish, ask who they care about in the city? Because they could leave, but that would mean their sister, their friends at the bar, their favorite restaurants, all those people they've protected (who should exist as NPCs with names and faces by that point) would be left defenseless. Duty to flesh and blood people, rather than the idea of city or country, can be  equally useful as a motivator.

Whether the motivation is religious zeal (useful for Iomedae worshipers), loyalty to their companions, a sense of duty to stand against the horror the queen has become, or even something as petty as spite, make sure the players don't feel like they're scrambling to remain part of the plot because it's become so different than what they what the early game might suggest.

Lastly, make sure you break down the current goals and plot arc in a way that makes sense to your players. With so much happening at any given time this adventure path can easily feel like a disjointed mishmash if events and characters aren't having a lasting impact on folks sitting around the table.

Also, if you're looking for any additional advice that will come in handy when running this and other adventure paths, don't forget to check out my supplement 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master!

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? Or do you have your own story you'd like to share with folks?

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out from time to time. Or, to check out books like my hard-boiled cat noir novel Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.

Unusual Characters: Alistair "Lefty" Rockhammer

About once a year or so, I get an itch to write about a specific character in this section, rather than just talking about an archetype that breaks conventional RPG stereotypes. A character who stands out to me, in some way, and which I think folks would be interested in. In this case, I thought I'd share the fellow I drew the last time my craft night group got together. Because if you've got a picture, you should have a thousand words or so to go with it.

The Story of Alistair "Lefty" Rockhammer

Dwarves have their stereotypes. They're hardy, taciturn, industrious folk who keep to themselves, bear long grudges, and who tend to be miners, craftsmen, and artists in their own, unique ways. Or, at least, that's what folks who don't live among dwarves tend to think of when they come up in conversation. But, like any people, they are unique and varied, with outliers even among their own cultural norms.

One of those outliers was Alistair Rockhammer.

G'day all.

 

Born in the Sky Citadel of Kraggodan, Alistair was a middle child of three. His father was a smelter, and his mother a wizard who specialized in the repair and maintenance of enchanted items. They were well-to-do enough that the children were allowed to pursue their own paths... which in Alistair's case was mostly causing minor mischief and avoiding anything that remotely looked like work. As he grew, though, he developed a peculiar talent; he could always tell when something was genuine, or fake. No fool's coins ever made it into his purse, and he made a small name for himself in detecting forgeries. Of course, he couldn't stay on the straight-and-narrow for too long, and he eventually started vouching for poor-quality items that he knew were fake. This tanked his reputation, and he managed to leave Kraggodan one step ahead of the scandal.

As a young dwarf with little in the way of trade skills, Alistair had to rely on his wits to see him through. He managed to make his way through Nirmathas relatively unscathed, and he took passage with a caravan into Varisia. With barely two silver pieces to rub together, he found himself in Korvosa. While he hadn't been much of a trail hand, and he was an even worse woodsman, Alistair knew cities. There was opportunity there, if he followed his nose.

Time in The Acadamae

Alistair made friends in Korvosa, and part of his trade was picking the wheat from the chaff in the black market. His uncanny talent for spotting a forgery served him well, but he also came into contact with several students from the Acadamae's Hall of Crafting who were trying to offload their work. Many of them had been technical successes, but the spells had been woven just a little too poorly to do what the creator wanted. Knives that grew sharper in darkness, shields that would only safeguard those with elven blood, or rings whose protective powers faded at sundown. Alistair helped find homes for all of them, while sniffing out the fakes, phonies, and utter failures.

One of his clients, who had a particular proclivity for shiver, was always running low on funds. So when he'd run out of goods, he offered Alistair something else; admittance and protection in the Acadamae.

Give a man an enchanted item, he profits for a day. Teach him to enchant items, well...

 

On a lark, Alistair accepted his acquaintance's offer, despite the fact that he was older than any three or four students combined. With his eclectic knowledge of magic, and his grifter's mind, Alistair quickly carved a niche for himself in the Acadamae. Dealing in rare spell components, connecting tutors with hopeless cases, and even managing a short-lived imp-control service installing wards on student dorms in exchange for future services. While he was never what one would call a brilliant student, Alistair managed to do well enough that he was never thrown out of the Acadamae. It helped that there always seemed to be a student or professor who spoke up for him, though their endorsement often came as a result of cashing in a favor rather than from affection or admiration.

For all he'd learned while a student, though, Alistair hadn't truly changed since he'd fled Kraggodan two steps ahead of having "slag" appended to his name. So when it came time to complete his summoning to prove he'd truly mastered conjuration, he cut a corner or two. So while he managed to summon an impressive specimen, he wasn't quite able to contain it properly. While not unusual in the Hall of Summoning, Alistair managed to banish the thing before it could do too much harm... but not before the fiend's teeth mauled his left hand, leaving him with a barely-functional stump.

Alive, if maimed, it was decided that he'd done well enough to be considered a graduate (with the urging of many who wanted him out the door with as little pomp and ceremony as possible). Once his wounds had been bound, Alistair left the Acadamae... but not before conducting one, last ritual. Something small, and simple. Because every good conjurer of cheap tricks needs a partner in crime... and when Alistair heard of a fellow classmate whose sickly green rabbit wouldn't stop spitting acid globules at him, the dwarf knew he'd found a kindred spirit. He just had to bind them together before taking the next step in his journey with his new friend Hoptail.

Time For A Change

Losing his hand had been a blessing in disguise for Alistair. With an iron hook affixed to the stump, he found that magic was the best way to handle the challenges of his everyday life. As such, even spells that would once have been a trouble for him became second nature. Aside from growing more skilled, and acquiring an acid-green rabbit with a chip on its shoulder who always seemed game for a bit of smoke and mirrors, Alistair decided to really see what else the Inner Sea had to offer. Whether he was a mountebank in a carnival, a journeyman wizard leaning on the reputation of the Acadamae to open doors for him, or just a treasure hunter looking for the next big score, Alistair "Lefty" Rockhammer is a man who wears many hats.

If you enjoyed this, you should check out the previous two characters I wrote up specifically:

- Dweren Dragonsblood (dwarven sorcerer)

- Gaspar Dell'Amore, The Black Rose of Edme (warpriest/rogue)

 

Also, don't forget to stop in and check out both my 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards, as well as my 5 Tips For Playing Better Dwarves!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

The Saga of Majenko Part 10: Down With The Queen

Today we have the final installment of the whirlwind adventure that is The Saga of Majenko (or Curse of The Crimson Throne to give it the name on the cover of the adventure path). From dingy dock wards to undead castles, to fighting dragons in the streets, to slaying devils in the throne room, our party has gone above and beyond the call of duty in protecting their city, and trying to bring down the thing Queen Ileosa has become.

Before we get started, though, make sure you're caught up on all the previous installments.

Part One: Finding The Main Character of "Curse of The Crimson Throne"
Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?
Part Three: Scourge of The Red Mantis
Part Four: Blood Pig Champion
Part Five: Brother to The Shoanti
Part Six: The Assault on Castle Scarwall
Part Seven: The Return to Korvosa
Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa
Part Nine: The Assault on Castle Korvosa
Part Ten: Down With The Queen

There, all caught up? Beautiful! Because now it's time for the grand finale!

Down in The Dungeon

We realized after fighting the infernal thing living in the Ileosa's bedchamber, that the queen herself was not in the castle. She had, in fact, left quite some time ago. With the Bloat Mage's notes, and the testimony of his spirit, we confirmed that the erstwhile ruler of the city had fled to a half-sunken temple for a purpose we couldn't guess. We were all confident that it was nothing good, though.

Before we left, however, we had one last promise to fulfill. So we walk in through the front doors of the now de-populated Castle Korvosa, and take the stairs down to the dungeon below. Our party, which doesn't even have a token human in it at this point, takes in the grim, brooding atmosphere, and the claustrophobic vaults. We also completely avoid a high-level trap whose trigger is that the room is filled with light, which was unnecessary between the dwarf, the aasimar, the two tieflings, and the pseudodragon. So, we explore, and eventually find the body that had been unceremoniously walled-up.

Like ya do...

We bring the bones back to the attic room, and the ghost of the tiefling merges with the gypsy in our harrow deck, and allows each of us to draw a card from a Harrow Deck of Many Things, with the special allowance that we could re-draw one card each. So, we all decide to draw. The dwarf gains a level, loses a level, and then gains a small team of followers in Blood Pig jerseys. Majenko gains the ability to automatically confirm a critical hit, though the same ability works against him. One of Egil's enemies has a change of heart and becomes his ally, though with the sheer number of arrested NPCs the DM never got around to choosing one. The paladin becomes immune to sonic damage. Cards chosen, we receive a blessing from the ghosts, and set off southward toward the final confrontation.

One Long Series of Unfortunate Events

We travel southward, following the map we were given. We make our way down rivers, and through swamps, until we find an ancient pyramid, half-sunken into a lake. Unfortunately, there's no bridge to that lake, and no guarantee that there isn't something awful lurking beneath the waters.

Something more awful than me, I mean.

So, we take stock of our options. We quickly realize, through burning a powerful scroll, that we can't simply phase through the stone. Apparently it is protected by ancient magics, and our modern-day shortcuts aren't going to hack it. Deciding that we are not doing another underwater combat in murky liquid we can barely see through, the cleric wind walks us all across the water, and through the vents leading into the upper floor. Everything's quiet, at least until the dwarf touches a stone, and gets sucked into it. That's when the paladin has to turn corporeal again, and start smashing away with his adamantine hammer until we crack the dwarf out of his soul prison.

Which, of course, means the level's guards are well aware of our presence. Which is why we have yet another pack of Erinyes trying to turn us into pincushions. The fight is frustrating, but we've taken down enough of these particular devils by now to know what we should expect. We emerge triumphant, for the most part, and only down a few, minor resources. We also find a massive pool filled with blood, and a dead body floating in it. It looks almost like Ileosa, but clearly isn't. This is around the time we all get a bad feeling regarding the blood samples that were being taken from the citizens of Korvosa before the revolution got rolling.

We come across a shaft, and Majenko stealthily slips up to take a look. What he finds is...

The Final Encounter

At the top of the shaft, waiting for us, is Queen Ileosa. Floating regally above the ground, she's admiring a floating ball of blood. The ball is, of course, constantly shifting and pulsing, with faces and even buildings pressing against the surface before receding. Even the highly-experienced magic users have no clue what it's for, but we have an inkling that we don't want to find out.

So we roll initiative.

Which may have been our first mistake.

The first thing that comes our way is a trio of powerful wraiths. No worries, since a charge from the staff of Necromancy makes them hold still for the paladin to walk by and dust. They get a few nasty slices in, but we emerge triumphant. Before we've dealt with them, though, a line of Ileosa clones appears, and they all start singing. Which is when the wand of silence starts getting plenty of use, since there's no Will save allowed if the spell affects an area and not a person. Ileosa flies higher, and Egil locks her behind a wall of force. Which she then dimension doors herself past.

Despite the chaos of the battle, it's soon down to just us, and just her. And that is where things started to get tough. Not hard, not deadly, but tough.

You see, the queen had plenty of time to buff herself, thanks to our less-than-quiet entrance. Given the level she's at, and the horror that lives inside her skull, she's got a lot of tricks. She's flying, she has freedom of movement (as we found out), her AC is buffed to a mirror shine, and she's throwing down magic like there's no tomorrow. Very little of her magic, though, actually does damage. Most of it's just a debuff, or an obstacle, meant to hamper us for a time. She even managed to get control of the dwarf for a bit, but a smoke screen rendered him ineffective as a threat to the party.

The problem we're having is that we're actually fighting to a standstill. None of the aid the cleric is summoning hits hard enough to get through the queen's defenses, and even the paladin wielding the relic sword is only hitting once a turn or so. Spell resistance, and various deafening effects, have eaten away most of Egil's spells, and even the great and powerful Majenko is little use against her. In a battle that lasted three, full sessions, we accomplished an ignoble goal that I doubt most gamers have ever sought.

Both sides started running out of magic.

The Conclusion

The party retreats with the intention of regrouping. Which is when a line of barbarian frogmen come out of the flooded depths, and we enjoy a brief round of wiping them off the map like a greasy stain. Ileosa follows, but now she's under the effects of greater invisibility. She still can't seem to do us any real damage, but she's getting down to magic items and bard tricks.

Well, shit, we've tried everything else...

That's when the cleric pulls another friend out of her bag. She summons a creature who, while it can't penetrate the queen's defenses, does have invisibility purge as a constant aura. So, at least we can see her again. The paladin lays into her, and the rest of the party is rallying to make one, final strike. Unfortunately for us, though, her contingency spell goes off, and she vanishes. She is nowhere near the pyramid, and there's no way to tell where she went.

Not My Problem

The vanishing act Ileosa pulled seems like the worst sort of adventuring blue balls, particularly after such a knock-down, drag-out slog. However, the personalities of this particular party, and their definition of victory conditions, rendered expectations quite skewed. The ritual was stopped, for example. The citizenry was saved, and we lost no companions in the final fight. Not only that, but as far as we can tell, Ileosa fled from Varisia in its entirety, off to who knows where.

Out of my jurisdiction, that's what matters.

Egil, and by extension Majenko, have done their jobs as well as they can. With the city of Korvosa in ruins, and rebuilding taking place, that is where their duty lies. Balen has no real investment, now that the queen is overthrown, but would be just as comfortable returning to a life of drug use broken up by occasional bouts of Blood Pig. The cleric and paladin both feel that Ileosa should be pursued, in time, but as for the time being they hold a major relic of the church in their hands, and they want to know what the best use of it is. So, singed but triumphant, the party returns to the dockyards and waterfronts, sinking into the hustle and bustle to decide what they're going to do with themselves, and to try and restore what parts of the broken city, nation, and world they can.

And that, my friends, is the end of the Saga of Majenko.

If you enjoyed this story, and would like to hear some others, then leave me a comment and let me know! If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then consider stopping by my Patreon page to become a patron. All I ask is $1 a month to help keep the content flowing. Lastly, if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter as well.

The Saga of Majenko Part 9: The Assault on Castle Korvosa

We're finally creeping up on the climax of this sordid tale of bloodshed and betrayal! If you've enjoyed it so far, then please leave some comments, and share it with your friends. If you're just now joining us, don't worry, the previous eight installments of this telling of Curse of The Crimson Throne are linked below for your convenience.

Part One: Finding The Main Character of "Curse of The Crimson Throne"
Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?
Part Three: Scourge of The Red Mantis
Part Four: Blood Pig Champion
Part Five: Brother to The Shoanti
Part Six: The Assault on Castle Scarwall
Part Seven: The Return to Korvosa
Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa
Part Nine: The Assault on Castle Korvosa
Part Ten: Down With The Queen

All caught up now? Fantastic! Now then, let me see, where were we...

Fake High

As any experienced gamer worth his or her salt can tell you, nothing changes the game more than the ability to fly. And since our aerial assault on Castle Scarwall had gone so smashingly in the last book, we decided to fall back on our old tricks and fly up to the top floor of Castle Korvosa.

After casting invisibility. We're reckless, not stupid.

The castle's attic is oddly abandoned, used for little more than storage. However, after some handy Perception checks, one of them made by the party's true leader and actual rogue, we find the ghost of a tiefling being kept in the attic. Apparently his body was hidden somewhere in the dungeons, and to grant him peace we need to find it. Seems legit, and something we should have plenty of time to handle in between swinging the hammer to bring down the city's powerful monarchy.

So, grisly task from an unquiet spirit collected and filed away, we make our way down a floor, and fight some devils. Once that errand is complete, we take another flight of stairs down, expecting to finally find that overdue helping of trouble we've been waiting for. Instead, we run into...

The Return of The Red Mantis!

Yep, one floor down, taking up a combination luxury penthouse suite and wicked dance club, were more of the insect-imitating assassins who had been dogging us for several books now. However, instead of just sending a few underlings, as they had in the past, this time they brought one of their captains with them.

Oooh, I'm shaking in my stinger... with excitement!

The is the first, real taste of combat our archanist has gotten, and it doesn't go well for him. Instead of letting Egil and Majenko do their thing (between the two of them, the red mantis underlings were little more than puppies, since they couldn't catch us flat-footed, nor could they sneak attack us), the arcanist decides to run into the mix, and start kicking open doors. This got him a kidney full of saw-toothed saber, though he managed to teleport himself out of harm's way with a cleverly used class feature. What he didn't do was heal himself. Instead, he chose to keep kicking in doors, which earned him a saber up the briscuit from the invisible captain.

So, the arcanist is out, and now the game has gotten serious. Sort of.

That's when Majenko decides to stop faffing about, and the rest of the standard red mantis members go down, either in death or in sleep. Egil steps up to try and face off with the Captain, and our cleric starts calling in assistance from the heavens above. The Captain summons creatures of her own, including some particularly nasty swarms. While she's fast, and hard to hit, a lucky shot here and there began to chip away at her. Before we can deal the deathblow, though, she manages to escape. Disappointed, and more than a little frustrated, we bundle up our dead companion, and Majenko scratches a message into the glass pane of the parlor wall.

You've already lost 11. Run now, and I won't chase you.

Infiltrate Low

After some begging, we manage to return our erstwhile arcanist to the Material Plane. And, knowing that our entrance from above must have been spotted, we decide to go in low for our second attack. You see, there's a secret passage Sabina told us about that will let us infiltrate right to the throne room if we're careful.

What could possibly go wrong?

True to her word, the passage is there. We slip in stealthily, and it appears the coast is clear. At least until the party gets blasted into next week! The arcanist is dead, Majenko has been turned to stone, Egil is insane, and the only one totally unaffected by what happened is the cleric. In the corner, where he had been lurking unseen to us, is the Bloat Mage. An evoker of terrible power, it's clear we won't be able to survive another round of his power unleashed.

Fortunately, the cleric has friends in high places. With a bit of inter-dimensional support, and a breath of life, she manages to get the arcanist back to life. Spells are flying, and soon the magus is back from the land of the mad. However, given that his familiar has been turned into a lawn decoration, he is far from pleased. Which is why he uses every trick he has to try to bring down the Bloat Mage. Continuing the pattern, though, the fat, floating bastard manages to escape. So we retreat again, noses bloodied, to repair our wounds and heal our allies.

No More Nice Party

It's around this time that the arcanist, whose chief job seems to be to get killed, decides to aid the revolution in other ways. He is replaced by a paladin, who is so by-the-book that his name has managed to evade mention in the annals of his own adventures. So, beefed-up and ready to stop pulling punches, we head back to the castle for another crack, though we are wondering why, at this point, there has been so little alarm raised. The castle has been penetrated twice by known heroes of the rebellion, and not so much as a whisper?

That should have been the first clue that shit wasn't right.

We find, much to our pleasure, that the Red Mantis haven't returned. However, we do find a strange statue that wants to eat us, along with a room full of Erinyes who try to turn us into unwilling pincushions. A little lower down, we find a full contingent of Gray Maidens in the throne room, along with what looks like the queen, getting ready for a throw down.

We quickly realize that what we're looking at is not as threatening as it at first appeared. The Gray Maidens, while highly trained and dangerous, don't have the resources to truly penetrate much of our defenses. And while the thing that looks like the queen is effective, its efforts are quickly nullified by a Silence spell. It turns into a puddle of slimy goo, and we deal with the guards, who refuse to stop fighting even though they've clearly lost this battle.

Of course, there are larger forces at work than we know. Such as the infernal creature lurking in the queen's bedroom, along with a rested and rejuvenated Bloat Mage, ready to give us everything he can.

The Power of Mind Control

Enchantment and compulsion are nasty things, particularly when most of the party succumbs to them. After the first two or three rounds, the paladin, the cleric, and Majenko all decided that it would be a better idea to report to their superiors about the presence of this awful thing than to actually fight it. While a dispell managed to keep Majenko on the scene, the brunt of our divine power just walked off the field. Fortunately, Balen was crazy even for a ranger, and charged right in to get some devil-slaying done.

It goes a lot better than expected, and soon the only threat left in the room is the evoker. He pulls the same trick he did before, and Majenko is turned to stone a second time. This wrings the last drop of what mercy Egil had left, and he pours all his remaining arcana, rogue tricks, and not-inconsiderable stock of wands into the mage's demise. It's a near thing, but when he can't escape the area of the silence effect, his head gets cut off by a dramatically-timed critical hit.

The Aftermath

With the cleric and paladin ashamed of their unwilling abandonment, we take the evoker's head back to our allies. While Majenko is still coughing out gravel from his second transformation back to flesh, we find out that the Bloat Mage had been enslaved to the devil. We also realize, thanks to some texts we located, that the queen is not in the castle, and hasn't been for some time. She's seeking a forgotten temple, where she'll be making a play for terrible power. And, while we need to stop that, we have one more errand to do first.

To find out how this game ended, tune in next time for the final installment, The Saga of Majenko: The Queen's Justice!

As always, thanks for joining me for Table Talk! If you have a gaming story of your own that you'd like to contribute, then contact me and I'll be happy to chat with you about it. If you'd like to help support me and my blog, then consider heading over to my Patreon page to become a patron today! Also, if you don't want to miss any of my updates, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter as well.

The Saga of Majenko Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa

Curse of The Crimson Throne is one of the older adventure paths Paizo put out, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Especially if you managed to rescue the main character, and turn him loose on the rest of the plot! We're nearing the end of this epic saga, and this week I relate how our heroes took back the streets of Varisia's capital city.

Also, here are the previous installments, in case you want to catch yourself up.
Part One: Finding The Main Character of "Curse of The Crimson Throne"
Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?
Part Three: Scourge of The Red Mantis
Part Four: Blood Pig Champion
Part Five: Brother to The Shoanti
Part Six: The Assault on Castle Scarwall
Part Seven: The Return to Korvosa
Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa
Part Nine: The Assault on Castle Korvosa
Part Ten: Down With The Queen

And now, without further ado...

Re-Taking Korvosa!

So, our team of adventurers returned from Scarwall with a relic of the goddess Iomedae, ready to take on the thing the queen had become. We found the city had been placed firmly under the monarch's boot heel, and her personal army of Gray Maidens prowl the city streets. We were accosted by thugs, "saved" by the new hero of the city, and then we found out to the surprise of no one that the supposed hero was, in fact, an efreet meant to distract the people of the city to keep them complacent. We survived that fight, panting and sweating, but relatively whole.

That was when the DM threw a dragon at us.

The actual fight is on page 176 of the Core Rulebook.

Here we are, walking off a big battle and trying to re-calculate our odds of successfully assaulting the castle, when out of the sky comes a savage-looking black dragon. As if dealing with a black dragon assault in the street isn't bad enough, it's being ridden by a gray maiden. So, round one starts, we all ready our weapons of choice, and that's when we need to make Will saves versus the dragon fear.

Guess who had rogue saves?

And who remembers which rogue saves are weak?

So Majenko, seeing that we obviously don't need any help here, rockets off to a rooftop, putting a sturdy chimney between himself and the mostly feral monster he shares some genetic ties with. Egil Manages to land a blow, and to get through the spell resistance, while the arcanist starts blasting, and the cleric summons a celestial ally. Said celestial ally also decides we can handle this, and flies away to join Majenko, where the two of them have coffee and talk about how they wouldn't want to show us up by taking out that creature that totally doesn't terrify them.

That's when the battle takes a turn for the unexpected. The rider dismounts, draws her falchion, and starts attacking her mount! That's when we realize that Sabina Merrin, the queen's personal bodyguard and rumored lover, has just mysteriously switched sides. While the dragon is flailing and gnashing, we manage to slay it with the aid of our new friend, at which point we run down the nearest alley, and use a scroll of mage's magnificent manor to lie low, heal, and replenish ourselves after the two unexpected ambushes we've survived. Once the dragon is dead, Majenko settles back onto his perch on Egil's shoulder as if nothing had happened.

Majenko The Grief Counselor?

We step into the palatial dimension, bind our wounds, and hand our equipment off to the invisible servants for cleaning and polishing. We eat, and as we eat, Sabina tells us her story. She and the queen were lovers, back when the queen was still a mortal woman. Before the crown of Kasavon's fangs had taken over her mind, and tainted her soul. From that point onward Sabina was tossed aside, given duties that made it impossible for her to escape, and even having her influence over the Gray Maidens transferred to more hard-line loyalists. In time, Sabina was tethered to the hateful brute that was her mount, her safety not even an afterthought to the woman who'd once claimed to love her.

Wow... that's harsh.

This is an awkward situation for our party to be in. We have a cynical tiefling cop, a battle cleric who finds her comfort in armor and doctrine, and a pretty selfish arcanist who doesn't quite get non-elf problems. Balen is Balen. We just barely got over treating a potential enemy as a new ally, and none of us are prepared to help her deal with her grief, as well as the awful stress of being kept prisoner in a role she once took pride in.

Well, except Majenko.

The rest of us went off to recuperate, heal, take long baths, sleep, and re-memorize our spells. We gear up, come downstairs, and Majenko is sitting at the table with Sabina. There are cherry pits and crumbles of chocolate, as well as what look like the dregs of ice cream. He's patting her hand and saying that it's going to be fine. He's sure there are plenty of nice ladies in Korvosa, and once we're done with the revolution she can find someone and settle down. He also insists that she come and visit him and Aeofa, and meet their clutch. The babies are adorable, and they could use some exposure to people, since they'll need to learn to deal with them sooner or later.

Minutes before the spell wears off, we step back into the dingy, dirty alleyway. The dragon's corpse is gone, of course, and the street is totally dead. Deciding that it's a good idea to regroup before assaulting the castle, especially if there are more ambushes waiting for us, we sneak our way back to the Gray District. We present our new ally, who in turn offers to lead a raid on the prison/training facility where the gray maidens are all given their unique facial scars, and undergo all their other procedures. Before she leaves, Sabina also tells us about a secret way into the castle.

We part company, and decide it's time to beard Kasavon in his own, stolen den.

Will our heroes succeed? Find out next time on The Saga of Majenko: Showdown in Castle Korvosa! If you want to stay up on all my updates, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, and if you'd like to help support my blog, then stop by my Patreon page and consider becoming a patron today!

My Familiar As A Balloon Animal

Despite being a partial shut-in who lives in a basement whose main source of socialization is a Friday-night Pathfinder game I occasionally get to meet some really interesting people. One of those people is Sandra Seymour, an amazingly talented balloon artist who was kind enough to share her art with me. She asked for a challenge, so I told her the tale of Majenko, a pseudodragon familiar that has become the main character of the Curse of the Crimson Throne game I play once a week. When the tale (which will eventually make its way onto this blog) was told she had just one question.

"Do you have a picture of him?"

This is the standard pseudodragon, illustrated by Kevin Yon. It's how I figure Majenko looks, except redder.

Sandra took a look at a similar image, pursed her lips, and started pulling out balloons. In less time than it took for me to relate this pint-size rogue's adventures she had created for me a relatively life-sized model out of nothing more than latex balloons and sheer skill.

Having been running this poisonous encounter-killer I know well what that stinger is capable of.

I was, and remain, as delighted as any child seeing a piece of my fantasy rendered real. While balloon art is by its very nature temporary I wanted to make an official post so that the Internet at large (and those who are fans of geeks and art in all forms) are aware that for a time I had the best balloon animal a player could ask for.


Thanks for stopping by Improved Initiative, and if you'd like to support this blog stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page and consider becoming a patron today! Even .50 a month can make a big difference in the long run! Also if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates then make sure you follow me on Facebook and Tumblr.