... also, why genderswapped Accelerator? How is that judgement-related? 
It's not. I just like the avatar.
Part One: Branderscar's Most Wanted
The adventure is separated into four major acts. Act One is when the PCs start out in the notorious Branderscar Prison, only to break out with the help of one of Cardinal Thorn's minions. Act Two is when the PCs make their way to Thorn's hideout and join his organization as the newest Ninth Knot. After surviving a taxing training program under him, they're sent on their first mission to smuggle a weapons shipment to the bugbear tribes of the north. Act Four is when they must sabotage the impenetrable Watchwall to help the monstrous hordes get through to ravage Talingarde.
The adventure path overall can be railroady at times (especially in the first book), but certain points allow for more initiative and freedom for the PCs. There are several ways for the PCs to break out of Branderscar, or sabotage the Watchwall. Surprisingly, it is not imperative that the Ninth Knot succeeds at all their major missions. Even if the bugbear horde is repelled, it's hinted at that the adventure still goes forth in Book Two, albeit with consequences.
The Book itself opens up with an Introduction by Gary McBride, explaining his decision and inspiration to make an evil campaign. Short answer: being the bad guy for a change can be fun! With proper foresight and preparation, a series of sessions with evil PCs can be well-done and satisfying without falling into common pitfalls of evil games, and the adventure path sets out to do just that! We'll see in due time if it's successful...
Act One: Prison Break
Thea adventure opens up with the PCs being escorted to prison:
In the kingdom of Talingarde, many crimes may send you to Branderscar Prison, but the sentence has but one meaning. You are wicked and irredeemable. Each of you received the same greeting when you arrived. You were held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with a runic F. The mark signifies ‘forsaken’ and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the great and eternal love of Mitra and his chosen mortal vassals.
Condemned, you face at best a life of shackles and servitude in the nearby salt mines. Others might await the “gentle” ministrations of the inquisitors so that co-conspirators may be revealed and confessions extracted. Perhaps, some of you will be spared this ordeal. Perhaps instead you have come to Branderscar to face the final judgment. In three days, the executioner arrives and the axe falls or the pyre will be lit. Through fire or steel, your crimes will be answered.
You have all been chained together in the same communal cell dressed in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. Manhandled and mistreated, any finery you once possessed is either ruined or long lost. No special treatment has been given any prisoner – male or female, commoner or noble – all of the forsaken are bound and imprisoned together. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain. Your arms are secured to the wall above by manacles. A guard is posted right outside the cell day and night. Little thought is given to long term accommodations. At Branderscar, justice comes swift and sure.
Escape seems hopeless. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? Who from your former life would want anything to do with the forsaken? Despised, alone and shackled – all that you can do now is await your doom.
Trying to find an incentive for the PCs to work together is one of the first obstacles a group must overcome. When it comes to evil PCs, one must ask how the band of miscreants would forge and maintain this relationship. Instead of the typical "you all meet in a bar/are hired for a job," the PCs are captured and imprisoned for crimes they're guilty of. They will most certainly die if they don't escape, and they can't just go back to their normal lives even if they do. Good or evil, survival is a powerful precedent. This is a good way of getting a bunch of evil PCs together. Just don't overuse the "you start in prison" sthick, as it can get quite old!
In-character dialogue:
Well, the voting results are in. Let's see who's on death row:
Two humans, a half-elf, and an orc all share a cell and are manacled to the wall. The orc looks over to one of the other prisoners, the young female human. "What are you in for?" he asks in an accented Common.
The woman looks up, as though interrupted from a trance. Even in the uncomfortable shackles her muscles looked relaxed. "My name is Rachel Serule," she says. "Apparently scratching the edifice of a piece of sculpted stone is equivalent to black magic and devil worship in the eyes of Mitra. The bastards came to haul me off, and one thing led to another and a guard died."
The orc shook his head. "That's crazy. Pung thrown in here for relieving oneself; humans have the craziest laws!"
Rachel made a face of disgust. "It's not my fault, really; if the holiest deity cannot protect his own icons, then I don't think he deserves such devotion. Same for the guards who wouldn't stop provoking me."
The conversation piqued the half-elf's interest. He appeared far older than the other three, the equivalent of his 50s in human years. "I find both your stories hard to believe," he said in a low tone. "Branderscar is not home to vandals or drunks, but the most dangerous of Talingarde. Even the hard-nosed paladins wouldn't have put you here unless they perceived you to be a dire threat."
"Pung took out entire city block on the way to the water closet. I guess it makes sense, now that I think about it."
"The statue was a holy image of Mitra himself," Rachel said. "I just don't have the best history with the church, okay? What about you, elf? Who are you, and what's your crime?"
"The name's Wayland. My daughter died from the plague; the clerics could not do anything, she was too far gone." Wayland's face turned away. "I used magic to see her again, magic deemed forbidden by the church. I only hope that she's happy, wherever she is now."
The last human, a young redhaired man with a goatee spoke up. "This is all evidence of Talingarde's decline. Understandable, rational expressions of humanoid nature, declared crimes most foul! Even in the days of old, when the druids ran wild and the magic missile was the epitome of arcane progress, magistrates had the good sense to tolerate certain... excesses."
Everybody else turned to face him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he said, confused. "Crime? Oh, it was nothing much. Just killed a guy."
The PCs start out with no equipment save for filthy rags. Wizards don't have their spellbooks, alchemists their formulas, clerics their holy symbols, etc. Even Wayland has no access to his Eidolon, and must perform the ritual to access him again. However, spontaneous casters still have their magic spells and slots, and the prepared casters have their assortment of spells in advance. But without material components and restricted movement, they can't do anything. This actually gives sorcerers an edge, who have Eschew Materials for free.
Fortunately we don't have to wait long for a prison break, as Sergeant Blackerly, the bastard who oversaw the PCs branding, summons a single PC (let's say Rachel) to meet with a visitor, a mysterious woman named Tiadora. After feigning sadness, she slips her veil into the PC's rags and mentions that she charmed the guard, before giving them instructions to a house on the outskirts of town when they escape. The veil is magic and can retrieve useful items with a pull of a string. After being sent back to the cell, it's up to Rachel now to use what Tiadora gave her.
The PCs get minimal equipment, enough to break out of their cell cast spells and some basic adventuring gear. Despite its fearsome reputation, Sergeant Blackerly's corruption of skimming off the top of prison funds made Branderscar suffer security-wise. Not all of the guards are awake, or sober, and the locks are low-quality enough that even someone untrained can open them with no chance of breaking the tools. The PCs have the opportunity to explore the prison further, and multiple ways to escape. They can help free Grumblejack, an imprisoned orge to cause a distraction or help them fight, poison the kitchen food with belladonna found in the garden or Blackerly's batch of 'medicine' he keeps in his office, sneak out via wagon, or even scale down the privy into the cliffside below (the prison is on an imposing cliff surrounded by seawater)!
Given Emberscribe and Rachel's Stealth skill, Wayland's minor summons as a distraction, and Pung's brawn, overpowering and outsmarting individual patrols of guards should be little to no trouble.
However they escape, the PCs will need to keep a low cover and cross the moors. Even if they brave the trackless swamps, a 1,000 gp bounty, regular checkpoints stationed by troops, and patrols of knights make ever day a fight for survival. The only lead they have is Tiadora's directions.
This is sort of rail-roading. But Tiadora's directions are the only hook they have, and the PCs should be curious at least as to who helped save them.
Next time: Act 2The progress so far: It's a good start for an evil campaign. The PCs must rely upon each other to escape, and the minimum security and ogre ally can help increase surviveability. Since experience is awarded for bypassing guards as well as subduing them, sneaky archetypes are well-rewarded. The patrols for prisoners on the run are a more subtle form of rail-roading, as it's short of legions of armies and impenetrable magic walls; PCs can still sneak by them, but the increasingly persistent hunt gives a nice build-up of desperation.
