Introduction

I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ DnD 5e 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, the ‘Shadows over Saltmarsh’ campaign from 2021-22, and my current Pathfinder 2e campaign, ‘Vaults of Otari‘. 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 can use them for this column. Now, I post summaries to Roll20 after each session.

Here are the session summaries from my first Dragonbane campaign which I started running in 2024 after buying the Dragonbane Starter Set. It’s adventures from that set, plus some homebrewed content. We’re still playing; this summary is from early on in the 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). Some will be more detailed than others. The campaign continues!

Steve 🙂

Session 6 –The Road’s End Inn & The Frogs of Unusual Size

Makander the mallard knight awoke in the dark on a soft bed. Lighting a torch, the mallard noticed he was in a dormitory, with a tapestry on one wall, a window on the other and a sleeping dwarf in a rocking chair not far away. It turned out the dwarf wasn’t sleeping, he was just paralyzed. His name was Stig, and he asked through pressed lips that Makander save him from the “old hag stare”. The mallard noticed the old woman in the tapestry appeared to be watching him as he moved back and forth.

Looking for his friends, Makander wandered down some stairs to a storeroom. One of the chests bore fruit – a shiny great helm, which the mallard placed upon his feathery brow. Two exits, one to the north with a room full of statues, and the other a tight and muddy tunnel to the east. Grasping his torch firmly, the knight squeezed into the tight space, waddling along until he ran into webs cris-crossing the path. A skeletal bone shrouder crawled around the corner and the mallard screamed.

Krisander the halfling thief heard Makander’s muted cry. She placed the eerie doll she held back in the cradle, and headed out the door into the tunnel. There was the mallard, being attacked by a skeletal humanoid. Kris’s blade flashed as she skidded under the creature. Archmaster Aodhan (wizardy-type person with a penchant for titles) cast a fireball from the doorway and the skeletal creature exploded into bone fragments. Makander freed himself from the webs and joined the others in the nursery.

The party exited that room, entering another with a lily pad-filled pond. The falling water sounded almost like a harp, punctuated with the croaks of toads. Volcarian the wolfkin wizard determined the frogs should best be avoided. Kris spotted a chest in the depths of the water, so Makander, being the best swimmer, shed his gear and plunged into the depths. Five meters down, the mallard attempted to pull the chest up, but trapped his foot.

Meanwhile, the three frogs suddenly grew to human size, leaping and attacking with their lengthy tongues. Bastonn the wolfkin hunter and Volcarian made short work of them. Kris leapt into the water to help Makander, and after some swimming mishaps they brought the chest to the surface (with an able assist from Bastonn and the others). The chest contained some gold and silver pieces.

The next room was a gallery of temple paintings from the dragon emperor’s time. In the background of one of the pictures was the same family the party had spotted in the nursery painting. Although each painting was valuable, the party decided to leave them. Aodhan walked up a stairway to a black portal. He stuck his finger in it, and when he realized he couldn’t remove it, he plunged through. Kris followed.

The two ended up in a completely dark room, their torches extinguished as soon as they entered. Glowing green eyes and the clanking of chains indicated they weren’t alone. The rest of the party followed, almost tripping over each other as their torches went out. Makander’s armor and helm prevented him from coming to harm as the creature slashed him with its claws. Bastonn was slashed by the hag. Kris ran past and bumped into the far wall, finding the source of the clanking – the creature was apparently chained to the wall. Volcarian shed some light on the situation with a spell. Aodhan finished the hag with some well-placed fireballs.

The party exited into a fog-covered graveyard, where five witch hounds appeared out of the mists. The dogs’ bites were vicious, knocking Volcarian unconscious and savaging Makander and Aodhan. Kris’s daggers flew true, dispatching two. Bastonn speared another. Makander finished one and Aodhan the last with a fireball. The party found a young dwarf and Antelia, the missing shepherd, in some open graves.

As the party exited the fading graveyard the sun was rising – they realized the curse that trapped them in the strange dormitory/dungeon had been lifted. They could see the inn not far away, and when they entered, Stig the dwarf (whom they had encountered in the rocking chair) rushed over to hug his son. He thanked the party and rewarded them with some treasure. Antelia thanked them and returned home. Meanwhile, the guilt-stricken Helemi (innkeeper), and Grunn and Edda (the two parents in the picture) apologised to the adventurers, breaking down and admitting they had locked the hag in the cellar when they thought she had kidnapped Grunn and Edda’s son. They never meant for it to cast a curse on the inn before it died. They had been trapped by the hag’s curse ever since. They offered the party a room for the night, and everyone rested.

That night, Aodhan read his book, the Draakentongue. He realized it was more than just a book about language – something in it seemed to indicate a link between dragons and demons. That couldn’t be right, could it – they were the greatest of foes, after all? A chill passed up and down his spine… 

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