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 2020-21. 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 pad 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 minor edits). If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.

Steve 🙂

Part 5: The Haunted Tower of Old Owl Well

From the Journal of Aelfwyn the Elvish Wizard (Pieter):

After a tough fight with a band of orcs and one ogre, the party rested on top of Wyvern Tor. The next morning, we collected the orc leader’s head as proof of our completed task and scavenged four orc necklaces. After this, we packed our gear and headed for Old Owl Well, which was but a day away.

Arriving at the ruin, I recalled of the ancient Netherese Empire which dotted the landscape with many watchtowers. This old ruin used to be one of those. Just a regular, old, ruined watchtower, that was named after the well at the center of it (which still contained fresh water). There, we met an old researcher named Haemond, whom had been staying there for some time in his tent. He was eager to search the place, as he believed some valuable old lore was to be found there, but the zombies prevented him entering. I, being a scholar myself, offered a mutually beneficial agreement: Haemond was to take residence in our newly conquered base under Tresendar Manor and teach some magic and other lore, and in exchange, the party would find the lore hidden inside and share this knowledge with him, alongside any future finds.

Striver the Dwarven Cleric, knowing this challenge was right up his alley, approached the zombies and blasted them with holy radiance…only to see it blocked by some magical force. Upon closer inspection, there were runes carved along the entry, which created a non-Newtonian forcefield, causing high velocity kinetic energy to be reflected at the same velocity, whereas non-kinetic energy was dissolved by it. Having learned this bit of trivia, we explored the area and found another entrance where all light was blocked. We preferred the enemy we knew over the one we could not see, and thus slowly entered the non-Newtonian barrier (which did not reflect low velocity kinetic energy).

Thus, the party began destroying the zombies. Especially helpful with Striver’s ability to turn the undead. It took some persuading, but we even managed to get Droop the goblin to actually do something useful! For but a single attack, before he GTFO. Fortunately, Lady Atrasian the Fighter had found her way to Old Owl Well and joined us, as a long battle killing zombies ensued. Then there were spectres, a short rest, then more zombies and spectres. When those rooms were cleared, we searched for anything of value. After a long search, all we found were 1 old copper piece from the Netherese Empire, which might get about 10 GP in modern currency with the right collector. We also found some enchanted swords with “do not touch” written on them in a strange language.

But after all the goblins, orcs, Redbrands and more, the biggest foe of all, one that took so much energy out of the party to best, was…THE DOOR! With the entire party pushing hard from multiple sides and angles, trying physics to pry it open, after a long while, we finally managed to open the massive gates, only to find….darkness…

Part 6: Mist Monster of Old Owl Well

From the Journal of Aelfwyn the Elvish Wizard (Pieter):

The party stared into the eternal darkness. Shimmering hands appeared out of the shadows, and combat was upon us yet again. Unseen foes in an unseen room were hard to hit, but after several shots in, they did perish and the room lit up, revealing nothing but old bones. Once this room was cleared, we decided to take a much-needed long rest, before continuing into the last chamber.

Before going in, the group tried to goad Droop the goblin to touch one of the magical swords with “do not touch” written on them. Unfortunately, he was no fool…contrary to Grigor the fighter’s thinking, who had to prove a point. Upon touching one of the swords, all came to life – now we were fighting floating weapons! I tried grabbing one to cast shocking grasp on it, missing several times until finally succeeding after taking a hit. A minute later, all the swords were broken.

When we opened the final door, a mist hovered above the floor. Undaunted, Striver the Cleric stepped forward into the room, only to be set upon by creepy crawling hands. This seemed not to bother him, as he kept going forward, and tried to push the sarcophagus in front of him. This unleashed a mysterious mist creature. No time for pleasantries, Striver attacked it, and thus once more we went into battle.

I had to be close enough to use my spells, opening myself up to being pounced upon by those crawling hands. As Striver was floored by the mist, and I somewhat distracted by the crawling hands, the mist fell upon me as well, draining my consciousness from him. It was up to Grigor the human fighter and Fuzz the halfling rogue to do this by themselves. Droop the goblin got a hit in, but seeing his master fall, he lost his nerve shortly after. With some fancy footwork and healing potions, the remaining combatants managed to revive Striver and I, though this didn’t last long, as the deadly mist creature was still attacking. It tried attacking Grigor and Fuzz outside the room, but a magical barrier prevented it from doing so. After the spellcasters went down again, Fuzz managed to quickly drag my unconscious body out of the room into safety, but the mist gave the party an ultimatum. With its spectral claws hovering over Striver’s throat, it commanded the destruction of the magical runes that prevented it from leaving the room, or else Striver would die by its hand. A difficult decision had to be made…to unleash the creature and save our friend, or to sacrifice him for the good of the world. Friendship prevailed – Grigor carved up the runes, destroying the magical barrier. Fuzz, feeling especially motivated to save his friend, nimbly jumped in, grabbed a healing potion from Striver’s belt and fed it to him, putting him back on his feet once more. Fueled with life, Striver smashed the mist creature with his spiritual weapon from behind, critically hitting and removing it from existence. As the mist faded, I drew breath once more.

Narrowly escaping death once more, I hoped this chamber was worth it!

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