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Heroes for Highdelve is set in the eponymous town, which is located at the foot of the Goluskhin Mountains in Brevoy. The PCs arrive during the annual Brightbloom Jubilee, a spring festival, and can have fun with various low-stakes games like sack races, kick-sack (hacky-sack), a puppet show, and more. The adventure assumes the use of the pre-gens, who each have a reason for coming to Highdelve, and expects the PCs to be asking a lot of questions of the locals during this time. Perhaps oddly though, but fortunately for custom PCs, most of the NPCs just give the questions the runaround or say the equivalent of “I’m busy now, but ask me tomorrow”; the actual adventure itself has nothing to do with the PCs’ individual quests. My GM did an excellent job adapting the adventure for PFS, as it wasn’t until I read the module for this review that I realise how much he had to make up in order to get us hooked into the adventure. Anyway, after some relaxed fun at the jubilee, the adventure kicks into gear when a pair of town youth stumble in, bruised and bloodied. The pair were the town’s celebratory “Bloomgivers” this year, given the honour of walking to the nearby Dendra’s Slope to collect special flowers for the jubilee. It turns out, however, that they were attacked by two other youths in town (Richelle and Tolwin) who were angry about not being chosen as Bloomgivers. And worse, the (rather violent) juvenile delinquents even took the golden amulet of Aurelliax (the town’s gold dragon protector, who hangs out in human form) from the Bloomgivers! “Are there any among you who are willing to be heroes for Highdelve?” asks Aurelliax. Nistivo Cirek will—for the right price!

Part 2 of the module has the PCs travelling to Dendra’s Slope. After finding the site of the attack, they’ll soon find (hiding nearby) Richelle and Tolwin. What the PCs won’t be expecting is that the two aren’t by themselves--their attack on the Bloomgivers was prompted by an evil tiefling rogue named Feran the Pale. (Feran had some sort of unrealistic plan to distract the townsfolk so he could steal from them, but the motivation here is pretty week). I’ll just note as an aside that Richelle and Tolwin fight with longswords and Feran has sneak attack, so it’s perfectly possible that this seeming “playground bullies”-style adventure could become lethal (combats are first level being notoriously swingy in Pathfinder).

Part 3 of the module has the PCs facing off against what could be a pretty big threat: an ettin that is wearing Aurelliax’s amulet (it was part of Feran’s plan). Alas, the ettin doesn’t have much in the way of personality, so this is a pure combat encounter.

And that’s it--there is a *very* short (one sentence) conclusion to the adventure. As an introductory experience to Pathfinder, Heroes for Highdelve is certainly serviceable, though I don’t imagine the plot or writing will be especially impressive to newcomers to the game.

Prior to the events of Year of the Shadow Lodge, the fictional Pathfinder Society is largely unaware that there is a secret network of members dissatisfied with the group's slow pace and bureaucratic nature. Apparently, there are dozens and dozens of members working to change the organisation within and plotting an eventual overthrow of its leadership, the masked Decemvirate. However, the members of the Shadow Lodge are, by nature, cautious and secretive, and thus want to carefully lay in wait while developing the strength to make the revelation of their existence simultaneous with successfully seizing control. Unfortunately, for the Shadow Lodge, one of its members, a sorcerer named Charvion, is tired of waiting--he wants to act now! Charvion has planned a major (and by major, I mean several dragons and a horde of goblins) assault on the Grand Lodge. But there's intrigue within intrigue, because the rest of the Shadow Lodge thinks Charvion is foolish. So, they feed him red herrings that the Decemvirate's secrets are on scrolls buried beneath the Mortuary at the Grand Lodge. They hope that, in the likely event Charvion's very public attack fails miserably, the Pathfinder Society either continues to disbelieve in or greatly underestimates the Shadow Lodge's real strength.

Charvion's plan is a bit convoluted, and I don't really understand it. The general premise is that he plans to use a minor Azlanti artifact recently discovered in the Mwangi Expanse called the Cage of Spirit Echoes. The Cage allows the user to communicate with the dead. As hundreds of Pathfinders will be present at the unveiling of the Cage during a major Absalom holiday event (the Passion of the First Siege of Absalom), Charvion plans to have his dragons attack as a distraction while he then takes the Cage and rushes over to the Grand Lodge and fights his way into the Pathfinder Society Mortuary to dig up the Decemvirate secrets. I'm honestly fuzzy why he needs the Cage to dig up the scrolls, how he has managed to secretly amass an army of dragons and goblins and sneak them into Absalom, and why, as a sorcerer and a Pathfinder in good standing, he couldn't just walk right into the Mortuary in the middle of the night, bump off anyone there, and do his digging without all the drama! In other words, the plot just doesn't really hold up, and nor do I understand why the rest of the Shadow Lodge would let it go forward--after all, anyone who can amass an army of dragons and goblins and wield an artifact is going to seem like a major threat, so surely the Pathfinder Society will take the Shadow Lodge seriously in the future. And, that is exactly what happens at the end of the scenario: the existence of the Shadow Lodge is confirmed. It really makes the Shadow Lodge look kinda dumb, which undermines the dark conspiracy storyline the PFS organisers wanted to tell.

Anyway, the Special moves quickly. Act 1 starts at a massive stadium in Absalom called the Irorium, where the festival is to take place. I love that only PCs of the highest subtier gets the "good" seats (next to the field); more scenarios should give perks to those who have earned it! For some reason, the scenario spends several paragraphs describing the physical features of the Irorium, even though none of it matters because the combat will take place on a flip-mat that is only a pale, symbolic version of it. When Charvion makes his move and seizes the Cage, the dragons and goblins attack and the PCs need to fight them off in order to escape.

Act 2 has the PCs hearing of an assault on the Grand Lodge, but needing to fight their way through an ambush in the Foreign Quarter before they can get there. The ambush is more goblins, obstacles (that mechanically function as traps--a bit odd), and a Shadow Lodge cleric of Groetus named Melyra. If the PCs actually capture Melyra alive and interrogate her, they can get the broad outlines of what is happening; otherwise, they'll probably be completely in the dark.

Act 3 has the PCs needing to fight their way into the Grand Lodge by breaching its falls and overcoming yet more goblin defenders.

Act 4 is interesting, as an old black dragon named Zythrustianax is perched on the roof of the Mortuary. PCs of the highest subtier can actually fight it if they want, while PCs of every other subtier need to try to sneak in, with failed Stealth checks resulting in the dragon's tail slaps dislodging rubble to drop on them! There's a nice cooperative element here, as tables can work together to distract Zythrustianax so others can get inside (and, similarly, the first table that manages to break the door down makes things easier for every subsequent table to get in). There's a nice custom map of the Mortuary to handle multiple encounters inside (more goblins, beetle swarms, spectral undead somehow unleashed by the Cage), and finally Charvion himself. Unless the PCs were completely devastated by the earlier encounters, they'll probably have no trouble defeating a lone sorcerer (unless, at high subtier, he manages to get off a death spell or two). When Charvion is defeated, his body and soul are sucked into the Cage of Soul Echoes in a gleeful bit of flavour text. And now we know: the Shadow Lodge is real!

Major Colson Maldris, long-time leader of Liberty’s Edge, may have gotten (literally) in over his head. Tying in heavily to # 9-02, we learn in Fury of the Final Blade that Maldris’s plan for the recalcitrant and corrupt nobles of Andoran to face justice in Galt has gone dramatically awry. Not only are the nobles going to be executed without trial, but Maldris himself faces the chopping block! Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro (amazing artwork, but with a personality that doesn’t match) sends the PCs in to Isarn to rescue the Andoren nobles and, if possible, Maldris. The stakes are high, because if the PCs fail, the Pathfinder Society, Galt, and Andoran could become locked in conflict, and the Red Revolution could spread. Pretty cool set-up for an adventure!

The PCs arrive in Isarn the night before the executions are scheduled, so they don’t have time to rest and need to get into planning the prison break immediately. There’s lots of options available in terms of preparation, such as trying to time guard patrols, steal uniforms, etc., and this part is fairly open-ended. The scenario is actually a bit confusing on the time element, because in one place it says the group has time to conduct two investigations to prep for the prison break, but elsewhere it gives the specific number of hours different tasks take (without telling the GM how many hours are available). I like how the prison has sensible precautions in a fantasy world; for example, you can’t just teleport in or easily scry to discern the facility’s layout.

The scenario features a cool villain--a Gray Gardener mesmerist named Citizen Dread--along with some tough foes like sakhils and (potentially instantly deadly) banshees. More, the PCs are likely to rouse the ire of mobs of Galtans, bringing the troop rules into play. The whole sequence of events can play out differently depending on the PCs’ actions (something every scenario should envision), down to the question of whether the PCs think Maldris is worth rescuing at all since he’s been disloyal to both the Society and to Andoran.

In short, Fury of the Final Blade presents lots for the players to work with. There’s plenty of room for role-playing, combat, strategy, and moral debate, all in the context of a solid story and development of a major NPC and faction. Putting all of that together in one scenario isn’t easy to do!

The backstory to Severing Ties involves the Aspis Consortium trying to improve its relationship with the Cult of Lissala after some drama involving the Hao Jin Tapestry in previous scenarios. What the Consortium, led in Riddleport by a silver agent named Vidrin Jenk, wants to do is gift the cultists with three items sacred to other faiths in the city (presumably, so it can sacrifice or desecrate them in some way). As each of these faiths owe the Aspis Consortium a financial debt, it should be a simple matter of having someone pick up the sacred items as payment and deliver them to the cult's secret safehouse. But what those Aspis snakes don't know is that the Pathfinder Society is on to their plan, and intends to throw a wrench in the works! Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch explains to the PCs (in a quick flashback briefing in Magnimar) that she's arranged for a group of Aspis specialists to be intercepted en route to Riddleport so that the PCs can impersonate them. Once they've collected the three gifts and learn the location of the hidden cult safehouse, they're to sabotage it to discredit the Consortium in Lissalan eyes and break the alliance. It's a creative premise for a scenario.

Despite the premise, those rare PCs who invest a lot of ranks or abilities in skills like Disguise and Bluff will probably be disappointed to learn that the scenario handwaves any checks. Vidrin Jenk and the other Aspis thugs at their headquarters in Riddleport (Barracuda Cartage) automatically believe the PCs are out-of-town agents once they see the brass coins that Heidmarch has provided. The Consortium really needs to invest in photo ID membership cards!

The PCs can visit each of the three temples to collect the gifts in any order. One is Publican House, the city's temple to Cayden Cailean, which is of course a raucous tavern. The sacred mug the PCs need to obtain has been inadvertently entered as a prize into a drinking challenge, and this presents a fun opportunity for a light-hearted contest of strength, dexterity, and intestinal fortitude. Another temple is the House of the Silken Veil, a brothel dedicated to Calistria. Here, the PCs need to negotiate with the temple high priestess/madame, Shorafa Pamodae. It's very possible they get tricked into accepting a fake sacred relic (a dagger in a locked case that has magic aura cast on it), but the way the scenario plays out, getting fooled probably won't matter in the end. A third temple is the Fish Bowl, the city's temple to Besmara; here, to obtain a sacred bicorne hat, the PCs will have to fight some sea creatures feasting on some human sacrifices! For Riddleport aficionados, the scenario doesn't do much to give the city a distinct feel (as a pirate haven/gang town), but it's still nice to have these temples and NPCs fleshed out.

Assuming the PCs can get at least two out of the three sacred objects, Jenk then provides them with the location of the Lissalan safehouse to deliver the gifts; the safehouse is hidden under an abandoned tattoo parlor. Here's where it's vitally important that the PCs remember their mission: sabotage the safehouse, don't get into traditional dungeon crawl and try to fight their way through! The threats in the underground complex are very real: basilisks that can easily turn someone to stone, a couple of dozen cultists, an animated stone guardian statue, etc. PCs can succeed in the sabotage by doing things like setting the basilisks free, causing a gas leak, flooding it, and more, but the scenario instructs GMs to allow creative options the PCs come up with. Once the sabotage has been performed and a clue left to implicate the Aspis Consortium, the PCs can escape and consider it a job well done. The overall lesson of this part of the scenario is: fights probably mean failure, so be smart!

All in all, I like the general story and approach taken in Severing Ties; it's certainly different than a run of the mill scenario. It also helps flesh out a key location in Varisia. I'd recommend it, but probably only for more experienced players who will pay close attention to the exact instructions given to them in the briefing.

The backstory to The Asmodeus Mirage is cool: when the gods battled Rovagug across the face of Golarion eons ago, the crystalline bone devil that served as the Herald of Asmodeus was struck down in what became Katapesh. Ever since, for 24 hours every century, a pocket dimension opens up with the crystal skeleton at its center. Anyone who ventures in and doesn't leave before those 24 hours are up risks being trapped there until it opens again 100 years later! And, of course, the Pathfinder Society has managed to pinpoint the location and opening schedule of the so-called "Asmodeus Mirage" and wants to send a team in to investigate, with the goal of returning with the crystal skeleton before it disappears for another century. Why exactly the PFs might select a group of Level 1-2 PCs for this mission is beyond me; maybe there was a mix-up in the cabinet containing lists of field agents?

After a briefing by Venture-Captain Rafmeln (only ever seen in this scenario; perhaps he was "retired" for sending agents on this mission?) in the Katapeshi Pathfinder Lodge, the PCs have a chance to buy gear before an off-screen journey to the Asmodeus Mirage. Once inside the pocket dimension, the 24-hour countdown clock starts. The scenario is structured as a set of four encounters in the mirage that the GM selects randomly, with the journey between each encounter taking a random number of hours (that can be reduced with a good Survival check). The pocket dimension is morphic in the sense that there's no reliable directions or fixed geographic points, meaning that depending on dice rolls, PCs might stumble into the same encounter multiple times (despite trying not to). PCs also need to attempt Fortitude saves against the heat (it is the desert, after all), which makes perfect sense but can be quite draining for low-level characters (especially with any time spent resting counting against the 24-hour limit).

The encounters range from fairly pedestrian combat (like groups of illusory skeletons) to some with role-playing potential (like a peaceful gnoll village menaced by ankhegs) to intriguing mixed-bags (like an insane CR 19 brass dragon who wants the PCs to clear his lair of pesky vermin) to the main event (the crystalline skeleton, which will be guarded by different foes depending on subtier). I imagine that at higher subtier (6-7), the encounters and environment would be far more manageable than the more swingy low subtier ones. In any event, the main risk facing the PCs is becoming trapped in the pocket dimension and officially ruled dead. The PCs can choose at any time before that to try to return "home", and so from the scenario's sidebar point of view, the chance of groups getting trapped should be low. However, the scenario only gives the PCs a 25% chance of making it home with each attempt, and as each attempt takes 1d4 hours, a group that waits too close to the end of the 24 hours and has some bad dice luck could easily end up being trapped and effectively TPK'd (unless they have pieces of the crystalline skeleton, which shunts them out of the demiplane automatically when it closes).

There is a part of me that loves high stakes scenarios where genuinely bad things can happen to PCs--a game with no risk isn't nearly as much fun, after all. But for The Asmodeus Mirage in particular, I think the stakes need to be better fitted to the level of the characters involved and with a little bit more transparency on just how heavy the odds are against them. Not to mention, there's not really a lot of discoveries or mysteries to resolve once inside the mirage--it's just "get the skeleton and get out" with little opportunity for the PCs to understand the backstory. I imagine more than one group ended up trapped in the mirage, and this probably fueled the push to retire the scenario. I can't really argue against the decision. Fortunately, with the demiplane having just appeared, no one needs to worry about it for another 100 years!

I have to append a coda to remark on a Chronicle boon from the scenario that is a classic, and hilarious, example of stingy rewards (or what we would, today, call trolling): PCs, after having somehow survived the risk of being trapped in another plane of existence for a century, receive a whole +1 to Diplomacy or Intimidate checks vs "western Katapesh gnolls"! Talk about earning bonuses the hard way!

Echoes of Woe is set in the growing town of Ysantro in the Qabarat region of Castrovel. Because the city is expanding, a company named TeleWright wants to redevelop an old, abandoned hospital—but it can’t do that until the site receives a final inspection, and no one’s willing to go in it because of rumors that it’s haunted! Thus, the PCs get hired for the job. It’s a classic set-up (everyone loves creepy hospitals, asylums, and orphanages).

The backstory to the Bounty is good too. Back when the hospital was in operation, the hospital’s head doctor, Sikooli, tried to cure her son, Ajanu, of a degenerative disease caused by exposure to sunlight. Sikooli hit on the idea of combining particles from the Shadow Plane with nanites, but the resulting “venumbrites” drained the life of everyone inside the hospital, including Sikooli! Today, Sikooli roams the hospital as a grieving ghost, while her son, Ajanu, is an undead borai who still lives in the hospital to care for her.

One of the issues in terms of duration is that the Hospital flip-mat has a *lot* of rooms (14), and players of this type of RPG are trained to cautiously explore each one. Add in a bit of good role-playing and some combat, and 60-90 minutes isn’t realistic for most groups. The atmosphere set up by the scenario is pretty good, and I especially liked a sidebar’s tips on how the GM can make it darker or lighten it up depending the group’s comfort level with horror. Still, some of the hard-coded elements (like scouring the hospital for multiple pieces of a ritual to set things right, dealing with four different squoxes) seemed a bit repetitive and detracted from the feel. And one of my common mechanical complaint—asking for skill checks to accomplish something but providing no penalties if they fail (so you just have endless retrying until success) definitely rears its ugly head here.

So my advice (noting that Halloween is just a few weeks away as I write this) is to draw upon the broad outlines of the scenario, dispense with all the squoxes but one (and make it a shadowy, venumbrite-affected one), and do the whole thing theatre-of-the-mind without even showing a flip-mat. The game will be faster, spookier, and more fun.

After her father dies in the course of running the family salvaging business, Pathfinder Mirian Raas returns to Sargava to (reluctantly) lend a hand. She and her small crew of salvagers get involved with a trio of lizardfolk who wish to recover the contents of an ancestral vault deep in an area of the jungle now overrun by boggards. A representative of the Sargavan government (and her son) join the expedition, as the salvaging business is deeply in debt to the government and it's counting on Raas finding a real score of gems to help pay the protection money it owes the pirates of the Shackles to help defend it from Cheliax. However, Mirian's brother is in love with a secret Chelish agent who'll stop at nothing to sabotage the whole endeavour. That's the barest brushstrokes of the plot, but Jones adds layers of flavour and detail to flesh everything out. The action scenes are genuinely suspenseful, as no one is immune to danger from "plot armor". Devotees of underwater combat will be impressed by the fidelity to Pathfinder rules and incorporation of magical gear, while readers interested in Sargava will find its portrayal rich in detail (the depictions of race and class issues in a post-colonial setting are skillful). I've actually become a fan of lizardfolk because of the novel thanks to their description in the book. I genuinely can't think of any criticisms (unusual for me!), so do yourself a favour and buy this book.

Hope for the Future takes place on (and technically around) Absalom Station. Apparently, the Starfinder Society has learned that the mysterious Data Scourge virus was engineered by the revived Historia-Prime. The Stewards have dispatched a fleet to the coordinates where the virus' "source location" is and expect to finally confront Historia-Prime in the process. The PCs, and hundreds of other Starfinders, gather together in the Forum in the Lorespire Complex to learn (and grumble about) not getting to be part of the action. There's a good opportunity for some role-playing before the drama actually starts, and I liked the premise of Royo and some of the Society's other tech-adverse NPCs starting a movement to limit the organisation's reliance on technology.

First Seeker Ehu Hadif has just started addressing the assembled crowd when suddenly Absalom Station comes under attack by a massive, ever-shifting, silvery fluid vessel! The Armada tries to defend the station but isn't having much luck. Ixthia the Unbreakable gathers together the PCs and rushes to their shuttle to be part of the action. Curiously though, by the time the shuttle gets into space, the silvery vessel has transformed into a massive space-platform--a near-perfect copy of the Lorespire Complex floating in orbit around Absalom Station! Apparently, Historia-Prime has pulled a sneaky trick and, instead of waiting around for the Stewards to arrive, has launched a sneak attack to take over Absalom Station. As a player, I found all of this fairly confusing, but I can appreciate it as a cool image if the GM is able to really sell it.

From this point, we have a classic "space-dungeon crawl" as the shuttle lands on the surface of the complex and the PCs disembark to investigate. (Ixthia the Unreliable conveniently stays behind to "harry the defences from the outside"). The PCs encounter artificial nanite-composed simulacra of Celita and jinsuls before encountering someone "real"--an android named Hope-01 (from SFS # 4-13). The group better rescue him, because he says he can delete Historia-Prime's digital back-up copies so the PCs can defeat him once and for all. Along the way there are "nanite mounds" which function both as traps and as a resource that PCs can manipulate for advantages (I don't think our group did much with them)

Most of the scenario is taken up by a three-phase combat versus different forms of Historia-Prime in a (admittedly cool) chamber called the Prime Core. History-Prime does lots of classic villain monologuing during the battle, which helps to fill in some of the backstory, but in essence this is a long boss battle. Once it's over, and assuming the PCs win, they face an interesting moral choice. Hope-01 explains he still retains part of the memory and personality of Historia-Prime and could someday evolve into a threat, and should therefore be destroyed himself. The scenario supports either course of action (though subtly rewards the "let him live" choice by providing additional Reputation). There's also a whole thing about the artifact that apparently let Historia-Prime continue to clone his consciousness, but the scenario takes the lazy opt-out of providing no detail about it and saying it'll be locked in an SFS vault.

Anyway, that's the end of the Year of the Data Scourge! I wasn't particularly impressed by the finale, but, as I said, part of that may be me coming in without much background.

The adventure hooks for The Liberation of Locus-1 are a bit sketchy. There are a few short ideas on reasons the PCs might have come to the station, but this is an area each GM will have to expand on their own because it doesn’t really matter from the adventure’s perspective. Instead, this is one of those adventures where the PCs are in the wrong place at the wrong time and simply get drawn into a course of dramatic and dangerous events.

Part 1 (“Four Alarms”) starts with a bang, as the PCs are in a marketplace on Locus-1 when suddenly a dinosaur crashes through the area, goaded on by a pirate! An exterior window gets shattered in the fracas, causing a hull breach and exposure to vacuum that threatens to suck nearby civilians outside! The module divides the situation into four separate “Events” and explains how the order they’re ran can be rearranged depending on the PCs’ response. This is smart because it keeps the action from becoming overly scripted and rail-roady. The encounters are very detailed in terms of terrain, hazards, enemy tactics, and other special considerations, which helps give each one a special feel. In other words, the writing was done carefully instead of lazily. Various NPCs intervene in the encounters, which is important to establish Locus-1 as a “real” place instead of a cardboard background for the PCs to run rampant. The overall goal of Part 1 is to introduce the PCs to Locus-1, some of its key NPCs (including its ruling Science Council), and to give the impression that life on board may be far from sedate.

Part 2 (“Chaos System”) consists of four mini-adventures that can be presented in any order (though there is a natural progression to them, it’s again good that the GM can be flexible depending on what the PCs do). Before the adventures are described, several pages in this Part are devoted to helping the GM continue to introduce the setting, major plot points, and how key NPCs adjust their attitudes depending on the PCs’ interactions with them. It’s an intelligent way of integrating a lot of material. As for the missions, the first one is “Research Recovery” and has the PCs leave Locus-1 to travel to the planet Tyru, where magic is unstable and the weather is awful, to recover some data from a research station that was recently destroyed. The second one is “Mining Camp 001”, and this is where the PCs may first learn that the Azlanti Star Empire is interested in the Locus System as well. The action takes place on the planet Godrum, where the Azlanti are using android slaves to mine crystals. There’s a lot of great detail to reward careful planning on the players’ part. Alas, I think my group accidentally/on purpose blew this planet up! The third mission is “Pirate Problems” and sees the PCs confront the pirate group responsible for the drama in Part 1. They’ll have to repulse an ambush on the station (I like how civilians can accidentally be hit) and engage in a starship battle against the pirates’ flagship. This leads naturally into the fourth mission (“Besmara’s Head”) which sees the PCs storming the pirates’ base in the Locus System, a floating asteroid in the shape of a skull! This is the longest mission, as the base has several surface chambers and catacombs to explore and multiple encounters. In effect, it’s a big “space dungeon”, but one that’s done well and is interesting.

Part 3 (“Battle for Locus-1”) is something I can review only as it comes across on the page, because my group didn’t play through most of it. The premise is that Locus-1 has become the target of the Glaive of Remulis, an Azlanti destroyer, and ordered to surrender. Most members of the ruling Science Council are ready to capitulate, but one member thinks the attack can be repulsed if the station’s Locus array (some high magic/tech) can be activated. It all looks very exciting, with the PCs expected to hold back waves of Azlanti troopers as they simultaneously work furiously to get the Locus array activated and then engage in battle with the Azlanti destroyer. It also looks like a big GMing task, as there’s a *lot* to handle. The reason my group ducked out of it was that we were playing mercenary types and this part of the adventure was designed for straight-out heroes. Most adventures hedge their bets by offering some sort of reward, but this one didn’t, so our group thought fleeing for their cowardly lives was the most profitable outcome! I know this disappointed the GM, but it really wasn’t his fault--we were having a blast but wanted to stay true to our characters’ motivations.

Anyway, that’s The Liberation of Locus-1. I definitely recommend it for some of the best Starfinder adventure design the game has to offer.

The Demon Within is set in two locations in the city of Kenabres in Mendev, a country adjacent to the demon-infested Worldwound. Because countless teleporting demons are impossible to fight and contain through normal means, salvation for Mendev came in the form of the wardstones: a linked chain of artifacts along the border between Mendev and the Worldwound that prevents demons from teleporting across. I’m not sure whether the concept of the wardstones first appears in The Demon Within, but they certainly receive their earliest full development here. The module goes into great backstory detail about the heroic warriors of Iomedae, led by Saint Clydwell, who discovered the wardstones and how they could be linked and empowered by a powerful artifact from the Worldwound called The Demonscope. However, keeping The Demonscope (and thus wardstones) operational requires constant vigilance by a trio of the most faithful and selfless of Iomedae’s knights: the Order of Holy Sentinels. Even if a GM doesn’t run the adventure, the module is great for the amount of lore and depth it adds to Mendev and the Church of Iomedae, and could probably (I’m guessing) be fitted into a side adventure for Wrath of the Righteous.

The adventure’s premise is that a danger has arisen that no one in Mendev realises: one of the Holy Sentinels has been corrupted! Plagued by doubt and constant fears of failure, Sir Holton Albright, the newest Holy Sentinel, has been tricked by a demon into removing one of the sacred relics that keeps The Demonscope operational. And at the public ceremony where he’ll be formally consecrated to the order, all hell (or, should I say, the Abyss) breaks loose! This is where the adventure starts for the PCs, as they’re guests during the consecration ceremony when a massive glabrezu, disguised as Albright, transforms into its true form and begins wreaking havoc, while mobs of dretches appear to attack the various emissaries and guests, and a pair of vrocks crash through the temple’s stained-glass windows. It should be a scene of utter chaos (fitting for demons) as the PCs try to figure out where to go and what to do first when pulled in so many directions. In other words, an exciting start to the adventure! (Getting the PCs to the consecration ceremony could be hard part; for my group, it was a snap, as one of the PCs is an inquisitor of Iomedae.)

Following the battle, word spreads that Clydwell Keep, home of The Demonscope, has fallen! Kanebres’s official demonologist, Kutholiam Vuere, notices how (presumably) well the PCs fought and says there’s a secret tunnel from the temple into the lower levels of Clydwell Keep, and that perhaps it’s not too late. Vuere only appears in the adventure in this section to give exposition--he has a lot of it and it’s important, but the PCs may understandably feel pressure to take action instead of talking and miss much of it. In any event, I imagine Vuere could be a very useful NPC for other adventures set in Mendev.

There’s a cool scene in the escape tunnel when the PCs reach the door that leads into the keep’s mausoleum. A few paladins--wounded, fatigued, and almost overwhelmed--hold the door from the PCs’ side. Something powerful and massive must be on the other side and is slamming into the door--BOOM BOOM BOOM! The PCs have three rounds to prepare before the door crashes in and a massive balban demon appears with a swarm of dretches underfoot. The mausoleum itself is notable for three things: 1) Statues, with plaques, naming the various holy warriors interred within—PCs who pay attention will gain a vital clue for the adventure’s endgame; 2) A statue that provides unlimited magical healing to any good-aligned creature that touches it--making it a crucial place to rest and recover between forays into the keep; and 3) An invisible quasit spy named Frqazzikal who secretly follows the PCs, warning the demons in every chamber of their approach and generally harassing them at the worst possible moment. Devious!

The PCs emerge from the mausoleum into a chapel on the surface level of the keep. As an example of the grisly writing I mentioned in the opening, there’s a demon-possessed paladin to fight, and he’s nailed his own squire (who’s still alive!) to his tower shield! Jeepers. A GM who wants a fast-paced adventure with elements of horror has come to the right place with this module.

The grounds of Clydwell Keep are divided into an Upper and Lower Bailey. Here, different groups will make very different decisions. Some will take it upon themselves to clear out every single building and tower, and there are enough demons to provide a dozen or more encounters (and a ton of XP). Other groups will keep their eye on the prize (restoring The Demonscope to empower the wardstones before its too late) and bypass most of the optional encounters. My group (I think smartly) chose the second option.

To reach The Demonscope, the PCs need to breach the keep proper and descend into the dungeons beneath it. Here they have to overcome paladins turned into zombies, babaus, dretches, a demon-possessed Holy Sentinel, a new type of monster called chatterer swarms (a great and memorable monster that should be used again), a black pudding, succubi, a demon knight, a lesser nabasu, and more! Saving civilisation from demon hordes isn’t easy, but a group with a paladin, lawful good cleric, or (as in my group) an inquisitor able to make their weapons into demon-bane ones will get plenty of time in the spotlight.

The module does a really good job with Sir Holton Albright--he’s actually a sympathetic figure as he’s now filled with remorse and disgust at himself for being manipulated by the demon. Once found, he’ll help the group understand the problem with The Demonscope and how it can be fixed. This involves locating and placing sacred relics in the correct location, which is where the clues from the mausoleum come into play. Or, the PCs can try to brute force the solution, which can work, but the longer it takes them to figure it out, the more a CR15 balor demon emerges! The balor has limited powers at this point, but it still filled me with joy to have its massive arm appear and take some swipes at the PCs in a very climactic ending. Fortunately, my PCs reactivated The Demonscope and saved Mendev from becoming just another demon-infested wasteland like the Worldwound. You’re welcome!

For back matter, the module contains three appendices. The first is a few paragraphs on Kenabres, which really isn’t enough. Although the module doesn’t give the PCs a chance to spend time in the city, a GM should see if they can find more on it elsewhere in case they want to do some stuff there before or after the adventure. The second appendix contains two new monsters: the aforementioned chatterer swarms and sons of perdition; both good additions to the game. Appendix 3 contains stats for The Demonscope and some other magic items, our favourites of which were faith orbs (holy hand grenades!) and water scorpions (squirt guns with endless supply of holy water!).

I suppose if one wanted to quibble, there’s not a lot of opportunity for role-playing or skill challenges in The Demon Within and, from one point of view, it’s pretty much a hack-fest. But it’s a really good hack-fest, with a great backstory and excellent use of the setting. I’d recommend it.

We don’t often get a ship-board briefing in Pathfinder Society, so it’s interesting to start off on board the Grinning Pixie--the mobile Pathfinder lodge helmed by Venture Captain Calisro Benarry. The ship is moored off Tempest Cay, the northernmost island in the Shackles, and Benarry explains that strange winds around the area have altered currents and tides and made visible the wreck of a ship called the Pride of Aspenthar. As told in PFS1 # 7-19, the Pride of Aspenthar was sent on a mission to the Gloomspires but never returned. Benarry wants the PCs to board the wreck and try to figure out why it sank. To help them out, she provides the group with some potions of water breathing, a feather token (swan boat), and a wand of touch of the sea. By Season 9, the Pathfinder Society takes a lot better care of its agents compared to the early seasons!

The wreck is visible on the outer edge of a coral reef. As the PCs cross the reef on foot, they’re attacked by the traditionary giant crabs (and a crab swarm, which might prove more challenging to a low-level group if they’re not prepared for fighting swarms). Exploration of the ship itself requires fighting off some zombie sailors (been there!) before discovering of the captain’s log and why the ship sank: a mutiny followed by a collision with the reef! Importantly, the log contains the captain’s suspicions that someone or something had been manipulating the currents around the reef with magic. The PCs are expected to follow another vague clue (found by peering through a spyglass on the rail) to a nearby sea cave, but if they miss the clue (which seems likely) the currents take them to the sea cave anyway when they try to leave! A bit of forced plotting there.

The sea cave features two encounters that can be resolved through either role-playing or combat. The first is with an injured triton named Nalu and his hippocampus mount. Nalu was on a diplomatic visit to another undersea community when the currents pulled him in and he was dashed against the rocks. The second (and the one more likely to start a fight) is with a young brine dragon named Tempest Monarch. Tempest Monarch, like many brine dragons, is ambitious and bombastic, and wants the PCs (“lesser beings”) to “swear fealty” to them. I liked this encounter because it’s a good way to seeing just how prideful most PCs really are. Tempest Monarch’s “lair” is near a planar anomaly, which is why wind and currents have been so strange.

When the group leave the sea caves, they may assume they’re done with the adventure, but they haven’t counted on the Cult of the Eye! The cultists consider the sea caves sacred, and unless the PCs do some fast talking, there’ll be a battle. After getting past them one way or the other, the group can then return to Venture-Captain Benarry to report in.

As a final note, one bit I really liked on the Chronicle is that if you do “swear fealty” to Tempest Monarch, you get a rare “negative boon”—you’ve got to bring her treasure or she spreads word that you’re an oathbreaker, costing you Prestige Points. A fun addition.

Long story short, Skeletons of Scarwall is all about a massive, extremely haunted castle! The AP goes into extensive background about Castle Scarwall, and this background heavily ties into the threats the PCs face when they enter to explore it. It's a fairly interesting story, and it's worth the GM learning the broad contours to draw upon for running the adventure.

Part 1 (6 pages) contains the Sun Shaman's Tale, as he explains to the PCs that they need to venture to Castle Scarwall to retrieve the legendary sword Serithtial, a holy weapon forged to combat the followers of Zon-Kuthon that will be crucial for defeating Ileosa and the Crown of Fangs she wears (the Crown of Fangs itself is tied into the history of Castle Scarwall and its former ruler, Kazavon). This section of the adventure is mostly exposition and, presumably, PC preparation. Castle Scarwall is located in the Hold of Belkzen, far away from Korvosa. The adventure assumes that, by this level, the PCs will be using magical means of transportation, so there are no scripted encounters along the way. Indeed, my PCs windwalked their way there. In terms of preparation, it's interesting that the GM knows Scarwall will be a truly massive dungeon and exploring it will take up the entire remainder of the chapter, but the players aren't really sure what they're in for; some of mine apparently initially assumed it'd be a quick in-and-out! Two members of the Brotherhood of the Bone are waiting for the PCs outside of Castle Scarwall, and they propose a truce. This is a good opportunity for some role-playing and the adventure definitely changes depending on whether the PCs accept or reject the truce, and which member of the Brotherhood they befriend.

Part 2 (4 pages) is "Approaching Scarwall". It details the Deadwatchers, an orc tribe devoted to ensuring nothing goes in or comes out of Scarwall. I like them, and they have a good backstory, but at this level they're nothing but a forgettable speed bump to the PCs. Of more importance, this section has a description of what different dangers await the PCs if they approach Scarwall by land, by air, or by water (as it's surrounded by a crater lake). What this section urgently needs is an art piece of what Scarwall and its surroundings look like from a distance. It's really hard to piece together how exactly the castle sits in the lake, how the different levels look from outside, where the various exits and entrances are, etc. I found a handy 3D model on Youtube and showed it to my players, and that was a tremendous help (to them and to me!) in trying to conceptualize the place.

Part 3 (40 pages) details Scarwall itself. This is by far the *largest* and most complex standalone structure I've ever had to prepare. I've got a lot of blank flip-mats, and this one stretched my resources to the limits! There must be something like 200 rooms (even more in the hardcover!) and a *lot* of encounters. (In a way it's equivalent to Chapter Five of Rise of the Runelords, which was also a combat-heavy way to get the PCs a lot of XP to prepare them for the final chapter.) But the thorough backstory informs which foes are chosen, so Scarwall is certainly not just a lazy exercise in stocking empty rooms with generic monsters. There's a lot to love about it, including the potential soul trapping if a PC dies within! The presence of a Chained Spirit means the PCs may face a steep learning curve (mine did) before realising just what they need to do and how to do it. This is certainly an experience that will test the PCs' resources (and perhaps patience) and the GM's preparation and game management skills. Online, I know that some groups were frustrated by having another chapter set completely away from Korvosa, so some GMs reworked things to bring it closer to home and the AP provides an alternative too. In any event, assuming (a big assumption!) the PCs are successful, they'll break the curse of Scarwall, retrieve Serithtial, and be ready for a big (and dangerous) homecoming in Chapter Six.

There's a lot more I could and should say about Skeletons of Scarwall, but time and space are limited so I'll just sum it up by saying it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I for one enjoyed it. And as either a GM or a player, it's not an experience you'll soon forget.

Raid on Cloudborne Keep starts in the city of Port Eclipse in the Plane of Air with a briefing from Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir and a suli named Ashasar from the Concordance of Elements. I imagine there must be a lot of backstory to all of this throughout the season, but the scenario does a reasonable job of filling in the essential bits: the Pathfinder Society is working towards releasing a captive elemental lord named Ranginori. However, Ranginori's rival, Hshurha, doesn't want that to happen. But this time, the PFS is going to move first by taking out one of Hshurha's key lieutenants, a belker (air monster) named Grasping Storm. It's a little like on Survivor when a rival alliance leader can't be targeted for some reason, so you go after their number 2 instead to weaken them.

Grasping Storm reigns over a castle on the Plane of Air called Purest Air, and is currently assembling mercenaries to help his master. Thus, the PCs are tasked with getting on one of the airships ferrying mercenaries to the castle, hopefully disposing of those mercs along the way, and then taking out Grasping Storm. To be honest, it's basically an assassination mission!

The scenario is a bit open-ended on boarding the merc-ferrying airship, with possibilities ranging from bribery to stowing away to fighting and essentially taking it over. As written, this is a big part of the scenario, and would be perfect for those skilled in Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, etc. The group I was in hatched a plan to stake out the docks near the airship so we could dispatch the mercenaries before they even got on board (and thus pretend we were them). But, as my PC's death showed, that plan sounded better in theory than in practice. The mercs are air elementals and invisible stalkers, and the former's whirlwind ability rampaged through our ranks. Thus, I spent the rest of the scenario observing. For what it's worth, the scenario makes smart use of what I imagine is a rarely used Flip-Mat, Airship, and has cool artwork for the ship's captain.

The airship docks with Purest Air's roof (again making great use of a Flip-Mat, this time from the Elemental Planes Multipack), where the PCs encounter guards in the form of a "hala demon" named Bothizar and some mephits or drakes (depending on subtier). This probably ends in a fight, but if the PCs managed to successfully disguise themselves as the mercenaries, they can get into the castle proper. Here, it turns out that Grasping Storm has planned some (potentially lethal) "tests" for his mercenaries, so, in the words of the Killers, 'there's gonna be opposition--ain't no way around it'. These "tests" take the form of a nasty hungry fog, cloud golems, sylph druids, and more. Assuming the PCs make it through all of that, they can then confront Grasping Storm itself, a unique belker. Much of this fighting is in a three-dimensional environment with the special rules for movement on the Plane of Air. It's always harder rules-wise to handle 3D environments whether it's underwater or aerial combats, and I certainly wouldn't recommend this scenario for novice GMs or players.

Overall, I'd say Raid on Cloudborne Keep was well-written, but just pitched for the wrong crowd. It really should be in the "Bonekeep" vein of special adventures for well-experienced players running combat-hardened PCs prepared for some of the harder challenges the game has to offer. For an average group of generalists, I fear it may be overwhelming.

The premise to Ghost Level Delve is that, after the Drift Crisis, Absalom Station has been flooded by thousands of refugees that threaten to swamp its capacity to house them. Rather than turn them away, one possibility is to allow them to settle in the so-called "Ghost Levels", an area of the Spike that has always been barred to inhabitation (or even organised exploration) because of the dangerous, bizarre creatures and ecosystems reported to lie within. But with the recent crisis, the Starfinder Society has pushed to be allowed to start clearing the "Ghost Levels", and the PCs (in a briefing held by Zigvigix and Harmony of Many) are assigned to the task. The Starfinders are instructed to aid a new community called Fullbridge which is located right on the edge of a Ghost Level. It's a strong and interesting adventure hook. (because I'm still way behind on storylines, this was my first experience with Harmony of Many and the Advocates and Manifold Host factions; I'd like to learn more)

A taste of action comes immediately, as the PCs encounter a group of lashunta refugees being menaced by the "Bulkhead Bruisers" gang. My skittermander Steward character, Officer Swizzers, has a neat boon for fighting gang members, but alas, she wasn't present. The gang toughs can be dealt with through old-fashioned combat or driven away through intimidation. Fullbridge itself is led by a dragonkin named Lourvictrix, a former Knight of Golarion. There are a variety of skill checks the PCs can make here to help the community with everyday issues that have arisen (moving supplies, getting electrical systems operating, etc.) and some brief but flavourful NPCs to interact with. The GM will just need to supply some of the description of the tasks, as the scenario doesn't go into much detail.

The heart of the scenario starts when the PCs are approached by Lourvictrix with an urgent request: her bonded partner, a fellow former Knight of Golarion named Elymilra, has gone missing in the Ghost Levels. Good thing there are Starfinders around! This is the set-up that could lead to a generic dungeon crawl, but the writer did a nice job changing things up. There are some non-combat encounters (a "hexoglin" that can be persuaded to stop chewing on power cables and a jububnan who needs help with a coming-of-age ritual), some intriguing exploration (especially a telepathic vision that a barren planet may have once occupied the place where Absalom Station does now!), and of course some hazards and foes (strange crab monsters called "vurchyras"). Elymilra is found unconscious near the latter threat, and I like how, if the PCs are forced to retreat from them and leave her behind, she dies! Rarely will scenarios actually impose failure conditions. Assuming all goes well, the PCs can return with Elymilra to Fullbridge and help petition for the refugee community to become fully recognised.

As I said, I enjoyed the premise to Ghost Level Delve and liked the variety of plot elements it featured. I'd be happy to explore the Ghost Levels further, and see what else can be unveiled about the Gap!

In some ways, Skitter Warp is a sequel to Skitter Crash, as it’s also set on the osharu planet of Varkulon 4 and features a return of the Helix Lyceum and NPCs like Ponatia. At the same time, it’s also a tie-in to the “Drift Crisis” event. In an interesting twist, one of the normal group of Skittermanders--Nako--isn’t a playable PC, and is instead replaced by her namesake Nakonechkin (their vesk boss). As we’ll see, the reason for the swap is a fun one that might be a good surprise to the players.

Part 1 (“Into the Danger Zone”) starts with a little freeform role-playing, as each PC is aboard the Clutch and gets a chance to describe the fun little memento they picked up from Varkulon 4 during their latest salvage job (Nako is still planetside helping to gather the last of it). But then it’s right into the action, as the Drift Crash strikes, hurtling the planet and the orbiting Clutch into a strange miasma. The Drift Crash threatens to become a literal starship crash, and the PCs have to make some skill checks to keep their ship aloft. If they fail too many of the checks, their ship will have reduced shields for another threat posed by the miasma: a type of ghost ship called a derelict shade. It’s a cool foe for a starship combat, but again Paizo doesn’t have the courage of its convictions and even if the good guys lose, all it means is the PCs take some damage to stamina points (which they can promptly regain with a 10-minute rest and the trivial expenditure of a resolve point). Having played Starfinder since its beginning, I really do think one of its weaknesses is a demonstrated reluctance to let genuinely bad things happen to PCs. Anyway, after the battle, the PCs get a transmission from Headmaster Kiodea at the Helix Lyceum request an urgent visit.

Part 2 (“Golden Siege”) has the Clutch descending to the surface of Varkulon 4 and its crew realising that the effect of the strange cosmic storm has been radical! Planar energy has surged randomly throughout, changing the landscape, building, and even inhabitants. The area around the Helix Lyceum was struck by good-aligned planar energy, and its residents have become quasi-angelic beings! However, those in some of the surrounding areas were struck by infernal or umbral energy and altered accordingly. Upon landing, the PCs have to fight off an “infernal nilothera” (a good call back to Skitter Crash where they fought a normal one) before meeting with Headteacher Kiodea. He explains that the city-university has received a threatening transmission, and plays it for the group: on screen is Ponatia, but his head now bears curled ram’s horns and his face is twisted with rage as he vows “vengeance” on the Lyceum. Hundreds of wrath-filled foes soon surround it, and the PCs are tasked with three missions to aid in its defence. They can do the missions in any order, with the one they choose to do last altered to be a little bit harder. One mission involves escorting civilians to safety past some corrupted umbral-infused osharus. I liked how stealth (instead of combat) was a legitimate option for success. Another mission, fortifying the Lyceum’s defenses, is purely skills based. A third mission is a straight-up fight against some undead (bone trooper) osharus. Once the missions are over, Headteacher Kiodea say he may have a true solution to the problem: he’s identified the precise source of the planar contamination, and if the PCs douse it with a mystical cleansing oil, the corruption should abate.

Part 3 (“Spring of Evil”) has the PCs travelling to the source of the contamination (the Acavo River), fighting a warmonger devil and (hopefully) avoiding a sinkhole trap before the big climax. Not only must they face “Evil Ponatia” (a fiendish mystic) their friend Nako is present as well--but she’s full of hate and immediately attacks! I love the artwork they gave for her. Smart PCs will have one of the group who’s trained in Mysticism immediately attempt the ritual to reverse the corruption, because otherwise they’ll have a knock-down fight on their hands. Once the corruption is reversed, Nako and Ponatia return to normal, and the crew of the Clutch can head off to another adventure.

Playing these Free RPG Day adventures on my son’s birthdays over the years has been a happy and memorable experience, and I should thank Paizo and the author (Jason Keeley) for the opportunity. With Second Edition Starfinder in the works, I’m not sure whether or not the crew of the Clutch will return. I think they’ve got a lot of adventuring left in them, so I hope so!

I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of dead or forgotten gods. It’s amazing to think that there could be a time when a god has thousands or even millions of followers, but that over time, cultural shifts, and new religions, worship in that god could dwindle to the point where few if anyone remembers them. And it’s not unrealistic, as plenty of examples can be found in the real world (there’s a memorable H.R. Mencken quote about it). All that leads into why I find the premise behind Songbird Rescue really interesting. The bulk of the adventure is set on Yashu-Indiri, an airless moon around Bretheda, that is littered with shrines to dead and forgotten deities. An android named Sharaphine is part of an order of mystics that maintain some of the shrines when she suffers a terrible accident when one collapses on her. After spending three days digging herself out, she finds herself emerging at the base of a shrine to Zyphus, the god of accidental death, disasters, and tragedy! Epiphany strikes, and Sharaphine finds a new patron. Immediately, she engineers “accidents” to kill the others in her order and then hatches an even crazier plan: she assembles a device (a “calamitter”) to foul the navigational landing systems of ships approaching Yashu-Indiri to create “accidental” crashes! It’s a pretty cool backstory to the adventure.

The Bounty starts with the PCs aboard Songbird Station (a performance venue/school/temple to Shelyn) in the Diaspora. There, they’re hired by a kobold cleric of Shelyn named Kivi to set out on a rescue mission to Yashu-Indiri. It seems that a Shelynite named Nairon Shalorrh piloted her shuttle on her usual bimonthly visit to the moon, sent out a transmission when she was approaching it, and then hasn’t been heard from since! The PCs are given a rainbow-coloured vessel named Vivacity and promised a couple of hundreds of credits each when they return.

Sharaphine’s “calamitter” wreaks havoc on the Vivacity’s nav systems as it approaches Yashu-Indiri, forcing a crash landing. This takes the form of a multi-round skill challenge. A good GM can make this pretty exciting, even if the worst consequences (failing every round of the challenge) is only a couple of dice of damage and the fatigued condition. (Then again, at Level 1, that could be a big impact).

After surviving the crash, the PCs find their way to Kivi’s nearby shuttle--a scene perfectly presented by the Crashed Starship flip-mat. Here they encounter Sharaphine and her posse of anacite wingbots. The artwork for Sharaphine is excellent. After (presumably) defeating her, the PCs can begin excavating the shuttle, and that’s where they may meet the most dangerous thing in the Bounty: an electrical trap that could do 3d6 damage--it’s not likely to actually kill any PCs (Resolve Points in Starfinder make that practically impossible), but it could certainly knock one out. The missing cleric, Kivi, is badly hurt but still alive. The PCs need to tread carefully here, as skill check mishaps here could very well kill her. There is where there’s a chance for some role-playing.

Having hopefully rescued Kivi, the PCs need to locate the “calamitter” and disable it before repairing their ship and setting off back to Songbird Station. This only takes a couple of skill checks (that can be repeated without failure), so shouldn’t be too hard.

I can’t think of anything to complain about with Songbird Rescue--so that must mean it’s pretty good!

System Takedown is set on the pahtra homeworld of Pulonis, known to the occupying Veskarium empire as Vesk-6. The PCs take on the role of rebels on a mission to bring down a corrupt and particularly brutal Veskarium regional consul named Shethris Nazriar. Although they’ve obtained evidence of his numerous crimes, the rebels know that anything they put on the planetary infosphere will be quickly scrubbed. Thus, the only way to get it out is to infiltrate a military communications facility in a remote jungle and use its emergency planetary broadcast system to send it directly to everyone! In other words, it’s a bit of a combination of Han Solo’s mission on Endor to capture the remote shield generator facility in Return of the Jedi and the crew’s mission to broadcast the Alliance’s crimes in Serenity (Can’t Stop the Signal!). In a fun twist, the entire mission is being live-streamed by the resistance and the GM is given scripted comments from the stream’s “audience” to share at particular points in the story; the PCs get minor bonuses if they follow the (randomly determined) suggestions of the audience. I didn’t do a great job with it, and it might be an idea that actually works better over a virtual tabletop or play-by-post, but I really liked the idea.

The adventure starts with the PCs approaching the outpost through the jungle and having to figure out a way to get inside. The approach is guarded by roving patrols of Vesk guards and automated defence turrets. A patient group can study the defences and learn the overlapping routes of the guards and area of coverage of the defence turrets, and sneak through the gaps to reach the entrance door. Or, they can do what my players did, and just attack! Either way, once at the door, there’s a challenging hack. In another nice addition, the PCs on the ground are supported by a remote communications/computer specialist who can aid with advice or even hacking (though it takes longer). Overall, it’s a detailed and well put together encounter.

The interior of the base consists of seven rooms. There’s the usual fight against robot guards (first “Incapacitator Robots” and later the much more common observer-class security robots), a trap (spinning force blades), a non-hostile NPC for a bit of role-playing, and an (optional based on time) fight against a shadow mastiff. The main encounter has a good premise: in the communications room, the PCs face an entire system shutdown and have to quickly achieve a certain number of Computers checks in a set timeframe while simultaneously battling the robots. I’m a big fan of time-sensitive encounters that combine combat and non-combat challenges and force the party to make strategic (and sometimes hard) decisions on where to focus their efforts. In another fun addition, Consul Nazriar has learned of the group’s intrusion and sends them mocking messages throughout their time in the facility (though the messages get more and more panicked as the PCs make progress).

The climax is great and foreshadowed well through the “livestream chat”. Having realised his career is over, Consul Nazriar steals a freaking mech and tromps down to the base to confront the PCs as they emerge! A Huge-sized mech is a memorable boss fight, and Nazriar is given enough of a personality that there’s plenty to work with in terms of threatening banter. Despite its threatening appearance, the mech actually isn’t that tough, but it does have some cinematic abilities like firing volleys of missiles or grabbing creatures and hurling them into the air.

The epilogue is written well: the rebels still have a long way to go, but have improved things in one area of the planet. I’m also happy the PCs got to be rebels, after some of those Starfinder Society adventures where the PCs are expected to take the Veskarium’s side! Anyway, I thought System Takedown was a well-written adventure and would provide a good experience to new and experience players alike.

Our Lady of Silver takes place in Katheer, the massive city that serves as the capital of Qadira. After a briefing from the (hardly ever seen in PFS again) Venture-Captain Osretia Cassomiran, the PCs are sent to a wedding feast! The leader of the important merchant family House of Silver (Bashir al-Mudaris) is overseeing the marriage of his daughter (Lujine, the Lady of Silver) to a foreign scholar and Pathfinder, Farendir Faireven. It’s apparently quite a coup for the young man, and for the Society as well because al-Mudaris plans to donate several valuable relics to burnish his new son-in-law’s reputation with the organisation. The PCs, then, are representatives of the Society at the wedding and simultaneously guards to make sure the relics are safely delivered afterward to Katheer’s Pathfinder Society Lodge afterward.

The scenario encourages role-playing at the wedding feast, and introduces multiple NPCs to facilitate this. One of the NPCs, Al’Jahar abu-Targos, is the nephew of the deceased Venture-Captain Targos Min-Katheer and is grateful to the society for the return of his uncle’s remains in # 0-3, Murder on the Silken Caravan. I love little connections like that, and the nephew returns again later in the scenario to provide a potentially valuable service. Apart from perhaps faction missions, the role-playing here doesn’t have a set goal and is mostly free-form--so some groups and GMs may really get into it, and others not so much. (I love RP, though I find it hard sometimes to figure out how much time to spend on it when it comes to play-by-post)

Of course, the wedding feast doesn’t go off without a hitch! You see, a rejected suitor of Lujine, a merchant-sorcerer named Raamiz Ibn-Chadli, has hatched a revenge plan to discredit the Pathfinder Society and, by extension, Farendir Faireven. He arranges for dervishes from the Fraternity of the Unforgiving Flame to sneak into the wedding and let wild animals loose (lions and elephants) to cause a distraction while they steal the gifts meant for the Society! I like the little sidebar that was included of dramatic events that can happen during the ensuing chaos.

I guess it’s a fait accompli that the gifts are stolen, because the premise of the rest of the adventure is that the PCs are trying to recover them. (though it would work just as well if their mission was to track down who was behind the attempted heist) A lead will take the PCs to the Hall of Purifying Flame, the decrepit headquarters of the Fraternity. The combats here are really easy, though I actually managed to land a flaming oil trap which was fun! A search of the premise uncovers Ibn-Chadli’s role in the scheme, which naturally causes the PCs to seek him out at his villa.

The scenario provides a fair amount of text on the villa, but there are no maps or encounters there. Instead, the PCs need to find their way out back to where there are slave huts. There, disguised in heavy robes, is Qutirh the Prudent: Ibn-Chadli’s vizier and actually an Erinyes! For an encounter where the monster’s tactics include teleportation and ranged attacks, the map here is *really* small (just one tile from a map pack). Interrogation of Ibn-Chadli’s slaves or papers in his library will point to the merchant-sorcerer’s interest in the tomb of High Priest Ubaidah, and since that’s their only lead, that’s where they’ll likely head.

However, there’s a sudden turn of events when a company of three dozen mounted warriors along with several sorcerers appear to arrest the PCs! They’ve been accused of murder, theft, and grave robbing, and are to be taken into custody to defend themselves in the Satrap’s court. It’s a bit heavy-handed and sort of comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t really lead to anything interesting as success in the ensuing role-playing opportunity is automatic. (in later seasons, writers would get better with using skill challenges to represent situations like this) In other words, it’s a bit of an interlude that throws off the pace of the adventure without adding much to it, apart from perhaps foreshadowing the idea that the PCs are being framed for crimes they didn’t commit.

The final encounter is at High Priest Ubaidah’s tomb outside Katheer. Ibn-Chadli has used magic to disguise a couple of ogres as Pathfinders to help him with the grave robbing! I did have fun having large-sized duplicates of a couple of the PCs’ tokens in the ensuring battle. Ibn-Chadli went down like a punk, as one might expect when a sorcerer is forced into melee range in confined quarters. Capturing or killing him clears the PCs of any lingering suspicion, and the return of the gifts allows the marriage festivities to continue. All’s well that ends well!