Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-18: "The Daughters' Due" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Daughters' Due continues a really good and long-running (albeit, sporadically attended to) minor storyline in PFS.  The scenario definitely ticks all the boxes in terms of role-playing, combat, and skill use.  It offers an enjoyable progression in the storyline, and although I would've liked more setting flavour in certain parts, overall it was a solid and satisfying experience.

SPOILERS

One of the great things about Pathfinder Society is that it can be far more than just an isolated series of one-shots.  The Daughters' Due, for example, continues a story started in a scenario *eight* years ago!  I've played that first one, though I haven't played any others in the series, but together they form a really interesting storyline concerning the Blakros family (of eponymous museum fame), the Onyx Alliance (a nefarious organisation from the shadow plane's mirror version of Absalom), and an alliance between the two groups that proved profitable but at great cost.  When The Daughters' Due starts, previous scenarios have explored how the arrangement between the Blakros family and the Onyx Alliance (in which the former would periodically give up a daughter in exchange for wealth and magical relics from the latter) was finally ended with intervention from the Pathfinder Society.  The Onyx Alliance, however, has also had an internal reorganization--unbeknownst to the Blakros family or the Pathfinders, one of their "sacrificed" daughters (Sarnia Blakros) has successfully launched a coup to take over the organisation, and is using its resources to secretly steal treasured antiquities from the museum--she has no qualms about getting back at the family that gave her up years ago.

The PCs get involved when they receive a letter from an anonymous member of the Decemvirate that explains that Venture-Captain Drendle Dreng is undercover in Shadow Absalom and has noticed a resurgence in Onyx Alliance activity.  That, combined with suspicion that items have been stolen from the Blakros Museum, is enough for the PCs to be assigned to investigate.  When they arrive at the museum, the head of the family, Hamaria Blakros, asks the PCs to verify a log of items marked as "destroyed" by the museum's curator, Nigel Aldain.  Aldain explains that repeated battles over the past decade in the museum by Pathfinders have led to much destruction--which, when you think about it, must be true!  There are something like a dozen scenarios set in the museum, so one can't help but imagine a stray fireball here and there (not to mention my caveman-shaman Gurkagh who once used exhibits as improvised weapons!).

The first part of the scenario involves the PCs looking around the museum and asking questions of the staff to discern whether four items that Aldain assumed were destroyed could, in fact, have been stolen.  The items have some interesting backstory, and the PCs can make various skill checks to gather clues on what happened to them (but there needs to be some sort of timer or limit to the number of skill check attempts, otherwise folks are just rolling dice until they succeed).  The scenario is designed to lead the PCs to the conclusion that they've been taken through a portal to Shadow Absalom, but many of the clues are fairly ambiguous.  When I played it, the group (perhaps naturally) suspected that Aldain had ulterior motives behind labelling the items as destroyed, and we treated him more as a criminal suspect than simply negligent at inventory management!  Mysteries are very difficult to write well in RPGs, as players are likely to ask very specific, detailed questions in order to look for inconsistencies that may be clues or proof of deception.  I didn't think the scenario handled this issue particularly well, and having most the information coming from unnamed, generic "museum staff" didn't help--it puts a lot of weight on the GM to flesh things out, and mysteries are dangerous territory for improvised detail.

Arguably, the best course of action for the museum would be to acknowledge the four exhibits as lost causes and permanently seal up the portal to Shadow Absalom in order to prevent any future thefts.  But it's a slow day in the Pathfinder Society, so the PCs are sent to get them back!  I was excited for this part of the scenario, as I've played an adventure set in the location before, and Shadow Absalom is a really cool, creepy, intriguing place.  Unfortunately, very little of that flavour comes across in The Daughters' Due, and unless the GM does a lot of work, Shadow Absalom probably won't seem all that different than regular Absalom.  More built-in flavour (not just a sidebar) would help a lot.

Anyway, the middle part of the scenario has the PCs gathering information and travelling to different locations across the city to recover the missing exhibits.  At one location, over-eager PCs will blow Drandle Dreng's cover and probably start an unnecessary fight against fletchings working for the Onyx Alliance--I liked how the encounter was set up, as it's definitely one that rewards stealth and subtlety instead of the way most groups handle things.  A second location is the infamous Soul Stalls, where night hags and others openly trade magic items, rubies, and mortal souls!  The PCs can fight a night hag to recover the exhibit they're after, or they can bribe her with gold or . . . even a soul!  Though any PC who assumes it's no big deal to sell their soul will be in  for a nasty surprise when they see the Chronicle sheet.

The last part of the scenario (though the order can vary) has the PCs visiting the Shadow Absalom version of the Blakros Museum--here, it's "Wightir House", an Onyx Alliance storage facility.  (as an aside, it's very clever how this and previous scenarios account for changing maps used for the museum over the years.)  Here, the PCs will meet Sarnia Blakros herself (cool artwork!).  She comes across as a very sympathetic character, and I wish the scenario has presented a more immediate way for the PCs to ally themselves with her (instead, they can only express their preferences to the Society's leadership during the scenario's epilogue)  Sarnia communicates with the PCs solely through a magical representation, so she's not a combat target.  After battling some "Taxidermic Triceratops" (gotta love Pathfinder sometimes!), the PCs will meet a fan-favourite NPC in the otyugh known as Hats.  Hats happens to be wearing one of the museum exhibits that the PCs want, and there's a range of options the PCs can try for recovery.  It's a really amusing encounter.  There's one final room guarded by some ice golems and an Onyx Alliance agent.

Once the PCs have the four items, they can return to the Blakros Museum without any difficulty.  Depending on how they portray their interaction with Sarnia Blakros, reporting conditions promise the possibility of continued evolution in the storyline--perhaps the Pathfinder Society will ally with the Onyx Alliance instead of the Blakros family?

The Daughters' Due just a fantastic job integrating previous scenarios, down to very small details that could easily be forgotten or overlooked.  I liked how the storyline was advanced, and the encounters are solid.  I do feel like more thought could have been put into the investigation phase and that Shadow Absalom should have been give more flavour.  Overall though, this was a fun, solid scenario and definitely worth playing.