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 finished the campaign a few months ago, 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 🙂

Session 33 – The Journey to Outskirt  

The red mist swept in from the lake, rising unnaturally across the moors to the south of Venge the Frost Dragon’s lair. The sun was setting and dark clouds filled the skies. Kris-Astra, the recently resurrected bold halfling, located a small cave to the east which the party could use to rest for the night.

Orla the elvish hunter, Zog the animist ogre, Aodhan the human wizard and Kris-Astra set off to hunt and forage for food. Zog managed to get himself stuck in a bog, and as the red mist approached, he sensed malevolent eyes peering from within its inky shrouds. A hoarse, whispering voice repeated over and over: “The reign of Sathmog will begin.” The same happened with both Aodhan and Kris-Astra. Zog managed to pull himself free and the three mud-covered adventurers made it back to the cave with a few mushrooms. Orla managed to bag a crow, but her questionable cooking skills left the creature inedible, so she tossed it out in a fit of pique.

As the party settled down for the night, several were unable to find good resting places. Naked Kalgrim (the artisan) was particularly cold, and not even some time with his favorite blacksmith’s tools would help.

The next day the skies opened and the rains poured forth. Aodhan scanned the nearby fens with the spyglass, but the cultists who lurked there a few days before were gone. The red mist continued to flow up from the Lake of Mists and across the swamp, so the party elected to follow the base of the Dragonfang Peaks east to a small, nameless village noted on the map. Arriving at midday, Aodhan spotted cultists wandering amongst the ruins of the village, so the party decided to avoid them and continue south into the Magna Woods. Rations and morale were low.

As the party struggled through the dank undergrowth under the forest’s canopy, they came upon a small clearing. A hobgoblin in studded leather armor climbed upon a boulder in front of them as more hobgoblins closed in from all sides with bows and knives. The leader asked Zog to join their war party, but the ogre politely declined. Orla decided diplomacy with an arrow would get the point across. A battle erupted, with Kalgrim falling to a hobgoblin blade as Zog dispatched the leader with a mighty power fist-supported belly smash. Aodhan’s fire blasts were somewhat underpowered (lack of sleep will do that) and he couldn’t use more magic. Kris backstabbed several hobgoblins, killing them. The rest of the hobgoblins fled after their leader was flattened. Orla pursued and was struck down. Finally, the remaining hobgoblins were defeated. Aodhan worked his magic hands (surgical skills, that is) and brought Kalgrim and Orla back to the lands of the living. Orla suffered some deep wounds that would take at least five days to heal.

Some successes with foraging for mushrooms and another failed attempt by Orla to cook her hunted fox topped off the evening, with everyone in a dour mood as a bad night in the forest was accentuated by the rain.

Exiting the Magna Woods brought the party just south of the Temple of Purple Flame they had visited earlier. They made their way down the road, across the old stone bridge over the Kummer River, finally camping in the fields 15 kilometers from Outskirt. Hunting and foraging were much more successful this time, and Aodhan proved himself a deft culinary wizard with a lovely stew. Kris got slightly bored by a boar, but you can’t have everything. Their spirits buoyed, the party hoped for a good night’s sleep.

Unfortunately, the following day echoed the crappy night that left Naked Kalgrim nigh on delirious and Zog drifting off as he walked. The party made its way to Outskirt, chatting distractedly about buying a new tent and sleeping furs (among other things).

As they reached the outskirts of Outskirt, Aodhan used the spyglass to check the walls. Unfortunately, he dropped the spyglass and broke it – doh! Kris-Astra managed to spot empty gate towers. Sneaking forward with Zog and Kalgrim, Kris spotted the gates slightly open and a dead guard’s body on the ground in front of one of the towers. Kalgrim declared it a suicide (“life as a tower guard is a bit of a drag, after all”), until Kris pointed out to that do that he must have fallen on an upended arrow.

Curt voices growled beyond the gate. While everyone sneaked to the palisade wall, Orla stumbled over and alerted those within. A cultist emerged, who Kris dispatched with her keen blade. As more cultists rushed forward, Zog shoved a broadsword in the gates to hold them closed. The party rushed west to the palisade wall behind Master Ulvar’s store, each scrambling over to land in the alleyway behind the building – all except Kris, who remained stranded on the outside with the party’s little red wagon. Kris hurriedly grabbed the party’s gold and silver from the wagon and dashed west and around the wall, eventually climbing the palisade and dropping on her feet at the base of a ridge. A flurry of bats filled the sky, sweeping north from Outskirt’s hill temple and heading to the Lake of Mists.  As Kris scrambled up the rise, she realized she had left the final piece of the Statue of Eledain in the little wagon outside the wall!

Orla climbed onto the building next to Ulvar’s store. Using the chimney as support to precariously balance on the peak of the steep roof, she noted many cultists throughout the square, with four more cultists pulling the party’s red wagon in through the north gate. She fired off two quick shots, missing her targets (it’s not easy maintaining your balance on atop a steep, peaked roof). Kris caught up with the party in the alleyway and explained the cultists had the last piece of the statue needed to access the Crypt of Um-Durman…

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