I feel like I’m missing something. I get the wordplay, but I’m confused about the damage roll aspect.

You take fall damage if you fall from somewhere high.

If that’s it then I did get it, but it still feels like I’m missing something. Maybe this one just doesn’t hit for me

The season changes to autumn, also known as fall. The bard prevented them from taking "fall" damage

It's because in America, the word for autumn is fall.

Ugh, _thank you_! From the land of autumn.

... Guess you had to be there.

Also know that, as I live there I think this wordplay just doesn’t hit for me. That’s fine.

The part you're missing is that it's the Feywild, often known for trickery and being literal with language. I.E. The classic "can I have your name?" being a Fey asking to steal your identity. In the Feywild specifically, the DM's pun could have literal power in that the characters would take a literal fall, and players in the Feywild should be prepared for such shenanigans.

But... damage is applied at the _end_ of the fall, not the beginning.

But why the focus on the bard?

Because they are the player that can do something about the Fall damage. Could also be a sorcerer or wizard.

You’re not alone, it’s a pretty bad pun.

The bard might also be the one expected to catch puns

The joke being that autumn is called fall and the feywild is a hyper literal world so they were probably going to take fall damage.

It was instantaneous, as it's Fall damage, not fall damage.

Yeah, I got that.

"You cast feather fall, and now instead of falling leaves, multicolored feathers fall from the trees and litter the ground. You each take 1d8 psychic damage from this unexpected turn of events"

If you don't want explanations don't post things that make it sound like you didn't understand the joke.

And fall damage is instantaneous unless you use that optional rule where falling far enough takes time.