Prophecies & Intrigue 2: Caves and Kitchen Thieves.

The Careful Carvers is very welcoming and Henry the trader is very hospitable and a great cook judging by the smell! With some time before dinner, Hung and Sai decide it's been a while since they've trained so they train under the fading light of the sun while they wait. After sparring, they head inside for their meal. All of a sudden Henry asks, "Do you hear that?" He thinks he heard someone yelling for help. Being concerned, the two adventurers follow the yells (which they both can hear clearly now) and find a gnome in a hole in a clearing in the forest. His name is Malkey, and despite the manacles around his wrists and being pulled out of some kind of makeshift prison, they decide to bring him back to the trading post to join them for dinner. They enjoy dinner together and have some small talk and Sai decides to go out for a hunt so she can make some gold and manages to take down an elk as well as scare an otter family before coming back to the cabin to settle in for the night.

Before bed Hung takes the time to go outside and look up at the stars, thinking whether his parents are looking at those very same stars at this moment. Hung, Sai and Malkey all go to bed, but the night didn’t go exactly as planned as they were awakened by a break-in... Goblins! Henry awakes and shoos them out the door and tells the travelers what he's been dealing with with these goblins. Apparently, they’re stealing his kitchenware, and these break-ins are getting tiresome.

The next day, the party decides to help Henry (who is now highly concerned for his missing wife Hannah). He points the adventurers to the goblin cave to see what’s up. Malkey sends his beetle; whom he's named Nutbag, ahead and warns Sai and Hung that there are 2 guards at the cave entrance. They all discuss what to do and decide to try and talk to the guards. Surprisingly they immediately take you to their commander! In the largest cavern of the cave that they can see, Hung also sees a small motionless humanoid in a dark corner, and Malkey looking around from under Hung; sees it too.

They find that the greedy Goblin King wants gifts and is very curious as to how Malkey is alive, but this is the first time Malkey has seen the Goblin King. He speaks of a human that gave their shaman a stone and other trinkets and promised more treasure if they made them an army to help stop the propesky, whatever that means. They try to negotiate a trade for the figure in the shadows, but the Goblin King doesn't want to exchange the prisoner because she knows too much and she must stay. That was enough for Sai to start the fray and give him the gift of her axe.

As the battle ensues, Hung; seeing an opening after Sai sends vibrations through the stone under the king's chair, ‘sweeps the leg’ of the chair causing the foul creature to spill onto the floor. He then sees that Malkey is in trouble fighting a Worg, it was obvious that that had to be taken down right away. It's claws and fangs strike out at the already wounded Hung, and he drops down to his knees, his consciousness evading him for a moment. Malkey learns his new beetle friend can help in times of need and was healed by the clockwork insect, and good thing because that damn goblin seemed to dodge his best attempts … what a waste of a witch bolt! It was a struggle but the adventurers did overcome them, taking down the Goblin king and intimidating any other goblin cohorts to flee. They are tired, they are hurt, and and they start hauling the missing kitchenware. Hung finds and picks up the Goblin King's Spear and Crown from the ground, and Malkey snatches and throws the crown grumbling irratibly under his breath. Sai picks up the unconscious halfling woman and they all head back to Careful Carvers Trading post as Malkey tells them all of Hupperdook…

Sai - you don’t know why but as you’re walking your vision starts to close in, it’s like stars are in your eyes. Your limbs feel extra heavy not to mention the weight of the unconscious halfling, or that on top of the elk you lugged yesterday, you are exhausted … a flash of light before your eyes and from your mind and you’re in the midst of a battle, you are prone looking up at the enemy with a sword in their hand - tip at your throat -, all hope was lost in that moment, but then with a powerful yell, in a fluid movement as the enemy was poised to strike you rolled to your knee and thrust your sword up through his heart - then with a quick intake of breath, you have your wits about you in the present time, the present world … but the memory remains as you look around to see if anyone noticed anything, you shake away the stars and readjust Hannah, at least you think its Hannah, on your shoulder using that surge of energy to carry on.

Malkey - You wearily walk alongside your new companions questioning whether or not you should have ripped the crown from hung like that, I mean you’re glad they met you and you’re grateful that they got you out of that hole…. And traveling back to Hupperdook alone definitely isn’t appealing, you don’t even know where you are now! Ultimately you know you were perturbed, to say the least just being attacked by a ‘dog’ and being called dead, and the wasted energy you spent for the witch bolt on account of that tyrannous ‘King’ - it would have been a beauty too! As you cycle through it all again in your mind a fire churns from deep within you, to the point where you can feel your cheeks getting red with the anger and frustration of the past couple of days. Does anybody notice, you look around? You don’t think so, but it feels like something deep down inside of you has … awakened, leaving you feeling a bit more revitalized.

Hung - ‘What strange happenings. You not know what spear means or why was here, how strange. Hung thinks means something more, a sign, Hung on right path for quest…’ You also think back on the battle but your thoughts wander to the way your body reacted when it felt like the lights were going to go out and the forever sleep would come. There was a second where you were no longer in the cave, it was dark but you saw a soft blue light; for a moment you felt as if it was forming a symbol like the one inscribed on your medallion. You feel as if you can touch endless possibilities for a moment, like you could just choose what happens next. Then a

shadow crosses in front of it, you think you recognize the silhouette but it's been years … your mother’s frame will always be familiar though. The ethereal figure approaches and comes into focus the blue light fades away and you see, that’s not your mother … Babushka? You can see the resemblance to your mother, but you’ve only heard of Babushka. Your mother loved to talk of her when you were small and this vision matched her loving descriptions. “Itabidi wafanye vizuri zaidi ya hapo.” - ‘They'll have to do better than that.’ Then it feels like you were slammed back into reality and there was still a Worg to deal with. You feel love in your heart for your family but your mind wanders back to the brief moment before Babushka appeared, when the blue light was the brightest and you could see strings of energy tracing the symbol, you felt like everything and nothing in that moment. It was still and enchanting, Perhaps this is the physical body of Ki like what your masters always spoke about, you don’t know but you definitely feel more connected to the energy field within and around than before.