Pathfinder Society Introductory Scenario: "First Steps, Part III: A Vision of Betrayal" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Although this scenario is retired for official PFS play, I ran my local group through it (and the previous two parts) just to help get a new player familiar with the setting and to give the others some deeper background insight into factions and leaders they would encounter later.  The original premise of the trilogy is that after playing through all three parts, players would then choose a faction for their PC.

I think A Vision of Betrayal is an excellent all-around scenario.  It has some good role-playing moments, makes excellent use of the settings terrain and environment rules, and provides a good introduction to overland movement.  The story is also interesting.  This one may have been retired due to some different material with factions, but it easily could have been salvaged with some minor changes.
 
SPOILERS

The scenario starts with a briefing by Drandle Dreng, who isn't particularly eccentric here.  He's accompanied by Lady Gloriana Morilla, leader of the Taldan faction.  Dreng explains that the Pathfinder Society has been given the opportunity to bid on a rare Azlanti artefact recovered by the Gillmen of Escadar.  However, the Aspis Consortium is interested as well, and has hatched a plan to intercept any PFS agents sent via sea.  Thus, the PCs are asked to travel overland from Absalom to the small fishing village on the Isle of Kortos' northern coast and then pay a local captain for the short jaunt across to Escadar.  The PCs are to escort an appraiser and relics broker named Nester Rees so that he can ensure the Azlanti relic is the real deal.  In a nice touch, Lady Morilla slips a note to a single PC (whichever was the first to offer her a hand up), asking them to deliver a secret message to the gillmen embassy on Escadar.  I always think it's fun when one player at the table gets something special to work with.

The interior of the Isle of Kortos is supposed to be incredibly dangerous, so in order to find a safe passage overland, the PCs are told to journey into the Siphons (the sewers under Absalom) and meet with Grandmaster Torch.  I love the whole deal with Grandmaster Torch, and his scepticism of the Decemvirate adds a great layer of complexity to the life of a Pathfinder.  There's no skill checks or anything required to obtain the map (which is quite attractive as a handout), so it's just a bit of flavour and a chance to introduce players to the then-existing "Shadow Lodge."  Afterwards, they can meet up with Nester Rees.  I like how he's given full stats, an interesting background and persona, and some ways the GM can use him during the rest of the scenario (as well as instructions on what to do if he gets killed!).  Too often, NPCs to be escorted aren't treated like "real" characters and are somehow immune to everything the PCs have to go through.

The journey overland takes the group through a variety of different terrains: forests, foothills, mountains, swamps, and more.  The trip takes seven or eight days in game time, and the GM is given a handy chart summarising how much progress a group would normally make each day if they have all have a 30' move speed.  During the journey, there are several scripted events that take up the middle third of the adventure.  The events include a (peaceful!) encounter with centaurs, a nighttime attack by a krenshar (a creepy wolf-like monster), discovery of a frozen wagon and an old shrine, possible infestation by leeches (yuck!), and a battle against a kobold swamp druid and her pet alligator.  Unlike too many scenarios, A Vision of Betrayal makes excellent use of the detailed terrain rules in the Core Rulebook to make encounters more interesting and incorporates environmental effects like cold temperatures or fog as well.  I always appreciate this because there are a lot of traits, class abilities, feats, and spells that really only have application in specific situations where these features are invoked, and if scenarios never use them, it's too tempting to just go for another numerical combat bonus and call it a day.

The overland trip concludes at a village on the far side of the island named Pier's End, which receives a full settlement stat block (and which I don't think is discussed in other Paizo products, despite being a pretty useful location for campaigns set around Absalom).  Here, the PCs need to find a ship's captain willing to take them to Escadar for a reasonable price.  There are three possibilities, and PCs who take the time to ask around and react to their different personalities can get a much better deal.  In other words, the scenario handles Diplomacy checks well; though oddly, it seems to treat Intimidate checks as automatic failures with negative consequences.

The last part of the scenario is a meeting with the gillmen at a tavern called the Grindylow's Goblet.  The scenario's title is a bit of a giveaway here, as there is in fact a betrayal.  The gillmen who meet the PCs here aren't really relic-finders with something to offer the Society.  Instead, they're agents of the Aspis Consortium who have made up a fake relic and are only interested in tricking the PCs (and Nester Rees) out of the payment they brought.  It's actually possible for the group to get completely swindled (especially if no one is good at Appraise and Nester died earlier on the overland journey).  More likely, however, the ruse is discovered and a fight breaks out in the tavern.  I thought it was pretty exciting, as the gillmen are interested in escaping with what the Pathfinders' brought instead of just slugging it out, so the PCs have to work quickly.  It's odd that neither the purported Azlanti artefact nor the item that Nester Rees has bought to trade receive any detail, so I had to make something up on the fly. Once the encounter is concluded, the return journey to Absalom happens off-screen, though there is some additional role-playing that can be done with Drandle Dreng at the Grand Lodge.

It's not really relevant anymore, though I'm going to mention anyway that the boon on the Chronicle is terrible--a limited-use, tiny bonus vs a dragon's breath weapon that will puzzle most players about how it's even related to the scenario at all.

Quibbles aside, I thought this was an excellent scenario that showed great attention to detail and works really well to show off the various facets of Pathfinder.