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WarKitty
2011-03-19, 12:28 PM
Here's the story thus far:

Long ago, there was a great draconic wizard. Dragons are themselves long-lived creatures, but this one wanted more. He wanted to make himself completely immune to death, whether by old age or by assault. He had already achieved lichdom, but wanted to dispense with the need for phylacteries. Doing this, he researched and performed a ritual of a strength never seen before in the world. He found in old tomes the stories of a plane of primal energy, the raw substance from which everything is formed. He intended to suffuse himself with this energy.

The ritual worked - after a fashion. The energies poured into the dragon, tearing him apart as raw chaos ripped through his body. From there the chaos poured out over the land, tearing and mutating and killing. Finally, it stopped, after 5 days. But unbeknownst to anyone, the orbits of the planes themselves had been shifted. The primal plane was now closer than ever to the material planes (yes there's more than one).

Three years later, the same thing occurred. Chaos poured from the northern mountains where the dragon had lived. Realizing what had happened, the great mages of the world banded together. Together they channeled a little bit of the primal energy, along with their own life forces, into a single being. A new god was born from their efforts, a god of doors and portals, composed of the life energies of the mages. The primal energy was bound into a set of artifacts. Using the power of these artifacts, the mages could shield the world from the conjunction with the primal plane.

However, for some reason, this last time it failed. The artifacts, scattered across the worlds by the raw power, were not recovered in time. This is the world in which the party is now working.

Now, except for the last paragraph, the other events occurred eons ago, so far back that there are only dim rumors in elven mythology. However, I am about to set my party on a set of cave inscriptions. I don't want them to get the full story, but I do want to give them some ideas. Yes, I expect them to draw some false conclusions as well, it'll make things more interesting. Can anyone help put some of this into a more...cryptic...form?

Toofey
2011-03-19, 12:42 PM
Make the Cave inscriptions from an early dwarven(maybe, since they're less magical and are more likely themselves to draw the effects without an understanding of the magic underlying them) society who (maybe) knew of the dragon and feared him, but didn't see the dragon cast said spell and don't know he was connected to the events they set out in the inscriptions.

That way, you can have them have some stuff about the dragon separate from the area about the effects they saw of the spell, It would also allow you to throw in a bunch of random stuff that would have been important to that clan.

edit: shucks I forgot this place was profanity adverse.

WarKitty
2011-03-19, 12:46 PM
Make the Cave inscriptions from an early dwarven(maybe, since they're less magical and are more likely themselves to draw the effects without an understanding of the magic underlying them) society who (maybe) knew of the dragon and feared him, but didn't see the dragon cast said spell and don't know he was connected to the events they set out in the inscriptions.

That way, you can have them have some stuff about the dragon separate from the area about the effects they saw of the spell, It would also allow you to throw in a bunch of random stuff that would have been important to that clan.

edit: shucks I forgot this place was profanity adverse.

The clan is already set. It's an old desert race (custom) that uses primarily druidic/shamanic magic. They maintain cave settlements that are probably the oldest in the world.

Shadowleaf
2011-03-20, 05:07 PM
Do it with cave paintings?
A man in a robe with a dragon head or a Dragon covered in runes, with a swirling vortex instead of a stomach. The 'swirls' extend around him, and at the end are drawn living things such as trees and birds.

On the next painting, the same vortex is drawn, only over a series of snow-covered mountains with dragons on them. Around the vortex is a circle of humanoids in robes.

On the next painting, the circle of humanoids surround a larger, more celestial looking being, with the artifacts orbiting it.

On the next painting is simply the vortex, only darker, and with nothing else on the drawing.

Chaos rising
2011-03-20, 05:51 PM
You could try one of my favorite methods of plot exposition: a spectral voice from beyond. It could be a relic containing some long last memories of the past, or a spirit that was sealed away specifically to retell of this event. Of course, this gives you the option of tampering with the phrasing to encourage misinterpretation, or if you can't think of a way to do that, then think of it this way: ancient artifacts are bound to develop a few glitches over the years, and a sealed spirit who hasn't seen the light of day in who knows how long may not be quite right in the head...

I know this isn't really a cave inscription like you wanted, but it could still work

TheStranger
2011-03-20, 06:15 PM
Seconded on Shadowleaf's idea. Draw some cave drawings and give them to your players. Don't worry too much about artistic talent; they should be heavily stylized anyway. And they don't need to include all the details, since they're an aid to an oral tradition, not a detailed history. Imagine a shaman telling these legends, using the cave drawings as visual aids - the meaning is only clear if you already know the story.

Sit down with a piece of paper and make some drawings; once you start translating elements of the story into symbolic drawings, it should start to come together. If you're not sure about conveying a concept, look online for examples of real-world cave drawings. Don't worry about giving too much away; the meaning of the drawings will seem obvious to you, but that's only because you know the story. If your players get enough of it right to move the plot forward, count yourself lucky.

WarKitty
2011-03-20, 08:56 PM
Mmm cave paintings, I like. I certainly have enough artistic talent to handle that kind of thing, especially with photoshop, which would give me the backgrounds I want.

Fishy
2011-03-21, 01:31 AM
In the beginning was a land of darkness and chaos and monsters. A door opened, and through it came a god from another world. He gathered to himself the twelve tools of creation, and primal power spilled out of them and across the land, forging the cracked and molten landscape into solid ground, and remaking savage monsters into men and beasts. His last act of creation was a mighty dragon, formed from nothing but primal power, who then recorded all of history in a series of tomes.

The great thing about using paintings is that you don't have to show them in order.

WarKitty
2011-03-21, 07:22 AM
In the beginning was a land of darkness and chaos and monsters. A door opened, and through it came a god from another world. He gathered to himself the twelve tools of creation, and primal power spilled out of them and across the land, forging the cracked and molten landscape into solid ground, and remaking savage monsters into men and beasts. His last act of creation was a mighty dragon, formed from nothing but primal power, who then recorded all of history in a series of tomes.

The great thing about using paintings is that you don't have to show them in order.

I'm not sure what that has to do with the story though? I do want them to get at least the rough outline of what's going on, just not give them all the details. The whole point of this is to give them something they can actually investigate and get somewhere.

The other trouble I'm having is that these aren't supposed to be "primitive" writings in any sense. They're supposed to be the writings of a civilization more on the technological and cultural level of ancient Egypt. A civilization that was really at the top cultural level for its time. I feel like a lot of the suggestions go too far into the whole "primitive cave-dwellers" feel, which isn't compatible with having some of the world's best mages.

Fishy
2011-03-21, 07:41 AM
Sorry that wasn't clear- it's your story, told in reverse.

WarKitty
2011-03-21, 08:14 AM
Sorry that wasn't clear- it's your story, told in reverse.

Nice idea, but a bit too cryptic - I don't actually want to have anything explicitly false in the story. It's more that it needs a style that sounds like "ancient library text" and not "DM plot exposition." Maybe exaggerate or play down a few details. I figure that as long as I make it sound like a clue and not a DM speech, the players will confuse it enough on their own without my help.

Accersitus
2011-03-21, 05:36 PM
How about if the other gods didn't like the creation of this new god, and their churches have distorted the truth over the centuries, making the story instead about this group of powerful mages who tampered with dangerous powers to ascent to godhood.

Long ago, a group of ambitious mages used the Primal power to combine their minds and power and ascend into godhood.
With their new power, they created powerful artifacts to contain the primal power as it was too dangerous to be let loose.
Using these artifacts, they could create a barrier around the material plane preventing the primal power from being used on the material plane again.

WarKitty
2011-03-21, 05:49 PM
How about if the other gods didn't like the creation of this new god, and their churches have distorted the truth over the centuries, making the story instead about this group of powerful mages who tampered with dangerous powers to ascent to godhood.

Long ago, a group of ambitious mages used the Primal power to combine their minds and power and ascend into godhood.
With their new power, they created powerful artifacts to contain the primal power as it was too dangerous to be let loose.
Using these artifacts, they could create a barrier around the material plane preventing the primal power from being used on the material plane again.

I don't want to significantly change or distort the story, just make it something that sounds like an ancient text.

TheStranger
2011-03-21, 06:52 PM
The problem with text is that it tends to be fairly descriptive. I mean, you could conceivably bury the whole thing in highly symbolic language, but that's usually reserved for prophecy, not history. If the writing is intended to tell a story, it's going to tell it somewhat clearly. If the writers had misconceptions about what happened, those will be present, but they're not going to intentionally obfuscate their history. You could always have strategic parts of the text too damaged to read, but at that point you're just telling your players what you want them to know.

I still think your best bet is to steer away from text and go with pictures. That's not inconsistent with an advanced culture at all. Even if they had a written language, there's nothing to say that some ancient temple/palace/library didn't commission a mural of the story as ornamentation. Sure, it's all clearly written down somewhere, but your PCs didn't find that cave, they found the one with the Bayeux Tapestry in it. Make it ornate and obviously decorative, and they'll accept it as artwork of an advanced culture, not scribblings of a primitive culture.

WarKitty
2011-03-21, 06:58 PM
The problem with text is that it tends to be fairly descriptive. I mean, you could conceivably bury the whole thing in highly symbolic language, but that's usually reserved for prophecy, not history. If the writing is intended to tell a story, it's going to tell it somewhat clearly. If the writers had misconceptions about what happened, those will be present, but they're not going to intentionally obfuscate their history. You could always have strategic parts of the text too damaged to read, but at that point you're just telling your players what you want them to know.

I still think your best bet is to steer away from text and go with pictures. That's not inconsistent with an advanced culture at all. Even if they had a written language, there's nothing to say that some ancient temple/palace/library didn't commission a mural of the story as ornamentation. Sure, it's all clearly written down somewhere, but your PCs didn't find that cave, they found the one with the Bayeux Tapestry in it. Make it ornate and obviously decorative, and they'll accept it as artwork of an advanced culture, not scribblings of a primitive culture.

The only problem is I already told them that it was a library of inscriptions (because there was a quest to get in to it). On the other hand, I've been toying with the idea that the actual story would have been written several centuries after the events. So maybe something more like the Homeric epics in feel. Not quite that bad as far as anachronisms and such, but a very poetic ornamented style.