Characters

Oglethorpe Trollspine - Male

Everybody has memories. Memories of childhood and growing up. Birthday parties, parents, friends and relationships. The good times, the bad times and all the emotions; love, anger, joy, fear and happiness. All of these things are what make people what they are. All of these things give people an identity. All of these past experiences and recollections shape and mold a person into an individual. You had none of these.

Your earliest memories are only about four or five years old. All you remember from back then are the Master and his pets, the Master's tower, his cages, his lab and 'the hole'. The Master was a strict man. You cared for his 'pets', which he would continuously alter with his strange powers. Eventually, the pets would die. On a few occasions, you would try to protect one of the pets from the Master's powers, but the Master would become angry and use his powers on you, and put you in 'the hole'. The hole was a damp, dark pit of some kind. It was a lonely, sad and terrifying place; even now you're a bit claustrophobic and fearful of the dark.

The Master tried teaching you some things like reading and math. Apparently you didn't learn fast enough and he gave up teaching you. He started working harder with new pets. The Master would perform 'experiments' on the creatures and they would always end up horribly disfigured and dead. This is how things continued for about a year. Then, the pets started to include humans. They were always frightened of you. They would scream, cringe and sometimes faint when you would bring them food. These new pets would also end up disfigured and dead. These times dragged on for another year, broken only by the solace of reading scraps of paper you found when cleaning up the cells of the hapless human pets. These were dark days, full of sorrow and hopelessness. You had only two choices about anything, the Master's will, or the hole, and every time in the hole lasted longer than the time before. The Master grew more impatient with the progress of his experiments. Finally, the Master brought in pets that would (inadvertently) change your life.

The four 'pets' in the 'receiving pen' were remarkable for several reasons. First, there were four of them. In the past the Master would bring in only one or two pets. You supposed his impatience was getting the better of him and he wanted to speed up his experiments. They were also young and healthy. The pets the Master obtained in the past were old and sickly. You recalled hearing the Master gloating to himself about a 'new plan' to capture 'higher quality' pets. These four, healthy, young males must be the outcome of that plan. The other thing you found remarkable about this batch, was that one of them was not frightened by you.

Every other creature the Master had was incredibly frightened of you. Most would scream uncontrollably, others would faint and some would do both. This new creature with the white hair stood there and calmly took the tray of food from you and tried some. He immediately spit it out. You nodded knowingly. The food was terrible tasting, but what could be done? That was the only food to be had, so you shrugged your shoulders, and turned to leave.

You spent the rest of the afternoon in thought. That one guy was different than any of the others the Master had brought in. The Master had always said that they were "all sheep. Mindless cattle to be used by an intelligent mind for noble purposes." That brave one, however, was no sheep. Could it be that more were like that? Maybe the Master only took the 'sheep', or maybe inside each of these 'sheep' was a person too frightened to show itself. This was the only life you knew and because of that, there was one thing that had never entered your mind, but there it was now. Maybe the Master was wrong. Maybe it wasn't right to take people whenever he felt like it. Maybe the Master's choices weren't the only choices. Maybe those people wanted to make a choice. This whole line of thought started to give you a headache. What could be done about it anyway? The Master had those people in his cell and nothing could stop him from destroying them with his experiments.

After a while, you brought the four new pets their next meal. As you brought the bowls, the one with the white hair said, "Hello". You were quite surprised. This was the first time any of the pets said anything to you.

"Hi", you responded.

"My name is Dakota, what's yours?" he asked.

You were quite suspicious. What did this human want? You decided to continue the conversation.

"Oglethorpe", you responded. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well," he started, "we need your help. Our families and friends all miss us, and we want to go back to them. Could you please open the door so we can get out and go home?"

Your brain was flooded with thought. Family? Friends? You struggled to attach meaning to those words. Apparently other people placed value on these four. If those other people missed these four, then those people would not approve of their current situation. That meant that the Master's experiments did not just affect the pets, but they affected other people, and those people were friends and family. The friends and family were now missing someone they cared about. These 'experiments' were indeed wrong. The human with the white hair asked for your help. He wanted to be let out so he could go home. You had tried to help pets in the past, but you only tried stopping the Master from getting to them. The Master would use his powers and force you into the hole. Letting the pets escape had never occurred to you before. You figured that home was here, in the Master's tower. As the white-haired human, Dakota, mentioned home, it dawned on you that everyone has a home somewhere beyond the walls of the Master's tower. This was finally your time. You finally realized that you had the power to actually help, to make a choice, to choose life and freedom.

"I will help you," you declared. "Stand back."

You opened the door but the four people stood there with astonished looks on their faces.

"Well?" you said, "Go. Get out before you are found out."

As the four people quickly moved out of their cell, you smiled. For the first time in your life you felt contentment. For the first time you were able to make a choice and act on it, affecting peoples lives for the better. The one calling himself Dakota turned back to you.

"What's going to happen to you?" he asked.

"Oh, I suppose the master will be upset and put me in the hole", you said.

"Why don't you come with us?" he asked.

"Go with you?" you replied. You thought for a moment. "What would I do? I don't know anything but this life here."

"We attend a school," Dakota said, "where you could learn anything you want. I'll bet I can get you a scholarship if you wouldn't mind playing some ball with us."

Again, new thoughts came to you. Dakota suggested leaving the tower. This too had never occurred to you. Maybe you could make a new home. You didn't know what 'playing some ball' meant, but it couldn't be worse than being put in the hole. Besides, you could try to learn things in a school, whatever that was. This opportunity could not be missed. You now could make choices for your own life.

"I will go to your school, and learn, and play ball. Let me lead you out", you said as you pushed your way to the front of the group. You brought your new companions out of the tower, safely past the Master's traps. As you began to leave, towards your new life at 'school', you glanced back at the Master's tower. What was your entire life now seemed small compared to the outside world. A tear rolled down your cheek, not at the thought of leaving, but at the thought that you did not leave sooner. You looked ahead at your companions and smiled. Your life was now your own.

You traveled with these four men who would be come your friends. There was Harrison 'Two-feet' Barowtom, Nigel Vegemite 'the sticky one', Skeeter Jackson and, of course, Darin' Dakota Hotspur. You traveled to a very large city. There were more people than you could have ever imagined, and just as many buildings, it seemed.

You started to realize that you weren't like any other person. Everyone was staring at you and there were some looks of horror. You were a lot bigger and looked a lot different than anyone around.

Your friends had explained to you what a 'school' was and that their school was East Lansing University. They also told you what 'playing some ball' meant: being on the school's Blood Bowl team.

Dakota brought you to see coach Ironskull. Dakota explained to the coach that you would make a great 'offensive lineman'. The coach, after calming down from the shock of first seeing you, agreed. Coach Ironskull then brought you and Dakota down to the Admissions Department. You filled out a bunch of papers. Dakota seemed impressed by your reading skills, and for the first time, you realized that you were smarter than the Master had thought.

Meanwhile, the coach was talking to someone called Dean Whitman and after a while, the coach returned.

"Well", said the coach, "you're now a student, but you do have to pass the entrance exam, and take some remedial courses. But, having completed them, you're on the team, full scholarship."

"Don't worry about that stuff", Dakota said. "My girlfriend is an excellent tutor. She'll help you out."

On the way to his girlfriend's residence, Dakota explained that he and Jaz (his girlfriend's name) had quite a special relationship. He mentioned that one day they might get married. You got quite a few stares, which you were already starting to get used to, on your way to Jaz's.

Dakota knocked on her door, and what opened the door was a creature more beautiful than you could have ever imagined.

"Hey Dakota," the girl said as she calmly looked up and down. "Who's your friend?"

"Hey Jaz," answered Dakota. "This is Oglethorpe. He's a new student who's also going to be our star offensive lineman. He's going to need some help with his studies. I thought you could help."

Jaz agreed and wrote a list of books you would need to get from the school bookstore. Dakota took you there, and amidst all the stares, you were loaded up with more books than you had ever seen before. Dakota ordered you clothes also, to replace the rags you were still wearing from the tower. Dakota then gave you a room in his 'frat house'. The house was already filled with other ball players, so Dakota found you a small room in the corner of the basement. At first it reminded you of the hole, but it grew to be home with the realization that you could come and go as you pleased.

The other guys in the frat house quickly overcame their fear of you, and even became quite friendly. There was talk of 'winning it all' next season, and the guys spent a good deal of time teaching you the ball game called Blood Bowl.

The team's best lineman, Big Brady Sleewell (or Old Braids) taught you all you know, but many others helped out also. There was Nigel, Harrison and Skeeter whom you already knew, as well as Gossamer Jones, Hal 'Juggles' Biggleby, Roman 'The Hook' Hamerlik, Thwondauf 'Jumbo' Arkess and Tyson 'Turtlepaw' Jensen.

Your studies were also going quite well. When you weren't practicing with the team, or in a class, you were studying with Jaz. Jaz Mirastar was the smartest person in the world. She knew everything. She also had a charming personality that always put you at ease. She explained things so clearly, her smarts rubbed off on you. Not only could you pass your tests and exams on a regular basis, but she also opened a whole world of books and literature to you. She was also beautiful.

Coach Ironskull said you were coming along nicely and took you in for a physical. The doctors were amazed, and after performing some tests, and questioning you on your background, they concluded that somehow the master had fused a human, a minotaur and a troll. And you were the end product. You were one of the master's experiments. You had no mother. You had no father. You felt very, very empty. You went to go talk to Jaz.

You explained to Jaz what the doctors had told you. You told her everything. That you were a freak, an experiment created by a warped sorcerer. You looked in a mirror and saw, for the first time, why everyone feared you. You were a monster.

Jaz took your hand and looked you in the eyes.

"Life is what you make it, my friend, not what it makes you", she said calmly. "I'm half elven and half human. My father was an elf that used my mother for one night and left her as if nothing had happened. When I grew up, I was scorned. My mother was a slut, and I was nothing but a bastard half-breed. That's all in the past. My life is what I make it, not what others make for me. You'll have to find your own path and make your life yours. Don't let your past bury you, let it be a foundation for a better future."

Jaz was right. She made everything so clear. Rather than wallow in self-pity and run off and hide somewhere, and be afraid of what you were, you would do something, be something and stand for something.

"Jaz", you declared, "I want to put an end to evil magics."

"Well", she said, "I could introduce you to some friends of mine. They have similar feelings."

Jaz brought you to a meeting. There were quite a few people there. Jaz introduced you to the leader of the group, Professor Perigar Adanac.

"Welcome to NO-DOPE", said the professor. "The New Order for the Dispersal of Planar Energies. Jaz here tells me you don't like wizards."

"Well, sir", you replied, "I don't think it's wizards I don't like, just magic. Magic seems to be quite powerful, and without some type of moral or ethical guidance, it seems to cause problems."

"Very well said, my friend", said the professor. "Very well said. Magical energies are quite dangerous when they are unguided and unchecked. Throughout the ages wizards have created magical items, and although the wizard eventually passes on, the magical energies he created remain. Because the magical items are useful to people they are very rarely destroyed yet wizards continue to create new ones. Therefore, the amount of magical items increases greatly over time, as does their magical energies. This would not be so bad except that items tend to be hoarded together. A person comes across a magical item and with the new power he is able to gather another and so on and so on. It would take a huge amount of magical energies, however, to begin to cause problems, just like those being stored in the Great Vault. The Great Vault is where the government stores all the items recovered in the previous Great Hunts. There has been an average of 33.2 items per Hunt stored in the Vault for the past 97 Hunts. That means that there are approximately 3,220.4 magical items stored in the Vault, and it gets worse. The average magical energy of each item is much, much higher than that of, quote, normal magical items. Yes, my friend, it is not a matter of if something will happen, but when and how badly the world gets destroyed!"

Professor Adanac continued talking for quite some time, mentioning more specific numbers relating to something he kept calling 'planar value'. The specifics were a little beyond you, but you could understand the threat. The Vault must be destroyed and its contents dealt with in a proper fashion. Saving the world in this way seemed a noble goal for you.

Soon Jaz had you attending rallies, putting up posters and handing out flyers, all in the name of NO-DOPE. It was a busy life you had, even more so than in the tower. You had your studies, classes, Blood Bowl practice, and all your new friends at the frat house, but what gave you the most joy was being with Jaz either at NO-DOPE meetings or when she was helping you study.

One day, at a NO-DOPE meeting, Professor Adanac was wondering how to get more people involved in the group.

"The dangers are great, but nobody has really taken us seriously yet", said the professor. "What we need is a famous spokesman. You know, somebody people look up to."

"Everyone looks up to Oglethorpe", piped in Spunky Kneewobbler, a fellow student.

"Actually", you said, "Dakota Hotspur is quite popular. If we could get him to talk to people, they would listen."

"I don't know", Jaz said. "He's so busy with sports. I don't think he even knows this group exists."

"I like it", exclaimed the professor. "Jaz, you're quite friendly with him. See if he won't give us a hand."

Soon after, the famous Darin' Dakota Hotspur showed up at a NO-DOPE meeting. He seemed surprised to see you.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked you.

"Well", you replied, "I've been a member for a couple of weeks now. Magic left unchecked, and with no real moral compass, leads to bad things. Look at me for example."

He nodded knowingly. Your 'lineage' was all over campus and he was one of the few to actually see your 'home'.

While you, Dakota and Jaz were chatting, Professor Adanac came over.

"Well, well. The famous Darin' Dakota", he said. "A pleasure to meet you. So what do you think of our group?"

The professor and Dakota talked for some length about the dangers of the Vault. Eventually, the professor got around to asking Dakota if he might give a speech at a rally. Dakota said he'd have to think about it.

You and Jaz took Dakota over to the First and Ten, a small off-campus diner, for some coffee and longthorpes. You talked to him a great deal about NO-DOPE and about how strongly you felt that it was important to get someone famous to do some speaking. He promised to think about it and give you an answer soon.

The quad was packed for the next rally. Everyone loved hearing Darin' Dakota Hotspur speak. There was even a big front-page article in the school newspaper, "Blood Bowl Star Takes Anti-Vault Stance". And even though Coach Ironskull kept Dakota too busy to do any more speaking, that one time gave NO-DOPE enough attention to attract a larger amount of students.

The semester soon ended. You had passed all your courses and entrance exams. The summer, however, was even busier. The whole team practiced all summer. You had to learn all of the plays and the coach even drew up some new ones. One of your favorite plays was 'Squash-Right 47'. You would 'clothes-line' one defending linesman and step on another. Dakota would fake a hand-off to the running back (usually Dragfuss), who would then charge over the lineman you had stepped on. If the defenders took the fake, that would leave one of the receivers wide open for Dakota to pass to. If they didn't buy the fake, Dakota could still dump it off to the tight end. As you practiced all summer, you really started to feel yourself 'click' in with the team. You had finally learned not to 'false start' (that is moving before the ball is snapped). Your big problem was the 'unnecessary roughness' rule. The coach was hoping this wouldn't put you in the penalty box too much.

The next semester started and it was time for you to pick a major. Jaz's advice was pretty ambiguous.

"Pick what you like", she said.

"I don't know what I like", you responded.

"Neither do I", she said. "That's why I've changed majors so much."

You finally settled on Fashion Design. You really liked touching and feeling all those different fabrics.

Also with the new semester came Blood Bowl season. Coach Ironskull wanted to know what name and number you wanted on your jersey. You settled on number double zero and the name Trollspine. The zeroes reminded you of your two clenched fists. The name was what your teammates called you. At first, the name bothered you, but then you realized that that was just the other players trying to make you part of their group. Everyone had a nickname, and yours was Trollspine. You understood that by giving you a nickname, they had accepted you as one of their own.

The first game was quite exciting. Squash-Right 47 worked beautifully and although you racked up twenty minutes in penalties, your team won. The Mad Dwarf started calling you "Tramplin' Trollspine".

You only lost one game all season. The other team said some things that got you so angry that you really hurt a few of them and received 65 minutes in penalties. Apparently, that set some kind of record. They told you that Fashion Design was for girls and 'dainty' people.

"What kind of a monster are you anyway?" one of them taunted.

Something inside of you must have snapped, and you could feel the hatred and anger pumping through you. It was quite unsettling. You hoped you would never get that angry again.

You managed your anger fairly well through the rest of the games, but you still managed to set another record for total penalty minutes in a season. Fortunately, the rest of the players on your team were extremely skilled and talented and you wound up winning the championship.

With the relentless Blood Bowl schedule and your demanding course load, you had missed some of what was going on with NO-DOPE. Apparently, the professor decided to try to become Grand High Pooh-bah, the highest political office in the land. In order to do this he would need to put together a team of Hunters to complete a quest.

Professor Adanac already had three people. Some old adventuring friends of his. He now asked you and Jaz and Dakota to be on the team also. He said that if he became Pooh-bah, he could put an end to the Vault and all its dangers.

You had accomplished much in a short time. You went from monster to person, large buffoon to skilled athlete, unconfident fool to creative designing student. You felt nothing could stop you. You knew that soon Professor Perigar Adanac would be Pooh-bah, and the world would be safe.