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Pathfinder Module: Broken Chains (PFRPG)

Pathfinder Module: Broken Chains (PFRPG)
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The slave markets of Katapesh may be an unsavory sort of business, but the trade metropolis’s enigmatic law enforcers have few qualms with the legal act of selling and buying flesh. Other factions, including the abolitionist Eagle Knights of Andoran, have their own opinions on the matter, however, and frequently send undercover agents into dangerous territory to break up slave rings.

When one such Eagle Knight goes missing while investigating an underground slave operation beneath the dilapidated Twilight Gate district, it’s up to the PCs to delve an abandoned (but hardly uninhabited) qanat beneath Katapesh and discover her dire fate. Yet not everything is as it seems in the dank slave caverns under Twilight Gate, and clues hint that the slavers may have even more loathsome connections than initially suspected. Can the PCs recover the missing Eagle Knight before her fate is sealed? Or will the monstrous slavers lairing under Katapesh succeed in their malevolent designs?

"Broken Chains" is an investigatory dungeon crawl adventure for 6th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. This volume also contains a fully detailed map and gazetteer of the Garden of Chains—a nefarious slave auction house—and a brand-new demon that can easily be used in any campaign.

Written by Tim Hitchcock.

Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes new monsters, treasure, and a fully detailed bonus location that can be used as part of the adventure or in any other game!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-461-0

Broken Chains is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (94 KB zip/PDF).

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription.

Product Availability
Print Edition:
    Usually ships from our warehouse in 2 to 6 business days.
PDF:
    Will be added to your downloads immediately upon purchase of PDF.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at webmaster@paizo.com.


PZO9539


See Also:


<< Pathfinder Module: Murder's Mark (PFRPG) Pathfinder Module: Fangwood Keep >>


Product Discussion (72)

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Paizo Employee Webstore Gninja Minion

Announced! Cover image is a mock-up and will change.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion Subscriber
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Gnolls are always fun to kill.

Osirion

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Comics, GameMastery Cards Subscriber

Having mostly wiped out the Rovagug worshipping gnolls already, I can only hope to reap the ranks of Lamashtu's faithfull. Maybe even bag a creepy goblin assassin. That would be nice.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Liz Courts wrote:
Announced! Cover image is a mock-up and will change.

A Tim Hitchcock adventure.

Groovy.

President, Jon Brazer Enterprises

Description wrote:
fully detailed slave auction (suitable for destruction)

This made me chuckle.

Taldor

Pathfinder Campaign Setting Superscriber; Pathfinder Comics Subscriber

'Tim' is the Welsh for 'Team'...

I would like to sign up for Team Hitchcock, please.

Sczarni

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Tales, Comics, GameMastery Cards Subscriber

Looks that could be happening alongside Jackal´s Price in a legacy of Fire campaing. Cool.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber
Draco Bahamut wrote:
Looks that could be happening alongside Jackal´s Price in a legacy of Fire campaing. Cool.

Exactly how I plan to run it. And serendipitously, it'll be released just as I need it.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber

Aw, dang it, did this get bumped back another month?

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

So whens the cover of this one being updated?

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Also seems this has been pushed back again.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Still nothing?

Paizo Employee Project Manager

Can you clarify your question?

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Oh uh was just wondering about this being updated any time soon?

Paizo Employee Project Manager

It's in edit/layout, so it shouldn't get pushed back anymore.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Changing the subject slightly who are the iconics in this one?

Andoran

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Glad we are returning to Katapesh, shame it isn't high enough level to be a sequel to LoF though.

Osirion

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path Subscriber

What do they mean by a fully detailed Slave auction? A map and sets of NPCs?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber
Stratagemini wrote:
What do they mean by a fully detailed Slave auction? A map and sets of NPCs?

Huh... Can't help but imagine a breakdown of notable potential bidders and a list/sequence of the slaves up on the block. More than a few of which might drive some PCs to place bids themselves or some other attempt to win their freedom and/or safety(intercepting bids from the worst of the worst potential buyers). Then again, just resorting to force seems doable too, considering "suitable for destruction" in the blurb. ;)

Katapesh is a pretty rough place for good-hearted PCs. Freakin' Pactmasters man.

Osirion

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path Subscriber

You could place the slave auction in Kaer Maga. City of Strangers mentions that the Freemen of the Bottoms are big buyers of slaves.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Noticed all the other Febuary releases have had cover updates. Is this one falling behind again (Sorry to rag on about it but this Module really has me interested)


Kevin Mack wrote:
Noticed all the other Febuary releases have had cover updates. Is this one falling behind again (Sorry to rag on about it but this Module really has me interested)

I'm following,and waiting, this module as eagerly as you.

Paizo Employee Project Manager

It's out the door, but I think it's likely to come out in March at this point. But it's done! :-)

Cheliax

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Good to here hopefully that means cover updating soon (As well as finding out what Iconics are being used for this one.)

Paizo Employee Developer

Kevin Mack wrote:
Good to here hopefully that means cover updating soon (As well as finding out what Iconics are being used for this one.)

I assume you mean the iconics in the art? That would be Seelah, Damiel, Ezren, and Kyra.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber

March? Oh, that's a pity. The timing of this adventure was so fortuitous for a while... I'm running The Jackal's Price right now, and I think that March finally pushes this adventure firmly out of my window of opportunity. At the current rate we're going, I think I would have needed to seed the story hooks for this by the end of January at the latest to be able to incorporate it. Back to the drawing board...

Paizo Employee Webstore Gninja Minion

Final description and cover image added!


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber

Oh hell yes.

For those familiar with Seelah's backstory, that looks like some sweet, sweet closure on that cover. >:) (or at least a really cool callback!)

Lookan forward to this!

(Seelah should probably keep her helmet on here)


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion Subscriber

Nice art for the Gnoll.


Definitively going to get this.

Taldor

Pathfinder Campaign Setting Superscriber; Pathfinder Comics Subscriber

Oh, lordy, I totally missed the crucial information!

Tim Hitchcock!
Tim Carnival-of-Souls Hitchcock!

It does a soul good to see that name associated with a Paizo module.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion Subscriber
1 person marked this as a favorite.

As much as I want it, it's only for 6th level PCs. That's the number one reason I dropped my modules subscription, too many low-level mods.

Taldor

I'm all for this. I like the thicker modules.

Paizo Employee Developer

GeraintElberion wrote:

Oh, lordy, I totally missed the crucial information!

Tim Hitchcock!
Tim Carnival-of-Souls Hitchcock!

It does a soul good to see that name associated with a Paizo module.

Oh yes—fans of Tim Hitchock and his work will definitely be pleased with this module! :]

Grand Lodge Contributor

GeraintElberion wrote:

Oh, lordy, I totally missed the crucial information!

Tim Hitchcock!
Tim Carnival-of-Souls Hitchcock!

It does a soul good to see that name associated with a Paizo module.

Thanks ever so much!

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Comics Subscriber

I'll probably run this as a PBP.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Comics Subscriber

Who did the cover art for this one?

Paizo Employee Production Specialist

The cover was handled by Grafit Studios.


This module keeps getting delayed. Now we are looking at March 27th., three months or longer between modules? Hey Tim are you out there? Hang in there buddy!

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Comics Subscriber
Crystal Frasier wrote:
The cover was handled by Grafit Studios.

Thanks for the info. :)

Andoran

Pathfinder Campaign Setting Superscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Deluxe Comics Subscriber

How often do these come out? Yesterday our group realized we've already played every single PF module released to date and we took a look at the release schedules.

The last one came out on October and this one is scheduled for March, then the next two are scheduled for April and another one for May. If those dates are for real, that'd be awesome.

Cheliax

Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, Comics Subscriber

Theoretically the modules are released to be released every two months. Obviously that's not the case and I think that's part of the reason why Paizo's decided to move them to a quarterly release schedule, increasing the page count somewhat for each module.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path Subscriber

Hey Tim, I have a question that I was wondering if you'd be able to answer. If not, I understand. :)

I'm running Legacy of Fire very, very soon, and one of my players is considering playing this module at an upcoming convention. Based on the module's product description, it sounds like a really easy and potentially awesome opportunity to combine this with The Jackal's Price.

I want to let him enjoy it, but if the module works as much as I hope it does, I don't want him to spoil a big chunk of my campaign. But, if it heads down some pretty different directions, then I won't worry about it and I'll be okay with him playing it.

If posting about it here is too spoilery, a private message would suffice. Thanks!

Sczarni

Just signed up to run this at ConQuest in Sacramento. Looking forward to it!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber

It's a Legacy of Fire miracle! I was certain that the final shipping delay would push this module a month past the point-of-no-return in LoF where I would be able to incorporate it, but now, the...

Spoiler:

Sons of Carrion siege

...has taken us a full month to play out! So now (crosses fingers), I expect the module to hit my inbox more-or-less the very day I need to seed it into The Jackal's Price.

TES: I'm looking at using this adventure as a possible means of resolving Haleen's debts in Katapesh. If it works out at all, I'll post conversion notes (bumping it up to 8th level and thoughts on incorporating it into TJP) sooner than later.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path Subscriber

Thank you sir!

I will probably end up playing it myself very soon, so I can see firsthand how well it might integrate into my LoF campaign. But that sadly still doesn't help me with my player that is also running through it. So, I may just have to skip out on integrating it because of that.

Silver Crusade

Could this module be played before/during the Jackal's Price ?
Does it include hints for DMs to incorporate this module in Legacy of Fire ?

Silver Crusade

No answer... :(

Paizo Employee Developer

Lev wrote:

Could this module be played before/during the Jackal's Price ?

Does it include hints for DMs to incorporate this module in Legacy of Fire ?

Ah, sorry about the delay! Busy busy at Paizoland.

I actually wrote a blog post in direct response to this question, and it should appear in a couple days here on the Paizo Blog, either this week or next, to preview the release of Broken Chains and help GMs integrate it into their Legacy of Fire campaign if they feel so inclined. :]


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber

Boy, I hope that blog post comes tomorrow--(looks at clock)--I mean today! I'm kinda locked into running this in some fashion for my group at Gary Con on Thursday. With that in mind, I've started crunching Broken Chains to see how it slots into LoF. Non-spoilery first reaction stuff:

First of all, it's a long adventure with a lot of variety in the opposition. On the medium XP track, 4 PCs who start this adventure fresh at 6th level and are thorough in their work could very well come awfully close to reaching 8th by the end--toss in a few random encounters or have them start a little past 6th, and reaching 8th may be within their reach. Which means that, were to you bump everything in here up by +1 CR, this could function as a replacement for The Jackal's Price for those who are so inclined.

I, on the other hand, have been looking to slot this in alongside The Jackal's Price, so to that end I think I'll mostly be keeping the levels as they are. May keep the first section as written, then punch up the final sections, as I think about it. Bump up the entire adventure to suit 8th-level PCs and you'll wind up with a massive XP infusion to deal with. (If 4 PCs are 8th level when they begin Broken Chains, they can earn enough XP to reach 9th, and if they're 9th--as they might be if they hold off on this until dealing with TJP--they won't quite reach 10th level.)

Also, and this is a major benefit, Broken Chains really "feels" like Katapesh. A lot of cultural details that Legacy of Fire barely touched upon--such as pesh, slave rings, humans and gnolls living side-by-side--get plenty of screen time here.

As for my thoughts on tying this into Legacy of Fire: The adventure itself really just tosses you into the action, allowing GMs to come up with their own hooks to explain how the PCs are initially approached.

Now I'll get just a touch spoilery:

Spoiler:

As I write this, my PCs have just defeated the Sons of Carrion and are half a day away from reaching Katapesh and kicking off the next section of The Jackal's Price. Here's three possible hooks I have to ponder to tie them into Broken Chains, which begins with an Eagle Knight agent recruiting the PCs to seek out an undercover Twilight Talon who's gone missing, amid signs of foul play.

* Amwyr Yuseifah: My group's PCs rescued this broken old slaver back in House of the Beast and have managed to get him home to Katapesh--amid much debate as to whether he really deserves to live at all--to receive their promised reward of a coffer of gold and their own exotic slaves. (Most of the PCs want their slaves so they can turn around and free them.) My inclination is to tie Amwyr to the Garden of Chains, perhaps having him come back after his 16-month exile to discover that his business partner, Fat Aghurr, has steered their slave ring down a path so nasty that it falls beyond even Amwyr's remarkably callous comfort levels. If Amwyr's lost his fortunes and influence, he may find himself demoted from co-owner to lowly auctioneer--and if that's the case, then there's a secondary NPC (Saiyd) that he can seamlessly replace.

My PCs are bringing Amwyr home, even accepting his payment of slaves, but that doesn't mean they like him. In fact, the night before they reach the city, one of the PCs' cohorts--who entered my campaign as one of Amwyr's concubines, purchased from Amwyr on his way to Pale Mountain--made it pretty clear that left to her own devices, she'd kill him and leave him for the vultures. So Amwyr's none too fond of the PCs, and while he scurries about to secure their reward, he's also bad-mouthing them to anyone who'll listen. That might catch the ear of the Eagle Knight who kicks off the adventure.

The only real downside to tying Amwyr to the Garden of Chains is that the nature of the slaves he specializes in doesn't really match the sort of chattel the Garden of Chains deals in. But it's not unworkable.

* Haleen Tropp: This NPC, who may be closely tied to one or more of the PCs, ran off from some bad debts in Katapesh back in Howl of the Carrion King. In my campaign, she's the sister of one PC and the cohort of another, and now she's come back to Katapesh with them. I've long been intending to add a short side adventure to address Haleen's bad debts in Katapesh, and this may fit the scenario. The simple solution: The Eagle Knight who recruits the PCs offers them a nice chunk of change for their efforts. If the PCs are somehow hard up for gold, this may be motivation enough. My PCs, on the other hand, are a wee touch cash-poor but otherwise quite wealthy by any reasonable standard. I've established that Haleen owes her money to someone tied to the Duskwalker Guild, but I've otherwise been keeping things vague, with the intention of sucking the PCs into a den of thieves as they discover that Haleen's shady beneficiaries don't just want their money back, not even with punitive interest--they want a pound of Haleen's flesh for reneging on the debt in the first place. I haven't yet quite worked out how to tie into Broken Chains from this angle, but the baddies in this adventure are actually running an illegal (or at the very least gray-market) slave ring, which the Duskwalker leadership wouldn't approve of, if they knew. Perhaps, Haleen and the PCs start to get mired in dealing with the Duskwalker Guild, and then our undercover Eagle Knight could approach them with this job as a chance to appease the Duskwalkers by quietly eliminating a corrupt wing of the guild.

* The Demon Smugglers: Perhaps the most organic solution, but also the one requiring the most work: Make Father Jackal and this cult affiliated organizations. The Garden of Chains baddies handle "production," while Father Jackal oversees international "distribution." There's even an NPC in Broken Chains you could reasonably refer to as "Mother Jackal." Were I do to this, I would probably convert Father Jackal's lackies from a Rovagug cult to Lamashtu followers, and have the heroes' raid on FJ's lair produce evidence that leads them to the Garden of Chains.

Dunno. Still thinking. Have about 54 hours to settle on a solution. :)

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