A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.
Few dare tread through the ancient groves of the Verduran Forest, and those who do settle in these woodlands tend to stay close to their communities. Mystery and danger rarely deter agents of the Pathfinder Society, however. When the semi-retired Pathfinder Falbin ventured from his home deep in the wood, he came across an unexpected pocket of flourishing growth and summer weather in the middle of the wintery forest. He fears that this disturbance is the work of a cabal of druids whose mayhem the Society ended six years ago. Have the druids returned to wreak havoc, or are other forces at play?
Contents in "Down the Verdant Path” also contribute directly to the ongoing storyline of the Concordance faction.
I played Down the Verdant Path at high subtier with my completely-randomly-generated multiclass gnome Jilla. I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being the perfect scenario for her. It's a cleverly-written, memorable scenario that really makes the most of a part of the Golarion setting we don't often get to interact with. I'd certainly recommend it.
SPOILERS!:
Down the Verdant Path has a pretty cool backstory, though I have to admit I don't think I got any of it during actual gameplay (it's likely it was there and I just wasn't paying attention). The gist is that decades ago, a flamboyant First World gnome sorcerer named Azure was punished by one of the Eldest for trying to steal some of the plane's treasures. The punishment took the form of draining Azure of color and exiling him to Golarion, where he would presumably die from the Bleaching. However, Azure didn't give up, and instead quested to find a way back to the First World and finally (recently) discovered a portal from the Verduran Forest in northern Andoran. Azure can feel the palette bag (containing the colors stripped from him) just on the other side of the portal, but knows it's guarded by members of the Wild Hunt--a band of legendary fey hunters. So Azure has decided to wait, hoping that with a little luck a band of adventurers would come by and be willing to assist. And as a fey, Azure's luck is pretty good!
The PCs get involved when the Pathfinder Society hears reports of strange weather patterns coming from that area of the forest. Venture-Captain Brackett sends them via boat to the town of Bellis to meet a local (retired) agent, a gnome herbalist named Falbin. When they arrive, the PCs find Falbin arguing with a stately woman (secretly a janni) named Jamila. Both Falbin and Jamila are NPCs who appeared in previous PFS scenarios; I remember Jamila way back from # 0-3, Murder on the Silken Caravan! (and there are some good additional bits for PCs who have the relevant Chronicle sheets) Anyway, Falbin and Jamila plan to accompany the PCs to the site of the bizarre weather disturbances. On the way, the two speculate about what's causing it. Falbin thinks it's a problematic group of local druids, while Jamila thinks it's a planar rift. The fun part is that the PCs can wager on which theory they think is most likely (betting gold pieces against minor magical consumables), and gather clues (through skill checks) to support their side. It's a novel idea and good for some early role-playing.
Just two miles south of Bellis, the weather and landscape suddenly turn freezing cold and studded with junglelike growth. Soon after entering the unnatural area, the group encounters a father-and-son pair of giant intelligent frogs. This was a really fun encounter, as (assuming someone like Jamila casts speak with animals) the frogs have hilarious banter as the father tries to persuade the son that humans are a "healthy snack option". It's really cute, and the sort of slightly skewed theme of the First World in the scenario starts to become really apparent.
After another mile's travel through increasingly tropical conditions, the group arrive at an abandoned elven settlement called Deepstead. There, they meet the completely hue-less Azure and learn (through some really well-written dialogue) about what's going on. Jamila and Falbin plan to start working on a ritual to close the portal, while the PCs are tasked with entering and trying to bring back Azure's palette bag. To enter the portal, a PC has to give up something meaningful to them--my PC sacrificed her rolling pin. Once in the portal, a skill we don't see come up often in Pathfinder Society games becomes important: Swim! The PCs are instantly immersed in freezing water on the shores of a wintry forest, and the longer it takes them to get out of it, the more nonlethal damage they'll be taking (and the longer it'll take them to join the encounter that's about to start).
As the PCs get to shore, they'll be peppered with arrows from the first member of the Wild Hunt, a vanara ranger sitting on a tree branch about ten feet off the ground. This encounter was a good one, as traditional melee combat wasn't an option and I don't think any of us PCs had much in the way of ranged attacks.
The area of the First World the PCs find themselves in is called Whirlwood, and it features incredibly rapidly-changing seasons: from round to round! The seasons have different effects in combat, and were another memorable way of making it clear that the PCs were far from the Inner Sea. Soon the group will find an area of the Whirlwood called Heartgrove, where they can see a dozen or more bindle bags hanging high up on tree branches. One of them must be Azure's palette bag, but which? To make things harder, there's a nasty plant monster guarding the trees (that, at high subtier, release some hallucinogenic spores that really messed up our group). And then to make things worse, the other four members of the Wild Hunt arrive! It's all fun and games until it's a near TPK, and this encounter nearly got there. And in an ironic twist, anyone trying to run away from the Heartgrove simply enters it from another direction: it's a fey realm, after all! (there's a trick to getting out that the PCs might learn during the encounter) The good news is that the members of the Wild Hunt argue and bicker amongst themselves, and there's a fair chance they'll spend time fighting each other as well as the PCs. I imagine that with the changing seasons and multiple NPCs, this is a challenging encounter for the GM to run.
Assuming they survive the battle, the PCs can retrieve Azure's palette bag and return to the frozen lake to take the portal back to Golarion. They'll find their sacrificed item comes back to them, but with a randomly-rolled twist; for example, Jilla's rolling pin now cries like a baby when left alone! The epilogue features a meeting with Ashasar, leader of the new Concordance faction, who tries to recruit the PCs (as does Jamila).
I thought Down the Verdant Path was a blast. It definitely had a fey-themed flavour, which I imagine is a hard writing challenge. The encounters were maybe a touch more difficult than I would like, but I guess by Season 9 most PCs were pretty pumped-up combat wise. I definitely have some fun memories of the game, and Jilla's crying rolling pin won't ever let me forget it . . .
I ran this one for a high tier group of 6, with several well-optimised characters, and a level 1 and level 2 character included. The opponents were a good challenge, even for the optimised characters, and the situations added danger and tension. Bravo.
On top of that - I have not had so much fun running a PFS scenario since the Night March of Kalkimedes. I applaud everything that was done in this scenario, and look forward to more in this vein. My players were laughing the whole way through.
Really quite silly if you think about it. I loved it
I'm not really sure if this is a good showcase for the Concordance (a lot of scenarios in Season 8 really did a better job of that).
And the complaints that Jamilla really shouldn't be an authority figure are probably apt.
And some of the combats are a little on the difficult side for low tier.
But I don't care. It was SO incredibly enjoyable that its a clear 5 star scenario :-).
At least, its a lot of fun if your tastes include whimsy. Because there is a whole LOT of whimsey in this. If you hate the Fey because they're so random you'll absolutely hate this.
Lots of excellent roleplaying possibilities, huge amounts of flavour, some decent combats, skill challenges that were both apt and not too difficult.
I have to admit I was rather excited at the prospect of playing this scenario. After all, it’s the first actual Concordance scenario. Normally this means the final result disappoints me a little, but this time the scenario exceeded my expectations by a wide margin. This is a scenario that serves as a great introduction to a new faction.
Now obviously you need some window dressing to really illustrate what a faction is all about. In this case that meant using two NPCs to illustrate the differences. The fact that they use Jamila makes sense and while I understand that some people aren’t her biggest fan, I can’t see a better substitute. That said, it not only accomplishes the goal of showing of what the faction is about, but also sets the tone for the rest of the scenario: role-play.
Roleplay is definitely the keyword of this scenario. You can more or less talk your way through anything in this scenario, which allows for crazy and funny shenanigans. Not only that, but each NPC is uniquely different and, dare I say, weird. Even the scenery varies from place to place and it really adds a lot to the overall experience without being overly complex. This weirdness just works and the boon reflects this in an amazing way.
The author created a delightfully funny and amusing storyline, but you shouldn’t think this scenario is ‘easy’. If you do find yourself having to fight something, you’ll quickly realize the enemies pack quite a punch. They hit hard and fast and I can see why some reviews below mention casualties. Bringing a level 1 character is always scary, but in this case you might want to shy away from doing so. That said, low-tier is still pretty fun and I can say the same about high tier. As such I wholeheartedly recommend this scenario if you enjoy role-play and weirdness.
This scenario simply works. There's no weird rules or subsystems to track, it simply tells a story and has fun with it. The author obviously has a creative mind and isn't afraid to be weird. Pretty much every NPC and enemy can be interacted with and fights can be solved through alternate means, if you know what you're doing. Environments are interesting and varied without being overly complex.
I wish I could be more descriptive, but there simply isn't a lot to say if everything is this good. While I usually reserve five stars for scenarios that go the extra mile, don't take this four-star as a critique of "it could've been better", it's still very much worth playing.
The section about returning that starts on page 21 ends on page 22 with "granting each PC the Seasoned Explorer boon" - Yet there is no boon of that name on the chronicle sheet. Instead there is the Remnant of the First World boon there, but that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the shards mentioned in the section.
Is there a boon missing from the sheet or was it just renamed at some point and the connection between the shards and the effect on your items just isn't clearly stated?
Pathfinder Adventure, Maps, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber
I second the question
The.Vortex wrote:
The section about returning that starts on page 21 ends on page 22 with "granting each PC the Seasoned Explorer boon" - Yet there is no boon of that name on the chronicle sheet. Instead there is the Remnant of the First World boon there, but that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the shards mentioned in the section.
Is there a boon missing from the sheet or was it just renamed at some point and the connection between the shards and the effect on your items just isn't clearly stated?
Outshyn is correct. Quoting the developer from that thread:
Linda Zayas-Palmer wrote:
That's an artifact from an earlier version of the scenario. Ideas from the original boon eventually evolved into the Elemental Investigator Concordance boon.
I posted this in the GM thread, and Scott pointed me here because he didn't know the answer to it. It's about the betting, and the outcome thereof.
Betting:
If the players pay 50 gold (250 in high tier), they get rewards for it. I assume the rewards are only usable for this scenario only, but since they spend quite a bit of money on it (50 or 250 is quite a bit in that tier, IMHO), do they get to keep it? It breaks the usual rule of "what you find in the scenario evaporates at the end," but since they more or less "bought" it (with discount), it seems reasonable. On the other hand, they lose out on money if they don't bet, so the reward sort of pays for itself.
I'm personally inclined to go with the idea that if you don't use it, you lose it. but I'm just posting this to be sure, as I might get asked this question at my table and I'd like an official ruling to fall back on.
Has there been any clarification on Concordance boon listed on the chronicle? I've searched the forums & GM thread and not found any further information regarding it, but it seems very unclear to me.
Concordance boon:
(4 boxes) Elemental Investigator (Concordance): The insight you have gained from your studies in the First World helps you channel the influence of the seasons, honing your understanding of the balance of elemental forces. You may check off the first box before this boon in the spring, the second in the summer, the third in the autumn, and the fourth in the winter, using real-world seasons. For the abilities listed below, your character level is equal to your character level.
Spring: You can channel the essence of autumn's harvest. This functions as goodberry, except that its target is any plant, and it causes 2d4 pumpkins to sprout that grant the berry's typical benefits.
Summer: You can channel the essence of winter's chill into a creature you touch. This functions as shocking grasp, except that it deals cold damage instead of electricity damage.
Autumn: You can channel the essence of spring's growth, casting entange as a spell-like ability.
Winter: You can channel the essence of summer's heat, casting burning hands as a spell-like ability.
Once you have checked all four boxes, you gain access to the elf racial spell ward of the seasons (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 29) on all of your Pathfinder Society characters as if they were elves. Your elf PCs gain a +1 bonus to their effective caster level for the purposes of this spell.
Specific questions (as summer is rapidly approaching):
1) When do I check these boxes? It doesn't say anything about what triggers the option except that it must be during the given time in the real world.
1a) Given that it is currently still spring right now, can I check the first box now and then wait a couple weeks and check the summer box? Or do I need to apply another chronicle before I can check the box?
2) Do I need to check the boxes in order? It doesn't list that requirement, but I've heard it explained that way.
3) How often are these abilities available to me? It doesn't say to cross anything off or use checkboxes to track it like the normal limited boons are; the abilities themselves don't list any sort of usage restrictions either. Does that mean they're at will?
4) Are the two abilities which are not explicitly called out as SLAs (Spring & Summer) Spell-like Abilities?
1) You check the box when you wish to use the ability matching that season. a) You can only use the spring one right now. In a couple weeks, you will only be able to check the summer box.
2) No. You can only check the box that matches the current real world season.
3) Once. After you check the box, you can no longer check it again to activate the ability.
I keep meaning to sit down and write a proper review, but until then...
This was a great scenario!
Mild spoilers:
I loved the look at the First World, and the encounters therein really reminded me of all the folklore and faerie tales I read as a kid. Really liked the manner of entry/exit, too, and what you end up with as a result!
