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[Let's Read] Historica Arcanum: The City of Crescent
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8970785" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gtgytc5.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>This chapter is actually the longest one of the book, covering the DM-facing material along with the adventure path itself. The latter is split up into four acts, but for this post we’ll cover the major locations, characters, and broad timeline of the adventure.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/LrUcunI.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Oddly enough, there is a fancy-looking map of Istanbul as the cover for this section, but it’s not in handout form but an in-universe view which makes it impractical for use. While there are real-world maps of the city at this time, it would still be nice to have had a proper handout given that we’re also covering locations that aren’t necessarily real to life.</p><p></p><p><strong>Locations</strong> covers the more interesting places in the City of Crescent. Just about every location of note includes italicized boxed text setting the mood and providing first impressions for their inhabitants.</p><p></p><p>We first cover the Undercity, that subterranean community of elves, tieflings, and others who cannot walk openly on the streets of Istanbul. There are five major entrances into it throughout town: a hidden door in a spice shop in the Grand Bazaar, in the Valens Aqueduct provided someone presses certain bricks in the proper order, a third under a trapdoor whose location is marked by the shadow of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk_of_Theodosius" target="_blank">Theodosius Obelisk</a> at 4 PM, a hidden staircase in the Pearl (the city’s most famous brothel), and a passageway in the Court Restaurant which also sells magical consumable foods to those in the know.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pTLuOMHr-E" target="_blank">The Undercity itself is an expansive and lively place.</a> The Misty Pond is a large fluorescent body of water lined with enchanted candles that never go out, serving as the community’s primary source of water, while the mazelike Thieves’ Bazaar is Istanbul’s primary black market has a stunning array of magical gear for sale. The Shapeshifter is a clothing and costume shop specializing in disguises for nonhuman residents, and the Retired Refugee is a weapons shop run by a dragonborn as old as the Undercity itself. The Ermeydani is a fighting ring where contestants fight in battles to unconsciousness and even death, and PCs who seek to participate can fight a variety of warriors, mages, and even monsters. The Spectral Hippodrome is the other popular form of entertainment, where the ghosts of Roman chariot racers compete against each other to the delight of residents. And then there is the Headquarters of the Ghost of March, the Undercity’s rising star, a school-turned-fortress for his upcoming revolution.</p><p></p><p>And yes, we get specific items, prices, and even NPCs for the above shops and fighting tournaments. This isn’t just flavor text!</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/31I0iUs.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>This is one thing I like about the art: even in daytime scenes the use of lighting and shadows still gives that ever present sense of darkness, in keeping with this setting’s themes of occult secrets lurking beneath the veil of normalcy.</p><p></p><p>As for the above-ground neighborhoods, we have the upper class Pera District with an Art Noveau style, where the rich and powerful mingle in balls, cafes, and art museums. It is here that Giannis the Cut, one of Istanbul’s most notorious crime lords, lives in a mansion that contains a storehouse of magical items. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfIxZB6p960" target="_blank">The Grand Bazaar is crowded during all times of day, even with 21 gates leading into it.</a> Even though it’s not in the Undercity, enterprising PCs can find things of interest to buy here: Olden Star Antiques sells well-loved objects, furniture, and magical talismans for the curious eye, while Daniel the Trap Maker sells hunting supplies that are suitable for animals, people, and even monsters. And the Chained Inn looks normal on the surface, but in reality its human owners take orders from the cats of the Council of Ninth Life, whose members hide in plain sight as they lounge about and purr, hearing secrets from loose lips of humans who figure them to be mere animals.</p><p></p><p><strong>Note:</strong> Cats are a pretty popular animal worldwide, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cats_in_Istanbul" target="_blank">but they have a special place in Istanbul.</a> Originally imported into the city to counter the rat population, street cats can be found roaming just about everywhere and are well-fed in spite of their feral status.</p><p></p><p>The Imperial Peninsula is the core of the Ottoman Empire. The ruling Sultan and other high-ranking nobles live here in Topkapı Palace and stately manors, along with the city’s most famous religious locations such as the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHkYCHAo3A4" target="_blank">The place with the most detail in this section is the house of Osman Hamdi Bey,</a> the Royal Polymath and primary employer of the PCs for the first part of the adventure path. When the party first comes here they will be acquainted with Eshref, Osman’s talking tortoise butler and best friend who will show them around, but a secret room containing magical items will be revealed to them at a certain point in the story.</p><p></p><p>The Kasimpasha District is Istanbul’s rough section of town. The city’s poor congregate here, and the government deigns to ignore them for the most part. As a consequence, the various gangs and organized crime syndicates hold the reins of power here. The surviving Janissaries established a hideout in this district known as Banished Angels. The entrance is cleverly concealed between two unfinished and empty houses, and a labyrinth full of dead ends that helps throw off would-be intruders.</p><p></p><p><strong>Timeline & Synopsis of the Whole Story</strong> summarizes the major events surrounding the City of Crescent adventure path. As I will be going into detail on the adventure in my next few posts and we learn about some of the backstory elements in the following section, I won’t be repeating myself.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Major Characters</strong></p><p></p><p>This provides 14 NPCs of significance in the City of Crescent and the following adventures along with artwork and stat blocks. Not all of them are of equal magnitude in regards to the plot, and a few are hardly mentioned at all, so I’ll place emphasis on the big picture and recurring characters.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/fuXoB6t.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtfEAE-y64w" target="_blank"><strong>The Ghost of March, Alemdar Pasha</strong></a> is many things. He once served as a proud military commander and Vizier to the Ottoman Empire, but now finds himself at odds with the crown he once served. He and Sultan Mahmoud II sought to reform Ottoman society, with Alemdar focusing on the military. Mahmoud feared a backlash from the Janissaries and put a halt to the changes, and it wasn’t long before the Empire’s elite soldiers retaliated against Alemdar by laying siege to his mansion. Fearing such a response, Alemdar ignited the vast stores of gunpowder beneath his home, killing Alemdar, his guards, and hundreds of Janissaries.</p><p></p><p>That happened in real life. In this alternate timeline, Alemdar miraculously survived, his burnt, mangled body falling into the tunnels of the Undercity. The nonhumans and mages nursed him back to health, and he quickly rose to leadership among them after killing a corrupt elven warlord. Now known as the Ghost of March, he founded a paramilitary group known as the Sekban-i Cedit, or Sekbans for short. The Ghost now desires revenge on the government and vows to bring equality to the downtrodden peoples, magical and non-magical.</p><p></p><p>The Ghost of March has a complicated relationship with Ahra, the Wolf at the Door, and the Janissary Remnants. They too were betrayed by the government they served, but Alemdar’s explosion killed many of their comrades in arms, including the Wolf’s father. While the Ghost recognizes the validity of an alliance, an outstretched hand will have to come from someone besides his bandaged face.</p><p></p><p>The Ghost of March is a CR 13 Rogue with some minor arcane spellcasting, Blindsense, and Legendary Actions. He also wields a magical life-draining sword Kerberus and can make special Battlemaster-style maneuvers in lieu of dealing damage.</p><p></p><p>But that’s not all the Ghost of March can do. For you see, Alemdar is a shonen anime character. It’s possible that during a certain point in the story when his bandages are removed, he gets a new stat block where he trades in his Rogue-like abilities for Paladin style features. He can deal more damage with divine smite, has a higher Armor Class, and gains a new psychic weapon known as the Judge.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/icylj3g.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyUcFbjT3aA" target="_blank"><strong>Haseki Sultan Bergüzar Hatun,</strong></a> the Seeing Eye, is perhaps the most powerful mage in the Ottoman Empire, if not all of Earth. The powers that be took notice of her talents and brought her to the Ottoman Imperial Harem, which held a secret society of women diviners who made a pact with Suleiman the Magnificent for protection; in exchange, they used their powers to steer the course of history. It won’t be long before Bergüzar is Queen, married to Padisha Mejid and serves as his counselor and voice of reason. Her magic lets her see things unknown to others, and knows that a vague yet dire fate awaits the Empire’s future. Her husband has no regard for using whatever power he has at his disposal in making his kingdom great again, but his path lies a world in ruins, the death of her son, and her dying at the hands of the PCs. During the adventure she will send cryptic dreams to the party in hopes of finding a way out of her dilemma and perhaps survive in a world worth living in.</p><p></p><p>Bergüzar’s stat block is a CR 13 (14 in lair) divination-focused wizard with legendary and lair actions. On top of her capabilities as a 15th level spellcaster, she can generate mists which can interfere with spellcasting, wears a magical cloth that acts as armor and grants immunity and resistance to psychic and force damage, and all divination spells fail against her. She is unable to use any divination spells at all if her long-lost sister Mira is within 120 feet of her, and vice versa.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lies We Told:</strong> The Ottoman Imperial Harem was certainly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafes" target="_blank">a gilded cage for its inhabitants,</a> but it wasn’t a lurid “Orientalist sex dungeon.” And to be fair, the module doesn't portray it this way, either. The Harem included people who the Sultan wasn’t in a sexual relationship with, such as his mother and children, and the Harem trained its members in a variety of knowledge and skills as courtiers.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/pMGavS8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvcQRGLXCDc" target="_blank"><strong>His Imperial majesty, Padisha Abd-ul Mejid Khan, the First of His Name of the Eternal State</strong></a> was born to be next in line for the Imperial Throne. Even as a child he could see the Ottoman’s grasp weakening, fading into Europe’s shadow with the growing spread of nationalist movements and political corruption fraying the seams further. The Caesar of Rum, the Caliph, the Khan of Khans among many other titles, would not let himself be the next Romulus Augustus or Constantine XI. He hopes to use his wife Bergüzar as part of a master plan to reassert the Empire’s dominance, but there is something blocking her most powerful spells: Mira, her long-lost sister.</p><p></p><p>Due to the supernatural circumstances of Mira’s birth, her presence cancels out much of Bergüzar’s own powers, so he hopes to find the source, hiring the Royal Polymath Osman Hamdi Bey and through them the PCs. However, Mira is but an innocent, and knows to reveal her location is to sign her death warrant. So he locked the memories of his findings in his encrypted journal. Once she is removed, Mejid will move on to eliminate the other threats to his rule: the Janissary Remnants and the Sekbans.</p><p></p><p>In terms of stats the Padisha is a CR 13 Paladin, with unique abilities and equipment modeled off of his noble status: for example, as the Caesar of Rum he deals bonus radiant damage with martial weapons and can give allies temporary hit points, and with the Coat of Hudavendigar he has AC 18 and resistance to poison, fire, and non-magical physical attacks. And he also has Legendary actions and the ability to reroll a failed save up to 5 times per day.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lies We Told:</strong> Abd-ul Mejid was known for promoting reformist policies, but in reality many of his credited works were designed and enforced by others in government. By the time he took the throne he was rather politically inexperienced.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/HH6utQR.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVUa4E_lMC0" target="_blank"><strong>The Royal Polymath, Osman Hamdi Bey,</strong></a> is a master of many trades. An artist, an archeologist, exorcist, and polyglot of dead and living languages, the Imperial court is never lacking for his aid. As of the adventure’s beginning he has been visiting various archeological dig sites in the Near East, and has hired the PCs to accompany him on an expedition to the ruins of Troy. For much of the early campaign he serves as a mentor of sorts and dispenser of knowledge to the PCs, as well as introducing them to several of the City of Crescent’s factions. Through fate and tragedy the secrets of his journal and therefore the location of Mira (detailed further below) will be the MacGuffin driving along the adventure path.</p><p></p><p>In terms of stats Osman is a CR 8 character casting spells as an 11th level wizard. He has a huge bonus in all sorts of scholarly skills, can cast several spells without expending a spell slot once per day or long rest, and adds his Intelligence modifier to initiative among other “smart person power” abilities.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/4tUMEL5.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZv1ffGsISE" target="_blank"><strong>Ahra, the Wolf at the Door,</strong></a> is the leader of the Janissary Remnants. For a thousand years they served as Guardians of the Empire, but in the relative blink of an eye they would lose it all. Cut down and shot like rabid dogs at the hands of Alemdar and other modernists, hundreds of Janissaries died in his “cowardly explosion” which took the lives of Ahra’s father.</p><p></p><p>But unlike the Ghost of March, the Wolf at the Door doesn’t want to tear down the crown that betrayed her. At least, not initially. The Janissaries have extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld as former police, and knew just how much chaos could be spread if the Empire’s former guardians were to aid them. This way, they could show the people that the Janissaries are a needed shield against the Wolves at the Door. Even so, she is not a friend to Giannis the Cut and other crime lords; she much prefers them being at each other’s throats rather than a unified front. For once it comes time for the Janissaries to reclaim their rightful place, their kind will face the gaol or the gallows.</p><p></p><p>I’d like to briefly note that Ahra’s soundtrack is by far my favorite. The music really underscores her character and double-edged mission to bring order to the Ottoman Empire via controlled chaos. In terms of stats she is a CR 9 primarily martial character with the features of a Janissary Fighter. It is through her stat block that we get a sense of said subclass’ refresh rate, for she can perform the Ottoman Slap once per short rest. However, other Janissary NPCs in the book regain their slapping powers after a long rest instead, so I presume the latter is the default.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lies We Told:</strong> The Janissary Corps and the Ottoman throne had clashed many times, to the point that they even violently overthrown several Sultans Praetorian Guard style. Although they were certainly anti-government during the Auspicious Incident, they weren’t pro-populist or revolutionary either. The Janissary’s ties to organized crime syndicates is a subject of debate among historians, as history is written by the victors and the government obviously held a bias against them.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/hEQ0ZBx.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Mira</strong> is the crux of many events in the adventure to come. The younger sister of Bergüzar, the two girls had a rough upbringing at the hands of an abusive father. One day it came to be too much, and Bergüzar would kill him with her magic. Mira would not walk the same path of her sister, viewing magic as something that ruined her life but also kept her safe. For years she lived in her now-decrepit childhood home, her latent supernatural talents causing the house to gain a sort of sentience and serves as her guardian. Like Bergüzar she is a powerful diviner, and it is her life that prevents the Empire’s Queen from drawing upon the most powerful divination magic her husband desires to gain an edge on his enemies. When the Royal Polymath found Mira he knew just why his employer sought her out, and refusing to condemn her to death he asked the girl to erase his memory of her location. Her fate lies within his encrypted journal, and through it she will be the lynchpin for many of the events of the adventure path.</p><p></p><p>Mira is CR 9 and purely a spellcaster, being akin to a 13th level wild magic sorcerer who can cause additional random effects every time she casts a spell. When within 120 feet of Bergüzar neither of them can cast any divination spells at all.</p><p></p><p>The following NPCs are Istanbul’s various criminal leaders and some less important characters. I won’t be as detailed in describing them barring a few interesting ones.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/3vcdEF8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrCIHX-wOC0" target="_blank"><strong>Giannis the Cut*</strong></a> belongs to the Angelopoulos family, owners of the best vineyards in the Ottoman Empire. But as the wine trade has grown less profitable the family has taken to more criminal enterprises. Giannis is the Angelopoulos patriarch, having made a warlock pact with an Ancient Sage, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carya_of_Laconia" target="_blank">Carya of Laconia,</a> and is a smuggler of many magical artifacts. His nickname comes from the saying that he has a hand in virtually every illegal enterprise in the City of Crescent. One way or another, Giannis gets his cut.</p><p></p><p>Statwise he is a CR 9 warlock who casts at 10th level. In addition to his supernatural capabilities Giannis has proficiency in a variety of mental and social skills and wields two unique weapons: a special pistol that shoots Greek Fire, and a bronze Kopis that can restore a spell slot to the attuned one once per long rest.</p><p></p><p>*This soundtrack is for the crime lords in general and not any specific one.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Image spoilered due to graphic violence</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[spoiler]<img src="https://i.imgur.com/rskYcGk.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p><strong>Hano the Widow</strong> is another crime lord and leader of Istanbul’s bounty hunters. However, she is of a more moral persuasion than Giannis on account of her backstory, which has some pretty big content warnings. Hano was the widow of a wealthy man and mother of a young boy. She would find love again with a suitor, who would betray her in the worst way possible.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Sexual assault, pedophilia]He would take her son to be drugged and raped by men at a bathhouse in exchange for money. When she discovered the truth, she slaughtered her ex-suitor and every man responsible.[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p>Walking out into the streets of Istanbul a bloody mess, news spread of her work, and as several of the guilty parties were notable criminals she took over their former trades. But Hano has a soft spot for women and children, and has taken to training many women in combat. Ahra once attempted to recruit her to the Janissary Remnants, but while respecting her work she declined, viewing their struggles as separate.</p><p></p><p>In terms of stats Hano is a CR 9 Barbarian with blindsight and a unique Slayer Axe which allows her to continue raging even if she doesn’t attack a creature or take damage.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/WVaOE36.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Sheraf the Strong Fur</strong> is most unusual for a crime lord, much less a nonhuman. He leads the Council of Ninth Life, which consists entirely of intelligent talking cats who use their innocuous forms to listen in on all manner of gossip and secrets.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/33L23m8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Aziz Sefa Bey</strong> is the leader of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, aka the Certain Community, the Ottoman Empire’s secret police. He was the one who found Bergüzar and took her to the palace where she was raised and trained by the mages of the Harem. The friendship they made along the way helped him rise in the Imperial court’s eyes to become head of intelligence.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lies We Told:</strong> The Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa actually translates to Secret Organization, <a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te%C5%9Fk%C3%AEl%C3%A2t-%C4%B1_Mahs%C3%BBsa" target="_blank">and whether or not it actually existed is debated by historians.</a> The authors chose the term “A Certain Community” for dramatic effect, and Aziz Sefa Bey is inspired by Aziz Vefa Bey, the main character of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yah%C5%9Fi_Bat%C4%B1" target="_blank">Yahsi Bati.</a> Yahsi Bati is a Turkish comedy where two Ottoman secret agents head to the United States to deliver a diamond as a gift to the US President.</p><p></p><p>The remaining NPCs are quite minor: Mosolite Nazif is the doorkeeper for one of the Undercity entrances and earned a lot of enemies by taxing passage through it as it’s also a prime smuggling route. Chic Manu is a fashionable gambler and award-winning writer with a very wide social network. Kore the Nightingale is a half-elf singer who found and saved Alemdar, and serves as his chief spy with her cover as a great singer. Mervhan of Al-Ghaib is a half-orc warlock who is friends with Kore but secretly distrustful of the Ghost’s intentions.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SvbsaZ0.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Visions of Berguzar</strong> is the final section of Chapter 2. They are basically non-interactive scenes sent to the PCs while they sleep by the aforementioned eponymous diviner. They basically outline her backstory, and during the scenes PCs can roll ability checks to learn more information from them. The book recommends that one dream is given every long rest and that they are completed before the Grand Negotiation quest of Act 3. Which occurs pretty late in the adventure path, and as it happens after the PCs locate Mira they’ll know who she is by then.</p><p></p><p>There are 13 dreams in total, but to summarize them: Bergüzar’s original name is Karya, she and Mira grow up under an abusive father who hates the former’s magical talents. Eventually Karya enchants her mother to kill her father when he gets violent. Mira blames Karya for killing him and yells at her to leave and never return. Wandering through the woods she catches sight of Abd-ul Mejid, then a teenage boy, studying how to fight (and also undergoing paladin training) under the tutorship of Alemdar Pasha. Mejid ends up using a divine smite during the sparring, earning a rebuke from Alemdar to not use magic in public places. Karya is spotted, and when she tries to run away she is cornered by guards. But Mejid doesn’t want her to get hurt and asks why she is alone, learning her story. He gives her a paper with an official seal she can use to reach out to him, although Karya is illiterate so she doesn’t know what it says. Later on in a village someone tries to con her out of the paper, and during which time she comes to the attention of Aziz Sefa. Karya is taken to the Harem, where the mages help refine her magical talents, is given the new name Bergüzar, and undergoes the Pact with Suleiman.</p><p></p><p>Bergüzar and Mejid later marry, but she learns terrible visions of the future that she keeps secret from everyone else. Mejid takes Bergüzar to meet Shahmeran, a serpentine monster, to find out what is holding back the true extent of her powers. Shahmeran tells her that it’s likely due to the interference from someone of the same bloodline. The final vision takes place in the vague future of the next century, where an ash-covered sky bearing planes drop bombs upon the streets of Istanbul. An elderly Bergüzar is in the throne room, begging her son not to cast the Wish spell. He ignores her, and the invading forces are demolished. But so is everyone else, as the sea itself rises, the earth is broken apart, and everyone screams as they fall into darkness.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Unlike other adventure paths, City of Crescent highlights the major players, their motivations, and the overall plot ahead of time rather than being picked up as you read along, which is very helpful for DMs. There’s a variety of interesting characters with their own exclusive goals and backstories, with many having shades of gray that aren’t necessarily clear-cut good and evil.* It should also go without saying that due to their high CRs that either Alemdar or Padisha Abd-ul Mejid will serve as the “final bosses” of this adventure path.** City of Crescent has branching pathways and even exclusive missions based on who they side with. There’s even the possibility of a Yes Man style conclusion where a leaderless Empire is left spiraling into chaos. Even so, there is a bias in favor of Alemdar, both in the adventure itself and who I imagine most gaming groups will side with: besides the fact that his faction is friendlier to nonhumans and spellcasters who want to strut their stuff, Mejid comes off as closest to “bad guy” status even though technically he is of neutral alignment. The final dream vision is going to show that the status quo is going to lead to destruction, which will likely have an effect on the PC’s decision. Add onto that with Mejid seeking the death of Mira; I can see many PCs of a more moral persuasion not wanting to go through, especially given that Osman refused such a decision himself.</p><p></p><p>*Each NPC, including the power-hungry Padisha and Giannis the Cut, are morally neutral.</p><p></p><p>**Yes, the book uses this term!</p><p></p><p>As for the dream visions, I’m of two minds. There are gaming groups out there who aren’t fond of non-interactive scenes, in that they basically amount to the DM talking to themself. On the other hand, they do a decent job giving vague outlines of the background of several important characters that don't amount to infodumps.</p><p></p><p>I do have several pieces of critique: placing the stat blocks of the major NPCs in one section, rather than the times PCs are likely to fight them or see them in action, will result in quite a bit of page-flipping in the use of a physical book. There’s also the fact that some of these NPCs will die offscreen or during a non-interactive cutscene, which brings to question how useful their stat blocks will really be during the adventure path.</p><p></p><p>And there is another part that leaves me confused: although it’s clear that time has progressed quite a bit, Mira’s picture and appearance later in the book still show her as quite the young child. The in-character text in the adventure even describes her as a “small girl.” Was she a toddler when Bergüzar left home? How old is Bergüzar?</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we begin the adventure path proper in Act One: the First Crescent!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8970785, member: 6750502"] [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/gtgytc5.png[/IMG][/CENTER] This chapter is actually the longest one of the book, covering the DM-facing material along with the adventure path itself. The latter is split up into four acts, but for this post we’ll cover the major locations, characters, and broad timeline of the adventure. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/LrUcunI.png[/IMG][/CENTER] Oddly enough, there is a fancy-looking map of Istanbul as the cover for this section, but it’s not in handout form but an in-universe view which makes it impractical for use. While there are real-world maps of the city at this time, it would still be nice to have had a proper handout given that we’re also covering locations that aren’t necessarily real to life. [B]Locations[/B] covers the more interesting places in the City of Crescent. Just about every location of note includes italicized boxed text setting the mood and providing first impressions for their inhabitants. We first cover the Undercity, that subterranean community of elves, tieflings, and others who cannot walk openly on the streets of Istanbul. There are five major entrances into it throughout town: a hidden door in a spice shop in the Grand Bazaar, in the Valens Aqueduct provided someone presses certain bricks in the proper order, a third under a trapdoor whose location is marked by the shadow of the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk_of_Theodosius']Theodosius Obelisk[/URL] at 4 PM, a hidden staircase in the Pearl (the city’s most famous brothel), and a passageway in the Court Restaurant which also sells magical consumable foods to those in the know. [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pTLuOMHr-E']The Undercity itself is an expansive and lively place.[/URL] The Misty Pond is a large fluorescent body of water lined with enchanted candles that never go out, serving as the community’s primary source of water, while the mazelike Thieves’ Bazaar is Istanbul’s primary black market has a stunning array of magical gear for sale. The Shapeshifter is a clothing and costume shop specializing in disguises for nonhuman residents, and the Retired Refugee is a weapons shop run by a dragonborn as old as the Undercity itself. The Ermeydani is a fighting ring where contestants fight in battles to unconsciousness and even death, and PCs who seek to participate can fight a variety of warriors, mages, and even monsters. The Spectral Hippodrome is the other popular form of entertainment, where the ghosts of Roman chariot racers compete against each other to the delight of residents. And then there is the Headquarters of the Ghost of March, the Undercity’s rising star, a school-turned-fortress for his upcoming revolution. And yes, we get specific items, prices, and even NPCs for the above shops and fighting tournaments. This isn’t just flavor text! [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/31I0iUs.png[/IMG][/CENTER] This is one thing I like about the art: even in daytime scenes the use of lighting and shadows still gives that ever present sense of darkness, in keeping with this setting’s themes of occult secrets lurking beneath the veil of normalcy. As for the above-ground neighborhoods, we have the upper class Pera District with an Art Noveau style, where the rich and powerful mingle in balls, cafes, and art museums. It is here that Giannis the Cut, one of Istanbul’s most notorious crime lords, lives in a mansion that contains a storehouse of magical items. [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfIxZB6p960']The Grand Bazaar is crowded during all times of day, even with 21 gates leading into it.[/URL] Even though it’s not in the Undercity, enterprising PCs can find things of interest to buy here: Olden Star Antiques sells well-loved objects, furniture, and magical talismans for the curious eye, while Daniel the Trap Maker sells hunting supplies that are suitable for animals, people, and even monsters. And the Chained Inn looks normal on the surface, but in reality its human owners take orders from the cats of the Council of Ninth Life, whose members hide in plain sight as they lounge about and purr, hearing secrets from loose lips of humans who figure them to be mere animals. [B]Note:[/B] Cats are a pretty popular animal worldwide, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cats_in_Istanbul']but they have a special place in Istanbul.[/URL] Originally imported into the city to counter the rat population, street cats can be found roaming just about everywhere and are well-fed in spite of their feral status. The Imperial Peninsula is the core of the Ottoman Empire. The ruling Sultan and other high-ranking nobles live here in Topkapı Palace and stately manors, along with the city’s most famous religious locations such as the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHkYCHAo3A4']The place with the most detail in this section is the house of Osman Hamdi Bey,[/URL] the Royal Polymath and primary employer of the PCs for the first part of the adventure path. When the party first comes here they will be acquainted with Eshref, Osman’s talking tortoise butler and best friend who will show them around, but a secret room containing magical items will be revealed to them at a certain point in the story. The Kasimpasha District is Istanbul’s rough section of town. The city’s poor congregate here, and the government deigns to ignore them for the most part. As a consequence, the various gangs and organized crime syndicates hold the reins of power here. The surviving Janissaries established a hideout in this district known as Banished Angels. The entrance is cleverly concealed between two unfinished and empty houses, and a labyrinth full of dead ends that helps throw off would-be intruders. [B]Timeline & Synopsis of the Whole Story[/B] summarizes the major events surrounding the City of Crescent adventure path. As I will be going into detail on the adventure in my next few posts and we learn about some of the backstory elements in the following section, I won’t be repeating myself. [CENTER][B]Major Characters[/B][/CENTER] This provides 14 NPCs of significance in the City of Crescent and the following adventures along with artwork and stat blocks. Not all of them are of equal magnitude in regards to the plot, and a few are hardly mentioned at all, so I’ll place emphasis on the big picture and recurring characters. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/fuXoB6t.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtfEAE-y64w'][B]The Ghost of March, Alemdar Pasha[/B][/URL] is many things. He once served as a proud military commander and Vizier to the Ottoman Empire, but now finds himself at odds with the crown he once served. He and Sultan Mahmoud II sought to reform Ottoman society, with Alemdar focusing on the military. Mahmoud feared a backlash from the Janissaries and put a halt to the changes, and it wasn’t long before the Empire’s elite soldiers retaliated against Alemdar by laying siege to his mansion. Fearing such a response, Alemdar ignited the vast stores of gunpowder beneath his home, killing Alemdar, his guards, and hundreds of Janissaries. That happened in real life. In this alternate timeline, Alemdar miraculously survived, his burnt, mangled body falling into the tunnels of the Undercity. The nonhumans and mages nursed him back to health, and he quickly rose to leadership among them after killing a corrupt elven warlord. Now known as the Ghost of March, he founded a paramilitary group known as the Sekban-i Cedit, or Sekbans for short. The Ghost now desires revenge on the government and vows to bring equality to the downtrodden peoples, magical and non-magical. The Ghost of March has a complicated relationship with Ahra, the Wolf at the Door, and the Janissary Remnants. They too were betrayed by the government they served, but Alemdar’s explosion killed many of their comrades in arms, including the Wolf’s father. While the Ghost recognizes the validity of an alliance, an outstretched hand will have to come from someone besides his bandaged face. The Ghost of March is a CR 13 Rogue with some minor arcane spellcasting, Blindsense, and Legendary Actions. He also wields a magical life-draining sword Kerberus and can make special Battlemaster-style maneuvers in lieu of dealing damage. But that’s not all the Ghost of March can do. For you see, Alemdar is a shonen anime character. It’s possible that during a certain point in the story when his bandages are removed, he gets a new stat block where he trades in his Rogue-like abilities for Paladin style features. He can deal more damage with divine smite, has a higher Armor Class, and gains a new psychic weapon known as the Judge. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/icylj3g.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyUcFbjT3aA'][B]Haseki Sultan Bergüzar Hatun,[/B][/URL] the Seeing Eye, is perhaps the most powerful mage in the Ottoman Empire, if not all of Earth. The powers that be took notice of her talents and brought her to the Ottoman Imperial Harem, which held a secret society of women diviners who made a pact with Suleiman the Magnificent for protection; in exchange, they used their powers to steer the course of history. It won’t be long before Bergüzar is Queen, married to Padisha Mejid and serves as his counselor and voice of reason. Her magic lets her see things unknown to others, and knows that a vague yet dire fate awaits the Empire’s future. Her husband has no regard for using whatever power he has at his disposal in making his kingdom great again, but his path lies a world in ruins, the death of her son, and her dying at the hands of the PCs. During the adventure she will send cryptic dreams to the party in hopes of finding a way out of her dilemma and perhaps survive in a world worth living in. Bergüzar’s stat block is a CR 13 (14 in lair) divination-focused wizard with legendary and lair actions. On top of her capabilities as a 15th level spellcaster, she can generate mists which can interfere with spellcasting, wears a magical cloth that acts as armor and grants immunity and resistance to psychic and force damage, and all divination spells fail against her. She is unable to use any divination spells at all if her long-lost sister Mira is within 120 feet of her, and vice versa. [B]The Lies We Told:[/B] The Ottoman Imperial Harem was certainly [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafes']a gilded cage for its inhabitants,[/URL] but it wasn’t a lurid “Orientalist sex dungeon.” And to be fair, the module doesn't portray it this way, either. The Harem included people who the Sultan wasn’t in a sexual relationship with, such as his mother and children, and the Harem trained its members in a variety of knowledge and skills as courtiers. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/pMGavS8.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvcQRGLXCDc'][B]His Imperial majesty, Padisha Abd-ul Mejid Khan, the First of His Name of the Eternal State[/B][/URL] was born to be next in line for the Imperial Throne. Even as a child he could see the Ottoman’s grasp weakening, fading into Europe’s shadow with the growing spread of nationalist movements and political corruption fraying the seams further. The Caesar of Rum, the Caliph, the Khan of Khans among many other titles, would not let himself be the next Romulus Augustus or Constantine XI. He hopes to use his wife Bergüzar as part of a master plan to reassert the Empire’s dominance, but there is something blocking her most powerful spells: Mira, her long-lost sister. Due to the supernatural circumstances of Mira’s birth, her presence cancels out much of Bergüzar’s own powers, so he hopes to find the source, hiring the Royal Polymath Osman Hamdi Bey and through them the PCs. However, Mira is but an innocent, and knows to reveal her location is to sign her death warrant. So he locked the memories of his findings in his encrypted journal. Once she is removed, Mejid will move on to eliminate the other threats to his rule: the Janissary Remnants and the Sekbans. In terms of stats the Padisha is a CR 13 Paladin, with unique abilities and equipment modeled off of his noble status: for example, as the Caesar of Rum he deals bonus radiant damage with martial weapons and can give allies temporary hit points, and with the Coat of Hudavendigar he has AC 18 and resistance to poison, fire, and non-magical physical attacks. And he also has Legendary actions and the ability to reroll a failed save up to 5 times per day. [B]The Lies We Told:[/B] Abd-ul Mejid was known for promoting reformist policies, but in reality many of his credited works were designed and enforced by others in government. By the time he took the throne he was rather politically inexperienced. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/HH6utQR.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVUa4E_lMC0'][B]The Royal Polymath, Osman Hamdi Bey,[/B][/URL] is a master of many trades. An artist, an archeologist, exorcist, and polyglot of dead and living languages, the Imperial court is never lacking for his aid. As of the adventure’s beginning he has been visiting various archeological dig sites in the Near East, and has hired the PCs to accompany him on an expedition to the ruins of Troy. For much of the early campaign he serves as a mentor of sorts and dispenser of knowledge to the PCs, as well as introducing them to several of the City of Crescent’s factions. Through fate and tragedy the secrets of his journal and therefore the location of Mira (detailed further below) will be the MacGuffin driving along the adventure path. In terms of stats Osman is a CR 8 character casting spells as an 11th level wizard. He has a huge bonus in all sorts of scholarly skills, can cast several spells without expending a spell slot once per day or long rest, and adds his Intelligence modifier to initiative among other “smart person power” abilities. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/4tUMEL5.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZv1ffGsISE'][B]Ahra, the Wolf at the Door,[/B][/URL] is the leader of the Janissary Remnants. For a thousand years they served as Guardians of the Empire, but in the relative blink of an eye they would lose it all. Cut down and shot like rabid dogs at the hands of Alemdar and other modernists, hundreds of Janissaries died in his “cowardly explosion” which took the lives of Ahra’s father. But unlike the Ghost of March, the Wolf at the Door doesn’t want to tear down the crown that betrayed her. At least, not initially. The Janissaries have extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld as former police, and knew just how much chaos could be spread if the Empire’s former guardians were to aid them. This way, they could show the people that the Janissaries are a needed shield against the Wolves at the Door. Even so, she is not a friend to Giannis the Cut and other crime lords; she much prefers them being at each other’s throats rather than a unified front. For once it comes time for the Janissaries to reclaim their rightful place, their kind will face the gaol or the gallows. I’d like to briefly note that Ahra’s soundtrack is by far my favorite. The music really underscores her character and double-edged mission to bring order to the Ottoman Empire via controlled chaos. In terms of stats she is a CR 9 primarily martial character with the features of a Janissary Fighter. It is through her stat block that we get a sense of said subclass’ refresh rate, for she can perform the Ottoman Slap once per short rest. However, other Janissary NPCs in the book regain their slapping powers after a long rest instead, so I presume the latter is the default. [B]The Lies We Told:[/B] The Janissary Corps and the Ottoman throne had clashed many times, to the point that they even violently overthrown several Sultans Praetorian Guard style. Although they were certainly anti-government during the Auspicious Incident, they weren’t pro-populist or revolutionary either. The Janissary’s ties to organized crime syndicates is a subject of debate among historians, as history is written by the victors and the government obviously held a bias against them. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/hEQ0ZBx.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Mira[/B] is the crux of many events in the adventure to come. The younger sister of Bergüzar, the two girls had a rough upbringing at the hands of an abusive father. One day it came to be too much, and Bergüzar would kill him with her magic. Mira would not walk the same path of her sister, viewing magic as something that ruined her life but also kept her safe. For years she lived in her now-decrepit childhood home, her latent supernatural talents causing the house to gain a sort of sentience and serves as her guardian. Like Bergüzar she is a powerful diviner, and it is her life that prevents the Empire’s Queen from drawing upon the most powerful divination magic her husband desires to gain an edge on his enemies. When the Royal Polymath found Mira he knew just why his employer sought her out, and refusing to condemn her to death he asked the girl to erase his memory of her location. Her fate lies within his encrypted journal, and through it she will be the lynchpin for many of the events of the adventure path. Mira is CR 9 and purely a spellcaster, being akin to a 13th level wild magic sorcerer who can cause additional random effects every time she casts a spell. When within 120 feet of Bergüzar neither of them can cast any divination spells at all. The following NPCs are Istanbul’s various criminal leaders and some less important characters. I won’t be as detailed in describing them barring a few interesting ones. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/3vcdEF8.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrCIHX-wOC0'][B]Giannis the Cut*[/B][/URL] belongs to the Angelopoulos family, owners of the best vineyards in the Ottoman Empire. But as the wine trade has grown less profitable the family has taken to more criminal enterprises. Giannis is the Angelopoulos patriarch, having made a warlock pact with an Ancient Sage, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carya_of_Laconia']Carya of Laconia,[/URL] and is a smuggler of many magical artifacts. His nickname comes from the saying that he has a hand in virtually every illegal enterprise in the City of Crescent. One way or another, Giannis gets his cut. Statwise he is a CR 9 warlock who casts at 10th level. In addition to his supernatural capabilities Giannis has proficiency in a variety of mental and social skills and wields two unique weapons: a special pistol that shoots Greek Fire, and a bronze Kopis that can restore a spell slot to the attuned one once per long rest. *This soundtrack is for the crime lords in general and not any specific one. [CENTER][B]Image spoilered due to graphic violence[/B] [spoiler][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/rskYcGk.png[/IMG][/spoiler][/CENTER] [B]Hano the Widow[/B] is another crime lord and leader of Istanbul’s bounty hunters. However, she is of a more moral persuasion than Giannis on account of her backstory, which has some pretty big content warnings. Hano was the widow of a wealthy man and mother of a young boy. She would find love again with a suitor, who would betray her in the worst way possible. [spoiler=Sexual assault, pedophilia]He would take her son to be drugged and raped by men at a bathhouse in exchange for money. When she discovered the truth, she slaughtered her ex-suitor and every man responsible.[/spoiler] Walking out into the streets of Istanbul a bloody mess, news spread of her work, and as several of the guilty parties were notable criminals she took over their former trades. But Hano has a soft spot for women and children, and has taken to training many women in combat. Ahra once attempted to recruit her to the Janissary Remnants, but while respecting her work she declined, viewing their struggles as separate. In terms of stats Hano is a CR 9 Barbarian with blindsight and a unique Slayer Axe which allows her to continue raging even if she doesn’t attack a creature or take damage. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/WVaOE36.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Sheraf the Strong Fur[/B] is most unusual for a crime lord, much less a nonhuman. He leads the Council of Ninth Life, which consists entirely of intelligent talking cats who use their innocuous forms to listen in on all manner of gossip and secrets. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/33L23m8.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Aziz Sefa Bey[/B] is the leader of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, aka the Certain Community, the Ottoman Empire’s secret police. He was the one who found Bergüzar and took her to the palace where she was raised and trained by the mages of the Harem. The friendship they made along the way helped him rise in the Imperial court’s eyes to become head of intelligence. [B]The Lies We Told:[/B] The Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa actually translates to Secret Organization, [URL='https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te%C5%9Fk%C3%AEl%C3%A2t-%C4%B1_Mahs%C3%BBsa']and whether or not it actually existed is debated by historians.[/URL] The authors chose the term “A Certain Community” for dramatic effect, and Aziz Sefa Bey is inspired by Aziz Vefa Bey, the main character of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yah%C5%9Fi_Bat%C4%B1']Yahsi Bati.[/URL] Yahsi Bati is a Turkish comedy where two Ottoman secret agents head to the United States to deliver a diamond as a gift to the US President. The remaining NPCs are quite minor: Mosolite Nazif is the doorkeeper for one of the Undercity entrances and earned a lot of enemies by taxing passage through it as it’s also a prime smuggling route. Chic Manu is a fashionable gambler and award-winning writer with a very wide social network. Kore the Nightingale is a half-elf singer who found and saved Alemdar, and serves as his chief spy with her cover as a great singer. Mervhan of Al-Ghaib is a half-orc warlock who is friends with Kore but secretly distrustful of the Ghost’s intentions. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/SvbsaZ0.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Visions of Berguzar[/B] is the final section of Chapter 2. They are basically non-interactive scenes sent to the PCs while they sleep by the aforementioned eponymous diviner. They basically outline her backstory, and during the scenes PCs can roll ability checks to learn more information from them. The book recommends that one dream is given every long rest and that they are completed before the Grand Negotiation quest of Act 3. Which occurs pretty late in the adventure path, and as it happens after the PCs locate Mira they’ll know who she is by then. There are 13 dreams in total, but to summarize them: Bergüzar’s original name is Karya, she and Mira grow up under an abusive father who hates the former’s magical talents. Eventually Karya enchants her mother to kill her father when he gets violent. Mira blames Karya for killing him and yells at her to leave and never return. Wandering through the woods she catches sight of Abd-ul Mejid, then a teenage boy, studying how to fight (and also undergoing paladin training) under the tutorship of Alemdar Pasha. Mejid ends up using a divine smite during the sparring, earning a rebuke from Alemdar to not use magic in public places. Karya is spotted, and when she tries to run away she is cornered by guards. But Mejid doesn’t want her to get hurt and asks why she is alone, learning her story. He gives her a paper with an official seal she can use to reach out to him, although Karya is illiterate so she doesn’t know what it says. Later on in a village someone tries to con her out of the paper, and during which time she comes to the attention of Aziz Sefa. Karya is taken to the Harem, where the mages help refine her magical talents, is given the new name Bergüzar, and undergoes the Pact with Suleiman. Bergüzar and Mejid later marry, but she learns terrible visions of the future that she keeps secret from everyone else. Mejid takes Bergüzar to meet Shahmeran, a serpentine monster, to find out what is holding back the true extent of her powers. Shahmeran tells her that it’s likely due to the interference from someone of the same bloodline. The final vision takes place in the vague future of the next century, where an ash-covered sky bearing planes drop bombs upon the streets of Istanbul. An elderly Bergüzar is in the throne room, begging her son not to cast the Wish spell. He ignores her, and the invading forces are demolished. But so is everyone else, as the sea itself rises, the earth is broken apart, and everyone screams as they fall into darkness. [B]Thoughts So Far:[/B] Unlike other adventure paths, City of Crescent highlights the major players, their motivations, and the overall plot ahead of time rather than being picked up as you read along, which is very helpful for DMs. There’s a variety of interesting characters with their own exclusive goals and backstories, with many having shades of gray that aren’t necessarily clear-cut good and evil.* It should also go without saying that due to their high CRs that either Alemdar or Padisha Abd-ul Mejid will serve as the “final bosses” of this adventure path.** City of Crescent has branching pathways and even exclusive missions based on who they side with. There’s even the possibility of a Yes Man style conclusion where a leaderless Empire is left spiraling into chaos. Even so, there is a bias in favor of Alemdar, both in the adventure itself and who I imagine most gaming groups will side with: besides the fact that his faction is friendlier to nonhumans and spellcasters who want to strut their stuff, Mejid comes off as closest to “bad guy” status even though technically he is of neutral alignment. The final dream vision is going to show that the status quo is going to lead to destruction, which will likely have an effect on the PC’s decision. Add onto that with Mejid seeking the death of Mira; I can see many PCs of a more moral persuasion not wanting to go through, especially given that Osman refused such a decision himself. *Each NPC, including the power-hungry Padisha and Giannis the Cut, are morally neutral. **Yes, the book uses this term! As for the dream visions, I’m of two minds. There are gaming groups out there who aren’t fond of non-interactive scenes, in that they basically amount to the DM talking to themself. On the other hand, they do a decent job giving vague outlines of the background of several important characters that don't amount to infodumps. I do have several pieces of critique: placing the stat blocks of the major NPCs in one section, rather than the times PCs are likely to fight them or see them in action, will result in quite a bit of page-flipping in the use of a physical book. There’s also the fact that some of these NPCs will die offscreen or during a non-interactive cutscene, which brings to question how useful their stat blocks will really be during the adventure path. And there is another part that leaves me confused: although it’s clear that time has progressed quite a bit, Mira’s picture and appearance later in the book still show her as quite the young child. The in-character text in the adventure even describes her as a “small girl.” Was she a toddler when Bergüzar left home? How old is Bergüzar? [B]Join us next time as we begin the adventure path proper in Act One: the First Crescent![/B] [/QUOTE]
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