Curse of the Lady’s Light is the second, #62, of the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo Publishing. This is a supplement for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This continues on from Shards of Sin and is an adventure for 5th level characters who are expected to be 8th level by its end. The Adventure Path then continues in The Asylum Stone.
The PDF is available from the Paizo site for $13.99 but was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. It is also available as a printed book from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed and has 100 pages. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two are the front matter, one the Table of Contents, half a page is the Open Game License and four pages are ads. A second, four-page PDF has interactive maps of the locations for use by the players.
Inside what would be the front and rear covers are two short adventure hooks and two monuments that grant boons.
The Foreword, Rise of the Crimson Darkness II, refers to the fact that elements from Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne and Second Darkness are included in this module. There are some details on the adventure designer and mention of a free web enhancement of material that was intended for this supplement but got pushed out by another article.
Curse of the Lady’s Light is the adventure itself and starts with a single page listing the adventure parts and advancement track. Adventure Background gives the history of the Lady’s Light, the current primary occupant and how some of the military order known as the Gray Maidens fled Korvosa after the queen was deposed, arriving at the Lady’s Light where they fell under the sway of the current leader. A summary of what happens in the adventure follows.
Part One: The Journey South is very brief and covers getting to the cape where the Lady’s Light is located, and how the characters are convinced to go.
Part Two: The Lady’s Cape covers the land around the Light; salt marsh, swampland and some hills. The area was dominated by boggards and troglodytes who, until the arrival of the Gray Maidens, were evenly matched and generally at peace. The area has a number of places of interest to visit.
Part Three: The Lady’s Light covers the main focus of the adventure, the immense construction known as the Lady’s Light. It covers the dungeons beneath the Light and the chambers within the Light itself.
The Appendix starts with the NPC Gallery which has stats for the two potentially main NPCs for the adventure. Shattered Star Treasures has the new magic items from this module.
The Gray Maidens covers the former elite guard of Queen Ileosa of Korvosa. It describes several former leaders of the Grey Maidens and some others, as not every member of the group was a willing recruit, nor were they all evil. A sidebar details some of the deeds for which they are still hated. As well as the individuals, there are also some sects that survived covered, one of which is the one that’s encountered in the Lady’s Light, as well as a character build for Grey Maidens.
Torag covers the dwarven god of the same name. This section gives details on the primarily, though not exclusively, dwarven god and his religion, followers, temples and shrines and other religious material. There are two new spells, a customised summon list and planar allies of the god, as well as details on a mushroom eaten by the dwarves.
Pathfinder’s Journal: Light of a Distant Star 2 of 6 is the second part of a piece of fiction set in Riddleport.
Bestiary starts with an encounter table for the Mushfens together with three special encounters. There are five new monsters, one of which is associated with Torag.
Next Month has an outline of what’s in the next issue.
Curse of the Lady’s Light in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents just gives the major sections. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of custom colour illustrations, up to half a page in size, including for the new monsters and items which is useful, as well as the colour maps, which as mentioned are duplicated for the players in a second PDF. Presentation is very good.
Outside the Lady’s Light itself, the adventure is less linear, as the characters can wander around the region encountering, or not, the various creatures living in the Mushfens. Not all of these are necessarily hostile, if approached correctly. The Lady’s Light is a dungeon, though a comparatively linear one; characters can still wander around inside the place, but there is a logical procession through it.
The background material is essentially for the Gray Maidens or, rather, what happened to individual members and groups once Queen Ileosa fell, as well as for the dwarven god Torag. The fiction is still somewhat irrelevant to the adventure, though it looks like the sihedron, or knowledge of it, is starting to surface. Overall, this feels like one of the less linear adventure path modules available. Curse of the Lady’s Light seems a decent continuation to the adventure path.
Leave a Reply