A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 7–11.
The PCs are sent to map the Storval Stairs and ensure the stairs provide a safe route to the Storval Rise from Magnimar, but upon their arrival, they find the ancient site claimed and “ruled” by the self-proclaimed King of the Storval Stairs. Only through guile, diplomacy, or cold steel will the Pathfinders ensure access to iconic Thassilonian location.
Written by Dennis Baker.
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 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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Going in to this one I was rather nervous, because of its reputation. A well-deserved reputation. At first it looked like we could handle this, but then I flew into an ambush and got killed quite suddenly. Another PC died the next round. Fortunately we both got back to life before the final fight.
This is one of the best brutal adventures I've seen. There were no rule shenanigans; no monsters with obviously illegal builds or tactics; no manipulation of the CR system to shoe in an encounter that's much harder than its CR makes it look. All the challenge is fair and above-board. The author is quite honest about how hard stuff is.
That's not to say enemies fight fair of course. Like I said, I flew into an ambush and paid the price. I should've seen it coming.
The location is beautiful. The monsters are both epic and funny.
When in doubt, play down, and still be on your toes. But I had great fun.
Perspective: GM
Subtier: 10-11
Party: typical party of 5 PCs, only 1 was out of subtier.
Time: 7 to 8 hours (the lower subtier should go faster).
The setting for this scenario is outstanding! I loved the Storval Stairs. It is an evocative location.
This is an extremely challenging scenario! GMs should read the following spoilers to have an idea of what the players are in for.
Spoiler:
There are four encounters, but the second and third are pushed almost back to back which makes the third encounter a bit tougher.
The first two encounters are appropriately balanced.
The third encounter involves a save-or-suck effect followed by a very dirty trick. From the GM side of things this trick is delightful. But the players will not like it.
The fourth encounter, however, is over the top. My group ran away with one PC dead, another captured and ransomed back to the society, and all with 1 XP, 0 prestige, and only about half the gold. Meanwhile, the BBEG suffered ZERO damage, and his girlfriend was only down by 4 hp (from a single magic missile).
If you play this, bring your "A" game (and a bunch of prestige).
Definitely in my top 3 PFS scenarios. Highly recommend!
This scenario is very light in the RP side but if you're looking for a challenge this is it! The Storval stairs themselves are a wikid location for an epic battle! Bring your -A- game. My group took 9 hours to complete this (definitely can be completed in a normal time frame but we were having a blast)
The Final boss fight had a very cool twist. Unfortunately, it was incredibly tedious and boring to get to. I lost count, but one fight not only had an annoying as hell creature, but it had 12-15 of them. We were never in real danger, just had to GRIND them down slowly. A chimp could play this, except eating a banana is more fun.
A perfect example of the 2 boring fights then big boss at end design school of no skill roles, flavor text, or point other than walk in straight line and kill annoying stuff until Gm says your suffering has ended
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Dennis Baker wrote:
I'm writing two chase scenes into this one for you Dragnmoon!
Make the whole scenario Haunts and Chase scenes!!!
I'm writing two chase scenes into this one for you Dragnmoon!
And you're done with those Dragnmoon, I'm going to feature you in some haunts in my upcoming scenario 'Dragon Moon Devastation. PC's will experience you being killed by Kyle in the aforementioned chase scenes.
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Grats Ogre. I am pumped to be running this at GC, I was thrilled last year running Dragons there. I would love to see some high level chase scenes.....
Glad to hear you enjoyed Sewer Dragons, it was a blast to write.
This is going to be quite different from either Sewer Dragons or God's Market Gamble. Hopefully equally fun, but completely different.
As an aside... Mark gave us the tools to make Season 4 scenarios more challenging for bigger groups. I know it's a few months out, but Gencon GMs are going to want to warn their tables.
I'm going to have to request Gary change your name to "Jim Grooves" because you rock. This might cause some difficulty because of Paizo's strict policy about Paizo contributors posting with real names, I'm sure your wife and family will adjust to your new name after a while though.
Alas I must say this didn't run well for our group and I hope figures are kept for average success etc as it didn't go "perfectly"... I don't think this is an issue of how it was run; much of it was certainly challenging - not something wrong in Itself as it can often as in this case promote some nice roleplay - BUT it runs too long and the faction missions and event as a whole are - I suspect - prone to fail on a regular basis especially in a convention environment.