Nearly every nation has contributed to the Mendevian Crusade, but few are willing to send additional aid to assist the Pathfinder Society directly. Owed a favor the elves cannot refuse, Pathfinders travel to Kyonin to secure a force of some of the finest demon-hunters in Avistan only to find that the hunters are missing in action. Can the Pathfinders extract the lost elves from the depths of Tanglebriar, or will they become the latest casualties of Treerazer’s domain?
Written by Ryan Costello, Jr.
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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Played this tonight at the lower tier. I had heard some bad things about this one and how hard it was. Past experience with PFS hard scenarios had turned me off of them but knowing how good our GM was I was well up fir it and I was not disappointed.
I'm not going to spoil anything but the hardest encounter was the first and I can see where some players might well complain at the potential lethality. My group was lucky and we managed to roll some awesome damage which helped considerably. A less optimized or inexperienced group is probably looking at a TPK here.
The rest of the scenario has some really good role-play elements as well combat for those who just like to hit things. I didn't think there was anything outstanding in these encounters but it was nice to encounter monsters not normally seen.
For an experienced group this will be a good fun scenario. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because of the potential lethality of the opening encounter.
This adventure is easily the most challenging non-Bonekeep adventure that I am aware of. Even well-optimized parties are going to have trouble with it. It has some good RP moments too, although the final boss is a bit of a disappointment. Overall, one of my favorites.
I can't quite rate this one as high as I would like to.
This mod has a lot of good going for it. Unfortunately it has a lot of bad that brings it down. The first encounter is truly scary and the region you are adventuring in is truly interesting, and the boss battle is challenging. There is some RP opportunities that can be fun in one of the latter encounters but this is mostly a combat heavy adventure and not one I would recommend for non-optimized characters.
The first problem with this adventure is the initial introduction which seems a little contrived and does not speak well for the honor or elves. Much has been made of the first combat but it is really not that bad if the GM runs it correctly. GMs appear to be giving the monster a surprise round it shouldn't have and letting it do things on a surprise round it can't do by RAW. In addition, the monster is only likely to TPK the party on the second round if the GM ignores the listed tactics. At least one person is still likely to die, however, and when I played it that someone was me. Thanks to Breath of Life, however, I got better and killed the monster in revenge. But as a player I enjoyed just how scary this monster was. Still, if you don't have something like Breath of Life, dying in the first encounter of an adventure sucks. I will also say that the encounter does not scale down well for 4 person tables.
The middle portion of this adventure is full of atmosphere and can sometimes drag, but my biggest complaint is the final boss battle. It is simply just way too complicated with way too many things going on at once. As a GM, I felt I needed an assistant just to keep track of everything and that makes for a very unfun encounter for the GM to run, and one that will frequently not get run as written.
Overall, I still like this mod, though more as a player than a GM.
I played in this module at a mini-convention, run by the author. Table was run at tier 7-8 for six players - a bard, a summoner, a cleric/barbarian, two fighters, and a pregen Seelah.
The Good
Atmosphere: From the scenario’s description, you’re travelling into Tanglebriar, a demon-tainted region of Kyonin where nature has been twisted and perverted by the abyssal presence. There’s lots of opportunities here for a skilled GM to really paint a vivid picture, and to have players shuddering in discomfort, if they do it right. By the end of the scenario, players should be apprehensive about whatever they might encounter around the corner - and given the encounters, they should be.
Challenge: This scenario hit the sweet spot, at least as far as our characters were concerned. In each of the fights, there were moments of worry in the opening rounds, and then a turning point somewhere in the battle where we knew we had it. That’s just good encounter design - it’s not a rollover, and it’s not a brick wall. None of our party was particularly optimized - we all had areas of specialty, but there weren’t any “uber-characters,” and with a lot of tactics, cooperation, and thinking outside of the box, we prevailed with no losses.
The Bad
Not really a scenario complaint, but more of a system complaint - there were sometimes a LOT of things on the board, and as a result, combat sometimes dragged. GMs might want to consider how to expedite combat going in.
Conclusions
For GMs: Play up the atmosphere. Practice your improv skills and look up a bunch of synonyms for “creepy” before you start. Don’t give anything away ahead of time; live up to “Nothing in Tanglebriar is what it seems.”
For Players: Don’t assume an overly optimized character can roll over this one. Thinking outside the box is more valuable here than a straightforward murderhobo approach to combat, and thinking tactically is more valuable here than in many scenarios.
Overall Feegle Rating: Satisfying, with a side of challenging and an extra helping of creepy.
I've never played Pathfinder Society, probably won't get the chance to for the foreseeable future, but I think I'm going to buy this anyway. After listening to all of "Know Direction" over the summer, I'm really curious to read some of Ryan's writing.
While no motivation to buy this is unwarrented, Nate, I recommend you give PFS a try. Heck, if you're buying this scenario anyway, offer to run The Elven Entanglement at your FLGS. Most regions have a core group of veterans begging for higher tier scenarios.
Give it the Wild Speech feat. People so rarely expect an otyugh to talk; it would blow their minds to hear a bear talk and then find out that the bear is an otyugh...that can also talk.
I think I'm gonna buy this and work it into my home campaign -- the PCs just happen to be in the Tanglebriar right now, and in need of building some trust with the elves of Kyonin.
EDIT: And I am a Know Direction/Private Sanctuary fan, and want to throw some business Ryan's way!
Does this scenario have any recommended factions? I haven't seen any mentioned anywhere...yet.
If not, does this mean that Season 5 Tier 7-11 scenarios will follow a slightly different paradigm than the lower tiers have so far, or does this fall under the category of "one does not constitute a pattern"? :P
Does this scenario have any recommended factions? I haven't seen any mentioned anywhere...yet.
If not, does this mean that Season 5 Tier 7-11 scenarios will follow a slightly different paradigm than the lower tiers have so far, or does this fall under the category of "one does not constitute a pattern"? :P
TIA!
Not every scenario will have a faction-related opportunity. It so happens that #5–05 does not have such a faction goal, and I'm sure that there will be others—not all of them Tier 7-11—that will similarly have no faction association.
Does this scenario have any recommended factions? I haven't seen any mentioned anywhere...yet.
If not, does this mean that Season 5 Tier 7-11 scenarios will follow a slightly different paradigm than the lower tiers have so far, or does this fall under the category of "one does not constitute a pattern"? :P
TIA!
Not every scenario will have a faction-related opportunity. It so happens that #5–05 does not have such a faction goal, and I'm sure that there will be others—not all of them Tier 7-11—that will similarly have no faction association.
Except, of course, for those of us with Lantern Bearer characters who see this entire scenario as one big glorious opportunity to do some work for their true faction. ^w^
Thanks lastblacknight. And thanks to everyone who has reviewed the scenario so far. Sorry for those who fell victim to an early encounter, although from one of the write-ups, I can see an error or two the GM made that increased the lethality of the encounter exponentially. I’ve posted some advice for GMs thinking of running this scenario in the thread in the Pathfinder Society GM Discussion forum.
I'm running this tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think I might bring a copy of Queen of Thorns to lend to anyone who seemed incredibly into the setting.
The Briarborn Juggernaut (a not quite advanced version of the Titan Centipede) Didn't have the fact that it can not be tripped in the CMB/CMD section. I assume that the same would apply as it did in the lower tier monster.
Animate Dead on Briarborn Juggernaut. It's a horsey!
You may need to consider how to handle that. Our GM had to take a break to figure out what would happen. And we still ended up effectively ignoring a large part of the module. Official ruling may be necessary.
You may need to consider how to handle that. Our GM had to take a break to figure out what would happen. And we still ended up effectively ignoring a large part of the module. Official ruling may be necessary.
Not official, but...
Spoiler:
Given how many reviews mention that the first encounter led to a TPK, I think this is a just reward for a well fought encounter.
I have personally witnessed that tactic once and read about it happening on two other occasions. It's not a tactic available to every party, and just happens to make a few parts of the scenario easier.
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