ROF-001-ZER-001: Dropping Below Zero
Accompanying a caravan from Bladescar Ridge towards Svarholt, the characters find that their travel is severel impeded by a gathering snowstorm. Initiative kicks of soon after with a skills challenge to keep one of the carts - and themselves - from sliding into the frozen river.
With exhaustion becoming a real danger and the snowstorm only strengthening, the adventurers must take shelter under a small copse of mountain fir to wait out the storm. But as dusk falls upon them, so does a sense of dread. Mistaken for a curious mountain lynx, a fey lynxal has been unofficially adopted by the caravan. Unbeknownst to anyone, the lynxal is also inadvertently nullifying both fear and even the instinct of self-preservation among the caravan’s members, including perhaps the adventurers. Through seeded social encounters, the adventures find that their fellow passengers are becoming unnaturally calm, seemingly indifferent to their dire situation.
Matters only grows worse as night sets in and watches are posted. One by one, caravan members begin to go missing, leaving only the occasional frozen appendage behind to mark their passing. Pursuing a trail leading into the small woods, the adventurers encounter a couple timber wolves, seemingly injured in the same way but still with fight left in them. With resources wearing thin, the adventurers finally discover the real threat: Hidden deep within the copse of mountain fir is the cavernous lair of a couple swarms of ice sprites, freezing and draining the lifeforce of the charmed, placid caravan members. Can the adventurers remove the threat and protect both themselves, and the caravan, before drawing the ire of whomever, or whatever it is, these ice sprites serve?
Adventure Hook
This adventure is applicable to any scenario in which the player characters (PCs) are traveling through a wintery terrain. It may serve well as a prequel, introductory session to the Icewind Dale campaign setting, but can also be scaled up through a party of level 6 characters. To drop the adventure into an ongoing campaign, any opportunity for winter travel suffices: Perhaps the PCs choose to accompany a caravan as hired muscle, making a few coins between towns? Did the PCs get caught in the same snowstorm, only to join forces with the caravan as they all try to make headway against the wind and sleet? Or perhaps their story begins here, with a kismet meeting on the road, their tales converging when they step up to protect their fellow travelers?Dramatis Personae
- Nal Stoz: Half of a caravan's owner-operator, husband to Joselyn Stoz
- Joselyn Stoz: Half of a caravan's owner-operator, wife to Nal Stoz
- Gryst: The head of the caravan's guard, only because he's been with Nal and Joselyn for the longest.
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Locations