Starfinder Society Scenario # 6-15: "Extraction from Azlanti Space" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

 

Man, I’m really getting behind on these reviews!  It’s not from lack of interest, just from lack of time.  Anyway, I got to play Extraction from Azlanti Space via play-by-post with my drug-addicted solarian, Troivayan.  It was nice to see a scenario designed for such high-level PCs (Tier 11-14!), and since Troivayan is my first and highest level character, he was a natural choice.  Moreso, the mission was one that genuinely warranted the (in-game) Society sending elite operatives to accomplish.  My take on the scenario was that it was an enjoyable experience: the story was solid, the setting was great, and the encounters were fine.  I do think there could have been more risk in a non-combat vein, but I’ll explain that more in the Spoilers! section below.  I found the artwork a mixed bag, as I think the more cartoony style adopted over the past couple of years is a detriment compared to the original, more “realistic” vein.

 

SPOILERS!

 

I’m not being sarcastic when I say one of the most interesting parts of Extraction from Azlanti Space is the “Adventure Background” section.  It tells the story of how the Starfinder Society first discovered the Azlanti Star Empire fifty years ago in-game, and the isolation it has tried to keep from the Pact Worlds since (not always successfully).  I’m not sure if this material has been presented before elsewhere, but I found it a fascinating bit of setting lore.  As for the current mission, the background is that despite explorers, diplomats, and colonists being forbidden to enter or exit Azlanti space, the Starfinder Society has managed to slip in some spies.  One of the undercover operatives, a man named Felthaum Pixiulu, transmitted an emergency extraction call that got temporarily lost and delayed because it took place during the Drift Crisis trouble.  So, as Venture-Captain Naiaj explains, the PCs are being sent to the Azlanti throne world of New Thespera to find Felthaum and bring him home!  It’s a great set up for a story, a bit like the Federation sending a team to extract Spock from an undercover mission in Romulan space.  I’m here for it!  Now, why exactly the SFS would enlist disgruntled, aggro, pill-popping Troivayan in the mission is another question; though, to be fair, he proved his worth.

 

The SFS arranges for an unmarked vessel to carry the PCs to the border planet of Khetaria, a world caught in a longterm stand-off between the Azlanti and the Vesk for complicated reasons I won’t get into.  Here, the PCs can meet with a Society contact named Mohaul (of the “screedeep” species first introduced in the Against the Aeon Throne AP) to obtain forged credentials to get them into Azlanti space proper.  In an area of a city that gives off some Mos Eisley vibes, the PCs encounter a shouting match between Vesk soldiers and Aeon Guard soldiers.  The scenario lets the PCs try to intervene to prevent violence, but if they fail the Diplomacy check (and I like the big penalty for non-humans attempting it) they provoke an attack in turn!  Even if they succeed in the check, they still get challenged by the Aeon Guard leader to a fight.  I have no idea why Starfinder agents on an undercover mission would want to intervene in the mess at all (and neither did Troivayan), but the rest of the group dutifully stepped in and started a fight.  I think too many players have the idea that they have to swallow every encounter hook that a scenario dangles.  There’s a little bit at the end of this sequence I really liked: when the PCs are just about to board their new “clean” ship to leave Khetaria, a pair of armed Aeon Guards approach and ask rudely “Where do you think you’re going?”  It’s easy (and natural) for the PCs to react/overreact dramatically here, but it turns out the guards have a sort of joking banter with the local and were just having a bit of fun—they’re not suspicious at all!  I liked the misdirect that plays with adventure tropes (“Bluff the Guards”) like this.

 

The group reach the Azlanti capital of New Thespera a few days later, and their forged credentials check out, allowing them free movement around the city of Eronesse.  I thought this part could have been handled a bit better to bring out more setting flavour, as I imagine the usual Starfinder Society group of motley aliens from all over the Pact Worlds, Near Space, and beyond would attract a *lot* of attention in the rigid and xenophobic Azlanti society.  At the very least, any non-human members of the group would be scrutinised more carefully in social interactions, or perhaps the PCs would have to give some not-so-subtle trackers the slip.  I prefer the approach that a long-ago Pathfinder adventure took when the PCs have to slip into a city of (mythical, non-existent) drow: they have to *look* like drow in order to avoid suspicion and have freedom of movement.  I do get it’s hard to accomplish everything in one single scenario, however, so maybe this would have been better as a two-parter.

 

The PCs arrive armed with three potential leads to finding their spy-in-distress. 

 

The first lead is a café and lounge called Conquerer’s Rest, which was the original designated extraction point before the communication got delayed.  Here, the PCs can bribe a gosclaw (another species introduced in Against the Aeon Throne; glad I’m playing it!) bartender to reveal she hasn’t seen Felthaum in months, and that he was spending a lot of time hanging around a shatori female. 

 

The second lead is the workplace where Felthaum found employment: ironically, it was the Ministry of Citizenship!  (actually a really clever place for a spy to gather intel about comings and goings in Azlanti space, and to be able to bolster their own credentials).  The scenario leaves it fairly open ended here when it comes to skill checks to get inside and find relevant information, which is fine with me—the only tricky part is that players could spend a *lot* of time planning a super-careful infiltration when really they just each need to make one skill check to discover a piece of info, and there are no consequences for failure.  Again, probably a problem due to the scenario’s lack of space and gameplay time.  Anyway, the PCs may discover that Felthaum was fired after a week’s unexplained absences and never turned up to gather his desk belongings.  One of the items in Lost & Found is a book marked with a Starfinder cypher that reveals a partial address to an apartment complex in an affluent area of the city.

 

The third lead is Felthaum’s home.  Neighbours say they haven’t seen him in months, but inside the PCs can discover more ciphers that reveal he was investigating a Lissalan cult called the Seven Stars that was aggressively pushing for the Azlanti Star Empire to attack the Pact Worlds!  A clever twist is that some maintenance bots working on the property are actually Aeon Guard surveillance robots (Felthaum aroused suspicions), and they activate to try to capture the PCs.  The map tiles used for this are a bit weird, and I didn’t like that that the PCs are expected to spend *fifteen minutes* after a very public battle against robots, while undercover on the Azlanti homeworld, to hack into the robots’ memory banks to find the address to the Seven Stars compound.  I don’t know about you, but years of Starfinder have taught me that bad-guy robots are there to be blasted, and there’s no point in trying to dredge up useful information from their memory banks.  I guess a GM would have to drop a heavy hint here, because finding that address is crucial for the rest of the scenario.

 

There’s an essentially optional side trek the PCs can take if they go to the address they found hidden in Felthaum’s books at this workplace.  The address belongs to Ghwenti Ghanti, a former co-worker, who was fond of Felthaum and eager to assist in locating him.  She’s an interesting character, and it was cool that she was (slightly ret-conned) into being one of the shatori present during # 2-13: Storm of the End Times and so friendly with the Society.  She can fill the PCs in a bit more on what Felthaum was doing investigating the Seven Stars, but there’s nothing crucial here.  It’s a solid role-playing scene, but I probably would have cut it for space and replaced it with more setting-related stress for the PCs to really hammer home how isolated and exposed they are if they get discovered on this mission well-behind enemy lines.

 

The last act of the adventure has the PCs arrive at the Seven Stars compound.  Although the map makes this look like a standard room-by-room “space dungeon” sequence, there’s actually only one encounter and so it should go fairly quickly.  The battle is against the fanatic leader of the Seven Stars, a soldier named Xyam, and her two mystic acolytes.  The fight was forgettable (at least, I don’t recall anything about it) apart from that I loved the irony that Troivayan’s lazy-stubborn refusal to learn Azlanti from an offered spell gem earlier in the scenario made him automatically immune to a greater command spell cast by one of the mystics! 

 

Felthaum and several other prisoners can be freed from the compound here, and the rest of the escape from Azlanti space is pretty much hand-waved.  The closing line from Venture-Captain Naiaj was a fitting one: “The most important thing for you to know at this moment? This mission never happened.”  All in all, although I would have liked the scenario to lean more into the “undercover behind enemy lines” angle and perhaps offer some new mechanical twists for high-level play, I thought Extraction from Azlanti Space was a solid experience.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 92 [RPG]

[Moonday, 10 Arodus 4708 A.R. continued]

After the rebel war council is interrupted by news of trouble along the Avenue of Arms, the Harrowed Heroes decide to rush to the scene.  Flying from the Grand Cathedral all the way to the Narrows takes time, however, and by the time they arrive, all Hell has broken loose!  Standing near the bizarre assemblage of sculpted arms is a robed figure watching her work joyfully: a rippling hole in the air, through which the infernal landscape of another plane can be seen!  And clearly, at least one denizen from Hell has already spotted the opening and come through, as a barbed devil is rampaging up and down the street, murdering civilians so terrorised they can’t even think to flee!

Goldcape drops her companions off a few dozen yards from the chaotic scene and then urges Rocky into action!  Levelling a magical lance for the first time, the vanara catches the diabolist by surprise, though, oddly, chips of stone are mixed in with the blood from the resulting wound.  Goldcape and Rocky fly past and begin circling around, but instead of giving chase, their foe selects their tightly-bunched allies for a rain of hellfire!  Lorien and The Reckoner dodge the worst of the blast, but Yraelzin is lucky to still be standing.

 

At the same time, at a raucous tavern nearby, Protosilaus sees, through a grimy window, the column of hellfire erupt.  Having previously dismissed talk of an irate applicant to the Order of the Nail as involving a bland carpentry dispute, the half-orc realises something exciting is happening!  He teleports himself to a rooftop overlooking the scene, but slips off and tumbles to the ground below.  The cause of the disturbance shouts “All will rue the day Janeska Hount mastered the infernal legions!” and begins casting a spell to disintegrate Protosilaus, but the diabolist doesn’t realise that The Reckoner has snuck up to her under the cover of an invisibility spell!  A massive blow from his battle-maul leaves Hount reeling and her magic dissipated.  Anger alights in Protosilaus’ eyes at his near-death experience, and he responds with a spell impossible to counter, encasing Hount in an icy tomb!  The Reckoner promptly shatters it, however, to continue his attacks, giving the diabolist the opportunity to teleport away.

 

Nearby, Goldcape has wheeled Rocky around for a charge on the barbed devil, only to find herself yanked off her winged steed by the cunning foe.  The devil wraps Goldcape in a spiny bearhug of pain, shaking the vanara about like a ragdoll!  Lorien and Rocky try to rescue her, but the former’s arrows and the latter’s talons barely penetrate the devil’s skin.  Fortunately, just as Goldcape, nearly dead from the experience, manages to slip free, Yraelzin arrives and successfully banishes the devil back to Hell.  

 

Yet, the hazy portal that originally allowed it to enter remains.  Protosilaus examines it and concludes that it’s deeply unstable—indeed, an attempt to close it might even make matters worse!  But Yraelzin insists it can’t be left in the middle of Korvosa.  After much discussion and several precautions, Protosilaus casts a spell to negate the portal’s magic, and it works!  The portal folds in on itself and disappears completely.  Not long after, a contingent of guards from House Arkona arrive, explaining that they were delayed on the way.  Goldcape, annoyed at their obvious cowardice, shoos them away.

With the immediate danger passed, the time has come to plan an infiltration into Castle Korvosa.  Goldcape flies back to the Grand Cathedral to pick up the maps that Sabina promised.  Meanwhile, The Reckoner checks to see if his informant in House Arkona, the dandasuka named Xoza, has responded to his signal—but there’s no sign of the pint-size spy.  Everyone assembles at The Reckoner’s safehouse for a planning session sure to go long into the night.  Many ideas are proposed and rejected: using the secret passage into the armory, teleporting straight to the throne room, using magic to pass in cloud-like form through an arrow slit, and more.  Yraelzin even raises the idea of capturing Ileosa alive so she can stand trial, but that notion is quickly shot down by the others.  Eventually, a consensus begins to coalesce around a plan: flying slowly and invisibly with gaseous form onto the balcony of the fourth floor, sneaking into the salon, using a powerful spell called passwall to tunnel through the stone floor, and dropping down right into the wicked queen’s boudoir!  But preparations are also made for several night’s magical surveillance to learn Ileosa’s schedule to ensure she’ll be in that room when the assassination attempt is made.

The Harrowed Heroes have embarked on what may be the final and most dangerous of all their efforts to save Korvosa to date, and the hopes of thousands rest on their shoulders.

-----------------------

GM Commentary

The encounter this session was "Speak of the Devil", the bonus encounter for Chapter Six of Curse of the Crimson Throne from the Pathfinder Runescars comics.  Reading this recap, I did better than I remembered at delivering the exposition as to why the devil conjurer was so angry.  I'm glad I got a chance to integrate the Avenue of Arms, one of those weird but memorable features of Korvosa that stretch back to Thassilonian times.  

Goldcape managed the classic double-damage by using a lance in a mounted charge, which was very cool.  The PC was built to do lots of different things instead of being ultra-specialised, and didn't always get an opportunity to showcase some of these aspects of her build.  My "stony flakes mixed with blood" is of course how I would subtly/not-so-subtly reveal a stoneskin was in place.

The Reckoner landing an (invisible) attack of opportunity to disrupt the conjurer's disintegrate was pretty awesome.  

Protosilaus responded with an ice tomb witch hex; I don't remember the details of exactly why, but it's one of those abilities that can be pretty OP when combined with something else.  

Yraelzin got a moment of awesomeness as well, saving Goldcape at the last minute with a very handy dismissal.

I've mentioned before that I always like sessions where the PCs have an extended in-character discussion about planning and tactics.  Here, they came up with a pretty good plan for getting quickly into Castle Korvosa.