Hardcore Heroes Otherside: Episode 1

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== Synopsis ==
As extra-planar fog creatures attack a refugee settlement, Kain and Van engage in a desperate defense, battling the creatures and witnessing chaos as some townspeople are possessed. With Mother Ellyse and a few nobles among the survivors, they retreat to a keep, discovering that the plane they're on is eerily devoid of color and sustenance. Van, who cannot contact his deity, struggles to manage the situation while Kain organizes a ragtag defense force from the remaining townspeople. They face numerous challenges, including missing food supplies and peculiar encounters with stone creatures. Deciding their best chance for survival lies in finding a portal back home, Van and Kain lead an expedition towards the shadow mountains, hoping to discover a way out of their grim predicament.
==Recap==
=== The Arrival ===
With fog creatures bearing down on the extra-planar refugees Kain takes it upon himself to defend the people, he fires an arrow which hits one them straight in the body who then begins transforming into a bipedal barrel chested form with plate-like natural armor, intimidating long claws and a squished broad face framed by long floppy ears. Van calls for Mother Ellyse to stay in safety and anyone who knows how to fight to come join the fray as he engages the creature which charges at him unsuccessfully. 
More fog creatures begin crawling down from the sides of buildings and leaping into the crowd for some delicious townspeople, but party is busy engaging the foremost one. Quickly the crowd devolves into utter chaos as people begin panicking and tumbling which ever way into safety of buildings. Van seeming to be more than a match to a single of these monsters Kain turns around to help the people only to see one of the creatures seemingly slipping inside a random human. Somewhat freaked out by this Kain turns back to help Van fearing he might be subjected to same fate, whatever it might be, however at that moment it is struck down by the cleric so both of them turn around once again seeing the crowd still retreating into houses while the possibly possessed man is curled up on the ground clutching his head and puking. Van takes a moment trying to think of a way how to force the thing out of the townsman and decides on casting Sanctuary while Kain stands guard over him when before them another of the creatures merges with a peasant. Which prompts Kain to urge them to do something more. 
Van runs up to Ellyse and tells her that the creatures might be attracted to their life force, but when she asks whether they ought to just split up then he thinks better of it and leaves it at them needing to come up with a long-term plan. The knights seem nowhere to be found and another fog creature merges with a man until seemingly the chaos dies down with 6 people rolling around on the ground. 
Adrenaline running through them the party surveys the scene, finally noticing that wherever they are there appears to be no colour here and the environment seems to be in permanent twilight. Van declares that it might be best if they left the possessed people on the street to which mother Ellyse immediately protests and argues they could lock them in her quarters. Kain joins Van in this since they don't know what exactly gas been done to these people and whether they could pass through cracks in door or windows if they exit them. Before they decide on this 8 nobles filter out of Storybrook inn, age wise the group seems to vary from 20s to 70s with some actually having recognizable faces such as Lady Ester Highwind and her husband Thoros, Lord Boxer and his wife Jessica, Lord Seph as well as 2 knights and an unrecognizable noble woman. 
Lady Highwind comes up to the trio and immediately demands to know what is the meaning of this to which Van tells her to get inside the temple which of course, as a noble, she doesn't take kindly to, Mother Ellyse takes the reins though and urges her with more proper etiquette. One of the knights introduces herself as Kel Breda and asks what's wrong with the 6 writhing peasants, once Kain explains she seems to begin drawing out her long sword which both of them try to placate her out of. Appears that besides her there is only 1 other capable knight here and when Van begins planning how to keep them from growing fatigued she seems to be startled that apparently the adventuring cleric has no idea how to get back from wherever they are. Kain implores Van to seek help in his god, but the cleric argues they should be creating some sort of defense line first, problem is though not everyone can fit in the church so Kain proposes going to the keep instead. 
Having cast Unfailing endurance they begin organizing to march on the keep, they find Jeeves keeping Chester safe. It takes a while, but the panicky and dispersed people start organizing. Kain keeps an eye on the afflicted humans who seem to be getting better, their family members coming over to help them. Kain shares this with Van who decidedly tells him they need to keep them quarantined and they have 2 towns guards round the 7 peasants up. Kain seeks out 3 of them who seem to have neither friends nor family with them and asks what they saw, felt, how they feel now. One of the people describes the sensation of breathing in fire and ice at same time when the creature crawled inside which then converted to feeling like he had eaten something rotten while his entire core was in pain. 
Meanwhile, the crowd seems to have been assembled so they advance on the keep. Perceiving nothing along the way they gather at the gates where one the knights futilely calls for the gatekeeper, snapping at Kain when he tells them that there isn't one. Kain looks up at the 20 feet wall and sighs, being the likely best equipped person to climb the wall. Unfortunately though the ranger slips at the top of the wall and ends up falling like a sack of potatoes taking 8 damage from the fall. Van is the one who clambers up it in his plate armor instead, gloating at top of it.
=== The Keep ===
The keep seems to be empty of threats and they slowly filter inside, the building easily fitting all of them even if there aren't enough bedrooms. Van brings up the topic of sustenance with Ellyse, Van can create plenty water, but food seems to be an issue even if people can go longer without it. They also have the 7 marked people put in a single room with 1 guard.  
Priority being food for now they begin searching for the cellar, but as they walked around the keep it appears some things are simply missing, furniture seems to be in place, but cupboards are empty and there is no food to be found anywhere. A little discouraged they head back to find mother Ellyse leading a group prayer. Van decides it might be a good time to change his spells and asks Kain to keep an eye on him, he still holds some hope of finding food in town storage's arguing that keep might have been just in the empty state since it's abandonment. Kain puts the question forth on what exactly this plane mirrors, possibly there not being any food anywhere. It appears that candles are missing as well while trees remain which confuses Kain even further.  
Breda volunteers to go into town, but with Kains suggestions decides to wait for Van to wake up. To Vans dread it appears that Chis cannot be contacted from wherever they are which means he only has a handful of spells for an unforeseeable amount of time. Mother Ellyse is busy leading a prayer for sake of giving people something to do. 
Kain visits the quarantined people some of which some are being visited by family, he makes a note of studying them for any changes as well mentioning the guards to watch them for any. It appears they are growing somewhat agitated and a few begin demanding to be let out, Kain's pleas to think of the situation falling on deaf ears. Kain instructs the guard to call for him if they grow rowdier. 
Finding himself godless Van gets the idea to attempt speaking with Malkis, the father of Chis, but gets no answer from him either so from Chester he brings out the god figurines which he tries to use to amplify his prayers. Trying to find a connection he goes into a trance like state and even without reply keeps digging further for a connection. 
In the armory Kain finds enough equipment to arm and armor a small army so he goes back to see who could potentially serve as a makeshift fighting force. It mostly seems to be the tavern owners, some fishermen, sailors, stonemasons and refugees aka hodgepodge of peasants and a few professionals. Consulting with the knights Kain selects some folks and begins armoring them.  
Few hours later Van is done praying without much effect and heads back to the main group with Astair figurine in his pocket. On the way he notices the loud protests coming from quarantine room and visits it attempting to put some sense into the people there. Van seems to actually calm them down by explaining that they are probably safer in here, in case something does happen else they might end up being put to the blade out there. Van visits Ellyse and gives her the figurine asking whether she can contact her patron, but it appears that she cannot do so either. 
Lord Cougler, the other knight, visits Van sort of jovially pointing out how there doesn't seem any need for lanterns here and how everything has the same low level lighting.  
Later on Van proposes to Ellyse that they might need find a holy place where their prayers might be amplified, she suggests heading to the main temple in town, maybe with a small group of people and see if that works. She then goes to inform the rest of the people of their plan, except she calls it an expedition of scouting rather than attempting to find their gods. 
Kain walks by the quarantine room and hears soft crying so instead of going in he just fetches Jeeves with whom they are going to carry Chester to the temple. They also grab a few random towns people including 1 crossbowmen so in total 7. 
=== The Expedition ===
Shirebrook seems eerily quiet, no animals anywhere to be found only the sound of the water and vegetation. Road to the temple is quiet and without adversaries, temple itself seems unoccupied and somewhat creepy in this still weird world. Without anything else to do they begin setting up the ritual prayer, Van has the idea of making an offering to the gods so out comes the extremely valuable pair of crowns which he begins gathering materials to melt with.  
Van and Kain make a quick detour to nearby inn hoping to find some coal, but appears that is missing as well, miffed they go back the church only to see 2 creatures crawling down the face of the church and immediately run towards it yelling. One of the creatures immediately comes to engage them and launches itself at Van managing to merge with him despite suffering a heavy scimitar wound. Kain is taken aback and the other creature uses the chance to face plant itself into him. Despite being in terrible pain Van throws off his breastplate and with fury in his mind stabs himself where the burning sensation is coming from- his own belly. Now in even more pain he cannot really tell whether it helped or not so he stabs himself again completely replacing the burning sensation with getting stabbed sensation, finally he heals himself with a , which probably saves him from having health problems down the line. Kain meanwhile is just wallowing around on the ground, not quite willing to do the same with his axe. Once Van comes to though he offers to do the same with Kain who seems to go with it so Van drags him into church to horror of Ellysa once she realizes what Van did to himself to get rid of the thing. To the horror of the peasants watching Van then proceeds to stab Kain multiple times until he is almost dead.  
Using some cloak cloth they bandage Kain up and after some minutes he is able to actually sit up. Kain offers prayers to the gods, but they reach deaf ears. A little while later mother mother Ellyse comes by, and almost accusingly heals both of them despite their refusals. Kain inquires whether she knows practical healing, but it appears that none of the clergy here have any doctor training. Van brings up the topic that there doesn't seem to be any food here and staying in a large group might be entirely unsustainable, but Ellyse argues that by splitting up they might just starve in smaller groups. They however don't know whether there aren't some people or foodstuffs in other places on this plane which might be easier to find if they split without clear best scenario though they don't come with a clear plan yet so Van digs through his memory of something like a portal leading to other planes. While Van has a decent idea of the general make up the universe such as the 4 elemental planes, the world staff he isn't exactly an expert on the other planes which are a fairly complex topic only few ever talk about, as for portals they are a rare phenomenon though and there's no known exact portal that they could take.  
But then with a light bulb sparking in Vans mind he brings up the shadow mountains beast, since it's apparently the thing that caused this and possibly related to this plane somehow, he offers going to its lair where potentially there could be a way back. Kain argues though if it exists on this plane they have no way of defeating or if they come out into its lair they'll simply be killed on their home plane. However, without animals and without their gods all of them could just end up starving or even if some survive it would likely be a miserable living. Van suggests they might just try parlaying with it if anything, but based on the pile of bones Kain argues otherwise. At an impasse they decide that exploring Shirebrook forest might be a good route, perhaps even going to Kain's village. Solemnly Ellyse pipes up that people may go up to 3 weeks without food, although it's hard to say what's the breaking point until cannibalism. Since she is rather old though so they can't really take the other cleric with them, but before they go Kain gets the rest of her healing assortment. Van also shares his experience being infiltrated by one of the fog creatures making Ellyse think they might be parasites of some type. They share some suggestions back and forth for defending from these fog creatures and then with a solemn Jeeves they go searching for a wheelbarrow or some such to help haul their chest with. 
=== Kains Village ===
With a slight detour to find a good crossing spot they make their way towards Kain's old village. There don't seem to be any animal tracks whatsoever and the flora seems very incomplete, while there are fair bit of trees and bushes none of them have flowers or berries. There's no tracks on this place and there appears to be a slight wrongness or misplacement of many things. While still near the river Van checks if reflections show anything different, but they appear to be entirely normal. Van ponders whether this is some sort of a different timeline where world went through an apocalypse, but the buildings in the village appear to be fairly time untouched, not more than the normal world used to. While they're exploring the village they notice that one of the water spouts appears to be following their movement, Van tries greeting it, but that gets no reaction.  
Faced with how barren this world is Van again argues they should go south, that they should rather take chances parlaying with the shadow beast than dying of starvation or going mad.They get ready to go back to Shirebrook, but out of the corner of his eye Kain notices the gargoyle water spouts are missing. They pick up the pace, but from the sky down comes the pair of stone creatures which simultaneously attack and get attacked by the party. The fight is short but intense, however the armor does its job and party come out mostly unscathed. 
=== Return to Shirebrook ===
Few hours later, or at least what seems like a few hours the party arrives back at the keep. Breda opens the front gate, but before letting them in demands some sort of proof of their identity, a memory from Shirebrook only someone who lived there would know, at first he recalls how once Malakais father came
in with a mithril shipment, but that doesn't quite ring a bell with her so he brings up Aldric's and how much of a dick he was which immediately grants him entry. 
They call a meeting with knights and Mother Ellyse, it's hard to tell how long has passed, but Ellyse predicts they've already missed a few meals by now judging by her hunger. Since there doesn't seem to be anything more edible than tree leaves however Van proposes heading to the shadow mountains to search for the portal back home. Kain notes how he is yet to feel hunger. Lord Cougler objects to bringing everyone at same time though, arguing that there is still time and that putting all their eggs in same basket might not be best approach. More people though means higher chances of finding the cave, also they don't know what Malakai is doing as he might be trying to save them. Van mentions how the world seems to be slightly different from their home to mother Ellyse whom agrees, almost as if someone planted a tree seed in the same spot in both planes which then grew up slightly differently. With as many people as there are the knights decide they ought to keep the townspeople safe so they suggest the party to take some of the equipped peasants instead, Breda also, with some suspicion, mentions she heard one of the monsters entered Kain, but Van self evidently explains that he stabbed him multiple times where it ought to have entered his stomach. Some raised eyebrows are had, but she lets it go.  
They gather up 6 spears and 2 crossbows for their party of 20 as well as 8 suits of leather armor. Van with his charismatic looks manages to get 20 people to volunteer themselves instead of just ordering them to come. 
=== Long Road Into Shadowmountains ===
Kain makes a point of taking a large cooking pot with them. 
The group find some rowboats and head up the crystals run towards hidden valley while Kain ponders what possible greenery they could try boiling for some sustenance. Van doesn't explain their true plan to the peasants though, only that the mountains should be connected to this somehow and they're going there in hopes of finding something. 
== Experience and changes ==
System changed to new 2.N rule system.
* Kain has weapon proficiency in longbow, dagger, broadsword and expertise in battle-axe (Trained by dwarf from his village).
* Kain has non-weapon proficiencies in tracking, fletching, herbalism, language dwarven/giant, musical instrument- flute, leather working, swimming.
* Van has expertise in scimitar, proficiency in small shield.
* Van has non-weapon proficiencies ancient history, artistic ability, religion, cooking/crafting, mathematics,reading/writing, religion, spellcraft, stonemasonry.
* Spell componenents will now be used. 
* No limit to spells known.
* Death at -10 
* Critical hits
* Peception stat created from averaging INT and WIS.
Both Kain and Van earn 2400 XP
Art from episode
Category:Hardcore Heroes Episodes