A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th to 11th level characters (Tiers: 7–8 and 10–11).
The fabled ruined city of Dokeran, deep inside the heart of the Mwangi Expanse, has been found and it's your job as a Pathfinder to explore it and discover how it fell. After fighting through fiends, enslaved warriors, and the damned spirits of Dokeran's dead, you find that the ruined city has a dark secret—one you might not survive.
Written by Elizabeth Leib
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
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Lyrics of Extinction is the final scenario in Season Zero of Pathfinder Society, the season where they wanted to test out an organised play system using D&D 3.5 rules prior to the official launch of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. I got to play it via play-by-post at high subtier (10-11) with my half-orc Paladin of Sarenrae, Trokkus. The adventure has a cool backstory and the ominous briefing raises expectations of a potentially deadly mission, but unfortunately the rest of the scenario is a let-down and mostly a pretty forgettable dungeon-crawl that wastes a great premise. It's okay, but not a particularly good capstone to the inaugural season.
SPOILERS!:
About a century ago, there was a small but prosperous city in the Mwagni Expanse named Dokeran. However, the city's shaman, a man named Tyruwat, fell into the worship of Zon-Kuthon and was ousted by the community. Vowing vengeance, he called out to Zon-Kuthon and his prayers were rewarded with the divine inspiration to write the lyrics to accompany a music box that together form an artifact called the Song of Extinction. When played, the Song of Extinction destroyed the entire city of Dokeran! Tyruwat gained an extended lifespan from his monstrous act, and still dwells in the ruins of Dokeran today, dreaming of conquest.
The PCs come into the picture when they're briefed by a Pathfinder named Tuukna in the city of Kibwe. It seems that some treasure hunters were found dead after exploring the ruins of Dokeran, and that others who have ventured close to the area have reported hearing an eerie song. The PCs are assigned to make contact with a witch doctor who will serve as a guide, explore the ruins, and see if they can retrieve the fabled Song of Extinction. It's a pretty strong backstory and briefing, and made us PCs paranoid about wail of the banshee style sonic death effects! With silence spells and earplugs at the ready, we set off into the jungle.
Despite a great opportunity, Lyrics of Extinction doesn't make any use of its setting--there's no chance of getting lost, no need to deal with the heat, and very little interaction with the locals. Before the PCs meet their guide, they have to fight off an ambush from a pack of howlers led by a "wild elf" (one of a group enslaved by Tyruwat). The map is big and well-drawn.
The witch doctor guide, Nangi, escorts the PCs to Dokeran by canoe. He's pretty much the only NPC to interact with, so hopefully the GM tries to give him some character. Interestingly, and casually slipped in by the scenario, Nangi participated in the betrayal of Dokeran a century ago and also gained an extended lifespan from the Song of Extinction! (though he now regrets his action) For some reason, the scenario provides full stats and tactics for Nangi and his giant crocodile animal companion, though I can't imagine why even mercenary-type PCs would attack him.
Some good writing could have been done to set an atmospheric mood for exploring the tragic remnants of a city destroyed in mere moments, with the risk of the song being heard again always at the forefront of the explorers' minds. Unfortunately, the ruins of Dokeran get two lines of very bland flavor text and then it's into a crumbling temple (aka, dungeon) for the rest of the scenario. Definitely a lost opportunity.
The pyramid ("The Grand Temple of Dokeran") features encounters with some trapped spirits (ghosts with barbarian levels), giant stag beetles, an old-fashioned spear trap, and a trio of enslaved wild elves. None of the threats are particularly dangerous or creative. The battle against Tyruwat (a Level 14 bard at high subtier) is similarly disappointing, as he'll die quickly and there's never any actual risk of hearing the Song of Extinction. The PCs simply gather up the music box and presumably take it back with them. In short, there's a lot of build-up for what ends up as a real dud of a scenario.
The Pathfinder who delivered the mission briefing, Tuukna, has never reappeared as far as I know. The Song of Extinction was written up in Artifacts & Legends. As a true artifact that can destroy structures in a 10-mile radius, it's not something to mess with! I really hope the Pathfinder Society keeps it in the Grand Lodge's version of Warehouse 13 . . .
The backstory for the DM tells a tale of a nasty artefact with the power to destroy... but all the Pathfinder Society knows is that strange music has been heard coming from some ruins discovered deep in the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse and the last people to go there never came back. Perhaps the party can investigate...?
The adventure opens in the city of Kibwe, through which most folk entering the Expanse pass. A local Pathfinder gives the party their assignment, recommending that they seek out a witch-doctor called Nangi who can guide them to the location of these ruins, the remains of a settlement named Dokeran. But first they have to traverse dangerous swamps and find that witch-doctor.
Once they reach Dokeran, their hunt through the ruins leads eventually to an underground complex, where there's more evil than you can shake a stick at! Yet the end combat is somewhat disappointing, which is a shame given the compelling backstory that will probably never come out. Better maps, particularly for the early part, could improve an adventure which doesn't really live up to its underlying concept.
Scenario is a simple straight forward hack and slash with no role play opportunity. Past the first, the encounters are quite challenging even for an experienced party. The final encounter was very difficult and three out of the four of us went down very easily. Only the heavily optimized Hunter and companion saved the day.
The scenario suffers from being old and not updated as well as being unable to cope with the newer classes.
Ran this for my local group yesterday and I have to say that it was more than disappointing. The story had a decent plot hook, but the execution was incredibly dull.
We ran at the 10-11 subtier, and nothing was really a challenge. I used the PFRPG stats for the monsters that warranted it, but all the enemies with class levels were just mowed down. There were map and spacing issues as well, with one encounter calling out for three huge-sized creatures who would not even fit in the room they were placed.
The final act was also not a real challenge. Sadly, the whole party beat the BBEG on initiative, and he was down before he could cast a single spell. For the level he was he had too few hit points.
I know this is a season 0 adventure, but I think this one suffers a great deal due to the 3.5 to PF conversion.
So, I recently ran this scenario for players. Here are some issues with the module:
Spoiler:
1) At high tier, the encounter with the beetles. . . either they don't fit in the allocated room (5 foot squares) or the diagram of where they are standing is incorrect because they clearly don't take up a 4x4 grid spot. Why are there basic map errors in scenarios?
2) Speaking of the beetle encounter, huge creatures stand 15' tall. The basement floor is only 10' below the main level. So. . . these creatures' "heads" are actually sticking up from the basement into the main level and the PCs can clearly see them. One wonders how they even got there.
3) Ok, beetles again. They can't climb or otherwise challenge a party on the main level. Why wouldn't a party just rain death from above and be done with the encounter in 5 minutes? Is it intended to be a freebie?
4) Yet another "single bad guy" with virtually no supporting mooks who gets to do almost nothing cool before being murdered mercilessly due to action economy. And I only ran it with 3 + a pregen. Sigh.
5) It would have been fun if the boss had tactics to actually *use* the Song of Extinction during the encounter. So you know, it felt unique and fun. This would have been an excellent encounter to have triggered effects from the environment, say falling rock and such.
6) Listed damage for corrupting touch of the ghosts is wrong. It can't possibly be 1d6. If that's intentional, then the enemies provide no challenge at all and it's a bad encounter.
7) I do have to give props to the first encounter. It's the only thing saving the review. Using updated stats for the howler creature from bestiary 2(?), it is a fun encounter. The stats in the mod provide little challenge, and this would be a weak encounter using those stats. Entangle + spike stones is good.
8) Why provide stats for the Song of Extinction if it is literally never used?
