Beta Key Contest #4
Welcome to week four of the DiabloFans Beta Key Contest! This week is going to be slightly different than the previous three weeks: this time we're doing a mini-writing contest. If any of you haven't seen already, there is an NPC in Diablo III named Binkles the Frog and we're dying to find out more about him! We want you to come up with his backstory, fit him into the Lore of the Diablo Universe, and simply tell us what in the world he is doing around Sanctuary.
We'll choose the best one or two entries week and they'll be granted a Diablo III Beta Key. In addition, the winning piece(s) will be placed on his wiki page permanently as his "fan lore." Submissions should be posted in this thread and you are allowed more than one entry if you'd like! You have until October 31st at midnight to get your submissions in.
Congratulations to Arvron for winning the third Beta Key caption contest.
The story or legend you choose to believe is like this:
Erwick Binkles, not an untalented Wizard in his own right by all accounts on the surviving Caldeum Arcane history scrolls, felt fiercely threatened by the success of the young Wizard Jordan Nephalem, and his creation of these two magical Items.
The night before the young wizard was to give the Grand Vizier of Caldoum a personal demonstration of these wondrous arcane items, Erwick Binkles attempted to sabotage the magical items by placing a couple of magic negating frogs, found only in the deepest underground lakes of the Khanduras Mountains, into the Cauldron and Cube to upset the magical currents that would run the enchantment and make that Jordan Nephalem the laughing stock of the Arcane college.
This some speculate , might have even worked but for the fact that Erwick Binkles made the unfortunately tragic decision to place both hands holding one of the magic negating frogs in each container.. what happened next has been the discussion that has started many tavern brawls and to this day 2 officially recorded divorces...
It is Theorized by the Grand Vizier's Council of the high tower of Caldoum.. that the magic spells combined and woven in the Nephalem Cube and the Cauldron of Jordan, traveled away from each hand holding the magic negating frogs, and having no other route to travel spread up each arm of the poor wizard... meeting in the middle where the unleashed Arcane forces of these powerful artifacts met with the resulting set of consequences being the creation of one of the most intriguing creatures in the land..
That night, Jordan Nephalem returned to his quarters and found some slightly charred wizard robes on the floor in front of his creations, and a strange green and yellow spotted frog sitting right on top, as he approached the strange sight the toad croaked one word... "BiiiiinKKKLeSss " and blinked out of sight.
Erwick Binkles was never found after that fateful evening... but a medium sized green and yellow spotted frog was reported in various places at the Arcane college during the following days.
Most witnesses confirmed that it was totally unapproachable by conventional and especially magical means and would blink out of sight if anyone went close, additionally wide spread reports of Arcane mishaps and total failures throughout the Arcane College lasted for a full week, in particular at night anywhere near the central courtyard which had 6 small ponds,until... they suddenly stopped at the same time as the sightings.
B
Players love to speculate. Take a small thing like a gem that changes colors when you click it, and they come up with bizarre ideas as to why it’s there. Their curiosity has no bounds. Many also believed that assassinating Mr. Bigglesworth potentially led to better or worse loot. This superstition was eventually shot down by the great blue gods, but until then, stories circulated that some raid leaders outright banned any confrontation with the mysterious feline in case that it actually had some sort of effect on loot.
And that is also what Diablo 3 is all about. The loot.
Enter Binkles the Frog.
Recall the timeless tale of the princess and the frog. Perhaps kissing Binkles will lead to a grand reward. Players probably would not consider the frog turning into a prince, but they would prefer a better chance at loot, otherwise there wouldn’t be magic find in the game. The human imagination can lead to many different scenarios. Kissing Binkles a thousand times in a game and he will turn into an NPC that grants higher magic find, so high that you are guaranteed super powerful items. The only way to find out is to actually try it…
Whatever happened to Mr. Bigglesworth anyways? Did he meet his fate in Naxxramas? Binkles. Bigglesworth. Binkles. Bigglesworth. B. B. Their names are eerily similar. Bigglesworth coming back through resurrection into a frog’s body and taking on the alias of Binkles the Frog is not inconceivable, in this author's opinion. They are both small, seemingly insignificant creatures, yet thrusted into larger roles by the gaming community. Also, Diablo is a collectible pet in Azeroth, so why can’t a small character's departed spirit from Azeroth enter Sanctuary?
In the end, isn’t it worth it to kiss Binkles the Frog a few times just to be sure? Or maybe even a thousand times..
Players love to speculate. Take a small thing like a gem that changes colors when you click it, and they come up with bizarre ideas as to why it’s there. Their curiosity has no bounds. Many also believed that assassinating Mr. Bigglesworth potentially led to better or worse loot. This superstition was eventually shot down by the great blue gods, but until then, stories circulated that some raid leaders outright banned any confrontation with the mysterious feline in case that it actually had some sort of effect on loot.
And that is also what Diablo 3 is all about. The loot.
Enter Binkles the Frog.
Recall the timeless tale of the princess and the frog. Perhaps kissing Binkles will lead to a grand reward. Players probably would not consider the frog turning into a prince, but they would prefer a better chance at loot, otherwise there wouldn’t be magic find in the game. The human imagination can lead to many different scenarios. Kissing Binkles a thousand times in a game and he will turn into an NPC that grants higher magic find, so high that you are guaranteed super powerful items. The only way to find out is to actually try it…
Whatever happened to Mr. Bigglesworth anyways? Did he meet his fate in Naxxramas? Binkles. Bigglesworth. Binkles. Bigglesworth. B. B. Their names are eerily similar. Bigglesworth coming back through resurrection into a frog’s body and taking on the alias of Binkles the Frog is not inconceivable, in this author's opinion. They are both small, seemingly insignificant creatures, yet thrusted into larger roles by the gaming community. Also, Diablo is a collectible pet in Azeroth, so why can’t a small character's departed spirit from Azeroth enter Sanctuary?
In the end, isn’t it worth it to kiss Binkles the Frog a few times just to be sure? Or maybe even a thousand times..
Binkles the frog was a simple frog that lived with its group near a river on Great Marsh. When the events of Diablo 2 happened to corrupt Kurast many of its inhabitants turned into evil creatures demoted from any natural instinct of survival to be controlled only by pure murderous intent.
Binkles was also altered during this time, but instead of becoming a hellish evil creature, it became aware of many superior thoughts and its place on the world of Sanctuary. It’s life was also extended, and its uncertain how many years it will last (Binkles is, by the beginning of Diablo 3, 20 years old).
Foreseeing that a great Evil was about to return, it travelled from Kurast to Lut Gholein on a merchant ship and them to Khanduras and New Tristram by one of many caravans heading west. His arrival was meticulously planned for 2 weeks before the meteor’s fall.
Although Binkles pursues the same mission of the heroes, their paths will probably never cross, cause Brinkles the Frog, knows that men already failed 3 times to destroy evil (prior Diablo 1, Diablo 1 and Diablo 2) and it seriously doubts that mankind will be able to put an end in Hell’s invasion.
Journal Entry 420:
*Revised Again. It took out spaces when I pasted the first revision out of Word*
Finally, my journey carried me to the mist enshrouded jungles of Kehjistan in search of the storied amphibian, Binkles the Frog. The subject of many a bard's tale, scholars have failed to confirm his existence through the ages. I started my search among the ancient vine bound walls of Kurast... with more skepticism than hope, I confess. For weeks I conferred with the most affluent, the most traveled, and most wise of the jungle city’s inhabitants, learning nothing. Most scoffed at my inquiry, fervently denying that the myths held any truth. Others were more civil, but had little knowledge to offer.
Then upon the night I planned to depart the city, my fortune took a sudden turn. At the time, I thought for the better. As I sat in the common room of the inn, contemplating my notes, a bard began to play softly. Then he sang "The Ballad of Binkles." It is quite an old song, and practically nothing within it was substantial enough to help me, even if it contained a grain of truth. Still for a moment I thought to ask the bard of my quarry. After all, when in pursuit of a myth, is a bard not more likely aid than a sage?
At the very moment I rose to approach, there was a piteous cry from one of the patrons."Please, no! Don't sing of it! No!" I was startled, and yet hopeful. This was not the cry of some child frightened of fairy tales, but of a rugged and fierce man, who had the look of a traveler. I was immediately certain his fear was based not on stories, but upon some dark and terrible memory. The other patrons laughed at his outburst and began to harass the man. He rose hurriedly and pressed through the jeering crowd, still weeping as he went. I followed him outside, where I found him curled up and cowering on the street, wracked with tremors. His eyes held a llost and vacant look. I introduced myself as a scholar and asked him what he knew of Binkles. "I came upon his lair accidentally. Those eyes... I’ll never forget. The stories are all true. All of them. You do not want to find Binkles..."
A week later, I reached the object of my search. I had found the foul creature's very den. The point marked on my map by the traveler was precisely correct. I had no doubt even as I stood outside. The entrance gaped dark in the rock, like the mouth of some ancient tomb, and a sense of foreboding permeated my very soul. Tendrils of fog reached out as if to beckon me onward, but reason and fear compelled me to turn away. Still after a harrowing journey through Kehjistan's wretched swamps, how could one turn, just steps from such a discovery. I gathered my wits and stepped forward into that bleak crack. Long contemplation was out of the question. It does not pay to tarry in such macabre surroundings.
With each step into the nightmare, my terror grew, and yet my resolve held. Further and further I went, until I was in tunnels untouched by the light of the sun in eons. Yet I could see. The walls were covered with grotesque algae that emitted an eerie green glow. The air felt hot and strangely moist. I felt almost as though I were drowning in this oppressive atmosphere. Yet I persisted, slipping and scurrying along the rock.
Then I reached the final chamber. A subterranean lake, covered with thick, roiling algae and strange black lily pads. I know not how to write of the dread this place held for me.
My resolve finally crumbled and I turned to run, unwilling to face he who dwelt there. But it was too late. I felt the algae entangling my legs and fell forward. The plants moved as though alive, pulling down my arms and legs, holding me fast. Then, the diminutive monster approached, hopping from pad to pad. I expect most of my readers will laugh at this point, for he looked like a most ordinary frog. Yet for reasons completely intangible, you would never mistake him for such. Never before have I sensed such dark malice, such hatred in a being. Power radiated from it perceptibly. A bleak and cursed intellect stared unblinking from behind those black and glossy eyes.
"Binkles...of the Horadrim..." I greeted him.
The frog coughed a strange laugh. "..Of the Horadrim... I have not heard that in a long time. So, my story is still told then?"
"With occasional embellishments and inconsistencies, yes." I replied, trying to keep my voice from trembling.
"I was once the greatest of the sages. And if they had listened to me, the world would not be on the brink. Power such as that held by the prime evils cannot be hidden away in soulstones!" The frog croaked. "Such power is immortal, and it cannot be contained. It can only be harnessed!"
With this the frog’s eyes began to glow red, and I knew the legend was true in its entirety. When Diablo was captured, Binkles, had warned against hiding the soulstones away, and advocated trying to use the power instead. Some stories say his ideas were concocted by the stone's dark influence, twisting his mind in such close proximity. Others, that his thoughts were prophetic. He devised a ritual to attempt to harness the power of the stone, and stole it away from the other mages. During the end of the ritual he was interrupted by his Horadric brethren, who had found him just in time. The ritual was intricate, and the interruption came as the spell began to coalesce, altering the energies subtly. Instead of draining Diablo's power into himself, he was turned to a frog. Yet the evil power of the stone did strengthen him and twist his powers to evil. The dread frog had then carved a swath of destruction with his wrathful magic until he reached Kehjistan and settled into his lair never again to venture into daylight.
Now all that storied magical energy was twisting around me. To what ends I did not know. I feared death would be merciful compared to what the dread frog held in store for me. Then with a heart rending ribbit, his spell was complete and I was portaled away. I awoke weeks later, deathly sick, upon a bed in Kurast. I had found the subject of my search, yet I took no pleasure in it, nor anything since. Even in his mercy, Binkles affected me terribly. A weakness harries me now, and my health is fading. His grating croak and red gaze haunt my every dream. The sight of stagnant water or algae feels me with fear.
Binkles the frog is a horrible frog indeed...
Binkles was once known as Tathamet; after the relentless war against Anu both were supposedly destroyed and through the aftermath of their destruction, created the high heavens and the burning hells; but what was kept secret from us, was that one can never destroy these powerful deities. Anu simply transformed his essence into what we know now as the Worldstone, to bloat to his new offspring (angels) the power that he now has. (does that make Anu a douche? Yes )
Tathamet however, after ages and ages of warring, was tired from fighting. Wanting to both settle down and pursue his life long dream of well… simply mating, he devised a plan to get away from the ongoing battles between heaven and hell. After pillaging Inarius’s thoughts, Tathamet showed him how to use Anu to create another world, so both Inarius and him could get away from the constant fighting. Allying with Lilith, Inarius successfully obtained the Worldstone, and then used the powers it contained to create what we now know as the Sanctuary. As both Inarius and Lilith crusaded forward to the Sanctuary, a very happy Tathamet trailed behind them.
Tathamet, now overjoyed, set out on his true life’s mission; to mate and settle down, but mostly mate, don't judge. Just after being kicked out of New Tristams night club a dozen times due to flashing his four genitals to the blacksmiths daughter (hey, its called love guys), Tathamet, walked very lonely in the moonlight by a stagnate pond. Frowning, he gazed down he saw a frog, but more importantly he saw what the frog protected, hundreds upon hundreds of eggs. Tathamet then had an epiphany; one frog would have to get laid at least 80 times to have that many eggs. Stricken by the new thought, Tathamet then transformed into a male frog, and is now, to this day, named Binkles. And if anyone asks; yes, he is not a virgin anymore.
And he lived happily ever after.
The End
Binkles the Frog was a regular bog frog, until he was picked up by the Dark Wanderer during his journey through Kurast, probably with intent of eating him or somehow mistreating him.
However residing inside the Dark Wanderer's pocket left him magically imbued with some of his powers and he managed to escape from his pocket and travel to New Tristram, he now tells his story to anyone willing to listen, and perhaps.. even a hint or two?
Born from the molten womb of an active volcano, Binkles' first word was 'Whiskey.' His second? 'Sour.' He spent his formative year sustaining himself by milking bears and eating raw beehives. He once had the audacity to laugh at Death, and then proceed to give Death a wedgie. His prowess at chess, fencing, and hopscotch are without equal. Binkles masculinity is so profound that, should he go without shaving his mustache for very long, his mustache will grow a second mustache.
He once helped a rhinoceros give birth to a platypus. The happy parents named the baby rhinocypus after him.
He is Binkles the Frog, and he is the most interesting being in the universe.
Destroying everything in their path, the proud heros of sanctuary hacked and slashed through hundreds of bipedal cattle with polearms, looting whatever could fit in their backpacks.
Enter: The Cow King, the ruthless leader of the bovine madness, who's true name was in fact... Binkles.
Although alot stronger than his minions he also eventually fell to the might of sanctuary's heros, specifically the Necromancer, who decided to reanimate him to serve his not so righteous agenda.
With the prime evils defeat and the destruction of the worldstone, the Necromancer decided to exile himself, dispeling all his former minions, making them self destruct and ending their "undeath", but not Binkles, he wasn't ready to die, and with sheer willpower he managed to bind his spirit to the nearest life form at the time of his second death, which unfortunately was... a frog.
To this day Binkles searchs for a way to get his revenge on mankind, some rumors say he even sided with hell, while others say he befriended the Tribe of the Five Hills within the Teganze jungles and got hold of an obsidian rune, making him huge and alot more powerful, there's even others saying he is searching for the enchanted pony land where he will make his comeback... who knows what the future holds for Binkles, but one thing is certain, we haven't yet seen the last of him.
Mr binkles was a frog. He came from his mother and father. He liked to eat flies.
Wow, maybe I will win this time, due to my piss-poor effort! Seems to be the trend here.
Now the frog possesses incredible time/space manipulating powers.
Binkles is not in Kehjistan anymore. The Mage Clan Wars left the remaining members of his species as demonized Swamp Dwellers and Bog Creatures. Binkles knows he is fortunate to escape the fate of his bretheren. He has grown weary of traveling and thus has ended his travels at New Tristram, in hopes of a new start. But Binkles can not rest for long. He has vowed to avenge the demonization of his family, and he places sole blame on the Lord of Terror himself. Binkles hopes to befriend a powerful Witch Doctor that could utilize a frog such as himself for a powerful magical attack, and fight back the demons of the Burning Hells.
In the Sin War trilogy there are three main characters. Uldyssian, Mendeln and Achilios. One night while escaping the forces of both the cathedral and the temple, Mendeln was attacked by a large frog like creature. The creature was sent by Lucion to destroy the three. After a failed attack on Mendeln the creature was entombed under the ground, swallowed by earth. This is the last we hear of Lucion's frog minion, however it's not the end of his story.
The frog spent years trapped in his soil grave. He grew bitter at his master, Lucion, over this time. Lucion sent him on a suicide mission and the frog wondered why Lucion would have just left him there. Years of dwelling on this betrayal and growing distaste for his abandoning master, the frog creature mustered up the strength to burrow his way out of the ground. Not a small feet for such a creature.
Once he arrived atop the ground again he made a decision. He decided to do whatever he could to help take down the temple. In fear that someone might recognize him as an evil creature, he took on the name Binkles. Assuming no one in their right mind would fear a creature named Binkles. He began on a quest to find the party Lucion had sent him to attack. He had planned to meet up with Uldyssian, Mendeln, and Achilios to now aid them in taking down the evils. Much to Binkles dismay he is centuries too late to meet with that party. He had been underground for many many years. He has since been roaming around sanctuary constantly searching out heroes who are looking to take down the evils, and aid them in anyway he can.