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).

Cheers

Steve 🙂

Part 57: Taking out the Earthen Trash

The Pact defeated Ogremoch, the evil elemental prince of earth in the Black Geode, after a long and strained battle! The remnants of the earth cult were ironically destroyed by the ensuing earthquake as the area collapsed in on itself, forming a mile-wide crater. The Pact rested on a nearby hill, exhausted after their battle and near-death escape.

26 Days until Footfall…

Part 58: Expelling Cinders from the Ball

The Pact decided to take the fight to the Flame cult. They headed to Scarlet Moon Hall, where Kathra, the aasimar paladin, talked to a bunch of friendly druids awaiting the Rite of the Wickerman, a regular yearly druidic convention that took place in the Dessarin Valley (but not normally at this location). A few fire cultists were pretending to be druids, but the Pact took them out quickly.

Aelfwyn, the elven wizard/fighter, showed several fire giant guards his letter from the Duchess, and they went off down the hill to slaughter fire cultists and druids alike (much to Grigor’s chagrin). Saving the few remaining druids, Grigor the human fighter and Aelfwyn argued about responsibility.

The Pact descended into the Temple of the Eternal Flame, only to find it empty. Or was it? A huge Fire Archon was guarding the place, and it seriously damaged the Pact as they fought for their lives. Grigor went down, but amazingly recovered (a 20 death save), sealing the mighty creature’s fate with a magic quarrel after Fuzz, the halfling rogue, had almost (but not quite) killed it. Collapsing in a room in the temple and pondering their possible futures, the Pact short rested.

26 days until Footfall…  

Part 59: Toasty Surprise

The Pact descended into the bowels of the Temple of Eternal Flame, reaching a magma pool at the bottom of an elevator shaft. They battled cultists and fire elementals, then split – Kathra and Fuzz faced a Fire Giant and Flame skulls, while the others fought Salamanders. Verendus, the tiefling sorcerer, chatted with Halinaxus the Adult Red Dragon and attempted to persuade him to join their cause.

Halinaxus answered by ambushing the party with his fire breath while they marched down a narrow corridor, saying: “My Lord Footfall sends his regards.” A harrowing battle followed, with Verendus pounded and then escaping, leaving Kathra facing the dragon head-to-head using the benefits of stoneskin. Aelfwyn had a run of bad luck and stayed frightened for almost the entire battle. Fuzz was appalled as he missed many shortbow shots at the beast. Eventually, Grigor downed the dragon with his magic crossbow quarrels. It crashed down onto a metal bridge spanning the magma lake and Grigor leapt valiantly to safety!

The party long rested (and leveled up to 17th).

25 days until Footfall… 

Part 60: Verendus Goes Home

The Pact battled 2 Blast Elementals, which explosively wore them down before Imix appeared, generating heat waves that exhausted Grigor and Fuzz and downed Aelfwyn. Aelfwyn was revived by Fuzz and teleported the two of them to Neverwinter and the House of Knowledge. There they informed the Grand Master that things were worse than they feared. The Grand Master organized a meeting with the Lords Alliance, realizing that the Fallout Shelter might not be enough to protect the wealthy nobles of the city. An army would be raised to battle Footfall!

Verendus teleported Grigor and Kathra back to the ship, where they expected to find Aelfwyn and Fuzz. Zymorven Hall was not far away – the party had been informed at Triboar about a Giant Slayer sword there. Verendus revealed it was also his ancestral home and that he was the son of Baron Zymorven!

After a long rest, Fuzz and Aelfwyn teleported to the ship. Aelfwyn cast another Legend Lore, learning that Fu’at Mu’an, the Herald of Footfall, usually cleared the way for his liege. The herald could also absorb a certain nnumber of spells and use them to fuel its abilities. If the herald was already here, perhaps the Apocalyptica’s timeframes were not as accurate as Iarno Albrecht assumed – Footfall could be arriving earlier than expected.

The Pact reached Zymorven Hall, which was in ruins. Aelfwyn had a vision of Verendus’s childhood, in which he saw Baron Zymorven telling Iarno Albrecht to take the tiefling child away. After the party defeated 4 Shadow Fiends of Fu’at Fu’al, Verendus heard a sound from the cellar and telekinetically removed rubble from the stairway to find his mother and father trapped below. Both were old and frail and the baron was now blind with cataracts. Upstairs, Verendus revealed himself as their son. Shayera, his mother, was overjoyed to see him, however had thought him lost in the surrounding forest 20 years ago. The Baron admitted he asked Iarno to take Verendus away – the family curse meant tieflings were born every few generations and were normally killed. The Baron admitted he could never have a tiefling as his son, however had asked Iarno to place Verendus in an orphanage rather than killing him. Iarno had instead cast the boy into the Neverwinter streets to fend for himself. After a very emotional reunion and acts of forgiveness, Verendus claimed his barony and ancestral Giant Slayer sword (which he loaned to Kathra, at the same time making him a knight of Zymorven).

When queried about why the manor was destroyed, the baron indicated Iarno Albrecht had returned, looking for a familiar book he had seen in the library many years ago. When the baron denied him, Iarno used his magical powers to destroy most of the place. The baron and Shayera ran downstairs and were trapped. The baron thought the book was called the Apocalyptica, however Iarno seemed to think it was different from a version he already had…

Verendus set his parents up in Neverwinter with some temporary accommodation (separate houses) and a servant each (a day/night passed while this was happening).

The Pact prepared to return to battle Imix, this time with 3 potions of fire resistance…

Footfall in 23 days. Or is it less…

(The player of Verendus was profoundly affected by this session – confronting his father about abandonment issues brought home some personal issues. Hopefully the session helped give him a little closure.)

Next: Battling Imix for the Sword Coast!

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