Pathfinder Society Scenario # 6-98: "Serpent's Rise" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Sometimes it's good to be bad!  Serpent's Rise is a one-of-a-kind scenario, in which you get to play members of the Aspis Consortium and punish those annoying Pathfinders for years of their self-righteous interference with free trade and good business.  It's not offered that often (only 4- or 5-star GMs can run it), so definitely jump at the chance if you get one.  I got into a game at a play-by-post convention and it was a really interesting and memorable experience.  This review is based on playing in that game and then reading the scenario afterwards.

SPOILERS

This is a big scenario, and it's clear a lot of time and effort went into it.  The gist of Serpent's Rise is that the Aspis Consortium is ready to strike back at the Pathfinder Society for decades of meddling in its affairs.  The PCs play pre-generated, 7th level members of the Consortium as they undertake a daring (and risky) plan: infiltrate the Society's annual Grand Convocation, penetrate Skyreach, rip a hole in the Hao Jin Tapestry to set free Consortium forces trapped inside, and then steal a legendary artefact called the Sky Key!  It's a really cool way to see things from a different perspective.

One of the things that makes the scenario work so well is the pre-generated characters.  Each has a  distinctive personality and motivation for undertaking the mission, different skill-sets, and some cool artwork.  Just look at that guy on the cover!  In addition to the character sheet, each player receives a special handout at the beginning of the scenario that details their PC's personal mission(s) during the adventure.  This is somewhat like the old faction missions from early PFS scenarios, but the ones here all require some significant time and attention and tie in well to the pre-gen's backstory.  Each of the pre-gens has a particular role on the team, so there's not even a briefing in the traditional sense: instead, a particular pre-gen (Rataji) is the leader of the group and the handout for his player contains the mission goals and plans he's to share with the others however the player running him wishes.

The first portion of the adventure takes place during the Grand Convocation, an event where hundreds of Pathfinders from all around the Inner Sea assemble to discuss policy.  The PCs have to wait until the keynote speech is given at an outdoor parade ground before they can infiltrate Skyreach, so until then they have preparations to make and personal missions to complete.  For example, one of the PCs is tasked with stealing a set of keys from Janira Gravix, while another PC (the one I played, a brawler named Zurnzal) needs to steal a Pathfinder's identity and frame them for the heist to sow confusion.  There's a lot of open-ended possibilities on what will happen here.  The scenario is actually a really good introduction to the Grand Lodge, as PCs may visit the statue of Dervin Gest, the Wall of Names, the on-site menagerie, and more.  There will be a lot of plates in the air for the GM to keep spinning as the PCs will likely need to split up to accomplish their various tasks.  Success in this phase of the scenario makes the later parts easier, and I thought it was an interesting and exciting way to begin.

When it comes time to infiltrate Skyreach, the PCs have to sneak or bluff their way past various guards and patrols.  The scenario handled this intelligently, as one bad roll wouldn't sink the entire team's efforts but blindly attacking everything isn't likely to succeed either.

The Consortium agents first task is to slip into the vaults below Skyreach to steal Aram Zey's (the PFS's Master of Spells) notes on the Hao Jin Tapestry (an entrance to a magical demiplane).  The vault is protected, of course, by both traps and guardians (foo creatures, which are like giant animals capable of replicating stone statues).  With the notes in hand, the PCs know the ritual to tear a rift in the tapestry--but first they have to get to it.

Reaching the tapestry requires getting past a trio of Pathfinder guards forced to miss the Grand Convocation as punishment for a previously failed mission.  The three Pathfinders have surprisingly detailed (and interesting) backstories which, unfortunately, the PCs will probably never get to learn.  I especially liked Ralirio, a Kalistocrat who uses firearms because he hates the thought of getting dirty from fighting "filthy miscreants" and because guns are so expensive they're an obvious sign of wealth.  I might have to make a Ralirio for regular play sometime!

Assuming the PCs get past the Pathfinder guardians, performing the ritual is easy and the tapestry rips open to disgorge a veritable army of Aspis agents and native inhabitants that have been misled into believing the Pathfinder Society is their enemy.  This all ties into previous scenarios and storylines.  As the armies pour out to wreak havoc and destroy at will, there's a surprising twist.  One of the tapestry's inhabitants, a young green dragon named Gazwyr, wants to join the infiltration team on the last leg of their heist.  How this works is that one of the players can set aside their pre-gen and run Gazwyr, which is pretty cool--one doesn't get to play a dragon very often!

The big finale takes place when the PCs breach the remaining fixed defences separating them from the Sky Key.  This artefact is a pretty big deal (there's a whole season named after it), though I have to confess I haven't played any of those scenarios and don't know exactly what it does.  Anyway, the Society has one last trick up its sleeve:  Aram Zey himself has caught wind of the heist and is going to personally fight, to the death if necessary, to protect the Sky Key.  This was a really tough fight, as Aram Zey is an 11th level wizard, has time to prepare defences, has some clever tactics, and the GM is allowed to use any PFS-legal spell once during the battle through the character's arcane bond.  It was an exhilarating encounter when I played it, with Aram Zey flying around invisibly, mocking us with dry condescension, and blasting us with chain lightning, fire snake, and more.  I was running Gazwyr (the green dragon) at this point, and he got killed!  But I figure, if you have to die, getting killed by the Master of Spells is a pretty good reason.  In fact, we came very close to a TPK and only managed to pull out a victory by surviving the initial onslaught of high-level spells and then wearing Zey down when he only had the low-level stuff left.  Interestingly, one of the PC's special missions is to trap the dead wizard's soul in a magical lantern so he can't even be brought back from the dead--I'm not sure whether/how this plays out in later scenarios.

With Zey dead and the Sky Key in Aspis hands, the PCs are successful and the scenario ends.  There's not much of a written epilogue, which usually annoys me, but this is clearly a set-up to a big storyline, so I understood why.

I could quibble with a detail here or there, but really, I only have positive things to say about Serpent's Rise.  Even speculative faults like players embracing getting to be evil to do gross things is headed off with good advice to the GM on how to remind players that these are serious professionals on an important mission.  This scenario is a special treat for PFS players, and the writer really came through.  Play this one if you can!