Topline Summary: A great on the rails (by and large) set of adventures for GMs to explore the area around Otari as seen in the Beginner Box, giving the party some bases of operation, important contacts in the community, and some somewhat disjointed adventures. Unfortunately by the end there is little to build off if you want to continue your group’s adventures, though read my conclusion for ideas.
Chapter 1: A straightforward continuation of the Beginner Box adventure. Tamily's reasons for disposing of the property are non existent, she outright gives the title to the PCs after they clear it of its current residents when in reality it makes more sense for her to simply pay them, and then sell it, or at least offer them the property in exchange for whatever the group salvages from the land. It's particularly perplexing in that the party is likely going to secure the deed to a keep in Chapter 2. Narratively, there isn't much that connects Under Otari to this starting point and it shows. GM's should have her comment on their aid, and hopefully have read this before running the beginner box. She would certainly mention that she has other properties that need an adventurer's touch when she pays the players at the end of Under Otari.
What you do get in Part 1 isan interesting NPC in Scalliwing, which gives a GM enough to play with and a minder of the shop for the party when they’re away, and a smattering of uninspiring combat encounters. Some of the fights are intentionally under powered via the tactics put in place by the author of this part, but it's unclear why. There are indications that the enemy is supposed to be cunning surprise attacker, but they somehow think a party of four humanoids will be no match for their two minions? It simply rings hollow.
The friendly enough ghost was a missed opportunity to hook parts 1 and 2 of the adventure together. They’re written as having been a descendant of a Pathfinder who hoped one day to become an adventurer, and yet they make no mention of the town or their friends they used to dream of adventuring with (friends who are presumably are now much older and greyer now). A clever GM would do well to have the Ghost put the PCs on a path towards the friend, who can then be used to introduce the wider town to this new set of problem solvers, and provides a useful connection to just how the Quest Giver of part 2 hears about the party.
Overall, the setting doesn’t feel as lived in as it otherwise could given the extensive Gazette about the town in the beginner box.
Chapter 2:The most well laid out part of the module is found in the middle. While the PCs are given an overall goal, how they set about doing it, and the clues they can follow up on allow for enough player agency to make this a satisfying section to play and GM. One thing that could’ve been a bit better would have been to include details for following the tracks of a monster (Ch2.P1.A) which would’ve short circuited a lot of the clue gathering. In fact there’s no mention of this possibility which could flummox inexperienced GMs and it’s an obvious thing players would do given the uniqueness of the monster and the implication of how it’d come to be in town. A recent rainstorm washing away all tracks, or indicating that the tracks lead to the flume would’ve been warranted, or simply there were no tracks to follow.
In terms of, encounter construction, brand new players will need to be prompted to make recall knowledge checks should one of them fail some saves and be turned into a statue (Part B). Likely taken out for a space, a reminder to new GMs about this option would’ve been helpful as otherwise the party is looking at a permanently lost member if they dally too long. Otherwise the encounters continue to expose both the players and the GM to new concepts, which is valuable longer term, but doesn't make for overly connected adversaries thematically.
Chapter 3: While there are hints leading to this Chapter towards the end of Chapter 2, the section would’ve been better served by introducing the idea of Gathering information. Instead the NPCs just magically happen to bring the knowledge the PCs need straight to them. It’s quite hamfisted and doesn’t make a lot of sense unless the GM prompts their players to ask around town. While it seems as if the party is going to face some trouble trying to find the last set of encounters, the DCs are actually quite low for a group of level 5 PCs. Additionally, there seems to be no penalty for failure written in. GMs will have to adjudicate for themselves what it means on a failed Sense Direction check, or even worse a failed Investigate (Nature) check to remember that a particular natural terrain feature is nearby. A failure here would imply that the group would be unable to find the location until they spent X more days looking or been exhausted when they find the encounter with some orcs outside the final area etc, but there’s no such guidance for inexperienced GMs.
The final encounters include classic dungeon traps, and enough variety to make things interesting. A GM looking to break the monotony should use some of the terrain features (pits) to their advantage and try to get the party separated. While the CRB doesn’t have rules for repositioning grabbed creatures a GM should feel free to allow their monsters to do so.
The named monsters in the dungeon have rich enough backstories that should they escape they would make for useful future villains or recurring enemies. New GMs or GMs who have new players and wish to continue the parties adventures would be wise to use Bomela the troll in this way. Once downed she could potentially recover if the party leaves her for dead rather than ensuring her demise. New GMs might find themselves struggling using the final boss. The two bodyguards are relatively weak, and won’t give the leader of the cult much time to act. Of note the author doesn’t seem to understand that the spell Charm will not allow the enemy to get the PCs to attack their friends even if friendly, also note at this point the players will be level 4 and the Charm spell has the incapacitate trait meaning the PCs results will be one degree of success higher (no crit fails). The boss is better off casting Paralyze after using their eye on an enemy, and then using their eye and going into melee. If there is a fighter in the group, or a champion they should use hideous laughter on that PC so they can’t use reactions once seen. Wrapping up this chapter is as simple as recovering the McGuffin and heading back to town. Very strangely, the map has a secret room, but nothing in the text of the module mentions this.
Toolbox Content:Antivenom potion is a potent common item, whose inclusion in a module is odd. Given that antitoxin exists in the CRB and does not allow for a new check against an ongoing poison effect, but the antivenom potion dose for only 3gp more gives you a DC 10 flat check to END any persistent poison damage expect this item to find its way onto a PCs wishlist. Given than poisons in the CRB do not simply do persistent poison, but are conditions its more niche than it would appear on first blush.
The sparkblade is similarly a common magical sword, and seems to function as electric arc once per day (single action!) but the designer of the item neglected to mention if the second creature must be within 30 feet of YOU or of the first creature you had chosen. Whoops.
Maps and Art: The maps are well done and are easy to interpret. They use standard Pathfinder map doors, unlike the beginner box which used larger doors more visible on VTTs. A big thank you to the cartographer or layout editor whichever of you took the composite image for Chapter 2's many smaller maps and made the grids align between them. That alone is worth it's own special rating star, and those little things speak to your professionalism.
Splash page art is gorgeous and evocative, but its funny to see Valeros be both a teenager and a grizzled veteran in the same module. Item and Creature art remains top notch.
Conclusion: If you’re a new GM looking for content having just run the beginner box, this will scratch the itch for your players who want to continue their new adventuring life. For experienced GMs who have read ahead thru the plot, and made their own ways of connecting the plotlines, the story is serviceable. The middle chapter of the module is memorable, as are the unique NPCs in Chapter 1. However, the final Chapter doesn’t give GMs much room to work with unless they plan ahead, or wish to invent the story (see the Troll in Chapter 3). While the over-arching threat from chapter 2 to the town’s economy still looms, it seems like a distant threat that has little to do with the party’s interests, which may be itching for more immediate challenges. Having run many different PFS scenarios over the years, these adventures seem like three scenarios got smushed together in an anthology about the same town. The threads that connect the stories are weak, and NPCs do not re-appear; though they certainly can in any campaign you design around the town.
So as a launching off point for said campaign, the Troubles in Otari module provides you with a possible neutral evil Troll druid and a rival company trying to ruin the economy of your beloved Otari but little else. That said, the beginner box already gave players numerous tools to continue their adventures in the darklands fighting against dark elves (drow) and evil slaving dwarves (dueregar), and frankly its surprising that there wasn’t a tie in to the obvious plot hook of “Here be Dragons” of a tunnel that continues deep underground. So, if you’re enterprising and want to stay in Otari you might jigger a way for the evil slaving dwarves to be working with the Kortos Consortium in some way all as part of a plot by an adult dragon pulling some Drow strings. I mean, dragon eggs must have Dragon mothers somewhere right?
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