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CREDITS
Writer: Ashton MacSaylor
Layout: Ashton MacSaylor
Graphic Designer: Callie MacSaylor
Cover Illustrator: Melissa Suber
Interior Illustrators: Callie MacSaylor, Ksenia Mamaeva
Template: Simple Microsoft Word Template by Laura Hirsbrunner
Playtesters: Terra Solecki, Erik Solecki, Chad Yarish, Brandon
Jenkins, Robert Hearn, Nate Castillo, Rose Meadows, Conrad
Wright Jr., Sierra Whiting, Christian Whiting

We invite you to connect with us online!

[email protected]

@ashtonmacsaylor and @calliemacsaylor

www.sunsailorgames.com

ON THE COVER

In this icy scene illustrated by Melissa Suber, the young tiefling

woman, Faith, proceeds toward her destiny, and the call of a
goddess that she does not fully understand, nor accept. Will you
help her accept her fate, or fight against it?

Disclaimer: No chwingas were harmed in the making of this supplement.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product
names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.

This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for
Dungeon Masters Guild.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Sun Sailor Productions and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

2
TABLE OF CONTENTS Finding Faith ............................................................................... 26
Further Advancement ............................................................... 27
Auril’s Abode .................................................................................. 27
Credits......................................................................................... 2 Kissed by the Lady of Frost...................................................... 27
Where is Icedawn? ..................................................................... 27
Table of Contents ...................................................................... 3
Finding the Frozen .................................................................... 27
Part 1 - Introduction ................................................................. 4 Faith’s Fate .................................................................................. 28
About this Supplement .................................................................. 4 Beating Sense Into a Goddess ................................................. 30
Introduction .................................................................................. 4 Resolution .................................................................................... 30
Call to Faith.................................................................................... 4
Part 4 – Events and Encounters ............................................. 31
Conducting a Campaign ............................................................. 4
Town Encounters .......................................................................... 31
Events and Encounters ............................................................... 4
Bremen – A Bristly Problem .................................................... 31
Environment Rules ...................................................................... 4
Bremen – Speaker-Sitting ...................................................... 32
Key NPC: Faith ................................................................................. 4
Bryn Shander – Foul Play ........................................................ 32
Overview of “Call to Faith” .......................................................... 4
Bryn Shander – Shards of Sunlight ...................................... 33
What’s Really Going On ................................................................ 5
Caer-Dineval – Flight of the Fallen ...................................... 33
Bereft Parent ................................................................................. 6
Caer-Konig – More Precious than Gold .............................. 33
Injury and Loss ............................................................................. 6
Caer-Konig – And Yet More Precious than That .............. 33
The Last Faithful .......................................................................... 6
Dougan’s Hole – Among Us .................................................... 34
Delayed Gratification ..................................................................... 7
Dougan’s Hole – Heir to the Horn ........................................ 34
Have Faith ......................................................................................... 7
Easthaven – A Feint of Orcs .................................................... 35
Part 2 – Call to Faith ................................................................. 8 Easthaven – Trying Times ...................................................... 36
Character Creation ......................................................................... 8 Easthaven – Midwinter’s Child ............................................. 36
Setting the Stage ............................................................................. 8 Good Mead – A Troubling Question ..................................... 37
The Pass is Closed ........................................................................ 8 Good Mead – Fruit of a Dead Egg .......................................... 37
On the Road.................................................................................... 9 Lonelywood – Left to Die......................................................... 37
Last Respite .................................................................................... 10 Lonelywood – Unwelcome Questions .................................. 38
Trouble for Your Coin ................................................................ 10 Lonelywood – The Play’s the Thing ..................................... 38
Getting to Know You .................................................................. 10 Targos – Getting to Know You ............................................... 39
A Hard, Cold Road ......................................................................... 12 Targos – Passing the Hat Around ......................................... 40
These Hills have Teeth .............................................................. 12 Termalaine – Winter’s Red Cloak ......................................... 40
An Inclement Encounter ........................................................... 12 Location Encounters .................................................................... 41
The Heavens Speak ..................................................................... 14 Karkolohk – Goblin Kids ...........................................................41
Bad Times in Good Mead ............................................................ 15 Revel’s End – Silent Cargo .......................................................41
A Cold Hearth ...............................................................................16 Revel’s End – Of Two Minds ................................................... 42
Resolution ..................................................................................... 17 Revel’s End – Prison Break ..................................................... 43
Touring Ten Towns ...................................................................... 18 Travel Encounters......................................................................... 43
Losing Faith.................................................................................... 18 Outskirts – Hunger Pangs ....................................................... 43
Part 3 – Conducting the Campaign ........................................19 Road – In Human Clothing ..................................................... 43
About Town .................................................................................... 19 Wilderness – Timely Rescue ................................................... 44
Danger Ratings ............................................................................19 Mountains – Dying of a Giant ................................................ 44
Questing the Towns ..................................................................... 22 Outskirts – Gnoll Raid .............................................................. 44
Starting in Good Mead .............................................................. 22 Traveling – Littlest Knight, Part 1 ........................................ 45
Search for Clues in Bryn Shander .......................................... 22 Traveling – Littlest Knight, Part 2 ........................................ 45
Passing Through Targos .......................................................... 22 Part 5 – Environment Rules................................................... 46
Cold Trail in Bremen – Levelup to 3 ..................................... 22 Extreme Cold ................................................................................. 46
Back to Targos, and to the Mountain ................................... 22 Freezing and Recovering ......................................................... 46
New Clues in Caer-Konig ......................................................... 22 Wilderness Survival ..................................................................... 47
Dire Tidings in Caer-Dineval .................................................. 22 Starvation ..................................................................................... 47
Losing Faith ................................................................................. 23 Foraging........................................................................................ 47
Easy Fight in Easthaven ........................................................... 23 Fishing .......................................................................................... 47
Rallying Ten Towns .....................................................................24 Making Camp .............................................................................. 48
The Politics of Power ................................................................ 24 Fire ................................................................................................. 48
Race against Time ...................................................................... 24 Shelter ........................................................................................... 48
Consequences.............................................................................. 24 Travel Times.................................................................................. 49
Speaker’s Council – Levelup to 4 .......................................... 24 Terrain types ............................................................................... 49
Taking the Fight to Sunblight ................................................ 24 Methods of Transportation ..................................................... 50
Facing the Fortress ....................................................................... 25 Weather ........................................................................................... 51
Focused and Swift ...................................................................... 25 Weather Checks ........................................................................... 51
Some Delays ................................................................................ 25
The End ......................................................................................51
Took Too Long ............................................................................ 26
After Disaster .................................................................................26
A Different Kind of Sandbox ................................................... 26
The Threat of the Black Sword ............................................... 26

3
PART 1 - INTRODUCTION
Cold winds howl across the frozen desert. It wasn’t always so
bad, up here in the north. But ever since the Goddess of
Winter herself took up residence in these mountains, the sun
has hardly touched this land. The frost gets deeper, season
after season, and the crops and townsfolk get weaker and
weaker.
Into this destitute lands walks a sole figure, a young
woman, suffering a crisis of faith. Little does she know that
the fate of a land—and a goddess—rests upon her slender
shoulders.

ABOUT THIS SUPPLEMENT EVENTS AND ENCOUNTERS

This supplement provides material to round out and expand This chapter contains thirty-one minor encounters which
the core content of Rime of the Frostmaiden. First, we provide can be used to add life and dynamism to Ten Towns. Most of
an alternate starting quest, “Call to Faith,” which also these should take no more than a single scene to resolve, but
creates a story hook that can grab the players’ attention and many of them connect to each other or to core campaign
carry them through the rest of the campaign. content in interesting ways.
Next we go into detail about ways that you can move
through the rest of the campaign, with hooks, resources, ENVIRONMENT RULES
ideas, and suggestions. Here you will find a map of Ten
The final chapter presents a complete suite of alternate rules
Towns that gives each town a danger rating and breaks down
for extreme cold, wilderness survival, travel, and weather.
all the quests, side quests, and quest hooks that can be found
These rules highlight the risks and dangers of extreme cold
in each town.
conditions, making sure that the terrifying arctic
From there we move on to presenting a set of minor
environment of Icewind Dale is not forgotten.
encounters that can add color and life to Ten Towns. Finally,

KEY NPC: FAITH

we present alternate rules for travel and weather, rules
which will add a little more bite to the cold.
The story presented in “Call to Faith,” revolves on questions
INTRODUCTION of faith, but it also places a new NPC at the heart of these
questions: a young tiefling woman by the name of Faith. She
This chapter presents essential background information and
grew up an orphan on the streets of Waterdeep, drawn to
a preview of what you can expect from each chapter of this
religion, but lacking the faith in herself she would need to
supplement.
pursue her dreams and truly devote herself to any one deity.
Here we also discuss Auril’s motivation for bringing
Recently, she has heard a murmur deep in her soul. She
eternal winter to Icewind Dale. We provide three alternate
feels a call. It’s not the call she wanted, but it’s the call she
possible motivations for Auril’s actions, all of them
heard: from Auril, the neutral evil Goddess of Winter.
compatible with the “Call to Faith” starter quest. Finally, we
Bedecked in holy symbols of many (mostly good) deities,
consider how each motivation (if you choose to use one of
she’s still not sure that she wants to devote herself to an evil
them) might impact the arc of the entire story.
goddess. Nor does she believe in herself—a worthless

CALL TO FAITH
orphan, or so she thinks—enough to think that it’s not all a
mistake. She can’t believe that she might be significant
This chapter details the alternate starting quest that this enough to have a role to play. In fact, she is so close to the
supplement presents, “Call to Faith.” This adds the story goddess that the fate of Icewind Dale, and Auril herself, will
element that Auril has been making personal appearances come to depend upon her.
around the Ten Towns, abducting people. Her reasons for But she can’t do it alone. That’s where our heroes come in.
this are discussed in the section on possible motivations for
the Goddess, presented here in the Introduction.
OVERVIEW OF “CALL TO FAITH”
CONDUCTING A CAMPAIGN
This alternate starting quest begins on the Sword Coast,
with the party being approached by a young tiefling woman
This chapter presents a variety of resources that can be asking for an escort to protect her as she travels north. Her
useful in moving forward through the campaign. We discuss previous escort turned out to be untrustworthy, but as the
exploring Ten Towns and present a map that gives each party helps her fire them, they raise unsettling questions
town a danger rating (in snowflakes) and lays out all of the about who she is, where she’s going, and why.
quests and story hooks can be found in each town. We The party finds that getting into Icewind Dale is extremely
present one possible route you could take through the Ten difficult, and in overcoming these trials, they have the
Towns, and then we go on to consider how you can chance to get to know their traveling companion, Faith. They
implement key story moments as the campaign goes learn about her struggles, both to accept faith in Auril, and
forward. Our vision casts the confrontation with Auril as the to find faith in herself enough to believe she is worthy of
final scene, treating Ythryn as an optional follow up whatever destiny awaits her.
campaign rather than an integral part of the Auril storyline.

4
 Once they arrive in Icewind Dale, they find the situation as face, and instead of claiming her original victim, she takes
described in Rime of the Frostmaiden. Auril is holding the Faith’s hand and vanishes with her.
land in eternal winter, with just four hours of twilight a day. At this point, if the players have grown attached to Faith,
In addition (and here is where it diverges from the published they may have some intrinsic desire to find her, which can
material), they discover that Auril herself has been making propel them into the chapters to come. Otherwise, there are
personal appearances in Ten Towns, abducting innocent still many reasons to continue exploring: ancient ruins and
people. treasure, a whole host of missing people, a mystery, and of
Faith can immediately sense that something is wrong. She course the fate of all the people of Icewind Dale, who are on
feels a strong need to find her goddess, and she asks the the verge of extinction unless the curse of darkness can be
party to help her. lifted.
On investigating these rumors, the party finds that Auril
periodically shows up, seems to find or select a civilian,
encases them in a transparent crystal of ice, and vanishes,
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON
This supplement primarily presents questions, not answers.
taking the victim with her. If anyone tries to interfere, Auril
Why is Auril abducting people? Why does Faith seem so
gives them a swift and merciless death. Many people have
connected to the goddess? Why did Auril have such a strong
been abducted this way, for unknown reasons. As the party
reaction on seeing Faith? Where is Faith now? And
follows the trail of rumors of Auril’s appearances, piecing
ultimately, what is wrong with the goddess, and how can she
together this mystery, they are forced to journey from one
(and the curse) be fixed?
town to another, giving them the opportunity to complete
Unanswered questions can be a powerful engine to drive
various town quests from the hardcover book.
player interest and engagement with the story. These
After chasing the trail through a selection of these towns,
questions are the real core of this module. But naturally,
the party begins to see that the story is the same everywhere
sooner or later, your players will want answers.
they go: Auril appears, takes someone, and disappears again.
Our inspiration comes from this tantalizing line in the
Faith grows despondent, unsure how she will ever find her
hardcover book (speaking of Auril), “she is unhappy.” But
goddess. It seems impossible to predict where Auril will
this raises more questions than it answers. Why is she
strike next, and by following rumors they can only arrive
unhappy? What happened to trigger her to take Icewind Dale
long after she is gone.
now? What purpose does it serve to cloak the valley in
It is then that Auril makes an appearance in whatever
darkness? And how can she be helped?
town the party is currently in. The story begins to play out
Ultimately, this is up to you. You may peruse the answers
just as they have heard described many times: Auril
provided in the hardcover, or make up your own.
unhurriedly moves toward a specific person, killing any who
However, we also provide the three scenarios below, each
interfere. But when Faith runs to the Goddess, Auril stops,
of which offers a compelling explanation for Auril’s actions,
seemingly transfixed by Faith’s appearance. She begins to
the abductions, and Faith’s involvement.
approach Faith. A tear rolls down her expressionless owl-

5
BEREFT PARENT For now, she slowly freezes Icewind Dale, working to cut it
off from the rest of the Material Plane and slowly recreate
In this scenario, Auril was a mother—until recently. Her her godly demesne here: frozen, eternal, and unchanging.
favorite and last surviving child, a demigod by the name of She travels the towns, looking for people of exceptional
Auristan, was slain by paladins in the Moonsea region. Mad beauty (by her standards, which may or may not align with
with grief, she retreated to Icewind Dale, where Auristan mortal standards of beauty) to freeze and keep as trophies
lived during the halcyon years of his early demi-godhood. for her perfect, future domain.
Here, he sired many children among the local populace, and In this version, Faith’s soul is actually a reincarnation of
a number of his descendants still live in the Dale. one of the spirits that inhabited the Eternal Shards. When
Auril is collecting those among the populace who hold Auril sees Faith, she recognizes her devoted follower, who
Auristan’s blood most strongly, who are most closely and she thought was lost forever—even if Faith barely
directly descended from him. Her goal is to use her godly recognizes her in return. She takes Faith, determined never
magic to rip the essence from each of them in a powerful to lose her again.
ritual to re-birth her lost son. Unfortunately, in Auril’s wretched and delirious state, she
In this version, Faith has an exceptionally strong has no plans to ever expose her beloveds to danger again by
bloodline, being connected to Auristan on both sides of her letting them out of their ice crystals. If Auril has her way,
family: through her human ancestors, who were from Faith will effectively be gone forever—along with all of the
Icewind Dale originally, and through her devilish ancestors, Ten Towns. The abducted ones, though technically alive, will
one of whom was a direct lover of Auristan’s. Auril is struck be frozen forever in their ice crystals, and all the rest will be
when she lays eyes on Faith because of her distinct physical dead of cold and hunger.
and spiritual similarity to Auristan. This scenario also will likely require a violent solution. If
Once she finds Faith, her plan changes. Faith’s blood is so Auril is given a “hard reset” through temporary death, she
strong that she chooses Faith to provide the raw materials— will have time to recover from both the injury and grief, and
body and soul—for Auristan’s rebirth. If Auril gathers the will return at the next Midwinter having recovered her
souls she needs and completes her ritual, Faith will be sanity.
transformed so completely that she will effectively be gone.
Faith has to make a choice: accept this fate as a final,
ultimate gift to her goddess, or reject her faith and her
THE LAST FAITHFUL
goddess. If she chooses to reject it, (and the players choose Faith in Auril, never a goddess with wide appeal, has been
to help her), this scenario will likely require a violent declining over the centuries, until now there are only a
solution. handful of her faithful left. This loss of faith has weakened
her and left her vulnerable in surprising ways.
The problem now is that those followers who remain do
not understand her in her original capacity, as an
embodiment of the necessary darkness and suffering that
must come as part of the natural cycles of existence. These
people have twisted their faith to their own desires,
worshipping her as a creature of capricious, chaotic, evil,
like they themselves are, willing to inflict suffering for no
other reason than whim and delight.

INJURY AND LOSS

That’s not who she is. That’s not who she’s supposed to
be. But it’s who she’s becoming.
Auril was injured in a war amongst the gods, on their own Only one soul in the mortal world still worships Auril as
planes, over matters that are beyond mortal understanding. she should be, still remembers and understands her true
The important thing for our purposes is that she was on the nature: Faith.
losing side of this particular battle, and not only was she Always intrigued by the minor, esoteric deities, Faith
personally injured, but the demiplane that she built and learned of Auril at an early age. She grew up with hardship, a
called home was utterly destroyed. tiefling orphan on the streets of Waterdeep, and so she felt
Her demiplane, the Eternal Shards, was a place where she from a young age that she understood Auril in her bones. It
stored everything beautiful that she found and loved. Things was actually quite encouraging to learn of a goddess who
were held, frozen there, forever, for Auril to keep and embodied the natural cycles of suffering; it helped her make
admire. When it was destroyed, her life’s work and passion sense of her own hardships. Winter comes to everyone. For
was shattered before her eyes. some it comes sooner and lasts longer. Faith has lived her
Wrecked by this loss even more than by her godly injury, whole life in winter. It is natural that, ultimately, she should
Auril retreated to the place on the material plane where she be drawn to the Goddess of Winter.
feels most at home, the place where she cut her teeth as a Faith understands Auril not as a cruel deity, but as an
young goddess: Icewind Dale. Now, she attempts to re- eternal truth: sometimes we hurt. Sometimes life isn’t what
create the Eternal Shards here, on the Material Plane. you want it to be. Sometimes loss happens, and you cannot
Her wound has not healed, and in her grief and pain- yet feel the warmth of the new growth that will someday
maddened state, she has forgotten that she cannot, must sprout in its place. Faith understands that Auril represents
not, interfere with the material plane in this way. Sooner or these things. It’s not the calling Faith hoped for, but it is her
later the metaphysical consequences will come back to haunt calling. And now, she is needed, for she is the only one left
her, but by the time that happens, it will be too late for the who remembers.
people of Icewind Dale. Certainly, there are some scholars, in Candlekeep or
Silverymoon, who could explain the distinction, but for

6
 HAVE FAITH
Faith grew up on the streets of Waterdeep with a sister
always by her side. They were not blood related, but bonded
as the only two tiefling children in the orphanage where they
met. When the orphanage proprietor died, the facility
struggled briefly and then closed, and the children were
turned out on the street.
Those were hard years, and the two girls stuck together
through thick and thin. But eventually, Faith’s sister,
Charity, turned to a life of crime, getting in with some of the
gangs of Waterdeep. This path made Faith uncomfortable,
and they began to grow apart.
them it is an academic point, esoteric and largely irrelevant.
One winter, when she was about ten, she discovered that
Faith is the only one left who truly knows Auril.
she could take refuge in a temple. They would not let her stay
Meanwhile, the false believers, whoever and wherever
every night, but there were enough temples that by rotating
they are, are tainting Auril. They are turning her into
between them, she could be warm most nights. This is where
something more like a demon than a goddess. She spreads
her fascination with religion began.
darkness and cold across the north, not because she must,
As soon as she was able, she took a job as a dungsweeper.
but because she can. She gathers those who pique her
She had grown used to living on almost nothing, and so she
aesthetic interest the way a heartless child gathers
stashed away nearly her entire paycheck, year after year,
butterflies on a pin. She carelessly slaughters those who dare
never knowing when she might need it.
to defy her.
When she eventually heard the call from Auril in her soul,
But as Faith grows closer to Auril, Auril feels her coming.
the time had come. She pulled out her life savings and
This one shining ray of true faith reminds Auril who she is.
prepared to leave the city for the first time, to destinations
Unfortunately, in cherishing this one, true follower, Auril
unknown.
is also writing her own doom, for by locking Faith in an ice
In the story, Faith will gain a level at a certain milestone.
crystal, she prevents Faith from truly communing with her
Until then she lacks the abilities below that are in brackets.
goddess. The players must find Faith, break her out of her
crystal prison, and put her in front of Auril.
Only then will Faith have the opportunity to truly
reminder her goddess who she is, who she is supposed to be. Medium humanoid neutral good
And if she cannot, if Auril cannot be persuaded to give up
Armor Class 12
the rotten ways of her false followers, then the party may
Hit Points 8 (1d8 + 0)
need to put down this incarnation of Auril. If and when she is
Speed 30 ft.
defeated, Faith—now a true Cleric of Auril—will be there to
catch the Goddess’ essence and shepherd it into rebirth and STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
a return to its true nature. 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 15 (+2) 14 (+2)
That is, if she is alive. If Faith were to die, the last true
Saving Throws Wis +4, Cha +4
follower of Auril will vanish from the world, and the Goddess
Skills History +4, Insight +4, Medicine +4, Religion +4
of Winter will change forever into a being of capricious
Damage Resistances Fire, [Cold]
cruelty, and she will never loosen her grip on Icewind Dale.
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12

DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Languages Elven, Dwarvish, Orcish
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Even if you use one of these, don’t feel that you need to
Infernal Legacy. Faith knows the thaumaturgy cantrip.
decide right away! Leaving a question unanswered as a DM is
like a gift to your future self. When the time comes and you [Midwinter’s Child. Once she gains a class level, Faith has
see the answer, it can be all the more powerful and resistance to cold damage and is immune to the effects of
appropriate (and tailored to your campaign!) for having environmental cold.]
waited. [Spellcasting. Once she gains a class level, Faith learns cleric
spellcasting.
Cantrips (at will): Guidance, Mending, Spare the Dying,
Thaumaturgy
1st level (2 slots): Cure Wounds, Calm Emotions, Inflict Wounds]

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one

target. Hit: 5 (1d6 +2) piercing damage.
Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 +2) piercing damage.

7
PART 2 – CALL TO CHANGING OF THE GUARD
The caravan the players work for decides to stop here for the

FAITH night, while the caravan master decides what to do next.

Read the following:

The adventure presented in this chapter should be

considered an alternative starting quest to the two presented
in the hardcover. The goal is to enhance Auril’s presence in
the story and create a strong hook to kick off the campaign.

CHARACTER CREATION
The hardcover contains excellent resources for character
creation, including secrets, background hooks, and more.
But a few notes to add:
• This version opens with the characters acting as guards
for a caravan traveling north along the Sword Coast
toward Icewind Dale. The characters should each answer
for themselves the question of why. Why did they take this
job? Do they have reasons of their own for going (or
returning) to Icewind Dale? Or are they simply willing to
take a job, wherever it leads?
• The campaign Rime of the Frostmaiden lends itself to a
If the party receives her in a welcoming manner, she sits
good-aligned party, the kind of party that will go out of by their fire and explains herself further.
their way to help innocents for no personal gain. (This
echoes the beloved Drizzt novels, in which he acts out of
altruism, but his efforts are often rewarded with
misunderstanding and ingratitude.) A number of quests,
including major story quests, are offered with no material
reward to the party, so it can be helpful to ensure at
character creation that altruism (or a simple desire for
adventure) will be enough to engage the players to action. Faith has 800 gold hidden on her person, what remains of
her accumulated life savings from her years working as a

SETTING THE STAGE dung sweeper in Waterdeep. She offers 100 gold to each PC,
but can be negotiated up, as long as its within her means. If
The story opens on the road near Luskan, going north. The
they accept, she gives half now and half on arrival.
party is acting as caravan guards.
She also has four potions of healing and a folded and worn
Go around the table and have each player introduce their
map showing the location of the ruins of the ancient
character. They should give their name, appearance, and
Netherese city of Ythryn, which she found in a dusty section
perhaps share a little about what (if anything) the others
of a temple library in Waterdeep. She will use these as
would have learned about them from spending some time on
bargaining chips if she must, but will keep them secret
the road together.
otherwise. If the party turns out to be friendly, she is willing

THE PASS IS CLOSED to share all of her resources, but she will wait until the need
arises.
Shortly after the caravan passes Luskan, that’s when the If asked for any more specifics about where she’s going or
trouble starts. They run into a caravan coming the other why, she simply hesitates and says, “I need to go north.”
direction, bearing news that the mountain passes into She prefers not to discuss it further. Passive Insight 14 or
Icewind Dale are closed. higher may reveal that she seems unsure, herself.
If they agree, Faith has another request:

In Luskan, Faith hired a group of adventurers led by a

male dragonborn. She thought that as a fellow non-human,
he might be sympathetic, but she doesn’t like the way he and
The sideburned caravan master is Horatio Flimm (LN
his group have behaved around her. It’s nothing she can put
human veteran). He knows little beyond what he has said
her finger on, but she wants out.
already: the mountain passes are closed; by all reports
She’s willing to let them keep the 50 gp each that she gave
Icewind Dale is impossible to reach. He continues south
them already, but she wants back the mules and cold
whenever the players have no more questions for him.
weather gear that she bought for the journey. (There are

8
three mules, each with 30 lbs of food, and enough cold If the party refuses, this will lead to conflict. If anyone in
weather gear to equip the party plus Faith.) the party attempts an intimidation check, Lucon responds in
Accompanying Faith, they find an armed group clad in kind.
black leather, led by a male dragonborn with rippling
patterns of black and red down his scales. The dragonborn is
Lucon Drace (CE thug), and there are enough bandits
accompanying him to make their group equal in number to
the PCs. Roll Intimidation for Lucon as well (he has +2). Whoever
Read the following boxed text when they go to take care of rolled higher gains one inspiration point.
this task: Once Lucon or any two of his followers fall in battle, the
rest attempt to surrender. If the players request Faith’s
money back, a DC 14 Charisma (Intimidation) test will
inspire them to return it. However, if this intimidation test
fails and the party insists, they keep fighting, this time to
the death.
Faith previously gave them 50 gold each; this money can
be recovered through intimidation (as above) or by defeating
all of them. Lucon, if searched, turns out to have a Potion of
Climbing. Otherwise, they have nothing else of value.
If the players get involved, two successful DC 12 Charisma Once this is done, Faith is saddened by the needless
violence, but relieved that she followed her instincts and did
(Persuasion or Intimidation) checks will convince the other
group to let it drop and return Faith’s equipment. There are not entrust that group with her safety going forward. If any
three mules, carrying 30 lbs of food each, and enough cold players are hurt and do not have the means to heal, she will
share one of her healing potions.
weather gear to equip everyone.
However, Passive Insight 14 or higher will reveal that they
still harbor some resentment. Before they go, a human ON THE ROAD
member of Lucon’s crew says this: They are now six days from the mountain pass. For each of
these days, roll a d10 to see how the luck of the road treats
them. On a result of 10, roll a d4 on the good luck chart; on a
result of 1, roll a d4 on the bad luck chart.

GOOD LUCK CHART

Result Outcome
1 Fair weather. You make good time and may choose
If pressed for details on her purpose and mission, Faith one party member to gain inspiration.
flushes, but calmly explains that her business is her own and 2 Lucky find. You find an abandoned box of supplies.
she prefers not to share. But she promises it is nothing that Gain 1d10+4 pounds of good food.
will bring risk to the party.
3 Wandering Trader. You come across a merchant
BETRAYAL ON THE ROAD willing to buy or sell any piece of common
The next morning, the rest of the caravan turns around and equipment under 40 gp.
heads back to the south. There is a gloomy mood among 4 Personal interest. Conversation leads one PC to
them, but consensus is that there’s nothing else to be done. share more about their life. Randomly determine
However, Lucon and his crew are no where to be seen. who, or let someone volunteer.
Faith and the party continue north, and after one hour
they come to a narrow spot in the road, where trees press
close on the right, and the road runs along the top of a cliff BAD LUCK CHART
overlooking the grey ocean on the left.
Result Outcome
Anyone with a passive perception 14 or higher notices
hidden figures up ahead. 1 Lost mule. One of the mules falls off a cliff. Lose
As the party approaches, read the following boxed text: that mule, plus one set of cold-weather gear and
1/3 of the food.
2 The party is attacked by 4 giant wolf spiders
3 Bad weather. Storms delay you by 1d3 days as you
take shelter in an abandoned hut. Mark off enough
pounds of food to sustain everyone during the
delay.
4 A worg leading a pack of four wolves attacks.

9
LAST RESPITE
At the end of the sixth day of travel, the party approaches the
mountain pass. From here, they must find a way to cross.

Should the party enter, read the following:

Feldax will not give up with nothing to show for it, but the
party’s choices may yet avoid a fight, or make the
subsequent fight harder or easier.

AVOIDING A FIGHT
If the party succeeds at a DC 14 Charisma (Intimidation or
Deception) check, then Feldax will accept any amount of
money they give, no matter how small, and leave without
violence.
The man is Jorthan Bridd (CN human commoner),
If that fails, or if they don’t try, Faith will offer to pay 200
proprietor of this tiny, unnamed lodge. He will gladly
gold (if she still has it) to get them to leave. Feldax demands
explain about the unnatural blizzards and ice storms that
300, which Faith will agree to (if she can), unless the party
have shut off all access to Icewind Dale. Rumor has it that
stops her. If paid 300 gold, they leave.
Auril, the goddess of winter herself, has taken up residence
in Icewind Dale and created these storms to cut it off from
the rest of the world. If pushed, he adds the following.
FIGHTING IT OUT
If the party refuses to pay, there will be a fight, but if they
attempt to talk first, they must make a Charisma
(Intimidation or Persuasion) check.
- At DC 18 or higher, two of the bandits at the back of the
group slip away as soon as the fight breaks out
- At DC 12 or higher, the party persuades the men at the
The woman is Brina Trollfoot (CN human scout), an old table to not join the fight. They leave before trouble starts,
trapper who knows these mountains like the back of her own while Feldax ineffectively threatens and cajoles them.
hand. - On a failure, two of the men from the table (also human
She explains that unnatural, permanent blizzards have cut bandits), join the fight on Feldax’s side, but the third leaves.
off all access on the main roads, but she knows a few back If the party jumps straight to violence, the men at the
ways, where the weather’s not as bad. Of course, there are table do not join the fight. Either way, Brina Trollfoot does
other dangers. The best route, in her opinion, is a high trail not join the fight, but just sips her drink and watches with an
called Devil’s Pass. She’s crossed it several times since all air of amusement.
this began. For a fee of twenty gold (which Faith offers to Once half the bandits have been knocked out or killed, the
pay), she will guide the party through. rest attempt to flee or surrender, and Brina just laughs.

TROUBLE FOR YOUR COIN GETTING TO KNOW YOU

During the conversation with Brina, one of the men from the Once the crisis is resolved, Faith seems shaken. By now, the
other table, (Feldax Sorth, CN human bandit) quietly leaves party has earned her trust (unless you deem otherwise for
the lodge. A passive insight of 16 or higher may note that he any reason), and this is a opportunity for a roleplaying scene
has the air of a man about to take a risk. in which the party can get to know her better. Start with the
He comes back about an hour later with more human following boxed text:
bandits, enough that they add up to equal the number of
party members +1.
Read the following boxed text:

10
 If the party asks again about where exactly she’s going, Faith is glad that a god finally chose her, but she has mixed
her purpose or intentions, she is now willing to open up. feelings about being chosen by an evil god. She also doubts
Read the following: herself, whether she is worthy and capable. All her life she’s
dreamed of dedicating her life to the service of one deity, but
now that she has been called, she is afraid. She is sure she
isn’t good enough, that this is all a mistake. Half the time
she just wants to run away.
She does think she could find a purpose in Auril’s
teachings, even as a person who tries to be good in the
service of an evil god. She sees Auril as, not good, but
necessary. If the conversation takes a turn in this direction,
she explains it this way:

Faith’s crisis of, well, faith, is central to her storyline, so if

If the party pushes, asking about the call she heard, read the players are going to bond with her, make sure they get a
the following: chance to get to know her better.
Other than heeding Auril’s call, she has no plan and no
idea what’s in store for her.

11
A HARD, COLD ROAD
Brina is ready to leave early the following morning, and she
warns the party to expect danger. It takes two days of
uneventful but grueling travel before the trail starts to climb
steeply.

THESE HILLS HAVE TEETH

On morning of the third day, the trail gets worse. The storm
is getting close now. Roll a d4 and consult the following
chart to see what danger they encounter.
Result Encounter
1 One brown bear
2 One crag cat
See the rules for blizzards and extreme cold, pgs. 10-11 in
3-4 Icewind Kobolds equal in number to the party +2 the hardcover, or in our modified rules in the last chapter
(where this would be called a “snowstorm.”) As this is the
BROWN BEAR first time the players have been exposed to this level of cold,
The brown bear bursts onto the trail suddenly and is as you can really play up how intense it is.
surprised to see the party as they are to see it. It attacks
immediately. GETTING LOST
Brina will fill the role of the navigator in this snowstorm,
Once the bear is injured, DC 14 Wisdom (Animal Handling)
and she knows the trail well enough that she automatically
can be used to chase it away. Otherwise, it attempts to flee
passes her survival checks to avoid veering off course.
once it gets to ¼ hit points.

CRAG CAT FALLING

Each member of the party must make a DC 10 Wisdom
A passive perception 14 or higher notices something
(Survival) test for each hour that passes to avoid becoming
following the party; 18 or higher identifies it as a crag cat.
separated from the group.
The cat is young, hungry, and not yet wise enough to know
If someone fails this test, and they are not all tied
this prey is too dangerous for it.
together, that person quickly slips (as the trail leaves no
It will attempt to attack a party member who appears
room for alternate paths). They must make a Dex save DC 13
weak or gets separated from the group, and if it can take
or fall 20 feet, taking 2d6 damage.
them out, it tries to drag away its prey rather than keep
If the party is tied together with rope and someone fails,
fighting. The cat flees if reduced to ¼ hit points.
the people adjacent to them in the chain must make DC 13
ICE KOBOLDS Athletics tests. If either succeeds, the fall is checked and
Passive perception 12 or higher hears the sounds of chirping everyone gets safely back on the trail. However, if both fail,
voices up ahead around a bend. If anyone understands then they start falling also, and the next people in line are
draconic, they overhear a group of ice kobolds (snowbolds) threatened. Keep going down the line as long as each person
arguing over the best way to lay a trap on the road for the fails; if the whole group fails this Athletics test, then they all
oncoming party. There is much disagreement. fall together down a 20 foot incline. Everyone takes 2d6
The kobolds can be easily surprised, but if the party damage, or half that if they pass a DC13 Dex save.
reveals themselves (for instance, to talk), the kobolds attack
immediately. CLIMBING BACK UP
It will take a Strength (Athletics) test DC 13 to climb back to
These kobolds are courageous only so long as they
the trail. One can make this test with disadvantage in order
outnumber their foe. If the party ever outnumbers the
to carry and drag a second person up with them, or with
kobolds, a DC 10 Intimidation test causes the remainder to
advantage if making use of an anchored rope.
flee.

CALLING ON FAITH
Someone may point out that Faith is apparently a follower of
Auril, and this storm is summoned by Auril. Can’t she just
call on her goddess to let them through?
This is an opportunity for further roleplaying with Faith—
she does not yet have enough faith in herself to

AN INCLEMENT ENCOUNTER meaningfully attempt to beseech the Goddess. Not yet,

anyway. She just looks troubled and shakes her head.
By midday, the trail is growing steeper, and the steady storm
of dark clouds up ahead is getting close. Brina advises using
rope (if the party has any) to tie everyone together, so as not
to get lost in the permanent snowstorm they are about to
enter. Read the boxed text, below.

12
13
THE HEAVENS SPEAK
The snowstorm lasts for 1d4+1 hours. Once they come out
the other end, they find clear skies shrouded in semi-
permanent twilight, with colorful aurora stretching across
the sky in lieu of a sun. It is here that Brina turns back.

If anyone fails, read the following boxed text:

This trail is less than five feet wide, cut into the side of a
steep, high valley. On the right, the mountainside slopes up
sharply, while on the left, a sheer drop falls hundreds of feet
to a valley floor shrouded in mist. This is the Devil’s Pass.
Anyone with a passive insight of 14 or higher senses an
ominous pressure in the air.

OUT OF THE BLUE

One at a time, three giant owls gather in the sky, circling
above the party. They follow without interfering, staying out Either way, Faith is changed. She finally found the courage
of bowshot or spell range. (Check the party’s march order.) to call out to her goddess—and her goddess answered.
After about ten minutes of travel, lightning bursts from For better or worse, she has accepted Auril as her goddess.
out of the clear sky to strike the greatest concentration of She gains one level of Cleric, of the Tempest domain. She
PCs (being sure to avoid Faith.) also has the effects of the Midwinter Child secret.

Each player within 5 feet of where the lightning struck (so

a 10’ square), takes 2d6 damage, or ½ that if they succeed on
a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw.
Roll initiative; the giant owls use their flyby attacks to
harry the party. A similar bolt of lightning strikes again, NO DAY IN THE DALE
each round after the first, on Initiative 20. The rest of the day passes peacefully. If the party wishes to
Neither the owls nor the lightning attack Faith. discuss what happened, Faith is willing to talk about it, but
If the owls are all slain, the lightning keeps coming, she doesn’t know much more than the players do. Some of
leaving the party no choice but to flee, being attacked by her questions are now answered; it is clear that she is chosen
lightning that does not relent. by Auril. But now a new question troubles her: will she be
strong enough for whatever lies in store for her?
AN ACT OF FAITH When they make camp, the night is bitterly cold, and if the
Once things are starting to look bad for the party (your party is not equipped with proper cold weather camping
discretion), Faith screams. The owls pull back out of reach. gear, each character must make a DC 15 Constitution
There is a pause, long enough to leave combat time. After (Survival) test or suffer a level of exhaustion first thing in
thirty seconds, a huge rumbling grows in the sky, with the morning.
flashes of dry lightning sparking across the heavens. If Light comes late, and when it comes, it is not sun, but the
pressed to pray, Faith shakes her head, her eyes wide and same, strange aurora of shifting colors that the party saw
white. A light rain begins to fall. yesterday. At this point it becomes clear that the sun is not
After one minute, the largest bolt of lightning yet strikes going to appear. Faith asks a final plea:
down out of the sky. This time it hits, not the players
themselves, but the mountainside just above them,
triggering a collapse in the rock.
All players on a twenty foot stretch of trail (avoiding
Faith), must make DC 15 Dexterity saving throws. Any who
fail fall into the ravine. If all the affected PCs make the
saving throw and jump to safety, read the following:

14
 This is the town speaker. He is from an old Good Mead
BAD TIMES IN GOOD MEAD family that has a stake in the town’s production of their
signature mead—the primary industry here. The big
It takes most of another day’s travel to reach civilization.
building in the middle of town is Mead Hall, a fire-heated
The trail descends from the mountains by secret ways into
haven of bee-husbandry, where myriad flowers from as far
Icewind Dale, bypassing Dougan’s Hole completely and
south as Chult are kept growing year round to produce the
eventually emerging at the small town of Good Mead.
honey that is then made into mead.
Speaker Kendrick assumes good intentions from the
players unless they give him reason to think otherwise. He
and the people of Good Mead are shocked to hear that they
are from outside of Icewind Dale.

The people of Good Mead have mostly concentrated in a

few dozen densely populated buildings in the middle of
See the hardcover for full details on Good Mead, but it is a town, where they all crowd together for warmth. Most of the
modest township that retains an element of good cheer town’s wood goes to keeping Mead Hall heated, so they have
despite the eternal winter that grips Icewind Dale. to conserve what’s left. There’s not a proper inn, but
On arrival in Good Mead, they are greeted by the Town Speaker Kendrick already has several families sharing his
Speaker (a sort of mayor), a giant of a man in his forties large house, and he can make room for a few more.
named Kendrick Rielsbarrow. Read the following: Everyone is curious to know about the players and what
brings them here. Faith is eager to ask about Auril, but even
if the party doesn’t bring her up, it won’t be long before
someone mentions her. The town is buzzing with rumors
about Auril thanks to a disturbing recent event.

This topic clearly raises some unsettled feelings, as the

mood of the crowd changes. If the players ask for more, or
simply wait in silence, this person continues.

15
 Once the wolves have been chased off, at least for now,
read the following:

If the players make it clear that they want to go to the

farm, the people will happily give them directions. It’s only
about a half hour’s walk away.
If they are going, the town speaker has a request.

This body is Narl Kelson, father of the young Kelson

family. A Medicine or Investigation check DC 12 reveals that,
Faith wishes to leave without delay, both from a sense of
other than the strange desiccation itself, there is no obvious
urgency around learning anything she can about Auril, and
cause of death.
in hopes of finding survivors. If the party asks for assistance,
Searching the icy fields of crops reveals nothing, except
Speaker Kendrick (LG human veteran) will join them.
that the plants are frozen through. This has made them

A COLD HEARTH brittle; any pressure causes them to break, not bend.
Remember, the pack of wolves is watching and will attempt
It’s not hard to find the Kelson Farm. The directions the to sneak attack anyone who wanders off alone.
party receives are reliable, and the weather is clear. The outbuilding is about 300 feet from the main house. It
However, the cold is getting intense as night deepens, and has a few tools and half a dozen sacks of stored grain worth 5
the party may need to make saves vs. cold exhaustion. gp each.
When they go into the house, read the following:

The door to the right goes into a cold and empty family
bedroom, where all four used to sleep in one room. A DC 15
investigation check reveals three pieces of silver jewelry,
worth 20 gold each, wrapped in the woman’s smallclothes in
The wolves (equal in number to half again the number of one drawer.
PCs) aren’t eager to fight; they want a meal, not a risk of The other door opens into an attached barn full of farming
death. They will growl if the players approach, but flee tools. There’s room for several livestock animals, but none
rather than fight if attacked. However, they only flee a little are currently here. Another door opens out into the fields,
ways. They lurk among trees and rocks at the rim of the little where wolves are watching with hungry eyes.
valley, watching and ready, and they will attack anyone who If at any point in the exploration of the house anyone rolls
gets too far separated from the rest of the group. perception or investigation DC 12 or higher, read the
following:

16
 Another successful Perception or Investigation test, again
of DC 12, will reveal that the whimpering sound is coming
from the woodbin near the fireplace.
On opening the bin, read the following:

The children are Naro and Tilly Kelson, and they are
terrified. It takes a Persuasion test DC 10 to get them to calm
down enough to talk.
They have been surviving here on their own for the last
When the party leaves the little valley, the wolves are still
couple of days, but are almost out of food. They hid in the
watching and waiting, hungry. If you want a fight, you can
woodbin when they heard wolves prowling around outside
have them attack—having run out of patience, the pack
the house.
decides that dying in a fight is as good as dying of hunger, so
It takes a more difficult Persuasion test, DC 14, to get them
they take their chances.
to talk about what happened that night. If successful, read
Otherwise, the wolves follow at a respectful distance, still
the following: (include dramatic pauses for the players to
hoping some lone straggler strays from the group. Near
speak and urge them on, if you so desire.)
Good Mead, they melt into the dark, snowy forest.

RESOLUTION
Speaker Kendrick is delighted to see the children returned
safely, and the townfolk are all eager for news of what
happened to Winby Kelson. No one has heard of any other
abductions like this before. The news makes the already
blazing rumors about Auril burn even hotter.
The speaker makes good on his promise to provide the
party with two barrels of mead for bringing the children
back. They are fifty pounds each, and any tavern in Ten
Towns will offer the party a tenday of food and lodging in
exchange for one of the barrels.
As a further reward, Kendrick offers the party ownership
of one of the empty houses—a big, beautiful home near the
town center that he wants to see occupied again. If the party
accepts, a local woman will keep house for them while they
are gone for a cost of 10 gp a month.
A middle-aged woman by the name of Olivessa Untapoor
offers to take in the two children. As a cooper, she is
moderately wealthy, by local standards and has an excellent
reputation in town. She used to have a family, but lost them.
Taking in the two children means, for her, a second chance
at having a family of her own. (See the hardcover for more
about her.)
After that, both children ran. They stayed in the hills as Later, the party finds Faith in a reflective mood.
long as they could; it was almost morning by the time they
came home, half dead of cold. They’ve just been surviving by
scrounging the remaining food and wood in the house ever
since.
If Faith is with the party, something about this story
seems to touch her. Read the following:

17
TOURING TEN TOWNS The old man in question is her next victim, but he,
expecting death soon anyway, is unfazed. He watches her
This mostly wraps up our opening adventure for Rime of the
curiously, even welcoming her approach.
Frostmaiden, and the party may now level up to level two.
If anyone tries to interfere, Auril looks at them with the
At this point the characters have been introduced to the
Desiccating Glance ability (described above), dealing 4d6
mystery of Auril’s abductions. They have met Faith, and
necrotic damage, or half that if they pass a DC 16
Faith’s determination to find Auril gives a strong purpose
Constitution saving throw.
for further exploration.
However, before full combat can break out—and before
The goal of searching Ten Towns for clues about Auril
Auril reaches the old man—Faith rushes forward.
should provide the party with a reason to travel from town
to town, picking up quests, as described in Chapter One of
the hardcover. You may also choose to include one or both of
the starting quests from the hardcover without any conflict.
At each location they visit, there is a chance that they hear
a story similar to the events that occurred at Good Mead:
Auril showed up out of nowhere, abducted someone by
encasing them in a crystal of pure ice, and vanished. Anyone
who tried to stop her, she killed with a single glance.
Our next chapter, About Town, discusses each town, along
with its quests and plot hooks, and proposes an order to
guide the players through exploring them. See the next
chapter for that discussion.

LOSING FAITH The story hook now becomes finding Faith. This should
carry the party forward through the adventures to come,
There is just one more story encounter that concludes our
giving them adequate reason to seek out Auril’s
story module. However, this one happens a little further
stronghold—that and, of course, ending the reign of winter
along, at the end of Chapter One of the hardcover.
and rescuing Winby Kelson and all the others who have been
Once the party has reached level four and is ready to move
whisked away.
beyond the content in Chapter One, allow any players with a
In considering how to carry forward this plot hook, and
respectable passive insight score to notice that Faith is
ultimately resolve it in Auril’s stronghold, when the party
starting to seem despondent. She just hasn’t been herself for
gets there, see the section on Auril’s motivations in the
a few days, and is often found sitting alone or just staring
hardcover, or in the Introduction of this module. We’ve
into space.
given you a beginning, but it will be up to you to carry it
Should they speak to her about it, read the following:
forward in the way that best fits your table’s story.

After the party has a chance to discuss and roleplay for a

moment, the conversation is interrupted. Read the
following:

18
PART 3 – CONDUCTING ABOUT TOWN
THE CAMPAIGN Here we present reference materials and reflections on how
to move through the very open-ended exploration of Ten
Towns. See the spread on the next page for a succinct
If you’ve gone through the story in the previous chapter, reference map to Ten Towns, including a brief summary of
your campaign is now well underway. So what next? This each town, its main quest, other story hooks that can be
chapter lays out some ideas for carrying through on the found there, and a danger rating.
promises the story has made so far.
We open with a section, “About Town,” which comments DANGER RATINGS
on how to approach Ten Towns, including one possible route
your story could take. On the map, we give each town a danger rating, in
Then we move into, “Rallying Ten Towns,” which is a snowflakes, to supplement the ratings for Friendliness,
modified transition between Chapters 1-2 and Chapters 3-4. Service, and Comfort found in the hardcover. This danger
In this version, after learning about the Duergar, the players rating refers primarily to the difficulty of the main quest but
move into the public eye. They are tasked with traveling other encounters in town may influence it.
around Icewind Dale, warning each town about the threat In the rating system, one snowflake indicates minimal
the duergar pose and trying to rally the towns to action. danger, appropriate for a level 1-2 party. Two snowflakes
The party’s success or failure here has real consequences indicate moderate danger, appropriate for a level 2 or 3
for how Chapters 3 and 4 play out: towns that have been party. And three snowflakes mark the most dangerous of
warned and mobilized will be more resilient to the dragon’s towns, only appropriate for a party of level 3 or 4. Parties
attack in Chapter 4, yet how quickly the party is able to get to vary in power, so use your own best judgement.
the fortress of Sunblight can affect what they find when they It’s also important to keep in mind that some of the quests
get there. In short, if they hurry, they may have a chance to include monsters that even the most powerful party is
stop the dragon from ever launching, yet if they dilly dally unlikely to defeat in a direct fight. For your players to
for too long, taking too many side quests, the dragon will go survive, make sure to give them clues when a fight coming
on its rampage through Ten Towns before the players ever up is too hard to take head-on, and provide opportunities to
go to the fortress of Sunblight, and the players will start run away or come up with creative solutions.
Chapter 4 already behind.
Finally, we propose a method to guide the players to
Auril’s secret abode in the Sea of Moving Ice, which is to
send them to seek help from the goliaths. Once the players
resolve the conflict between the goliath tribes (detailed in
Chapter 2) and earn the trust of the clan chieftains, then the
goliaths are willing to share what they know about Auril,
which includes the location of her island. This leads the
players to the final act of our story in chapter 5.
In this version, the lost city of Ythryn is not considered a
part of the core storyline. Instead, it can be treated as an
optional continuation, a follow up campaign that the party
may want to move on to once they complete the first
campaign. This supplement’s comments only go as far as the
final confrontation with Auril in Chapter 5.

19
20
21
QUESTING THE TOWNS COLD TRAIL IN BREMEN – LEVELUP TO 3
For players who love a sandbox, Chapter 1 is a dream come In Bremen, they hear a familiar story: Auril came and
true. However, as a DM responsible for creating a good abducted someone. Here, it was a young man. The half-elf
experience, there are reasons you might want to guide your scholar Tali tried to stop Auril, but only by shouting, not by
party to hit certain locations first and wait on others. physically interfering. When Tali hears the players’ story,
Danger is one good reason: some town quests could be they will realize that not physically interfering probably
lethal for a level one party! Another reason is that some saved their life.
towns have story hooks that point to other towns. At your While the party is here, make sure they pick up the lead
own discretion, it may be worth nudging your party to hit from Cora in the Buried Treasures Inn about her son, who
one before the other so they get the full experience. left for Caer-Dineval. This is a good lead to the Caer-Dineval
In the sections below, we lay out one possible route your quest, which is one of the more plot-significant ones.
party could take through Chapter 1. Of course, this remains a They can then do the “Lake Monster” quest. It’s a good
living experience—none of these steps are set in stone. choice for low levels because it gets the adrenaline going,
Instead, it’s helpful to think of this as a “plan to deviate but is not actually too lethal. You may also choose to include
from.” It gives direction when you need it, yet you still have one of our encounters, below, as you see fit.
the full, rich resources of the hardcover to feel prepared for Once the party is done in Bremen, if you’ve been following
whichever unexpected direction your players might go. this roadmap, they have completed two of the Town Quests,
so it’s time to level up from two to three.
STARTING IN GOOD MEAD
The starting adventure, “Call to Faith,” will end with your BACK TO TARGOS, AND TO THE
players in Good Mead, potentially the proud owners of a MOUNTAIN
house. If the party accepted the house from Speaker
With the trail cold in Bremen, any plan of action that the
Kendrick, then Good Mead can serve as a sort of home base
party makes from here will likely take them back through
whenever the party needs a place to come home to,
Targos first. Now is the time to deliver the “Mountain
throughout the campaign.
Climb” quest.
Note that the potential for one of your PCs to become the
This asks the players to hurry to Kelvin’s Cairn, which
Speaker of Good Mead is one good reason to choose Good
gets them to Caer-Konig on the other side of the map.
Mead as a home base—however, you could just as easily
Whether they follow the road or cut overland, don’t get
have them acquire a house in any town you please!
distracted with side quests—aside from a minor travel
Going forward, the party will be looking for clues or
encounter or two, get them quickly to Kelvin’s Cairn. Note
rumors regarding Auril. A good, central location to go for
that if they previously did well with the Foaming Mugs
information in Ten Towns is Bryn Shander.
quest, the dwarves of Dwarf Valley will be friendly, and they

SEARCH FOR CLUES IN BRYN SHANDER

can rest there during the journey, if they cut overland.

Bryn Shander is the closest thing Ten Towns has to a capital. NEW CLUES IN CAER-KONIG
It’s the most populous and central of the towns; if there’s a
After coming down from Kelvin’s Cairn, the easiest place to
place to look for rumors of Auril, this is it.
recuperate is Caer-Konig. If Garret survived, have him
In Bryn Shander, go ahead and give the players the
excuse himself and leave on his own for Targos, after giving
Foaming Mugs quest. It’s one that should be relatively
many thanks. This lets the party stay in Caer-Konig, where
survivable even for a new party, and it gets them engaged in
they can pick up the quest, “The Unseen.”
Ten Towns. You could also consider throwing in “Foul Play”
Sometime later, when the party is passing through Targos
or “Shards of Sunlight,” from our encounters below, or even
again, have Garret and Keegan give the party the reward
both, if you want to really dig in to the material.
described in the hardcover. This will be a nice callback.
Another good starting quest happens in Bremen, so that’s
The players will surely ask around Caer-Konig (as long as
where we’ll guide them next. As the players are seeking clues
they’re here) for information about Auril. It could be good to
about Auril, drop the information that Auril has been spotted
give them another sighting, but this one should be cold. It
in Bremen. She made an appearance there not long ago. This
was months ago that Auril appeared and abducted a civilian.
should get the party moving that direction.
Otherwise it’s the same story, she took someone of no
You may want to give this clue after they complete the
apparent significance, killing any who got in her way. Giving
Foaming Mugs quest, so they don’t go rushing off too soon.
one more Auril sighting that matches the rest, but is even
Alternately, offer both and give them a hard choice about
colder, sets up for the next major development, which will
which to prioritize!
come in Caer-Dineval.

PASSING THROUGH TARGOS DIRE TIDINGS IN CAER-DINEVAL

To get to Bremen from Bryn Shander, the party must pass
Once the Unseen quest is wrapped up, the party has two
through Targos—but don’t give them the “Mountain Climb”
leads—if they caught the duergar, they have a clue that more
quest yet. We’ll use that soon. Instead, use the “Getting to
duergar are hiding out in the frozen ferry in Easthaven, and
Know You” encounter, below, to introduce the Zhentarim as
they still have Cora’s clue from Bremen asking them to
a faction in the region. Then move on quickly.
investigate her son in Caer-Dineval. Both are near, but Caer-
The trail to Bremen has been obliterated, so the players
Dineval is on the way to Easthaven, so it is likely they will
may want to buy a dog sled if they can afford it. If not,
stop there first.
Sahmad el Faruk is willing to loan them a dog sled to make
the trip—in exchange for a favor to be owed.

22
 Here you can go through the “Black Swords,” quest, Afterward, the party will be eager to search for Faith
which mostly involves a lot of roleplaying. Though the immediately, but they have no clues, and the matter of the
Knights obviously may give off some unsettling vibes, their duergar is urgent. That should carry them forward for the
dedication to eliminating the duergar threat is real. This is a time being.
good way to foreshadow the coming chapters (which focus
on foiling the duergar plan), and give the players the EASY FIGHT IN EASTHAVEN
exciting experience of knowing something big before the
Forewarned, and thus forearmed, the party should have
rest of Ten Towns does.
little trouble dealing with the duergar hiding in the ferry at
If an alliance is made, the knights are happy to discuss
Easthaven, especially if they contact the local authorities
strategy, which can help give structure to the action going
and get them involved. The hardcover states most of the
forward. They urge the players to rally support among the
duergar are out exploring the town, but putting some of
towns, to find out where the duergar fortress is and take the
them at home can make this scene more satisfying. It’s okay
fight to them, and also, wherever possible, to gather
to have the local authorities storm the ferry and make this
chardalyn to keep it out of duergar hands. The knights will
an easy fight. It gives the impression that the legwork the
be happy to take any chardalyn the party finds, “for safe
party has done matters, and besides, it’ll make hard fights
keeping,” but they will not risk the alliance by insisting on
later more exciting by contrast!
it. Don’t forget to drop clues here and there that the knights
The important thing is not whether the ferry hideout is
are not exactly “good guys.” Try to strike the balance of
disrupted (it is), but whether Durth Sunblight is able to get
keeping the players a touch worried, without prompting
the map and escape or not. That’s where player actions can
them to action—yet.
make a big difference—he can easily escape if he only has
Regardless, the towns need to be warned, especially
the city guard to contend with.
Easthaven, where there is a known duergar hideout.
If the players capture him, Sunblight will not share

LOSING FAITH anything he doesn’t want to, no matter what is done to him.
But he will sling malicious threats, speaking at length about
At this point, the duergar storyline is picking up steam, so the utter destruction his father will wreak on Ten Towns—
it’s a good time to wrap up Faith’s storyline. Before the party though he remains vague on the how. Nevertheless, this will
leaves Caer-Dineval, do the final scene, “Losing Faith,” of be enough to convince the Easthaven authorities that the
the “Call to Faith” adventure above, in which Faith herself threat is real.
gets taken away by Auril the Frostmaiden. One good way to If the party gets the map, it reveals the location of the
introduce this is that, as the action is wrapping up at Caer- duergar fortress, Sunblight. With this information and the
Dineval, the party notices that Faith is missing. support of Captain Arlaggath, the party is ready to start
They find her at the only open tavern in town, The Uphill rallying the towns to fight back against the duergar.
Climb (the significance of the name is not lost on her), Optionally, you may do the Easthaven quest or one of our
where she came to seek a moment alone. From there, encounters below (one of which introduces a young girl with
proceed as described in the module above. insight into Auril’s mind), but the tide of the story may
sweep them directly into the next part.

23
RALLYING TEN TOWNS Furthermore, each town that the party convinces of the
danger will mobilize and prepare for action, and this will
At this point, the nature of the game shifts somewhat.
leave them more prepared when the chardalyn dragon
Instead of an isolated party exploring and adventuring, out
attacks. Each such warned town will take half the casualties
of sight and out of mind as far as the common people are
and do twice the damage to the dragon as it passes through
concerned, now the party is entering the public arena. They
in Chapter 4, Destruction’s Light. It also takes the dragon
are trying to warn the towns of the impending duergar
half again longer to destroy a prepared and mobilized town
threat—this makes them public figures, and public opinion
than it otherwise would have taken.
is a beast.

THE POLITICS OF POWER SPEAKER’S COUNCIL – LEVELUP TO 4

This section should end with a Council of Speakers in Bryn
During this section, the party must travel from town to
Shander, where all the towns can gather to discuss the
town, warning each against the duergar. The goal is to
problem and possible solutions. If one of the PCs has become
impress upon each town’s people and speaker the
Speaker of Good Mead, they will not appear as supplicants,
seriousness of the threat, so that the town will commit to
but instead as a member, with every bit as much right to be
providing forces to an allied army, should it come to military
there as any of the others.
action against the duergar.
The success or failure of this council will depend on the
As they attempt this, they must contend with many
party’s actions. The council should be the culmination of
conflicting factions and opinions. Town speakers will appear
this section of the story. Once it’s done, they can level up.
to blatantly act against their own self-interest, but they do
this because they don’t trust the players. Not only do they
not believe what the players are saying, but they actively
TAKING THE FIGHT TO SUNBLIGHT
suspect that party is lying for its own ulterior motives, Either way, the council should end with the party
pulling some sort of “fast one,” even if it’s obvious to the determined to go explore Sunblight. If the towns are behind
PCs (who see the big picture) that that is ridiculous. them, then they are sent as an advance expeditionary party,
Ultimately, actions speak louder than words. Towns where with a mission to explore, do what they can on their own,
the players have already earned a good reputation can be and bring back information to help the towns prepare for a
persuaded to agree and sign on, while towns where the party full-scale assault. On the other hand, if the party failed and
is still unknown will be intractable and suspicious. the Ten Towns leadership is still in strife and disarray, the
Persuasion rolls can influence this, but don’t let persuasion party can choose to take unilateral action.
rolls alone swing it too much. Remember that even a If the party did not find the map in Easthaven, find
persuasive speech can actually have an inverse effect on another way now to give them the location of the fortress.
someone whose feet are already dug in. Perhaps a friendly Speaker’s scouts have discovered it, or an
To win over a town, the player must earn trust and respect old druid offers the information. If you did the “Gnoll Raid”
through actions. This is most easily done by giving the encounter, below, the party may have befriended the young
players the chance to complete the local quest for that town, goliath werebear Tekayanta, who could show the party the
but other opportunities may arise at your table. way. Or you can just give this as the first problem the players
need to solve, using their own creativity and resources.
RACE AGAINST TIME
This section can take as long or as short as you please, out of
game. You could make it a thorough exploration of the
towns, completing quests and earning favor here and there,
or you could make it a relatively direct path to the Council of
Speakers in Bryn Shander, where they have the chance to
make their case before all the towns.
Either way, it’s a good idea to drop in a few hooks for
quests that are further afield in Icewind Dale, the ones
described in Chapter 2. As you do so, make sure to highlight
that these are outside Ten Towns—they will take more time
to traverse and complete. This gives the players the
opportunity to spend time for different rewards, and
whether or not they choose to do so will affect the timing
when it comes to Chapter 4.
However, don’t give them the hook to the goliath quests
yet; those hold a special plot role and will be used later.

CONSEQUENCES
If they turn down hooks to the Chapter 2 quests, they will get
to Sunblight quickly enough to potentially stop the dragon.
If they complete one or two of those quests, things play out
exactly as in the book. But if they complete three or more of
the Chapter 2 quests, when they get back from the third one,
they will find Ten Towns already under attack from the
dragon. See the “Facing the Fortress” section below.

24
FACING THE FORTRESS
During the section above, it is entirely possible that the
players may get involved in some of the quests from chapter
2, which explore the broader region of Icewind Dale. Doing
these quests allows the party to gain experience and magic
items, and thus be more prepared when taking on Xardorak
and the chardalyn dragon, however, they also introduce a
delay, allowing Xardarok to get farther on his pet project
before the players interfere.
The roadmap we lay out here is different from the
hardcover in that we modify exactly when the chardalyn
dragon attacks based on how long the players take before
they get to Sunblight (measured in quests completed, not
actual, in-game time.)

FOCUSED AND SWIFT

If the party stays quite focused on the task at hand and turns
down side quests from Chapter 2 of the hardcover (which
would take them farther afield than the ones from Chapter
1), then they end up getting to Sunblight before Xardarok is
completely ready.
In this case, the party will be at level 4, but Xardarok isn’t
If the party defeats Xardorok Sunblight within 3 rounds,
ready to release the dragon yet when they arrive. Instead,
they prevent the launching of the dragon.
they will find Xardorok Sunblight in the Forge, area X24-
X26, where the dragon is just being completed. When the
players show up, read the boxed text on pg. 180, but skip the
last paragraph. Instead, read the following:

However, if Xardorok is still standing at the end of the

third round, read the following:

Roll initiative.

The dragon now begins its rampage through Ten Towns,

leading to the events described in Chapter 4 of the
hardcover. The players must rush to the towns’ aid.

SOME DELAYS
If the party does one or two of the quests from Chapter Two
before going to the Speaker’s Council, then they earn a level,
getting to level 4 early. This means that completing the
Speaker’s Council will level them up to level 5, putting them
at 5 going into the next chapter.

25
 However, they lose the chance to do the dungeon first— this will be setting up a serious problem for a future
the chardalyn dragon is ready when the players get to generation of heroes in Icewind Dale to deal with.
Sunblight. In this case, things play out as described in the
hardcover, but consider having the dragon leave before the FINDING FAITH
party finishes climbing the mountain trail to Sunblight, if
Sooner or later, talk naturally turns to the future of Ten
you want to give them a more meaningful chance to get back
Towns and to this apparently unending winter. Speakers and
and save towns.
citizens alike may wonder if it’s worth rebuilding any towns

TOOK TOO LONG that got destroyed, if the sun will never come back to
Icewind Dale. Do the Ten Towns have a future?
On the other hand, if the party undertakes three of the This brings the party back to the main plotline. Our
quests from Chapter Two, then Xardorok completes the recommendation is to use some of the Chapter Two quests
chardalyn dragon while the players are out exploring as red herrings, giving fake hints that one or another of
Icewind Dale. The players gain another level (up to 5), but them might lead to a solution to the endless winter. The
when they come back from the third quest, they find Ten Black Cabin, in particular, is good for this.
Towns already under attack by the dragon. You can decide Don’t reveal Auril’s location right away. The endeavor that
exactly how far progressed the attack is. will actually move them forward in the end is the paired
In this case, since they never held the Speaker’s Council, goliath quests: Wyrmdoom Crag and Skytower Shelter. When
they miss out on the level they could have gained there—a you’re ready to advance the plot, have the Council of
natural consequence for putting off the most urgent quest. Speakers (or another ally) send the players to get help from
the goliaths.
AFTER DISASTER The clan chieftain of Wyrmdoom Crag, Ogolai Orcsplitter
Thuunlakalaga, is one of the few people in Icewind Dale who
Once the dust has settled, there will be another Speaker’s
knows where Auril has taken up residence. Only by earning
Council, where they discuss rebuilding and recovering from
her trust can they learn what she knows. Completing this
any devastation that occurred. This is a great opportunity for
quest puts the island of Solstice on the party’s map and leads
roleplaying, especially if the party has formed bonds and
into finding Faith and confronting Auril in the climactic
grown attached in Icewind Dale.
scenes in Chapter Five.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF SANDBOX THE BLIND SEERESS

Expect that the party may have developed their own The information about Auril doesn’t come from Ogolai
concerns and plans at this point, and you can structure this directly. Once peace is confirmed, Ogolai asks the party to
section around following their own initiatives. Perhaps a stay after the Skytower delegation has left.
player became Speaker of Good Mead (or another town!) Read the following:
That comes with responsibilities and problems, especially if
their town was destroyed. Or perhaps the party has adopted
one of the defunct taverns or inns in the area, or formed a
romance, or gotten in deep with the Zhentarim, or become
rivals with them! All of these can provide for rich,
improvised roleplaying and adventures. This is a good time
to give players a chance to lead the story for a while. As this is essential to moving the plot forward, have this
encounter happen even if the players failed the quest to
THE THREAT OF THE BLACK SWORD make peace between the goliath tribes. In this case, Ogolai is
The cultists of Asmodeus in Caer-Dineval have likely been not happy about it, but she has been asked by the seeress
allies of the party up until now, and they will try to leverage herself to bring the party to see her.
their connection with the party to get some of their own Either way, read the following:
members into positions of power.
As of yet, they are still playing the long game. The key
question here is how suspicious the players become. Do they
blithely trust and assist the Knights of the Black Sword, or
do they take a closer look?
Any meaningful investigation, if successful, will reveal
that the Knights are not good guys. They are, in fact,
servants of Asmodeus who will threaten the whole of Ten
Towns unless they are ripped out at the root now. This will
likely lead the party to a bloody conquest of Caer-Dineval. The old woman has been communing with Auril in her
The cult will not provide much resistance to the party at its dreams, and she knows more than anyone about the
current level (though their resistance may be a bit stiffer if goddess’ true feelings.
you’ve completed the “Midwinter Child” encounter, below). Now is the time to reveal Auril’s backstory, as discussed in
You could give them the ability to summon a barbed devil or “What’s Really Going On,” on page 4 of this supplement.
two to make things more interesting, but the real challenge However, keep one more secret in reserve: what Faith
here isn’t whether the party is capable of rooting out the herself means to Auril. Save that to have one last big reveal
cult, but instead whether they realize it is necessary. in the climactic scene.
If they fail to identify the threat posed by the Knights, and
especially if they help the Knights gain power and influence,

26
FURTHER ADVANCEMENT
Completing both the dragon fight and the duergar fortress
will earn the party a level, meaning the party will be 5th or 6th
coming out of those events.
They can level up as far as 7 by doing various quests from
Chapter Two, not including the goliath quests. Doing those
will get them one last level, bringing the party potentially as
high as level 8 as they go on to face Auril.

AURIL’S ABODE
At long last, the players have the information they need:
they know what Auril wants, why she’s hurting, and most
importantly, how to find her. Methods to get to the island of
Solstice are discussed in the hardcover, but briefly, they may
- Ride a sentient whale from Angajuk’s Bell
- Catch an Icebreaker Ship from Revel’s End (follows up - The third test occurs once they cross the threshold and
well from our Revel’s End encounters in the next chapter) enter the fortress of Grimskalle.
- Or, if the party has earned deep respect from the - And the fourth and final test is given when the party gets
Akannathi Goliaths, they may provide griffons to fly there. into area G7, the Throne Room.
Try to deliver an abbreviated version of each test, so you
don’t keep the rest of the table waiting too long during these
solo scenes.
If you miss one of the tests, you can have the last one
happen when Auril first manifests.

RESULTS OF THE TESTS

However a test turns out—even if the character dies in the
test—there is no immediate, obvious consequence. The
frozen moment ends and the character is back where they
KISSED BY THE LADY OF FROST stood before the test, to all appearances unchanged. To the
In this version of the story, the purpose in coming to the other players, it looks like they simply zoned out and
island of Solstice is to seek Auril, rescue Faith, and end the stumbled for a moment.
neverending winter. Collecting the Codicil of White is, at best, However, Auril is watching. Each time a player “passes” a
a secondary goal. To this end, we repurpose the four tests test (whatever that means to her, as defined in Chapter 5 of
that Auril poses to the party. the hardcover), the party gains +2 to any persuasion rolls
Instead of the tests being tied to the dungeon level, they made toward her later. Persuasion rolls against the goddess
come at different times while the party explores the island, will start at DC 30, so every bonus matters.
and each quest is a psychic challenge given to just one
character. WHERE IS ICEDAWN?
The first should occur right as the players step onto the As a goddess, Auril is not bound by the same rules as other
island. It may be given to the first player to touch land, or creatures. For one thing, she does not have to physically
any character who has piqued Auril’s interest. Interrupt the manifest unless she chooses to. She is here on the island, but
action to read the following to just one player: she is everywhere and nowhere. That means that she is with
the party every step of their journey from the moment they
step foot in her domain.
The one possession which she values above all else is
Faith, and she has no reason to manifest until the party finds
Faith in area G8, the Queen’s Bedchamber.

FINDING THE FROZEN

Over their adventures, the party has likely heard of many
people who Auril has abducted. These people, including
Winby Kelson from the “Call to Faith” adventure, can be
found in Area 14 on the island. They are encased in crystals
Now throw that player, alone, into the first of the tests. of ice, with every seeming of life, but perfectly frozen.
You’ll want to reflect on which four players will be tested It is impossible to tamper with or free these frozen people.
and which test is most appropriate for each. Only Auril can release them. At most, it may be possible to
- The first test, as described above, happens as soon as the find a way to destroy the crystals, but this will also kill the
players set foot on the island. person inside. However Faith is not to be found in the garden
- The second test also happens outside the fortress, of ice statues.
perhaps in the garden of ice statues, or when they first see
Grimskalle in its full glory, or whenever you see fit.

27
FAITH’S FATE On the other hand, there are certain conversational
approaches which will offend Auril and may even drive her
Faith is extremely important to Auril, but why that is so to violence. These include:
depends on the backstory you chose for Auril. In fact, this - Pointing out that Auristan is gone and she should let
scene will be driven by your version of Auril’s story, and you him go (Auril is not good at moving on).
will know best how to deliver that. However, here are some - Appealing to her compassion or the needs and desires of
ideas. anyone other than herself.
One thing that is consistent is that Faith can be found in If they cannot persuade Auril to let Faith go, they may also
area G8, the Queen’s Bedchamber. Depending on the story, try to persuade Faith herself either to accept her fate, or to
she may be alive and well, if somewhat brainwashed, or she stand up for herself and reject the fate her goddess has
may be frozen in a crystal of ice. chosen for her. Either will require a DC 20 Charisma
(Persuasion) test.
REBIRTH OF A CHILD If Auril is not persuaded, and the party tries to prevent the
If you chose the backstory, “Bereft Parent,” then Faith can
ritual (with or without Faith’s support), it comes to a battle.
be found alive and well. She is wearing holy robes of Auril
See “Beating Sense into a Goddess,” below.
and going through a period of fasting and purification in
preparation for the upcoming ritual. Each morning and
evening, Auril’s devoted servants anoint her with holy oils
and perfumes. The time has almost come.
She greets the party warmly, obviously glad to see them,
but there is something different about her. She shines with
an inner glow of contentment and peace. But as they talk
with her, they may get the sense that this outer expression
of manifest bliss is a façade. Her happiness has a brittle
quality to it. What’s going on underneath the surface is
much more complicated.
What Auril has planned for her is a ritual which will
bring back Auristan’s soul, using Faith’s body as the
vessel. Faith happily explains that she has an
exceptionally strong bloodline, being descended from
Auristan on both sides of her family. This makes her the
perfect vessel.
If the players ask what will happen to her, she admits
that she doesn’t know. Passive insight DC 16 reveals the
cracks in her façade that hint at the terror and uncertainty
lurking underneath.
At this point Auril physically manifests, before the party
can interrupt her pet project any further. Human language
is insufficient for a goddess, and Auril disdains to use it.
Instead, she communicates with body language or few
words of incredible power. Her emotions are also
intense—anybody in her presence feels whatever she is
feeling, and you can get descriptive with that as a mode of
communication for her as well.
Auril is very unwilling to give up on this ritual, which is
her last chance at seeing her son again. Some tactics the
party may try which have at least a slim chance of success
include:
- Faith is her descendant too; to do this would be to
destroy the child she still has.
- This is Auril’s grief, her suffering, her own winter—
she must now bear the gift she so often brings.
If the players try one of these approaches, or another you
find convincing, you may allow them to attempt a DC 30
Charisma (Persuasion) test to persuade Auril that she needs
to cancel the ritual. If successful, Faith is deeply relieved,
and can go on to live a full, rich life as the Chosen of Auril.

28
MAD BEAUTY RENEWING FAITH
In the “Injury and Loss” backstory, Auril has been injured in In the storyline of “The Last Faithful,” the character Faith is
a battle of the gods. To add insult to injury, her demiplane, the last living mortal who both truly understands Auril and
“The Eternal Shards, which was the place where she kept her follows her. Faith worshipped Auril long before she knew she
collection of beautiful things, was utterly destroyed. Driven did, simply due to her own tragic life history. If she could
mad by pain and loss, she sought refuge in Icewind Dale. In have been honest with herself, she would have known years
this version, Faith’s soul is one that had been with Auril for ago that Auril was her goddess.
time uncounted in the Eternal Shards demiplane. Thus, Faith In this version, similar to the last, the party finds Faith
represents Auril’s last connection to her home, and she is frozen in an ice crystal, in pride of place. But unlike last
loathe to let her go. time, Auril manifests immediately, appearing in her Cold
In this version, Faith is found in pride of place at the heart Crone form standing protectively between the party and
of the stronghold, but locked in an ice crystal as completely Faith’s crystal.
as any of the statues downstairs. When the players find Here, Auril will not initiate hostilities if she can avoid it;
Faith, Auril makes her appearance. Read the following: she is terrified of anything happening to Faith, and in her
weakened state, she can’t be sure she would prevail if it
came to a fight. Instead, she will cajole, implore, and
command the players to leave, alternating in her mien
between imperial and haughty, cruel and cold, and pathetic.
This, of course, gives them an opportunity to try to convince
her, in turn.
If the players wish to convince Auril to free Faith, the
following arguments have a chance of success, allowing a DC
30 Charisma (Persuasion) test. Each may be tried once:
- Faith can help you if you free her. She can do nothing for
you locked away like that.
- Faith could spread the word and share your teachings.
- The others don’t understand you like Faith does.
On the other, hand, the following arguments have no
chance of success, and may drive Auril to violence:
There is no room for negotiation here. Unless the party
- Think about what Faith wants! It’s not fair to her to seal
immediately leaves, Auril attacks.
her away like this.

29
 - Think about the people of Icewind Dale and the harm
you’re bringing to them.
- What’s your end game? Will you just keep her locked
away like this forever? (Yes.)
The party only has so long to try the talking approach
before a frost druid appears, running up the stairs. This is
one of the chaotic followers whose faith is having such a
deleterious effect on Auril. He begins to shriek obscenities at
the players, which confuses and disturbs Auril, leaving her
more unhinged than before.
Before long, a fight breaks out. If the players don’t attack,
the druid does. At that point, Auril grows in fury. An act of
aggression toward one of her own followers, in her own
house, is an insult she cannot ignore.
Roll initiative.

BEATING SENSE INTO A GODDESS

Auril is a challenging fight, but not impossible. Many
versions of how the ending might go include tangling with
her. The key thing to understand is that just because a fight
has begun doesn’t mean the conversation is over. In fact, the
conversation before battle should be considered just the
opening salvo!
Start the fight early enough that the debate can continue
as the combat rages on, with each side exchanging
arguments as they exchange blows.
Whenever one of Auril’s forms is defeated, the players
may try again to make a persuasion roll (assuming they
make arguments that she finds persuasive, as described in
the relevant section, above.) The party gains another +2 to
persuasion rolls each time one of her forms is defeated, and
these are cumulative with any bonuses to persuasion tests
that the party earned earlier, in the four psychic tests. The
full cumulative bonus applies to all party members,
regardless of who earned them, or which character is
actually making the persuasion attempt.
A lucky persuasion roll here may save a party that doesn’t
have the power to make it all the way to the end of this fight.

RESOLUTION
If Auril’s unhappiness is brought to an end through the
demise of this incarnation, then all her works of magic
slowly fade. That’s one way to solve the problem. Ultimately,
no harm will be done—as long as Auril has even one
follower, she will reincarnate at the next Midwinter, having
recovered from the temporary madness which drove her to
inhabit Icewind Dale.
The other outcome is harder: helping her now to resolve
the situation in a way that she actually ends up happy, or at
least stable. Should this be achieved, a measure of her sanity
is restored, and the goddess is able to realize that her efforts
here are misguided and childish. All of this—the eternal
winter, the capture and preservation of local things of
beauty—it’s beneath her as a goddess.
With a renewed sense of herself, Auril gives up on this
mad expedition into the material plane and removes back to
the realm of the gods, leaving the people of Icewind Dale in
peace. In most versions of this scenario, Faith finds a fate
that suits her and thanks the party sincerely.
Either way, the sun will rise tomorrow. All those abducted
by Auril thaw, returning to life and to their families. This
marks the end of this campaign.

30
 First Impression: This starts in any of the five taverns.

PART 4 – EVENTS AND

ENCOUNTERS
Closer Look: He introduces himself as Vek Bristlehead,
The world of Icewind Dale is small, compared to other parts owner of the tavern (whichever one they are in). If they are
of the Forgotten Realms, but nevertheless it is vibrant, with listening, he explains:
colorful characters, clashing factions, and many
personalities vying for attention.
This chapter presents a selection of minor encounters
which can be used to add dynamism and vitality to your
game. Most of them can be resolved in no more than a scene
or two, so the purpose is not to fill a game or even take up
much time, but simply to remind players that there is more
going on in this world than their own concerns. Development: In reality, all five brothers are struggling as
These encounters should encourage the feeling of their taverns face increasingly slow business, and the
“sonder” for your players, the illusion that each NPC they economic fragility is raising tensions between the brothers
meet is a real person, with a story as rich and complex as to a dangerous level.
their own. Use as many or as few as you like! If they steal the ale, as requested, it is a fairly
straightforward heist which you can improvise as you see fit.

TOWN ENCOUNTERS However, if they talk to Halak, or do more research, they can
find out more. Halak does owe Vek two barrels of ale, but the
This first part presents encounters that occur in one of the debt is eight years old. Vek hasn’t asked for it until now, and
ten towns. You will find 1-3 encounters in each town; these if Halak paid it now, he wouldn’t have any ale for his own
are totally optional, but can provide a bit of extra flavor and tavern. (Pick any of the other five taverns for Halak to run.)
help bring the world to life. Resolution: If the players steal the ale and are not caught,
then Halak will actually approach them next with a similar
BREMEN – A BRISTLY PROBLEM proposition—he believes Vek stole the ale, though he cant
The players get drawn into a rivalry between the five dwarf prove it, and he wants the players to burn down Vek’s tavern.
brothers who own the five taverns at five-tavern center. If they do, the conflict escalates, and all five taverns end up
Their interaction may either escalate the conflict or help it closing as the family feud descends into chaos.
come to a resolution. Alternatively, the players may try to get involved in a
different way, by serving as mediators between the brothers.

31
It will quickly become apparent that all five taverns are on first two hours are up, he insists that they not delay him.
the brink of failure, and the only way they could survive is by They will have to decide whether to humor him and take him
coordinating efforts and sharing their respective strengths. deeper out into the wilderness, or force him to come home.
However, each brother is too proud to let any of the others If they take him where he wants to go, they find a pack of
take the lead. They are, quite literally, willing to take their wolves waiting. Speaker Shalescar made arrangements to
pride to the grave. meet them here; the alpha is an awakened wolf, and the
There is one solution that they could unite behind, if the speaker wishes to negotiate a plan to provide a certain
players are able to find it. Only one of the brothers had a amount of trout meat to the wolves each tenday so that they
child, a red-headed daughter named Finna Bristlehead. stop harassing the town.
Some energetic negotiation and good persuasion skill rolls If the party finds the speaker after two hours, but before
could convince all five brothers to retire and pass on their four hours, they will find him in the middle of negotiations
ownership to Finna. With the taverns working together with the wolves.
under single leadership, instead of competing, they could However, if the party fails to find the speaker within four
cut costs and coordinate efforts to find mutual success. The hours, he gets stuck in the snow trying to get home. He’s a
brothers could either stay, doing only the parts of the job hardy dwarf who doesn’t mind the cold much, but he is, in
that they love (brewing, cooking, serving, etc.), or undertake fact, getting on in years. If they find him within the third two
an expedition to return to the dwarf halls of their ancestors. hour period, they find him stuck in the snow and a bit
addled. However if it takes longer than six hours total, he
BREMEN – SPEAKER-SITTING will be unconscious, and it will take a DC 20 Medicine check
to revive him once he is warmed up. If he is left out there all
The speaker of Bremen is old and age-addled and has a
night, he will be dead by morning.
history of wandering off into the snow. The party is hired to
keep watch over him while his normal caretaker is away, but
when he inevitably wanders off, they find there’s more
BRYN SHANDER – FOUL PLAY
going on than first meets the eye. As a prerequisite for this A Harper agent in Bryn Shander is in danger; if the players
encounter, the party must have earned Tali’s trust. earn her trust, they may help her escape assassins.
First Impression: The scholar Tali volunteered to move in First Impression: A tiefling woman in her thirties hawks
with the old, dwarven speaker of Bremen, Dorbulgruf wares from a surprisingly well-stocked wagon in the central
Shalescar, in order to keep an eye on him, after his old square of Bryn Shander.
caretaker passed away. However, Tali has heard rumors of Closer Look: Eva Trisk (NG tiefling merchant) came to Ten
chwinga gathering in a mysterious, magical circle nearby, Towns to trade before the blizzards set in and hasn’t been
and wants to go look for it. Tali asks the party if they would able to leave. She sells many common items, and for
keep an eye on the Speaker while they are away. It is customers with deep pockets who earn her trust, she will
especially important he not wander off, as there has been a make available her special stash, which includes potions,
wolf pack prowling around recently, with increasing scrolls, and 1d3 randomly determined Uncommon Magic
numbers of sightings and attacks. Items. However, a character with passive insight 13 or higher
During the day, Shalescar is occupied with his staff, will notice that she is constantly glancing around, as though
conducting speaker business, so the party is simply asked to expecting trouble.
be available in the evenings. Development: Eva is a member of the Harpers who has
Closer Look: The party will stay with the Speaker for as been keeping an eye on affairs in Ten Towns. However, the
much as a tenday. Speaker Shalescar is personable, even Zhentarim are making a power play here, and many of her
witty, but has a tendency to forget who they are. He goes Harper contacts have disappeared recently. She fears she
through periods where he’s more lucid, and periods where may be next. She is afraid for her life, and if she can find any
he’s more daft and absent-minded. It’s hard to tell how excuse to trust the party, she will ask them for assistance.
much he really follows what’s going on. Resolution: If the party agrees to help her, they must
Development: One night Shalescar doesn’t come home. It tangle with a group of four human thugs who are planning
turns out he gave his staff the slip. The party discovers this her murder. Investigation DC 15 can identify a suspicious
when a panicked staff member, the officious, middle-aged person watching Eva, who can be followed back to an empty
human bookkeeper Alistair Noomworthy, comes rushing to building where the other three are waiting. If they are not
the house in a panic. found immediately, the group will attack Eva that night—
A light snow is falling, which obscures tracks. The party but only if she is alone, or at least appears to be. Otherwise,
will have to make survival tests DC 20, one per hour, to they will put off the attack till another night.
locate the speaker. If the party stops the thugs, she rewards them by making
Resolution: If the speaker is discovered within two hours, her special stash available for sale, and by giving them a gift
he is found in a copse of woods outside town, having a tea of any one item of their choice from her entire collection
party with half a dozen chwinga, who treat him with great (even a magic item!) Furthermore, she could be a valuable
respect (respect which he reciprocates.) They bring him contact, going forward.
mock documents of bark and leaves, and he nods sagely over If the party fails to find and stop the thugs, Eva and her
them and “signs” them with a “quill” of twig. It is unclear if wagon will be mysteriously gone next time they visit Bryn
he knows they are pretend. Shander. Her wagon may be found later in a warehouse in
Regardless, it turns out this is the magic circle Tali was Targos belonging to Naerth.
looking for. It is a place where chwinga gather, and if
brought to Tali’s attention, they are delighted.
The speaker isn’t done however—he has another
appointment to keep, and if the players find him before the

32
BRYN SHANDER – SHARDS OF SUNLIGHT If they get all the way to the top, they find the kenku,
dressed in rags. It is trying to hastily put on a winged
The players make contact with an eccentric wizard in Bryn contraption, in preparation for jumping out of the window in
Shander who is studying chardalyn. If they befriend him, he an attempt to fly and escape. It's been building this winged
will buy chardalyn shards from the party, as well as sell his contraption in a vain attempt to fly, but it will not work.
various creations to them, including chardalyn shards Resolution: If he succeeds in jumping up the window he
enchanted with a permanent light spell. falls to his death. If the party stops the kenku and captures
First Impression: In the Northlook tavern, in Bryn him, they can question him. He cannot speak normally,
Shander, the party notices the following: because he has no voice of his own, however he will repeat
things that he’s heard in order to try and save his own life.
The phrases he can repeat are damning both for Avarice
and the Knights of the Black Sword. If the players recognize
the voices they’re hearing, they will learn that the Knights
and Avarice both are loyal to Asmodeus. The kenku follows
Avarice not out of evil desires, in fact, he is miserable in her
service, but he no longer knows how to get out of the
relationship. He followed her in the first place because the
reward she promised for good service was a magical
Closer Look: If anyone approaches him, he is happy to talk transformation: to grow fully functional, living, demonic
about himself and his work. He is a wizard by the name of wings of its own. What it wants more than anything else in
Elric Sunhair, and he came to Icewind Dale with a colleague the world is the ability to fly.
to study chardalyn. He has lost his colleague and gotten
trapped here, but he persists in his studies. CAER-KONIG – MORE PRECIOUS THAN
Development: Elric raves about the potential of chardalyn GOLD
as a substance for magical crafting. If anyone brings up the
The party may make a good impression on the local owners
chardalyn tainted with dark magic, he acknowledges that it
of the Northern Light by recovering an object of sentimental
can be dangerous, but declares he has found a method for
value from the duergar outpost.
purifying it and making it ready to receive a new infusion of
First Impression: While the players are exploring the
a different kind of magic.
duergar outpost, in room O6, the Commander's Quarters,
If the players are friendly, he will ask them to bring him
they find a sack of trinkets stolen from the town, some
any chardalyn they come across. He offers a reward of 10
valuable, some not. But among them is a locket with a
gold per shard of chardalyn, and on top of that, he will make
portrait of a woman that looks a lot like the two sisters from
his wares available for their purchase.
the Northern Light tavern.
Resolution: Elric has indeed discovered a way to purify
Development: It turns out this is a locket of their mother,
dark chardalyn. Once it’s cleansed, he can infuse it with new
that both thought was lost years ago. Somehow the dwarves
magic, and he is experimenting with different kinds of
found it when they were stealing stuff from the town.
creations in this manner.
Resolution: If it is returned to Allie and Cori, the sisters are
He has not yet mastered what it would take to create
very happy to have it back and thank the party profusely. By
powerful magic items, but on any given visit, randomize 1 or
way of thanks, they offer semi-permanent rooms in the inn,
2 common items that he has available for sale. On top of
should they need it. They're not getting so much traffic that
that, he has several “shards of sunlight,” which are simply
they ever use in all of the rooms anyway. It would be their
chardalyn shards with a permanent light spell cast upon
pleasure to host the party as honorary citizens of Care
them. This light is warm, bright, and comforting, and
Koenig.
extends to a range double the normal light spell (40-foot
radius bright light, 80-foot radius of dim light.) He is willing
to sell them for 20 gold each.
CAER-KONIG – AND YET MORE
PRECIOUS THAN THAT
CAER-DINEVAL – FLIGHT OF THE The party has the chance to bring back together a long-
FALLEN estranged family, and potentially to earn a reward in the
process.
The players find a kenku servant of Avarice living in the
First Impression: Glen Korr, the proprietor of the Hook,
ruined watchtower who, if captured, may reveal secrets.
Line, and Sinker tavern in Caer-Konig, when he finds out
First Impression: The party may notice something strange
that the party are travelers, asks if they would deliver a letter
going on in the ruined watchtower down by the frozen
and a packet to his estranged daughter in Easthaven. He says
harbor. Unlike the castle, which is intact, the watchtower is
they haven't spoken in years, and this is his peace offering.
decrepit and partially collapsed. However faint lights can
Closer Look: If the party talks more to Glen, they find that
sometimes be seen in the tower late at night, and people
he loves Caer-Konig, but he's worried about its future. He's
have reported strange sounds coming from the tower as
worried that the little outlying towns like this might fail
well: clinking and sawing sounds, bird calls, and strange
soon, and he's thinking about retiring to the larger town of
ghastly moans that echo out over the lake.
Easthaven, partially to be near his daughter.
Development: It turns out there is a kenku who lives at the
Development: The packet, if opened, contains a very nice
top of the tower, who is a loyal servant of the tiefling wizard,
fur-lined cloak as a gift, along with a packet of fruit cake and
Avarice. If the party explores, the kenku tries to make
a short, painstakingly-drafted letter in an uneven hand.
horrific haunting sounds that will chase them away.

33
 The daughter can be found in Easthaven. Her name is Rina
Korr, and she's an adult woman with children of her own.
She's a little bitter about the whole thing and will cheerfully
vent to the party if they let her. According to her, her father
gave her the cold shoulder years ago. It happened after her
mother died. He just wrapped up in himself. She thought he
didn't care anymore.
Resolution: If the group takes this information back to
Glen, he's willing to apologize. He was hurting so much after
his wife’s death, that he kind of forgot about the living.
Ironically if they make peace, the daughter would prefer
instead to move up to Caer-Konig. She doesn't like it in East
Haven anymore, not with the human sacrifices. She doesn't
want to risk herself or her children being chosen, and if all
works out she will move to Caer-Konig before the end of the
month. If he’ll have her, then not only will she have him
back in her life, but she gets to escape the fear that she lives
with in Easthaven.
If all works out, Rina Korr gifts the party with an
immovable rod (or another magic item of your choice). It
belonged to her husband before he died, and she has had no
use for it since.

DOUGAN’S HOLE – AMONG US

There are rumors of a monster hiding amongst the townfolk,
someone who looks like one of them, but isn’t.
First Impression: Once the players have earned trust from
some of the townsfolk of Dougan’s Hole, one of them warns
the party, “I’d be careful who you talk to around here. Not all
of ‘em is what they seem!” If pressed for more information,
round a corner and get out of sight, and only then make its
this helpful citizen clams up, shaking their head.
escape. It is very athletic, running faster than human and
If that’s not enough to get the party investigating, then
even making impossible leaps over walls and obstacles—
later, another friendly citizen approaches the party to say,
again, only when no one is looking. This can result in
“There’s a monster among us. It looks like one of us, but it
moments like a player seeing the figure turn down an alley,
ain’t. If you could find it, I’d feel a lot safer.”
following, and finding it gone.
Closer Look: Dougan’s Hole is an isolated and private
Eventually, the party will likely need to resort to a
town, where even the locals don’t pry much into one
methodical search of all the “citizens” of Dougan’s Hole.
another’s business. It’s common to see figures moving
The people of this community value their privacy, and many
around, often alone, nearly impossible to identify under the
will react with expletives and near-violence to someone
swaths of cold weather clothing.
coming up and demanding to see their face. The reaction will
If the players want to investigate, they are encouraged to
be even worse if the party just rips off the hood of someone
look for someone whose behavior isn’t quite right and who
unhelpful. The people are anything but cooperative.
isn’t human under all that clothing.
If the party is thorough in this, they can eventually isolate
Development: In reality, there is a monster hiding
the monster. They will likely find it somewhere remote,
amongst the people. It wears the same heavy winter gear
perhaps hiding out on the ice, blending in with the other
that everyone else does, using the bulky clothes to hide its
eerie, solitary fishers out there. It does not respond when
monstrous appearance.
spoken to, not even from close range.
It has already killed twice, and in the course of
If its face is exposed, the party sees a monstrous face of
investigations, the players may find one or both of the
skinless, black muscle, eyes that glow a piercing blue, and a
bodies. One is in a house, alone, clawed to shreds, with great
lipless mouth full of long, sharp teeth, which distends
bites taken out of the flesh. The other is half-buried in a
unnaturally when it attacks. It fights to the death when
snowdrift, also clawed up and partially eaten.
identified, using the statistics of a sea hag.
In the course of the players’ investigations, they may start
to notice (or hear stories from people who have noticed) that
there is one figure whose behavior isn’t quite right. It never DOUGAN’S HOLE – HEIR TO THE HORN
seems to enter a house. It walks through town, bundled up to Dougan’s Hole is on its last legs, but if the party trusts a
hide its face, but just meanders among the buildings, never maligned old man, they may uncover a secret that could save
entering any. It goes out on the ice and sits as though the town.
fishing, but it isn’t. First Impression: At some point while the party is in
Resolution: The monster is hard to catch, as it is canny Dougan’s Hole, they notice a large gathering of the citizenry.
and tries to keep away from prying eyes. It takes care to They are moving singly and in pairs toward a sort of town
preserve its appearance of harmlessness—it will not break hall, a large half sunken building that seems to be the closest
its cover by doing anything unusual, at least not while it’s thing this town has to a civic building.
being watched. If it knows it’s being followed, then it will

34
 Closer Look: The party is not allowed inside, but the town. This could save Dougan’s Hole, but even so, the people
guards will allow them to listen at the entrance. If they do, are so insular and suspicious of outsiders that the only
they overhear the townspeople discussing the future of their reward the party can expect is a grudging, “Thank you.”
town. The speaker is addressing the people, and in her As for Castor, his mind is too far gone to recount how he
speech, she raises the question of whether it’s time to came to have this secret, but he is known to be the black
abandon the city. sheep of the old family line descending from Dougan
Some of the people are for this, and there is some Dubrace. The rest of the family perished years ago, leaving
discussion of where to go. However, there are several, him the last heir to this secret.
outspoken families that stubbornly refuse to go, arguing
that this is their home, its where they have lived for EASTHAVEN – A FEINT OF ORCS
generations, and it’s where they will die.
The party interrupts an orc raid on Easthaven, but the orcs
A few conciliatory types put forward the possibility that
pull back rather than committing to the fight. If anyone
the ones who want to leave should leave and the ones who
speaks orcish, they can overhear the whole attack is a
want to stay should stay, but that's where the speaker draws
feint—they are really going to go around Lac Dinneshere
the line. She shakes her head, saying, “We of Dougan's Hole
and attack Caer-Konig.
have always been in this together. There's no one else to
First Impression: While in Easthaven, cries of alarm and
watch out for us. We watch out for each other, and where one
sounds of battle arrest the party’s attention.
goes, all go.”
Closer Look: If they run to the sound, they find a clash just
Development: While they're listening to this, they see an
ending at the eastern edge of town. A group of a dozen orcs
old deformed man also listening outside the door. He tries to
riding worgs has just pulled back from the town’s defenders.
get in, but the guards swear and beat him, and chase him
Reinforcements are still showing up, and for now the town
away.
guard is outnumbered. It seems like a perilous moment.
He turns to go, muttering, but the players may chase after
However, instead of attacking, one of the orcs steps
him to speak with him if they want to. If they do, he says he
forward and shouts in broken common, “Gather whatever
has a secret that would help the town. He speaks strangely
forces you will. It doesn’t matter. At nightfall we burn your
always referring to himself in the third person, saying,
city to the ground.” With that, they ride away.
“Castor knows, yes. Castor has it. Nobody likes Castor.
Development: As the orcs turn to go, they speak to one
Nobody listens to Castor. Follow Castor, yes? Castor will
another in orcish. If any among the party understand orcish,
show you. Yes?”
they overhear this. “Come on. That should do it. We can get
The guards, if they overhear this, warn the party to stay
around the lake by nightfall and take the ruined castle by
away from this man. “He's trouble. Likes to lure innocent
surprise.”
children to their deaths,” they say.
The orcs assume no one will understand their language
The reality is that Castor isn’t very smart, and definitely
and are not careful to say it quietly. If this is understood, it’s
isn’t good with people. The last time he tried to show
not a big leap to figure out that they are referring to Caer-
someone his secret, it was a child who he liked. The child
Konig. Any local to Ten Towns should be able to point that
was taken by a giant wolf. Castor himself was mauled by the
out, if the party shares what they know.
wolf, but he was blamed anyway.
Resolution: If the party understood the orcish, they may
He regrets this incident bitterly, but the rest of the town
want to hurry to Caer-Konig. If they share this information
no longer trusts him.
with Captain Arlaggath or another authority in Easthaven,
If the party follows him, he takes them to the twenty
they will ask the party to undertake the mission.
stones of Thruun. He seems to be muttering a little rhyme
Using the travel rules at the end of this supplement, it will
under his breath, something about, "... blood and bone...
take a little over two hours to get to Caer-Konig by dogsled,
southern stone. " (The full thing, if they can get it out of
if you hurry and push the dogs. If the party doesn’t have a
him, is, "Just for friends of blood and bone, buried beneath
dogsled, Captain Arlaggath will gift them one as a reward for
the southern stone.")
undertaking this quest. She will settle accounts with Speaker
He leads the party out to that place, mutters around the
Torvus of Caer-Konig later. Otherwise, she offers to match
stones for a bit, and finally finds the southernmost one,
any reward that Caer-Konig gives them.
where he stops and triumphantly says, “Yes here it is! Castor
If they move without delay, the party is able to get to
says to dig here!”
Caer-Konig just minutes before the orcs do. They can rally
Resolution: Should the party dig, they find a large
defense and participate in a rousing battle in the defense of
decorative horn. It doesn't seem to be functional for
the town. The orcs were not expecting resistance this stiff,
blowing, but it could serve as a drinking horn. It is of
and they will fall back once it becomes clear the tide of battle
beautiful make, and on it is inscribed the words, “In his
has turned against them. Speaker Torvus offers a reward of
name we shall feast.”
50 gold for saving the city, with apologies that he doesn’t
This is a forgotten magic item. The command word is
have more to offer, and, true to her word, Captain Arlaggath
"Dubrace," the last name of the town’s eponymous founder,
matches it.
though no one knows this. Unless someone can figure out
On the other hand, if no one understands orcish, the
the command word, it does not do anything more than a
opportunity to help Caer-Konig is lost. The next time they
normal drinking horn.
travel there, they will find a funeral underway for three town
Anyone who says “Dubrace,” while holding the horn
militia who died. Speaker Torvus is recovering from a
causes it to overflow with 2d6+2 pounds of delicious food. It
serious wound, scorch marks can be seen on several
has ten charges per day, enough to feed the entire town.
buildings, and the town is starving, as most of their
If this is worked out, the party could either keep it (though
remaining food stores and almost all their livestock animals
Castor, a commoner, will fight to the death to get it from
were stolen.
them if he realizes their intent) or they can gift it to the

35
EASTHAVEN – TRYING TIMES EASTHAVEN – MIDWINTER’S CHILD
A young pickpocket on the streets of Easthaven cannot be A missing poster on the streets of Easthaven leads to a
punished, as the law says pickpocketing is legal. But if the mysterious child who seems to be connected to Auril, giving
players get involved, they may come to sympathize with his the players their first opportunity to get a glimpse into the
desperate circumstances. goddess’ enigmatic motivations and feelings.
First Impression: Sometime in East Haven, while on the First Impression: At several points in East Haven,
streets, one of the player characters is the victim of a including outside many of the inns and taverns, the party
pickpocketing attempt by an 11 year old human boy. finds a sheet of parchment with the image of a young human
Closer Look: A perception test DC-14, will allow the player girl, perhaps 11 years old, by the name of Sasha Dethari. It's a
to notice the would-be pickpocket. If he is not caught, missing poster, offering a reward for finding the child.
remove something of value from the players inventory (but Closer Look: If the players follow up on it they find that it
don't inform them till they go to use it later). leads to the manor of the Dethari family, one of the
However, if they catch the boy, he screams and cries and wealthier families in town. The mother, Lenore, and father
begs to be let go. If they inform the guards, they shrug and Uther, explain that their young daughter simply vanished.
inform the players that pickpocketing is legal in Easthaven. No one knows where she went or what happened to her. The
They stopped him. Now they have no recourse but to let him girl has a younger sister, Rici, but the family tells the party
go. not to listen to the little sister because, "She tells stories.”
Development: If the players follow up on this in any way, However, if they do listen to the little sister, she says that
they discover that the boy, Ricket Drury, is pickpocketing her older sister ran away. Rici explains that Sasha used to
because his father, Rogo Drury, is an out of work fisherman. talk in her sleep, and that she was friends with the owls and
Rogo can’t get his boat out over the ice to fish, but he was would talk to owls. And one day she just got on the back of an
still bringing in a little bit of money by doing odd jobs owl and flew away.
around town, only now he has fallen ill and is unable work at If the parents overhear this they say, “Don't be ridiculous,
all. This leaves him unable to provide for himself and his nobody could ride an owl. There aren't owls that big.”
son. So now the son is pickpocketing to try to put food on the Development: This is actually the lead the players need—
table for his father. no one in the Dethari family knows this, but there is a giant
Resolution: Rogo does not know what the boy is up to, and owl living in a copse of trees a mile or two outside of East
if informed, he will thank the players and speak sternly to Haven. The players can discover this by asking around town
the boy. But the two of them still have no money. about giant owl sightings.
If the players wish to help further, they could offer Ricket If the players travel out there they find the trees unusually
a job. He would be happy to act as a squire or servant to the cold, even by Icewind Dale standards. Frost in the shape of a
party, to carry messages, or anything they need of him. six-pointed snowflake grows on many of the tree branches
However, if anything happens to him, the father will never and leaves. While exploring they look up and see two figures
forgive the party. perched on a tree branch, silhouetted against the aurora of
the sky: a giant owl and an 11-year-old girl.

36
 The girl is wearing light clothing. (This is Sasha, and she GOOD MEAD – FRUIT OF A DEAD EGG
has the Midwinter Child feature from the hardcover.) As long
as the players are friendly and courteous, she will speak to When asked to investigate a teenager living alone, the party
them. She speaks in an eerily deep, monotone voice, and finds that she has hatched a dinosaur egg and is secretly
gives short enigmatic answers. growing it in her basement.
However, this is an opportunity to give the players a little First Impression: In Good Mead there is a teenage girl
bit of information as to whichever backstory you decided on named Cetree who lives in a big house. She’s from a wealthy
for Auril’s. The girl can’t explain it in full detail, but she family, but they all passed in the recent hard times, leaving
dreams of Auril, and she is willing, if asked nicely, to share Cetree living alone. She has consistently insisted she’s fine
her own limited understanding of the goddess. alone, but people are growing concerned, in part because
Sasha will not return home, no matter what the players strange noises have been coming from her house. She has
say. But if they seem genuinely concerned for her well-being also been increasingly showing up bruised, scratched, or
she says, "Get my sister out of there." When the players go limping. The town asks the players to investigate.
back, if they search under the little sister's clothing, they Closer Look: Cetree initially does not want to let anyone in,
find bruises and welts. She's clearly been the victim of abuse. even if the party is trusted in Good Mead at this point.
Resolution: If this is revealed to the town speaker, Dennis However, the party hears loud crashing and scratching
Whalen, he exiles the parents and looks for someone in town noises, and eventually Cetree will be pulled away from the
to adopt the little girl. Nobody else steps up, and unless the door with a cry of, “No! Not mother’s lamp!”
PCs do it, and he will end up taking her in, himself. If the party enters, they find an adolescent dinosaur! The
The parents make pathetic, angry excuses, but these are allosaurus (which she has named Rainbow, due to the color
unconvincing, and they eventually leave town with an air of of its shimmering scales) is rambunctious and occasionally
injured pride. They show little concern for the daughter hurts Cetree, but only on accident. However if the players
they're losing. become threatening at all towards Cetree, the allosaurus
These parents are actually devil worshipers, and they take becomes extremely defensive and may attack.
their wealth and go to join the Knights of the Black Sword in Development: It turns out that Cetree’s family, which is
Caer-Dineval. But before they leave, the father summons a one of the original settling families of Good Mead, brought
bearded devil to plague the party. For several days after this, an egg with them from Chult, centuries ago, that was
the party may notice from time to time a strange, swarthy, believed to simply be a dead heirloom. Cetree found it in her
thickly bearded man who appears to be watching them from family's belongings, took an interest, and made a special
across the room, or across the street. But whenever they go trip to Bryn Shander to consult with a scholar there, where
to pursue him, he vanishes in the crowd. she learned that these eggs can survive in a sort of
Later, sometime when they're alone and vulnerable, they hibernation for centuries.
see a cloaked man approaching, his only distinguishing In her studies she also discovered that her family used to
feature a thick beard. ride these back in Chult. So she did the proper treatments to
As he gets near, his body spreads and grows until he takes allow a hibernating egg to hatch, and it worked!
on the form of a massively muscled demon with a purple Resolution: Cetree has been growing this allosaurus
skin and a huge glaive. He says, “The Dethari family send secretly in her house for two years. Now it's finally gotten
their regards,” before he tries to kill the party. big enough that it's hard to keep it indoors all the time, but
This assailant is ruthless, and he will try to kill party she's afraid what the townspeople will think if she lets it out.
members who go down. He knows that he might not survive She's afraid they will want to kill the allosaurus, seeing it as
to win the battle, and he tries to cause real, permanent harm a dangerous threat.
before he's defeated. She has complete confidence in its good intentions, but
If the party ends up fighting the parents later, the mother even she has to admit that it could accidentally hurt
is a skilled fighter, a veteran, and the father is a cult fanatic. someone, and if it misread someone’s intentions toward her
When the bearded devil attacks, if the party is outside, the as hostile, she couldn't be responsible for what might
girl Sasha and her giant owl come to their defense. If they happen. The players need to decide what to do. Do they bring
would be surprised, instead they're not, as a giant owl's it to the attention of the speaker and the rest of the town? Do
screech alerts them to danger just before the bearded devil they keep her secret? Or do they ask her to leave Good Mead,
attacks. In the fight, the owl uses its fly by attack to claw at or worse, put it down? What happens next depends on their
the devil. Once it's defeated, the girl flies off without a choices.
further word.
LONELYWOOD – LEFT TO DIE
GOOD MEAD – A TROUBLING QUESTION The party comes across a man bound and left for dead in the
After this long time of being plagued by troubles, the people forests outside Lonelywood—the victim of a Zhentarim
of Good Mead have decided they need to re-consecrate their power play gone wrong.
shrine to a new God, one who can help them survive this First Impression: While travelling through the forest
time of hardship. outside Lonelywood, the party hears shouts for help.
The party finds the town in the midst of a heated debate Closer Look: On following the sounds, the party finds a
about which God they should reconsecrate their temple to. man tied to a tree. He is Raxom (chaotic neutral human spy).
The leading choices seem to be either Lathander, with the He managed to work free a muffle that was put in his mouth,
hope of bringing a new dawn and seeing the sun again, or so that he could shout for help. He begs for assistance and
Auril herself, in hopes of placating her and earning her thanks the party if freed, but is reluctant to share his story,
mercy. The players may get involved in this debate if they just saying, “It’s better for you if you don’t know.”
wish.

37
 Development: It turns out that he is a member of the questions, someone is going to take action, and she may not
Zhentarim who was trying to get some of the gangs of even have to do it herself. Half the citizens of Lonelywood
Lonelywood to throw in with the Zhents. For their part, the have something to hide, and the other half have something
Lonelywood folk came here to get away from all that. serious to hide. Many of them would not be above a quiet
Negotiations ended poorly. He will share this with a murder and dumping a stranger’s body in the lake. They
Persuasion DC 18 or Intimidation DC 14 social test, or if they might even consider it a civic duty, for the sake of protecting
refuse to free him unless he speaks. the peace.
He works for Speaker Naerth in Targos, but will pretend Resolution: It would take some good roleplaying and some
not to know the name and make excuses to avoid sharing very successful dice rolls to get Lorien to leave. If he doesn’t
this information unless his life is on the line. leave and the players don’t help, he will mysteriously vanish
Resolution: Raxom dares not try again, nor does he dare to within a few days.
stay and face the consequences of failure. If he is freed, he If the players abandon their mission and try to help him,
plans to get as far away as he can. Otherwise, he will die Iriskree herself will confront them and come clean, making
here, by one hand or another. sure to choose a quiet, private place to wrap up business. She
just shakes her head sadly and says she gave them a chance.
LONELYWOOD – UNWELCOME It didn’t have to go this way. Then she attacks. She has
QUESTIONS nothing against the players, and once Lorien is dead, she
may be willing to make peace if they convincingly promise
A stranger has been going around town noisily trying to find not to cause her any further trouble.
someone, and its disturbing the peace. The players are asked
to make this searcher go away. LONELYWOOD – THE PLAY’S THE THING
First Impression: As the party is going around
Lonelywood, they may notice the following: The sheriff in Bryn Shander asks the party to track a killer to
Lonelywood and bring him to justice. The party must use a
clever ruse to reveal the right man.
First Impression: In Bryn Shander, the party is approached
by Sheriff Markham Southwell.

Whether or not they notice that first, they will soon be

approached by Iriskree Harrowhill of the Happy
Scrimshander. She introduces herself if they haven’t met.

If the party follows up with witnesses, they find the same

story: this drifter accepted the priest Josiann’s hospitality,
and then flew into a rage and killed her in broad daylight,
right on the streets. Afterward, witnesses say the color
drained from his face. He looked stricken by regret and fled
in a panic. Markham’s sources put him going to Lonelywood,
but the sheriff doesn’t have any leads past that.
Closer Look: On getting to Lonelywood, the party finds
dozens of men that meet the killer’s description: broad
shouldered and dark-haired. It’s not going to be easy.
The natural place to gather information is the town’s only
tavern, the Lucky Liar. The tavern’s raven-haired barkeep,
Closer Look: If the players approach the stranger, they Danae Xotal (lawful evil human spy), will intervene if she
find him sitting alone with a dark expression on his face. He sees them asking questions. She doesn’t know anything, but
is a human minor noble named Lorien Underhallow who has she quickly decides to help—she knows Sheriff Markham
travelled from Waterdeep, seeking the assassin who won’t back down until his man is caught, so she wants to get
murdered his wife. She was killed for political reasons, and this over with as quickly as possible.
since then, Lorien has dedicated his life to hunting down her Danae recommends a solution: she will hold a big event,
killer. drinks half price, a performance competition. That should
All he knows is the assassin used to go by the name of get the man in. Then one of the players get up and tell a
“Shadowhawk.” It took years of investigating for him to find dramatized version of the murder of Josiann. If this killer
out that Shadowhawk came to Icewind Dale to escape their feels as guilty as the watchers say, this should get a reaction
past. He has tracked the assassin to Lonelywood specifically, out of him, and then they can grab him and get out of town.
but doesn’t know how to find Shadowhawk, and is unwilling Development: When the night comes, the tavern is packed.
to give up now that he has come so close. Danae makes sure that the party’s performer is on the
Development: The truth is that Iriskree herself is docket for a prime time, once the crowd is warmed up.
Shadowhawk, but she’s right that if Lorien keeps asking

38
 The selected PC must make a DC 12 Performance check to TARGOS – GETTING TO KNOW YOU
elicit a reaction from the killer. If successful, anyone who is
watching the crowd may notice his reaction with a DC 12 Upon coming into Targos for the first time, a prominent
Insight test. However, if the player’s Performance check is Zhentarim informer makes contact with the party (without
18 or higher, then the killer gives himself away without revealing their true identity right away). This can be the
question. He has such a strong reaction that he stands up, start of a profitable relationship, or the beginning of enmity.
knocking his chair over. His face is pale as a sheet, and he First Impression: Near the town center of Targos is a large
attempts to flee the tavern. emporium open to the street, yet well-lit and heated inside.
If the party chases him, he goes berserk defending “Faruk’s Emporium” sells clothing, home goods, rugs,
himself. He’s like a different person (use the berserker lamps, cookware, in fact, just about everything except
combat statistics, but he fights with a dagger instead of a fishing supplies, all of it at relatively low prices. This is
greataxe), and he howls insults and imprecations in the clearly one of the most popular stores in town—though
Infernal language. there it is apparent that there are large gaps on some of the
They must knock him out to capture him. When he comes shelves.
to, he is back to himself. He confesses to the murder and A handful of overly-friendly employees greet customers
apologizes, near tears. It’s not hard to get his story out of as they approach and help them find what they need—if any
him. The man is Samuel Gorn. Years ago, he attempted to of these employees discover that the party is new to town,
summon a demonic spirit. The ritual failed, and the spirit they will immediately usher them in to the back, saying,
entered him, where it caused him to kill his family. He fled “Sahmad loves to meet strangers!”
from justice, and he has been running ever since. It’s almost Closer Look: If they follow inside, read the following:
a relief to finally be caught.
Resolution: Samuel does not fight his justice. In fact, he
believes he should be executed. Not only does he welcome an
end to his misery, he truly, deeply believes he deserves it; it
was only the animal fear of death that made him keep
running. He’s exhausted and ready for the end. Sheriff
Markham is content to oblige, making him the town’s next
sacrifice.
Before Samuel is executed, if the players come speak to
him again, the demonic spirit will take over for a few
minutes. It speaks in Infernal, cursing them, insulting them, This mana is Sahmad el Faruk, a lawful evil human spy. He
and gloating over its murders. is from Calimshan, and he hates the cold darkness of
It will not relinquish Samuel willingly, but if anyone Icewind Dale with a passion, which is why he keeps his
speaks Infernal, it will taunt them by speaking of a cult of offices so well-lit and hot. He is also the proprietor of
Asmodeus growing in influence right here in Ten Towns, Faruk’s Emporium and one of the most important
right under their very noses. The demon enjoys delivering Zhentarim agents in Icewind Dale. He answers to Speaker
the taunts, but also, it hates devils. If this gets the players to Naerth Maxildannar directly, but he feels no true loyalty to
tweak Asmodeus’ nose, so much the better. the man. He would prefer not to be in Icewind Dale at all, but
There is just one hope for Samuel: forcibly expelling the he had “personal reasons” for needing to leave Calimport,
demonic spirit. No one in Bryn Shander has that ability, but and through the Black Network, he came to understand that
if the party has befriended Layla Winterheart, from the there was a killing to be made in Icewind Dale. Now here he
“Winter’s Red Cloak” encounter below, that is something is, trapped by blizzards in a sunless land, barely making
she is capable of doing. Even if that is successful, a decision ends meet.
still must be made about Samuel Gorn’s fate. It is his business—both for the Emporium and for the
Zhentarim—to know people, so he makes sure to make the
acquaintance of anyone who passes through what he thinks
of as “his town.” He will cheerfully plug the party for
information under the guise of friendly interest, and just as
cheerfully share their secrets with Naerth, later.
Development: If the party opens up to him at all, Sahmad
will quickly determine that these are no ordinary travelers.
He decides it’s important to get them working for the Black
Network, before they end up working against it.
His tactic is to get them involved slowly, by offering small,
innocuous jobs at first and then scaling them up to more and
more dangerous, difficult, and morally questionable jobs as
time goes on, until he can get a sense of their character and
what he can expect from them.
He starts with asking them to deliver a letter to wherever
they’re going next. He’ll offer them two gold to deliver it,
since it’s not out of their way, and he also encourages them
to stop back in any time they’re in Targos to see if he needs
anything else.

39
 Further jobs he may have for them include: TARGOS – PASSING THE HAT AROUND
- More delivering of letters and packages. He’s always got
something that needs to go somewhere. Some of the fishers are taking up a collection for a
- Collection quests, where he needs a certain number of companion whose ship was destroyed in a boating accident
knucklehead trout bones, or wolf hides, or yeti claws, or that also left him with a broken leg.
chardalyn shards, or any other special item you want to send First Impression: At any of the taverns or inns in Targos,
the players gallivanting after. the players may observe the following:
- Guard duty, escorting a wagon of his to another town to
ensure that it gets there safely.
As he gets to know the party better, he may move them up
to things like:
- Information gathering: nothing illegal, just asking
around about a certain person or business, watching them, Closer Look: If the players question the fishers, they
any info that can be legally obtained and bringing it back to explain, “It’s for Nik Thuum. He lost his boat and broke his
him. leg on the water the other day. Near woulda drowned if a few
- Or collecting unpaid debts, which will usually be pretty of us hadn’t a pulled him out. We’re passin’ the hat around
miserable work. to help keep him afloat till that leg heals and he can find
By this time, he should have a pretty good sense of where some other work. I don’t know what he’ll do with no boat,
the party’s moral line is and whether he can escalate some or though.”
all of them to the next level. He may direct the next set of Development: If the players give a little (or not) and move
tasks just to a select few among the party: on, that can be the end of it. But if they decide to speak to Nik
- Roughing up a fisherman who has “been doing his Thuum himself, they find a half-orc commoner laid up in
fellows dirty,” (i.e. he’s trying to get the other fisherman to his room with his leg in a splint, looking rueful and
back out of their arrangement with the Zhents.) embarrassed. He tries to refuse charity, saying the mistake
- Sneaking into the homes or businesses of important was his own fault; he doesn’t want to put anyone else out.
people in any of the big towns to steal sensitive information. In reality, the accident wasn’t an accident at all. He took
- Using bribes and back-street violence to influence the out a loan from the Zhentarim a while back and wasn’t able
election in any town that needs a new speaker. to make payments. He believes the Zhents sabotaged his
If the party, or whoever he’s still working with, truly boat and caused the accident, but he wouldn’t share this
proves themselves to be both reliable and lacking in moral unless he has a good reason to.
qualms, then he may give quests like: Resolution: If the players give, the common folk of the
- Tracking down and killing either Harper agents, or town hold them in slightly higher esteem. They may notice
former Zhent agents who went rogue. (You may wish to strangers nodding or raising a glass in their direction for a
connect this to the Lonelywood encounter, above, “Left to few days. If they don’t, nobody holds it against them, but it
Die,” or the Bryn Shander encounter, “Foul Play.” Either of cements their status as outsiders.
the NPCs from those stories could be a target.) If they find out about the real cause of the accident, that
- Stealing cargo meant for rival businesses and may lead to further roleplaying scenes with the Zhentarim,
redirecting it to Faruk’s Emporium. but it depends on what the players do with that information.
- Burning down the business of someone who has refused
for too long to do things Naerth’s way. TERMALAINE – WINTER’S RED CLOAK
One tactic Sahmad likes to use is that of doing “favors” for
The party learns the identity of the mysterious red-cloaked
influential people—such as groups of adventurers. These
woman from Marta Peskryk’s story, and must decide
favors are then owed back to him later. He likes people with
whether or not to keep her secret.
power to be in his debt. That way he can call on them to
First Impression: At the Eastside tavern in Termalaine, the
either take care of an important business matter, or
party may hear the teenaged innkeeper Marta humming a
discreetly look the other way, as needed.
song about a red-cloaked woman. (pg. 94)
Remember that Sahmad isn’t acting alone here—this is
Later, if a player is out in the streets late at night for any
bigger than him. The Speaker himself is Zhentarim and uses
reason, they have the chance to spot a red-cloaked woman
his influence to protect Sahmad, while channeling his most
standing at a window of the Eastside, looking in at Marta as
distasteful orders through Sahmad so that he has a level of
she cleans up and closes down for the night.
plausible deniability. With both the captain of the guard and
Closer Look: A DC 12 Insight test reveals that the woman
the wealthiest man in town in his pocket, Naerth has an
does not look hostile. Instead, she looks wistful. She cares.
effective stranglehold on Targos.
If approached, she is badly startled. Her mind was clearly
Resolution: Sahmad abides by the axiom, “Keep your
on her own thoughts, and she was not paying attention to
friends close and your enemies closer,” and applies this to
her surroundings.
his relations with the party. If they can be reliable Zhent
The woman has the reflexes of a fighter, but she catches
agents, great. But if they would oppose Zhentarim influence
herself before doing anything rash. She goes to leave, but a
and actions, it’s even more important to keep them close, so
DC 14 Persuasion test may get her to stay and talk, privately.
that he can keep tabs on them and gently steer them away
She has lived in isolation here in Icewind Dale for so long,
from things he’s sure they would rather not see.
and now everything is about to change, that there is a part of
One area where even a good-aligned party and Sahmad
her that wants to tell her story, before she goes. She will not
can agree is on the question of ending Auril’s eternal winter.
enter the inn, but she doesn’t mind meeting up with the rest
Sahmad makes no secret of bemoaning this state of affairs,
of the party somewhere else.
and will make genuine efforts to help any endeavor that
seems to have promise with regard to ending the curse.

40
 Development: Once they get somewhere they can talk, the
woman introduces herself as Layla Winterheart. She is a 15th
LOCATION ENCOUNTERS
These encounters take place at a specific location in Icewind
level, neutral good, human cleric/warlock, and she is the
Dale, but not in one of the Ten Towns. These are associated
red-cloaked woman from the song.
with locations from Chapter Two of the hardcover.
She came here fifty years ago hunting a demon whose
psychic whispers had corrupted her husband’s mind. She
passed through Termalaine and was comforted by the KARKOLOHK – GOBLIN KIDS
reassuring kindness of the proprietors of this inn. However, On a rescue mission, the players find that goblin kidnappers
even in that moment of respite, she was attacked by the have taken pity on human children and dressed them as
demonic forces she fought against. She regretted exposing goblins, hoping to spare them by passing them off as goblins
her hosts to danger, so she fled into the wilderness and once they get back to Karkolohk.
resolved to live in absolute isolation, never to bring any from First Impression: Outside any town, the players come
Icewind Dale into her fight again. across the aftermath of a raid. Several people were carried
Over the years, she has identified and stopped several off by goblins, and the players are begged to track them
demonic incursions into the Dale, mostly single-handedly. down and rescue survivors. Three human adults, one dwarf
But all of them were serving some greater demon: a terrible adult, and three human children are missing.
being trapped under the ice of the Reghed Glacier. Now she Closer Look: It is not hard to track the goblin raiding
has finally identified the source, and she is about to go to the party; they left huge marks through the snow. After a couple
glacier to face her demonic enemy there in its icy prison. She of hours, they come across a goblin sled pulled by two
is not sure if she will survive. worgs. There seem to be ten goblins, two of them riding the
Before she leaves, she just wanted to see her daughter one worgs, with the others riding or walking alongside. (Only
last time. seven of these are actually goblins.)
She broke her promise of isolation just once, with a Inside the sled, the four adult prisoners are held in a cage,
handsome trapper near Lonelywood. A child was born of the stripped of equipment, being taken back to the goblin
union, and that child is Marta Peskryk. stronghold of Karkolohk, where they will be killed and eaten.
Remembering the kindness of the innkeepers in However, the children are at first nowhere to be seen.
Termalaine, she brought the child there. She knew that the Development: What happened is that the goblins took a
life she lived was too dangerous for a child, and she also liking to the three children and started to feel bad about
knew that if she ever met the child, or knew her, or was a taking them home to be killed and eaten. As a solution, the
part of her life in any way, that would show her enemies a goblins decided to adopt the children.
weakness. So she stayed remote all these years, to protect They dressed the three human children up as goblins and
her daughter. they intend to try and pass them off as goblins when they get
The innkeepers lied to Marta about her parentage, and back to the fortress. They expect the children to join goblin
when they gave her the ring, they lied about its origin too. In society as honorary goblins. They haven’t really thought
actuality, Layla Winterheart gave them the ring to give to the through the long-term.
girl, the only tiny bit of protection that she could offer. Resolution: Once the players get close, it will be easy to see
Now Layla prepares to embark on her final mission, the that three of the goblins are not goblins, but human children
one that will prove her ultimate victory, or her death. And wearing shoddy goblin disguises. Nonetheless, the goblins
she wanted to look upon her daughter first. keep up the ruse, apparently believing that the disguises are
Resolution: The party can do little to help Layla, but they perfect. The human children stand around awkwardly,
must decide how to react. They may choose to keep her goblinoid “noses” slowly sliding off their faces. They do not
secret, or they may try to persuade her to show herself to her join in if any fighting breaks out. After a while, the youngest
daughter. Layla is in a much more delicate state of mind may start to cry.
than usual, and so will be open to influence in either The goblins took a beating in their raid and are not eager
direction. She’s not sure, herself, what the right thing to do for another fight. They will try to talk their way out of the
is. situation if possible. If they can get a “ransom” for the
The party may also find out that Marta’s father is still human adults, they will eagerly take it. However, they
alive. Layla named her daughter after the handsome trapper protest that the human children are actually goblins for far
who sired her. His name is Martin Peskryk, but he goes by longer than is reasonable.
Martin Trueaxe, and he is now a respected leader in But if they are eventually forced to drop the ruse, they
Lonelywood. Though Speaker Nimsy Huddle has his full have no qualms about explaining that they were trying to
support, if anything ever happened to her, he would likely be save the children’s lives, hoping that this will buy them their
the next speaker. The party may also try to connect these own lives in return.
two, although Layla will make the argument, and the party The situation can be resolved socially or through combat,
may agree, that Marta has a perfectly happy life. Why disturb depending on how the players approach the problem.
it?
Soon, Layla will leave for her greatest quest yet, but she REVEL’S END – SILENT CARGO
refuses the party’s help. This is her struggle. Similarly, she
This actually can begin in any of the Ten Towns, and it will
does not have time to help them with Auril and the eternal
take the players to Revel’s End. A halfling merchant hires the
winter—that is their battle—but she wishes them well.
players to escort her to the prison, where she claims to seek
passage out of Icewind Dale, but in actuality, she is a Lord’s
Alliance agent delivering a prisoner.
First Impression: In a tavern common room, the players
are approached by a young halfling named Tethry Twotails,

41
(referencing the pigtails she keeps her hair in.) She explains
that she is a merchant, but she’s giving up on life in Icewind
Dale. She has heard that the prison, Revel’s End, has
Icebreaker Ships that can leave the Dale. She is willing to pay
the party 50 gold pieces to escort her to Revel’s End, where
she hopes to book passage south. She can be negotiated up to
double that value.
Closer Look: If the party agrees, she is delighted and
thanks them profusely. She has a wagon with a few supplies
and just one staff member she wants to bring, a tall human
man who wears a cloak and never speaks.
As they proceed, they find her “employee” stays in the
wagon. A perceptive character who sneaks a closer look
inside the wagon may notice that he is actually chained hand
Development: Whatever course of action the players
and foot, though his cloak is arranged so as to make this fact
recommend, Marta nods thoughtfully, absorbing their input
not obvious.
without yet making a decision. Once the conversation is
Development: In actuality, this man is the criminal Rade
done and the players leave, read the following:
Kavash, who Tethry tracked to Icewind Dale and eventually
captured. He is in chains and under the effects of a silence
spell. She is keeping it secretive because Icewind Dale is not
a land friendly to arresting people for old crimes. A lot of folk
come here to escape their past and may not take kindly to
one of their own being captured.
If confronted, Tethry will first try to claim that he is a If no one understands Dwarvish, she repeats the question
madman who is chained for his own protection. (Her in broken Common. As you roleplay her, make her seem
character flaw is a tendency to lie even when it’s not changed—more gruff and outgoing. This is no longer Marta
necessary.) If that doesn’t work, she will eventually come they are speaking to, but instead the spirit of her friend and
clean, if she believes the characters can be trusted. old adventuring companion, the dwarf warrior Vlax
Resolution: If they assist her, great. The prison warden at Brawnanvil.
Revel’s End confirms her story and locks up Rade Kavash. Once or twice a day, he can take over, and he has done so
Tethry, her mission complete, will in fact pay the party what now in order to have a few drinks with Marta’s visitors.
she owes and book passage home. While controlled by Vlax, Marta speaks in Dwarven (if
On the other hand, if they free Kavash, he thanks them anyone can understand her), and behaves completely
and makes good his escape. Tethry is unlikely to catch him a differently, drinking too much and relishing off-color, but
second time and, if alive, she will be furious. He is in fact a good-natured jokes. If the question of the fate of Icewind
dangerous criminal, and if he is freed, feel free to have him Dale comes up, “Marta” doesn’t seem to remember their
turn up again, for good or ill. prior conversation, but scoffs at the idea of an evacuation.
If the players make a good impression on Vlax, he will
REVEL’S END – OF TWO MINDS eventually confide his true purpose:
Warden Marta Marthannis at Revel’s End invites the players
to dinner to get their opinion about the fate of Ten Towns.
After dinner, the spirit inside her comes out, asking the
players for help finding peace.
First Impression: Before the players leave Revel’s End, the
prison warden, Marta Marthannis invites them to dinner.

Resolution: If the players pass on the message, Marta is

sober, but listens intently. She hates the idea of losing her
last connection to her friend, but good roleplaying and/or
dice rolls will help her see that it’s for the best.
Handling this honorably will earn Marta’s respect, and
she is more likely to follow the players advice on what
recommendation to give the Lord’s Alliance. She needs to
travel south anyway to bring her recommendation to the
Closer Look: They may engage in discussion with Marta
Lord’s Alliance, so she can visit Gauntlgrym while she’s
about their opinions. As they talk, she asks probing
there. It’s not far from Neverwinter.
questions, trying to gather any information she can from
If this goes well, this earns the players an ally of Marta,
their first-hand experiences. Ultimately, what she is getting
and by extension, all the staff at Revel’s End. They can ask
at is the following:
for favors in the future—for instance, perhaps the use of one

42
of their Icebreaker Ships to reach the Island of Solstice, once
they know where to go.
TRAVEL ENCOUNTERS
The following encounters can occur elsewhere in Icewind
Marta is also a secret member of the Harpers; if there are
Dale, usually in unnamed places that the party may only
any other Harpers members in the group, she may reveal
briefly be traveling through. If there is a requirement—
herself. If the party hasn’t yet found the “Under Suspicion”
forest, mountains, road, town outskirts, or the like—that
encounter, Marta will ask them to check on another Harper
will be listed in the title, just as it was above.
agent, the merchant Eva Trisk, in Bryn Shander.

REVEL’S END – PRISON BREAK OUTSKIRTS – HUNGER PANGS

While on the outskirts of any town, the party comes across a
On a visit to Revel’s End, the players witness a prison break.
poor family on their last legs, and must decide whether and
The most dangerous of the escaped prisoners splits from the
how to intervene.
rest and takes one of the councilors hostage. She might
First Impression: Not far from the road, the party hears
make good her escape if she is not stopped.
sounds of soft crying from a small building.
First Impression: This event begins when alarm bells start
Closer Look: Inside the building is a young mother, Nessie
ringing while the players are going about their business.
Havesham (neutral good human commoner) with two
Closer Look: Guards start rushing about. If the players are
children, two boys named Rissit and Tavi. The smaller of the
respected at Revel’s End (see above), then the guards don’t
two children, Tavi, is sick and unconscious. All three of them
object to the players trying to help. Otherwise, they ask the
are wan and thin with hunger, and the hut is bitterly cold—
players to stay out of the way.
they can afford neither food nor fuel for a fire.
If the players follow the commotion, they come to the R11
Development: Nessie’s sister and provider, Trisha
courtyard in the southwest corner (see pg. 157 in the
Havesham, went to Dougan’s Hole to trade for furs and
hardcover). A group of 3d4 prisoners who were being
hasn’t returned. That was over two tenday ago. Nessie hasn’t
allowed some outdoor time in the courtyard have somehow
been able to go out to work because Tavi is sick, and they are
obtained weapons and staged a doomed rebellion here. They
out of food, money and fuel. They will die soon.
have already killed one guard, and another is injured, in
Resolution: A gift of five silver pieces, or the equivalent
their power. These prisoners are treated as bandits with no
amount of fuel and food, is enough to sustain Nessie and her
armor. Only half of them have weapons.
family temporarily. However Tavi is too far gone to recover
Development: The ringleader of this escape attempt, a
without magical healing.
Thayan spy named Carin Vada, is not here. She
If the party looks for Trisha in Dougan’s Hole, her body
masterminded this escape attempt, and they believe they
can be found in the Frost Giant Lodge, a casualty of the
just need to hold out until she comes back to get them all
wolves. With her can be found her pack, which contains two
out, but in fact she has abandoned them and only plans to
silver bars worth 20gp each, payment from her latest deal,
get herself to freedom.
wrapped in a collection of furs worth another 20gp. If this
Carin Vada has locked herself in nearby room R12, the
pack is returned to Nessie, she will use the money to move
meeting room, with the Councilor from Neverwinter, Voss
into town, where she can be closer to people and hopefully
Anderton. She has a knife to his throat and is trying to get
find work.
the information she needs to make good her escape.

ROAD – IN HUMAN CLOTHING

Resolution: The guards will get the prison break in R11
under control, with or without the players help. But unless
the players figure out that the ringleader isn’t here, Carin The party comes across an eerily silent traveler who does not
Vada will kill Voss Anderton and make good her escape. They ever show their face. Are they human, or something else?
may figure this out by listening to the language of the other First Impression: A silent traveler is going the same
rioters, who may say things like, “We just have to hold on till direction on the same road as the players, during travel
she gets back!” Or they may decide on their own to look between one town and another. The person walks slowly, not
around for other signs of trouble and find the locked door. If looking up or side to side, not deviating from their slow,
the guards do not welcome the players’ help initially, they trudging pace. After a while, it may start to become notable,
can still get involved by noticing the trouble in R12. and strange, to have a fellow traveler so close for so long (on
From the time the encounter in R11 begins, start counting such isolated roads!) without so much as a greeting.
rounds. After 10 rounds, Carin Vada will break down Voss Closer Look: The traveler does not respond to hails, does
Anderton, get the information she needs, and kill him. Once not turn to look at the players, and does not react to any
that happens, over the next five rounds she will move down interaction short of approaching within 5’ of them. They
the hexagon hallway in a stolen guard uniform, give the keep their head down, looking at the road, and it is
right pass phrases to the guards in R3, and get out of the impossible to see the face under the heavy hood without
prison, where she scales the elevator system at R2 rather getting close.
than drawing attention to herself by activating it. Development: If any PC moves within 5’ of the traveler,
If the players don’t catch her in the act, she escapes. If the they look up. Roll a d6; on a result of 1-4 it is a road-weary
players catch her in R12 before the 10 rounds is up, she will traveler who was simply lost in a daze as they walked. On a
attempt to use Voss Anderton as a hostage to buy her result of 5 or 6, it is a monster, a lost spirit that attacks if
freedom, while he sternly insists that she must not be disturbed. Its eyes glow blue in its rotting face, its mouth
negotiated with, even if it means his own death. How this distends horribly, and it attacks, using the combat statistics
resolves depends on what the players do. of a sea hag.

43
WILDERNESS – TIMELY RESCUE Now, he’s the last who remembers the old days, the way it
once was. And now his time is almost up.
Just when everything seems to be hopeless, a Goliath Resolution: If the players stick around and listen for an
werebear shows up to help the players. hour or longer, they may learn some interesting things. He
First Impression: This event can happen at any time or speaks of his brother and lifelong rival, Ertgard, who he
place where the party is pushed to the brink of disaster, be it bitterly regrets will now outlive him. He speaks of the
a blizzard in the wilderness or a fight that goes against the ancient, skull-shaped fortress, Grimskalle, which was once
party. the center of frost giant civilization in the north, but has
Closer Look: A friendly werebear appears at the moment now been despoiled by her moving in. As if that weren’t bad
when most needed, either guiding the party to shelter from enough, Ertgard swore loyalty to her and defends her. It’s
the storm, or in full battle mode, relieving some of the not clear who “she” is (Auril, in fact), but he just about spits
pressure from the party in a fight. at the mention of this action on the part of his brother.
Development: This is one of the Goliath werebears created Eventually, he shakes his head and laughs, commenting,
by Oyaminartok, who wander the land helping where they “Ertgard always thought the treasure room was so well
can and defending the peace of the civilians, without hidden, but he sits right in front of it! He gives it away by his
recognition or appreciation. (See pg. 293 in the hardcover.) own presence!” (Adjust the hardcover section to make the
Resolution: The rescuer is a gentle soul who asks for no door in room G3 in Grimskalle be a secret door, which the
payment and will disappear into the snowy landscape giant Ertgard sits right in front of.) You may add other
without ceremony once the need for them to be here has interesting clues to Utgard’s speech, as you see fit.
passed. If the players do not stick around to listen, they may freely
leave at any time they like. He doesn’t even bother to say
MOUNTAINS – DYING OF A GIANT goodbye. On the other hand, if they attack, he will find the
While traveling the Spine of the World mountains, the party strength to rise for one last battle. He faces them gladly,
comes across a frost giant at the end of his natural lifespan. eager for the opportunity to win one more glorious victory,
If they listen, he will talk, eventually sharing things that or, if they prove too strong, equally eager for the chance to
may be of some interest. He fights only if attacked, happy to die in battle.
have a chance to die in battle.
First Impression: High in the mountains, the players see OUTSKIRTS – GNOLL RAID
what appears to be a full-size statue of a frost giant, carved The players come across a gnoll raid in progress, with a
in a sitting position on top of a great boulder and encrusted goliath werebear defending some innocents. If they move
in hoar-ice, gazing out to the east. quickly to the aid, they may save the werebear and the
Closer Look: If the players draw closer, the “statue” innocents she is protecting.
moves. It is not a statue, but an old, old frost giant. He is too First Impression: As the players are approaching or leaving
old to care much about these insignificant beings any town, they come across three or four panicked and
approaching him. He is in a reflective mood, at the end of his fleeing civilians.
long life, and may be open to conversation, if they approach
with respect and peace. If he becomes aware of players
approaching, read the following:

Development: The survivors point the party in the right

direction, where (if they go) they find a little cluster of rustic
houses tainted by scenes of carnage. Several dead bodies
litter the yard, their blood already freezing on the snow, but
if the players moved quickly, the fight is not yet over.
He speaks in Giant, but unlike most Frost Giants, he also Here they find a young goliath werebear (use the stats of a
understands and speaks Common. He does not much care polar bear with just 20 hp left) blocking the door to a large
about the players presence, and will not respond to them barn. She fights fiercely, but is outnumbered by aggressive
unless they speak to him about matters he cares about: gnolls and already wounded. (There are a number of gnolls
namely, himself. equal to the number of party members plus the average
Development: This frost giant is named Utgard. He is character level.)
dying and he knows it. If the players listen respectfully, he Resolution: The gnolls will run away if half their number
will ramble for a time. His words are meandering and hard to are defeated. If the party is able to save the goliath werebear,
follow, referring now to events from years ago, and now to she introduces herself as Tekayanta and thanks them.
the present time. He recalls old friends and enemies. It is not Consider her a friendly contact that they may call on in the
so much a conversation as just him thinking out loud and future. She was passing nearby when she heard the screams
permitting the players to listen if they wish. His and came to help. Inside the barn are another 8 survivors.
reminiscences revolve around a few figures who were They have no reward to offer the players except their
important to him, all of whom are long gone now. One is gratitude. After this, the survivors decide to finally abandon
Astrid, a queen who he loved, before he led a rebellion their ranch and try to make a new life in the nearest town.
against her. Another is the “black-bearded giant,” who he
seems to dislike, but who died impressively. He also regrets
how few frost giants there are left. Once, they ruled this land.

44
TRAVELING – LITTLEST KNIGHT, PART 1
The party meets a group of chwingas, with whom they may
play and exchange gifts, but there’s one spirit that doesn’t
seem to fit in with the rest.
First Impression: While traveling, anyone with a passive
perception of 14 or higher observes the following: Closer Look: The character it chose notices it first, but
once it’s pointed out, anyone can see it. From then, how it
reacts depends on how it is treated.
Development: This chwinga travelled for a long time with
a dwarven druid, Duvelia Windwalker, who had a great air of
dignity about her, and the chwinga adopted that same sense
Closer Look: If anyone in the party follows and looks over
of dignity. If the approaching player treats it in a respectful
the snow drift, they see this:
manner, such as by bowing, the chwinga will return in kind,
and they can become friends. Any other approach, including
playful, disrespectful, or aggressive, will cause the chwinga
to vanish. The chwinga has an air of gravitas at odds with its
tiny size, and matching that serious demeanor is key to
befriending it.
Resolution: This chwinga has been lonely since Duvelia
died. It is seeking a new person worthy of its respect and
companionship. If it finds a character with a good heart and
noble bearing, who treats it with respect, it will accompany
that person, riding on their shoulder.
The chwinga does not speak, but it reacts to situations
with a sense of wisdom and moral judgement, making its
Development: If any player interferes or makes their opinion known through body language. For instance, it may
presence known, all four chwingas vanish. However, a brandish its spear when it thinks the party should fight, or
moment later, the closest players hear a little giggle. stand peacefully when it thinks the party should talk.
If the players decide to search, it takes a DC 15 As long as the person it has chosen continues to both treat
Investigation or Perception test to find a chwinga. Upon it with respect and behave in a manner that it finds
finding one, it quivers with delight, then vanishes again, deserving of respect, the chwinga will stick around. After
giggling. These three have been playing with children in a three days with the same person, they become magically
nearby town, and they have learned this hide and seek attuned, as if the chwinga had been summoned by a find
behavior. familiar spell. The chwinga will help a cause it finds noble in
Resolution: After half an hour of this, or when the any way it can, including risking its life.
chwingas have been found several times, the game wraps up.
The three chwingas happily gather around the players,
tumbling over one another and checking out the players’
things. Any act of aggression will cause them to vanish.
If anyone in the party gives them a gift, no matter how
small or unimportant, the chwingas eagerly jump into this
new game. The chwingas who have not received gifts bundle
forward, eager to get one too. And then, each of the three
will give one gift in return.
- One gives a berry. This is a goodberry that heals 1d6+1 hp
and a level of exhaustion.
- One gives a little leaf. This is a charm that gives +1 to all
saving throws until your next long rest.
- One gives a stone. This is a charm that gives +1 to AC
until the next long rest.
An identify spell is not needed; each gift gives the observer
an intuitive sense of what it does, just for spending an action
examining it. Shortly afterward, the chwingas get distracted
and vanish.

TRAVELING – LITTLEST KNIGHT, PART 2

The party meets again with the unusual chwinga who did
not fit in with the prior group. If treated well, it may join one
of them as a familiar.
First Impression: Some time after the “Littlest Knight,
Part 1” encounter, this chwinga makes itself noticed by
whichever character it sees as the most worth if its respect.

45
PART 5 –
ENVIRONMENT RULES
With temperatures below freezing, sometimes far below
freezing, at all times of day or night, Icewind Dale has a
special kind of cold. The kind of cold where your eyelashes
freeze together. Where hot water poured from a mug freezes
solid before it hits the ground. Where if you make a mistake,
you don’t get a second chance.
These alternative environment rules are designed to give
that intense cold a more prominent seat at the table.

EXTREME COLD
Any time the temperature is below freezing (which it always
is in Auril’s Icewind Dale), there is a risk inherent in being
out in the cold. Characters who are not in shelter or huddled
near a fire must make a Constitution saving throw
periodically or incur one level of exhaustion. These levels are
FREEZING AND RECOVERING
cumulative both with each other, and with other sources of A character who “dies” due to cold exhaustion still has a
exhaustion. (See the PHB pg. 291 for more on Exhaustion.) chance of being resuscitated even hours later. When warmed
The difficulty and frequency of this saving throw depends on up, the character may make death saves at DC 15, with a
just how bitterly cold it is. See the Extreme Cold chart, below. penalty of -1 per hour of unconsciousness. If successful, you
In general, we can assume that in this setting, the can still return to life. You aren’t dead till you’re warm and
temperature is “Very Cold” during what passes for daytime dead. (This is true!)
hours, and “Intensely Cold” at night.

46
 FORAGING
A key aspect of wilderness survival is being able to find food
and, in an arctic environment, fuel for a fire. A foraging
action takes two hours, and you must decide in advance
whether you are foraging for food or firewood. The results
will be based on a Wisdom (Survival) test, but the DC
depends on the local conditions and the abundance of
resources. If you fail this roll, you find nothing.
Rangers are especially skilled at foraging. They find
double the results on a successful foraging roll, and still gain
half of the listed result even if they fail the roll.

WILDERNESS SURVIVAL
Simply avoiding freezing is only the beginning of survival in
the arctic wilderness. One must also acquire sufficient food
and be capable of finding, or making, shelter and fire.

STARVATION
A medium character needs 2 pounds of food per day, and can
consume 4 or more pounds when eating heavily. Passing a
day without food causes a starvation penalty of temporary -1
to your Constitution. This penalty is cumulative, and in cases
of extreme starvation, can apply to attributes other than
Constitution as well.
FISHING
EXTREME STARVATION
Once your Constitution drops to 3, if you still have no food, To go fishing requires proper equipment and a body of water
you may apply the continuing, daily starvation penalty to that’s not frozen—or the ability to cut a hole in the ice to get
any of the three physical attributes of your choice. If any to flowing water. Hooking a fish requires passing a Wisdom
attribute drops to zero, you become incapacitated. All three (Survival) test, and you can test once per hour in standard
physical attributes dropping to zero causes death. conditions. The abundance of fish in the area determines the
DC of the fishing test, how long you have to spend to make
HALF-RATIONS one fishing test, and how much food you get with a success.
If you know you’re going to be short on food, you can start
consuming reduced food. You can eat half-rations without
penalty for a number of days equal to 3 + your Constitution
modifier (minimum 1). After that, each two days of half-
rations causes a point of starvation penalty, as described
above.

DOUBLE RATIONS
Eating heavily is the only way to recover from the starvation
penalty to attributes. It takes two days of double rations to
recover from each point of starvation penalty. If all three
attributes have starvation penalties, you may choose which
one to apply the recovery to each day. KNUCKLEHEAD TROUT
With most fish, hooking one is the end of it, but not with
Icewind Dale’s infamous knucklehead trout. These beasts
are long and strong, and there is a risk of one pulling the
fisher into the water instead of the reverse!
Once a knucklehead trout is hooked, you must make a
Strength (Athletics) test DC 10. If you fail by 5 or more, you
must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or get pulled into
the water. (See the rules for “Frigid Water” and “Wet
Clothing,” above.) On a success, you land the fish, gaining
5d6 pounds of food. Knucklehead trout bones are also
valuable. Similar to ivory, they are used to make artistic
scrimshaw, and can be sold for as much as a silver piece in
the streets of Ten Towns.

47
MAKING CAMP SHELTER
At the end of the day, the fire is crackling merrily. The The easiest way to find shelter is to bring it along; cold-
fighter sets up a padded tent, the bard whistles a tune, trying weather tents can be purchased in Ten Towns for 20gp. They
out some new chords on his instrument, and the wizard take 30 minutes to set up and provide shelter for four, with
pours over her tomes, making notes in her many books. The elbow room, or up to eight, if they are willing to sleep in a
promise of rest and a new dawn puts everyone in a good big pile (assuming all are medium size creatures.)
mood. Any building provides shelter; even ruined buildings can
Or, instead, if you’re in Icewind Dale, the whole party often be made into an effective temporary shelter with a
shivers under frigid skies, knowing that death is around the little bit of work. Finding shelter in the wilderness requires a
corner if they can’t get the fire started. Rest is essential, but DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) test. In barren conditions, the DC to
it also isn’t easy in cripplingly cold conditions. find or create shelter increases to 20, but if you have a good
site to start with, such as a shallow cave or ruins, you can
Short Rest: In cold conditions, gaining the benefits of a make this roll with advantage. If a group is unusually
short rest requires either fire or shelter. underequipped, apply the “lacking supplies” penalty.
Otherwise, it’s safe to assume they have something—
Long Rest: In cold conditions, gaining the benefits of a blankets, cloaks, etc.—to help improvise shelter with.
long rest requires both fire and shelter. There is also the risk of shelter being disrupted by poor
weather conditions. Strong wind, heavy snow, or a storm
may destroy your shelter while you rest in it. (See
FIRE “Disrupting Shelter,” below.) If shelter is disrupted, then
any currently ongoing rest cannot be finished until new
Making fire requires sufficient fuel and, with proper
shelter is found or created.
equipment, a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) test. If firestarting
equipment such as flint and tinder isn’t available, it takes a
DC 20 test to get a fire going.
Firewood can either be bought or foraged. Each bundle
weighs 20 lbs., costs anywhere from 1 cp to 1 sp, depending
on availability, and lasts for two hours. A one-bundle fire
sheds bright light out to 10 feet and dim light out to 20 feet.
A two-bundle fire sheds bright light to 20 feet and dim light
to 40, and each additional bundle added to the fire continues
to increase the radius of light a similar amount.
The presence of a fire immediately ends the need to make
any further cold weather exhaustion tests, however
recovering from exhaustion that has already been incurred
requires time and rest as well as warmth.

48
TRAVEL TIMES ROAD
Roads are places where people have cleared off all, or
Traversing Ten Towns is a challenge at the best of times, and
most, of the snow, for ease of movement. This includes
these are not the best of times. The travel times above
streets within towns, as well as the roads, trails, and paths
account for some winding of the trail, but for especially
between towns.
circuitous routes, you may wish to increase the length of the
Complications can include the following:
journey by half again, or even double. The information below
Slippery Ice. Packed snow on a road can turn into slippery
replaces all travel information in other sources.
ice. This is difficult terrain, and each time you move on

TERRAIN TYPES
slippery ice for the first time on your turn, you must make a
DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) test or fall prone.
The options for travel depend entirely upon the type of Obliterated. If folk have not yet gotten to clearing out a
terrain one is trying to cross. In Icewind Dale, there are three trail after the last storm, the road may be lost under drifts of
kinds of terrain for purposes of travel. But each of these may snow. In this case, some or all of the journey must be treated
come with complications. as Overland, complete with the risk of getting lost.

49
OVERLAND Risks in lakes and rivers include the following:
Most of the land in Icewind Dale that has not been actively Frigid Water. Make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw each
cleared is blanketed in deep snow. This makes it very minute or suffer a level of exhaustion.
difficult to traverse without specialized equipment. Risky Ice. If you are on risky ice and take an energetic,
Complications can include the following: physical action such as Attack or Dash, you must make a DC
Deep Snow. All overland travel is assumed to be through 10 Dexterity save to avoid breaking through the ice. This may
deep snow. Small creatures (and, optionally, elves) can walk be made with advantage if you are wearing snowshoes.
on top of deep snow, treating it as normal terrain. Medium Thin Ice. While on thin ice, if you move just 5’, you must
creatures sink into deep snow and can move no more than 5’ make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to avoid breaking the
per round. This makes overland travel on foot without ice. This may be made with advantage if you lie prone, or if
snowshoes impractical. you are wearing snowshoes. If you take any action at all, or
Getting Lost. Without a road to follow, navigation becomes move more than 5 ft. per turn, the ice automatically breaks.
a challenge. Long-distance overland travel requires a
Wisdom (Survival) test to avoid getting lost. The DC ranges METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION
from 10-20 based on how many landmarks are available,
Different means of transit are appropriate for different
how well the guide knows the terrain, and current visibility.
situations. For speeds of each method on different terrains,
Dense Forest. Dogsleds are a great way to conduct
see the “Travel Speeds” chart, above.
overland travel, but the tree trunks of a dense forest are too
Walking. This can get you most places, but it is not
close-set to allow a sled between them. Most forests are
effective for crossing the deep snow that blankets most of
impassable to dogsleds.
Icewind Dale, not without snowshoes. Walking averages 2
Hills and Rocky Terrain. Similarly, dogsleds cannot
miles per hour on roads, or ½ mph on mountain trails, due
traverse protrusions in the land if they become too steep.
to the steep and winding nature of such trails.
Walking with Snowshoes. Snowshoes are widely available
MOUNTAINS for 2 gp. They allow medium creatures to walk across deep
The stark mountains of the north are crisscrossed with
snow (and thus to travel overland), and they give advantage
little footpaths, invisible except to those who know the way.
on the Dexterity saving throw required to avoid breaking
Travel is impossible except where a trail leads.
through ice. However, all terrain is treated as difficult
Complications can include the following:
terrain while wearing snowshoes.
Finding a Trail. If you don’t know a trail, a DC 15 Wisdom
Axebeak. Axebeaks are sturdy mounts that are well-
(Survival) test may be made to search for one.
adapted for the cold weather of the north. They are versatile
Mountain Climbing. Some passages may be too steep to
in that they can travel on road or overland, but their broad,
walk; a Strength (Athletics) test is required to climb, at a DC
soft feet do not do well in mountain trails. An axebeak can
set by the DM depending on conditions. Appropriate
run at 8 miles an hour for up to an hour, and then it must
climbing equipment gives advantage on this test.
take a one hour rest, or it can maintain a steady walking pace
Avalanches. At any time in the snow-covered mountains,
of 2 mph.
there is a small risk of avalanches. Roll a d20 for each day of
Axebeaks range in price from 50-80 gp depending on
travel. On a result of 2 or 3, the party witnesses an avalanche,
availability and quality. The owner must spend one hour per
but it’s not near enough to be a threat. On a result of 1, the
day caring for the axebeak (which may be done as part of a
party is in the path of an avalanche.
rest), and feed for the axebeak costs 2 gp per tenday.
Determine a section of trail 1d20 x 10 feet long that will be
Dog Sled. Arguably the king of travel in the north, the dog
affected by the avalanche. Have all players roll initiative.
sled is irreplaceable for traveling overland. A full team of
Those who beat initiative 10 have the chance to move; if this
dogs can travel at fantastic speeds for 2-3 hours, but then
gets them out of the affected zone, they will be fine.
must rest for an equal amount of time. They can go for days
Anyone in the path of the avalanche when it strikes, on
at a time this way, alternating between 2-3 hour periods of
initiative 10, take 2d20 damage, or half with a successful DC
rest and activity, but the driver must forego their own rest if
15 Dexterity saving throw. If they fail the save, they are also
they keep it up around the clock.
swept 1d6 x 100 feet down the mountainside, where they end
Dog sleds actually cannot travel on roads, but as long as
up blinded, restrained, and in total cover. A conscious
there is nothing to stop them from running alongside the
character must attempt to dig free. One DC 15 Strength
road, then they can still easily follow the same route. Just be
(Athletics) test must be made each minute. 1d6 successes are
aware they can’t go where there’s not snow, nor can they
required to get free; each failed test counts as a failed death
travel through dense forest or over rocky hills. They need
saving throw.
open land.
Avalanche Zones. At times the party may need to pass
When dog sleds can be found for sale in Ten Towns, they
through an area that is especially prone to avalanches. In
run 200-300 gp. The owner must spend at least three hours
these cases, make the d20 roll to test for avalanches every
per day caring for the dogs (which may be done as part of a
time there is a loud sound: shouting, a single round of
long rest), and feed for all the dogs costs 10 gp per tenday.
combat, a crash, or something similar. If a very loud sound
Wagons and Carts. The only truly effective means of
occurs, such as a thunder spell, roll this with disadvantage.
transporting cargo in bulk overland, these are pulled by

LAKES AND RIVERS specially bred pack animals. Caring for the pack animals
takes 1 hour per day, and feed for them costs 2 gp per tenday.
Water is navigable only by boat, but even this is complicated
Boats. Auril’s unending winter has made boats less useful.
by extensive ice on most bodies of water. Some lakes, such as
Redwaters is mostly frozen, but fisher folk on Lac
Redwaters, are almost entirely frozen over, and even the
Dinneshere and Maer Dualdon have found ways to get their
others have tens or hundreds of feet of ice along the shore,
boats out past the icy shore to open water.
which is quite risky to navigate.

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WEATHER - Small flames are quickly extinguished. A campfire must
use 3 bundles of firewood to stay alight.
Perhaps the most dangerous risk in the far north is that of
In addition, there is a chance of getting lost. After each
being caught out in the open in bad weather. It takes a DC 15
hour of travel, the navigator must make a test to not get lost.
Wisdom (Survival) test to predict the next 1d3 days of
This is a DC 20 Wisdom (Survival) test if traveling overland,
weather, or a DC 20 test to predict a tenday in advance.
or DC 15 if traveling on a road. If this test fails by 5 or more,
These rolls should be made by the DM in private.
and the party is not tied together, one member at random
becomes separated from the party. One hour of searching
allows a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) group test to find the
missing person, but no progress is made toward the
destination while searching.

BLIZZARD
Blizzards are the most extreme weather event in the north,
the bane of travelers and fools. After each blizzard,
inevitably a few frozen corpses are found. A blizzard has the
following effects:
- Visibility is reduced to 10 feet
- All perception tests are made at disadvantage
- All movement speeds are halved
- All physical skill checks are at disadvantage
- Nonmagical flight is impossible
- Concentration checks for spells must be made each turn
- The temperature drops by a full level (see “Extreme Cold”)

WEATHER CHECKS - Windchill factor applies (see “Extreme Cold”)

- All fires are immediately extinguished
Weather happens in increments of 1d4 days. When an - Blizzards have +10 on the roll to disrupt shelter
increment of weather ends, roll a d10 to see what weather Furthermore, the same rules for getting lost apply that are
will come next. In the storm season, or in the mountains, described above under, “Snow and Wind.” However, the
roll this d10 with disadvantage. navigation check must be made every ten minutes, and
searching for a missing party member is also done in 10
MIST OR SNOW minute increments. All search and navigation rolls are made
A heavy mist blankets the land, or perhaps snow falls lightly at disadvantage due to the terrible conditions.
but steadily. The rules effects for mist and snow are very
similar: visibility is reduced to 30 feet and perception tests DISRUPTING SHELTER
based on hearing are made at disadvantage. If the party has fragile or improvised shelter, there is a
On top of that, in light snow, tracks in the snow will be chance that bad weather may destroy the shelter even while
quickly obscured. Otherwise, there are no ill effects. they rest inside it. Make a note of whatever result the party
rolled while setting up shelter. This is the DC for the
COLD SNAP weather’s check to disrupt that shelter. A sturdy, cold-
This is a period of intense cold—too cold even for snow. weather tent, properly set up, counts as a result of 20 for the
Extreme Cold is treated as one level worse than usual until party.
this weather event ends. In windy conditions (“Strong Winds” or “Snowstorm”),
just roll a d20 and compare it to the player’s result. If the
STRONG WINDS weather gets a higher result, the shelter is disrupted. In a
Terrible winds howl across the landscape, slamming doors blizzard, add +10 to the weather’s d20 roll. If the party set up
and windows, knocking over plants, and occasionally multiple shelters, roll separately against each of them.
ripping open tents or throwing the thatch off houses. In If shelter is disrupted, it no longer functions as shelter,
these conditions, apply the windchill factor to all Extreme eliminating any benefits it added. The players may try to
Cold tests. (See the “Extreme Cold” rules, above.) rebuild their shelter, but remember that all physical skill
Furthermore, the following effects apply: tests in a blizzard are at disadvantage.
- Ranged weapon attacks are made with disadvantage

THE END
- Perception tests based on hearing have disadvantage
- Small flames are quickly extinguished. A campfire must
use 3 bundles of firewood to stay alight.

That concludes Caul of Winter. Again, we hope you have as

SNOWSTORM much fun playing this as we did creating it. We invite you to
This is the mild version of a blizzard, just some snow and
connect with us online!
gusting wind. Bad weather is not uncommon and, while
risky, it is possible to travel through these conditions in an
[email protected]
emergency. This weather condition has the following
effects:
@ashtonmacsaylor and @calliemacsaylor
- Visibility is reduced to 30 feet
- Perception tests based on hearing are at disadvantage
www.sunsailorgames.com
- Windchill factor applies (see “Extreme Cold”)

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