Introduction

I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017-18, the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign I ran in 2018-19, the ‘Out of the Abyss’, a campaign I ran in 2020, the ‘Phandelver’s Pact’ campaign I ran from 2020-21, and the ‘Shadows over Saltmarsh’ campaign from 2021-22. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that), which is why I could use them for this column.

Here are the session summaries from my first Pathfinder 2e campaign which I started running in 2023 after WoTC stunned the TTRPG community by deciding to be dicks about the OGL (remember that?). Like many who progressed to PF2e, we commenced with the Beginner’s Box, progressed to Troubles in Otari and then to the Abomination Vaults campaign.

I apologize in advance for the writing in these summaries – they’re a bit raw, and not fancy at all (I don’t have time for fancy writing when typing them up late at night after each game lol). The campaign continues, and we’re still learning as we go!

Steve 🙂

Session 13 – Maunder Castle

The party left the lumber camp, taking the ox cart and a sleeping Ezren back to Maunder Castle, where they had previously encountered (and killed) the overly inquisitive dwarf by the side of the road. Lob, the goblin alchemist, scouted ahead up the trail through the undergrowth, finding a clearing beyond leading to the castle itself. Sneaking through the rubble of old collapsed walls, he located the dwarf’s lean-to (the camp by the road was a ruse to make passers-by think the dwarf was destitute) and a portcullis-entry to the castle’s courtyard.

The party decided to scale the courtyard walls. Lob went up and over first, and while Corny the Cleric and Gunnar the Fighter waited atop the narrow wall to use the rope, a gargoyle swept down from a nearby roof and slashed Gunnar, almost knocking him off the wall. As he hung on to the edge for dear life, the gargoyle took advantage, tearing the fighter’s hand to ribbons. Gunnar pulled himself back up and slashed the creature across the chest with his smoking sword. Unfortunately, Gunnar was knocked unconscious – he slumped on the top of the wall, dropping his magic sword into the courtyard. Corny slid down the rope to the yard, healing Gunnar from below. The gargoyle targeted the cleric next.

Meanwhile, Lob had taken a flying leap into the fountain, disturbing a sewer ooze which promptly attacked and chased him around the courtyard spewing filth. Lob used a smoke bomb to avoid the creature, and eventually finished it off with alchemist’s fire.

Gunnar made it to the ground as Corny was knocked unconscious by the gargoyle, and as the fighter recovered his fallen sword, the creature surrendered (having taken additional damage from one of Lob’s acid bombs). It quickly answered the party’s questions about the four Dwarven Leadbuster brothers (indicating only one was present inside the adjacent keep).

Lob found a rusty metal box in the fountain – within were the deed to Maunder Castle, Lord Maunder’s signet ring and a curious bolt with twine attached. Lob stuck the bolt in the wall and the twine turned into a stout coil of rope.   

The party levelled up (4^th level now), resting in the lean-to outside and prepared to take on the final Leadbuster brother…

Next Week: The final Leadbuster brother…            

Session 14 – The Last Leadbuster & Town

Bequian the bard, a fortune teller of sorts, was travelling the road to Otari to seek his fortunes. He encountered the Otari 2600’s wagon hidden in the bushes (yes, ‘Otari 2600’ is the new name for the party). As he approached, a snoring Ezren (wizard) awoke, and questioned him about his motives. Bequian was looking for travelling companions, so Ezren directed him to the opening in the bushes to meet with the rest of the party. Reaching the lean to where the party had spent the night, Bequian was initially greeted with suspicion. He introduced himself, and when Gunnar the fighter, Corny the cleric and Lob the goblin Alchemist were satisfied he had no ill intentions, they invited him to join them in their assault on Maunder Castle (a quick demonstration of Bequian’s ability to inspire his comrades helped. Ezren’s suggestion of testing each other’s mettle in one-to-one combat, yelled from afar and the safety of the ox cart, was not considered ideal).

The party approached the keep. Bequian checked the oaken door for traps, and finding none, opened it. Inside the ruined keep, on a banister-surrounded platform 15 ft. above the floor, stood a dwarf, wielding fiendish necromantic magics. Several skeletons protected him. Gunnar rushed in, destroying two of the skeletons in rapid succession before charging up the stairs. Bequian fortified and sped up his comrades using handy cantrips. Lob tossed alchemical bombs, eventually striking the dwarf and setting him afire. Corny blasted the dwarf with radiant lances, but to no avail. Gunnar was commanded to run away, which he did, but soon returned to slash the dwarf through the midsection with a savage blow from his smoldering sword. The dwarf was downed, but not before blasting Bequian with magic missiles.

A ghoulish table contained numerous books and notes on necromancy, as well as two flayed vagrants with their organs removed. Corny collected the tomes to present to Morlibint in Otari. Lob offered the organs in beakers to Grimstone the gargoyle, who agreed to look after the castle for the new owners. Bequian located a strange, unsigned note, mentioning that the dwarves were interfering in the work of the “mother of monsters”. Corny identified this as a reference to Lamashtu, an evil goddess using outcasts and downtrodden monsters to spread her vile religion. 

Back in Otari, the party dropped off the cart with Oloria Gallentine (of Gallentine’s Deliveries), who recommended they talk with Alymora Inkleholtz, head of the Whistledown Cutters’ lumber company, about their removal of a significant thorn in the town’s side – the Leadbuster Lads.

The party delivered the leopard corpse to Keelano Lathanar at the Otari Market. He paid Corny for the leopard and recommended the cleric speak to either Morlibint or Vandy Banderdash of the Dawnflower Library for more information regarding the newly acquired castle and the cult of Lamashtu. They caught Morlibint as he was closing up his shop, ‘Odd Stories’. Morlibint examined the notes and books and advised he would give a quote the next day. Unfortunately, his knowledge of Maunder castle and Lamasthu was limited, but he recommended chatting with Vandy at the Dawnflower Library.

The Otari 2600’s hit the pub – the ‘Rowdy Rockfish’, their regular hangout in town – where Corny and Gunnar learned proprietor Brelda Vendervale had lost her son a year ago when he wandered out of town with a hooded stranger. She appealed to them to help find him, if they could.

Bequian read Lob’s future, casting Augury about “riches never seen before” and getting a ‘weal and woe’ outcome. Gunnar ended up very drunk, nursing a severe hangover in the morning. Bequian sang a rousing sea shanty for the small crowd. The party stayed over, with Bequian supplying the rooms (an investment in the party’s future potential).

The next day, the party headed to the Inkleholtz Manor, home of Alymora. Gunnar was familiar with several of the big families, having done security work around town prior to joining the party after the loss of their previous fighter, killed by the Green Dragon they later defeated. Alymora thanked them for their work in defeating the Leadbuster Lads and stopping their arson attacks. She suspected they might have been hired by the Kortos Consortium, a lumber company from Absolom that had been trying to take over the local lumber business for years, although there was no direct proof. She advised she owed the Otari 2600’s a favor – this might prove useful, her being a potential mayoral candidate.

Off to the Dawnflower Library, where the party was welcomed by Vandy Banderdash. She had heard about their exploits, had been planning to contact them about a mission she wanted them to undertake. A cult of Lamashtu had formed in the hinterlands outside of town, and a small group sent to investigate and confront the cult had not returned. Luckily, Vandy had messages sent from the group’s leader – Thida Aubade, a champion of Sarenrae – which indicated the approximate location of the ‘Scar’ (the lair of the cult), and mentioned terrified illusions cloaking the area and a “test of the five beasts”. The group had a precious sun wheel magic item in their possession, and Vandy asked if the Otari 2600’s could find the group and bring them back, confront the cult and recover the sun wheel. The party accepted, and Vandy paid for them to pick up supplies in town prior to leaving.

By the end of the day, the party returned to their Fishing Camp home base, where they deposited a narcoleptic Ezren the wizard. They rested for the night and determined to set out first thing in the morning to find the Scar…           

Next Week: Under the Three-Eyed Gaze…

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