Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory

2.90/5 (based on 12 ratings)

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

A crystal key from another world? We should look into that. What could possibly go wrong?!

In studying a strange key made of metal and crystal, the Pathfinder Society has determined that it is receiving a distressing signal from a remote estate in mist-shrouded Ustalav. Other people in the area have been receiving the signal as well, but without the key, they have no way to interpret the strange messages and images. The Society must travel to Ustalav, investigate the source of the signal, and prevent the terrified populace from taking matters into their own hands!

This adventure is the first part of the two-part Crystal Key metaplot arc in the Year of Boundless Wonder.

Written by Letterio Mammoliti

Scenario tags: Metaplot (Boundless Wonder), Faction (Horizon Hunters)

[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]

The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:

  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Haunted House
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Dungeons Multi-Pack
  • Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Subscription.

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    2.90/5 (based on 12 ratings)

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    Avoid Avoid Avoid - very disappointing high level outing

    1/5

    I want to start by saying the germ of the idea for this scenario is a very good one - going to investigate an alien intelligence which is inadvertently causing disrest amongst the peasants is a really cool story hook.

    Scenario spoilers:

    The execution here however was a disaster in every way. The manner in which the above story hook is integrated into the meta plot is extremely sloppy,connecting the disparate elements of the Ardis Scholars, a previously more or less undefined entity, with the night hag Aslyn. There is also a ghost, and a member of the Ardis Scholars, who for some reason has an artificial heart. The story has 4 major NPCs (5 if you include Gleam the baby cu sith) and they all basically don't know anything. They can tell you the very basics, which amounts to about 3 sentences of lore and leave the PCs having discovered nothing at all.

    The aforementioned mob? They just show up and leave. Nothing interesting of any sort is done with this plot element especially since the mob is very very easy to just talk down. Why was it even here?

    You learn distressingly little information about the alien, the Ardis scholars, the night hags daughter who turned on her mother unsuccessfully. This scenario ties all of these elements and all of these elements contribute a little bit to the cool vibe of the weird electric lab. But that's all the scenario has time to do. It introduces you to a world of stuff and then you leave. This scenario would have been much more successful focusing on any one or maybe two of these elements.

    The scenario also tries to introduce several "hard choices" in order to set up fun in character discussion but the choices first of all the choice is NOT hard (there's just an evil option and a good option) and the scenario the party is being asked to make a decision about has absolutely no flesh on the bone. It doesn't even appear to be a choice at all at first glance.

    Even the mystery of what happened to the Ardis scholars is just completely dull because the answer is just "Aslynn did a thing and since she's the big bad we have no idea why."

    This brings me to the fights themselves. Talk about a lot of anti-fun. One fight is harpies. Enough said.

    The next is oozes and an ooze-like monster that is immune to evocation magic, so no fun allowed for like anyone with non bludgeoning weapons or offensive spells. The ooze fight happens in a locale too small to fit even the basic number of monsters let alone the ones added on for scaling adjustments and the same thing happens again for the third fight.

    Then a fight with a construct that hits like a truck and is pretty darn tanky. Having to do this fight after how resource intensive the previous combats were the party I ran for actually just chose to fail the mission instead of dragging their way through to the end because too much time had passed and they didn't want to do another encounters they were gonna need to chip their way through over a long series of rounds.

    Even the map itself is that same old tired haunted house map, so the PCs have absolutely no chance of being enticed to explore this thing for umpteenth time at this level. In the end there wasn't much here for the players to really sink their teeth into and there desperately needed to be more depth and less width to the proceedings.

    All in all, the plot didn't make any sense, there are so many NPCs crammed into this thing that none of them are memorable, the fights are miserably unfun, and so much word count is devoted to all these extra curriculars that we in the end didn't even really get to learn anything about the alien.

    An easy skip, play literally anything else instead.


    A few too many plot threads going on

    4/5

    This was played high tier, 6 players with 26 ACP. Party was champion, fighter, monk, investigator, bard, and druid with some archetypes mashed in. Run time was approximately 5.5 hours, only partially due to some unoptimized combat tactics.

    This is a very flavorful scenario, touching on a minor plot point from a PFS2 Season 3 scenario. It feels very Ustalavan, and characters who are academic or enjoy the weirder side of Golarion should have a field day. With that said, I think the story is a touch too elaborate, with the same information being conveyed from multiple sources depending on who does what and how rolls go. Not counting society quest givers and another reoccuring charcter, there are, by my count, 11 named NPC's involved in the backstory and current events. As events unfold, you pretty much learn about all of them to one degree or another and interact in a meaningful way with 7 of them. I feel like some characters could have been cut if not for the need to make sure the story flows forward regardless of party action.

    Encounters were a little generic for my tastes but still satisfying. Everything was justified in world, but I think enemy selection could have been improved.The scenario went with the add more than make tougher route, which still provided challenge without overwhelming the party. I feel like one map choice could have been improved as the descriptions don't make sense as depicted.

    All in all, I think it's a pretty fun scenario, just the dragging at certain point can hurt the flow.


    11 to 12 of 12 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Coordinator

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Announced for November! Cover and product description are not final and are subject to change.


    Always down for otherworldly technology.

    Dark Archive

    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    Wait.. It's REALLY continuation story of Sky Key (6 year PFS1) or am I confusing something?


    Vokialus wrote:
    Wait.. It's REALLY continuation story of Sky Key (6 year PFS1) or am I confusing something?

    Ustalav makes me assume this is

    Spoiler:
    Stasian tech, from Earth.

    The key described here doesn’t really sound like the Sky Key at all.

    Paizo Employee Organized Play Coordinator

    4 people marked this as a favorite.

    It's not the Sky Key, it's a new key :)

    Dark Archive

    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Alex Speidel wrote:
    It's not the Sky Key, it's a new key :)

    *sounds of frustration*

    In that case, can you tell me how the case with the Heavenly Key ended after 7-00? I know there was also a scenario for lube for him in Season 7, but other than that, nothing.


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Vokialus wrote:
    Alex Speidel wrote:
    It's not the Sky Key, it's a new key :)

    *sounds of frustration*

    In that case, can you tell me how the case with the Heavenly Key ended after 7-00? I know there was also a scenario for lube for him in Season 7, but other than that, nothing.

    I’m curious - what Sky Key stories do you think are left to tell? 7-00 has a fleeting mention of Jormurdun dwarves trapped in a bubble outside of time that’s never actually used, but I’m unaware of any other remaining loose ends.

    To be clear, I’d LOVE to resolve that time bubble idea and see some of Jormurdun’s folk return!

    Paizo Employee Organized Play Coordinator

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Map list updated.


    When is this up for sale? There's not much November left.


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Just picked this one up - it’s a lot of fun, and has some really nice unexpected continuity! Excited to see its other half, as what’s here is really interesting.

    Spoiler:
    Follow-up on the doomed explorers in the Tomb Between Worlds, a renegade daughter of the Society’s hag rival, Stasian tech being used for both an Iron Man heart and a psychic Faraday cage, AND an alien from one of Liavara’s moons?

    Advocates

    3 people marked this as a favorite.
    Scenario Blurb wrote:

    A crystal key from another world? We should look into that. What could possibly go wrong?!

    In studying a strange key made of metal and crystal, the Pathfinder Society has determined that it is receiving a distressing signal from a remote estate in mist-shrouded Ustalav.

    I have at least 4 Society characters who are natives to the country and have credible claims as to the opposite, spread across both 1e and 2e

    (Please keep putting them in awkward and/or scary situations please . They thrive off complaining about Ustalav)

    Dark Archive

    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
    keftiu wrote:


    To be clear, I’d LOVE to resolve that time bubble idea and see some of Jormurdun’s folk return!

    Really off-topic...but Starfinder Society does feature dwarves still on the Search for Sky (I believe first mentioned in 1-09 Live Exploration Extreme).


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    The encounter at A3 seems a little tight.

    Spoiler:
    My table needs two large and two huge creatures in a 20 x 15 room, and it would be even more crowded with more challenge points.

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