Suitable small module I can use as a side-quest?

[Peet]

Basically I am looking for a published module for somewhere around level 7 - 10 where the players are sent to find a powerful magic item. I want this to end up being

Spoiler:

Chellan, the Sword of Greed

which they get for a person who turns out to be

Spoiler:

Viorian Dekanti

, who they run into again at the end of the adventure.

So the actual item in the adventure can be subbed out for that. Bonus points if the module is set in Varisia and connected to Thassilon somehow.

Any suggestions?

[Itchy]

There's a couple modules that are in your requested level range.

They are:

1: The Harrowing: This one is probably the best fit. It is for 9th level characters, it takes place in a weird demiplane based on the Harrow Deck. You'll want to have a Deluxe Harrow Deck while you are running the adventure because it figures so heavily in the subject matter. The Harrow is tied to Varisian culture and since it takes place INSIDE a Harrow Deck, you can have that deck turn up in a Varisian Caravan in Varisia.

2:Realm of the Fellnight Queen: This module is for a 7th level party and takes place in the woods outside of a small town. Officially it is set in Andoran, but you could just change the town's name and put it in the middle of the woods in Varisia. It's got fey, fey and more fey!

3: Gallery of Evil is a 3.5 adventure for 8th level characters published by Paizo. This one is urban and pits them against murderous paintings. I have not played or run this one. I just found it...

4: Reign of Ruin: This is a wilderness adventure for 7th level characters. I have not read it, but it is from Jon Brazer Enterprises. Everything that I have bought from them I have liked. They are known for producing very well balanced products.

There are a lot of Pathfinder Society Scenarios in your requested level range, but I don't play Society and I have not bought any scenarios, so I don't know much about any of them. You could try hunting around using the Adventure Finder to see what else might fit your need.

[Skeld]

I think you have a pretty obvious choice here: Seven Swords of Sin.

Spoiler:

This is one of the first Pathfinder (3.5OGL) Modules Paizo released. It came out while they were still developing the mythology of Golarion. It takes place in (under) Kaer Maga in Varisia. It's a 7th level Module. The goal is to stop an evil sorceress and reclaim the Sword of Lust.

It would be pretty simple to modify this so that the players are sent after Chellin instead of the Lust Sword.

-Skeld

[Wiggz]

Skeld wrote:

I think you have a pretty obvious choice here: Seven Swords of Sin.

** spoiler omitted **

-Skeld

I was just about to type this very same thing. Excellent advice! Only downside might be the style of adventure it is - trap-heavy adventures aren't ideal for everyone, but flavor-wise and level-wise it couldn't be a better fit.

[Skeld]

Wiggz wrote:

Skeld wrote:

I think you have a pretty obvious choice here: Seven Swords of Sin.

** spoiler omitted **

-Skeld

I was just about to type this very same thing. Excellent advice! Only downside might be the style of adventure it is - trap-heavy adventures aren't ideal for everyone, but flavor-wise and level-wise it couldn't be a better fit.

Thanks!

I like the fact that it's stylistically different because it presents a different kind of challenge for the players and would offer a break (style-wise) from the main campaign.

But yes, I think SSoS is exactly what this guy is looking for.

-Skeld

[Peet]

Skeld wrote:

Thanks!

I like the fact that it's stylistically different because it presents a different kind of challenge for the players and would offer a break (style-wise) from the main campaign.

But yes, I think SSoS is exactly what this guy is looking for.

-Skeld

Thanks, Skeld! I've also been trying to think of a way to work Kaer Maga into the campaign so this will kill two birds with one stone.

I also do have a trapfinding rogue in the party so more traps are just fine.

[Richard Moore]

I am super-late to this party, and Peet may have already made his decision, but I just stumbled across this thread while doing a search for discussion of JBE products. I designed Reign of Ruin, so let me chime in on a few things here.

Terrain-wise, RoR fits in well with the Mushfens, but flies in the face of a piece of established Golarion lore if you place it there: the main antagonist of the module is a black dragon, and their kind have shunned the Mushfens for centuries because the Runelords previously enslaved them with magic. That said, the black dragon in question, Nyrionaxys, is a vain fanatic of a wyrm, and might just be nuts enough to thumb her nose at tradition and history and decide it's time the Mushfens were dragon-held territory once again, since the Runelords have been out of the picture for quite some time now. (A solid-gold sword of greed is exactly the type of treasure that would catch her eye, too, especially since it once belonged to the very people who forced her ancestors out of the marshes! She's the vengeful type...)

You'll probably want a substitute Golarion-canon organization to replace the Stormhammer Rangers (the good-guy NPCs in RoR). Given the Mushfens' proximity to Korvosa, I'd recommend they be reframed as an arm of Sable Company, although the Order of the Nail would also work (but the tone of your PCs' interactions with the Hellknights will be a LOT different than the ones described in the module!).

If you don't mind breaking from canon, RoR should work just fine for your purposes here--a party of 7th-level PCs will definitely be 8th level by the time they finish the adventure, and may well hit 9th if they explore the entire temple complex thoroughly.

That said, Seven Swords Of Sin is one of my favorite modules from the early Paizo days, so I couldn't fault you for picking that one, especially if you've been wanting to play around in Kaer Maga anyway. (In fact, I like SSoS so much that I'm currently acting as lead developer on a very similar sort of project... but I can't say much more than that right now!)

If you have further questions about Reign of Ruin, please feel free to respond here or direct-message me, and thanks for considering our module for your campaign!

[Peet]

Thanks for the feedback, Richard.

I'm likely going for the Seven Swords of Sin, though I may up-gun it a bit as the party will likely be 9th level when they get there. I've already planted the hook to draw them there.

I was a bit disappointed with the module as it seems like a random delve with very little in the way of theme to hold it together, and there is almost no interaction with Kaer Maga.

So I'm going to pick and choose the encounters I like out of it, and will likely only keep about a third of them - I don't want to level the party ahead of where they should be. I will also probably turn the gang of human thieves at the beginning into troll thieves. Maybe make the wizard at the end a Bloatmage.

[Akerlof]

Peet wrote:

Thanks for the feedback, Richard.

I'm likely going for the Seven Swords of Sin, though I may up-gun it a bit as the party will likely be 9th level when they get there. I've already planted the hook to draw them there.

I was a bit disappointed with the module as it seems like a random delve with very little in the way of theme to hold it together, and there is almost no interaction with Kaer Maga.

So I'm going to pick and choose the encounters I like out of it, and will likely only keep about a third of them - I don't want to level the party ahead of where they should be. I will also probably turn the gang of human thieves at the beginning into troll thieves. Maybe make the wizard at the end a Bloatmage.

If you want to get a feel for some of Kaer Maga's flavor, and some NPCs to work with, check out the "City of Strangers" Pathfinder Society scenarios, the first one more so than the second. That's an investigation scenario, and too low level for your players, so you might not want to take much from the plot and the encounters are too weak. But it's got some great NPCs, a map, and some descriptions of areas in Kaer Maga that really make the place come to life. People still bring up Miss Feathers on an almost weekly basis at our PFS group and it's been a good 6 months since we played those scenarios.

[Haladir]

For that matter, if you're going to run anything in Kaer Maga, buy the Campaign Setting City of Strangers. It's an amazing resource on the city.

My only critique of that book is that there aren't nearly enough interesting female NPCs.