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The scenario starts with a briefing by Venture-Captain Adril Hestram at the Grand Lodge in Absalom. It seems the curator of the Blakros Museum, Nigel Aldain, has reported that Imrizade Blakros (daughter of the patron family) disappeared while doing work in the museum's basement. Since several watchmen sent to find her have also disappeared, it seems like a job for Pathfinders to find her! Hestram explains that the Society is willing to take the job because Imrizade's a successful fortune-hunter who had just returned from Osirion carrying a mysterious artifact: an odd metal cylinder covered in hieroglyphs. So, the field agents are being sent to find Imrizade not out of the goodness of the PFS' heart, but so they can either get the artifact or some information about it. All in all, a solid story hook.

After the briefing, the PCs presumably travel to the museum, where they're met by Nigel Aldain. He shows them the secret ramp down into the basement, and that's where the rest of the scenario takes place. So, in one sense, this is a classic dungeon crawl. But as I said above, there's a ton of careful setting lore, atmosphere, and backstory integrated into each room and encounter to make for a compelling adventure (i.e., this is *not* a "one orc stands in a 10x10 room guarding a treasure chest" style of dungeon crawl). Dangers include caryatid columns, animated dinosaur skeletons, oozes, fungal molds, and (in their first Pathfinder appearance), cerebric fungi. It all builds up to a really cool finale, where the PCs discover Imrizade standing in front of the Gate of Beyond, a portal to the Dark Tapestry, with fleshy fungoid umbilicals attaching the Gate to her body!

The backstory lore is extensive and interesting. Before being turned into a museum, the building was originally the manor of Ralzeros the Overwatched, a mad astrologer and wizard obsessed with the distant worlds beyond Golarion's skies, who built on the site because he had discovered the Gate of Beyond buried there. Thousands of years later, Imrizade Blakros had discovered the gate while playing in the basement archives as a child, and later ("recently") as an adult adventurer, discovered a strange metal cylinder in Osirion that turned out to contain the ghostly consciousness of an aberrant sorcerer named Kubburum Ishmedagan that took over Imrizade's body. Returning to the museum, the possessed Imrizade is working to reactivate the Gate of Beyond and open a portal to the Dark Tapestry--thus attracting all sorts of bizarre and dangerous creatures from Aucturn and beyond. For those keeping track, we also get a reference to the Aucurn Enigma!

My description and summary probably hasn't done the scenario justice, but those interested in the lore of Golarion and the excellent interweaving of Blakros family drama into PFS scenarios should definitely experience Voice in the Void. It may kill you, but that's what Prestige Points are for!

Data Purge has a plot that would make an excellent Starfinder movie or novel. The head of the Dataphiles faction, Celita, has realised that the entire computer system of the Starfinder Society’s headquarters (the Lorespire Complex) has been compromised. An outside party has wormed its way in through an advanced computer virus and established deep and intrusive access to pretty much everything. Celita develops a counter that can purge the virus, but getting it into the network requires physically connecting a datapad containing the anti-virus into a mainframe computer in Guidance’s central core. Not knowing who she can trust besides Luwazi Elsebo, the two handpick a group of elite field agents (the PCs) and send them on what turns out to be a fake mission to repair an antenna on an uninhabited shepherd moon around Liavara. There, the two reveal the *real* mission: they need the PCs to sneak into the Lorespire Complex through some old waste and maintenance tunnels (maps provided in paper form by Royo--a nice touch!), subdue without killing any Starfinder guards that spot them, and insert the datapad to fix Guidance without revealing to anyone their real mission. Like I said, a solid movie!

Once back on Absalom Station, the PCs make their way into the tunnels. The first encounter takes place in a massive waste disposal chamber that has a neat combination of effects: massive mounds of garbage, guardians (rat spawn) left behind by the party responsible for the computer takeover, an automated magnetic crane (on a pre-set track), and an “atomizer crucible”. Basically, as the PCs are navigating the garbage and fighting giant rat monsters, anyone with metal on them is at risk of getting caught by the magnet and dropped into very nasty atomizer! It all made for a legitimately tough battle and a couple of scary moments even for jaded players.

The tunnels lead into the Adamantine Prison (where the Society’s most dangerous villains are incarcerated--I wouldn’t think the Society would have the authority to incarcerate people like Stewards can). Allies of the SFS who are effectively in protective custody or just need a place of real refuge occupy some of the outer cells, and it’s in one of these that the PCs meet a philosopher-worm named Uko. Uko answers questions, but for every question he answers he asks one himself, and his questions are excellent prompts for players to think a bit more deeply about their character than just species and class. The premise of the need for interaction is that Uko threatens to call the guards unless the PCs can interest him, but the only thing really at sake is some credits if the PCs fail the (open-ended) skill checks.

A classic but also fairly nasty corridor laser net trap is next. I saw a PC use a neat trick involving wormholes to help his party escape, and appreciated seeing a clever solution for a classic dilemma.

The next major encounter is probably the oddest of the bunch, as the tunnels the PCs are following leads them into a holographic training simulator that happens to be the site of a Starfinder live fire exercise. On an old Pathfinder forest fire flip-mat, the PCs find themselves in a replica wooden cabin as several drones (playing the part of evil mercenaries) battle flesh-and-blood Starfinder agents. The scenario presents a variety of options for the PCs, which I like: they can try to hide and wait out the exercise, pretend to be drones and play dead, make a run for it (and risk alerting the facility that intruders are present), or take down the Starfinders quickly (and nonlethally). Noticing that the flip-mat has a large source of water on it, one of my players hit on the idea of having their PC hide underwater, and the others followed suit. It was again a clever idea and I couldn’t really argue with it. It does remind me that I think the original developers of Starfinder made a mistake by having armor “environmental protections” be so universal and powerful in the game—they take the fun out of a lot of classic science-fiction predicaments like toxic atmospheres, vacuums, nerve gases, and so forth.

When the PCs reach Guidance’s central server room, Guidance perceives them as threats and generates hardlight holograms of past First Seekers to battle them. This was done in a pretty cool way, as each time the PCs inflict a certain threshold of damage, the hologram changes to a different past First Seeker and gains a different associated power. It was a smart way to show off a bit of SFS history and keep the boss battle constantly changing.

Assuming the PCs are successful, they’ll know the party responsible for the intrusion: Datch! Data Purge is the first time the leadership of the Society realises just who they’re up against, making it an important part of the season meta-plot. But even as a standalone scenario, I think high-level PCs will find the scenario an enjoyable and challenging (in the context of Starfinder) adventure.

If you know anything about the early seasons of PFS1, the title of this scenario alone is probably a giveaway that it will involve the Shadow Lodge. I really love the idea of the Shadow Lodge--a "group within the group" that wants wants to move it out of the control of the Decemvirate and improve the treatment of field agents and then . . . well, that last bit seems to vary dramatically between different members of the Shadow Lodge. I think maybe around Year 8 or 9, this would have been a fantastic storyline to explore the morality of the Pathfinder Society and the effects it has had on various places in Golarion. Here, unfortunately, it all becomes too black and white, with the Shadow Lodge portrayed as obvious villains and the PCs having to stop them.

Anyway, At Shadow's Door takes place in Almas (capital of Andoran) and involves a plot by a member of the Shadow Lodge named Spider who has a big plan involving the capture of the PFS lodge (including Venture-Captain Brackett) in the city so she can "weaken" the Society and then . . . something. I couldn't really grasp what the Spider thought would happen next to help her achieve her ulterior motives (which isn't the destruction of the Society per se). The Spider has allied with a hobgoblin general Hagla to pull off the capture of the Almas lodge, but unbeknownst to her, Hagla has a plan of her own: the hobgoblin plans to ring the building's bells (it's an old cathedral to Aroden) to signal an invasion of the city! I'm similarly not persuaded that a hobgoblin army could sneak into Almas, poised to attack, without folks noticing. But all my plot nit-picking aside, it does make for big stakes, which can be a nice change of pace from the usual goal of "retrieve this magical item that you'll never hear about again".

The briefing is held aboard the Hornet's Nest in Almas' harbor. The rarely-seen Venture-Captain Hamshanks explains that, during a big gala at the Lodge, kidnappers dressed as servants attacked from the inside. Some are dead and some have been held hostage, and the only individual to escape and bring word of what happened is Fillian, a young apprentice of the Lodge's resident wizard/librarian Wystorn Telfyr. The dialogue for Fillian is really funny (a nice touch for briefings, which can often be fairly dry), and he explains that the only way to sneak into the cathedral is the same way he snuck out: through the belfry! Having recently prepped # 2-16, The Flesh Collector, which starts in the Almas lodge and features Brackett and Telfyr, I really enjoyed the continuity displayed in this scenario (down to Telfyr's interest in homunculi). The scenario here provides an excellent and thorough description of the cathedral, something an enterprising GM could use in the future for adventures whether formally PFS or not.

Trying to get into the building from the top down is a fun twist, and my favourite part is a context-dependent trap that makes perfect sense. After hearing Fillian's escape from the belfry, the hostage-takers have rigged the cathedral's bells with a tripwire. In the (very likely) event the PCs set off the trap, the bells ring loud and long for everyone in the whole building to hear and prepare for intruders. For each of the bad guys, tactics are provided for whether they're on alert or not. Alas, when I played, the GM gave all the PCs automatic Perception checks to notice the trap (as if we all had the coveted Trapspotting ability!), rendering the clever idea essentially moot.

The first combat encounter takes place under the cathedral's main dome and is against some air elementals. They can make good use of fly-by attack and whirlwind abilities in such a large space, and so may be harder than they first appear. There's some very interesting lore about Aroden on the walls of the dome for those (like me) who love to see such things.

Next up is a battle against an animated stained glass window! Also much tougher than one might think, as we struggled to get past its hardness and immunity to magic.

There's then an optional (time dependent) encounter with Wystorn Telfyr's homunculi. This can be handled diplomatically as well as through combat means, which is a good option to see once in a while.

An ambush by a couple of hobgoblin rogues follows, but I imagine pretty much any group of PFS PCs should be able to handle them with little difficulty.

And then it's on to the chapel for the big finish. If the PCs did set off the bell trap, this is a pretty confronting scene as the hobgoblin general Hagla has Brackett and Telfyr strung up on a makeshift gallows and threatens to hang them unless allowed to escape unharmed! She's serious too, which could very well lead to an encounter of trying to defeat her while simultaneously keeping NPCs from strangling in the nooses.

As the scenario wraps up, the PCs will learn the true identity of The Spider and be in a good position to tackle Part II.

Thinking it through, apart from some plot holes which probably won't be noticed by players, the scenario has some creative twists and should provide an exciting session of adventuring. I'm looking forward to trying out the sequel.

The story background is a little convoluted, but I’ll try to summarise it concisely. In the port city of Riddleport, one of the city’s eight major crimelords is a wizard named Elias Tammerhawk. Tammerhawk is the leader of the Order of the Cyphers, a group of arcanists devoted to studying the mysterious monument called the Cyphergate. As progress in understanding the Cyphergate has been very slow, Tammerhawk has started to recruit scholars from far and wide to assist. However, a Vudrani vishkanya pirate by the name of Alejia Netrav has been trying to bolster her support in Riddleport by undermining support for the existing crimelords--particularly, Tammerhawk. In order to discredit him as a competent leader, Alejia has used her skills at piracy (and disguise) to raid ships and kidnap scholars bound for the city on Tammerhawk’s invitation. The fate of the scholars and who’s behind it is known to Tammerhawk when the scenario begins, but (and this doesn’t really hold together as an explanation), he thinks dealing with Alejia himself would be “admitting his vulnerability in the eyes of rival crime lords.” One would think dealing with a threat quickly and severely himself would only raise his esteem with the other crimelords, but I digress. Tammerhawk instead calls in help from Sheila Heidmarch, the Pathfinder Society’s Venture-Captain in Magnimar. She’s willing to help out both to cement an alliance with Tammerhawk and because one of the scholars currently bound to Riddleport (from Minkai) is a former Pathfinder named Hirako Gurukaza. Heidmarch enlists the PCs to travel to Riddleport, find Alejia, and stop her before Gurukaza and any other scholars are kidnapped.

Just from that description, there’s a lot about the plot that just doesn’t make sense. I’ve mentioned already that if the # 2 crimelord in Riddleport can’t deal with an upstart without calling in outsiders, he’s got larger problems. Tammerhawk is actually a diviner of all things, and since he already knows Alejia is behind the kidnappings, you’d think he’d be able to magically deduce her whereabouts (she takes no precautions along these lines). Nor do we get any explanation as to why Alejia thinks kidnapping a few scholars will substantially undermine Tammerhawk’s position, or how she knows specifically what ship they’ll be travelling on. When the scenario starts, Heidmarch tells the PCs that Gurukaza will be arriving in Riddleport in “a few days” and urges them to stop an abduction attempt at sea, but Magnimar and Riddleport are far more than a few days away from each other (weeks apart, in fact)! (I have to imagine the writer never used the scale on the map of the Inner Sea) Wouldn’t a far more sensible plan be to have a scholar from Magnimar serve as bait, hide the PCs aboard the vessel, and then trap Alejia when she attacks? There are more discrepancies and timeline problems along these lines, but I think I’ve made my point. Poor plotting creates problems, and I do remember running this and having trouble understanding where the different NPCs were supposed to be because of the strained timelines.

Anyway, after the briefing and a handwaved sea voyage to Riddleport, the PCs find themselves in the docks. Witnesses will point out a suspicious warehouse. I personally imagine that Riddleport, a true hive of scum, villainy, and smuggling, must be chock full of “suspicious warehouses”, but again I’m quibbling. Inside, several of Alejia’s crew have a kidnapped scholar (an Andoren theologian). The battle uses the classic Warehouse flip-mat, and one bit I do like is that the pirates try to tip crates over on the PCs.

After leaving the warehouse, the PCs are then accosted (due to a mix-up) by two half-orc thugs and their dog working for another crimelord, Boss Croat. I have no issue with the encounter in principle, though I would think even Boss Croat’s boys aren’t dim enough to use saps and sling when outnumbered against a full party of 4-6 heavily armed PCs. It’ll be a slaughter.

From the warehouse, the PCs will have a lead to a ship anchored in the harbor called the Lionfish. The PCs can pay someone to row them out there, and they may be able to sneak aboard (failing that, they’ll have to fight their way aboard). I always like a good ship boarding scene, but the best part of this scenario is a grippli alchemist/pirate named Mumbuckle. Through completely organic means, he eventually became a fixture in my Second Darkness campaign and I hold a special affection for him.

Clues aboard the captured ship indicate that Alejia has already struck the ship that had Gurukaza on it, and that she’s hiding out on a small island called Viper Cove. The PCs need to sail (or hire someone to do so) the Lionfish out to Viper Cove. Here, they confront Alejia, some more of her crew, and some rabid dogs. There’s a nice bit here where Alejia holds a blade to Gurukaza’s throat and demands she be allowed to leave or she’ll kill him, and she actually will do a coup de grace if the PCs refuse! Some groups never take hostage situations seriously, so I’m glad the scenario does. She’s also visually a pretty cool bad guy.

And that’s pretty much it. My likes are the villains (Mumbuckle and Alejia), a couple of new details about Riddleport (e.g., “harbor gut”), and some fun pirate action. My dislikes are the bad plotting. In practice though, most players probably won’t notice, as the scenario proceeds directly from encounter to encounter with little need for thought. So, make of that what you will.

Let’s get to the beginning of the end! The adventure starts with a half-page “Adventure Background” and “Adventure Synopsis” that sets the scene. Korvosa is still a city under the oppression of Queen Ileosa’s army, with the resistance hidden in the Gray Distract. Unbeknownst to all, her quest for eternal youth and immortality (through a bloody cool ritual linked to the Runelord Sorshen) has taken her out of Castle Korvosa and to an ancient Thassilonian structure called the Sunken Queen far to the west of the city. Ileosa left behind a simulacrum in the throne room which, so far, has tricked even her own allies to thinking she’s still in the city. It’s a clever plan because, as we’ll see, once the resistance (aided by the PCs) gets into a position to launch an assault on Castle Korvosa, they end up trying to depose a tyrant who has already abandoned her throne!

Part One (“Return to Korvosa”) has the PCs contacted by Vencarlo Orisini through dream magic and asked to return to the city so the resistance can move on the queen. There’s a brief section here on what’s happening in Korvosa (the construction of huge statues, collection of blood samples, etc.) that’s useful context for later events. The PCs will need to use Disguise or Stealth to move about without being constantly attacked by Gray Maiden patrols, though at this point, the PCs are tough enough to shrug them off. (I think when I ran this part of the adventure, I had to use the Troop rules to provide even a smidge of opposition) Anyway, Cressida Kroft hands the PCs a list of eight concerns she wants addressed before the rebellion can reveal the lawful seneschal (Neolandus) is still alive and make a move on Castle Korvosa. The main scripted bits are confronting a new “masked hero of the people” named Trifaccia who has been turning Korvosans against the rebellion (a great use of an evil vigilante with a high-powered twist) and learning that Ileosa’s secret consort, the Gray Maiden Commander Sabina Merrin has learned the truth about her liege and is ready to turn against her—but first she has to deal with a black dragon that remains loyal! It’s an excellent character arc for Sabina, and some exciting scenes (I had them occur off-screen involving rebel leaders because my PCs spent so much time in Scarwall, but I imagine they would have worked well)

Part Two (“Assault on Castle Korvosa”) is beautifully misleading because the players may think they’re about to have the big final battle of the whole campaign, and thus use their very best one-time-only items and buffs, only to discover they’ve been duped! Although the castle is laid out in incredible detail (down to the servants’ rooms and dirt pipes, with plenty of information non-adventure related), I think the foreword is correct that it’s best to treat the assault on Castle Korvosa as an opportunity for the PCs to plan a surgical strike to get into the throne room as quickly as possible. With the group having just come off of the truly massive Castle Scarwall, they probably don’t need another ponderous dungeon crawl to glean every scrap of treasure and XP possible. Highlights include the final fate of Ishani Dhatri (bound to an akaruzug; poor guy!), the bloodmage Togomor (he and a demon have clever, nasty tactics!), trying to survive a belier devil named Sermignatto (1d4 Con drain is no joke), a Red Mantis leader named Mistress Kayltanya (3 pages is probably too much though for battle fodder), the ghost of the king’s brother Venster, the possible creation of a Harrow Deck of Many Things (described above), and more. I love that the adventure creates a handout for the infernal contract between Ileosa and Hell. In short, for an intentional misdirection, this part of the adventure is really well-written and full of interesting content. And of course, the moment when players realise the “Queen Ileosa” they’ve just defeated (a mite too easily!) isn’t the real thing is one to remember.

Part Three (“The Sunken Queen”) is the real climax. The setting is evocative and well-described (an ancient Thassilonian temple tipping precariously into the mud of the Mushfens). Ileosa’s minions (dread wraiths and some CR 8 clones) aren’t nearly as deadly in this original version as they are in the PFRPG hardcover version, and I’m curious if many groups found the final battle (against what’s effectively a villainous bard) pretty manageable, especially if they had Serithtial. Only if PCs have the misfortune to lack the skills or magic to stop the ritual and the blue dragon Kazavon is resurrected will they *really* be in trouble--that guy is over the top at CR 25! A half-page makes some suggestions on how to conclude the campaign and what happens if Ileosa wins (as regrettably happened in my game), and then there are two more pages on potential ways to continue the campaign (I tend to think future storylines may be anti-climactic, but if everyone’s having fun and wants to continue, it’s nice to have options).

And I guess that’s it for Curse of the Crimson Throne. Even though I primarily used the hardcover version, I was glad to have these original monthly issues to help me flesh out some bits and see some different ways of handling things. I’ve only run two (and a half) Pathfinder adventure paths so far, but I have no reason to disagree with the consensus that this is the best written of them all. May the people of Korvosa enjoy their hard-won freedom, and tyrants like Ileosa everywhere face a reckoning. Sic temper tyrannis!

The premise behind Oathbreakers Die is that a secret cabal of former members of the Daggermark Assassins Guild have hatched a scheme to take over the country's military and become a force unto themselves. But when a member of the Pathfinder Society in Daggermark learns of the plot, all of the Society's agents in the city are targeted for death. The PCs have to try to protect the agents from assassination while simultaneously figuring out who is behind the plot so that the Society has a future in the city.

The scenario starts with one of my favourite briefings ever, as Venture-Captain Istivil Bosk dies mid-way through his explanation of the PCs' mission! Bosk has been poisoned, and PCs who give him the antitoxin sitting on his desk will be shocked to learn that they've made things worse--the poison has an added ingredient (a new formula called arcane amplex) that interacts with antitoxin to create a thick foam that suffocates the victim's airways. At the levels the PCs are at, the best they can do is delay Bosk's death for a couple of rounds, but his death is inevitable.

However, a search of Bosk's office (with a nice array of skill checks being useful and important for various aspects of the search) turns up the name of another Pathfinder who is in danger--a gnome named Timinic who has been mapping Daggermark's sewers. Timinic has been placed in a hidden safe house, but PCs can head to where he often started his mapping expeditions (a tavern called the Dripping Wall Distillery) or follow up on other leads involving either the last man seen alive with Bosk (a dwarf named Brandur) or where the arcane amplex was invented (a local alchemist shop named Pemak's Tinctures). This part of the scenario can proceed in any order.

From this point, the GM has to keep careful track of how much time is being taken by everything the PCs are doing. The reason is that Bosk's assassin (a doppelganger) is at large and will be murdering a list of individuals based on a set timeline. There's a handy graphic showing how long it will take the PCs to travel between each location in the scenario, as well as a stated shortcut for estimating how long conversations with various NPCs will take. The fun part of all of this is that the PCs may be behind the assassin the whole time, may arrive at a location while he's in disguise and stalking a victim, or may arrive at a location first. There's a lot of permutations on how/whether/if/where the assassin will be fought, making it a fun scenario to GM. I kept the time-keeping stuff all "behind the screen" when I GM'd it, and just left it up to the players to realize that time was of the essence--it worked out quite organically that way.

The locations and NPCs that the Pathfinders will encounter during their investigation are all interesting and well-described. One of the things I thought the writer did quite skilfully was to ensure that the PCs could still get the clues they needed to proceed even if they got to a location too late to save a particular NPC from being murdered (but that getting there sooner would make getting the information easier and result in more complete information). It's a delicate balance that was pulled off beautifully here. I think the only quibble I had with this part of the scenario is with the half-orc alchemist, Pemak (who originally invented the arcane amplex). There's a sort of rules sub-system that GMs familiar with PFS scenarios will be familiar with: PCs' interaction with Pemak is gauged and tracked with "Approval Points," and one of the success conditions (as well as some in-scenario events) are dependent on how many Approval Points the PCs earn. However, I didn't think this system was set up well in the scenario and it didn't run smoothly when I ran it; the PCs were primarily concerned with quickly tracking down the assassin and their allies, and didn't naturally engage in the lengthy conversation on various topics that the Approval Points sub-system seem to envision here. Tracking systems like these need to implemented organically and for goals that the PCs will be clearly motivated to achieve.

The final third of the scenario sees the PCs uncovering the identity of the cabal: a group called the Ghostknives, which is made up of rejects and dissidents from Daggermark's official Assassins Guild. The Ghostknives are led by an alchemist named Cladara, and they've set up their headquarters (as thieves and assassins are wont to do) in the city's sewers. The "Thieves Guild" flip-mat is put to excellent effect here. The PCs' have to contend with a violet fungus (a plant creature capable of some nasty poison effects), several lesser assassins, and then Cladara herself. The violet fungus was pretty easy to beat when using the four-player adjustment and the lesser assassins were the generic "rogues with sneak attack" variety, but the encounter with Cladara was pretty fun as her stinking cloud bomb made things tough for the PCs (until one got close enough to put her down with a single swing!).

I'm not sure a conventional dungeon crawl was the right way (thematically) to conclude a scenario that had so much interesting intrigue and detective-work in the first two-thirds, but I do understand the need to have a certain amount of combat in every adventure.

All in all, I really enjoyed Oathbreakers Die. As I said in the "No Spoilers" section above, it's definitely much more of a challenge to prepare and run than some conventional "five rooms and five encounters in the museum" scenarios. There's a lot of careful tracking and attention to detail that's necessary to make everything flow together smoothly. Still, I admire the writing that went into it, and at this stage in PFS Organized Play, we should be able to handle complex scenarios. It's one I'd happily run again just to see the different permutations of what could happen with different groups.

I have to admit to feeling underwhelmed that the answer to the big mystery of “What happened to the Bulwark” is an invasion of pretty generic monsters I’ve never heard of before. The Bulwark was captured by an army of grioths led by a sadistic general named Itharris. Grioths are winged bad guys with the usual expansionist motives common to many fantasy alien races and I just can’t think of a single memorable thing about them. Putting that to one side, there is an interesting angle with the grioths having spent their time in control of the Bulwark constructing something called the Voidglass Spire, a towering structure that channels psychic power for nefarious purposes. The scenario puts the concept of the Spire (and “voidglass” in general) to good effect in various plot points. And more, the scenario provides an interesting pre-SFS history of the structure they would discover and call the Bulwark: it’s on the planet Mazdrun, homeworld of an ancient, incredibly powerful, twelve-limbed species with deep knowledge of planar travel known as the Founders that eventually became extinct, their souls united into a single magical being named the Merged One. I can get behind big science-fiction concepts!

The Introduction to the scenario starts with the PCs aboard a fleet travelling toward Mazdrun and receiving a briefing by Ixthia the Unbreakable. Unlike many past Specials, there are no “mustering activities” here as tables get organised--just introductions to get some role-playing off the ground. That’s probably fine, in my opinion--Specials tend to be so packed with material anyway, the little skill checks and bonuses of mustering activities aren’t really needed.

In Part 1 (“Recon”), each table gets to choose one of four different missions to take on (and can move on to another mission if they finish the first one quickly). First, there’s “Establish Comms”, which has the PCs needing to set up signal boosters on Mazdrun’s surface in between storms that wreak havoc. It’s essentially a skill challenge, and like all skill challenges, it works well if the GM can add enough flavour to keep it from becoming just a dice-rolling exercise. The mission results in the PCs discovering a source of darkness underground and a signal from surviving Starfinders inside the Bulwark! Second, there’s “Downed Vessel”, in which the PCs are tasked with investigating the wreckage of Wisdom’s Grasp, a Starfinder ship that intended to rendezvous with the Bulwark just before contact was cut-off with the outside. I love the backstory element that the ship was downed by intentionally intercepting a grioth laser beam meant to destroy Struggle’s Scholar, tying in perfectly to that classic scenario. Anyway, the PCs will trigger a lot of haunt-related traps as they explore the wreckage, and success will allow them to realise that grioths were responsible for its destruction. Third, there’s “The Arsenal”, in which, as the name implies, the PCs get to return to The Arsenal (as they first did in an earlier scenario) to scout it as a potential staging area for the invasion of the Bulwark. An angel named Vigil-X has to be persuaded to allow it in what’s essentially a three-round influence-based skill check. Fourth and finally, there’s “Subterranean Tunnels”, which features the PCs exploring lava tunnels to see if there’s an underground entrance to The Bulwark that can bypass the darkness shield. After dealing with some radioactive ice, monsters called craggolks, and potentially discovering some relics of the Founders, the PCs will learn that the only potential entrance is blocked.

After the con as a whole gets enough successes from Recon missions, it’s time for Event # 1: Generator Assault! Here, the PCs participate in a mission to destroy the darkness generators that shroud the Bulwark. They get instructions and explosives from a great NPC ysoki named Betsy Blast(!) and have to fight through some grioth opposition plus a mass confusion beam to get the job done.

Part 2 (“Breaching the Bulwark”) starts with the PCs getting a choice of two “Bulwark Missions” to force entry into the fortress. One option is “Forward Observation”, in which the PCs act as forward observers for an artillery barrage. It’s a skill challenge, which is fine, but I don’t like that this one (and many of the ones in the Special) are of the “players can use any skill, describing how it contributes towards their goal”—players just look at whatever skill has the highest modifier and then come up with some random crap, whereas I’d actually like to see some rarely-taken skills get some value). Pet peeve over. The other option is “Underground Entry” which has the PCs fighting through a grioth crossfire to reach a voidglass mine.

I can’t fault the writers for not giving the players choice and the scenario replayability, because there’s then a choice of six(!) different missions: 1) Spire Inspection has the PCs investigating a deadly beam of black energy by collecting voidglass samples from three different sites (another skill challenge; here they learn that voidglass is psychically charged); 2) Survivors is my favourite of the bunch, as it’s a really original challenge: three Starfinders have been rescued from the Bulwark, but each claims the other two are double-agents mind-whammied by the grioths! How to know who can be trusted? The only shame is that it’s resolved through skill checks instead of actual role-playing and deduction; 3) Prison Break has the PCs rescuing prisoners by defeating grioths and construct guardians before a bomb goes off in five rounds; 4) Foul Laboratory has the PCs intervening to stop grioth robots from destroying a grioth laboratory (and the valuable information contained within); 5) Founders Vault has the PCs trying to access a vault that the grioths never figured out how to open—there are six tumblers that can be solved through trial and error, but a PC takes damage for every wrong guess; 6) The Cursed Blade has the PCs needing to break through a barricade and discover what’s on the other side--it turns out to be a sword haunted by the spirit of a Starfinder Society archaeologist studying the Founders—tons of great lore here!

Part 3 (“Assault on the Spire”) has everyone starting with the same “Spire Mission” called “Anvil and Hammer”: the premise is that the Starfinders need to fight their way across a bridge between the Bulwark and the top opening of the Voidglass Spire, but it’s actually all done narratively through a skills challenge rather than actual tactical combat. There’s then a choice of three Spire Missions: 1) Elemental Nexus involves the PCs attuning themselves to some elemental obelisks left by the Founders (and gaining some perks in the process); 2) Assault on the Seer has the PCs trying to stop a grioth named Eclipse Seer Remthaize from completing a ritual--it has some cool art; 4) Spire Control Center requires the PCs to bypass a trap to shut down a “psychic transducer” (the key weapon device in the Spire; as an aside, I’ve seen something similar in Chapter 5 of Dawn of Flame).

Part 4 (“Bulwark’s Heart”) has the big climax as the Starfinders descend into the core of the Bulwark for a battle against Lt Ulgaran (low subtier) or General Itharris herself (high subtier). As I mentioned above, they’re the pretty standard “bloodthirsty conquer-all-lessers” type. During the battle, the Merged One awakens and starts climbing the Voidglass Spire like freakin’ King Kong on the Empire State Building! I’m not sure it works, but I have to admit it helped with the idea of a big dramatic ending.

If a table finishes earlier than the others, they can then go on to a couple of short wrap-up skill check missions to blast energy cannons at grioths or evacuate the wounded.

And that’s Battle for the Bulwark! It’s very professional package and one in which it’s clear the writers and designers spent a lot of time on. There’s several handouts and checklists to help the players and GM keep track of everything, a clever use of repurposed flip-mats, some neat artwork (a shame the picture of the Bulwark isn’t more prominent), and some strong concepts for missions. The writing also integrated and put a lot of Starfinder Society scenario lore together. It is a bit pricey, but considering all the material a GM gets, it’s definitely worth the cost. And although I found grioths a “meh”, as a whole it’s a really impressive Special that I imagine most players will really enjoy.

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.