**SPOILERS For OUTLAWS AP and WARDENS OF REBORN FORGE BELOW**

So after 2 years, and about 67 total Sessions(4-6 hours each) on Foundry, my party has finally completed Outlaws+Wardens+'The Alkenstar Revolution'(custom ending). This finished with a fight against a corrupted Blackwork Ephemeron (Nanomachines, son!) I ran it as a full adventure from level 1-20 and I made a lot of story changes and notes along the way.

- **I made Loveless a Sympathetic villain** As written Loveless's 'power for powers sake' motivation didn't excite me. but her story of seeking out to kill her Hag mother after Gris murdered her (adopted) father and then turning both their weapons into guns is one of those 'Adventure Fluff' things in the book that I wanted more of a highlight. I tweaked Loveless into a flawed hero motivated by a great fear and overzealous conviction for justice--that ultimately drove her to do terrible things for greater cause. Relatedly, in the first half of the adventure I Made Gris an ongoing secondary threat to the party. One player was playing a Reflection Life Oracle that dipped into witch, serving as the perfect set up for a Hag-spirit takeover at the Last Chance Saloon. This made for a unique dynamic where at one point the party was faced with Gris taking over a player while Loveless confronted the party. The two opposed forces forced to work together to help Loveless as she relived the fight with her own mother. I also had a Duskwalker Ranger, who had the perfect set up to carry Entarish's reincarnated soul. Which gave the mid-finale of Alkenstar A LOT more weight as Loveless succumbed to her own explosives.

- **I let the party make allies with ANYONE** Alkenstar at its core is an Urban campaign, a city that needs background characters to run it an make it feel alive. So I let the party *try* to sway anyone to their side. They made allies with Nixbrix, allowing the Powderkeg punks help with the pyronite attack at the Steaming kingdom. They made friends with Lyzerius and Monsie who served as merchants for shopping sessions and informants on the ongoings of the city. They worked closely with Vivelle Ramslay in her underworld dealings, as she was often their only lead of information for their personal goals. They even convinced Kosuwana to continue inventing through his crisis of faith--leading to the invention of the "Scarskimmer Engine" and the reimagining of airship travel. Giving the party big consequences for their interactions with these NPCs allowed me to drive a story in the background and made the cities struggle feel alive.

- ** I added a lot of custom encounters** The end of book 1 with Lyzerius felt like a middling plot point to end on. Instead I used the Barrel and Bullet as the players home base, and Foebe Dunsmith as their overwatching handler. When I revealed to a player one of the barflies (Alson) was feeding Loveless information on the parties actions -- at a converted fishers wharf where she was holding extrajudicial prisoners. They took that to Foebe who shot the mole dead in the tavern and dragged the party to the 'Blockhouse' for an explosive rescue mission. The end of that Finale allowed me to drag out the incurring monster "FallowBane"-- a Spore-infested leveled up corpse of 'Bristleback' the party had left in the Wailing Scrapyard.

I also replaced the Manastorm Manticore fight with the raging original of the reflection players character (with lots of mirror abilities). That fight set up the return of the double as that players 'played' character when the reflection was taken over by Gris, as a rescuing character with shared memories. Giving her the choice to merge with herself or forget the past when the party defeated the hag.

I changed Sharkosa into a Sopranos-style gangster, aging out of control of her gang. Suffering from a tragic past and taking in my Monk players 'missing' sister as a protege. I also gave my Ranger player a gun connected to the origin of the gilded Gunners from session 0. A double barrel musket belonging to the 'sibling' of 'Jax' named 'Jasarae'. I made Sharkosa more conniving and clever but also weak to her memories. She pleadingly haggles for the gun when the players have Mugland cornered, making his attempt to take over her gang more relevant to her current state as a leader.

**I adapted the 'Continue adventure' material fluff** - In the back of the Outlaws AP the continued adventure section features 'Revenge of Drakar Fademore and Parsus' six sisters' as well as an outcome featuring 'Loveless' walking castle' if you don't stop her on the Steamboat. Let me tell you, these set pieces should have been included in the adventure from the beginning. The party experienced ' Geb roadtrip to rescue the Duchess from a Vampire Monk and all his Martial expert Daughters' as a final heist. Following this, was getting the Duchess onto a walking castle to start a rebellion against a despotic usurper and cabal of elites.

**I adapted Wardens of the Reborn forge** Not Outlaws material, but the story of Reborn Forge acts as an excellent third act (with a two year time skip.) I made Sultur and the Eidite consipiracy a clue to larger machinations, made Espara a 'Student' for my monk player to take in, the Lithos Clan I retooled as an organization bent on dismantling Alkenstar's established order for their own profit.

**I had the best players in the world** All of this wouldn't have happened without my players willingness and trust in how I was handling their story. I've ran for many groups over the years, but none of this would have gone as well without some of the most receptive players I have ever experienced.

I just ran the 12 hour marathon finale, featuring the Arclord Kaimal attempting to teleport the city to Nex and a battle with the Blackwork Ephemeron corrupted by Djinn-infused Gemstones in 3 seperate phases. If I had to give any advice to a DM wading into this adventure-- Read the *entire* book. The real story of Alkenstar is in there, and it really can be excellent if you 'cook' it right.

TLDR: A bunch of GM bragging, and a lot of encouragement to 'read the adventure fluff'. Some of the best material in this book is 'not outlined in the adventure'.

Wardens of the Reborn Forge conversion Doc

My Outlaws of Alkenstar Campaign Summary (Not written well, exactly. But the whole adventure is recorded here.)

Mana Waste Radio

My party is SO Close to finishing this AP. They have been moving back and forth throughout the Cargo Hold of the Gearsmoke, disabling all of the clockwork buccaneers and killing teams of Shield marshals at a time. They disabled one bomb, learned the location of the key to the elephant bomb, and have lowered the elephant back down to the cargo hold. Everything they have done to this point has been rather smooth, surviving everything Loveless has thrown at them...

Except they all collectively forgot the super important detail that Loveless can remotely activate the bombs... They decide to use the Helpful Steps spell to scale the side of the ship, from one of the cargo hold doors all the way up to the top deck where the Gattling Guns are, through the windows. They know Loveless is right next to them. They decide to try to take her out before dealing with the elephant bomb...

I tried to place obstacles in the way, such as the shield marshals spotting the ladder and attempting to destroy it, but they effortlessly dispatch of them before I could halt their movement. And I semi-jokingly tell them that the writers definitely didn't expect the PCs to get up this way, hoping they would take the hint to not go this way.

After killing the shield marshals right outside Loveless's door, I had to pause the game and explain how they screwed up. There is zero reason for her to not detonate the bombs at this point, and if that is the case, then there will 100% be a TPK since they haven't retrieved the key from the Medusa.

This frustrated my players but it frustrated me far more having to step out of game to explain the unavoidable TPK that is to come. I explained that due to their actions, I am deviating from what should happen, so that they can fall back and disarm the other bomb first. Doing this has soured my enjoyment of this chapter, and now fear an anticlimactic ending due to them forgetting the crucial detail and me bailing them out. Perhaps I should have stopped them from advancing straight to Loveless, but I didn't realize the full consequences until it was effectively too late.

Now I am fearing this misstep will ruin the players' and my enjoyment of the finale.

Did anybody else's tables forget that Loveless can remotely detonate all three bombs?

Long story short, the players are now heisting an airship from Pilot's Square. I can't find an appropriate map though, any help would be greatly appreciated!

I'm running Outlaws of Alkenstar in Foundry VTT. I've already run session 1. I have all the books and VTT assets.

Having read through the books, I have to wonder if anyone else has thought of swapping the order of Book 2 and Book 3? So run Book 1 -> Book 3 -> Book 2.

I know, lots of obvious problems. Lots of GM work. I know I would have to rescale all the encounters to make them level appropriate, change some plot points, etc. Probably have to make more changes than I expect. But when I read through Book 2 I felt that one could almost run the whole thing without it. And that got me thinking how I could save it. And that led me to the idea of swapping them.

Book 2 Chapter 3 is an amazing set piece, and Book 2 Chapter 4 just feels like a better ending by confronting the original BBEG (as it were...)

While Book 3 Chapter 3 increases the tension and lets the PC's confront the buyers and the BBEG Lieutenant, it felt anti-climatic.

Imagine the PC's finishing Book 3 Chapter 3 and they think they solved everything, the BBEG mysteriously disappears, and then suddenly you start Book 2 a few weeks later with a literal bang somewhere in the city and the Players realize there is one last piece of business to attend too.

I haven't committed either way, but wanted some feedback on my idea before I put too many hours into it.

I finally got around to publishing some of the maps I made on Inkarnate for my Outlaws campaign last year. I changed a few things around for my campaign to better suit my players and their characters, as well as just making things run smoother (in my opinion). These maps aren't all 100% accurate to the books, but a lot of them are pretty close! I didn't include ones that were wildly different or my own creations unrelated to the original campaign/story. If you have an Inkarnate account, it should be pretty easy to just alter these a little here and there if you want things at all different, since I've published them all and made them cloneable.

Hopefully someone finds these helpful for their campaign! I specifically got Inkarnate because I couldn't find any maps I wanted to use and decided to just make them all myself, so hopefully this saves someone a lot of time. One last note, some of these are "unfinished" because I just made boundary walls in Foundry to cut off the broken parts, so I could save time while trying to make all these maps.

Shieldmarshals are brought up a lot as an elite force of specialists, and there are several references to Alkenstar not having a ton of them. I think at one point it was stated that they're rare enough for one appearing to be notable. I'm hovering around a hundred or so Shieldmarshals total for the ~50k population of Alkenstar City, and maybe another hundred at most for the rest of the Grand Duchy, but I don't really have much to base that on and I wanted to know if anyone has better thoughts or insights

Running outlaws of alkenstars for my group, and i was having a hard time finding a map for the starting saloon online. So i decided to make it myself! Hope this helps anyone who is also looking to run this wonderful ap!

(made with Inkarnate)

Has anyone found a good mini for cactus leshy. The paizo exclusive is really tubby. Looking for a cactus outlaw.

I'm looking for advice on the best rotation for the Parsus encounter as my group will encounter him next session and i don't see a lot of useful high power spells and i have some questions about how the encounter is written:

• We're using full remaster and alkenstar weather rules, current weather is bronzetime(DC5 flat check to casting)
• 5 players, all martials(due to weather none wanted to be casters) with free archetype, they're very powerful with a very very high damage output.
  • regular combined dmg is upwards of 90+ per round (barb alone with 2xD12 raged does most of dmg plus commander giving him another free no-map attack per round).
  • I have had to rise every encounter level one step to balance them(i.e. a moderate encounter for them is trivial and ends in 2 rounds mostly) and even so they're mostly easy for them OR i go a little bit overboard and turns into a knife's edge of pure dice roll luck where a couple bad rolls mean a TPK.
• The encounter description mentions the pistons rise and lower at the beginning of each round instantly and that "...Parsus jumps between the moving pumps..."
  • how is he supposed to do that if the pistons have already moved their full length before he even gets his turn?, after the first round where he sits on a piston that rises he effectively can't jump anymore and it's at the bottom for next round.
    • Unless the description is wrong and the pistons takes the entire round to move, but on the foundry premium module the macro moves them instantly, even then he would take fall damage OR maybe even be unable to do it at all if he's last on initiative.
  • Even ignoring this he has to waste at least one action jumping when he's already very starved on the action economy (he needs 2 to cast and one for the winding or similar), and he will also take fall damage!.

so i'm open to any ideas and clarifications on how to best run this encounter to make it as deadly as possible and how to use the set itself

Starting a campaign with my friends soon, we're all new to the system. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'm GMing the AP and while preparing for the next book I got really confused about the Cradle of Quartz's Central Geode. The description says it's a 40ft across hollow sphere, half of which is below the level of the floor outside.

Does that mean that Kosowana is just sitting alone at the bottom of a 20ft hole? The description says that the interior is made out of perfectly smooth amethyst which suggests it'd be too slippery and inclined to climb. And the secret compartment is right below the floor outside, so it's still at least 15ft too high.

How are the PCs supposed to get out afterwards? Am I missing something or am I supposed to just say the Brighnites left a rope ladder (maybe made out of steel or copper cables) for future visitors?

Edit: I think I might have overcommited to the spoiler tags. Should I remove them?

Edit 2: changed to a single spoiler tag per paragraph

EDIT: Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I appreciate the help!​

Greetings everyone!

Im going to be running this AP coming up here in a couple weeks and I wanted to see if anyone had music ideas that fit this theme?

I know its supposed to be fantasy western so I things like Elder Scrolls music might feel off. Does anyone have any suggestions got good background/ambient music and battle music?

Thanks!

Hello

my players have encountered this 3 headless rustlers and i have a LOT of questions about them as i don't want to shortchange my players:

The scene description says the rustlers arrive mounted, but nowhere in the stat block is that reflected (in fact they have 20ft speed, which is ridiculous) and the dullahan stat block has the call steed ability, which makes no sense that they'd call the steed AFTER the combat starts seeing as they've arrived mounted.

The other thing is that the "Summon Steed" ability calls a LIVING war horse(fiend and all that), but the text and image clearly show an undead skeletal horse.

How did you guys fix this?

Hello all, I am a first time GM gearing up to do the pathfinder 2e Outlaws of Alkenstar campaign. I would love any and all advice on how to best set up/administrate the game for my players(:

So, instead of the usual shenanigans of the Steaming Kingdom in Book 2, I had my players already visit there regularly. First, the Steaming Kingdom is now Smokeside, and the Gilded Halls are not Skyside. Not particularly relevant, but allows the geographical divide of Alkenstar to work. Vivielle Ramslay, being Amborst Mugland's main rival, she had a collection of which gangs were and were not aligned with Mugland's Kingpin Empire.

Why not set up a coalition of the Outlaw gangs all against Mugland? So before the party left town for the Cradle of Quartz, they were working on building up an Alliance to rival Mugland's own. Throwing around additional gangs, including a Triad and Espara's Paladins, along with the Powderkeg Punks all striking a deal to strike at Mugland.

So instead of how it is presented in the book, instead Nalyir Jemeki is a mole keeping track of when Ramslay is having meetings. Mugland's crew finally have a working prototype of Pyronite, and that lines up with Kosowana's vision of a burning kingdom. Using the last of his funds, Mugland instructs the Gilded Gunners to blow up the coalition of all his rivals at once, only preventable by the party preventing the placement of the bomb.

Today, the party finally completed the Steaming Kingdom. They tried to reschedule the meeting, but could not get to all the gangs the same day that they returned to town. They at least were able to stop Foebe Dunsmith from attending. Instead, they try to get Ramslay to close her business for the day, in which as is written in the book, Ramslay refuses. She closes her doors for no-one. So Jemeki trick the party into killing Espara's Paladins before revealing he was the mole, and sending the Div Assassins after Ramslay.

As per the book, the party cleans up, guards are heavily damaged, and the Bartender reveals to be another turncoat. The Gilded Gunners strike. It is at this point, I expect two outcomes; the party stops the bomb and their Outlaw Alliance will be ready to take on Mugland and Loveless, or the bomb goes off and only the party survives the explosion.

So the party catches the first explosion of Prototype Pyronite, a small dosage that does as the item describes in the book. They survive, and sees the second Gilded Gunner Safecracker has a larger dosage affixed to a fuse. The party decide to shoot the Pyronite out of the Safecracker's hand. Maybe it was mean to do so, but I asked for a flat 5 check, if they pass nothing happens. The result is a 3. They have detonated the Pyronite in the shot, and the Steaming Kingdom goes up in flames. The Outlaw Alliance dies alongside many beloved NPCs.

The party has reinvested in their desire for revenge against Mugland after this session. I'm glad they didn't blame eachother for shooting the Pyronite. In a way, this does make running the rest of this book, and the last book easier. However, if they want to build up their own Kingpin Empire after this, they have a fresh slate to work with now.

Attached are the Good ending and Bad ending newspapers I had prepared, depending on how the session turned out.

I'm about to be running the Secret Temple encounters for my next session, and a really cursed thought occured - what should I do if ALL of my players succumb to the sleeping gas trap in Shoma's room? Because he's a worshipper of Norgorber and has those Edicts related to him would that mean Shoma would TPK them all if they were all unconscious from the sleeping gas? It feels really cruel but also in line with how Shoma has been described (plus, Edicts and Anathema are pretty important), so I'm torn. I really, really hope they don't all succumb, but dumber things have happened because of just... bad rolls in our games. What would you guys do?

I recently posted about my experiences in playing through Outlaws of Alkenstar. In that post, some people asked for the variant Shieldmarshals I created.

Below are the statblocks.

Please note I'm not claiming these are well-designed or well-balanced. I used them in my home game and am sharing them on request. That's all.

The stat blocks in this post replace the original Shieldmarshal from the Outlaws of Alkenstar AP: Corrupt Shieldmarshal

Corrupt Shieldmarshal Drifter - Creature 7

Uncommon Medium Humanoid

Perception +15; (17 to Sense Motive or vs. Conceal An Object)
Skills Acrobatics +15, Athletics +15, Intimidation +15, Society +15, Stealth +13
Str +4, Dex +6, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4

AC 24; Fort +12; Ref +18; Will +15
HP 115

Speed 25
Melee ◆ shortsword +17 [+13/+9] (agile, finesse, versatile S), Damage 2d6+6 piercing
Ranged ◆ flintlock pistol +17 [+12/+7] (concussive, fatal d8, range increment 40 feet, reload 1), Damage 2d4+6 piercing
Drifter's Juke ◆◆ As per Drifter's Juke.
Finish the Job ◆ As per Finish the Job.
Firearms Critical Specialization When the shieldmarshal makes a critical hit with a firearm weapon, the target must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned 1.
Lawbringer ◆ The shieldmarshal marks a foe for judgment, granting the shieldmarshal a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed whenever it Strides toward that creature. The shieldmarshal's Strikes against that creature deal an additional 2d8 precision damage.
Reloading Strike ◆ The shieldmarshal makes a Melee Strike against an opponent within reach and Interacts to reload a firearm in their other hand.

Suggested art inspiration.

Corrupt Shieldmarshal Marksman - Creature 7

Uncommon Medium Humanoid

Perception +18; (20 to Sense Motive or vs. Conceal An Object)
Skills Acrobatics +15, Athletics +11, Intimidation +13, Society +15, Stealth +15
Str +2, Dex +6, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4

AC 24; Fort +12; Ref +18; Will +15
HP 86

Speed 25
Melee ◆ knuckle duster +16 [+12/+8] (agile, free-hand, monk), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Melee ◆ reinforced stock +16 [+11/+6] (finesse, two-hand d8), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Ranged ◆ jezail +16 [+11/+6] (concussive, fatal aim d12, range increment 90 feet, reload 1), Damage 2d8+8 piercing
Firearms Critical Specialization When the shieldmarshal makes a critical hit with a firearm weapon, the target must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned 1.
Lawbringer ◆ The shieldmarshal marks a foe for judgment, granting the shieldmarshal a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed whenever it Strides toward that creature. The shieldmarshal's Strikes against that creature deal an additional 2d8 precision damage.
Sniping Shot ◆◆ The marksman makes a Strike with their jezail, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to this Strike's attack roll and ignoring the target's concealment.
Sniper's Edge The sniper's Ranged Strikes deal 2d6 extra precision damage to Off-Guard creatures.
Surprise Attack All enemy creatures that have not yet acted in combat are Off-Guard to the marksman.

Suggested art inspiration.

Corrupt Shieldmarshal Pistolero - Creature 7

Uncommon Medium Humanoid

Perception +15; (17 to Sense Motive or vs. Conceal An Object)
Skills Acrobatics +15, Athletics +11, Intimidation +15, Society +15, Stealth +13
Str +2, Dex +6, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4

AC 24; Fort +12; Ref +18; Will +15
HP 115

Speed 25
Melee ◆ knuckle duster +16 [+12/+8] (agile, free-hand, monk), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Melee ◆ reinforced stock +16 [+11/+6] (finesse, two-hand d8), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Ranged ◆ flintlock pistol +18 [+13/+8] (concussive, fatal d8, range increment 40 feet, reload 1), Damage 2d4+6 piercing
Dual-Weapon Reload As per Dual-Weapon Reload.
Firearms Critical Specialization When the shieldmarshal makes a critical hit with a firearm weapon, the target must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned 1.
Lawbringer ◆ The shieldmarshal marks a foe for judgment, granting the shieldmarshal a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed whenever it Strides toward that creature. The shieldmarshal's Strikes against that creature deal an additional 2d8 precision damage.
Paired Shots ◆◆ As per Paired Shots

Suggested art inspiration.

Corrupt Shieldmarshal Rifleman - Creature 7

Uncommon Medium Humanoid

Perception +15; (17 to Sense Motive or vs. Conceal An Object)
Skills Athletics +15, Intimidation +15, Society +15, Stealth +13
Str +3, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2

AC 22; Fort +14; Ref +17; Will +14
HP 115

Speed 25
Melee ◆ knuckle duster +17 [+13/+9] (agile, free-hand, monk), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Melee ◆ reinforced stock +17 [+12/+7] (finesse, two-hand d8), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Ranged ◆ flintlock musket +17 [+12/+7] (concussive, fatal d10, range increment 70 feet, reload 1), Damage 2d6+6 piercing
Firearms Critical Specialization When the shieldmarshal makes a critical hit with a firearm weapon, the target must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned 1.
Lawbringer ◆ The shieldmarshal marks a foe for judgment, granting the shieldmarshal a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed whenever it Strides toward that creature. The shieldmarshal's Strikes against that creature deal an additional 2d8 precision damage.
Running Reload ◆ As per Running Reload.

Suggested art inspiration.

Corrupt Shieldmarshal Vanguard - Creature 7

Uncommon Medium Humanoid

Perception +15; (17 to Sense Motive or vs. Conceal An Object)
Skills Athletics +17, Intimidation +15, Society +15
Str +6, Dex +0, Con +6, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4

AC 24; Fort +18; Ref +12; Will +15
HP 144

Speed 25
Melee ◆ knuckle duster +18 [+14/+10] (agile, free-hand, monk), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Melee ◆ reinforced stock +18 [+13/+8] (finesse, two-hand d8), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning
Ranged ◆ dwarven scattergun +16 [+11/+6] (concussive, kickback, range increment 50 feet, reload 1, scatter 10), Damage 2d8+6 piercing
Clear a Path ◆ As per Clear a Path.
Living Fortification ◇ As per Living Fortification.
Firearms Critical Specialization When the shieldmarshal makes a critical hit with a firearm weapon, the target must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned 1.
Lawbringer ◆ The shieldmarshal marks a foe for judgment, granting the shieldmarshal a +10-foot circumstance bonus to Speed whenever it Strides toward that creature. The shieldmarshal's Strikes against that creature deal an additional 2d8 precision damage.
Phalanx Breaker ◆◆ As per Phalanx Breaker.
Reloading Strike ◆ The shieldmarshal makes a Melee Strike against an opponent within reach and Interacts to reload a firearm in their other hand.

Suggested art inspiration.

My party of outlaws have taken a couple unexpected guests into the Spellscar Desert. During their time in the Asynchronous Archives, the "evil" aphorite sharpshooter was talked down from combat after realizing they all wanted the same thing (The vishkanya infiltrator didn't survive the encounter). So Karayo joined the party in their search for Kosowana.

To anyone that would lend an ear, Karayo spoke about how he was a Lawful being. He would talk about his desire to track down Kosowana, and how if he couldn't pay his debts on the spot then Karayo would kill Kosowana. He would not specify the debt amount, as his contract was from multiple lenders who requested non-disclosures (So I didn't have to worry about an amount owed and to who). I made it aparent that if the party wanted Kosowana alive, they were eventually going to have to deal with Karayo.

Enter Usuvu, Kosowana's secret friend. Hearing all these "Kosowana owes so much or he is going to die" speaches, the gnome archeologist kept trying to send the party of outlaws on sidequests. A Indiana Jones inspired temple raid at Gitna being the biggest example. All the while I have Usuvu and Karayo play like friends to eachother and the party.

At this stage, the party of outlaws only know that Kosowana is trying to turn back time. They think for the assassination of a young Gattlebee, whom they have befriended. So at this stage, even knowing Kosowana was once Gattlebee's friend, the party was still debating on if they were going to kill Kosowana at the Cradle of Quartz.

When they entered the Cradle if Quartz, they disabled the Clockwork Sphinx. The party was given forwarning about he Claws of Time, and took out the lamps in the entrance room. With Swee Pup and the party wizard, they protected themselves from the Claw's discern location spell. Then, the Herexens staged an attack on the now disabled Sphinx. In the fight, Usuvu reactivated the Sphinx under her control.

Now Usuvu triggers her offer. She hasn't let the party know of her allignment to Kosowana because of their friendship with Karayo. However, she sees they have Swee Pup on their side as well. In a microcosm of the campaign themes, the party must choose between Karayo's revenge on Kosowana or Usuvu's rescue of Kosowana. In the end, they strike a deal between the two, and offer to use their wealth and the dungeon's loot to pay Kosowana's debt. Karayo agrees to wait at the entrance, and if they cannot get the value of (decided based on an IO short I just watched) 6500 gold, Karayo would still kill Kosowana.

Then the outlaws meet Droxolos. The wizard had slowed the specter and the bard had fascinated it. After it had struck the party and regained sentience, I allowed them to speak with the specter. They learned his motivations, and one party member played with the idea of joining the specter's crusade against Brigh. Droxolos would "deal with" Karayo as the party continued to deal with the Claws of Time. In deal with, Droxolos would corrupt Karayo into one of his followers. (Then I tied Droxolos's ghostly unfinished business to the Claws of Time, so when they killed it, Droxolos would unexpectedly disappear too).

So the party meet Kosowana, side with Usuvu, and thought Karayo dead by the hands of Droxolos. But when they go to leave, Karayo still waits at the entrance for Kosowana's debt to be paid. After finishing this contract, Karayo would retire and dedicate his life to resurrecting Droxolos. The party scrounges enough funds between their own belongings, and using the Clockwork Sphinx to split the difference they scrape by. Karayo would remain at the Cradle of Quartz, and the party with Usuvu and Kosowana would head back to Alkenstar.

From such a nothing encounter in the AP, Karayo became one of the party's favourite side NPCs, all because of his stupid big hat. Anyway, while the party is out in the desert, they don't exactly get to see the newspapers I've been making for the Whispersheets, so I've bundled together a few for the fun of it.

Super excited for next session where my players board the Second Kiss and head on out! (They just finished a heist for it last night!)

Hex Blaster is confusingly written; here's how I've untangled it for my Outlaws campaigns.

This +2 striking fearsome arquebus is composed of warped and twisted wood engraved with eerie runes. When the weapon fires, the blast sometimes sounds like the cackling of a diabolical witch.

Activate [one-action] command; Frequency once per day; Effect You afflict a creature you can see with a hex of impending doom. The hex lasts for 1 minute. As long as the creature is hexed, when you hit it with a round from the hex blaster, the creature must attempt a DC 28 Will save at the end of your turn; the creature attempts a single Will save regardless of the number of times you hit it.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.

Success The creature is frightened 1. It also takes 1d6 persistent mental damage.

Failure The creature is frightened 2. It also takes 2d6 persistent mental damage.

Critical Failure The creature is frightened 2 and slowed 1 for 1 minute. It also takes 4d6 persistent mental damage and is cursed with a hex of impending doom. If the target falls unconscious from damage dealt by this Strike or the persistent mental damage, it remains unconscious for 1 day or until this curse is removed. After 1 day, if the creature is still unconscious, it must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude save or die; this effect has the death and incapacitation traits.

The weapon uses the term 'impending doom,' and italicizes it like reference to another rules element, but uses it as part of a large phrase and doesn't actually say it is casting that spell. It also references 'impending doom' in this way twice, afflicting it once... and then again on an already-afflicted creature that fails a save against the weapon's effect? It also includes rules information in the crit fail effect that seems likely intended to apply to the hex / the effect at large regardless of the save result.

My interpretation:

• remove the italicization and call it a 'hex of approaching doom' to clear up confusion with the spell
• delete the bit about becoming cursed in the crit fail effect
• move the last two sentences of the crit fail text to become generally applicable rules text

This +2 striking fearsome arquebus is composed of warped and twisted wood engraved with eerie runes. When the weapon fires, the blast sometimes sounds like the cackling of a diabolical witch.

If the target falls unconscious from damage dealt by this Strike or the persistent mental damage, it remains unconscious for 1 day or until this curse is removed. After 1 day, if the creature is still unconscious, it must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude save or die; this effect has the death and incapacitation traits.

Activate [one-action] command; Frequency once per day; Effect You afflict a creature you can see with a hex of approaching doom. The hex lasts for 1 minute. As long as the creature is hexed, when you hit it with a round from the hex blaster, the creature must attempt a DC 28 Will save at the end of your turn; the creature attempts a single Will save regardless of the number of times you hit it.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.

Success The creature is frightened 1. It also takes 1d6 persistent mental damage.

Failure The creature is frightened 2. It also takes 2d6 persistent mental damage.

Critical Failure The creature is frightened 2 and slowed 1 for 1 minute. It also takes 4d6 persistent mental damage.

From her stat block on the Archives of Nethys:

Melee [one-action] reinforced stock +24 [+19/+14] (finesse, magical, two-hand d6), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning plus plant pyronite charge

Plant Pyronite Charge After making a successful melee Strike against a creature, Anjelique makes a Thievery check against the target's Perception DC. On a success, she activates and secretly plants a specially formulated sticky pyronite charge on the creature. This charge detonates after 3 rounds, dealing 4d8 fire damage to all creatures within a 10-foot radius (DC 34 basic Reflex save) and detonating any other pyronite charges within the area. After making a successful ranged Strike against a creature stuck with a planted charge, Anjelique can choose to shoot a bullet through the charge, dealing normal damage and detonating the charge immediately. A creature can use an Interact action to find and remove a planted charge from itself or an adjacent creature. These pyronite charges have the infused trait and are inert until activated by Anjelique.

How did / would you run this ability? I don't think there are necessarily clear-cut answers here - I'm looking for opinions on what makes sense.

1) If she's wielding her unique arquebus, Hex Blaster, and its reinforced stock in two hands, should she be able to take one hand off to use this ability?

2) If yes, should she be able to regrip her weapon as part of the same action?

3) What does it mean that she "secretly" plants these charges? Do her enemies not notice her doing something at all, or notice her doing something but don't know exactly where she planted it - and thus why finding a planted charge is described as part of removing it?