A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 7th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7).
When the Black Marquis lost all of the men he could trust on a failed treasure hunt, he did the only thing he could: turned to the Pathfinder Society for help. Offering an ancient lost text in return for assistance, the Black Marquis of Deadbridge sends you deep into the spider-haunted Echo Wood of the River Kingdoms to track down his missing pirates and recover an ancient treasure for the Society. You'll face brigands, pirates, spiders and more—but will you survive the perils of the Pirate Pact?
Written by Matthieu Dayon
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.
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I ran Perils of the Pirate Pact on its highest sub-tier for a group via play-by-post. It's a fun, fast-paced adventure that is very much a product of the lore-light, rough-and-tumble, not-always-going-to-have-a-happy-ending missions of the early seasons. If you like the River Kingdoms or pirates (no spoilers, given the title), this might just be the one for you.
SPOILERS!:
Perils of the Pirate Pact is set in the River Kingdoms. Venture-Captain Istivil Bosk, the elderly leader of the Society's Daggermark lodge, has received an intriguing offer. The Black Marquis (leader of a band of brigands known as the Pirate Pact) has offered Bosk an incredibly rare text called The Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood. But in exchange, the Black Marquis wants the Society's help. When the PCs arrive at the (briefly described) rundown hamlet of Deadbridge, the Black Marquis explains that the text contains information about an Azlanti treasure vault deep within the Echo Wood. He sent his most trusted lieutenants after the treasure, but only one came back alive: Lady Riverbane. She explains that the party was beset by spiders and other abominations, and she was lucky to escape with her life. The PCs task: accompany Lady Riverbane in retracing her steps and discover what happened to the Black Marquis' men.
What the PCs don't know is that Lady Riverbane's responsible for the deaths of the Black Marquis' lieutenants! She forged the "rare text", knowing the Black Marquis would send her and his other trusted men out after the treasure. But she also arranged an ambush with a small number of ettercaps who worship at a shrine to Mazmezz (the demon lord of vermin). Riverbane's goal was to strip the Black Marquis of his protectors so she could make a move on him, but she wasn't expecting the Pathfinder Society to be brought in--so now she has a complication (the PCs) to deal with.
There's some good descriptive text about the lazy Sellen River the PCs travel down aboard The Scrag Fisher, Lady Riverbane's ship. It's no fun having an adventure involving pirates without a boarding action, so the first encounter starts when another band of pirates launch a surprise attack. It's a simple premise, but handled well, with lots of opportunity for swashbuckling leaps between the ships and so forth. One of the things I really appreciated is that there are a *lot* of enemies in the encounter--12 at high subtier. In most Pathfinder Society scenarios, the PCs always outnumber the villains in every encounter.
After another day's journey down the river, the Pathfinders spot the Hanspur's Luck--the ship that the ill-fated expedition of the Black Marquis' men took. No one's aboard, but there are several monstrous spiders in the partially-flooded hold. It's a decent encounter, though CR 2 spiders (no matter how many of them) aren't going to be a challenge for a normal group of PFS PCs. The group might find some evidence aboard that makes them suspicious of Lady Riverbane, but she should maintain enough plausible deniability to get by.
The next logical step is for the PCs to head into Echo Wood, hoping to follow the trail of the doomed expedition. Lady Riverbane pretends to stay behind on the slip, but secretly follows the group from a distance--knowing she'll have to finish the Pathfinders off if her arachnid allies can't. The next bit is handled a little unusually for Pathfinder Society--an unmapped labyrinth with a certain number of traps depending on how good the PCs are at making Survival checks to navigate it. I thought it worked fine, though the traps hardly scratch at high sub-tier. One of the traps is clever though--it covers a PC in special pheromones that attract spider swarms!
Multiple ettercaps are hiding in the shrine to Mazmezz. Again, web-slinging ettercaps aren't really much of a threat, as any foe that can't drop a PC in a couple of rounds is likely to get squished in my experience. The ambush by Lady Riverbane could be interesting if it really takes the PCs by surprise, but she doesn't have much firepower to back it up. The PCs can collect The Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood from her corpse--and probably won't even realise it's a fake! (since few PCs are going to invest in the Appraise skill). Speaking of the book, it makes for a pretty poor Macguffin, as there's no detail in the scenario about who wrote it, what it's supposed to contain, and why it's important. Over a decade on, I don't think there's even been any explanation of what the "Silver Brotherhood" was. Anyway, after the final battle, there's a very brief epilogue.
One potential complication in the scenario is what to do if the PCs figure out early that Lady Riverbane is behind everything. She's given some magical protections against divination spells, but presumably she still needs to make Bluff checks at key points (especially if the PCs ask if they can roll Sense Motive). The scenario doesn't have anything to say on the point, and some guidance would have been a good idea.
The scenario does have a good feel--a little like Pirates of the Caribbean--as the PCs hack their way through a dark forest in search of ancient treasures, with monsters and cutthroats all around them. I would suggest that GMs limit the PCs to just 4 or 5 to help make it more challenging. Overall, I'd say Perils of the Pirate Pact is a good scenario--but like a lot of these early PFS scenarios, a GM should add some flesh to the skeleton.
This scenario is decent. I just don't have any more words for it. Either I've read it wrong or there are some plotholes in the story, and combat isn't that amazing, either. There are some fun NPCs to interact with if your GM is willing to ham it up (mine was, fortunately), but other than that, this is definitely a "make your own fun" scenario.
My main issue is mostly due to how combats were designed back then. This is spoiler territory.
Combats:
Six pirates with an 11/11/11/10/10/10 stat spread with 5 HP each isn't an encounter; it's a cakewalk. Their to-hit is miserable, their AC is terrible, and their damage output is abysmal. The only thing they've got going for them is the sweet crit range on their weapons, and even that isn't dangerous enough to make the players worry for their life.
On the other hand, the Ettercaps were actually a decent fight. My players managed to avoid the trap in the shrine, so by RAW, there should still be a second Ettercap. That was actually a good fight, and pretty much the only decent fight of this scenario, even for a party of four fresh level ones and one level 2 character.
In the end, we all had a good time and the scenario didn't have any major flaws or complications, so I'd still say it was worth it to play through it. Though I've certainly played better, even among season 0 and 1.
What could I say? This adventure is about pirates in sort of pirate country! It is fun to play but it is pretty predictable and rail road. Encounters are pretty easy but some could be dangerous for new low level players. All in all solid 4
In this adventure, the party gets involved in the internal squabbles of a band called the Pirate Pact, a crew of ruffians who hang out beside the Sellen River, north of Daggermark, and generally help to make the River Kingdoms an unpleasant and dangerous place to live. The introduction presents a convoluted picture, which the DM would do well to get his head around before running it.
The adventure proper begins with the party on a ship sailing up the Sellen River having been sent by Daggerford's venture-captain to meet with the leader of the Pirate Pact, the Black Marquis, one Urdul Bazzak. He'd offered the Pathfinders a rare book - and you know what Pathfinders are like when books are dangled under their noses - in return for their help... and the party are the help that has been sent. The assumption is that the party was despatched all the way from Absalom, you may wish to play out that journey if you have time or there may be other reasons why they're in Daggermark anyway.
Dark treachery, river battles and monsters galore stand in the party's path as they seek to do the Black Marquis' bidding and gain their prize... It's an atmospheric and enjoyable adventure that will suit the more robust explorer-types. Faction missions are quite challenging but capable of being achieved, some have it easier than others. A good addition to the series.
Disclaimer: I've GM'd this multiple times, but never played it.
It starts off a little slow, but after the into encounter things pick up nicely. A little railroady, but not too bad, and the PCs can jump rails without completely destroying the plot. No matter how often I run this, the players find something to do that I've never seen before.
The Good:
*Ettercaps. Ettercaps don't get nearly enough love.
*The idea of a group of organized crime pirates is fun.
*The maps are well-done, simple, and easy to follow.
The Bad:
*This being a 1-7 scenario, balancing the table can be tricky. This shouldn't be a high-death scenario, but a level 1-2 PC could be in trouble if the bulk of the table is higher level. The extreme level spread keeps this from being a 5 star.
