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July 23rd, 2002

Three Toe the Steel Man Visits Chill Bridge, a Kobold Village

Three Toe traveled up the eastern coast of the kobold empire. Throughout his journey, he passed by quaint villages, feeling overwhelmed by burning hatred and lust for murder. These were sub-beings, not even a scab on the underside of Armok's bloody design. He knew he needed to maintain control if he were to bring word of the kobolds' numbers to the humans in the north. Maintain control... maintain control... no. It was not possible. Maybe if he were to kill one, he could carry on -- just one kobold. Sated by his corrupted thought, Three Toe traveled up the beach east of the village of Chill Bridge. The constant pulsing of waves wore away at Three Toe's already eroded sanity.

As night fell, Three Toe paused to watch the stars, idling playing a game whereby he would name each one after an opponent he had slaughtered in a particularly grisly fashion. His jade eyes gleamed as the memories brought him comfort. Even Three Toe's steel muscles could become tired after long journeys, so he decided to rest on the beach until morning. Not an hour had passed when he heard a rustling behind him in the high grass above the beach. In absolute silence, Three Toe turned. A kobold! It hadn't noticed him. The foul creature was rooting around in the dirt, looking for grubs and insects, no doubt. Tonight it would die. Three Toe was upon it before it could scream. Although he had a mighty blade, Three Toe relished beating the beast down with his metal fist until it ceased breathing. Three Toe named a star for the occasion and resumed his rest.

Soon after sunrise, distressed yaps and howls filled the cool air. Apparently the grub-digger was missed. Not long now and Three Toe would be discovered. It mattered not. Nothing they wielded could penetrate his flesh. He began walking slowly up the beach, waiting for them to come. Soon four of the creatures were following him, all armed, yet wary. Three Toe turned to consider them... animals. They growled and yapped like the lowest of beasts. The cows were not so unruly before the slaughter. Yet all the same these things would be destroyed.

The first screamed like a woman in labor as it was disemboweled. The others turned to flee, but Three Toe came to them, and they fell one by one. The last survivor, a dark male, stared up at the steel slaughterer with a crazed look in its bright yellow eyes -- the eyes of a low animal facing inevitable death. It let out a short grating bark, just out of reach of Three Toe's blade, and scampered toward Chill Bridge. Three Toe could have consigned it to oblivion in a moment, but he allowed it life. He wasn't in the mood to walk into town. Best to have the town come to him -- more blood to color the water. Three Toe cleaned his blade on the grass while he quietly intoned his favorite song of violence -- a hymn to Armok:

Slaughter for Armok! The time is now!
Slaughter for Armok forever more.
Slaughter for Armok, who made my fist
And the blade it holds, stained with gore.

Violence and death: they are our lot.
Armok brings them: they are His love.
We, His children, must love Him well
And love others with studded gloves.

Slaughter for Armok! The time is now!
Slaughter for Armok forever more.
Slaughter for Armok, who made my fist
And the blade it holds, stained with gore.

Violence and death: they are our lot.
Armok needs them: they are His bread.
We, His children, must harvest well
And feed Him mangled, shattered dead.

Slaughter for Armok! The time is now!
Slaughter for Armok forever more.
Slaughter for Armok, who made my fist
And the blade it holds, stained with gore.

It didn't take long for other vermin to arrive. Three Toe could smell them -- the air was fouled by the stench of the filth on their bodies. Indeed, creatures deserving death --yet the murder could wait still longer. Three Toe would allow them to give chase and build their numbers. Then he would litter the beach with their dead. Three Toe ran north, and the kobolds formed a loose pack behind him. In just a few minutes, there were more than a dozen.

Yet more! The satisfaction that Armok would feel today, satisfaction at the slaughter, would bring Three Toe joy. They had him boxed in now. The time had come. Four kobolds circled, hesitating... fear was in their animal nature. Three Toe was motionless, not in a state of indecision like the beasts, but simply preparing his mind to relish the cleansing. One kobold, the most brazen of the lower forms, attempted to take Three Toe alone, perhaps to impress a mate. Three Toe allowed it to strike four, five times, until its ill-fashioned sword broke on steel flesh. These strikes were returned ten-fold on the beast and its fellows, manifold parts ripped and scattered, foul blood and tissue thickening the sands until Three Toe's gray legs sunk midway up the shins in a slurry of viscous gore. The dark male that had alerted the others watched in fear from a distance. Three Toe ran it down and impaled it through the chest on his blade. The thing chortled and squirmed, its miserable life slow to leave it. Three Toe was patient, and eventually it was still. He cut off its head and stared at its dead body for an hour.

Three Toe surveyed the scene. The breeze turned, and the ocean air purged the beach of the kobold smell. Sea birds called out as they descended on the bodies. It was a measure of the baseness of these gulls that they would eat such fare. Disgusting animals... Three Toe restrained himself -- it was time for him to continue the long journey home. Chill Bridge disappeared in the distance. The air off the sea was cool, but Three Toe was warmed as he reminisced. There would be many stars to name this night.

July 20th, 2002

The first is the scene after a goblin and some kobolds had an altercation. The second centers on a kobold that started with a bronze sword that she had to lift with two hands -- this didn't stop the kobold from beheading several goblins.

July 14th, 2002

Visit the Evolution of Humans Page to see some shots of the new models.

Ancient Screen Shots