Icewind Dale has become trapped in a perpetual winter. Ferocious blizzards make the mountain pass through the Spine of the World exceedingly treacherous, and this land has not felt the warmth of the sun in over two years. In fact, the sun no longer appears above the mountains, not even in what should be the height of summer. In this frozen tundra, darkness and bitter cold reign as king and queen. Most dale residents blame Auril the Frostmaiden, the god of winter’s wrath. The shimmering aurora that weaves across the sky each night is said to be her doing—a potent spell that keeps the sun at bay.
Dalefolk live in a scattering of settlements known as Ten-Towns. The drop-off in caravans coming from the south and travel between settlements in this never-ending winter has left everyone feeling isolated. Although each town has resolved to appease the Frostmaiden with sacrifices of one kind or another, no respite from winter’s fury seems forthcoming. For adventurers such as yourselves, Ten-Towns is a place to test one’s mettle and, in the spirit of heroes who have come before, leave one’s mark on this frigid, blighted land.
Starting Out In Caer-Konig
Just another gruesome day in Ten-Towns: howling wind, bitter cold, foul tempers, and snowdrifts big enough to bury a herd of moose. But today the local tavern is abuzz with news about a series of recent killings. Before the murders, the only question on everyone’s mind was, “Will summer ever return to Icewind Dale?” Now the question is, “Will I be the killer’s next victim?” Nothing breeds fear and paranoia like a murderer with no face.
Three cold-blooded murders have been committed in the past month: a halfling trapper in Easthaven, a human shipbuilder in Targos, and, three days ago, a dwarf glassblower in Bryn Shander. Each victim was found with a dagger of ice through the heart.
What’s the connection? The drunken lot huddled in the tavern offers no credible ideas, but sitting apart from them is an elderly shield dwarf with a nasty scar across her nose who looks like she has something worth knowing. She’s been smoking her pipe and eyeing you ever since you walked in.
Hlin Trollbane, a neutral good shield dwarf, is a retired bounty hunter with finely honed survival instincts. She is an unarmored veteran
who wields a battleaxe and handaxe instead of a longsword and shortsword. Plying her profession earned her a few too many enemies up and down the Sword Coast, which is why she wound up in Icewind Dale.
Out of boredom and a sense of moral decency, Hlin has taken it upon herself to investigate the recent murders because no one else—not even the Council of Speakers—can be bothered. Hlin is studying the characters closely, trying to decide if they’re worth her time. Ultimately, she takes the chance and draws them into conversation, asking them to help her take down her only suspect: a man named Sephek Kaltro. Here’s what she knows about Sephek and the victims:
“Sephek Kaltro works for a small traveling merchant company called Torg’s, owned and operated by a shady dwarf named Torrga Icevein. In other words, Sephek gets around. He’s charming. Makes friends easily. He’s also Torrga’s bodyguard, so I’m guessing he’s good with a blade.
“His victims come from the only three towns that sacrifice people to the Frostmaiden on nights of the new moon. This is what passes for civilized behavior in Icewind Dale. Maybe the victims found a way to keep their names out of the drawings and Sephek found out they were cheating, so he killed them. Maybe, just maybe, Sephek is doing the Frostmaiden’s work.
“I followed Torg’s for a tenday as it moved from town to town. Quite the devious little enterprise, but that’s not my concern. What struck me is how comfortable Sephek Kaltro looked in this weather. No coat, no scarf, no gloves. It was like the cold couldn’t touch him. Kiss of the Frostmaiden, indeed.
“I will pay you a hundred gold pieces to apprehend Sephek Kaltro, ascertain his guilt, and deal with him, preferably without involving the authorities. When the job is done, return to me to collect your money.”
The party departs the tavern and a pile of snow stirs as you pass it, and someone hidden beneath it suddenly stands. The figure looks around and yells, “Who goes there? Is it thieves? Have I found those creeping bastards?”
When he pulls down the scarf covering his face, you see it is a silver dragonborn holding onto an empty wine bottle as if it was a weapon. He belches, grins at you, and says, “Pardon my manners. Bit jittery with all the thieving going on. I’m Trovus, the town speaker.”
Trovus (neutral good red dragonborn veteran) spends most of his days drinking and reminiscing about his bygone adventuring days. He’s been patrolling at night looking for thieves, but after yet another night of heavy drinking, he passed out in the snow after a few hours. He has no recollection of how he ended up in the snow pile or why he was outside drinking in the first place.
“The town has had some thievery troubles. No one’s seen anything, really. Just the other night, the lantern over at the Northern Light was stolen. Cori won’t let me hear the end of it because I haven’t been able to find those responsible. Not yet, anyway. But I have a knack for this stuff.”
He seems less bothered by the cold than anyone else in the settlement, due to his dragon heritage. As they walk, Trovus talks about what has been taken from Caer-Konig over the past three nights:
- A color-switching magic lantern, taken from the local inn
- A pair of goats, stolen from the local tavern
- A small sack of pearls carved into decorative beads, gone missing from the stores of Frozenfar Expeditions
Trovus leads the characters through Caer-Konig to the Northern Light on the eastern edge of town. An empty hook, meant to carry a lantern, hangs above the inn’s entrance.
The inn appears to be mostly empty. A young woman looks up as you enter, gives Trovus a chastising smile, and says, “Did you fall asleep outside again? I’m telling you, Trovus, one day you’re going to have to stop relying on the kindness of strangers.”
The woman then opens a door into what looks like a kitchen and calls out, “Heat up something for Trovus. He’s been out ‘patrolling’ again.”
The woman, Allie, is one of the Shorard sisters (neutral good human commoners), who own the inn. The other owner, Cori, is working in the kitchen. Allie settles Trovus into a chair before approaching the characters.
She confirms that the town has been experiencing break-ins and robberies lately, but no one has witnessed a potential culprit. The only clue is a set of tracks leading in the direction of Kelvin’s Cairn. Allie thinks the tracks were made by dwarves who live in the valley at the base of Kelvin’s Cairn. She suspects that the endless winter has made the dwarves desperate for food and ale, though she can’t explain why the dwarves would steal the inn’s lantern and other valuables. Allie is also surprised that no one in Caer-Konig has seen or heard the dwarves, remarking that “A quiet dwarf is an oxymoron.”
Any interaction with Allie is interrupted when Cori exits the kitchen:
The door to the kitchen swings open as a stern-looking woman enters holding a steaming bowl of soup. She places the bowl down in front of Trovus and says, “No dwarf did this. Someone would have spotted ’em. Caught ’em. No, there’s something more going on. Besides, what use do hungry dwarves have for a lantern?”
The party agrees to help find this missing lantern and other items. After a couple of uneventful encounters in the wilderness, the adventurers approach a structure...
A blocky stronghold bereft of warmth or charm juts out of a hillside in a rough crescent shape. Only part of its construction is visible; the rest is buried in the stone.
A large double door of stone serves as the main entrance. The terrain leading to it is a gently upward-sloping plain covered with fresh snow. A stream used to flow out of a barred culvert northeast of the main entrance, but the waterway has frozen. Two other barred openings can be seen along the stronghold’s northern wall. Anyone positioned behind these openings would have an unobstructed view of the hillside.
Closer to you, separated from the rest of the stronghold, is a snow-covered stone bunker perforated by arrow slits.
After peering in the bunker undetected, Kevin stealthily approached the main structure. Looking inside:
This hall is devoid of decoration. A frozen well stands hear a hallway to the east, and three iron cages are pushed against one wall. One contains a malodorous ogre with rotting, half-frozen skin and an empty right eye socket. It howls in despair at the sight of you. Another cage holds a pair of nervous goats. The third cage is empty. Leaning against a wall near the cages is a wooden dogsled with ice clinging to it.
After the party gets inside the lookout runs in and frees the Zombie ogre. They are both easily dispatched. After avoiding a trap, the team also easily defeats the leader duergar, Nildar.
After the fight, the party investigates the room:
A stone-carved bed and desk occupy this drab room. Atop the desk are several shards of dark crystal, as well as a crumpled-up piece of paper and a burlap sack draped over a glowing object that emits colored light that shifts from blue to green to red.
The glowing object on the desk is a magic lantern, which Nildar has covered with a burlap sack to dull its light. The lantern is the one that was stolen from the Northern Light in Caer-Konig. It shifts in color from blue to green to red but has no other magical properties.
The crumpled-up piece of paper on the desk bears a message from Nildar’s older brother, Durth, written in charcoal and in Dwarvish. The letter reads as follows:
Brother,You will find me on the frozen ferry in Easthaven. From this new base, the search for chardalyn continues. Long may our father reign over this dark land!Durth
They notice Nildar breathing heavily and attempt to question him. He snarls and threatens the characters in Dwarvish:
“My father is more powerful than any of you filthy creatures could imagine. You don’t understand the glory of it, the power found in the ice. None of you do. But you will learn soon enough when my father unleashes his terror upon Ten-Towns! Your doom soars on dragon’s wings!”
The party murders a couple of other duergar due to the loss of Party Pants the Panther...
The party decides to return the stuff to town. We will pick up there next time.
