Pathfinder Module: "Guardians of Dragonfall" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Guardians of Dragonfall is a really interesting, memorable, and lore-heavy module that deserves better recognition.  I ran it in my "Roots of Golarion" campaign of 3.5-era Pathfinder material and found it was a rich and densely-packed adventure.  It's certainly not one to try and run on the fly, but instead rewards careful GM preparation (and some patience for 3D map visualisation).  For reasons that are inexplicable to me, the setting material in the module has been labelled "non-canon" (an issue I'll take up in the section below).  Despite that, I think this is an adventure well worth revisiting.

I'll get to the adventure itself in a moment, but first I'll briefly cover general design and back matter.  This is a 32-page, full-colour module.  The cover is great (undead dragons should be scary!), and the interior artwork is solid.  The cartography is excellent, though they're trying to convey some challenging 3D relationships which isn't easy for Pathfinder tactical combat to encompass.  I love the "Designer Notes" sidebars in these early modules, and still can't fathom why they were done away with in later products.  Backmatter consists of five short appendices:  "Dragonfall and Draconic Belief" (a brief summary of lore covered extensively in the adventure), "New Feats" (two new feats only for true dragons, with "slow exhalation" being a particularly nasty combination of bite and breath attack), "New Magic Items" (featuring a major artifact called a bellwether brooch and a CL15 wondrous item called a hand of the theurge--it fires wands for you!), "New Monsters" (includes cool raw magic elementals called arcanatons and flying snakelike constructs called tongues of rebuke and wings of protection), and "New Spell" (featuring apparent master which is essentially a charm spell for constructs).  Level 11 Iconics (Valeros, Seoni, Merisiel, and Kyra) round out the collection.

SPOILERS!

Apart from a brief opening, almost the entirety of the module takes place in the eponymous Dragonfall.  Dragonfall is the fabled graveyard of the dragons, a remote mountain in the highest range of peaks in Golarion, and the place that dragons who are reaching the end of their normal lifespan fly to in order to be entombed with their ancestors.  To dragonkind, it is the most sacred place in existence, and outsiders are never welcomed.  The module provides extensive background and detail on Dragonfall and the history of dragons in general, and I imagine some readers will eat it up with a spoon!  I might be one of those readers who isn't particularly fussed about dragons, but even I can admire the effort and thought that went into constructing an original and unique contribution to the campaign setting like this.  It was also integrated into the first deep treatment of dragons in Golarion (in Pathfinder AP # 4).  It's excellent, well-written material, and thus I'm baffled that Paizo declared it non-canon as if it were a passing throwaway reference in a product as opposed to a deeply thought-out and integrated aspect of the setting.  I guess that's my mini-rant, and I'll let dragon aficionados hash it out from there.

The adventure is premised on the idea that a tiefling sorcerer named Tornulis (amusingly christened "Tortilla Chip" by my son) learned of the existence of Dragonfall and, with the help of a pair of renegade dragons (a mother-undead son duo) breached the mountain's defenses and has taken over its magical guardian constructs.  Tornulis' motivations are admittedly pretty cheesy--she literally wants to rule the world!  (The artwork for her is also unfortunately top-heavy)  The GM may want to adjust her motivation and perhaps even add some backstory to better fit the plot.

Part 1, "The Herbalist's Home", gets the ball rolling.  The way the PCs get involved isn't necessarily great as an adventure hook--they receive a letter delivered by a young boy named Curthew from a herbalist named Aroon who wishes to hire them.  When the PCs show up at Aroon's residence, another (very long!) letter reveals that he is actually a gold dragon named Auronorex!  The letter indicates Auronorex learned of the intrusion at Dragonfall and has gone to investigate, but, fearing the worst, he is willing to do the unthinkable and invite a band of mortals he trusts to follow in his footsteps, promising them great treasures if they succeed.  Hidden in his basement is a magic teleportation circle that will take everyone to an outlying area of Dragonfall called the Bone Field.  It's a hook that is premised on the notion that Auronorex has been watching the PCs and entrusts them with a mission of the utmost sacred responsibility which, frankly, doesn't seem realistic for most tables of "kill-the-bad-guys&take-their-stuff" adventurers.  Ideally, a GM who is able to plan ahead could have the PCs interact with Aroon earlier and thus provide retroactive justification for his trust in them.  (When I ran it, I came up with the idea that Curthew was Aroon's nephew, and the boy had no idea he was actually a dragon too!  Perhaps also cheesy and implausible, but it made for a fun NPC to accompany the group on the adventure) 

Part 2, "The Bone Field", has the PCs arriving in a vast field of draconic skeletons--the bones of those dragons who were deemed unworthy to enter the sacred mountain.  Not every dragon gets to enter the crypts, as they must first present the Dragonfall Seneschal with an offering worthy of their power.  Normally the construct guardians quickly destroy any undead who arise in the Bone Field, but as Tornulis has seized on the guardians for her own ends, the PCs will have to fight some young adult red skeletons and potentially other undead.  (I like the random encounter table with entries like "avalanche [of bones]" and "bone storm", though the PCs probably won't linger in the Bone Field long enough for the GM to roll very often on it)  Assuming they head toward the mountain in the center of the Bone Field, the PCs will encounter the ghostly spirit of Auronorex, and probably have their first (and potentially only) major role-playing opportunity in the module.  It's revealed that each type of dragon has its own entrance to the sacred mountain, and Auronorex suggests the group try the portal to the Emerald Shrine as the closest.  They need to fight their way through some "half-dragon satyr" barbarians called the Winterhorns who (through some contrivances) have taken up residence near the entrance.

Part 3, "Shearphorus," is the middle sequence of the adventure and the longest.  Shearphorus is the name of the tower of rock that contains the crypts in Dragonfall.  The PCs most likely enter inside the mountain through a magic portal to the Emerald Shrine, arriving on the other side in total darkness to plunge into a roiling and corrosive lake of bone shards!  Called the Maelstrom, this led to one of the most exciting (to me!) or scary (to the PCs!) sequence in the adventure, as some of the PCs were still fighting the Winterhorns on one side of the portal while those on the other side were fighting for their lives against some particularly nasty environmental hazards.  PCs who can't fly or climb well are in big trouble if they don't escape the acid pool quickly.  Further travel through the Emerald Shrine involves encounters with mohrgs, Winterhorn zombies, and an undead green dragon named Lephrelourge who enjoys participating in ritual magic that will not be convenient for the safety of intruders!

A long spiral passageway leads up from the Emerald Shrine into the hollow span of Shearphorus above.  Here, the PCs will have multiple encounters with Dragonfall's construct guardians: tongues of rebuke and wings of protection.  They do different types of elemental damage and explode when destroyed.  It's a great opportunity for me to pull out the flying rules, much to the consternation of my son.  Tornulis' half-fiend ogre wizard apprentice, Trauzek, is also encountered here.  Last up is Tornulis herself.  A level 11 wizard with the disintegrate spell should never be taken for granted, but with just 40 hp (D&D 3.5 rules), she probably won't put up much of a fight.  After capturing her, my PCs made an incredible Bluff check to persuade her they were divine emissaries and she should assist them!

Part 4, "The Gauntlet of Challenge-Cry" has the PCs traversing a series of chambers meant to test the worthiness of dragons who seek to be interred in Dragonfall.  They're doing this, despite having killed or captured Tornulis, because they need to recover the bellwether brooch, the artifact that controls Dragonfall's construct guardians.  Tornulis had given it to her green dragon ally Culpangia (mother of Lephrelourge) for safekeeping.  It's a lot of names, but it all fits together, I think.  Obstacles here include a great wyrm bronze dragon suffering from delirium (diplomatic and compassionate PCs may be able to avoid a fight), more constructs, and the raw magic elementals (arcanatons) that I think are a clever addition to the game and should appear more.  Assuming the PCs can defeat Culpangia, they'll be able to retrieve the Bellwether Brooch and set things right in Dragonfall, and bear witness to the spirit of Auronorex becoming the new location's new seneschal.

Guardians of Dragonfall certainly isn't perfect--there are some character motivations and plot points that could have used a second pass--but as an adventure, it's solid and makes use of a great location.  I think I'll integrate Dragonfall into my Golarion, no matter what Paizo says!