CDC1 Tale: Bob's Arrival in Nocturnus

[Grover]

When Bob awoke, he found himself in some nightmarish Dr. Seuss book.  He sat up and looked around.  He was no longer in Philadelphia, that was for sure.  His head was pounding from a hangover, so he must have slept for some time, but were it not for that, he would not have believed that he was awake.  He was outdoors next to some sort of disgustingly colored pond in the middle of a bunch of black trees with purple leaves and red fruit.  The vegetation had bizarre colors with odd flowers.  Strange sounds from animals he had never heard filled the air and he swore he was being watched.  The entire place was humid and smelled like the mens’ room at an Eagles game. 

Where on earth was he?  He had no idea, so he tried to think about the last thing he remembered before finding himself here.  He was working on that old gypsy’s sink and… ugh, he had been so drunk that when he stood up he puked up his breakfast of Slim Jims and Schlitz malt liquor all over that gypsy.  And that’s when she cursed him.  Yeah, he remembered that now.  Everything had faded out after that though and he couldn’t remember anything else until he woke up here, wherever ‘here’ was.  He thought he was either in some strange dream, or maybe that gypsy had just dumped him in a forest in New Jersey.  Well, not much else to do but figure out where he was.

He noticed his toolbox had somehow made it with him, and he grabbed it before exploring the area.  Not far away he found a road of dark red earth.   This was too weird.  He checked his cell phone.  No service.  Great, he was probably even farther away than he thought.  That gypsy may have drugged him and dumped him someplace in West Virginia.

At the sound of approaching horse hooves, Bob wisely stepped out of the road, and a horse drawn cart approached with a driver clad in green colors with a funny hat.  He slowed as he pulled up next to Bob and stopped, greeting him in some strange language.  Seeing that Bob didn’t understand him, he waved his hands, muttering some odd words, and then he spoke again.  His speech came out in English, but there was a bit of a delay and his words didn’t match his sounds, sort of like watching martial arts films dubbed in English.

“Say, friend, what are you doing here?  This is not a very friendly part of the world, and you don’t look like you’re from around here by your strange garb,” he said, gesturing to Bob's clothes.

“Uh, no, I’m not from here.  Where am I?” Bob asked.

“Why, you’re in the forests of Nocturnus.  How’d you get here?” the man asked.

“I don’t really know,” said Bob, squinting his eyes from the hangover pain in his head.  “I got cursed by a gypsy, and, well, here I am.  Is Nocturnus near Philly at all?” he asked.

“I don’t know where this Philly is, but I can take you with me to Albion, where you can get some help.  Hop on in.”  He gestured to the cart behind him, filled with crates and sacks.  “Mind where you sit, I have some expensive spell components in there.”  Bob looked around, and, hearing some growling from the brush where some weird whitish dog looking things were, decided to take the ride offered.

Bob climbed on board with a “Thanks,” and thought to himself: ‘Spell components?  Is this guy one of those LARPer freaks?', but decided not to comment, happy to be free of this weird area.

He watched as the landscapes rolled by, but the scenery was far from normal.  Strange birds flew through the air with calls he had never heard, and there weren’t any airplanes or traffic around.  For that matter, there weren’t any electric lights anywhere.  Bob checked his cell phone.  Still no service.  He was definitely going to pad his hours and charge mileage when he billed that gypsy.

Spoiler

I thought it was time to have a legit build for Bob to add him to canon and explain how he came to Historica!

Bob's journey continues!

Edited June 14, 2021 by Grover

[TalusMoonbreaker]

Yay! Bob’s cannon now. Nice use of rarer colors and pieces to give Nocturnas a outlandish/mystical vibe. Also I really enjoyed the story.

[Henjin_Quilones]

Love it! I kind of wish that Bob were your official sigfig, in fact. A great intro story. Reminds me of my own character intro, where I had a few Jedi with some Republic troopers crash land a spaceship into an Avalonian Druid ring...

[Grover]

3 hours ago, TalusMoonbreaker said:

Yay! Bob’s cannon now. Nice use of rarer colors and pieces to give Nocturnas a outlandish/mystical vibe. Also I really enjoyed the story.

Thank you!  Glad you enjoyed it.  My color inspiration came from @Exetrius Nocturnus build with the black/turquoise tower.  As for the story, well, you can click on the tag and see the humorous Bob posts if you haven't yet!

1 hour ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

Love it! I kind of wish that Bob were your official sigfig, in fact. A great intro story. Reminds me of my own character intro, where I had a few Jedi with some Republic troopers crash land a spaceship into an Avalonian Druid ring...

Thanks!  I was partly inspired by your introduction build for HQ, so kudos to you!  I have more planned builds for Bob's backstory, one of which will be in the town forum!  As for him being my main SigFig, I thought about it, but I think the whimsical nature and creativity for Bob's amusing builds might be lost in 'serious' thinking were he my sigfig.  As it is, he's a great secondary character that anyone can use and incorporate into their builds, which I think is appropriate given his nature.  Don't worry, I'll continue to build for Bob, too!

[Kai NRG]

Bob looks so funny sitting with his smug smile on the back of a wizard's wagon.    Really neat terrain, the black plants look right at  home in Nocturnus and those are some majorly creepy animals.  Where are they from?

[Grover]

1 hour ago, Kai NRG said:

Bob looks so funny sitting with his smug smile on the back of a wizard's wagon.    Really neat terrain, the black plants look right at  home in Nocturnus and those are some majorly creepy animals.  Where are they from?

Thanks!  I had a bunch of the black plants around just for a Nocty build, so this was perfect.  As for the animals, they're the Corellian Hounds from Han's Landspeeder (although they came in another landspeeder too).  I happened to find some in a BL store when ordering something else and picked them up cheap a while back.  I think they were like $0.20 each for 10 of them, so not bad!

[adde51]

This is just hilarious  . love it! 

[Exetrius]

A Nocturnus build? In 2021??  ... Where am I?  

Fun build and story, you don't see a Historica isekai everyday, haha! Bob first appeared in a contest entry, was it? Anyway, I'm happy to see someone else build in Nocty, and you did well! The colour scheme is pretty wild and daring, with the lime, dark red, purple and lavender, but it all seems to work out. I guess I would have liked to see an overview shot, but since this is a story build it's not really required. Thanks for the credit, btw!

Also, always be weary of Avalonian wizards in Nocturnus, they are often up to no good... 

[Louis of Nutwood]

I was not expecting this at all. Yet, I'm hooked in Bob's storyline like no other!
Lovely to develop some knowledge on Bob's experience. He brings a touch of modern with a glimpse of curiosity and a certain punch of comedy. Much deserved and welcomed in the Guilds. 
Cool work with the fearsome ambiance of Nocturnus. The colors are so unnatural and work beautifully together, creating a very imaginative forest. 
Cool entry and awesome stretch for the category, sire Grover.
Skol!

[Grover]

On 5/24/2021 at 1:05 AM, adde51 said:

This is just hilarious  . love it! 

Thanks!  I try to incorporate humor, so I'm glad it came through!

On 5/24/2021 at 6:46 AM, Exetrius said:

A Nocturnus build? In 2021??  ... Where am I?  

Fun build and story, you don't see a Historica isekai everyday, haha! Bob first appeared in a contest entry, was it? Anyway, I'm happy to see someone else build in Nocty, and you did well! The colour scheme is pretty wild and daring, with the lime, dark red, purple and lavender, but it all seems to work out. I guess I would have liked to see an overview shot, but since this is a story build it's not really required. Thanks for the credit, btw!

Also, always be weary of Avalonian wizards in Nocturnus, they are often up to no good... 

Don't worry, my tower coming up is in Nocty too!  Thanks for the compliments!  I think this was Bob's first appearance where he was originally meant as a joke.  He's become somewhat of an amusement for me in each of my challenge builds now.

Thank you for the high praise on the color scheme!  I sometimes struggle with color, but the Nocturnus colors were a little easier for me, and you laid some good foundation work in your last build.  And you're right to beware of Avalonian wizards!

On 5/24/2021 at 7:35 AM, Louis of Nutwood said:

I was not expecting this at all. Yet, I'm hooked in Bob's storyline like no other!
Lovely to develop some knowledge on Bob's experience. He brings a touch of modern with a glimpse of curiosity and a certain punch of comedy. Much deserved and welcomed in the Guilds. 
Cool work with the fearsome ambiance of Nocturnus. The colors are so unnatural and work beautifully together, creating a very imaginative forest. 
Cool entry and awesome stretch for the category, sire Grover.
Skol!

Thank you!  I'm glad you enjoyed the story.  I hope to expand on his story in the future.  As for the colors, I'm glad you liked them and that they worked out.  I've been collecting odd colored plants for just such a build for a while now, and it was fun to use them.

[Aurore]

Oh, how cool! So glad to get to know Bob better!

As already mentioned, nice choice of colors - and that pond indeed looks eerie. Bob looks quite relaxed given his situation!

[mccoyed]

The same tree and cart stand out even more here, where they're a bit less hidden by the terrain. Also love the use of the Star Wars dog monsters here.

[Grover]

On 6/7/2021 at 6:53 AM, Aurore said:

Oh, how cool! So glad to get to know Bob better!

As already mentioned, nice choice of colors - and that pond indeed looks eerie. Bob looks quite relaxed given his situation!

Thanks!  I'm glad everyone enjoys Bob!

On 6/8/2021 at 1:37 PM, mccoyed said:

The same tree and cart stand out even more here, where they're a bit less hidden by the terrain. Also love the use of the Star Wars dog monsters here.

Thank you!  I had planned on using the Corellian hounds as Nocturnus monsters the minute I saw them!