Pathfinder Society Scenario # 7-05: "School of Spirits" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

School of Spirits is a strong, well-written scenario that rewards good role-playing.  It's not a difficult scenario in terms of combat, but it's a very interesting, satisfying scenario that ties in brilliantly with a previous scenario while advancing the storyline of one of the Society's factions.  A good group of role-players can get a lot out of this one, while the average "when's the next encounter?" group will probably complete it quickly and be a bit disappointed.This review is based on playing through it via play-by-post at Subtier 1-2, and then reading it afterwards.

SPOILERS

Way back in Season Zero, there was a scenario titled Black Waters (# 0-06) which had to do with Pathfinders being sent to explore ruins on the edge of Absalom that collapsed during an earthquake years before in an area now known as the Drownyard.  While there, the Pathfinders discovered the remnants of a school for children of the wealthy that had been submerged and buried--but within it, thanks to a ring of sustenance, was a survivor!  Comatose but alive, eleven-year-old Junia Dacilane was returned to her mother Lady Dacilane, and the Pathfinder Society gained an influential friend.  But that wasn't the end.

School of Spirits picks up the story seven years later.  The scenario begins with a "walk-and-talk" briefing by the eccentric and always-entertaining Drandle Dreng.  Dreng explains that young Junia has just turned eighteen, but her mother has become exasperated with the girl's insistence on being allowed to visit the Drownyard.  Lady Dacilane has finally relented and given permission for her daughter to go, but only if escorted by Pathfinders.  That's where the PCs come in, of course.  The introduction to Lady Dacilane and her daughter, who now calls herself "J." and dresses in the style of an Eagle Knight of Andoran, is handled well.

The PCs have a couple of different routes to take when escorting J. to the Drownyards, but either route they take will find them encountering a group of toughs who take offense at J.'s appearance as an Eagle Knight (they're either Chelish marines or Qadiran hotspurs).  The toughs are actually scared away pretty easily and aren't a challenge to defeat, but they're the trigger for a surprising revelation: a spectral apparition lurks inside J., and emerges to defend her!  J. grudgingly reveals that the spirit of her deceased classmate, Grishan Maldris, lives on inside her (in game mechanics terms, Junia Dacilane is a spiritualist and Grishan Maldris is her phantom).  In fact, Grishan has also been urging for a return to the earthquake's area because he has vague and incomplete memories of having left something important there in the magically-enhanced gardens of the Aboretum Arcanis.

Assuming the PCs agree to check out the Aboretum, they find it guarded by a tiny plant creature (a mandragora) calling himself Majordomo Pip.  Pip can be persuaded to allow entry if the PCs are willing to each give up a drop of blood (something fairly creepy, which, disappointingly, did not tie into anything else in the scenario) or he can be fought (alongside some "corrupted cockroaches" at high-tier).  Once they get past Pip, the PCs have one last obstacle before they find what Grishan has left behind.  A ghoran (humanoid plant creature) druid named Khaya has recently taken up residence in the Aboretum after fleeing Nex, and thinks the PCs are gardeners who have come to harvest her!  Again, this encounter can be handled diplomatically or result in combat.  Either way, afterwards, the Pathfinders can retrieve a packet of notes written and then hidden by Grishan.  It turns out that, when he was barely eleven years old, Grishan was recruited by his brother (a member of the Pathfinders) to spy on the aristocratic parents of the other kids in his class and report his findings to the Society.  The notes take the form of three handouts and there's several links to what are (I assume) storylines from other scenarios, but the crucial bit is the discovery that Grishan's father was not an Adoren freedom-fighter like everyone always believed, but had assumed that guise in Absalom because he was really one of the nobles overthrown during that country's revolution.  But even more vexing, Grishan's older brother knew of the deception--and that brother is none other than Major Colson Madris, the leader of the Liberty's Edge faction!

The PCs are going to have some hard choices to make, but first they still have their main mission to accomplish in escorting J. to the Drownyards.  Inside one of the ruined school buildings is a haunt that forces PCs to relive being inside it when it collapsed.  Haunts are good story-telling devices, and this one does its job nicely if the GM is willing to add some energy to it.  But another menace lurks further in: the restless spirit of another of J.'s classmates, Cassiel, who has taken on the form of an allip (incorporeal undead whose ceaseless babble can drive listeners mad).  Cassiel can be mollified to disperse, or destroyed: the choice is the PCs'.

The last encounter occurs as the Pathfinders are on their way back to Lady Dacilane's mansion.  They're stopped by Major Colson Madris, who has heard of the mission, and wants to know if anything relating to his deceased brother was found.  In other words, Madris knows his family's secrets might have been found.  If the PCs admit having recovered Grishan's notes, Madris tries to persuade them to hand them over to preserve his (and Liberty Edge's) reputation.  The scenario does a good job accounting for various possibilities here, and weaving those outcomes into the story (and the reporting conditions and boon sheet).  I don't know how this storyline played out, but I have to assume the scenario was a major turning point in the fate of the faction.  I especially like how the scenario instructs GMs to make sure any Liberty's Edge PCs are given priority in discussions about what to do.

Overall, the scenario has a nice, tragic feel with a really interesting moral decision to make at the end.  I'm not sure about the plant creatures in the Arboretum, as they can come across a bit cheesy if not handled carefully.  The writer did a great job with the personalities of J. and Grishan so that this isn't a "escort the annoying NPC around" type of mission.  As I said at the beginning, it's not a combat-focussed scenario, but the plot and writing are very good.  Following up on earlier scenarios helps avoid the "one and done" forgettable nature of some PFS adventures, and I think School of Spirits should be considered a success.