Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-16: "What the Helms Hide" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

What the Helms Hide is a collection of four quests with a strong through-line and common theme.  Together, they tell an important story about the Pathfinder Society.  I took advantage of the quest format and played two of them with my rogue (Siegfried) and the other two with my fighter (The Shining Knight).  Although I think the shared premise and backstory is great, the actual execution comes across as amateurish.  I think this story was far too important to be handled in a freelancer-written quest pack, and should have been a traditional module designed for high-tier characters.  This is an important adventure for lore purposes, but not really a particularly fun one to play.

SPOILERS

When it comes to the fictional history of the Pathfinder Society, What the Helms Hide is perhaps the single most important PFS scenario ever released.  Tying in smartly to the classic The Wounded Wisp, it picks up on the idea that an early member of the organisation, a gnome named Eylysia, suspected that some of the first members of the Decemvirates had reprehensible records of deceit and betrayal.  She set about trying to prove this, but barely managed to escape alive after confronting them--and was subsequently framed as having been involved in an "assassination" plot.  In the four quests that follow, the PCs are charged by Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shane to follow some enigmatic clues that Eylysia left behind, in order to determine whether history has judged her unfairly or not.

The first quest, "Collection," has the PCs visiting the Jeggare Museum in Korvosa.  There's a bizarre encounter where a swarm of "shrew flies" suddenly burst through a skylight and try to eat every plant-based object in an exhibit room.  The actual encounter was actually pretty fun, as the PCs need to grab and protect the artifacts on display while simultaneously trying to deal with the swarm.  It just seemed sort of random in appearance, which is the type of problem that could be dealt with through some early foreshadowing or exposition.  There's a similarly weird situation with a spirit that has merged with a washboard (okay . . .) and starts ransacking another exhibit room--but it can be calmed with some skill checks.  It all leads to an awkwardly written research phase that eventually results in the PCs discovering that a Pathfinder (and future member of the Decemvirate) named Helven Leroung ingratiated himself with the Shoanti but then betrayed them at the worst possible time in order to enrich himself and boost his career.  The quest sheds some fascinating light on the Chelish colonisation of the area, and thus on early Korvosan history.  But as an adventure, it's mediocre at best.

The second quest, "Autumn", takes place in the Arthfell Forest in Andoran.  The backstory here is somewhat convoluted, but boils down to an evil Pathfinder (and future member of the Decemvirate) named Zaul Blystone hoarding real relics for himself while sending fake duplicates to the Society.  Blystone hid one of his treasures, Autumn's Cowl, in the Arthfell and tricked a huldra into guarding it.  Very little of this backstory comes through in gameplay, which essentially consists in asking a druid nicely for permission to enter the area, fighting some jack-o'-lanterns (I do like their explosion special ability), and then persuading the huldra into turning over the cowl.  I guess the quest makes good use of the Forest Starter Set Flip-Tiles, but apart from that it falls flat.

Next up is "Dust," which takes place in Dwarven territory near Highhelm.  At a cavern where the dwarves worshipped Droskar, a famed Pathfinder (and future member of the Decemvirate) named Veldrid Goldborough murdered the lot of them and stole most of their treasures for herself.  Essentially, this is a brief dungeon excursion consisting of one trivial haunt (which has poor flavour and little in the way of game effects) and a battle against some goblins.  I love the goblin song in the quest and that the goblins are portrayed in their traditional manner (PF1 forever!).  There's a bit of role-playing at the beginning of the quest with some dwarf scouts.  I'd classify this one as fine but forgettable, and probably the best of the lot.

Last is "Witness," a quest I had a major issue with.  The PCs are expected to perform a (poorly explained) ritual in order to display Eylysias's fateful confrontation with the three perfidious members of the Decemvirate featured in the previous quests.  But instead of just witnessing the event, the PCs somehow . . . I don't know . . . inhabit .  . . the bodies of Eylysias' allies in the battle.  All of this took place four centuries ago, and it's not actual time-travel, so it's all rather pointless.  When I played it, I also wasn't satisfied that there was much in the way of evidence that Eylysias was the "good guy" and that the Decemvirate members were the "bad guys", so I didn't participate.  I couldn't see what the in-game point of the battle was, regardless, even though I understand the writer was trying to make the event more interesting by making it interactive instead of just expository in nature.  The overall conclusion is also unsatisfying, as Kreighton Shaine and two members of the Decemvirate essentially give the PCs a "well-done" pat on the back with no particular insight into what, if anything, will change about the methods used to select the Society's governing authority.

A gamer really interested and invested in the early history and lore surrounding the Pathfinder Society would enjoy reading What the Helms Hide--it adds a lot, and what it adds makes for an interesting and exciting story.  But the quests themselves do a poor job implementing this promising premise, and there are a lot of plot holes that just don't add up.  I would recommend this one for hard-core fans only.