A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th to 11th level characters (Tiers: 7–8 and 10–11).
When a novice Pathfinder in the Grand Lodge of Absalom discovers an account of a long lost prophecy which may hold the key to defeating the Shadow Lodge, a team of brave agents heads into the heart of the Worldwound to recover the document. Not only do the forces of the Abyss and the demon-tainted environment stand in their way, but so does a rival team of Pathfinders set on recovering the Sarkorian Prophecy first.
Written by Mark Moreland
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.
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The introduction promises a lot of interesting things, but we never really get to see it develop, which is a shame. I'd love to have gotten to know more about the titular Prophecy, but in the end it's just a fetch quest. This would've impacted the rating much more if the rest of the adventure wasn't so damn interesting.
The Worldwound makes for a lot of cool situations, and it shows how enemies here don't necessarily have to be "hurr durr I smash you." We've had several interesting encounters in this scenario where we actually had a talk beforehand, which is interesting and refreshing. I have two complaints I'll put in spoiler tags, as it's rather sensitive information.
First combat:
I like how this is a combat-like situation without any real combat, but still creates lots of tension. We managed to plow through it with a lot of trial and error (and multiple good dice rolls). The thing I didn't like were the multiple hindrances. Every single instance was okay to deal with, but all together it caused more frustration than it should have. This was all annoying of itself, but the time limit from being chased by a storm pushed it over the top, I feel.
Middle combat:
The sunder strategy didn't feel like it added much. Sundering armour feels more as a resource tax than an actual strategy, as it's more debilitating than it should be, as there's no real way of repairing it until the end of the scenario, while there's still quite some combat ahead. And it isn't a viable tactic in this fight, I feel, as the enemies don't hit hard enough that it matters anyway. It's purely to annoy PCs, rather than an actual survival tactic.
Final combat:
Our GM seemed to have trouble interpreting the author's intentions with how combat starts. We're supposed to start combat from very far away, yet puts us on a tiny map. That was easily solved with some discussion, but it still could've benefited from some clarification, I suppose.
The combats themselves were pretty cool. We were with a party of four in the high tier, and the enemies really didn't pull their punches. While I felt somewhat safe most of the time in the lower tiers, this is one of those few scenarios that really had me worried for my character's life, which is a good thing.
But despite these gripes, why do I still rate this so high? My guess is that the scenario still has a certain charm, an aura of coolness about it that makes me forget those issues. In the end, it was a very enjoyable evening with very memorable encounters.
This scenario lacks in RP, but it does provide a nice introduction to Season 5. The fights are interesting, and it does a great job of laying out the setting of the Worldwound. Only 3 stars due to the lack of a central plot - the titular prophecies are pretty much a mere McGuffin that gets fed to the engine of the railroad.
I agree with Pathar's review below - this one is a tightly packed, quality scenario. For a high tier, you'll actually be done in time, and you'll likely have felt engaged in what is going on the entire time.
After playing the bulk of Season 5, I consider this one, "Worldwound Done Right".
After reading the quite good Worldwound Gambit (from Pathfinder Tales), you expect the Worldwound to be this creepy, chaotic morass... with unpredictable weather, potentially insurmountable hordes of demons, eyes, insects, corruption. This scenario manages to pack it all in for your whirlwind trip. You can tell the author maybe had 20 great ideas, but he cherry picked his best 5 to put together your experience.
This is like the first Mummy movie, all the best highlights of the Worldwound... and you'll feel like any repeat trips are actually the Mummy sequels... the ideas that didn't quite make the cut for the first movie.
There's plenty of roleplay to be had, and it's all believable that you're talking to who you are talking to this deep within the Worldwound. At my table, we were all interested in the stories these NPCs had and were all engaged in those dialogues.
Each of the combat encounters is also noteworthy in their own right - none of them are boring or basic monsters. It's a great trip to the Worldwound, perhaps the best trip in print by Paizo.
This runs pretty fast, which isn't surprising in a Season 2 mod, but it's interesting. I love the first three encounters, and the fourth is a decent boss fight--the optional encounter is boring, but whatever, it's optional.
This scenario is also important because it demonstrates that Season 5 was being planned several years in advance. I approve.
We have updated the Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-08: The Sarkorian Prophecy (PFRPG) PDF. It now includes a sidebar clarifying the demoniac abilities referenced in Caggrigar's statblock which were not themselves included in his stats.
Getting ready to run this and was looking over Embla Clefthelm's statblock and it looks wrong. By my calculations she should have a +21 to sunder attempts instead of the +15 as listed.
+7(Bab) +4(str) +1(weapon Focus) +1(weapon Training) +2(Bull Strength) +2(Improved sunder) +2(Greater Sunder) +2(Lucern Hammer)=+21 sunder vs Armor/+19 vs everything else.
Second, when dealing with the Environmental hazards is there an order these are supposed to happen in or is it random? Also it says the quicksand can hit more then one party member when it finally loses solidity. How do we determine when that happens? My best guess is 1D3 rounds after the first person steps foot on it but something a bit more definite would help.
Your calculations on Embla's sunder bonuses look correct to me. The CMB line doesn't assume she's always attacking with the lucerne hammer, though, which is why it's not including the bonuses for Weapon Focus, weapon training, and the hammer itself. While she's likely to be attacking with this weapon, the bonuses from these sources are conditional upon her doing so, while she has a base sunder modifier of +15 no matter what she's attacking with.
1d3 sounds about right for me too. Ultimately, the PCs are going to make their Perception checks to know what's up or they're not, and likely before anyone steps on the affected area in the first place. If they make the check, then the quicksand won't affect anyone, and if they don't then they'll likely all be affected given the tendency for most parties to walk relatively close together and have movement speeds to put them all in the middle of the barrows within a few rounds even if they're spread out.
Director of Brand Strategy
