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), have now finished the campaign after 85 Sunday night sessions!

I apologize in advance for the writing in these summaries – they’re a bit raw and not fancy at all (I didn’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 64 – Ropes Galore

Ezren the wizard awoke on the floor of a somewhat familiar room. He could hear the sound of his party fighting through the open door, but instead of rushing to their aid he chose to make himself a coffee to wake up fully.

Meanwhile, Gunnar the fighter and Sevastin the rogue/monk battled the roper, now without its tentacle strands. Its formidable bite more than made up for the shortfall, as Sevastin soon learned when it crushed the catfolk’s legs in a puncturing grip. Vydar the ranger’s arrow shots were for naught against the roper’s rocky chitinous shell, but a few managed to hit the creature in the eye. Eventually, the roper was worn down by the party and killed.

Lob the goblin alchemist set to work removing numerous planks from the nearby wharf to expand the wooden barrier Gunnar had taken down, converting it into a raft. Corny the cleric treated everyone’s wounds, while Gunnar repaired his very damaged shield (roper teeth and metal shields do not mix well). Ezren joined the others, and was surprised to meet Sevastin, the new party member. After a few awkward introductions, the wizard set to work repairing Gunnar’s shield until it was almost as good as new. Vydar stood watch on the wharf, occasionally catching roaring sounds from the elevator shaft above him – the gug the party had fled from earlier was somewhere above, but luckily it didn’t come down, despite the echoing sound of hammering as Lob built the raft. No other creatures exited the water, even after Sevastin noted that the two chuul bodies on the beach had been dragged into the lake.

Gunnar, Sevastin and Ezren climbed onto the somewhat ungainly raft, and Sevastin used his clockwork reel gun to shoot a cable to a cliff wall on the other side of the lake and drag the raft across. The catfolk retracted the hook and fired it up so he could access a cave entrance ten feet above. As he landed surefootedly on the ledge, a creature arose from the back of the cave, its eyes glowing redly, black smoke flowing from them. The bodak rushed to attack. Gunnar clambered up the wall and slashed his scimitar, but the bodak used its deathly gaze to drain life from the big fighter. Already weakened from his encounter with the roper, the fighter found it harder to hit the monster and avoid its attacks.

Meanwhile, Corny, Vydar and Lob had moved onto the wharf and were now standing roughly halfway across the underground lake. Unfortunately, the low-lying mist made things hard to see, so Corny used faerie fire to lighten up the cave in the distance – The bodak, Gunnar and Sevastin all glowed a hazy shade of purple. Vydar climbed up on a wharf pile so he could see better, sniping the bodak from afar.

Meanwhile, Ezren was drifting on the raft. Sevastin tossed the reel gun to him, but instead he used mage hand to extend a regular rope to Corny on the wharf, who slowly but surely dragged the raft towards the wharf. Another bodak climbed across from another cave and landed on the raft next to the surprised wizard. Luckily Ezren was able to scramble up onto the wharf and get safely away. Lob set the bodak afire with alchemist’s fire and acid bombs.

Sevastin and Gunnar managed to force the bodak off the ledge and into the water below. Another bodak crawled out from another cave and made its way to the ledge where Gunnar knelt, waiting for the submerged bodak to surface. Vydar continued to snipe each of the bodaks, but luck and the annoying mists were not on his side.

Ezren basted the bodaks with a fireball and Corny used a holy cascade to immolate them. Gunnar killed the submerged bodak as it reached the surface. The bodak on the raft burned to a crisp. Sevastin demoralized one of the bodaks and it was eventually taken down.  

The party stood separated, two in the cave and the rest on the wharf, but all breathed a collective sigh of relief.   

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