The Story So Far

It is no secret that Pathfinder agents are not always satisfied with their position and circumstances. However, even the Decemvirate did not foresee the consequences of this collective discontent: the Shadow Lodge, a group of agents within the Society determined to revolutionize the organization’s structure and policies.

The first sign that something was amiss within the ranks of the Society appeared in Kaer Maga—a city with no Pathfinder presence—when the Society received complaints about the local lodge. The Pathfinder team sent to investigate uncovered the existence of the Shadow Lodge, an organization whose branches reached far beyond that one city. Soon thereafter, the Shadow Lodge launched violent strikes against the Society in Absalom, compelling the Pathfinder Society to redouble its efforts to root out the rogue operatives. In doing so, Pathfinders foiled a plot to assassinate a prominent venture-captain, but they also discovered a surprisingly prominent traitor in their midst.

In major cities throughoutthe Inner Sea,from the deserts of Sothis to the frozen streets of Whitethrone, Pathfinders thwarted the Shadow Lodge’s operations while facing disgruntled nobles, cursed artifacts, and shadowy spymasters. Pathfinder agents also raced their Shadow Lodge counterparts into the Worldwound to recover prophecies before they were turned to nefarious causes.

After almost a year of conflict, the Society discovered a schism within the Shadow Lodge itself, between those who sought power for themselves and those who wanted the Decemvirate to take better care of its agents. During a mission to save the life of a prominent Society ally from assassins, Pathfinders uncovered the identity of the Shadow Lodge’s true leader and negotiated a truce. The Decemvirate then welcomed the faction within the Shadow Lodge that wished for better treatment back in to the fold.

Hundreds of years ago, the ancient and mysterious sorcerer Hao Jin traveled across the continent of Tian Xia and beyond, amassing a vast collection of powerful magical artifacts, great works of art, and important historical objects. As a means of ensuring that her collection did not fade into obscurity, Hao Jin founded a martial arts tournament to be held every 10 years. The winner of the tournament earned the opportunity to claim a single object from the vast collection.

The Pathfinder Society entered the tournament in 4711 ar, sending agents across the globe to secure objects or techniques that would assist them in winning the tournament. The Society proved victorious. When it came time for the Decemvirate to choose their prize, they shocked everyone in attendance by selecting a dusty, worn tapestry hidden within the vault.

The Hao Jin Tapestry, as it would come to be known, was perhaps the single most important artifact in Hao Jin’s collection. The Tapestry serves as a gateway to a demiplane full of structures, ruins, and shrines that Hao Jin plucked from reality itself. Hundreds of locations are hidden within the fraying threads of the tapestry, and the Society continues to explore the many sites within.

Unfortunately, the Society did not possess the sole means of entering the tapestry. Agents of the nefarious Aspis Consortium found a second entrance to the tapestry, which they had created through a deal with an ancient cult of Lissala. Once the Aspis were driven out, however, the Pathfinder Society discovered a second use for the tapestry: they can create exits from the tapestry to multiple locations across Golarion, allowing for quick travel across hundreds of miles and connecting distant lodges.

Under the leadership of Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch, the Magnimar lodge has sent Pathfinders to explore Varisia’s history. The lodge’s operations do not always go smoothly; trouble started brewing almost immediately after the mysterious Runecarved Key appeared in the Varisian Gulf. Magnimar’s officials organized an auction to sell the key, which many influential local organizations attended, including the Pathfinder Society and their frequent rivals the Aspis Consortium. The Society hoped that the auction would provide an opportunity to establish itself as a major player in the region. However, mysterious figures intervened in the auction, prompting the Society to trace the culprits’ roots back to the cult of Lissala, a previously defunct religious group.

The Society’s involvement with the cult did not end at the auction. The Society dismantled the alliance between the Lissalans and the Aspis Consortium and struck against the cultists’ cells in Kaer Maga and Palin’s Cove. During these missions, the Society discovered that the cult intended to restore a powerful Thassilonian wizard to power in Golarion. Only the dedicated efforts of some of the Society’s finest agents prevented this ancient spellcaster from rising as a threat to Varisia and beyond.

The Pathfinder Society discovered the location of Jormurdun, a dwarven sky citadel whose very existence had been lost to history. Following the monumental discovery that Jormurdun was in the Worldwound, Pathfinder agents flocked to neighboring Mendev to prepare for an expedition. However, an invasion of demons interrupted the announcement of their grand foray into the abyssal wasteland.

With the Fifth Mendevian Crusade underway, the Pathfinder Society knew they could not reach Jormurdun without assistance. To gain support, the Society sent diplomatic envoys to recruit influential luminaries in Absalom, the Eagle Knights of Andoran, the elves of Kyonin, and the Riftwardens. At the same time, Pathfinder agents gathered histories of Taldan victories against evil forces, gained control of powerful Jistkan artifacts, and acquired a powerful relic to rally behind. Pathfinder teams then established a base camp closer to Jormurdun while enemies of the Society tried to stop their diplomatic envoys and sabotage supply lines.

Meanwhile, Society leadership felt it prudent to assist Mendev in its crusade against the demonic hordes. They loaned agents to scouting patrols and assisted in activating a powerful weapon lost within the Worldwound. With preparations at its new base camp well underway, agents ensured the safety of newly created portals out of the Hao Jin tapestry so their forces could quickly cross the Worldwound unscathed.

The battle for Jormurdun began as the forces of the Pathfinder Society and its new allies clashed with demonic armies—all while a smaller team of agents used the engagement as a distraction to race to the doors of Jormurdun. With the demons defeated, the Pathfinder Society secured and began to explore the Sky Citadel.

The Pathfinder Society recently recovered part of a strange artifact—a device known as the Sky Key—in the dwarven sky citadel Jormurdun. The Sky Key was the most prized relic of the dwarves of Jormurdun, who recovered the Sky Key after seeing it and other pieces of a mysterious starship plummet from the sky during the Rain of Stars. In Jormurdun’s final hour, its ruler, King Gutheran, broke the Sky Key into five pieces, keeping one piece for himself and giving one to each of his four heirs. The Pathfinder Society has since attempted to reassemble the Sky Key, scouring Golarion for any signs of the whereabouts of the remaining pieces.

This search has taken Pathfinders to locations across the Inner Sea region, from the frozen plains of Irrisen to the steamy jungles of the Mwangi Expanse and the arid deserts of Osirion. The shattered relic’s trail has also guided Pathfinders to the heart of Numeria itself, where the starship once fell. An unexpected complication in the search for the Sky Key even sent Pathfinder agents on an extraplanar adventure.

Once Pathfinder agents recover all of the pieces of the Sky Key, the Society hopes to explore the famous artifact’s true potential—as long as the Society can fend off the enemies who wish to intervene and claim the key for themselves.

The Pathfinder Society’s ongoing conflict with the Aspis Consortium ignited when a splinter group of Aspis agents called the Korholm Agenda orchestrated an attack on the Grand Lodge. In the aftermath of this strike, the Society dedicated significant resources to tracking down the agents responsible for the attack, with the help of a disillusioned informant from within the Consortium.

Pathfinder agents across Golarion matchedwits and bladeswith these masterminds, infiltrating an underground base of black market operations, a lavish party with high-stakes negotiations, and everything in between. While some agents have focused their efforts on thwarting their rivals, others have launched expeditions in regions that have long rejected the Society’s presence, such as Cheliax, and places where the Society’s foothold was in danger, such as Nirmathas.

After defeating or disgracing the Aspis agents responsible for the Grand Lodge attack and thwarting their plans to drastically expand their own power, the Pathfinder Society has reestablished an uneasy truce with its longtime rivals.

During a daring venture onto a passing asteroid, the Pathfinder Society recovered the legendary Untouchable Opal. The Opal has served as the prison for the demigod Ranginori, the good-aligned elemental lord of air, for millennia. This acquisition inspired the Pathfinder Society to research a means to crack open the artifact and set Ranginori free.

The Society soon learned that destroying the Opal would require powerful samples of earth, fire, and water that were pure enough to evoke the element’s fundamental nature, and agents traveled to the elemental planes in search of allies and leads on where they could find such samples.

First, Pathfinder agents ventured to the Plane of Earth, where they established favorable contacts despite the best efforts of an old foe and later recovered a lost Pathfinder agent. On the Plane of Fire, the Society skillfully navigated the dangerous world of efreeti high society, settling old debts and gaining valuable information in return. The theft of several objects from the Sothis Pathfinder Lodge led a group of agents on an investigation that began in Osirion’s deserts but led onto the Plane of Air. During their extraplanar journey, the Society came into conflict with the Concordance of Elements, an organization devoted to balance among the four elements. However, after facing a powerful mutual threat, the Society and the Concordance established a tentative alliance. Finally, the Society traveled to the Plane of Water, where they protected the plane’s largest city from an imminent invasion and secured the legacy of a lost demigod.

With samples of purest earth and water in hand, the Society sent some of its most powerful agents into a forge on the boundary between the Planes of Fire and Earth to immerse the Opal in purest flame and grant Ranginori his long-awaited freedom.

In the pursuit of ancient secrets and unclaimed treasures, the Pathfinder Society doesn’t just make discoveries; it also makes enemies. At the opening of the season, many of the campaign’s greatest villains conspired to take their revenge against the Pathfinders, bringing war to the footstep of the great city of Absalom and chaos to the Inner Sea region.

For years, factions within the Society have championed their own agendas, fought for recognition, and accumulated resources. At last they seized the chance to prove themselves—an experience that left some of them changed forever in the Year of Factions’ Favor.

In this year, Pathfinders averted an invasion, journeyed to the shores of Heaven, uncovered hidden secrets below an infamous museum, and vanquished an ageless evil before it took control of the region’s greatest minds. At the same time, players used faction resources to shut down an exploitative consortium, thwart a league of dangerous villains, and oust an infamous tyrant. They also removed a faction leader whose schemes betrayed the cause he had championed for years, and decided whether or not to rescue him from the dire consequences of his actions.

The Pathfinder Society acquired the gateway to the Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane during Season 3, and since then, it has launched dozens of missions to catalog its wonders, even devising a way to use the tapestry as a conduit for rapid travel across Golarion. Recent investigations have revealed that the Hao Jin Tapestry is in critical condition. If the Pathfinder Society does not take swift and decisive action to repair it, the demiplane will rip apart, spilling its contents into the Astral Plane. Yet stopping this imminent destruction will not be enough to solve the demiplane’s decline entirely, and the PCs will need to launch a series of missions to save lives, preserve history, and track down an ancient scholar with a deep understanding of the tapestry’s structure.

Yet the Pathfinder Society has many other concerns outside of the tapestry. This year, agents track down relics from the Shining Crusade against the infamous lich Tar Baphon, receive a transformative blessing from a demigod, and prevent a powerful demon from capitalizing on the collapsing Worldwound to rise as a new demon lord.

Meanwhile, the Decemvirate, the Society’s secretive leaders, continue to guide the Society from behind the scenes. These ten figures, cloaked in masks that obscure their identities from even the strongest of magic, have faced several threats to their anonymity and even their lives in the past. One of the greatest of these threats comes from a man who has long held a deep-seated grudge against the masked Ten who betrayed him—an enigmatic information broker and former Pathfinder field agent named Grandmaster Torch. Torch created a splinter faction within the Society known as the Shadow Lodge, which was reabsorbed into the Society, eventually dissolving when Torch claimed his greatest prize: a list of names of the Decemvirate’s members. With Torch and other forces operating behind the scenes, some of the Decemvirate’s mysteries may soon come to light.