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 19 – Into the Abomination Vaults

Two months had passed since the Otari 2600s ended the threat of the cult of Lamashtu and returned from the hinterlands. During that time, the party did some work in town, made some new contacts and fixed up their fishing camp lair. Corny the cleric cast some glyphs of warding on the doors to deter trespassers, Lob the goblin alchemist managed to reverse engineer a few alchemical items and Gunnar the fighter set up an area for training.

Everyone decided to do some work in town: Bequian the bard told fortunes in Tiefling fortune teller Wrin Sivinxi’s curio shop (but was eventually fired after one of his customers wrecked part of the store); Lob scrounged junk and sold it in the local market; Gunnar worked as a guard at the same market (and kept an eye on Lob); Corny worked at the farmers guild checking food deliveries, but quickly tired of the tedious work and went surfing on his new surfboard (courtesy of Klorte Hengus at the mill); Ezren helped Lob with his crafting and ate and slept a lot.

Bequian and Corny spent some time in the Dawnflower Library researching, and discovered some history about the town. They had often heard kids playing and reciting a nursery rhyme:

When the fog is creeping, And the moon is low;
When the town is sleeping, Gauntlight starts to glow!

That’s when she arises For her midnight lunch.
Naughty kids are prizes For her teeth to crunch.

But if you obey me, And obey the rules;
You’re safe from Belcorra; She just eats the fools!

So warned a popular nursery rhyme among the parents in the town of Otari, as they often sang the melodious but unsettling poem to their children at night to encourage good behavior. As a result, everyone who grew up in Otari had a healthy mix of fear, respect, and curiosity for the old ruins out in the Fogfen and the strange lighthouse that stood at the swamp’s heart. As they grew older, townsfolk learned what was more often accepted as truth: that the heroic founders of Otari slew the wicked sorcerer Belcorra many years ago. For a time, thrill-seekers explored the ruins around the lighthouse called Gauntlight, but nowadays, common knowledge held that the place had become a haven for pests—no longer a source of active danger or significant treasure after being completely picked over. Nearly 500 years had passed since Belcorra’s defeat, and in that time, she remained a menace only in sinister nursery rhymes.    

The party headed to town one night to celebrate at the Rowdy Rockfish Tavern, where they ran into Wrin Sivinxi. Wrin’s shop was taller than most other buildings in the town, and she slept on the top floor, open to the stars. The last few nights she had noticed a strange light emanating from the lighthouse out at the Gauntlight ruins.

The team was intrigued, and decided they should check out the ruins to see what was going on. They stopped at Wrin’s shop for some magical supplies, then made their way up the northwest trail to the edge of the forest overlooking the Fogfen and Gauntlight Castle beyond. Bequian cast a Cozy Little Cabin for them to rest in, while each took shifts to observe the lighthouse in the distance. There was no change overnight, so the next morning the party made their way through the morning mist to the castle.

At the old watchtower gatehouse, Gunnar encountered a toad-like Slurk in the pond, but made short work of it. Inside the gatehouse, Lob and Bequian chatted with some rowdy Mitflits hiding in the rafters. As the party crossed the drawbridge, it collapsed, but all managed to stay dry. Bequian had cast an invisibility sphere to hide all, but Lob and Gunnar were out of the field now and thus visible. 

As Gunnar and Lob moved into the main keep, Bequian and Corny following invisibly. More mitflits were discovered. Gunnar befriended one (called Bob) with some food, who took the party to their leader: Boss Skrawng. After a reasonably successful negotiation, the party agreed to wipe out the Morlocks who had driven the Mitflits from their home in the level below. In return, the Boss promised not to attack Otari with his ‘army of giant insects’ (any evidence supporting his threat was slim, to say the least).

Bob lead the party to a new room where Lob discovered a secret door and a stairway leading down…

Next Week: Morlock Madness! 

Session 20 – Descent into the Vaults…

The party descended the stairs to a wooden door, swollen with moisture. Lob the goblin alchemist checked it for traps, and finding none, let Gunnar the fighter shoulder it open. The room beyond was choked with dust and three chairs sitting against one of the walls. As Lob checked another door across the room, Bequian the bard sat on the middle chair and noticed it was placed awkwardly – a short investigation revealed a secret door behind. Opening it, he passed into the corridor beyond with Gunnar. Sending his dancing lights to the north, Bequian noticed a door with green light leaking from below. The party decided not to investigate that room until they had checked some of the other doors.

Gunnar listened at one of the southern doors and heard sounds beyond. Corny the cleric, Lob and Bequian joined the big fighter as he motioned to open the door. Sidling in, Gunnar glanced around the corner, only to have a spiked bolt slice open his face. He could see two spindly humanoids with pale skin and wide eyes at the other end of the chamber, surrounded by detritus and parts from a disassembled ballista. Lob threw a thunderstone and Gunnar rushed forward, taking out one of the Morlocks. The other was finished off by Lob’s sling stone to the back of its head.

The north door was shored up with wooden beams, so Gunnar cleared it and peered inside, to be met with a gods-awful strench. Three filthy prisoners, who Bequian recognized as members of Otari’s Osprey Club (the local thieves’ guild) begged for their freedom. They had been captured and held by the Morlocks for some time, and all were disheveled and starving. The party spent some time discussing what to do with the three thieves – there would likely be a reward for their return, but they fully intended to explore the dungeon first. Lob eventually led them to the secret room they had found earlier and left some supplies, advising the three of them stay put until the party returned.

Gunnar opened another door off the main corridor to discover a janitor’s storage cupboard. After Recovering a sword cane from amongst the mops and brooms and finding a room with broken automatons (from which Lob scrounged some gemstones), Gunnar confronted a fly-like zebub devil, which he quickly put out of its misery (even though it attempted to surrender). “Corny said it was evil,” he said. Corny had indeed read about zebubs in the past, and yes, they were evil. As to why it was here, it had mentioned it was the janitor. “Didn’t do a very good job,” sniffed Corny.  

The party continued exploring, locating a deserted torture chamber, battling two giant skeletons in a side room (which managed to knock Gunnar unconscious), resting for an hour and then pressing on down some stairs to a cavern filled with murky water (which they conspicuously avoided). Eventually, they circled back and entered a corridor with dioramas of Absolom (the world’s largest city, which lay 50 miles up the coast from Otari), with little lighthouses projecting all sorts of disasters onto the city. Gunnar and Bequian approached the dioramas, which activated and fired deadly beams at them. Bequian and Lob managed to disable all of them (Lob using his newly acquired Hand of the Mage quite effectively). Bequian knew some of the history of Absolom, and realized the last diorama – undead rising from their graves to attack the city – was not a historical disaster, but perhaps a forewarning…

Next Week: The exploration and search for the Morlock lair continues…        

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