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 🙂

Spoiler Alert: This summary contains spoilers for the adventure The Pit and the P’Endulam, available on DrivethruRPG at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/508008/draakenslund-adventures-1-pit-the-p-endulam

Session 11 – The Pit & the P’Endulam

Krisanna, bold halfling rogue, was eviscerated by a large, snake-like creature which emerged from the wall behind her. It crushed her arm, almost snuffing out the torch she was carrying. The snake dragged her unconscious body back towards the rock wall…

Bastonn (wolkfin hunter) heard Krisanna’s cry below. Aodhan the Archmaster feinted. Bastonn leapt onto the rope, sliding down to the end and then falling the remainder of the way to the pit floor. Down the eastern tunnel, he could just make out the dim glow of the remnants of Kris’s torch and see the silhouette of her limp body being carried in the mouth of a large serpent. Kris’s eyelids fluttered as she awoke. Pain surged through her bloody body. She wriggled free from the serpent’s grip and fell to the floor, then scuttled away, her arm hanging limply by her side.

Bastonn climbed up the wall to the hanging rope, reattaching the two ropes that had separated earlier. The serpent beast emerged from the wall and Bastonn managed to spear it in its mouth, causing it immense pain. The creature bit Kris again, dragging her leg into the wall where it remained stuck.

Volcarian the wolkfin elementalist climbed down the rope, past Bastonn and to the floor. The creature circled the room in the rock walls, emerging from the north wall and roaring. Both Kris and Volcarian screamed – they were badly frightened, with Volcarian even fleeing the scene.

***

Taliah, a 20 year-old, hooded human animist, had been on the road for several days. She was searching for her missing sister and fleeing from the sinister cult of Sathmog. Taliah had heard rumors of the Temple of the Purple Flame while passing through the village of Outskirt, and decided to head north to see if her sister might be hiding there. As she passed the forest on her way, she heard the sound of children wailing in the distance. Making her way through the trees and undergrowth, Taliah came to the edge of a wide clearing with a deep pit in its center. Two 10 year-old children were dancing around the edges of the pit as they moved a large wooden cap over the hole. Taliah approached and one of the children, identifying herself as Magra, started to cry. The boy was called Halil. He explained their brother Timothy was lost down the hole and they weren’t able to get him out.

Taliah kneeled by the gap where the wooden cap didn’t quite fully enclose the hole. As she glanced down, she could see figures moving below. She heard screams and adult voices. Magra and Halil asked her to save Timothy and help the other adults who had offered to save their brother. Although she was very suspicious of their previous behaviour, the animist acquiesced and slid down the rope to assist. Unfortunately, she fell off the rope and clattered to the ground, unconscious. Volcarian, having recovered from his fear, bandaged the fallen cleric.

Taliah rose, summoning a powerful lightning flash through the gap between the pit’s edge and the wooden cap above, which blasted the serpent and sent it fleeing into the surrounding rock. The party quickly exited the chamber, heading up the east tunnel and into a cinnamon-scented, mushroom-filled chamber to the north. Here they rested a while, hidden by the smell. Now was the perfect time for a round of introductions. Taliah was somewhat secretive about her past, but the immediate threat of death helped forge quick bonds.

Volcarian identified the serpent as the P’Endulam, a beast raised as a pet by Whyalla the Wunderkind, a giant who had hunted in these parts some years ago. He surmised the giant’s coffin might have been buried around here somewhere and perhaps the P’Endulam was protecting it. Perhaps the creature might also be an egg layer, he mused. Volcarian worked out how to add his own voice to the wooden conch shell to use it as a distraction to draw the beast. Meanwhile, Kris thought the scent of the mushrooms may help to put the serpent off their scent. The party smeared themselves with broken mushrooms and sneaked off through the tunnels to see if they could locate the P’Endulam’s nest.

Through the tunnels they crept, listening for the unique sliding sounds of the P’Endulam in the distance. Heading north, they located a carcass with black bile and vomited up meat covering the floor. The next chamber contained the serpent’s nest. The party took up positions by the eggs, and Volcarian attempted to sling the conch down the corridor. It distracted the beast for a moment, but then it rushed angrily and protectively into the chamber. Kris threw her knife, Taliah launched a sling stone, but it was Volcarian’s powerful fireball, launched straight down the P’Endulam’s throat, that finally killed it.

Taliah decided to take one of the huge eggs, with the intent to hatch and train the serpent within. Kris decided to break open another…