A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1-2 and 4-5).
Following the trail of the insidious Shadow Lodge from Trollheim to the icebound city of Whitethrone in the witch-ruled nation of Irrisen, the PCs must locate the hidden lodge of their contact’s kidnapper. Can they get past the city’s defenses, infiltrate the Shadow Lodge headquarters and rescue the Pathfinder Society’s valuable ally, or will they—like so many before them—find their bones ground to make Baba Yaga’s bread?
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.
What I enjoyed about this scenario is the uneasy feeling the players get when they realize they're walking into a city they might not be able to get out of. Simply getting into the city presents a great problem-solving challenge, and many hare-brained ideas have degenerated into great role-play moments. The downfall of the scenario is once again its insufficient page count, the fact that so much is left to the GM to improvise without any help in the text. If you GM this scenario you can do yourself a BIG favor by reading Cities of Golarion and the novel Winter Witch to get a firm grasp of the local flavor. After running it six times now I am comfortable with the setting and I am having a lot of fun. The plot timeline is messed up but no one seems to care. The combat encounters are OK, nothing epic but all of them are appropriate for the scenario. The maps are original and thankfully weren't shoe-horned into place. Faction missions were OK overall. The Taldan mission is great and leads to some superb mischief.
Firstly, I love the continuity and the setting. The story fits nicely with the previous adventure and the setting is aptly challenging. Which leads me to my second point and the reason it only earned a 3 Star Review:
The requirements to enter the city and remain undetected are a bit much for a group of mostly 1st level characters, too much import is put on a few skill checks and the result is a non-stop running battle through the streets of Whitethrone.
Now, admittedly, the party in question could have tried to think outside the box more - perhaps a wagon or cart to carry the chest and bolster their attempts to pass themselves off as merchants. And I for one am always a big fan of running away from unnecessary combat (i.e. guards and other non-boss death threats) especially when the only other option is a disastrous fight with heavily armed grunts.
While I have somewhat become accustomed to heavy handed, combat dependent mods that do not allow for the players to stretch their role-playing legs in PFS play (as it were), I feel that Shades of Ice Part II - Exiles in Winter has reached new depths in tedium, restrictiveness, and disjointedness. Even were I to forgive the introduction (which I cannot, sorry), the mod is leaden, offering little in the way of challenge or reward that will intrigue the players while playing. I thoroughly enjoyed the first in this series, but found this to be little more than a time waster (and, to borrow a term, a fun-vampire). I am more than pleased that I have no great attachment to the PC still in level range to play Part III as my expectations are that it will somehow not exceed Part II.
If you have a choice, play something else.
Lets just start by saying that I am a fussy reviewer.
I loved how well this mod tied in to the previous mod in the series. Continuity is well done here. The flavor of the locale for this mod is also well presented. It truly felt like we were entering a dangerous place and gave us a good reason to tread carefully.
The encounters seemed balanced and depending on your party mix can be pretty challenging. The final 2 fights in particular were very satisfying.
I played this and the first one in this series with my Paladin character, but there is nothing in this storyline so far that would not have worked just as well with my should be NE thug character.
I liked this mod enough, after playing it and reading it that it gets 5 stars even with the following issues.
Nitpicks:
As usual most of the stat blocks for characters with levels have errors in them.
Also the following passage makes me giggle.
Use the lowest Stealth roll of the party to determine the final Stealth check. In Tier 1–2, they need a result of 10 or better, while in Tier 4–5, they need a result of 15 or better. Failing by 5 or more draws unwanted attention as the PCs are spotted by an Iron Guard patrol
This compels me to ask, what happens if you fail by 1? Is there any good reason not to just lower the dc by 5 and skip a line of text?
The PCs who played Written in Blood likely possess a map once held by Runa White—a map that shows the precise location of the Whitethrone Shadow Lodge beneath an abandoned brewery.
But from Part 1, page 20,
Quote:
Runa also carries several damning documents that explain that the entire plot to kidnap Skagni and use Hjort to tarnish the Pathfinder Society’s reputation in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings was organized by a Shadow Lodge agent named Caggrigar and his man in Irrisen, the shadowy Vermund. Runa also has one last clue for the PCs: Rognvald Skagni is alive and a prisoner of the Shadow Lodge in Irrisen.
The PCs who played Written in Blood likely possess a map once held by Runa White—a map that shows the precise location of the Whitethrone Shadow Lodge beneath an abandoned brewery.
But from Part 1, page 20,
Quote:
Runa also carries several damning documents that explain that the entire plot to kidnap Skagni and use Hjort to tarnish the Pathfinder Society’s reputation in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings was organized by a Shadow Lodge agent named Caggrigar and his man in Irrisen, the shadowy Vermund. Runa also has one last clue for the PCs: Rognvald Skagni is alive and a prisoner of the Shadow Lodge in Irrisen.
No mention of said map. Am I missing something?
Ty! Love this three parter!
EDIT: created two GM handouts for the above spoiler:
