Six strangers awaken in a strange location with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Can they unravel the mysteries of this odd location?
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.
I expect that future episodes won't be quite as long, but there's a lot of discovery and new information right at the start.
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 101: "What is with all the dead bodies?"
Waking Up
She woke up. She could feel a pressure relieve itself from the back of her spine. Before her was a curved transparent barrier, stretching all the way around to the wall behind her. Examining the wall, she could see a control panel there. It seemed simple enough, and as she flipped a switch, the barrier began to split across the center. The lower half sunk into the floor while the upper half was brought into the ceiling.The room was a decent size, but fairly simple in its contents. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of stone-etched with odd and unfamiliar designs and symbols. Across from her was a metal doorway. In one corner of the room was a simple bed-simple in that it was undecorated. The fortune of having a bed with real cushions and sheets she knew was normally reserved for the extremely wealthy. In another corner was a wardrobe-looked to be made of wood. Most of the light in the room was coming from a single screen along one of the walls of the room.
Before deciding to explore the room further, a question occurred to her: who am I? She simply couldn't remember. She couldn't remember much of anything. The clothes she was dressed in were mostly dark green, the sort that might blend in with a forest. She had a hood which had been up when she woke up. She hadn't drawn it back. Not much to go on.
Am I a hunter?
The wardrobe also contained varying other tools, which she was able to load into the pack, along with a couple nanotech devices that she figured could be useful later. There was also a note which read "You owe Olabode 14 shins." She folded the note and put it into her pocket. She didn't know who Olabode was, but she did know she hadn't found any money in the wardrobe. Hopefully she had some more answers about her situation before this debt came up.
She moved next to the console on the wall, bright with light. It appeared to be a touch-screen control system. It had on it easily readable commands for "Open/Close", "Lock/Unlock", "Hide/Unhide", and "Vitals."
She touched the icon for the "Open" command, and the metal door slid downwards into the floor, revealing a long and unlit hallway. She could see that the hallway opened up into a larger-more lit-room, and began walking down that way to see if she could find answers.
Not Alone
The room was large, to begin with. It was mostly an open room, but it had many other hallways
connecting into it. In the center of the room was a large machine-a console with varying lights and buttons. Atop the console was a bubble-at least six feet in diameter-which swirled with light and energy of many colors. On the floor around the console were seven circles, each of which glowed with a different colored energy. She noticed that the ceiling seemed to open up, about ten feet in from all sides of the room, allowing her to see that there was another floor to the structure above the one she was on. There didn't appear to be an obvious way up there, but she did feel like she'd have the ability to get up there if she wanted to.
She looked at the circle closest to her, which glowed with a blue light. In looking at it, a thought occurred to her: I think that this is some sort of interface for the big machine...
How the hell do I know that?
"Are you friend or foe?" the newcomer asked.
"That depends," the archer answered. "Who are you?"
"I...I don't know..." the newcomer answered. "Who are you?"
"Same story," the archer said. "Do you know how we got here? Or even where here is?""No."
From one of the other halls, they noticed yet another woman coming towards them. This one had fiery red hair that matched her red robes. She carried a pack, much like those carried by the other two, but unlike them, she didn't appear to be obviously armed.
"Any idea what's going on?" she asked.
"None," the teal-clad woman answered.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
He ignored her question and went straight to the console in the center of the room. He began to press buttons on it with a vigor that made her worried. The red-robed woman stepped back away from the console in the center of the room, preparing for the worst. The other two women followed suit while the man continued pressing away at the buttons.
Nothing happened. He frowned, looking down at the device.
"I was hoping I could get this working," he said. Without waiting to see what the others would do, he set off down one of the halls.
An idea occurred to the red-robed woman, as if she had stolen it from someone else's mind. She walked over to the glowing red circle and stepped into it. (Meta-note: This is an instance of a player using information that their character probably wouldn't actually have.)
The energies of the bubble in the center of the room swirled about. From them, words formed for her to see: "Welcome to the Toybox. This interface has been designed and integrated into the existing design by the Aeon Priests of the clave in Orrila."
"Interesting," the teal-clad woman said, stepping on to the blue circle. Nothing happened.
The green-clad archer walked around the central device to the circle which glowed with green light. As she stepped into it, the words spun around the bubble to face her.
The blue-clad man came back into the main room then, looking perhaps a little paler than when he had left.
Another figure dropped down from the floor above. This one was a man who was draped in layered clothing of dark colors-blacks, blues, greys, and purples. His hands were covered with gloves, and his head was wrapped with cloth. Even his eyes were covered with dark glasses. It was hard to tell if it was just a visual trick, but shadows seemed to move about around him. With him was a quadruped automaton, a little mechanical beast, that looked almost like a large lizard.
"Who are you?" the red-clad woman asked.
"I'm Alal," he said. "And this is Zeke."
"Wait, do you actually know who you are?" she asked. "Do you remember anything about your past?"
"Well, no," Alal answered. "It just seemed the right name."
"Oh..." she seemed disappointed for a moment, but her confidence resurfaced. "I guess you guys can call me Scarlet then, since I am wearing so much red."
"You can call me Katrin," the teal-clad woman said.
"I...I don't know my name," the archer said. "I still need more time to consider what I want to be called."
All eyes fell upon the man in blue, expecting an answer. Rather than providing one, he chose to walk down another one of the hallways.
Welcome to the Toybox
This time, the others followed. The archer almost stayed behind, but then she noticed a new figure lurking in the shadows of a different as-of-yet unexplored hallway, and decided it might be best to stay with the group whose intentions at least weren't hostile, rather than taking her chances with whoever might be hiding in the darkness.The hall was unlit, and it wasn't long before the light from the room they'd come from could no longer provide them any aid.
"I can still see," Alal said, moving to the forefront of the group, his cloak brushing the others as he walked past. He turned a corner and pushed open a doorway into another room. A faint blue light poured out into the hall.
The ceiling of the room was much higher than that of the hall leading into it. And in the center of the room was a tall cube-shaped structure. The structure was made of stone, but a lighter stone than that of the rest of the building that housed it. It's sides were marked with an odd pattern of short vertical and horizontal lines.
"What is it?" the green archer asked.
"I think it's some sort of vault," Alal answered. "I feel as though I know something about this technology. Not sure how. I think that it is designed to open under a certain set of conditions, and that trying to open it otherwise could cause it to close down further."
"So what do we do?" Scarlet asked.
"I guess we leave it alone for now," Alal answered.
The blue-clad man was already going through a door out of the room-the only other one than the one they had come in through.
Alal and the others followed him. The door led to a hall which lead back to the large room with the console. Standing in the yellow circle was another man, this one wearing a long black coat. The green-clad archer recognized him as the man she had seen before down the hallway.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Scarlet demanded.
"Talking to the computer," he said simply.
"Did you find out anything?" Katrin asked.
He shrugged.
The blue-clad man ran ahead to another unexplored hallway.
The others took turns trying to ask the computer questions. The man in the black coat had discovered that if one stood on their proper circle, the interface of the console would acknowledge them as a user and they could ask it questions out loud.
Scarlet and the green archer had already discovered which circles corresponded to them. Alal and Katrin walked all the way around the console, standing in each circle in turn, but found none the matched to them.
The blue clad man returned from the unexplored hallway he had visited, and he then went to explore yet another hall.
Scarlet, Katrin, Alal, the green archer and the man in the black coat weren't having great luck getting information from the console's interface. They learned that Orrila was on Vendernovem, but given that Vendernovem was the whole planet, that did little to aid in their understanding. They learned that the location of the Toybox was unknown. Further questioning prompted the console's interface to reveal that it's databanks had been erased and that it had been reset to its default settings.
The blue clad man returned once more and crossed to the remaining unexplored hall. Five feet in, there was a door. He pushed the door open to reveal a dark, unlit room. He sighed.
"Alal," he called out. "Come check this out."
Alal came. He found a switch upon the wall of the room which activated lighting. The light revealed that the room had many tables and chairs, appearing to be a sitting area for dining and/or socializing. On the far side of the room were two sets of double doors. This led into another room with cabinets and counters. Presumably a kitchen, but there was nothing in any of the cabinets. It was completely unstocked.
Alal and the blue-clad man came out of the room. The blue clad man looked up at the opening in the ceiling, as if trying to think of a way to get to the second floor.
Katrin, feeling motivated by some unknown knowledge, and began to walk down the first hall that the blue-clad man had gone down on his own. (Meta note: This is another instance of a player directing their character utilizing information that they probably wouldn't have had.) At the end of the hall was a door, which she pushed open to find a room not unlike the one she had woken up in. There was a bed, a wardrobe, and a console. Across from the door was the clear barrier-except for the fact that it had been shattered. Broken pieces, like glass, laid across the floor. In them was the body of a young woman. Katrin checked the body and found that the woman wasn't breathing. Dead then. The woman had many cuts from the broken barrier, but she didn't show any other obvious signs of what killed her.
Had the blue clad man done this when he had come back here on his own? Katrin didn't think he seemed the type, but she had only just met him. Not to mention that she didn't have any prior experiences to draw on.
On the screen in the room was the word "Snorria." A name? Katrin wasn't sure.
She picked up the body and carried it back into the console room. The others seemed surprised at her having a dead body to begin with, except for the blue clad man who was still looking at the floor above. She laid the body down on the unlit circle, wanting to see if maybe this person was associated with it. Unfortunately, nothing happened, thus not confirming or denying the theory.
"Katrin, help boost me up," Alal said, indicating the floor above. She did as he asked, and he lowered a hand down to help lift her up. The blue clad man scowled, but accepted help up as well.
There were eight hallways on the second floor in total. Aside from the ones that Katrin and Alal had come down, each looked the same as the Snorria room: normal layout of room, broken barrier, dead body, word/name on their console. There was nothing more to find on the second floor, and they came back down to the first.
Crash
The ground shook, and an odd feeling, not unlike motion-sickness began to inflict itself upon the new acquaintances. The blue clad figure immediately ran off towards one of the halls that he had already explored. The others decided to follow him, since he seemed to know what he was doing.The hall opened to a sizable room. One of the notable things about the room was that there seemed to be several big cages in it. Two of them had large creatures in them-not unlike roaches-if roaches were twice the size of a human.
The other notable thing about the room was the fact that it had windows, facing out into what seemed at first glance to be the night's sky-dark with stars dotting the expanse. However, as the edge of a planet slowly came into view, this notion could be dismissed. The planet moved in the scope of the windows, such that it was filling all of the windows on one wall of the room. It was getting closer and closer at a dangerous speed.
The crew rushed from the room back to the one with the central console. The figure in the black coat stood on the yellow circle and said. "Computer, stop our descent!"
Words formed in the bubble: This function is not currently installed/available.
The blue-clad man ran to the blue circle and called out "Where are we going?"
Words formed in the bubble: Down.
"Great, real helpful," he muttered.
The floor gave a massive shudder, almost knocking the occupants of the Toybox to the ground. The feeling of motion sickness stopped.
"That was fast," the man in the black coat mused.
The group went back to the room with the windows, to see what they might see. Reaching to halfway up the windows was water, implying a semi-submerged state of the Toybox vessel. Beyond the water, they could see a coastline not far off.
Katrin drew out one of her daggers and moved towards the window. Alal caught her arm. He didn't have the strength to stop her if she was determined, he knew, but he hoped she would stop when she realized there was some reason.
"What?" she asked. "If I break the window, then we can get out and swim across the water to the shore."
"If you break the window, all of that water will come pouring into here," Alal said. "Let's...let's just see if there's anything else we can do first."
They went back into the room with the console. The man in the black coat stood on the yellow circle and asked, "How do we get out of the Toybox?"
Words formed in the swirling ball of energy: The pathway has been opened.
As they looked at the energy, they noticed something different about it. The energy itself looked perhaps softer, and while before it had seemed like there may have been a bubble blocking and containing the energy, it now seemed as though there was nothing holding it-rather that it was just maintaining it's orb-like shape.
"I think that the energy may be associated with teleportation," Alal said. "It's possible that stepping through, we'll find ourselves outside of the Toybox. I would say 'hopefully nearby,' but since we don't know where nearby is, I suppose it's all about the same."
Katrin stuck her hand into the energy. Without even a moment to show a reaction, she vanished.
"Well, that doesn't exactly tell us anything," Alal said.
"I don't see that we have a lot of other choices," Scarlet said, sticking her own hand into the energy. She, too, vanished.
One by one, they all tried. Some more hesitant than the others. One by one, they each vanished.
I'm Shore You Figured it Out
They stood atop a massive cube-structure, looking out over the water. They could see the shore not far away, and, after climbing down the structure, were able to swim and then wade through the water to get to it.
Looking back, they could see the massive stone structure of the Toybox looming over them. It was like a large stone block, decorated with odd designs.
 |
| TM and © 2016 Monte Cook Games, LLC. |
On the shore was the massive body of a dead creature.
"What is with all the dead bodies?" the blue clad figure asked as they moved closer to it to investigate.
"It's a ravage bear," the green archer supplied. "Or, it was. They're blind and hunt primarily through scent.
As they drew even closer, they could see that there appeared to be flowers growing out of it's body.
 |
| TM and © 2016 Monte Cook Games, LLC. |
"Stay back," the archer insisted. "Those aren't flowers. They're another kind of creature-Xiomarche. These track down prey bigger then them, kill it, and then plant their eggs which grow like those flowers. Stay away from them."
"I don't remember this world," Katrin said, "but this ravage bear and the xiomarche being the first two things we've encountered doesn't give me a lot of confidence in it."
Looking through the nearby trees, the crew could see a large metal pole sticking up somewhere in the distance.
"Well, we've really got no other landmarks or direction to go in," the blue-clad man offered before starting towards the woods. The others agreed and began to follow him.
As they reached the tree line, they heard a loud humming sound behind them. Turning around, they saw the Toybox-glowing with orange energy as it rose slowly out of the water. Then, suddenly, it shrunk with an implosive speed and force. The remaining cube flew towards the group, landing in the sand near them. It was now only about three inches on any side.
Scarlet rushed to the Toybox, picked it up, and put it into her bag.
They then turned their attention back to the forest, and what lay ahead for them.
Episode Summary
- Six individuals wake up with amnesia in their own rooms in a mysterious structure.
- Exploring the structure, they found a less-than-helpful control console (which referred to the structure as the Toybox), some caged creatures, and the fact that the structure appeared to be in space.
- Having crash landed near a shore, the PCs left the Toybox to explore.
- As they approached a nearby forest to examine a structure they could see in the distance, the Toybox rose into the air and then shrank. It is currently being held by Scarlet.
To continue the story, go to the next episode: Episode 102: "I'm not a wrench, I'm a W.R.E.N.C.H.!"
For more information on the Toybox Campaign, check out the Toybox Homepage.
Character images created using HeroMachine3.
Sweet! I can imagine it's really fun to write stories based on your RPGs. It's always interesting to see how things would be told in a steady narrative vs. how things play out in-game. I know I've mentioned this, but I always enjoy the mysterious that shrouds amnesia. I am especially intrigued by the Toybox, as it sounds unique to anything in RPGs I've encountered too. Sounds like a fun adventure!
ReplyDeleteI hope it will be! I'll be trying to do about one Toybox update every two weeks or so, so you can look forward to seeing how the story progresses.
Delete