Location - Tier 2

Designed by Carlos Cisco

Frozen, Desolate, & Haunted

A hostile stretch of frozen wastes where colossal metal limbs reach toward the sky while their bodies remain encased in the ice below.

Distinctions

The Rime is a vast stretch of frozen wastes, bordered by impassable mountains and accessible only by sea at certain times of year. It’s a place unwelcoming to most life, as resources are perpetually tight and weather conditions are rarely better than terrible. Still, life seems to have eked out a stubborn existence among frigid winds, ice-boring chaldworms, howling wraiths haunting the ice pack, and the limbs of the mysterious metal colossi encased in hundreds of feet of ice.

Infinite White

This is not a place of verdance and really only comes in three varieties: Rocks, thick ice covering rocks, and snow covering thick ice. It’s mostly flat, a great white plane extending to meet a gray-white sky, the horizon blurred. It’s often hard to orient without a compass due to the lack of topographical variance and visibility destroying blizzards that are more common than not. Travelers have described it as being not far off from the blasted, empty wastes of the Circles Below just much, much colder.

You might find:

• A churning snow storm miles away, moving slowly through the Chaldwastes.
• The crunch of snow under boots.
• The sharp pain of frigid air filling the lungs.

Dangerous Survivors

From the fauna native to the Rime, to the hardy folk who adopted it as their home, it takes a certain type to survive in this climate. Predators hunt for hundreds of miles to get their next meal, and won’t part with them easily. Similarly, settlements out here are hardscrabble and community-minded. Sickness and weather make no distinction between who lives or dies. Because of this, everyone and everything that lives here has hardened to acclimate. Most folk know how to jab a spear in the spot that hurts, and the animals are cunning and lethal hunters.

You might find:

• A chaldworm exploding out from underneath a mammoth, burning the pachyderm’s thick hide with its superheated headplate.
• Nightly howls of winter wolves on their nocturnal hunts.
• The hardened ice vibrates beneath, ominous and terrifying.

Colossal Limbs

The titular namesake of these frigid badlands. Throughout the Rime explorers and travelers will stumble upon pockets of warmth and calm. Places where the temperature is balmy and the weather is tolerable. The unifying quality is that they’re all near one of the myriad metal limbs, appendages, or heads poking out of the ice. All seeming to reach towards the heavens. Each belongs to a metal colossus that is hundreds of feet tall and buried in solid ice. Despite the warmth they radiate, the ice around them is no less solid or cold. No one knows their true origins, if they’re alive, or what they’re reaching for.

You might find:

• A small encampment has formed underneath the outstretched hand of the colossus.
• A stark transition, like walking through a membrane, between the bitter cold and the balmy warmth surrounding a protruding head.
• Five long shadows extend further and further as the sun rises behind metal fingers.

Cryomantic Beautification

Travelers braving the Chaldwastes have returned with reports of exquisitely sculpted statues of ice and snow that seem to defy the laws of nature. Often attributed to the same weirdness as the Colossi, the true artists are a sect of druids known as the Cryomantic Assemblage. Their ancient charge was protecting the beauty and sanctity of the Rime. With such a harsh and unforgiving climate, few despoilers find the risk worth the meager reward. So they took the beauty aspect to heart and began to dot the landscape with these Cryomantic Assemblages. Any who disturb or destroy these works of art will be met with swift, frigid justice.

You might find:

• A sculpture that defies logic. Four spears of ice, whose points are touching, are balanced on the corners of a cube of powder snow.
• The crunching of ice and snow as a sculpture springs to life, with limbs made of frozen shards.
• A broken statue. Nearby is a dead body, suspended in the air by whorling spirals of jagged red ice. The victim’s blood. A clear warning.

GM Principles

Embrace the beauty in desolation - Most think of lush forests or jungles when picturing nature’s majesty. But the stark emptiness of a seemingly lifeless ice field, or a remote glacier pushing into the ocean come with a special beauty all their own. It’s the beauty of the bleak and barren but also of tenacious endurance. Every animal that thrives here and every plant pushing through the tundra are miracles of their own making.

Make clear that survival is a struggle - The desolation is punctuated by the stark reality that most things that are living in this climate will soon be dead. The nights are colder than imagination can comprehend, and days are only marginally better. Food of any type comes at a premium in trade, or requires specialized skills to hunt or gather. Resources for building are scarce, so civilization’s hold here has been and will continue to be tenuous at best.

Define how nature’s harsh indifference has shaped life here - The people of these climes are a hardy and resourceful folk. No where else in the realm can you see rations stretched further, or more creative uses for traditional supplies. Travelers to these frigid climes will find folk are wary of outsiders, but should they make a true friend it will be one for life. Survival is paramount, and those not helping that cause are probably working against it.

Landmarks

Icecage Passage

Number of Unsuccessful Attempts to Chart Passage via Ship: 134

Number of Survivors That Have Returned from Unsuccessful Attempts: 3

Sailors and traders have looked at the frozen seas for years, hungering for a faster way around the continent. The Icecage Passage perpetually tempts them as they calculate costs and travel time, easily able to shave off weeks at sea. But it’s not without its pitfalls. To start, one needs a specialized icebreaker vessel to even hope to pass through. Second, no one has been able to properly chart it with as the topography changes with the whims of the sea ice.. Even if progress is made, it’s impossible to turn back as the ice seals the path behind them every night Running out of supplies is one of the more common ways crews have been lost… And there are things out in the ice floes worse than any natural danger.

Frozen Egress (Feature)

For three quarters of the year, this stretch of water just outside of Rimelock Bay is frozen solid and impossible to cross via ship and those foolish enough to cross it on foot deserve whatever is coming to them. In those few months where the ice pack is broken up, it’s not uncommon to see a number of ships docked at Rimelock Bay while they stock up on last minute supplies before attempting to push through the Icecage Passage. Locals in Rimelock Bay are happy to see the money roll in during the warm months, but it’s always with a tinge of guilt. It’s always a sad day when a regular merchant decides they want to cut corners and take the passage this year. They rarely see them the next.

Dorne Mike’los, Captain of the Shattersquall [Seaborne Inferis, they/them]

Difficulty: 15

Brave, dashing, loquacious

Experience: Commander +2, Navigation +2, Witty Repartee +

Look: A consummate explorer and ship captain who is too handsome for the amount of frostbite they’ve endured.

Motive: Chart the Icecage Passage. And be the first.

Haunted Ice Pack (Threat)

When the sea freezes over it creates walkable, albeit dangerous and chaotic, plates of jagged ice known as an ice pack. It can seal in ships, collapse randomly, and eventually crush anything held by it. It’s a place most locals warn would-be explorers away from. Do they listen? The menagerie of ghosts, shades, undead crews, and haunted ships evidences that they did not. Even for the most robust ships this isa danger filled trip through frozen waters, but the dead that stalk the floes of solid ice make it downright harrowing. Nightly attacks are common, and ships passing through these waters must be prepared for that inevitability as well. The cryomantic assemblers in the Rimegrove keep the worst of this place from crossing onto shore. Still, it’s always a nightmare to encounter a Graveship that has wandered into the Chaldwastes.

The Rimegrove (Settlement)

A small forest of trees made of ice, with a canopy of fresh snow, that skirts the borders of the Chaldwastes and the ice pack of the Icecage Passage. In the heart of this crystalline forest is a small walled enclosure full of huts, above a small network of tunnels that pop up throughout the forest. While they can be found all over the Rime, this place is the home of the druids of the Cryomantic Assemblage. They do not appreciate outsiders entering their grove, but have been known to entertain invited guests with shows featuring live sculpting and sweet delicacies made from flavored ice.

The Chaldwastes

Worm Runs: Local hunters can often be found partaking in fiercely competitive group hunts to take down roving clews of chaldworms.

Beautified Landscape: The Cryomantic Assemblage has used this flat, bleak landscape as a blank canvas and filled with icy wonders beyond compare.

What most folks picture when tales are told of the Rime. Flat, endless, white wastes cut through with frigid winds and blistering cold. Those stories are true, but they don’t paint the whole picture. Massive metallic heads, outstretched arms, hands, fingers belonging to the myriad of colossi dot the landscape and create pockets of warmth making travel conditions just a hair below unbearable. Pair this with the frozen statuary that peppers the ice and the right vista affords one of the most breathtaking views this realm has to offer… on the rare day a blizzard isn’t raging across it. Conversations between friends have been cut off mid sentence, only for the other to discover their traveling companion fell down a chaldworm hole.

Chaldworm Hunting Grounds (Threat)

With their huge bodies, superheated head plates, unerring tremor sense, and pack mentality travelers passing through the Chaldwastes are under constant threat from below. Moving in clews of three to six, these predators will attack anything smaller than them and regularly feed on mammoths… just to give a sense of scale. Still, their oil and armored plates, and delicious meat are in high demand, and hunters frequent these icy plains to get a cut of the action. Many make their livelihood hunting these worms, passing techniques from generation to generation. Young Wormhunters who have yet to earn their first burn scar from a worm are known as ‘Clew Chew.’

The Glass Gardens (Outpost)

One of the Cryomantic Assemblage’s outposts is surrounded by a wall of ice, polished clear, flanked on both ends by gates of solid snow that collapse into powder and reassemble when opening and closing. Inside is an impossible place. A fruit orchard and vegetable garden surrounding a small farmstead. All of it is ice but it’s extremely edible and is some of the most savory, succulent, and sweet produce if one can get past the universally crunchy texture and icy temperature. The druids who live here are happy to feed anyone seeking a meal, and are very proud of their unique culinary concoctions. It’s always delicious but sometimes unpleasant to eat when all one wants is a hot meal… but they do excel at cold soups.

The Cryoclast (Location)

Surrounding a large mining encampment, built over an exposed vein of platinum, are six humanoid skeletons clutching staves and made entirely of solid ice. The encampment is the size of a small village, complete with a clockwork mining rig, storage warehouses, company housing, store, infirmary, and the people who live and work there. To say it’s all frozen is an understatement. Everything has been changed, on a molecular level, into ice. There is no flesh or wood or iron. Nothing but solid ice. It’s haunting to pass through this place, doomed for their trespasses against the Assemblage. Every detail is preserved perfectly: the pores on someone’s nose, each individual beard hair, the slight warping of the wood on the side of a house, the intricate cog-work of the drill.

The Blood Glacier

Cult Activity: Many cults frequent this place, performing strange rites in the crimson waters

Feeling of Being Watched: Dark figures lurk at the borders of peripheral vision, disappearing when looked at.

The Blood Glacier is always a disturbing sight to come across when leaving the Chaldwastes, a crimson stain on a canvas of pure white. Situated at the edge of a mountain range at the far end of the Rime. This glacier is a craggy mix of black rock and red ice, as runoff from the glacier pools like blood in the snow. Because of its macabre appearance, most locals avoid the place, considering it cursed.

Sanguine Falls (Location)

A partially frozen waterfall that cascades down a cliff over 200 feet tall. The waters that flow from the top are tainted with a ferrous substance that turns the water a brilliant crimson color, and looks like flowing and frozen blood. It’s enough for most to get one look and turn away… in either fear or wisdom. This is a place where travelers always feel watched, where light moves in ways it shouldn’t, and where gravity behaves poorly. Explorers have returned with reports of strange cults performing rituals in the waters of the falls. The details of their tales are fuzzy and almost always end with them joining in the festivities somehow.

Ferrous Giant (Location)

Atop the falls are a series of massive, tiered hot spring pools and the source of the sanguine waters. Splayed over the springs are the bones of a colossal humanoid, pierced through with a spear three stories tall. The bones are solid iron, and the rust mingling with the spring water creates the flowing “blood” that is seen from below. This is the only colossus in the area that does not have a metal outer shell, leading some to speculate what is actually underneath the frozen colossi in the wastes.

Strange Happenings (Feature)

From the weird cults that flit about the crimson waters, to the odd occurrences of gravity reversal, to the giant bones that bleed rust into the water, to the piles of frozen bodies at the base of the falls dissuading climbers… this place is full of weird, eldritch energies. So much so that animals stay away from it, and even the biting wind seems to avoid the glacier. Some have claimed to feel like they are being watched the whole time, and they likely are. But by whom… that remains up for debate.

Awaken the Giant Countdown

A consequence for a miss can always be a mark against the countdown.

8 - Nine mysterious figures appear around the ferrous giant, chanting.

7 - Arcane runes and symbols light up the sky around the falls.

6 - Gravity begins to act strange around the falls as the figures bodies dissolve into liquid.

5 - A new star appears in the sky… no. A moon. The sun does not ascend that morning.

4 - The moon descends into low orbit, held aloft by thirteen wings.

3 - The moon warps, turning into a giant head from which it extrudes a proportionate body.

2 - The moon person pulls the spear from the giant, ascending back into space, disappearing.

1 - The iron skeleton awakens, its organs sprouting as sinewy flesh regrows over it. Skin callusing as the sun, rising again, passes over it.

0 - Fully reformed, the impossibly tall colossus pulls itself into the sun, curling into a fetal position inside its cosmic womb.

Settlements

Rimelock Bay

Severe Markups: Merchant’s and explorers wanting to cut through the Icecage Passage will find the price of goods soaring.

Worm Meat, Four Ways: Chaldworm hunters often return here to preserve, process, and sell the meat, oil, and carapace from the worms. When a successful worm hunt coincides with a provision shipment there’s always an impromptu town-wide cooking contest.

The biggest settlement in the region and really the only place with frequent visitors. Situated at the mouth of the Icecage Passage, a half-ring of basalt pillars, rising hundreds of feet tall juts out into the water, creating a large and welcoming bay free from rough waters and easy to keep clear of ice. It’s often called the last stop before the pole, as it’s the first and last spot anyone is able to reliably resupply in the Rime. It’s a safe community that watches out for its own and doesn’t have a watch. Criminals are dealt with swiftly, often bagged and left out in the Chaldwastes to fend for themselves with only a blanket, flint, and a handful of jerky. The locals here get on well with the nearby Assemblage, leaving them be and respecting their art by appreciating it from afar.

Rimelock Gateway Bazaar (Market)

A massive warehouse down by the docks, this is where all the moving and shaking happens. A boisterous place with its own meadhall, locals and visitors gather to eat and drink even if they have no trade to do. Worm headplates are competitively weighed at market, with the hunters taking home hefty purses from merchants eager to purchase the winning carapaces. Those looking for work can always find someone who needs an extra hand with a supply run or a rescue mission in the Bazaar.

Quentin ‘Qube’ Hubert, Frigid Wizard [Ice Elemental, he/him]

Difficulty: 16

Curious, unassuming, good-humored

Experience: Ancient History +1, Forbidden Knowledge +2 Magical Knowledge +2

Look: A block of solid, polished ice who can crush a portion of itself to form a face and limbs. He wears a bright yellow toga, wrapping around what would have been one of his shoulders if he had any.

Motive: Exploration. Qube was once a mortal man. But by discovering a powerful, frozen, and eldritch tome, managed to turn himself into an ice elemental permanently. Which suits him, honestly, as he uses his new form to explore the furthest reaches of the Rime.

Jaded Locals (Feature)

Locals have seen so many come and go through here, only to never return, that they don’t invest much in new faces. It’s not that the people of Rimelock don’t care, but they can’t afford to. If they start getting to know that fresh-faced adventurer they may come to realize they like them. If they like them they’re inevitably going to have to go find them when they fall down an ice chasm, get pinned down by worms, or frozen up to their necks by angry druids. It’s just not worth it. A true friend here is worth a thousand in a warmer climate. They are few and far between, so those that find them hold them close.

Cinthia Trin, Ice Runner [Ridgeborne Halfling, she/her]

Difficulty: 14

Tireless, indomitable, fierce

Experience: Athlete +1, Bloodhound +1, Quartermaster +2, Tracking +1

Look: Never without her snow hounds. Scarred, weary, and always draped in heavy pelts to ward off the cold.

Motive: The Loop. Take the package. Bring it to the destination. Take the next package. Bring it to the destination. Keep moving. Can’t stop. Too many rely on her.

Last Stop (Location)

While most inns have their own tavern below, the stewards of the Last Stop would just as soon send its tenants to the bazaar’s mead hall, or one of the many fine establishments around town if they need a meal. But if they need any last minute supplies… Some rope and pitons? No problem. A jar of worm oil? They probably have at least one. Some snow shoes? They’d love to offer some Friction Boots but sold their last pair to a sickly looking explorer just yesterday. If anyone happens to stumble onto those boots, they’d happily buy them back. All of their merchandise is branded so it’s easy to spot. Some people see the proprietors as shady and cold, but the truth is they are just incredibly practical. Out here it’s all finders keepers, they just make sure to let everyone know what a generous buyback policy they have.

Krulhatch

Fish Focused: Visitors to Krulhatch better have a taste for fish, because they aren’t likely eating much else around here.

Harder Partiers: Despite the harsh conditions, the folks who call Krulhatch home are a boisterous bunch who love an excuse to party.

A town situated at the outer reaches of the Chaldwastes, built on stilts atop a lake frozen all but two weeks out of the year. The lake below the small village is home to a unique fish that returns once a year to spawn in its unfrozen waters. The types of folks it attracts are those that loathe civilized society… or those that civilized society has summarily rejected. The families that rule the town are more like loose knit clans, composed of both blood kin and not. It’s hard living here, but those two weeks when the fish spawn make the rest of the year all worth it.

Krulfish (Feature)

A bullet shaped fish about three feet long with iridescent orange scales and knifelike spines on their tails. It gives off one of the worst smells ever smelled, but the gland can be removed making processing it much more tolerable. The Krulfish wine, smoked jerky, and pickle exports support the entire community. The oil from the fish is both flammable and pyrophobic, a valuable alchemical component. Foreign Krulfish orders are put in years in advance, in hopes of getting a delicious cut of the action. In such demand that even kings and queens have had their orders turned down.

The Spawnarch Festival (Festival)

The Spawnarch Festival takes place over the week leading up to the thaw of the lake and the two weeks after while the krulfish spawn in the waters below the town. It’s the most important time of year, and a bad festival portents a hard year to come. The whole town lays out nets on the ice, divided by family teams, and waits for the ice to crack. When the nets fall into the water the festival is in full swing. When the spawn finishes, the nets are drug up and the fish are sorted, counted, and processed. It all ends with an incredible feast where fish are prepared in more ways than could be imagined. The games at this feast are legendary. Competitors greased up with krulfish oil lit on fire and try to push one another out of the ring before the oil burns off. Families offer up fiercely competitive krulfish recipes for judgment with prizes awarded. Competitors flyt with one another, trading increasingly hilarious and personal barbs. The Trivig Family “Krul-Krunch Wafer” is the recipe to beat, remaining undefeated three years running. And don’t even try to go toe to toe, flyting, with anyone from the Gauso Family.

Spawnarch Festival Countdown

A consequence for a miss can always be a mark against the countdown.

8 - The town begins preparations. Colorful nets with weights and family markings are placed on the ice.

7 - Elaborate fish themed decorations are put out.

6 - The ice cracks, and the nets sink. The whole town gets really drunk that night.

5 - The falls at the end of the lake begin to flow again. The whole town gets really drunk that night.

4 - The first krulfish arrives to spawn. The whole town gets really drunk that night.

3 - The egg sacks float to the surface and begin to float down river, signaling the end of the spawn. Everyone… gets a good night’s rest.

2 - A brutal three day process of pulling the nets up before the krulfish are counted and weighed. The majority is packed in salt or put into fermentation barrels.

1 - A great fish feast where the town’s families and guests compete in cooking contests, feats of strength, and flyting.

0 - The Spawnarch is crowned! The whole town gets really drunk that night.

Family Champions (Feature)

Each family team is led by a champion. These champions are responsible for the performance of their team that year, and their decisions make or break their chances of victory. A mostly ceremonial win, but one that gives the winning family first press and pick on the krulfish goods they will sell. From where to position the nets, to leading the harvest pull, to choosing competitors (or participating themselves) in the feast games, it’s a position with a lot of inherent pressure. Families are very fierce about their internal selection process every year, as one bad champion can send their annual haul into a spiral they may not recover from.

Homer Noft, Noft Family Champion [Orderborne Dwarf, he/him]

Difficulty: 16

welcoming, cheerful, fiercely competitive

Experience: Animal Handling +1 , Athlete +1, Swimming +2, Wrestling +1

Look: Dresses for comfort and warmth, but always displays his family’s color (orange).

Motive: Sustainability. The krulfish count is lowering every year. They need to find a balance or their way of life will disappear. As long as he wins the Spawnarch crown the Nofts can can set the trade agenda for the year.

Yarla Boch, Trivig Family Champion [Orderborne Firbolg, she/her]

Difficulty: 15

ambitious, uncompromising, gutsy

Experience: Athlete +2, Keen Senses +1, Wrestling +2, Witty Repartee +1

Look: Unusually tall and sturdy, even for a firbolg. Either out of misplaced insecurity or genuine hardiness, she doesn’t dress for the cold.

Motive: Humiliate the Nofts. She doesn’t care if she wins the crown or not. The Nofts have looked down on the Trivig Family for years and it’s time they got their comeuppance.

Barit Gauso, Gauso Family Champion [Wildborne Human, she/they]

Difficulty: 17

cocky, amorous, dashing

Experience: Acrobat +2, Commander +1, Flirting +2, Witty Repartee +2, Wrestling +1

Look: More put together than they’ve any right to be out here. Great hair, especially. And shoulders. Gams too.

Motive: Spark joy. She just wants to have a good time and put on a good show for the village. Life is hard enough around here. She cares about Krulhatch so much and longs for a way to attract those who have left back to its way of life.

Klim Lanz, Stray House Champion [Slyborne Elf, he/him]

Difficulty: 14

Cunning, unscrupulous, nasty

Experience: Bandit +2, Feigned Incompetence +1, Intrusion +1, Spy +1, Witty Repartee +1

Look: Unkempt mountain of a man, with arms like tree trunks.

Motive: His house holding the crown means first tap on all fish oils and wines, which always go for the highest price. He doesn’t care what happens to Krulhatch, only what he can extract in the short term.

Silver Salvation (Excavation Site 2-A)

Silver Colossus: With just its fingertips poking out, encased in hundreds of feet of solid ice, is a humongous statue of a human cast in solid, untarnishable silver.

Faint Stirrings: On the rare night, when the howling wind prefers to whisper, some say they can hear a soft, slow beating in the giant’s chest.

While there is always a tent, or small cluster of shanties that form around the myriad limbs of the metal colossi, Silver Salvation is the only town that has managed to last. Situated in the middle of the Chaldwastes, the founders of Silver Salvation discovered a colossus that was surrounded by tunnels bored through the ice, all around its body and descending down to its waist. What’s not known to the folk who make this home is it was one of the first excavation sites, carved into the ice by the Ramiform Ecclesiarch Network, and where they found the first Prophetic Discs. Long abandoned, and for reasons the Network refuses to discuss, it has become a bustling community complete with a small underground ice farm, courtesy of the Assemblage, who keeps a watchful eye on this place.

Ice Tunnels (Feature)

When the folks who decided to make this a permanent home found it, they were surprised to find a network of tunnels snaking around the colossus. These tunnels are perfectly smooth and round, with a flat bottom. Some sort of tool and a LOT of worm oil were probably used to make them. Regardless, they connect all over the body, with larger chambers around the waist, left hand and arm, the chest, and the neck. Personal homes, shops, and even a little pub can be found tucked away, nestled in the comfortable warmth radiating off the colossus.

Wee Finger’s Pub (Location)

An open floorplan pub, built into a large chamber around the left hand, which is curled into a fist other than the little finger, which extends downward into the ice. The bar is built in a circle around the finger, which is stacked with shelves of spirits. Locals and visitors alike dine here, as it’s the only public house in the tiny settlement. There’s not really an owner, and the locals just take turns running the bar depending on who has the energy that day. Service ain’t great but what else is there?

Ice Farm (Location)

A gift from the nearby Cryomantic Assemblage. While the temperature makes it comfortable to live around the colossus, farming is still impossible and initially made for some months of empty stomachs. The Assemblage took pity on the small town and gifted them an Ice Farm, similar to the one in the Glass Garden. At least one assembler is always on hand to tend to the garden. In exchange, the populace has agreed to report any strange visitors seeking artifacts, cracks forming around the colossus, and not to dig any deeper around it. While the folks who call this place home are not inherently suspicious of visitors, their deal with the druids forces them to report on anyone entering and leaving.

Factions

Ramiform Ecclesiarch Network

Inscrutable Mythos: Depending on who is asked results in an entirely different answer as to “what it all means.”

Decentralized Network: This is not a group that gathers often, and it shows. Most don’t care for the others.

A loose knit group of powerful individuals who call themselves Ecclesiarchs, seek to quash the evils of this realm and bring about a new age. But their methodology is strange at best… and downright eldritch at worst. They base their beliefs around the writings from a disc made of a metal not found in the Mortal Realm. Through careful study of ancient texts and prophecy they created a translation cypher and extrapolated their core beliefs from there. They have fingers everywhere, seeking out powerful sources of magic and sites of ancient prophecy. Their search has become unified for the first time in many years, converging in these ice blasted plain to find… something.

Cure for Stagnation (Feature)

No one believes themselves to be the bad guy, and the Network is no exception. Where their goals converge is in the idea of a new genesis. Starting over from scratch with, presumably, themselves as the architects of a new era. This decision, of course, to reshape the realm is made while paying no mind to the people who actually live in it. What does this mean for this epoch? None of them care. This age is over, a decaying husk not fit to support life, progress, or meaning.

Artifact Caches (Feature)

They are nothing if not fastidious and efficient collectors. From auction houses to dungeon delves to secure vaults, the Network can always be found where the ancient and powerful surfaces. No one knows, even within the network, why they need such a robust collection of magical items. But they have them all the same. Stranger still, these same items are rarely utilized… even in instances that would further their goals. They are saving them for something. But what? The Ecclesiarchs exploring these wastes have been known to travel with massive sealed caches. Some of their expeditions have been less than successful, forcing them to abandon these treasure troves among the ice.

Excavation Sites (Locations)

The first prophecy disc was found at Excavation Site 2-A, clutched in the left hand. The second was found lodged in the eye of Surface Site 4-F. The Ecclesiarchs have been sourcing the colossi of the Chaldwastes and beyond, hoping to find more answers, context, or direction. They have enough collective wealth that when a site becomes too hostile or doesn’t turn up anything of value they have no problem leaving the entire operation behind and starting from scratch on the next one. The myriad of outposts and homes surrounding the colossi, along with Silver Salvation are all the results of abandoned Network excavation sites.

Principles

As the Ecclesiarchs are as varied as they are distant from one another, there are very few guiding principles, but below are a few of the translated lines of prophecy that seem to guide their hand and thoughts.

• “The New Age, birthed by the benevolence of the Ecclesiarch…”
• “ The fallen giant, sanguine and ferrous, holds the key. It must be made whole again…”
• “Call forth the moon above the land of unshed blood that always falls, only she can unpierce the cold heart of the realm…”

NPCs

Varlan Borillos, True Believing Ecclesiarch [ Slyborne **** Inferis , he/him]

Difficulty: 14

fanatical, compassionate, immovable

Experience: Wisdom of the Centuries +2, Divination +1

Look: Practically but impeccable, with everything showing the newness and quality of the material and make.

Motive: This realm holds so many evils… The prophecy states that by becoming the living vessel for change they can start the mortal realm anew, washing away the sins of the previous age. So why shouldn’t they?

Oskar Zahk, Wary Ecclesiarch [ Loreborne **** Katari , he/they]

Difficulty: 14

paranoid, brilliant, volatile

Experience: Magical Knowledge +3, Bloodhound +2

Look: Eccentric scholar chic. It’s clear he has great wealth so he chooses to look that way. Too many straps and buckles for books and scrolls.

Motive: Progress has stagnated. Innovation has died. We have failed as an age. Gods. Mortals. All of it. Starting over from scratch is the only way to make things right again.

Dara Mutte, Disillusioned Ecclesiarch [ Highborne **** Faun , she/her]

Difficulty: 15

Meticulous, hedonistic, assured

Experience: Experience: Socialite +3, Luxury +5

Look: A fashionable woman of luxury who looks delightfully out of place in this climate. She has gold and platinum facial tattoos that snake down from her chin to, presumably, her hooves.

Motive: There is nothing in this life left for her. She’s ready to move on, and doesn’t care if the rest of the realm isn’t, as long as whatever waits on the other end of it is something decadently different.

Story Hooks

A clade of crymantic assemblers guards an esoteric tablet he requires for one of his rituals but their ice fortress is seemingly impenetrable. Varlan needs a large supply of Worm Oil in order to get in.

Oskar needs assistance in breaking an ancient language cypher that may reveal key points of prophecy they’ve yet to unlock.

Dara has heard of a village at the far reaches of civilization reliant on a special kind of fish. She needs a champion so that she may assume the crown of the Spawnarch and, presumably, control the village’s trade.

Rimeblood Orphans

Genuine Heroes: It’s often hard to tell who the real “heroes” are. These folk are. Rarely staying in one place for too long, the Orphans wander the Rime searching for those in need.

Life of Service: Almost all of the Rimeblood Orphans began their training as children, but are not forced to continue as adults. Almost all of them choose to.

Settlements collapse, settlers go missing, travelers fall victim to chaldworm attacks… What unifies all of these is that the children traveling with these folk had no choice in this matter. Losing one’s parent to a misguided hunt, or a botched supply run is all too common. The Rimeblood Orphans are a group of wandering do-gooders who were all once victims of similar circumstances, childhood orphans who lost their parents for reasons beyond their control. No one knows how they started, but the Rimeblood Orphans continue their good work of rescuing lost, abandoned, and orphaned children in the wastes. If they have no kin to reconnect with, they are taken into their order and fed, housed, and trained in the ways of the Rime. They serve under a mentor until they come of age after which they are given a choice. They can leave and make a life of their own, or they can stay and continue their good work: serving and protecting the lost children of the frozen wastes.

Bear Sledges (Feature)

The Rimeblood Orphans are hard to mistake, and one of the main reasons is they have trained a large maul of snow bears to pull their heavy camp sledges. The bears are surprisingly docile and friendly, unless unleashed in a fight. The sledges they pull are laden with supplies, and even have places for several wee folk to sleep comfortably and warm while the sledge continues on its journey. It’s always cause for celebration when a bear sledge pulls into Rimelock Bay and five or six children come pouring out of every nook, cranny, and satchel on the sledge.

Peerless Guides (Feature)

If one needs a guide, travelers could do much worse and not much better, than employing a Rimeblood Orphan. They’ve learned how to read the path of blizzards, know where ice fishing is easiest, what parts of the ice pack to avoid entirely, and how to tell if a cryomantic assembler is friendly or not. Their services don’t come cheap, as these proud do-gooders need something to fund their mission. It’s not uncommon to see deals struck between adventurers and a Rimeblood Orphan where they will serve as guide, but should they need to rescue someone, their contracted mission will be put on hold at the orphans discretion.

Rimeblood Charity (Feature)

No Rimeblood Orphan pays for food or lodging anywhere in this area. The locals know who they are and what they do, and it’s become a long standing tradition to offer room and board to any who ride into town regardless of if they have children with them or not. In turn, the Rimeblood Orphans hold it sacred that they must be consummate guests. Even the gruffest and most misanthropic among them turn into charming guests, swapping stories, songs, and life lessons for their meals and board.

Principles

There is nothing written in stone, or ice, about the way a Rimeblood Orphan should or should not behave. Instead, these lessons are passed from mentor to initiate over multiple cycles, so much so that they may as well be permanently engraved somewhere.

• “Never forget that one guaranteed life saved is worth a dozen possible lives if it means you can still rescue someone tomorrow.”
• “Extend the same charity extended to us when hosted. Leave the bitter cold that surrounds your heart with the bears, and open yourself up to the warmth of companionship and friends.”
• “Every child deserves a choice. Arm them with the knowledge and skills to choose their life’s direction. Even if it diverges from ours.”

NPCs

Nicto Greel, Silent Savior [ Wanderborne **** Drakona , he/him]

Difficulty: 12

Stoic, Focused, Mute

Experience: Wrangle +2, Navigation +2, Quartermaster +1

Look: Ebony of scale, tall and wide of build. His face is covered with lacerations. He’s old, and been at this a long time.

Motive: Save whole families. Nicto doesn’t care to mentor anyone, and endeavors to rescue families along with their children.

Valah Sharpe, Wandering Songsmith [ Seaborne **** Dwarf , she/her]

Difficulty: 8

Boisterous, Talkative, Nurturing

Experience: Bloodhound +2, Witty Repartee +1

Look: Brightly dyed furs, easy to spot. Wildly dyed hair and styled beard. She definitely has a distinct and unmistakable flare, and stands out as a bright spot of warmth in the endless fields of white.

Motive: Give the kids a good time. Losing a parent is terrible. She would know. The least she can do is make them laugh.

Gunge Halfjaw, Worm Bait [ Wildborne **** Goblin , they/them]

Difficulty: 14

Thrill seeking, Brave, Selfless

Experience: Ambusher +2, Keen Senses +2, Tremor Sense +1

Look: Encased in worm carapace armor, his pale orange skin contrasting nicely with the gray-blue of the worm-shell. Half his jaw has been replaced by wormbone scrimshaw.

Motive: Keep the wormways safe. They’d rather prevent tragedy to begin with, so they focus their efforts in the Chaldwastes where chaldwormsare most frequent.

Story Hooks

A caravan, composed of four families, destined for Silver Salvation didn’t cross the third checkpoint and some fear the worst.

The runaway child of a monarch has gone missing out in the wastes, and a hefty reward will be bestowed on whoever can reunite him with his family.

In defiance of regional custom, a small outpost in the Chaldwastes is refusing to grant charity to passing Rimeblood Orphans. The Orphans seek no repudiation, just an outsider to figure out why and report back.

Resources

	MOMENTS OF HOPE		MOMENTS OF FEAR
1	A clear, crisp, blue morning.	1	A blizzard so thick it blots out the sun.
2	A warm fire after a cold day.	2	The ice rumbles and cracks beneath.
3	A huddle of penguins waddles past on the way to a fishing hole.	3	Unholy howls drift onto land from the icepack.
4	A swig of fine whiskey to warm the bones.	4	A body whose blood is drained and frozen in a macabre sculpture above it. A warning.
5	Sunrise glints off an outstretched, colossal hand.	5	Mysterious figures, chanting under an unscheduled lunar eclipse.
6	Fresh catch roasting on a nearby fire.	6	A maul of snow bears taking down a supply sledge.
7	A group of hunters bring down a massive ice worm in the distance.	7	A corpse, frozen and preserved for many years.
8	The sun sets, painting the white landscape in vivid pinks and oranges.	8	A Rimeblood Orphan gently explains to a child what happened to her parents. She weeps.
9	The howling wings abate, giving purchase to peaceful silence.	9	A roiling blizzard moves in quickly from the horizon.
10	A raucous mead hall, full of celebration and song.	10	A distant avalanche grows closer and closer still.
11	Ice sculptures, whose craftsmanship is beyond compare.	11	A group of frozen poachers, each in their own personal column of ice.
12	A lost child reuniting with their parents, their rescuer nearby.	12	In the distance, a ship is crushed into splinters by the shifting icepack.

Rumours

Someone is attempting to sabotage the nets during Krulhatch’s Spawnarch festival. The town elders need someone to investigate it quietly.

A mysterious group has been excavating a frozen colossi for unknown reasons. Some of the locals are scared of what could happen if the colossi gets fully uncovered.

The Rimeblood Orphans aim to take down an ice dragon that destroyed a small outpost in the Chaldwastes, and are seeking some extra hands.

Locals say that sleeping next to a colossi results in terrifying dreams. Some tell of a moon becoming a face. Others of a sun cracking open like an egg. Some even say they’ve seen metal giants wade through seas of blood and fire in their nightmares.

A merchant in Rimelock Bay was thrown in jail for selling tainted rations to an icebreaker frigate attempting the Icecage Passage. The Magistrate wants to make it right, and send a supply run of food to the ship… but it’s likely trapped deep in the Haunted Icepack.

Equipment

Rimeshot Crossbow - Agility Close - d6+4 (magic) - One-Handed

Feature: Iceburst Bolts (Mark a Stress before an attack roll to also attack any other creatures within melee range of the target.)

Primary Weapon

Worm Shield - Finesse Melee - d4+2 (phy) - One-Handed

Feature: Self Sealing Carapace (Add +3 to armor score. Repairs itself 1d4 armor slots during a long rest)

Secondary Weapon

Cryoclast Armor - Base Score: 4

Feature: Shattershard (When marking armor slots, deal 1d10 magic damage to the attacker per armor marked. This armor cannot be repaired.)

Armor

Items

Pocket Fire. The magic isn’t actually the fire, but rather the small square of magically treated cloth that it’s wrapped in. The flame can be removed from the cloth and placed on flammable material to instantly create a small campfire that lasts up to 8 hours unless doused. The cloth can be used to grab a handful of fire to be stored for future use.

Icesight Goggles. Many beasts of the frozen wastes use the ice and snow as camouflage. These goggles detect minute heat signatures in blood and breath while also sharpening focus and giving a more detailed view of the monochromatic landscape, giving advantage on instinct rolls when in icy climates.

Friction Boots. Heavy, warm boots with fantastic ankle support and magically attuned soles that adjust the friction to adapt to difficult surfaces of all kinds. The wearer is immune to slipping and falling on hazardous surfaces, and has advantage on rolls to keep themselves from being moved against their will.

Consumables

Hunter’s Ice. A small tab of black ice that, when placed under the tongue, lowers their body temperature to the same as the air around it, making detection by temperature impossible and renders them immune to the effects of extreme cold weather for the next 8 hours.

Ice Mansion. A tightly packed snowball that upon closer inspection is covered in complex creases and lines. When thrown it unfurls creating a large shelter made of ice. Inside is a bed, a cook pot, and some fur blankets. It can safely house up to 4 people for a long rest before it collapses into powdered snow.

Worm Oil. Excreted and distilled from the heat glands of the chaldworms, this oily substance can be used to coat an object or small area. Once applied, that object or surface is superheated, dealing 2d6 magic damage to any creature that touches it for the next hour. It will rapidly melt any ice it is pressed against, allowing creatures pushing or holding a superheated object to move at half speed through solid ice.

Adversaries

Chaldworm

Description: An armor-played worm traversing solid ice to strike prey from below.

Motives & Tactics: Separate, Ambush, Retreat

Tier: 2

Type: Skulk

Difficulty: 15

Attack Modifier: +3

Thrash: Close | 3d8 phy

Major 10 | Severe 20

HP: 5

Stress: 4

Experience:

Stealth +3

Tracking +1

Features

Frozen Delicacy - Passive

When killed, the worm can be harvested with a Finesse (14) roll for its succulent and highly nutritious meat, glandular oil, and armored plates. The glandular oil can be processed into Worm Oil, and the armored plates can be crafted into a Worm Shield.

Tunnel - Passive

While superheated, the Chaldworm can move through solid ice at a rapid speed, up to aFar distance per activation. It leaves a large tunnel in its wake.

Superheat - Action

Mark Stress to secrete oil from its glands and superheat its headplate for the next hour. It glows white hot, dealing an additional 1d8 magic when it uses Thrash. The Chaldworm can only use its other abilities superheated.

Ice Breach - Action

+6 Attack Modifier

While superheated, mark a Stress to accelerate rapidly while under a target, bursting out of the ice and launching them into the air. As the ground rumbles, the target must first make an Agility (14) reaction roll or be made Vulnerable. Then, as the worm bursts out of the ice, it makes a melee attack with a +6 attack modifier. On a success, the target takes 2d10 phy and 1d10 mag damage, and is thrown into far range.

Cryomantic Assembler

Description: A heavily-bundled druid crafting ice and snow.

Motives & Tactics: Summon, Surround, Observe

Tier: 2

Type: Standard

Difficulty: 14

Attack Modifier: +4

Cryomantic Blast: Close | 2d10+5 phy

Major 8 | Severe 15

HP: 5

Stress: 4

Experience:

Preservation +3

Navigation +2

Features

Living Ice - Action

Spend a Fear to bring nearby ice to life. Roll 1d6 and create a number of humanoid sized chunks of ice animate as constructs based on the result. They use the following stats:

Animated Ice

Tier: 1

Type: Minion

Difficulty: 10

Attack Modifier: +0

Ice Shards: Melee | 1d6 phy

HP: 1

Stress: 1

Whenever the Cryomanic Assembler activates, you may activate one Animated Ice as well.

Frigid Detonation - Action

Mark a Stress to choose up to 3 Animated Ice constructs to detonate. Each one does 2d6 direct magic damage to all targets in Close range and is removed from the battlefield.

Icepack - Action

When 3 or more living ice are in melee range of a target, mark a Stress to make an attack against the target. On a success, they take 2 Stress and are Restrained as the living ice grows over them.

Icepack Graveship

Description: A gestalt entity composed of ghosts and the ragged remains of a doomed ship.

Motives & Tactics: Bombard, Shed, Consume

Tier: 2

Type: Solo

Difficulty: 17

Attack Modifier: +4

Ice Hull: Melee | 3d12 phy

Major 16 | Severe 25

**HP:**7

**Stress:**5

Experience:

Sailor +5

Features

Skeleton Crew - Reaction

Whenever the graveship takes HP damage, a Skeleton Dredge emerges within Close range of the attacker and immediately activates.

Soul Shackle - Reaction

Creatures with a soul that are killed by the graveship or its crew are added to its roster. Each time a soul is added to the crew, Icepack Graveship clears 1 Stress.

Load Cannon- Action

Load the onboard cannon to prepare it for firing.

Fire Cannon - Action

+2 Attack Modifier

If the cannon is loaded, choose a target or group within Far range and make an attack. On a success, they take 3d20 phy damage. When fired, the cannon becomes unloaded.

Ship Shape - Action

When the graveship has 3 or less HP available it can mark a Stress to reform into a ship to quickly escape. It cannot attack but can move quickly across and through solid ice (a Far distance per activation), leaving a wake of broken ice chunks behind it. Difficult to follow, easy to track (Instinct 10).

Environments

Coming soon!

A hostile stretch of frozen wastes where colossal metal limbs reach toward the sky while their bodies remain encased in the ice below.