Demons and Devils and Pathfinders—Oh My!

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Back when we announced Season 10, we were really excited about some of the big stories that we hoped to wrap up in a big way. November really kicks off two of these payoffs with a pair of high-level scenarios written by fan favorite authors addressing two our favorite NPCs. We're really stoked!

The first up is Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-08: What Prestige is Worth, a Tier 7–11 scenario that begat as many "approximately 375 gp" jokes when we were naming it as appeared later in the product discussion thread. An uncontrollable portal to Hell has opened in the Grand Lodge's basement, but Zarta Dralneen has ascertained the most likely means of closing the rift in a way that doesn't flood Absalom with devils. The only problem's that this plan involves an elite team traveling with Zarta to Dis: the second level of Hell and Infernal City that embodies tyranny. Easy, right? Well even though the PCs have a bone devil's short-lived protection and Zarta's familiarity with the planar metropolis, expect some tough challenges ahead. After all, your typical PC's spent several scenarios bludgeoning fiends and declaring herself a hero, but now you're in your enemies' backyard.

Creating compelling extraplanar scenarios like this is a tough challenge, so I'm thrilled that Matt Duval was ready to work on it. He's made a really dark and thematic scenario that reminds the PCs just how out of their element they are without pushing into the realm of uncomfortable levels of gratuity. On top of that, I'm really excited about how the NPCs in this adventure turned out, ranging from unfriendly employers to unrepentant contacts to unlikely allies (like the one pictured here by Michele Giorgi). Why is Hell one of my favorite planes for adventures? It's because of scenarios like this. If you want to learn more about Dis, be sure to check out its gazetteer by Amanda Hamon Kunz in Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Realms.

Illustration by Josef Kucera

But maybe Hell isn't your thing—I'm not judging. Perhaps instead of dealing with devils you'd rather smash in demon faces? You're in luck, because Linda Zayas-Palmer has been working on our latest seeker-level content.

At the beginning of Season 10, we announced that we'd be including more high-level content, in order to do justice to the finales of several stories and character arcs that have been brewing for multiple years. But Tier 7–11 wasn't quite high level enough to capture this month's heroic charge into the Abyss. The treachery demon Koth'Vaul has been a thorn in the Pathfinder Society's side for years, most notably as one of the masterminds behind last year's siege on Absalom. In Pathfinder Society Scenario #10–09: The Rasping Rebirth, by Cole Kronewitter, Koth'Vaul puts into motion his grandest plot yet, charging into the realm of the dead demon lord Deskari and collecting what power he can to fuel his own schemes. Cole did not pull punches when representing this cunning villain, particularly for those of you who opt to play this scenario's optional hard mode. Whether your character is a righteous and stalwart paladin or someone whose heart could be swayed by Abyssal temptation, they will have a significant choice to make. The Pathfinder Society's past interactions with Koth'Vaul have mostly been in his innocuous mortal disguises (with one notable exception), but he's ready to face them in his new and improved true form, as illustrated by Josef Kucera.

Linda Zayas-Palmer

Developer

We hope you have as much fun playing and running these as we had in developing them. Coming up in the next several months, we'll be looking ahead to resuming the Hao Jin Tapestry storyline!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer