Pathfinder Module: The Moonscar 9781601254269

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oonscar CREDITS Richard Pett Jorge Fares Cartography Robert Lazzaretti Interior Artist Tyler Walpole Author

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Cover Artist

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James Jacobs F. Wesley Schneider D evelopment Mark Moreland Editing Judy Bauer, Logan Bonner, and Christopher Carey Editorial Assistance Jason Bulmahn, Adam Daigle, Rob McCreary, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Patrick Renie, Sean K Reynolds , and James L . Sutter Editorial Intern Jerome Virnich Creative Director

Managing Editor

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Sarah E. Robinson Andrew Vallas Specialist Crystal Frasier

Senior Art Director

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Graphic D e signer Production

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Erik Mona Lisa Stevens Vice President of Operations Jeffrey Alvarez Director of S ales Pierce Watters Finance Manager Christopher Self StaffAccountant Kunji Sedo Technical Director Vic Wertz Senior S oftware D eveloper: Gary Teter Campaign Coordinator Mike Brock Publisher

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Paizo CEO

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Cosmo Eisele, Erik Keith, and Sara Marie Teter Will Chase, Michael Kenway, Matt Renton, Jeff Strand, and Kevin Underwood Website Team: Ros s Byers , Liz Courts, Lissa Guillet, and Chris Lambertz Customer Service Team:

Warehouse Team:

The Moonscar is a Pathfinder Module designed for four 16th-level characters and uses the medium XP advancement track. This module is

designed for play in the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This product makes use of the Patlifinder RPG Core Rulebook, Patlifinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide, Patlifinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary z, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3, and Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide. These rules can be found online as part oft he Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document at paizo.comfprd. This product is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the 3·5 edition of the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game.

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Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain ar� not included in this d�claration.

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 Game 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 M_odule: The Moonscar is publish�d by Paizo P�blishing, LLC under the Op�n G�m� Licens� v�rsion t.oa %> zooo Wi . .zards of the Coast, Inc. Paizo �ublishing, t

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aze into the Heavens in wonder. What secrets do the stars hold? What of Aballon the Horse and Castrovel the Green? What stranse creatures

dance in the dark upon such worlds, and what chariot could reach them? Many have visited the planes, have hunted Elysium and dreamed in tens, yet how many have trodden the skin of other worlds? There, hansins above US, sloats Somal-thus the Azlanti called the moon­ sm1Hns down upon we who wander the surface of the Case of Golarion. What stranse creatures are watchins us as we so about our business, and what b11sllt blemishes her surface with the Moonscar? -From the journal of Cladrann Thashkrell 2

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ADVENTURE BACKGRO UND

WHERE ON GOLARlON ? The fi rst part of this adventu re ta kes place at the edge of the M i ndspin Mounta i n s in the wilderness n ation of N i rmathas. Though the adventu re assumes the PCs reach the moon t h rough a porta l with i n a long-dormant volca n o ca l led the G rowl i n g Skald, it's possible cha racters of l6th level wi l l use other methods to reach the Moonscar. Most of the adventure content with i n this mod u l e ta kes place on the su rface of G o l a rion's m o o n , i n a region ofAbyssal j u ngle ca l led the Moon sca r. Th is massive swath of dark vegetation is so l a rge that it can be seen from Golarion's su rface, though few of the planet's astronomers know that it is the result of a n cient terraform i n g efforts that breached the ba rriers between the Materia l Plane and the Abyss. For more i nformation a bout the Moonscar and adventu ri ng on other planets, see Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds, ava i l a b l e at you r local bookstore or hobby store, or o n l i n e at paizo.com.

Sometimes visible from Golarion as a dark stain located in the moon's southern hemisphere, the Moonscar is an Abyssal blight on the moon's face. In their hubris, the arcane astronomers of Azlant accidentally released this blight when they failed at an attempt to terraform the entire moon with magic. For the last 12,000 years, this tangled and alien jungle of ravenous plants and horrific beasts has been ruled by a powerful succubus, Izmiara the Insatiable Queen. While many demons would be satisfied with rulers hip of an expansive jungle realm, Izmiara has greater ambitions-a complex plan to usher in an age of domination at the hands of her mistress, Nocticula. The Insatiable Queen and her ageless daughters employ magic to make the long flight through the cold, silent vacuum of space to Golarion. Once there, they abduct humanoids, carrying them home for use as breeding stock or to transform them into agents of the Abyss. Those transformed are later returned to their homes to work sinister deeds on behalf of their seductive and manipulative mistresses. Any kidnapped specimens deemed unworthy ofbecoming breeding stock or who lack the influence to be agents are instead used simply for food, pleasure, or entertainment. The most powerful and ambitious of the Moonscar's succubi tamed shantaks as mounts to take them quickly to Golarion for their periodic harvests, but most of the Insatiable Queen's daughters were restricted to mundane flight between the planet and its moon-which takes 2 years-and their efforts to fully implement their insidious plots were ever hampered by the time required to traverse the void. Thus have a dozen millennia passed without the Abyssal hordes of the moon's surface overtaking Golarion or enslaving that world for their own purposes. Now all that has changed. Two months ago, a dormant volcanic ridge in the Mindspin Mountains known as the Growling Skald awoke for the first time since before Earthfall. In the course of the eruption, a number of ancient Azlanti ruins were exposed to the sky, including what was once an isolated astronomical research station. This station had once been populated by the most brilliant minds of the world's greatest civilization, and now it has become partially functional once more. Among the strange ruins that were uncovered by the eruption is a portal to the surface of the moon; for millennia it was as dormant as the volcano whose geothermal energy powered it, but with the resurgence of the volcanic vents, the portal has sputtered back to life. In the Moons car, the succubi noticed their own dormant portal-the Growling Skald's mate-flash to life. With the journey time from the Moonscar to Golarion suddenly reduced from years to moments, the Insatiable Queen has -

begun to move her plot forward at an accelerated pace. She has started kidnapping new subjects with renewed zeal, readying for a day soon when anarchy and chaos can be unleashed across Golarion, heralding the way for Nocticula's long overdue apotheosis.

ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS The demonic forces of the Moonscar have ramped up their assault on Golarion after a portal to the Abyssal moon jungle was reactivated in a seismic event. A number of prominent and influential individuals have recently disappeared-among them an ally or associate of the PCs. The party is approached by a masked member of the Pathfinder Society's leadership, the Decemvirate, who offers insight into the connected disappearances. Armed with a hint of where their friend has been taken, the PCs must find their way to the moon in search of one or more of the kidnapped NPCs; they likely travel through the ancient Azlanti portal known as the Somal Gate, which lies deep in a long-dormant volcano in western Nirmathas. .

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Once on the moon's surface, the PCs face the harsh environment and inhabitants of the Moonscar jungle. They eventually reach Dominax Annuli, bastion of the Insatiable Queen Izmiara, whose plan for dominion over Golarion has motivated her daughters for over 12,ooo years. In Dominax Annuli, the PCs must progress through four deadly levels ofthe queen's most dangerous servants to rescue the captured prisoners, finally coming face to face with the queen herself, before their task is complete.

acq u a i nta nce's bea uty and charm. Reports i n most cases pl ace the missing i n d ivid u a l in the com p a ny of the same stra nger i n the N i rmathi city of Skelt, from whence the pa rty is said to have traveled south towa rd a recently active volca nic ridge cal led the G rowl i n g Skald. You r missing friend is a m o n g those whose disappearance matches this pattern. "O u r divi nations h ave located several of those who va nished on the moon. Lo ng h ave repo rts spoken of a demon-tai nted j u n gle on the su rface of the moon-what we o n G o l a rion see as the Moonscar. I t is there that I believe those abd ucted h ave been take n , though fo r what s i n ister succubus p l ot I know not. Few h ave the means to venture i nto such a rea l m , which is why I a m h ere, now, with you . Th ere is l ittle I can offer you beyo n d poi nti n g yo u i n w h a t I hope is the r i g h t d i rectio n . Yet if yo u can fi n d a way to the Moonscar a n d retrieve not o n ly my m i s s in g a g e n t a n d you r friend, but any o t h e r ca ptives of the demons th ere, then my faith i n yo u has n ot been m isguided. Wh atever p l a n the Moonscar's I nsati a b l e Queen a n d her serva nts h ave i n the works, it has sped u p d rastical ly, a n d I fea r fo r us a l l s h o u l d they n o t be stopped."

BEGINNING THE ADVENTURE As some of the most powerful adventurers in the Inner Sea region, the PCs doubtlessly have a number of powerful friends and allies, possibly including an influential noble or the head of a worldwide organization. Select one such associate from the party's network of friendly NPCs to be the catalyst for their involvement in this adventure and inform the PCs that their friend has disappeared, seemingly without a trace. The only initial lead is that the missing individual was last seen with an attractive individual in a local tavern. Allow the PCs a few minutes to start their investigation before one of them is contacted with a sendinJJ spell. As the PC receives the message, read the following aloud.

If the PCs inquire further, the masked man offers them a list of the missing individuals whom he believes have been abducted. Feel free to alter this list to provide a deeper sense of impending dread among your players; drop the names of people the PCs have formed bonds with, or of prominent leaders of regions the PCs are invested in, to motivate the PCs to take up the masked man's proposed j ourney. The list of kidnapped victims whose circumstances all lead them to the Growling Skald includes the following: the PCs' kidnapped acquaintance; the Pathfinder agent Osprey (N male human druid n) ; Commander Andabar Ceroban (LG male human cavalier 13) of the Knights of Ozem in Lastwall; the Nexian golemcrafter Pendrel Zarafari (CN male half-elf wizard w) ofOenopion; Druman Kalistocrat Obenna Sirara (LN female human aristocrat 6/rogue 6); Garrin Levoye (CG male human fighter 9) of Andoran's People's Council; professor Zembe Utomo (NG male human wizard 12) of the Magaambya; and Chelish noble and famed opera librettist Enlina Charthagnion (LE female human aristocrat 3/bard 8).

"I b e l i eve we s h a re a com m o n goa l . I have information a bout the i n divi d u a l yo u seek. M eet me at m i d n ight i n the Dancing Lancer tavern."

The Dancing Lancer should be a tavern within a distance the PCs can reach by midnight of the day they receive the mes sage. If there's another tavern or location that will better fit your campaign (and if its name will fit within the 25-word limit of the sendinJJ spell), feel free to change the meeting place to somewhere already familiar to your PCs. At the appointed time, the PCs meet a man in an eyeless, red leather mask who motions for them to sit down before speaking in a hushed voice that sounds as though it might be disguised with magic. "I apologize for my rudeness in contacti ng you so suddenly and briefly, and t h a n k you for meeti ng me here. I cannot tel l yo u my name, for I a m a member of the Decemvi rate, and my a b i l ity to guide the Pathfi nder Society h i n ges on my anonym ity. What is dou btlessly more i m porta nt to you than my name is how I can h e l p you. "I n recent months, I h ave been i nvestigati ng the disappeara n ce of a h i gh-ra n ki n g Pathfi nder agent n a med Osprey, a n d h ave discovered a series of s i m i l a r disappeara n ces throughout the I n ner Sea regio n , all of which occu rred u nder s i m i l a r ci rcu msta nces. I n each case, the m issi ng person was l ast seen with a n attractive stra nger, and appeared to be rapt with the new

A TRtP To TH E MooN There are several ways for a 16th-level party to get to the moon. Note that traditional teleportation does not work between planets, so the PCs' will need to employ more powerful magical means to reach the Moonscar or take one ofthe other possible courses of action listed below. The adventure assumes the PCs, like the succubi and their prisoners, use the Somal Gate located within the Growling Skald. For details on this location and the challenges the PCs might face there, refer to Appendix II

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CONT 1NU1N G PAT HF1NDER A DVENTURE PAT HS One of the goa ls of this 16th-level Pathfi nder Mod u l e is to provide h i gh-level m ateri a l fo r GMs who h ave successfu l ly run thei r pl ayers t h rough a fu l l Path fi n d e r Adventu re Path and a re looki n g fo r ways to conti n u e the ca m pa i g n . Below a re possi b l e N PCs from the fi rst 10 Pathfi nder Adventu re Paths you m ay wish to use as the PCs' kid n a pped a l ly. Feel free to adva nce a ny of these N PCs in level to be a p p ro p riate ta rgets for the succ u b i of the Moonsca r to abd uct for b reed i n g or brai nwash i n g. Rise of the Runelords: S h a l e l u Andosa na, Amei ko Kaij itsu Curse ofthe Crimson Throne: Vencarlo Orsini, Tri nia Sabor Second Darkness: Shalelu Andosana, any a l l ied mem bers of the Wi nter Council Legacy of Fire: Al m a h Rovesh ki , Rayh a n Xo b h a d i Council o f Thieves: Arael, A i l y n G h o ntasavos, Ja n iven Kingmaker: Kesten G a ress,Jhod Kavkhe n , Oleg Leveton Serpent's Skull: the leader of the PCs' a l l ied faction Carrion Crown: Judge D a ra m i d , l