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 🙂

Spoiler Alert: This summary contains spoilers for the adventure The Fallen Halls, available on DrivethruRPG at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/526801/draakenslund-adventures-4-the-fallen-halls

Session 28 – The Fallen Halls

Zog the ogre animist passed out as the vines strangled him. Sal the salamander raced through the grove of gray-green plants, incinerating fauna as he went. Kalgrim the smithy dwarf and Zog were freed.

Archmaster Aodhan the wizard noticed the plants were regenerating, and that they now had a peculiar red hue. He suspected they might have adapted to the flames.

Bastonn the wolfkin hunter and Stripes the tiny catfolk animist worked together to bring the little red wagon to Zog and provide light, respectively. Bastonn and Aodhan loaded Zog’s unconscious form onto the wagon – the ogre overflowed, arms and legs dragging on the floor.

Kalgrim located a secret door. He wandered through into another chamber, where he found the giants’ camp, overgrown with the same grey-green plants they had encountered earlier. He used his blacksmithing skills to open the lock on the chest, bringing forth some gold and a parrying dagger.

The rest of the party joined him. They made their way through the vast chamber, finding a sprawled giant’s body with its head smashed open. As Kalgrim opened a new door to the south, a moss-encrusted giant charged from the darkness, throwing a boulder at Stripes and punching the dwarf. Aodhan dramatically fire blasted the giant as then ran down some stairs to take cover. Stripes attempted to cast a lightning flash, but the energy backfired and transformed her into a bear. Spell casting mishaps were her thing, it seemed.

Bastonn and Kalgrim fought the giant on their own. The giant managed to grab Kalgrim with its vines and one of its flowers forced its stamen down the dwarf’s throat. Kalgrim delivered the final blow, with the giant toppling dead to the floor. The dwarf was feeling queasy, and it wasn’t long before a grey-green rash appeared on his skin.

Further to the north, the party found the missing supplies from the wagon train, but they were covered with plants. A strange green moss coated the tiles down a nearby set of stairs, but Kalgrim determined this was harmless. To the north was a set of double doors, barred with a huge piece of timber. The party removed this and found the twelve missing travelers from the wagon train, who were afraid at first, but then rejoiced.

Aodhan and Kalgrim headed down the stairs into the moss-filled room, discovering a giant plant with glowing feelers. Kalgrim chose to grab one of the phosphorescent tendrils and suddenly his mind was flooded with images of the Moss Queen – the plant they found was telepathic. The queen explained her moss had been corrupted by an evil force to the south. Aodhan joined in the mental conversation, observing the same images and feelings Kalgrim was experiencing. The queen implied the curse could be cut off in some way, and that her moss could cure anyone affected by it. Kalgrim immediately ate some nearby moss and felt much better.

The party rested overnight with the Moss Queen. Unfortunately, Bear Stripes remained a bear, unable to communicate other than with grunts and roars. Kalgrim recovered several crates of supplies for the travelers, and everyone ate heartily. 

The next day, the party investigated more of the giants’ lair. Aodhan located another chest which Kalgrim opened, producing a master-crafted greathammer.

They headed south through double doors and located another chamber by the rift in the floor they encountered earlier. Avoiding the plants, they entered a temple dedicated to the archdemon Ba’al, containing a plant-covered statue of the demon. Aodhan realized this archdemon had been responsible for the Cataclysm that returned demons to and formed the various No Man’s Lands around the world. He read an inscription on the base of the statue – a curse that had infected the moss and mutated it into the grey-green plants.

Kalgrim managed to remove three emeralds in the base of the statue (avoiding the plants where he could). The dwarf spotted a weak point in the lintel over the door. Using his new greathammer, he smashed the rotting wood and brought down the ceiling on the temple, sealing it off from the outside world and ending the curse. The party collected the travelers and returned to the site of the wagon train attack, where they celebrated their success. Zog felt something didn’t feel quite right. Was the curse that easy to stop? Or was it still lurking in the Fallen Halls, waiting for the next unwary traveler to awaken it…        

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