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 includes adventures from that set, plus homebrewed content. We recently finished the campaign, after 38 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). Some will be more detailed than others.

Steve 🙂

Session 26 – Rotlaug & the (Very) Young Catfolk

Stripes the Catfolk Animist had been wandering the Misty Vale in search of new magic. She arrived at Fort Malus and entered the courtyard via a hole in the wall. There she saw a man in armor, tied up in front of the remnants of a smoking bonfire. He appealed to her to release him, saying that bandits in the keep had killed his compatriots and bound him there.

Archmaster Aodhan the mage, Kalgrim the artisan dwarf and Bastonn the wolfkin hunter responded to the noise in the courtyard, exiting the keep. Aodhan was still suffering from amnesia after suffering a mishap with a magical spell. Stripes placed her paw against the mage’s brow and cast a healing spell – his amnesia cleared and he remembered who he was. After some discussion, Stripes determined that the bound guard was lying. 

The party was planning to open the cellar door below the keep using the gemstones they had recovered from one of the downed knights, and they invited Stripes to join them. With nothing better to do, she agreed. They re-entered the keep (Zog the mentalist ogre was snoring in the corner, his body draped over several sagging beds) and headed to the stairs and down to the door. Kalgrim quickly solved the door puzzle, and the stones were placed in the correct order.

The door flashed with brilliant light and opened. Something shuffled forward in the darkness as a musty smell mixed with rotting plants wafted out of the dark. A skinny creature of wood and moss – Rotlaug – emerged from the dark. As it placed its hands on the door frame, tendril-like plants and moss grew from its fingers. “Are you friends of the green?” it gurgled.

Kalgrim tried to attack the creature, but Rotlaug grew vines and lashed the dwarf to the stairwell wall. The others backed off, while Bastonn tried sticking Rotlaug with his spear. It passed through the creature’s chest, but the tip broke off, leaving Bastonn with a useless shaft. Zog awoke, and attempted to charge his power fist. He eventually got it working and body slammed Rotlaug. The tree-creature simply grabbed the ogre’s hands and squeezed him with its plant tendrils.

Aodhan used fire blasts on Rotlaug, which drew the creature’s ire. Stripes attempted to heal Zog, but in a stunning misfire the energy de-aged her to a kitten, half the size of her original form.

Rotlaug continued slowly dragging itself through the keep to the door, tiny flowers and plants growing in its footsteps. Along the way it picked up Stripes and stroked her head. She purred in response.

Aodhan thought it would be a good idea to destroy the withered tree in the courtyard – perhaps that would stop Rotlaug. When he fire blasted it, Rotlaug was outraged. It rushed to the mage and took him out with one entwining blow. Bastonn went down next.

Meanwhile, Kalgrim had escaped the tendrils and entered the six-meter square, rubble-filled chamber from whence Rotlaug emerged. He found a cracked urn of treasures, then exited and climbed the stairs to the keep. Seeing what was happening, he rushed forward, throwing his hammer with all his might through Zog’s legs to attempt to hit Rotlaug. Unfortunately, he managed to hit Zog in the sensitive bits, knocking the poor ogre unconscious (with friends like these, who needs enemies).

Rotlaug dropped Stripes and rushed to the tree, putting out the fires. The creature then merged with the withered tree as roots and vines extended from it, cracking the stone surrounds and covering the fort. The party exited after Stripes healed several of them, getting to safety as Fort Malus was reduced to rubble. A beautiful, golden-leafed tree rose high in its center, golden apples hanging from its boughs. Outside the fort, the party realized someone had stolen their overladen red wagon (which they had left unprotected not far from the walls). Young Stripes tracked the wagon to the edge of the forest, where the party confronted the cultist, Ossiar, who had run off with it. Taking him captive, they set up a campfire to signal the knight Tylos, did some very unsuccessful hunting and fishing and settled in for the night.

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