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Our brave band continues their struggle against evil as they begin the second chapter of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path!

In Seven Days to the Grave, Part I, Annata and her friends were busy bees indeed.  First, they are trying to nip this darn Blood Veil plague in the bud.  Grau came to her and asked for her help because his niece was sick and needed help.  They set out immediately.  Grau was standoffish and wouldn’t talk to her much, which hurt Annata’s feelings a little.  He was just like “OK, here’s my sister-in-law’s house, get to healing, gotta go!”  Hmph!  She’s practicing her icy demeanor for the next time he shows up.

Next, Vencarlo asked them to come over!  Annata had been wanting to ask him about the political situation (and see him again on general principles).  When they got over there, he had the escaped assassin/victim Trina Sabor with him!  Blackjack had entrusted her to him to aid in her escape.  (Yes, it’s obvious to the rest of the party that Vencarlo’s Blackjack, but not to Annata!)  They promised to smuggle her out of the city.  Vencarlo said that things had gotten too hot for him politically and he was going to need to go underground in Old Korvosa for a while.  Annata’s breathless “Oh, Vencarlo, are you in danger?!?” provoked a round of groans and “Jeeezus”es from the other players at the table.  I am proud.  Anyway, we snuck her out of the city, the other characters largely foiling any of Annata’s efforts to learn more about the girl and what her deal is.

Upon reflection, this is the first major crime Annata’s performed.  She didn’t really think of it that way at the time, but all these postings about new capital crimes in town made her face that fact.  She had just talked with her spiritual mentor, Father Valdur (incidentally the head of the Bromathan family), who confirmed to her that serving the greater truth and good sometimes required some minor deception.  So she’s OK with it, but a little sobered now in retrospect.

The appearance of these “Queen’s Physicians” and “Grey Maidens” seems ominous.  Annata is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite her companions’ immediate ranting about cryptofascist conspiracies.  But it is fishy enough that she’s willing to check into them a bit more.

Meanwhile, Valash appears to be going totally and completely insane.  Obsessive/compulsive mania and paranoia.  Up till now Annata was tolerant of her friend’s quirks but now she’s getting concerned.

The dungeon crawl against the wererats went well.  Annata managed to save the lives of all but one of the wererats, still being very reluctant to have anyone die.  She was disappointed that she couldn’t talk Girrigz, the wererat leader, into repenting of his evil ways and accepting redemption.  But, the Mark of the Outcast she placed upon him will likely prevent any further shenanigans.  And they saved an otyugh!

The party’s capture/rescue of Trina Sabor, alleged assassin of the King, in Curse of the Crimson Throne: Edge of Anarchy Part III is about the last straw for Annata. She can’t be sure that Trina didn’t have anything to do with the King’s demise (a poor artist with a magical mithril shirt, dagger, and potion loadout? That’s a little suspicious) despite her convincing-sounding story to that effect, but she doesn’t feel right about how everything happened – Field Marshal Croft seems honorable but she’s bound by her orders, and the orders coming down to her seem more and more questionable.  She had wanted to talk to Trina herself, have the goddess prove the truth of her words, but they’d been sent off immediately on an errand to retrieve that poor Shoanti boy’s body from the boneyard.  And while they were gone, the Queen’s guard spirited the girl away.  She wept in anger and frustration when they returned from the crypts to discover Trina’d been taken without even an interrogation to her execution.

Even tired and out of spells from their battle with the minions of the necromancer Rolth, she would have stood up for the girl publicly had she been sure of her innocence.  She tried to find anyone to talk to who might be able to do something, but she couldn’t find Vencarlo or the Field Marshal, and Sabine and the Queen were inaccessible. She felt for that poor girl – as they marched her out to meet the headsman, she fervently prayed to the Dawnflower to spare her if she was innocent, or to grant her a quick end with no pain if she was not… But then the goddess answered her prayer in the most unexpected and awesome way ever – Annata’s heart leapt in her chest when Blackjack himself appeared to spirit away the condemned artist right off the chopping block!

Sarenrae’s word on the matter could not be any more clear. If Blackjack is against the Queen – then she shall be too! No more accepting questionable jobs in the alleged name of order and the public good. Annata will get to the bottom of this, and as the Book of Light and Truth says, “Where the Dawnflower’s rays shine, the darkness can not stand.”

Edge of Anarchy, Part II continued the urban fun, as we took on missions for the Korvosan Guard to help stabilize the city.  Sure, we stopped some killers and met with the crime boss known as the King of Spiders to get blackmail material on a Chelixian ambassador, but more importantly, Annata has been meeting some interesting men!

Last time, actually, is when we met Grau, the Korvosan Guard sergeant who was wandering the chaotic streets drunk and depressed.  We escorted him back to Citadel Volshyenek at the time, and now we’ve been sent there by the Queen to help Field Marshal Kroft and the Guard.  He’s cleaned himself up and has been showing the heroes around.  She got the whole story out of him – how he and his fencing master had both fallen in love with the same woman, another fencing student, and it had all ended badly.  (And the woman was Sabine, the Queen’s bodyguard and rumored lover!)  A sad story and six pack abs.  He definitely needs an understanding ear, and maybe hearing about the Dawnflower can help him.

Then, she met Vencarlo Orisini, a dashing gentleman, who was bringing important information to the Field Marshal.  He’s well connected, very honorable, handsome – and Grau’s old fencing master!  Annata was ready to not like him, but her standoffishness melted in the face of his nobility (he actually asked after his old student, who he wished well despite their falling out.)  And you don’t get your hand kissed much on the streets of Korvosa nowadays.  And he owns his own villa…  And the long hair looks good on him…

What’s a good girl who’s been largely holed up in a temple for the last seven years to think!?!

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Well, our gaming group completed the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path from Paizo.  It took a year of hard gaming.  But there’s no rest for the wicked!  We’re starting in on our next campaign, the next AP from Paizo – Curse of the Crimson Throne.  And we’re using the Pathfinder RPG Beta playtest rules, as it’s way better than D&D 4e.  This one starts in the city of Korvosa, with our brave characters coming together to get even with the crime lord Gaedren Lamm.  That goes well, but then the King dies and the entire city breaks out into riot and rebellion!  Thrill to our urban adventures in… Edge of Anarchy, Part I!

And as a bonus here’s my character, Annata Vieri, cleric of Sarenrae the Dawnflower.  She’s cute!!!