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 8 – Magic Hands & Griffon Surprise

Kris the halfling thief appealed to Glam-Glam: “Friends don’t let friends get killed!” The giant charged the bandits. Volcarian the wolfkin wizard made the rounds, healing everybody with stolen tea towels. As Makander the mallard knight smashed heads with her warhammer and Bastonn the wolfkin hunter speared others, Glam-Glam took out the trash, crushing and stomping bandits left and right. Finally, Bastonn speared Ursic through the chest, ending her short-lived bandit career.

Kris scrambled up a ladder to the second floor of the tower. She found a chest (probably belonging to Ursic’s band), opened it and took the treasure within. On the third floor she located numerous digging tools, which she dutifully transported down the ladder one at a time.

The party elected to stay the night in the tower as they were all the worse for wear – Makander had a broken arm and Archmaster Aodhan, a broken leg. Glam-Glam was glad to have some company, even more so after Kris brought up the bandits’ bedrolls and tents to make his bed comfier.

The next five days were relaxing: Kris taught Glam-Glam how to play checkers; Aodhan pored over his Draakenstongue tome, becoming somewhat obsessed with it (and developing a nasty skin condition on his arms – related? Who knows); Makander, Volcarian and Kris went hunting and foraging; Volcarian’s magic hands helped heal those bones faster.

Fully recovered, and having fed Glam-Glam a deer as a thank you, Kris asked the giant to remove the stone blocking the cellar entrance. The whispering moans from the tower were pervasive throughout their stay, so much so that the party were used to them now.

The halfling headed down the spiral stairs with the rest in tow. In a large altar room filled with skeletons, the party discovered the Orcish Banner of Takruk and a few coins. The spirits of many dead orcs arose and passed out into the world, changing to stardust as they did. The last spirit thanked the party for their release, then faded away.

On the altar before them was the second part of Eledain’s statue. Makander drank some water from a sacred spring and made an oath to protect it from harm, secreting the statue piece away in her backpack.

Glam-Glam told the party a story about a northern village called Blackridge which perished in dragon fire and supposedly was full of treasure. The party were interested in travelling there, and luckily the erudite giant could point it out on their map. He warned that no one had ever returned from the ruins…

Aodhan was becoming obsessed with his book, to the point he started hearing voices telling him not to trust anyone. The skin on his arms now resembled gray scales, and it was getting harder to hide his condition from his compatriots. 

The next day Glam-Glam decided to accompany the party as they made their way out of the marsh. Unfortunately, Volcarian’s pathfinding led them into a large patch of quicksand, in which Kris nearly drowned. Aodhan raised her on a pillar and Glam-Glam lifted the exhausted halfling free. She then travelled on his shoulder until they reached the edge of the forest, at which point the giant said his farewells.

The party decided to visit a site marked on the map to the north (from whence Rilke and Feder had come on their way back to their camp, over a week ago). They travelled another day and made it to the edge of the deserted campsite – buildings of wattle and daub with holes in their roofs, broken and decaying furniture, all surrounding a huge campfire. Kris explored, finding only the detritus left behind by previous occupants. As she inspected the remains of the campfire, a huge griffon swooped down and attacked.

The tiny halfling was ripped and torn to within an inch of her life. The others rushed forward. Makander smacked it in the nose with his warhammer, but it grabbed the mallard, flew up into the air and dropped him to the ground below with a sickening crunch. Bastonn managed to break his bow but still fired an arrow into the griffon’s chest. Aodhan and Volcarian finished the creature off with fireballs. Kris was healed, but had a concussion she would need several days to recover from. Bastonn gave in to his gluttony and ate part of the partially cooked Griffon…