Treasures of the Savage Frontier – Story

SECTIONS

Welcome to the “Getting Started” guide to Treasures of the Savage Frontier. This guide will give you a quick overview of how this site is organized so you can find your way around more easily.

The Story section contains information on the game’s plot and back story. It also has Combat strategies and hints on wilderness travel.

The Map section is where you’ll probably spend the most time during the game. Not only does it contain maps for each of the locations, but also Event information, a Synopsis and Walkthrough for that specific location. Each of those tabs contain hints and spoilers for the game if needed.

The Monster and Items sections contains a list of those respective encounters and items found in the game.

The Misc section has information on Levels, Ability Scores, equipment and more.

 

STARTING PARTY

NOTE: As Treasures of the Savage Frontier is a sequel to Gateway to the Savage Frontier, you can import your characters. When you start the game, you will always have the option of loading either a GTSF Saved game or a TOSF Saved game.

You can have 6 characters in your party, and we recommend filling up all those slots and maxing (M”odify) their stats before starting. There is plenty of experience points in the game to reach your level cap, so we recommend multi-classing the characters to maximize melee and ranged offensive power especially in the mid and end game. Humans are not able to multi-class and only humans and half-elves can be Paladins and Rangers. Elves get a +1 bonus when using Long Swords and Bows. We recommend having at least 2 Clerics in the party for healing and Turning Undead as well as 2 Rangers for their bonus against Giant-sized monsters. Our party has 4 Magic-Users which will get very powerful towards the end of the game (Fireballs and Lightning Bolts)

3 Male Elf – Fighters/Magic-Users (Lawful Good)
2 Male Half-Elf – Cleric/Ranger (Lawful Good)
1 Male Elf – Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Lawful Good)

 

MAPS

All the mazes in this game are 16 by 16 mazes with each coordinate numbered from 0 to 15. The upper left corner is (0,0) and the lower right corner is (15,15). The first number of any coordinate is the horizontal direction and the second number is the vertical direction. Use the Area command to map out the maze as you progress through it. The Area command is useful for locating hidden rooms. If you see an outline of a room but cannot find a door, there might be a hidden door somewhere, although some hidden rooms shown in the Area command are solid areas and are not rooms. Also note the doorways you see in combat. Hidden doors show up in combat.

 

HEALING & SPELLS

Finding a place to Rest is very important. There are very few mazes in the game that have no rest areas. In most cases you can rest in a room where you fought a battle. If you cannot rest, move to another place. Some common sense helps. Resting in a public street is usually forbidden. Resting in a hidden room usually works. The Fix command will heal and re-memorize spells; however, the Fix command will not memorize additional spells. When your clerics and mages gain a new level, they also gain additional spells. To get these spells you have to do an explicit Memorize command. Once they learn the new spells, the Fix command will re-memorize them. If you decide to change your spell selection you must use the Memorize command instead of the Fix command.

THE BACKGROUND

As the story opens, your party is being hailed across the Northern Realms for their heroism. Officially given the title, “the Heroes of Ascore” by the Lords’ Alliance, they enjoy a well-deserved rest in Yartar. But all is still not well in the Savage Frontier.

After their defeat by the party in the Battle of Ascore, The Zhentarim held a meeting with their evil allies: the spies of the Kraken Society, the Magicians of the Hosttower of the Arcane, and the pirates of Luskan.

The Zhentarim introduced a clever new plan. Kraken agents would feed information to the other cities in the region, suggesting that Waterdeep aims to conquer the Savage Frontier for itself. Luskan pirates would attack ships and seize key ports under the flag of Waterdeep, aided by Hosttower spellcasters.

Their goal: to convince the cities of the Lords’ Alliance that their leader was betraying them, and start an all-out war. Once the leading cities of the North had expended their forces fighting each other, the Savage Frontier would be ripe for conquest by the united forces of evil.

One problem remained, none of the groups trusted the others. They decided that each of their agents would be given a colored crystal through which they could read coded messages describing each mission – green for the Hosttower, blue for the Krakens, and red for the Zhentarim . Each crystal could read one third of the message, so all three members of the group had to cooperate to learn of their objective.

The messages themselves were printed on the backs of so called “Lucky Papers.” They appeared to bear only an inscription naming the local town and promising they would bring good luck to whoever carried them. Copies of the secret plans would be everywhere, “hidden in plain sight,” ready to be decoded only by those who bore the crystals.

As if the Zhentarim plan were not bad enough, another threat hangs over the region. A wave of warmer weather has melted away a small portion of the permanent glaciers that cover the Ice Peak, a small island far to the north. This has revived ancient stories about a dragon hoard there that contains a gem of great magical power.

The hideous undead forces of Hellgate Keep and their living spies and hirelings desire the magical gem. If it falls into their hands, untold evil powers might be unleashed. Their black-robed forces are even now preparing an expedition to the Ice Peak to find the gem.

PLAY SEQUENCE

This clue book presents the various challenges in the game in the order which makes them most logical and easiest to surmount. The key tasks the party must complete to win the game, however, actually can be accomplished in almost any order.

 

CRYSTALS, LUCKY PAPERS, AND LUCKY PAPER MISSIONS

The crystals and Lucky Papers described above represent the key to the strategy of the enemies of the Lords’ Alliance. Since their orders are on the Lucky Papers, and since one of each of the crystals is required to read them, you must capture a complete set to discover and
defeat the enemy’s plans.

Once one evil ally who is carrying a crystal is killed in battle, all the others will smash their crystals to prevent the party from capturing a complete set. For this reason, the party can only capture a single crystal in any one of these battles. This will always be the crystal of the
first enemy to fall, and you must plan your strategy accordingly.

To read a Lucky Paper, READY it and then select the USE command. For each color of crystal the party has found, one third of the letters in the secret message will appear.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To complete the first portion of the game, the party must complete the first nine of the “Lucky Paper missions.” Once this has been done, they can go to Mirabar and stop that city from abandoning the Lords’ Alliance by exposing the evil plan to discredit Waterdeep.  Doing so completes the tenth (and last) Lucky Paper mission and propels the party into the second portion of the game.

If you’re ever unsure about what to do next or want to know if all the Lucky Paper missions have been completed, use the CROWN option in the encamp menu after you have visited Amanitas in Secomber. (You must visit Amanitas in order to receive this magical item.) He will tell you the general direction and problem of the next easiest Lucky Paper mission.

When traveling in the wilderness, stick to the roads, paths, streams, and rivers whenever possible. Open plains are the next safest terrain to cross.

Traveling through forests and mountains will result in more frequent encounters with higher level wandering monsters. Moors are even more dangerous to traverse- go around them whenever possible. Deep forest is the most dangerous terrain of all.

Rain slows the party’s progress slightly, but snow can reduce its pace to a crawl. Try to avoid passing through especially dangerous terrain in the snow, since the delay makes encounters with wandering monsters more likely. Combat in the snow can also be difficult if your party needs to rely on speed and maneuverability.

River travel is relatively safe and simple in the Forgotten Realms. Wandering monster encounters are less frequent than on land, and at times it may be easier to enter cities and towns by boat than on foot.

The lead character in the party will have the opportunity to fall in love with one of the NPCs (“Non-Player Characters”) whom the party meets. Whoever holds the lead position when the party descends the stairs into Geildarr’s Keep will be the one who enjoys this opportunity. If the character is male, Siulajia may fall in love with him; if the character is female, love may bloom with Jarbarkas.

But it is not certain that such a love will develop. If the party character hangs back in battle, he or she may not earn the respect of the NPC. If the party character shows cruelty to helpless people or does not pursue the Good, the NPC’s affection for him or her will be destroyed.

Once either an NPC or a party member has fallen in love, their behavior in combat will change. If the person they love is killed or becomes unconscious in the fighting, the remaining lover will lose control and blindly attack the enemy. You will not be able to direct their actions for the duration of the current battle. Plan ahead to avoid unexpected problems in complex encounters.

Once a character is in love, if their lover is dropped from the party their performance in combat will be affected for the remainder of the game, since part of their spirit has been dropped as well.

By the same token, characters who are in love will fight with heightened skill, since they are highly motivated to live through every battle and achieve their shared, noble goals.

At some point in the game both characters may announce to the rest of the party that they have fallen in love. They will ask the blessing of their fellow characters to continue on their mission together. This blessing should be given, for if it is withheld the NPC will leave the party in shame and the abandoned character will perform poorly for the duration of the game.