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By Michael Walsh
http://michaelwalsh.deviantart.com |
What follows is an account of the events during a session of my Toybox Campaign. This summary is written out in a prose format which may, for the sake of telling a story to a wider audience, take liberties with the events. Any internal thoughts I portray the characters as having are my assumptions rather than confirmed by my players. Any future conflicts of personality are more likely a result of my assumptions, rather than actual player inconsistency.
If you want to stay updated on the events of the Toybox crew, but don't want to read through the whole prose write-up, a summary follows at the end.
If you want to start the story from the beginning, check out the first episode.
If you want to see what just happened, check out the previous episode.
If you want to continue the story, check out the next episode.
For more information on the Toybox Campaign, check out the Toybox Homepage.
Episode Main Cast
Episode 105
Team Switching-Again
"Yes!" Jack exclaimed. "You're alright!"
"What happened to you anyway?" the blue clad man asked.
"What happened to me?"
"We both wound up back in the box," the blue clad man explained.
"Well..." Jack thought about it, employing his knowledge of the nanotech. "We all got zapped. I ended up back with the rest of this bunch and you...I was wondering what happened to you guys, really. Because I thought you might be dead"
"He was also unconscious," User supplied.
"Yeah, he was unconscious when he showed up," Scarlet confirmed.
"And injured," Sara further clarified.
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "I was in pain."
"I mean," the blue clad man responded. "I was unconscious too. I woke up in the box, but that's how we got there in the first place, so I thought nothing of that."
"Yeah, I woke up back in my room," Clio said. "Like the first time."
"Okay," Jack answered, running a hand through his hair. "Well, I woke up unconcious on the ground in front of these guys who were like 'what the hell happened to you?'"
"You woke up unconscious?" Sara asked, one eyebrow raised, grinning. Jack laughed at the joke. Sara laughed at her own cleverness. Even Scarlet chuckled in amusement.
"Yes," Jack clarified. "I woke up FROM unconsciousness, whoever you are."
"As I said, I'm going to go by Sara now," Sara answered. "I asked for help from Mizuki, wanting to know what a common woman's name might be around here."
"Well, that's one way of doing it," the blue-clad man said.
Unsettling Revelations
"Anyway," Jack continued. "While you guys were hanging out in the box, we actually found out that there's somebody watching us."
"Yeah, we found that out too actually," the blue-clad man said.
"Oh really?" Jack asked.
"Someone spoke to us while we were in the box," the blue-clad man explained. "And there was stuff in at least my closet that wasn't there when we started."
"Okay?"
"There were speakers in the box. At least four in the main room and one in my room. Someone talked to us through it."
"An announcement system, okay," Jack mused.
"Only said one thing, and it wasn't terribly helpful," the blue-clad man explained. "They didn't respond to any questioning."
"What'd they say?"
"They said...well...we were trying to ask the computer different questions, and the computer was being as useful as it has been previously," Clio explained. Scarlet let out a chuckle. Clio continued, "The voice from the speaker said that the computer wasn't there to give us information, but it was there for something else."
"So what'd you find in your closet?" User asked.
"Nanotech ring," the blue-clad man answered, lifting it to show the others.
"I didn't check in my closet," Clio said. "But, I did receive a note when I woke up."
"Oh?" Jack asked.
"It was on the screen," she said. "And I know my real name."
"What is it?" Jack inquired.
"Perdita," Clio answered. "At least, that's what they called me, so I assume it's my real name."
"Well, that's pretty," Jack said.
"I wish I had a real name," Scarlet said. This was met with laughter by both Jack and Sara.
"I'm sure you have one," the blue-clad man said with a smile.
"We probably all have real names," Jack suggested.
"I wish I was in possession of my real name," Sara said. "I'd put it in a chest under lock and key," she joked.
"So that no one could steal it from you again?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," she agreed.
"Well, were both notes signed?" the blue-clad man asked. "They might have come from the same person."
"My note was signed from Koloman," Clio offered.
"Ours was signed Mr. F," User said.
"Hmm..." Jack said. "Do you think they're the same person?"
"It's possible," the blue-clad man shrugged.
"What did your note from this 'Koloman' say?" User asked.
"Basically, we, our crew, it says that we should be back in Vendernovem," Clio said.
"We are back on Vendernovem," User nodded.
"And that we wiped our own memories for our protection. It doesn't give a lot of details, because it didn't want to erase the effect of wiping our own memories."
"So we probably did do something awful!" Jack exclaimed.
"Why would we erase our entire memories?" User asked.
"Maybe it wasn't selective," Jack answered.
"In that case," the blue-clad man suggested. "It's possible that Koloman is actually one of us."
"He said he'll send messages to others," Clio explained. "To give the appropriate information, and that there's something at the Yrkallak Tower that we need to obtain. Something called the Band of Enigmas."
"The Band of Enigmas," Jack repeated.
"And we apparently have an enemy named Vinka," Clio said. "She will not hesitate to send her armies if she figures out we're going to retrieve the Band of Enigmas."
"Okay," Jack said. "So we're not gonna talk about that thing until we run into it, snatch it, and then we...uhm..."
"We don't know," the blue-clad man pointed out.
"We're probably gonna use it at that point," Jack pointed out. "Because there's only one way to figure out why we need to steal it in the first place."
"Did it say we needed to steal it?" User asked.
"It doesn't say," Clio said. "It said we needed to retrieve it."
"Oh, so maybe it was already ours," Scarlet suggested.
"Maybe we're stealing it back," Jack responded.
"Well, we might not necessarily need to steal it," the blue-clad man said.
"Does anyone remember why we were already wanting to go to Yrkallak tower to begin with?" User asked.
"It's on the way to Orrila, for one," Sara said. "For two, we were hoping we could learn more about our situation. It's supposed to be a place of learning and knowledge."
"But first we're going to make a pit stop to see Mr. F.," Jack reminded them. "Morio tower is closer, and somewhat on the way to Yrkallak tower. Of course, he may want to steer us away from the Band of Enigmas and the other things."
"So we don't tell him about the other things," Scarlet offered.
"We don't tell him about the other things," Jack agreed. "Unless he already knows about the other things, because he might."
"I mean, he knows my name is User, and I haven't been going by that name for very long, so...it kinda bothers me."
"Like I said, we know that people are watching us," the blue-clad man said. "Someone spoke to us inside the Toybox, so obviously someone's keeping tabs on us."
Moving Forward-Options
There was much debate and deliberation. Sara wished to take the road, hoping to discover more about the trouble on the road. Jack and Scarlet hoped that the road would be a faster path. User had wanted to go back the way that they had come, deciding it would be the least likely to get them into trouble that would slow them down. Clio and the blue-clad man wished to go the straight path-largely to investigate the monster.
After much discussion and deliberation, the group decided to go down the way of the monster. Before leaving, Scarlet set to the streets of the town, gathering rumors about the monster that had the city so afraid. She heard of a massive beast with huge and sharp teeth that could sense when people set foot anywhere in the blighted area. Some townspeople believed that it was guarding some structure in the middle of the blight. Clio, who was knowledgeable about nature, suggested that she wasn't aware of a natural creature that matched the description they had been given of the beast.
The Monster and the Hand
After a little more than an hour's walk outside of town, the crew came upon a massive crater which stretched into the horizon. The edges had a slight incline, with very little in the way of large protrusions. The ground was dry and cracked, with nothing growing in it.In the middle of the crater, they could make out, even from the edge, what looked like a giant metal hand, with one finger extended, touching the center of the crater. There as no arm attached to it, just the metal hand, ending where its wrist would be.
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By Michael Walsh
http://michaelwalsh.deviantart.com |
"That's...not cool..." Jack said. "I blame you for this!" he said to the blue-clad man. "For...whatever happens."
"It's okay," Sara said. "We got this, right?"
"Do we?" Jack insisted. "I really don't think so."
"I think we should spread out," User said as the beast came closer.
Scarlet sprang into motion, running to the creature's right.
Thinking, the blue-clad man determined that this beast was actually an automaton. Specifically, a defensive automaton. He also noticed that the creature had been injured, with some holes and exposed wiring visible on the creature's left-hand side.
"It's injured over here!" the blue-clad man called out, rushing off towards the beast's injured side.
"Damn," Scarlet said. It was already so close, she knew she wouldn't have time to get across to the beast's other side.
Clio notched an arrow and ran after the blue-clad man. She let the arrow loose and it struck the creature. The arrow fell to the ground as it bounced off the creature's thick metal skin.
User ran towards Scarlet.
Sara moved in the same direction as Clio and the blue-clad man, but did so more cautiously than the others. She didn't want to be face to face with the monster.
Jack turned his back on the creature, running away. As he did so, he drew out a nanotech device that he had been holding which he activated.
"Everyone get clear!" he called out. "This thing is gonna blow up!"
The creature continued to charge forward. The creature opened it's mouth, revealing huge, sharp, metal teeth. It then let out a massive bellow which shook the members of the crew of the Toybox.
Scarlet took Jack's advice and took off running away from the creature. User began to run past and around the creature. Sara ran forward towards the creature and threw one of her bladed disks at it.
"Well, since everyone is going towards the creature where I was going to throw the thing that will hurt anyone near it..." Jack sighed, moving off away from the monster and his team mates. He threw the nanotech item as far as he could. "Don't go that way!"
The creature swept its foot at Sara, hitting her and knocking her backwards.
The blue-clad man ran up to the creature, swinging his staff at it. His staff collided with a weak spot on the creature's leg. The beast wavered on it's leg for a moment.
Clio leapt back away from the monster, firing another arrow at it. The arrow collided to with the beast, and a mechanical whimper was heard. As the creature was distracted by this, User ran up to it, swinging both of his batons. They glanced off of the monster. Sara moved away from the creature and threw her other sisk at it. The bladed disk collided with the creature and it let out another squeaking yelp.
Jack ran towards the creature-away from the nanotech device he'd just thrown. He paused, using his mind to strike out at the creature. The beast gave no indication if the blast had harmed it.
The beast leapt into the air, spinning around and landing facing the opposite way. When he landed, a shockwave went outwards. User got the brunt of the blast of air, letting out a gasp as it struck him.
The blue-clad man swung his staff once again, striking the creature hard in another weak-point. User swung his batons once again. One seemed to glance off while the other sparked and dented in the metal of the beast's leg. Jack ran further while directing yet another blast at the monster.
The nanotech device erupted in a bright red wave of heat. No one was standing in the wave of the blast.
The creature ran forward, pushing through User and the blue-clad man. The blue-clad man leapt out of the creature's way while User was clipped by the monster's leg as it pushed past them.
The blue-clad man struck the beast one more time, and it fell over-the eyes of the creature going dark. He immediately went over his kill, trying to break apart pieces of the beast to cobble together new nanotech devices.
As they moved on towards the giant floating metal hand, they saw that it was, in fact, just that. There was nothing that appeared to be holding it aloft. However, upon the ground around the hand were numerous machines.
"Those look sort of like the newer machines that were at the needles, don't they?" the blue-clad man asked.
"I think they are also relatively newer. They're composed of old parts, but assembled probably within the last 10 years if not more recently," Clio explained. "They have an energy-transference property. I'm not sure what, but they're trying to do something involving energy and the giant floating hand."
Outside the Tower
It was nearing nightfall as the crew of the Toybox approached Morio Tower. The tower was a metal structure, jutting out of the ground at least a thousand feet into the air. It stood supported by four giant metal cylindrical tubes, each with a diameter at least 200 feet across. A metal stairway led from the ground up to a metal doorway on the side of the tower and above the aforementioned tubes. The door looked heavy and had a wheel attached to the outside of it.The Toybox crew looked up at this tower, anxious to approach and see who it was that had sent them a mysterious message.
Episode Summary
- Clio and the blue-clad man reveal that someone used nanotech speakers to say something to them in the Toybox-someone who appears to be watching them.
- Clio revealed that she found a note that referred to her as 'Perdita' and claimed to be from 'Koloman.' The note claimed that the Toybox crew erased their own memories. It also claimed that they should try to acquire an item called the Band of Enigmas from Yrkallak Tower. It also warned of someone named Vinka who would be willing to send armies after them.
- The crew traveled towards Morio tower through the barren expanse that Mizuki had warned them about.
- They battled against a giant robot automaton
- They found a giant floating metal hand with odd devices around it-devices not unlike those found at the Needles in Episode 102.
- The crew continued on, arriving just outside Morio Tower as night began to set.
If you want to start the story from the beginning, check out the first episode.
To continue the story, go to the next episode: Episode 106: "Morals and Time Continuum Should not have to Cross"
If you want to see what happened immediately previously, check out the previous episode.
For more information on the Toybox Campaign, check out the Toybox Homepage.
To continue the story, go to the next episode: Episode 106: "Morals and Time Continuum Should not have to Cross"
If you want to see what happened immediately previously, check out the previous episode.
For more information on the Toybox Campaign, check out the Toybox Homepage.
Numenera, The Strange, the Cypher System, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2017 Monte Cook Games, LLC.
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