Hardcore Heroes: Episode 06

__NOTOC__
== Synopsis ==
Inside a barn, Croak discovers a hidden basement filled with gruesome halfling corpses and torture implements. Van, praying for their souls, uncovers another secret space, but leaves to gather townsfolk for burying the bodies. Croak triggers a trap, losing part of his finger, but perseveres and finds a chest of coins and gruesome bags. The party is suspicious of Croak's absence but investigates the secret passage and finds the emptied chest. They head to Anvil, where they make preparations for a new quest involving a smuggler. Hiring additional muscle, they confront skeletons in an abandoned church and encounter more mysteries. Croak deceives some men to gain information and money. After tracking their prey and ambushing them, the party returns to town, rewards the hired help, and arranges for Reggie's trial, though Croak secretly plans for Reggie's escape.
==Recap==
===Saturday, 1509-01-30*===
The heroes continue while still inside the barn, Croak finally gets to go down the hidden hole only to find rotting halfings corpses and implements of torture. As Van goes around praying for their souls he also finds a vacant space under some boards inside the room so in a bid to get Van out he pleads they bury these bodies to which he agrees and goes to gather some townsfolk for the task. Once Van leaves Croak tries to get inside this crevice and triggers a trap that chops off a good inch or two off his index finger. In pain and frustrated he begins directing peasants that come in and haul the bodies out of the room. Finally everyone leaves Croak alone and he gets to explore crevice that turns out to be a whole hallway leading to chamber with a chest, multiple bags and gruesome tools. Cautious from the last trap he carefully fiddles with the chest and manages to get it open without losing another body part. It is filled with loads of coins that he greedily begins filling his sacks with. The bags contain feedstuffs and skeleton children's feet as well as some gems. Eventually he leaves, trying to make it as untouched as he can.
They meet up under a tree and Croak informs them of the trap and the hiding hole, but doesn't say that he went inside there. The party is a bit suspicious about how long he was gone, but they head down there once more, they inspect the secret passage and go inside finding the bags and now empty treasure chest, though it's hard to say who might have been there since the wizard smuggler could have gone there as well. Done with everything there they head back to Anvil. Croak considers purchasing and using a short bow now that he is missing some of his index finger. 
===Sunday, 1509-01-31* ===
Night passes uneventfully and one by one party goes down to eat breakfast. Van and Malakai squabble playfully about spells and divinity for a while. Some shopping is done while Malakai researches spells. Through a lot process of creating a background story for himself Croak transfers 200 gold into silver pearl earrings.
Van finds a ship that leaves in 3 days to Redport. Once Malakai is done with spells the Sheriff, Kel Deodrin, comes to seek him out telling him that there's another trading partner of Reggie's waiting to meet up him in an abandoned church in a nearby forest. Malakai considers this and sends kel Deodrin off with more questions for the prisoner. Everyone eventually comes back together.
Later Sheriff Kel Deodrin comes by again, retelling them that the smuggler is a particularly large and brutish man and that the guards he has vary. Van also finds that only hunters might have longbows around in Anvil. Deciding they might as well take this quest party decide they'll need another meat-shield so Malakai goes to the other tavern to scope out the available people. Two swordsmen are hired, Clifford and Rubin, set to meet tomorrow to go the forest. Party spends rest of the day planning their spells and socializing with the hired men. Van also implores party to consider taking on more permanent companions that might help tanking the blows. 
===Monday, 1509-02-01* ===
Next morning comes, the extended party assembles and goes on its journey. In about 3 hours they are nearing the place where their quarry is, they row to shore and make another hour by feet. Croak takes lead and scouts the area and finds nothing in particular so they stop and begin discussing their approach, which is interrupted as Clifford suddenly calls them cowards and just begins walking towards the abandoned church, before he makes too far though Malakai calls him back and Van charms, and reinforces him with a spell.
Now more sure of themselves all of them go to the building and open the large doors with a creak and are met with skeletal remains. A voice echoes demanding to know why they are here, but the party doubts the genuity of a single skeleton so both Malakai and Van tell Clifford to attack the skeleton at which point all 5 skeletons animate and a battle begins. Croak and Malakai keep the rear while rest of them go in to fight the undead. Skeletons fall one by one, but the party receives multiple hits as well, Clifford starts panicking as Van falls back a bit. But a well placed turn undead breaks their line and after bit they get some breathing room. They go into the church deeper as the skeletons disappear into it. First storage chamber has nothing.
Meanwhile, Croak who has been keeping the rear all this time suddenly sees 3 figures on horseback approaching the church, thinking quick he walks towards them with open arms and tells them production has been held back and a cleric put Reggie in prison, one of the figures speaks out, displeased with the delay so they order him to kill Reggie and take control of the production of the halflings feet. The two halflings feet that Croak has get tossed towards the men and money gets tossed back, and then they leave.
Immediately Croak runs back and informs everyone of this turn of events. They decide to sleep on it and then follow their actual prey after they've had some sleep and let Van regenerate some of his spells. Croak tracks them until darkness hits then they bed down for 6 hours so that Van can get some sleep as well and when its about midnight or past that they continue tracking them with ambush in the dark in mind.
===Tuesday, 1509-02-02* ===
They make camp, Rubin and Malakai have to scare off some rats, but nothing else seems to happen. Once everyone gets up and Van heals their big meat-shield Clifford they go on their way tracking the trio Croak saw. They come upon 3 horses tied to a tree which gets them on edge. Croak creates a makeshift bullseye lantern and follows a trail towards 3 tents with a faint fire, rest of the party carefully follows.
Out of nowhere the half ogre man appears and roars “Attack!” while Croak gawks up at him. Fight goes well however only having 2 enemies as the third one had escaped somewhere whom they are unable to find in the dark of the night. They search through the camp and then take the horses to head back to town, paying the hired muscle to take canoes to Anvil on their own.
The party then goes to Kel Deodrin to get their reward which amounts to whole 18 gold and forward an escort job of taking Reggie to Fortune for trial to Clifford and Rubin, though unbeknownst to Malakai and Van, Croak pays Clifford 20 gold to let Reggie free at some point during this escort mission. 
== Experience and changes ==
* Croak gains 5th level and rolls 1HP for a total of 12HP
* Malakai has a total of 4214XP
* Van has approximately total of 4500XP
*Dates are extrapolated from a previous mention of an exact date.
Category:Hardcore Heroes Episodes