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 48 – The Shanrigol Behemoth & the Alchemist

The Shanrigol Behemoth slurped its rotting flesh over the balcony, attacking the Otari 2600’s. Gunnar, the fighter, took the brunt of the creature’s attacks and he and his shield were mashed by the beast, until Lob, the goblin alchemist, used his wand of the mage to close the transparent rock window and slice off the part of the Behemoth’s body holding Gunnar.

The party retired to the sauna/massage rooms for the night, with Corny the cleric locking the door. During the night Gunnar tried to repair his mangled shield, with Lob and Vydar, the ranger, managing to repair some of the damage. The next day the party discussed strategies as Ezren the wizard slipped into another of his narcoleptic sleeps. They decided to move to the top balcony overlooking the arena and use ranged attacks to take out the Behemoth, while dropping ropes from the east side of the arena to reach the arena floor.

The plan was put into action, with each of the party taking up strategic positions around the balcony. When they attacked, the Shanrigol Behemoth climbed up the side of the arena walls, pursuing Lob, who hid. It then attacked Gunnar, chasing him around the edge and finally grabbing him. Corny was able to heal Gunnar from across the arena but was disappointed all his other spells seemed to fail against the creature. Vydar was in a similar mood as many (but not all) of his arrows went awry. Finally, the team wore the behemoth down and Corny delivered the death blow via a divine lance.

The party slid down the ropes to the arena bottom, entered the east doors and found the doors to Jafaki’s laboratory. Vydar used his skeleton key to break in, revealing a drider and Jafaki, the Seugathi alchemist within. The battle raged, with Lob confused by Jafaki’s confusion spell for a minute. He harried his fellows with bombs, while Gunnar finished the Seugathi alchemist off and then made short work of the drider (but not before Vydar managed to pin the creature to the wall with an expert bowshot). Vydar’s main concern was recovering the drider’s arrows, as his were running painfully short.

Scouring the room, Lob and Vydar recovered several reagents, some wands and other useful items. They severed the Seugathi’s head and prepared to take it back as evidence for Chafkem, the mummy…    

Session 49 – Chafkem’s Early Retirement

The party took Jafaki’s severed head back to Chafkem the mummy on the level above. The mummy was almost finished packing and about to leave. He was happy with the outcome, kept his word and rewarded the Otari 2600’s with the deactivation password to the room with the spinning blade trap and a map of the level. He then left for his retirement, in which he commented he intended to travel the world before settling down someplace quiet to write.

Corny the cleric, being a devout Sarenrae radical, decided it wasn’t a good idea to let an undead mummy wander around in public. He and Gunnar the fighter followed Chafkem and questioned him about his intentions. Chafkem tired of answering their questions and blasted them with some grim tendrils, frightening Gunnar with his aura. Lob the goblin alchemist and Vydar the ranger stayed out of the way, pitching bombs and shooting arrows from a distance. Gunnar engaged the mummy directly, taking several hits from spells and the creature’s rotting fist. The party slowly wore the mummy down until he fled, but Gunnar caught up to him and delivered the killing blow. “I was only six days from retirement,” agonized Chafkem, as he collapsed in a pile of bone, dust and wrappings.

Lob looted the mummy’s backpack, took his staff of abjuration and the remnants of its spellbook. Corny decided to keep the parchments in his backpack to prevent a sleeping Ezren the wizard from delving into dark magics.

Back to the spinning blade room, where Lob deactivated the trap. It Looked like Chafkem followed through on his promises, unlike some others (cough).

The party decided to delve back into the areas they hadn’t been yet, visiting a room on the west side of the level. Gunnar entered to be confronted by a room full of broken crockery and detritus. Ghostly voices emanated from all around him, voices wanting to escape, saying they were trapped. Corny and Gunnar decided to free the poltergeists trapped there by showing them the way to the surface, via a map Lob hastily scrawled. From there, the party located a rubbish-cluttered stairwell leading down to the bar they had visited two nights ago. The drider there winked, smiled and waved at Gunnar, who quickly exited via another door, his face drawn with embarrassment. The party headed north to the rust-filled chamber Ezren had wandered into a few days before, then entered a side passage containing some natural rock stairs leading down into a cavern…

Session 50 – Landslides & Hydras

The party continued down the stone stairs into a large cavern with a lake at the far end. Three Living Landslides emerged from the walls, striking each of the Otari 2600s and then disappearing into the rock walls and stone floors before they could respond. Corny the cleric cast Bless to aid his compatriots, expanding the field as Gunnar the fighter lunged at the creatures as each emerged. Vydar the ranger opted to use his rapier to good effect (he would eventually end up with a new notch – he took one of the monsters out). Lob the goblin alchemist tested his acid and lightning bombs to wear down the creatures. By the time the Landslides were dispatched, Vydar had been knocked unconscious and Corny and Lob were injured badly.

Corny spent an hour treating everyone’s wounds as the party rested before moving deeper into the cavern. Gunnar approached the waters lapping the shore, tossing in a rock. Two huge hydras burst from the lake, pursuing the party back out of the cave. Vydar managed to shoot some arrows into one from afar, while Gunnar’s shield took a further beating from one of the hydra’s heads. Corny’s quick thinking and Wall of Fire sent the beasts retreating back to the safety of the water.

Back up the stone stairs to the corridor above, Gunnar peeked beyond a set of double doors and spied two Ochre Jellies within. Closing the doors, the party made its way back to the bar and then on to the massage rooms, where they locked the door and settled in for the night. Gunnar did some repair work on his shield with Lob’s help, returning it to new condition. Corny reviewed Chafkem’s spell notes, finding the create undead ritual, rolling it up with some fine weed and smoking it. “Better that our narcoleptic Ezren (the wizard) not get his hands on such an abomination,” thought the cleric with a wry smile and hugely dilated eyes.   

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