In an age before history, men made cities and cities made kingdoms – but the wilds were always close at hand. Civilization was a flickering torch against a dark unknown, full of proud barbarian tribes and relics of the unknown past.

This was the age of swords, where men and women lived and died by the blade, where life was purchased with the coin of blood. This was an age of heroes – figures larger than life who strode through the alleys of the cities and beneath the eaves of wild forests, sword in hand, trodding new paths with sandaled feet.

Magic was rare in the time before history; sorcerers stared at the stars, and what stared back was far from human. Magic and madness went hand in hand, and mankind survived only by wit and sword against such evil.

Into this age come our heroes, bearing a mysterious golden idol of frog and a map to its temple, lured by the promise of greater riches within. But they aren’t the only ones interested in the idol, and it could be that their quest leads not to riches, but to ancient secrets that were never meant to be unearthed…

This story was originally started as The Frog-God’s Curse, but was never finished. This Storium’s aim is to complete the narrative.

The characters in this story hail from Fugues and Requiems, a meta-story of wayward characters ripped from their worlds for a larger purpose: saving the library of all creation. This is one such effort.

Inspirations for the genre of The Frog-God’s Curse include the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories and the many tales inspired by them – narratives where the protagonists are thieves and warriors who survive by their wits and blades. Tolkien-style non-human races are non-existent, and magic is rare, alien and dangerous.