A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5-8.
The Hold of Belkzen is changing, with orc overlord Ardax the White-Hair violently repelling an allegiance by the Whispering Tyrant. Words of these developments and letters seeking diplomatic contact have reached Envoy’s Alliance leader Fola Barun, who has realized that the Pathfinder Society already has a perfect intermediary in the Burning Sun orc faction after they helped recover important artifacts from a ruined cathedral a few years ago. As the Pathfinders head to meet the Burning Sun’s leader, though, they soon find that not all orcs in Belkzen share Ardax’s inclinations for peace.
Written by: Steven Hammond
Scenario tags: Envoy's Alliance
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
In a vacuum, the scenario is fine. I just finished another scenario with a Chase mechanic, so getting another one seemed repetitive, but that's probably just an artifact of my experience.
My biggest gripe, not reflected in the star rating, is that this is at least the second time Org Play has passed on an opportunity to flesh out the orc ancestry and give a little depth to their culture. I mean, they're playable PCs now. Compare the treatment of goblins in #1-07 or #1-14, or the iruxi in #1-09/#1-23, or the kobolds in Q10 or #2-05.
I played in one of andreww's games and I rather enjoyed this one. The "trials" element is maybe not blindingly original but it's executed well enough, and they help the plot forward. I liked the chase because you actually feel like competent, even powerful adventurers. I think in some previous scenarios the difficulty had been too high and now people are expecting them all to be grueling and unfair.
The encounter difficulty seemed okay to me - maybe a bit easy for a group that's teamworked like a well-oiled machine, but challenging to a random grab-bag of people you end up with on roll20. I rather liked the second to last encounter because it feels like "hey, we got better at this" while the last one is really quite challenging. So, a bit varied difficulty, I like that.
I have run this twice now at high tier. It is an interesting set up giving us a closer look at an ancestry which are often presented as little more than brutish monsters to kill. Overall the story is fine but I would have liked to see more exploration of Dawns Reach. Rather than the somewhat stilted trials I would have preferred to see more interaction inside the community with its residents. It is presented as a diplomatic mission, diplomats will be largely useless here.
Where I have more of an issue is with the combat elements. The first encounter is pretty easy, especially as you have help. They are completely unrequired for a vaguelly competent party.
The second encounter, at high tier, is uttery irrelevant. It is little more than a brief speed bump as the primary risk from the high tier enemies is almost entirely removed by the incapacitation trait.
The last encounter has a lot more going for it, mainly due to the terrain. My second group found the clock issue rather ufair given the locations of the items and the difficulty reaching them.
Lastly a note on DCs. We have seen some scenarios with very high DCs for their level, the chase in this one has what felt like extremely low DCs. Both groups I have run for have either passed Mahja or arrived at the summit at the same time. Neither ever felt in the slghst danger of falling behind.
Developers &/or editors: Would you please look at the questions by @andreww from December 2020 in the GM Discussion Forum (https://paizo.com/threads/rzs439ri?PFS2E-210-In-Burning-Dawn), and respond in that thread and/or revise the scenario PDF? I downloaded the PDF in late June but it still had the errors and omissions that @andreww mentioned. Thanks!
(based on 6 ratings)
