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 66 – Gug Surprise

A gut-wrenching roar emerged from the ceiling of the cavern over the elevator. The Chuul quickly retreated into the water. The four-armed, headless monstrosity known as the Gug dropped onto the wharf from above. Vydar the ranger gawked as the creature rushed forward. Sevastin the catfolk monk/rogue readied himself for its attack but was unprepared for its massive slashing claws as the gug rushed past, slicing savagely into Gunnar the fighter and Vydar at the same time. The party surrounded the creature while Lob the goblin alchemist hid inside the monstrous skeleton they’d defeated earlier, tossing alchemical and lightning bombs at it. Sevastin was bitten and slashed apart and collapsed unconscious onto the beach. Ezrin the wizard dimension doored to the wharf while Vydar fled north. Gunnar ran past the gug and grabbed Sevastin’s limp form, dragging the catfolk behind him in a flurry of sand. Corny the cleric and Lob headed to the safety of the south door and the corridor.

Gunnar fed Sevastin a healing potion, while Ezren and Vydar slipped in the north door to the safety room the party had been using to rest in. Lob and Corny rushed in via the south door. Gunnar and Sevastin dragged their injured forms across the threshold. All the doors were magically locked by Corny. All sat silently, sweat dripping from their brows, mixing with the blood of their torn and beaten bodies, trying not to breath too heavily as they all caught their collective breath.

They could hear the Gug sliding its eerily flexible form up the narrow south corridor, its claws raking the stonework as it came. Scratching against the south door. All inside strained to remain silent.

Then it left. Eventually the screams of other victims could be heard from elsewhere in the level.

Relieved but still afraid, the party members waited and (very quietly) licked their wounds.

A light scratching sound from the north door put everyone on edge. Luckily it turned out to be a rat.

Lob and Corny suggested two new plans of attack: using the secure tomb room to trap the Gug, and setting up an immense oil and alchemist’s fire bomb under the sand near the south entrance to the column where the party laired. Ezren helped Lob to craft his bomb, which the goblin would set off using fuse cord when the Gug came back to find them. Sevastin would summon the Gug using a whistle supplied by Vydar.

The Gug returned, crossing the lake a little more quickly than Sevastin had hoped. The catfolk lured it off the beach into the narrow corridor. Lob set off the bomb – the explosion completely immolated the Gug and poor Sevastin was burned to a crisp. Gunnar brought him back with a potion of healing that the catfolk had rewarded the fighter with earlier for saving his life. Sevastin, somewhat embarrassed at his burnt fur and scared countenance, retreated to the tomb room and accidentally locked himself in. Luckily, Lob helped to get him out.

The party celebrated. The plan had worked. The level was now theirs for the taking… or was it?

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