This one was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the fey-gone-wild theme, it reminded me a lot of Hitchcock & Logue's "Carnival of Tears". Cyflymder the quickling could easily have been a spin-off out of that adventure.

I have a couple of comments/questions. One question is what does the Lorestone look like? It's description and dimensions appear to have been have been left to the GM's imagination. I ran this scenario 3 times at Origins. I decided it was the size of a human fist. Another GM (Wicht) decided it was larger. What is the location of the Lorestone in the last act? I decided the quickling was carrying it. Wicht placed it atop the central stone in the druid's circle since the quickling probably couldn't carry it without being encumbered. Is there a correct set-up for this encounter?

If a PC wanted to try and use the Lorestone, what would they discover? This is where having a cool favor/disfavor on the Chronicle would have come in handy. I don't care if it is near-impossible. There really should be a whisker of a chance to reap some benefit from experimenting with the stone. Of course, there should be a cost as well. I sincerely hope that when Season One begins we will see some added favors on the Chronicles. Many players have come to expect more than just equipment access and obscure, location-specific benefits. Keep in mind that PCs are going to retire as soon as 18 months after creation. It's not like a PaizoCon-esque favor on the Chronicle sheet for the players who couldn't travel there would be disruptive to the campaign.

I did get a kick out of this scenario and I look forward to running it some more locally. I love the classic monster updates out of the Tome of Horrors. I am disappointed that the spriggan do not have DR/Cold Iron though. I remember facing one in a Living Greyhawk intro adventure and he had DR 10/Cold Iron. I know they appear without DR in Tome of Horrors but I would also think a Tier 4-5 party should be equipped for that contingency.

Anyway, Steven Robert did a real fine job on this scenario. It's not a complex story, nor does it contain a lot of campaign setting flavor, but it plays well and everyone had a good time.

Thanks for the kind words, and the feedback! It is definitely helpful to hear how it reads and plays to others, and you point out a couple of things that were clear in my head but not in the manuscript. Here's how I meant them to go...

As for the artifact itself, here's my vision: The lorestone is a sphere of unadorned granite, polished to near perfect smoothness. It can be inserted into subtle depressions in druidic circles, where intricate astronomical rituals—now lost to history—could unlock a trove of druidic knowledge. To be honest, I never considered how the PCs could attempt to use it, although in a home campaign that would definitely be a good direction.

For the final encounter, I basically pictured it as a challenging game of "keep away," with Cyflymder darting around the circle with the stone. In Tier 4-5, the second quickling can spring to action if the PCs wrest it away from Cyflymder, and the spriggans act as blockers. In Tier 1-2, the atomie (using entangle) can play a similar role as blocker. But, of course, every DM should interpret it as they'd like!

As for spriggans, I'd always assumed they were fey themselves, until I looked at their description closely while preparing my proposal. So DR/cold iron would fit in great there - I am looking forward to seeing how they evolve into their Pathfinder RPG stats, where they play a much larger role than ever in the world.

Thanks again for the feedback!

This is a very well written scenario and I thoroughly enjoyed DM:ing it for my group. I especially liked the fact, that in my opinion this is the first Pathfinder Society module in which it is possible to avoid combat with diplomacy AND get rewarded for it. A few minor quibbles, however:

The Gnome encounter awards diplomatic PC with a wand of cure light wounds. If combat ensues, this wand does not exist. IMO this kind of writing hurts the simulationist aspects of the game world and should be avoided. In this case it could've been avoided with, say, one of the gnomes retrieving the wand from a stash nearby.

We played at Tier 1-2. Our group consisted of these characters: Ranger 2, Fighter 1/Sorcerer 1, Druid 1/Wizard 1, Cleric 1, Sorcerer 1, and Paladin 1. For this group at this tier at least, the end fight with Cyflynder was quite easy and mostly annoying, since none of the NPC's actually managed to do much of anything to the PC's. 1-2 dmg/rd isn't much to write home about.

The version of this module I ran at PaizoCon and it seemed to contain a slight error -- not sure if later publications corrected this:

The Qadiran Faction hand-out states, "Only Qadira can fully exploit these fantastic resources, but we must convince the forest’s natives, who know its secrets, to ally with us. Should you encounter any of them, pass them this note, and, in the name of Qadira impress them with your courtesy and knowledge. But use the most subtle measures, for such an alliance must remain secret."

However, the Qadira Faction award states: PCs from the Qadira faction who pass a letter to the gnome leader earn 1 Prestige Award.

1. It is quite possible to engage Gire, the atomie, in conversation and even befriend her. She is a fey and she lives in the forest.

2. I know that gnomes are fey in the Pathfinder RPG...they aren't in the 3.5 SRD. They are fey in the Campaign Guide.

3. Hemzel and his gnomes aren't working for the betterment of the fey in the Veduran...some of the fey see him as an obstacle...which is why he starts the adventure in a pool of his own blood. It doesn't seem reasonable that his gnome servants would be working with the forest's fey natives.

CJ

That was corrected in the final version. It's the gnome leader in both instances.

We played at Tier 1-2. Our group consisted of these characters: Ranger 2, Fighter 1/Sorcerer 1, Druid 1/Wizard 1, Cleric 1, Sorcerer 1, and Paladin 1. For this group at this tier at least, the end fight with Cyflynder was quite easy and mostly annoying, since none of the NPC's actually managed to do much of anything to the PC's. 1-2 dmg/rd isn't much to write home about.

Well, the Entangle from the Atomie makes the battle much more difficult.

I played this scenario at Gen Con and it wasn't bad (4/5), lots of skills came into play, lots of roleplaying, and some interesting places to fight. It seemed kind of short though, I don't know if it was intended but it seemed like there were only 2 acts.

Having said that, my Gen Con DM didn't handle Act 1 properly (although he was otherwise good) and I'm putting this out there so other DMs don't make the same mistakes.

We should try to play by the rules where possible. That fight took 45 minutes longer due to not being able to affect that mob. I think each party member entered and left the cottage at least 3 times, it was very silly. :)

** spoiler omitted **

Is the spider swarm subject to the entangle spell? It already treats the vine covered squares as rough terrain (instead of impassable), if entangle has been cast (which makes normal squares rough terrain), what happens to the vine covered squares for the swarm?

Oh, and is it legal to update this to PFRPG rules?

Anyone updated the encounters to Pathfinder rules?

I'm working on it to run later this week, but my standard way of doing so (cut and paste monster entries out of the Bestiary, Adjust the stats of NPCs adding CMB/CMD) doesn't work for the Gnome encounter. Gnome warriors are not in the Bestiary. And most the creatures/monsters aren't either.

I'm not sure how the Atomie's Entangle works and don't have the ToHR to look them up.

I really enjoyed it when I ran it the first time. Morning slot at a con so missed some of the problems from lack of sleep and used the MM at the time.

Anyone updated the encounters to Pathfinder rules?

I have! Though it's way to late to help ya.

I'm not sure how the Atomie's Entangle works and don't have the ToHR to look them up.

Here's Tide of Morning Encounter Conversions: