Curse of the Crimson Throne series:

• Book 1: Edge of Anarchy
• Book 2: Seven Days to the Grave
• Book 3: Escape From Old Korvosa
• Book 4: A History of Ashes
• Book 5: Skeletons of Scarwall
• Book 6: Crown of Fangs
• Reconstructing Curse of the Crimson Throne

It’s part two of my Curse of the Crimson Throne deconstruction, which is both a way for me to begin prepping to GM the Paizo Adventure Path and, hopefully, inspiration for making these APs your own. If for some reason you missed yesterday, check out the link above and grab a snack because that article is looooong. Today is a more regular-sized deconstruction.

Once again, I’ll begin with my evergreen caveats for this series:

First and foremost, these edits are there to make the game that I want to run. What I consider “essential,” you may not, and vice-versa. You would make (or have made) different decisions, which is both natural and part of the fun. Feel free to comment below if you see different opportunities.

Second, I’m going to be making heavy edits. If you’ve run or played in Curse of the Crimson Throne, I’m going to be deleting your favorite side quest, or NPC, or completely rewriting villain’s motivations and backstories. When I’m done, it’s likely not going to resemble the story you know.

Third, there will be rampant spoilers—in fact, once I dive in, these posts are essentially spoilers from start to finish. If you are a player in one of these APs or plan to be, these articles aren’t for you. (If you plan on GMing it or have done so, however… welcome!)

Finally, I don’t yet know what game system I’ll be using to run this Adventure Path, but it likely won’t be Pathfinder. Try not to get caught up in how dramatically I’m reducing the possible XP or treasure, or what I’m doing to CR of encounters. These articles are meant to be system agnostic, focused on story beats rather than mechanics.

Alrighty then… let’s get to Book 2!

Curse of the Crimson Throne 2: Seven Days to the Grave

The backstory for Book 2, entitled Seven Days to the Grave and written by F. Wesley Schneider, is intense. We ended Book 1 with the thwarted attempt by the corrupted Queen Ileosa to execute an innocent scapegoat for the king’s murder. The city of Korvosa is openly questioning whether she indeed committed regicide, and she’s gone into hiding within her castle. But lo, the queen hasn’t spent her time idly! Instead, she’s been working with the Red Mantis order of assassins, a cult of Urgathoa (goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath), and a vampire scholar of disease and contagions to create a plague that will wipe out many of the common people within the city, people Queen Ileosa considers a burden. From the preamble to the adventure: “Her wishes fulfilled, her new dark allies marshaled, and her mind brimming with insidious dreams, Queen Ileosa gave the nod that launched a ship with black sails and opened her city gates to a pestilence unlike any Korvosa has ever known. If blood veil is allowed to run its course, not only will Ileosa have crippled the city’s ability to resist her future plans and made Korvosa into a place more “suitable” for her warped sensibilities, but her final pacts with infernal and ancient fonts of power will grow all the more potent.”

Woof. This AP was written in 2008, long before the global pandemic of 2020. For anyone particularly impacted by COVID-19, it’s worth treading carefully into this part of the campaign. No matter what each player’s experience, I expect that the scenes of a plague sweeping through the city will hit differently than before.

The PCs, of course, know nothing of Ileosa’s mad plans. Instead, they have the opportunity after the chaotic ending of Book 1 for some well-earned downtime. It’s a great place to do a level-up (see my final “Reconstructing” article on Sunday for how I see these fitting into the campaign), plus explore any personal stories or quests that either emerged throughout Book 1 or, more likely, never had a chance to develop because of the frenetic pace of the adventure. Indeed, the more personal connections the PCs can create before this book kicks off, the more powerful and tragic its events will be. There’s no prescribed time lapse here… probably something like weeks or months can pass since the interrupted execution.

Chapter 1: Infection

At some point (which can be either early in the downtime or at its end), the module suggests two events occur: First, someone should do a Harrow reading for the PCs, likely the PC who is in possession of the enchanted deck from Edge of Anarchy. It’s not strictly necessary, but is a fun tool for foreshadowing.

Second, Field Marshal Cressida Kroft should gather the PCs to inform them that a) Queen Ileosa is making changes within her government and Cressida fears not only for her job but the integrity of the Korvosan Guard, b) given what happened at the execution (yes, she saw their actions), she doesn’t want to draw undue attention from the queen. In other words, they’re not part of the Korvosan Guard anymore, but Cressida is rooting for them and may be in contact later.

As an official end to downtime, renowned swordmaster Vencarlo Orisini, also known as the vigilante Blackjack (though the PCs don’t know it yet), sends the party a note offering to “share some tips on self defense” for free during these uncertain times. When they arrive at his home, he reveals… Trinia Sabor (or whoever was the scapegoat from the execution)! Blackjack delivered her to him, he says, and asked him to protect her. Vencarlo doesn’t see the city as a tenable hideout anymore, though, so he’s arranged for friends outside Korvosa to shelter her. Can they escort her there?

I suspect that savvy players will make the Vencarlo-Blackjack connection here, and it’s a more-than-a-little-suspicious setup. The book provides reasons why he’s asking the PCs, why he can’t go himself, what he says his relationship with Blackjack is, etc. but hopefully the party won’t be too critical and will see Vencarlo as the quest giver that he is. As missions go, it’s a simple one: Take Trinia to an Inn outside of Korvosa called Trots and the innkeeper will do the rest.

However the PCs get Trinia outside of Korvosa, it’s a good time to showcase the city’s more martial rule—hardened mercenaries in new red cloaks are everywhere, plus Hellknights and perhaps they even catch a glimpse of the queen’s new personal military force, the Gray Maidens. Trinia will make conversation and try to connect with members of the party. And, eventually, the group will arrive at Trots. In thanks, once she’s safe, she’ll give one of the PCs a gift (great opportunity for roleplay here… maybe a budding love interest?).

While the party is out of town, a mysterious ship sails into the harbor and is sunk. Rumors swirl, but other topics quickly overtake people’s gossip. This event, however, is Queen Ileosa’s red herring once the plague breaks out, so the module suggests it somehow be a rumor in the background when the PCs return to Korvosa. Meanwhile, the plague is actually spreading through tainted coins planted in the poorest parts of the city.

One of the early victims, it turns out, is none other than the niece of an NPC the party met during Book 1 (as written, it’s the drunk from Chapter 2, Event 6, which I dropped… the party will have made many minor acquaintances by now, though). When the party returns to the city, the NPC seeks them out and asks for help. What follows in the module is a surprisingly long and detailed account of the girl’s family and the visiting cleric of Abadar, whose name is Ishani. The gist is that the girl is dying from the (as yet unnamed) blood veil plague, but they are too poor to pay for healing and the priest is obligated by his god to accept coin. The PCs can either heal the girl themselves with some sort of “remove disease” spell, pay the cleric, or find some other way. It’s a tender and simple scene, and one which will expose some or all the PCs to the disease.

Assuming the party works with Ishani and doesn’t offend him, he explains that he’s seeing other signs of sickness and invites them to the Grand Vault of Abadar. Strap in, because we’re heading to a full-on city pandemic.

Chapter 2: Outbreak 

If the PCs accompany Ishani, they all visit the awe-inspiring marble-and-bronze structure of the Grand Vault of Abadar, main temple to Golarion’s god of cities, law, merchants, and wealth. On the way, the cleric can provide rumors in the city and build relationships, finding out about their brief stint in the Korvosan Guard and general good intentions. As they reach the temple, they all see temple guards turning away pock-marked masses of plagued citizens. If the PCs heal any one person, it sets off a press of needy commoners who can’t pay Abadar’s fees, but who need help. Ishani will want to get inside to find out what’s happening, and hopefully the PCs can navigate the diseased crowd without hurting them and make it past the guards.

As written, once inside Ishani turns to the PCs and provides lengthy exposition on the plague. I like instead that he’s as startled as the party as to how quickly everything is escalating. Inside, he can rush to other clerics to find out that the number of needy has increased by the hour, and that the clergy themselves are beginning to show pock-marked signs of infection. Regardless, Ishani will desperately ask the PCs to escort him to a meeting with Field Marshall Cressida to explore how the church and Guard might work together in this situation. Assuming the party agrees, the way to Citadel Volshyenek can provide other signs of the spreading plague—quiet streets, businesses shuttered, and the sounds of coughing from inside closed doors.

When the party arrives at the citadel, they find a meeting in progress. The queen has sent her personal physician and a retinue (including a Gray Maiden) to obtain Korvosan Guard protection while they do their work. Neither Cressida nor the Guard members seem happy to be told to follow the physicians around, but Cressida is ordering them to obey the queen’s writ. As the exchange ends, the PCs meet everyone, Ishani offers to coordinate the church with the Queen’s Physicians. Of course, things are not as they seem—Unbeknownst to the party, the lead physician is Reiner Davaulus, member of the Red Mantis assassin guild and one of the individuals who concocted the blood veil plague. His Queen’s Physicians are worshippers of Urgathoa. The Korvosan Guard, then, has been conscripted to escort these evildoers around the city to ensure the plague’s spread.

The remainder of this chapter is five missions the party can undertake to combat the spread of blood veil throughout Korvosa. It’s a simple premise, and, interestingly, all five missions are complete and total side quests—utterly unnecessary to the larger plot. Normally I’d be tempted to drop them. I find myself charmed by the idea of four of them, though, as each is self-contained, simple, and diverse.

Here is the setup I’ll use: lay out rumors that connect to the first four missions and give these rumors directly to the party, allowing them a list of possible quests that they can prioritize or ignore. I like this approach better than the “Cressida sends the party on missions” angle, which is a repeat of Book 1 (besides, otherwise what was the point of dropping them from the Korvosan Guard?). This approach also means they can do as many or as few of these scenes as they want.

Mission 1: The Wreck of the Direption – Remember that ship the queen sank that sparked brief rumors? It’s called the Direption, and Cressida has heard it’s the plague’s original source. The problem is that it’s now at the bottom of the Jeggare River. It’s a magical fantasy world, though, so the party can secure potions of water breathing or some other ways to get down there if they’re willing to investigate. If so, the task is a) find the shipwreck, b) investigate the wreckage, and c) fight the sea hag Yvicca and her shark animal companion, who have been waiting for anyone who pokes into the queen’s red herring, thanks to the Urgathoan cult. Doing so will reveal the corpse of the ship’s captain, an Urgathoan devotee, and possibly even the name of Lady Andaisin, the plague-specialist cleric who sent him on this doomed mission. What’s clear, though, is that the Direption was a misdirection, not the source of the plague.

There’s a legitimate question whether the red herring of the Direption is a good idea. I’ve said before that players often get confused in APs about what they’re doing and why, so in general I’m not a fan of convoluted plots generally or red herrings specifically. Here, though, it doesn’t distract the PCs for long, and the underwater set piece against a sea hag is fun. Besides, there is a growing sense as the party digs into blood veil’s origins that multiple nefarious groups are collaborating with help from powerful inside forces, which if done right is a great backdrop for the growing evil of the queen.

Mission 2: Plague Rats – It’s common knowledge that a society of wererats live in the tunnels and sewers beneath Korvosa. No surprise, then, that some panicked locals blame them for the plague, and have recently executed one of the creatures. Rather than cower, a wererat named Girrigz Ripperclaws is rallying his people to fight back. As they begin investigating, a “closet wererat” named Eries Yelloweyes seeks out the party as they’re clearly trying to help the city, and tells them that, in exchange for stopping Girrigz and his warband, she’ll work with them to convince her kin to help fight the plague. Eries will lead the party to Girrigz’s lair, where they can try reasoning with or fighting a pack of wererats, some dire rats, and a rat swarm. It’s a true side quest, and the campaign loses nothing by dropping it. That said, like Mission 1 it’s just as easy to keep intact for some varied scenes, and the possibility of a PC catching lycanthropy is always a hoot.

Mission 3: The Color of Death – One of the better-known perfumeries in Korvosa, called Lavender, is purportedly selling a cure for blood veil. If the PCs investigate, they find blocks-long lines of citizens willing to pay 2 gold pieces each for Lavender’s Luxurious Liniment, which is a complete sham. Vendra Loaggri, the shop’s proprietor, is a fast-talking con artist, and she has thugs she can call on if the party tries to shut down her business. Putting an end to the con is tough for the city’s morale, but saves lives. This mission could have combat, but is more likely more social in nature, and, again, a nice change of pace.

Mission 4: The Hungry Dead – As the number of dead rises, the church of Abadar offers discounts to those willing to be plague carters, hauling corpses to the Gray District into mass graves. Several people are taking the discount but dumping the bodies in alleyways, though, which can attract all sorts of problems in a fantasy world. As written, when the PCs investigate, they find one such alley has become the lair of vampire spawn, which I find confusing since it’s a plot idea just begging for a necromancer, ghoul gang, or some other “prey on piles of corpses” problem. So, while I like the setup of this mission, I’d alter the details substantially. Since I dropped the Dead Warrens side quest from Book 1, it’s easiest to insert the same derro necromancer here as a culprit, or maybe it’s Rolth Lamm (son of Gaedren Lamm!) from Chapter 3 of this book making a preliminary appearance.

Mission 5: The Case of the Vanishing Virtuoso – The backstory on this mission is dizzyingly complex in a way that makes me grit my teeth. I won’t even try to summarize it here, but the mission itself involves going to a manor, where a group of nobles decided to have a big party despite the plague. What they find is a crazy elf that seems like a mix of Harley Quinn and the Joker, all but two of the guests murdered (but made to look like they died of the plague), many of them animated as zombies, and a man who was taken away by the Queen’s Physicians to be rescued later when the PCs confront the cult of Urgathoa. I looked hard for the kernel of a mission that I could use, but no. It’s a bummer to not have a set piece in a noble’s mansion as yet another change of pace, but I can live without it. Besides, keeping the focus on the commoners when that’s who Queen Ileosa is trying to cull is appropriate for this part of the campaign.

Between the four missions (or however many they do), I’ll look for opportunities to further any PC-specific plots and provide little vignettes as to the state of the city. Suffice it to say, Korvosa is suffering, and the blood veil pandemic is running rampant. At the very least, Dr. Davaulus and the Queen’s Physicians aren’t doing much to slow its spread, but likely the party has suspicions that they may not even be trying. Either they’ll decide to investigate them independently, or maybe Field Marshall Cressida, cleric Ishani, or another NPC can give a nudge. When the party heads to Davaulus’ base of operations, the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, it’s time for Chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Epidemic

A warehouse bought from Arkona Imports months ago by agents of the Red Mantis, the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden is touted as a place for those most afflicted with the blood veil plague to find refuge. In reality, the Queen’s Physicians are Urgathoan devotees, studying the disease and trying to improve it. Though it’s not stated in the module, I imagine that families who send their loved ones there never hear updates, and perhaps it’s this growing unease that finally pushes the PCs to head there themselves.

The Hospice is a two-story, roughly square building filled with suffering, plague-ridden bodies. At first, the PCs will confront a burly nurse who has little interest in non-infected. Once they get through her, they can pass through the horrific sick ward and find Dr. Davaulus in a private hall on the second floor. When and how the full picture of Urgathoan experimentation and the Queen’s Physicians’ true nature is revealed depends a lot on the PCs’ approach and level of skepticism. Are they going in disguised as infected or Queen’s Physicians? Are they sneaking in during the cover of night? Are they being respectful and curious, truly asking for an audience with Davaulus? Or are they pushing their way in weapons drawn, knowing something evil is afoot? I can imagine a lot of different events from Chapter 2 leading to a wide array of ways the entrance of the Hospice could occur.

At some point, though, combat breaks out. Either the PCs discover the patients on the second floor strapped to tables, or the six Gray Maidens in the place swing into action when the PCs get too pushy, or (my personal favorite) the meeting with Dr. Davaulus goes from innocuous to supervillain monologue-y. I can imagine a fun scene in which Davaulus blames the plague ship and/or wererats, only to have the PCs debunk it. Flustered, he tries to talk them out of saving the city and, failing that, calls for his guards to kill them. My goal will be to make it as intense an encounter as possible, and of course the trick to defeat the doctor and his creepy lackeys without hurting the plague-ridden patients throughout the building. And if they kill a Gray Maiden, the queen’s personal military, well… that’s a bell that can’t get unrung.

With Dr. Davaulus, the Gray Maidens, and the collection of Queen’s Physicians defeated, the PCs can free the poor, infected souls trapped in the Hospice. Notes (a long-time campaign trope) in Davaulus’ office provide some insight into what’s going on and are part of figuring out a cure for the disease.

But wait! There’s more! Carved into the earth below the warehouse is a fully functioning temple to Urgathoa!

A mysterious wooden cargo lift takes the party to what was once a smuggler’s den for the shady-but-wealthy Arkona family. Now, murals of plague-infested cities line the walls, along with iconography of the awful goddess. It’s likely that the cult down here doesn’t know what happened above, so the party will have the opportunity for surprise. If Davaulus or one of his minions managed to flee below, however, everyone will be ready for a fight.

All in all, the Temple of Urgathoa is a fourteen-room “dungeon” (in the classic D&D sense) filled with awfulness. At this point, the PCs won’t be in any mood for diplomacy, and it’s a chance to see the full extent of the evil behind the plague. The full array of forces against them are (I’m keeping numbers approximate because the exact amount will depend on the system I’m running):

• More than a dozen priests and acolytes of Urgathoa.
• A handful of Queen’s Physicians and Gray Maidens.
• A necromancer named Rolth Lamm, along with some plague zombies and skeletons at his command. If that last name sounds familiar, he’s the son of Gaedren Lamm, the villain who united the PCs at the outset of the campaign.
• Ramoska Arkinimos, a vampire and scholar, one of the people responsible for blood veil’s creation. He has little interest in fighting and should be too powerful for the PCs in any case. After some conversation and bored contempt, I suspect he leaves or distracts the party with other foes. I’m genuinely disappointed that he doesn’t show up later in the AP, and will look for a way for him to do so.
• Lady Andaisin, High Priestess of Urgathoa and another of the blood veil’s architects, along with her personal guard of juju zombies. She’s vastly overconfident in the temple of her goddess, and her haughty speech provided in the module is great. What’s particularly fun about this encounter is that she’s partially correct that Urgathoa is watching out for her—the turn after she falls in battle, a grotesque undead monster bursts from her corpse, the “new” Lady the PCs will have to defeat (and if this monster gets away, they can face her again in Book 4).

In the temple there’s also a trapped door, meant to keep out non-Urgathoans, which I’ll probably keep, and a random leukodaemon in a vat, which I’ll probably drop. All in all, it’s a lot for the party to take on at once, especially if they walked into the Hospice wanting to investigate and talk. Yet as they uncover the Urgathoan cult, they’ll not only figure out the full backstory on the blood veil plague, but have various notes and formulas that can counteract it. Basically, the whole place is a treasure trove of research notes, correspondence, and evil plans.

Chapter 4: Conclusion

If the party can gather notes from blood veil’s progenitors—Dr. Davaulus, the vampire Ramoska Arkminos, and Rolth the necromancer—either an alchemy-savvy PC can concoct a cure, or the party can have experts they’ve met across the adventure do it. Depending on the system, I can see this being a montage scene, a series of skill checks, or simply narrated. It will take months for the plague to fully die out in Korvosa, but stopping the source and supplying a cure sets the city on the path to do so.

The module supplies several different ways the heroes’ standing in the city might be affected by their actions. Maybe their accomplishments are only known by a few, leading to a quiet dinner mourning those lost to the plague. Maybe entire neighborhoods of common people embrace the party as local heroes. Or maybe their deeds are truly public, leading to Queen Ileosa having to participate in a ceremony to openly acknowledge their good work through gritted teeth. Whatever the case, it’s an opportunity not only for capstone scene to the pandemic, but also to establish the ways the city may respond to the party going forward in the campaign.

Though the PCs don’t have definitive proof of the queen’s involvement (she’ll say she was duped if confronted), it’s obvious now that she’s a Bad Guy™. Enough skepticism still exists in the populace that outright rebellion isn’t an option, but unrest is growing. Queen Ileosa, meanwhile, knows who the PCs are, and they’re about to become a target of her vengeance.

Deconstructed Seven Days to the Grave

Once again, I’ve changed surprisingly little (compared to other APs) from the adventure as written. Apparently Curse of the Crimson Throne lives up to its hype! Though I’m abstractly nervous about the pandemic-themed nature of Book 2, the scenes themselves sound like an incredibly fun time around the table with friends.

What I particularly like about this book is that it balances social encounters and combat ones (at least until Chapter 3), and the combats are against highly varied opponents. The plague makes me uncomfortable, but it’s also a thematic backdrop to make this entire part of the campaign memorable. And, at the end of this Book 1, there is no doubt at who the BBEG is and that the party are heroes. All great stuff!

As always with my articles, please comment below or send me an email at jaycms@yahoo.com. I’m always eager to hear from GMs who have run this AP to know what they think of my edits and different choices they made.