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 Draaken’s Heart, available on DrivethruRPG at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/534002/draakenslund-adventures-5-draaken-s-heart

Session 30 – Bickering & Bothersome

Orla the elvish hunter and Astra the elvish “Icebitch” elementalist first met in Outskirt a month ago, where they immediately clicked (despite Orla’s intolerance and natural suspicion of others and Astra’s abrasiveness). The two had been told an adventuring party had left town a few weeks before on a quest, and keen to find work as adventurers, decided to follow. Over the next month they traveled west and north across the Misty Vale, eventually ending up in the recently rescued village of Somber Vale. The villagers there praised their saviors, who had left mere days before, headed northeast to the mountains. A run in with a group of rescued survivors from a caravan attacked by giants led Orla and Astra to a swamp, where some odd fellows in black cloaks pointed with trembling fingers to an opening in a nearby cliff.

At the cliff face, broad, ancient stairs rose into a vast colonnaded hall. Astra lit a torch and the pair crept inside. It wasn’t long before they bumped into Venge, the massive frost dragon with curious nervous tics that called this place home. Astra determined the dragon was suffering some form of withdrawal, but wasn’t sure from what. Venge assumed the pair were part of the party he had sent into the tunnels to recover his key, and tasked the two adventurers with finding and joining the others.

Meanwhile, Archmaster Aodhan the wizard had spread the dead Bastonn’s alcoholic perfume all over the former wolkfin hunter and Stripes the bear’s remains. As Zog the ogre mentalist sobbed, traumatised by the loss of so many of his friends in such a short time (and Kalgrim the dwarvish artisan looted the last of the valuables from the bodies), Aodhan lit the bodies of Bastonn and Stripes aflame. Smoke rapidly filled the chamber and the three adventurers were forced to retreat into the wide corridor and thence into another room, shutting the door behind them so they could rest free of choking fumes.

Zog placed his back against a hole in the northeast wall to stop anyone coming through, but it was so uncomfortable he couldn’t get any sleep. Aodhan and Kalgrim snored soundly (although Aodhan guiltily dreamed about being the one who first ran into the room where his companions were consumed by the Slime Crawler). When they awoke, Zog crawled into the corner and collapsed into a fitful slumber. Aodhan and Kalgrim, somewhat depressed and anxious as to what to do now, discussed the previous day and their way forward. At that moment, Astra appeared at the hole in the wall.

Aodhan introduced himself rather poorly, informing her he didn’t like elves because of a previous bad experience and setting the tone for the meeting. Astra was not impressed. Orla hung back in the darkness of the tunnel, arrow knocked and bow aimed straight at the magic user’s head. Astra gestured for Orla to come forward, and the elvish hunter was even less impressed with Aodhan upon meeting him. Kalgrim tried to ease the tension by offering to sharpen Orla’s arrows for her. Eventually the group settled down to talk about their past adventures and attempt to find some common ground, but it seemed the rocky start was as good as it was going to get.

Kalgrim decided to investigate a tight tunnel Astra had discovered. She’d gotten stuck in the narrow cavity and Orla had pulled her free, but the dwarf managed to squeeze through, exiting into a vast chamber. Two massive, featureless statues with red-slitted eyes dominated either side of the room, and broad stone steps descended to a round dais at its center. The statues appeared to be carved in the image of Waajina, the binary god of vigor that Aodhan had identified from the murals. Kalgrim remembered the murals showed the twin gods casting rays of light from their eyes on their adoring worshipers. He strode down the stairs at the foot of the statue towards the dais.

The statues’ eyes glowed redly and twin beams flashed at the dwarf as he tucked and rolled out of the way. The beams flashed again as Kalgrim made it to the dais. He noticed a key hole in the floor – could this be where the key Venge sought was meant to go? The statues fired again as the dwarf ducked to the side. He rushed to a set of immense iron double doors to the east, hoping to get through. The twin blasts finally connected, blasting Kalgrim in the back. His skin charred black, he collapsed against the doors, stunned by the realization they were locked. Kalgrim stood stone still, waiting for a blast to finish him off – but nothing happened. Perhaps he was safe here…

Aodhan, Orla and Astra had crawled through the narrow tunnel to offer assistance. Aodhan summoned his salamander Sal on the dais, whose life was cut woefully short by the twin beams (“Thanks a lot!” were his last words). Kalgrim managed to rush back to the safety of the stairs. The group left via the tight tunnel, squeezing out and joining the snoring Zog back in the safe chamber. Kalgrim collapsed onto the ogre’s round belly and fell asleep. Astra and Aodhan sniped at each other and swapped magic tricks, while Orla wondered why they had joined these careless adventurers – it was no wonder half their party had died…

Some time later, Zog and Kalgrim sheepishly emerged from their rest. The party ate, sharing their rations with the newcomers, and formed a plan to find the key. They headed out into the wide stone corridor, avoiding the twin guardian statues at the far end (which seemed to be smaller versions of the huge statues in the secret chamber they recently discovered), and entered the rooms to the south. As Kalgrim reached a hole in the south wall, he spotted some natural rock stairs descending to a cave pool. Zog sensed a heartbeat, echoing in the distance. Something was through there, further away. Aodhan suspected the heartbeat was from a Blood Demon.

While this was happening, the petulant Astra ignored the plan and crept back to the corridor, sneaking along the wall towards the guardian statues. As she stood next to the southern guardian, it animated, grinding its fist into the wall where she had stood but a moment before. Astra leapt back, using a Gust of Wind to blow both of the statues into the rubble of the collapsed tunnel at the west end of the corridor. The rest of the party rushed out of the room to assist. Kalgrim managed to destroy one of the walking statues, splitting the hollow automaton into multiple pieces with his master-crafted sword (the payoff for two dead party members). The last statue marched ominously forward, shooting fire blasts from its eyes and knocking Aodhan and Kalgrim unconscious. Orla’s twin arrows impaled the statue’s head, which exploded into dust. Astra straddled the downed wizard and bandaged his wounds, bringing back to consciousness an unhappy Aodhan, mouthing complaints about her taking off to face the statues they had intended to avoid. She kicked him in his wounded leg to shut him up. Aodhan grumbled, then saved Kalgrim with his last bandage.

The sound of the heartbeat was growing stronger in the distance, so the party headed back to their safe room to hide. Zog sensed the beating of wings and the constant thrum of the heartbeat receding in the corridor, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. After a rest and with the malevolent sounds gone, the party headed back to the south tunnel. Kalgrim sneaked slowly into the cave, past the rock pool. He spotted a cave sprite hiding behind a stalagmite. Its smiling face turned to abject terror as the blood demon above flapped down from its ledge, hovering ten meters above the pool. “I came here to get away from that damned dragon,” it hissed. “Pickings have been slim lately.” It eyed the adventurers up and down, saliva dripping from its lips through needle-like teeth and into the water below. “But you all look like you’ll make a fine meal…”    

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