Pathfinder Society Scenario # 8-24: "Raid on Cloudborne Keep" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

Jeepers, I need to catch up on these reviews--I finished playing this one in June of 2023, and it's now May of 2024.  Raid on Cloudborne Keep is memorable to me in that my PC died in the first encounter!  Fortunately, undine psychic-monk Arrius Vext continues to walk Golarion as I had enough Prestige Points to get him raised.  But enough about me!  Raid on Cloudborne Keep is the last scenario of Season 8 and (I assume) leads into the big interactive special that would finish that season's meta-plot.  As an adventure, it has a reasonably interesting setting, but (apart from the opening) it's fairly rail-roady and, underneath the cool decor, is pretty combat heavy.  It's also bloody *hard* for those (admittedly rare) groups who don't have an over-powered PC or two in the ranks, and TPKs are certainly possible.  I'd place this one relatively far down on the list of PFS scenarios to experience.

SPOILERS!

Raid on Cloudborne Keep starts in the city of Port Eclipse in the Plane of Air with a briefing from Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir and a suli named Ashasar from the Concordance of Elements.  I imagine there must be a lot of backstory to all of this throughout the season, but the scenario does a reasonable job of filling in the essential bits: the Pathfinder Society is working towards releasing a captive elemental lord named Ranginori.  However, Ranginori's rival, Hshurha, doesn't want that to happen.  But this time, the PFS is going to move first by taking out one of Hshurha's key lieutenants, a belker (air monster) named Grasping Storm.  It's a little like on Survivor when a rival alliance leader can't be targeted for some reason, so you go after their number 2 instead to weaken them.

Grasping Storm reigns over a castle on the Plane of Air called Purest Air, and is currently assembling mercenaries to help his master.  Thus, the PCs are tasked with getting on one of the airships ferrying mercenaries to the castle, hopefully disposing of those mercs along the way, and then taking out Grasping Storm.  To be honest, it's basically an assassination mission!

The scenario is a bit open-ended on boarding the merc-ferrying airship, with possibilities ranging from bribery to stowing away to fighting and essentially taking it over.  As written, this is a big part of the scenario, and would be perfect for those skilled in Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, etc.  The group I was in hatched a plan to stake out the docks near the airship so we could dispatch the mercenaries before they even got on board (and thus pretend we were them).  But, as my PC's death showed, that plan sounded better in theory than in practice.  The mercs are air elementals and invisible stalkers, and the former's whirlwind ability rampaged through our ranks.  Thus, I spent the rest of the scenario observing.  For what it's worth, the scenario makes smart use of what I imagine is a rarely used Flip-Mat, Airship, and has cool artwork for the ship's captain.

The airship docks with Purest Air's roof (again making great use of a Flip-Mat, this time from the Elemental Planes Multipack), where the PCs encounter guards in the form of a "hala demon" named Bothizar and some mephits or drakes (depending on subtier).  This probably ends in a fight, but if the PCs managed to successfully disguise themselves as the mercenaries, they can get into the castle proper.  Here, it turns out that Grasping Storm has planned some (potentially lethal) "tests" for his mercenaries, so, in the words of the Killers, 'there's gonna be opposition--ain't no way around it'.  These "tests" take the form of a nasty hungry fog, cloud golems, sylph druids, and more.  Assuming the PCs make it through all of that, they can then confront Grasping Storm itself, a unique belker.  Much of this fighting is in a three-dimensional environment with the special rules for movement on the Plane of Air.  It's always harder rules-wise to handle 3D environments whether it's underwater or aerial combats, and I certainly wouldn't recommend this scenario for novice GMs or players.

Overall, I'd say Raid on Cloudborne Keep was well-written, but just pitched for the wrong crowd.  It really should be in the "Bonekeep" vein of special adventures for well-experienced players running combat-hardened PCs prepared for some of the harder challenges the game has to offer.  For an average group of generalists, I fear it may be overwhelming.