GM Endless Forms' PFS 05-23 Cairn of Shadows (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Tuholski

The man is human, right? If so, everyone gets +2 Atk/Dam for companion bind, which I always forget.

Hawk steps up five feet and fires many arrows at the man.

Manyshot, Rapid, PBS, Aof, Haste, FE, Deadly Aim: 1d20 + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 = 34
Damage: 4d6 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (6, 5, 6, 6) + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 34

Rapid, PBS, Aof, Haste, FE, Deadly Aim: 1d20 + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 = 23
Damage: 2d6 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (1, 3) + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 15

Iterative, Rapid, PBS, Aof, Haste, FE, Deadly Aim: 1d20 + 8 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 8 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 = 29
Damage: 2d6 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4) + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 19

Rapid, PBS, Aof, Haste, FE, Deadly Aim: 1d20 + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 13 - 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 - 2 = 23
Damage: 2d6 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 2) + 2 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 15

If the man is not human, take out +4 to Attack/Damage. Hawk has Improved Precise Shot

Cadaeacus heals his allies while Hailey rushes into the room. Hawkwren then fills the man with arrows while Terrill assaults him from the side, the two of them taking him down!

Out of combat! And man, talk about overkill. The guy was a kensai magus with 41 hp. Didn't seem an appropriate BBEG for a 5-6 tier even without some level 7s carrying the party.

In addition to Lord Maravan’s gear, the outsiders have favored trophies from past victims. There is a +1 meteor hammer lying in the corner.

On Lord Maravan's person you can also find the shadow obelisk. As soon as someone takes a hold of the object, the Cairn of Shadows begins to shake and cracks appear in the walls and floor. Clearly the place is coming apart and you all have just enough time to run from the place, dragging the rescued prisoners behind you. The chains no longer block your way from exiting the demiplane.

As you exit the Cairn of Shadows, the passageway out of the barrow seals and becomes a flat sheet of obsidian. As the shadow obelisk is carried out of the demiplane, it fades away like smoke, and the cairn is destroyed forever.

The Whispered Song agent who has guided you can sneak you safely to the town of Albatross, where a fishing boat gets you safely out of Nidal and back to the Pathfinder Society, so you can report on what you have found and how you thwarted the Onyx Alliance!

And that's it! I'll get chronicles out soon!

I have to admit, this scenario was a little weird. I enjoyed the first part up to the Cairn but the dungeon was written poorly, with some stuff out of order. Like it doesn't mention until after the fact that the chains along the passage leading to the final room are supposed to slash at you as you walk, so I missed that until after the fact. Most of the time they would have something like that listed with a special Hazard section but this was just thrown in there after the statblocks where it's easy to miss. It had all sorts of weird organizational problems like that that made it a little hard to follow, not to mention that the BBEG and the ritual and everything else about what the Onyx Alliance is doing is never really explained. I would have liked to explore the obelisk and whatnot a little more with you but the scenario doesn't give me much except that it allows you to control the demiplane. Why the demiplane breaks apart and the obelisk destroys itself when you take control of it is not really explained anywhere....

Hmm... that's a shame. IMHO, Season 5 started out strong, but scenario quality did go up and down near the end. Luckily, plenty of other strong 5-9's to choose from, but I think I'll avoid running this one locally for a while.

And thanks for the game EF :)

IMHO, Season 5 started out strong, but scenario quality did go up and down near the end.

I completely agree. Of the recent Season 5s I've run, this one seemed poorly written and/or organized, Assault on the Wound has been a bit overwhelming (and far too long by the time everyone figures out Mass Combat; you almost have entire scenario after the two Mass Combats!), and Scars of the Third Crusade was meant to be investigative but has been a bit tedious and not terribly interesting (mostly focused on rumors while offering the PCs very little solid evidence to follow up on). This season did start out really strong though and you're bound to have a few flop or fall through the cracks every season. It just so happened that all the not-as-good ones just kinda got burped out at the end I think.

I'm PbP'ing Scars... I honestly think it'll work well with that since you don't have to rush things and can take your time to make NPC's meaningful. I do think some forcing of clues may be in order, but again, the ability to finely word NPC reactions makes it superior to run there than in person. Otherwise, I agree that Scars requires expert hands to run in person.

Assault I'm going to work with a couple of my GMs to come up with a quick way to explain it sufficiently, perhaps coming up with a handout. I'm organizing a large gameday next month to run the end of season scenarios and I am concerned about the time for Assault if not handled well.

"Excellent!", the aasimar chirps cheerily. "I think it's been about 5 decades since a collapse of a demi-plane has been recorded in one of the Chronicles!"

"That was ...an odd experience, and it past quite quickly. You learn something new every day"

"Are we going to record this one then..or do we continue our streak of not reporting a collapse of a demi-plane?. Maybe we can go for the record?"

Says Hailey with a grin.