Still, the trappers had the advantage of intelligence and imagination, modifying them as necessary to fit your tools, and before long they had slaughtered the entire campaign or the characters. pride save for its leader. As the winter worsened and game grew ever more scarce, this last surviving lion • While visiting a frontier town near the edge of the began to starve. Timberway, the PCs learn that merchants here pay At this point, the darker forces of nature took handsomely for the pelts of the elusive Timberway notice. When the starving lion’s tormentors settled lions—up to 50 gp apiece. By asking around town, the into their lodge to wait out a sudden blizzard, the big characters can quickly learn that a group of like- cat transformed into a wendigo—a terribly fey spirit minded hunters recently left for Bluerock Lodge, a born of starvation and cold. It took the lion wendigo shelter located near the traditional hunting grounds only three days to hunt down and slaughter the most of of the lions in question. The townsfolk assure them the trappers, but Aaron himself escaped death. The that if they wish to try their hand at lion hunting, canny ranger realized that he was in over his head and Bluerock is the place to go. set off toward civilization, even though he had been • If the party’s temperament is more aligned with horribly wounded by the lion wendigo and had lost nature, the characters hear of the prices that Timber- most of his supplies. He didn’t get far before he col- way lion pelts are currently bringing. Any character lapsed of exhaustion and became a wendigo himself. with ranks in Knowledge (nature) knows that Timber- The two one-time enemies—lion and human— way lions are endangered creatures, and this fact may have now entirely forgotten their prior lives. Com- spur the PCs to find Bluerock Lodge and encourage pletely consumed by the supernatural forces of eternal the people there to cease their hunting. hunger and frozen hatred, they stalk the Timberway • One of the hunters at Bluerock Lodge isn’t really a Forest separately, searching for living beings to slay. hunter; he’s a rogue named Keller who joined the In the intervening weeks, a new group of hunters other hunters after successfully stealing a local noble’s has come to Bluerock Lodge. Keller, a rogue wanted in magic ring. Hoping to dodge the authorities, Keller another city for stealing a ring belonging to a noble, decided to hide out for the winter in Bluerock, posing came hunting with this new group to avoid capture. as a hunter. The noble hires the PCs to track down the Since their arrival, Aaron has stalked and wounded a thief and retrieve the ring he stole. Keller didn’t think few members of the group, including Keller, who later to disguise himself, so tracking his flight to the fron- killed the companions left at the lodge with him. If he tier town is a relatively easy matter. When the charac- is not cured or slain soon, he too will become a ters arrive, the proprietor of the local trading post wendigo and join Aaron in his endlessSample hunt. file recognizes the description they provide and tells them that the man they seek left a few weeks ago with ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS a group of hunters bound for Bluerock Lodge. • Bluerock Lodge was built many years ago, but its The wendigo that was once Aaron stalks the PCs while owner perished not long after its completion and left they make their way through the woods toward the no heirs. Since then, the lodge has served as a place for Bluerock Lodge. Upon arrival, they find the place a hunters to stay free of charge in the woods. A man charnel house. Initial investigation indicates that the who claims to have inherited the lodge hires the PCs last hunters who stayed here succumbed to cabin fever to go there and determine whether the place is nice and killed each other off, However, it soon becomes enough to claim, or whether he should sell it off. clear that the creature responsible for their deaths is Alternatively, one of the PCs could inherit Bluerock still very much alive. The adventure comes to a climax Lodge, or find the deed to it among the treasure from when the PCs must defend themselves against the an earlier adventure. attacks of the deadly wendigo. • The PCs become lost in the Timberway Forest on their way to another place. During a snowstorm, they ADVENTURE HOOKS accidentally come upon Bluerock Lodge. 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 BEGINNING THE that terrible evil spirits are haunting the Timberway. Thus, their reasons for traveling into the woodland ADVENTURE should stem from some other need to reach Bluerock Frozen Whispers is an event-based adventure that 2 Lodge. You can use the following hooks to spur your occurs in the Timberway Forest and at Bluerock Lodge. The encounters provided for each of these sites occur either force march a little in order to reach shelter or in the order given. construct their own. The PCs may spend time gathering information in Off the trail, things quickly become worse. The one or more of the frontier towns in the area, if they hilly, forested, frozen terrain reduces movement to wish. Everyone knows where Bluerock Lodge is and one-half normal, and someone in the group must make what it’s used for, but no one knows about the wendi- a DC 15 Survival check each hour spent off the trail or gos in the forest. The adventure begins when the char- become lost. acters reach the forested area near Bluerock Lodge. The particularly cruel winter and the depredations of the local hunters have dramatically reduced the local A. THE TIMBERWAY supply of game. Water is fairly plentiful in the form of snow and numerous partially frozen streams, but food FOREST is hard to come by. A character wishing to hunt and Bluerock Lodge is lies deep within the Timberway forage for food can find food and water for himself Forest. No regional map is provided of this area, so that with a successful DC 18 Survival check, and for one you can more easily adapt the overland portion of this other person per 2 points by which this check result adventure to your campaign. exceeds 18. Bluerock Lodge is located about 70 miles from the southern edge of the forest. The intervening terrain is RANDOM ENCOUNTERS hilly country covered in dense forest. Although no Because of the lack of animal life, the forest is unchar- roads penetrate the Timberway, several hunters’ trails acteristically quiet and free of monsters. No random crisscross its otherwise trackless expanse. Recent encounters occur as long as the PCs remain on the trail. snows obscure these trails in spots, but all of them lead If they insist on exploring the trackless woods, the through the wood to the many lodges built within. chance of an encounter is only 4% per hour. Random This adventure takes place near the end of winter, encounters are with wolverines, wolves, or possibly when temperatures in the woods average a brisk 30ºF other hunters (usually 1st–3rd-level human experts), at during the day and drop to about 10ºF at night. It hasn’t the DM’s discretion. Only 5% of such encounters snowed here for a week, but patches of snow still cling should be with Timberway lions (see encounter A1 for to the trees and the ground. An unprotected character statistics). Within a day’s travel of Bluerock Lodge, in these conditions must make a Fortitude save each there are no random encounters at all. hour (DC 15 + 1 per previous check) or take 1d6 pointsSampleA1. A DISTURBING file ENCOUNTER (EL 2) of nonlethal damage. A character with ranks in Sur- This encounter occurs early in the PCs’ last day of vival may receive a bonus on this saving throw and may travel to the lodge. Allow each character a DC 15 Spot be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well check. If anyone succeeds, read or paraphrase the fol- (see page 83 of the Player’s Handbook). lowing aloud. Otherwise, go to the Creature section Most of the hunters in the area choose to traverse below. the forest on foot. Although horses can speed up travel along the trails, most of them quickly succumb to the cold. The stark black-and-white of the wintry forest is The trail to Bluerock Lodge is fairly simple to broken by a splash of color in the landscape follow; a character need only make a successful DC 10 toward the left. A man’s body sits upright but Survival check once per hour to avoid wandering off slumped against a tree. Around him, the snow is the trail. (The characters may take 10 on these checks stained a brilliant red. and should be encouraged to do so.) As long as they stay on the trail, the characters move at only three-quar- The body is that of Kyle Tanner, one of the hunters ters of their normal rate. A group moving at a speed of from Bluerock Lodge. A successful DC 15 Heal check 30 feet can thus cover about 18 miles after 8 hours of establishes that he died of blood loss from a terrible walking, reaching Bluerock Lodge a couple of hours bite wound on his shoulder.