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.

This was the last session of that campaign. We all had a lot of fun, and I plan to run Dragonbane again in the future.

Steve 🙂

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

Session 38 -The Final Battle

As Azrahel Koth stood before Kalgrim, the dwarven artisan who wielded the sword of Um-Durman, the necromancer grabbed at the blade. “That sword will be mine,” he cried. Kalgrim did not let go. The sorcerer screamed in rage, and the party railed themselves against his fearful cries which chilled them to their bones.

Azrahel Koth stared deeply into Kalgrim’s eyes, taking over the dwarf’s soul. The next thing Kalgrim knew, he was disembowling Zog the mentalist ogre, who had gotten stuck in the narrow corridor leading to the statue room. The ogre slumped, still blocking the way through. With all of the party bleeding, collapsed and/or exhausted, things were looking bad indeed.

Orla the elvish hunter clambered over the ogre, squeezing between the ceiling and his shoulder and dropping into the statue room. She readied her bow, recovering her wits after Koth’s mournful wails. Kris-Aster the cautious halfling followed, hiding behind the demonic statue, ready to ambush the necromancer at a moment’s notice.

Archmaster Aodhan the wizard, stretched his arms between Zog’s legs, gathered his intestines and sewed them back into his belly in record time. Zog’s eyes fluttered open and he was back in the fight, if only barely.

Koth sent shimmering waves of cold over the party, freezing them to the floor. Aodhan cast a spell to melt the ice, and one by one, the intrepid heroes broke free. Orla fired twin arrows into the necromancer’s shoulders, quickly realizing they weren’t hurting or slowing Koth as much as she’d like. Kris, too, felt the same as her twin daggers struck home, slicing great chunks out of the sorcerer’s thighs.

Zog managed to summon magic from within, drawing energy from his body to feed his power fist spell, then collapsed into the statue room as he dragged himself from the narrow corridor. Kalgrim climbed over Zog’s prone form, treating Koth to a mighty blow from the sword of Um-Durman. The necromancer’s vacant eyes widened in fear. Aodhan cast a protector spell on Kalgrim, and suddenly the tables had turned! Many of Koth’s attacks were lessened by the spell – his claw strikes were useless, his attempts to grab the sword of Um-Durman no match for Kalgrim’s resolve, his fearful cries weakened.

At one point the necromancer fell, but he drained life from the dwarvish swordsman to regain his own. Still weakened, he rose to his full height, making one last attempt to take the sword of Um-Durman. In response, Kalgrim sliced the sorcerer from head to tail, splitting his body in two. With an anguished cry, Azrahel Koth turned to dust.

Deep, dark, laughter resonated from the walls of the tomb. The ceiling cracked and dust filled the air as tiles and rock collapsed from above. Kris located a small tunnel to the west, but it was too small to accommodate the bigger party members. Zog rallied and raged, rushing the wall and breaking through into a larger tunnel that led to the surface.

The party raced for their lives as the entire complex collapsed into a dark pit behind them. They emerged onto the surface of the Island of Mists, where the living red mists were rapidly clearing.

A great dragon sat not far from them. It praised their work in defeating Sathmog’s harbinger, and as it flew away it cryptically informed them they might be called on again for Eledain’s cause…

The party cheered. They had defeated Azrahel Koth, preventing Sathmog’s return. For now…

As the years passed, Archmaster Aodhan studied the ruins on the island of Mists, recovering many ancient tomes in his search for knowledge.

Zog studied with Aodhan for a time, eventually becoming a great mage and returning to the circus where he had been held against his will, destroying it.

Kris, glad to no longer be an adventurer, opted to open a locksmith shop in the quiet village of Somber Vale (which she had previously saved from aliens, and where she had originally died as Krisander the bold, before being brought back to life).

Kalgrim returned to Outskirt, where he was hailed as a hero. He decided to buy a small antique and trinket shop, where he could while away his days telling stories of his adventures while selling less-than-useful items.

And Orla? Orla travelled the Misty Vale, continuing to adventure but keeping a distant eye on her companions. Occasionally she would visit Kris and stay with her friend. Orla often thought about the dragon’s last words. She would need to be ready if the party was ever called on again to save the world…

The End.       

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