Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-30: "Survivor's Salvation" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Paizo forgot to update its website with a picture of the scenario's cover, 

so here's a pic of someone from the scenario.

I played through Survivor's Salvation with my skittermander Steward character, and it was right in her investigatory wheelhouse.  There's a mystery to solve in this scenario, though it's a pretty straightforward one despite a twist here and there.  I really liked the premise and how it builds organically into the events of the Season 1 interactive special.  I guess I'd say that, all in all, some clunky writing distracts from an otherwise potentially excellent scenario.  It's definitely very playable, however.

SPOILERS

The scenario starts out at the Exo-Guardians' headquarters, and it's fun to see the base coming along after getting a chance to help the warehouse's procurement in The Commencement.  Fan-favourite faction leader Zigvigix delivers the briefing, and he's his usual quirky-cool self despite having some heavy news to drop on the PCs.  In the wake of the Society's expedition to the Scoured Stars System (in # 1-99), many of the Starfinders who returned suffered from what (in the real world) would be called PTSD and have had difficulty returning to normal life.  A shobhad member of the Society named Hurondo started up a clinic for returnees like himself.  The clinic is called the Respite, and has helped dozens of agents who suffered trauma.  But just a week ago, Hurondo didn't turn up for work--and people are concerned.  Zigvigix assigns the PCs to walk over to the Respite, talk to Hurondo's business partner Jiwalla Zarvim, and see if they can figure out where Hurondo is.  As an adventure hook, it's a classic missing-persons case, but works especially well because it's integrated nicely into the season metaplot and takes place in an interesting and unusual setting.

When the PCs reach the Respite, things get pretty complicated for the GM.  This section is structured as seven different events that progress in different orders depending on what the PCs do.  In other words, there's a lot of "if/then" statements to interpret on the fly quickly, and I think it's probably over-complicated.  Anyway, most of the events involve interaction with former Starfinders who have come to the Respite for counselling.  Questioning them about Hurondo brings clues to the surface, and although each one is interesting on its own, they all point quite obviously to the Spike and a mysterious memory-modification clinic that has been set up there.  When the PCs get a chance to speak to Jiwalla (co-operator of the clinic), she has surprisingly little information about Hurondo but immediately asks the PCs to participate in a series of physical exercises (for their mental health) that include endurance rowing, a sprinting race, and weight-lifting!  It's laughably bizarre given the context, as is the result that Jiwalla is more willing to help in investigating Hurondo's disappearance if the PCs win the competitions.  Similarly bizarre is how many people at the clinic want to give the PCs extremely valuable pieces of technology or even credits.  The writers of these scenarios really need to figure out a more organic way to satisfy loot expectations in ways that don't take the players out of the story.

When the PCs leave the Respite, they'll encounter a pair of street gang members distributing flyers for the mysterious new medical clinic in the Spike.  If persuaded to talk, the gang members say that they're part of the Uniters gang which is actually holding Hurondo captive at the Uniters' headquarters in the Spike!  The clinic they're passing out flyers for is called the Open Collective clinic, and it seems the Uniters often take on odd jobs for local concerns.  Having the gang members appear conveniently right after the PCs leave the clinic is clunky story-telling, and I guess it was a "belt-and-suspenders" way to get the PCs to head to the Spike and start poking around for a kidnapped shobhad.  It cool that both my PC and another PC at the table happened to have the special boon from Incident at Absalom Station that gives bonuses when dealing with street gangs.

The Uniters gang is run by (I think) one of the first Vlakas to appear in an SFS scenario.  Bargai is joined by two other gang members, and although she doesn't put up much of a fight, the interesting thing is that she can be persuaded to join the SFS later on.  Another interesting twist is that Hurondo is there, perfectly healthy, and busy talking to his "captor", a nuar named Orghuun who has just been persuaded to quit the Uniters and go to the Respite for treatment!  It turns out that what happened is Hurondo originally came down to this area of the Spike to investigate missing patients from the Respite who might have gone to a mysterious clinic in the area, heard it was affiliated with the Uniters, stumbled into their HQ and got captured, and then the Uniters decided they might hold him for some sort of ransom but hadn't figured out what yet.  Hurondo can head back up to the Respite, but implores the PCs to investigate the Open Collective clinic.  The PCs, having nothing better to do with their lives than impersonate Stewards, decide to agree.

So as not to bury the lede, the twist with the Open Collective is that it's a front for a group of "bodysnatcher slimes" that are exactly what their name implies.  They're malevolent creatures that have been taking over the bodies of patients at the clinic in order to steal their memories so they can eventually assimilate everyone on Absalom Station and the Pact Worlds!  The combats here are really easy, with the tricky part being keeping the innocent hosts alive while destroying the bodysnatcher slimes.  Once the slimes are defeated, the scenario concludes with the ominous possibility that other bodysnatcher slimes are still operating somewhere on the station.

Overall, the plot and setting of Survivor's Salvation are solid.  It's a logical progression from the Scoured Stars Invasion to have agents suffering from their ordeal.  The actual execution of the adventure is a bit clunky in places for the reasons outlined above.  It's also surprisingly easy from a combat perspective.  So I can't give it top marks, but it was fun nonetheless.