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The Legend of Drokar

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Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Hwæt!

It has been many years since the times of the Great War, and almost as many since the last time a unified Fremennik nation was a realized dream. Of course, there are the pompous Rellekkans under Chief Brundt who claim to represent the wishes of the Fremennik as a whole, but then again there are the Mountain-folk and the Miscellanians and Etcetarians and Moon-clan. And, of course, many new peoples, like those of Jatizso and Neitiznot, have formed since those glorious years. But gone are the days of several old tribes, the Yuvars, the Ped*, the Grutes. The most glorious of these lost tribes were the Axlings, a great and powerful people who lived on a frozen peninsula now overrun by various wildlife and thoughtless adventurers trying to get to their ‘rituals’ or ‘hunter’ with no knowledge of those who stood their before them. But the Axlings died out long, long ago.

And with it, the legend of their greatest hero almost died, but, unlike him, his memory is immortal. The Memory of Drokar, son of Jorvold, Slayer of Daggermouths, High Stormking among Kings, friend of Elves and Dwarves alike, Great Voyager, incarnate of the Green Giant, and the mightiest mortal man who ever lived. Under his rule, the Fremennik experienced their peak, a peak that they shall almost surely never reach again. Their long halls flowed with gold and mead and songs of his heroic exploits and travels. His axes gleamed but weren’t ever used in his home. His Longboats sailed across the North Sea and up and down the Icecoast. Law was felt across the province until that accursed day sprouted an arrow through his heart. Men beamed and boasted that they were his subjects, and others sunk low because their king was not greater. That was one good king!
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:35:31 - Last edited on 04-Aug-2014 17:30:26 by Captain Lime

Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
His memory will live on, as I retell the legend of the Greatest of Fremennik Leaders. May the Spirits of the Fremennik Ancestors who lived among Drokar, and Yaas, Queen of Stories and Time, give me the strength to retell the tale of the Great North-King with the honor and splendor it deserves! May the halls ring with delight at the mention of his mighty name! May the world remember his story and his legend as he is celebrated in the Longhall of the Green Giant! May we remember The Legend of Drokar!

Hello and Welcome to my latest creation, the Legend of Drokar! It's a really spontaneous thing, I wrote it while I was bored of writing a quest and bored of not writing anything, and it's inspired by the ancient Anglo-Saxon Epic, the Legend of Beowulf (Credit for the wonderful masterpiece of a translation goes to Seamus Heaney. May forever he sing and celebrate in the Longhall of the Green Giant with the Heroes of old until the days of Ragnorak come to renew the world). Basically, I decided it was high time that the Fremennik got a great and powerful hero of their own, and thus, Drokar was born.

There's a total of 9 chapters, and I'll be posting a new chapter biweekly on Saturdays and Thursdays, at some time. All LIME!-colored text is not a part of the story, and is me speaking as the author. Like this text right here! Other than that, there's not much more I can say, but I can say this: Please, sit back and enjoy The Legend of Drokar!

~~~

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: The Ice Man Awakens - 1.3 - 1.6
Chapter 2: The Final Voyage - 2.3 - 2.6
Chapter 3: A House Divided - 3.3 - 3.6
Chapter 4: The Hunt Is On - 3.7 - 3.10
Chapter 5: The Battle of the Skull Mages - 4.2 - 4.6
Chapter 6: King of the Elves - 4.9 - 5.3
Chapter 7: Of Dwarves and Men - 5.6 - 5.10
Chapter 8: The Final Frontier - 6.1 - 6.5
Chapter 9: The Fate of the Fremennik - 6.7 - 7.1
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:36:10 - Last edited on 04-Sep-2014 22:30:25 by Captain Lime

Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Chapter 1: The Ice-Man Awakens

It began long ago, Thirty score and thirty years after the End of the Great War. The Fremennik peoples, all of the dozens that survived out of the dozens more there once were, had paid dearly and doubly for the freedom of the province that they had lived for ages before. But yet, they lived to enjoy their purchased freedom, and the Axlings were lead by King Harald Mammothbane. Harald had a passion for the thrill of the hunt, and would often take fifty of his best thanes to the Arctic reaches of Acheron, for King Harald would hunt the Wooly Mammoth, a proud, imperial creature indigenous to such icy and inhospitable conditions. Harald and his men would kill four or five of the proud creatures, rarely losing a single man, for they were quite skilled at the Art of the Hunt after many years of it. Then, they would return to their town on their peninsula of tundra, and have a great feast off the well-won mammothmeat. Not a single scrap of the beast would be wasted, as once the fat and meat of the beast had been gobbled down with healthy amounts of mead and berries, they would set to work making clothes from the wool and using the bones for their helmets, weapons, tools, and houses. Sometimes, they would even construct a monument to Vemn, the Queen of Ice and Wild, whose rule over the Eternal Wintry Land of Acheron was absolute and uncontested.

But this time, Harald was not lucky, or Vemn was not feeling generous. Not a single mammoth in sight, and not much sight either. His men and he had been unfortunate enough to arrive just before a blizzard, and it was likely all the Mammoths and their juicy flesh had been holed up in some shelter, safe from frostbite. His men and he, disappointed with the lack of trophies but content with their unfrozen appendages, were making their way back to their longboats across a frozen lake. A Lake so frozen that it’d surprising if the icy bite of Acheron hadn’t frozen it from surface to basin!
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:37:14 - Last edited on 16-Aug-2014 21:27:21 by Captain Lime

Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Even if the Mighty Fist of the Green Giant had come down and smashed it apart, not a drop would flow from the motionless glacier. A prayer to Vuul for strength and another to Brek to bring them swiftly home was uttered among the men, as they huddled together for warmth. Despite their mammothhide lined armor, there were worries of Frostbite or Snowsickness. But what was most worrying was the lack of sight. The fierceness of the snowstorm made it lucky if you saw your hand waving just in front of your face.

Suddenly, a wind picks up, and then dies down completely just as swiftly. Harald’s men stagger from the strange final gust, and one even falls over. Harald looks up, and the sky was still cloudy. Perhaps the storm would resume? But he can** ponder upon the uncertainty for long, since the fallen thane begins screaming, “There’s something in the ice! There’s something in the ice!” King Harald weighs his options, stomps his boots against the ice and concludes that it’s solid enough. He swings his hand and gives the order to carve the ice open to get whatever it is out.

It’s grueling work, to be sure, to carve the ice that had frozen to the strength of hard wood. Perhaps Vuul had blessed them with strength and Brek had hardened their metal, as they were making swift work of the tough job. At least the blizzard had ground to a halt for then. Hours passed, and the men got antsy, but eventually they haul the chunk from the pit they dug, and Harald was shocked to see that it was a man! A Man, frozen in the ice!

At least, they figured it was a man. They decided to bring the chunk back with them, as they couldn’t free the man from the icy prison with tools such as these, for fear that they might crack one of his arms or legs clean off! Best to melt the prison in front of a fire. In any case, they were a mere half-mile away from the boats when things took an unexpected turn for the worse.
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:37:38 - Last edited on 16-Aug-2014 21:33:19 by Captain Lime

Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
They’d been getting the feeling of being watched and stalked for a good distance, and it had suddenly become too much to bear. Out of the fog in the distance leapt Sabre-toothed Kyatts! The kyatts, known for their appetites, were being led by their Huntress-Queen and eyed Harald hungrily. They clashed with their fang-toothed foes, and Harald sparred with the Kyatt-Queen herself. Harald and his men were fierce, but they were used to hunting mammoths! Not kyatts! Kyatts were fierce predators, with eyes made for the blizzard and pelts doubly so, and with claws and teeth that almost seemed to relish cleaving through Axling Iron.

And then, the Kyatt-Queen threw herself at King Harald Mammothbane. They tumbled straight into the Chunk of Ice, and the fighting halted at once. The Axling Thanes looked up in fear that Harald’s back had broken against the ice, and the Kyatts looked in fear that the Mammoth-scourge had snapped their Alphasister’s neck. But no, to everyone's surprise, it was the Ice that had broken, with a Colossal Man with a Large Red Beard under a Helmeted face holding a shining Battleaxe in his hands and with ancient armor over his chest. It took only a moments of surveying the area before he roared a frightening battlecry that seemed to shake the very earth. For a moment, the men feared that he was an embodiment of the Red Omen, Chief of Madness, himself. But the fearsome ice-man was closer to being of the Dark Omen, Chief of Death, as with one colossal swing of his axe, the Alpha Kyatt*s Head came clean off!

The Lesser-kyatts routed, and the men cheered. King Harald, made meek and thankful, said to the ice man, “Brother, I cannot thank you enough. You have saved not only myself but all of my thanes.” The Frostwarrior said nothing to this. Harald continued, “I would be honored to take you back to my court and throw a great feast for the heroic acts you have done on this day.” The man continued his silence.
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:38:07 - Last edited on 16-Aug-2014 21:53:44 by Captain Lime

Captain Lime
May Member 2019

Captain Lime

Posts: 6,940 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Harald continued, growing somewhat frustrated, “I… I’ll make you my greatest thane! What say you?” And in response, continued silence. “By the Green Giant's Beard, will you at least tell me your name!” cried Harald.

The Ice-man responded by pulling off his battlehelm, and revealed that his ears were black and frostbitten. Not a word could be heard by him. King Harald laughed slightly at this, and after some short gesturing and figuring, the man said one word. “Jorvold.”

King Harald, his Thanes, and the man they called Jorvold Iceblade, boarded their boats. The Skies had cleared, revealing fantastical dancing lights of all of the colors imaginable, as well as a thousand points of starlight, bidding good travels. They returned to Harald’s Familiar Longhall, on the Axling settlement of Axgaard. There, despite the lack of hunt, there was a great feast, and the Kyatt head was mounted proudly on the wall. Songs were sung that day to each of the Five Queens, the Green Giant Thane, and the Ice-Princess. Omens were warded off and treasures were showered upon Jorvold, a fierce warrior from the Great War who had fallen into the lake during a battle with the Minions of the Omens. Jorvold Iceblade was eventually made High Thane of Harald, took a wife, and fathered a son.

They called his son Drokar, and thus, our Legend Begins.

---

You may now post. Stay tuned for next week, in our next chapter: The Final Voyage!
^ "Some of those words were
STUPID.
" - Mod Raven

02-Aug-2014 23:38:37 - Last edited on 16-Aug-2014 22:00:30 by Captain Lime

Akthanakos

Akthanakos

Posts: 999 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Lord Drakan said :
I keep misreading it as "Drorkar", that jerk of a dwarf industrialist with a fancy hat and monocle who STILL owes me a quest point and a bunch of letter-delivering XP. ;-;

^^^This

Very nice, Lime! I look forward to reading the next installment.

05-Aug-2014 13:53:54

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