High Father Hork (Game)

High Father Richard Hork has been a recurring character in both the Book and the Game. He has had a similar character, albeit different origins. This is the article about High Father Hork in the game.

Description
High Father Hork is a tall thin man with brown hair, generally seen wearing a brown robe. He has no facial hair when the party initially encounter him, and is quite young, approximately thirty. He is athletic, but not trained in fighting beyond the Church's training. He is extremely convincing, able to use charm magic, and very dedicated to his cause. By the time he is captured by the elves of the Greenwood, he has grown a beard and has been severely beaten.

Interactions with the party
When the party first met him, High Father Hork was the leader of the Church of the One Tree. He was instrumental in the party's capture at Fennica, as he was poisoning the Duke to ensure that he could take the power of the One Tree there for himself. To this end, he planned to sacrifice one of Kali 's tribemembers at the root of the Tree to somehow unlock its power. At the time, it appeared he was working in concert with the Dragonflight Union. He was foiled by the party and escaped through a portal to Zar, where he prepared to perform the same rite with Kali's Aunt Quietmoon. However, he was interrupted by the legions of Orcus, who had sensed the weakening of the overall power of the One Tree, and forced to escape with his hostage. He was arrested by members of Fjornik city guards, as warrants for his arrest had already reached that far. His secondary plan, to infiltrate the party using Etherin shapeshifted into Lyra Fennic, failed in part because he was not able to make his rendezvous at Master Phyraxis' old lair where he planned to trap and kill the party, but mostly because Etherin's spirit was turned against him through the actions and words of the party.

He spent the next several weeks in prison in Fjornik and ensured, through threats and control, that Etherin joined him in jail. When the city was evacuated he was moved along with the prisoners. He made several escape attempts but was not successful until a band of werewolves attacked the prison carriages south of Varikause. As Etherin disguised herself as him, he in turn disguised himself as a soldier and escaped.

He was captured by the elves of the Greenwood and held in a tree cell for at least two days; in his conversations there with Toofi, he revealed that his prior actions were due to suggestions from a female voice in his head, and that he was merely enacting the natural order of things; that humanity was raping the mountains and the forests, and that it was only natural that humanity die so that the natural world could survive.