A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 11th- through 14th-level characters.
Strange earthquakes have been rocking the small town of Pimatsih in Sarkoris, and it seems to coincide with the arrival of Hesla Embersplitter and her newest acquisition: Riftcarver, the scythe that once wielded by Deskari, the demon lord who ripped open the Worldwound. As the PCs arrive to investigate and help secure the town, a demonic incursion begins, and they must work to help bring the Sarkorians together to keep the town and its inhabitants safe. However, lurking behind the horde, the Split Ember has made the Lord of Locusts walk again and he turns his hungry gaze and maw toward the Pathfinders.
Walks is a combat scenario that starts with a long skill challenge section.
I think what most players will like the least about this scenario is how hard Paizo works at making sure you lose 2-4 treasure bundles. Why?? Especially at high level where they represent a lot of gold. I’m not someone who gets upset at missing the odd treasure bundle, but the way it was done in this scenario was unfair. We had a highly skilled team, and we still missed 2 bundles from the skill challenge (after using significant hero points for re-rolls). And then, through no fault of our own, the demons ate another 2 treasure bundles before we could even act in combat. It doesn’t make sense that Paizo is so determined that PCs don’t get all 10 treasure bundles knowing that’s what the fans want unless the PCs really screw up.
The other thing that was disappointing about this scenario is that Walks felt exactly like every other scenario. Does Paizo use skill challenges as a filler for word count and time at the table? Because that’s what it feels like. There was nothing special about this scenario, it was the same as a lower-level scenario except it had bigger numbers. Go do some skill challenges and help the village, which took a very long time and was a boring way to start the scenario. Good, now fight some creatures. Then fight the boss. Done. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by other high level scenarios, especially in PF1, but they have always been special and memorable.
The other problem is with this season itself. Embersplitter as an enemy that literally no one cares about. Unless you play every scenario in season 6 (like Heart of the City), you won’t even know her full backstory. And even if you know her backstory, it doesn’t really make a lot of sense, and you still don’t care. She wants revenge on her cult. GREAT! You don’t need a demon lord to do that, just ask and we could have helped, for free. If she hates the cult so much, why is she acting exactly like them, even after they are gone? If she wants to rule a region, how is killing everyone in the region going to help? Who are you going to rule over? Also, why did she get so powerful from the Godsrain? My character was also rained on in Carnival, why am I not permanently mythic as well? Why isn’t most of Absalom mythic? They were also rained on. I’m sorry, but to me Embersplitter doesn’t make sense and PFS players are just apathetic towards her. We don’t care. We cared about Runelord Krune, 322, and even the hag Aslynn, not her.
The scenario also suffers from a lack of narrative tension before facing Deskari. Initially we are there just to check out some earthquake activity, and before we know it, we’re on a conveyor belt of skill checks and creature encounters and then Deskari is there. There is no time or space to think, just react. When Deskari went down, there was just indifference at the table.
Lots of things didn’t make sense:
The earthquakes did at least 90 damage to me. And I was outside (being inside is worse)!!! And I made most of my saving throws.
How is there anyone alive in the town after the earthquake that did 90+ damage to level 11 heroes? Why am I giving villagers first aid in a medical tent? Everyone should be DEAD. Yet here we are, saving townspeople and stopping demons from eating them. This made absolutely no sense.
Of all of the encounters we could have had, why infernal fire giants? To me, thematically, it wasn’t good, making something infernal is just lazy writing. And why are triceratops allowing them to ride? You might as well make them infernal triceratops, at least it would have made sense. I would have preferred something more unique, or at least demons. At high level, there should be lots of options. Steal an idea from Wrath of the Righteous.
The final encounter against Deskari did not work. Deskari's design was to produce an AE effect, but this effect killed all of the swarm creature around him, greatly reducing the challenge of the final combat. I don’t think that’s what was intended, but that was the ruling at the table. He went down pretty fast as well, flying into us. So even the final encounter was a letdown.
There was no roleplaying at all. There was no story, lore, or any reveals.
Thanks to the white owls, it should be nearly impossible to lose any combat encounters. We never used a single owl, we had 4 owls left at the end, representing around 264 HP of healing for each member of the party. Lately I’ve been noticing that there are several mechanics (owls, edge points, allies) that make it impossible to lose in scenarios. I hope this isn’t a trend because it's getting annoying.
Detailed rating:
Length: I can’t remember. Between 4-5 hours.
Experience: Player, level 11, at subtier 11-12.
Sweet Spot: ?
Entertainment: It felt like every other scenario. I was surprised I wasn’t milking a cow or taking care of children in the village. (3/10)
Story: No story, no lore, no setting, no NPCs. (1/10)
Roleplay: No roleplay. (1/10)
Combat/Challenges: You cannot lose in combat thanks to the owls. You’re setup to lose bundles. The boss was a letdown. (2/10)
Maps: The flip maps made sense in this scenario. (7/10)
Boons: I can’t see us ever using mythic again, so this boon is useless and just marketing purposes. (2/10)
Uniqueness: The attack on the village was very generic. (2/10)
GM Preparation: I could be wrong, but this should be easy to prepare. It’s all combat with straight forward creatures.
Overall: Certain elements of this scenario made it annoying and unrealistic. High level scenarios should be memorable. The worst part is that we just felt apathy towards the entire experience. And to season 6 in general. (5/10)
Wow!! This is the first level 12+ adventure in pfs 2nd edition. There's a decent amount of content now for 10-12 that I may well dust off the chronicle sheets for my original barbarian.
My druid is going to be prepping some metal (cold iron) spells for this. To bad my leucrotta (awakened animal) champion will be to low level, she would love to kick a demon lord's butt.
