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 31 – Collecting Icons

As Corny the cleric and Gunnar the fighter attempted to treat their wounds, Ezren sent his summoned hippogriff further into the cavern. Lob the goblin alchemist followed, finding a disused campfire, rotten camp beds and broken crates. As he approached a bed, Carmen Rajani, the person they sought, rushed out exclaiming: “The sword is mine! You can’t take it from me, it’s rightfully mine.” Lob was struck in the head and arm as Rajani rushed past.

As the party confronted the armorer, Gunnar managed to calm him down. The party discovered Carmen felt the stolen sword was his as it had originally belonged to his ancestor. He had attempted to purchase it back from Oseph Menhemes, the mayor, but the deal had changed several times until the mayor finally said no. Carmen had run against Oseph for mayor four times, with each time worse than the last. Finally, he decided that his family’s sword must be responsible for the luck Oseph had experienced in winning those elections, and so he decided to steal it.

Ezren the wizard and Gunnar managed to persuade Carmen to let them use the sword to access the lower levels of the Abomination Vaults so they could stop the evil growing there. Carmen agreed to accompany the Otari 2600’s, but wouldn’t let the sword out of his sight, and only if the party didn’t turn him over to the authorities.

Lob suggested Carmen stay at their fishing camp while they recovered the final icon, Aesephna Menhemes’ Hunter’s Brooch. The party headed to the Dawnflower Library, where Corny mentioned that Carmen had been found. Vandy Banderdash wasn’t happy Rajani had not been brought to justice, but understood the sword was needed for the good of the town. Corny decided not to go with the rest of the party to the mayor’s mansion, having a peaceful smoke instead.

At the mansion, the mayor was concerned that Rajani had not been arrested, but provided the brooch as he believed in the Otari 2600’s. He outlined some of the history of Carmen in the town, stated that his family had been given the sword by Vol Rajani after Vol and Aesephna started the town of Otari together.

The party headed back to the fishing camp to pick up Carmen, then walked back to town, chatting with a town guard patrol while Carmen hid. They continued on to Gauntlight Keep as the sun started to set. At the Keep they made their way to the rear of the castle, past the boat shed to one of the rear buildings they had exited previously (they didn’t want the mitflits to know they were back, yet).

They once again encountered the booming voice, ordering them to leave and never return. They ignored said voice and entered a hall beyond where they discovered a number of paintings.

The paintings along the wall had sustained damage over time due to moisture dripping down from leaks in the roof. The first painting was 7 ft. tall and almost as wide, a landscape painting depicting the city of Absalom in flames with ghosts rising from the city streets. The picture’s lower frame bore a bronze plaque that read: “So Shall the Fools Suffer.”

The second painting was nearly as large and depicted Gauntlight Keep as it appeared before its upper floors collapsed, the lighthouse rising above the stately keep with its beacon emitting a pale blue light in which ghostly faces sneered. Its bronze plaque read: “Let the Light Shine Forever.”

The third picture was a portrait that appeared to depict a male drow, but was now shredded. Its plaque read: “The Artist at Work.” The party matched the remains of the image with a small picture they recovered in the vaults depicting a drow called Volluk Azrinae.

The fourth portrait was smaller, circular, and depicted a smirking woman dressed in a red gown with a high collar—an image of Belcorra herself. Its plaque read: “The Lady of the Light.” Written in Aklo in the stone next to the painting: “I serve you still! You shall be avenged!”

The double doors to the south were opened, revealing a workshop in shambles and a strange wooden bird that squawked: “Is Master Azrinae coming back?”, before attacking Corny…              

Session 32 – Souls and Stuff

The party quickly disposed of the flying wooden bird (which Lob the goblin alchemist identified as a Soulbound Doll) and removed a soul gem from its back. After some discussion, they decided to save the gem, as Lob remembered they had located another strange doll in the level below.

Lob uncovered a mischievous brownie as the source of the deeply disturbing voice emanating from the walls in the earlier chamber. The brownie fled into the swamp.

Travelling down to the workshop where they originally found the goblin body in a tank and the oddly incomplete goblin doll, Ezren the wizard identified a gem shaped depression in its back. After inserting the soul gem from the bird, the goblin doll came to life, screaming that its master had betrayed it. Lob calmed it down, revealing the doll contained the soul of a goblin servant called Borbo. Borbo worked for Volluk Azrinae, who it described as a cruel and powerful mastermind drow occultist/artist/craftsman” who had a relationship with a “book lady down below” and who worked for “Mistress Belcorra, who is very frightening and absolutely none of my business.” Borbo asked to be released, and Gunnar the fighter obliged, smashing the gem and receiving a boon from Pharasma, the Lady of the Grave (a goddess) as a result.

Down the stairs to the level below, and Lob opened a door to a room guarded by a bearded devil. Ezren attempted to negotiate with the devil regarding its contract (correctly assuming the devil was the Korlok mentioned in the contract they’d found earlier) but it was Corny the cleric who finally persuaded the devil to stand down and listen. The party learned some useful information about a contract devil named Urevian on a lower level (who had several other devils in his command), noting that Urevian was shrewd but well-known for keeping his word. Once Korlok had his contract, he quickly spotted the loophole and freed himself from his task, returning to Hell.

Lob entered the cell Korlok was guarding, discovering a skeleton covered in delightful tasting fungus, which Corny also availed himself of.

Making their way back to the main library corridor, the Otari 2600s entered a new library room, where Gunnar made short work of a wood golem carved to resemble Belcorra (“Well, Belcorra’s defeated, let’s all go home,” quipped Lob). Inside the room were numerous books and a 500-year-old sculpture of Absolom. The many books within contained information and notes used to plan a new siege of that huge city…

Session 33 – Ghoulish Delight

The Otari 2600’s piled numerous books into their bag of holding. Ezren the wizard decided to stay in the library and do some reading. Lob the goblin alchemist, Corny the cleric and Gunnar the fighter moved further down the corridor, discovering a cave-like chamber which appeared to be an unfinished library room. The last room in the corridor contained a haunted furnace, the burning spirits within causing Gunnar and Corny to lose a precious memory from their formative years – for Gunnar it was the memory of holding his first sword; Corny, his first liberating toke. Corny exorcised the haunts and used restoration to restore the missing memories.

Lob led the band back to the large library they had liberated some days before. Through the double doors to the north they faced Nhakazarin, a ghoul priestess building a flesh golem of Belcorra. She called on them to surrender and join her Cult of the Canker, to which they politely refused, and she and her three Canker Cultists rushed them. The priestess had an annoying habit of eating parts of the golem to heal herself and quicken. The ghouls used their spells to good effect but were worn down by the party’s redoubtable strength. Ezrin joined the battle, and Nhakazarin was finally dissolved by one of Lob’s acid bombs.

Corny discovered a secret door to a hidden room, undiscovered in centuries. Inside, Ezren identified Belcorra’s journal, the plans for the Gauntlight, a book about the teleportation circles and a ritual to ‘reboot’ them, and an ancient tome, The Whispering Reeds. All of this would require at least a full day to read through, but this was definitely an important find.

The party broke up the display cases and bookshelves, using them as kindling to burn the unholy golem body. Augrael the ghoul arrived due to the smoke and smell, lamenting the waste of rotting flesh.

The Otari 2600’s pushed on down the stairs to the level below, exiting in the room where they had previously fought the werewolf. Gunnar got fed up with the door to the north as it continued to close behind him, so he broke it off its hinges. He opened the next door into an odd corridor…

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