Whilst traipsing through the arctic, the party is approached by an out of breath commoner, wrapped in several scarves, the faintest stripes of blonde hair jutting out chaotically. She identifies herself as Karen, a local Cleric and acolyte of the Order of the Sacred Flakes.
“Thank Auril I found you!” As she approaches, the winds pick up and gusts of cold air whip at the party. Sneg covers her face even further, protecting the small amounts of skin that were barely exposed. She leads the party further through the tundra to a clearing where other commoners are rolling snowballs. While some fashion them into throwable sizes, others are making much larger balls, and then rolling them into battlements.
It is there the she begins to explain why she needs the party’s assistance. Karen gestures further down the slope, noting that below the wintry mix of clouds and snow, Little Saint Nickle-less, has constructed an army of Snolems (Snow Golems) and is threatening to overtake every mountain town within the region.
Little Saint Nickle-less is a friar the chooses to live in icy squalor, spending his time learning magics that allow him to control tens of snolems at a time, holding concentration with ease. He wears nothing more than a friar’s
She centers herself and motions again, the clouds parting and a chaotic scene comes into view at a town a few miles down the mountain.
“We have nearly everything we need to call forth our protector, The Great Frosted One, but need to recover two more relics from the area” she says. “The first is the liturgical top hat, worn by our high priest before he was assassinated and now used by a nearby frost giant magician.” She shudders at the thought.
“The second is two cubic chunks of the blackest coal, from our abandoned mine. We began the use of fire magic to offset our coal usage, shutting the mines down once and for all, but only the purest coal will suffice for summoning Frosty.”
She begs the party to assist and offers [insert reward here] if they are able to bring the relics back before Saint Nickle-less gets to their encampment.
The Liturgical Top Hat
Karen notes that here in the Arctic, there is but one Frost Giant brazen enough to don the liturgical top hat and that Frost Giant is none other than Instructor Finkle, the magician. While his skills are not impressive, he is quick to anger and easily enraged, especially by the white rabbit in his hat that is seldom to scared to emerge.
No one can be sure, but it is reasonable to assume that the rabbit is hearing the whispers of The Great Frosted One and knows too much of the frozen world.
The party can track Instructor Finkle with ease, likely finding him performing his routine for a group of dead bandits that the Frost Giant unalived out of anger. He mumbles something about Thrym, pleading with the Lord of the frost giants to grant him the magical ability to transform eggs into white doves, but it is of no use.
Using stealth, the party can potentially steal the hat from Instructor Finkle, but the crunchy snow is likely to give them away. If battle is imminent, give Instructor Finkle the standard Frost Giant stat block, but consider giving him a magic ability or two. Low-level and with potential for it to do little to no damage. Something like Ray of Frost that just poofs into a powdery cloud of snow instead of dealing damage.
As the party fights Instructor Finkle, if the hat is dislodged from his head in any form, it will begin hopping away, propelled by the white rabbit inside at 20 feet per round. The party must determine how to get the hat while also dealing with Finkle.
Eyes of The Blackest Coal
Karen assures the party that the coal necessary to once again summon Frosty (The Great Frosted One).
In the mine at the edge of town, Karen says the party should be able to retrieve two large hunks of coal (roughly 1 cubic foot each) to bring back their protector. “Though the coal is the blackest black times infinite, he sees clearly through them.”
Consider using the Wharton Mine map from Dyson’s Logos, with an icy river or crevice running next to the entrance of the mine itself. At the entrance of the cave are three Ice Mephits, hovering and throwing snowballs at each other. If any of the mephits are hit, they will move to defensive positions, and if two are downed, the third will escape into the mine.
In the mine itself, there are multiple mephits hiding in offpath rooms, the amount is entirely up to the DM. Traps should be leveraged in the mine as well, with the coal only attainable in the final room, or the furthest room from the entrance.
Traps could include, cave-ins, blast of cold air, icicles falling from the ceiling, whatever fits your party and the sorts of things they might do or ignore.
Resolution
If the party returns with the hat and coal, Karen will take the relics and place them in the first of three adjoining circles she traced in the snow. The outline of the circles vaguely resembles a snowman.
She whispers an incantation, waving her arms in the air, streaks of snow following her motions. A blue light blasts out from the outline, shaking the ground as a gargantuan snow golem appears out of the earth. Karen points to Little Saint Nickle-less and his army, and Frosty trudges off.
How do you see this encounter ending?
