Frost Peak Spire (campaign)

*For the tower featured in this campaign, see Frost Peak Spire.*
**Frost Peak Spire** is a spin-off campaign run in-between sessions of The Story So Far. It follows a group of three adventurers and their discovery of a mysterious frozen tower in what would later become the Orcish Wastelands, around 6900 1E (about two thousand years before the main campaign).

## **Main Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Heiran
* Lyra Brookes
* Mysbelle Caebrek

### **NPCs**

* Auroran chwinga
* Ligis
* Ner'zul
* Sigil

## **Summary**

The story begins in the far north of Calucin; a group of adventurers consisting of Heiran, Lyra Brookes and Mysbelle Caebrek are travelling to Tuath, a small village of frost elves and ice halflings that acts as a last post for those wishing to venture further north in the tundra that would later become the orcish wastelands. They travel in search of an ancient ruin they had heard rumours of a few months ago; it was supposedly full of treasures and wonders. The group have just emerged from the thick, uncharted mountain range that separates the harsh north, near (rowan?).

After a day of further travel, the group spot the thick, 30-foot tall icy walls of Tuath, built tall enough to protect the hamlet from the heavy snow drift of the region. However, no light or smoke peeks out from over the walls; with a feeling of dread, the adventurers head into Tuath to find an eerily quiet scene. The beautifully decorated, tall peaked buildings are starting to freeze, and knocks on the door go unanswered. Heiran notices fading tracks of a cart heading north out of the village, but no recent footprints at all.

The group enter the houses, searching for any signs of life, but turn up nothing. In the middle of the nicely decorated rooms, with animal pelts displayed across the walls, sit unlit fireplaces, coals ice cold. Defeated, the group set to sleep in one of the houses for the night before following the cart trail in the morning.

During the night, Heiran hears a strange repeated pinging noise from outside during his watch. He awakens the others and they head out to investigate, finding small footprints entering and leaving one of the other houses, moving in the same direction as the cart tracks; they resemble a halfling's, but are slightly odd looking. Following the trail out of Tuath, they spot a small figure dart through the darkness and behind a small hill of snow, which does not respond to their calls. Mysbelle treads over there to offer her help, but is instead met with an elven dagger to the side. The party ready for combat as the strange disfigured green humanoid calls for it's allies, which are more of it's kind as well as some larger green creatures. All of them are wielding weaponry reminiscent of the frost elves and ice halflings of Tuath.

After besting the majority of them, the party attempts to stop the stragglers from fleeing, but one of the smaller creatures makes it away. The group use this to their advantage, following it's tracks in the deep snow. However, they eventually stop to rest as night falls. During the night, both Heiran and Mysbelle hear very distant noises during their watches, which is unusual in this vast tundra largely devoid of life. Mysbelle specifically recognises the noises as an unfamiliar language and some commanding words. In the morning, the three discuss the noises and note that they sounded draconic in nature.

Continuing to follow the now fading tracks of the escaping creature, the party eventually come upon a grey stone tower completely encased in a cocoon of thick ice, shimmering in the sunlight. The structure within is a few stories high, and upon closer inspection is covered in countless intricate carvings depicting The Precursors performing tasks and wizardry, tens of thousands of years old. A freezing cart sits outside of the ice, containing a large but empty cage. The air surrounding this location is unexpectedly colder than the rest of the tundra thus far.

Heiran uses his Primeval Awareness and senses the presence of an undead creature within six miles, which is unusual. Nevertheless, Mysbelle breaks through the ice covering the entrance to the tower and the group enter cautiously.

The entrance room is lit by two dim driftglobes. It has two doors and a stairway leading further up the tower; upon exploration of the two rooms on the ground floor, the party discover more cages, these ones with traces of frozen excrement and dried blood. There is also a large, magically protected cell at the back of the level; when Mysbelle breaks one of the icy spears acting as the bars, she is attacked by a spell. Inside the cell are frozen frost elf and ice halfling corpses and skeletons.

Heading up to the next level, the group are met with a large room with four vats containing the strange green creatures of various sizes they'd seen before; they were suspended, tubes in their forearms connected to sacks of disgusting dark green and black liquid hanging outside the vats. Heiran picks up the notes left on the desk in the room, written in elven; Lyra reads them out. The notes describe experiments performed on frost elves and ice halflings, turning them into these grotesque creatures by injecting them with demon blood. It can only be assumed that this is what happened to all of the inhabitants of Tuath.

Heiran and Lyra leave the room as Mysbelle takes it upon herself to put the inhabitants of the vats out of their misery; as she finishes up, and the other two return, the previously escaped creature descends from the ceiling using a magical elevator. During his shock at the sight of the aggressors, Lyra makes quick work of knocking him out, and the group ascend using the elevator to the next level of the tower.

Next, the party discover a bedroom of sorts, warm as a tavern and stocked with food. On the table is a letter addressed to one named Ner'zul, discussing his experiments with the elves and halflings of this region; the letter was sent by none other than The Black Spider, still active two thousands years before the main campaign. The letter also reveals that Ner'zul was sent the corpse of a wyvern; with this and the draconic noises heard last night, the group come to the conclusion that Ner'zul has raised this wyvern from the dead.

As the three adventurers use another elevator to ascend to the roof of the tower, they are met with an unexpected sight. A frost elven man stands before a large green crystal that pulsates like a heartbeat, his hand resting upon it. His forearms are embedded with several shards of the crystal. The green power pulses into the man's arm, and the large crystal flashes once more before fading to grey. The man turns and is shocked to see the party standing there, before crying out the same command that Mysbelle had heard the night prior. "Well, it's been nice to meet you, but I must be going," he remarks, before he vanishes in a puff of magic. Not long after, the group's fears are proven to be well-founded as an undead wyvern coated in purple smoke and with warped purple flesh arrives at the scene, ridden by another of the large green creatures.

After a hard fought battle, during which Mysbelle is even thrown off the tower and miraculously survived, the group overcome the draconic creature, and hastily leave the now crumbling tower; Heiran ensures the surviving green creature is taken with them. The tower crashes down into rubble, the magical cold dissipating with it, but the adventurers stand alive.