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.]
