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 Kisak’s Vault, available on DrivethruRPG at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/513705/draakenslund-adventures-2-kisak-s-vault

Session 15 – Beyond the Portal & the Draaken Peak

Krisanna the bold halfling fell heavily onto a stone floor. She winced in pain – it felt like her shoulder was dislocated. Skeletal figures were crawling all around her, their bones rattling against the tiles. In Kris’s head, she could hear their pained voices calling for release. She asked what she could do. They raised their graven faces to her: “Close the portal so our souls can be free. Use the Bone Mask to find your way in the world beyond the portal.”

Archmaster Aodhan the wizard and Bastonn the wolfkin hunter heard Krisanna’s cries and rushed into the temple to find her. Volcarian the wolfkin Embercaller had fainted, so Bastonn carried him everywhere on his back. Luckily Aodhan spotted the trapdoor. Realizing the halfling had fallen below, the party rushed back downstairs.

Standing awkwardly, Krisanna stumbled to the dead cultist in the middle of the room. She stripped the body of its weapons and staggered to the door. Aodhan and Bastonn arrived as she opened it. Krisanna explained the portal needed to be closed to free the skeletons’ souls, and she said they would need the Bone Mask. Through sheer force of will, Aodhan pulled the bone mask from Volcarian’s unconscious form. The plucky halfling placed the mask on her face, feeling the protector spell drawing on her willpower.

The party strode to the portal room. The disc of cascading, shimmering silver hung silently above the altar, distant images with bizarre angles and foreign skies reflecting through. Kris leapt into the portal, followed by the others.

The party found themselves in a city, but not any city they were used to: a landscape of bizarre multifaceted buildings, everchanging structures and roads, a constant moaning of voices in the distance, with two multi-colored suns making their way across the sky faster than a sun should move. Kris led the way down a twisting path between the structures, the road constantly warping and changing with crazed angles.

They reached a strange building, but were unable to determine its purpose. Crossing the threshold, the party found a vestibule of pathways, which morphed into steps and then into pond stones, surrounded by black goo. Bastonn almost fell in, but the party made it to the other side where three dark doors of unusual shape awaited.

Kris plunged through the first door and found herself in total blackness, but still able to see her body. In the distance a pinprick of light grew larger, until it took the shape of an everchanging form with a recognizable humanoid perched upon it – the demon Ix. The demon had met Kris a few weeks ago in the village time loop. Ix asked for her bone mask, reminding her of the favor she owed. She handed it over, and Ix told said “good luck” before fading from sight. Kris was now trapped in the void.

Aodhan had walked through the second door, finding himself in total darkness. He conversed with a strange dragon/demon hybrid, which explained he was chosen, that he should protect the book he carried and travel to the Draaken Peak. Aodhan left the void and arrived back in the vestibule.  

Bastonn called to Kris, and the halfling faintly heard his distant, distorted cries. She used them to navigate back through the door, meeting the others in the vestibule.

The party decided to enter the last door, through which they found another portal, and saw their world beyond it. Aodhan and Bastonn leapt for the portal as it shrunk, but Kris didn’t make it through. On the other side, Aodhan used all his mental energy to will the portal open. Kris managed to leap through at the last moment before it closed and was finally gone. The skeletons’ souls had been saved.

The party headed out of the temple. Aodhan anxiously mentioned they should head north – he knew the whereabouts of another piece of the dragon emperor’s statue, in a temple on the Draaken Peak (a lie, of course, but he needed to get to that temple). Somewhat mystified by this new information, the party nevertheless trusted their wizard friend and followed him as he led the way through the forest and up into the mountains. Hunting wasn’t always successful, but Aodhan was able to learn two new spells over several nights. Bastonn managed to bag a boar on the final day before climbing the mountain.

They clambered upwards, taking obscure paths, crossing treacherous chasms and avoiding rainy mudslides. When they had almost reached the peak, Aodhan spotted several hobgoblins on a ledge above them. The party tried to sneak past, but Aodhan stumbled and alerted the goblinoids. They nocked arrows and directed them at the wizard, however their eyes glazed over and they fired instead at the others. Aodhan used a gust of wind to hurl two over the side to their deaths, and Bastonn speared the last.

Further ahead, the party discovered two large cavern entrances. They elected to enter the one from which a stream poured forth. Kris lit her last torch, and the party climbed up several small ridges as they moved further in. Kris heard the sound of snoring behind some boulders and discovered two goblins, but another on a ridge above sniped her with his short bow. He ran away, no doubt to inform others. The two sleeping goblins awoke, gnashed their teeth and drew deadly scimitars. Their eyes seemed strangely glazed, and they deliberately avoided attacking Aodhan.

Kris and Bastonn took out the remaining two goblins and the party moved further into the tunnels, following the fleeing guard. Kris managed to scout the entrance to a large, ancient temple, filled with columns and multiple levels extending back into the darkness. Hobgoblins and goblins stood at the ready to defend the place. The party elected to move further south to find another way in. Goblins surrounded them and peppered them with arrows. Aodhan immolated one with a fireball, while Kris moved ahead into the temple. Unfortunately, a rain of arrows shot from the darkness, and the bold halfling fell unconscious, the blood from her multiple wounds zig zagging along the gaps between the floor tiles…

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