Major Story Arcs
Devil’s Hammer
This story arc involves a religious allegory. Each member of Bill’s group of Grendels seems to represent an approach to religious belief. Bill seems to represent someone failing in his faith, someone who works really hard for his god (in this case, Grendel), but feels that that love has not been reciprocated. He is the only member of the group to wear a traditional Grendel mask; he says he needs to do so to remind him of his calling, whereas the others don’t need such a symbol.
Bill is a member of a group of Grendel warriors that exist not too long after the fall of Pope Innocent XLII. They are attached to the town of Oradour. One day they make a deal with the abbot of the local monastery, Sebastian Battista Chiesa. They keep a secret of his in return for being allowed to devastate the town, leaving only one survivor. This survivor, Petrus Christus, vows revenge. Years later, he joins Bill’s group in order to destroy them from within.
However, they know his plans and have their own plans for him. They do not serve Orion Assante, the Grendel-Khan, leader of the world, as other Grendels do. They serve Grendel itself. After Christus fights and kills the Lotus, Bill finds him and tells Christus that the other Grendels have left to kill the abbot. Christus goes off and kills Uncle Klunni, another of the band of Grendels, and captures a third, Kali. Then Bill shows up again and kills Kali, frustrated at how Grendel has apparently chosen Christus as his champion, not Bill, despite all Bill’s hard work on Grendel’s part. Rejecting Grendel, he tries to kill Petrus, but Christus manages to kill him instead.