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 9 – Experiments in Poopy Time

The party rested overnight in the “griffon camp”. Volcarian the wolfkin mage cooked up a storm of griffon flesh, providing rations for several more days. Makander the mallard knight wandered off at the end of the Griffon battle, saying “I have a small business to attend to…”. Soon, the only remaining sign of his passing was a few webbed footprints in the mud leading away into the mist. The party was very upset that their banker (he who organized the party finances) had taken their money with him, as well as the two pieces of emperor’s statue they had recovered. Luckily, the next morning they found the statuette pieces and a bag of funds outside the ramshackle building they had rested in.

Mourning the strange and undefinable loss of their mallard compatriot, the party headed off into the forest to make their way to the village of Blackridge, which Glam-Glam the giant had informed them contained the ruined tower of Kato the Curious with all sorts of treasures within. The village had supposedly been destroyed in a dragon attack some 700 years before.

Along the way the party encountered the ghostly spirits of orc marauders intent on mayhem, but Volcarian and Kris the bold halfing rogue (still suffering from her concussion) unfurled the Orcish banner they had found in the temple beneath the Tower of Sighs, and the orcs faded from sight.

As the party reached a clearing in the forest, they came across a pile of large boulders, surrounding a human-sized stone with red markings on it. Archmaster Aodhan (human mage) identified it as a dragon egg. Keen to test his skills in the dragon tongue, and egged on (pun intended) by the strange Draakentongue tome that spoke telepathically to him, he tried to reach the egg. Kris grabbed onto his robes and held him back. A great black shape approached in the sky above, its wings beating a solemn and methodical drumbeat against the air. The party fled as the dragon landed on its nest, roaring. Aodhan glanced back and realized this was a wilder form of dragon, one that perhaps his dragon tongue would not work on.

Eventually, the party reached the mountain pass leading to Blackridge Village. They ran into a large barricade made of different parts from down through the centuries and covered in warnings not to enter. Of course, Kris ignored this and decided to climb over, but her concussion caused some dizziness and she tumbled to the ground. Baston the wolfkin hunter tossed a rope up, secured it at the top and the party managed to scuttle over the other side.

Beyond the barricade was a shimmering barrier with the village of Blackridge beyond. The tower within was undamaged. A finely-dressed mallard was experimenting, throwing various materials against the barrier. He introduced himself as Canutus Boetii. He had arrived here a few days ago to find this strange field which tingled to the touch and had been experimenting with various items to see if anything had an effect. He explained only guano draconis – the fossilized droppings of a long dead dragon – seemed to have any effect and demonstrated that they appeared to speed up when entering the field.

Aodhan and Volcarian immediately suggested trying human and wolfkin guano, and retired to nearby bushes to gather stool samples. Canutus joined in, gathering a sample of his own mallard poo. They took turns throwing samples against the barrier to “see what sticks.” Unfortunately, nothing worked like the dragon poop.

Kris passed through the barrier while no one was watching and realized she was looking at an old version of the village from 700 years before. Eventually the rest of the party joined her, and Aodhan was quick to realize this might be some kind of “Groundhog Day-situation”.

The party made their way to the village square, where they met with Farmer Rax, who needed some help finding his missing ewes and ram. He offered them his wife’s plum pie as a reward.

The adventurers made their way to the tower, intent on speaking to Kato the Curious, but upon ringing the bell were confronted by a giant cave troll dressed in fine livery. Unable to persuade their way in, they noticed the troll smelling the plum pies baking on Mrs. Rax’s windowsill.

The party recovered the sheep and herded them into the paddock, and sure enough, Farmer Rax rewarded them with a plum pie.            

Back at the tower, it took some persuasion to be let in, but finally they reached the spiral staircase inside, leading up for 50 meters before reaching the top level. Aodhan started off at a run, but was unable to cover the distance before two things happened: the sheep escaped the paddock and ran through a pile dragon dung, taking to the air at great speed and careening into the side of the Blazing Breath inn; a group of dragons flew in from the south and immolated the village, killing everyone – including the party.

Time reset and the plucky adventurers appeared back at the area they had first entered the barrier. Yep, Groundhog Day. Wandering back into town, they encountered Farmer Rax, recovered the sheep, received the plum pie and persuaded the Cave Troll to let them in. Kris raced up the stairs and almost made it to the top when the sheep exploded against the inn wall and the dragons brought fiery death.

Time reset several times, as the party attempted numerous ways of averting their demise: dousing themselves in dung, riding the flying ewes (a very messy ending for all), attempting to sneak past the troll (a difficult ask even for Kris), physically attacking the troll (a painful episode for Bastonn). Along the way they encountered Ukka the half orc and Thorendil the careerist, both of whom were in the same situation as the adventurers and both in dire, depressed moods. They had both attempted to get to the top of the tower where they believed they might be able to escape the village’s destruction, but to no avail.

Eventually, Kris, smothered in dragon poop, managed to steal her way past the troll and made it to the top of the tower. In the topmost room, she found a sick man crawling towards a white skinned, sulfur-eyed demon called Ix. The man asked her to burn the letter lying just out of his reach. Ix questioned Kris and advised he would allow her to go free of the time bubble if she promised to do him a favor at some point in the future. Kris agreed, grabbing the letter and burning it in the fire. Ix snapped his fingers and advised her to “hurry up, this is a one-time offer.”

Kris raced down the stairs, grabbing her compatriots when she reached the bottom. They all rushed out of town as the dragons descended and immolated the village. Stinking of dragon poo and sweat, the party found a stream outside the canyon and washed themselves off. They returned to the village, but 700 years had passed since the attack on Blackridge, and only charred rubble remained…