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 31 – The Demon & the Key

The blood demon flapped its bat-like wings and hovered above Kalgrim the artisan, eyeing the dwarf and the others on the natural stone stairs not far away. Kalgrim attempted to throw his master-crafted sword at the demon but it missed, coming to rest at the base of a cliff to the west of the grotto. Zog the ogre mentalist rushed down and leapt up, striking the demon’s foot with his powered-up fists. She screeched in pain and flew west to a high ledge, disappearing out of view. Kalgrim leapt into the pond – it was deeper than expected, so he swam to the other side.

The cave sprite hid behind the stalagmite, occasionally glancing around to view the proceedings. Astra the ice queen approached the cave sprite hid, asking her who she was. “I am Elu,” said the sprite. The elf offered Elu some of her rations, but Orla the suspicious elvish hunter joined her friend and upset the sprite, inferring it might be up to no good. Elu flew away in a huff. Archmaster Aodhan the mage made his way down the stairs to see if he could help.   

As Kalgrim exited the pond on the other side, a shower of bones poured over the ledge, clattering to the ground at the base of the cliff. Almost immediately they rolled and slid gruesomely together to form four skeletal warriors, wielding vicious-looking shortswords. One grabbed Kalgrim’s master-crafted sword from the cave floor. Kalgrim drew his hammer and rushed headlong into the fray. Zog joined him, but the big ogre was a little too enthusiastic and pounded his fist into the side of the cliff, trapping his fist there.

Kalgrim took out a skeleton and leapt onto the cliff, scaling it halfway. The demon appeared above, reached down and dragged the dwarf up. Its needle-like teeth plunged into Kalgrim’s neck. As the dwarf’s life flashed before his eyes, the demon dropped him to the floor below, where his body lay bleeding and broken.

Astra leapt over the pond and used a shatter spell on one of the skeletons, but it backfired, slamming her back into the cliff. Zog pulled his fist free and pulverized one of the skeletons. Orla hid amongst the stalagmites and sniped a skeleton, but her arrows were less effective against their bony bodies then she would have liked. Aodhan summoned Sal the salamander, and it shot fire bolts from a distance at the demon.

The blood demon’s head appeared at the top of the cliff and screamed down at those below. The pitch caused their ears to bleed and Zog and Astra dropped unconscious. Astra managed to rally herself, but her attempt to cast shatter went awry again, and she passed out.

Archmaster Aodhan used twin fire blasts to destroy the last two skeletons. Orla fired twin arrows into the demon as it flew overhead, but it seemed somewhat resistant. The demon flew down, grabbed Aodhan and dropped him to the floor, knocking him unconscious. Only Orla was left. Realizing the situation was dire, the elf hunter rushed to Astra’s side and revived her. The elementalist rose, summoning a gust of wind and blowing the demon into the nearby cave wall, where it was impaled on a rocky outcropping. It dropped to the floor, narrowly missing Sal, who then faded from existence.

Everyone was brought back as their wounds were treated, with the exception of Kalgrim. The poor artisan had breathed his last. Aodhan and Zog said some kind words as they covered the dwarf’s bent and broken body. As they recovered some useful items, Astra took the backpack that once belonged to Krisanna the bold halfling. As she probed the belongings inside, the ghost of Krisanna appeared, gesturing to the backpack and to the east. Astra found Krisanna’s map, the memento of her travels showing the location of this very temple. The ghost faded from sight.

Elu the cave sprite appeared, thanking them for destroying the demon she called “Xan”. Elu mentioned Xan had moved from another part of the cavern and had been preying on sprites for some time now, and they were glad to be rid of it. Elu treated their wounds further with magic, and led Astra and Orla back to the sprites’ cavern. Once there, she rewarded the elves with the missing key that Venge the frost draaken so desperately sought.

The party rested in one of the rooms they had entered earlier, laying Kalgrim to rest in the chamber where they had burned Bastonn and Stripes the previous day.

As the party settled down to rest for the night, Aodhan realized the key might fit the keyhole in the dais between the giant twin statues of Waajina that Kalgrim had discovered earlier.

The next day, the party stood before the double doors at the end of the previously trapped corridor. Astra turned the key in the lock and the giant iron doors swung open, revealing the vast chamber with the circular dais beyond. The elf tentatively stepped inside. The eyes of the twin collosi glowed mutely, but nothing happened – Aodhan suspected holding the key might stop the optical blasts. Aodhan and Astra made their way to the central dais. Astra entered the key in the hole at its center, turning it a quarter turn. The statues blasted the elf with green rays. As they struck, Astra became more youthful. Aodhan seized on this, rushing up and activating the key again as Astra stepped aside. The aging wizard became considerably younger and much more fit.

The ghost of Krisanna appeared again, pointing at the map and then to the dais. Astra placed the map on the dais and turned the key again. The twin statues’ eyes glowed white, and blasted the map and Astra. The figure of a female halfling grew from the map, merging with the elf’s form. Krisanna was reborn, with Astra’s hair and eyes. Orla, viewing from the doorway, stared in shock. She nocked an arrow and rushed in, demanding to know where her friend had gone. Aodhan tried to calm her, but it wasn’t really part of his skill set. Kris didn’t know what had happened either, but calmed the manic elf enough for them both to leave the room safely.

Aodhan found an iron nail in Kris’s backpack – Kalgrim’s memento. Placing it on the dais, he turned the key, summoning the white beams. The dwarf was back – alive and well! Unfortunately, both Stripes’ and Bastonn’s mementoes had been burned during the cremation of their bodies. Aodhan was unhappy with his younger self, so he stepped onto the dais, turned the key further still and was bathed in yellow rays, returning to his previous age. Much happier now, he hobbled out of the room, assured his wisdom was intact.          

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