Pathfinder Society Scenario # 2-01: "Before the Dawn, Part 1: The Bloodcove Disguise"

NO SPOILERS

The title is a mouthful, but Before the Dawn, Part I: The Bloodcove Disguise is a heaping handful of high-quality adventuring.  It has it all: a memorable location, high stakes, multiple types of encounters, and an ending that will leave you wanting more.  The scenario is an early example of Crystal Frasier's work, and it's clear why she quickly became a rising star in Paizo's ranks.  The scenario gives the PCs a lot of flexibility in how they approach their mission, and it's a sterling example of a non-railroading structure.  I played through it and then read the scenario, and I'd definitely recommend it (and its sequel).

SPOILERS

The backstory and premise for this scenario is great.  In the remote jungles of the Mwangi Expanse, the Pathfinder Society has set up an excavation of one of the few known Azlanti settlements in the region.  But now the camp is under siege (by the half-mad soldiers of the gorilla king Ruthazek) and in desperate need of food and medical supplies.  Enter the PCs.  The scenario starts fast with their arrival at the outskirts of Bloodcove, a city of cutthroats, pirates, and smugglers dominated by the Society's rival organization, the amoral Aspis Consortium.  The mission for the PCs is to disguise themselves, slip into Bloodcove, organize supplies for a relief caravan, and then lead it to the dig site.  It's not going to be easy!

I really like a hidden sub-system in the scenario to evaluate how well the PCs do with disguising themselves while in Bloodcove.  It's based around the concept of "Awareness Points," and periodically during the scenario different skill checks are required depending on the type of disguise the PCs adopted.  Other actions (including faction missions) can lead the PCs to accumulating Awareness Points, and the consequences are meaningful: different tiers can lead to an extra encounter or even the PCs being forced out of Bloodcove early.  The scenario includes a little tracking sheet as well.  It's an elegant mechanic that gives PCs flexibility for different approaches and strengths, while holding them accountable for their choices (and rolls).

The scenario is divided into five acts, each with at least one encounter.

In Act 1, the PCs track down the man who has organised the relief caravan but is waiting for directions on where to go.  However, Raimondo Scevola has just lost his pack mules to a pirate captain while gambling at a tavern, and the PCs have to sweet talk, bribe, or force their new owner into giving them back.  A lot of groups (including mine) approached this with violence, but there are other ways to handle the matter, which is the sign of a well-conceived encounter.

In Act 2, the PCs head to a local trading post to purchase food for the relief mission only to find it closed because giant ants have broken into the basement of the place and are eating everything!  I confess that giant ants are a bit cheesy, so this was probably my least favorite encounter in the scenario.

In Act 3, the adventurers visit a local alchemist to find out why he hasn't been producing healing potions as promised for the relief caravan.  It turns out that his son is deathly ill, but that a local gangster has access to a brew that temporarily halts the boy's disease.  Forced to work purely for the gangster, the alchemist is constantly under watch--which is why the PCs probably find themselves in a knife fight in a cramped shop against murderous thugs!  In order to get the alchemist's help, the PCs have to retrieve the curative elixir from the gangster, who is currently running a pit fighting ring.  What's really clever here is that the gangster is a Summoner, and uses her abilities to conjure all sorts of monsters as a natural draw for her business.  The PCs will have to defeat the gangster and her Amazon-like eidolon in order to succeed here.  The encounter has an interesting setting and some interesting tactics, as the Summoner turns invisible and aids her eidolon through spellcasting.

Act 4 is the optional encounter that occurs only if the PCs' Awareness Points have escalated to the point where they've been discovered as Pathfinders.  The Aspis Consortium sends a gang of toughs and a special agent to kidnap and interrogate them.  Failure in this encounter (probably) doesn't leave the PCs dead, but instead they get tortured for two weeks, automatically fail the scenario, and end up with a permanent negative boon on their Chronicle!  You don't see much in the way of negative boons on Chronicles these days, but I like the story potential they open up.

Act 5 finds the PCs on their way to the dig site when they're ambushed by more agents of the Aspis Consortium: a Witch and several guards.  It's a solid if unspectacular encounter, boosted by a clever attempt by the witch's familiar to steal something from the PCs but let down by the fact that the text talks about it taking place "on the edge of a "large river gorge" but the encounter grid just has it on a trail in the middle of the jungle.  Setting it in a location where falling into raging waters below was a possibility would add to the cinematic feel of the encounter.

The scenario ends with the PCs realizing that a *large* force of Aspis mercenaries are hot on their trail, and their only chance of survival is to make it to the relative safety of the Pathfinder camp first.  It leads in smoothly to the next scenario, and is a solid cliffhanger.

All in all, this one's a winner.  The scenario makes good use of some classes that aren't seen all that often in PFS Scenarios (the Summoner and the Witch), the Awareness mechanic is great, and the general setting and premise of the mission is interesting and flavourful.  It's a job well done.