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 69 – Re-Rebirth

Lob the goblin alchemist swam to the damaged dock and brought the raft around to the cliff face. Gunnar the fighter, somber after the loss of Vydar to Belcorra’s magic, lowered the ranger’s corpse down to the raft by rope. The party followed suit and made their way back to the main wharf and the elevator back to the level above. After several hours making their way to the surface, the Otari 2600s dragged themselves back to town at sunset.

First stop was the Dawnflower Library, where Vandy Bandersnatch was shocked to learn Vydar had been killed (again). Corny the cleric enquired about the diamonds needed to resurrect the ranger. Lob and he calculated they would need 600 GP worth. The library had 200 gp of diamonds in reserve, but the rest would have to be purchased at the market and town jeweller.

Leaving Vydar’s body in the familiar mortuary vault, the party headed to the Rowdy Rockfish, where Laslo and Brelda Venkervale (still indebted to the party after Laslo’s rescue) put on dinner and drinks. Then it was off for a bath and a good night’s sleep. Ezren the wizard had no problem drifting off.

The next day, Lob and Corny bought the much-needed diamonds, supplies and a small stock of Mwangi Expanse-sourced coffee. Morlibint of the Odd Stories shop purchased some of the party’s talismans and provided some advice on helping the party avoid Belcorra’s dreaded gaze (she was using the muddy water in the urns as a way to follow the party’s movements in the dungeon). Lob headed to the lumber yard and picked up some wood to be used to craft caps for any more urns they might come across (rather than destroying them and having the murky water spread further).

The next day Corny and Lob worked with Vandy to complete the resurrect ritual. Eight hours later and Vydar was returned to life, weakened and exhausted. The party consulted with Vandy about Nimbhaloth and Belcorra’s past, then headed off to the fishing camp for some downtime while Vydar recovered his strength.

Lob managed to add some extra range to his launcher by working on it for 5 days. Vydar found he had been changed somewhat by his second journey through the afterlife. Ezren was hyped up on coffee. Corny considered some retraining…

Session 70 – Rest & Reconnaissance

During the week of Vydar’s recovery at the fishing camp, Ezren the wizard studied the Whispering Reeds, discovering its history and abilities and narrowly avoiding the book’s curse; he now felt emboldened by his new knowledge of Nimbaloth and more prepared for Belcorra. Ezren used some of the time to backwardly engineer a spellstrike arrow and created some more spellstrike ammunition, which Corny the cleric loaded up with searing light spells for Vydar the ranger to shoot with. Finally, the wizard reconstituted his familiar: a small, silvery dragon called Empyrian, who could communicate by telepathy and fly.

Vydar rested all week, but as he recovered, he realized his second run-in with death had changed something fundamental about the way his body moved and responded. New abilities seemed to come to the fore. As he grew stronger each day, he contemplated how this would affect him.

Lob the goblin alchemist thought long and hard about bomb snares, formulating a plan to use them against the new gug in the lower levels of the Abomination Vaults.

Gunnar the fighter spent his days in silence, sometimes training, sometimes gathering driftwood from along the beach. On the last day he went hunting, killed a boar and brought it back to the beach where he’d built a giant bonfire. As he cooked the boar carcass on a spit above the blaze, the rest of the party spotted the fire from the camp and headed down.

As they took their places on wooden benches Gunnar had prepared, the fighter finished cooking the boar and served each a haunch of meat. They chatted as they ate: talking about their motivations for undertaking the mission, the impact of Vydar’s death, the cost of doing business. They learned Gunnar, while still traumatized by his experiences in the vaults, was still keen to save the town; that Ezren pragmatically preferred not to waste money on resurrecting anyone else unless the town paid for it. Lob stated he was only in it for the money, but Gunnar believed there was more to the goblin’s motivations – after all, the goblin was now putting all his hard-earned money into the party fund to benefit all, not just himself. The party discussed Belcorra, battle strategies and shared Corny’s reefers.

The next day the Otari 2600s headed back to Castle Gauntlight. Investigating the lighthouse, they found the Gauntlight’s blue energy flowing into the light. Heading downstairs to the room where they’d rescued the dwarven “energy focus”, they realized the blue energy was flowing again from further below. Now that the Gauntlight was reactivated, there was no time to lose. The party headed back down to the mist-covered lake, and climbed to the ledge south of the gug’s cave.

Lob set some bomb snares at the entrance, with the intention of luring the gug into the traps. He was bombarded with dissonant, whispering voices: “The lenses. She knows the secrets of the lenses. Three are within reach, one very close. The other lost by Yldaris. One held by the blood eaters.” Ezren guessed this was a clue linked to Nimbaloth and used the Whispering Reeds to research the lenses. He gleaned that the Fulcrum lenses were unique magical crystals each containing a sliver of Nhimbaloth’s essence; each belonged to a larger set of lenses created to manipulate or even bind the Empty Death, and most of the other lenses were long lost and likely destroyed. He realized that the Haruvex family must have come into possession of four of the lenses, and that bringing them together focused Nhimbaloth’s attention in unprecedented and dangerous ways.

The party gathered on the beach across from the ledge leading to the gug’s cave. Empyrian the dragon familiar flew into the gug’s cave and was affected by the whispers emanating from the chamber: “She keeps them apart while she works her petty vengeance, but the essences shall become one.” The little dragon tried to rile the gug, but it was completely enraptured by the crimson prism it grasped…

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