9. Thomas

After being pulled into the pitch-black room Thomas was met by a boot to the small of his back, causing him to scramble to avoid bashing his face on a protruding cobblestone.

'Holy shit, that turned fast.'

Thomas rolled over to get a good look at his assailant and found exactly what he anticipated he would find. A giant brigand blood-letter and 2 musket wielding cohorts. Now he didn't expect the plywood barricade put up against the door preventing it from opening again.

'This isn't good, I don't remember the enemies being smart at picking off members in the game...'

"Hey guys, I'm sure we can talk this out."

The brigand cackled and drew his cat-of-nine-tails

The brigand was massive, about the width of two men and the height of one and a half. He had no shirt on, but plenty of scars over his chest and back showing he was used to taking a beating. And as per the normal brigand uniform, he wore a dark green hood that hid his eyes.

"It's been a while since I've had fresh meat to tenderize, huhuhuh, c'mere boy, we're gonna have ourselves a fun time."

'Well that's a prison line I definitely didn't want to hear.'

Thomas yelps as he struggles to scramble away. But then his left leg gave out. His muscles still in shock from the wagon crash caused him to fall down again on his incredibly sore knee, eliciting a groan of pain as he closed his eyes, waiting for the pain of the whip to wrack his whole body.

CRACK

Surprisingly Thomas felt no new wounds.

Opening his eyes, Thomas saw what had just saved him from his excruciating fate. Another man (normal sized) was suddenly in between them, with a large, dark brown shield seemingly grown out of his left arm.

"Well that's rather rude of you, you didn't even ask his name first."

The brigand roared and pulled out his pistol.

'Point blank pistol shot, a classic'

The mysterious man seemingly dissolved his shield into droplets of liquid in midair and grabbed the brigand's arm, turning it towards one of the musket men at the entrance keeping Thomas's party out. The musketman yelled as the brigand instinctively shot, cleanly putting a hole in between his eyes. And then he collapsed down into a jumble of limbs on the ground. The mysterious man now unleashed a brutal kick to the hinge of the brigand's knee, bringing him down on said knee. Using this opportunity the mysterious man then shifted behind the brigand blood letter and placed a forearm around his neck, just in time for the other musket man to unleash a blast in his general direction.

The brigand roared as multiple grapeshot shards pierced his skin and one eye. And with that roar the brigand reached back, grabbed the man, heaved and chucked him at the musket man who just blasted him. The mysterious man flew straight into the musket man, causing the musket man to bash his head hard on the barricade and get tangled up in a jumble of limbs on top of the mysterious man.

The mysterious man oddly enough seemed relatively unharmed, just impeded by the body on top of him pinning his arms down in the moment. With a growl of fustration he struggled against the corpse on top of him.

The brigand now laughed as he pulled out his pistol one more time and aimed directly at the mysterious man.

'Perfect timing!'

Thomas drew a finger down the back of the brigand blood letter and willed a rift to open. And open it did, adding a plethora of viceral contents into the void as the brigand's mid-section split apart.

'Holy shit I'm alive.'

The man now got up and casually dusted himself off.

"Well, this is one way to meet someone, hello, I am Ralon, nice to meet you."

Ralon extended a hand down to help Thomas up. Grateful for the help Thomas accepted it.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Thom-"

Immediately his left knee buckled again and he almost face planted again if Ralon didn't catch him deftly.

"Careful man, let's get your party in here."

Ralon then propped Thomas up against a rock as he went to work dismantling the plywood blocking the door.

Thomas was able to get a good look at him by this point. Ralon was dressed entirely anachronistic for the time period in which the Darkest Dungeon took place. He wore a black and red T-shirt with characters Thomas couldn't decipher and casual jeans. Ralon appeared to be in his late 20s, with a full head of dark red hair. The most striking feature of his however was not his looks, or even the fact that he was clearly barefoot; but the fact that he had lines on his neck and wrists, a particularly dark one ran up his left arm.

Thomas cleared his throat,

"Hey Ralon, are you from this world?"

Ralon paused for a second before answering,

"I can explain much better later, let's get to the Hamlet first."

'Damn, I got a LOT of catching up to do at the Hamlet don't I?'

"Mind at least explaining your power in the meantime?"

Ralon chuckled,

"Patience, friend."

He removed the last blocking plywood and the door burst open with Thomas's party.

"Come here you brigand bastard!"

Ralon dicked just in time to dodge a knife to the face, using the momentum of John's lunge to plant a knee right in his sternum.

"Calm down you fool, I'm on your side."

John apparently was having none of it as he drew his pistol and tried to shoot Ralon from the ground. Ralon, possibly expecting this kicked his hand in time to redirect the shot into the wall and knocking the gun out of his hand. As Helraugh and Haven spilled in they all saw Ralon walking back over to help Thomas up.

"Hey thanks for trying to avenge me John, but he IS on our side."

Helraugh, with Luxor still drawn asks what everyone was probably thinking.

"Just how many friends of yours are just going to appear out of nowhere?"

Thomas sighed,

"I'll explain when we reach the Hamlet, if I remember correctly....hey Haven, can you heal my knee real quick?"

"Of course."

Haven walked over and laid her healing hands on his knee. Thomas noticed that Haven's hands were rather calloused for what he would expect from a priestess.

'Those priesthood rites must be more rigorous than I though.'

Suddenly a rush of energy flowed through Thomas's knee as the previous crippling ache disapeared.

"Thank you very much."

Haven seemed shocked to hear gratitude and blushed,

"You're...welcome?"

Thomas then walked over to the exit door.

"Behold, the hamlet."

Thomas opened the door and behind it was a straight path to a village about a mile away down the hill, with shining lanterns in the night.