An Osirian noblewoman has discovered the lost pyramid of Ahn'Selota buried beneath the shifting desert sands. Hidden within it is a great magic that allowed the Four Pharaohs of
Ascension to rule the land. If this corrupt sorceress gets her hands on this power, she'll
bring back the ancient pharaohs and rule beside them, eradicating the current government
in Osirion and plunging the region into immortal despotism. With tens of thousands of
lives at stake, the only way for the PCs to stop her is to find the source of the magic before
she does and destroy it—or steal it for themselves.
The Pact Stone Pyramid is a dungeon-based adventure compatible
with the 3.5 edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game. This adventure includes
all you need to send your heroes into an ancient trap-filled pyramid guarded by strange
monsters and concealing the secret magic of the millennia-old pharaohs.
Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, OGL-compatible adventures for use with the world's most popular fantasy RPG. All Pathfinder Modules include four pre-made characters so players can jump right into the action, and full-color maps to enhance play.
Written by Michael Kortes
ISBN 13: 978-1-60125-145-9
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
The Pact Stone Pyramid lives up to its reputation as one of the best of Paizo's 3.5-era modules. I ran it as part of my "Roots of Golarion" campaign of pre-PFRPG adventures, and everyone at the table agreed it was excellent. The adventures works perfectly as a standalone experience, but also ties intriguingly into the Aucturn Enigma storyline that began with Entombed with the Pharaohs and concludes (many real-life years later!) with the Doomsday Dawn playtest adventure. The adventure has a great combination of open, sand-boxy elements, strong NPCs, and some really original dungeon-type challenges. Getting to experience some of this early material is one of the two main reasons I started the Roots of Golarion campaign (the other being to game regularly with my son), and I'm really glad I did.
SPOILERS!:
Set entirely in the Egypt-analogue country of Osirion in Golarion, The Pact Stone Pyramid adds some fascinating lore to the setting. Several millennia ago, Osirion was ruled for a time by the legendary Four Pharaohs of Ascension--the Fiend Pharaoh, the Radiant Pharaoh, the Cerulean Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh of Numbers. To ensure they would never betray one another, they used an artifact called the Pact Stone to magically bind their life forces together, so that the death of one would be the death of all. The Pact Stone was hidden in a temple called Ahn'Selota outside the ancient city of Tumen. As every Osirionotologist knows, one pharaoh died from an incurable disease and thus dragged the others to their deaths, thus ending their reign.
All of that is history and legend, but the immediate background to the adventure involves a powerful noblewoman named Exemplar Khymrasa. Khymrasa has developed an obsession with the tales and believes that, if she finds the pyramid where the Pact Stone is hidden, she can resurrect the other three Pharaohs of Ascension and then out of gratitude they'll welcome her as the new fourth member of the quartet, displacing the current government of Osirion entirely and ushering in a new age. To that end, Khymrasa has used her vast resources to search high and low for Ahn'Selota, and has finally pinpointed the site. Though the pyramid is buried under tons of sand, she's launched an extensive excavation operation.
This is where the PCs come in. The Pathfinder Society also has an interest in the ancient pyramid, though (perhaps a bit oddly) not particularly because of the Pact Stone. Instead, Venture-Captain Jalden Krenshar explains in Sothis, it's because a cache of ancient lost seeds may be preserved there--seeds that could help the deserts of Osirion flourish with life. An horticulturalist sage named Hoffenburrow is on his way to the site from another mission, but Krenshar needs the PCs to slow down the dig for a week or two until he arrives and they can help him retrieve the seeds. Krenshar explains that the Pathfinders have one ace up their sleeves: an agent known only as the Mithral Scarab (recurring from Entombed with the Pharaohs) has gone undercover as a slave at the dig site, and will be the PCs' contact person there.
The module handwaves the journey to the dig site and assumes the PCs will be easily able to disguise themselves as slaves on the premise that there are thousands of people working there and no one really knows anyone else. I probably would have liked to have seen these aspects of the adventure fleshed out a bit, as the Disguise skill is often underused in adventures and would have been excellent to spotlight here. In any event, the Mithral Scarab soon finds the PCs and fills them in on her plan. She's been subtly spreading word that the dig is cursed, and that terrible things will happen if it continues. If the PCs can assist with some tangible sabotage, that will lend credence to the rumor and slow things down. This part of the adventure is really fun and open-ended. The module suggests several different things (with associated skill DCs) the PCs can do for sabotage, such rigging pulleys to fail, cutting wagon axles, or even animating the dead at the slave graveyard! PCs love to have an excuse to be sneaky and creative in wrecking things--for example, my son used illusion magic to help bolster the curse story. My only suggestion for this part of the adventure is that it would have been really helpful if the module gave the GM more information on the timeline of the dig and how much certain actions would slow it down--something like an abstract "Sabotage Points" mechanism would have been great here.
The dig site isn't unguarded, of course, and as the sabotage mounts Exemplar Khymrasa will start sending out forces to find the culprits. These include her allies, the Sand Sage (an expert in divination magic!) and Master Soan and his monks from the Shrine of Horns in Egorian. These NPCs have full artwork and write-ups in the appendix (as does Khymrasa), and are suitably dangerous foes with interesting backstories. There's a lot of flexibility in how the GM handles this section of the adventure, which is something I always appreciate.
At some point, despite the sabotage, Khymrasa's army of slaves will succeed in uncovering the pyramid. The second part of the module takes place inside Ahn-Selota and assumes the PCs either rush inside to explore it before Khymrasa's scouts can, or that they actually strike up a deal with her by promising to bring her the Pact Stone on the condition they keep anything else. The pyramid itself is certainly not another dull, uninspired dungeon crawl. True, there are traps, monsters, and treasures, but some real originality and thought went into designing it. For foes, I loved the "reincarnix" (a monster that, once killed, comes back to life in a different form a few rounds later), the "portal golem" (a golem with a permanent passwall in its chest that provides access to different areas of the pyramid), a swarm that's a deadly combination of invisible and has an aura of silence around it (meaning a PC might be getting chewed up by something they can't see and can't warn the others about), and more. For traps and puzzles, there's a classic "doubling coin" trap (more money seems great at first until the hoard risks crushing you to death), a treasury protected by an antilife shell, gem-capped stakes that, when pulled out of the wall brings a vampire on the other side back to life, and the need to figure out to use gaseous form (or super-shrinking) to navigate narrow tubes connecting one level to the next. There's some really clever elements here. (My PCs actually ended up bypassing some of the early rooms by deciding to simply dimension door in, and I had to quickly do some math to see where they ended up.)
Something akin to a "boss" in the pyramid is Suekahn, a "ghalshoaton devil" bound to the pyramid until it has slain 56 intruders. He's an interesting figure because he actually wants the PCs to disable as many of the traps as possible so that more people will come into the pyramid, and sometimes he'll bail the group out when they get in a bind. The appendix has a two-page entry on ghalshoaton devils--they've never been updated and collected elsewhere, potentially because the Osirion-specific nature of their powers and backstory doesn't necessarily fit so well their being devils from Hell.
A great twist is that the legendary Pact Stone is not at all what Khymrasa envisioned. Instead of a portable artifact that the PCs could bring out to her, it actually constitutes the floor of an entire chamber of the pyramid and is completely immobile! Just by walking on the floor together, the PCs could become temporarily bound together themselves by its magic, which has some really interesting implications: their hit points are pooled, healing someone heals the pool, but if one dies, they all die! The pyramid also contains some items tying into the Aucturn Enigma, including a countdown clock and The Last Theorem.
Once the PCs emerge from the pyramid, the third and final part of the adventure begins. While they've been inside, Khymrasa's forces will have found and captured the Mithral Scarab and Hoffenburrow, and are holding them hostage. The PCs may be able to trick Khymrasa by giving her something else found in the pyramid and claiming it's the Pact Stone--if so, everyone may be able to walk away without further violence. Probably more likely is that there's a final encounter that could be pretty exciting depending on how it's handled.
As I said in the intro, The Pact Stone Pyramid features a great mix of scripted and improv-style elements. The backstory is fascinating, the encounters are original, and there's great flavour throughout. I highly recommend this one.
The Pact Stone Pyramid is a fun little romp packed with great concepts, interesting crunch, and beautiful fluff. There are conceptual gems scattered throughout the adventure that continue to inspire me even more than a year after I have picked the adventure up, and the encounters are really first-rate.
Fantastic Reimagining of Egyptian-style Adventures
First, there simply is not enough Egyptian-style adventures in the industry. J1 and J4 are destined to be classics in this sub-genre.
From early hints about the adventure I was afraid it would be J1 redux. It most certainly is not. Its plot stands on its own, and is in no way a duplicate of J1.
I started reading the adventure part and was immediately amazed at the fantastic use of boring old monsters. With just two staple monsters of the adventure I felt it was a real place, using fantasy monsters to give it real life.
Then there are the traps. If you like traps you will LOVE this adventure. If your PCs do not enjoy thinking or being challenged then look elsewhere. The traps are imaginative, cleaver and full of flavor. As a spoiler and teaser...
Spoiler:
The beetles ROCK! I won't tell ya more. Buy this and see for yourself. Bloody freaking wicked.
The plot does build upon information learned in J1 (but certainly is not required to play J4), and I think J1 and J4 should be played together in some kind of combination.
Michael Kortes proves you don't need mummies for Egyptian-style adventuring.
Quite simply put, buy J1 and J4 and prepare for some darn good reading and some darn good gaming.
Bad side... a few typos, but super easy to get past that.
If I could give it better than 5 stars I would. I have become a definite fan of Michael Kortes, and look forward to MANY more adventures by him (hopefully set in Osirion).
it's still great. I think the pyramid itself is actually a weak point in the module- it's cool and very interesting, but it lacks the wonderful "Mummy" feel that I liked so much about everything else here. if you played and liked J1, go for this one too
Thank you for listening to us fans. You have a poll to ask what sequels we want and here it is - by popular demand. I want to be the first to say - we want even more. I am loving everything you have done since beginning Pathfinder.
Having said that, another race against another evil band of opponents?
Hey all,
I just wanted to say that the fact that people are concerned about overlap and J4’s direction this early on means a lot to me. For what it’s worth I’d also like to say I am in agreement with the views expressed above. So are the Paizo guys involved and they actually looked into this independently quite some time back.
I’m not sure how much can be said this early in the schedule, but J4 will have a new shtick – no race against an NPC party this time. Hopefully it will prove to be something you will agree is relatively fresh.
There will, however, still be similarities. You should count on that part of the adventure will involve another pyramid exploration. And curses – definitely more curses. Also, those who played through the original will likely be well familiar with the Four Pharaohs of Ascension.
Mactaka wrote:
Right..what if you killed the other guys in the first one?
J4 is set up so that J1 is not necessary to run it. The default assumption is that Her Majestrix’s Expeditionary was slain in J1 and has no role. However, if you are a lucky GM and some of the Expeditionary made it through J1 there will (possibly) be a sidebar with suggestions on how to weave them back in to J4. There’s no way, for example, that Xaven Neversword would want to miss out on the events in this module. And there's a certain Paracount who. . . Anyways, if the sidebar can’t make it due to space restrictions, I hope a few of you will join me in spamming the boards with our views on the subject.
Anyways, thanks again to you all for your thoughts and impressions on this – always very valuable.
Without detracting from this Product discussion, let me say how much I am enjoying running everyone in J1 right now. It looks very much like certain members of the Expeditionary will survive and be looking for revenge. That aside, I am glad that their living is not implicit in this adventure. I had a major close call that made me move things around a bit, but incredibly left the two villains in question captured instead of killed. I'd love to share with everyone interested in both of these modules here...
Even more amazingly is that the people I gathered are none other than forum regulars Pygon, Daigle, Lilith and Eyebite to play in this. It has been a doozy of an adventure so far.
I also wanted to add that the Auction was a great and fun mechanic. I had my players wondering what the hell was going on when the underbids starting coming in on the really valuable items. I certainly hope to see more great scenes like this in the future.
After J1 is complete, this party will be set aside as another one of us GMs a different adventure, then we rotate through again. Once it comes time for my turn once again, this is the adventure our lucky party is going to tackle. Hopefully with some recurring villains and other issues that pull the storyline of both adventures together to form an epic.
Ask a Shoanti, I have a simple content question for you...
Spoiler:
Will J4 further expand upon the backstory from J1? I am specifically referring to the whole issue with the Dark Tapestry and the Aucturn Enigma.
If you can't say, thats fine. If you can, please let me know. If it is so, then I will likely play up the foreshadowing in J1 to really drive home the creepiness, if possible.
As a lowly contributor I never know for sure what will make the final cut in a final print product. Things gets removed, changed or enhanced due to space restrictions (or urp - quality control) and sometimes at the last moment. So I can’t make any definitive representations here. I’d be smarter to say nothing, but I love talking about this particular topic:
Spoiler:
Yes, Aucturn makes a return appearance as a sub-plot but in a slightly different way. I’d say it features about as prominently in ‘Pact Stone” as it did in “Entombed” popping up in a few different unlikely places. Hopefully it comes across as ‘X-Files' or "Lost" style: it will likely raise more questions than it answers. In particular, the countdown wall is back with a new twist.
So if it’s an aspect of the setting you like, go nuts, if it isn’t it can probably be removed without too much violence.
I haven't been buying the modules (I can't really justify the cost for the page count, even with how awesome the art and writing is) but jeez are you guys doing a good job of heightening my interest.
I haven't been buying the modules (I can't really justify the cost for the page count, even with how awesome the art and writing is) but jeez are you guys doing a good job of heightening my interest.
While Kortes is indeed a fine writer, I think the reason J1 was so popular was because of its setting as well. There are a lot of us who love the setting.
aye
the cover is great
mmm i need to elarn more of Orision, i have a few players that would love the setting...
going agaisnt evil archeologist... so much indiana jones.... they will love it...
Curse you Sean K. Reynolds! As if I needed more heightening of my anticipation of this module!
Unfortunately, my group (Daigle, Lilith, Pygon and Eyebite, your truly as the GM) is on hiatus...about 1 session from completing J1. Schedule conflicts, I hate you. We are having an absolute blast with it. I am definitely expecting great things from J4.
I am still very much looking forward to running this as a sequel to J1 though, provided we can get those recent scheduling kinks taken care of.
How effective would putting a mummy in a headlock really be though? "I have you now! All the blood will rush to your head and.......wait.........why are my arms turning black and dessicated?"
Silly paladin, headlocks are for people, not undead!
How effective would putting a mummy in a headlock really be though? "I have you now! All the blood will rush to your head and.......wait.........why are my arms turning black and dessicated?"
Silly paladin, headlocks are for people, not undead!
Right, but the paladin is immune to disease. Maybe she's grappling so that the other members of her party can do damage.
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OK, this module turned out to way better than I imagined - I'm just not an Osirionophile. However, Michael Kortes has delivered an incredible adventure full of interesting plots, unique characters, memorable encounters and some great mechanics. Being a mathematician, I really dig this one!
Very dissapointed with this module and how linear it is, with little, if any room for PC choice; it feels as if events happen in a certain manner regardless of what the PCs do. One of my biggest pet peeves as a GM.
I really enjoyed reading through this module, and can't wait to run it for my group. I love the Egyptian flavor of Osirion - one of my favorite realms in PF.
Very dissapointed with this module and how linear it is, with little, if any room for PC choice; it feels as if events happen in a certain manner regardless of what the PCs do. One of my biggest pet peeves as a GM.
It is linear in the sense of "PCs go into the pyramid, PCs (hopefully) come out of the pyramid".
However, it seems to me there are plenty of opportunities for the PCs to be creative at the dig, and how they behave in the beginning will affect their reception when they come out.
The adventure is also amazingly cinematic. I've had "The Pact Stone Pyramid: The Movie" running through my head ever since I read it.
Anyone know if Paizo have a spare 20 million dollars to fund a low budget fantasy film? If not, did Michael retain the movie rights?
Very dissapointed with this module and how linear it is, with little, if any room for PC choice; it feels as if events happen in a certain manner regardless of what the PCs do. One of my biggest pet peeves as a GM.
Really? I like it when NPCs continue to follow their agendas despite the PCs and/or in the background instead of just sitting around and waiting for the PCs to arrive.
a friend of mine got the J1 and say its really good, he plans on DM it to one of his tables and i am encouraginghim to run it also to our Online "table" for better effect i bought J4 as a christmas present for himin an intent to cajole him to run both this adventures to us :D
i so much want to try my mercenary in the hot lands of Osirion... i will tell you how it goes for us :D
Very dissapointed with this module and how linear it is, with little, if any room for PC choice; it feels as if events happen in a certain manner regardless of what the PCs do. One of my biggest pet peeves as a GM.
That’s cool Prashant. Thank you for giving it a shot and sending your thoughts.
Anyone know if Paizo have a spare 20 million dollars to fund a low budget fantasy film? If not, did Michael retain the movie rights?
Definitely. The release date is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2010. Right now the biggest hurdle is I can’t find a volunteer to accept the multi-million dollar contract to co-star opposite Angela Jolie.
a friend of mine got the J1 and say its really good, he plans on DM it to one of his tables and i am encouraginghim to run it also to our Online "table" for better effect i bought J4 as a christmas present for himin an intent to cajole him to run both this adventures to us :D
i so much want to try my mercenary in the hot lands of Osirion... i will tell you how it goes for us :D
I really enjoyed reading through this module, and can't wait to run it for my group. I love the Egyptian flavor of Osirion - one of my favorite realms in PF.
Hey Aberzombie! If you don’t mind, let me know how that game turns out!
Especially if your players come up with a cool new way to slow down the dig in the opening chapter. My egomaniacal players claim that even though they ran it first their sabotage stunts were the bomb and cannot be topped. I told them I would keep an eye out to see if there were reports of different or even crazier ideas.
Spoiler:
In the play test the PCs tried to scare off the slaves by masquerading as undead mummies at night. They used rolls of gauze bandages from a healer’s kit and threw in a few smoke sticks for some drama. Not bad for a low-tech solution, but it lacked poetry.
[DM holds up placard giving the PCs a “3” of 10]
Later they tried to make a fake plague by using summoned swarm spells. That sent a lot of slaves packing, but we all saw that one coming.
[DM holds up placard giving the PCs a “6.5”]
Lastly, for maximum cheese they tried to simulate a giant sandstorm with glowing eyes. They summoned air elementals and used a set everburning torches for the eyes. Lot’s of slaves briefly headed for the hills there until Master Soan shut the PCs down.
[DM holds up placard giving the PCs a “7” save for the Russian judge who gave them a “2”.]
just wanted to say this module is crazy. while most of the pyramid is not that great, IMHO, the digsite subotage and the finalle of the adventure are awesome. the pyramid is the bulk of the advanture, though, which is regretable.
Spoiler:
I did like the vampire assasins and the deamon, since they are recurring villans. the assasins actually kept stalking the PC's during the entire dungeon crwal, since the poor players couldn't figure out where the coffins were.
I know this module is super old, but I want to run it and then make the Dominions of the Black and the whole Aucturn planet thingy become the plot for the rest of the campaign...
However, what creatures would be good candidates to be the Dominions of the Black? With Bestiary 2, we have new options.