Hankory

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Hankory was one of the five members of the Heroes of Castow. He was a quite possibly insane Inquisitor to Santa Claus, fanatically devoted to his deity. He went missing after being sucked into a portal to the nine hells. His favored weapon was a Glaive.

Background
Hankory was raised in the far north, even further north than the Kingdom of the North. In this almost uninhabitable wasteland Hankory spent his youth, becoming hardened by the cold. When he turned 16 both his parents passed away and he decided to set out on his own to the south. However he didn't have a great sense of direction and ended up going further north into the tundra. Here he almost met his end, and when he was about to pass out he found a red and white striped pole. As he slowly lost consciousness he heard faintly "Ho ho ho". He awoke later in a strange land. He had been teleported to the land of Donetzi. He awoke with a new religious fervor, knowing that he had been saved by the almighty Santa Claus. He became an Inquisitor to Santa, making sure his creed is followed by all throughout the land. He has started spreading the new religion, which before existed just as a vague superstition. He enlisted with the Templar's as a way to gain money, experience, and a cheap way to travel throughout the land.

The Beginning
Hankory was enlisted along with his soon-to-be long time companions Stevilious and Ser Kevan Ious. They were recruited by Ivano Medici, the Doge of Donetzi to go and find the mythical McGuffin crystal. They headed off into the mountains where they encountered some undead by a bridge. Hankory and Ious lured a few of the skeletons onto the bridge before cutting the rope holding it up. One of the skeletons fell to its death but the other scrambled up the other side. With no way to get across, Hankory and Stevilious built a make shift ramp out of rocks and a shield for Sir Ious to jump across on on his noble steed, Super. However he botched the jump and only managed to make it halfway. Thinking quick, Sir Ious jumped off his horses back and managed to grab hold of the ledge pulling himself on the other side. Hankory, in an attempt to save Super, threw his grappling hook and managed to entangle the horse. Using one of the bridge posts and their combined strength, Hankory and Stevilious managed to save Super. After that they killed the remaining skeletons and continued up the mountains. Further on Sir Ious decided that he needed to tend to his horse so Hankory and Stevilious decided to continue onwards together. They reached the caves and fought a few minor undead and evaded some traps before reaching the final room. There they faced agents sent by a rival to the Doge, the house of Suraci. They battled the three followers managing to kill two of them, one of them being the son of the head of Suraci. They captured the third, a cleric, whose name was Flavia. After securing her and the crystal, they all rode off on Super to make their way back to Donetzi. On their way back a massive Ogre came bursting out of the woods chasing after a young boy. Acting quickly the three companions managed to slay the ogre and rescue the child. The boy informed them that the Ogre killed his parents and that his name was Jimothy. Hankory took a liking to the boy and decided to take him under his arms and teach him the ways of Santa. However he lacked a weapon for the boy to use to defend himself in case he needed it, so he crafted him a makeshift Aklys out of a stick and some string. A suitable weapon for a young boy to be able to use in a fight without having to get close to his opponent. From there he took the body of the ogre and started dragging it back to Donetzi in hopes of a reward for slaying the beast. On the way there they are attacked by a group of soldiers from Donetzi who claimed that they attacked the city. In a brutal fight they barely managed to overcome the cavalry with the help of Flavia. From there Hankory received his horse Stephanie. Some claim it is just a toy horse but to Hankory it is his loyal steed, and Jimothy follows behind him using two halves of a coconut to make clopping noises.

Return to Donetzi
After fighting through the cavalry outside the city, the party decided to adventure onwards. They reached the city to only be attacked again by more soldiers of the Doge. Again they proved to be the stronger and slew the soldiers. From here they ran to the Templar's HQ in hopes of hiding there. Once they arrived their chapter's Captain, Duncan Irving, greeted them and informed them that the old Doge was overthrown and the new Doge, also the head of Suraci, was in control and denounced the three of them as enemies of the state. Duncan lead them to the basement where he showed them a portal. They were informed that they could take the portal to the neighboring country Alford, more specifically the City of Castow. They agreed to head over there and go into hiding as political refugees.

Life in Castow
Life in Castow proved to be much different than life in Donetzi. The people and the culture were completely different. Hankory befriended a dwarven tavern keeper and retired adventure Grogstar. Grogstar helped Hankory out on a few occasions. The party eventually went off and fought some bandits and managed to rediscover the book of the Pathfinders. Hankory brought the book back to Grogstar and gave it to him for safe keeping. He helped track down more shards of the McGuffin crystal to help his friend Stevilious. Hosting a Tourney: One day Hankory decided he needed a lot of money to found a proper church of Santa. However the life of an adventurer, although rewarding, is not the quickest way to make gold. He concocted the idea of running a Tourney. He contacted city officials and got them to rent him out the Arena in exchange for a share of the profits. He convinced Stevilious and Sir Ious to also invest for some of the profits as well. Working with Grogstar he managed to get alcohol and food for cheaper than usual from the various inkeeps since it would bring a lot of people to stay in their inns. Working with the Templars he got them to use their portal network to distribute fliers and spread the word of the tourney. After about a month of preparation the time had come. Thousands of people came out to attend including all living Consuls of Alford, King of Harkland, King of the Dwarves ,King of SPEERWALD, Prince of Tarquin, and surprisingly the Doge of Donetzi. Hundreds competed in the four tourneys, the Jousting Tourney, the Magic Tourney, the Grand Melee, and the Archery Tourney. Hankory himself competed the first three making it into the second round of the Jousting and Magic and winning the Grand Melee defeating his mentor Duncan in the semi finals, and his friend Sir Ious in the final round of combat. However shortly after the Grand Melee was finished the city was rocked by a massive explosion...

The Invasion
After the Grand Melee there was a massive explosion. The great wall splitting Alford from the Orcs was blown up and the Orcs were pouring through. The Legions defending the wall fell back to Castow and just barely made it inside. The city was surrounded by Orcs and Hankory led a group of Tourney entrants to help defend the walls of the city. They held against multiple waves of Orcs with just 50 men, and managed to kill over 500 of them. His keen eyes noticed that there were drow among the Orcs but didn't manage to find any of the bodies after the fighting. After his troops success he was dubbed the "Rock of Castow" by the common folk. A few days after the siege started the armies of Alford managed to show up and push the remaining Orcs away. Hankory went with Sir Ious, Steveilius, and Jimothy to accompany one of the Legions pursuing the Orcs. They were ambushed along the way by a host of Drows and they barely managed to kill them all. Regrouping with the rest of the Army they were sent to attack a cave that was acting as a command center. With a hundred crossbow men to escort them they arrived at the cave. They had the crossbow men set up lines outside and to wait for their signal to enter. Once inside they encountered about 25 Drow and although Steveilius managed to take out quite a few with his magic, Hankory knew they wouldn't win without help. Ordering Steveilius to use his magic to have the crossbowmen come in, he held off the remaining drow until they arrived. Once the drow were slain he discovered that the Orcs were leading the Legions into a trap that would kill them all and raise them as undead, while at the same time using the Templar's portal system to open up a portal to hell in Donetzi. Acting quickly Hankory, Steveilius and Jimothy set off back to Castow to warn the rulers of the Devils, while Sir Ious rode off to inform the Legions that they were going into a trap.

Preparations against the Devils
After arriving back in Castow, Hankory, Stevelius, and Jimothy set off to warn the rulers. However once they were there Gwen Rosebrook started discounting their warnings, stating that it was simply impossible. Hankory, suspicious that Gwen would work against them, decided to secretly detect her alignment through the power of Santa. Discovering that she was Evil instead of Good he decided she must be an imposter. Calling her out, the imposter summoned a steed in an attempt to get away. Acting quickly he tackled her off her horse and captured her. From there he interrogated her and discovered about the necromancers and got more information about the devils. After this Sir Ious returned to the city with the remaining shards of the McGuffin crystal. From here Hankory worked with Steveilius and Snorri Ragnos to build a bomb made out of Positive Energy to combat the Devils. It took a few weeks but the Templars bought them enough time to complete it. While he was assisting with the bomb, Hankory spent his fortune from the tourney to build a Cathedral to Santa and a Hospital to help the poor. He recruited Flavia as his head priest shortly before heading out to the final battle .

Battle against the Devils
Once arriving in Donetzi through teleportation, Hankory, Jimothy, Steveilius, Sir Ious, and Snorri made their way to the Templar HQ. Once they arrived they encountered a fatally injured Duncan. Here Hankory and him shared one final tender moment before Hankory vowed to make sure the devils paid for what they did to Duncan. Heading inside with renewed determination they took over the defense of the portal while Snorri set up the bomb. Just then three figures emerged from the portal. The Doge of Donetzi flanked by two bearded devils. Shocked that the Doge was behind it, Hankory steeled himself for battle. He fought and killed one of the Devils single handedly while Steveilius fought the Doge and Sir Ious and Jimothy fought the other Devil. Steveilius managed to grab the Doge and electrocute him but the Doge started choking Steveilius to death. Hankory acting quick attempted to cut the Doges arms off but it was unneeded as Steveilius transformed into a Mecha Tree and killed the Doge. After this the bomb was ready to be set off, but Jimothy was entangled during combat and couldn't move to the safe zone. In an attempt to free him Hankory tried to cut the vines with his glaive. However just then the bomb went off, shooting energy through the portal and creating a suction. Hankory attempted to hold onto the vines but was not strong enough in the end. Using the remainder of his strength he hands Jimothy his glaive and tells him to take his place as the head of the Church of Santa. Just then he is sucked through the portal into the depths of hell.

Notable Achievements
Was ranked a Sergeant in the Templars

-Won the Grand Melee in a Tournament

-Was given the title "Rock of Castow" by the people of Castow

-Led a successful defense of the walls of Castow -Credited with founding the Church of Santa

-Credited with creating the bomb to defeat the devils(Along with Steveilius and Snorri)

-Was ranked 25 out of 25 on Castows Sexiest Political Refuge List

Relationships
Jimothy: Hankory cares for Jimothy like a son. He would give his life to protect Jimothy. He left a vast sum of his fortune in a trust fund to make sure Jimothy would live a comfortable life if anything happened to him.

Ser Ious: Hankory and Sir Ious respected each other as warriors. They didn't often see eye to eye on issues but they were true friends. Hankory fully supported Sir Ious when he converted to the church of Santaology.

Stevilious: Although they dont follow the same religion, Hankory holds a deep amount of respect for Steveilius as a scholar and an accomplished fighter. They have worked together to over come many different obstacles, most noteworthy the stopping of a Devil invasion.

Duncan: Hankory saw Duncan as a second father figure. He was deeply saddened by his death.