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Pathfinder Module: Cradle of Night

4.00/5 (based on 3 ratings)
Pathfinder Module: Cradle of Night
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Shrouded in Shadows

A desperate refugee emerges from the earth's depths in shadow-cloaked Nidal with an urgent plea. A new faction in the subterranean dark folk city of Lyrudrada—a wicked cult called the Reborn—seeks a fabled artifact called the Cradle of Night. Vanished demigods of the Shadow Plane once used this artifact to craft the elusive caligni race, and the Reborn want to use it to shroud the world in darkness once more. Cursed with the stain of shadow, the heroes must battle their way through the tomb of an ancient horselord chieftain before descending to Lyrudrada. Plots and schemes run rampant in this city riven with political upheavals and back-alley bloodshed, and the heroes must collect allies and information to confront the Reborn in their fortified fane. With the mysterious masters of the caligni race arrayed against them, can the heroes hope to shed their shadowy curse and claim the Cradle of Night?

Cradle of Night is a deluxe adventure for 8th-level characters written by veteran authors James Jacobs, F. Wesley Schneider, Neil Spicer, and Greg A. Vaughan. Featuring horrifying new monsters, lore about the vanished demigods of shadow called the Forsaken, and a stunning full-color, double-sided poster map of the city of Lyrudrada, Cradle of Night provides a wealth of secrets and dangers—if the heroes can survive the shadows that seek to overwhelm them!

ISBN: 978-1-60125-991-2

Cradle of Night is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download.

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Archives of Nethys

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4.00/5 (based on 3 ratings)

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Player experience

4/5 —

The module is fun and challenging but the PC's *need* to have access to magic (caster PC's etc) and ability damage healing.

I played as level 7 wizard (lvl 9 at the end) and had a blast! A cunning and resourceful party can prepare, bypass and overcome a lot of the challenges in creative ways. We had fun trying to think ways to even the odds.

But I can imagine that a party with little magical ability is going to have a bad time (then again, it *is* lvl 7+ module)

SPOILERS

Spoiler:
The main bad thing was the end boss. We had prepared with Cold protection so the boss was forced to melee since they had no other ranged attack type. The minibosses were much more interesting encounters than the main boss of the last dungeon.

The shadow corruption thing was awesome! Also the PFS chronicle boons were super thematic and cool!

Tempted to give 5 stars

4/5 —

Positive:
Easy to incorporate into Pathfinder Society / Other campaigns
Dark Folk and their society
Interesting and challenging combats
Engaging and captivating NPC "cohort" for the players (Aiyana)
The "Threat" of the module is easy to keep relevant to the players properly applied, makes keeping up a horror-theme quite easy.
Allowing Creative Solutions in second and third part comes naturally and enables players to tackle the opposition somewhat how they want.
More dark folk (and their mysterious patrons. Both the Forsaken and the Owbs)
The boons for Pathfinder Society are quite possibly the coolest boons I've ever seen! Especially the Bonus Sheet, despite not being terribly powerful, is something I am eagerly looking forward to using!
Theme and Atmosphere is awesome, and tastefully balanced.

Negative:
One combat can easily spill into a huuuuge and potentially very slow slugfest with tracking many combatants.
Second part eats way more time than first and third.
Third can be quite a drudge if your players live by the "Kill all enemies, get all loot and xp" mentality. Don't count xp, just go with the story and solve problems in smart ways and you'll be fine.
Boss monster, despite having a CR well above the paygrade of the PCs, is not terribly strong/interesting. The "lieutenants" are much more interesting.

Ran this module in a single weekend, spending around 27-30 hours on it with 4 players. I may be biased because Dark Folk are some of my favorite monsters/NPC's, and because I've been itching and waiting to run this since I learned about it back in December. I'm really glad it was sanctioned for Pathfinder Societ before the 2nd edition comes - it had been sitting on my shelf for a long while, and I would have been disapointed had it not been included in PFS1.

SPOILERS!

Background and plothook:
Background and plot hook for the adventure fits PFS perfectly, and makes this adventure super easy to incorporate into just about any adventure. The Aiyana, the Caligni that hires the PC's is interesting and engaging - I got a friend to help me by playing her so that I didn't need to worry about her actions, or without needing to think how much info she'd provide to the PC's. I think this decision made the adventure (and Aiyana) feel much, much more alive.
Since this was for Pathfinder Society, and since this adventure has... Some interesting consequences/mechanics/fights, I asked my players to bring a character they enjoyed roleplaying, but also warned them that they would face a very real chance of having to retire their characters. I think this worked very nicely and kept them on their toes, enhancing the horror element.

First Chapter:
The first chapter is a pretty straightforward, basic dungeon crawl. The location is thematic, but suffers from the "every room is an encounter" syndrome. Since most of the encounters are somewhat similar (despite being very thematically unique) in mechanics (incorporeal and ability damage), a party is either going to have either a very rough time in or relatively easy delve into the tomb.
I felt that the monsters and their abilities gave me, as the GM, a lot of flexibility in handling the encounters - it was pretty easy to adjust the difficulty based on how well the PC's were doing by adjusting tactics.

Journey to second chapter:
There are two different plothooks that drive the PC's from first part to the second part. Again, tying this to Pathfinder Society gave the PC's a good reason to follow Aiyana (It's their Job 'cause Ambrus Valsin told them so >.>), but the pressure from internal plot hook worked just as well, and properly presented, the NPC (Aiyana) also works as a great hook.

The Second Chapter:
The second part is easily the longest in the book. It has the potential to take up more time than the first and third chapters combined, despite the fact that the PC's could, if they just wanted to, walk straight into the third part. The second part is probably the reason why I couldn't give this 5 stars despite wanting to.
Firstly, I have mixed feelings about the first dungeon in the second part. On one hand, is quite realistic, and utilizes realistic NPC responses in a manner that you don't often see in scenarios - NPC's getting help. On the other hand, despite our group getting the jump on the boss and completely subduing him, they nearly got overwhelmed by what feels like an endless stream of very sturdy mooks. The "dungeon" has a chance, depending on PC's, of turning into a slugfest with nearly 20 combatants with enemies having hp total over 1500. And if it does devolve into such a melee, running the combat through several sessions could be problematic. After we were done, we took a break, went for a walk, and debriefed ourselves about it.
Luckily, the next portion of chapter 2 was roleplay heavy, allowing players to get deeper into the setting and providing the GM with opportunities to highlight the surroundings and society of the darkfolk.
The last part of the second chapter is another "dungeon", but since the group had a clear goal, they used magic to perform a surgical strike that was both enjoyable and fun for the whole group, although they did skip most of the spires. (They teleported right into the prison partly by chance, but mostly through good logic and guesswork, and saved the NPC's with a timely emergency force sphere).
The second dungeon would have a few boringish, fillerish encounters (looking at the beasts, the alchemist and Owb would have been interesting) that they managed to skip, which is another reason I didn't give this 5 stars - the module involves quite a few combats that don't serve a purpose you can't fulfil with roleplay(like the random street patrols - you can achieve the same effect (the noose is tightening, you need to find a safe haven) with just describign and roleplay, although having stats for such a patrol is useful). For smart players and characters that do stuff other than "hit things with a big sword", though, avoiding these is possible and recommended.

Third Chapter:
The third part is a huuuuuge dungeon.
For a group that's determined to crawl through it, killing each and every NPC and looting each and every corner, this will likely take several play sessions and lots and lots of time.
For a roleplay oriented group who are focused on their mission, it provides a sort of a puzzle challenge - how to accomplish what they want without starting a quite literal war of attrition by assaulting a literal fortress.
I had the NPC's that they saved, help scouting
Our group spent some time scouting and preparing, then teleported in. I used the NPC's to point out "prominent targets" that the PC's should take care to prevent a backlash against the general populace of Lyrudrada. Another surgical strike (started by a semi-random teleport) saw the main enemies (including the Huge one) dead in about 5 hours or so. My only complaint is that the boss, despite being seemingly though, has poor time adapting to PC tactics which made the actual boss fight a bit too easy for a well prepared party.
Don't dismiss the conclusion of the adventure either. It have significant impact on characters depending on the choices they've made.

All in all, I'm bad at writing reviews, but this is one of my favorite adventures so far!

A very flavourful module

4/5 —

I have not yet run or played this but I am in the middle of prepping it and I find that I cannot agree with the first review in pretty much anything.

The three parts of this each bring something different to the tabe. Part 1 ooks like an excellent dungeon crawl filled with suitable levels of terror and mayhem. Part 2 is more freeform, investigation the goings on in a very atmospheric location while Part 3 brings a suitably dramatic conclusion to the whole thing.

The entire module is packed full of interesting new lore on a group that hasnt receved that much attention in the past. The art style is a bit different to other modules but that is hardly a bad thing, just different.

Overall I really rate this module and I am looking for ward to unleashing it on my players.


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Grand Lodge
3 people marked this as a favorite.
kevin_video wrote:
Pathfinder Dada wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Nothing will be released for 2E until GenCon 2019.
Thanks for the heads up.
Nothing that's not playtest material, any how. But there shouldn't be anything new released for 2e until after GenCon 2019. And then that'll be for the updated and completed rules.

The play test is not actually 2E. Maybe a pointless distinction but a distinction nonetheless.

Grand Lodge
TriOmegaZero wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
Pathfinder Dada wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Nothing will be released for 2E until GenCon 2019.
Thanks for the heads up.
Nothing that's not playtest material, any how. But there shouldn't be anything new released for 2e until after GenCon 2019. And then that'll be for the updated and completed rules.
The play test is not actually 2E. Maybe a pointless distinction but a distinction nonetheless.

Technically it was the alpha or beta test. Nonetheless clarifications are good to do.

Lantern Lodge Customer Service & Community Manager
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Removed a post and reply. It's cool if an adventure doesn't seem like a product you want, but let's leave the rallying cries for other types of adventures out of a specific product's discussion thread. If you want to have a discussion or conversation about high vs medium vs low level modules, you are welcome to do so in a more appropriate forum.
Dark Archive
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Wow, it was really worth the wait; this is IMO a very well-written adventure with *fantastic* maps (designed by James Jacobs?), great lore and a nice bunch of new monsters. This was one of the highlights of the year for me! :)
Paizo Employee Creative Director
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Asgetrion wrote:

Wow, it was really worth the wait; this is IMO a very well-written adventure with *fantastic* maps (designed by James Jacobs?), great lore and a nice bunch of new monsters. This was one of the highlights of the year for me! :)

Neil did the bulk of the initial map design on this one. I think he did ALL of them in fact. Can't remember for sure, that was like 2 years ago!

Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Asgetrion wrote:

Wow, it was really worth the wait; this is IMO a very well-written adventure with *fantastic* maps (designed by James Jacobs?), great lore and a nice bunch of new monsters. This was one of the highlights of the year for me! :)

Neil did the bulk of the initial map design on this one. I think he did ALL of them in fact. Can't remember for sure, that was like 2 years ago!

Ah, okay. Then credit to Neil for that, because there wasn't a single "bland" or boring map in this module. IMO all of them were also excellent from cultural point-of-view, for example how the mao of the chieftain's tomb resembles a lot the layout of Attai's cairn in Tombs of Golarion. That sort of attention to history and detail is really important for me! I also loved the lore about dark folk, Owbs and the Forsaken.

Great work, guys! :)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut
2 people marked this as a favorite.
James Jacobs wrote:
Neil did the bulk of the initial map design on this one. I think he did ALL of them in fact. Can't remember for sure, that was like 2 years ago!

Yes. Those were all part of my initial turnover. I think a couple of them (the Seer's Grotto and the Forsaken Fane?) were tweaked just slightly on a couple of locations in the final product, but I'm really happy with how all of them turned out.

Asgetrion wrote:
...there wasn't a single "bland" or boring map in this module....Great work, guys!

Thanks, Asgetrion! Maps are always my favorite starting point when doing adventure design, because the initial outline starts to take shape (both literally on the page and figuratively in my mind). As I draw in various things, more potential story elements surface. Then, I try to weave those into the manuscript as best I can before editing it all down to meet word count. In this case, I didn't get to finish off the complete manuscript before I had to hand it off to James and Greg. Both of them (along with Ron during development) did a fantastic job. I'm glad you liked everything. Now tell all your friends (and post a review). :)

Grand Lodge

Do the modules assume Wealth by level for the PCs? I know it starts at level 8, but there's no guideline about starting money.
Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yes. Unless stated otherwise you always go wealth by level.

Anyone know if/when there will be organized play support for this module? I just bought it, looks great, would love to run it for the local PFS crowd in Asheville....
Grand Lodge
1 person marked this as a favorite.

It is currently in the pipeline.

John Compton wrote:
We have a lot of good momentum going on sanctioning adventures, having just released an Adventure Path and module sanctioning document within the past couple weeks. We have our short-term sights set on Return of the Runelords and Cradle of Night right now, and Tyrant’s Grasp should be pretty quick to follow. Even so, I’d not expect that last one for at least a month (sanctioning projects fit in between our regularly scheduled scenario production).

Grand Lodge
TriOmegaZero wrote:

It is currently in the pipeline.

John Compton wrote:
We have a lot of good momentum going on sanctioning adventures, having just released an Adventure Path and module sanctioning document within the past couple weeks. We have our short-term sights set on Return of the Runelords and Cradle of Night right now, and Tyrant’s Grasp should be pretty quick to follow. Even so, I’d not expect that last one for at least a month (sanctioning projects fit in between our regularly scheduled scenario production).

Hopefully it’s soon. My players are getting thirsty for it. Especially the wayang players.

As long as it gets sanctioned before October (AVL Scarefest is Oct 18-20 this year). I would really like to GM an organized table of Cradle at that particular Con.
Grand Lodge
John Lance wrote:
As long as it gets sanctioned before October (AVL Scarefest is Oct 18-20 this year). I would really like to GM an organized table of Cradle at that particular Con.

I’m also hoping for October or before. We’ve got an October Gamesday and every scenario run is steeped in horror, thrillers and chillers, or just plain appropriate for Halloween.

Scarab Sages Organized Play Developer
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh hey, look what else is sanctioned.
Shadow Lodge
2 people marked this as a favorite.

My my my...
Dark Archive

Ran this, loved it.

It's not currently reportable for PFS, though.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ye should probably review it if ye loved it since one star rating looks kinda bad for people who don't actually read the said review

(it definitely is better than 1 star at least iirc, but I haven't read it in detail since I'm not gonna run this any time soon)
Scarab Sages Organized Play Developer
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Tomppa wrote:

Ran this, loved it.

It's not currently reportable for PFS, though.

I'll ping Tonya when I get in today, see if she can help get the ball rolling on fixing that.

CorvusMask wrote:

Ye should probably review it if ye loved it since one star rating looks kinda bad for people who don't actually read the said review

[...]

And this for sure. Reviews already have a bias towards negativity, so it's always beneficial to publishers, developers, and authors to hear from both sides of the equation.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Commenting so I remember to review this when I get a chance. (Huh, 1 star, really? I had some minor issues running it, but nothing that would warrant that.)

I actually worked this into my Reign of Winter campaign (one of the PCs was from Nidal), and we had a lot of fun with it!
Dark Archive
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Michael Sayre wrote:
Tomppa wrote:

Ran this, loved it.

It's not currently reportable for PFS, though.

I'll ping Tonya when I get in today, see if she can help get the ball rolling on fixing that.

CorvusMask wrote:

Ye should probably review it if ye loved it since one star rating looks kinda bad for people who don't actually read the said review

[...]

And this for sure. Reviews already have a bias towards negativity, so it's always beneficial to publishers, developers, and authors to hear from both sides of the equation.

Was already on my to-do list ^_^

By the way, I heard that you were behind the bonus chronicle sheet - Thank you! I quite literally squealed aloud from excitement when I saw it! :D
Scarab Sages Organized Play Developer
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Tomppa wrote:


Was already on my to-do list ^_^
By the way, I heard that you were behind the bonus chronicle sheet - Thank you! I quite literally squealed aloud from excitement when I saw it! :D

I'm glad you like it!

Tangential, I was just flipping through the Chronicle sheets and I noticed that we picked up a minor error from somewhere on sheet 3. For total clarity:

Minor Chronicle Sheet error:

The Shadowbound Stage 2 boon does not prevent you from crossing itself off the Chronicle sheet. Ignore the part that says "As long as you do not currently possess a Chronicle sheet with the Shadowbound Stage 2 boon checked (but not crossed off),".

Am I missing something, or is this module still not reportable? I've looked between every scenario, AP and Module, and don't see it hidden anywhere in the list.
Grand Lodge
Steven LeBlanc wrote:
Am I missing something, or is this module still not reportable? I've looked between every scenario, AP and Module, and don't see it hidden anywhere in the list.

Nope, still not reportable. I've done the first two so far, but we're waiting to do the third one at the moment while the site gets updated.

Dark Archive

It's now reportable.
Grand Lodge
Tomppa wrote:
It's now reportable.

That’s wonderful.

Ran this a while ago for some of our regular PFS players - thought it was a great scenario and a lot of fun (I'd not run any high level content longer than a PFS scenario or two so had to do a lot of prep work, but that was fine). Players all had a great time, but as we were playing non-PFS mode characters and they're all massive cheese merchants some of the combat encounters were a bit too easy. I made some minor modifications for them...

Spoiler:

At the end of Part 1 when they descend into the final bit of the lair, I had the shadow collector there as a dominated thrall of haramil's shadow (the psychic one). Haramil hit the main melee DPS with paranoia while the shadow collector stole shadows and generally laid waste with shadow evocation. Made the fight much more memorable. In plot terms I reasoned the collector had followed the party through the dungeon, and taken a different route to them, getting to the final encounter first and falling under Haramil's sway in the process

For part two...

Spoiler:

Any time any named NPC had the option to escape from an encounter they did, and I had them reappear at the next one. My players really really needed to kill the bard who's leading the cultists in Aiyana's manor, after she managed to escape them twice. They were so happy when they finally caught her!

Part three...

Spoiler:

I had some of the more powerful NPCs appear together, rather than spreading the fights across multiple encounters. So shadow naga / nimbral child / high level clerics rather than hitting them separately. Properly scary final big bad, gave the players a real shock with the quickened shadow step!

One of the players was our (very experienced) normal PFS GM, he in particular really enjoyed it because it was different to regular scenarios. Great work :)
Sovereign Court

There’s something I am struggling to work out for this.

Which Forsaken is Veilisandri’s patron?
I don’t know which power it gets.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut
1 person marked this as a favorite.
GeraintElberion wrote:
Which Forsaken is Veilisandri’s patron?

I'm pretty sure it's Husk. Veilisandri uses the Owb Prophet entry on pg. 62 in the bestiary appendix, which has silence as an at-will spell-like ability, as well as immunity to bleed, disease, mind-affecting effects, and poison. All of those abilities are included in the Owb Prophet...which means other Owb Prophets would have slightly different statistics than the example provided.

Sovereign Court

A bit late but, thank you, Neil!
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