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 session so he could transcribe it. As you might expect, it has a LOT more detail than the previous summaries because of this.

And no, I don’t have those recordings lol.

Steve 🙂

Part 53: Ironslag & Maegera the Dawn Titan…

(Transcription by Graham, who played Grigor the human fighter.)

On the top level of the mines at Ironslag the party dealt with the aftermath of their battle with the salamander guards. They advised the newly freed slaves to arm themselves with the salamanders’ spears and hole up on this level until they returned to deal with the yak folk on the surface.

The workers told the party of a second way down to the lower levels in the form of a staircase at the south end of the complex. After a short rest to recuperate from the fight, the party proceeded down the southern spiral staircase. They passed 6 or 7 abandoned mining levels all the way to the bottom of the complex.

Emerging from the staircase they noticed two ogre guards on a gantry overlooking the lower level. The ogres, however, didn’t notice the party’s arrival because of the noisy environment. Aelfwyn the elven wizard/fighter hit the first ogre with a Mind Sliver, which Grigor the human fighter followed with a volley of bolts from his crossbow, dropping it with precision strikes. Verendus the tiefling sorcerer used Telekinesis to restrain the second ogre as Kathra the aasimar paladin ran out and killed it with his battleaxe.

Choosing to take advantage of the raised position and the fact that no one seemed to have noticed them, the party moved along the gantry on the western wall above the main floor. In the middle of the floor below was a huge pit filled with glowing, molten liquid. Mining carts circled the room on a raised track, moving in a clockwise direction. Attempts to move quietly weren’t entirely successful, with Aelfwyn dislodging a rusty piece of metal, producing a loud clanging as it landed and bounced below, attracting the attention of two fire giants. The party stood frozen above as a giant investigated, however he failed to look up and assumed the rusted metal fell on its own.

At the northern end of the chamber the gantry ended at a corridor and a room with another salamander and some slaves. Taking it by surprise, Grigor’s precision strikes combined with Verendus’ Ray of Frost took the salamander down before it could respond.

Verendus made a point of telling the slaves who had liberated them as Grigor tried to remove their manacles by force. Verendus searched the salamander guard for keys and freed them the easy way. The two advised the freed slaves to make their way quietly to the top mine level and join up with the others, but not to exit to the surface just yet.

After a short debate about which way to proceed, the group moved on and found themselves overlooking the site of the previous day’s battle in the room where the Vonindod was being assembled. They were disturbed to find the mighty furnace open, meaning that Maegera the Dawn Titan was on the loose. They heard the sounds of a huge creature prowling the area somewhere out of sight. Despite evidence of considerable carnage inflicted on the giants (not only by the Pact but also by Maegera), two fire giant dreadnoughts could be seen guarding a large doorway.

The party concluded that these huge double doors may lead somewhere important, maybe even the war room they were looking for. As they planned their attack on these two giants, some of the party members moved onto the gantry above the dreadnoughts. Unfortunately, this time it was Verendus whose stealth failed him, dislodging a rusted piece of the gantry directly above the giant guards. Just as the guards noticed the group above them, Aelfwyn cast Mind Sliver on the closest one. Grigor, from another part of the gantry, followed up with a volley from his crossbow, only some of which penetrated the heavily armored creatures. Both guards turned to retreat through the doors, but before they could Verendus used his floating backpack device to descend and cast Suggestion. He targeted the uninjured giant and “suggested” he go to the surface to deal with the “traitorous yak people who had betrayed the fire giants”, reminding him to not harm the slaves in the process. Under the influence of Verendus’ magic this made perfect sense to the giant and he left. Surprisingly, the injured dreadnought decided to go with him! This left the great doors unguarded, so the rest of the team also used their balloon backpacks to join Verendus and investigate the doors. In the distance, to the south-east, the sound of a hammer on an anvil could be heard.

As Grigor fruitlessly checked out the door, Aelfwyn flew up to the handle 9 feet above and opened it. He was immediately greeted by a rock thrown by a dreadnought inside, but it missed and smashed against the door. The dreadnought retreated around the corner.

The rest of the group also went through into the entrance corridor with Grigor bringing up the rear and closing the door behind them. Beyond the doors was a short corridor leading to a large chamber containing several cisterns of various sizes containing water.

At this point Kathra was noticed and a fight ensued with a number of fire giant dreadnoughts and ogres. Aelfwyn’s magic slowed some the enemy and thanks to Verendus, Grigor and Kathra were transformed into giant apes to equalize the battlefield. Grigor-ape, however, wasn’t very smart with his battle tactics and was soon back in human form. Despite even more giants joining the fight, the party did well and dispatched most of the enemies. During the battle, very heavy footsteps could be heard in the distance…

As the group retreated through the room, dealing with the last couple of enemies, they passed several cisterns of water embedded in the floor. Grigor reminded Verendus that he didn’t enjoy being a shark (having been previously polymorphed into a shark in far too shallow water). The last giant, having seen all his comrades fall, retreated back to the south as the group made their way further into the room.

The next part of the room appeared deserted with some very large tables and evidence of smaller folk cooking underneath the tables. There were stores of food and cooking gear which appeared to have been abandoned in a hurry. With no enemies around the group paused for a short rest to recover from their injuries and rally their strength.

(The PCs had earned enough XP to level up to 15th at this point.)

Feeling refreshed and empowered, the party resumed their exploration. At the large doors to the south of the mess hall, high-pitched voices could be heard. Aelfwyn’s attempt to open the door failed, but Kathra had more luck using his whip. Finding a large number of goblins cowering in the room, Aelfwyn addressed them in Goblin. It seemed they aren’t too impressed with being “liberated” from their jobs working for the giants, so he changed tack and asked for information.

The goblin leader warned of a very large creature loose in the complex to the east. It was larger than any of the giants, who were apparently scared of it – Maegera! Grigor reminded Aelfwyn to ask about the “war room” where the item the party sought was supposedly located. The goblins helpfully revealed that this was “up the east corridor” where they were not allowed to go. They explained in detail the route through another set of giant doors to the east, down to a banquet hall and around to the war room on the left.

Leaving the goblin kitchen staff to their own devices, the party proceeded through the east doors, and down a long corridor. A rumbling sound could be heard from the south. As Aelfwyn checked the corridor for traps, the party proceeded slowly down the corridor where they found a banquet hall with giant tables as expected. Narrowly avoiding an encounter with what they presumed to be Maegera, the party ducked around the corner through the banquet room to a smaller corridor to the left (the north) as directed by the goblins. Maegera passed to the south of them and seemed to turn down the corridor the party just came up. A narrow escape, but he didn’t seem to notice any of the group.

Kathra, listening carefully at the door to the presumed war room, could hear the voices of at least two large creatures talking, but couldn’t understand them. He warned the party that giants were inside so they could prepare for battle. Aelfwyn prepared a Ray of Frost while Grigor raised his crossbow…

Footfall in 29 days.

Part 54: Ironslag Battles…

(Transcription by Graham, who played Grigor the human fighter.)

The pounding of Maegera’s footsteps could be heard to the south, drawing nearer. Kathra’s whip looped around the 9 ft. high handle and he opened the huge door. As soon as the door started to move, the giants’ voices inside the room fell silent. Both Aelfwyn and Verendus found their Ray of Frost spells particularly useful as rocks, whips and crossbow bolts flew between the party and the two giants inside. One giant fell after a massive strike from Kathra’s whip, but the next Ray of Frost from Verendus went astray and awakened a stone golem at the back of the room.

Aelfwyn entangled the golem in a magical Web and Verendus cast Haste on both Grigor and Kathra. This enabled them to make short work of the remaining giant before shifting their focus to the golem. A poisonous gas from the golem affected Kathra, causing him to step back and take a moment to realize that the ingot they were looking for was embedded in the golem’s forehead. Grigor’s sharpshooting destroyed the golem’s neck and its head rolled off to be collected by Kathra.

The party took a moment in the relative safety of the room to plan their next moves and to heal the seriously injured Kathra with an array of healing potions. In the end, they send Aelfwyn’s owl out to scout around and decided to return to the kitchen area and see if the goblin cooks there could provide more information about the location of the giant queen. On the way, however, some giant sounds emanated from the kitchen and the heavy footsteps of Maegera approached from behind. This prompted a rapid change of plan and the party exited via a door to the south to find themselves back in the furnace room where the Vonindod was being constructed.

They made their way around the gantry above the chamber to find a closed portcullis blocking their way to the south. Kathra and Grigor’s strength combined with guidance from Aelfwyn to lift the huge portcullis just enough for the party to duck under it before it dropped again. In this new chamber they found an armor-wearing fire elemental guarding a number of human prisoners in cages. As the party fought, reinforcements approached from the west.

Verendus Polymorphed both Kathra and Grigor into giant apes who exchanged rocks with the giants, doing considerable damage to each other. Along with some ape fists and magic from Verendus and Aelfwyn, the giants were soon dispatched.

Verendus provided some torchlight and Grigor-ape started ripping the doors of the prisoners’ cages, both freeing and terrifying the slaves. Kathra-ape collected rock ammunition from the fallen dreadnoughts and investigateed the area. As this continued, some elemental myrmidons approached and the battle resumed. The usual spells flew and Kathra-ape and Grigor-ape ganged up on the fiery creatures, the last of which was dispatched when Grigor-ape landed two massive blows with his fists, grinding its fire-encased form into the floor.

The party went around opening the remaining cages. Grigor-ape took particular pleasure in violently ripping off doors, even ones that had already been more delicately unlocked by Verendus and the others. The slave prisoners told of even more slaves in need of rescue from a huge wheel that operated the mine carts and elevator. They also told of a dragon being held in the same area behind a portcullis, in a room that used to hold hell hounds. Verendus was particularly disturbed to hear that the dragon had been muzzled.

On arriving in the next chamber, the slaves were found unguarded and no longer operating the wheel. The dragon Aerinvex was also located just as described behind the portcullis. Kathra-ape managed to force the portcullis and Aelfwyn and Verendus got to work on breaking her chains. Verendus removed Aerinvex’s muzzle and began chatting her up. She, of course, was mainly interested in finding her stolen children. (Note: the party first encountered Aerinvex during the battle for Triboar, when Aelfwyn forged an alliance with her before she flew back to Ironslag.)

The other slaves were freed and Aelfwyn used his owl to guide them up the southern stairway to the top level to join the other freed slaves. Aerinvex joined the group as they traveled back to the kitchen. The giant apes assisted the others climbing down from the gantry.

From out of the darkness ahead of them, a rock came flying towards Aelfwyn who was carrying the torch. He deflected it with his shield as enemies emerged from the darkness and battle ensued. Aelfwyn’s strategically dropped torch helped the rest see the enemies, as did his Sickening Radiance for a short time. Still in giant ape form, Grigor skilfully kicked the torch into a better spot and landed some powerful blows. Verendus and Aelfwyn both used their Ray of Frost spells effectively, and Kathra-ape weighed in with his fists before taking two powerful hits that finished off his ape form. Grigor-ape took significant hits and retaliated with yet another pair of formidable blows.

Verendus, keen to impress Aerinvex with his magical prowess, dropped his Polymorph spells and recast them, restoring both giant apes to their full health. As frost-rays, cold-balls, fists and rocks flew, Verendus climbed onto the dragon’s back to cast a thunder-ball. Aerinvex seemed pleased with the damage he inflicted on her former captors. Kathra-ape finished off one dreadnought before redirecting his efforts to the one fighting Grigor.

In the meantime, Grigor-ape was surprised from the darkness by two slashes from a fire giant’s sword as well as a blow from an ogre’s great-club. Undaunted, he finished off the dreadnought he and Kathra-ape had been fighting, before turning to respond to the attacks from behind. Realizing his ape form has just about had it, he retreated from his vulnerable position. The giant used the opportunity to hit the ape one last time, and as he reverted to human form. Already heavily injured, Grigor retreated to the edge of the battle.

Verendus politely requested that Aerinvex move him into a better position to see the battlefield, and she obliged. He cast a powerful Fireball…

Next week: The battle for Ironslag continues!

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