Axle

Axle’s History – The Long Version

The first thing you will notice about Axle is the metal plate conformed to his face. Beneath that plate lies a scar that defines his past. This scar not only nearly cost him his eye, but it also nearly took his life.

As a young boy he lived in a peaceful little farming village in the southern regions of the map. There his family of five, both grandparents, his aunts and uncles and all of his cousins lived for a very long time. They lived off the land, secluded in the woodland areas.

They had a tie to quite a large opening of land which the whole family farmed. They would sell the crops to near by markets to afford supplies. When Axle was nearing his fourteenth birthday a marauding party of Yuan-Ti entered his village and began slaughtering his family. Axle was terrified. All of his life his family had been peaceful people with no qualms against or with anyone. These marauders began pillaging everything while Axle huddled behind a window sill.

He watched wild eyed and terrified as one of the attackers fell to his fathers pitch fork. Axle whooped at the same time a blow felled his father piercing his chest and protruding from his back as he fell.

Axle flew threw the window and rolled his father onto his side. There he watch his father take his last breath and then allowed the body to lay still in death. Axle felt the tears well up inside his eyes, but a scream pierced his sorrow. He jerked his head from the sight of his dead father’s body only to see his sixteen year old sister being thrown to the ground and her skirt flung over her head. One of the attackers prepared himself for a time of pleasure.

The tears in his eyes seared his skin as his face burned in fury. His eyes snapped to the sword still implanted in his father’s chest. Always being a stout boy, Axle ripped the sword from its bloody sheath and rushed his sisters assailant.

The thing began to kneel in front of his sister as Axle brought the sword over his head and chopped down with all of his might. He struck the things shoulder and slashed clear through to the middle of its sternum. It fell and writhed in death. Axle shouted for his sister to gather the others and escape into the woods only to hear the whiz of an arrow pass his head and see it pierce her stomach. Looking down, she saw the blood and fell to the ground, dead.

Beyond fury, Axle wrenched his sword back from the marauder’s body and spun to face another of the beasts. It towered over him as Axle raised his own blade to deflect the blow which missed its mark.

Axle dropped his own blade as red filled his vision. The attacker’s sword tip had connected with his skull and sliced down, barely missing his eye.

Axle squirmed on the ground as he tried to stop the bleeding. The thing walked away, thinking he killed the little nuisance. Axle, covering his blood soaked eye, glanced around seeing the last of his family struck down and the buildings in flames. He struggled to his feet, grasped his dropped sword and tottered into the woods.

He tied a piece of his shirt around his head to stop the bleeding and trudged through the woods, heading north. He would not stop, he could not. They could be coming after him to finish the job.

The screams followed him as he ran. They rang in his ears alone, long silenced from the air. For three days he moved on. He paused only to drink and wash his wound. After washing away the blood he realized, fortunately, his eye had not been damaged by the cut.

Finally, he collapsed in a clearing. Falling to the ground he drifted into a restless sleep. Wracked by images of the attack, his fathers murder, and his sister’s face at her death, he tossed, turned, and screamed.

A single wolf marked this happening as strange and rushed to his masters house. A beautiful elven sorcerer received her animal companion and marked the images she took from his mind. She ran to the spot where the wolf marked and quickly spotted the boy. Hefting him up she brought him to her cottage and began healing the wound. The skin closed, yet a large scar remained. The mark began at the top of his forehead, tapering down across his right eye and then ending at a point beneath the eye socket. The sorcerer cared for him until he awoke again a day later.

Once he awoke he was mortified at the scar that covered his face and would not stop covering the mark with his hands. She crafted a metal plate that would form to his face and cover the scar, yet maintain the use of his eye with no hindrances. She crafted the item in such a way that it would grow with him. It would never rust, corrode, or loose its shine. Any marks that it took would immediately repair themselves, and he alone could wear the half mask.

He stayed with the sorceress long enough to heal and regain his strength then left for the nearest city. Axle became a warrior of his own. He carried the sword which struck down his father religiously. Tempest never left his side, or hand, and remained razor sharp at all times. He practiced constantly with the weapon. Slashing, parrying, jabbing, and spinning. At the age of fifteen he took work for a caravan owner in one city he had wandered into. This he continued to do until reaching the village of _______ where his adventuring career began.

Whenever Axle encounters one of the creatures that killed his family he is overtaken with a blood lust rivaling the fury of Hades. A gut twisting spur of memories flood his mind as he watches his family members slaughtered and his home burned in his minds eye. A terror will rack his body until the creature falls to his sword, Tempest, the same sword that killed his father.

I have a picture of Axle that I made from an amalgam of Todd Lockwood’s art. However, at Todd’s behest I removed it. I can e-mail it to anyone who wants to see it. It shows his scar, metal plate, and helm. The armor he wears in the picture is far more advanced that than which he carries now, and the sword is not accurate.

Tempest

I told some people that I would post what Tempest, Axle’s sword was.

I explained that Tempest was a Yuan-Ti’s sword that Axle ripped from his father’s chest.

The sword turned out to be magical.
It has:
1) +2 Enchantement
2) Bonded ( +4 to Disarm )
3) Poison or Cure Poison ( One Twice per day, or Two Once per day )
a) Poison is the spell – Loose 1d10 Con points, then 1 hour later same thing happens
b) Cure Poison – cures any poisons in my body when I hold the sword
The sword’s hilt is shaped like a serpents head, ending in the open mouth, with two Emeralds for the eyes. Whenever I will the sword to cast poison, or when it senses poison in me, the hilt will animate into a snake and bite me, dealing 1d4 points of damage. When a spell is cast, one of the emeralds will “drain” in color. The same for the other emerald when the second time it is used. They regenerate the next day.

Under the old DM, I could put XP into sword and it gained other abilities, I’m not sure what any of those are, because we are no longer playing under that DM…

Axle’s Mask

If you have read my previous Journals about Axle you will understand why he has this mask.

After the game ended that I started Axle in, the DM of that game told me what he had in mind for Axle, and the future of his mask.

After reading Axle’s History you will remember that I said the sorceress who made it, made it so that it would grow with him, and never get damaged ( scratched, broken, etc. ) or even loose it’s shine.

Obviously the mask is magical.

What I found out is that the mask was really created to “mask” the changed that had been occuring in me over time. The mask was slowly changing me into my most hated enemy, a Yuan-Ti.

Axle only took the mask off once in that campaign ( and only once since then ). The DM told me, that every time I took it off, people would start to notice the changes, while the mask was off. I was going to begin developing reptilian eyes, natural armor, etc…

Brett ( the DM ) knew this would infuriate Axle and drive him to completing a quest Brett had designed for Him to reverse the process and restore him to his original self, possibly also sating his blood lust.

Soon, I will post my character sheet of Axle and reveal all of his powers, and feats, and skills, and what not! I will tell you that he is a 15th level character. 2 Levels of Fighter, and 13 Levels of Rogue. He is a human, male. Bald head, and brown eyes. Standing 6 foot 1 inch tall, weighing in at 225 pounds.