Nilvalor: I carefully place Gaedren on the floor.
Kaleb Granzen: I start rifling through Addison's pockets.
As Kaleb checks over Addison's pockets, he realizes the man is breathing!
Kaleb Granzen: Get over here. I think he is still alive.
Nicolas Aubert: Out of the way, let me check on him.
Nicolas Aubert: I crouch down next to Kaleb and examine Addison's body.
Nicolas Aubert: [SKILL] Heal [d20+8 = 26]
You take a look at Addison's inert body. He's been bit a few times and he's unsconscious, but he's stable. It doesn't look like there's anything you can do to bring him back to his senses immediately.
Nicolas Aubert: By the gods you're right. He's weak but still alive. My magic won't be enough to bring him back to consciousness. We should finish our business then bring him back with us.
Nicolas Aubert: Let's look for the way into Gaedren's room.
Nilvalor: He's one lucky man.
Kaleb Granzen: If he is still alive after all this time he should be fine for another few hours. We can grab him on the way back.
Nicolas Aubert: I doubt he'll agree he's lucky when he finally wakes up from this.
Now that the spiders have been taken care of, and under the light afforded by Nicolas' morningstar, you can all just about make out the faint trail of someone's tracks leading to and from a spot on the ship's hull through the filth on the floor.
Dark and dank, the ship's hold smells of mildew. Several barrels, crates, and other containers lie stacked here and there. Dust and grime cover the floor, except where river water has collected in puddles.
Kaleb Granzen: There is a door here somewhere. Those tracks must be there for a reason.
Nicolas Aubert: Let's all look around carefully, I'm sure we'll find it. Hookshanks hasn't failed us so far.
Nicolas Aubert: I look around the hold for the door.
With the help of the the trail of presumably Gaedren's tracks, you all easily locate the secret door built into the portside bow of the hull.
Nicolas Aubert: Nilvalor, can you go on ahead? I'll walk in middle and provide us light.
Nilvalor: Good idea, I'll lead the way.
Nilvalor: I slowly budge open the door.
Kaleb Granzen: Watch your step. Apparently we are in big trouble if we fall in.
A narrow space exists under the fishery, with about three feet of room between the floor of the eastern side of the building and the languid, foamy river water below. Wooden pilings support the building, and thick mats of moss and cobwebs hang from ropes and rusted chains between them. A wooden walkway floats on the river's surface, winding along the inner wall of pilings that supports the building's frame above. The walkway leads from the sodden ship to the east all the way west to a small two-and-a-half-foot-square door that leads into an understructure below the fishery's land-bound half. The pilings below this understructure are densely arrayed, leaving only narrow gaps into the water below that area.
Nicolas Aubert: You're right, let's move carefully.
Nilvalor: I slowly open the door.
The door is locked.
Kaleb Granzen: One of Gaedren's keys must open it.
This boardwalk seems sturdier than the one on the side of the fishery.
Kaleb Granzen: I pass both keys to Nilvalor.
Nilvalor: I attempt to open the door with the keys.
The brass key opens the door.
The strange size of the door makes it somewhat awkward for you to pass through, but after a moment of dropping to your knees, you squeeze through.
The air in this large room is chilly and stinks of the river, thanks to a huge opening in the floor that drops away to the river shore three feet below. Several pilings emerge from the waters to support the roof eight feet above the floor, with mossy ropes slung between them. In two places, rusty manacles hang from the ropes over the water. Two five-foot-wide walkways cross the hole to the other side of the chamber, where a collection of old cabinets, lockboxes, and piles of clutter are strewn about. Chipped porcelain plates, a cracked goblet, badly rusted silverware, an old wooden shield with a crossbow bolt embedded in it, the odd dinged helm, and other "treasures" litter the floor of this side of the chamber. Three tables heaped with clutter stand amid this mess. In the southwest corner, a wooden door provides access to a walled-off section.
Nilvalor: Watch out, I think Gaedren's alligator is somewhere around here.
Nicolas Aubert: Steer clear of the pool in the middle.
Nicolas Aubert: I press close against the wall as I move north.
Kaleb Granzen: I examine the floor.
The floor is clear here.
Kaleb Granzen: [SKILL] Perception [d20+4 = 11]
Kaleb Granzen: I stay close to the wall.
Kaleb Granzen: I examine the cabinets.
Nicolas Aubert: I examine the tables for anything interesting.
Very few of the trinkets or junk on the tables are worth much. You find what appears to be a foul-smelling vermin repellent.
Kaleb Granzen: Is this what kept the spiders away from him perhaps?
Kaleb Granzen: I pick up the vermin repellant.
Nicolas Aubert: That or the sight of his face.
Kaleb searches the cabinets and finds a darkwood coffer in one of them.
Kaleb Granzen: I poke the coffer suspiciously and then try to open it.
The coffer is latched but not locked, and contains 20 doses of the drug shiver. The drug currently goes for 25 gp per dose on the street.
Kaleb Granzen: Evidence against Gaden. I will hold onto it for now.
Nilvalor: You killed him Kaleb. I didn't think you would care for law and order.
Nicolas Aubert: The real treasure must be behind the other door. Nilvalor, is it locked too?
Kaleb Granzen: We can worry about the details later. I can't relax knowing that pet of his with the ridiculous name is lurking somewhere.
Nilvalor: I open the door.

The door is locked.
Nilvalor: I use the rusty iron key to attempt to open the door.
It doesn't fit.
Nilvalor: Okay Kaleb, I think we need you for this.
Nicolas Aubert: Try both keys, to be safe.
Nilvalor: I try the brass key.
This one fits and you unlock the door with it.
This foul-smelling room seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox; a slightly rusted lock secures it and a moldy ledger with pages rippled from moisture sits atop its lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner. What appears to be a wooden hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser.
Nicolas Aubert: With all his wealth, he still lived like the vermin he has around him.
Nilvalor: I pass the ledger to Nicolas and attempt to open the strongbox with the rusty iron key.

Kaleb Granzen: He was wearing rather fine clothes when he died. This is just to discourage thieves perhaps.
Nicolas Aubert: Then why so many locked doors? I think this is how he really lived.
Kaleb Granzen: It looks like we will never find out.
The footlocker contains an array of treasures, each of them individually wrapped in a cloth that's tied shut with twine. The treasures include a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade, a 2-pound gold ingot bearing the Cheliax coat of arms, a miniature gold crown, a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes, a silver ring bearing the inscription "For Emmah - the light in my nights", a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succubi, an exceptionally fine-looking throwing star of eastern origin, an adamantine arrowhead, a fine dagger with a strange blade shaped almost like a key bearing the inscription "For an inspiration of a father", an abalone-shell that appears to symbolize something, a glass tube containing a type of oil, an obsidian wand, a crystalline vial containing some type of liquid, and a bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp.
Even to an untrained eye, this brooch is obviously the most valuable object in the entire collection. The circular gold brooch depicts a house drake and an imp coiled around each other in an almost yin-yang pattern. The pseudodragon's eye is an amethyst, while the imp's eye is an emerald.
Nilvalor recognizes it the moment he sees it: It belongs to Queen Ileosa herself!
Nicolas Aubert: I look through the ledger.

One item from the collection caught Kaleb's eye: the strange dagger.
The ledger on top of the strongbox contains what appears to be accounting data. The entries however seem somewhat coded.
Kaleb Granzen: I pick up the dagger and weigh it in my hand while reading the inscription aloud.
Kaleb recognizes the style of the blade of the key-shaped dagger as one used by the notorious killer Rolth who slaughtered over 15 dozen victims between 4690 and 4697 before his killing spree mysteriously ended.

Nicolas Aubert: Such a collection just rotting away in here. We should take it with us.
Nicolas Aubert: I search the other parts of the room, including the contents of the hatbox.
Bedbugs infest the sheets, a chamber pot pushed under the bed is badly in need of cleaning, and the bits of food heaped on his table have attracted many roaches.
Other than that, you find nothing in the room.
You open the hatbox and are shocked by its contents - Zellara's severed head, poorly preserved and decorated with unsightly makeup in a crude attempt to give her dead flesh the semblance of life. The head sits on a small wooden box under the ragged stump of her neck.
Nicolas Aubert: I also check under his mattress for anything hidden in or under it.
Nicolas Aubert: What the hell?
Nilvalor: By gods!
Nicolas Aubert: I stagger back in surprise.
Nicolas Aubert: But how?
Kaleb Granzen: Did he know we were coming?
Kaleb Granzen: Or has it been here a while?
Nicolas Aubert: I examine the head to try to determine its condition.
Nicolas Aubert: [SKILL] Heal [d20+8 = 17]
The fortune-teller has been dead for weeks.
Nicolas Aubert: But this is impossible... She's been dead for weeks. Who sent us here?
Nilvalor: Is this a trap?
Nicolas Aubert: I look at the others warily.
Kaleb Granzen: A lot of people wanted Gaedren dead. Who better to frame than a dead woman?
Nicolas Aubert: Then is this here... as a message?
Nicolas Aubert: I hope none of you know more than you're letting on. Nilvalor, you've been silent.
Nicolas Aubert: I quickly open the small wooden box.
You open the small box to find a harrow deck. It looks well-worn from extensive use... just like the one used on you earlier tonight.
Nicolas Aubert: I look through the cards, checking them for any clues or messages.
You find nothing special on the cards.
Kaleb Granzen: I think if there is nothing here we should return to her house and see can we find anything there.
Nicolas Aubert: I check in and under the mattress.
Nothing bud bedbugs and roaches.
Nicolas Aubert: Let's make sure we check everything. We definitely need answers from her.
Nicolas Aubert: I check the dresser.
[PARTY] -> [Nicolas Aubert] : Harrow Deck
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Queen Ileosa's Brooch
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nicolas Aubert] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nicolas Aubert] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nicolas Aubert] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nicolas Aubert] : Wand
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Oil
You find nothing but old clothes.
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Gaedren's padded armor
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Gaedren's padded armor
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[Kaleb Granzen] -> [PARTY] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[PARTY] -> [Nilvalor] : Unidentified Item
[Nilvalor] -> [Kaleb Granzen] : Unidentified Item
Nicolas Aubert: Let's get Addison and leave this place.
Kaleb Granzen: Don't let your guard down just yet. Keep your eyes out for the children too. Maybe one of them could have told us something.

As you turn around, Kaleb notices a large alligator whose head is just peaking over the water at the southeast corner of the pool!
Kaleb Granzen: Look!
The alligator doesn't appear threatening. He appears to take a breath, and then submerges again.
Nicolas Aubert: Maybe we can still avoid it.
Nilvalor: Phew! Let's walk around carefully.
Kaleb Granzen: It must know we are here.
Nicolas Aubert: Wait. Is there any food in Gaedren's room we can throw to it?
Kaleb Granzen: I equip and load my crossbow.
Nilvalor: I don't like to say it but we do have a woman's head with us.
Nicolas Aubert: It disgusts me too but I want us to get out of here alive.
Nicolas Aubert: I go back in to pick up the woman's head.
Kaleb Granzen: Never mind disgust. Nobody will ever believe us if we lose that head.
Kaleb Granzen: If you want to throw it away fine but is it definitely wise?
Nicolas Aubert: We have the harrow deck. If worst comes to worst, I don't think we want to explain why we're carrying a dead woman's head around with us either.
Kaleb Granzen: Okay, maybe wait until we get closer to the door.
Nilvalor: I'll lead the way in case the alligator surfaces.
Nicolas Aubert: Very well.
Kaleb Granzen: So you are still carrying Zellara's head.
Nicolas Aubert: You still think it would be useful?
Kaleb Granzen: Not particularily.
Nicolas Aubert: Nilvalor, wait. I could use your help with this.
Nilvalor: I nearly forgot...
Nicolas Aubert: I'll rid myself of this. It unsettles me too much.
Nicolas Aubert: I drop the hatbox.
Nilvalor: I carefully pick up Addison.
Nicolas Aubert: We should take Addison somewhere safe to rest before we confront Zellara, maybe a nearby inn.
Kaleb Granzen: Let's just get out of here first.
Nicolas Aubert: Yes. I will go on ahead since you are carrying Addison.
Kaleb Granzen: We have no reason to stick around correct?
Nicolas Aubert: No, but let's go through the building to be safe.
Nicolas Aubert: Kaleb, you should stick with us.
Nicolas Aubert: Careful here. Keep your distance.

As you step out onto the streets of the city, the flickering glow of fires is impossible to miss. The frantic clang of alarm bells sing out in harmony with a multifarious cacophony of screams, the clash of steel on steel, shrieks of terror, and even the periodic detonation of arcane power. A wing of Sable Company hippogriff riders swoops overhead, angling toward Castle Korvosa at a breakneck pace. One of the badly wounded hippogriff mounts rains blood down on the street around you before it succumbs and crashes headlong into a statue, taking its rider and itself to a messy, bone-crunching demise. The others in the flight do not pause to check on their fallen ally. Amid the chaos, the voice of a Korvosan herald cuts through the din: “The king is dead! Long live the queen!” only to be shouted down by ragged cries of “Hang the queen!” or “The usurper must die!”
The city has gone mad while you battled Gaedren in his lair.
PAIZO PRESENTS An Epic Campaign for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game CURSE OF THE CRIMSON THRONE
Development Lead: James Jacobs
Authors: James Jacobs, Michael Kortes, Tito Leati, Nicolas Logue, Richard Pett, F. Wesley Schneider, and Greg A. Vaughan Additional Design: Eric L. Boyd, Brian Cortijo, Jacob Frazier, Joshua J. Frost, Edward P. Healy, Mike McArtor, Rick Miller, Mike Selinker, J. D. Wiker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff Cover Artist: Wayne Reynolds
Cartographer: Robert Lazzaretti Design Elements: Taylor Fischer Editor-in-Chief: F. Wesley Schneider Creative Director: James Jacobs Creative Design Director: Sarah E. Robinson Executive Editor: James L. Sutter Senior Developer: Rob McCreary Pathfinder Society Lead Developer: John Compton
Interior Artists: Hazem Ameen, Eric Belisle, Subroto Bhaumik, Kremena Chipilova, Concept Art House, Taylor Fischer, Kent Hamilton, Miguel Regodón Harkness, Andrew Hou, Kyle Hunter, Imaginary Friends Studio, Irina Kuzmina, Setiawan Lie, David Melvin, Caio Maciel Monteiro, Will O’Brien, Nikolai Ostertag, Roberto Pitturru, Riccardo Rullo, Dimitri Sirenko, Bryan Sola, Firat Solhan, Richard Suwono, Eva Widermann, Ben Wootten, Kevin Yan, and Sam Yang
Developers: Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, Amanda Hamon Kunz, Mark Moreland, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Linda Zayas-Palmer Managing Editor: Judy Bauer Senior Editor: Christopher Carey Editors: Thomas Call, Jason Keeley, Kate O’Connor, Rep Pickard, and Josh Vogt Lead Designer: Jason Bulmahn Designers: Logan Bonner, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter Art Director: Sonja Morris
Senior Graphic Designers: Emily Crowell and Adam Vick Publisher: Erik Mona Paizo CEO: Lisa Stevens Chief Operations Officer: Jeffrey Alvarez Director of Sales: Pierce Watters Sales Associate: Cosmo Eisele Marketing Director: Jenny Bendel Chief Financial Officer: John Parrish
Staff Accountant: Ashley Kaprielian Data Entry Clerk: B. Scott Keim Chief Technical Officer: Vic Wertz Software Development Manager: Cort Odekirk Senior Software Developer: Gary Teter Project Manager: Jessica Price Organized Play Coordinator: Tonya Woldridge Adventure Card Game Designer: Tanis O’Connor
Community Team: Liz Courts and Chris Lambertz Customer Service Team: Sharaya Copas, Katina Davis, Sara Marie Teter, and Diego Valdez Warehouse Team: Laura Wilkes Carey, Will Chase, Mika Hawkins, Heather Payne, Jeff Strand, and Kevin Underwood Website Team: Christopher Anthony, William Ellis, Lissa Guillet, Don Hayes, Julie Iaccarino, and Erik Keith
Main theme "False King" by Two Steps From Hell.
Dedicated to Mike McArtor.