Yeasir leaded Fang through the tight hidden hallways of his home, eventually opening a door and ushering him into a room. Fang found himself inside a crowded workshop. Tools and gears hung on the wall next to shelves of books and jars. In the centre of the room was a table covered in blueprints, dried mushrooms and various crystals. One particularly large piece of quartz catched Fang's attention as it pulsed with a faint white light.

Fang's observations were interrupted by Yeasir. He placed a flagon of mysterious liquid on the table in front of him.

"Your job is to deliver this to Lady Dali, a powerful Fey who lives in Cloakwood. Also the message that I, Yeasir, require her service in the cavern below my house. You see, nature based magic is powerful. I can not sell mushrooms if I can not grow them. And I can not grow them without her magic. As you can tell, this job is very important, and you will be rewarded well once you return with her," Yeasir rambled his instructions.

He paused for a moment, waiting for Fang to nod. Then he continued, "If you just go across the river and into the Cloakwood, take a left and then ... wait , I should have a map somewhere ... " he turned to his bookshelf and started to search through his tomes .

As Yeasir searched for the map, Fang had a moment to digest his instructions and investigate the flagon a little further.

Cracking open the flagon, Fang saw a light pink liquid inside. It had creamy texture and the sweet yet oddly coppery smell. After a moment, he was able to identify the liquid as an unconventional mixture of milk, honey and blood. He closed the lid of the flagon. Yeasir noticed over his shoulder. He shrugged nonchalantly, "It's her favorite drink, handmade with my own blood. Powerful fey beings like Dali have very peculiar tastes"

After a few minutes of cursing and shuffling papers, Yeasir suddenly stood upright. He spined towards Fang with a piece of parchment in hand. 

"Aha, I knew it was in here, I just didn't expect to find it inside that ... anyways, here's the map..." 

He placed the map on the table in front of Fang. On the parchment was a hastily scribbled drawing of the Cloakwood. Dashed lines showed a winding pathway through the forest. It dipped into thickets and creeks before arriving at a cave. At the bottom of the map was written a note :

Beware of the Cloakwood ! In the forest you will find more dangers than you bargained for ...

Before Fang could finish reading , Yeasir clapped his hands, "Well then, I look forward to seeing you back here again with Dali. Good Luck !"

A glow emanated below Fang's feet. He looked down and saw that he was standing on the middle of an arcane circle. With a blink, he was no longer standing inside of Yeasir's home...

Xiao Fang was standing in front of a large , ancient forest. Gnarled and twisted trees towered above him. The branches intertwined into a dense canopy. Very little sunlight pierced through the leaves. The whole forest floor was in shade. He could hear the sound of distant running waters which was mixed with the buzz of insects. The air was filled with the smell of decaying leaves and damped earth.

As he consulted his map, he noticed two pathways in front of him. The one map guided was a narrow path on the left, barely visible through the overgrown bushes. He quickly realized that, he would have to spend a lot of energy and time to get anywhere that way.

The other trail was a well-trodden and clear pathway on the right. It seemed a much easier walk, though it would mean trying to navigate without the help of the map.

Fang turned to the right path. He didn't think the left path through the bushes will be a safe journey. He might encounter a monster that he couldn't defeat and would be killed.

The walk was level and easy, with only the gentlest of slopes through the Cloakwood. The way before him was lit by sunbeams. Those sunbeams passed through the canopy and dotted the forest floor with warm light.

After a few minutes, his pleasant walk was interrupted when he felt something hit his arm. He instinctively looked to see what had struck him. A small rock fell to the ground next to his feet. Before he could react, another rock pelted him right in the forehead. As he rubbed the sore spot on his head, he heard maniacal giggling from a bush next to the road ahead of him.

"There goes my safe and sound journey. What should I do ? Investigate the bush or ignore and go on my way ?" he murmured to himself.

Fang decided to ignore the bush and continue.

"How dare you ?" he heard shrieks in a terrible chorus. Fang looked at the bush carefully and saw a group of boggarts, baring their long and wickedly sharp teeth.

"Traveller thinks they are clever, trying to not pay the toll, and now they must pay with their blood." With that the group of boggarts swarmed Fang.

Swarm of Wild Boggarts

Medium swarm of small fey, chaotic neutral

Armor Class (AC) : 11

Hit Point (HP) : 22

*Challenge Rating (CR) : 1/2

Fang heard about Boggarts. They would group together and act as swarm, like a single entity, pile on the enemy knocking it prone, then tear apart with their tiny but razor sharp nails and teeth.

The swarm of wild boggarts was only 20 feet away. Fang took out his short bow, and fired an arrow.

Miss

The swarm was 15 feet away now. Fang loaded again and fired.

Miss

Missed again. Fang was a novice and this was his first life-threatening encounter. Although his hand was not shaking, but he couldn't intercept the Swarm's movement and missed it naturally. Fang then took out the bag of bearings and spilled the metal ball at the direction of boggarts. It covered 10 sq ft area that way.

The swarm couldn't change its movement direction and knocked prone stepping on the bearings. Fang aimed at the swarm carefully and this time, it was a hit, directly in chest.

- 4

The boggart screeched in pain. Then stood up. It grabbed the arrow pierced in its chest and pulled out. Then broke it , staring at Fang. It bared it's sharp teeth , it was only 5 feet away.

Fang unequipped the short bow, it can't be used in such close distance. Then he equipped dagger and rapier in two hands and got ready .

The swarm crossed the last 5 feet distance. And used it's Pile On tactics, swarmed around, jumped and climbed on him no matter how much he tried to stab and slash. And knocked him prone.

The swarm started biting on him, but it bit on the armor he was wearing, couldn't pierce through.

Fang stood up with lots of difficulty , raised his dagger and stabbed at the swarm.

- 2

It was a hit. But only dealt two damage. "Damn, this swarm has piercing damage resistance" Fang despaired.

The swarm kept on biting and trying to pierce through the armor stubbornly.

Fang attacked with dagger again.

- 3

The swarm shrieked . It moved from the armored area, climbed up and bit on his neck.

- 4

"Ahh" Fang felt acute pain, the small but sharp teeth easily pierced through his neck. His HP was 40% down in one bite.

He slashed with his rapier.

- 6

The piercing and slashing damage resistance of the swarm made the fight very difficult. If it was not resistant, Fang would deal double the damage, and the swarm would be killed now. But anyway, he chipped down the HP of the swarm to less than 50%. The swarm would deal half damage now, so Fang had chance to win.

The swarm surrounded him again and attacked , aiming his neck. It realized that it couldn't pierce through the armor in short time.

- 3

Fang's HP was now 3/10, a critical situation. He raised his rapier again and tried to attack.

Miss

The swarm dodged and aimed for his throat.

Fang was already weak and dizzy due to heavy blood loss, he couldn't defend. He decided to spend one destiny point to escape at last moment.

The swarm successfully bit on his neck .

-4

Fang's HP bar became nill. He fell unconscious. As the boggarts stripped him of his belongings, throwing them off the side, the flagon of mysterious liquid fell down and shattered. All of the boggarts stopped and stared at it with wide fearful eyes.

"Oh no, oh no, we have hindered the delivery, the Lady will be so angry. We must hide, hide, hide." The boggarts scrambled of Fang, skittering deep into the forest.

Author's Note:

Some notes applicable throughout the adventure.

1. Challenge Rating : It indicates the threat level of NPC and creatures. It's not equivalent to adventurer's level. A party of four adventurers can defeat an enemy with CR equal to their level without suffering any significant damage. So, the Swarm of Wild Boggarts was quite challenging for the MC.

2. Dropping HP to 0 : If an adventurer's HP drops to 0, it doesn't always mean that he is dead. Although there's chance of instant death, most of the cases the adventurer will be unconscious and bleed out and at death's door. Unless there's healing or stable condition, the adventurer will die. Again, if creatures attack in this state, death is inevitable too. If the damage dealt was massive - like twice or more than the adventurer's total HP, it will be instant death. And if the damage is not double, but equal to remaining HP + Total HP of the adventurer - instant death. Say, if the boggart had dealt 13 damage in last strike, Xiao Fang would die instantly.

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