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 🙂

Warning: Contains Spoilers for the Dragonbane Starter Set Campaign (as well as some of my own Db Adventures)

Session 34 – The Battle for Outskirt

Orla the elven hunter slid down the roof and over the side to hide from the cultists in the square, grabbing the gutter so she didn’t drop to the ground. Cultists rushed to the alleyway between the buildings and the palisade wall to search for the party, but Orla managed to scramble to the next roof and hide in the thatch.

Naked Kalgrim, dwarven artisan, succumbed to exhaustion and lapsed into a deep sleep against the back wall of Master Ulvar’s shop. The rest of the party headed up the alleyway to the back of the smithy. Kris the halfling rogue picked the lock and came face to face with Okald, the female dwarven smith, in her kitchen. Okald recognized the heroes and explained the cultists had appeared last night and were sweeping the town in search of something. The townsfolk were cowed and remained indoors. The cultists fought with and defeated a knight (whom the party knew as Alfilia Shadowleaf, the person they had entrusted the three pieces of Eledain’s statue to before they trekked across the Misty Vale) and had taken what she protected. Okald explained her partner Badinor was upstairs spying on the cultists from the second-floor window.

Zog the ogre animist took up a defensive position in front of the back door. Kris hid under the sink, and Archmaster Aodhan the mage ran upstairs to hide under the bed.

The cultists attacked Zog, but the ogre had cast stoneskin on himself. His powerfist took out several of his attackers. Aodhan ran downstairs and pushed his way between Zog’s legs to cast a fire blast, but the spell backfired and blinded him. A cultist mage rounded the corner and blasted the big ogre with a lightning bolt, which knocked Zog unconscious. The ogre rallied and demolished the mage and another cultist. The rest ran away in fear.

Upstairs, Orla managed to swing in through the second story window of the smithy. She and Badinor observed cultists across the street at The Three Stags taking the three statue pieces and piling them into the party’s little red wagon with the fourth piece. Several cultists commenced dragging the wagon to the Temple of Um-Durman on the hill, taking the long way through the streets to the stairway.  

Aodhan managed to treat the ogre’s wounds, and the party decided to get to the temple before the cultists via a direct route up the side of the rocky hill upon which the temple perched. Kris sprinted up with Aodhan not far behind, but Zog was not well equipped for the climb – his missing toe and broken leg slowed him down dramatically, and several times he found himself at a standstill on the hillside.

Orla leapt out of the front window to the street, but fell awkwardly. She fired arrows at the receding cultists, and managed to kill a few before being almost hit by a lightning bolt from the head cultist. Rather than following the cultists and the wagon, she climbed a sheer cliff to the temple.

Kris arrived at the temple to find several cultists with crossbows. She was hit with two arrows but managed to hide in the rubble as the cultists searched for her. Aodhan used magic to topple a column upon the cultists carrying the statue pieces as they climbed the stairs, slowing them down.

Orla, worried about Kris, dashed to the top of the cliff and arrived in time to shoot at the searching cultists. Kris revealed herself, striking like a ninja and taking down two cultists. Aodhan fire blasted another three but was knocked unconscious as a swordsman impaled his belly. Kris took out the last cultist as Orla finished off the head cultist. The remaining three fled, dropping the statue pieces as they ran.

Aodhan was healed. The party rested, then assembled the four statue pieces and made their way into the inner recesses of the Temple of Um-Durman…

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