The Frostweald

Along the northern base of the Stormcrests lies a forest magically locked in perpetual winter, cursed to eternal cold by the invasion of the Ice Lord Errevon during the Icelost Years. Within the forest, ponds magically freeze into perfect mirrors reflecting the snowy sky above, and the snow-draped trees hide families of fey hiding from enemies in the Feywild. At first blush, the Frostweald seems a wonderland of crisp snow and aromatic pines and firs, yet the serene landscape belies sinister danger. Herds of basilisks roam the woods, so travelers who encounter mysterious snow-covered statuaries or corpses of petrified trees must think fast or join this grisly statuary—permanently.

Frostweald Inhabitants

The only humanoid peoples who live within the Frostweald are hunter-gatherers called teh Shivergut. Many of their people are orcs who have lived within the Frostweald for generations, but their ranks also include humans, elves, and dwarves who adopted their ways centuries ago during the Icelost Years. Most are helpful to travelers, if reserved. Others, however, are dour, selfish isolationists who have been apart from other folk for so long that they care more for the thrill of bloodshed than a warm conversation over a crackling fire.
The Shiverguts throw an annual coming of age festival in which the tribe drinks and brawls the night before their young warriors leave to cross the mountains on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Ruiner in the Dreamseep Marshlands. Those who brave the perils of the wilderness return as true warriors.
The Frostweald is also home to a host of benevolent fey, most of them pixies or dryads, using the forest as a safe haven away from the Feywild. If pressed for answers on why they had to leave the Feywild, their answers are always cryptic and unsatisfactory, but always ominously suggest a "Great Shadow" has descended upon their lands—perhaps even a host of warriors from the Shadowfell. A nymph mage named Arethusa watches over a cluster of three mirrorlike pools that form a pathway into the Feywild, each to a different Archfey's forest. She is suspicious of all mortals, and both her trust and a favor are required to gain passage.
Many forgotten obelisks of the Knowing Mistress also lie buried under the ice and snow, half-lost beacons that guide travelers to the Cavern of Axiom. If any living creature knows why these ancient monoliths reside here when no other ruins of the Knowing Mentor have been discovered, they have kept the knowledge secret from the other scholars of the world. Thirty years ago, the half-orc Emonian archaeologist Jorlund Vohr discovered a cache of Ioun stones buried here and returned them to the Alabaster Lyceum of Emon, but his research and findings were stolen the week after he returned. Vohr has since stated he "got over it", and is back to work on new research on Visa Isle.

The Silver Tablet

Ye who seek my boundless wisdom,
Pass into the white trees' kingdom.
Return to the shrine Mistress' eyes,
And follow the light in the skies.
I am the Beast of the Heavens,
Thou shalt kneel before my presence,
Lest the wisdom thou seekest
Be lost to the cowardice of your weakest.
This poem was discovered by Jorlund Vohr on his first expedition to the Frostweald, on a silver tablet written in flowing Celestial script. Upon examination, scholars at the Alabaster Lyceum discovered the language of the heavens is so sublime that its poetry rhymes when translated into any other language. The tablet was stolen later that week, along with the rest of Vohr's findings, but Jorlund keeps a parchment-and-charcoal copy of the tablet in a chest beneath his bed in Emon's Erudite Quarter.

Type

Forest

Location under

Stormcrest Mountains