Hardcore Heroes Arcadia: Episode 1

__NOTOC__
== Synopsis ==
Malakai, overwhelmed and weary from his frantic search across town, finally takes a moment to rest at Aldric's Tower, reflecting on the loss of key figures and the possible fate of his friends. Determined to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances, he delves into research about plane shifting and shadow dragons. The next day, after gathering witness testimonies and addressing the townsfolk, he discovers that many have vanished, while others have looted the town. Malakai deals with thieves and investigates further into the nature of the disappearance. He secures a powerful ally in a local thief named Gary, who agrees to help locate stolen valuables. Malakai then focuses on finding a way to reach the shadow beast's lair by scrying and using magical creatures for scouting. He also organizes aid for the town and consults with Father Owen about magical items, ultimately finding a way to heal a key ally. As he continues his investigation, he employs various strategies, including utilizing magical spells and seeking assistance from local experts to address the ongoing crisis.
==Recap==
=== Sunday, 1509-12-04* ===
Exhausted from running around the town like a headless chicken Malakai trudges up the stairs in Aldric's Tower and slumps on top of a chair. For first time during the whole day he gets some breathing room and dark thoughts on how Van, Mother Ellyse, Jeeves and everyone else are likely already dead seep into his mind, but he steels himself for he owes them at least figuring out what exactly happened. 
He spaces out briefly on a faintly visible red spot where once Aldric's lifeblood he spilled pooled, thoughts wandering back to his deed. Eventually he shakes himself out of it and gets to researching plane shifting phenomenon as well as anything related to shadow dragons or shadow mountains. Malakai still isn't sure whether the disappearance was a mass teleport or something like plane shifting.  
At end of the day Angus Landslide calls Malakai down to hear out the accounts people who witnessed the event. The first most relevant witness testimony- a homeless guy, seems to be corroborated by everyone else, also the area of the event is measured to be couple hundred yards, which fits the previous disappearances. It is confirmed that Mother Ellyse, 2 town guards, all the people in Storybrook inn, many nobles and knights residing in the inn have disappeared. Father Owen, brother Loris, brother Frederick, Rohana remain. Also all of the houses and shops whose owners are gone have been looted in the chaos. 
In the meeting Malakai addresses Landslide and father Owen, Landslide has already sent all the relevant messages to the Count and Queen, Father Owen begins preaching about embracing Astair and that lack thereof is what brought on this tragedy, when questioned about whether this might be hand of Malkis directly, he doesn't entirely deny or support the notion. Malakai further on asks whether he could somehow contact Chis, but Owen explains that it's not really possible to have such a basic dialogue with beings of such devine making, Malakai lowkey insults the divine order, but before things get too heated apologises. 
At the end he makes a speech addressing the noble families urging them to donate to the towns coffers, Lord Sashbrawl comes forth questioning his intents, but Malakai announces that he will match his donations to the town and that they will be overseen be Chancellor Landslide not himself which seems to satisfy the crowd. Finally he begins excusing himself, declaring that his doors will be open to anyone seeking assistance or help in this, some noble questions whether he is now the replacement to Aldric to which Malakai offhandedly mentions that the previous Baron did recommend him for the seat instead, this gets a rise out of the crowd, but he placates the nobles by saying that in the ends it's either Queen or the Count who will decide on this. Before he leaves he dumps 95 gold into the donation basket. 
Back in Aldric's tower Malakai begins organising the library, making a priority reading list. He also goes over his spells considering if there are any that he might use to find Van, there don't seem to be so he starts looking for traces of where in Eridon there might be a crystal ball. Turns out that Queens Arc wizard Keldin posses such a magical item, but it's doubtful he might get access to it therefore he begins searching through his library on whether he can research a Magical mirror spell, turns out Aldric's library on its own is about 4000 gold worth which is a level below the required, however if he were to loot the books from gryphon tower back in Wake County it might be enough. Eventually though he heads to sleep.
=== Monday, 1509-12-05* ===
First thing the next morning Malakai does is check whether the area of disappearance has the same illusion aura that the villages had, which it does. Next he goes to check up on one of the jewelers shops and indeed finds it entirely looted so he walks to the next refugee occupied house on block and knocks, a somewhat timid hunched man with 3 children opens and Malakai invites himself in. They have a short discussion where Malakai probes him with general questions that have intimidating undertones ending with questioning him with an ESP spell about whether he has stolen anything from the Jeweler next door, poor man of course breaks under the mind reading spell as well as under threat of gallows. Turns out he has a few hundred gold upstairs which he brings down, swallowing 1 which Malakai of course makes a point of noting to him, but then the wizard makes an offer to the scared shitless peasant, he can keep 20% of the gold and the house if he gives a list of the other people who stole from the jeweler, backed into a corner the man caves in and describes everyone he saw, notably there being someone named Gary that might be a professional thief  and 4 unidentified sailors.
With a hit-list in hand Malakai makes his rounds around town, one woman, Cleo, attempts to run, but that doesn't go too splendidly. In a show of loyalty 3 people from the crowd help Malakai apprehend the thief and then drag her to guard house where she is imprisoned and sentenced to hang tomorrow. Another man attempts to run, but we all know how that might go. 
Lastly Malakai finds this Gary person at the docks playing dice games, with an aura of fear and command Malakai has everyone else give them space. He offers the thief a deal, he can keep 50% of what he stole and a continued employment by Malakai to be his eyes and ears in the gutters of Shirebrook for further rewards. Gary tries to make a distinction between stealing and finding the treasure, but with all cards Malakais hands there's not much the lowly thief can do but agree to the terms. First task Malakai gives him is to round up all the other stolen valuables looted during the chaos, reward being portion of them, the man requests some muscle for the job and is given directions to do what is necessary short of a murder in broad daylight although one in the dark might be fine, Gary seems rather satisfied with this arrangement and with promise to drop by the keep in a couple days and a final warning from Malakai they part. Malakai instructs the gate guards to take Gary to him without letting him wander around the keep.
Malakai returns to his tower and begins clairvoyancing about 3000 feet above the beasts cave where he saw the bones and treasure. He sees the shadow mountains, but cannot make out details so he casts the spell again in lower elevation getting a fairly good idea where exactly the lair is. 
Next Malakai visits Father Owens temple, however the cleric is busy preaching to the masses so he simply makes sure he is noticed and leaves. The wizard goes back to the keep then and finds himself the Malkis cleric, guard at the door mentions that he has been quiet to which Malakai makes a note of telling him that he would hate if he had to hang the guard if the cleric escaped. 
In the room Malakai kicks the cleric out of meditation and gives him pen and paper asking how are the accommodations first. The tongueless man seems to be polite and appreciative, next he is asked whether he can be trusted to cooperate with Malakai to which he replies that “Didn’t I tell you that we would working together one day?” to which Malakai can't help, but shrug. He appears not to have been in contact with Malkis lately, but to be aware of what is happening in Shirebrook writing “It’s better than whatever I could have hoped for”, he does affirm that he thinks this is Malkis doing. Malakai tells him that the restoration of his tongue will be the ultimate reward for helping him and then asks whether in that scenario the cleric will work with him to which the cleric answers “As long as our goals remain aligned we can accomplish great things together ” as well as saying that their goals are for the good of Arcadia. The cleric doesn't seem to care about Malakai coming into power which seems to displease Malakai a little, but he expresses intent on working together on other things. Malakai also ends up calling the cleric Croak.  
Later on Malakai goes to interrogate the 2 thieves on the promise of amnesty if they give him the location of their stolen goods. They spill the beans immediately, but are sentenced to hang anyway except the uncomfortable guards tell him only a Lord can give death penalty therefore they stay in dungeon until by his own word Malakai does indeed have the authority to order their deaths. The collected treasure is thrown into town treasury.  
At end of the day Malakai visits Father Owen again to check out what magical items they posses which are a potion of hill giant strength, philter of glibness, 4 cure critical wounds, protection from cold, protection from dragonbreath, cure disease, dispel evil, sticks to snakes,2 neutralize poison, heal spell, hold person, another cure critical wounds, blade barrier, insect purge, animate object all on a scroll. Malakai confirms that Heal spell should cure Rohana's illness and asks whether Owen would be willing to use it on her, the Father seems reluctant to although he will follow Malakais guidance on this. Malakai then tries to persuade Owen into supporting it by making a point of how Heal spell really is perfect for the occasion since a cure critical wounds would do the same job in taking care of wounds and how it doesn't possess the power to restore lost limbs anyway. Owen seems to cave in and be ready to go cast it on Rohana, they pack up and head to her shop.  
Once there Malakai goes in first, after quick pleasantries gives her a speech about how Malakai is short on multiple friends and important allies so she is one of the few he could potentially rely on to be of real help in these dire times. Sort of surprised, even amused on the formality of the request she agrees, but Malakai continues on telling her that now that it's in his power he feels obligated to help her so next he calls in Owen which seems to make her a little bewildered, but she sits down at his request. There's a little concern shared between them after Owen abstains from promising it won't hurt since he doesn't actually know whether it wouldn't. 
Deep blue, almost purple light surrounds Rohana as Father Owens cast the spell on her she begins coughing horridly until suddenly one of her breaths comes in normally, then another until its apparent the spell worked. Malakai embraces the stunned Rohana and then Owen politely asks whether he could inspect how the spell changed her since it's a rare occasion.  
After Owen leaves they go late into the night discussing the on goings, sharing information and making sure Rohana is up to speed with everything. He has her describe what she saw when she looked into Georgs mind and theorizes that due to fact the colors in the vision were de-saturated maybe he found the supposed phylactery on a different plane. Rohana then theorizes that alike Will-o-wisps a shadow dragon might feed off some sort of energy emitted in process of plane shifting people. Malakai also recalls how the first empty village they saw had some smoke mephits in there and that possibly could be related somehow. Rohana ends up suggesting that he really should find someone who knows more about the planes, but when Malakai implies there is only 1 person like that nearby she grows concerned for his safety, however Malakai rebukes her that if they are to save Vans life they will need to take some risks, not unlike how they just did with her. She leans closer and asks by whisper whether Van wasn't actually more of a hindrance to him than help, but he simply replies that that's besides the point and that he cannot let him be eaten by some beast which she accepts. Before parting he gives her the 2 magical daggers and a pearl to be identified. 
=== Tuesday, 1509-12-06* ===
During the night Malakai finds a gate guard to get a recommendation of a strong guard whom could deliver an important note. Together they go find a guard named Joana who they wake up. He instructs her to go find Arc Karl in Misty Rapids, which she takes with understandable hesitation, but he continues cajoling her that one cannot trust all the rumors about a wizard and that simply this is a risk they must take since their backs are against a wall on this matter. He also promises that if she were to die her family would never want again. She seems to cave in so he instructs her to go to Misty rapids, ask Baron Song's permissions to meet with Georg then finally give him the magical candle that lights at snap of a finger as token of goodwill. He also tells her to inform Georg that both Arc Aldric and Tyrus do not reside in town anymore and that Malakai welcomes his council. He hands her 40 gold and then gives her his blessings, also offering her 2 weeks of vacation once she's back, if she's back.
Back in his library he researches imps and mephits, but finds no relevant information so he plots how quickly he might be able to get to the shadow beasts cave. Deciding that giant eagle and a Pegasus are the fastest creatures he could polymorph into he goes over his spells once more and as a giant invisible eagle begins flying towards the shadow mountains.
The way to the mountains is peaceful and Malakai arrives there quickly, however he can't seem to find any immediate signs of a lair such as downed trees or cave entrances so he begins surveying the mountainside from a smaller altitude. When that doesn't succeed he lands and takes out his gem of true seeing and begins flying around in imp form instead. Malakai finds himself floating through a canyon in the mountain range, the spot where his scrying indicated the cave ought to be, still without leads however so he comes back down to the ground and using Monster summoning has 5 goblins scout up and down the canyon walls. He cannot see the creatures through the thick canopy, but after a little while Malakai notices a handful smoke mephits pop out of the greenery and then go back down again. Noting the location he heads back to Shirebrook, taking a short detour to the dwarven village where people disappeared from. At the village he visits the mine, but finds no smoke mephits in there. 
Back in Shirebrook, Malakai watches his town for a while as a regular sized eagle until he notices a child playing with a dog. He transforms back into himself and finds the child's father nearby whom is trying to sell a block of cheese. He buys the whole wheel and then gets himself some information where to find a local dog expert- miss Miller. Miller turns out to be a spiffy lady in her 60s who isn't even aware who Malakai is, but after some discussion Malakai uses Mirror image to impress her momentarily, but she seems distrustful of wizardly types. After some hitting-Malakai-clones-to-get-rid-of-Mirror-images shenanigans and more insults between the two Malakai hands her 35 gold to go get some puppies from kennels in Thornwood as well as tips on how to train them. They make note of getting blood hounds and fighting dogs and the new business partners part with the lady backing into the house clutching the gold distrustfully. 
Malakai spends rest of the day trying to find info on smoke mephits.
=== Tuesday, 1509-12-07* ===
In the morning Rohana comes by and gives Malakai the two daggers telling him that they're daggers of throwing which do twice the normal dagger damage when thrown. Looking for a target to throw them at Malakai notes a portrait of a women in Aldrics room with Aldina written on the back of it,Aldric's mother. Malakai puts the portrait back on the wall and throws daggers at it until he confirms they are +3 daggers. He notes to himself they would be an excellent gift for a competent spy master. 
== Experience and changes ==
System changed to new 2.N rule system.
* Malakai has weapon proficiency in sling and staff. 
* Malakai has non-weapon proficiency in reading/writing, swimming, navigation, seamanship, artistic ability in drawing, etiquette, bureaucracy, cartography, spellcraft, ancient history- archaeology now. 
* Spell components will now be used. 
* No limit to spells known.
* Death at -10
* Critical hits added
* Perception stat created from averaging INT and WIS.
4125 XP gained this session.
* Denotes dates that are extrapolated from a previous mention of an exact date.
Category:Hardcore Heroes Episodes