Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 94 [RPG]

 [Toilday, 11 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

 

Near the semi-circle of shops known as Eodred’s Walk, Protosilaus and Ralph discuss whether the former could teleport the latter all the way to Absalom!  Interested in some magical items that just aren’t available in a city the size of Korvosa—especially after the recent unrest—the prospect is a tantalising one.  Protosilaus says it’d be easy for him to do; all he needs is a good description of a location within the city.  He enters Basha’s, the small bookstore and map shop, just before closing time.  The ever-cranky Basha is quick to confirm he has just what Protosilaus is looking for.  But when the proprietor returns from a backroom after several minutes’ absence, Protosilaus notices the scroll looks brand new and the ink is still wet on it! He leaves in disgust at the attempted scam, smashing an inkpot on the way.  Meanwhile, Ralph gets Phaeton Skoda to agree to let him know if House Arkona makes any large or unusual purchases of magical items.

 

When the two return to Ralph’s safehouse, they see the others are there.  Protosilaus talks Goldcape into accepting a magical brand (which he puts in the shape of a roc) that will, ostensibly, hardly hurt at all and will allow him to heal her even from a great distance.  Hearing Goldcape’s shout of pain, Ralph inquires what’s going on and is also persuaded to accept a brand.  But when he’s not quick to specify what he wants it to look like, Protosilaus chooses an outline of The Reckoner wearing a dunce hat!  Ralph punches him hard in the nose for it, and Goldcape decides to add a sap blow to the back of the head for good measure.  Ralph seems serious when he tells Protosilaus he better figure out a way to remove it soon or Korvosa’s dockworkers will find the half-orc’s body floating in the river.

 

After everyone’s asleep, Goldcape slips on the distinctive mask, cowl, and cloak of . . . Blackjack!  It’s time for Korvosa’s famed hero to make a return, and it doesn’t take long for them to find trouble—or for trouble to find them!  Up on the Shingles—the shantytown of huts, tents, and plank bridges crossing from rooftop to rooftop across the city—a fire has started!  Blackjack races in the direction of the flames, only to slip on a loose tile and land ignominiously in an alleyway below.  Fortunately, no was watching, and they’re able to scale back up just in time to see a band of thieves, arms filled with potions and wands, emerging from a rebel storehouse.  Clearly having set the fire as a distraction, the thieves seemingly have the perfect plan, but there’s one thing they didn’t count on: vigilante justice!  The thieves spread out, some drinking magical potions to turn invisible and escape while others, determined to make a name for themselves by being the ones to defeat the legendary Blackjack, come forward to fight.  Heavily outnumbered, Blackjack fights rapier to rapier against the thieves, suffering severe wounds but giving as good as they get.  Forced at one point to cast an uncharacteristic healing spell, Blackjack manages to triumph over four of the thieves—but others manage to escape.  A quick interrogation reveals that they’re full members of Korvosa’s only thieves’ guild: the semi-legitimate Cerulean Society. 

 

After turning over the prisoners and recovered items to Grau’s forces, Blackjack slips back into The Reckoner’s hideout and becomes Goldcape once more.  Wounded and still smelling of smoke from the nearby flames, she explains to Ralph what just happened.  He says the Cerulean Society is secretly run by Glorio Arkona, and it’s surely a plot against Grau.  What neither realise, however, is that a third person is listening in to their conversation . . .

 

[Wealday, 12 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

 

Over breakfast, Ralph suggests that today is the day to have the proclamation read because it would be best if some time passed between that event and the actual assassination attempt so that the castle’s defenders are exhausted by being on high-alert for so long.  But Lorien is much more interested in drama closer to home: he explains that he overheard some of Goldcape’s and Ralph’s conversation last night!  He says Goldcape shouldn’t be going on adventures without the rest of the group, but she replies that she’s known Ralph for a long time and shares some confidences with him that she doesn’t yet feel comfortable sharing with Lorien and Protosilaus.  Since the cat’s out of the bag about a run-in with thieves, Ralph shares his suspicions that the Cerulean Society has been directed by Glorio Arkona (whom he believes is their real leader) to steal from Grau’s army to weaken it for a potential post-Ileosa clash.  He says that directly after assassinating Ileosa, the group should teleport and try to take out Glorio too, before the aristocrat has time to react.  Yraelzin, however, is outraged by the idea, and says the group can’t start killing people just to shape the city the city to their own ends, and assassinating a rebel leader would completely undermine the rebels’ cause of furthering lawful transitions of power.  Ralph ripostes by reminding the group that Glorio is surely evil, and that he’s having his xill army implant captured Gray Maidens.  Yraelzin’s not so sure that Xoza’s intelligence is reliable.  Goldcape brokers a temporary truce by turning the focus back to the more immediate matters at hand: getting the proclamation read.

 

With Protosilaus taking the form of a crow, the others fly on Rocky’s back to the Grand Cathedral of Pharasma.  Keliathrothe, a xenophobic elven priestess who insulted members of the group previously, passes by the group in the corridors, and this time, she doesn’t say the word.  Could it be because she has somehow been cursed to appear as a disfigured intermix of elf and human?  Protosilaus smiles as she passes.  When they find Bishop d’Bear, she immediately agrees to send a messenger to the three faction leaders and to Seneschal Neolandus Kalepopolis.  After months of resistance the final step is about to begin: a formal proclamation evicting Ileosa Arabasti from Castle Korvosa will be read at noon, giving the self-styled Queen sixty minutes to depart.  And if she doesn’t . . . her life is forfeit!

----------------------

GM Commentary

I liked the concept (drawn from the Korvosa sourcebook) that the city's major retailer of maps is more than happy to sell items of dubious provenance (or, to put it plainly, forged himself!).  As an aside, I really love the "in-universe" map of Varisia that came with that region's Player Companion.  It was (perhaps unintentionally) different in distances and layout of geographical features compared to the "real" map of Varisia, which is exactly what one would expect.  After all, if maps were perfect and easy to read, people wouldn't get lost so much :)

We got to see Goldcape foil a robbery as Blackjack in this session.  As the vigilante is a big subplot in Curse of the Crimson Throne, I'm glad I could improv a scene where the new incarnation gets some action.  Trying to win combats while restricted to Blackjack's rapier was a sometimes-frustrating challenge for the player, but important for preserving the illusion.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 93 [RPG]

[Moonday, 10 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

 

Secure in The Reckoner’s safehouse, the Harrowed Heroes plan long into the night.

 

[Toilday, 11 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

The ringing of handbells in the street outside wakens everyone at dawn.  Goldcape sneaks out, invisibly, to see what all the clanging is about and learns it’s a horse-drawn cart to collect the bodies of those killed overnight by the terrible blood magic curse still striking down victims across the city!  Sadly, Mifeg—the homeless woman the group had some contact with months ago—is one of the deceased.  Goldcape returns to fill the others in on what she’s seen.  But although bodies may continue to accumulate as long as Ileosa lives, the group agree to plan their strike on Castle Korvosa carefully instead of acting rashly.

 

Goldcape decides to walk to Old Korvosa to check on Sergeant Clenkins and the other members of the rebel cell she organised there.  The vanara is recognised by friendly House Arkona soldiers at the bridge and waved across.  Although the perpetual gloom of the nearby Black Tower puts a damper on things, she’s surprised to see how much the city’s most notorious slums have improved in recent weeks!  Rubbish has been hauled away, no gangs roam the street, and there’s even early signs of new construction.  But curiously, her rebel cell is nowhere to be found.  There’s no sign of violence or disorder in the abandoned building, but it looks like everything other than Goldcape’s personal gear has been packed up and moved out. 

 

She decides to learn the rebels’ fate by directly asking the most important man in Old Korvosa: Glorio Arkona himself!  In Arkona Palace, after having her identity confirmed through a quiz from Glorio’s majordomo (apparently shapechanging assassins are a risk), Goldcape is immediately brought to meet the artistocrat in a well-appointed salon.  Glorio is welcoming and flattering, and explains that Sergeant Clenkins and his troops found it “unnecessary” to maintain their protection of the Black Tower after the forces of House Arkona arrived.  Instead, Glorio explains, they’ve joined the siege of Castle Korvosa.  Along with refreshments and a gift of platinum coins, Glorio hints that, should he become leader of post-war Korvosa, he would offer her a major position of responsibility: Commandant of the Sable Company Marines!

 

After leaving the palace, Goldcape realises she’s near Vencarlo Orisini’s old fencing academy and decides to pay a visit to her mentor.  The two speak carefully in case spies for the Queen are listening in, but Goldcape subtly confirms that the mission to Scarwall was a success while Vencarlo talks about rebuilding the academy with the aid of a wealthy student.  He welcomes Goldcape to stop by for lessons anytime.  Goldcape says her farewells and makes it back to The Reckoner’s safehouse in the early afternoon.

 

Meanwhile, Protosilaus and The Reckoner haven’t been sitting idle!  Leaving Lorien and Yraelzin behind, the two walk to a particular alleyway not far from the safehouse to meet with one of The Reckoner’s informants.  In this case, that informant is Xoza, a dandasuka in the employ of House Arkona who is magically-bound to spy for The Reckoner!  Xoza reports progress on the three tasks assigned to him by The Reckoner before the Harrowed Heroes left the city for Scarwall.  First, Xoza reports a (not-so-stunning) revelation: the vigilante Trifaccia was an efreeti agent of The Queen!  Given that Grau Soldado took care of that problem some time ago, the information is now of little value.  Second, Xoza was charged with learning what House Arkona was planning, and again the little spy has information that may be too late to be of much value: the aristocratic family has entered into an alliance with the queen of the xill from the Black Tower.  In exchange for military support, House Arkona lets the xill implant their spawn in the bodies of captured Ileosan loyalists!  Third, Xoza says his third task (to find out Glorio Arkona’s weaknesses) faltered due to the man’s security and that, as far as he knows, Glorio is just a human.  But The Reckoner gets a hunch that Xoza has doubts about that, and presses him to reveal not just what he knows, but what he suspects: that Glorio is a rakshasa!  Xoza doesn’t seem able to articulate exactly what that means or what the differences are between different kinds of rakshasa, but insists the only weakness of a “true rakshasa” is a blessed  crossbow bolt.  The Reckoner asks Xoza to next look into finding information about the Queen and her new seneschal, the bloodmage Togomor.

But as Protosilaus and The Reckoner leave the alleyway, they hear angry shouting nearby to the south.  It seems that the rebel forces loyal to Kroft (the “New Korvosan Guard”) and the forces loyal to Glorio Arkona (his enlarged “Palace Guards”) are pushing, shoving, and yelling.  And watching ominously, just behind the Arkonan side, are a contingent of the four-armed, flame-red insect-like xill, surely ready to intervene with lethal force at the least invitation!  The Reckoner pulls the leaders of the two sides away from each other and learns that they’re arguing about a boundary dispute stemming from an ambiguously-drawn map.  He’s able to calm the situation enough that the leader of the Arkonan forces agrees to return to the palace and verify the map with the majordomo.  On the walk back to the safehouse, The Reckoner says that immediately after taking out Ileosa, they should go after Glorio Arkona!  Protosilaus grins disturbingly at the notion, and The Reckoner continues by explaining that they can’t give the man any chance to seize power, and that allowing the xill to implant their eggs in captured loyalists is surely a sign he’s evil.  Protosilaus shrugs and replies, “or just pragmatic.”

Once everyone is back together, they plan their next steps: Yraelzin and Goldcape will visit Jeggare Library to check the castle blueprints (stashed there long ago by Goldcape) against the maps provided by Sabina to see if the latter are indeed accurate; meanwhile, Protosilaus and The Reckoner will do some long-range reconnaissance on the castle to determine if their current plan for entry is viable. 

The research part of the plan goes off without a hitch, as the blueprints are exactly where Goldcape left them (in the “Fungi of the Mwangi Expanse” shelf) and, after an afternoon’s comparison, seem to support Sabina’s veracity.  On the way back from the library, Yraelzin and Goldcape run into a strike organised by the city’s dockworkers.  Seizing on a rare opportunity provided by the rebellion (trade unionism is illegal in Korvosa), the dockworkers are threatening to stop unloading grain shipments for the rebels unless they’re guaranteed bargaining rights in whatever regime follows Ileosa’s!  Goldcape tries to explain to the strike’s apparent leader just how important the grain shipments are, but has no luck, even when she name-drops The Reckoner (it seems like Blackjack is the “people’s champion” to this particular dockworker).  Eventually, Goldcape sends a message to the rebels camped around Castle Korvosa about the situation, and their commander, Sir Gyrad Tolgrith, comes himself!  Tolgrith’s reputation precedes him, and, after Goldcape explains the situation, he’s able to give the needed assurances to get the ships unloaded.  Interestingly, the well-respected leader pointedly refused to answer Goldcape’s question about which of the three rebel faction leaders he supports.

The surveillance part of the plan also provides valuable intelligence.  Protosilaus conjures a magical invisible flying eye that he can somehow see through, and sends it on multiple journeys in and around the castle.  The witch-doctor learns that the group’s originally-planned incursion site (a salon on the fourth floor) is the barracks for a contingent of Red Mantis assassins—one of whom spots the eye and sounds the alarm so another can dispel it!  But Protosilaus always has another spell, and is able to conjure more eyes to continue the reconnaissance.  He’s unable to see into the throne room or the queen’s bedroom due to the stained-glass windows, but is able to discern the shape of  . . . something . . . in the latter.  A look into the armory and Sabina’s room doesn’t provide confirmation that there really are secret doors as Sabina said, but the sight of a corpulent imp raiding the kitchen and barbed monsters in the mess hall support her story about Ileosa consorting with devils. 

 

Still, the crucial question remains: has Sabina provided the group with everything they need for a surgical assault or instead simply set the bait for an irresistible trap?

----------------------------------------------

GM Commentary

I liked the idea that sanitation and safety in Old Korvosa was much improved under Glorio's control.  I wanted each of the three potential leaders to have positives associated with them, and (apart from being charming and generous) Glorio was good at keeping order.  Yes, he's an evil rakhasa, but he "keeps the trains running on time" as the phrase goes.

In regards to Xoza, I think I've talked before that it's hard as the GM to decide how much to have a spy reveal; it has to be enough for the players to feel like their efforts are being rewarded, but not so much that it undermines the campaign.  Here, it worked pretty well because I was able to draw links to a couple of subtle story elements that the PCs might not otherwise have put together.

Sir Tolgrith appears in Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, one of the best 3.5-era Pathfinder modules.  Since Bloodsworn Vale is an area under Korvosan control, I thought it made sense to have him make a cameo.

I always find it a bit uncomfortable as the GM to handle reconnaisance like magical scrying eyes, gaseous form, etc., where the PCs aren't interacting with the rooms directly.  The issue is that if I go through the full room description it takes ages and they're not going to do anything apart from moving on to the next room to see what's there--so it's a huge exposition dump.  But, it can also be hard to concisely summarise flavour text in the moment.

Pathfinder Map Pack: "Fungus Forest" [RPG]

Fungus Forest is one of those Map Packs that will sit in your collection for years without ever being used.  And then all of a sudden, say during a campaign in the Darklands, it'll be the perfect thing for an encounter.  At least, that was my experience, as I finally got to use it as the PCs raided a drow fungus farm.  I used all 18 tiles to make the cavern depicted on the back of the box, which worked pretty well (apart from the tiles on the lower right having an awkward cave wall that didn't quite match the adjoining tiles).  I liked the stagnant pond and maze-like structure provided by the fungal walls, and I added rules for visibility, movement, and cover to them (plus a few toxic hazards, naturally).  I wouldn't have minded if the designers had created one or two other landmarks in addition to the stagnant pond, but admittedly I can't think off the top of my head what those would be.  Anyway, I certainly wouldn't recommend spending a lot for Fungus Forest--it probably won't get a lot of use.  But, if you can find it cheaply, it's a nice thing to have on hand.  (And remember to use blue-tak to hold the tiles in place--I forgot and looked like an amateur GM!)

Starfinder Society Scenario # 6-14: "The Missing" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

 

I got to play The Missing via play-by-post with a really fun PC, my “junkomancer” Nixxer (a character who has never spent a single credit!).  I had a good time, but truth be told, the scenario is pretty average.  It makes poor use of a solid premise, offers a pretty flat view of a potentially interesting setting, and comes up with a fairly generic villain.  It’s not really bad, just forgettable, with a lean into the sappy.

 

 

SPOILERS!

 

The hook to The Missing is good, classic adventure material.  Aboard the kasatha world-ship Idari, several residents have gone missing over the past six months.  The missing kasathans are from two adjoining (but rival) communities that have rejected mainstream society.  One community, the Vocation of Voices, are an insular, agrarian society that rejects technology and only interacts with the wider world to sell their homemade goods and heirloom crops.  Basically, Space Amish!  The other community, the Red Corridor, are artists, outcasts, and criminals living in a series of interconnected basement complexes.  In other words, something like the movie Rent.  The two communities often clash, and tensions are worse now with one blaming the other for the disappearances.  Captain Xogathu of the Idari briefs the PCs alongside First Seeker Ehu Hadif, and gives a very plausible reason why outsiders like SFS agents have been brought in to investigate: neither of the outsider communities trust the leadership of the Idari (the Doyenate) and their law enforcement officials.  I don’t have my copy of the Pact Worlds handy, but I’m guessing these two communities are drawn from it, and I always like seeing setting material get spotlighted in scenarios.

 

The investigation is pretty simplistic.  I sort of thought this would be like an FBI serial killer investigation with a list of victims, their common characteristics, and subtle clues to pierce together leading to a suspect, but I can be very naïve! Despite one or two people going missing every couple of weeks for six months, the scenario only has information about two of them: an adolescent girl from the Vocation of Voices named Nindir and an adolescent boy from the Red Corridors named Rahosa.  (If you immediately jumped to a Romeo and Juliet situation, you should aggressively pat yourself on the back with both hands simultaneously).   A little conversation with Nindir’s father and Rahosa’s art teacher, plus an easy skill check or two leads the PCs to a remote lookout over the Lake of Memories where Nindir and Rahosa would rendezvous.  Disturbances in the ground reveal a battle and a chase took place, and PCs quickly get confirmation of danger when they’re attacked by a sort of rat/leopard cross called a “leoporine”.  The scenario does a strong job with rules for ambush and terrain here, and the artwork for the creature (and really, throughout the scenario) is great!  After the battle, the PCs can follow tracks to the entrance to a once-concealed underground bunker.

 

The bunker is a secret research station operated by a disgraced scientist named Hynes.  In an origin worthy of a Marvel super villain, his research into genetically engineering animals for military purposes ran afoul of ethical and legal rules, and he was ostracised.  So he took to the bunker to do it all on his own—only his creations have a bad habit of getting loose and killing kasathans who wander through the area!  Fortunately (and oddly), Nindir and Rahosa escaped the leoporine attack at the lookout and happened to run right into the bunker, where they’ve been hiding since.  Searching the bunker requires overcoming the de rigeur laser turret and another cool creation, a combination scorpion and shark called a “carusidae”.  Again, the artwork makes a potentially ludicrous idea seem pretty cool.  Hynes is in the complex and taunts the PCs over the intercoms as they explore, but he immediately surrenders once confronted in person—as every cowardly scientist type should.

 

As a bit of an epilogue, the PCs can help Nindir and Rahosa overcome their respective families’ prejudices against each other’s communities.  Man, Shakespeare really missed a beat in not giving his little play a happy ending too!

 

I snark, but really The Missing is perfectly fine.  A bit too simplistic and twee for my tastes, but I really should have adjusted my expectations for Starfinder Society now that we’re in Season Six.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 1-05 (# 33): "Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

 

I ran Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible via play-by-post at Subtier 1-2.  It’s not a standout scenario, but it’s not bad either.  The plot has a couple of interesting wrinkles and there’s a good mix of role-playing and combat.  On the other hand, it doesn’t do a lot with a potentially fascinating setting or develop any memorable NPCs or lore.  To my mind, it sits right in the “average” category: perfectly playable, but not something you’ll rave to your friends about.

 

SPOILERS!

 

As the title might clue you in, Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible is the first (I think) PFS scenario to be set in the Indian-themed setting of Jalmeray, the so-called Impossible Kingdom.  But that being said, there’s very little setting flavour that makes having the adventure set here any different then if the adventure was set in any other place with a bit of jungle or wilderness.  The story concerns an agent of the Aspis Consortium named Zamir.  Zamir is a druid with mercenary tendencies, and has started a profitable venture that involves waylaying Pathfinder and government caravans to steal their magical items, using enslaved wizards to break the magical items down into raw materials (a possibility not really recognised in other Pathfinder rules or adventures), and then shipping those raw materials to Cheliax for profit.  Zamir has a remote jungle base in an abandoned monastery and doesn’t participate in the caravan raids himself; he has a group of semi-loyal bandits do it for him.  In a real blow to the Society, Zamir’s bandits raided a PFS safehouse to steal magical items and murdered the longtime (canon-wise) venture-captain Aamina Shahrazad.  However, the new venture-captain in Jalmeray’s port city of Padiskar (a man named Vasuman Mihir) has figured out how Zahir has such suspiciously good information on the Society: he has a spy on the inside!  Mihir has figured out that a caravan water bearer named Waman has been feeding info to Zahir, and thus hatches a plan to use the spy against his master.

 

The PCs learn all of this at a briefing with Mihir and are filled in on his plan.  Mihir has leaked that the Society has come into possession of a legendary artifact called the scepter of the arclords and that it’ll be transported by caravan from Padiskar to Niswan along with some other crates of magical items.  In fact, the scepter is a fake and Mihir has magically attuned a wayfinder to always point to it.  The plan is for the PCs to be part of the caravan, wait for the ambush and theft of the (fake) scepter, and then use the wayfinder to follow the bandits back to Zahir’s headquarters.  There, they’re instructed to see if Zahir can be recruited to the Pathfinder Society or, if he won’t join, permanently stopped.  It’s actually a really solid plan, and it’s nice to see a Venture-Captain come up with something so cunning and feasible!  As for the spy Waman, Mihir says he’ll take care of that problem—probably by selling the lad into slavery!  Paizo’s early years of the Pathfinder Society had a very different take on the organisation’s moral bent.

 

The journey with the caravan hits a snag on the second day of travel.  At a campsite where it planned to stop, four men are there, having set up a camp.  The PCs probably suspect these are Zahir’s bandits, but they’re actually agents of the Thakur (ruler) of Jalmeray, sent on their own mission to find the bandit leader!  It’s actually a really interesting role-playing situation, as the PCs probably don’t want to reveal who they are and the Thakur’s men are undercover as well.  I could see it turning out a lot of different ways.  The players I ran it for decided just to set up a separate camp and keep an eye on them, which fit pretty well into the scenario’s expectation because it scripts the actual bandits to raid the caravan in the middle of the night.  The result is a fun and potentially chaotic melee between the PCs, the bandits, and the Thakur’s men.  I like how the adventure abstracts any combat between the bandits and Thakur’s men (but in a plausible progression) so the GM can focus on the players. 

 

The Venture-Captain’s plan, of course, was that the Pathfinders would put up just enough of a fight to keep the bandits from being suspicious as they find and make off with the fake scepter.  My players, of course, got into “encounter mode” and put up way too good of a fight and the fake scepter never got stolen.  The scenario is prescient in envisioning this possibility and providing skill checks the PCs can use to interrogate any prisoners for the route to the bandit fortress.  However, my players failed all these checks too!  They (and secretly, me) were at a bit of a loose end on how to proceed, but they decided to deliver the cargo to the warehouse in Niswan and hope the bandits would try to steal it again.  It seemed like a plausible outcome, so that’s what I had happen and the adventure got back on track.  The concept of PCs having to intentionally lose a fight is a fun element of the adventure, and a hard one for players to pull off (apparently).

 

The rest of the scenario involves an assault on the Tiger’s Eye Monastery.  It’s actually a pretty small and simple structure.  There are archers on the walls who did some pretty good damage to the PCs, even though they don’t open fire until the enemy is within 30’.  Once the walls are breached, the PCs will fight some monks (disguised as statues!) before finding a staircase below.  Again, my PCs took an interesting tack by deciding to try to smoke out the bandits below by throwing flaming bundles of plant matter down the stairs.  This had both the intended effect (two bandits rushed out, coughing, and surrendered immediately) and the unintended effect of risking the death by smoke inhalation of the prisoner wizards chained to the tables in the workshop below!  The PCs didn’t know there were prisoners, so they had to rush down into the smoke to try to put out their own fire!

 

As for Zamir, he’s guarded by his tiger animal companion.  My PCs managed to persuade him to join the Pathfinder Society.  If the route of persuasion fails and combat ensues, I like how Zamir tries to use the (fake) scepter of the arclords on the first round of combat; you have to commit to the bit!  The Chronicle has two boons, one for either way he can be dealt with.  And that’s the end of the scenario.  I don’t think we ever hear of Zamir again, and nor (at least according to the Wiki) do we ever see Venture-Captain Mihir in another scenario.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-21: 'Illegal Shipment' [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

 

I allegedly played Illegal Shipment with my obnoxious journalist PC, Vitellius Kapopolis, in a live tabletop game.  I say “allegedly” because I genuinely have no recollection of it, even after reading the scenario for the purposes of this review.  But the documentary evidence is firm, so I’ll plead guilty!  Illegal Shipment has a very straightforward story and linear plot sequence, with little in the way of complex character or setting lore.  The way I’ve phrased it may make it sound like a bad thing, but the scenario could be a good one for players new to Starfinder.  They can jump in immediately and get their bearings on what they’re doing and why, trusting to general SF tropes to fill in any blanks.  The scenario is also at the right tier range to allow for brand-new Level 1 PCs or Level 4 Iconics (the latter’s not a bad idea, as I find Starfinder combats can be surprisingly deadly at low level, especially if the PCs aren’t optimised and are firing d4 pistols every round).  All of this is to say that although Illegal Shipment won’t win any awards (or a part in my heart or memory), it’s not a bad scenario for filler or to get new players into the game.

 

SPOILERS!

 

The set up for Illegal Shipment is a classic: someone tries to import wild monsters, they get loose in civilization, and all heck breaks loose.  It’s King Kong, one of the Jurassic Park movies, many of the Alien movies, and more.  In this particular instance, a ferran (a sort of dense, squat humanoid) named Zelrai Impressium runs an inter-system menagerie, collecting exotic creatures for viewing and sale throughout the Pact Worlds.  She’s just made the (very predictable!) mistake of bringing some cryogenically-frozen members of the insect-like and savage Swarm aboard Absalom Station.  I don’t know much about the Attack of the Swarm! Adventure path, but this scenario is, according to a sidebar, intentionally written as a handy prequel or tie-in for GMs so minded.  Anyway, a street gang called the Six Tip Gang hear about the ship’s arrival and decide the creatures would be a handy asset.  When they try to violently board the ship, a crewman deactivates the cryogenic systems hoping the Swarm creatures will drive them off.  The plan works in the sense that it does indeed drive off the gang members, but has the unintentional side effect of also killing most of the crew.  Now, the Swarm creatures have escaped into the station’s maintenance tunnels and are surely building a nest to reproduce unless someone can find them and incinerate the place pronto!  Enter the PCs.

 

The briefing is held aboard the Master of Stars, the flagship of the Starfinder Society.  Fitch and Zigvigix are there along with Zelrai.  Zelrai and Fitch are old comrades due to Wayfinder-related expeditions, while Ziggy has been called in as the leader of the Exo-Guardians.  What I really liked about this is that Fitch and Ziggy do not see eye-to-eye.  They both want the Swarm creatures located and exterminated (with the PCs called in on the classic “we don’t want to cause a panic by alerting station security” idea), but Fitch wants her old friend let off with a stern warning, while Ziggy wants her arrested for endangering innocent lives.  A solid, plausible moral question that the PCs are asked to weigh in on at the end of the scenario.  During the briefing, the PCs get a lead to get them started on tracking down the Swarm: a member of the Six Tip Gang was reported to have escaped the ship and probably went to hide in the gang’s hangout, a cantina in Little Absalom called Nurkops’s Rich Pick.

 

In the cantina, the PCs encounter a gang member named Del Shara (featured with pretty cool artwork).  Del is very protective of the injured gang member (a halfling named Toressa) who fled the Swarm, and this encounter can easily tip into combat unless the PCs are very diplomatic.  I like that both possibilities are available and contemplated by the scenario.  Through violence or verbosity, the PCs will learn that Toressa’s drone has footage of the Swarm creatures escaping through a numbered maintenance hatch leading to an area of Absalom Station called Fogtown.

 

The scenario does a nice job giving the GM some tips on how to make the multicolored gases and mists of  Fogtown more atmospheric (pun!).  Fans of Babylon 5 will know part of a space station customised for non-oxygen breathers can be pretty creepy and disorienting.  There are a few generic skill checks PCs can make to get information, but while they’re gathering it, they’ll be attacked by a flying Swarm creature that swoops down out of the mists in hit-and-run attacks.  It’s a good encounter, and something different than the standard “stand up and fight” foes.

 

The PCs will quickly find the Swarm’s nest in a warehouse.  Again, some effort has been given to help the GM set up the “creep/ick” factor here, in the sense of dripping slime and so forth.  There’s understandably a lot of combat in this area, and although the PCs will be aided in one encounter by either gang members or security guards, this could be a pretty deadly series of fights for the reasons I mentioned above.  For a group that’s just ill-equipped for such heavy and sustained combat, retreat might be sensible even if it results in mission failure.

 

The conclusion has the PCs asked their opinion on what should be done about Zelrai, and this is one of the reporting conditions.  I’m not sure if later scenario writers made use of the NPC again or not, but it’d be interesting to find out.  Anyway, in sum, this is a good introductory scenario for a tough group with lots of Obozayas or the equivalent; a group with too many non-combat PCs will really struggle.  As it turns out, there’s only one way to deal with the Swarm!

Starfinder Society Scenario # 6-15: "Extraction from Azlanti Space" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

 

Man, I’m really getting behind on these reviews!  It’s not from lack of interest, just from lack of time.  Anyway, I got to play Extraction from Azlanti Space via play-by-post with my drug-addicted solarian, Troivayan.  It was nice to see a scenario designed for such high-level PCs (Tier 11-14!), and since Troivayan is my first and highest level character, he was a natural choice.  Moreso, the mission was one that genuinely warranted the (in-game) Society sending elite operatives to accomplish.  My take on the scenario was that it was an enjoyable experience: the story was solid, the setting was great, and the encounters were fine.  I do think there could have been more risk in a non-combat vein, but I’ll explain that more in the Spoilers! section below.  I found the artwork a mixed bag, as I think the more cartoony style adopted over the past couple of years is a detriment compared to the original, more “realistic” vein.

 

SPOILERS!

 

I’m not being sarcastic when I say one of the most interesting parts of Extraction from Azlanti Space is the “Adventure Background” section.  It tells the story of how the Starfinder Society first discovered the Azlanti Star Empire fifty years ago in-game, and the isolation it has tried to keep from the Pact Worlds since (not always successfully).  I’m not sure if this material has been presented before elsewhere, but I found it a fascinating bit of setting lore.  As for the current mission, the background is that despite explorers, diplomats, and colonists being forbidden to enter or exit Azlanti space, the Starfinder Society has managed to slip in some spies.  One of the undercover operatives, a man named Felthaum Pixiulu, transmitted an emergency extraction call that got temporarily lost and delayed because it took place during the Drift Crisis trouble.  So, as Venture-Captain Naiaj explains, the PCs are being sent to the Azlanti throne world of New Thespera to find Felthaum and bring him home!  It’s a great set up for a story, a bit like the Federation sending a team to extract Spock from an undercover mission in Romulan space.  I’m here for it!  Now, why exactly the SFS would enlist disgruntled, aggro, pill-popping Troivayan in the mission is another question; though, to be fair, he proved his worth.

 

The SFS arranges for an unmarked vessel to carry the PCs to the border planet of Khetaria, a world caught in a longterm stand-off between the Azlanti and the Vesk for complicated reasons I won’t get into.  Here, the PCs can meet with a Society contact named Mohaul (of the “screedeep” species first introduced in the Against the Aeon Throne AP) to obtain forged credentials to get them into Azlanti space proper.  In an area of a city that gives off some Mos Eisley vibes, the PCs encounter a shouting match between Vesk soldiers and Aeon Guard soldiers.  The scenario lets the PCs try to intervene to prevent violence, but if they fail the Diplomacy check (and I like the big penalty for non-humans attempting it) they provoke an attack in turn!  Even if they succeed in the check, they still get challenged by the Aeon Guard leader to a fight.  I have no idea why Starfinder agents on an undercover mission would want to intervene in the mess at all (and neither did Troivayan), but the rest of the group dutifully stepped in and started a fight.  I think too many players have the idea that they have to swallow every encounter hook that a scenario dangles.  There’s a little bit at the end of this sequence I really liked: when the PCs are just about to board their new “clean” ship to leave Khetaria, a pair of armed Aeon Guards approach and ask rudely “Where do you think you’re going?”  It’s easy (and natural) for the PCs to react/overreact dramatically here, but it turns out the guards have a sort of joking banter with the local and were just having a bit of fun—they’re not suspicious at all!  I liked the misdirect that plays with adventure tropes (“Bluff the Guards”) like this.

 

The group reach the Azlanti capital of New Thespera a few days later, and their forged credentials check out, allowing them free movement around the city of Eronesse.  I thought this part could have been handled a bit better to bring out more setting flavour, as I imagine the usual Starfinder Society group of motley aliens from all over the Pact Worlds, Near Space, and beyond would attract a *lot* of attention in the rigid and xenophobic Azlanti society.  At the very least, any non-human members of the group would be scrutinised more carefully in social interactions, or perhaps the PCs would have to give some not-so-subtle trackers the slip.  I prefer the approach that a long-ago Pathfinder adventure took when the PCs have to slip into a city of (mythical, non-existent) drow: they have to *look* like drow in order to avoid suspicion and have freedom of movement.  I do get it’s hard to accomplish everything in one single scenario, however, so maybe this would have been better as a two-parter.

 

The PCs arrive armed with three potential leads to finding their spy-in-distress. 

 

The first lead is a café and lounge called Conquerer’s Rest, which was the original designated extraction point before the communication got delayed.  Here, the PCs can bribe a gosclaw (another species introduced in Against the Aeon Throne; glad I’m playing it!) bartender to reveal she hasn’t seen Felthaum in months, and that he was spending a lot of time hanging around a shatori female. 

 

The second lead is the workplace where Felthaum found employment: ironically, it was the Ministry of Citizenship!  (actually a really clever place for a spy to gather intel about comings and goings in Azlanti space, and to be able to bolster their own credentials).  The scenario leaves it fairly open ended here when it comes to skill checks to get inside and find relevant information, which is fine with me—the only tricky part is that players could spend a *lot* of time planning a super-careful infiltration when really they just each need to make one skill check to discover a piece of info, and there are no consequences for failure.  Again, probably a problem due to the scenario’s lack of space and gameplay time.  Anyway, the PCs may discover that Felthaum was fired after a week’s unexplained absences and never turned up to gather his desk belongings.  One of the items in Lost & Found is a book marked with a Starfinder cypher that reveals a partial address to an apartment complex in an affluent area of the city.

 

The third lead is Felthaum’s home.  Neighbours say they haven’t seen him in months, but inside the PCs can discover more ciphers that reveal he was investigating a Lissalan cult called the Seven Stars that was aggressively pushing for the Azlanti Star Empire to attack the Pact Worlds!  A clever twist is that some maintenance bots working on the property are actually Aeon Guard surveillance robots (Felthaum aroused suspicions), and they activate to try to capture the PCs.  The map tiles used for this are a bit weird, and I didn’t like that that the PCs are expected to spend *fifteen minutes* after a very public battle against robots, while undercover on the Azlanti homeworld, to hack into the robots’ memory banks to find the address to the Seven Stars compound.  I don’t know about you, but years of Starfinder have taught me that bad-guy robots are there to be blasted, and there’s no point in trying to dredge up useful information from their memory banks.  I guess a GM would have to drop a heavy hint here, because finding that address is crucial for the rest of the scenario.

 

There’s an essentially optional side trek the PCs can take if they go to the address they found hidden in Felthaum’s books at this workplace.  The address belongs to Ghwenti Ghanti, a former co-worker, who was fond of Felthaum and eager to assist in locating him.  She’s an interesting character, and it was cool that she was (slightly ret-conned) into being one of the shatori present during # 2-13: Storm of the End Times and so friendly with the Society.  She can fill the PCs in a bit more on what Felthaum was doing investigating the Seven Stars, but there’s nothing crucial here.  It’s a solid role-playing scene, but I probably would have cut it for space and replaced it with more setting-related stress for the PCs to really hammer home how isolated and exposed they are if they get discovered on this mission well-behind enemy lines.

 

The last act of the adventure has the PCs arrive at the Seven Stars compound.  Although the map makes this look like a standard room-by-room “space dungeon” sequence, there’s actually only one encounter and so it should go fairly quickly.  The battle is against the fanatic leader of the Seven Stars, a soldier named Xyam, and her two mystic acolytes.  The fight was forgettable (at least, I don’t recall anything about it) apart from that I loved the irony that Troivayan’s lazy-stubborn refusal to learn Azlanti from an offered spell gem earlier in the scenario made him automatically immune to a greater command spell cast by one of the mystics! 

 

Felthaum and several other prisoners can be freed from the compound here, and the rest of the escape from Azlanti space is pretty much hand-waved.  The closing line from Venture-Captain Naiaj was a fitting one: “The most important thing for you to know at this moment? This mission never happened.”  All in all, although I would have liked the scenario to lean more into the “undercover behind enemy lines” angle and perhaps offer some new mechanical twists for high-level play, I thought Extraction from Azlanti Space was a solid experience.