8-09: Forged in Flame Part 1: The Cindersworn Pact


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Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I'm just starting to prep this, so maybe I'll have some more to say later tonight. It sounds like fun, though!

One observation from extracting images to print: that is a very.... interesting crop on Qalkami's portrait.

Regarding Pahu: any thoughts on how to present them?

Also, any thoughts from the author or developers on just how obvious we should be about the boon from Fires of Karamoss, and what to do if a PC tries to do the obvious thing--trade it for a bunch of money? I'm inclined to be up-front about it with the players since most of them will probably have forgotten all about it at this point. The question of why it's not actually worth any money to the PCs themselves seems like something that will be more difficult to describe without breaking the fourth wall.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

One more note: 8-5 != 9. Talk about fuzzy math! :)

(Just a silly little typo on the item listing for subtier 8-9 on the chronicle sheet.)

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Sad that my ifrit with the bounty document leveled out of this on Cosmic Captive. Ah well, just have to send my inquisitor to collect. :)

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Sad that my ifrit with the bounty document leveled out of this on Cosmic Captive. Ah well, just have to send my inquisitor to collect. :)

There might be more Plane of Fire action yet to come this season.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

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Terminalmancer wrote:
Also, any thoughts from the author or developers on just how obvious we should be about the boon from Fires of Karamoss, and what to do if a PC tries to do the obvious thing--trade it for a bunch of money? I'm inclined to be up-front about it with the players since most of them will probably have forgotten all about it at this point. The question of why it's not actually worth any money to the PCs themselves seems like something that will be more difficult to describe without breaking the fourth wall.

Consider using the extended opening (and all of its knowledgable NPCs) as a means of conveying the bounty's value. Qalkami might have heard that someone in the Society "finally bagged that old lizard" and point out how the bounty is something of a hot commodity. Yasmine might note that bounty-hunting is a respected extension of efreeti law, and the bounty could serve as improvised credentials to those thinking to dismiss the PCs as clueless off-worlders.

Shadow Lodge 1/5

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Great new name for "The Boreal Five". Rush, a real fly by night band that find that all the planes indeed a stage.

If you convince them to sabotage their performance or not show up, they have another gig closer to their heart.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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Terminalmancer wrote:

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

Followup to this: if they conspire with Basira and lose, do they still lose gold even if they successfully enact their plan?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

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Terminalmancer wrote:

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

The PCs can continue to devise plans of their own beyond those listed, and they can always choose to force the issue by purposefully botching something. They should not ever be truly "trapped" for lack of options.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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John Compton wrote:
Terminalmancer wrote:

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

The PCs can continue to devise plans of their own beyond those listed, and they can always choose to force the issue by purposefully botching something. They should not ever be truly "trapped" for lack of options.

It looks like there's an opportunity for canny GMs to subtly push PCs in the direction of more sabotage, so hopefully my game will go okay. My first reaction (probably spurred on by my off-the-rails game of 8-06) was just to wonder, what would stop a party from simply committing two acts of sabotage and walking out the door, satisfied? I don't think the box text gives the PCs a condition at which they can consider themselves to have succeeded. GMs obviously have one, but I'm not sure the PCs would always know.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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Terminalmancer wrote:
John Compton wrote:
Terminalmancer wrote:

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

The PCs can continue to devise plans of their own beyond those listed, and they can always choose to force the issue by purposefully botching something. They should not ever be truly "trapped" for lack of options.
It looks like there's an opportunity for canny GMs to subtly push PCs in the direction of more sabotage, so hopefully my game will go okay. My first reaction (probably spurred on by my off-the-rails game of 8-06) was just to wonder, what would stop a party from simply committing two acts of sabotage and walking out the door, satisfied? I don't think the box text gives the PCs a condition at which they can consider themselves to have succeeded. GMs obviously have one, but I'm not sure the PCs would always know.

Followup to this: if they conspire with Basira and lose, do they still lose gold even if they successfully enact their plan?

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
John Compton wrote:
There might be more Plane of Fire action yet to come this season.

You mean to say there might be more than one scenario in which a boon can be used? How devious!

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/5

So Prestige. The vast majority of parties I would suggest will get only 1 prestige. As we have a scenario that seems to encourage a party to indulge in subtefuge and then costs them a prestige for doing so.

As I read it if you pull a fast one she will catch you, give you chance to explain yourself to avoid the fury boon but still cost you 1 prestige no matter how good the explanation.

Am i misreading that. Is that the intention. And are we going to get a load of grief off players about this.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Terminalmancer wrote:
Terminalmancer wrote:
John Compton wrote:
Terminalmancer wrote:

Thanks, John.

Hrm, a question unrelated to the previous ones. For the fourth task, the sabotage at the gala, it seems that the PCs aren't precisely told how many things they should sabotage.

However, PCs lose money if they don't fight their host, and fighting their host is predicated on:
1. Either failing a check by 5 or more, or
2. Sabotaging three things

If a party successfully sabotages two things and then either does not attempt or narrowly fails to sabotage anything else, they won't fight Basira and will lose money.

Is that intended?

The PCs can continue to devise plans of their own beyond those listed, and they can always choose to force the issue by purposefully botching something. They should not ever be truly "trapped" for lack of options.
It looks like there's an opportunity for canny GMs to subtly push PCs in the direction of more sabotage, so hopefully my game will go okay. My first reaction (probably spurred on by my off-the-rails game of 8-06) was just to wonder, what would stop a party from simply committing two acts of sabotage and walking out the door, satisfied? I don't think the box text gives the PCs a condition at which they can consider themselves to have succeeded. GMs obviously have one, but I'm not sure the PCs would always know.
Followup to this: if they conspire with Basira and lose, do they still lose gold even if they successfully enact their plan?

Responding to myself here, but in the absence of a more official response, I think the GM shouldn't be a jerk in this one--don't cost your PCs up to 1400 gold pieces for following your LG liaison's advice. Instead, I think the standard "Creative Solutions" rule from the Guide should apply, even though this isn't all that creative and the scenario doesn't mention it. If you work with Basira and keep the brawl nonlethal, he can send you a care package or whatever at the end. Since "working with him" means you lose the fight, which would otherwise cost you that gold.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

So how many bounty boons can be used in a session? If there are six PCs with the boon, can they each cross it off for a different encounter?

Scarab Sages 2/5 ***

Hey there everyone,

Going to be running this multi-layered beast on Sunday for one of the tables at our local meetup, and am still currently dissecting its contents, but I was wondering if there was any mechanical benefit to actually committing sabotage in this scenario? Since it puts some of the PCs prestige at risk, something that will likely be obvious to them as experienced Pathfinders doing their prescribed mission, I am a little nervous that this may end up like my playthrough of Destiny of the Sands P1, where no one committed any sabotage through fear of being found out, despite the moral ramifications of following the instructions to the letter. Any advice on dealing with this sort of thing/am I missing something in the scenario that my initial skim didn't detect?

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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Falgaia wrote:
I was wondering if there was any mechanical benefit to actually committing sabotage in this scenario?

Not as far as I am aware. I suppose it's worth mentioning that, although the "you screwed up and got caught" boons are almost always negative in the end, Part 2 of this one hasn't yet been released and so we don't know anything for sure. We can't yet rule out that there's a positive benefit to ticking off Qalkami!

Anyway, I agree that it's disappointing. Finding ways to sabotage the tasks is one of the best parts of the scenario and it feels wrong to have the additional successes not bolster the PFS's reputation in the city or provide some other minor benefit for the increased risk. Still, depending on how they approach things, there might be alignment consequences. Watch out for paladins, who might be hit the hardest here. And if you do have a party of goody-two-shoes you might be able to find some subtle ways to warn them, especially through their embassy liaison.

And most players should recognize the sabotage and metagame a little bit and understand that in most scenarios, failing in this additional task results in some sort of PP penalty or something. So while I disagree with the risk/reward tradeoff, hopefully your group will still play it as intended and won't get bitten.

Some other things to watch out for:

You probably shouldn't dock players gold for working with the mephit or the efreet, instead of killing them. (creative solutions!)

There's also a bit of a "donut hole" in the final encounter where it's possible for a party of PCs to perform two sabotage actions, consider their work done, and then wander off happily, losing a bunch of gold and a prestige point. I agree with John above, it's unlikely. But it can still happen. To head it off at the pass, you probably want to have one of your NPCs stress just how bad this party must be and obliquely hint that "Just a couple of pranks won't do the trick. I want more! A complete disaster!" or something along those lines. Let the PCs know, if implicitly, that 2 acts of sabotage are not enough.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Just played this yesterday and had a lot of fun. Lots of heavy role play, and my pirate PC finally got to feel like he was back in the Sczarni faction again!

Now I need to download it and start reading, since I'll be GMing it at a different store next week. That store has a hard time limit, so I have to ask: Has everyone been going long on this one? We went almost 5 hours yesterday, with a GM who usually keeps things moving well enough that his games tend to be short. I'm not as good at keeping things moving, so I'm worried about running it with a strict 4 hour time limit next week, especially since we may end up with 6 or 7 players per table.

And for Terminalmancer: I wouldn't worry about players only committing two acts of sabotage on the party. Our group came up with more than a dozen ideas, and were wondering if that was enough. We just had loads of fun with it. I can't imagine any group not getting imaginative and wanting to go overboard with that.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Fromper wrote:
And for Terminalmancer: I wouldn't worry about players only committing two acts of sabotage on the party. Our group came up with more than a dozen ideas, and were wondering if that was enough. We just had loads of fun with it. I can't imagine any group not getting imaginative and wanting to go overboard with that.

Glad to hear it worked out for your group! Mine managed three sabotages, although they very nearly left after two. Three of my four players were wanting to get out of there after the first couple of sabotage attempts went very well for them. Only the fourth player insisting on performing his sabotage saved them from losing a prestige point.

So while it's certainly possible for some groups to go overboard, not every group of players is the same and I think it's something to be aware of as a GM. Don't assume that your experience translates universally! :)

(Weirdly enough, the third sabotage was challenging Basira to a duel. The rest of the party was thinking "We've done enough! It's a mess! Let's get out of here!" and they were absolutely convinced they were going off the rails.)

Silver Crusade 4/5

Our group had WAY too much fun sabotaging the party.

1. We searched out the band ahead of time and bribed them into not showing up.
2. We crafted some (non-lethal) poison, smuggled it in, and put it in some of the food.
3. Our wizard used Shrink Item on several square feet of mud, carried it in as a tiny mudball in a pouch, dropped it on one of the buffet tables, and then dismissed the Shrink Item spell.
4. My Sczarni thug tried to recruit some of the servants at the party to become part of my new protection racket in town. That actually didn't work, but we found out they were magically bound to serve there, so the Liberty's Edge guy decided to free them, resulting in a servant shortage during the party.
5. Our bard used a high bluff skill to interrupt the party conversations and generally be annoying, while pretending to just be an unintentionally annoying person.
6. When the noble slime thing came in, we embraced the opportunity. Our party's hunter has a giant slug for an animal companion, with 3 intelligence and the ability to communicate... somehow. It made friends with the slime, and they attacked a buffet table in the most disgusting possible manner.
7. When the band failed to show up, our party fighter tried to whisper rumors about our host not paying them enough. He rolled as well as you'd expect from a fighter on a social skill, and Basira heard him. That pretty much set off the fight.

I also had Invisibility, Lesser Confusion, Murderous Command, and a couple of other socially disruptive spells prepped and ready to go, too, but I never got around to those. During the fight, I managed to permanently blind Basira with a Blindness/Deafness spell, so I'm sure that ruined his day when he woke up afterwards, too.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Fromper wrote:

Our group had WAY too much fun sabotaging the party.

[...]

Yeah, I really love the design on that last encounter. I think my party maybe had too much fun and felt like it was time to move on... they walked in with three serious ideas and a couple amorphous ones. Ended up filling the punch bowl with an emetic and convincing good old mud buddy that his sense of humor was divine and he should go get on stage and share it with everyone.

Basira had a pretty frighteningly effective first round and then got hit with a full-on confusion spell and that was basically the end. Interestingly enough, efreeti are not very good at harming salamanders while salamanders don't have any particular difficulty hurting efreeti. So when the player who challenged Basira knocked him exactly to 0, he claimed his victory and walked away, with one of the party spellcasters leaving a summoned salamander to finish the job and then run around the manor yelling about it. A well-placed hideous laughter on the one salamander bodyguard/mercenary who remained alive will probably lead to an untimely execution for the poor guy.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Edit: Nevermind my first question. Reading further into the adventure, I found what I was looking for. This is what I get for prepping last minute.

As for sabotaging Qalkami's tasks, our GM read it as we still get full prestige, even if we sabotaged one of them, as long as we didn't earn Qalkami's Disdain. I'd say that's a generous reading, but I can see how he got that. What do the rest of you think?

Of course, I should have asked these questions last week, but with the holidays and everything, I've been too busy to prepare. I'm actually GMing this in 7 hours, and haven't finished reading it yet, let alone drawing maps and other prep.

Shadow Lodge 5/5

Falgaia wrote:

Hey there everyone,

Going to be running this multi-layered beast on Sunday for one of the tables at our local meetup, and am still currently dissecting its contents, but I was wondering if there was any mechanical benefit to actually committing sabotage in this scenario? Since it puts some of the PCs prestige at risk, something that will likely be obvious to them as experienced Pathfinders doing their prescribed mission, I am a little nervous that this may end up like my playthrough of Destiny of the Sands P1, where no one committed any sabotage through fear of being found out, despite the moral ramifications of following the instructions to the letter. Any advice on dealing with this sort of thing/am I missing something in the scenario that my initial skim didn't detect?

I'm in the middle of prepping for this at my local con and this is exactly why I popped over to this thread.

It reads like a murder hobo's wet dream, and then reinforces that concept by providing all the negative outcomes from "doing the right thing" and absolutely no penalty for being a bunch of jerks.

5/5 *****

I am prepping this and noticing some errors in Basira's statblock. The low tier isn't adding fire damage to his weapon attacks, although the high tier version is. The PRD doesn't include it although the heat ability apparently adds it to all melee attacks. High tier Basira's slam attacks are statted up as secondary natural weapons despite being presented as an alternative to his weapon attacks which would mean he was using them as primary natural weapons.

Shadow Lodge 5/5

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This is a reminder to write a review if I get the chance.

There was a point where somebody at the table referred to it as "The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch redux". If you haven't played Many Fortunes, this was not a compliment.

The short and sweet though is that I absolutely HATED this scenario. Like bottom 10 hated. Not frustrated hated, but I hope never to see a scenario like this again hated.

One character defeated every single non-combat encounter. Three of the players had nothing to do at all, and two were only involved because they were Exchange members. Even trying to split out some face-time with each player, basing everything off of Bluff doesn't exactly do a lot to help one guy shining and everybody else twiddling their thumbs.

I also have to refer to the above noted issue with treasure, which is something really worth discussing. Every piece of treasure is listed in text as being associated with the combat itself (e.g. "after ransacking the store") or my favorite, if you decide to simply loot a private residence (e.g. "the decanter is built into the fountain"). Since the non-violent approach is not considered "creative" for this scenario, a literalist GM could easily penalize characters simply for not getting into a fight, and a lot of characters may not want to be complete jerkwads and just wrench an item out of somebody's house. My group didn't even get to the warehouse because their 65 bluff (no I am not kidding) convinced the guy that he was better in protective custody. Between that and the not-clear result of the party being deliberately defeated in the last encounter, it's hard to know exactly what the author was thinking.

I'm not even kind-of getting the like of this scenario. Not even a little.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

I was at MisterSlanky's table last night.

For the most part, this really was a scenario where a single skill could dominate, unlike most of the social scenarios recently.

Unlike scenarios like the excellent Bid for Alabastrine, you really had a single choice. Bluff the crap out of people, or fight.

Sure, there were a couple of supplementary rolls... like the forgery (where you had to have some esoteric skills: Craft: Calligraphy, kn:Arcana, Kn:Planes, Linguistics, Profession: Barrister, Profession: Scribe, and the DCs were decently high). Luckily, my character had Craft: Calligraphy (more for color, but he has done forgery in the past).

In fact, a single typical wizard could pull this off just by taking 10 on the two knowledge skills and linguistics, but what is the fun in that?

The Exchange faction missions were kind of fun... but it needs to be made clear to the players that you can choose either one for each target merchant. But, the final check, requiring only diplomacy, kind of spoils the whole chain. The previous ones allowed for much more creative roleplaying and skill use. Seeing options for bluff, intimidate, appraise, prof: merchant, and the like would have been nice options, even if the skill checks were different. Maybe even pulling in some abbreviated stuff from the social combat rules in Ultimate Intrigue (and/or Bid for Alabastrine) would have been preferable.

All in all, this scenario left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, especially since it required the GM to struggle with "How can I reward my players if they didn't go murder-hobo and/or steal from their friends?". I thought we were done with this era of the PFS... Kudos to MisterSlanky for his creative solutions!

Shadow Lodge 5/5

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I'm going to add another issue...

Other than avoiding the low-tier combat that can be a real mess for most groups, it is mechanically better in every way to just do exactly what you're asked to do...to the letter.

  • There is no penalty with the Pathfinder Society leadership.
  • There is no penalty with the Kelish embassy allies.

On the other hand, there is absolutely a potential penalty if you act your conscience rather than just murder, kidnap, extort (which I wish I were joking when I write that).

  • In a literalist GM's world you miss out on a good amount of the item treasure (perhaps not the gold, but the item treasure for sure).
  • You set yourself up with an opportunity to miss that second prestige point.

So other than perhaps not feeling good about yourself in the morning, the former option is perfect for Murder Hobos, and only reinforces that play style. Heck, even killing the other Efreet only results in a simple bluff check to explain to the cops, "this wasn't our fault", and if you fail that, You're let off without so much a slap on the wrist anyway.

This scenario was an entire step backwards.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

On the map of Brightcoal Estate on Page 20, what is that thing in the bottom-left corner supposed to be?

Shadow Lodge 5/5

Iammars wrote:
On the map of Brightcoal Estate on Page 20, what is that thing in the bottom-left corner supposed to be?

The stage.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Ah okay - that makes more sense than anything else I could come up with. Thanks!

Grand Lodge 5/5

Had a fun 2nd run of this one this weekend, including two Exchange PCs. It was hilarious, at times. Finished in 4 hrs. with only partial, one-sided efreet combat at the end as all the guests of the party fled the estate in the wake of an unhinged Basira lashing out in all directions at the saboteurs in his midst. Below is some feedback and some of the players' novel solutions that might be helpful to other GMs.

Some Highlights:

1. The PCs got Carlin Nestor talking and, instead of having him arrested after they bypassed the inevitable, they used the notes of his criminal exploits to help force him into service with The Exchange (and Karela).

2. The PCs used their rogues and Qalkami's lead-lined safehouse to foil the wards on Vassago's existing contract (they took it to the safehouse and then destroyed it), after which point they created a brand new 'contract of service' which looked like the old one (lesser forgery), but was, in fact very different and tied to Malini instead. Vassago returned with his (new) contract of service and the party bluffed past Qalkimi, fulfilling the letter of the requirement. Vassago then ferreted out and stole the old copy of his original contract in Qalkami's possession and returned to help smuggle weapons into the gala (then disappeared).

3. The PCs convinced Soheila to sign the trade contract as is by suggesting that she completely ignore it after signing and put one over on Qalkami by importing water to the elemental plane of fire in the form of ice or steam (instead of 'water'). The PCs had to find another solution as to what to do with this contract, because they were a little too 'helpful' with Qalkami in trying to understand their missions (after a successful linguistics check) and naively asked her if they had to retain the exclusivity clause (and, of course, she indicated that they could not remove it). After that, the PCs better understood the point of keeping similar advantages vs. Qalkami a secret. Haha! And, they succeeded in a highly devious manner!

4. The PCs successfully petitioned Qalkami that "Returning for further instructions" was, very technically, a 4th task on their list and that they had completed the terms of the deal on behalf of the Pathfinder Society. Qalkami was partly enraged and partly amused at the temerity of the crafty Pathfinders and knew that she was caught in a slight contractual oversight. They told her that if she wanted them to sabotage the party, she would have to commit to additional favors for the Pathfinder Society. She agreed to a revision to the deal and future favors, commended the PCs on their wiles, but warned them not to press their advantage too far. Haha! (I was thinking the players would angle for a wish, but they missed out on that approach.)

5. Sabotaged the gala by: using bardic performance and Ghost Sound to spoil the music, setting off stink bombs, spreading nasty rumors, putting laxatives in the food (with Malini's help), and helping free the Azer slaves. I let the PCs go slightly beyond 3 checks while Basira became more and more enraged, because it seemed like a lot of fun (and very satisfying for the players to reap the rewards of their efforts). As Basira foamed at the mouth and began lashing out with easy-hit scorching rays (also easy concentration check vs. musical sabotage - but helpful mechanic) and significantly crisping up the PCs, their last rumor was to yell - "He's crazy! He's gone insane! Everyone get out of here!! Run for your lives!" (good circumstance bonus)...at which point they fled, while taking some significant fire damage (!! - a couple of PCs were down to 1/3 hp before making it out the door - no healer & 4-player adjustment). Also, the PCs left long before the peacekeepers showed up. It's just as well, Basira is a deadly opponent on either sub-tier, especially if the PCs don't have resist fire/energy up.

Efreeti Caster Level:

By definition, in order to use quickened scorching ray (2nd level spell), an Efreeti must be CL12, not CL11 (bestiary error). Theoretically, a Malik (CL15) could use quickened fireball if that were the SLA tied to the feat, but it's not - perhaps a lost bestiary opportunity.

Encounter Rewards:

In general, if the PCs succeeded in the diplomatic missions, they received the rewards as gifts of appreciation - like from Malini. This aspect of the scenario needs review, as others have commented above.

Also, I did not dock the PC gold in the final encounter, despite the fact that the PCs did not technically fight or negotiate with Basira. Also, they found the decanter in the magical fountain while spreading rumors (9000gp reward).

Successful sabotage of the gala should be sufficient to receive the reward (perhaps less the magic items unless the PCs find them), since sabotage was the primary/required/advised task. The PCs destroyed Basira socially, and most partygoers left thinking he was insane (political impact). So, docking gold would only sour the gaming experience in the face of a lot of fun and leave players scratching their heads instead of celebrating their victory on behalf of the Pathfinder Society. Again...as others have commented. IMO, it's not the right kind of ending for an otherwise fun, interesting, mostly collaborative scenario with high RP potential. With alternate completion, they could easily be paid by Qalkami for a job well done.

Also, for GMs, it dawned on me during this run that the Decanter of Endless Water could be used as a weapon in the context of sabotage (or combat), especially on the Elemental Plane of Fire, assuming PCs can identify and wield it. The scenario could and should call attention to this point that might otherwise (likely) be missed.

Other comments:

- Some of the Untouchable Opal back-story, including info about the "powerful weapon," belongs in Qaradi's main box text or Q&A instead of just nebulous commentary about favors. It would help connect the story more strongly to the opal, Ranganori, events in ToW 1-3, Maelstrom Rift, and the conclusion in FiF2. Because of this omission, FiF1 seems to lack story continuity (for me). It's up to the GM to, perhaps, include a brief hint about the fact that the Society is trying to gain access to a powerful weapon to free Ranganori (since the background indicates that that is why they have made the deal). It increases the stakes from a story standpoint.

- Everyone enjoyed the diverse set of NPC personalities in this adventure: The sultry liaison, the down-on-her-luck efreeti noble, the fast-talking smuggler, the haughty naga and her treacherous underling, the star-crossed inter-racial mephit/devil lovers, etc. Lots of fun and a nice RP canvas.

- I liked the peripheral role of the liaison NPC, Yasmine, who could give advice and help out, as needed. Very handy to keep the game moving and build player confidence.

- The party for this run had a mix of skills, and I tried to give each PC their due (and/or also engage through the Aid mechanic). The scenario is bluff/diplomacy heavy, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Worst parting VC briefing pun of the weekend: "It's good for you that we have met. Just remember, if you're ever in a tight spot, all you have to do is look your enemy in the eye and shout 'You should think twice about fighting me. I KNOW QARADI!'" Hai ya! ^_^

Silver Crusade 4/5 ***

I just want to say that this is THE BEST scenario I have read in a long time. It allows for combat and non-combat solutions to almost every problem without punishing players for whichever they choose. It gives players free reign while giving GMs enough guidance to know how to adjudicate things. It gives you the option of going along with the evil quest-giver or subverting her. I'm super excited to run this on Monday, and I plan to leave a review once I see how it goes (assuming the scenario section of the site is working by then). Thanks for making such a great scenario, dev team!

*

My search-fu may have failed, if this was answered somewhere else.

Cindersworn Sidebar wrote:
Players who completed Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–17: Fires of Karamoss may have received the Outstanding Bounty boon, which provides them a very valuable document they can redeem on the Plane of Fire. Many NPCs can also see the value of the document, and a PC can cross out the boon in order to do any one of the following.

To clarify: does this boon have to be on the character that is playing the scenario or can any character of the player hold it? John's reply above implies no, so I will operate no until I hear otherwise.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Curaigh wrote:

My search-fu may have failed, if this was answered somewhere else.

Cindersworn Sidebar wrote:
Players who completed Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–17: Fires of Karamoss may have received the Outstanding Bounty boon, which provides them a very valuable document they can redeem on the Plane of Fire. Many NPCs can also see the value of the document, and a PC can cross out the boon in order to do any one of the following.
To clarify: does this boon have to be on the character that is playing the scenario or can any character of the player hold it? John's reply above implies no, so I will operate no until I hear otherwise.

I agree, I believe it's intended that only the character with the boon can benefit, not the player.

1/5

Apologies if this is obvious ...

According to the Game Mastery Guide, the Plane of Fire should have enhanced fire magic and impeded water magic. Typically, rules from sources other than the Core Rulebook are at least mentioned, so should the enhanced and impeded magic be enforced, or should they be ignored?

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
ForkOfSpite wrote:

Apologies if this is obvious ...

According to the Game Mastery Guide, the Plane of Fire should have enhanced fire magic and impeded water magic. Typically, rules from sources other than the Core Rulebook are at least mentioned, so should the enhanced and impeded magic be enforced, or should they be ignored?

While you're right, and they try to mention all of the rules, they don't always. I would run with full Elemental Plane of Fire rules if you're comfortable with them.

1/5

Thanks. I was simply wondering if "run as written" implied that the planar attributes should not be included since they were not mentioned. It's easier to rationalize if the enhanced (and impeded) magic should be ignored, it should have been specifically mentioned to do so.

4/5 5/55/55/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis

I would consider the planar attributes to be environmental conditions.

Season 8 guide wrote:
Additionally, the GM may consider utilizing terrain and environmental conditions when those effects have been written into the flavor of a scenario but the mechanics that are normally associated with them by the Core Rulebook have not been added to the encounters. GMs are always encouraged to reward role-playing when adjudicating the reactions of NPCs or the outcome of in- game encounters.

5/5 5/55/55/5

I really do like the scenario, but one thing i've noticed is in some scenarios: you you have A few too many bosses here. You're really front loading the players monkey sphere with a venture captain who sends you to a PFS ambassador (our first in game venture lieutenant?) who sends you to your effective boss for the scenario.

I've started calling Jorsal of Canterburry Sir Perfluous for always handing you over to the much cooler Olystria.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Just imagine what it was like when the traitor was still around to give missions.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/5

Which one Sheila Hindmarch or Drendle Dreng

Shadow Lodge 4/5

The one in Nerosyan.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/5

Sings

I'M AN ILLEGAL EIDOLON
whispers I'm an illegal eidolon
normal voice I'm a pathfinder in Neroysan

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

Jeff Cook wrote:

Sings

I'M AN ILLEGAL EIDOLON
whispers I'm an illegal eidolon
normal voice I'm a pathfinder in Neroysan

Now it is stuck in my head...

Ill go for the more lenient interpretation. If they subvert the tasks, but manage tontalk themselves out of it, they will get their second prestige.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

So, a few questions that I have, based on a run of this game last night.

1) I cannot see where Milani would gift the PCs with her stash if they cooperate with her. However, that being said, there is no penalty to their gold for cooperating with her, so I am a little confused.

2) While Yasmine's advise would have the character's modifying the contract with Soheila, but it never states in the section what benefit this would have. If they bring it up, should they still have to go through the four skill checks, since her goal is to "Win", pulling this stunt would seem like winning.

So, also, when I ran it, they agreed to work with Basira. They "play fought" with both sides being quite histrionic. Rather than risking defeat, he bellowed out something like "Run away, pets of Qalkami! Let all know that I am too powerful for the likes of her to thwart!"

On hind-sight, I would have him suggest that they use resistance or protection from fire, so that he could blast them all the easier (for the act, so that he wouldn't do damage). Would have been a better show.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

The scenario is missing a lot more than just those particular notes. There are all sorts of ways to potentially lose gold if your GM doesn't feel like being charitable.

And yes, there's no mechanical benefit anywhere for sabotaging Qalkami. Just a couple of karma points on your Silver Crusade membership card.

I still really love the thing, but it's such a flawed scenario.

5/5 5/55/55/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

What happens after pathfinders crash your party

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Sheep? Those are definitely sheep.

5/5 5/55/55/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Terminalmancer wrote:
Sheep? Those are definitely sheep.

imported from the prime material plane at great expense and little explanation to the society.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

2 people marked this as a favorite.

The high point was when my Urgathoa-worshiping investigator and the paladin teamed up to defend the imp-mephit marriage. After first considering forging another contract, we discovered that the imp's contract of servitude was lifetime. As an Urgathoan I of course hold that marriage is forever and ever.

So we hired a priest of Shelyn to stand by with a Breath of Life and "completed" the imp's contract.

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