Rains of Liscor recap

After Zel Shivertail's death, Erin keeps five Redfang Hobgoblins at the Wandering Inn despite public anger and turns the inn into a theater and commercial refuge. A dungeon expedition triggers a face-eater moth assault, but Liscor survives through the combined efforts of its Watch, adventurers, Antinium, and Erin's allies. The painted Antinium earn public honor, while the returned army remains distrustful. The Redfangs later enter the dungeon, escape with three artifacts, and gain recognition as prospective adventurers. Selys inherits Zel's Heartflame Breastplate, survives an abduction attempt, activates the armor, and chooses to keep and lease it rather than yield it to a state. Elsewhere, Laken passes Magnolia Reinhart's dangerous political test, Flos publicly resumes his challenge to world powers, and Rags leads Flooded Waters to rescue another goblin tribe. The dungeon, Rhys, the campaign against goblins, and the struggle over Zel's armor all remain active threats.

Previously: Erin established the Wandering Inn outside Liscor and made it a meeting place for people who would rarely trust one another. Her household includes Lyonette and the orphaned Gnoll Mrsha, while her allies span adventurers, Drakes, Gnolls, Antinium, and goblins. The Horns of Hammerad explore the dangerous dungeon beneath Liscor, and the city's uneasy coexistence with the nearby Antinium Hive remains politically fragile. Erin has also protected five Redfang Hobgoblins, placing her at odds with widespread fear of their kind. Elsewhere in Izril, Laken Godart has founded the Unseen Empire around River Farm, Magnolia Reinhart maneuvers among northern powers, and Rags leads the independent Flooded Waters Tribe. Flos, the King of Destruction, has returned to rule in Chandrar. The recent struggle against the Goblin Lord ended with the death of the Drake general Zel Shivertail, leaving Liscor and much of Drake society in grief and sharpening the threat of a broader war against goblins.

So far this book: Toren survives secretly inside Liscor's dungeon, sustained by its mana and divided between two presentations that share one skeletal body. While guiding a silver-rank party under a living disguise, Toren destroys a cluster of unknown eggs. The disturbed creatures press toward the surface. Aboveground, Mrsha conceals her own rapid development. She learns simple plant magic, befriends wild creatures, and helps an alliance of animals defeat insectoid predators near the inn. She returns with one of their eggs, alerting the adults to a nearby danger, and secretly consolidates her classes into Druid. Erin continues reshaping the Wandering Inn into a public institution. Its magical expansion provides a large theater, its goblin guards have paid work, and an application seeks to register the five Redfangs as Bronze-rank adventurers. These changes offer the inn new income and legitimacy, but Liscor's hostility toward goblins and the dangers emerging from the dungeon remain unresolved.

Liscor's dungeon erupts with face-eater moths, including enormous mother moths, and both the city and the Wandering Inn come under attack. Erin refuses to evacuate. The Horns, Halfseekers, Silver Swords, Redfangs, Watch, civilians, and Antinium fight across the inn, streets, walls, and Hive. Erin forces Pallas to witness the emergency through her magical door, though its soldiers arrive only after long debate. When more giant moths emerge and defeat appears imminent, Pisces organizes a large weather spell using the inn's mana and allied casters. Torrential rain grounds the swarm and drives the survivors back toward the dungeon. Pallas troops kill several retreating giants, while two escape below. The city survives, but the inn and Hive are damaged, casualties require attention, and the dungeon is formally designated gold-rank. In Chandrar, Flos seeks new weapons, aids a blacksmith threatened with enslavement, and publicly announces his return, a conditional promise of peace, and his chosen enemies.

Laken Godart develops River Farm into the administrative center of the Unseen Empire while the Goblin Lord's army advances nearby. Magnolia Reinhart then imposes a gathering of nobles intended to test whether Laken can govern as an emperor. He abandons an expensive attempt to imitate aristocratic custom and instead holds an outdoor feast shared by nobles and villagers, placing Durene openly beside him. The Fair Folk attend, bringing both prestige and danger. Several guests are injured after being lured from safety, and a poisoned cup is discovered, but Laken prevents unsupported accusations from escalating into further violence. Magnolia's representatives conclude that he has passed the test and may be an ally, though the poisoner remains unknown. Back in Liscor, recovery from the moth assault includes honoring dead painted soldiers, preventing larvae from spreading, and repairing the inn. Olesm reaches level 30 as a Strategist. A returning company of Liscor's army then approaches the flooded city without knowing how heavily Antinium contributed to its survival.

Fourth Company sees painted Antinium on Liscor's walls and mistakes the defenders for an occupying force. Yellow Splatters and Purple Smile prepare to resist the company's light-bridge assault, but Zevara and Olesm stop both sides before fighting begins. Wing Commander Embrya Grastung accepts Zevara's authority within the city after learning that the Antinium helped repel the moths. A public parade then honors the true defenders. Citizens applaud Pawn's soldiers as recognizable individuals, while Fourth Company's attempt to present itself as Liscor's new protection receives a cool response. Ralk reveals that Embrya is his daughter. She asks him to return to military service, but he chooses his life in the Watch. She also warns Erin's Redfang guests that Drake cities are expanding bounties and campaigns against goblin tribes in Zel's name. The city has avoided another war with the Antinium, but the army's prejudice remains, and the goblins' refuge at the inn is now threatened by an organized regional hunt.

Erin's theatrical version of Liscor's defense makes the inn's new stage a success, but it also exposes the guilt of the silver-rank party that entered the dungeon before the siege. The party admits that it destroyed a chamber of moth eggs and concealed its role in provoking the attack. It also reports organized furred hunters, a trapped treasure chamber, and other signs that missing adventurers may have been deliberately hunted. The five Redfangs secretly descend to claim the chamber's artifacts. They evade ambushers, traps, and cave goblins, then encounter a huge headless collector that paralyzes them and uses severed heads. After the chamber's defenses injure the creature, the goblins take three artifacts and flee. Bad Arrow is poisoned and nearly drowns, but Head Scratcher refuses to abandon him. Erin joins the rescue at the flooded entrance, and all five return alive. Their success gives Erin grounds to call them adventurers, although the escaped collector and the organized dungeon hunters remain active threats.

The Redfang survivors give Liscor a fuller account of the dungeon, including a paralyzing guardian whose humanlike face resembles a missing adventurer. Erin seeks official recognition for the five, but the Guild requires someone to guarantee their conduct. Meanwhile, Magnolia Reinhart returns Zel Shivertail's preserved body to Liscor. His will leaves Selys his equipment, including the long-lost Heartflame Breastplate. The artifact kills the healer who removed it, forcing Liscor to cremate Zel while holding a public military funeral. Selys inherits the armor but does not join the public oath of vengeance. She also supervises Pisces's controlled undead sewer workers, and their practical cooperation develops into trust. Research shows the breastplate belongs to a larger set and may create a flame ward. In Pallas, hired captors abduct Selys and try to force a transfer. Pisces follows and frees her. The kidnappers are arrested, but their patron remains unidentified. Selys and Pisces test possible commands without activating the armor, and she authorizes him to continue the research while she remains under guard.

Liscor survives the moth breach, honors the painted Antinium who defended it, and avoids a clash when Fourth Company mistakes those defenders for occupiers. Erin's damaged inn is now a theater, trading point, and refuge. The five Redfangs survive their unauthorized dungeon expedition, recover three artifacts, and receive approval in principle to register as Bronze-rank adventurers under Selys's responsibility. The gold-rank dungeon remains active with moths, organized hunters, traps, and a head-collecting creature. Selys inherits Zel's lethal Heartflame Breastplate, activates its wearer-safe fire, refuses to surrender it to a city, and plans to lease it for dungeon work while an unknown patron continues seeking it. Laken leaves his noble gathering recognized as a possible ally, though its poisoner is unknown. Flos announces his return and his enemies. Rags defeats a human force to save another goblin tribe, while Rhys and the wider campaigns against goblins remain unresolved.