Rumble in the Humblefolk

My Sister,

I hope all is well in Saltar’s Port. The conflict here in the city grows bigger even as we try to rest. I had just gotten back from my walk and had started sleeping when a loud commotion echoed through the city. Merchant caravans at the gates were being assaulted by brazen bandits.

Everyone had barely enough time to grab their weapons before rushing down and helping the guard. It was chaos. All of us tried our best to push back the bandit raid. A few of them were put down in their rush, but many got away. The guard captain herself began recruiting any abled bodied folk who could fight and give chase. Naturally, your brother volunteered to help stop these assaults.

We followed the trail left behind by the thieves and came upon an old fort of some kind. This place was being used by them to coordinate their assaults. The group decided to try and flank them in the fort. Farah and I were to take to the cliffs, Brin would climb atop the other one, and Sycamore, Spoke, and Rakuno would go into the camp along with the other members of the party. Unfortunately, the bandits were quick to discover us, routing most of us as we split up.

Sycamore and Spoke were confronting the main force. The combine fierceness of their presence and ferocity of their abilities kept the largest group at bay. Rakuno snuck around, taking out the bandits attempting to pick off anyone with their bows. Brin was a marvel, hitting our foes with precision strikes.

Farah and I would support from above until she had a brilliant idea. She set fire to the main tent, causing panic and chaos. I had just recently purchased some lantern oil and thought there would be no better use than right here. The bandits inside were in a panic to put it out giving Sycamore and Spoke the time to push through and setup in front of the tent. Rakuno was trading and dodging blows with one of the mapachs, it looked rough, but I could tell he was just toying with them before finally cracking them up the head with a well-placed punch.

More bandits showed up from the other tents, but Farah and I were able to distract them long enough for Spoke to try and deal with the leader. Though I think we were all surprised that their boss was the vulpin we had confronted before on our way to Alderheart. The one that was terrorizing poor Eliza. The battle was terrible, but with Brin’s help, Spoke’s fiery demeaner, Sycamore’s many axes, Rakuno’s speed, Farah’s quick thinking, and my magic, we were able to put down the bandit known as Fray.

Spoke quickly put out the fire and tried collected what he could from the tent while the others searched for anything from the raid throughout the fort. By the guiding light of Ardea, we were very lucky that we had found some folk taken as hostages that weren’t in the tent we set ablaze. That could have been a terrible mistake. Some other treasures were found, but we took back everything that was stolen to the city and returned it.

On our way back, I meant to talk to a strig I noticed helping us fight in the battle. I saw him taking on 3 bandits by himself. I’m sure he has some interesting stories to tell. Although I was distracted by Spoke’s unusual curiosity of my walk earlier in the evening. I think he was able to suss out that I had taken Brin out on my walk as well. The ol’ hedge is rather wise to my short response. I suppose I have too much of a tell when it comes to my close friends. Well what more should I say? That I think Brin is very beautiful …

Much of the letter has been ripped out here

I’m sorry Reya, I kind of went off on a tangent and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to hear your brother gush over Brin.

Either way, there was something interesting with a sword we brought back. It was the Fray’s that lead the bandits. Rakuno recognized that it was a guard captain sword, one the bandits use to show off as a way to establish rank. Farah is holding onto it, she hopes it comes in handy.

When we arrived back, we had the injured taken to the hospitals, and the city held a makeshift parade to celebrate. The council requested for us and wanted the details of what transpired in the fort. We gave them all that had happened, about the bandit leader, how many we encountered, and what all they had taken. Bita then graciously awarded us for our help, a rather nice sum of money. She had also told us that they will be sending a caravan of supplies to Meadowfen. I don’t think it is quite enough to deal with the looming threat of the Scorched Grove, but it is something and Meadowfen needs it.

Before we could leave, Bita requested that we deal with the bandit fortress nearby. The source of a lot of these outlaws. We’ll need to deal with Benna Seridan, their main leader.

Will write you soon, sister. I’ve included some interesting notes about herbs I picked up that you may like.

Enjoy the sea breeze for me

Cork

 

 

To the Heart of the Woods

Oh gods, Sis,

We made it to Alderheart. The city is huge and beautiful, and there’s so many people and wonderous things here. I’ll have to bring you here one day.

But I’m jumping ahead of myself. The trip had some bit of excitement as well and what would I be if I skip that part of the story.

On our way to Alderheart, we noticed that patches of the Scorch Grove reached near the path. All the more reason for us to hurry with our news. We were escorting Eliza again, so we had to keep our wits about us. Good thing too because we bumped into more bandits. I’m getting worried that the spread of the Grove is forcing more folk into banditry. I also feel very bad for those poor folk when they threaten Rakuno and Farah. The speed at which those two move is amazing. No matter how far the bandits think they are from us, those two are right on them like lightning out of a bottle. And the amount of punches and kicks they do in such quick succession. Their whole body is like a weapon.

That night, a Tender stumbled into our camp. Those folk are apparently gifted with commanding nature around them. This one, a Gallus, goes around and steering fires away from the rest of the woods. I believe a Tender came to Saltar’s Port when we were much younger, morphing the trees there to create a few homes, like the one for the Potters up the street from us.

There was not much else before we finally got to the city though, but we found that the grove took many more villages. There are a lot of refugees here, it’s very depressing. The city is doing what it can to help them, but there are just so many people. I did get to see the Perch Guard though. Dad’s and mom’s description of them were accurate. They wear very shiny armor and command respect when you look at them.

Oh I really wish you were here Reya. The city is amazing. We even spoke before the council, which is filled with so many elegant birdfolk. I don’t remember dad getting to speak before them, so I finally did something new. Their speaker, Bita, heard our plea, and will let us know how they can help in a few days. In the meantime, she mentioned a problem with a particular bandit, a leader of theirs named Benna Seridan. Do you remember dad talked of a Seridan in a village in the woods? Some local seer. I wonder if they are related.

Speaking of dad, you can tell him I bumped into a friend of his. Her name is Brin Whitecrest, a fellow raptor. If he doesn’t recognize the name, which I doubt because he remembers like everything, you can also tell him she has the markings, and frankly the ambition of the wind-touched. She told me a lot about you guys, so I’m sure you may remember her too.

I should say, even in the city, there’s adventure to be had. We decided to look around the Trunk Market and my friend Spoke was pickpocketed by some Jerbeen. We of course gave chase to re-secure my buddy’s fortune. The small chipmunk Jerbeen were cornered in an alley. It was a terrible situation, they were so young, still children, with no home or parents. I didn’t know what to do, lucky Farah and Rakuno offered to take them to the local monastery, recommending them to the chapter master. Farah, with her big heart, also made a sizable donation to them for taking in the children and getting them off the streets. Not exactly a solution to the whole bandit problem, but these kids will hopefully find a good path like Rakuno did. I should mention, Brin was with us during this. She is such a good friend to have. Funny enough, the inn we checked into was the same she was already staying at, the “Howling Harpy.”

I don’t know if you already knew this, but Brin apparently plays the Shawm. Well there was an open stage, and we all jumped up there to play a small concert to help brighten the mood of all the folk staying there. We had a good time. The owner of the inn was pretty happy as well and gave us the rooms for the night so long as we played some more. I find this bard profession to be a good choice for me.

I miss you Reya. Mom and dad too. I can’t stop thinking about home right now. I… I think I’m going to go see if Brin is still awake and in the mood to maybe talk some more about home. Wish your brother luck.

The goof that is your brother,

Cork

Beetle and the Beast

Heya Reya,

How are you doing, sis? We’re still in Winnowing Reach, but we’re about to head out very soon. I do have another story to tell though as the slime caves wasn’t enough adventure for us here.

When we returned from the slime caves, Kenna marched right passed the guards straight to the Magistrate. I wish I were so brave. We explained what had happened and was rewarded, but then he enticed us with another request.

After Kenna left, he locked us in. I’m not entirely sure what all happened after that, I sort of panicked and my memory is kind of fuzzy here, but he wanted us to hunt down a witch causing trouble with the city. She apparently is seen just before the slimes attack. Some wicked hedge witch of the swamp.

The Magistrate released us with the promise of a letter to get us in to see the council at Alderheart once we bring back the amulet that has the witch’s power. I hope I’m not worrying you because the story gets better.

We’ve asked around town about the slime attacks and what they know of this witch. They were able to share with us many rumors, but no one seems to have actually talked to this lady yet. So we decided to be the ones to get to the bottom of this problem and go confront this person ourselves… together of course. No need to confront the unknown alone. A lesson for you.

We gathered supplies and set out. Fortunately, we picked up the trail of the witch near an area that she was reportedly sighted before. Farah and I found her footsteps, well Farah found, I almost tripped into, but helped locate it nonetheless.

We came cautiously upon a hut out in the swamp, something humble and not looking like a place a witch would dwell. Rakuno braved the porch way to go knock and introduce himself. We were expecting some ugly hag of a hedge to answer and try to swallow our Jerbeen companion, instead it was a very nice well-dressed middle age lady.

Her name is Susan, and she’s been living out here alone because she’s a bit of an introvert and shy’s away from social situations. She lives with this flying beetle that she can talk to named Normal. They’re both absolutely adorable, and I think Spoke is rather smitten with her. They would make a good pair.

Susan served us some Nettle Tea and Cat Tail Scones. I’ll send some leaves for you to try the tea yourself, it’s minty.

After talking with her, we found out she was just gathering components for her spells, specifically one for summoning a fey spirit so she could ask it about a vision she had.

Don’t panic because this is just a vision, but Susan saw a large burning creature that set a great blaze consuming the woods. I’m not sure if I believe in visions, but it was worth helping Susan get the stuff she needs to finish her summon ritual.

We set out to gather frogs, leaves and herbs from a nearby pond. While Spoke and Rakuno found the easy stuff in my opinion, Farah and I decided to get the frogs. These frogs are a lot more cunning than the ones we went after as kids, because I had a heck of a time swimming after them. Farah got one, but I resorted to taunting another to death. Good thing Sycamore was on watch because the little frogs had a much larger frog friend. Being the one in the pond wasn’t the best place for this encounter because the thing almost ate me alive. Sycamore was able to skewer it before it got the chance.

We rested for the night while taking back the ingredients only to hear a call for help in the middle of the night. A Gallus apparently got stuck in quicksand trying to study the habits of slimes at night. I’m not sure what this town’s fascination with slimes are, but it gets them in trouble a lot. We helped the poor stranger out and she gave us an interest gift. Don’t tell mom or dad, but I enclosed it with this letter. It’s a switch-knife hidden in a wooden spoon. Please don’t hurt yourself with it.

Back to Susan, we delivered the giant frog and the leaves and herbs. Putting what she needed into her snail cauldron, she said her incantation, something like “oh great spirit, heed my call.” She was surprised when a red fuzzy beast of a creature came out, but tried to ask her questions.

Unfortunately, whatever the thing was, it wasn’t interested in talking, and instead attacked us, specifically your idiot brother for sitting too close to it. We were able to put an end to the demon before it harmed anyone. Strangely it just fell to ash when we did. Susan suspects it has to do with the burning grove corrupting the spell, that or the giant frog spleen used instead of the normal frogs.

So without answers to this vision, Susan decided the next best thing to do was to apologize to the town. Apparently when she was gathering other components, slimes would approach, and she would run away. This unfortunately lead the slimes close to the town instead. A big misunderstanding by the folks and Susan offered to try and fix anything she could.

On our journey back, Spoke tried to flirt with Susan. It was super adorable and a little awkward, but I could see Susan and Spoke connected a little. Maybe one day they will get together, but she has her work at her shake still, and he needs to help deliver our warning to Alderheart.

As we neared the town though, Susan was getting worried, so your brother decided to cheer everyone up and began playing my pan flute. That supposed amulet of Susan’s was actually an ocarina and she joined in, and Rakuno played too. Had a bit of a parade coming into town. I wish you could see it, many folks cheered us. Spoke was also ready in case some folks weren’t as welcoming to Susan.

We decided to ask Kenna one more favor in dealing with the Magistrate since she has no problem standing up to him. I hope to find someone like that someday.

The Magistrate wasn’t very happy with the results but was convinced it was best for both parties to understand each other and work with one another. He accepted the apology and wrote us the letter. I could see Spoke was ready to give the Magistrate a piece of his mind in case the conversation went south. Luckily, it never came to that.

We also have an ally now in Winnowing Reach, Susan and Normal. They offered to make potions for us at discount if we are in need and have the components. I’ll send you the list as well if you wanted to take interest in alchemy someday.

How’s dad’s business going? Hope you guys stay safe. And Susan was nice enough to give me the recipe to her scones if you would like to try them yourself. They are unbelievably delicious. I’m also sending a gift for mom and dad, some Prickleberry Wine. I hope they enjoy it.

With all my love,
Cork

Fell on Hard Slimes

Hi Sis,

I wanted to check in with how things are with Mom and Dad. I don’t remember you mentioning anything in the last couple of letters.

There’s been a bit of a delay in my trip to Alderheart, but well worth it. A young Corvum apparently was in need of help as she journeyed alone to study slimes in a nearby cave. The Magistrate (can you imagine a magistrate asking for my help?) asked us to find this Kenna Brightspark for him. So off to the caves we went.

Remember when we would joke about putting slimes on mom and dad’s beak brush instead of the cleaning paste? Well I’ll tell you what, slimes are no joke. These things either burn through leather and metal with some alchemical properties, and if that’s not enough, instantly glue themselves to anything it touches. My friends lost a weapon or two fighting them. But funny enough, they also have feelings as I made one cry with my abilities before it loss cohesion and died. I felt pretty bad, but it was either it or us walking away from that fight.

Here’s a particular interesting scene, my friend Sycamore, the Cervan if you recall, is pretty tall. When we were down in the caves, his antlers grabbed a sizable amount of the cave moss. It reminded me of images of Cairith. Now Sycamore may think he’s the spitting image of an Amaranthine Deity, but if you meet him, don’t feed his ego or he’ll think he is one.

Back to the slimes, if you ever see them, you can use this trick. We came across some in the cave and needed to get past them. They apparently sense movement, so we used some stones and tossed them to a part of the cave to move them away from where we were going. I’m attaching a book that came in handy about the slimes with this letter. You might get some use out of it. I’m also sending some of the glowing mushrooms I found in the cave. Please don’t eat them, the group told me I shouldn’t do that either.

Just remember, caves are dangerous. There was a section that fell on your poor old brother, knocking me out unconscious. I was told a cave slime came out and was about to feast on me, but Rakuno rushed in and pulled me away, while Spoke was able to heal me. I don’t know what we would have done without them. Please don’t tell mom and dad about this incident, I don’t want them to worry.

Farah was having some problems, I think she had allergies or something while in the swamp. She was a little slower and like she wasn’t all there, but she helped when it counted.

We did find that slime researcher though. She was stuck to a wall in the cave, guarded by this large slime. Not sure what it was, but it shifted colors as we fought it. It was very pretty for something so dangerous. Rakuno and Farah were tag teaming it until some other slimes showed up from the commotion. Spoke was having some trouble with his spells, but we were able to clear the room of the slimes with Rakuno getting the final blow on the large one and Sycamore finishing the others.

Getting Kenna unstuck was another challenge altogether. Sycamore got stuck (please don’t tell him I told you) but Spoke magically created water that was able to clean up the slime.

We just got back from this whole ordeal, so I will finish this letter and get it sent with the presents.

Your tired, but still kicking brother,
Cork

Humblewood Campaign

Greetings travelers and weary adventurers, please sit down and listen to the tale of a great campaign...

Welcome to the chronicles of the D&D campaign I'm playing in using the Humblewood ruleset. It's built on the D&D fifth edition, but with cute bird and animal folk as the players and npc's.

My character is Cookaroo Tavian, otherwise known as "Corkscrew". He's a Maran Raptor Bard that looks like a bearded vulture, and will be the perspective of how I will tell these tales. Each post will hopefully be a recollection of his for that play session.

My fellow players are;

Rakuno Lightpaws, a Jerbeen Monk, He's played by Rakuno.

Farah, a Mapach Monk that is actually based on a ferret. She's played by Kiran.

Spoke, a Hedge Cleric of the Community Domain. He's played by Mtnpapa.

Sycamore Stronghoof, a Proghorn Cervan Fighter. He's played by Anniemuis.

And the DM that put this all together is Faeldray.

So below I'll try and update it with the link to each session, which I hope any ready will enjoy.

Un-Spoke Woe of Ashbarrow

Long time Sis,

Thank you for the delicious pumpkin bread. It didn’t last long but was enjoyed none the less. My last letter was pretty light like many before, but now I finally have a tale to recount.

This is a tale of sorrow and romance of a group of unlikely heroes, both large in bravery and in heart.

This humble bard was having a bit of fun in a nearby river when a large crowd gathered. Naturally, with large crowds come interesting news, so quickly I gathered my things and joined in.

The head guard had returned with terrible news. Ashbarrow fell to the Scorched Grove. As far as I could gather, the whole town is lost. Though I lost my chance at my story, I grieve for my friend who lost his home.

Oh, speaking of which, I along with some of the others here are now on a quest. Unfortunate tragedy turned into surprise opportunity.

Some of my new troop I had mentioned before in my letters, but I should refresh what I had previously told you.

Spoke, the unfortunate Hedge who has lost his home, is a kind and compassionate cleric.

Rakuno, a noble and justice seeking monk. This Jerbeen is small but packs a serious punch.

Farah, rivals her fellow monk Rakuno. As a Mapach, she’s really creative with harvesting supplies. I’m unsure which region she’s from, but she looks closer to a ferret than a typical Mapach.

Sycamore, a mighty Cervan. This Pronghorn is intimidating in stature, as I would expect a fighter should be.

Finally, the heart of this group is your older brother, me. The group doesn’t call me by Cookaroo, but by my nickname Corkscrew. You tried to torture me with it growing up, but I like it and took it as my bard stage name. The Raptors I see around here don’t quite look like our family heritage of bearded vultures, but it’s nice to see others of our race away from the trees.

You may not believe it, but we’re headed to Alderheart. I had to move up my plans to head to the big city, but it’s for good reason. We must warn them of the spread of the grove. Our first stop is the Winnowing Reach. I’ll be sure to send an interesting recipe with this letter.

The troop headed out, but what good adventure starts without a problem. We stumbled upon a group of bandits ruffling through a poor merchant’s cart. Either the desperate cry of poor Eliza the Eluran, or the way the mourning works in our cleric, but Spoke gave them quick warning and rightly open fire.

There was at least three Mapachs and a tough looking Vulpin. You might think your brother was scared, but I was protected by Fara and Rakuno as they made swift work of those toadies. And Sycamore frightened off that Vulpin with a battleaxe the size of a wagon wheel I tell you.

With the chaos that ensued, we thwarted their plans, and even may have steered one back to the humble life.

We were also chased by some fearsome fiery bats. These creatures I swear to you exist, and not just stories. There was even a strange humanoid looking creature made of magma. The Scorch Grove is truly an awful place.

Please give mom and dad my love, and I’m fortunate you guys are so far south and safe from this danger. Enclosed is a delicious looking recipe for Cajun Gumbo.

With all my love,

Cork