Pathfinder Tales: "The Ironroot Deception" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Ironroot Deception, a four-part series of free Pathfinder web fiction available on the Paizo website here, is a real cyber-page turner!  The story involves characters like Gad and Vitta who also appear in the excellent Pathfinder Tales novel The Worldwound Gambit.  Twists abound, and the reader will quickly realize that all is not what it seems.  An adventure story is only as good as its villains, and this one has some deliciously evil ones (in a pull-no-punches Game of Thrones style).  The story also has an original plot, which is hard to come across in the fantasy genre.  It’s definitely one worth checking out, at a price that can’t be beat.

SPOILERS

Gad and his gang are up to another heist, this time in the Shudderwood, a demon-infested forest in the Worldwound.  Getting the goods is going to hurt, however, as they have to get themselves captured and forced into slavery as mining laborers by a group of xenophobic, aristocratic, and quite merciless elves called the Reclaimers.  An elf named Dualal, the leader of the Reclaimers, thinks she’s been prophesied to rule the entire region once she finds a gem called the Opal of Command which will allow her to control an immensely powerful creature called the Thornbeast.  Much of the fun in the story comes from the narrative not leading the reader know what the protagonists know, and being surprised by twists and turns throughout.  It’s really clever writing, and a great companion piece to the characters’ appearance in the novels.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-27: "King Xeros of Star Azlant" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran King Xeros of Star Azlant at high subtier using the four-player adjustment.  The scenario has a great overall feel, reminiscent of classic Star Wars in its sci-fi military tone.  There are a few places where the pacing is interrupted by some poor choices, so it’s not an unqualified success, but it’s still definitely a scenario worth experiencing.

SPOILERS

I really like the beginning of King Xeros of Star Azlant.  Instead of the usual sedate conference room, the PCs are summoned to the Lorespire Complex’s hangar bay where technicians are bustling about trying to get ships ready for hasty departures.  Venture-Captain Naiaj gives the briefing not only to the PCs but to two other groups of Starfinders, explaining that a lunar base in the Vast has sighted a vessel that can only be the King Xeros, a legendary ether ship supposedly built by the Azlanti of lost Golarion.  However, the Azlanti Star Empire have gotten to the lunar base first and taken it over, and are trying to figure out the secrets of the ship.  Naiaj divides the Starfinders at her disposal in three groups—a Scout Team to handle recon and analysis, a Shield Team to intercept space-based hostiles, and a Strike Team to handle ground operations.  The PCs form this last group, and it’s all very exciting and military in feel, reminiscent of classic Star Wars briefing scenes with the Rebel Alliance.  It probably helps that the Azlanti Star Empire is a pretty close analogue to the Imperials!

I’ll just mention in passing that this adventure is a homage/sequel to a well-regarded Pathfinder Society scenario, but I’ve never played or read that one so can’t really comment further.  It also ties into the Against the Aeon Throne adventure path—which I think is really cool (but I haven’t played that one either).

Once the three teams, each in their own vessels, arrive at the lunar base (oddly named “Peak of Evening”), they come under heavy fire from ground-based anti-ship batteries.  Strike Team (the PCs) are ordered to do a strafing run and then land for ground infiltration.  The strafing run is handled well, as the Pilot has to make a check or the ship takes direct hull damage (something that can be significant later in the adventure) and the gunners have to hit and do a certain amount of damage or additional enemies are present in the next encounter.  One of my major regrets about Starfinder is how poorly it integrated air-to-ground combat into the game, so I’d like to see more of this sort of thing.

The strafing run completed, the PCs next must choose to infiltrate one of two ground bases (they won’t have time to do both).  They have their first real choice: a construction bay or a greenhouse.  The Starfinders’ overall mission is to find and secure the King Xeros, which makes the construction bay the obvious choice (and it’s what my players chose).  I’m not sure why tables would choose the greenhouse.

In the construction bay, the PCs get their first taste of battle against Aeon Guards (a.k.a., Stormtroopers).  It’s a solid encounter.  When the fighting is over, a group of brakim (gregarious, long-limbed mechanics) emerge and explain that the Azlanti have forced them to work on retrofitting the King Xeros with modern technology.    The PCs are supposed to spend time interacting with various named brakim and make skill checks to persuade them to upgrade the PCs’ ship so it will have a better chance in battle against the King Xeros.  The idea isn’t terrible, and I’m the last to complain about role-playing opportunities, but I thought the entire scene brought to a halt all of the excitement and momentum of the PCs being in the middle of a dynamic battlefield on an urgent mission.

The other option, the greenhouse, also starts with a battle against Aeon Guards.  Accompanying the defenders is an Iztheptar, a crustacean-like humanoid.  The PCs will get access to various computer and paper records, and have the opportunity to make several skill checks to earn special boons during the upcoming battle against the King Xeros.  Like I said, my players didn’t choose this option, but it looks decent. 

As the PCs are concluding their investigation of either the construction bay or the greenhouse, they see four Azlanti ships launch from the lunar base in an escort formation around the King Xeros.  The PCs have to rush to their vessel as Naiaj orders all teams to converge and stop the Alanti from escaping.  This leads to a starship combat, with the other Starfinder ships drawing away the escorts (off-screen) and the PCs in a one on one space battle against the partially retrofitted King Xeros.  My views on Starfinder space combat are often mentioned in my reviews (I think they’re long, repetitive slogs due to the ease of recharging shields and critical hits not doing double damage), and, unfortunately, this space combat was the worst of the lot.  Despite earning all of the upgrades available in the construction bay, my players couldn’t significantly damage the King Xeros, nor could it significantly damage their ship.  Starfinder space combat is like Tic Tac Toe, resulting in endless draws.  After over an hour of inconclusive fighting, I gave the players the option of continuing or taking the “losing” result and proceeding with the rest of the scenario.  They went with that, which cost the secondary success condition but allowed us all to move on with life.   The losing result is a well-done, cinematic one, as one of the other Starfinder ships unleashes a full missile barrage to disable the King Xeros, but the heavy return fire obliterates Shield Team entirely! 

The final third of the scenario has the PCs boarding the King Xeros, hoping to take control of the vessel before malfunctioning Azlanti retrofitting causes a devastating explosion.  I found the map of the ship very confusing, and (according to the forums), I wasn’t the only one.  I had to get some help and make some educated guesses about how various parts of the ship were connected.  Anyway, the ship itself is guarded by some Azlanti robots and a very-difficult-to-bypass trap.  The big bad of the scenario is Aldroxis (from the tie-in AP, I understand), a reasonably tough technomancer.  I thought the battle against him was fair and satisfying.

Although the PCs will likely defeat the Azlanti and take control of the King Xeros, they’ll soon realize that they can’t stop it from a cataclysmic engine overload—all they can do is delay things for a few minutes so they can quickly scour the rest of the ship for ancient treasures.  I found this part of the adventure anti-climactic and cheesy in how it handled the search and necessary skill checks.  The scenario ends with the King Xeros slipping off into the Ethereal Plane, and the PCs reporting back to Naiaj with the bittersweet results that the SFS didn’t get the ship, but neither did the Azlanti Star Empire.

Overall, I think King Xeros of Star Azlant was a very good but not quite great scenario.  I love the urgency and military feel, as well as the cinematic aspects of the story.  I could envision this scenario in other media as a comic book or television episode.  The Azlanti Star Empire make good enemies, and I hope we see more of them in SFS scenarios.  On the other hand, there were multiple places where the excitement grinds to a halt (especially the interminable starship combat)—part of that is the game designer’s and not the scenario writer’s fault, but I’m reviewing the overall experience, not attributing blame.  Anyway, it’s definitely worth playing, and, if you’re playing the AP, it’s a 100% no-brainer tie-in.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 70 [RPG]

[3 Calistril 4708 continued]

In the narrow tunnels leading from a cliffside cave near Jorgenfist, Kang suddenly realizes that the battle against the redcaps caused many of his vials of chemicals to crack!  He rushes back to the cave to render them inert before they explode.  The others decide to continue on, with Nerissa scouting ahead.  Eventually, the main branch of the small tunnels leads to a chamber cluttered by tiny mounds of carefully sorted junk.  Resting on a hammock tied between a pair stalagmites is a kobold idly holding a shortspear.  Nerissa’s stealthy approach allows her to retreat silently and confer with her fellow adventurers.  They agree that she should sneak up again and try to subdue it so they have a prisoner they can interrogate for information.

Mokmurian met Enga on one of his journeys and,

 impressed with her, made her the sentinel of the 

river tunnels to Jorgenfist

At first, the plan goes well.  Nerissa tiptoes in and pounces on the surprised kobold, placing a hand over its mouth so it can’t even cry out!  But the wily creature is stronger than it looks and breaks free of her hold.  Before Nerissa can react, the kobold impales her with its spear and then wrenches the weapon free, shouting “Enga best guard ever!”  Nerissa collapses to the ground in a pool of blood.  Hearing the shout, the other adventurers rush in.  Salma’s magic locks the kobold’s muscles in place as Jinkatsyu darts forward and stabs it, but then the kobold also breaks free of the paralysis enchantment!  Salma reverts back to her favourite means of dispatching enemies: conjuring huge explosions while somehow sculpting the flames to exclude herself and her allies.  This time, though, an unwelcome surprise rears its ugly head: the beaded necklace that the kobold was wearing explodes in a fireball an order of magnitude higher than even Salma had ever conjured before!  The blast shakes the cavern, killing Nerissa and Salma instantly and badly burning the kobold who is somehow still standing!  Fortunately, Ava had not yet arrived on the scene and Jinkatsyu was able to duck between stalagmites to escape unscathed.  Jinkatsyu shouts for Ava’s help as he stabs the creature in chest and it collapses, gurgling blood.

Ava arrives in time to bring Salma from the brink of death’s door, but Nerissa is too far gone to help without more powerful magicks.  Knowing that the tremendously loud explosion must have alerted everyone nearby, the surviving trio of heroes quickly gather up Nerissa’s remains and rush back through the narrow tunnels until they reach the cliffside cave.  There, they see Kang has set up his alchemical workshop in a niche in the rock; he forbids any interruptions, saying he’s on the verge of a magnificent breakthrough!  Ava makes the preparations for the elaborate ritual to summon Nerissa’s soul back to her body, but she decides to communicate with it first—and in so doing, is surprised to learn that the soul has moved to a better place and has no wish to return.  The grippli sobs as she realizes Nerissa is gone forever, and then, to make matters worse, Salma adds that the next time she dies, she wants to stay dead as well.

Army ant swarms are relentless in their attacks.

Exhausted and dispirited, the adventurers undergo a miserable day of rest in the cave.  Their misery is exacerbated by swarms of poisonous army ants that stream out from cracks in the cave floor, and Salma is forced to nearly exhaust her magicks to fend them off.  After getting to a fitful sleep that night, another infestation is discovered a couple of hours before dawn and this one is almost lethal!  And then, a final blow: just before dawn, Jinkatsyu is tormented by nightmares of being unable to save his family only to realize that the horrific visions have magically sent to him by the surviving hag of Hook Mountain.

[4 Calistril 4708]

Having endured one of the worst days of their adventuring career, the survivors decide they have no choice but to press on.  But do the defenders of Jorgenfist realize they’re under attack, or do they simply think Enga had an unfortunate accident with her necklace?  And if the adventurers can barely survive one kobold, how will they ever succeed against the far greater terrors that lie beyond?

----------------------------------------------

Director's Commentary (23 August 2019)

Kang's player was unable to make this session, hence the character's sudden need to work on alchemical formulas in the safety of their cave.

I really enjoyed the necklace of fireballs situation here, as it's one of the few times in RPGs that characters face consequences for hurling massive incendiary magic left and right.  

The decision by Nerissa's player to stay that her character wouldn't want to come back from the dead started to become a pattern, and I think grew frustrating for the others at the table.

Pathfinder Legends--Rise of the Runelords # 5: Sins of the Saviors [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Now that I've listened to several of these Pathfinder Legends audio stories, I have a much better idea what to expect and I find myself really enjoying them.  I know that I won't find a faithful reproduction of everything that's in the corresponding part of the written adventure path, a lengthy description of setting, a clear narration of action scenes, or a feeling that the high price was necessarily justified.  On the other hand, I know that I will find great voice acting, several laugh-out-loud moments, an impressive amount of well-written backstory exposition, and quality sound effects and design.  Pathfinder Legends--Rise of the Runelords # 5: Sins of the Saviors fits these expectations.  If you go into it expecting a professionally-made, 1 hour audio play instead of a 15 hour audio book, you'll likely be happy.

SPOILERS

The audio version of Sins of the Saviors starts with the discovery of a sinkhole in Sandpoint.  The four Iconics who have been with us since the beginning (Merisiel, Harsk, Valeros, and Ezren) are asked by Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock to investigate.  Ezren often serves as the narrator in the tale that follows, bridging the gap for listeners when there's a large amount of travel to be summarised or exposition to share.  The search of the catacombs under Sandpoint receives a lot of attention, and the audio version does a great job with the Scribbler's voice and personality.  This part of the story also includes a good explanation of the Runelords' link to Runeforge, and why it is important for the Iconics to go there.  I was impressed.

The next part of the tale has the Iconics (accompanied by Ameiko, in a nice surprise) travel to Rimeskull.  There's an exciting scene of Ezren trying to figure out how to get the keys to open the portal to Rimeskull while the white dragon Arkryst is attacking; the way they defeat the dragon is a fun twist and perfectly justified by the text of the AP.

I knew the audio version would have to cut content from the AP somewhere, and it does.  There is absolutely no exploration of any of the various wings of Runeforge, any search for the components needed to make dominant weapons, or any interaction with the various inhabitants of the wings.  Instead, the weapons are made simply by dipping them into the central pool, after which the massive statue of Karzoug attacks.  There's a fairly exciting action scene as the heroes try to escape before the portal closes.  I can't really begrudge the lack of exploration of the wings of Runeforge, though there is some great material there that would have been fun to see adapted in story form.

Overall, like I said in the introduction, I found myself enjoying part 5 and satisfied when it was over.  I'm looking forward to seeing the big finale!

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-08: "What Prestige is Worth" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Whew, this is a big scenario!  It clocks in at 45 pages, which I think makes it the longest PFS scenario I've ever run or played (apart from the multi-table specials).  By comparison, the old Pathfinder module line, which put out adventures designed to be played in 3-5 sessions, had products that were only 32 pages long.  The good news is that What Prestige is Worth is a great scenario, full of depth, setting lore, plot development, and characterisation.  I just wouldn't try to run it without extensive preparation or if there was a hard deadline looming (like a store closing or a convention slot).

Anyway, I ran this at low subtier using the four-player adjustment; if I recall right, there was one "real" PC and the rest were Iconics.  It's a memorable adventure that sends the Pathfinders to a place they've probably never been before.  With the right group of players, the moral quandaries it presents could be really interesting.

SPOILERS

Go to Hell!  What Prestige is Worth has the PCs voyage to Dis, the capital city of Hell, to figure out why a portal has opened under the Pathfinder Society's Grand Lodge.  But perhaps just as importantly, they have a chance to aid a noteworthy faction leader (Zarta Dralneen of the Dark Archive) in uncovering secrets of Cheliax's past.  The scenario briefing starts with the PCs arrival at the portal, where Ambrus Valsin and Zarta explain their mission.  Zarta has a contact in Hell, a bone devil named Vetrivides, who has provided the group with writs allowing them to enter Dis for 48 hours.  But Vetrivides wants something in return: the Pathfinders' aid in investigating whether a contract devil named Leventi has been breaking Hell's laws.  There's a lot more depth and detail to the briefing, but to keep things moving I'm trying to summarise only the crucial bits.

Once the PCs are in Hell, they'll be presented with multiple avenues of investigation, and, as leads start to accumulate, additional sections of the adventure open up.  Hell's a very orderly place, so the PCs will be okay if they mind their Ps & Qs.  But if they stray from the strict conditions of entry, they might bring the attention of Dispater, Dis' overlord--and that would be bad!  As Zarta is going to accompany the PCs, she's presented with a special compact character sheet detailing the actions she can take in battle.  She can go her own way from the group, and if she does, explanations of what she discovers at each stage is provided for the GM.  

The first choice the PCs need to make is whether to travel to the Market of Breaths (a floating bizarre where an associate of Leventi's is said to frequent) or to the Fallen Fastness (a massive library of mortal sins, where Vetrivides resides).  Each location presents several role-playing opportunities and skill checks to navigate, and each provides different pieces of evidence to show Leventi may have been playing fast and loose with Hell's rules around negotiating contracts with mortals.  Each location also provides an opportunity for the GM to introduce a major sub-theme in the adventure: the concept of "Dark Bargains."  The denizens of Hell love to tempt mortals, and they're happy to play the long-game by giving mortals something they want now for a high price to be exacted later.  Mechanically, PCs can get thousands of gold pieces worth of treasure and information; all they have to give up are pieces of their soul, such as their Hope, Fate, Power, etc.  All of this is spelled out in terms of mechanical implications, and is permanently represented on the PCs' Chronicles if they make a Dark Bargain.  My players were too wary of Hell to make any deals, try as I might, but I thought it was a cool concept.

After the Market of Breaths and/or the Fallen Fastness, the PCs can follow leads to places like the Ghetto of Outcasts (a broken wasteland where some mortal souls permanently affixed to the walls), Eleusys (the palace of the Queen of Dis), and the Widow's Cry (a gladiatorial arena).  These leads may uncover souls belonging to Hellknights that were wrongfully damned to hell at Leventi's bidding, an imp that served an important figure in Chelish history (Gellius Thrune), and more.  Of course, the PCs have an opportunity to fight in the gladiatorial arena.  The encounter uses the Hellscape map pack (one of my favourites), and presents a real risk to the PCs: if they fall into the river Lethe that borders the arena, they can permanently forget everything (including class abilities, feats, and skill ranks!).

When the PCs have gathered enough evidence against Leventi, they can travel to his scriptorium to confront him.  Leventi is a cunning foe, however, and he tries to persuade or bribe the PCs to let him off the hook and instead blame everything on Vetrivides.  This is 100% the opposite of a scenario that's on rails, and I really appreciate how much agency it gives the PCs to resolve things the way they wish.  My group ended up fighting Leventi and dispatched him fairly easily--he wasn't really much of a melee threat.  Once the investigation in Hell is completed and the culprit (real or feigned) is punished, the PCs will be able to make their way out without further complications.

I haven't gone into detail about it, but one of the major story threads in the scenario concerns Zarta Dralneen and her antagonistic relationship with House Thrune.  From what I can gather, this adventure is a sort of climax to an on-going storyline developed in previous scenarios.  Zarta uncovers some crucial information through the course of the adventure that will allow her to get revenge on House Thrune.  In the scenario's epilogue, the PCs are asked to give Zarta advice on whether she should leave the Society to take her revenge, or stay and continue on as the Dark Archive faction leader.  Again, I probably haven't summarised it as well as I could, but my impression is that it's a satisfying conclusion to her character arc.

I have to give writer Matt Duval credit for doing such a fantastic job portraying Hell (and Dis, specifically).  Every scene is packed with flavour to make a distinctive and consistent setting.  This is not one of those adventures where the setting is just an afterthought--it's crucial to the adventure.  In addition, the GM is given a lot of guidance (through sidebars and in-text passages) on how to portray Dis and its inhabitants.  I almost feel bad that so much work went into something designed for one session's play, and I hope much of the material can be used again in future adventures.

However, there is a *lot* for the GM to keep track of during the scenario.  Although I consider myself a very well-prepared, detail-oriented GM, running What Prestige is Worth felt like doing air traffic control.  The GM has to keep track of the in-game clock (every trip from place to place takes a certain amount of time, which can be modified by skill checks), Dispater's Attention Points, Evidence Points, what leads become available at each stage of the investigation, Zarta's NPC sheet, and special encounters that trigger when specific thresholds of time or Evidence Points are achieved, while also making sure that various special rules and flavour elements (each summarised in a sidebar somewhere in the adventure) are applied correctly; these include Hell's planar traits, "Presenting Zarta", "Portraying Devils", and the effects of Dark Bargains.  Several handouts and tracking sheets are included in the scenario to help the GM manage everything, but it's certainly not for the faint of heart (or a new GM)!

In sum, this is a great scenario: just make sure your group has set aside plenty of time to play it and the GM has had plenty of time to get ready for it.

Pathfinder Society Introductory Scenario: "First Steps, Part I: In Service to Lore" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

First Steps, Part I: In Service to Lore is the beginning of a trilogy of “Pathfinder Society Introductory Scenarios” meant for new players.  Although Parts II & III have been officially retired, Part I is still sanctioned for play.  The goal of these scenarios is to introduce new players to the concept of the Pathfinder Society, its tenets, and, especially, its factions.  The idea is that, after playing all three scenarios and meeting all the faction heads in-game, a player could then choose a faction for their character.  Because these scenarios were released in 2011, and there’s been a *lot* of evolution of PFS factions since then, some of the material in the trilogy is outdated.  Still, I really like the premise of slowly introducing players to PFS and getting them familiar with the factions in an organic way.  As for In Service to Lore in particular, I thought it did a solid job of introducing a few faction leaders (in a broad brushstrokes sort of way) and has a good mix of role-playing, combat, and even some puzzle-solving.  But although it’s introductory, that doesn’t mean it’s easy—with one encounter in particular holding the possibility of a swift end for a PC if a dice roll goes awry.  I roll this for a group that consisted of one brand-new player to Pathfinder and four experienced players.

SPOILERS

In Service to Lore begins with the premise that the PCs are relatively new recruits to the Society who have just finished their training and graduated.  Ambrus Valsin, brisk as always, tells the PCs that he needs to know that the PCs can handle simple tasks before he sends them off exploring ancient ruins and recovering lost treasures.  He explains that he has a “to-do” list for the PCs that they can complete in any order; each task starts with them meeting with an ally of the Society for instructions.  The list has four tasks on it that require travel between various districts of Absalom, and this is a good opportunity for the GM to add some character to this important setting.

The first task is a favour of Guaril Karela, the then-head of the Sczarni faction (and later co-founder of the Exchange).  PCs should get the impression that Guaril is involved in some shady business, but understand that he’s a valuable ally for the Society because he can get things in and out of Absalom that might be officially illegal.  What Guaril wants from the PCs is that they travel to the warehouse of a departed “business associate” of his and recover a particular crate.  There’s some good description of this decrepit warehouse in the docks, and, once inside, the PCs will have no trouble finding what the crate they’re supposed to get.  But the problem is that the warehouse floor is starting to give way, and the crate is resting precariously on some broken planks, with 15’ feet of water below.  A clumsy attempt to retrieve it could lead to it sinking underwater. In effect, this is a cooperative problem-solving exercise for the players to solve, and the scenario is good about seeding various solutions.  There’s the de riguer fight against some dire rats as well.

The second task sends the PCs to the Temple of the Shining Star in the Ascendant Court to meet with Ollysta Zadrain, the paladin leader of the Silver Crusade.  Ollysta has an interesting mission for the PCs: she wants them to essentially conduct an inspection of a local orphanage to ensure that its headmistress is treating the children well.  This is a really good role-playing exercise that brings skills like Diplomacy, Bluff, and Sense Motive to the forefront.  The headmistress is, actually, skimming medicine given to the orphanage and reselling it, but she’s pretty wily and PCs won’t uncover this easily (the group I ran it for didn’t, even though they had suspicions that something shady was going on).  I thought the challenge was a very fair one.

The third task is under the direction of Amenopheus, then-leader of the Osirion faction (and later head of the Scarab Sages).  He sends them into the vault under the manor to retrieve some maps from a chest.  It’s essentially a puzzle-solving exercise.  It’s one of those puzzles that can be solved relatively quickly even through trial-and-error, and thus won’t frustrate players.  There is a fun bit where PCs who don’t notice a trap get their skin turned blue for several minutes, a visible marker for Amenopheus to identify less-cautious PCs.

The final task is with Zarta Dralneen, then-leader of the Cheliax faction (and later head of the Dark Archive).  I didn’t really like Zarta’s personality here, as the “overly-flirtatious seductress” is a bit clichéd and certainly sexist.  Zarta wants the PCs to retrieve a mysterious box from her bedroom, but its currently in the hands of an enraged imp that’s wrecking the joint.  The imp has damage reduction, fast healing, and some resistances and immunities, so it might be harder to groups to defeat then it seems at first glance.  It’s not a dangerous fight for the PCs, but could be a frustrating or time-consuming one.  Overall, I thought this was the least successful of the tasks.

As they’ve travelled around Absalom completing the tasks, the PCs will have had a couple of opportunities to notice that they’re being followed.  They might think this is someone from the Society sent to observe how they’ve handled the test Ambrus Valsin has assigned, but in fact it’s a criminal gang planning to ambush and rob the PCs!  There are four members in the gang (a cleric, a sorcerer, a rogue, and a barbarian), and it’s essentially like battling a rival adventuring party.  Things could easily go wrong for the PCs here, especially if that barbarian (wielding a greataxe!) lands a x3 power attack insta-kill crit.  I know that possibility in particular has led to a lot of complaints on the forums, though fortunately it didn’t happen when I ran it.

Assuming the PCs survive the ambush, they can return to the Grand Lodge where Ambrus Valsin promises them that they next assignment will take them beyond Absalom’s walls.

Overall, I thought In Service to Lore was a solid introduction.  The variety of tasks was a good way for players to see that PFS isn’t all about combat, and they got a brief introduction to four different faction leaders with the Society.  I do think Zarta Dralneed could have been handled more subtly, and that the encounter against the criminal gang was probably more deadly than necessary—a fighter with a longsword would have been better than a barbarian with a greataxe.  With those objections in mind, I can still see this as a useful way to start new players off in Society play.