Hi all,

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 and ‘Out of the Abyss’, a campaign I ran in 2020. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another grand campaign that started out with a slightly warped version of ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’, then rolled on to merge ‘Storm King’s Thunder’ and ‘Princes of the Apocalypse’ (it took the intrepid heroes to 20th level using experience points – yes, those antiquated things lol). Please note it was never called ‘Footfall’ in the beginning, as it was originally just going to be playing the Lost Mine, but I had some ideas along the way and the campaign grew as it went along in an ad hoc, improvised manner, adapting parts of Storm King’s and Princes to fill out the story. The main villain wasn’t even thought of until about three-quarters of the way through the 70-session campaign. Each session was approximately 5 hours (sometimes more) long. This campaign was also the first time I didn’t write all the summaries – some of the players were given that task and did so admirably! Most of the summaries appear here as they first appeared (with some edits). If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.

Steve 

Disclaimer

If you’ve been following these posts from the beginning, you’ll have noticed the initial summaries were written by my players because I just didn’t have the time. Then I started doing them because they didn’t have the time (even though I still didn’t have the time – it was a bit of a chicken and egg situation, really). Then another of my players volunteered, and he actually recorded the sessions so he could transcribe them. As you might expect, his summaries had a lot more detail than the previous ones because of this (and no, I don’t have those recordings lol).

All the remaining summaries from 57 onwards were done by me, and the length basically came down to how much time I had (or more accurately, didn’t have). The final summary below was mine, and I felt at the time I needed to spend more time on it because it was… well, the end of an era for the players and their characters.

Cheers

Steve 🙂

Session 70: The End of All Things

Ten days had passed since the Phandelver’s Pact – made up of Grigor the human fighter, Fuzz the halfling rogue, Kathra the aasimar paladin, Verendus the tiefling sorcerer and Aelfwyn the elvish wizard – arrived at the ruins of Phandalin. Here, surrounded by the rubble and detritus of the destroyed village, hearing the constant whispers of lost souls on the wind, tasting the ash of fires and destruction from up and down the Sword Coast, they planned their stand against Fu’at Fu’al, the other-dimensional god also known as Footfall.

The armies the Pact had asked for assistance had arrived, their allies in the battle to end all battles:

• Dagult Neverember from Neverwinter and Lady Laeral Siverhand of Waterdeep: both survived the destruction of their cities and brought 6 000 troops and cavalry on behalf of the Lords’ Alliance.
• Darathra Shendel, Lord Protector of Triboar brought 300 troops.
• King Morinn & Queen Tithmel of Citadel Felbarr (including the armies from Citadel Adbar) arrived with 10 000 dwarven troops + 2 000 Elven troops from the High Forest.
• Duchess Brimskalda of Ironslag was there with 80 Fire Giants, 10 Stone Giants and 10 Hill Giants.
• Jarl Storvald of Svardborg had brought 40 Frost Giants.
• Lady Atrasian of New Thundertree, previously a member of the Pact prior to retiring in Thundertree to become mayor, had 100 troops/militia.
• Several dragons had gathered to help:
  • Iymrith, ancient Blue Dragon of Anauroch, whom the Pact had defeated when the dragon was under the control of Footfall.
  • Aerinex, adult Red Dragon; whose wyrmlings the Pact had saved in Ironslag.
  • Felgolos, adult Bronze Dragon, who the Pact saved in the Cloud Giant Castle of Lyn Armaal.
  • Cryovain, adult White Dragon, who the Pact had saved on the deck of the Krigvind.

The plain as far as the eye could see was choked with tents and campfires. The red skies cast a blood-hued tinge over everything. Lightning flashed silently in the distance, and three giant green eyes were constantly visible in the skies overhead – the eyes of Footfall. A pall sat like a lead weight upon the land as strong men and women prayed to unresponsive gods and whispered amongst themselves in superstition-charged debates.

The Pact had only to assemble the Giant Relics, and then Footfall would rise, fully entering the material plane from its dimensional nexus. No one knew what form it would take, only that the Apocalyptica, the book recovered by the Pact explaining what Footfall would do if he arrived on this plane, indicated he could be killed when it happened. The leaders of the Sword Coast had left the decision to the the Phandelver’s Pact – their heroes, who were the last true hope for the world. 

Forming the Giant Relics    

As the Pact placed the relics side by side near the Wyrmskull Throne, each start to throb and hum. Each relic vibrated and rose into the air in quick succession as the hum grew in intensity. They slowly orbited around the throne, each in its own concentric circle. Everyone placed their hands over their ears as, one by one, the relics merged with the Wyrmskull Throne. As the last item ­fused into the _­ chair’s arm, the throne rose ten feet off the ground, hovering silently. All was quiet.

A moment passed, and then a peal of thunder louder than any they had ever heard before. The sky to the north split asunder and a great black cloud emerged, churning and swirling as it approached. As the Pact peered into the distance, they realized it wasn’t a cloud at all, but thousands upon thousands of dark Shadow Fiends – the army of Footfall. As the vast smog approached it circled all of the Sword Coast’s armies gathered on the plain. The dragons took to the skies and were immediately surrounded by Shadow Fiends. All grew dark as the smoke-like creatures blotted out the red haze of the sky – twilight had fallen over the land. Leading the army was Yan-C-Bin, the corrupted Elemental Lord of Air, who the Pact last saw taken through a portal by a giant hand. He lifted his arms to the heavens, eyes glowing redly.

Suddenly, all was deathly silent, as if all had instantly fallen deaf. Everyone tapped their ears, just to make sure.

Crack! The ground was rent asunder, great rifts forming in the earth. The winds began to storm, rain and hail pelted down upon all. Lightning flashed from above, striking the ground and sending troops running in all directions, many tumbling to their deaths in the newly created chasms.

Something was forming in the air, 100 feet above. A misbegotten shape, that oozed and molded into a human form, 300 ft. tall, three red eyes glowing darkly under its brow. Everyone was frozen still, mesmerized as the shape arose to its full height and charged particles dispersed from the air. Then, a voice, that ground the grist of their souls, echoes in everyone’s mind:

“Phandelver’s Pact. I thank you for giving me form. The time is at hand. That which was spoken of in the Apocalyptica shall now come to pass. Come. Face me now, so that we may begin the end of all things.” 

The Battle

As Footfall hovered 100 ft. above the battlefield, the Pact realized he was not only hard to hit, but that he was so titanically large that they must target individual body parts, which seemed to act independently. First, a massive psychic blast slammed into the heroes. Kathra mounted the Wyrmskull Throne and flew up, still keeping the Pact members within his protective field. He blasted several Shadow Fiends with a multiversal energy blast – luckily Kathra’s flying throne allowed him to easily avoid some of Footfall’s attacks…

As the battle raged, the Pact saw the chaotic movements of soldiers and shadow fiends in their peripheral vision, heard the sound of death cries as men and women fell, felt the hot splash of blood on their cheeks. Dragons flew awkwardly, struggling with the weight of shadow fiends, blasts of icy and fiery breath bursting through globes of inky blackness. Giants stumbled left and right, tossing shadow fiends aside until the great colossi succumbed to the constant flow of fog-like demons, drained of life and wilting like massive flowers starved of water.

Footfall blasted the Pact with another wave of psychic energy that frightened some of them. Footfall landed to bring the fight to the heroes.

Iymrith the blue dragon fell with a crash, crushing allied troops below her. The Pact heard a cry as Darathra Shendel, Lord Protector of Triboar, fell below a pillar of shadow fiends, which quickly moved to decimate the supporting troops around her. Their screams were forever impressed upon the heroes’ minds.

The Pact’s airship tumbled from the sky and Bill the pilot cries out one last time as the ship crashed, exploding into splinters and killing multiple Dwarven soldiers.

The Pact realized how brutal Footfall’s attacks were as they were slowly beaten and pounded by mighty punches and kicks, blasted with multiversal energy and had their spells drained.

Maegera the Dawn Titan, freed from the Iron Flask, battled Yan-C-Bin, their fire and wind seemingly cancelling the other’s powers out. Massive blows landed with the sound of thunder. The earth shook as the titans grappled to the accompaniment of cracking bones and burning flesh. The two constantly pounded each other with fists the size of wagons, their ichor and entrails covering the battlefield. Finally, the two titans struck together, both crashing to the ground. Their bodies dissolved as they returned to their home planes.

Duchess Brimskalda fell, her Fire Giant bodyguards drained by shadow fiend attacks. Jarl Storvald dropped next, desiccated and forlorn amongst the shriveled bodies of his Frost Giants.

Brave soldiers stood behind mounds of carcasses, piled up like charnel walls as shadow fiends flowed and flailed, tearing armor like flesh and cloaking the battlefield in globes of impenetrable darkness. The sounds of screams – those of the wounded and those of the dying – permeated the air, a constant cacophony only drowned out by the blasts of Footfall’s own attacks.

During the battle, each hero was tempted with an offer from Footfall, who mentally spoke directly to them and none other. The hero realized that Footfall spoke the truth – they just needed to make a choice…

• Verendus: Verendus – you have great power. None of your companions compare to you in terms of intellect, strategy or arrogance. Only I can appreciate you the way you need to be. Only I can restore your family to you as they were before, and make them love you as they never did. Join me and we can rule the universe together. All you need do… is strike down your allies.
• Grigor: Grigor – you have been promised a way to destroy me, but only you know when and how to use it. You are anxious because you know not when that time will come. All hinges on your belief in yourself. Fail and all is lost. You failed before, when you unknowingly brought me here. What I offer you now, is to forget those pressures. Join me and we shall rule this universe together. All you need do… is strike down your allies.
• Fuzz: Fuzz – you know me better than any of your companions. You have seen my world, felt my whispers in your mind, felt my power flow through your veins. You are touched with my essence, and although you experience pain at the memory, it is nothing compared to what I can give you, now I am here. I will free you from the pain. I will make you a god amongst halflings and men, the god of rogues and stealth. All you need do… is strike down your allies.
• Kathra: Kathra – your wife is but a memory, a cherished voice in the talisman you bear. I can return her to you. I can remake that which cannot be remade. You can stand by my side and we can rule this universe – together. All you need do… is strike down your allies.
• Aelfwyn: Aelfwyn – your intelligence and thirst for knowledge is unparalleled, and yet your colleagues fail to show you the proper respect you deserve. Join me and I will give you everything you ever wanted – I will restore the House of Knowledge and elevate you to godhood. You shall be the new Oghma – or should I say Aelfwyn, god of knowledge! You can stand by my side and we can rule this universe – together. All you need do… is strike down your allies.  

Luckily each of them turned down Footfall’s offer, intent on destroying the being once and for all.

Things were looking grim in the battle between Footfall and the Pact. Finally, Grigor used his magical light bolt, a gift from the Lords of Ord’ar, to take out all three of Footfall’s eyes, denying the godlike creature the ability to use and restore his multiversal energy. The Pact took out Footfall’s legs and he stumbled to the ground.  

Footfall’s last multiversal energy blast slammed into Grigor, but he survived! As Verendus and Aelfwyn peppered Footfall with magic blasts, Fuzz fired an arrow into the titanic being’s chest, bringing him down for good.

There were few troops left. Most of the giants were dead, as were all the dragons. The landscape was a confusing mess of rent, shriveled and broken bodies, all merging into a horrific sea of chum, viscera, blood and ichor. The shadow fiends were gone, dissolved into nothingness now that their master had fallen. The battlefield was cloaked in dust and ash, and the few mournful cries that filled the air receded like fading memories.   

The End

The eyes of Footfall were dark. The colossal body fell with a crescendo of sound unlike any the Pact had ever heard before. A blast wave extended from where it landed, sending bodies, debris and rubble in all directions. The air was thick with dust, ash and the metallic taste of blood filled their mouths. It took a moment to realize the wind, rain and hail had stopped. All was silent, the Pact’s ears ringing as their hearing slowly started to return. The Wyrmskull Throne lowered to the ground. As it touched, it dissolved into ash.

The Pact heard a voice in their heads: Footfall.

“And so, we have reached the end. I wish to thank you, my friends, for you have done me a great service, and I owe a debt to you that I can never repay. I was the Three-Eyed Chaos, formed from The Dark Between eons ago when the multiverse was a nascent cloud of dust and light, alone in the emptiness. I was the watcher, he who in the chaos kept order and maintained the membranes of the multiverse. I have lived countless millennia. Can you imagine what it is like to live so long?”

“Now you realize. Now you know why I travelled to your universe, to take form. Why I needed the most capable to show me what it is like to live. And to die.

“You, Phandelver’s Pact, out of all the myriad heroes of the multiverse, managed to bring me here. You who brought all my plans to fruition – who brought the author of the Apocalyptica, the lord of order and chaos to this place so that he might feel the kiss of the wind, the earth under foot, the blood pumping through his veins. So that this ancient, all-powerful entity could feel what it was like to live, to truly live, just once, before he died.

“You fought well, my friends. And in fighting you provided so much for me to experience. So much, indeed. And so, I thank you again. My time is at an end, but yours is only beginning. What was gone, shall be returned, and set to rights.”

As the immense body faded from sight, the Pact saw the buildings of Phandalin growing from the ruins, brick by brick, extending upwards as if time itself were speeding up around each individual structure. They saw the dusty bones of those killed during the fall of the Netherese sky city reforming and re-shaping into living, breathing people. The skies cleared, and warm sunlight peeked through the white clouds overhead. It was a new day, full of the promise of things to come, and of adventures to experience.       

Aftermath

The Pact were declared heroes of the Sword Coast, and heaped with honors and money:

• Grigor: Became Lord of New Thundertree, a new land extending from Luskin in the north to the Starmetal Hills (excluding Neverwinter), taking in north Neverwinter Wood and ending at Gauntlgrym).
• Aelfwyn: Became Lord of Cragmore, a new land encompassing the south of Neverwinter Wood, as well as the Master of the House of Knowledge in Neverwinter.
• Verendus: Became Lord of Zymorven, a new land that extended from the Frost Hills to Yartar.
• Kathra: Became Lord of the High Forest, a new land that included all of said forest.
• Fuzz: Became Lord of Phandalin, a new land extending from Leilon through Phandalin to the western edge of the High Forest.

Everyone received a legendary Magic Item of their choice.

Over the next 10 years:      

Grigor – decided he had had enough of the high life, choosing to live in quiet solitude and introspection in the forest near New Thundertree. He delegated his duties to Lady Atrasian, checking in with her for good measure every month or so to make sure everything was okay. He retained the light bolt he received from the Lords of Ord’ar (which he now knew was actually Fu’at Fu’al), which would serve him well in future adventures.

Aelfwyn – decided to upgrade the House of Knowledge, making it the premiere institution for research and magic in the land. He travelled around the country, building secret magical failsafes just in case he needed them (bunkers with teleport circles and spare spell books, etc.). He spent time researching magic items and building knowledge in Neverwinter and across the Sword Coast.

Verendus – Rebuilt Zymorven Hall into a castle, using his magic. He offered the people he saved from Neverwinter the opportunity to join and grow his new town, and many took up the offer (he was very persuasive). Verendus built economic alliances with his Phandelver’s Pact colleagues, and maintained regular contact with Kathra, his ex-Knight. He searched far and wide for Aerinvex’s and Cryovain’s missing eggs, finding some and raising several dragons.

Kathra – Converted Shadowtop Cathedral into a meeting place for all the varied Elves of the High Forest. He continued to train people to fight and formed a number of mercenary companies in various cities along the Triboar Trail, as well as staying in contact with his Phandelver’s Pact colleagues. 

Fuzz – Became a bit of a magnate, concentrating on building the economic base of his new lands. He searched for resources and worked hard to bring business and prosperity to his towns and cities. He used his money to build up infrastructure, ensuring safety and order. A new castle was built in Phandalin as his seat of power. Fuzz built a relaxing seaside resort near Leilon, on the coast, designed to be a vacation destination and gambling den – the ‘Vegas of the Sword Coast’. He became very rich and worked closely with his Phandelver’s Pact colleagues to consolidate revenue.

Why are the heroes of the Phandelver’s Pact (well, most of them) so hung up on money? Who knows. Capitalists, one and all.

So ends the saga of the Phandelver’s Pact – at least, for now…

Hope you enjoyed reading about the campaign as much as we enjoyed playing it!

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