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Author Topic: Frostgrave's history ... re-written.  (Read 2343 times)

Offline Harry

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 469
Frostgrave's history ... re-written.
« on: July 25, 2015, 01:47:01 PM »
So … I like Dragons …. I want my Frostgrave campaigns to have the brooding presence of some truly awesome enemies hidden from view which my players only discover the truth about in snippets over weeks and months of the campaign building to an epic climactic battle or two against a hugely powerful ‘end of level boss'.

To that end I have re-written the history of Frostgrave ... to provide the backstory for my campaign.

Now I am no literary genius …. In fact I suspect this to be shockingly awful to anyone that knows how to write or indeed has ever read a book but in my defence I can honestly say this is the first bit of creative writing I have written since I was at school many, many years ago …. I have never been moved to write anything in the last 30 years …. Not sure what has made me start now … but there it is.

My apologies to Joe for wiping my feet all over his work and his city ... but I am kind of hoping he will get a kick out of the fact that his work has inspired someone to write who has never written before and will see this in the same vein as a bit of ‘house ruling’ or otherwise personalising Frostgrave to make it our own.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

by Robert Frost


The Myth that Felstadt was destroyed ‘following a magical mistake when power hungry wizards tampered with ancient powers to great to be controlled’ is just that … a Myth. (or at least the truth behind the myth has been lost). As history slipped into legend and legend faded into myth things that should have been remembered were forgotten and stories that should have been told were lost and with them the true tale of Felstadt slowly disappered like footprints under a fresh fall of snow.

The true story of the frozen city is a tale of woe, a tale of love and betrayal and a tale of two great dragons. However, these Dragons were not natural dragons but rather the result of some of the most powerful and dreadful magic ever conjured in the world that was. The world before the snow and Ice.
These Dragons were once two beautiful girls; one a flaming red-head with passion in her heart. Her only crime to love and be loved in return. However, she loved too deeply and was hurt so grievously that her heart was broken. The other girl had ice flowing in her veins and frost in her heart. She hated everything and everyone but most of all she hated her beautiful sister. She despised her with such venom that she stole her one true love and broke her sister’s heart. As if this was not hurt enough she conjured a spell she had found in an ancient and wicked Grimoire, a spell that had not been conjured in an age and she turned her beautiful sister into a terrifying Dragon. Her sisters unfaithful lover realising that he had been tricked and the dreadful fate of his love, lashed out in rage and with vengeance in his heart and cast the same spell upon the evil sibling …….  
                          
What really happened that fateful night in the city of Felstatdt was that two forces came together … two forces that would never naturally meet … two mighty predators … two dragons. One of Fire and one of Ice. Now normally in nature when two predators this powerful meet in the wild whilst there may be some posturing and minor threats they tend not to fight as they know how lethal they are to each other. But for these two dragons there could be no honourable truce, no shared territory. As opposed as day and night, light and dark, hot and cold. One a mighty Fire wrym like those from the lava filled lands of the south and the other a frost dragon like those from the frozen North.



The fight was terrible, it raged for days, they fought on land and in sky from the deepest vale to the highest tower in the city they fought. Claw clashed with claw scorching breath met frosty blast. Fuelled by an unnatural hatred brought with them from the lives they had lived before, but unable to fully remember or comprehend the hatred in their new form. Neither prepared to yield to the other, neither able to gain an advantage the battle seemed endless.

However when two such opposed elemental forces clash magical energies and natural forces unimagined are released then focussed they created a storm the likes of which had never been seen before (This part of the story at least is true). It was these forces that created the blizzard that swallowed the city not the fumblings of some human wizards ... Only the arrogance of man would consider themselves capable of such awesome and unimagined power.
 
So what became of the Dragons? One might assume the Frost dragon won given the current state of the city but in fact after days and days of fighting with both dragans refusing to yield to the other and the storm spreading further and further … it risked engulfing the world and destroying all life. Only the gods should have such power... and so it was that the gods stepped in and commanded the Dragons to end the bitter struggle. They brokered an accord between the two Dragons. It was decided they should share the territory. The frost dragon who loved the wind and the chill air would have the realms above ground and the Fire dragon who loved the heat of the earth would have the under city. The frost dragon would rule the days and would gleam like a diamond in the light of day and  the red Dragon would rule the night and light up the dark with iits terrible flame. So it was for years they reigned day and night, night and day heaping terrible destruction upon the city and ravaging the surrounding empire until all had fled and the Empire that was had been utterly destroyed and the Dragons finally had their fill. Sated theygathered their gold returned to their dens and they slept …. and they slept. They slept as Dragons do and for centuries they have slumbered in the mountains beneath the city undisturbed  and forgotten ….until now.

All would have been well except for the unlikeliest of happenings ….
There is a legend surrounding Frostgrave that the discoverer of the lost treasure of Felstad will be 'golden-haired and blue-eyed'. When that lucky person is near to Felstadt a bell will ring to invite him or her into the cave, which will open of its own accord as soon as that person's foot touches the entrance.

A young man who lived near Felstadt had grown up with this legend and decided to search for the treasure, hoping to give himself a good start in life. He took a pickaxe and climbed to the top of the hill. When he began to dig in earnest on the site of a tower, some terrible unearthly noises began to rumble under his feet. The surface began to rock like a cradle and the sun clouded over so it became pitch dark. Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder clapped over his head. He dropped the pickaxe and ran home. But the news of this event and the discovery of Felstadt spread quickly and spread far and wide until wizards from every land had heard of the discovery of the lost fabled city and began to flock to Frostgrave to see what treasures they could discover for themselves.

With countless treasure hunters digging from dawn till dusk … things that should never have been forgotten and should have remained undisturbed have been roused. The frost dragon, who’s lair is in the catacombs just below the surface has begun to stir ,,, the scratchings and occasional burst of magical power from the surface have been resonating through the rocks and caverns below the city and slowly the sleeping giant content to slumber in the frozen sanctuary for all these years is starting to stir in an uneasy sleep. How long before she is awoken? How long before some hapless treasure seeker walks right into her frozen lair? How long before she once more reclaims her reign from the skies over Frotgrave. The only grain of hope for the world is that the Red Dragon who lives in the deepest caves under the city still sleeps undisturbed.

My players don’t know it yet but there excursions into Frostgave will scenario by scenario give them the clues to deliver them into the epic world saving quest to destroy the frost Dragon and free the city from the clutches of winter. But they must do this before the fire Dragon awakes and their centuries old fight begins again and once more threatens the whole world.

It is my intention to feed my players the truth of this story in ‘snippets’ through nine line stanzas like the one from Robert Frost at the top of this post. One treasure chest per scenario will hold a clue so the different players will have different pieces of the puzzle. They might even need to work together to get the full picture and overcome such an awesome adversary as a frost dragon.  Hopefully they will collect the clues, decipher the hidden story and realise that they must fight and kill the Frost dragon before it is too late. So essentially it will be lots of regular games initially as they build up experience and power they will slowly start to realise that they are part of something bigger … much bigger.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 05:09:47 AM by Harry »

Offline Magos Kasen

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 95
Re: Frostgraves history ... re-written.
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2015, 02:03:38 PM »
This is really awesome, love it. On the writing front, it isn't badly written, although you have cribbed a bit from lord of the rings ;) I love the idea of a bigger narrative underlying a whole campaign though.

Offline Harry

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 469
Re: Frostgraves history ... re-written.
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2015, 03:23:27 PM »
This is really awesome, love it. On the writing front, it isn't badly written, although you have cribbed a bit from lord of the rings ;) I love the idea of a bigger narrative underlying a whole campaign though.
You are too kind.
I have cribbed a bit from here there and everywhere ... isn''t that what wtitters do?  ;)

Offline Drachenklinge

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1107
  • °_O ... gnihihi ...
Re: Frostgrave's history ... re-written.
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2015, 07:42:54 AM »
Wonderful opening, like it very much as well.
What I especially love is how You made the dragons forgot their reason to fight, that - and the real reason behind it - is a wonderful twist. It explains, why it is unexplainable to the dragons.

What might turn back the dragon into their former state could be to make them understand their own history. That's how I'd do it. Ohhh, I LOVE Hollywood endings. ^^
Maybe make them understand a moment before they die due to the final battle. Last moment is a dragons tear, one frosty, one heated. A powerful potion.

However, wonderful and inspiring. Like it much!
best wishes
Drachenklinge
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's no problem talking to Your miniatures! Beware, when they begin replying.

Offline Harry

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 469
Re: Frostgrave's history ... re-written.
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2015, 08:29:28 AM »
Wonderful opening, like it very much as well.
What I especially love is how You made the dragons forgot their reason to fight, that - and the real reason behind it - is a wonderful twist. It explains, why it is unexplainable to the dragons.

What might turn back the dragon into their former state could be to make them understand their own history. That's how I'd do it. Ohhh, I LOVE Hollywood endings. ^^
Maybe make them understand a moment before they die due to the final battle. Last moment is a dragons tear, one frosty, one heated. A powerful potion.

However, wonderful and inspiring. Like it much!
My feeling is that the evil frost Dragon needs to die .... but I am kind of hoping they might try to save the Fire Dragon ... and the red head .... being the surviving sister .... and a Princess :D and the rightful heir to the Empire ... unfreezes the land ..... I do love a happy ending. :D
I wonder of her lover is Frozen somewhere .... Mmmmmm.

This stuff just writes itself. :D

So they need the tears of her frozen lover to fix the broken heart .... then they need to kill the frost dragon so she turns back into a girl again so they can take something they need from her (lock of hair ... something lke that) to make the spell work ... but first they need to find the originl Grimoire  ... and how to reverse the spell. All before the red Dragon wakes up .... but something they need is in the red Dragons Horde. :D
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 09:54:23 AM by Harry »

 

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