Pathfinder Society Quest: "Fane of Fangs" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Fane of Fangs is a bit of an odd-duck Pathfinder Society Quest (short adventures designed to be completed in one hour).  It was released several years ago to help sell people on the alternative classes in the Pathfinder Unchained book, so it requires players to run one of four different Level 5 pre-gens: the "Unchained" versions of the rogue, barbarian, summoner, and monk.  In terms of adventure-quality, I thought it was about average, with an original plot and a deeper backstory than one would expect from a Quest.  It's also on the longer side, and one hour might be too optimistic for completion.  The Chronicle sheet has some interesting boons, so Fane of Fangs wouldn't be a bad way to try something a little different.

SPOILERS

The adventure takes place in Nirmathas at a hidden temple to Erastil.  It starts in media res, with the PCs having recovered a sacred relic stolen from the temple and arriving to return it.  But the relic is no mere Macguffin; instead, it's integral to the story.  The spear of the hunt master (a giant arrow large enough to be carried in two hands) is a legendary artifact said to have been fired by Erastil himself to stop the daemonic harbinger Anogetz from wreaking havoc throughout the land.  Ever since, the spear has been a key part of an annual ritual in the temple to keep Anogetz from returning.  Unbeknownst to the PCs, however, the "priests of Erastil" they're about to give the spear too are actually shape-changing faceless stalkers devoted to Anogetz!

The first part of the Quest gives PCs an opportunity to notice several clues that something isn't quite right in the temple, and each clue noticed provides a bonus on their Perception checks to pierce the Disguise checks of the faceless stalkers.  I think the idea here was fine, but no advice is given on when or how often the Perception checks should be rolled, and too much rolling behind the screen is sure to alert players that something's afoot.  Moreso, when one of the "priests" touches the spear of the huntmaster it instantly burns him, forcing him to drop it and reveal his disguise.  In the game I ran, this happened very quickly because, naturally, the faceless stalker is going to ask for it and doesn't know what will happen.  This means there's really no opportunity for clues to mount, and whether they do or not, the result is the same: a battle against the two faceless stalkers in the courtyard of the temple.

Unlike most Quests, which are just one RP encounter and one combat, Fane of Fangs actually has a lot more.  Several rooms in the temple can be explored, the bodies of the real priests can be found, and a key to the cathedral where the ceremony is to be performed can be discovered.  The material here is good, but it will likely take more than just an hour.

When the PCs enter the cathedral to try to complete the ceremony, things have progressed far enough that Anogetz is able to slip a "Ceustodaemon" through the portal to try to stop them!  The thing is reasonably tough (with high DR and loads of immunities and resistances), and the battle was pretty exciting.  (There are ways written into the Quest for PCs to bypass the daemon's DR, and that made the combat more manageable but not too easy.)

After a brief narrative conclusion, that's the end of the scenario.  The PCs get to "keep" the spear through an opportunity to buy one of two special "legacy" weapons from the Pathfinder Unchained book (in essence, magical weapons that grow in power as the character does).

In many ways Fane of Fangs is just a curiosity, but it's reasonably well-written and has some good combats.  If you are a GM or player curious to see how the Unchained version of classes are different, it's a good opportunity to take them on a test drive.