[Gaxtho'e of the Frog Tribe.] [Long overdue, Screenshot HEAVY]

[CroakingOpera]

Well!

Due to a talk with Aethereal that I had on IRC today, nostalgy kicked in and I have decided to share this absolutely amazing, magical, colorful, trippy.. and in the end - bitter tale with you, guys.

Gaxtho'e was a bard, a Lorekeeper of the Frog Tribe who has lived through the transition from EFU:A to EFU:M and has been an eye-witness to H'bala's hospitality.

Here is an excerpt from the application about him and his backstory:

Gaxtho'e presents a rather unusual sight, even by the Stargazer standards - gigantic eyes, bulging out of their sockets, usually bloodied; his neck almost not prominent at all. His bulging, slightly deformed figure appears to be plastered with thick mud, clearly both in a protective, and camouflaging way.


Gaxtho'e (a word for 'horned toad' in one of the Sioux tribes language), the adolescent Frog Tribe Stargazer, bizarre even by the Frog standards, known for his infamous opera-esque, croaking serenades towards the moon.

Gaxtho'e was always a curious Frog, his search for new inspirations for the new opera-esque croaks has perked the interest of an elderly Lorekeeper of the Frog - Paakwa - who bestowed many tales of the world outside the swamp to the young Gaxtho'e, triggering the inevitable - the typical Frog hunger (for more tales, this time.)

Paakwa on his dying bed, he asked young Gaxtho'e to travel to the non-swamp realm, to find the origin of the Brood. Dying Paakwa bestowed the greatest honour on our young Frog - he chosen Gaxtho'e to be the one who ate his flesh and absorbed his powers.


After many years of dwelling in the Swamp, however, he has decided that new audience is needed. He started to travel outside of it, and so his journey in search of the fresh audience, delightful food; and mighty secrets of the long-forgotten past (which he can in return trade for even more food and even more secrets) ..

.. begins.

So here goes!


The TRIP begun in the Character Creation Area, where it turned out, that this might not exactly be canon... or that someone must be on drugs.




Nonetheless, it let me through!
I ended up in Starwood as a level 2 Stargazer with absolutely nothing.. And bumped into the Steward/Stargazer team that just returned from the Underdark and decided to take me with them.

So Gaxtho'e went with them to the Brood Hive as a level 2 character.... only to emerge right into a massive conflict between the Wilds and the Order.
Something about a defiled shrine. And RWG was there, so it was obvious that there will be blood!

So he did, what he had to, to help. He croaked!





And of course - because it is the way of the Stargazers - we won. And the Fat Frog somehow survived, even!






 

He was always hungry - hungry for lore, hungry for knowledge. And hungry for hallucinogenic substances. He also enjoyed making people Croak with him. And they did! Even if it took some convincing.







He enjoyed the Mist, which he referred to as the Vapors of the Great Frog from the skies.




He had many friends in many places. To whom he often offered hallucinogenics, of course.



















He also met some weird people..






And there were no secrets from the Frog. Whether he had to read them, lick them, eat them, digest them.. He got it done!







He liked to chill with other Frogs and croak together:





He recovered very important artifact of the Frog from Old Port, a Crystal Frog! One would think that it was useless, but..





... on an epic journey to the CROAKING ISLAND (thanks to NukeCat), if not for the Crystal Frog - we would have been doomed!
The Fate of the Frog tribe was unfolding, there!  A deal was to be struck with the Brood Flayers - but this is EFU - so of course they betrayed us ..



... And apparently, they summoned a Bebilith!





But! The Crystal Frog recovered from Old Port has brought us aid.. Straight from the Outer Frogolia, came....



.. a Planar Frog Spirit. The Frogs watch over us, they do. Remember this!





.. And Frogs were saved, this way. Almost all of them. It was great fun!




Because.. they are the supreme animals, no?







But it was not the end of his adventures.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned ... and H'bala tricked the mob that came to end her incessant whining about being locked up... but details of that are best figured IG.  There's a lot of lore, lot of twists in the plot, all waiting to be discovered.
But Gaxtho'e survived!  He was the first person infected with WITHERING.. but he had not idea what's happening to him.


H'bala was pretty pissed at the Stargazers, so she decided to stomp on Starwood, once and for all, during a GREAT MOOT, where everyone came. Stargazers.. Stewards.. Dwarves.. Crusaders.. And Naholopet Ymph himself under the guise of a Great White Stag!







Even Numinous Order came in the person of Soravia (with whom I had so much FUN interaction, and when everyone ran from the Agony thrashing around in Starwood - it was the two of us that tried to bring it down..).

Yet her presence there did not meet with the approbation of the DM's..






He sough answers and cure to his WITHERING in many places, as he slowly rotted away..

The Mists..



.. But it turned out trippy at first (he certainly enjoyed it!)




And bloody (liked it less!):









But it was to no avail.. Not even magical KUFI juice .. and Apudo's honey helped him:









So he sought aid in the darker corners of the island..











But nothing helped him. Or maybe ..?

I hopefully think that he returned to his rightful place, in the Outer Frogolia. If you do not know where it is, here's the map. He's there.





I must thank everyone that I have interacted with on Gaxtho'e and BIG thanks to the DM team for being in the center of the EPIC events and the transition from EFU:A to EFU:M.

Nothing will ever be the same again, after this, no matter what I do.

Croak.

Remember, kids.

Frogs are supreme animals.

[Mr Howardson]

Ribbit

[Blue41]

Damn, I forgot that was your first appearance...

As much as I liked Sah'rdi'ni, it was Lorekeeper Frog who ended up contributing even more to the stargazer faction. Even if we did all think Gax had betrayed us in the end, when there was no sign of him in the fugue. RIP, you will be remembered, Gaxtho'e.

[alphabits]

Sharing tales with frog was always bitchin'.

[Incorrigible]

I adoorreeddddd him. Very few interactions between him and Jaya, but whenever the Coven and gazers got together he was the life of the party.

[VengefulSeraphim]

so sorry i didn't get to meet this dude, he seems cool

[The Old Hack]

I loved the Frog. Reese actually wanted to help him. Of course, that didn't come to anything, sadly.

Fantastic character.

~tOH.

[Ebok]

I think I spent more time with the Frog then I spent with anyone else on Bost. All of them great times, he was truly a blast to be around. ^_^

I even show up in the screenshots! :D

[Knight Of Pentacles]

Kill us! Release us!

[Weaverific]

"But! The Crystal Frog recovered from Old Port has brought us aid.. Straight from the Outer Frogolia, came...."

This is the first, last, and only time in human history this assemblage of words will be uttered.

[trick_or_treat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwtT4ZBa3CE

[Aethereal]

Aww, those moments of granting them coffee, with a tour of the enclave, feeding honey to Apudo and giving hope to Gaxtho'e that his Withering could be treated were so delicate, the memories are still strong. It was quite probably through him that the Conclave was able to develop the golden syringe cure in EFU:M, though who can truly say what Thrask Morv did with his samples, one vial certainly would have contributed to the Rebirth of Mystryl.

And then the state of survival, as the two felt they were hunted on all sides and they met at the standing stones circle in the eastern farmlands. I could just feel the fear and hopelessness they had, but strove to overcome.

Just awesome.

[Frog Witch]

#frog4lyfe

[Canzah]

That's some seriously stylish croaking.

[bigx2]

What a ride hanging with Gaxtoe was!  Nothing like  Tea tripping to  outer Frogoloia.  Good times. And yeah, that bitch H'bala did whine like hell while she was sewing us into the Agony.  Sore winner.