D20 - D&D - Adventure - Frozen Whispers.pdf - dnd - karolinaklecha.kk

WHISPERS

Frozen Whispersis a short D&D adventure for four

3rd-level player characters (PCs). The scenario is set

mostly in and near a remote hunter’s lodge in a snowy

forest.

The scenario can be placed in any cold area of your

campaign world that features a remote tract of wood-

land—a copse of trees near the arctic circle, a swath of

taiga near the treeline on a high mountanside, or even a

normally temperate forest caught in the grip of an

unnaturally snowy winter. As always, feel free to adapt

the material presented here as you see fit to make it

work with your campaign.

A Short Adventure for Four

3rd-Level Player Characters

PREPARATION

You (the DM) need the D&D core rulebooks, including

the Player’s Handbook,the Dungeon Master’s Guide,

and the Monster Manualto run this adventure. The

wendigo template appears in the Fiend Folio, and

although that book is also helpful, full statistics are pro-

vided for the wendigo encountered in this adventure.

To get started, print out the adventure, including

the maps. Read through the scenario at least once to

familiarize yourself with the situation, threats, and

major NPCs. Review the rules for forest terrain (on

page 87 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) and cold dan-

gers (on page 302 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide),

since both play a major role in Frozen Whispers.Text

that appears in shaded boxes is player information that

you can read aloud or paraphrase for the players at the

proper times.

CREDITS

Design:

James Jacobs

Editing:

Penny Williams

Typesetting:

Nancy Walker

Cartography :

Todd Gamble

Web Production

Julia Martin

Web Development:

Mark A. Jindra

Graphic Design:

Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege

Based on the original D UNGEONS & D RAGONS ® game by E.

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the

D UNGEONS & D RAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet,

Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison.

D&D, D UNGEONS & D RAGONS , and D UNGEON M ASTER are registered trademarks owned

by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the

Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses

thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

ADVENTURE

BACKGROUND

Despite the bitter cold that reigns here nine months of

the year, the Timberway Forest has long been a source

of prosperity for civilized folk who live nearby. Many

trappers and hunters spend the better part of the year

within its borders, stockpiling furs and meat to trade in

the frontier towns to the south, where they spend their

winters. Most feel that the value of these commodities

makes braving the Timberway Forest worth the risk.

Recently, though, a small group of trappers and

hunters led by a human ranger named Aaron Korigard

has awakened a terrible new menace in the forest.

Based in a remote hunter’s abode called the Bluerock

Lodge, Aaron’s men hunted the animals of the woods

more out of a deep-seated desire to be cruel than a need

to feed themselves. In particular, they focused their

hateful attention on the local Timberway lion popula-

tion. Timberway lions are rather small (more like leop-

ards), but they are known for being lithe and wary.

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material or artwork contained herein is prohibited

without the express written permission of

Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Made in the U.S.A.

This product is a work of fiction.

Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places,

or events is purely coincidental.

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No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without

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and the d20 System License,

please visit www.wizards.com/d20.

For more D UNGEONS & D RAGONS articles, adventures, and information,

visit www.wizards.com/dnd

FROZEN

Still, the trappers had the advantage of intelligence and

tools, and before long they had slaughtered the entire

pride save for its leader. As the winter worsened and

game grew ever more scarce, this last surviving lion

began to starve.

At this point, the darker forces of nature took

notice. When the starving lion’s tormentors settled

into their lodge to wait out a sudden blizzard, the big

cat transformed into a wendigo—a terribly fey spirit

born of starvation and cold. It took the lion wendigo

only three days to hunt down and slaughter the most of

the trappers, but Aaron himself escaped death. The

canny ranger realized that he was in over his head and

set off toward civilization, even though he had been

horribly wounded by the lion wendigo and had lost

most of his supplies. He didn’t get far before he col-

lapsed of exhaustion and became a wendigo himself.

The two one-time enemies—lion and human—

have now entirely forgotten their prior lives. Com-

pletely consumed by the supernatural forces of eternal

hunger and frozen hatred, they stalk the Timberway

Forest separately, searching for living beings to slay.

In the intervening weeks, a new group of hunters

has come to Bluerock Lodge. Keller, a rogue wanted in

another city for stealing a ring belonging to a noble,

came hunting with this new group to avoid capture.

Since their arrival, Aaron has stalked and wounded a

few members of the group, including Keller, who later

killed the companions left at the lodge with him. If he

is not cured or slain soon, he too will become a

wendigo and join Aaron in his endless hunt.

imagination, modifying them as necessary to fit your

campaign or the characters.

• While visiting a frontier town near the edge of the

Timberway, the PCs learn that merchants here pay

handsomely for the pelts of the elusive Timberway

lions—up to 50 gp apiece. By asking around town, the

characters can quickly learn that a group of like-

minded hunters recently left for Bluerock Lodge, a

shelter located near the traditional hunting grounds

of the lions in question. The townsfolk assure them

that if they wish to try their hand at lion hunting,

Bluerock is the place to go.

• If the party’s temperament is more aligned with

nature, the characters hear of the prices that Timber-

way lion pelts are currently bringing. Any character

with ranks in Knowledge (nature) knows that Timber-

way lions are endangered creatures, and this fact may

spur the PCs to find Bluerock Lodge and encourage

the people there to cease their hunting.

• One of the hunters at Bluerock Lodge isn’t really a

hunter; he’s a rogue named Keller who joined the

other hunters after successfully stealing a local noble’s

magic ring. Hoping to dodge the authorities, Keller

decided to hide out for the winter in Bluerock, posing

as a hunter. The noble hires the PCs to track down the

thief and retrieve the ring he stole. Keller didn’t think

to disguise himself, so tracking his flight to the fron-

tier town is a relatively easy matter. When the charac-

ters arrive, the proprietor of the local trading post

recognizes the description they provide and tells

them that the man they seek left a few weeks ago with

a group of hunters bound for Bluerock Lodge.

• Bluerock Lodge was built many years ago, but its

owner perished not long after its completion and left

no heirs. Since then, the lodge has served as a place for

hunters to stay free of charge in the woods. A man

who claims to have inherited the lodge hires the PCs

to go there and determine whether the place is nice

enough to claim, or whether he should sell it off.

Alternatively, one of the PCs could inherit Bluerock

Lodge, or find the deed to it among the treasure from

an earlier adventure.

• The PCs become lost in the Timberway Forest on

their way to another place. During a snowstorm, they

accidentally come upon Bluerock Lodge.

ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS

The wendigo that was once Aaron stalks the PCs while

they make their way through the woods toward the

Bluerock Lodge. Upon arrival, they find the place a

charnel house. Initial investigation indicates that the

last hunters who stayed here succumbed to cabin fever

and killed each other off, However, it soon becomes

clear that the creature responsible for their deaths is

still very much alive. The adventure comes to a climax

when the PCs must defend themselves against the

attacks of the deadly wendigo.

ADVENTURE HOOKS

As the DM, you must decide how best to involve the

PCs in the adventure. However, this scenario works

best if the characters aren’t initially aware of the fact

that terrible evil spirits are haunting the Timberway.

Thus, their reasons for traveling into the woodland

should stem from some other need to reach Bluerock

Lodge. You can use the following hooks to spur your

BEGINNING THE

ADVENTURE

Frozen Whispersis an event-based adventure that

occurs in the Timberway Forest and at Bluerock Lodge.

The encounters provided for each of these sites occur

in the order given.

The PCs may spend time gathering information in

one or more of the frontier towns in the area, if they

wish. Everyone knows where Bluerock Lodge is and

what it’s used for, but no one knows about the wendi-

gos in the forest. The adventure begins when the char-

acters reach the forested area near Bluerock Lodge.

either force march a little in order to reach shelter or

construct their own.

Off the trail, things quickly become worse. The

hilly, forested, frozen terrain reduces movement to

one-half normal, and someone in the group must make

a DC 15 Survival check each hour spent off the trail or

become lost.

The particularly cruel winter and the depredations

of the local hunters have dramatically reduced the local

supply of game. Water is fairly plentiful in the form of

snow and numerous partially frozen streams, but food

is hard to come by. A character wishing to hunt and

forage for food can find food and water for himself

with a successful DC 18 Survival check, and for one

other person per 2 points by which this check result

exceeds 18.

A. THE TIMBERWAY

FOREST

Bluerock Lodge is lies deep within the Timberway

Forest. No regional map is provided of this area, so that

you can more easily adapt the overland portion of this

adventure to your campaign.

Bluerock Lodge is located about 70 miles from the

southern edge of the forest. The intervening terrain is

hilly country covered in dense forest. Although no

roads penetrate the Timberway, several hunters’ trails

crisscross its otherwise trackless expanse. Recent

snows obscure these trails in spots, but all of them lead

through the wood to the many lodges built within.

This adventure takes place near the end of winter,

when temperatures in the woods average a brisk 30ºF

during the day and drop to about 10ºF at night. It hasn’t

snowed here for a week, but patches of snow still cling

to the trees and the ground. An unprotected character

in these conditions must make a Fortitude save each

hour (DC 15 + 1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points

of nonlethal damage. A character with ranks in Sur-

vival may receive a bonus on this saving throw and may

be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well

(see page 83 of the Player’s Handbook).

Most of the hunters in the area choose to traverse

the forest on foot. Although horses can speed up

travel along the trails, most of them quickly succumb

to the cold.

The trail to Bluerock Lodge is fairly simple to

follow; a character need only make a successful DC 10

Survival check once per hour to avoid wandering off

the trail. (The characters may take 10 on these checks

and should be encouraged to do so.) As long as they

stay on the trail, the characters move at only three-quar-

ters of their normal rate. A group moving at a speed of

30 feet can thus cover about 18 miles after 8 hours of

walking, reaching Bluerock Lodge a couple of hours

before sundown on their fourth day in the forest.

Crude shelters, each of which can house up to four

Medium creatures, are located about every 18 miles

along the trail, so characters moving at a speed of 30

feet should be able to sleep in a shelter every night as

long as they keep up the pace. Slower groups must

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

Because of the lack of animal life, the forest is unchar-

acteristically quiet and free of monsters. No random

encounters occur as long as the PCs remain on the trail.

If they insist on exploring the trackless woods, the

chance of an encounter is only 4% per hour. Random

encounters are with wolverines, wolves, or possibly

other hunters (usually 1st–3rd-level human experts), at

the DM’s discretion. Only 5% of such encounters

should be with Timberway lions (see encounter A1 for

statistics). Within a day’s travel of Bluerock Lodge,

there are no random encounters at all.

A1. A DISTURBING ENCOUNTER (EL 2)

This encounter occurs early in the PCs’ last day of

travel to the lodge. Allow each character a DC 15 Spot

check. If anyone succeeds, read or paraphrase the fol-

lowing aloud. Otherwise, go to the Creature section

below.

The stark black-and-white of the wintry forest is

broken by a splash of color in the landscape

toward the left. A man’s body sits upright but

slumped against a tree. Around him, the snow is

stained a brilliant red.

The body is that of Kyle Tanner, one of the hunters

from Bluerock Lodge. A successful DC 15 Heal check

establishes that he died of blood loss from a terrible

bite wound on his shoulder. The bite was bandaged,

but it looks like the man tore the bandage loose and re-

opened the wound with his own frostbitten hand. A

brief inspection of the body (Search DC 10) reveals that

blood seeps from both of the ears, and that both

eardrums have been ruptured with a sharp object.

Kyle managed to escape from Bluerock Lodge

three days ago after he was attacked and bitten by the

rogue Keller, who had sunk into insanity and was well

on his way to becoming a wendigo. Tanner got this far

before the maddening whispers of the two wendigos

in the forest drove him insane. To escape the infuriat-

ing sounds, he punctured his own eardrums with his

dagger. Upon realizing that something was still stalk-

ing him, he killed himself by tearing open his bite

wound so that he would not become one of the

wendigos.

Creature: A lone Timberway lion lurks in the area.

Though the poor creature is starving, it has not yet

eaten Kyle’s remains because it can sense the unnatural

taint of the wendigo on his body. If it hears the PCs

approaching, the lion quickly hides nearby and gets

ready to pounce.

D Timberway Lion: hp 19 (currently has 4 points of

nonlethal damage from starvation); see Monster

Manual,page 274 (leopard statistics).

Tactics: The lion attacks the characters from hiding

as they walk past it. If reduced to fewer than 10 hit

points, it flees. As it does so, it leads the PCs past Kyle’s

body if they have not already noticed it.

Treasure: Kyle’s masterwork dagger remains at his

side, and his cold weather outfit can be worn by a

Medium humanoid.

Wisdom damage from the nightmarish whispers he

(and only he) hears just under the sounds of softly

blowing wind and snow sloughing off of tree branches.

Development: If the characters attempt to turn on

the wendigo and pursue him, Aaron uses his wind

walking ability to escape them, then returns to harass

them again later. Should they somehow corner him, go

to encounter B2.

B. BLUEROCK LODGE

Read or paraphrase the following aloud when the PCs

reach Bluerock Lodge.

Bluerock Lodge perches atop a steep promontory

that drops off for 40 feet to the forest below. The

exposed stone of this cliff has a distinctive blue

cast to it. The snow in the clearing surrounding

the lodge looks fresh and is unmarked by foot-

prints, except for a single set that leads from the

building’s front door down the trail into the

woods. Spatters of frozen blood accompany this

trail, as if the creature that made them was bleed-

ing as it ran. Despite the chill in the air, the front

door of the lodge hangs open, and no smoke curls

up from the chimney on the roof.

A2. CORNER OF THE EYE

The characters’ movement through the forest eventu-

ally attracts the attention of one of its supernatural

residents.

Creature: As the PCs continue to approach Bluerock

Lodge, they attract the attention of Aaron, the wendigo

that now haunts the region.

D Aaron Korigard: See encounter B2, below, for

statistics.

Tactics: By the middle of the day, when the PCs are

still about 3 hours away from the lodge, Aaron selects a

PC to stalk—preferably one who is scouting ahead or

lagging behind the main group. Aaron uses his wind

walking ability to stalk the character, and his snowy

white skin makes him 80% likely to appear as fog

vapors.

Thanks to Aaron’s corner of the eye power, the

chosen PC soon becomes aware that something is stalk-

ing him. He takes a –2 penalty on all Wisdom-based

skill checks as he grows more and more nervous and

paranoid from the glimpses he catches of his pursuer

out of the corners of his eyes.

In addition, Aaron targets his victim with his mad-

dening whisper attack. The targeted PC must make a

successful DC 13 Will save or take 1d3 points of

The footprints are Kyle’s. If anyone follows them suc-

cessfully with a Survival check (DC 8 in the clearing, or

DC 13 in the forest where snow cover is more sparse),

the tracks lead to his body (see encounter A1, above).

Until several days ago, Bluerock Lodge was inhab-

ited by seven human hunters, but the arrival of the

wendigo that was once Aaron on the eve of the season’s

last snowstorm put an end to this arrangement. Aaron

lured some of the hunters out into the snow and

attacked them, then let them return to the lodge. Over

the course of the night, he tormented the men with his

maddening whispers ability. The next morning, three

of the unwounded hunters set out for civilization to get

help, leaving the two wounded ones in the care of their

two remaining healthy companions. During the next

few days, the wendigo hunted and killed the three who

had left, then carried their bodies back and left them

lodged in the trees below the lodge. In the meantime,

the more heavily wounded man back at the lodge (the

rogue Keller) succumbed to madness and attacked the

others. He killed two of the hunters, but the third

(Kyle Tanner, the other wounded man) escaped into

the woods. Aaron stalked Kyle until the latter took his

own life, then returned to lurk in the Bluerock Lodge

area to await Keller’s transformation into a wendigo.

D20 - D&D - Adventure - Frozen Whispers.pdf

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