[Residence] Torc's Appartment

[Torc Ironwood]

28th Spring, 510 A.V.

Torc stood in his room looking at the rough oak log standing in front of him. It had taken a great deal of work to bring the heavy log from the lumber yard to his apartment, but as he look over the log he had a vision of what it could be. Torc didn’t know if the vision had been a gift from the twins, or a simple request, but as Torc set his carpentry tools on the table placing each in a specific place. Slowly he touched each tool seeing that as the work progressed he would need to buy more detail ones.

Torc smiled and thought not just about his vision but about the twins themselves. As the God and Goddess of lost causes they were one of the few who knew about hard work and planning, because protecting the weak and raising them back up required planning and labor. Each cause they took, they knew that saw the pain that it would require to champion it. Perhaps that was why when he first thought of the Gods and Goddesses, he thought of the twins. They didn’t control vast things like the sky or patron of the arts, no they were working deities. They made deals with others, it was their planning, skill, and luck that saved a cause. They were like Torc, working till the tool they held was so heavy that they couldn’t swing it again.

Torc stood in front of a log and drew a rough outline of the two busts on different sides of the trunk with charcoal. After several tries and several mistakes he had a rough enough outline to be the first removal of sections of wood. Torc picked up the recently purchased saw with small teeth and a wide blade. Torc knew from cutting timbers that a large tooth blade would cause to much damage and may spilt the log at the wrong moment. As Torc placed the saw on log he made sure that he had a thumbs width to the nearest line that he drew. Torc wished he was more sure of himself them to leave so much material to cut, but because of his lack of skill Torc made sure that he had room for mistakes.

After taking a deep breath Torc began to cut, the sound of the saw focused his mind and though he went slowly a rhythm began. Each full stroke brought a fine powder of saw dust out of the log lazily going down to the floor. Once the first piece fell to the floor Torc examined the cut. The saw marks were uneven and jagged. However, he had successfully taken away the material without cracking the wood and the small box plane could straighten the jagged cuts if he did. Feeling good about the first step Torc began cutting the second piece. Hours went by as Torc cut large sections off the log and then picked up the charcoal once again to draw lines for cuts.

Five hours went by till Torc placed the saw back down on the table. The next step would require large strokes of the chisel and Torc knew that patience and practice would help before the next step. So he placed his tools back in his tool chest. He began picking up the large pieces and putting them next to his hearth. Sweeping up the saw dusts and adding it to the kindling pile.

[Torc Ironwood]

34th Spring, 510 A.V.

A week had passed since Torc had begun the general cutting of the log. Two rough lumps that vaguely reassembled heads placed back to back stood ready for the next step. He had taken the between working to practice with the wood chisels. Even though this was another rough cut, he needed to be sure that he was steady and wouldn’t leave any boughs of wood. Setting the chisel on the Kel’s head he prepared himself. Lines of charcoal had been drawn on the rough hewn log to make sure that he knew where to cut and how deep. He was quiet for a moment, he wanted to pray to the good gods for help, but this was a piece devoted to the twins. They may need other gods to help them with their causes, but they valued hard work and even the mistakes they would understand. The Twins didn’t ask for perfection, what they wanted was hard work and a wiliness to carry on.

Torc’s nerves had steadied for a moment, his breathing calmed, and he placed the small mallet to the end of the chisel. Curls of woods ships began to fall as Torc used stead pressure of his hand and the light but steady impact with the mallet. After a few hours Torc stopped looking at the rough shape of the wood. Once again he took charcoal correcting some of the mistakes in depth and perception. Looking at Goddess Kel’s nose and chin he knew that he had cut to deep and the only way to compensate for the mistake was to adjust her features. There could still be a small resemblance, but Wyn bust was going to have a board features.

Torc began to sharpen the chisel. A part of him wanted to give up, his vision would never come true now, and yet he knew that would displease his subject matter more. One didn’t ask the Twins for help and expect your cause to be perfect. Perhaps the Twins didn’t ask their followers for perfection either. A mistake was always bound to happen, Lost Causes weren’t given perfection they were given hard work and learning. As the sound of the sharpening sound continued Torc began to understand the Twins a bit better. Kel was inspiration, a free spirit that sought a creative answers, and in doing so learned her of her failures then correcting them as best as possible. Wyn stood before a grind stone, seeking to grind his problem down one step at a time. The obstacles that stood before him were so large that they were disheartening, Yet when others would give up he choose to step forward and with each step deal with the matter at hand.

Torc wiped the metal shavings off the wet stone with a cloth. He looked at the mistakes and was angry, “I have to learn to accept these and makes sure I don’t do them again.” Torc placed the chisel on Kel’s face again and began. Hours once again floated by and Torc had to switch to smaller chisels several times. The excess material around the faces were perhaps no more than a half to a quarter in some places. Small ridges stood all over the faces and hair, smaller chisels would be need for Torc to carve out those lines and then sanding would take care of all the rest.

Torc finally done with the fronts went to the sides of the piece and readied his drill. Where the necks met he needed to drill out a hole so that even though the hair would blend with the Twins the necks wouldn’t give the illusion that they were two faces of one God. Torc knew they each looked for answers in different places. Torc choose to pick up a small drill and began the hole. As the small drill rupture the first grain layer, Torc knew that he had chosen right. The drill would create a plot hole for the large ones and the stress would be far less. Four times he changed the drill for large ones, and at the end his muscles in his neck hurt.

Wiping sweat from Torc’s brow, he knew that he wasn’t done just yet. He picked up the asp and files that he would need to males the hole into the contours of the necks. The rest of the day passed as the wasp of files began their work. Torc’s pride that the work had finally become recognizable was clear, and though he had several more days of hard work, he knew that in the end it would be a worthy gift for them. Cleaning up, Torc ate a cold meal and then went to bed, dreaming of the faces that would come out of the wood.

[Torc Ironwood]

37th Spring, 510 A.V. Torc had finally found the time to finish his piece. He used his rough hands to finally go over the piece of wood, there were still fine ridges and rough spots that needed polishing, the faces were slightly distorted from his vision, but the pride in Torc’s face shone. The faces of the twins were coming out and his hard work gave them more praises then anything else. Softly and with great care Torc took up his files can began the final craving. The wood dust began to fall to the table, like snow falling on a winter’s day. The file moved around the contours removing the small ridges and yet scratching the surface of the wood. Sweat began to bead on Torc’s forehead, even though he was using a fine file the scratches were going to add hours of work. Yet he heard Priestess Lara voice within him. “You look frustrated my son.” Priestess Lara said. A feeling of motherly warmth and love spread through Torc as he kept working. “I am worried that I have failed the twins in my offering. I want it to be perfect I have this idea in my head. This picture of what I want to show, and in the end all I see is my mistakes and failures.” Torc placed down the file and picked up a polishing rag. Pouring sand into it along with polishing oil, Torc set to work sanding the fine stratches left in the wood. “Torc, my son, the twins are about hope and work. They take up the fight for lost causes because everyone else has lost faith in them. They work at the cause because mistakes were made to began with that made it lost. They place faith in their hands and friends, because they know of the troubles that are to come.” Torc nodded feeling the sweat on his brow dropped upon the bust, he took heart in the old priestess words. Sure Torc would see his failures in it, and it was likely the priests would burn the bust after he left it for an offering, but it didn’t matter to the Twins. They saw what he did, the effort he put into his offering, just like the effort they had put into him. A soft glow came from the wood as he continued his sanding. There was no magic involved with the glow, only the hard work of one man. The glow came from the polished surface left from the rag and oil that Torc had purchased. The oil was to stain, while the sand was to polished, and after several hours of polishing Torc took up a dry rag and a smaller grit of sand to start anew. The hours went by, Torc had to even crush the sand into smaller pieces to make statue smooth to his touch. If nothing else, people who viewed the bust would know that the craftsman work hard on the finishing. As the sun was setting Torc felt his back muscle hurt from the long labor, his muscles were tired and sore from the constant pressure he had needed to polish the bust. Looking down at the table wood dust mixed with sand covered it. Torc could feel his arms were covered as well, but the empty bottle of stain and sack that contained the sand meant he was finished. He allowed the bust to dry, as he washed up, the dirt and stain coming off his hands and arms. The smell of the oil was soft like the Philter had used flowers for a base, and he was glad he had chosen it, because the tan wood showed a warmth to it. Once he was done cleaning up his area and putting way his tools, Torc held out his hands and spoke, “Kelwyn, know that I am grateful to you. My parents left me at your temple, you protected me till I could protect myself. You gave me knowledge and love, till I could find it myself. Kelwyn, see this offering and the work that went into it. I am forever grateful.” Torc smiled at the simple prayer and then went to bed, knowing in the morning that he would deliver the bust to the church and donate it to the shrine of the twins. (The End)

[Kelpie]

Character Name: Torc +3 Carpentry, +2 Sculpting Lore: The Divine Twins Kel and Wyn, Learning from Mistakes, Sculpting in the Image of Gods Mod Note: Great job, Torc. Nice little insights on his past. He's quite the little artist.