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 🙂

Warning: These summaries contain spoilers for Paizo’s Abomination Vaults campaign

Session 23  – Clearing The Place…

The party decided to clear the level, rather than heading back up top. Gunnar the fighter opened a door opposite the room where they had stayed the night. Inside was a roughly built shrine to an unknown deity, with a dead human sacrifice lying before it. Gunnar and Lob the goblin alchemist checked the body, which had been dead for a few days; a tattoo on its upper arm revealed it was once a member of the same group of thieves as those the party had rescued the day before. Corny the cleric located a secret door in the north wall, and the party headed into a narrow hall with six alcoves filled with sarcophagi.

As Gunnar advanced down the corridor, a shadowy creature sprang from one of the coffins. With each strike it slowly peeled away the fighter’s own shadow, until he was under its control. Bequian the bard literally felt the impact as Gunnar attacked his companion. Luckily, Corny was able to take out the shadow with a well-aimed divine blast, releasing Gunnar from its controlling clutch.

Gunnar felt very guilty afterwards, despite the fact his actions were not his own. He continued to take the lead, even though he felt much weaker and awfully clumsy from the Shadow’s attacks. He opened the door to the north into a circular room with the long dead, dessicated carcass of a purple worm. A stream of glowing blue energy was flowing from the floor to the ceiling. Gunnar ran his sword through the stream – it was temporarily blackened by the glowing beam.

Bequian suspected this glowing stream might be some sort of power source, perhaps fueling the lighthouse above. The party set off through a side door, coming across another circular room with a symbol of Nimbhaloth on the wall. After some discussion, the party realized it was a lift. They activated it and travelled to the level below.

Exiting the elevator and travelling north, Lob opened a door into a room where a tall ghoul was inscribing tattoos into pieces of morlock flesh. The ghoul was perturbed about the party’s entrance, and attacked. Lob was paralysed by its bite, and Corny pulled him out of the room. Bequian was knocked unconscious in a flurry of teeth and claws. The ghoul had a nasty way of healing itself by consuming the patches of tattooed flesh strung around the walls. Corny managed to heal everyone, and eventually the powerful ghoul was dispatched.

The next room was an office used for cutting up bodies – a silver hatchet was recovered. The room next to that was a cold storage chamber for dead morlocks. Searches revealed no secret doors. Exiting north of the ghoul’s room, Gunnar found a corridor leading to a library hall. Ghouls charged toward the fighter (which he noticed were far less powerful than the one they had faced earlier). The fighter stayed in the corridor most of the time to bottleneck them. Two magic-using ghoul cultists joined the battle, drawing Gunnar into the hall. Lob flitted in and out of nearby rooms, hiding and throwing flasks to great effect. Bequian inspirationally bolstered everyone’s courage and blasted several ghouls to pieces by telekinetically projecting heavy volumes from the shelves. Gunnar hacked and slashed. Corny used his electric arc and disrupt undead spells to great effect. Eventually the battle was done – the party were victorious.

To the south, a familiar blue glow…

Session 24 – Books Galore

The blue glow to the south was another stream of energy, rising from the floor to the roof in a circular room that the ghouls had apparently used to rest and relax in. Lob the goblin alchemist realized the source of the beam must lie even further below. Meanwhile, Gunnar the fighter discovered a secret door on the west wall. Beyond was a non-functional teleportation chamber.

Checking the other rooms off the library hall, Gunnar the fighter came upon a morose librarian ghost, who spat a toxic mist at him. While the big fighter was unharmed, Bequian the bard, who was standing behind him, copped its poisonous breath instead. Doh! The party listened to the ghost’s sad story – it was still attempting to repair books after poisoning itself centuries before to escape the cannibalistic urges of its fellow trapped librarians – and removed furniture and tools from the room, allowing the ghost to be put to rest.

The party encountered a Lurker in the Light, a strange little fey sprite, in a very luxurious office, and surrounded it. Lob hid under the table (purely to use for cover so he could snipe with his sling) and Corny blasted it with spells, while Gunnar slashed and Bequian flung objects. When the battle was over, Corny the cleric discovered a tome with a ritual to create undead, which Bequian eyed and attempted to pilfer, but Gunnar and Corny decided to destroy the book (despite its inherent value). Gunnar was now suspicious of the bard’s intent…

Moving further south, the heroes fought more Canker Ghouls in a room with a horrifying meat shrine. Bequian’s skills with telekinetic projectile seemed to have improved considerably, using tiny wood effigies from the shrine to explode ghoul heads. The party moved on, coming full circle back to the elevator room they had entered the level from.

Moving on back to the library hall, the party entered the restricted records room, where they made short work of several librarian ghouls. All along the way, Lob and Corny were able to collect numerous books of interest that Morlibint (the wizard bookseller back in Otari) might be interested in, filling their Bag of Holding…

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