Bloomburrow releases on August 2nd and it’s set on a brand new plane with the same name. It’s a world filled with anthropomorphic animals. Unlike other animal people we’ve seen in the past (like Viashinos or Loxodon) the residents of Bloomburrow are the same size as their animal species would be in our own world.
THE CALAMITY BEASTS ARE COMING!
Helga is a frogfolk who lives in a village called Pondside. She doesn’t have a very high opinion of herself. She hasn’t found what she wants to do with her life and feels that everyone around her is disappointed in her. She isn’t a good farmer, she’s not good at magic, and she isn’t good at cooking. The only thing she’s good at is art.
Most often, she draws what she sees in visions, although everyone around her thinks they are only a product of an overactive imagination. Helga’s not sure what to do about her most recent sketch of a giant hawk. It resembles the beings that she’s only seen in picture books before – calamity beasts. These powerful creatures are nature’s harbingers of change, and they often bring about change violently and chaotically.
Helga tries to decide what she should do because she knows the village elder will just dismiss her as he always does. She ultimately decides to show him, but before she can, the sky darkens and the residents of the village go into a panic. She looks up to see Maha, the calamity beast of the night.
Maha wastes no time in attacking the village, destroying buildings, and injuring and killing residents. Helga barely manages to escape, but she’s separated from the others. Despite her injuries, Helga resolves to head to the nearest village to warn that the calamity beasts are coming.
In the village of Goodhill, Mabel the mousefolk is planning her birthday party. The festivities get interrupted though, when the injured Helga is found on the road just outside of town. Just before she loses consciousness, she tells Mabel about the calamity beasts.
While many of the residents of Goodhill don’t believe Helga, Mabel does. She retrieves a sword called Cragflame from her attic. Legends say that a hero named Lily of the Valley used it to drive away the Calamity Beasts.
She decides to use her birthday party as a platform to convince the residents of Goodhill that Helga’s warning is genuine. After she does, she recruits a group to head to Pondside and offer aid and assistance to its residence in the aftermath of Maha’s attack. She’s joined by Zoraline, Finneas, Hugs, Gev, and Helga.
FROM PONDSIDE TO THREE TREE CITY
When Mabel’s party reaches Pondside, they encounter a situation even worse than what they expected. Not only has the city been annihilated by Maha, but two squirrel necromancers have arrived and are plundering the city for its resources. The party hides and listens to the necromancers to get information. The two of them mention that they are doing something for one called “Cruelclaw”
When Mabel and the rest of her party attempt to investigate what the necromancers are doing, they reanimate the corpses of the resident of Pondside to eliminate them. After a hard fought battle against the dead, the party finds that the two necromancers have escaped.
They follow the necromancers to Three Tree City where they begin asking around for any information about the necromancers or Cruelclaw. When asking around, they encounter an otterfolk named Ral Zarek, who is also searching for someone called Jace Beleren.
After he describes Jace, Helga flips through her sketchbook and shows him a picture that matches a description. Even though he seems to be in the form of a fox, Ral is convinced that the image is Jace. Ral decides to join Mabel’s party just in case Helga has any more visions about him.
Just as they are wrapping up their conversation, alarms sound as the river around Thee Tree City begins to overflow. Helga realizes that this is the work of another Calamity Beast – The Flood Gar.
The party manage to escape the flood by finding a cave, only to be told by a ratfolk that they weren’t welcome in the haven they were so lucky to find. Luckily, an elder ratfolk called Coffey deescalates the situation by pointing out that their visitors were only there because of an emergency. He offers them shelter, even serving them tea.
After learning of the party’s mission, he reveals that the ratfolk are on edge because Cruelclaw had visited them the day before. Coffey also tells the party that he believes that Cruelclaw has stolen a Calamity Beast egg, which may grant him the ability to control the Beasts.
When Coffey suggests that Cruelclaw is a mercenary who is probably working for someone else, Ral suspects that Jace hired the mercenary. With this new information, Helga has a vision and sketches out an image of Fountainport, which becomes the group’s next stop.
FOUNTAINPORT
Once they reach Fountainport, Helga manages to secure an audience with King Glarb, because she used to be his apprentice. When they reveal everything they’ve learned on his journey, Glarb isn’t surprised at all.
He reveals that he’s the one who hired Cruelclaw, and he brazenly admits that he wanted the egg so that he could control his own Calamity Beast to fend off attacks from the others. Helga tries to convince him that it’s a horrible idea, and points out that all the recent destruction caused by Maha and the other Calamity Beasts is likely a result of his theft.
A fight breaks out between Glarb’s mercenaries and Mabel’s party. Ultimately, Mabel’s party is victorious and manages to seize the egg. However, Glarb summons a Storm Hawk and conjures a portal that he uses to escape.
Mabel’s party has their hands full with the Hawk, but to everyone’s surprise, Maha arrives and fends it off. Mabel realizes that the owl has been in search of its egg the entire time. She offers it to Maha, who flies off with her egg.
BUT WHERE IS JACE?
Mabel and her party return home, where they receive a hero’s welcome. Helga decides to stay in Goodhill, as she feels more at home in Goodhill than she ever has in Pondside.
While Ral is chatting with Helga, she suddenly appears entranced and says: “The kings in the dark will return. The mage in blue will bring about the end.”
Ral realizes that the “mage in blue” is likely Jace. While he isn’t sure where he should go next, he knows that Jace likely is on a plane other than Bloomburrow. Ral announces his intent to leave, and Maybe tells him he’s always welcome in Goodhill.
Ral planeswalks in pursuit of Jace, but his destination is unknown.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.