Grasp of a Frozen Heart

Grasp of a Frozen Heart is a book uncovered in Chalimar through use of Study-related Inquiries.

## Description

Travelling to Khonoldhur alongside Arnica and Anivia, the sorcerer Yesora Yrephi moved to investigate further the origin of the pendant in her possession. Aided by Hormus Trollkith at the Usum Conservatory, the trio learned of a Master Thief known as the Silent Frost, know for a series of crimes in the years shortly after Nelenet's Guild of Explorers started to explore the continent.

## Reading

### Completed by Arnica

There have been numerous individuals dubbed a "Master-Thief" over the years, in truth the underworld of illicit services, goods and trades is rife with such individuals, whether affiliated with groups historical - such as the Grey Moth Guild, the Lowhoods or the Joycatchers - or more contemporary, be they tied to the Lightfingers, the Other Hand or the Arken Den, or simply an individual standing alone and independent. Naming a most famous or most significant in the latter case is an impossible task, though it could certainly be argued that amongst the most audacious was that of the unnamed larcenist responsible for the theft of a huge alexandrite the size of a wagon from the City of Jewels in the Sevenfolk Mazework of the Elemental Plane of Earth, which has resided as the centrepiece in the Gallery Exaltic of the Summit District in Aviacrest ever more. Throughout the years, and still presently so, gemstones and jewellery have proved a consistent target for thieves, and one of the most notorious in recent memory - the so-called Silent Frost - proved no different in their interests.

The author acknowledges the Silent Frost was more than a common thief, more than a master thief, for they were and are likewise implicated and accused in numerous other criminal activities. Most are related directly to the larceny and burglary for which they are infamous, but others stand separate. Owing to their talent for entering and leaving otherwise secure locals unseen, they also found steady work as an assassin, stupefying and incapacitating their targets with enchantment magics before leaving their fatal mark with acrobatic prowess. It would be through such actions that the seemed allegiance of the Silent Frost would be first speculated upon, for upon efforts to recall the soul of Aster qu Nasseus, a Rydooni nobleman of the Blessed Caste slain at their hand that it was noted the soul now languished in the Nine Hells, having seemingly been claimed. Subsequent murders and assassinations would all reveal the same occurrence, prompting further investigations to establish the devilish entity responsible.

In the end, it would be to not just a devil that the Souls would be tracked, but an Archdevil. By chance, a Soul Coin containing another of the Silent Frost's victims would be recovered during an excursion into Avernus by a party of adventurers, bound for the Fifth Layer of Baator, Stygia, with its Lord - Levistus, the Frozen Prince - laying claim to the currency. Such a revelation proved immediately fulfilling for those that had dedicated themselves to the pursuit of the thief, for the Lord of Stygia readily offers boons to those that seek to escape a seemingly inevitable fate, and so explained the Silent Frost's uncanny ability to fade into naught, leaving no trace of their presence save the slightest chill in the air.

Witnesses described the Silent Frost as a figure of unassuming size, shrouded in cloth and armour that gave them a near-translucent form, near impossible to see, save when directly illuminated. Reports cite they were capable of walking upon walls and ceilings as readily as the ground, and seemed able to traverse locked doors as easily as a breeze might branches of a tree. As aforementioned, the Silent Frost was instead most known as a thief of jewellery, their repertoire of purloins spreading across the entire Ahlusian continent between the years of 3WD and 11WD, the near decade when they were most reviled as they exploited the inadequacies of fledgling governments, guilds and organisations. Few escaped their passage, not the newly-formed Lotus Council and Banners of Castle Jalzazhuss during the expansion efforts, nor the Archons of the Hollow Concord - no less than three of them, supposedly, nor a founding member of the Radiant Triumvirate Lumaris Xaldir, whose treasured Cat's Eye Emerald Pendant simply vanished as they walked down a street at early dawn. If rumours are to believed, the Silent Frost likewise heisted the famously secure Hall of the Virtuous at some point, a tale vehemently denied by the Eclectic Eclipse, before seemingly disappearing off into obscurity. The reason for their absence has been speculated - with tales of being slain by a rival, finding satisfaction in their collection or their soul finally being claimed by their fiendish patron all circulated, but it seems that those with a taste for the finer things in life may be able to rest easy for now, safe in believing that the feel of cold air in their chambers in naught but that.