Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-23: "Tide of Morning" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

I ran Tide of Morning recently at low subtier via play-by-post.  It’s got to be one of the fastest and easiest (from a combat perspective) scenarios ever published for PFS—honestly, I think an average level 2 PC could solo it. The story is no great shakes, and doesn’t really add anything of value to the setting lore.  There is some opportunity for role-playing, which is always nice to see, but on the whole this is a slight, forgettable scenario whose only value is how quickly it can be completed if time is limited.

SPOILERS!

As is often the case for Season Zero scenarios, the PCs start in media res at sunset in the Verduran Forest in Andoran.  Via flashback, they receive instructions from the rarely-seen Venture-Captain Dennel Hamshanks (ha!).  Hamshanks explains that there’s a druid named Hemzel living in the forest who has sworn a blood feud toward Pathfinders, seeing them as nothing more than thieves.  I tend to think Hemzel probably had some grounds for that view.  Anyway, Hamshanks says Hemzel has recently come into possession of a magic orb called a lorestone that gives the possessor the knowledge of all the druids of the forest.  Hamshanks charges the PCs with visiting Hemzel’s hut and persuading the druid to turn over the lorestone.  I really don’t contemplate how this could be done without basically stealing from or killing Hemzel (given his well-established antagonism toward Pathfinders), but it’s a moot point—Hemzel is dead! 

The PCs learn this immediately after the “flashback briefing” as they’re standing outside Hemzel’s hut.  An invisible fey announces the news with a cackle, and charges another invisible fey with dealing with the PCs.  What’s happening here is that an evil fey (a quickling) named Cyflymder has always hated Hemzel and decided to strike.  Hemzel has just been murdered, his hut set on fire, and the lorestone stolen with plans to destroy it by exposing it to sunlight come dawn.  Cyflymder races away from the hut with the artifact, but has set another fey, an atomie named Gire, to deal with the PCs.  The scenario presents Gire as a very reluctant combatant and someone very willing to talk (and explain the whole backstory of the scenario) if the PCs manage to turn her over to their side.  The problem is that she literally has 2 hp, and isn’t likely to stay conscious for long once the battle begins! (invisibility could certainly stymie a lot of low-level groups, but my players cleverly used an animal companion’s scent ability to guess her location).  There’s also a CR 1 spider swarm to deal with, but a good burning hands or some alchemist’s fire takes care of it.

However the situation with Gire is resolved, the PCs then notice that the hut is on fire.  The idea here is that they race in, see Hemzel’s body, and have to find anything valuable (e.g., Hemzel’s journal that details what Cyflymder is going to do with the lorestone) while dealing with the spreading flames and another assassin that Cyflymder left behind, another invisible fey (an unseelie human warrior).  The hut is very small, so it amuses me that the scenario describes the spread of the fire all the way up to Round 18.  Anyway, my players had no difficulty dealing with the situation.

After exiting the hut, the next thing the PCs encounter is a band of gnomes loyal to Hemzel.  They’ll be hostile to the PCs at first (believing them to be Hemzel’s murderers), but won’t attack right away, thus giving the PCs a few rounds to use Diplomacy to win them over.  Assuming this is successful, the gnomes direct the group to where Cyflymder must be headed—a nearby druid circle where the lorestone can be destroyed.  The scenario doesn’t provide the GM a lot to work with when it comes to the role-playing here, so I imagine in most groups it’s going to go pretty quickly.

The big finale takes place at the druid circle.  There’s a whole story element about how the PCs will have to march all night to get to the druid circle before dawn, but the concept is handled poorly.  First, the scenario doesn’t say anything about whether the GM should apply the fatigue (for not sleeping) and forced marching rules (which can be pretty painful to low-level groups).  Second, it doesn’t really matter—even if the PCs don’t turn up until high noon, the convenient magic of the lorestone gives the PCs 10 rounds upon arrival to stop Cyflymder.  Sigh!

Anyway, once at the druid circle, the PCs need to cross a slick log bridge guarded by snare traps and small vipers.  Cyflymder himself will be (chorus!) invisible and will try to play keep-away with the lorestone as another 2 hp atomie ostensibly harasses the PCs.  I love that Cyflymder, the climactic boss of the scenario, only has 7 hp and does 1d4-1 damage.  It makes me giggle.  Though that could be too much coffee.  As I implied at the beginning of this review, the players would have to try *really* hard to mess up in this scenario!  The epilogue is of the “thanks agents, we’ll study this amazing artifact you discovered--see you later!” variety.

Although I considered giving this scenario one star out of five, I’m going to give it two because, hey—maybe you only have a couple of hours to game, maybe you’re running for kids and don’t want any character deaths, or maybe you just really think fey are cool.  If any of those things apply, Tide of Morning could be alright, I guess.