Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-19: "Skeleton Moon" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Although Skeleton Moon has been retired for years, I was lucky enough to have a chance to play it with a Paizo staff member GMing during the 2018 PaizoCon Asia-Pacific.  I read through the scenario afterwards, and my experience seems to have proceeded pretty faithfully to what's written except for some changes at the end.  Although I had a good time playing (using a Level 4 Valeros pre-gen), I can sort-of see why the scenario was retired: it has a couple of combats that are very unfair for the level of the PCs involved, the plot is weak, and there's very little opportunity for role-playing.  I'm glad I played it because chances like that don't come up every day, but, frankly, people aren't really missing much here.

SPOILERS

Skeleton Moon has a really long backstory involving an alchemist Pathfinder from Absalom suffering from a rare disease who undertakes an expedition to find a cure in a tomb in Osirion.  The Pathfinder, Andrax d'Aponte, penetrated the tomb of Razma the Sage (an ancient alchemist in his own right) with the help of Pathfinder Society resources and a trusted bodyguard named Sefu.  The quest was partially successful; although d'Aponte didn't discover a cure per se, he did discover a ritual that would allow him to make his spirit immortal.  Returning to one of the old siege towers that surround Absalom, d'Aponte began preparations to undertake the ritual.  What he doesn't know, however, is that Sefu has been bought out by the Aspis Consortium and is preparing to betray him at any moment!  It's an interesting backstory to read, but unfortunately very little of it is player-facing content.  In other words, most of it is wasted verbiage that appears on the page but probably won't make it into the session.

The scenario proper starts with a briefing from Venture-Captain Adril Hestram.  He explains that although the Society sponsored d'Aponte's expedition, the alchemist has refused to share his discoveries as promised and that messengers sent to inquire have disappeared.  Hestram reluctantly asks the PCs to get d'Aponte's journal by hook or by crook, warning them that they might be walking into a trap.

The bulk of the adventure takes place at the old siege tower, and an interesting map is provided..  As the PCs approach, they're mocked by Sefu (standing at the top of the tower) who then sics a flock of cockatrices on them!  The problems with this scenario start here, as (if you're not aware) the bite of a cockatrice in D&D 3.5 turns the victim to stone if they fail a saving throw.  Adding insult to injury, the normal cure (stone to flesh) is a sixth-level wizard spell that requires the target to succeed on a saving throw or die, and that's beyond the means of any PC in the appropriate tier to cast!  So, in the very first encounter, it's very possible that some PCs could be turned to stone with no real recourse.  That's hardcore gaming, and presumably not the sort of experience that Paizo wants PFS players to have (at least without warning).

Once inside the tower, the PCs may view what the scenario calls an "alchemical mystery play," which essentially consists of manikins symbolically depicting the ritual that d'Aponte plans to complete to gain immortality.  Both during the session and reading the scenario afterwards, the whole thing just doesn't make much sense to me.  What kind of alchemist sets up mystery plays?  I guess it's a way to try to reveal some of the adventure's backstory, but it's really just a cryptic, confusing irrelevancy that mostly just provide an excuse to have the manikins later come to "life" as animated objects to attack.

When the PCs find and confront d'Aponte, they have a very slim chance to get him to explain what's happening before he completes the ritual.  The ritual goes awry, of course, and instead of gaining immortality, d'Aponte finds his spirit inhabiting a nearby assassin vine which starts to attack everything in the laboratory.  At low tier the assassin vine only has 30 hit points, but at mid-tier and higher it has 114 hit points and is pretty nasty, as it's likely to grab and constrict someone to death before it gets destroyed.  I'm guessing this encounter was considered unfairly lethal as well.

Once the PCs finish their mission in the tower and are on the road back to the Grand Lodge, Sefu (the disloyal bodyguard) springs an ambush with the help of some Aspis thugs.  I think this is actually a good twist, as most players will think the scenario is basically over.  (I'm not really sure why Sefu waits so long to betray d'Aponte and try to get his journal, but I guess that's not really important)

And that's it.  It's a short scenario to play, and an even shorter one to read.  Most of the story that exists is locked into the background, and the PCs have little opportunity to influence the course of events.  They basically need to go to the tower, defeat the cockatrices, defeat the assassin vine, and survive the ambush on the way home.  If it wasn't so lethal, I might recommend it as a short, introductory adventure.  But as it is, I can see why it's been retired.