Humblewood Recap #4

Humblewood Recap #4 Sunday December 7, 2025 @ 12:00-3:30 P.M.

 

<<WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE HUMBLEWOOD CAMPAIGN: ADVENTURE IN THE WOOD! >>

PART 2: THE BANDIT MENACE

    Eliza requested to come with the party to Alderheart and they agreed. The party went east towards Alderheart. They traveled for a day and rested the night…

    The next day, the party sensed an ambush ahead in the forest as they traveled northeast along the road to Alderheart. Luna rushed ahead and a Jerbeen thief and four Mapach bandits jumped out of the bushes. They demanded 3 gold each for safe passage through the Humblewood.

    Quilliam asked them, “Where are your papers?”

    The Jerbeen responded with, “I don’t need paper; I have steel.” He drew his dagger as proof of this.

    Luna drew her battle-axe saying, “I have steel of my own. Luna charged in with her axe and beheaded a Mapach bandit.

    Quilliam cast Entangle and restrained one of the Mapach bandits. The Mapach bandit struggled but couldn’t break free. Quilliam cast Shillelagh as a bonus action on his staff.

[Note that you cannot do this by RAW. RAW states the leveled spell must be the bonus action and the cast cantrip is a standard action. I feel that as long as one of them is a cantrip, it is fine, so the reverse is also ok.]

    The other two Mapach bandits attacked Luna and Zivvy. Luna was stabbed by the Mapach’s short sword. Zivvy dodged out of the way barely. 

    The Jerbeen thief tried to move towards Luna but the restricting vines hampered his movement. He flanked Zivvy and stabbed her in the back twice. The Jerbeen thief instructed the Mapach bandit on where to attack Zivvy next.

   Zivvy knowing she was about to be attacked cast Gust Barrier.

   Lucian leaned against the cart and watched. Eliza hid under the cart.

        

   Luna chopped into the Mapach bandit’s gut and he was disemboweled.

   Quilliam flanked with Zivvy and hit the Jerbeen Thief with his staff.

   The entangled Mapach bandit struggled again to no avail. The other Mapach bandit attacked Zivvy and missed. The Gust Barrier threw him back 10 feet and knocked him prone.

    The Jerbeen thief attacked Quilliam but missed.

    Zivvy hit the Jerbeen thief with her rapier in the kidney, skewering it out of his body.

 

   Luna moved through the vines and hit the entangled Mapach bandit. This loosened the vines restraining him and he managed to escape the entanglement.

   Quilliam bashed the Mapach bandit on the ground in the face.

   The Mapach bandit got up, shaking his head, bleeding from his obviously broken nose. He made a wild swing at Quilliam with his short sword but Quilliam blocked it with his shield.

   Zivvy lunged at the bandit with her rapier and stabbed him in the ribs. He gasped his last breath and dropped to the ground.

 

    Luna slashed the last Mapach bandit with her battle-axe, leaving an X-shaped wound in his chest.

    The party found 110 silver pieces on the bandits. The party took a long rest and continued towards Alderheart.

    On the next day, Quilliam and Lucius managed to gather and hunt enough food and water to feed Luna and Zivvy as well.

 

 

     The party finally managed to reach Alderheart. The party made their way to the Canopy Market where Eliza said she would find a place to set up shop. Quilliam went to the bookbindery and found a book about sleep potions for 1 gold piece. Lucius picked a pocket for 10 platinum pieces. Zivvy put an Efficient Quiver on layaway for 30 gold from Eliza. Luna wandered around admiring the sights and sounds of Alderheart’s market.

     Zivvy went to the Underfall to find some poison. She found a seedy dealer who sold her a vial of basic poison for 90 gold. She was then accosted by a big Jerbeen youth and three Jerbeen children. They wanted Zivvy’s money. Zivvy refused and said she had no money. So, they picked her pocket of the vial of basic poison she had purchased. They sold it back to the seedy dealer for 50 gold pieces in return.

   Zivvy went back to the market and found out she had been victimized. So, she went back to the Underfall and tracked the four Jerbeen kids down. She demanded her vial of basic poison back. The big Jerbeen child told her that they had already sold it. So Zivvy demanded her money back. They refused. Zivvy cast Sleep and put three of the kids to sleep. The big kid woke up one of the smaller ones with a help action, then stabbed Zivvy twice with daggers.

   Zivvy cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, forcing the big Jerbeen kid to fall to the floor laughing about how they had stolen from her. The remaining kid stabbed her with a dagger but she made the concentration check on Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. She used Charm Person on the last kid and set him in front of the doorway to stop them from leaving. She stole back her 50 gold pieces and grabbed their weapons (5 daggers, 4 slings). She would later sell them to Eliza for 5 gold pieces. Zivvy ran away. Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough time to search the hovel, where they had many holdout weapons hidden (extra daggers, slings, and pouches with pebbles).

      Luna searched for Zivvy when she realized she was missing. She found her on the stairs near the entrance to the Bright Hollows. Zivvy told her the situation. Luna insisted on being brought to the children. In their hovel in the Underfall, one boy was punching the other three children to prevent them from leaving. “Billy, stop attacking us!”

      Zivvy said she would go get the party and tell the authorities. So, she left to go to the Canopy Market to find Lucius and Quilliam. They then went to the Council Plaza where the Perch Guard were headquartered.

    When the Charm Person ended, Billy ran inside the Hovel and punched the last kid who hit him. The three Jerbeen kids used their slings to pelt Luna with rocks and goad her into the room. Luna reversed her battle-axe to the staff side and charged into the room. She hit the biggest Jerbeen with the handle. The four Jerbeen thieves flanked her from two directions and stabbed with their daggers.

     Luna tried to persuade them to stop for 5 gold. She rolled a 12 but unfortunately the difficulty was 14. Luna grabbed the biggest kid and raised him to the ceiling of the hovel. The three other kids stabbed at her. One of them killed the big Jerbeen kid by accident.

    Luna’s last act was to gently put the big Jerbeen child down on the ground just before the other kids knocked her out. They left her bleeding out of multiple stab wounds. They stole her gold and small objects and ran. Luna died of blood loss in the hovel.

   Meanwhile, the Perch Guard told the party that the four Jerbeen children were already wanted for misdeeds by Magistrate Gregor Thornspur. Zivvy showed them the hovel where they found Luna and the ringleader Jerbeen dead with Luna’s body laying over the Jerbeen. Lucius grabbed Luna’s longbow, quiver and arrows, and rapier.

   Lucius led the Perch Guard to the three Jerbeen children who were beaten with clubs and taken into custody. 

   The party grabbed Luna’s body. They took it outside Alderheart. Zivvy made a shovel with her tinkerer ability. They buried Luna in the earth as according to Hanera, a lawful good goddess of hearth, whom the party assumed she had faith towards.  

   The party headed back up to the Council Plaza and presented their letters of recommendation from Walden Krane to the guards. They then waited a long time for their petition to be heard by the Birdfolk Council led by a bright Gallus called Bita, the Council Speaker. The party related the destruction of Ashbarrow, the bandit problems of Meadowfen, and the increasing burning of the wood by migrating Emberbats. The Birdfolk Council would mull over what they had said and would consider sending supplies to Meadowfen. Perhaps after the Bandit problem was dealt with.

    The party spent 1 gold piece each and took a Long Rest. In the middle of the night, the north gate was attacked by bandits. The party woke up and ran to the north gate. They made it onto the wooden palisade and saw dozens of Mapach bandits, Jerbeen thieves, and a few Vulpin captains leading them as they robbed a merchant caravan and attacked the Perch Guard, merchants, and civilians alike. Quilliam cast Fog Cloud to help the citizens escape. Zivvy missed a hand crossbow attack. Lucius shot a Vulpin captain with Luna’s longbow. The Vulpin captain signaled a retreat and they began an orderly withdrawal. The Perch Guards used the Fog Cloud as cover to mount a counteroffensive and drive them back. Routed, the bandits fled.

      Quilliam helped to heal the injured. The Perch Guard officer had a rousing speech and inspired the party, civilians, and guards to chase after the bandits…