Hardcore Heroes: Episode 22

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== Synopsis ==
Van and Malakai, with the guidance of Chis, decide to come clean about the Resurrection scroll to Joris, who agrees to keep the scroll and a valuable item in exchange for identifying their weapons and spells. With their quest complete, they return to Shirebrook, where they meet Kain and Mhorin seeking help for disappearances near the Shadow Mountains. Accepting the mission, they first seek Malakai's missing father, finding a clue in the Goblin Forest. They discover a goblin encampment holding the missing ship and human slaves. After a failed infiltration and retreat, they plan an all-out assault. Though initially successful, they are forced to flee when goblins rally, leaving Mhorin struggling but ultimately reuniting with the group as they prepare for another confrontation.
==Recap==
=== Thursday, 1509-08-04 ===
Van and Malakai decide to come clean over the Resurrection scroll, with some Chis guidance and while Joris doesn't take very kindly to them hiding the scroll he does seem to agree that the scroll is many times more valuable than rest of the treasure pile. They negotiate over and over until a final deal is struck with Joris keeping the scroll, a 1200 gold worth object and the party getting everything else including 6 spells and him identifying Van's scimitar and Malakai's staff. 
=== Friday, 1509-08-12* ===
The quest finally over, Malakai and Van head back home to Shirebrook. Malakai does some extensive spell learning on the road somehow managing to learn all the spells Joris had provided him until they finally hit the town to find Jeeves attempting to placate two unknown figures at his table. Kain, a human, and Mhorin, a dwarf, to Malakai's displeasure. They turn out to be seeking help with the increasing disappearances near the Shadow Mountains, with Mhorin's clan being one of the victims as of late and some folk from Kain's village as well. They converse for a while and decide to take them up on the offer on one condition that the newcomers first have to prove themselves by helping find Malakai's father. Soon after they book space on a ship, leaving Jeeves alone once more, and go on a journey towards Whiteshore searching for signs of wreckage or anything really. 
=== Saturday, 1509-08-13* ===
Some way along the Goblin Forest, Van manages to find what seems to be remains of a rowboat near the mouth of a river trickling into the sea. While the captain is sympathetic, being acquainted with Malakai's father, they still find themselves having expended his patience on letting them explore the shore line while the ship is anchored so the party takes their chances and make their way to the only clue they've found so far. Not being able to find any more wreckage or signs of life in the thick of the forest the only option left is to follow the river. While Malakai threatens Mhorin not to eat his dogs Kain manages to spot some tracks. This leads to even more tracks and the party begins to get slightly uneasy, but they decide to continue going while the newbies are regaled with stories of their exploits. Some ways later Van, being the scout as he's still invisible, spots what appears to be a palisade wall, baffled by the concept of goblins building a whole encampment everyone but Van hunker down in an out of sight spot. Van meanwhile goes right up against the wall to gain some intel on this unheard of goblin feat, he manages to catch the sight of both a decent sized village and the missing ship Malakai's father sailed on. Party reconvenes and decides that brute force might be the wrong approach this time around, but for them to be able to sneak in they'll need to regain some spent spells and as such they retreat back to the beach, conscious of the fact that goblins are nocturnal creatures. Unfortunately the party gets attacked by 2 crocodiles while on the way and in a brief, but fierce fight Wolf is dragged around in a deathlock that is a crocodiles bite and succumbs to his wounds. They mourn their dog and bury him on the beach, outside of the goblin forest. 
=== Sunday, 1509-08-14* ===
Night passes without an issue and they wake up to a miserable day as rain and thunder blast overheard, they study their spells in peace and walk back to the goblin encampment. Malakai dons Invisibility and Water walking and goes to scout the village in higher detail, finding that the fields are being worked by human slaves. He continues on onto the ship, only seeing sleeping goblins in the bunks and mess everywhere he steps. Search for a captains journals yields nothing as there seems to be no paper left so he instead goes out into the village, passing a cage with 30 human children in it, and finds a hut with 3 sleeping goblins inside of it. He attempts to hypnotize one of the goblins, but it turns out that it doesn't speak common. The goblin screams and Malakai bolts out of the hut as he recasts Invisibility, barely dodging a blow, but getting hit with an arrow as he tries to hop over the river and past the wall, eventually he rejoins the party still hidden in the treeline and they make their way back to the beach. Van naps himself and re-memorizes more spells, however in the end they decide to stay at their camp for another night with Malakai and Kain serving as the watchmen.
=== Monday, 1509-08-15* ===
Mid-rest the group is attacked by a squad of goblins with hyenas in tow, the dwarf almost goes down in the first round, but soon after the fight quickly turns in their favor and they end up hunting down both the fleeing ones and, since none of them spoke common, murdering the slept ones. With a short pause to let Malakai nap, they make their way towards the goblin village and make plans for an all out assault, hoping they might find a way to arm the human slaves. Invisible Malakai flies overhead while Van, Kain and Mhorin try to bottleneck them at the entrance. Once Malakai finds a hut that seems like it might be the leaders dwelling he drops a rolling Flaming sphere on it while rest of the party begin shooting any goblins they can see.The fight goes well for a while, squad of goblins and hyenas dying in an Entangle spell, at least until the goblins start rallying. Malakai manages to take out an elite unit with a single fireball and 2 shamans are killed, but a horde of goblins begin making their way towards the party at which point everyone makes a haphazard run for it. Luckily Kain and Van can run much faster than a goblins can, and Malakai still has fly spell active, but the poor dwarf is left with 1 hp as goblins pepper him with arrows, fortunately he gets a Invisibility cast on him, so instead of being at death's door and lost he is only lost. Group tries to leave him signs which to follow, but he is also illiterate and has to guess where to go. Luckily though the whole area is a strip of land that doesn't allow for much variation in direction so best bet Mhorin has is marathon running north, throughout the night. Rest of the party attempts to find rest while getting attacked by a score of sturges.
=== Tuesday, 1509-08-16* ===
A tense morning dawns and with fighting the approaching horde of goblins in mind spell readying is begun. Meanwhile, Mhorin is still running north, powering through the exhaustion with his dwarven fortitude. 
*Dates are extrapolated from a previous mention of an exact date. 
Category:Hardcore Heroes Episodes