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 12 – Tunnels & Trolls

Kris, the bold halfling, broke open another P’Endulam egg, ending the creature within. The party decided to clear the rubble in the south passage, and once done, made their way back to the entrance chamber. The wooden cap still covered the shaft above. Taliah the Animist decided to wait with her egg there, as it was difficult to carry around.

Kris, still suffering a concussion and a very painful arm from where the snake-beast had bitten her, forged ahead into one of the southern chambers, discovering a room full of bones and body parts – the remnants of the P’Endulam’s feasts. The next chamber contained more of the same, but the keen eyes of Volcarian, Embercaller wolfkin, picked out some treasure from between the cadavers. Meanwhile, Archmaster Aodhan the mage, testing out his freshly minted draakenvision and usual keen hearing, heard scuffling sounds from the entrance chamber. The party headed back, finding Taliah unconscious, a large rock next to her bruised head. Glancing up, Bastonn the wolfkin hunter noted that the wooden cap covering the shaft had been pushed partially aside. A rope was dangling to the floor. Hearing the sound of rocks tumbling, the party rushed back to the nest room.

Aodhan noticed the nest contained two normal eggs and one broken egg (where there were previously two broken eggs). He assumed there must be another P’Endulam on the loose, and that it had laid two eggs in the short time the party had been wandering around the lair. The rest of the party went along with this crazy conspiracy theory and immediately headed to the mushroom chamber to stock up on anti-P’Endulam smells. Kris decided they should gather fungi caps and smear them all over the eggs and nest room to upset the ‘new’ P’Endulam.

Arriving back in the nesting chamber, the halfling noticed a hole had been made in the north wall of rubble. Immediately distracted, the party decided covering everything in mushroom wasn’t necessary anymore, so Bastonn pulled some rocks loose and Kris and Volcarian crawled through. Inside the chamber they found a five meter-long stone coffin with runes on top. As the others clambered in, Volcarian read the runes: “Here lies the body of Whyalla the Giant Wunderkind, long may he reign in Jotunheim”. Bastonn lifted the lid, and within was the skeletal body of the giant, clad in gleaming studded leather. They recovered some treasures, including a magical grimoire. Aodhan’s secret voice in his head hissed: “The spells should be yours – ALL yours.” He pleaded for the book, but Volcarian was keen to have it. They argued, but Aodhan won, and Volcarian reluctantly handed it over.

The two kids from above, Magda and Halil, stood at the entrance on the rubble: “Thanks for finding the coffin. That’s why we were here. Hand over the treasure now.” When the party objected, needle-like teeth expanded and claws extended. The not-kids leapt into battle, attacking Volcarian and Kris. Volcarian fireballed both of them, Bastonn finished one off with his spear and Kris backstabbed the other. The two dead kids transformed into green-skinned humanoids – obviously shapechangers of some kind. When the party re-entered the nesting chamber, they noticed a single cracked egg in the nest. Despite what they had just experienced, none of them guessed the shapechanging kids had in fact temporarily been the two additional eggs.

The party made their way up the rope, pulling Taliah up behind them. They camped for the night. Aodhan struggled to interpret the writings in the spell grimoire, while Volcarian hunted, caught a fox and cooked it for his dinner. Aodhan’s skin condition grew, extending his scales to his torso. He felt a strange pull to the north, and the voice in his head whispered something about Draaken’s Peak…   

The next morning the party set off back to Outskirt village to re-supply. On the way they ran into the very loud Farmer Oda and his son Medina, on a wagon to Outskirt to sell several bushels of wheat. Oda wanted to know where they’d been, what they had been up to, and tended to yell at everyone because of his poor hearing. Volcarian spent the time learning a new spell from the grimoire.

When they arrived in Outskirt, a guard told them a troll was loose in town, and asked whether they could help out. Bastonn strode over to the troll, raised his voice and successfully persuaded the creature to leave town to find food.

And it did.

The townspeople cheered, calling Bastonn “the mysterious”, because of his amazing Jedi mind tricks.

Although it was late and Master Ulvar was closing up shop, he agreed to sell some leather armor to Volcarian and Aodhan. He then asked the party to come back tomorrow for more supplies. He still managed to provide the party with a rumor about the Trollspire. 

Everyone headed to the Three Stags Inn, where they were greeted by innkeeper Vagnhild. They ordered a feast to celebrate their successes and two rooms for two nights. Bastonn dropped the unconscious Taliah on one of the beds along with her egg, and Kris and Bastonn spoke briefly with Leanara of the Truth Society about the Emperor’s statue they had been commissioned to find. They didn’t wholly trust her yet, so they lied, stating they hadn’t found any additional parts.

After dinner, Aodhan had another try at learning a new spell from the grimoire, this time succeeding. Kris stayed with Taliah, and Bastonn sat watch while the others slept. 

The next day, more shopping: supplies from Master Ulvar, boots and fine clothes from Squig the halfling tailor…