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 65 – Escapees

With the last of the Bodaks destroyed, Gunnar the fighter searched the first cave. He found a rotting sack at the rear, filled with gold coins and several items. Ezren the wizard and Lob the goblin alchemist took the raft over to the cave, climbing up to help identify the items. Everyone returned to the wharf, where they split the booty. Vydar the ranger got eyes of the eagle, which Ezren crafted some spectacle frames for; Gunnar received some bracers of armor; Sevastin the catfolk monk/rogue claimed a magic shortsword.

Sevastin used his clockwork grappling hook to investigate a 30 ft. tall rock platform Vydar had spotted on the other side of the lake through the ever-present mists. He found a rusty and abandoned cage on top. The others used the raft to make it to the base of the platform, and Sevastin used the grappling hook to pull them up. Lob investigated the cage, but couldn’t find anything useful. Ezren brewed himself a tea to keep caffeinated.

Raising his elven cloak’s hood to turn invisible, Sevastin padded down a narrow tunnel, emerging into a grotto-like cavern. Three streams were fed from a dark pond. Strange, dissonant voices echoed through the catfolk’s mind, but he brushed them aside. Of more concern was the giant gug kneeling on the pond’s shore, cradling a glowing crimson gem and muttering to itself. Sevastin headed back to the party and explained what he had found.    

The party decided (again) that discretion was the better part of valor, and headed back to their raft, crossed the lake, secured the raft to the wharf and bedded down for the night in the room they’d rested in previously. Corny the cleric used his Lock spell to secure the doors and then helped remove Gunnar’s many conditions with a few greater restoration spells.  

The next day the party headed out to the beach, but discovered all the monsters previously secured in their cages had been released. Vydar noted the cages had been unlocked, not forced. He tracked the four-legged, carapace-armored krooth to a nearby cave. Sevastin sneaked in invisibly, saw the animal sleeping, but then noticed one of its eyes flickering open as it sniffed the air. Luckily, Sevastin’s good personal hygiene made it hard for the Krooth to smell him, so Sevastin backed out with the animal none the wiser.

Gunnar rushed the beast, whose armored carapace proved pretty durable. The others entered, but Sevastin and Gunnar finished the creature. Gunnar attempted to repair his damaged shield, to no avail. Corny treated the fighter’s wounds while he worked.      

Sevastin located one of the giant skeletons further down the beach. The party decided to split up and flank the creature: Vydar, Gunnar and Sevastin from the beach; Lob, Corny and Ezren from the corridor and through the door connecting to the beach on the other side. 

The giant skeleton loomed menacingly over everyone as they caught it in a pincer movement. Unfortunately, another massive skeletal hulk emerged from the water and rushed Gunnar on the shore, batting him aside like a flea. The poor fighter and his shield took quite a beating. Ezren’s grease spell managed to topple one of the colossal skeletons, which Gunnar pounded with his hammer until Sevastin finished it off with a hit to its Achilles heel. The other skeleton was lanced by Corny’s spells, punched by Sevastin and partially acid-melted by Lob.

As the party took a breather, Vydar stood watch on the beach. The missing chuul emerged from the water and made its way up the shore…

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