Walking into Easthaven is like stepping into Icewind Dale’s past—the place is a living example of the boomtown way of life that gripped all of Ten-Towns centuries ago. In the generations since, as other towns have settled into a predictable pattern of existence, Easthaven has continued to grow and reinvent itself. After the Eastway was paved, Easthaven evolved into a frontier traders’ paradise, fueling the jealousy of its neighbors.
Easthaven’s founders were thieves from the Duchy of Cape Velen, on a peninsula far to the south. They refused to kowtow to a powerful thieves’ guild and were driven out. To this day, Easthaven honors its shady founders by declaring pickpocketing legal within the town limits—which explains the “Watch thy pouch!” signs posted in various local establishments.
Duergar have infiltrated the town of late, scouring Easthaven and the surrounding tundra for chardalyn fragments to bring back to their hidden mountain stronghold. The leader of these duergar is Durth Sunblight, the oldest living son of Xardorok Sunblight. Durth and his gang have turned the frozen Easthaven ferry into a temporary base. Using their innate invisibility to move about unseen, the duergar betray their presence only by the footprints they leave in the snow.
Another occurrence of note is the recent capture of a Red Wizard of Thay who has been found guilty of killing a handful of dale-folk he had hired for an expedition. Speaker Danneth Waylen has issued a decree that the wizard be tied to a stake and burned alive—an event that a lot of Easthaven residents are looking forward to.
A letter found in a secret duergar outpost (see “The Unseen”) might lead the characters to this location. Delivering the letter to Speaker Waylen or Captain Arlaggath prompts these NPCs to meet and determine an appropriate course of action. Together, they ask the characters to search the ferry and slay any duergar they encounter aboard it. If the characters request backup, Captain Arlaggath accompanies them. When the lake isn’t frozen, this keelboat transports people and cargo to the towns of Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig for a modest fee. But the boat and much of Easthaven’s harbor is trapped in ice, and Speaker Waylen has declared that ferry service must cease until the ice thaws—which, given Auril’s temperament, seems unlikely to happen soon. The ferry’s tiefling owner and operator, Scython, spends his idle time at the Wet Trout. In Scython’s absence, the ferry has become a base of operations for a duergar mind master named Durth Sunblight. He and three other duergar named Klaska, Ossyl, and Zublorr are using the ferry’s aft cabin as a lair, but only Durth is present when the characters first arrive at the ferry. The other duergar are searching Easthaven for chardalyn. The duergar are cautious enough to turn invisible while moving through town and on the docks, but not smart enough to cover the tracks they make in the snow. Characters who search for tracks on the snow-covered dock and succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check can discern 1d4 distinct sets of dwarven boot prints leading to and from the ferry. These tracks were made within the past 24 hours. Aft Cabin. The ice covering the cabin door has been chipped away, and the door is not locked. The space is roughly 10 feet square and contains four sleeping bags, packs of stolen rations, and a rolled-up map of Icewind Dale that marks the location of every Ten-Towns settlement, as well as the locations of the duergar outpost near Kelvin’s Cairn and Sunblight, the fortress hidden in the mountains (described in chapter 3). All of the place names on the map are written in Dwarvish. Lurking in the cabin is Durth Sunblight. He knows when someone else boards the ship by the creaking of the deck. As a precaution, he turns invisible and stands in an empty corner at the back of the cabin. If an intruder detects him or tries to steal his map, he attacks. If he’s reduced to 20 hit points or fewer, he shrinks to Tiny size and flees through a 4-inch-diameter rathole, exiting outside the ship 5 feet above the frozen harbor and 5 feet away from the dock. If he escapes, Durth returns to his father’s fortress in the mountains (see chapter 3), abandoning his duergar companions. Development. Durth’s companions have been scouring Easthaven for chardalyn. Their latest search has borne no fruit, and they return to the ferry 30 minutes after the characters board it. These three duergar attack any non-duergar they encounter onboard the vessel. If they find Durth’s dead body or no signs of him at all aboard the ferry, they abandon the ship and don’t return to it. If the characters capture Durth, he warns his captors that he’s the son of Xardorok Sunblight, who will soon claim Icewind Dale as his kingdom, and it would be unwise for them to earn the wrath of so powerful a figure. Durth doesn’t give up any other information. His companions are similarly tight-lipped; however, threats to Durth’s life or the clever use of a suggestion spell or similar magic can persuade one or more them to reveal the following additional information:
The Wet Trout, located near the docks, is the largest and loudest tavern in Easthaven, known for its ribald atmosphere and rumor-mongering. A great chimney squarely in the building’s center has hearths on either side to warm the tavern’s two common rooms. The tavern’s current owner and proprietor is Nymetra Myskyn, a chaotic neutral dragonborn berserker of white dragon ancestry. Although she can be crusty and full of complaints, Nymetra is not discouraged by the Everlasting Rime, which she regards as a test of Ten-Towns’ mettle. An unapologetic worshiper of Auril, she supports Easthaven’s attempts to appease the Frostmaiden with sacrifices. Scython. One of the Wet Trout’s regular patrons is Scython, a neutral good tiefling bandit captain who owns a small house a few blocks away. Scython is also the owner and operator of Easthaven’s ferry. A talkative, happy-go-lucky fellow, he knows rumors that might interest the characters. Although he’s well informed, Scython doesn’t know about the duergar stowing away aboard his ship.
This musty old inn is named after a local legend known as the White Lady—a ghost rumored to walk on Lac Dinneshere, haunting the spot where her rich husband drowned. Rinaldo (lawful good strongheart halfling commoner), a self-styled bard kept around to entertain guests, is fond of plucking his fiddle while recounting his tale: that the White Lady’s husband was a miser who kept his treasure in a heavy, locked chest that never left his side. Perhaps it was this heavy chest, suggests Rinaldo, that capsized his boat and sent the man to his sunken grave, or perhaps it was the fright of seeing his dead wife that caused him to capsize the boat and drown. Either way, Rinaldo is certain that the man’s treasure lies at the bottom of the lake, waiting for some intrepid explorer to find it. The inn’s sullen, elderly proprietor, Bartaban (neutral good human commoner), has heard the halfling’s rambling far too often to be humored by it. Séance. Rinaldo is planning to conduct a séance in a back room of the inn and has invited half a dozen other guests (commoners) to join him. Characters who spend one or more nights at the inn are invited by Rinaldo to join his séance. If the characters decline, Rinaldo is disappointed and tries to get them to change their minds by saying, “We live in dark times. Perhaps the spirit of the White Lady can help. Aren’t you curious to hear what she has to say?” Rinaldo senses that the White Lady’s spirit is close and urges the characters to reach out to it. Ask the players in turn what their characters say or do. The characters who try to help Rinaldo must make a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) group check. If the group check fails, the White Lady’s spirit manifests as a poltergeist and attacks the party, frightening away the other participants. This poltergeist uses the specter stat block, with the changes outlined in the “Variant: Poltergeist” sidebar that appears with it in the Monster Manual. If the group check succeeds, Rinaldo can sense that the spirit is receptive and urges the characters to ask it questions. The spirit replies truthfully by tracing short, two- to five-word answers on the room’s frosted windows. If doing that becomes too cumbersome, the spirit uses Rinaldo as a vessel to whisper the answers. If the spirit doesn’t know an answer or thinks a question is foolish, it shatters a window instead. Once it answers three questions, the spirit departs, and Rinaldo can’t try to summon it again until he finishes a long rest. Here’s what the White Lady knows about the recent happenings around Lac Dinneshere:
Locations
The following locations are a few places the characters might visit during their time in Easthaven.Easthaven Ferry
Ferry Service (Halted)A letter found in a secret duergar outpost (see “The Unseen”) might lead the characters to this location. Delivering the letter to Speaker Waylen or Captain Arlaggath prompts these NPCs to meet and determine an appropriate course of action. Together, they ask the characters to search the ferry and slay any duergar they encounter aboard it. If the characters request backup, Captain Arlaggath accompanies them. When the lake isn’t frozen, this keelboat transports people and cargo to the towns of Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig for a modest fee. But the boat and much of Easthaven’s harbor is trapped in ice, and Speaker Waylen has declared that ferry service must cease until the ice thaws—which, given Auril’s temperament, seems unlikely to happen soon. The ferry’s tiefling owner and operator, Scython, spends his idle time at the Wet Trout. In Scython’s absence, the ferry has become a base of operations for a duergar mind master named Durth Sunblight. He and three other duergar named Klaska, Ossyl, and Zublorr are using the ferry’s aft cabin as a lair, but only Durth is present when the characters first arrive at the ferry. The other duergar are searching Easthaven for chardalyn. The duergar are cautious enough to turn invisible while moving through town and on the docks, but not smart enough to cover the tracks they make in the snow. Characters who search for tracks on the snow-covered dock and succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check can discern 1d4 distinct sets of dwarven boot prints leading to and from the ferry. These tracks were made within the past 24 hours. Aft Cabin. The ice covering the cabin door has been chipped away, and the door is not locked. The space is roughly 10 feet square and contains four sleeping bags, packs of stolen rations, and a rolled-up map of Icewind Dale that marks the location of every Ten-Towns settlement, as well as the locations of the duergar outpost near Kelvin’s Cairn and Sunblight, the fortress hidden in the mountains (described in chapter 3). All of the place names on the map are written in Dwarvish. Lurking in the cabin is Durth Sunblight. He knows when someone else boards the ship by the creaking of the deck. As a precaution, he turns invisible and stands in an empty corner at the back of the cabin. If an intruder detects him or tries to steal his map, he attacks. If he’s reduced to 20 hit points or fewer, he shrinks to Tiny size and flees through a 4-inch-diameter rathole, exiting outside the ship 5 feet above the frozen harbor and 5 feet away from the dock. If he escapes, Durth returns to his father’s fortress in the mountains (see chapter 3), abandoning his duergar companions. Development. Durth’s companions have been scouring Easthaven for chardalyn. Their latest search has borne no fruit, and they return to the ferry 30 minutes after the characters board it. These three duergar attack any non-duergar they encounter onboard the vessel. If they find Durth’s dead body or no signs of him at all aboard the ferry, they abandon the ship and don’t return to it. If the characters capture Durth, he warns his captors that he’s the son of Xardorok Sunblight, who will soon claim Icewind Dale as his kingdom, and it would be unwise for them to earn the wrath of so powerful a figure. Durth doesn’t give up any other information. His companions are similarly tight-lipped; however, threats to Durth’s life or the clever use of a suggestion spell or similar magic can persuade one or more them to reveal the following additional information:
- Xardorok has a fortress hidden in the mountains. (The route to this fortress is marked on Durth’s map aboard the ferry.)
- Xardorok’s fortress has a forge powered by the still-beating heart of a red dragon. In this forge, Xardorok is crafting a dragon made of chardalyn, with which he plans to destroy Ten-Towns. The chardalyn dragon is close to being finished.
- Xardorok has another son, Nildar, who commands a secret outpost on the northeast side of Kelvin’s Cairn.
The Wet Trout
Popular TavernThe Wet Trout, located near the docks, is the largest and loudest tavern in Easthaven, known for its ribald atmosphere and rumor-mongering. A great chimney squarely in the building’s center has hearths on either side to warm the tavern’s two common rooms. The tavern’s current owner and proprietor is Nymetra Myskyn, a chaotic neutral dragonborn berserker of white dragon ancestry. Although she can be crusty and full of complaints, Nymetra is not discouraged by the Everlasting Rime, which she regards as a test of Ten-Towns’ mettle. An unapologetic worshiper of Auril, she supports Easthaven’s attempts to appease the Frostmaiden with sacrifices. Scython. One of the Wet Trout’s regular patrons is Scython, a neutral good tiefling bandit captain who owns a small house a few blocks away. Scython is also the owner and operator of Easthaven’s ferry. A talkative, happy-go-lucky fellow, he knows rumors that might interest the characters. Although he’s well informed, Scython doesn’t know about the duergar stowing away aboard his ship.
The White Lady Inn
InnThis musty old inn is named after a local legend known as the White Lady—a ghost rumored to walk on Lac Dinneshere, haunting the spot where her rich husband drowned. Rinaldo (lawful good strongheart halfling commoner), a self-styled bard kept around to entertain guests, is fond of plucking his fiddle while recounting his tale: that the White Lady’s husband was a miser who kept his treasure in a heavy, locked chest that never left his side. Perhaps it was this heavy chest, suggests Rinaldo, that capsized his boat and sent the man to his sunken grave, or perhaps it was the fright of seeing his dead wife that caused him to capsize the boat and drown. Either way, Rinaldo is certain that the man’s treasure lies at the bottom of the lake, waiting for some intrepid explorer to find it. The inn’s sullen, elderly proprietor, Bartaban (neutral good human commoner), has heard the halfling’s rambling far too often to be humored by it. Séance. Rinaldo is planning to conduct a séance in a back room of the inn and has invited half a dozen other guests (commoners) to join him. Characters who spend one or more nights at the inn are invited by Rinaldo to join his séance. If the characters decline, Rinaldo is disappointed and tries to get them to change their minds by saying, “We live in dark times. Perhaps the spirit of the White Lady can help. Aren’t you curious to hear what she has to say?” Rinaldo senses that the White Lady’s spirit is close and urges the characters to reach out to it. Ask the players in turn what their characters say or do. The characters who try to help Rinaldo must make a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) group check. If the group check fails, the White Lady’s spirit manifests as a poltergeist and attacks the party, frightening away the other participants. This poltergeist uses the specter stat block, with the changes outlined in the “Variant: Poltergeist” sidebar that appears with it in the Monster Manual. If the group check succeeds, Rinaldo can sense that the spirit is receptive and urges the characters to ask it questions. The spirit replies truthfully by tracing short, two- to five-word answers on the room’s frosted windows. If doing that becomes too cumbersome, the spirit uses Rinaldo as a vessel to whisper the answers. If the spirit doesn’t know an answer or thinks a question is foolish, it shatters a window instead. Once it answers three questions, the spirit departs, and Rinaldo can’t try to summon it again until he finishes a long rest. Here’s what the White Lady knows about the recent happenings around Lac Dinneshere:
- The castle in Caer-Dineval has become a base for a devil-worshiping cult.
- Gray-skinned dwarves have been stalking the streets of Easthaven, Caer-Dineval, and Caer-Konig while invisible. Their intentions aren’t good. They hide aboard the town ferry and in the ruins of Dinev’s Rest.
- A magic cauldron is hidden in some frozen, lakeside caves. The cauldron is guarded by an evil hag named Maud Chiselbone and can conjure enough stew to feed a starving town indefinitely.
Friendliness.
❄❄
Services.
❄❄❄
Comfort.
❄❄❄
Population.
750
Leaders.
Speaker Danneth Waylen (chaotic good human commoner), respected for his humility and forthrightness. Captain Imdra Arlaggath (lawful good half-elf veteran) commands the town’s militia.
Militia.
Easthaven can muster up to 150 soldiers (use the tribal warrior stat block) and 12 veterans.
Heraldry.
A snowflake at the top center of a steel-gray field, above a horizontal brown field that forms the left-hand base, and a dark blue field that forms the right-hand base; where they meet is a thin white tower. The brown field represents the Eastway, the tower represents the town, and the blue field is Lac Dinneshere.
Rivals.
Caer-Dineval, Caer-Konig.
Sacrifice to Auril.
Humanoid.
Available Quest.
Toil and Trouble.
❄❄
Services.
❄❄❄
Comfort.
❄❄❄
Population.
750
Leaders.
Speaker Danneth Waylen (chaotic good human commoner), respected for his humility and forthrightness. Captain Imdra Arlaggath (lawful good half-elf veteran) commands the town’s militia.
Militia.
Easthaven can muster up to 150 soldiers (use the tribal warrior stat block) and 12 veterans.
Heraldry.
A snowflake at the top center of a steel-gray field, above a horizontal brown field that forms the left-hand base, and a dark blue field that forms the right-hand base; where they meet is a thin white tower. The brown field represents the Eastway, the tower represents the town, and the blue field is Lac Dinneshere.
Rivals.
Caer-Dineval, Caer-Konig.
Sacrifice to Auril.
Humanoid.
Available Quest.
Toil and Trouble.
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