Pathfinder Module: "Beyond the Vault of Souls" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

I ran (part of) Beyond the Vault of Souls in my "Roots of Golarion" campaign that integrated a bunch of 3.5-era adventures.  The group only made it through the first couple parts before the campaign went on hiatus, and we decided to pick back up with something else.  That shouldn't be seen as a criticism of the module itself.  Reading through it carefully for the purposes of this review, I can say I really like how it fleshes out some interesting locations that could be reused for future adventures.  The overall plot is interesting, but the problem is akin to that identified by Amy Farrah Fowler about the first Indiana Jones movie: the story would end in exactly the same way with if Indy (or here, the PCs) never participated at all.  There's also a sort of metaphysical/philosophical complaint I have with how the module (or perhaps, by extension, the setting) treats atheists, which I'll get to in the spoilers section.  And a last general note is that this is not an easy adventure to run--a GM should set aside a lot of prep time, as there are a lot of NPCs and the story can unfold in some different ways (which is a good thing, of course).

In terms of aesthetics, the cover art is pretty cool, and you can't go wrong with a giant demon crumpling Valeros' sword like it was made out of tin.  The interior maps are really attractive, but for the purposes of encounters, a GM would need a *lot* of grid space--just an FYI for the old-fashioned tabletop gamers among us.  The interior artwork is a real mixed bag, with the artwork for locations pretty good and atmospheric, but the artwork for NPCs very far from current Paizo standards.

SPOILERS!

Beyond the Vault of Souls is one of those adventures that really ups the stakes.  Not only are the PCs fighting to save a town, or even a country, or even all of Golarion, but to save the entire multiverse!  (I guess the writer had a "go big or go home" mentality.)  The premise of the adventure is that in Pharasma's Vault of Souls sits the hardened and crystalline souls of mortal atheists awaiting oblivion.  These souls are ironically crucial to repelling the skeleton moon of Groetus from crashing into the Spire of the Boneyard, the event that will end all of existence.  But someone has been stealing these soul gems, and if they're not returned soon, the entire multiverse could be destroyed!  A couple of problems immediately present themselves to me with this premise.  First, the adventure doesn't seem to really understand atheists, and how their beliefs would carry over into a fantasy setting where it's pretty obvious that magic, the supernatural, and other planes exist.  They very well might believe that super powerful beings called "gods" exist, but that that doesn't make them worthy of worship.  Second, an adventure writer has to always envision what happens if the PCs fail.  In a novel or movie, the stakes can be as high as the author wants, because they control the outcome--but in an adventure, the stakes can't be so high that the entire campaign (and campaign setting!) is erased on a failure.  Even the six-part adventure paths never have stakes that high.  Unfortunately, the way the module deals with that problem is by making the PCs' actions irrelevant--everything turns out just fine whether the the PCs fail, succeed, or never turn up at all.

The module starts with the PCs in the Cheliaxian city of Westcrown.  Why exactly they're in that specific city is something the GM will have to figure out, as the module doesn't provide any hooks beyond the most generic "maybe they're there to meet someone or researching something" advice.  The PCs are contacted by Taibhill the Mystic, a cleric of Pharasma, who explains he's received a vision from his goddess that instructed him to contact the PCs specifically to help retrieve the stolen soul gems (though he doesn't explain why they're important).  He does offer them a pretty good incentive: a free resurrection in the future.  Taibhill points the PCs in the direction of a local Westcrown wizard named Khandescus Leroung.  Khandescus has got his hands on three of the soul gems and is researching them in his tower.  The PCs can persuad Khandescus to hand over the gems, but he explains he'll need to remove several magical wards he's set up to guard them, and that will take some time.  He instructs the group to wait in a nearby tavern while he does so.  In a very dramatic scene, the PCs see several masked wizards assaulting Khandescus' tower before there's a huge explosion.  Rushing to the scene, they find a badly-wounded Khandescus who says the attackers set off his wards, which scattered the gems to various locations in the Outer Sphere.  He conveniently opens a portal for the group to Axis, saying someone there named Torleinn will help them.  Frankly, I'd be surprised if most groups actually go wait patiently in the inn as instructed so that the cut-scene can take place as planned. Most GMs will need to improvise here.

In Axis, the PCs meet Torleinn (an exiled Chelish wizard) in Norgorber's domain.  She explains that the PCs need to head to Pharasma's domain to speak with the Keepers of the Vault (the ones charged with securing the soul gems from theft) because they're frantic to get the stolen soul gems back.  There, a Keeper provides the group with a magical map that shows the location of the three gems across the multiverse (the Abyss, Abaddon, and a location that's initially unclear) and says that by touching the location, the PCs will be magically teleported there.  It's ad hoc and suspiciously convenient magic, but I won't quibble.  Neither the Keeper nor anyone else will have told the PCs why getting the missing  soul gems back is so important.  Another thing the PCs initially don't know is that another group is also pursuing the gems.  The Children of the Reborn Glory believe that each gem contains a fragment of Aroden's soul, and that if they're all brought to particular place and a particular ritual is performed, the dead god will live again.  The PCs will encounter the Children at multiple points in the adventure (and in the climax), and they can be enemies or allies.

When the PCs head to the Abyss, it may be different than they're expecting.  Instead of a terrible wasteland, they'll arrive at a demon town called Taste of Anguish.    It's actually a safer place than one might think, as I guess the demons want to encourage trade (!) and so visitors are welcome. I have to admit I never thought demons would have things like settlements, but the location is well-described and interesting, and it's a place GMs could use in the future.  The soul gem is being guarded by an enhanced vrock named Tarigwydin the Upstart.  Getting this gem should be relatively straightforward and easy.  As an aside, I can't help pointing out there's a CR 30 vrock-like demon in the town! This fellow, Aahtsil, is apparently a historian of the demonic race.  I've never seen Aahtsil referred to in any other Pathfinder product, but I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley when he's in a bad mood.

The search for the soul gem on Abaddon is likely to be longer and move involved.  The PCs appear at a sort of fortress/laboratory called The Cauldron.  Again, some really nice flavour has been provided for it.  This is a fifteen-room, multi-level dungeon crawl with foes like hydrodaemons, wraiths, and water elementals.  The gem-holder here is a soul-gem-enhanced "meladaemon" (a new creature given a full write-up in an appendix).  This is a hard encounter, and there's a lot the PCs need to contend with beside the "boss"--a machine oozing a nasty disease, a potentially deadly scythe trap, and worst of all, a "soul-fed golem" that, if it kills a PC, there's a 50% chance even a wish or miracle couldn't bring them back (and there are no retries if the attempt fails)!  However, the PCs might not be on their own, as there are several opportunities to free prisoners held in the Cauldron, and they might join in the fight.  It's likely to be a complicated sequence with so many moving parts, so a GM really needs to prepare well for it.  

After the first two missing soul gems are recovered, the location of the third one becomes clear: it's back on Axis!  The final part of the adventure has the PCs presumably interrupting a ceremony by the Children of the Reborn Glory to use soul gems to bring Aroden back.  The complication here is that the Children are split into three different factions, each with a fully-statted NPC leader and several underlings, and the factions will inevitably try to betray one another during the ceremony.  How this all plays out is very open-ended.  The PCs may discover the cause of it all: a keketar protean named Song of Poison who first spread the idea of using the soul gems as a source of power so that they'd be stolen and order would unravel.  Unfortunately for Song of Poison, he got it wrong and even if all the soul gems are destroyed in the ritual, the resulting portal to the Maelstrom is easily sealed by some axiomite soldiers.  So, in retrospect, there was never really any danger to begin with, and Pharasma shouldn't have wasted her time giving the visions to Taibhill the Mystic, who shouldn't have wasted his time  enlisting the PCs' aid, who shouldn't have wasted their time plane-hopping to get the soul gems back.  As an existentialist, I'm all for the absurdity of existence and the ultimate futility of any endeavour, but I don't think that's the theme the author was trying to go for here.

All in all, Beyond the Vault of Souls is a mixed bag.  The plot doesn't hold up well to scrutiny and it's a real bear to prepare.  On the other hand, I do like the flavourful descriptions of several places in the Outer Realms and it provides a manageable way to get the PCs out on some planar adventures.  I'm going to mix the highs with the lows and settle on average.