Episode 5: To travel the Dark Path

Hardluk the Hammer traveled from Bargate Prison to Lynchfield Graveyard, and took the Cullis Gate which as he understood to be a magical teleportation device to The Ancient Cullis Gate located in Darkwood.

Once here he slayed countless Hobbes and Bandits and even took down a mighty Earth Troll with a single crushing blow to its torso that shattered it to bits like a pile of leaves in a strong wind.

Upon arriving at the Ancient Cullis Gate he immediately strolled toward his first destination, the chapel of his personally chosen god, the Chapel of Skorm.

Ep 5, Chapter 1

Meanwhile Brutus had made his way back to the Greatwood Caves and headed past Hobbe Cave and into Darkwood proper.

After dealing with a dozen bandits and unfortunately more Hobbes, he managed to make it to the Darkwood Marshes where he found a weird fungus that was light blue in color yet when he approached it, it began to shaking.

Not knowing of their poisonous spores, he ventured to close and the nearest one exploded, spreading the spores around.

To his surprise the moment they touched his exposed skin they started to burn as if acid and even with his tough constitution, mere moments after being touched started to feel slightly sick.

He leapt back out of the spore cloud and started to feel better in less than a minute.

Seeing eleven more in the vicinity he took careful aim with Chakram in hand and destroyed them with the ranged weapon.

Once the spores settled, Brutus made his way past them and through the archway that lead to Darkwood Lake.

Ep 5, Chapter 2

Meanwhile Hardluk had made it to the Chapel and walked up to the two Priest of Skorm the dark god and knelt before them.

The Priests praised him as the Avatar of Skorm.

There at the chapel he prayed to his dark god for answers as to the location of the one who imprisoned him and how to lure him into a trap, only to find out that the man who took him down and had him locked up was now dead.

He then prayed for the answer if he had any children that he may take his revenge upon.

This answer, it turned out, would take a long time to determine, so he continued to pray, patiently waiting for this answer.

Ep 5, Chapter 3

Brutus could scarcely walk the land it seemed, without encountering either Hobbes or bandits dealing with an ambush from Bandits and Hobbes.

The first bandit to jump out at him from behind a tree was clove in twain by Brutus who instantly went on the offensive.

Eight more bandits rushed him only to meet their maker as Brutus became a whirling dervish of death.

Brutus waded through the squirmy scaly little urchins until he had enough and began stomping the nearest ones flat with his massive boots until he had enough room to begin kicking them like a collection children's toy balls.

Hobbes flew every which way, screaming in terror as they sailed.

They landed rolling, splattering face first, hitting trees, even getting stuck by their heads in the crotches of trees.

By the time Brutus was done launching the nasty little monsters, they covered an area easily as large as a wheat field.

There were moans of agony, please for mercy and the sounds of Hobbes spitting up dirt, rocks, grass, dead leaves, tree branches and their own teeth.

The last standing enemy was a Hobbe Shaman who was punted so hard between its tiny legs that it went flying at high speed towards the natural stone walls that lined the Lake to splatter against it and slide down to the water bonelessly.

Brutus still watching for any more enemies checked his surroundings to ensure that he was finally alone.

He stood tall and whipped his right foot in a arc away from himself flinging the blood from his boot.

He then slung his arm left and right violently to sling any remaining blood from the bladed before with a simple flex of his wrist he retracted them.

Being satisfied that the fool hearty Hobbes had been taught an adequate lesson, and all of the bandits were on their way to eternal judgment, he walked along the woodland road until he reached Darkwood Camp.

This small semi clear open area in the middle of the great woods was a place often used by weary travelers to camp with at least some chance of seeing bandits and other foul beings before they might attack.

Some merchants had already set up camp for the night, and although they cringed in terror at his sight as he passed through the clearing, when he heard their gasps of fear, he looked up and said, "Oh, hello." and waved peacefully to them.

Little did he know, however that this pace was also near the Chapel of Skorm.

Due to not knowing that a threat to his adopted father was close at hand, Brutus opted not to camp there and continued beyond the camp toward the Ancient Cullis Gate.

Ep 5, Chapter 4

As Brutus was just drawing within sight of the gateway to pass through, Hardluk was in the process of receiving his prayerfully obtained answer.

The man who locked him up had a son who had taken up the reigns as the new Guildmaster.

With this knowledge in hand Hardluk left the Chapel and killed the Traders in the Darkwood Camp before heading to Darkwood Lake only to pause at the scene of brutal death before him.

Wondering just who or what could have done such a beautiful work of gory art as this, he thought to himself, "I must find them at once!"

Suiting actions to thought, he turned on his heel and ran back the way he came to try to find the one responsible.

Ep 5, Chapter 5

Brutus arrived at the gate only to witness total destruction and a complete lack of signs of battle. It was the sheer brutality of a clearly one sided massacre and promptly he got sick to his stomach at the sight.

He felt the still warm blood of the closest victim and to his horror it was only hours old. Whoever had done this was not far away.

The thought that crossed his mind is that only a monster could have done this and it must be stopped.

With that thought in mind he turned around and headed back through the woods at a full run in time to see a massive man even taller than he come rushing through carrying the largest war hammer he had ever seen.

This man had a sadistically deranged look in his eyes.

THIS man was an evil lunatic.

Blood and gore dripped from the hammer and Brutus instantly knew this was the monster responsible.

Ep 5, Chapter 6

As Hardluk passed back into the camp he was confronted by a clearly non human being that stood 8 feet 10 inches tall with deep jungle green skin dappled with yellow spots.

The tall almost-but-not-quite human life form was new to him.

It wore a silver looking metal mask that looked like the frozen face of a demon.

Its 'hair' long and thick looking like dreadlocks but in fact each seeming 'lock' was in fact a single strand of living tissue.

A device was mounted on its right forearms and wrist with two gleaming silver prongs slightly extended.

There bore too, a metallic looking whip at its side coiled up, and a round metal disk on its other side.

It had a half chest plate to protect its heart and Hardluk could feel it staring at him.

It stood loosely, like an expert fighter, and yet its exposed muscles were taught and ready to strike.

There was a cold, seething, alien type of fury behind the mask.