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 started playing PF2e, we commenced with the Beginner’s Box, progressed to Troubles in Otari and then to the Abomination Vaults campaign. The players, calling themselves the “Otari 2600s” (it’s amusing if you’re old enough to remember lol), are still currently playing the campaign every Sunday night!

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).

Steve 🙂

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

Session 29 – Otari in the (not so) Flesh… 

The battle with Jaul Mezmin continued. Gunnar the fighter pushed his way through the Wall of Thorns, but slipped a few times in the grease. Jaul’s wolf harried Lob the goblin alchemist, until it was dispatched by Gunnar from behind. Jaul was understandably enraged at the loss of his pet. Gunnar was almost brought low, but Corny the cleric managed to heal everyone. A fireball from Ezren the wizard didn’t make much difference, but eventually Jaul was worn down and surrendered, offering the party a stolen locket and his magic weapon for his life. Lob identified the locket as belonging to Ayla Lathenar, murdered wife of of Keelano Lathenar, owner of the Otari Market.

The party debated the merits of taking Jaul back to Otari, eventually tying and gagging him. The murderer was left with Ezren on the stone pavilion while the rest of the party investigated the cave Gunnar had followed the green light to.

Lob swam through the filthy water to an island. The others followed and upon the fungus-covered shore they discovered a skeleton clad in studded leather armor. A ghost arose from the skeleton – the ghost of Otari Ilvashti, one of the Roseguard who defeated Belcorra all those centuries ago!

Before they could talk, 2 flickerwisps and a will-o-wisp rose from the waters. Gunnar sliced one of the flickerwisps up, but the other danced around his head, confusing him. Meanwhile, the will-o-wisp shocked Lob into unconsciousness. Corny saved the little goblin, and Gunnar finished off the creatures.

Otari thanked the heroes and revealed his story. Whilst he couldn’t remember everything about his past, Otari did remember fighting Belcorra and falling through a sinkhole into the dungeons beneath Gauntlight Castle. He ended up here after fighting an Otyugh and falling prey to Filth Fever on this very island. His Roseguard companions must have assumed he died in the initial battle rather than later.

Otari explained that Belcorra harbored a grudge against Absalom and intended to use her sinister lighthouse, Gauntlight, as a weapon against the city. The Roseguard never discovered its actual use, other than that it had something to do with the ability to transport creatures across significant distances and could animate the dead with its light (this rang true with what the party had experienced the previous night in the Otari Cemetery).

None of the other Roseguard members knew about the Abomination Vaults beneath Gauntlight. Otari learned about them only in his last few days alive. Some property of the Abomination Vaults increased the manifestation of ghosts, spectral undead and haunts within their domain. Otari initially believed this was a side effect from Gauntlight, but had now come to suspect a link to a much more ancient and ominous source deep below this level.

Otari explained Belcorra herself was now a ghost, although she could not move far from the site to which she was anchored. Otari could sense her somewhere deep underground and was also aware that the range of her movements was slowly expanding.

Otari suspected Belcorra intended to fully reactivate Gauntlight and use it to begin her long-delayed attack on Absalom. She needed to be put to rest before she could finish the task. Otari wasn’t sure how to stop her, but believed that clues awaited discovery in the deeper levels of the Abomination Vaults.

Finally, Otari felt there was a barrier blocking progress deeper into the Abomination Vaults. He understood that it was powered by the souls of Belcorra’s defeated enemies. Fortunately, he also understood how to take the barrier down. The Roseguard were the adventurers who finally killed her, and their psychic resonance could drop the barrier. The heroes needed to find and place four icons the Roseguard once held dear onto an altar on this level to do this:

• Otari’s thieves’ tools were with his bones and could serve as his icon.
• The brooch belonging to the cleric Aesephna Menhemes (bearing the religious symbol of her god, Erastil).
• The spellbook belonging to the wizard Zarmavdian.
• The trusty longsword of the fighter Vol Rajani.

The Otari 2600 accepted the burden of facing and defeating Belcorra and opening the way to the deeper levels of the Abomination Vaults. Otari’s soul was now free to travel to its final reward.

The party returned to Ezren and their captive Jaul, ready to discuss what to do next…

Session 30 – Return to Otari

The heroes decided to return to Otari with their captive. They dropped off Jaul at the barracks, receiving a 50 gp reward, and then headed off to return the pendant to Keeleno Lathenar. He was unhappy that Jaul hadn’t met his final end and stormed off. The party headed to the Rowdy Rockfish inn for a meal, a drink and a good night’s sleep. Gunnar the fighter insisted they monitor the Gauntlight lighthouse in the distance from the top story window, so the Otari 2600’s took shifts through the night. Gunnar did some shield mending in his room, much to the chagrin of the other tenants.

The next morning the party returned to Morlibint’s shop, where he offered them 90 GP for the books from Gauntlight. They also found out he held Zarmavdian’s spellbook, and after some discussion he agreed to loan it to them to complete their mission (and then return it). Morlibint mentioned that Oseph Menhemes, the mayor, likely had the magic brooch they needed in his personal museum at his manor, and that Rajani’s sword was kept at the Dawnflower library.

Ezren the wizard sneaked a peek at Zarmavdian’s Thresholds of Truth spellbook, and, his interest piqued, returned to the Rowdy Rockfish Inn to do some reading. He realized the book contained not only numerous spells, but also provided the knowledge to become an Eldritch Researcher if he so desired.

Gunnar visited Blades for Glades, but the blacksmith was closed; a note on the door said: “gone on holidays”. An apprentice turned up for work, unaware the place was closed. Gunnar questioned the neighbors but they hadn’t seen owner Carman Rajani for a few days.

Lob the goblin alchemist and Corny the cleric walked to the Dawnflower Library, where they found Vandy Banderdash angry at the loss of the fabled Cooperative Blade of Vol Rajani. It was stolen last night, the case broken into while the clerics were putting out a fire in the reading room. Vandy suspected it was Carman Rajani, who had often claimed to be the rightful owner of the sword and had been growing ever more agitated after his fourth loss in a row to Oeseph Menhemes in the mayoral elections. Vandy suggested Corny and Lob talk to Yinyasmera at the Crook’s Nook regarding Carman’s whereabouts.

The two ran into Gunnar as they strode to the pub; inside they bribed Yinyasmeera for information. She pointed out Carman might be in the Smugglers’ Cave outside of town, and that they should take care out there. After buying more fish and chips to go, the party collected Ezren from the inn and headed off to the cave, dropping in at their Fishing Camp base to pick up some more arrows for Gunnar.

Off they went to the cave, where Poe, Ezren’s Raven familiar was immediately killed by Shadows (“Farrrrrk, I’m dying,” he screamed miserably). As Ezren summoned a hippogriff to fight, Lob hurled bombs while trying to remember what hurt Shadows, and Gunnar and Corny were enfeebled as their shadows were partly stolen. The undead creatures were soon defeated, however, leaving the cave ripe for exploration…

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