As others have mentioned, this is a standout in terms of the mix of encounter types: a skill challenge combined with humourous role-playing, a couple of tough but fair fights (including one with a nonviolent solution), some classic dungeon exploration, and a final encounter that combines social interaction and role-playing.
The only downside is the references to a sequel on the Chronicle, yet no sequel has yet been announced. I'm curious to see if it will show up in Year Three.
Played this with my bomber alchemist during Con-Current over the weekend, run by one of the best PF2 GMs -- he's the first 5-glyph GM, and recently got a Campaign Coin.
This was his third time running the scenario, but the first at low tier, and he was aware how much more deadly it can be at that level and adjusted the enemy tactics to give us a chance to react (the opponents were all clustered in the middle of the initiative order, meaning they all acted in a row). Luckily, we spread the feathers/trees to cover as much ground as possible, so only two got destroyed in the first two waves. (According to our GM, the high-tier version is more of a slogfest, because the opponents are beefy brutes with little ranged abilities).
For the final encounter, we got a crit on our initial Recall Knowledge, so we knew what the opponents vulnerabilities were (and with an alchemist, an arcane sorcerer and a druid in our party, we were consistently able to target those). Our remaining trees ended up in advantageous positions, so they were able to frequently interfere with enemy attacks. We managed to stop the leader in the nick of time with a lucky critical from one of our champions.
It took us 4.5 hours to finish. After the game, our GM explained that Paizo was moving away from interactive specials linked to the metaplot, and that it was replaced this year by this scenario and its two upcoming sequels (Excising Ruination and Parting the Clouds). I assume those scenarios won't be as combat-heavy as this one.
I played this yesterday during Bahlicon. It's a very good implementation of the hexploration rules where Nature- and Survival-based characters will truly shine (we had a druid and ranger in our group, so we were covered). However, any group can undertake this scenario, provided they prepare properly -- getting extra rations and supplies, having the right gear, etc. It also helps if the GM is willing to spend a bit of time at the beginning to see how you're set up to handle the exploration routine, otherwise I can see this scenario becoming tedious and frustrating with some groups.
The encounters featured an interesting mix of opponents, including an obscure classic from first edition, and they were set up in dynamic locations with difficult terrain and other environmental hazards.
All in all, if you like exploration and blazing a path through the wilderness, this is the scenario for you!
