Pathfinder - Pathfinder Society - Scenario 53 - Echoes of the Everwar - Part 4, The Faithless Dead.pdf

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EchoEs of thE EvErwar, Part Iv:

thE faIthlEss DEaD

Pathfinder Society Scenario 53

Design:

Neil Spicer

Development:

Jason Bulmahn and Joshua J. Frost

Editing:

Christopher Carey

Senior Art Director:

Sarah Robinson

Layout:

Crystal Frasier

Interior Artist:

Concept Art House

Cartographer:

Rob Lazzaretti

Vice President of Operations:

Jeffrey Alvarez

Events Manager:

Joshua J. Frost

Paizo CEO:

Lisa Stevens

Corporate Accountant:

Dave Erickson

Financial Analyst:

Chris Self

Technical Director:

Vic Wertz

Publisher:

Erik Mona

Pathfinder Society Scenario 53: Echoes of the Everwar, Part IV: The Faithless Dead

is a Pathfinder Society Scenario designed

for 7th- to 11th-level characters (Tiers: 7–8 and 10–11). This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society

Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game

License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

The OGL can be found on page 22 of this product.

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paizo.com/pathfindersociety

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License

version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters,

deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously

been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)

Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo

Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d).

No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form

without written permission.

Pathfinder Society scenarios are published by Paizo Publishing, LLC under the Open Game License version

GameMastery are registered trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC; Pathfinder Campaign Setting, Pathfinder

Module, Pathfinder Player Companion, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and Pathfinder Society are trademarks of

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EchoEs of thE EvErwar, Part Iv:

thE faIthlEss DEaD

By neil SPicer

EchoEs of thE EvErwar

n 4305 ar, Cheliax initiated a series of imperial

conquests which eventually became known as the

Everwar. At the same time, an enterprising Osirian

named Khalfani Zuberi, who’d made his money buying

and selling everything from slaves to weapons for

Osirion’s conquerors (the Qadiri), decided the Everwar

presented yet another opportunity to expand his wealth.

He gave his three most trusted concubines rings which

magically fused to their fingers, allowing him to track

their status and general direction even as he sent them

to three separate locations across the new Chelish

frontier so they could manipulate the Everwar’s markets

to his advantage. Their untold success brought Zuberi

unimaginable wealth, which he put to use finding ways

to extend his life and perpetuate his mercantile empire.

In 4307, Zuberi drank his first

sun orchid elixir,

a life-

giving potion which the nation of Thuvia sells only a few

of each year to the highest bidder—a position virtually

assured by Zuberi’s riches. This renewed his life even as

he continued to expand his holdings. In 4350 ar, however,

Zuberi met an ill fate on the road to Thuvia to get another

sun orchid elixir.

A cleric of an Osirian death cult and his

hired thugs assaulted Zuberi’s caravan and murdered

his servants, slaves, and soldiers. They left Zuberi alive

and laid a terrible curse upon him. With its completion,

Zuberi felt the power of his concubines’ rings wink out, his

connection to them severed. In his horror, he never realized

the severed connection also caused their immediate and

untimely deaths. Instead, concerned only for himself,

Zuberi felt his own limbs grow tired, his bones become

brittle, and his muscles go weak. In essence, the weight of

his true age took hold again. The cleric of the death cult

then justified his curse to Zuberi, blaming his obsession

with living—a heresy to most Osirians. And, since Zuberi

wanted life so badly, the priest decided he could have it—

forever. But Zuberi would never again be able to drink the

youth-giving

sun orchid elixir—instead,

he’d spend eternity

as an old man.

The curse also included an overwhelming compulsion,

driving Zuberi back to Sothis and making it impossible

for him to leave the city. As a result, he collapsed his

empire inward, selling off his holdings, and storing

The Faithless Dead

completes the final chapter of a four-part

Pathfinder Society arc called

Echoes of the Everwar.

It cannot be

played until the players have played the first three parts (#36:

The Prisoner of Skull Hill,

#42:

Watcher of Ages,

and #44:

Terror

at Whistledown),

which can be played in any order.

all his wealth in an underground vault within the

Necropolis of the Faithful. He also faked his own death,

retreating into his tomb of treasure, where he has

resided ever since.

Fifty years ago, however, Zuberi’s connection to

his concubines’ rings mysteriously reactivated. With

renewed hope, he spent his money consulting every

shaman, priest, wizard, or cleric who would listen to

him, wanting to know if he could use the connection to

the rings to finally lift his curse. An old wizard, a scribe

and servant of the Ruby Prince, provided the answer he

needed: if he could bring the three rings together again,

the wizard could perform a ritual that would undo the

curse. Unfortunately, Zuberi no longer knew the location

of the rings—so he asked for a second ritual: he wanted

the connection’s power increased so he could discern

exactly where the bodies of his concubines lay. The

wizard warned him that doing so could have unforeseen

consequences on the resting places of the rings. But

Zuberi did not care and offered great wealth to convince

the wizard to do it. And so he did.

The locations of his concubines confirmed, Zuberi

then concocted a plan to find them and bring their

remains back to him in Sothis. It took years to make

the right connections, through blackmail, sabotage,

and assassination, but finally, in 4709 ar, Zuberi found

the right person to help him: Venture-Captain Norden

Balentiir of the Sothis Pathfinder Lodge. Through

planted clues and paid informants, Zuberi secretly

convinced Balentiir to commission Pathfinders who

would seek out each location, tasked with retrieving the

bodies of the concubines and their artifacts as national

treasures. These heroes faced horrific challenges at each

Pathfinder Society Scenario

resting place, for the ritual to find the concubines had

indeed wrought tremendous damage at each location.

But triumphant, the heroes finally returned with the

bodies still bearing Zuberi’s rings, and unknowingly

providing him the means to lift his curse and return

to power.

SUMMARY

Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir summons the PCs to

the Pathf inder Lodge in Sothis to inform them about

the theft of the concubine remains from the Necropolis

of the Faithful, and to ask their assistance in tracking

them down again. However, before the PCs arrive, the

death cultists take Balentiir prisoner and lay a trap

for them in retaliation for their perceived alliance

with Zuberi. Upon defeating the cultists, and either

interrogating the survivors or consulting Balentiir,

the PCs learn of Zuberi’s curse, his connection to the

concubines, and the threat he poses to Osirion and the

entire Inner Sea region.

Balentiir suggests they consult an elder gynosphinx

named Sekhmanu to help locate the bodies and

learn more about Zuberi before opposing him. After

impressing the sphinx with gifts of knowledge and an

exchange of riddles, Sekhmanu helps the PCs by casting

legend lore

on each of the personal items (sword, staff,

and wand) that once belonged to the concubines. This

process unleashes their spirits, which manifest and

impart additional information about Zuberi and his

allies. Then the concubines pledge to aid the PCs by

leading them to Zuberi.

Zuberi’s tomb lies within the Necropolis of the

Faithful. To identify the proper entrance leading from

his false burial chamber into the deeper passageways

of his treasure-laden stronghold, the PCs must solve

a simple puzzle of hieroglyphs. Once inside, they

discover the slaughtered remains of the second group

of death cultists sent to stop him. Making their

way past several traps, they then encounter Zuberi’s

former slaves and bodyguards, raised from the dead

to serve him again. These sentinels exist as living

monoliths (a prestige class from

Pathf inder Campaign

Setting: Osirion, Land of Pharaohs),

imbued with ancient

powers and protections from the great sphinxes of

a bygone age. Winning past these guardians, the

PCs then come face to face with an immense ettin

with the heads of a jackal and a falcon, a champion

partially possessed by Zuberi’s spirit by means of a

magic jar

spell.

If the PCs defeat the guardians, they interrupt Zuberi’s

wizard before he can complete the ritual, leaving him a

frail, dying old man bereft of the life given to him from

his concubines. The power of the rings broken, Zuberi

withers away, leaving behind only dust and sand.

The Followers of Almaut

After receiving all three of the concubines’ remains,

Venture-Captain Balentiir had each one laid to rest in

the Necropolis of the Faithful amid great fanfare and

celebration in the Osirian capital of Sothis. Soon after,

however, Zuberi’s minions broke into the sepulcher and

stole them away, moving the bodies to his own false tomb

so the old wizard could perform the ritual to lift the

curse. These actions did not go unnoticed, however.

Through the ages, the original Osirian death cult

also persevered. Known as the Followers of Almaut, each

member carries a charge to ensure Zuberi’s punishment

endures. Through their divinations, they too sensed the

reactivation of the rings—a clear signal the curse could

soon end. Unfortunately, the death cultists mistook

Venture-Captain Balentiir as an active ally of Zuberi,

assuming he knowingly intended to circumvent the

curse by sending Pathfinders to find the concubines

at his master’s behest. After witnessing the theft of the

bodies from the Necropolis of the Faithful, the cultists

sent a group of assassins to punish the venture-captain

and the heroes who returned them to Sothis. At the same

time, another band followed Zuberi’s minions back to

his tomb, determined to stop him before he can undo

the curse.

The Faithless Dead

Among the deceased who eventually face Pharasma’s

judgment, true atheists—the faithless dead—impact the

very solidity of their souls, disrupting their natural ability

to migrate through the Astral Plane to their final reward.

Those who reach Pharasma’s Boneyard are locked away

in the tombs and graves of her palace to await their fate at

the End of Time. But those who resist or flee Pharasma’s

judgment remain behind as ghosts or spirits on the

Material Plane, hiding themselves in places or objects—

often emotionally driven to finish some incomplete task.

Thus did Zuberi’s concubines—Akila, Kamilah, and

Meskhenet—come to exist upon their untimely deaths

with the severing of their connection to Zuberi. Hiding

their spirits within the weapons and objects they once

wielded in his service, they now seethe with rage at his

continued existence. For they sense the extension of his

life as a result of theirs and they’d like nothing more than

to go to their reward in Pharasma’s Boneyard—but only

if they can take Zuberi with them.

Recovered Items

At the start of this scenario, you should ask each

player to show you the chronicle sheet for the three

previous adventures in the

Echoes of the Everwar

series.

echoeS of the everwar , Part iv: the faithleSS dead

Before play begins, make a note for each character

detailing whether or not they retrieved the body of

the concubine (as noted by the ring checkbox) and the

personal item of the concubine in each of the previous

adventures (a wand in #36, a

staf f of swarming insects

in #42, and a

(or

+2) f laming burst keen falchion

#44). Players receive a bonus later in the adventure

for each concubine they helped retrieve in a previous

adventure. They do not need to have bought the magic

item to receive this bonus.

GETTING STARTED

Read the following to get the adventure underway:

Sothis, throne of the pharaohs, and capital of Osirion, is

a city rooted in ancient tradition. Of these, perhaps none

is more sacred than funeral rights. As such, it came as no

surprise when Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir invited

you once again to Osirion’s capital for the funerals of three

important figures who once played a significant role in

their nation’s history—a powerful sorceress named Akila,

a warrior-woman called Kamilah, and a lady smuggler

known as Meskhenet the Wise. As you were involved with

retrieving their remains, Balentiir celebrated your success

and asked that you remain after the ceremony, while he

continued to study these women in an effort to better

understand their—and Osirion’s—past. Weeks passed,

allowing you to rest from your recent exploits and enjoy

the wondrous city of Sothis, but your vacation ended when

Balentiir sent word, asking for your immediate counsel at

the Pathfinder Lodge.

Prior to receiving Balentiir’s summons, the PCs

should have had an opportunity to receive the missives

from their faction contacts. Each benefactor has kept a

close eye on Osirion’s celebration and many have their

own questions about the historical significance of the

concubines. Since helping to retrieve the remains,

the PCs should also have had ample time to purchase

and restock any equipment they need in Sothis. Once

Balentiir’s messenger departs they should have no

trouble reaching the lodge after gathering their things.

Since the PCs have been stationed together, they arrive

at the lodge as a group.

house prisoners. Now it serves as a storehouse, barracks,

and training facility for Pathfinder agents. The grounds

inside the walls contain a variety of trees—date palms,

sycamores, and tamarisk—all designed to create a small

oasis of tranquility in the city.

The primary structure of the lodge is constructed

of f ine white limestone blocks. Ceiling height

reaches 12 feet in most rooms. The external and

internal doors are made of wood, but covered in

copper to reinforce them (hardness 5, hp 20, break

DC 23). They remain unlocked unless otherwise

specif ied. Common lamps f illed with sootless castor

oil illuminate each room. And the rooms themselves

prove mostly empty since the Followers of Almaut

have already slain most of the guards, servants,

and Pathf inders. The PCs arrive at night, thereby

restricting their vision to dim light conditions, as

altered by any light sources they bring with them.

Lamps and torches illuminate some parts of the

compound as noted in each location’s description.

1. Courtyard (CR 4)

The main entrance to the Pathfinder Lodge passes through

the double doors of an immense archway towering over the

12-foot-high exterior walls surrounding the grounds. The

doors stand slightly ajar and unbarred, despite the late hour.

Beyond the archway, torchlight illuminates the approach

toward a natural garden of shade trees and undergrowth

occupying much of the inner courtyard and blocking view of

the lodge itself on the far side.

Upon gaining entrance to the compound, the Followers

of Almaut slew the guards and servants who would

otherwise be stationed here, dragging their bodies off

into the undergrowth of the gardens. A DC 20 Perception

check made by PCs that intentionally look through the

doors for signs of trouble spot fresh bloodstains on the

pavement and signs of struggle.

Traps:

The leader of the cultists cast a

glyph of warding

over the inner archway, set to trigger when any non-

follower of their faith passes through. Its activation also

warns the cultists at area

who hear the

sound burst

without needing to make a check.

Glyph of Warding

Type

magic;

Perception

28;

Disable Device

EffECTs

CR 4

AcT 1: ThE PAThfINDER

LoDGE

The Pathfinder Lodge of Sothis has its own unique past.

Once a police station, it actually comprises an entirely

walled compound with a two-story structure providing

access to a series of underground vaults once used to

Trigger

proximity (glyph

of warding—triggered

by non-followers

of Almaut death cult);

Duration

instantaneous;

Reset

none

Effect

spell effect (spell glyph—sound

burst,

1d8 points of sonic

damage to all creatures within 10 feet, creatures also stunned 1

round unless they succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save)

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