A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
In her latest venture to help fund the Knights of Lastwall and to bring some needed cheer to Absalom, Lady Hesla Embersplitter has announced a carnival within the Foreign Quarter, inviting the children of Absalom to come and spend some time among games and entertainment. As a sign of goodwill, the Pathfinder Society has decided to send along a group of Pathfinders to make a show of being around and keep an eye on some of the visiting students from the Dacilane Academy. However, the mysterious Godsrain doesn't seem to be finished quite yet and a strange storm seems to be brewing over the Puddles...
Carnival starts with you… taking care of children again, skill challenges, and ends with a series of combats.
I found the start of the scenario very whimsical and silly, like most PFS scenarios these days.
Silly design:
So we’re at the carnival and the Pathfinder children want me to win them prizes at the various games. Each time I win them a prize (fishing game, ball throwing game), they give me an 80 gold piece magic item. How can they afford that and where did they get that? Do they know the value of the item? I found this to be ridiculous.
Dancing with da bears is silly. We’re just clowns I guess.
There was a lore dump from Embersplitter’s apprentice but I can’t remember if it was factual or not, but it was irrelevant to the story. I still have no idea why they lore dumped on us.
The scenario redeemed itself with the final combat, which I found very memorable.
Storywise, I’m not sure why the rain had an effect on Embersplitter that was different than the effect it had on my PC or many of the people in the crowd.
I’m not really sure what story they were trying to tell here, I think the story was told better in #6-02 (Rain Falls).
Overall: Too silly and whimsical for me at the start, followed by a memorable finale. (7/10)
Except for one tiny thing, this one was super super fun!
As long as the party keeps moving, and you're up to date on who all the NPCs you meet are (except for the newer ones you meet for the first time in this adventure), it doesn't feel like a long time going through the social/skill parts of the adventure. The bear encounter is amazing on all levels, and the waves of undead were very satisfying, as was the "reward" for defeating the waves, especially since one of the players in our group was a cleric of Erastil!
My only complaint is the water depth in the final fight. The map is fine, but making everyone swim over such a large area kills so many builds that it made that fight drag on a lot. Even greater difficult terrain would have been doable, allowing PCs to jump and splish-splash around, being disadvantaged and hampered but still able to try getting in there, ya know?
The enemy was very flavorful though. The GM told us their story afterwards, and I wish we had learned that in-game.
Overall, this was very close to being a 5-star perfect scenario for me, just that last encounter made it a little bit less.
Especially highly recommended if you have a GM who plays an in-game soundtrack. That adds a ton to the carnival atmosphere!
The Verdant Wheel and Vigilant Seal tags were inadvertently left off of the product page and the final PDF. This page has been updated; the PDF is unlikely to be updated just to add these elements unless other substantive changes are made.
Organized Play Coordinator
