Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-13: "The Prince of Augustana" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I just finished running The Prince of Augustana through play-by-post at subtier 1-2.  It has an interesting premise/backstory and a couple of good NPCs to role-play with.  Most of the scenario is a fairly standard dungeon crawl, and there's not much in the way of creativity with the encounters or antagonists.  This isn't one that's going to tax a GM's prep time or a player's comprehension of the story.  I had fun running it though, and, despite its age, it remains a very playable scenario.  It'd be a good choice for groups looking for a fast, relatively straightforward experience.

SPOILERS

The briefing is delivered by an irritated Venture-Captain Wallace at the Pathfinder Lodge in Augustana (a major port and Absalom's second-largest city).  Wallace explains that a dirty, dishevelled, and probably quite mad individual arrived at the lodge clutching a wayfinder and telling a ridiculous story.  But the link to the Society means an investigation is necessary, so the group is introduced to the individual, Gandros.  The man, obviously stinking of the sewers, raves about being the "Prince of Augustana" and of a "portal to the demon lands" that drove him from his "palace."  The PCs' mission is to track Gandros' trail to its origins and figure out if there's really a portal and how he obtained the wayfinder.  V-C Wallace warns the group that the sewers under Augustana are the territory of a street gang called the Steel Wyverns, but that there's also a group of beggars living underground in a sort of safehouse run by a priest called the Almsman.  It's certainly an original premise for an adventure, and Gandros can be a really fun and memorable character if the GM goes whole hog in portraying his particular brand of ostentatious ego-driven delusion.

The entirety of the rest of the scenario takes place in the sewers--yuck!  Contracting filth fever is a constant risk, but given its 1d3 day onset time it's not likely to impact gameplay (though it might make for an annoying condition to clear afterwards).  The first encounter is against a few Steel Wyvern gang toughs, one of whom is an alchemist.  As originally written, this encounter was both harder and more interesting because the toughs' weapons had reach but they were across a channel of sewage, so they had the advantage.  But when spiked chains were made non-reach weapons in Pathfinder, this becomes a more conventional brawl.  If the PCs are smart, however, they'll grab some of the alchemist's splash weapons because the next encounter is against something many players dread: swarms!  I'm as guilty as the next player in usually forgetting to swarm-proof my characters, and these things can inflict a lot of damage (plus, the swarm attacks in the vicinity of a pocket of trapped sewer gas that explodes if open flame is nearby--a fun touch!).

The PCs will inevitably come into contact with the Almsman, a masked priest of Abadar, and his Sanctuary for the city's downtrodden.  Some good role-playing can be done here (as well as some of the faction missions).  It turns out that the Steel Wyverns are on their way to attack the Sanctuary because the Almsman is refusing to help them, so this is one of those fun encounters that the PCs know about ahead of time and can be the defenders (and set an ambush).  It's a good opportunity for players to exercise some creativity and use some game elements they rarely get to, like setting traps, location-triggered spells, etc.  I only wish the scenario had made some better underground terrain and debris/junk for the PCs to work with.

The finale takes place when the PCs reach Gandros' living quarters--the (now sealed off) basement of a store that use to cater to the nobility in Andoran before the People's Revolution.  There, the PCs will learn that the "demonic invasion" was really just an accidental summoning of some dretches and that the"portal to the Abyss" is really just a painted pattern on the wall.  Still, the story here is tragic, as Gandros has been living for decades with the corpse of his father (the owner of the store before it went out of business) and, in this light, his madness becomes more tragic than hilarious.  The scenario is open-ended about how the PCs deal with Gandros on their return to the surface, with one good option (that my PCs came up with by themselves) to have the Almsman serve as his caretaker.

Unlike some early season scenarios, The Prince of Augustana isn't particularly deadly.  Level 1 PCs serve at the will of the dice-gods, of course, but for the most part the encounters here are certainly manageable.  Depending on how much role-playing takes place, this might be one of those scenarios that some optimized groups race through in two hours.  Nonetheless, I liked the scenario--it has a good feel, and a change of pace from the sometimes very-dense and complex later season scenarios can be healthy.  And who knows--maybe someday we'll see Gandros again!