A/N: Chapter 1 uploaded yay!

Chapter I: Hanson Strongarm Comes to Spree

The sunrise the Overlord had found disgusting and had made the Dark Master of the World want to beat sheep herds on the head had flourished into an equally repulsive sunny day with clear, blue skies. It was on this particular day, sometime around noon when Hanson Strongarm came up the dusty road to the village called Spree.

He hollered "Hello there!" at the two napping guards on top of a log wall. The guards awoke with a start, tripped over the pitchforks they used as spears and scrambled over each other to be the first to get a look at the stranger. They found themselves looking down at a ruggedly handsome man who looked like was in his early twenties with black hair and a 5 o'clock beard. He was wearing comfortable woolen traveling clothes and carried a knapsack.

"Will you let me in?" he asked. The two guards waved him towards the gate and heaved on the wooden wheel that controlled the opening and closing of the village gate. Once the gate was opened, Hanson walked in and set out towards the village tavern.

The tavern owner, a man in his fifties looked Hanson up and down before asking in a rasping voice, "waddaya want?"

"Some food and beer, if you can spare it," Hanson replied.

"10 gold," the owner said as he polished a glass and set rack of lamb on a spit over a fire while Hanson put several coins down on the bar stand and sat down to wait.

While Hanson was waiting, a commotion broke out in front of the tavern. Three young men walked into the tavern and stopped in front of Hanson. All the men wore expensive looking black tabards with black satin pants. The leader, whose tabard had a red trim looked down at Hanson haughtily and said "so you're the new one, eh?"

"Yes," Hanson replied, "I am."

"You see, stranger, there's a fee for entering the village and we're here to collect it."

"I didn't see any notices of entry taxes and even if I had, I wouldn't pay anything to a bunch of petty thieves," Hanson said. The leader of the gang grew so red with rage that it matched the trim on his tabard and he yelled "How dare you!" He gestured to his men regally and said, "kill him and bring me his head!"

The leader's accomplices drew daggers and charged full pelt at Hanson while he picked up the chair he was sitting on and swung it at the first man. The Bandit didn't have time to dodge and the chair smashed into the man's face, breaking his skull. He died instantly, never quite realizing what hit him. Hanson vaulted over the bar of the tavern and picked up a spit. As the second man began to vault, Hanson thrust the spit at neck level and the thief skewered himself on it. He gave a feeble twitch and died. The leader stared speechlessly as Hanson took down two of him men in around eight seconds. He realized the best place to be was elsewhere and took off at a run with Hanson hot on his heels while the townsfolk gaped.

"What's going on?" One man asked his drinking partner.

"A race?" His partner replied after scratching his head and thinking deeply.

Dark Tower

Gnarl was running up the stairs to the Overlord's private quarters for the second time that day.

"Master!" He panted. "Did you…"

"Yes Gnarl," the Overlord replied. "I felt it too. There is someone in Spree with great Evil potential and would make a fitting candidate for our 'contest.' Fetch him"

Spree

Hanson had almost caught up to the thief leader when around twenty bandits came out of Spree's alleys, formed a barrier between Hanson and their leader and pulled out their weapons.

Mellow Hills Tower Gate

Gnarl and thirty fully armed browns stepped off the portal and hastened towards Spree. The townsfolk were so busy watching Hanson chase the bandit leader that they forgot to bar the gate. The brown minions pushed and the gates swung open with ease. The minions hurried towards where the townsfolk were clustered and disappeared in the bushes to get to the Evil person or persons unknown unseen.

Hanson had grabbed an axe from the woodcutter and was using it to keep the bandits at bay. Suddenly, a group of strange brown creatures appeared at his elbow and proceeded to stare at him. Hanson stared back along with the twenty bandits, unsure what to do next. Then, a wizened creature, ash-grey skinned and with wispy white hairs prodded him with its walking stick and said, pointing at the bandits, "If you were to point at those irksome fancily dressed irritations, the minions would attack them." Unsure of himself, Hanson pointed at the twenty bandits. Instantly, the strange-looking creatures shouted war cries and charged the bewildered bandits. At first, some of the bandits laughed at the three-foot creatures. A few seconds later, the laughter turned to screams of pain as the brown creatures scythed through the line of bandits like a hot knife through butter. The bandit leader was speechless once again as all twenty of his men were reduced to a pile of corpses in around half a dozen seconds. He was surrounded by the creatures and disarmed.

"Your time has come, Hanson Strongarm," The wizened creature spoke from its position by Hanson's elbow. "Do what you will with this nauseating excuse for a bandit? Set him free, capture him or dispose of him and leave his carcass to rot as a warning to other 'bandits?'"

"Spare me, please!" The bandit whined. "My name is Nicholas and my father is King William the Paladin and he will pay generously for my safe return!"

"No, I think not," Hanson said. "You tried to kill me with twenty-two men, but I survived. Clearly someone has it in for you." Hanson took several steps forward and separated Nicholas' head from the rest of his royal body. The browns cheered, happy for to see blood and the grey creature, who was Gnarl if you hadn't guessed that yet dear reader, nodded approvingly. This one shows great promise, Gnarl mused. We could stop the competition right now because Evil walks hand-in-hand with this man. However, it would be amusing watching him dispose of the rest of the candidates.

Gnarl said none of this to Hanson, who was still staring at Nicholas' corpse.

"Where will you go now?" Gnarl asked.

"I plan to continue south, towards Castle Spree and beyond," Hanson replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought that you might like to go to our Master's Tower in repayment for saving your life," Gnarl said. Before Hanson could reply, Gnarl conjured a small dose of magic in his hand and touched Hanson's elbow. The young man dropped like a log, kicking up some dust as he fell.

"Grab him and head back to the tower," Gnarl ordered. Ten browns grabbed Hanson and set out towards the Mellow Hills gate. "Try not to drop him," Gnarl said. "He's not a sack of gold." The browns grunted in response and gently set the knocked-out Hanson on the Tower Gate. Hanson disappeared in a flash of red light and the minions stepped on the portal to be teleported back themselves.

Dark Tower

Hanson's form appeared hovering above the Tower Portal, a pool filled with water that had the power to teleport its user anywhere within the Dark Domain of the Overlord. Several minions grabbed Hanson and carried him to an empty room in the Tower. Servants placed the man on a bed and covered him with a blanket. Then, the waiting began with Gnarl staring out the window of the room, waiting for his spell to wear off.

A/N: R&R please!