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 🙂

Session 9 – Versh’Arek’s Darkness

From Aelfwyn’s (the elvish wizard played by Pieter) Journal:

After a long rest in a ramshackle, ruined house on the muddy streets of what once was Conyberry, the party set forth for Agatha’s Lair. As we followed the path, we came across a strange, yet somewhat familiar magical barrier – an illusion, of sorts. Somewhat hesitant, we eventually crossed the barrier. Things seemed different inside – darker. As we looked around, Striver (our dwarven cleric) saw a dark figure dart over us into the bushes. Turning a corner, our torch went out and Striver was grabbed by his foot. Strange crawling hands sprung from within the thickets and attacked us. After some fighting, an echoing voice was carried by the wind. We had released a creature and now it was out to get us.

As we crossed a river, we found more crawling hands with ghostly bodies attached and a stone path upwards. We followed it and stumbled upon a ruined tower. Not as large as the one found in Old Owl Well, but nevertheless of same style, with the same magical barrier at the entrance. As Lady Atrasian (one of our fighters) went to inspect the barrier to walk through, she was grabbed and attacked. Quickly it became clear what creature we had released…the spirit of Versh’arek the Lucid. Fortunately for us, this was not our first encounter, and now we were stronger than before. A few magic missiles and some great swings of Lady Atrasian’s sword made short work of the spirit. Though his form dissipated, he vowed it was not the end of him. Remembering the texts from Old Owl Well, there were six towers built in this manner. We had cleared him from two, meaning we might encounter him four more times before we could finally end him.

No sooner had we killed Versh’arek then the area cleared, the barrier removed, and sunlight came in again. A new spirit appeared – an elf, who may have been beautiful at one point, but no longer. This must’ve been Agatha. Grateful for ridding her home of Versh’arek, and flattered by the gift of a silver comb, Agatha allowed us to pose a question. We asked where to find the spellbook of the wizard Bowgentle, to which she replied she had traded it to a necromancer named Tsearoth in Ireador, far to the east, about 100 years ago. She also offered us some rewards. A magic suit of leather armor, a magic shortsword, 122GP and 4 gems worth 20GP each.

Seeing great use in her knowledge, I offered her a new home at Tresendar Manor, which she gracefully accepted (a manor does sound more appealing than an old ruin). Nevertheless, Striver was not very keen on sharing our new home with a creature like her, and no sooner than she had accepted, he rescinded the offer and attacked her. While the party seemed conflicted at first, they all joined in. I was disappointed and walked away from the fight.

After destroying the ruined tower and resting for 8 hours, we moved towards Old Owl Well again, to make sure the tower was levelled to the ground. Not wanting to take the long route, we ventured into the hills alongside a treacherous path. A quake sent boulders down the slope towards us! I used my thunderwave to cast some of them aside, the others tried dodging, but the cart was too easy a target to hit. As Grigor (our other fighter) jumped out of the cart, Striver jumped in the other direction, and cast his full power behind a thunderwave to not send it tumbling down the ravine. His full power, however, shattered the cart into a million pieces, and our oxen saw their rear ends explode into gore.

I’m starting to doubt Striver’s motivations. If those claiming to be good commit the same actions as those we deem evil, how are we different? How will these actions change the party from within?

Session 10 – Neverwinter Calling

From Aelfwyn’s (the elvish wizard played by Pieter) Journal:

After the debacle in the hills, where SOMEONE blew up our cart and oxen, we all arrived back at Old Owl Well. A quick scouting of the area revealed that all was clear, so we could enter the tower unhindered. It was there that we discovered the bones of Versh’arek the Lucid were no longer in his tomb. Investigating the scene, a lot of goblinoid footprints littered the ground. Were these the Cragmaw goblins, the ones we encountered in Conyberry, or another group altogether? And why would they take these bones? A mystery to unravel. Striver was a bit out of it during this time, so the rest of us inspected the tower for any weaknesses in its construction, to figure out how we could destroy it. It took a while, but eventually some targeted magic, weakening the stonework and blasting apart a pillar, sent the structure tumbling down in a big rubble of smoke and dust. That’s two out of six towers cleared now.

After a rest, we made our way back to Phandalin. Traveling along the road, we heard some weird roars. We couldn’t see well at night, but as I moved my torch up with mage hand, a beast flew by. Leathery wings, a lion’s head, spiky tail, three of them attacking from above. Most of us had good armor and barely noticed the spikes flying their way. Striver even looked like a porcupine with all those spikes on his back. Nevertheless, as one fell and the others tried to run, some good arrow shots and magic missiles finished them off. The party got two pelts, some tail spikes and rations out of it. Turns out these were manticores! That’s one to jot down in the memoire.

Back in town, we sold the pelts to get a discount on renting a cart and horses, after the last went… missing. Lady Atrasian visited Sister Garelle to notify her of the quest we finished for her. She scrounged up three more healing potions for us to use. Of course, we had to check on our base, to see how Droop and Hamund were doing. Droop had been tidying up the place quite nicely and Hamund managed to find out more information on those towers. Apparently, a third one was to be found in Thundertree. Definitely something to look out for. He also managed to teach me another spell – always handy for a wizard! Using the alchemy set found in Tresendar Manor, we created three vials of poison for Fuzz the halfling rogue to use, in case we encountered something dangerous.

After settling everything in Tresendar Manor and picking up our reward from the mayor, the party set forth for Neverwinter, the capital in the north. The first few days were uneventful, but as we drew close to the city, we were ambushed once more. Goblins, ogres and trained wolves surrounded us – we had to spread out and fight on all sides. The slashing of swords, arrows flying about, bursts of flame and magic in various directions, and a horn calling for reinforcements. Grigor the fighter fighting from on top of the cart, Fuzz holding the flank to the north, Striver trying out his new steed (a pony, really) ahead of the cart, together with Lady Atrasian, and myself at the back. As bones were being crushed and heads flew around, the party endured some good hits – I fell to the blows. Fortunately, a good bout of Healing Word from Striver woke me up again, the attackers unaware of my regained breath. Three ogres, various wolves and goblins, still in sufficient numbers, but one by one they were weakened and fell, until only one puny goblin remained. We caught it, and while not entirely sure whether we should persuade or intimidate him, he eventually revealed the location of Cragmaw Castle – a location we’re surely destined to visit sometime soon. As we were deciding his release and what message to send, or whether to keep him in our dungeon, a touch of death melted him into a puddle of black goo! That was…unexpected.

As it was time for a rest, we finished our journey with Neverwinter in sight…

Next Week: Neverwinter and beyond!

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