Cold-Hearted Killer

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden Starting Quest

“Cold-Hearted Killer” is one of two quests designed to kick off the adventure. The characters can get this quest regardless of which town is the adventure’s starting point.
The characters receive this quest from Hlin Trollbane, a retired bounty hunter who has been stalking a serial killer ever since she found a connection between three murders and a small trading company called Torg’s. Hlin hires the characters to apprehend her suspect and dole out some cold, swift justice by quietly disposing of him if they believe he’s guilty. This quest is no murder mystery; it’s a hunt.

Getting the Quest

Just another gruesome day in Ten-Towns: howling wind, bitter cold, foul tempers, and snowdrifts big enough to bury a herd of moose. But today the local tavern is abuzz with news about a series of recent killings. Before the murders, the only question on everyone’s mind was, “Will summer ever return to Icewind Dale?” Now the question is, “Will I be the killer’s next victim?” Nothing breeds fear and paranoia like a murderer with no face. Three cold-blooded murders have been committed in the past month: a halfling trapper in Easthaven, a human shipbuilder in Targos, and, three days ago, a dwarf glassblower in Bryn Shander. Each victim was found with a dagger of ice through the heart.
What’s the connection? The drunken lot huddled in the tavern offers no credible ideas, but sitting apart from them is an elderly shield dwarf with a nasty scar across her nose who looks like she has something worth knowing. She’s been smoking her pipe and eyeing you ever since you walked in.

Hlin Trollbane, a neutral good shield dwarf, is a retired bounty hunter with finely honed survival instincts. She is an unarmored veteran who wields a battleaxe and handaxe instead of a longsword and shortsword. Plying her profession earned her a few too many enemies up and down the Sword Coast, which is why she wound up in Icewind Dale.
Out of boredom and a sense of moral decency, Hlin has taken it upon herself to investigate the recent murders because no one else—not even the Council of Speakers—can be bothered. Hlin is studying the characters closely, trying to decide if they’re worth her time. Ultimately, she takes the chance and draws them into conversation, asking them to help her take down her only suspect: a man named Sephek Kaltro. Here’s what she knows about Sephek and the victims:

“Sephek Kaltro works for a small traveling merchant company called Torg’s, owned and operated by a shady dwarf named Torrga Icevein. In other words, Sephek gets around. He’s charming. Makes friends easily. He’s also Torrga’s bodyguard, so I’m guessing he’s good with a blade. “His victims come from the only three towns that sacrifice people to the Frostmaiden on nights of the new moon. This is what passes for civilized behavior in Icewind Dale. Maybe the victims found a way to keep their names out of the drawings and Sephek found out they were cheating, so he killed them. Maybe, just maybe, Sephek is doing the Frostmaiden’s work.

“I followed Torg’s for a tenday as it moved from town to town. Quite the devious little enterprise, but that’s not my concern. What struck me is how comfortable Sephek Kaltro looked in this weather. No coat, no scarf, no gloves. It was like the cold couldn’t touch him. Kiss of the Frostmaiden, indeed. “I will pay you a hundred gold pieces to apprehend Sephek Kaltro, ascertain his guilt, and deal with him, preferably without involving the authorities. When the job is done, return to me to collect your money.”

For the benefit of characters who are new to Ten-Towns, Hlin can explain that certain settlements (Bryn Shander, Easthaven, and Targos) are making humanoid sacrifices to Auril, holding lotteries to determine who gets sacrificed on nights of the new moon.
If Hlin’s theory is true and Sephek Kaltro is killing Ten-Towners who cheat their way out of becoming sacrifices to Auril, it’s likely the Frostmaiden will use him to kill again. Hlin is too old and frail to apprehend Sephek herself, but she has more gold than she needs, so she hires the characters to do her work.
The challenge begins with finding Sephek Kaltro, since Torg’s moves around a lot. Hlin doesn’t know if Sephek is acting alone or has the support of Torrga Icevein, so she advises the characters to isolate Sephek and dispose of him quietly, if such action is called for.

Finding Torg's

You can randomly determine the location of the merchant company by rolling a d10 and consulting the Starting Town table. Roll again if the result is the adventure’s starting town. Conversely, you can forgo the roll and pick a town you like. Bremen and Dougan’s Hole are good choices because they’re small and isolated.
The characters can either visit towns one by one until they find Torg’s, or they can try to get a solid lead before setting out. Any character who spends an hour talking to townsfolk can make a DC 17 Charisma (Investigation) check at the end of that hour. On a successful check, the character finds someone who knows Torrga Icevein’s travel plans and is willing to share that information for a small bribe (at least 5 gp or nonperishable goods of equal value). Armed with that information, the characters can travel to the town by the most expeditious route.

Torrga Icewein and Her Caravan

The Torg’s caravan consists of three heavily laden dogsleds, each one pulled by six friendly sled dogs. One sled carries provisions and supplies for Torrga, her team, and her dogs. It flies a flag bearing the company’s emblem, a gold wolf’s paw on a black field. The other two sleds transport goods for sale, including cut wood, flint and tinder, flasks of whale oil, blankets, furs, rations, bottles of wine, casks of cheap ale, fake medicines, and vials of poison (used primarily for killing vermin).
Torg’s is an outdoor shop. Goods are unpacked and displayed in crates, with small canopies to keep the snow off them. Most of Torrga’s goods are stolen or fenced, and she sells them for double the normal price. She has a protection racket that earns her a little coin on the side, and she also commits murders for profit on the sly. One of the larger sacks on Torrga’s sled contains the frozen corpse of a male half-elf in his thirties with a stab wound in his chest. The half-elf had a bounty on his head and came to Icewind Dale to disappear. Torrga found him and killed him with Sephek’s help. Once she’s sold off her goods in Ten-Towns, she plans to deliver the corpse to Luskan and collect the 125 gp bounty.
Torrga is a neutral evil shield dwarf bandit captain with darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, resistance to poison damage, and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. While Torg’s is open for business, she keeps her employees close to her. She employs Sephek Kaltro as a bodyguard and pays four others (neutral evil human bandits) to drive and protect the other two sleds. Torrga is interested only in profits, turns a blind eye to Sephek’s murderous escapades, and tries to help him as best she can without endangering her own life.
Treasure. Torrga keeps her proceeds in a small, locked iron strongbox, which she hides in a satchel. She wears the key to the strongbox around her neck. A character with Thieves' Tools can use an action to try to pick the strongbox's lock, doing so with a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. The box contains 92 gp, 76 sp, 125 cp, and seven gemstones worth 10 gp each.

Sephek Kaltro

Sephek Kaltro (see the accompanying stat block) is a well-built man in his thirties. He has an olive complexion, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, and no facial or body hair. He is dressed in a stylish vest with matching pants and boots, similar in style to those worn by mariners of the southern Sword Coast, but wears no armor or cold weather clothing and doesn’t appear to be armed. His most striking feature is his eyes, which are as blue as a frozen lake.
The best way to deal with Sephek is to confront him while he’s separated from Torrga and her other cronies. Sephek stays close to Torrga during business hours. Once activity drops off, Torrga shuts down her operation for the rest of the day, puts the dogs in a kennel and the sleds in a secure shed, and pays for the team’s lodgings. After Torrga retires for the night, Sephek is free to do as he pleases until the following morning. If he happens to be in Bryn Shander, Easthaven, or Targos, he stalks his next murder victim. If he’s elsewhere, he spends the night drinking and carousing, then falls asleep for a few hours, preferably in an unheated place such as a barn or an abandoned cottage.
When asked about his odd style of dress, Sephek Kaltro claims that he was born on the holiday of Midwinter and that the Frostmaiden’s blessing protects him from the cold. In truth, Sephek was not born during Midwinter. He was a mariner whose ship sank off the coast of Auril’s island a few months ago. He swam to the island but nearly froze to death. As his life was fading, the spirit of a frost druid beholden to Auril possessed him. The winter spirit cannibalized Sephek’s spirit and is using him as a living vessel to do the Frostmaiden’s work. The spirit can’t leave Sephek’s body; if Sephek dies, the winter spirit is destroyed along with him.
Auril inspired Sephek to travel to Ten-Towns and offer his services to Torrga Icevein. As Hlin suspects, he has been killing Ten-Towners who pay off low-ranking town officials to exclude their names from the lotteries in Bryn Shander, Easthaven, and Targos. Because he’s doing the Frostmaiden’s work, the spirit inside Sephek doesn’t care about getting caught, and he isn’t shy about admitting his guilt. He considers surrendering only because it buys time for him to escape and commit more murders. In combat, he wields a magical sword and magical daggers made of ice that he can conjure at will. These weapons melt and break like icicles in the hands of other creatures.

Concluding the Quest

After finding and slaying Sephek, the characters can return to Hlin and collect their 100 gp reward. If they don’t have evidence to prove that Sephek is dead, Hlin is willing to take them at their word. If the ice-dagger murders stop, she’ll know her trust was not misplaced. Failure to stop Sephek allows him to continue slaying Ten-Towners who cheat Auril the Frostmaiden. These murders occur irregularly, and only in towns visited by Torg’s.
If the characters capture Sephek and deliver him to the authorities, they stop the murders but lose the reward offered by Hlin, who isn’t satisfied with that outcome.
If Torrga Icevein survives but has reason to believe the characters slew her bodyguard, she pressures certain Ten-Towners not to do business with them. At some later point, the characters might find themselves unable to buy something they need or denied lodging at a local inn because the merchant or proprietor doesn’t want to earn Torrga’s everlasting enmity.