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 18 – Overland & Under It    

The next day Archmaster Aodhan the wizard didn’t awaken from his sleep – he seemed almost comatose, so the party felt it best to let him rest. The others decided to head to Oracle Cave on the far western side of the valley to rescue young Roric, a boy taken from his farm outside Outskirt. It was believed that he had been taken to the cave to be sacrificed to the ancient oracle that lived there.

Theoline the halfling barrelmaker built a four-wheeled wagon (with red racing stripes) to pull the sleeping Aodhan in. (No one realized at the time just how important this red wagon would become in the future.)

The party set off with Theoline as pathfinder, using his newly acquired spyglass to check the route on the way. Across the fields they traveled, finally settling on the hills overlooking the valley of the Riddermound. Baston the wolfkin hunter shot a deer and Volcarian the wolkfin embercaller cooked it. While that was happening, Theoline spied some ruins to the south. He and Kris set off to explore.

The two halflings found a small fort, all crumbling stone and wall remnants. After searching for a considerable time, they located a trapdoor and a ladder into the darkness below. Climbing down, the ladder unexpectedly broke and Kris fell, twisting her ankle. Theoline followed on his rope. In the ten-meter square chamber below was a stone casket. The two halflings lifted its cover, finding an armored skeleton inside. A ghost arose before them: “Who disturbs the rest of Sir Boris? Do you seek to steal from me?” Theoline attempted to bluff the spirit (they were indeed there to steal), but the ghost, somewhat ironically, saw right through him. Sir Boris screamed at the halflings, slashing his sword and driving them out. Kris managed to toss Theoline’s torch into the coffin to burn Sir Boris’s bones, but this just made the ghost angrier. Eventually the pair escaped after Sir Boris exhorted them to leave.

Back at camp, the party feasted on beautifully cooked venison while Bastonn scolded the halflings for rashly exploring without them.

The next day the party made good headway, reaching the edge of the Iron Forest. Unfortunately, few animals roamed the area and it was devoid of edible plants, so they settled for dried rations as the rain drummed on their tent all night.

The next day the party reached Oracle Cave. The still sleeping Aodhan and his red wagon were hidden in a rocky niche, disguised with leafy tree branches.

Kris led the way into the cave with Theoline and his torch not far behind. They found a small altar of offerings and some blood trails leading into a tunnel. Making their way along, they came to an intersection with two very narrow channels and another wider tunnel leading to a chamber with a dead body.

The dismembered and half-eaten body turned out to be an orc; Theoline recovered a broadsword from the body. The party crept forward along the tunnel to discover a rushing underground river. Only Kris was capable of leaping over, so they doubled back to the narrow tunnels and squeezed through to find a rock bridge that passed over the rushing waters.

The narrow tunnels continued, winding through the darkness. The party sidled their way along, the bigger folk occasionally getting stuck. Eventually they exited into a web-filled chamber.

As Kris and Theoline peered at the web-covered ceiling, hundreds of small spiders rushed out of nooks in the walls, cracks in the floor and from above. They crawled over the party, biting and slashing with their razor-sharp limbs. Bastonn was webbed up by the creatures and Theoline bitten so much that he passed out. Volcarian immolated a great many with a fire blast, but it was Kris who saved the day, her blades swirling at lightning speed to sweep most of the spiders off the others’ bodies…