Iron Angel
2014-11-25, 05:51 PM
Some background info:
Toby is an Orc who we freed from a slave camp being forced to mine things. The slave camp got attacked while we were there and most of the slaves got turned into zombies. As we got the hell out of there, we grabbed the last slave alive and took off. Turns out he had been a slave since childhood and had never actually known freedom, so he kind of latched onto us. They forcefully changed his name, making him repeat it in third person when he talks to drive it home.
Revenant is a Warforged who got teleported into this plane through a freak accident. He was built by an enigmatic and all-but-extinct race of technomancers, mages who blend magic and technology together as one. He's trying to find a way to get back, but is having second thoughts.
There is an Elder Evil in this campaign: Atropus. This is where all the undead are coming from.
This is the tokens of the characters being referred to:
Left to right: Revenant, Toby, Hrodulf (Pale man), Aiden (Tough man), Aileri (Magic lady), Li-Na Goei (Tall Lady).
http://i.imgur.com/m6NWB0K.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/x5penFg.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/okcH4ZI.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Ee4R0uO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/aQXAGIL.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/BA4JYrI.png
On to the story.
"Where pale man go?"
The orc set down the heavy box of tools next to the gargantuan metal form seated on a log. It continued to gaze upwards, staring upwards into the obsidian sky, examining the solar sea for something they knew was there, but could not yet percieve. The firelight flickered in front of them, casting long shadows into the forest behind.
The orc sighed. "Toby just sit down then."
He plopped down next to the machine, who, after a moment, swiveled its face to examine him, its one glowing eye moving back and forth across the orc's face. The orc looked into the fire, kicking his legs boredly and releasing a mighty yawn.
"Thank you, Toby." the machine said gently, its warbling metallic voice clicking. "I do not know where Hrodulf has gone. It is possible he simply seeks solitude." It pulled out a set of metal shears and set about removing jagged and broken armor bits from its body.
"He safe? Lots of dead in woods. Very scary. One punch Toby in the mouth!"
"I am aware, Toby. The undead do not notice his presence. They will not seek to harm him unless they are provoked."
The orc looked at the machine confused, raising one thick eyebrow. He shook his head. "Big green Revenant always use big words. Confuse Toby.
Revenant paused for a moment, considering what to say. "He is safe from the undead," Revenant said, placing a stone cup with the adamantium fragments in it in the fire.
"Oh, that good. Me worry." Toby said, noticably relieved.
"You... Are worried? This is anomalous. I presumed you hated undead. He is undead."
"Yeah but he save Toby so he not bad. Toby know what it like to have people be mean to you for what you is. Makes Toby feel bad. Toby not want pale man to feel bad."
The revenant paused, considering this as he watched the metal in the crucible become molten.
"Toby, I require a pair of tongs," Revenant said as he leaned towards the fire. He felt something pressed into his hand, but upon brief inspection, discovered they were not tongs.
"These are calipers, Toby," Revenant said, standing up and turning around to give the calipers back.
Toby instinctively cowered, holding his hands in front of his face.
Revenant was surprised by this and stared at Toby in shock. "Is something wrong?"
Toby slowly uncovered his face. "You... Not punish Toby? Toby make mistake. Toby always get hit when make mistake."
Revenant mulled this bizarre information over in his head. "I do not intend you harm at this time."
Toby dug in the box and pulled out the proper instrument, tentatively handing them to Revenant, who took the tongs and held the calipers out to Toby. Toby flinched as they were handed to him, but he gingerly accepted them and placed them back in the box.
Revenant removed the crucible and poured the adamantium into a bar mold. "Was it common for you to be physically harmed?"
Toby nodded his head. "Sometimes, Toby make mistake, and masters beat him. They call Toby stupid, say he monster, and monster only good for killing and making work. So toby work, because he not want to be killed."
Revenant tapped the last of the metal out of the crucible and set it aside near the stones surrounding the campfire. "I was often referred to as a monster," Revenant said, looking at Toby.
"Toby always wonder, what 'monster' mean? If big green is monster then monster good thing!" Toby said, inching towards Revenant excitedly.
"This... Is not accurate." Revenant said hesitantly. "A monster is a creature who does harmful things to others either for its own gain or for enjoyment. This claim is sometimes fallacious and only exists due to fear."
Toby looked at Revenant confused. "But... You not hurt people. You help them. Why they call you monster?"
"For the same reason they refer to you and Hrodulf as monsters. They hate you for what you are. Even if you do not understand why." Revenant slowly turned to look at the fire once more.
Toby sat silently for a moment. "Toby not hate you. Not hate pale man. Not hate magic lady or tall lady or tough man. Toby not monster. You not monster. Pale man not monster."
Revenant extracted the bars from the mold and began to hammer them flat. "When you were enslaved you were forced to do manual labor. Why do you then perform manual labor for us? You do not have an aversion to continuing?"
Toby shrugged. "Work work work, all Toby know. Work make Toby happy. Toby see work after done, and say 'job's done', and Toby feel like he do something good. But now, Toby work because he want to, not because master hits him until he work. Magic lady give Toby round shiny for work! Toby get new shirt with round shiny. Look!"
Toby dug through one of the boxes, eventually extracting a purple silk shirt. Struggling, he pulled it over his torso. The shirt strained to contain the orc's chest and biceps. "This biggest shirt they had. Toby not like to wear, is too small. Just like to look at."
"You like to look at the shirt?" Revenant asked, somewhat confused.
Toby pulled the shirt off and rolled it across his hands gingerly, examining it. "Is Toby's nice shirt. Toby never have anything nice before."
He placed the shirt back in the box and gently closed the lid. "But Toby has nice thing now, because new friends give him nice thing. Set Toby free and let him go with them. Only thing new friends want is Toby to move boxes. Toby can move boxes easy. Get round shiny in return and get to see world."
Revenant began attaching the newly forged pieces of armor this body. He looked back up at the sky, scanning it for what they all knew was there. Is it possible this was his reason for being here? Not to find a way back to try to revive a dead civilization, but to save one that still had hope?
"Do you think pale man helping somebody? He gone for a long time," Toby said, breaking Revenant's train of thought.
Revenant paused. "...Nothing is impossible," he replied.
Toby is an Orc who we freed from a slave camp being forced to mine things. The slave camp got attacked while we were there and most of the slaves got turned into zombies. As we got the hell out of there, we grabbed the last slave alive and took off. Turns out he had been a slave since childhood and had never actually known freedom, so he kind of latched onto us. They forcefully changed his name, making him repeat it in third person when he talks to drive it home.
Revenant is a Warforged who got teleported into this plane through a freak accident. He was built by an enigmatic and all-but-extinct race of technomancers, mages who blend magic and technology together as one. He's trying to find a way to get back, but is having second thoughts.
There is an Elder Evil in this campaign: Atropus. This is where all the undead are coming from.
This is the tokens of the characters being referred to:
Left to right: Revenant, Toby, Hrodulf (Pale man), Aiden (Tough man), Aileri (Magic lady), Li-Na Goei (Tall Lady).
http://i.imgur.com/m6NWB0K.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/x5penFg.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/okcH4ZI.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Ee4R0uO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/aQXAGIL.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/BA4JYrI.png
On to the story.
"Where pale man go?"
The orc set down the heavy box of tools next to the gargantuan metal form seated on a log. It continued to gaze upwards, staring upwards into the obsidian sky, examining the solar sea for something they knew was there, but could not yet percieve. The firelight flickered in front of them, casting long shadows into the forest behind.
The orc sighed. "Toby just sit down then."
He plopped down next to the machine, who, after a moment, swiveled its face to examine him, its one glowing eye moving back and forth across the orc's face. The orc looked into the fire, kicking his legs boredly and releasing a mighty yawn.
"Thank you, Toby." the machine said gently, its warbling metallic voice clicking. "I do not know where Hrodulf has gone. It is possible he simply seeks solitude." It pulled out a set of metal shears and set about removing jagged and broken armor bits from its body.
"He safe? Lots of dead in woods. Very scary. One punch Toby in the mouth!"
"I am aware, Toby. The undead do not notice his presence. They will not seek to harm him unless they are provoked."
The orc looked at the machine confused, raising one thick eyebrow. He shook his head. "Big green Revenant always use big words. Confuse Toby.
Revenant paused for a moment, considering what to say. "He is safe from the undead," Revenant said, placing a stone cup with the adamantium fragments in it in the fire.
"Oh, that good. Me worry." Toby said, noticably relieved.
"You... Are worried? This is anomalous. I presumed you hated undead. He is undead."
"Yeah but he save Toby so he not bad. Toby know what it like to have people be mean to you for what you is. Makes Toby feel bad. Toby not want pale man to feel bad."
The revenant paused, considering this as he watched the metal in the crucible become molten.
"Toby, I require a pair of tongs," Revenant said as he leaned towards the fire. He felt something pressed into his hand, but upon brief inspection, discovered they were not tongs.
"These are calipers, Toby," Revenant said, standing up and turning around to give the calipers back.
Toby instinctively cowered, holding his hands in front of his face.
Revenant was surprised by this and stared at Toby in shock. "Is something wrong?"
Toby slowly uncovered his face. "You... Not punish Toby? Toby make mistake. Toby always get hit when make mistake."
Revenant mulled this bizarre information over in his head. "I do not intend you harm at this time."
Toby dug in the box and pulled out the proper instrument, tentatively handing them to Revenant, who took the tongs and held the calipers out to Toby. Toby flinched as they were handed to him, but he gingerly accepted them and placed them back in the box.
Revenant removed the crucible and poured the adamantium into a bar mold. "Was it common for you to be physically harmed?"
Toby nodded his head. "Sometimes, Toby make mistake, and masters beat him. They call Toby stupid, say he monster, and monster only good for killing and making work. So toby work, because he not want to be killed."
Revenant tapped the last of the metal out of the crucible and set it aside near the stones surrounding the campfire. "I was often referred to as a monster," Revenant said, looking at Toby.
"Toby always wonder, what 'monster' mean? If big green is monster then monster good thing!" Toby said, inching towards Revenant excitedly.
"This... Is not accurate." Revenant said hesitantly. "A monster is a creature who does harmful things to others either for its own gain or for enjoyment. This claim is sometimes fallacious and only exists due to fear."
Toby looked at Revenant confused. "But... You not hurt people. You help them. Why they call you monster?"
"For the same reason they refer to you and Hrodulf as monsters. They hate you for what you are. Even if you do not understand why." Revenant slowly turned to look at the fire once more.
Toby sat silently for a moment. "Toby not hate you. Not hate pale man. Not hate magic lady or tall lady or tough man. Toby not monster. You not monster. Pale man not monster."
Revenant extracted the bars from the mold and began to hammer them flat. "When you were enslaved you were forced to do manual labor. Why do you then perform manual labor for us? You do not have an aversion to continuing?"
Toby shrugged. "Work work work, all Toby know. Work make Toby happy. Toby see work after done, and say 'job's done', and Toby feel like he do something good. But now, Toby work because he want to, not because master hits him until he work. Magic lady give Toby round shiny for work! Toby get new shirt with round shiny. Look!"
Toby dug through one of the boxes, eventually extracting a purple silk shirt. Struggling, he pulled it over his torso. The shirt strained to contain the orc's chest and biceps. "This biggest shirt they had. Toby not like to wear, is too small. Just like to look at."
"You like to look at the shirt?" Revenant asked, somewhat confused.
Toby pulled the shirt off and rolled it across his hands gingerly, examining it. "Is Toby's nice shirt. Toby never have anything nice before."
He placed the shirt back in the box and gently closed the lid. "But Toby has nice thing now, because new friends give him nice thing. Set Toby free and let him go with them. Only thing new friends want is Toby to move boxes. Toby can move boxes easy. Get round shiny in return and get to see world."
Revenant began attaching the newly forged pieces of armor this body. He looked back up at the sky, scanning it for what they all knew was there. Is it possible this was his reason for being here? Not to find a way back to try to revive a dead civilization, but to save one that still had hope?
"Do you think pale man helping somebody? He gone for a long time," Toby said, breaking Revenant's train of thought.
Revenant paused. "...Nothing is impossible," he replied.