A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4–5).
Once the home to a cult preaching self-sacrifice by immolation in order to achieve paradise, the Citadel of Flame in Qadira's Meraz Desert was presumably wiped out decades ago after Sarenrae dervishes led a crusade to end its morbid message. An enormous sandstorm swallowed both the citadel and the army attacking it, burying both beneath hundreds of feet of sand. Thought lost forever, the citadel's rediscovery prompts the Pathfinder Society to send you deep in the unforgiving Meraz to finally close the book on Qadira's most mysterious cult.
Written by Steven Robert
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 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Product Availability
Fulfilled immediately.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
store@paizo.com.
Probably my favorite scenario from season 1 both as a player and as a GM.
The atmospheric isolated setting and environment worked well. The faction missions are fun. There are intriguing mysteries that keep them guessing and some decent role-playing opportunities.
As a GM it is easy and fun to run.
Basically a scenario where everything just came together.
I played through this module as a player, in the 1-3 tier. My party was Cleric of Erastil 1/Ranger 1, Paladin 2, Druid 2, and Rogue 1.
This module is great- the setting is really evocative. I could picture things very well. The encounters seemed to tie together very well. Even though it's basically a dungeon crawl, there's even a chance for an RP encounter built in, and it's fairly convincing. Extra RP fun can be had if you play a Cleric of a good god or a Paladin; the Pally and I had lots of fun defiling the evil temple as we went.
The scenario is also pretty challenging, maybe too challenging for a party of 1st level PCs. An early NPC could potentially knock-out then coup-de-grace an entire low-level party, and I remember one instance where the PCs are threatened with 6d6 damage. Even with two healers, some of the fights were a little close.
I'd say this was probably one of the funnest scenarios I've been a part of.
An excellent walk in the park...well the desert...to a portal to hell.
I purchased and printed this scenario off for my PFS groups last night and it went two completely different ways for the two tables (my friend Gm'd table 2).
Spoiler:
The first villain
table 1: almost TPK. He opened with a color spray from his hidey-hole and and stunned the level 3 paladin while knocking the cleric out for 3 minutes. The barbarian and wizard moved up, only to get burning hands'd for max damage, dropping the wizard. The barbarian then opened the door, only to get tripped by the sorcerer's waiting whip feather token, followed by a elemental ray that dropped him into negatives. The next 10 rounds were a dance between a disarmed, frequently tripped paladin swinging with his gauntlet (he had no back up weapons) and the sorcerer expending all of his elemental rays, fighting with the paladin's own sword for a couple of rounds, before tripping him and fleeing as the whip ran out of juice. All of the -HP players stabilized, and the party did not wipe.
table 2: Kicked open the secret door and two shot the boss (gunslinger / ranger combo).
The dwarf in the forge
table 1: They approached with diplomacy, coin, and good-will, and learned all about the cleric end boss waiting for them above (already alerted by the sorcerer). They did so well, that I allowed the dwarf to accompany them for the rest of the encounter, although he never entered combat. The dwarf also disabled the steam vents above.
table 2: The gunslinger shot the dwarf as he opened his mouth, crit, and killed him.
The final boss
table 1: The barbarian one shot her: power attack, greatsword; with the help of the captured sorcerer (they got him coming up the stairs), they easily closed the portal and dispatched the fire beetle and the lemure.
table 2: The ranger got swarmed by the three monsters and died instantly. The barbarian got tripped by the whip, hit by a steam vent, and bullrushed into lava by the lemure. They almost TPK'd. They also spent 10 minutes figuring out how to close the portal. Half of them failed completing faction missions because they sped through the scenario.
My thoughts? I had a *huge* amount of fun playing with the first table. All of the first antagonists "tactics" building up to the fight are excellent, and fit exactly into how I ended up RPing him. The secondary characters later on, the dwarf and the devil bridge guardian were also a blast to play as. I really enjoyed the overall back story to the game, as well as the bad-guy motivations behind their actions both before the scenario takes place and during it. I also feel that this would be a good introish game for those new to Pathfinder, as it takes place in a pretty linear format (one location, go straight ahead then upstairs) and the fights aren't that tricky if you are smart, although sometimes fate just isn't on the PC's side (see table 1, encounter 1).
One word of advice to any players: play SMART. I don't mean play like its a second edition dungeon crawl, but do listen to everything your GM tells you (and what items you find, as they may prove to be very useful) and this game will be very satisfying. If you just try to blaze through, you may wind up with a party wipe, or at least a death.
I can hear the Indiana Jones theme music in my head now... I have both played and run this, and I think this may be one of the best adventures to introduce new players to the Pathfinder Society rules. Not overly combat heavy, it's loads of fun (the NPC in the hidden room forces the characters to team up and figure out what is vexing them). The optional encounter is well thought out, and allows the GM to 'make up time' should the party bog down in the beginning. The only reason I do not rate this a 5 is I feel the final encounter isn't that realistic. The ending cleric is ill equipped to deal with the group, and usually drops on the first swing. Perhaps adding one more acolyte in this room with her would make it more of a challenge. Nonetheless, a rip-roaring good romp into the sands!
Could this module be easily run in Katapesh, for example as a "side-trek" adventure after 'Howl of the Carrion King'? Or does it have a lot of Qadiran elements that cannot be separated/modified without "destroying" the plot?
This one was my first-ever Tournament game I played, and I think it was a great one to start with. I enjoyed the challenge, as well as the flavor of the setting.
I can read this just fine on my desktop and laptop, but having issues viewing a few of the pages on my tablet. Any one else having issues like that on this or any other PFS module?
(based on 33 ratings)
