Stronghammer

Stronghammer is one of the big bosses of the Crusaders Campaign, and marks the middle point in the Para Bellum Arc. He was a big man with a big hammer.

Description

Appearance

Stronghammer was a pale white/grey man with a chrome dome and "shit eating" grin. He was 10 feet tall, 300 pounds and incredibly muscular. He wore Cargo pants and a white T when out of combat (or when he took off armor during combat as a tactic to raise fear into unsuspecting enemies). In combat, one could see him with his Adamantium Armour, which used to have an enchantment placed on it (you'll never know what the magic armor did now ha ha) and a camo paint. On his side and back he would have sticks which during battle could transform into futuristic weaponry. He always had his rocket war hammer next to him, which he named Reinhardt. It was a 6 foot metal rod with a large hammer head on the top, mechanically advanced rockets on one side.

Personality

Stronghammer was a patriot, a true lover of his and an older nation most didn't know of called "Murica", a fantastic fairyland of badassery and ass kicking where men and women fought for freedom. He spoke with a deep cowboy accent, and relished in combat. Even at death's door, he would be happy, asking the party to give him an epic death worthy of their fight. He always had his "shit eating" grin out and during combat, throwing remarks to his enemies congratulating them on well done attacks.

Biography

Background

Born in the early days in the lands now called Este, Marko Sullivo was an exceptional warrior even from youth. He often into trouble fighting guards, and his mother asked him to join the army, telling him that there he would find a purpose for violence. At that time, he simply found an excuse for kicking ass, so he enlisted. While keeping a low rank due to his impetuous nature, he did gain attention and notoriety for how well he killed enemies, even once taking on a notorious orc chief after his team of 10 and his captain died battling 20 orcs. It was this that had him join a special team, 6 of the best warriors the country had to offer to take on a tribe well known for their close ties to their god Gruumsh, who had a special bond with this particularly nasty tribe. When the team came they wiped the tribe from their cave leaving only bodies and blood. When this was done Gruumsh bestwoed the warriors his power, making them into Blood Knights. Stronghammer instead adopted this into his barbarian fighting method, but took it none the less. Returning home they were outcast from their society for their new powers and ties. Two of them decided to use their powers for whatever, another two decided to give in to Gruumsh, Jordie decided to use it for good, and the other one hid for a long time, occasionally feeding into his blood urges. Marko decided his other companions were simpletons, and knew two of them were simply going to bully the weak. They tried to fight him but Marko kicked them to the ground, popping the eye out of one of them, saying "maybe with this eye sacrificed to Gruumsh you'll actually do soemthing to me". Marko left for the Hunter's Realm, where for many years he fought fantastic beasts, becoming known in the area as the "Hammer Beast". He was offered work by Cinere and The Circle of Nosferatu, but he always declined.

The Turn

By the begining of the tenth Era, Marko had already traveled to Ysargard and the Beastlands for fun, and even the Shadowfell. Bored, he returned to the Material Plane and came across a thin man in a strange suit. The man told him to sit and talk, and oddly Marko accepted. The man told Marko that his life was meaningless, idiotic even, with no purpose to his strength, so therefore his strength was useless. Marko asked how that would be possible. The man then told Marko about an old nation, named America. He went into patriotic detail about a glorious combat oriented country, where battle was the decider for justice and freedom. Through this, Marko realized he needed a purpose, and asked how he could help. The man smiled and revealed [???]. With that in mind, Marko decided he needed to help Este, so he decided to become a legend, returning to Este in the 10th Era, 455 DR. He came back . He used this to kill a town of 60 orcs, and then kept cleaning out forts. This masked hero became known as "Stronghammer", and eventually got a royal pardon. He became a well known hero of incredible renown and respect in Candlesword, Este and much of Doluna. In the last 300 years however he began to lay more low, letting his name become a little more obscure.

Story

During the Keep Arc the party ran briefly into him, who was with Genesis Valentine at the time to fight a Balor. They later saw him again during Rodney's wedding.

Stronghammer became a more important figure when the party went to Este, and began helping Richard Loopo help take control away from Queen Alhma. The party went to see him at an event (they were disguised) and learned more about his patriotic demeanor. Later, they set up an ambush by sending him a message that Motorknight wanted to challenge him. He arrived, and stepped into a fireball trap. His men got easily taken care of, but the man was more difficult. He had strong attacks that almost got Apollo down, and did decent amounts of damage to the other upfront combatants Doofus and Motorknight. Doug stayed back and did ok amounts of damage sniping until he decided to use his elemental arrows, and Motorknight took out his energy sword. Rodeny and Alfonse did good damage from affar, keeping Stronghammer stuck in a rough spot.. It was good that Diabolla disabled his arms to make him easier to kill at the end, although he did curb stomp Rodney due to him having no other choice. His final request was that the party finish him in an epic way, which they did through Motorknight ripping his heart out and Doug shooting his head.

Trivia

• Stronghammer's design is based around a mix of two characters from Metal Gear Revengeance: Sundowner and Khamsin. This extends to their fighting styles, look and even character motivations. His fighting style is a giant hammer like Khamsin, his shit eating grin and american accent is from Sundowner, but his attitide on being a soldier for meaning in life is more akin to Khamsin, however he does share Sundowner's thoughts on the human condition's need for war. Speaking of MGR...
• The theme song for the boss had two parts. In the beginning the music was the instrumental, while he wore the armor and was not under the influence of blood. When he healed up, the vocal version kicked in. Not that anyone noticed. Additionally, the song chosen was Wind Of Destruction from, you guessed it, MGR. While Eddy could have easily made it Red Sun, he decided Wind Of Destruction's lyrics fitted the character's views on war and fighting.
• Stronghammer's hammer is a direct reference to Reindhardt from Overwatch, with the name, functionality and look identical to that of the German crusader.
• Stronghammer was originally not going to be one of the men from Jordie's crew, but after talking to Jeremy Eddy realized the story potential in it.