Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #17: Escorting a Mirage

This scenario was held twice.
In fact, this scenario is riddled with problems. The datablocks are strange, and some of the names of certain creatures are confusing because they have been used as they were called in Starfinder.
And the strangest part is that 80% of the text depicted in the background of the adventure is not disclosed to the players. Even then, the odd attempts to hint at their existence can cause players to be distracted by parts of the story that have nothing to do with the scenario at all. So I created a scene at the beginning and had the mysterious villain talk about all the parts that were not disclosed. This way, the background of the scenario was explained and the game could be played smoothly.

I don't want to say too much, but the scenario is poorly written. The author's knowledge and love of the Pathfinder world is evident, and while the past in 1e may not need to be explained at every turn, I wish he would have at least made an effort to make the NPCs with whom we will have the most to do with this time around more appealing. I had no idea who he was from the text in the scenario, so I dug back to the paizo blog and found one article. It turns out that this article is apparently one of the reasons for the uproar over this scenario, but I wish they would at least link to the sales page. I'll put it up here instead!
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si4p

In conclusion, I had to add and quote sentences to supplement a significant amount of dialogue and description when playing this scenario. I had to put more effort into this scenario than I usually do in association scenarios, because I knew that the players who played this scenario would not enjoy it.

Without making it a poorly Repeatable scenario, so .... I think it would have been better to build the story around only the old summoner. The other two groups have too weak a reason to attack, and it is strange that there is not a single explanation or judgment to recall knowledge about their religious beliefs and doctrines, especially with regard to the cult group.

However, it was a fun scenario to introduce the local customs to the newcomers to the session as well as to the participants. I would give the author a rating of 4, because a few lines of description necessary for the scenario would have made it much better, and I hope the author will continue to improve it in the future.

Finished running this online tonight at high tier. Quest starts well enough and allows for some good banter between multiple NPCs and the party, although the lead in text doesn't necessarily lead the players hard enough into asking more questions.

First encounter needs help as it's fully on the GM to determine how the mechanic should play out for 2 of the 3 options. Also had some feedback from players after that the location on the map doesn't align with the constant movement vibe.

Second encounter was good, examples fit with the scene that has been provided.

Final went well enough with some pretty fun meanies for the GM to play with and threaten the party.

Entire quest feels like it needs another quality pass. NPC blocks are inconsistent and encounter B needs a paragraph of mechanical description to help GMs. Sub group 2 final scene is also confusing (and both our tables ended up bringing him on the ship, but no option in the chronicle to track taking that action)

With a cleanup pass I think this is a 4 or 5 star for the Quest 2 series and I would put into regular rotation.

This adventure does some new things, and a lot of familiar things are done in a somewhat novel/odd manner. It starts by building up a grand complicated plot that links back more than 10 years into PFS1 scenarios, and while I do not think, that this does it any favors, it is also completely irrelevant to the story the player characters can experience.

That interaction did not set me up very favorably for the remainder of the adventure, despite the fact that I know the old lore (I just despair trying to get players without that to care for it).

The tone of the adventure and a certain element really feels more like it would be a good fit for Starfinder... actually, the adventure might make more sense if moved to Absalom Station.

The pdf seems to have a couple of issues, personally, I hope that it gets some more attention, especially in areas where combat descriptions and enemy stat blocks constractic one another.

Right now my suggestion would be to wait, this one feels like it needs some more time in the oven. Right now you can still absolutely run this, if you select the options with the least questions and find your own answers but I will have to come back to this review and extend it significantly.

Edit: The fact that the adventure has a "this is outside the scope of this adventure" is deeply unsatisfying, despite the fact that the quest spends/waste a lot of page count at the start.
Players can learn about the mysterious person who started the rumors, but are left with not way of following the story.

In this aspect, this adventure feels like a scenario that was pruned massively, and that leads to a very unsatisfying ending. Not sure if this an attempt to see storylines in this product line, but I hope this does not become a new standard.