Pathfinder Society Scenario # 8-19: "Treacherous Waves" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Treacherous Waves in a play-by-post game with my “caveman shaman.”  This review is based on that experience and reading the scenario afterwards.  The scenario features some really interesting and well-developed NPCs, a rarely-visited setting, and plenty of opportunities for PCs to stretch their investigative, role-playing, and combat skills.  In short, it’s an all-around strong scenario with only a couple of (relatively minor) flaws.

SPOILERS

Treacherous Waves takes place on the Plane of Water in the air-breather city of Vialesk, with the PCs given transportation there off-screen.  Waiting for them is a local aquatic ranger named Lileone who can have a very minor or surprisingly useful role in the scenario depending on how the PCs interact with her.  At a minimum, Lileone tells the PCs that they’ve been summoned by a local Pathfinder agent named Zahra.  But if the PCs make an effort to befriend Lileone, they can call upon her help in several ways throughout the scenario.  It’s interesting and unusual to have something of potential significance happen before the briefing, and I like it.  (I have absolutely no recollection of Lileone from playing it, and I think maybe the GM just skipped to the actual briefing). 

Zahra herself is an Undine and the artwork of her is very good.  GMs, show the players the artwork—it really helps with immersion!  Anyway, Zahra explains why she’s summoned the PCs.  Recently, she led an expedition out of Vialesk, planning to investigate a huge school of jellyfish called the Lambient Bloom.  Zahra suspected that some fragment of the elemental lord Lysianassa’s power was hidden in the Bloom.  But before they reached it, the expedition ran into streaming currents of toxic algae and were sickened and forced to turn back.  Although most assume Zahra just got the group lost and stumbled into the algae, she thinks something very different: that the expedition was somehow sabotaged!  She gives the PCs a list of four expedition members/suspects to question.

At this point, the scenario begins its investigative phase.  The suspects include an ocean giant named Honoke, a brine dragon named Razethka, an aquatic elf named Tsomo, and a selkie alchemist named Yuka.  It’s a great mix of creatures; very different than the PCs are likely to have encountered before, and thus a good opportunity for a GM to show off their role-playing skills.  Beyond the four suspects, the PCs can also travel out to the site of the toxic algae and do some other things.  I like how allowance was given to the GM to be flexible in different routes of investigation the PCs might take.  My shaman PC’s ability to talk to sharks, for example, came in very handy and was supported by the scenario.

Interestingly, what the PCs don’t know is that they’re on a strict time limit once the briefing is over: something catastrophic is going to happen in exactly 24 hours!  I normally really like time constraints as they’re a good way to add some consequences to the PCs’ actions and reward those feats or special abilities that speed up things like research or gather information checks.  With this one though, I’m not sure if it’s really fair to hold the PCs to a time limit that they can’t know about until well into the session.  My guess is that it probably doesn’t matter unless they decide, for whatever reason, to spend a lot of time resting.

Sooner or later, the PCs should start to suspect that Tsomo might be behind the sabotage.  In a cool twist, Tsomo has been masquerading as his own assistant and is actually an evil vigilante malenti (essentially, an elf with shark features)!  Tsomo is working for a big bad (who doesn’t appear in this scenario, but I assume recurs throughout Season Eight) to use alchemical supplies to create an explosion in Vialesk’s central forge, the Glass Pit, to crack the dome around the city and flood it!  That’s the fate that awaits everyone if PCs don’t put things right within 24 hours, and is a suitably epic crisis that I’m impressed the scenario actually contemplates happening.

The first combat encounter of the scenario will be with either some sahuagin sent by Tsomo to eliminate an unwitting accomplice (the alchemist, Yuka) or against the same monsters inside Tsomo’s warehouse.  (The artwork of the sahuagin on page 12 is great.)  The warehouse encounter holds crates full of very volatile alchemical supplies, and setting the entire building on fire wouldn’t be hard. 

The PCs by this point are expected to have discovered Tsomo’s plan and realize that he’s weakened the dome around the city in eight places.  A series of skill checks, each taking some time, are necessary to find and repair the flaws.  I don’t think this was integrated into the scenario well and felt very out of place when I played it.

Next up, the PCs are expected to try to defeat Tsomo, but he leads them on a Chase.  Here, the PCs have to try to slow him down by using the environment against him, and there are some fun and clever choices.  The GM is given some sound guidance on how to be flexible when PCs want to do things that aren’t listed as options during each stage, and the consequences of the Chase are satisfying (it affects how many reinforcements he’s able to gather at the climax).  Chases can oftentimes feel very forced, but I think it was done about as well as possible in Treacherous Waves.

The big final battle takes place on a weird ring that surrounds a pool of water (and portal).  There are sharks in the center pool, while Tsomo and (potentially) some sahuagin allies stand on the ring.  I remember playing the scenario and wondering what the heck the sharks were for, as it was obvious that as long as the PCs stayed out of the water, they’d be no threat.  After reading the scenario, I realized the GM had completely missed a periodic hazard that threatens to knock the PCs into the pool.  It would have made the final battle far more exciting, and is a lesson not to always blame a scenario for experiences at the table.  Apart from that possibility, for a scenario set on the Plane of Water, there’s actually very little need to have skill in Swim or the ability to breathe water. It’s somewhat disappointing, even though I acknowledge that scenarios have to be written for characters of all types. 

As an aside, the scenario makes frequent reference to a campaign setting book, Planes of Power, and I’d recommend a GM get the book before running the scenario in order to get the most out of it.

Overall, Treacherous Waves looks like a pretty solid scenario with an excellent mix of role-playing, skill challenges, and combat.  It starts a bit slow (I find that early combat or drama gets players into the game quickly), but should provide an enjoyable experience.