Zytera is in a position of power, can do uncanny and terrible things, and Zygofer has proven capable of breathtaking tactical abilities in the past. They had no reason to care about Stanengist in the past, though, and their plans with female rulers of Ravenland are unavoidably flawed. The good news is that lets you interact with Zytera more often than the campaign expects (you can probably ignore the soap opera bit, though).

Gracenotes: when you’re the King you have to fear other Kings, e.g. from Alderland, why have all of Zytera’s experiments failed?, does Zygofer have a mental hold over all Blood Sorcerers?, best guess at when Zygofer got Merigall back, Zygofer can plausibly threaten that killing him would be bad, the best counter-Stanengist plan is to collect elf rubies, Zytera is already limited by the size of their army in how much they can rule, Zygofer’s plan to be legitimised by ruling with a Queen of Ravenland is really good, Zytera also has some good diplomacy ploys, unless they’re shopping for unusual Kin body parts, the Maligarn sword can’t be with Marga and Martea because they’ve have told Zertorme or Merigall, have another hopeless plan from Kalman Rodenfell.

If he’s a normal Elvenspring, Zertorme should be dead by now. He’s only still alive because he’s part-demon, which is politically awkward. Whether he fakes his death, ages rapidly and is reborn, or burns up and then has to regrow himself, he regularly regenerates into a new Zertorme.

Rather than seeking out new allies – which either can’t do because he’s just a figurehead or a racist patrician, or won’t because he’s lazy – he’s palling around with a fire demon. Why is she here? Maybe Merigall did it, maybe his regular regenerations made demons curious, maybe she’s him somehow. This is the main threat to his leadership, and she knows it, which is why she stole his face.

Zertorme is interesting because he’s a political leader, and he’s not locked into one strategy. As such, he’s not doomed to betray everyone as the campaign suggests. That makes him more interesting than most key players.

Gracenotes: being around demonic experiments is like second-hand cigarette smoke, your players should meet Zertorme many times, before and after regeneration, Zertorme’s illusions are really impressive, the situational benefits of an imprecise memory, demonic regeneration is weird and gruesome, that means there could be a trade in relics, that there are undead or ghosts means you can gloat at your dead mentor, if Brinhelda was born from Zertorme is Zertorme still demonic?, one of Merigall’s children is a permanent courtier at Amber’s Peak, ruling with Stanengist is arguably so he can show his father, he’s most likely to find out about it because the PCs won’t keep their mouth shut.

In Raven’s Purge, only male key players have agency, but everyone basically agrees with Krasylla. She doesn’t need Zytera’s help, and turning into sarmog might get her out of her contract with Zytera. She’s been adapting to a number 2 position for a while, and wondering what it would be to be a local demon.

Krasylla’s main weakness, which she’s thought about, is being shot by an arrow of the Fire Wyrm (which won’t happen instantaneously), and it makes sense that Krasylla would have spies looking out for the arrow. When the PCs get involved, hilarity can ensue.

Consider who can thwart Krasylla.

Gracenotes: Krasylla is now Ursula out of the Little Mermaid, maybe Zytera’s giant spider is Krasylla’s spy, what if Krasylla eats one of Merigall’s children, Krasylla talking in a hideous mockery of a local dialect, even if Maha is the universal language of magic the Galdanes want no part of it, if Erinya attacks you through lava where do you need to stand to be safe?, Raven’s Purge is wrong about which arrow Merigall has, Erinya is summoned through a ritual rather than having agency, as it should be, what does it take to bribe a spy, flaws that shape-shifters have, Zertorme likes this chompy horse spy, humans are too short-lived to be good plotters, Zytera should always posture given the chance, oh hey, Katorda exists.

If a random encounter gives you a monster egg that’s about to hatch, the last thing you want the PCs to do is sell it and forget. They should negotiate with buyers instead, which can and should get interesting.

If a brewer has been robbed, don’t just rescue him and let him go home; instead, wonder why he had to leave his village and/or why maybe supernatural creatures want his beer. Maybe you’ve now recruited a brewer for your stronghold?

If a village is sacrificing a youngster to a great serpent, do they have enough people that they can afford to? Even if they, did the Bloodmist change everything, by supporting more people / allowing people to leave? Or is this a desperation tactic?

My favourite asides: the buyers are working with the monster, Batman reference, another reference to trading a dead gryphon for horses.

The Seals are lost and unprotected, Ferenblaud and his people are still safe (some of them guard the seals), and there is every incentive to break a Seal and stop the winter.

The summer elves would have liberated the land and taken Ferenblaud and his monsters away, not cursed everyone with eternal ice.

No, what happened was that Ferenblaud rigged the curse to happen if he was losing. Elves don’t fear the passing of time, especially not if the prison actually protects them. The freezer-burned look isn’t accidental, it’s a deliberately-chosen look.

The Redrunners’ situation is still politically tricky. They should find and choose one seal to defend.

Nekhaka will Break you, which is a problem as you want to use it all the time, and if you don’t people can tell when you do. This is excessive compared to other elf artifacts.

Maha signs aren’t as clever as the writers think. Maybe this is a trap for tourists, or an early attempt at writing that’s no longer fit for purposes. The Pelagia traps are probably just mechanical, but what if they were part of an attempt to invent a primitive computer?

It wasn’t Garmar or the Rust brothers, and you need to explain why you can’t take the armour off. There’s a spell in the spike and this has nothing to do with Teramalda or Garmar.

A tattered parchment can fall or be stolen. The contract should be tattooed in Maha signs on Zygofer’s body instead. That’s why Krasylla has to change.

Merigall must know where their life essence is, and the trap is too slow.

A better solution is to put Merigall’s life essence: probably not inside Zytera, but in a small village connected to the sea, or maybe more than one. Therania and/or Zygofer can trigger the destruction of the life essence. And the players can steal it.

Mentioned in passing: why hasn’t Krasylla tried to steal their contract?