Tears of Liscor recap

After rescuing Ceria and Mrsha from Liscor's dungeon, Erin helps the survivors recover while Rags and other Goblin factions are driven south by a human army. Rhys, a Goblin Lord controlled by Az'kerash, tries to force Rags to help seize Liscor, but she refuses and survives his attempt to kill her. As human trebuchets break the city's defenses, Erin's allied Goblins return and fight Rhys's army to protect Liscor. Garen frees Rhys briefly from magical control, but both brothers die, along with Pyrite, the Goblin spellcaster, Yellow Splatters, and many Goblin and Antinium fighters. Magnolia Reinhart coerces the human commander into withdrawing before he attacks the damaged city. Rags gathers the Goblin survivors under her rule as Great Chieftain of the Mountain, while Erin closes her inn in grief beside the critically wounded Head Scratcher. Az'kerash remains active, Mrsha's emerging magic needs training, and Calruz warns that a female presence still waits below the dungeon.

Previously: Erin's Wandering Inn became a meeting place for people who would ordinarily regard one another as enemies. She formed close ties with Goblins and individual Antinium, while caring for the young Gnoll Mrsha with Lyonette. The Horns of Hammerad entered Liscor's dangerous dungeon, and Ceria was separated from her companions. Calruz, the Horns' former Minotaur captain, became the leader of the furred hunters holding captives below the city. A combined rescue force entered the dungeon, aided by Erin's Redfang Hobgoblin guests and Cave Goblins who turned against the hunters. The operation recovered Ceria, Mrsha, and other Gnoll prisoners, and brought Calruz back in custody. Rags continued leading the Flooded Waters Goblins while rival Goblin powers and human armies gathered.

Ceria and Mrsha return safely to Liscor, though neither is ready to leave the dungeon's effects behind. Erin takes the survivors to a sunny meadow, where a picnic and baseball game grow into a peaceful gathering of Goblins, Antinium, adventurers, and nearby civilians. Liscor celebrates the rescue but refuses to pay the Redfang Goblins an official reward. Ilvriss instead passes a recovered enchanted axe to Erin for them, and the rescued adventurers divide a valuable dungeon haul before agreeing to stop exploring below for now. Elsewhere, human cavalry drives Rags and the exhausted Flooded Waters tribe south until they are folded into a much larger Goblin migration. Rags meets Tremborag, Garen Redfang, and Rhys, the undead-backed Goblin Lord. Rhys reveals that he and Garen were once close and that Garen possesses one of two keys to a hidden Goblin legacy. Rags accepts only a temporary alignment with Rhys. Her Redfang warriors choose her over Garen, while Tremborag secretly murders her lieutenant Quietstab.

Rags discovers that Tremborag murdered Quietstab. She ambushes his larger tribe while the pursuing human army attacks from behind, but rejects personal vengeance and leaves Tremborag to the humans. He dies fighting their lord, and much of his shattered tribe joins Rags. Rhys's master then demonstrates the ability to control him, exposing the danger behind their alliance. At Erin's inn, Bird befriends a winged adventurer and explains the precarious status of individual Antinium. The five Redfang Hobgoblins train growing groups of Cave Goblins, but an older Goblin Lord enters their cave in disguise and defeats them. Bird nearly strikes him with an arrow, provoking a devastating retaliation that leaves Bird critically injured. The Redfangs carry Bird to the Antinium Hive, where Klbkch seeks the Queen's help. Olesm declares a siege emergency as Rhys and the human army approach Liscor. He seizes Erin's magical door and arrests Erin's five Goblin allies. Bird's survival is still uncertain.

The Antinium Queens save Bird through extraordinary surgery, though the wider Hives secretly plan to let Liscor fall and retake it afterward. Thieves steal Erin's magical door and destroy its direct reinforcement link, but Numbtongue and the Cave Goblins recover it. Krshia confirms that Mrsha can learn conventional plant magic from the guarded Silverfang spell book, then uses Mrsha to complete a citywide ritual that strengthens Liscor's courage. Rhys orders Rags to help seize Liscor for Az'kerash. She refuses, and Rhys tries to kill her, fracturing the Goblin coalition. Pyrite appears to die protecting her but survives by drawing power from magic gemstones, and Rags regathers a remnant. Numbtongue brings roughly twenty-four thousand Cave Goblins to Liscor to demand the release of the imprisoned Redfangs. Erin negotiates their freedom and the return of their equipment in exchange for a peaceful withdrawal. As the Cave Goblins prepare to leave, Garen encounters surviving members of his former Gold-rank team, who accuse him of murdering their companions and taking a key.

Garen admits killing former teammates but calls their resistance betrayal. Head Scratcher and the other Redfang Hobgoblins refuse his execution order and challenge his authority. Although Garen defeats them in an unarmed fight, neither they nor the Cave Goblins submit. Goblin refugees later reach Erin's inn, where they share food, music, and dance with Pawn's Painted Antinium. Gary, the Free Queen's isolated cook, visits the camp, wins a cooking contest, and forms a new partnership with Erin. Liscor's situation continues to deteriorate. Drake reinforcements cannot arrive in time, while the Hives prepare their own hidden army and evacuation tunnels. Yvlon refuses her brother's attempt to remove her from the city, choosing the Horns and Erin. Ilvriss secures the magical door as a final evacuation route. Laken Godart recognizes his complicity in driving the Goblins toward war but cannot halt the human campaign, and Magnolia Reinhart begins a separate plan to prevent the conflict. The Goblins at Erin's inn narrowly vote to flee south, while Rags continues toward Liscor and Garen initially turns away.

Garen turns back, reconciles with his remaining riders, and joins Rags on the road to Liscor. Rhys arrives with undead ahead of the expected Drake relief, while the human army uses enchanted trebuchets to break the city's eastern defenses. Erin walks out under a white flag and calls for a truce, but the human commander ignores her. Head Scratcher and the other Redfangs return with the Flooded Waters, Redfang, and Cave Goblin forces. At Erin's request, they charge Rhys's much larger army to defend Liscor. Rhys's necromancers raise casualties from both sides. The Goblin spellcaster and Numbtongue turn the inn's stored mana into a lightning storm, while Pawn and one hundred veteran Painted Antinium disobey orders to reach Erin. Garen severs Az'kerash's control link, briefly freeing Rhys and reconciling with him as a brother. The human lord kills Rhys, and Ralk kills Garen during the retreat. Magnolia Reinhart forces the human army to withdraw by threatening its leaders' homes. Liscor survives, but Pyrite, the Goblin spellcaster, Yellow Splatters, and many others are dead, while Head Scratcher is gravely wounded. Rags becomes Great Chieftain of the Mountain over the surviving Goblins. Pawn establishes remembrance for his fallen soldiers, Ilvriss learns in secret that Az'kerash lives, and Laken takes Goblin prisoners north under protection. Erin's inn closes. Calruz remains imprisoned and warns Ceria about a female presence deeper in the dungeon.

Liscor survives, but its walls and eastern gate are badly damaged. Magnolia Reinhart's threat forces the human army to withdraw, postponing rather than resolving the wider conflict. Rhys dies at Erin's inn after Garen frees him briefly from Az'kerash's control, and Ralk kills Garen as he fights toward the city. Pyrite, the Goblin spellcaster, Yellow Splatters, and one hundred other Painted Antinium also fall. Head Scratcher remains critically wounded, Bird is still recovering, and Erin closes the inn while grieving. Rags unites the surviving Flooded Waters, Redfang, Cave Goblins, and remnants of Rhys's army as Great Chieftain of the Mountain. Laken Godart takes several hundred Goblin prisoners north under his protection. Pawn establishes that the Antinium dead will be remembered as heroes and refuses to have Yellow Splatters resurrected. Ilvriss secretly learns that Az'kerash survived. Calruz remains imprisoned and warns Ceria of a female presence deeper in the dungeon, while the Horns commit to growing stronger together. The hidden mountain legacy still requires Garen's key and a second unknown key.