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).

Cheers

Steve 🙂

Warning: These summaries contain spoilers for Paizo’s Abomination Vaults campaign

Session 75 – The Hunting Grounds

The Otari 2600’s lurked at the southern end of the hunting grounds, a vast fungi forest that filled the cavern to the north. Nyzaros the drow said his farewells and headed back to Yldaris.

Lob the goblin alchemist and Vydar the ranger discussed climbing to the top of one of the 30 ft. mushrooms to get a better view of the forest and cavern. Ezren the wizard was keen to push forward and attack the creatures they had seen in the distance, but the various fungi trunks and undergrowth made visibility difficult. Gunnar the fighter and Corny the cleric were cautious, preferring not to initiate an unnecessary battle and to adopt a stealthier approach.

Lob and Vydar used their newly acquired rope of climbing to get to the high mushroom cap. Its surface was spongy but solid enough, and the two realized they could travel across the forest on the highest mushroom caps, avoiding the tangled undergrowth of the forest floor. The rest of the party climbed up to join them and they all made their way stealthily across the mushroom canopy, leaping from one top to the next.     

At one point Ezren spotted two of the guardian demons (which he identified as cacodaemons) lurking near the tower of the calignis that Nyzaros had identified earlier. He considered fireballing them, but then remembered from his readings that they could dimension door at will (straight to him if they wanted) and decided against it. 

As the party made their way surreptitiously across the mushroom tops, 30 ft. above the cavern floor, Lob was first to notice the massive floor to ceiling stone cylinder nestled behind the caligni tower. Corny realized this must be an extension of the Gauntlight, through which the energy flowed on its way to the surface lighthouse.

Eventually, the party reached the far north end of the cavern. They descended via their rope of climbing and left the edge of the fungi forest, entering a long natural tunnel that curved to the northwest. Making their way along, Gunnar spotted an eastern side tunnel. Unfortunately, he tripped and the sound of his all-metal armor, shield and scimitar scraping the rock floor brought a monstrous beast skittering from the east, its nightmarish body covered with thousands of eyes and tens of long, spidery legs.

The Gogiteth rushed at great speed, racing between several party members and slashing them savagely with its legs. Ezren and Corny were knocked unconscious as Gunnar mounted the creature and stabbed it while clinging for dear life as it sped around the tunnel. Lob hurtled multiple bombs at it; the acid and fire burned its nightmarish body. Vydar fired arrows and an explosive arrow, before fading away using his cloak of elvenkind.

Soon, the party’s attacks wore it down – the gogiteth stumbled as it swept between them all, slashing and pinning as it went. Finally, Lob blasted it with a fire bomb, Gunnar slashed its body and Vydar finished it with an arrow to the heart. The party breathed a collective sigh of relief and rushed off to the north because the battle had drawn the attention of the Cacadaemons from the forest. Luckily, the daemons did not explore further than the forest’s edge. Around the corner, the Otari 2600s breathed a little easier. The fierce battle with the Gogiteth was not the end for them as they had feared, but a further attack at this point would break the proverbial camel’s back…   

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