Toybox Episode 102: "I'm not a wrench, I'm a W.R.E.N.C.H.!"

TM and © 2017 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

The Toybox crew explores ancient ruins and discovers some of the dangers that can be found within the world of Vendernovem.

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 previous/first 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

Scarlet

?-Blue-clad man

Clio

User

Sara-Well-dressed woman

Jack

Episode 102

Waking Up (Again)

They woke up, much like the others had. Each of them were in their own individual rooms, held to the wall by a transparent barrier. They both found the control panel to open the barrier. Each room contained a bed and a wardrobe with their equipment. Each room was lit primarily by a control console on the wall, which they were able to use to open the door out of each room.

Upon leaving their own rooms, they, like the others, found the central room, with its console, its swirling orb of energy, and the glowing circles on the ground around it. They also saw a young woman, splayed out upon the floor over an indentation which would otherwise indicate a glowing circle.

Character Image designed with HeroMachine3

One was a man who wore orange robes, not unlike those worn by members of the aeon priesthood. The other was a finely dressed woman with long brown hair.

Together, they quickly took stock of their surroundings and the rooms of the Toybox. They found that the swirling energy would respond to each of them if they stood on the proper circle around it-purple for the woman and orange for the man. They found the bathroom, vault, kitchen/dining area, as well as the cells which contained the two beetle-like creatures within them. They went upstairs and discovered the rooms with the various dead bodies.

Having explored, they came back to discuss things moving forward.

Image by Selenda:
http://selenada.deviantart.com/art/Terra-616586101

"I'm guessing from the pattern upstairs, that she," the man gestured to the body on the ground in the central room, "must belong in the room labeled Snorria. You think we should put her in there? I don't really wanna just leave her here."

The woman furrowed her brow in thoughts. "It's a hypothesis. Do what you think is right," she said, her voice detached.

The man lifted the body and continued talking. "So, Toybox? Does that make us toys?"

"Or this place is meant for us to experiment and grow, or likely countless other possible explanations," the woman proposed.  "Any idea how we move on from here? I'd prefer not to end up like her." She gestured to the body in the man's arms.

The man laid the body down in the bed within the room that had the screen displaying the word 'Snorria.'

"Well," he suggested, "if anything, I'd say we can try using those circles from the center of the main room."

"The consoles in these rooms have dead bodies near them, making the idea of messing with them unappealing, and I highly doubt we're to ride the beetles to freedom. It is concerning that one of those circles had a dead body associated with it as well."

"True, but there weren't any other open avenues of escape," the man said. "I don't really know how, or why, but we got in here somehow, there must be a way out. And unless we're gonna eat Beetle and then eventually each other, there's nothing in the kitchen for us.

"Something tells me we can use the orb for transport. Just gotta remember that whatever Snorria here found on the other side is likely dangerous, and keep our eyes open when we try. Unless you feel like sitting and pondering until we wither?"

"I agree. It seems each of these rooms force us to risk death on very little certainty that we're making the right choice. Together then? Which circles do you think we should choose?

"Let's go with the ones that seemed to work before," the man suggested, "the purple for you and the orange for me, and try to figure out how to manipulate this thing"

They each walked onto their circle, and as they did so, the familiar words from before appeared in the swirling energy: "Welcome to the Toybox. This interface has been designed and integrated into the existing design by the Aeon Priests of the clave in Orrila."

"Can this... device take us outside of this room?" the man asked.

The greeting vanished, and the energy swirled to form the word "yes."

"Where can this take us?" he asked.

Again, the energy swirlled and formed just one word: "Outside."

The man laughed and looked over to the woman. "Helpful. Okay, Toybox, take us outside."

The woman shrugged.

The orb of energy swirled and expanded, washing over the pair of them.

New Friends

Scarlet, the green-clad archer, the man with the dark jacket, the man wearing blue, Katrin, and Alal were walking through the woods when Scarlet noticed that her bag was beginning to grow. She stopped and reached into the bag. She grabbed a hold of the Toybox-rapidly expanding from within, and cast it onto the ground away from herself.

The Toybox increased in size until it was about nine feet in all three dimensions. Orange energy flowed out of it, surrounding Katrin and Alal. The two vanished, and where they had gone, there was now a well dressed woman with long brunette hair and a man wearing orange robes similar to those of the aeon priests.

"Hello," the man said.

"Did you come out of the Toybox?" the man in the dark coat asked.

"Yeah," the man in the orange robes answered.

"Did you see the dead people?" the green-clad archer asked.

"Yeah, we saw them," the well-dressed woman answered.

"Are you actually an aeon priest?" the man in the dark coat questioned.

"Well," the man in the orange robes explained. "I found the robes in the wardrobe in the room where I woke up. So, they seem to belong to me. I...don't remember anything from before that, so...maybe? I think it's possible."

"Great," the man in blue sighed. "Nothing more than we knew before."

"I'm Scarlet," Scarlet said.

"You can call me User," the man in the black coat offered.

"User?" the man in the orange robes asked.

"It's what the computer called me," he said.

"Ah."

"I think, at least until I find out what my real name was, I'd like to be called Clio," the green-clad archer said.

"So," User said, addressing the two newcomers. "Do you know anything about the Toybox?"

"I know we came out of it," the man in the orange robes answered, smiling.

"You came out of the box?" User asked. "I think I'll call you jack."

"That's not very nice," Scarlet said. "Just because he made one sarcastic comment doesn't make him a jackass."

"Oh, I thought he was saying that he 'didn't know jack,'" the well-dressed woman said.

"No," User said. "It's cause he was in the box."

The others stared at him for a moment before finally understanding the joke.

"So, what is our current situation?" the well-dressed woman asked.

"We're heading for that tower," the blue-clad man answered, pointing thorough the trees. It looked to still be a ways away, but they could see a tall metal structure jutting up above the canopy.

"It's the only real landmark that we have right now," Clio offered in explanation.

"Alright," the woman answered. "Let's get going then."

The Needles

And together they walked through the woods until they reached the structure. Five metal needles stuck out from the ground. Four of them formed a square perimeter, each standing about fifty feet apart. Each of the four had a round base with a diameter around ten feet. They rose about thirty feet into the air, each ending in a point. In the center, the fifth needle was much larger than it's companions, starting with a twenty foot diameter base and towering incalculably high.

In front of the needles was a pedestal, made of a stone-like material, upon which were marked blue sigils in a circular pattern. All around the clearing were machines-boxy metal devices in varying shapes and sizes, each with thick tubes or wires stretching between them and from them to the needles and the pedestal.

In front of the needles, near the stone pedestal, was a cloth banner, displayed on a metal pole. The banner depicted a golden clock face, with twelve numbers indicated around it. Clocks were particularly rare on Vendernovem, being only utilized by those who can find relics of the past that either still worked, or that could be made to work once more. Clocks that did work generally had either 14 numbers or 28 on them, given that days in Vendernovem are 28 hours long. A clock like the one depicted on the banner would not provide a great deal of use.

On the far side of the needles was the beginning, or end, of a pathway. The path was made of a material that looked somewhere between worked metal and stone, but either way it had worn a great deal in time. The surface appeared as though it had once been even and smooth, but now it was filled with cracks, bumps, and large gutted holes.

As the group approached the site, the well-dressed woman stayed back a good ways, keeping her distance from the structures. Scarlet stayed between the bulk of the group and the well-dressed woman. The blue clad man moved towards the pedestal, and Jack was not far behind him.

"Hmm..." Clio said. "I think that the towers and the pedestal are...fairly old, probably thousands of years or more, but I think the other machines hooked up to them are newer, probably within the last couple hundred years if not within our lifetime."

"I think that these towers might have something to do with sending signals," the blue-clad man said. "Not quite sure where or what sort of signals though..."

User reached the banner and took it down, rolling up the cloth and putting it into his pack.

The blue-clad man leapt atop the pedestal, standing in the center of the circle of sigils. He stood, looking around, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

"I'm going to check one of the newer machines. Maybe it'll be easier to figure out," he said, leaping off the pedestal. He walked through the needles, passing between one of the shorter ones and the large one in his path to look at the machines.

As he moved, one of the shadows cast by the needles began to shift. Within moments, it had taken the form of a strange quadruped creature which leapt forward and tried to bite at the blue-clad man.


TM and © 2017 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

"It's an ultraterrestrial!" Clio called out, notching an arrow. "Be careful! This one is still partly in its own world! I'll try to rip you into it piece by piece!" She fired her arrow at the creature, but the shot missed the mark.

"Can I still hit it?" the blue-clad man asked. "Like, here, in this world?"

"Yeah!" she called back.

"Great," he said, swinging his quarterstaff and striking the creature on the side of its snout. A hissing sound was heard in response to the impact.

User ran forward, trying to make it into the fray. He swung his dart thrower in an arc, launching a pointed dart towards the beast. The dart flew past the creature into the grass beyond. Near User, another creature sprang forth from the shadows. Meanwhile, the first creature leapt forward, biting at the blue-clad man who leapt out of the way.

From a distance, the well dressed woman shouted insults at the creatures, but both seemed too focused on their prey to notice. Scarlet charged towards the creatures, blowgun in hand. She blew a dart at the newer arrival, but the dart fell short.

Jack closed his eyes, focusing on his mental powers and his control of the nanotech. Psychically, he directed the nanites of the air to condense upon the first of the creatures. It let out another hiss, and some of the shadow matter that it appeared to be made of came off of it like smoke. While it recovered from it's injury, Clio fired another arrow at the beast. The shot was true, and the arrow passed through the creature.

The blue-clad man thought to take further advantage of the situation, swinging at the beast once more. The creature recovered, a massive tendril knocking aside the quarter staff as the monster moved forward to make its own strike. The blue-clad man jumped back, dodging yet another strike. As he did, User rushed forward, swinging his batons. The first missed the creature, but the second jabbed into the beast's side.

The more recently arrived monster charged ahead, running straight towards Jack. It's snout closed down upon Jack's arm. Unimaginable pain filled Jack where the wound was. Even though the creature let go, he felt as though something was grabbing his arm tight. Looking to where his left arm should have been, he saw that it was apparently gone. It wasn't bleeding or ripped off, it was just gone. And yet, he could still feel it, being held tight. He felt that he would not be able to pull away. The pain wracked through him, fueling him with anger. He reached out with his mind and called the nanites to strike a vengeful blast against the beast that had just done this to him. The beast hissed as shadow floated off of its body.

"Leave him alone, you mangy beast!" the well-dressed woman bellowed. Jack felt moved by the strength of her voice, and saw that the creature seemed thrown off by it as well. Taking advantage of its lack of focus, Scarlet moved forward, slamming her fists into the beast. Where they hit, it's body faded to shadow that floated into the air.

Clio fired again at the original beast, but again her arrow failed to strike true. The blue-clad man swung his quarterstaff once more, this time beating the chest of the creature. It lifted up its legs to knock him to the ground, but before it got the chance, User rushed forward, bashing his batons upon it. The creature turned into a burst of black dust which faded into shadow.

Jack cried out in pain as his arm was wracked with another strong pull. He felt as though some invisible force was pulling on his arm with enough strength that it was ripping across his muscles. His vision began to grow dark, as he put everything he had into resisting the pull-threatening to take the rest of him with his arm. The remaining creature leapt towards him again, and somehow he managed to turn his other shoulder backwards and out of the creature's way.

Before it could attack again, Scarlet moved between the beast and Jack, hitting it with all the force her fists could muster.

Clio turned toward the remaining beast and let loose another arrow. This one stuck into the creature, and it, like it's companion, burst into black sand that faded into shadow.

With a great relief, Jack felt the pressure and pulling on its arm relieve itself as the arm became visible once more. In exhaustion, Jack fell to his knees on the ground. The well dressed woman rushed forward and drew out a syringe from her pack.

"This will help," she said, injecting him with whatever substance it contained. He could feel the energy immediately pouring back into him. He still wasn't feeling completely better-not by a long shot, but he felt more assured that his wounds would heal. Nonetheless, a scar would probably remain around the seam where his arm had vanished.

"Thanks," Jack said.

The blue-clad man looked about, trying to make sure that no more creatures were hiding in wait to ambush them once again.

"There are foot prints," he said, gesturing towards the ground. "Human footprints. A lot of them are coming from up to the north, but then they stop in the area of the machines. There is one set that heads towards the paved path."

User moved to the path, showing an indication that he was ready to follow it-having nowhere else to go. Most of the others followed him. The blue-clad man moved to one of the machines hooked to the needles. He began to work with the machine, fiddling with dials and controls. The others moved farther back, progressing down the path.

In the ground between the needles, a hole of swirling dark energy formed. The blue-clad man could feel as the air around him was slowly drawn towards the energy. He worked with the controls to turn off this device.

"I think that the 'signals' it sends might be people and objects," the blue-clad man concluded. "And I think that the place it might be sending them is to other dimensions."

"And, for us that means...?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't know," the blue-clad man shrugged, moving over to the path to join the rest of the group. And so, they continued along the path that was placed before them.

The Road Ahead

They followed the road through the woods for many miles. As night fell, they decided to rest for the evening.

Scarlet drew the Toybox from her pack and tossed it upon the ground. Nothing happened.

"Toybox, open!" she called out to it. Nothing happened. "Oh well. I guess we should make camp."

"We should set a watch for when we sleep," the well-dressed woman suggested. "Since Scarlet, User, and Clio seem better at fighting, I suggest we have three shifts, each with two people on watch. One of the two should be one of our better fighters."

"That sounds good," Scarlet agreed. "I can keep first watch."

"Good, I will keep it with you," the well-dressed woman said. "Jack and User, you can have second. Clio, you and...uhm...the other one can have the last watch."

Together, the group made a small fire for those who were keeping watch, and then made camp and went to sleeping. The night passed uneventfully, and in the morning they set out once more down the road.

Fix the Future, or 100 Questions

It was nearly mid-day when the road dead-ended at a small structure. Its sides were metal and stood about ten feet high, ending in flat metal roof. Each of the sides were about forty feet long, making the base of the structure relatively square. The front of the building had tall glass windows all along the wall, and in the center, two large panels were smashed inwards. On the back wall of the structure, a ramp, about ten feet wide, reached from the ground up to the top of the building.

The blue-clad man examined the broken window. He found a piece of light blue cloth that had been ripped on the broken glass as well as a few long black feathers. Vines and other plant life was growing over the broken window, indicating that it may have been that way for quite some time.

The blue-clad climbed through the window and into the room. It was dark, but in the light from outside, he could make out four panels on the floor: Three which were small and circular, and a fourth which was larger and rectangular.

"I wonder what these are." he said, looking down at them.

Clio, climbing in behind him, offered an idea: "I think that they may use a nanotechnology for compression."

"What?" the man in blue asked.

"I think the panels expand into objects," she answered.

The man in blue reached down to the one nearest to him-one of the small circles. Lifting it from the ground, it elevated into a circular chair with an oval back to it. The other two circles were the same, while the rectangle rose up to being a table in between them.

The man in blue drew out a glowglobe from his pack and activated it. A light blue glow poured from the orb, illuminating the room. In the light, it was clear how much the forest had tried to reclaim this place. Moss grew on the floor and walls. Plants hung to the ceiling. Vines snaked through the room haphazardly.

Also from this light, the blue-clad man was able to see a door on the far side of the room. Opening it, he found a stairway leading downwards, where the building continued.

The hallway down below was wide-probably around 20 feet. The group walked slowly to a door off on the left-hand side.

The inside room appeared to be stark white. White tile floors met with white walls. On the walls were varying grey plates. Coming into the room, the blue-clad man began to pull at the plates, as he had in the entry. These pulled out into a variety of machines, tables, cabinets, and chairs. In the end, there were the makings of some sort of laboratory, although much of the equipment was no longer functional and all of the beakers of chemicals had long since run dry.

The next doorway the group came to in the hall was etched with a thick black X. As they got closer to it, the blue-clad man moved away slightly.

"Aren't you going to check what's behind this door?" User asked.

"I don't know," the blue-clad man answered. "Something feels off about it."

User opened the door a crack. The room beyond had been completely overgrown with vines and plants. So thick were they that someone entering the room would nearly have to wade through them. User closed the door.

The blue-clad man was already on to the next door down the hall. Opening it, he saw that the room was already illuminated. Upon the floor lay a glowglobe that looked to have fallen haphazardly. Beside it was what appeared to be an enormously sized wrench. The wrench was a good four feet long.

Hanging in the air over these items was a woman with pale honey-colored skin. She wore light blue overalls, and was suspended by three mechanical arms of an elaborate device in the corner of the room. She thrashed in the air, trying to break free of her bonds, but they would not release her.

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The blue-clad man rushed forward, swinging his quarterstaff at one of the arms. The strike hit through a joint in the arm, and the whole thing broke off of its home device. The other arms released the woman, and she quickly moved away from the device.

She dusted off her clothes and picked up the enormous wrench on the ground. Looking at the group of newcomers, she bared a huge grin and said "Hello! Thanks for helping me out back there!"

"Who are you?" Clio asked.

"Oh, I'm Mizuki," she said. "I'm a W.R.E.N.C.H."

"You don't look like a long metal thing used to turn bolts," Scarlet said.

"No, no, no," Mizuki laughed. "I'm not a wrench, I'm a W.R.E.N.C.H.!"

"What?" Jack asked.

"A W.R.E.N.C.H.! It's an acronym that means 'Willingly Reaching for Enrichment, Nurturing, Change, and History!'"

"Interesting..." Clio said.

"What are you doing here?" Scarlet asked.

"Oh, I'm exploring and looking for flatpacks," Mizuki answered matter-of-factly.

"Flatpacks?" Scarlet asked.

"Portable buildings," Clio answered. "They come in little flat boxes and unfold into a complete structure. It makes for quick city building."

"Which is exactly what Mirkibri needs," Mizuki explained.

"Mirkibri?" Scarlet questioned.

"Yeah, it's the nation I'm from," Mizuki said. "We're trying to fix the future."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..you mean, you don't...hmm..." Mizuki's forehead wrinkled. "Okay. According to the Guide, a long time ago, the ancients had really great civilizations. Their technology performed great wonders. The future was bright. Then something happened. Something unexpected. Something bad. Because of it, the future stopped being as good. A lot of things happened to a lot of different people and humanity scattered. The Mirkibri nation is composed of the decedents of a people who went into special shelters to wait for it to be safe. Now we've resurfaced and been trying to rebuild. We want to make or civilization great, like those of our ancient ancestors. We want to fix the future!"

"I see..." Scarlet said.

"Where are we?" User asked.

"Oh, well, according to the Guide, this is the Obficina Ruins. Well, the guide doesn't call it the Obfincia Ruins, it just has it labeled as Obfincia on the map. But, it is ruins, so...Anyway, this place used to make some of the flatpacks. I'm hoping I can find some here that haven't been looted or broken."

"I mean, where are we generally?" User questioned.

"Zaprendell," Mizuki answered. Despite lacking memories of their past, the word had meaning to all of the Toybox's inhabitants. Zaprendell was the frontier. The unclaimed portions of the world separate from true civilization. Here, the only traces of civilized life were lone villages and city states or the colonies set up by varying nations-battling against each other and the wilderness for control.

"How far to civilization?" the blue-clad man asked.

"Well, the town of Furtarntia is not far from here," Mizuki said. "That's where I came from."

"Up to sort of the Northwest?" User asked.

"Sort of, yeah."

"Did you see the needles on the way here?" the blue-clad man asked.

"I did pass by them, yeah," she said.

"Do you recognize this?" User asked, unfolding the banner with the clock-symbol depicted on it.

She stepped back, and for the first time since they had met Mizuki, her smile wavered. "Not a pretty sight."

"Why?" Scarlet asked. "What is it?"

"Some people showed up in Furtarntia with some flags that had that symbol on it," Mizuki explained.

"There was a series of kidnappings. Good people, who were important to the city, just gone. The people with the flag vanished around the same time. Didn't take much time to put two and two together."

"Sorry to hear about your loss," Clio said.

"Do you know anything about the Toybox?" User asked.

"No. What's that?"

"Well, we've only heard rumors of it ourselves, but..."

"We came out of it," Jack chimed in, cutting off User's attempted deception.

"I see..." Mizuki said, even though it was fairly clear that she didn't. "Well, I don't know anything about anything called the Toybox, but I'd be interested to hear about anything you have to say about it. I find technology of the ancients to be fascinating."

"Great, if we find out anything, we'll let you know," User said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you!" Mizuki said.

"Let's keep searching," the blue-clad man said, continuing down the hall to the next door. Mizuki followed along with the group.

Opening it, he found a room filled with mechanical equipment. Like the first room, most of this equipment seemed to have fallen into disrepair. However, in the center of the equipment, upon a table, were two large round metal plates.

"These are just oozing with nanotech," the blue-clad man said, moving forward to get a better look.

"I think they're photon transporters," Jack said. "They can turn items or people placed on them into light particles and transport whatever it is to the other disk for reassembly, no matter how far away it is."

"Nifty," the blue-clad man said, strapping the disks onto his back.

As the group looked down the rest of the hallway, they could see that it ended in one last doorway. This one was wider than the others and made of a smoother, darker metal. They stepped towards the door, unsure of what further secrets Obfincia held for them.

Episode Summary

• Alal and Katrin were sucked back into the Toybox and replaced by a man in orange robes and a well-dressed woman.
• The group travel to a structure that they had seen in the distance.
• The structure appears to be five giant needles with varying machinery attached to it. Outside the structure is a banner with the symbol of a clock on it.
• It's determined that the structure sends signals and seems capable of opening rifts to other dimensions.
• The group was attacked by ultraterrestrial monsters, but prevailed against them.
• The group followed a road which led them to a structure.
• Within the structure, they found and rescued Mizuki, a W.R.E.N.C.H. searching for flatpacks-ancient technology where portable plates can expand into whole buildings.

If you want to start the story from the beginning, check out the previous/first episode.

To continue the story, go to the next episode: Toybox Episode 103: "We're not having a conversation in the middle of a fight!"

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.