A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th to 9th level characters (Tiers: 5–6 and 8–9).
When the Pathfinder-obsessed daughter of one Qadira's most powerful trade princes goes missing trying to impress the Society, her father angrily demands the Pathfinders track her down or face expulsion from Katheer. Tracking the missing princess leads you to an underground complex filled with traps, tricks, and a creature so powerful, she's lived for a thousand years. Can you save the princess and uncover the power of the Eternal Obelisk?
Written by C. Robert Brown
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 May 24, 2010. After May 24, 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 Eternal Obelisk is another of the PFS Season 0 scenarios that was retired from play. The reasons aren't hard to guess, as there is an opportunity for a TPK or (or at least some permanent negative conditions that can't be easily cleared). I recently ran it "just for fun" as part of my Roots of Golarion campaign that ties together a bunch of 3.5-era Paizo stuff. The scenario is a straightforward dungeon crawl and not particularly memorable. It has a really engaging backstory, though, and would be easy to insert as a side-quest in any desert-themed campaign. I also didn't think the difficulty was unfair to the players, as they know almost exactly what to expect from the very beginning and have plenty of opportunity to prepare for it.
SPOILERS!:
The backstory involves a sixteen-year-old Qadiran princess named Khalida al-Mushabe. With a thirst for knowledge and adventure, she pores over old copies of the in-world Pathfinder Chronicles until, one day, she discovers an apparent opportunity: a map and notes said to lead to an ancient temple with the secret of eternal youth to anyone who finds it. Khalida secretly hired a team of mercenaries and snuck off to find the place, only to walk right into a trap. The ancient temple did indeed exist, and really did contain the secret of eternal youth--but only for those with paralyzing gaze attacks like medusae! The current occupant of the subterranean temple, a medusa named Ophiope, plants clues to the temple on her occasional brief forays into the outside world to lure explorers in. For her next trick, Ophiope ensures Khalida's head (turned to stone) is returned to her father, a powerful Qadiran trade prince, knowing he'll surely assemble an expedition out of revenge and hopes of finding the rest of his daughter's body. It's a pretty cool story, and I probably don't do it justice.
From the PCs' perspective, they come into the picture when Venture-Captain Esmayl ibn Qaradi conscripts them for a mission. Having just been chewed out by Khalida's father for filling her head (pun) with terrible ideas from the adventure journals, ibn Qaradi has promised the man he'll send a team to discover exactly what happened. The PCs, of course, will be that team. This is also the opportunity for the players to guess they're probably up against a medusa, basilisk, or something similar, and to prepare themselves accordingly with protection against gaze effects and the means to remedy being turned to stone. Or, they can just venture out into the desert and see what happens!
There are no encounters or skill checks involved in the PCs travelling from Katheer to the temple site. Once there, the straightforward dungeon crawl begins. Opponents include earth and salt mephits, animated statues, grimlocks, a xorn, and Ophiope (plus another medusa if the PCs are playing at high-tier). Although Ophiope will do some classic villainous taunting, there's not really any other NPCs to role-play with. The PCs will have the opportunity to find a text explaining the history of the temple, but that's about it. Faction missions can provide a little additional intrigue for groups that use them.
Although this is a dungeon crawl, I wouldn't recommend it for new GMs. The descriptions of each room are listed in a separate section from the encounters that occur there, which could be confusing. In addition, running things like medusae and grimlocks (with their tactics) might be a bit more than a beginning GM should take on.
This one was obviously retired for the risk that a few poor saves could see the entire team turned to stone. I get that, but like I said, the group does have plenty of warning it could happen so I didn't consider the risk unfair. That being said, of course, there a million adventures out there, and nothing that makes The Eternal Obelisk particularly distinguishable from the run of the mill dungeon crawl.
Enthralled by tales of an obelisk deep in the Qadirian deserts that confers eternal life, a young noblewoman infatuated by the whole concept of the Pathfinder Society heads off to find it... alas this results in her petrified head being found clutched in the arms of a dead mercenary. Her father lays the blame at the Society's door, and the party is sent into the wastes to discover the obelisk, find out what happened to the noblewoman and return her remains to her distraught family.
The DM's introduction lays out the true background to this tale, then the adventure opens with the party in the Pathfinder Society Lodge in Kadeera, getting their mission... and then jumps three days (assuming they take the offered camels) to set them at the entrance to the underground complex where this obelisk is said to be located. If you have the time and inclination you may prefer to cover the desert journey in more detail, should a spot of sun, sand and suffering appeal. The complex is well-described and a plan provided for your use, with a selection of puzzles, traps and hostile encounters for the party to contend with as they search for the obelisk, its current owner and its secrets. However the layout is a bit odd, with the plan and main description separated from the 'read aloud' text and encounter notes.
A nice touch is that, if the party wins through to the end, they'll find a text that explains everything - although they may have figured out some of it already. Faction missions are appropriate and offer a two-layered approach: a core task that garners one prestige point upon completion with an addition point available if a follow-up task is also performed. Overall it's a neat adventure, lacking in role-playing opportunities but full of the exploration and adventure that you join the Pathfinder Society to enjoy!
What I was looking for was a small dungeon, with some hard encounters, without much size to it. This is it and that is why I am so positive about it. The end boss is good, the stone monsters allow the medusa to fight on a more even footing the pcs. I liked the grimlock barb rogues.
Some have said it is too hard, I'm actually going to have to make it harder for the pcs, and add more in so they don't go through without a struggle. So I'll be putting in more grimlocks, xorns and xerans and allowing more statues to be animated.
A tight, small dungeon is not necessarily a bad thing. Not everything has to be the greatest and largest quest, or a gigantic story. For old-style D&D!
I tend to read the faction missions of a scenario first. The missions sounded nice, but ultimately, after reading the summary, all went down to fetch the gizmo.
And every faction has two generic fetch-the-gizmo-crap/ slay x missions with the associated awards. Great.
The nature of the BBEG is not foreshadowed, but constantly beaten over the heads of the PCs. It took my players not even a minute to accurately guess the nature of the antagonist.
The first encounter proved to be mildly annoying for my PCs.
The subsequent encounters screamed lightning bolt/fireball formation and, quite frankly make this scenario a classic kill everything with fire experience. That might be fun sometimes, but there is NOTHING to intrigue a Player or DM. No puzzle, no RP, this scenario is about mindlessly slaughtering everything.
The adventure does not consist of plot-holes, like "The Trouble with Secrets", but is, quite frankly, monotonous.
The final boss, however, is damn cool, lethal and a fun and challenging fight after all the drudgery and the only saving grace of this adventure.
If your players don't feature enough ranged firepower, your PCs will die here. A lot of them.
I'd give this adventure 1.5 Stars with tendency towards 2.
Okay this is another horrible scenario, I mean hell this thing was worse than Asmodeus Mirage in the sense of the encounters...and that means its really, really bad. I personally believe that creatures that cause effects that are pretty much irreversible is too powerful in any game. You going to have to provide some countermeasure, otherwise it will lead to a TPK which our game pretty much lead too. I will never purchase and/or run this scenario...I like to make the player's "sweat" but killing all of them...no I don't want that on my hands.
Does a gorgon turn people look upon her to stone because she is so "ugly" or because she is so beautiful? :)
** spoiler omitted **
I wholeheartedly support this being the PF standard for medusae/medusas/medusases/medusaseses. I've been running them like that more or less since Tony DiTerlizzi's medusa pic in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual.
I am curious if the bit about the "long-lived creature" relates to the cover girl though. I was just about to ask what lifespan people usually went with for them and other iconic monsters.(I have them living longer than elves at the very least)
Unfortunately "gorgon" has already been swiped by those metal-plated moo-cows. I like those critters, but damn do I wish there was a way to divorce them from that name to free it up. "True Gorgon" just sounds awkward.
Unfortunately "gorgon" has already been swiped by those metal-plated moo-cows. I like those critters, but damn do I wish there was a way to divorce them from that name to free it up. "True Gorgon" just sounds awkward.
Spoiler:
We could call the metal plated Bovines "Gorgonzola"? Or, do I petrify with my cheesiness?
Does a gorgon turn people look upon her to stone because she is so "ugly" or because she is so beautiful? :)
** spoiler omitted **
This is something I've pondered and sometimes debated quite a bit. Even with the likes of Nick Logue.
Greek mythology is not clear, because different authors in different time periods represented Medusa (specifically) differently. Hideous in some writings, still beautiful in others.
Clearly in the later versions of the myth are a morality tale, concerning sex in the temple (of the virgin goddess Athena). The curse is just that- a curse. A punishment. The issue that comes up with RPGs is that the curse becomes a 'super-power', or rather a weapon. The advent of male medusae only waters down the curse element even more (as I'll decribe below).
I can think of no more apt punishment than to be always alone, which the gorgon is. She can take no lover, or at least be appreciated in the sight of one. The curse alienates her, and makes her a prisoner of her own appearance. When you add a male counter-part to the RPG race, that curse aspect is pretty much removed.
Of course, the Pathfinder campaign setting side-steps this entire, as the gorgons (or medusae if you will) are a damned race descended from a union between Lamashtu and a great snake.. or so the campaign myth goes.
Does a gorgon turn people look upon her to stone because she is so "ugly" or because she is so beautiful? :)
** spoiler omitted **
Clearly in the later versions of the myth are a morality tale, concerning being raped in the temple (of the virgin goddess Athena). The curse is just that- a curse. A punishment. The issue that comes up with RPGs is that the curse becomes a 'super-power', or rather a weapon. The advent of male medusae only waters down the curse element even more (as I'll decribe below).
Does a gorgon turn people look upon her to stone because she is so "ugly" or because she is so beautiful? :)
** spoiler omitted **
Clearly in the later versions of the myth are a morality tale, concerning being raped in the temple (of the virgin goddess Athena). The curse is just that- a curse. A punishment. The issue that comes up with RPGs is that the curse becomes a 'super-power', or rather a weapon. The advent of male medusae only waters down the curse element even more (as I'll decribe below).
[Fixed, and ...]
What was Poseidon's punshiment, b.t.w.?
** spoiler omitted **
Err yes.
I was aware, but skipped over the sexist politics for the sake brevity in my post. I suppose I shouldn't have, but you're quite right.
I suppose that is why I am somewhat sympathatic towards Medusa.
However, Golarion's background side-steps that with a different origin story altogether.
I think that that's the danger of having monsters from myth and legend in a role-playing game; the cool thing about Medusa in the stories is that she's just one lady who's cursed and becomes monstrous (whether physically or spiritually or whatever). If you have Medusa as a race of creatures it loses its edge. Having a medusa as a one off baddy that the PCs meet on a specific adventure is way cooler, otherwise it's a bit like calling all winged horses Pegasus. Oh, wait a minute...
