A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 7th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7).
Appearing only once a century in the western deserts of Katapesh, the Asmodeus Mirage has plagued Golarion for thousands of years. Powered by a crystal bone devil skeleton and legendary for trapping unwary travelers, the Society has a vested interest in studying and cataloging the source of its power. You have been sent deep into the deserts of northern Garund to enter the Mirage—but there's a catch! The Mirage only exists on Golarion for 24 hours every 100 years. Get trapped in the Mirage, and you may never see Golarion again.
Written by Christopher Self
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
This scenario was retired from Pathfinder Society Organized Play on March 29, 2010. After March 29, 2010, it will no longer be legal for Pathfinder Society Organized Play and will no longer be available in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play reporting system.
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The Asmodeus Mirage is one of the notorious "retired" Pathfinder Society scenarios from Season Zero. I played it "just for fun" with my summoner, Jakeric, and it's pretty easy to see why it was retired: the chance of a TPK (and need for a body recovery) is pretty bloody high! The underlying premise is kinda neat, but the actual execution of the story is a let-down and there's not necessarily a lot the PCs can do to control their fate. An enterprising GM might be able to steal an interesting idea or two for a homebrew game, but overall, there's not a lot to recommend the scenario.
SPOILERS!:
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!
Deep in the Katapesh deserts a vast, insidious illusion of diabolical power and horrifyingly seductive visions appears, just once every hundred years. It's called the Asmodeus Mirage, and is powered by a strange crystalline skeleton. The Pathfinder Society has long wanted to know more and at last they've managed to both discover its location and figure out its schedule. Now all they need is for someone to go take a look...
The introduction explains how the Mirage works and what else is to be found there for the DM, then it's off to the adventure which opens with the party being briefed by Venture-Captain Rafmeln, the head of the Katapeshi Pathfinders. He's been researching the Mirage for years and can convey - in a breathless academic rush - virtually all the information in the introduction, before sending them off with guides and camels to the remote valley in question. Oddly, it's written as if it takes a scant day to get there, leaving you to 'handwave' the trip or add your own details. The guide is quite delightful, though, and convinced that all Pathfinders are quite mad!
The party will have to contend with the environmental hazards of a deep desert and with the time pressure imposed by the fact that the Mirage, when it does appear, only remains for 24 hours. Once it makes an appearance, you have a set of encounters to run - you can run them in any order and most in any location as well which gives the whole thing a dissociated random air that fits well with its otherworldly nature. They can also repeat, which makes it even stranger and more confusing. Some of the encounters automatically result in a brawl, others can be approached with role-playing and interaction (although the creatures encountered are good for a fight if the party doesn't want to talk!). The final encounter poses some interesting restraints as the crystal skeleton itself is fragile...
It's an interesting adventure, the sort of tale desert dwellers tell one another over their campfires. It's a bit mind-bending too, and if the party fails to leave before the 24 hours are up (there are several different ways in which they can accomplish this) they will be stuck there for the next one hundred years!
I was enterntained and had a good time while playing this scenario. However I got increasingly more frustrated and uninterested as it became apparent that our choice of actions and our skills had no real bearing on the progression of events in the scenario.
Many OP scenarios railroad players through a predetermined set of events/encounters, but at least have a sense of purpose and manage to give players an illusion of being able to choose which course of action is take.
The randomness of The Asmodeus Mirage takes even that away and made me loose all sense of selfdetermination. The scenario absolutely succeeds at making me feel lost as in wandering through endless dunes, but more in a frustrating way than in a wanderous desert exploration way.
We had fun however the faction missions where well thought out.
This adventure is NOT for the faint of heart, but I actually consider this one to be one of the better PFS Scenarios. Why? Because the atmosphere, if adequately evoked, is unique, has a surreal touch and is just plain fun. I ran this as a part of my home campaign with slightly modified motivations (each PC got a faction mission from one of his acquaintances) and had a blast running it. My players also loved the utter "strangeness" of the mirage. It's not perfect balance-wise, but the flavor and feeling is unique.
This is a good mod but fails miserably because it is a 1 rounder that should be a 2 rounder. The scenario doesn't let the party rest. After 8 hours and 6 or 7 combats later it was finally over. I can honestly say most people were just glad it was over. I don't think it is really the authors fault. I think it is more Paizos fault. They should have made this 2 rounds. I think if the encounter were cut back to 3 or 4 I would have actually enjoyed this mod a lot but If you go into this mod thinking its one round you are going to be disappointed.
The module has some minor problems with certain combatants being mis-placed. Nothing serious but may leave the players scratching their heads wondering if they missed something.
Spoiler:
A bear? Seriously? ...in the middle of a desert and trapped in the a dragon's lair for like what... 100 years? How did he survive in the blistering heat with the confusing desert terrain and only bugs to eat? And then end up in a room with the doors shut. On top of that, it's a POLAR bear! (Or dire bear depending on level) With all due respect to the author, the encounter is a little silly as written -- how does a polar bear get into a desert mirage that only opens once every 100 years?
For potential DM's, my advice is to replace the polar bear with an displacer beast that is an escaped pet from the Gnoll camp and call it a day. Yes, Displacer Beast's natural climate is temperate hills so technically he doesn't belong either, but the Gnolls kept him in a cave to guard mushrooms. He escaped a few days ago, wandered in the desert before coming here to rest and he attacks the PCs on sight because he's starving.
It's a tactically interesting combat (and same CR as the polar bear) which makes a tiny bit more sense than a fur covered, arctic animal in a room with shut doors and no food. At least the Displacer Beast is smart enough to work the doors with his tentacles.
It's important for me to point out 2 things: (1) Displacer beasts aren't open content and (2) Who says the bears were in the mirage for 100 years? The dragon uses his lair to collect menagerie's and since he's old, insane, and bored, he forces people to occasionally clear his menagerie. That could have been spelled out better in the scenario, but I don't think it's silly in the least.
This is so far the only scenario I was disappointed in. The reasoning behind the mission was... confusing at best. There were too many combats. Some of which, at the high tier, were just overpowering. A healthy sense of danger is one thing, knowing the creature is going to kill the entire party is another. It was also hard to follow the sequence of events, which may have been the point. This would have been better if it were a two round scenario.
