PF2e 9 - Zophan Swamp 2

Short-ish session this week; in and out in a breezy hour-forty-five.

We left off teasing that the swamp is being covered in metal, with the vine grove in front of them partially subsumed. The party was able to navigate that area via talking to the un-subsumed vines, and cutting through the rest, and made their way to the alcove where the Assassin Vine was housed.

So I turned a level 3 monster into a boss fight for the level 3 party.

First, I gave it the Elite version, which bumped it up to level 4, AC 20 (up from 18), 80 HP (68). It was coated in metal and had a weird Fire resistance, where it would resist the first 20 points of received fire damage (total), and then it’d turn to a weakness, as the metal melts away. I also had special versions of the Weak templated Assassin Vine act like tendrils from the main plant. I started with 2 and then had one appear every other round. They were Weak, but also had their HP severely reduced (from like, 52 to 10). I wanted them to be more nuisance than threat. Especially, since they could trip the players onto the sharp metal terrain (1d6 damage).

I probably should have had the ground deal damage for each action you take when prone, but meh, it was hard enough as it was. The Elite Assassin Vine got a free grab attempt on a vine attack, and then as a single action, damage everyone that was currently grabbed. Sadly, I didn’t get to grab more than one person at a time.

What did hurt though was critting on the Thaumaturge on the first turn he was in range. I think I rolled high too so it was like, 28-30 damage. Whoops.

The party pulled through with nobody dropping unconscious. As the creature died, the metal coated grass faded and rusted off, flaking off and disappearing in the wind. A moment of hope seemed good, something that indicated that the subsumed terrain and creatures could be changed, especially if the targets were alive when converted rather than corpses.

Gave everyone their own little text message after the session. The THaumaturge received a notice that, due to all the experienced adventurers being called away to deal with the dragon and investigate the metallurgic madness, the guild may call upon their other members for more dangerous missions. If they opt in to this program, they would be entitled to additional compensation. The druid was given an order form from the Alchemist Guild, so they can request some things. And the Magus is having a conversation with one of their rescued clansmen, who has been hanging around the League of Iron, the church that runs the city.

The League of Iron is a religion of ruin and restoration. A schism has started to break out in the church over everything that happens, as one half believes that the destruction and reshaping of the world is just the next stage of the planet’s change, and if it’s going to happen, it would be wrong to stand in its way. The other group believes that this is an unnatural destruction and should be pushed back. That this isn’t the time for this era to end.

With the main villain being an excommunicated member of the church, I wanted them tied to this in some way, so a political schism seems like a good way to go, and I need to figure out how that reflects out to the players. I could give conflicting missions in the same area to highlight this. That might be fun. In fact, I just did that. Two missions from the League of Iron, one telling them to deal with a burst of metallic expansion to the east, and one to just collect the books and writings from that area and then let the supernatural take its course.

The party just hit level 4, and it feels like I’ve slammed the gas on the overarching plot so far, so I think it’s time to start putting in more stuff from the Magus’ background, and let them find more members of their tribe. Whatever mission they select I’ll be sure to drop something in there, some sort of lead. They need to get around level 10 to wrap this up, but I feel like they’re ahead of schedule. They now might get too impatient and want to race to the finish. We’ll see.