The Frostfell - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

The Frostfell

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
valgoth_dup
Jul 31, 2009 15:30:27 Lately I've become really interested in the Frostfell. While I can see one major problem with an incursion here (what with the extreme cold and all), I think I'd really like to do something with it. Maybe something similar to the beginning of the movie "Alien v.s. Predator"; that is, an abandoned colony (probably ancient Dwarven) and some kind of disturbance or discovery that has made a dragonmarked house suddenly interested in the area.

What do YOU think?
#2
ChrisTheS
Jul 31, 2009 15:50:39 I think that daelkyr ruins should be involved in this concept, since you mention AvP...
#3
AvonRekaes
Jul 31, 2009 16:09:26 There WAS mention of Levistus being a Rajah trapped beneath the ice in the Frostfell. Perhaps you can have a "Daelkyr vs. Rajah" campaign with the PCs stuck in the middle.
#4
rekko
Jul 31, 2009 17:14:24 I could see an expedition of Lyrandar Raincallers trying to control and shape the weather in order to make a small region inhabitable. The reasons could be varied. They could want to create a very exotic paradise in the middle of a raging blizzard just to prove and show how strong they are. The place could serve as a reputable vacation destination for highly rich or adventurous tourists. Or, they would want to set up a base of operation for laboratory experiments, researches and expeditions.

Rekko
#5
nephallim
Aug 01, 2009 13:20:53 Maybe House Lyrander is trying to make a portion inhabitable to provide a place for Cyran refugees?
#6
soyim
Aug 01, 2009 14:15:01 Loving all these ideas though i would combine a few of them specifically.

Perhaps explorers (in the employee of any organization your PC's work for or oppose)find the strange and frozen in ice remains of creatures that never could have survived in the arctic ice (birds of brilliant color or reptiles). They soon discover a set of ancient giant ruins, deep under the ice, and an eldritch machine- that they theorize if activated- can shield the area and alter its weather to suit the users needs.

Lyrander and Cannith are both secretly employed in efforts to activate the machine- but soon come to the realization that without the information kept in the entombed frozen ruins they will be unable to realign the eldritch machine- infuriated my momentary success and half days of sun and tropical breezes- the organization chooses to breach the Giant ruins despite the possible dangers.

Naturally this awakens the maddened creatures of Xoriat who destroyed the giant's who lived there in the first place and torn the machine assunder. The Giant Defenders, both undead and construct based, are now mad after eons trapped in ice, are an additional threat. To make matters worse the machine is only half turned on- and is quickly destabilizing the environmental around the frost fell- shattering a glacier that destroys the closest harbor; but thankfully stopping any means of escape back to Khorvair proper.

Here enter the PC's- either hired by their employers to discover what has gone wrong with the project in the first place or having discovered that the Aurum/Emerald Claw/House Tarkanan/Silver Flame Exteremist's/Whatever enemy you want- have this northern project head up to stop it from being completed: only to find that they are now in deep trouble.

The monsters could be run as a combination between your "normal" Xoriat fare (Mind Flayers, a Frozen Aboleth, Grell, Beholders etc.) and a creature more akin to John Carpenters The Thing. Where you have a paranoid shapeshifting creature in the ice who is dispatching its self/its minions against anything that comes nearby in an attempt to escape and assumes the form of its victims: freaking the PC's out as they are unable to escape the Frostfell for fear of contamination.

The PC's now need to find away to avoid becoming contaminated themselves, shut off the eldritch machine before it destroys the weather patterns of norther khorvaire entirely, seal the creature back in its icy tomb (or destroy it) and avoid being killed by the defenders of the temple who are killing anything that lives since they are a) mad and b) assuming it is infected/the xoriat creatures/grave robbers. Oh and they need to find a way back to the mainland before the winter snows hit and they are forced to live on the frostfell during winter: and that's going to be soon- sooner thanks to the machines influence.

Oh and if that wasn't enough: their chief rivals have also been dispatched to the Frostfell pursuing their own goals: whether that's to get the machine running at all costs, kill all the contaminants, steal priceless treasures from the cursed frozen vault (of course there is a cursed frozen vault!) or just show up the PC's. Either way it can lead to an awesome momentary team up filled with paranoia and the threat of double crossing... or a three way battle as the party desperately tries to prove that they are still human against a well armed secondary force that only knows that a multi bodied shapeshifter killed the first expedition while a ravenous hunger from beyond time and spaces crawls towards them from the ice.
#7
Veritatis
Aug 01, 2009 15:43:30 Explorer´s Handbook features a scenario held in the borders of the Frostfell that includes a sunken ship. I turned it into a ship which crew was sent to the "Absolute North" supposedly for research objectives, but for real to destroy a Khyber-dragonshard ring which held bound a powerful demon.

The demon, possessing one member of the crew, killed everyone on board and then its vessel, turning the ship into a ghost ship, the "Flying Aundairian", which let itself be seen through the north coasts of Khorvaire.

Since the shard was uncommonly spherical, the adventure was comically entitled "Pirates of the Lhazaar Sea: The Curse of the Black Pearl".
#8
identitystolen
Aug 01, 2009 16:57:23 A part of a campaign of mine was up in the great white north. Here was the premise:

Why would anyone in their right mind try to settle an absolutely inhospitable, if not downright hostile, environment? 9 out of 10 times its going to be about money. A Wayfinder's expedition manage to return from its trip, a bit worse for wear but mostly alive, with reports of Eberron shard fields about a day and a half's trek from their landing point. A second House Tharashk funded expedition confirmed these reports, also finding at least one field to be quiet large in fact, and found possible evidence for more valuable minerals and metal up in a near-by mountain range. A few months after receiving this information, a joint house effort set up a mining settlement in the shard fields and would use this settlement as a staging ground for further prospecting. After 3 months of solid progress and the first shipment of Eberron shards successfully extracted and delivered, all contact was lost with the settlement. Not willing to see such a prospect and capital investment go to waste, the Twelve send a team of volunteer specialist to assess the situation and investigate the cause. It is heavily hinted to the PCs that every effort should be made to secure the settlement and ensure resettlement is viable, no matter the cost. Success would have the PCs in the favor of several Dragonmarked houses and a fair amount of riches.

Soyim idea seems pretty good too. However, I'd switch "Giant Ruins" for ice elves (or whatever frostburn called them.) In one of the 3.5 Eberron books, these thought-to-be-extinct arctic type elves were mentioned to having ruined cities in Everice (southern ice cap) and possibly a few in Frostfell. If I remember correctly, these cities were shielded against the elements because these elves really didn't have any natural protection from extremely cold weather.
#9
valgoth_dup
Aug 01, 2009 19:29:35 The idea I've had kicking around... there is some dwarf lore (alleged, anyway) that ties them to the Frostfell. Perhaps some ancient text points House Kundarak to the reason... vast deposits of rare and extra valuable ore beneath the ice. The original dwarves left for some unknown reason, but modern day Kundarak decides to give it a go... sails north and starts drilling, with the help of house Lyrandar (love the raincallers idea). The PCs are brought in a few months after drilling starts, when they're just about to pierce the ice. As you can imagine, as soon as they break through the ice, the release something(s) really nasty (you guessed it, the same thing that scared off the original dwarves). Now the PCs have to help fight these things off and protect the Raincallers... because if they die, everyone dies.
#10
Kensan_Oni
Aug 01, 2009 20:04:59 The thing that really confuses me is that I had alway sthrought the Frostfell was NORTH of Khorvare, not located south of Xen'Drix. This ruins a long standing scenario plot I had.
#11
identitystolen
Aug 01, 2009 21:06:03
The thing that really confuses me is that I had alway sthrought the Frostfell was NORTH of Khorvare, not located south of Xen'Drix. This ruins a long standing scenario plot I had.

No, you're right. Frostfell is the northern ice cap above Khorvaire, Everice is the southern one just below Xen'Drik.
#12
dulsi
Aug 01, 2009 21:33:34 [post=16266251]Lost City of Sharvalu[/post] was my entry to Expert DM Competition #1 (Open a Campaign). It is designed for a generic D&D setting so it would need some changes to fit the Eberron feel. The whole idea behind the entry was my wanting to have the PCs find a huge block of ice with an aboleth frozen inside.

Soyim's ideas look pretty good.
#13
vigilant1
Aug 01, 2009 23:12:43 Not sure if this was mentioned yet, but maybe the Children of Winter could be involved with an encounter or campaign set in the Frostfell. Perhaps they go there to try to free Levistus or some other entity, in order to bring about the end of the world, so that a new golden age will come after the old world ends an age of everlasting winter.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 valgoth_dup Jul 31, 2009 15:30:27	Lately I've become really interested in the Frostfell. While I can see one major problem with an incursion here (what with the extreme cold and all), I think I'd really like to do something with it. Maybe something similar to the beginning of the movie "Alien v.s. Predator"; that is, an abandoned colony (probably ancient Dwarven) and some kind of disturbance or discovery that has made a dragonmarked house suddenly interested in the area. What do YOU think?
#2 ChrisTheS Jul 31, 2009 15:50:39	I think that daelkyr ruins should be involved in this concept, since you mention AvP...
#3 AvonRekaes Jul 31, 2009 16:09:26	There WAS mention of Levistus being a Rajah trapped beneath the ice in the Frostfell. Perhaps you can have a "Daelkyr vs. Rajah" campaign with the PCs stuck in the middle.
#4 rekko Jul 31, 2009 17:14:24	I could see an expedition of Lyrandar Raincallers trying to control and shape the weather in order to make a small region inhabitable. The reasons could be varied. They could want to create a very exotic paradise in the middle of a raging blizzard just to prove and show how strong they are. The place could serve as a reputable vacation destination for highly rich or adventurous tourists. Or, they would want to set up a base of operation for laboratory experiments, researches and expeditions. Rekko
#5 nephallim Aug 01, 2009 13:20:53	Maybe House Lyrander is trying to make a portion inhabitable to provide a place for Cyran refugees?
#6 soyim Aug 01, 2009 14:15:01	Loving all these ideas though i would combine a few of them specifically. Perhaps explorers (in the employee of any organization your PC's work for or oppose)find the strange and frozen in ice remains of creatures that never could have survived in the arctic ice (birds of brilliant color or reptiles). They soon discover a set of ancient giant ruins, deep under the ice, and an eldritch machine- that they theorize if activated- can shield the area and alter its weather to suit the users needs. Lyrander and Cannith are both secretly employed in efforts to activate the machine- but soon come to the realization that without the information kept in the entombed frozen ruins they will be unable to realign the eldritch machine- infuriated my momentary success and half days of sun and tropical breezes- the organization chooses to breach the Giant ruins despite the possible dangers. Naturally this awakens the maddened creatures of Xoriat who destroyed the giant's who lived there in the first place and torn the machine assunder. The Giant Defenders, both undead and construct based, are now mad after eons trapped in ice, are an additional threat. To make matters worse the machine is only half turned on- and is quickly destabilizing the environmental around the frost fell- shattering a glacier that destroys the closest harbor; but thankfully stopping any means of escape back to Khorvair proper. Here enter the PC's- either hired by their employers to discover what has gone wrong with the project in the first place or having discovered that the Aurum/Emerald Claw/House Tarkanan/Silver Flame Exteremist's/Whatever enemy you want- have this northern project head up to stop it from being completed: only to find that they are now in deep trouble. The monsters could be run as a combination between your "normal" Xoriat fare (Mind Flayers, a Frozen Aboleth, Grell, Beholders etc.) and a creature more akin to John Carpenters The Thing. Where you have a paranoid shapeshifting creature in the ice who is dispatching its self/its minions against anything that comes nearby in an attempt to escape and assumes the form of its victims: freaking the PC's out as they are unable to escape the Frostfell for fear of contamination. The PC's now need to find away to avoid becoming contaminated themselves, shut off the eldritch machine before it destroys the weather patterns of norther khorvaire entirely, seal the creature back in its icy tomb (or destroy it) and avoid being killed by the defenders of the temple who are killing anything that lives since they are a) mad and b) assuming it is infected/the xoriat creatures/grave robbers. Oh and they need to find a way back to the mainland before the winter snows hit and they are forced to live on the frostfell during winter: and that's going to be soon- sooner thanks to the machines influence. Oh and if that wasn't enough: their chief rivals have also been dispatched to the Frostfell pursuing their own goals: whether that's to get the machine running at all costs, kill all the contaminants, steal priceless treasures from the cursed frozen vault (of course there is a cursed frozen vault!) or just show up the PC's. Either way it can lead to an awesome momentary team up filled with paranoia and the threat of double crossing... or a three way battle as the party desperately tries to prove that they are still human against a well armed secondary force that only knows that a multi bodied shapeshifter killed the first expedition while a ravenous hunger from beyond time and spaces crawls towards them from the ice.
#7 Veritatis Aug 01, 2009 15:43:30	Explorer´s Handbook features a scenario held in the borders of the Frostfell that includes a sunken ship. I turned it into a ship which crew was sent to the "Absolute North" supposedly for research objectives, but for real to destroy a Khyber-dragonshard ring which held bound a powerful demon. The demon, possessing one member of the crew, killed everyone on board and then its vessel, turning the ship into a ghost ship, the "Flying Aundairian", which let itself be seen through the north coasts of Khorvaire. Since the shard was uncommonly spherical, the adventure was comically entitled "Pirates of the Lhazaar Sea: The Curse of the Black Pearl".
#8 identitystolen Aug 01, 2009 16:57:23	A part of a campaign of mine was up in the great white north. Here was the premise: Why would anyone in their right mind try to settle an absolutely inhospitable, if not downright hostile, environment? 9 out of 10 times its going to be about money. A Wayfinder's expedition manage to return from its trip, a bit worse for wear but mostly alive, with reports of Eberron shard fields about a day and a half's trek from their landing point. A second House Tharashk funded expedition confirmed these reports, also finding at least one field to be quiet large in fact, and found possible evidence for more valuable minerals and metal up in a near-by mountain range. A few months after receiving this information, a joint house effort set up a mining settlement in the shard fields and would use this settlement as a staging ground for further prospecting. After 3 months of solid progress and the first shipment of Eberron shards successfully extracted and delivered, all contact was lost with the settlement. Not willing to see such a prospect and capital investment go to waste, the Twelve send a team of volunteer specialist to assess the situation and investigate the cause. It is heavily hinted to the PCs that every effort should be made to secure the settlement and ensure resettlement is viable, no matter the cost. Success would have the PCs in the favor of several Dragonmarked houses and a fair amount of riches. Soyim idea seems pretty good too. However, I'd switch "Giant Ruins" for ice elves (or whatever frostburn called them.) In one of the 3.5 Eberron books, these thought-to-be-extinct arctic type elves were mentioned to having ruined cities in Everice (southern ice cap) and possibly a few in Frostfell. If I remember correctly, these cities were shielded against the elements because these elves really didn't have any natural protection from extremely cold weather.
#9 valgoth_dup Aug 01, 2009 19:29:35	The idea I've had kicking around... there is some dwarf lore (alleged, anyway) that ties them to the Frostfell. Perhaps some ancient text points House Kundarak to the reason... vast deposits of rare and extra valuable ore beneath the ice. The original dwarves left for some unknown reason, but modern day Kundarak decides to give it a go... sails north and starts drilling, with the help of house Lyrandar (love the raincallers idea). The PCs are brought in a few months after drilling starts, when they're just about to pierce the ice. As you can imagine, as soon as they break through the ice, the release something(s) really nasty (you guessed it, the same thing that scared off the original dwarves). Now the PCs have to help fight these things off and protect the Raincallers... because if they die, everyone dies.
#10 Kensan_Oni Aug 01, 2009 20:04:59	The thing that really confuses me is that I had alway sthrought the Frostfell was NORTH of Khorvare, not located south of Xen'Drix. This ruins a long standing scenario plot I had.
#11 identitystolen Aug 01, 2009 21:06:03	The thing that really confuses me is that I had alway sthrought the Frostfell was NORTH of Khorvare, not located south of Xen'Drix. This ruins a long standing scenario plot I had. No, you're right. Frostfell is the northern ice cap above Khorvaire, Everice is the southern one just below Xen'Drik.
#12 dulsi Aug 01, 2009 21:33:34	[post=16266251]Lost City of Sharvalu[/post] was my entry to Expert DM Competition #1 (Open a Campaign). It is designed for a generic D&D setting so it would need some changes to fit the Eberron feel. The whole idea behind the entry was my wanting to have the PCs find a huge block of ice with an aboleth frozen inside. Soyim's ideas look pretty good.
#13 vigilant1 Aug 01, 2009 23:12:43	Not sure if this was mentioned yet, but maybe the Children of Winter could be involved with an encounter or campaign set in the Frostfell. Perhaps they go there to try to free Levistus or some other entity, in order to bring about the end of the world, so that a new golden age will come after the old world ends an age of everlasting winter.