Torbek

Official Torbek art by Saltmatey

**Torbek** is a bugbear blood hunter in Once Upon a Witchlight. He is played by Andy.

## About Torbek

#### Appearance

Torbek first appeared in OUAW Ep 6 - Guys' Night, as an extremely soiled and disheveled bugbear, wearing a tattered burlap sack and a can of beans for a hat. His fur is matted with dirt and grime from sleeping in dumpsters, and clearly coming down from a drinking bender. He wears a filthy sack in which Torbek stores what little belongings he has, including rocks and mud.

In a later episode (OUAW Ep 19 - Bump In The Night), Torbek is reintroduced as a heavily Witchlight-mutated Blood Hunter wearing several different pieces of ratty clothing, most notably pieces of a hospital gown and a tattered Victorian coat. Upon closer inspection by Kremy, Torbek seems emaciated and aged a few years since The Party had seen him last. Some kind of contraption is fused to his body, feeding magenta-colored Witchlight through tubes about his person from vats that sit upon his back. There are also signs of previous experimentations evident from multiple injections and scarring across Torbek's body.

#### Personality

Torbek comes across as pathetic and unimpressive, given how others often mistreat Torbek or take advantage of Torbek. Torbek often refers to Torbek in the third-person, unable to say pronouns such as, "I", "me" or "him." Torbek's vocabulary is surprisingly vast but tends to speak with unnecessarily elongated syllables in a deep, rumbly monotone. Torbek doesn't like conflict, and will physically shrink or hide away to avoid it.

Despite Torbek's grungy and pitiful outward appearance, Torbek can be surprisingly charming as evident with a romantically overzealous pixie named Readah Flagh and an extremely attractive fire eladrin named "Lazlo Gregoravich" (OUAW Ep 7 - Tainted Love), both unexpectedly attracted to Torbek's awkward and cringe-like flirting.

Because of unnatural bad luck or terrible decision-making skills, Torbek constantly falls on hard times and tends to trust less-than-reputable people. It is hard to decipher if this is due to Torbek's child-like naivety, deep-seated abandonment issues, or leaning too heavily on hard liquor to quell the voices in Torbek's head (OUAW Ep 6).

No matter how bad life treats Torbek, Torbek is fiercely loyal to those Torbek calls friends and is visibly excited if someone considers Torbek a friend also. When The Party confesses their part in Torbek's imminent capture by Mr. Witch in exchange for Frost's safety, Torbek displays understanding, empathy, and forgiveness (OUAW Ep 19). In the same episode, Torbek shows concern for Frost's well-being, seeing how rattled Frost was from their battle. With Twig, Torbek is surprisingly gentle as Torbek settles her upon Torbek's head when crossing derelict bridges at Brigand's Tollway (OUAW Ep 20 - Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow).

## Background

Little is known about Torbek's life prior to being the rigged game operator at Carnivál Lecroux. Whatever happened before, the unfortunate bugbear found himself a fairly stable - albeit temporary - home amongst the carnivál and his favorite co-workers. Due to his uncanny ability to climb, Kremy constantly sent him to retrieve patrons who found themselves stuck in the broken down, oblong-designed Herris Wheel (an IP-free Ferris Wheel). Despite falling down several times, Torbek became the only carnie to survive these retrievals, earning The Party's admiration albeit in retrospect (OUAW Ep 6).

After the carnie uprising for undue wages, of which Torbek never participated in due to his rose-colored perspective of Kremy, it is unknown what Torbek actually accomplished in this time. Although, at one point, Torbek may or may not have consumed a hot chocolate one Yuletide Eve, experienced a very vivid but pleasant dream and possibly made a few more friends (FeyWild One Shot: Twas The Night Before Witchlight - Non Cannon).

After traveling around, mostly in a drunken stupor, Torbek found himself at the Witchlight Carnival looking for a job. Having "arrived early", this is where The Party reunites with a currently "fun-employed" Torbek. Unfortunately, in his confusion, Torbek didn't actually arrive early. He had mistakenly arrived on the last night of the Witchlight Carnival and it was clear Mr. Witch and Mr. Light had been avoiding him. Of course, being a vagabond, he does not own a watch or a calendar. Instead, Torbek mentions that he will remind his "girlfriend" Clemintine - who is absolutely real and is not a cardboard cutout - to update his calendar. After an uplifting Goblin-spoken conversation with Gricko, The Party proceeds to have Guy's Night while they wait for Frost's meeting with Mr. Light to be over (OUAW Ep 6).

Unbeknownst to him and The Party at the time, Torbek actually did arrive on the first day of the carnival. According to a letter Mr. Witch sends to The Party while playing one of the carnival games, during a drunken rampage Torbek stole a certain cardboard cutout from The Big Top Extravaganza - whereabouts unknown - was paid more times than was necessary and showed up on the last night with a resume drawn in crayon attempting to get his job back. For the crime of stealing Clemintine the Cardboard Cutout, Mr. Witch forces The Party to keep Torbek distracted while he devises strong enough manacles to hold the bugbear or else The Party risks losing Frost forever (OUAW Ep 8 - At A Snail's Race).

After The Party turns Torbek over in exchange for Frost and makes their way into Prismeer some time later, they encounter Torbek again. But, not as they remembered him from hours before. This Torbek is monstrous, mutated by a Witchlight-filled contraption on his back and incoherantly attacks The Party at The Inn At The End Of The Road. The exhaustion of battle brings Torbek back to his right mind, but the contraption on his back seems to be fused to his body and is unable to be removed (OUAW Ep 19). Unable to remember the evident horrendous experiments done to him, Torbek sets out with his favorite co-workers to save Prismeer and find out what happened to him.

## Relationships

#### The Party

**Morning Frost**

**Kremy Lecroux**

**Gideon Coal**

**Gricko Grimgrin**

## Abilities

There are very few useful abilities in Torbek's arsenal. Besides his uncanny ability to climb, Torbek tends to be unassuming around others or tends to be ignored. This allows Torbek to move stealthily, unbeknownst to himself. Mechanically, Torbek is a Rogue-class and has a high sneak skill.

Later in the campaign, a mutated Torbek becomes a custom-multiclass Blood Hunter Rogue. In the battle at The Inn, Torbek is able to mutate and alter his body utilizing the Witchlight-filled contraption on his back. This violent mutation allows Torbek to metamorphize his bugbear claws into long needles to inject his enemies with poison or into sharp, bone-like knives to rend flesh. He is also able to release a magenta-colored, spore-like mist of Witchlight that disables his opponents (OUAW Ep 19). In this mutated state, Torbek takes on a psychotic alternate personality with a single-minded focus to relentlessly hunt his enemies down (OUAW Ep 20). His senses become heightened and consuming a mutagen will rapidly heal his injuries. Only the death of his target or utter exhaustion will trigger Torbek to come back to his senses.