Humblewood Recap #12

 

Humblewood Recap #12 Sunday July 19, 2026 @ 1:00 – 4:45 P.M.

 

<<WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE HUMBLEWOOD CAMPAIGN: MYSTERIES OF THE AVIUM! >>

PART 4: MYSTERIES OF THE AVIUM

     The party prepared to head out of Alderheart to travel to The Avium.  Lucius planted his Nest Charm in the fertile ground of the Humblewood and it was repaired from being burned in the Scorched Grove. A short rest in the morning allowed Lucius to re-attune to the Nest Charm.

     Zivvy heard a knock from the box. The devil in the box warned her, “Don’t mess with Eliza or there will be consequences.” Zivvy said, “But I didn’t do anything!” The devil explained, “No, but you thought about it. You are attuned to me, bonded mind, body, and soul, willingly. Think about it.” The devil closed the box and the shop closed timer showed 6 beats (1 measure aka 1 week). 

     The party traveled the long road east towards The Avium. Along the road they found former bandits in irregular green uniforms. Most had no insignia such as the Mapachs. Jerbeen seemed to have a single horn. Vulpin had two disconnected horns. The leader, a Cervan had a full antler with one tine. They were guarding two wagons, a hooded supply wagon, and a cart bearing Humblefolk who had been badly injured by the spreading fires. The Cervan in charge told the party that they were escorting these refugees back to the Wildwood Brigade Fortress. Benna had apparently rebranded the name of the Bandit Fortress and her bandits. The two groups wished each other safe travels and the party left them behind.

     At camp, Finn and Thimble returned with food and water for the party after scouting ahead.

     The next day, the party was ambushed by a Mapach rogue, one-eyed and disheveled in appearance with an overt malice for the Defenders of Alderheart. The Mapach said, “Well, well, if it isn’t the lackeys of Alderheart who betrayed the Humblefolk and sold us out to the Birdfolk. If you thought Benna was tough, I will show you what you are in for and the whole Humblewood will know how harmless you are.” With that, the Mapach took out two daggers from his bandoleer and hit Galadriel with one of them.

    Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, an ephemeral mace smacked Lucius in the head. Quilliam moved forward and flung an Ice Knife at the Mapach rogue which hit his right shoulder. Two arrows whizzed out of the surrounding forest and one of them struck Quilliam in the left shoulder.

     The Mapach rogue growled and brandished his rapier and his parrying dagger. He stabbed Quilliam once with his rapier and once with his dagger, giving him a bloody V-shaped slash in his hide armor. The gossamer mace missed Lucius but as he ducked down low to dodge it, a radiant explosion hit him in the legs. Lucius ran from the floating mace and drank a Healing Potion. A Jerbeen thief snuck out from the forest and tried to stab Quilliam in the back twice but somehow missed. Quilliam was just Lucky I guess. Galadriel flew into a frenzied rage. She slashed the Jerbeen thief in half from the back and then hit Krall in the back with her battleaxe. Quilliam also roared as he shapeshifted into a bear and bit the Mapach rogue’s other shoulder but missed his claw attack. Two arrows whizzed past Galadriel.

     The Mapach rogue disengaged and ran towards the north part of the forest path. The phantasmal mace danced in place as if it was waiting for a command. Lucius scanned the tree line but couldn’t see the archers so he took a defensive stance behind the big barbarian Galadriel. Galadriel was closer to the archer and spied the Mapach bandit in the southern part of the forest path. She swung her battleaxe and the Mapach’s head flew onto the forest trail. Quilliam used his new form’s sense of smell to discern the other Mapach bandit’s smelly presence in the northern part of the forest path. Quilliam bit the Mapach bandit’s head off and spat it onto the forest floor.

      The Mapach rogue ran into the forest with his companion, a Cervan close behind. The phantom mace winked out of existence, its connection with its caster lost from a lack of concentration or distance none could determine (no clerics in the party). Lucius, Galadriel, and Quilliam pursued their foes into the forest. Quilliam with his sense of smell arrived first as his rank enemy could no longer hide from him. The Mapach rogue had entered into a tunnel in the forest. His Cervan companion was outside of the tunnel. The Mapach rogue cut a rope, and a portcullis came crashing down, sealing him inside the tunnels and abandoning his companion. Shyla Denn convinced the party there was no way to pursue Krall. She surrendered to the party and was taken prisoner. She was bound with ropes by Lucius. On the bandits, the party found 70 gold pieces, an opal worth 200 gold pieces, and a flawless emerald worth 350 gold pieces.

      At camp, Finn and Thimble returned with food and water for the party after scouting ahead. She even brought enough for the prisoner but there was nothing left over this time.

       The third day of travel was uneventful. At camp, Finn and Thimble returned with food and water for the party after scouting ahead.

       At dawn, the party approached The Avium. The Avium was a massive towering tree that was orbited by four terrariums floating around it at the top. One of them was significantly smaller than the other three. A bespectacled, robed mistral Raptor glided down to greet the party. She introduced herself as Rhys Birchwalker and lead them to two gigantic wooden doors. Here, she presented an amulet with The Avium’s crest emblazoned upon it. The two wooden doors creaked open and the party led by Rhys walked onto an ovular central platform. The doors closed and the platform moved up to near the center of The Avium.

      Here they were greeted by a male sable Luma named Gabe Windsworth. The Dean of The Avium looked over their introduction letter. He noticed that the Cervan priest was not on the list. He called for the Perch Guard and had her escorted to the Prison Gaol on the smallest floating island. The Dean gave each member of the party a small amulet with a crest of The Avium. The guest research amulet would give them limited access to most of The Avium including the mess hall, barracks, research library, classes, and an alchemical lab.

     Galadriel found a small Jerbeen being bullied by four Birdfolk mages. The Jerbeen’s name was Figory Figgins and was being accused of having less magical aptitude since he was a Humblefolk. Galadriel attempted to intervene, but the four Birdfolk started making fun of her for being a guest researcher and probably didn’t even know magic. Galadriel used her helmet to cast Bless and the Birdfolk were not impressed. They went back to making fun of Figory. Galadriel fireman carried Figory away from his bullies and went to class with him.

     Lucius attended some Wizard classes hoping to gain some insight into his Arcane Trickster abilities. Zivvy attended some Bard classes to gain insight into her Bard abilities. Finn attended some Ranger classes to gain insight into her Ranger abilities.

     Quilliam went to the library and met Mordane Swiftgale, the head librarian and a male swift Strig. Mordane directed Quilliam to some bookshelves based on his research topic and then returned to his work. Quilliam did some research into the Scorched Grove. He learned about a conjuration involving an elemental force that may have been the origin of the Scorched Grove.

     Lucius researched about Elemental Creatures for two days. He found at least two important passages where the second page had been torn away. But he also found out about the Borealus, an Aspect of Ice that may be able to counter the Aspect of Fire.

    Zivvy started researching Conjuration Magic, using Quilliam’s research as a starting point.

    Quilliam researched about poison. He did not find much information but did find an obscure spell.

    Galadriel found out that Figory had been attacked in the night. He was pale and lethargic. So, Galadriel carried him to the school nurse’s office. Then Galadriel attempted to investigate the scene of the crime, Figory’s room. When that failed, she found Quilliam and had him investigate instead. Quilliam found fragments of bone in the trunk next to Figory’s window. A trail of claw marks could be seen that led down to the trunk near the roots and then vanished.

     Quilliam tried to get some help and met Professor Corvax Revayne, a male dusk Corvum diviner. He told them that his divining bone dice keep coming up with the same Augury, “A black heart lies among the white and gray, but in dimness it is hard to say. Who is friend, and who is foe? The master weal, the monster woe.” Told about the attack on Figory Figgins, he cast Detect Magic on the bones that Quilliam had found. Corvax told him that there was necromancy school magic on the bones and directed him to find Glinda Nightseed, the professor of theoretical necromancy.

      Quilliam found the female huden Gallus Professor Glinda Nightseed in her office. She told Quilliam about how she created the servitor skeletons from the bones of willing donators who had gave consent. She cast Detect Magic on the bones as well and visually shuddered. There was no way that whatever had created this had given consent. She swore she had nothing to do with the creation of this creature. After hearing about the attack on Figory Figgins, she insisted on going to the Nurse’s office. She cast Detect Magic and noticed that Figory’s wounds had a strong aura of necromancy as well.

      Galadriel and Quilliam escorted Glinda Nightseed to the Dean to inform him of the danger to the students and staff. The Dean was meeting with a student, Jell Platena, a sera Luma. Jell told the Dean about mysterious behavior from the servitor skeletons, “I was finishing up an assignment in Professor Leachwood’s lab when I noticed the cleaning servitor skeletons cease their task, walk out the lab, and enter the crossing platform to the lower levels. I was curious and would have followed them but my student amulet doesn’t give me access to the lower levels at that hour. You should ask Professor Nightseed about this phenomenon” Jell then left.

     Professor Nightseed denied having controlled the servitor skeletons or changing their tasks in any way. She also denied having created the monster that attacked Figory Figgins. The Dean wanted to keep the investigation under wraps for now as the culprit had not been discovered yet and he didn’t want to panic the student and faculty. He promised the party a reward if they found the culprit behind the attack on Figory.

     As dawn broke on the fourth day, Zivvy continued her research on Conjuration magic in the library while Quilliam and Galadriel told Lucius, Finn, and Eclipse about the strange occurrences of the last few days…

[End of session.]