Humblewood
Recap #10 Sunday May 24, 2026 @ 12:00- 4:00 P.M.
<<WARNING
SPOILERS FOR THE HUMBLEWOOD CAMPAIGN: ADVENTURE IN THE WOOD! >>
Player Name: Emily
Character Name: Finn
Companion Name: Thimble the
Cockroach
Race: Jerbeen (A mouse-like humanoid)
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Swarmkeeper
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Urchin.
Character Appearance: A 2 feet, 20 lbs., 9-year-old Jerbeen covered in tattered
but baggy clothes that hide her swarm of cockroaches.
Character
History: She grew up in the Underfall in
Alderheart as a street urchin. She befriended a cockroach called Thimble who
leads her legion of cockroaches who lived in the roots of the Underfall on the
crumbs of the destitute Humblefolk.
Player Name: Amber
Character Name: Eclipse
Race: Dusk Corvum (A crow-like bird humanoid)
Class: Rogue
Subclass: Thief
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Background: Wind-Touched
Character Appearance: A 4’5” inch tall, 100 lbs., 20-year-old dressed in a purple
and black hooded cloak.
Character
History: She grew up in The Branches of
Alderheart where she used her gliding and skulking to perform breaking and
entering thefts.
PART 3: AN URGENT SUMMONS
After a
week, the party was summoned to the Birdfolk Council…
In the
Council Plaza on the way to the Council Chambers, the party overheard a Huden
Gallus talking about the spreading fires. He was accompanied by a shy Sable
Luma, a Jerbeen, and a Dusk Corvum.
After his
speech, the Huden Gallus approached the party and introduced himself as Havel
of the Autumn Moon. He thanked the Defenders of Alderheart as the folk of
Alderheart had started calling them for saving a friend of his on the night of
the bandit attack on Alderheart. Quilliam said, “You are welcome.”
The party entered
the Council Chambers. Bita, the Council Speaker asked the Defenders of
Alderheart to investigate a new threat to the Humblewood in The Scorched
Groove.
The Sable
Luma from earlier was introduced as Tevor of the Spring Path. He described
seeing snake-like or worm-like creatures burrowing in the ash fields of The Scorched
Grove. The adventurers that he had hired to go with him to The Scorched Grove were
introduced as well. One was Finn, a Jerbeen Ranger and the other was Eclipse, a
Dusk Corvum Rogue. With their greater adventuring experience than Tevor, they could
bring the Defenders of Alderheart near the spot Tevor had seen these creatures
in his stead.
The party
accepted the mission and then resupplied their water and rations at Eliza’s Emporium.
The party discussed going the short or long way and decided to take the
shortcut. The party traveled one day through the Humblewood to the edge of the
Scorched Grove.
In the Scorched
Grove, the party was quickly approached by a swarm of a hundred Emberbats 60
feet away.
Zivvy cast
Shatter and killed a couple of the Emberbats. The Emberbats moved 30 feet
towards the party. Even at this distance, the intense heat started to hurt
those near the swarm. Galadriel chucked a couple of Javelins at the swarm and
downed a couple Emberbats. Lucius cast Ray of Frost and steam cooked an Emberbat.
Finn shot her longbow but missed. Eclipse shot down an Emberbat with her shortbow.
Quilliam cast Speak with Animals but the Emberbat seemed distracted saying, “Fire!
Fire! Fire!”
Zivvy cast Shatter a second time and a
dozen of the Emberbats dropped. With the swarm reduced somewhat, a ball of light
could be seen in the middle of the Emberbats swarm. The Emberbats moved forward
biting at Quilliam and Galadriel, striking Galadriel. The sweat on the brows of
Quilliam and Galadriel started steaming from the intense heat of being inside
the swarm and next to the fiery orb. Galadriel frenzied and attacked the orb
twice with her axe, hitting once. She felt her axe get stuck in the orb,
feeling it resist her physical strike. Lucius cast a Thunderwave at the swarm,
taking out three of the Emberbats. Finn shot her longbow and hit one of the
Emberbats out of the sky. Eclipse took out her rapier and attacked the orb.
Feeling the intense heat within the swarm, she disengaged and retreated. Quilliam heard the Emberbat say, "The
Light! The Light! The Light!" Quilliam reacted by casting Moonbeam at
the orb.
[As Dungeon Master, I was honestly
surprised the orb didn't have Radiant damage reduction or immunity. All
you can do is shrug and then Mills Lane, “I’ll allow it.”]
Zivvy shot her shortbow at the orb but missed and took down an Emberbat
instead. It seemed that the swirling Emberbat swarm worked like a shield
against attacks from the outside.
[The orb had +2 AC against outside
attacks. But AC 13 for the Emberbats was struck on a miss against the higher AC
of the orb.]
The Emberbat swarm swirled around the orb biting at Quilliam and
Galadriel but missing. The orb couldn’t seem to move forward with Galadriel
blocking its path. Galadriel swung her axe twice at the orb, striking it once.
Lucius cast a Ray of Frost at the orb which struck an Emberbat instead. Finn
cast a Fog Cloud centering on the Emberbat swarm and orb and retreated. Eclipse
retreated further away from the intense heat. Quilliam’s Moonbeam disintegrated
the fiery orb. Quilliam heard the Emberbat say, “We are free!” Quilliam
asked what was controlling them and the Emberbat said, “We were drawn to the
heat, flame, and light of the orb and could not look away.”
Zivvy dashed away. The Emberbats scattered in every direction over the
course of four turns. Galadriel and Quilliam were blinded by the Fog Cloud and
were singed by the confused Emberbats as they escaped. Galadriel tried to escape
the Fog Cloud and fell over Quilliam, becoming impaled by some of his quills. Lucius
retreated out of the Fog Cloud, fortunate to be only in its periphery. Finn and
Eclipse followed Zivvy. Quilliam waited for Galadriel to get off of him, then
cast Goodberry.
Galadriel got up and helped Quilliam get to his feet. After the Emberbat
swarm had dispersed, Finn dropped Concentration on the Fog Cloud.
Zivvy thought about the orb of fire and understood
that it was a byproduct of some Conjuration spells, specifically decaying magic
circles…
[End of session. It was relatively
short due to character creation. Everyone either leveled up to Level 4 or made a
Level 4 character.]