Cold Marshes

A vast stretch of fens and bogs north of the Howling Hills renowned for the strange and vile creatures that inhabit their mires.

The vast stretches of fens and bogs north of the Howling Hills give rise to the Dulsi and Opicm Rivers. The Cold Marshes are renowned for the strange and vile creatures that inhabit their mires, as well as unnatural, life-draining mists.
Neither Iuz nor the mysterious northern land of Blackmoor lays claim to the Cold Marshes, but slowly Iuz's priests and servants have crept into this desolate, terrible expanse of marshland with its bitter winds and freezing fogs, and they have established some strongholds on the margins. The Cold Marshes swarm with monsters like wolves, winter wolves, ice toads, a few white dragons, swamp trolls, ice trolls, will o' the wisps, and spectral undead. Equally dangerous are the natural conditions of the swamp itself.

Iuz's Priests in the Cold Marshes

Iuz's priests face the same hazards here as anyone else and do not exactly delight in the prospect of travelling within the Cold Marshes. They cannot use protective spells, but the garrisons at Greenhead and Stornawane both keep a small number of rings of warmth for use by adventuring priests and clerics. The priests venture into the Marshes for only a few days at a time if possible, with fur-clad warriors and orog/orc escorts. They search the Cold Marshes for the following objectives.
First, Iuz's priests are researching the magical winds and fogs of the marshes. The vampiric mist spell derives from magical study of the Marsh's weather conditions, and the priesthood is currently researching a version of the cone of cold spell. To do this, they have to observe the mists, track them, study possible material components for the planned spells, and experiment. High priestess Halga takes a keen interest in this work.
Second, Iuz's priests seek out undead they can command and lead back to their garrisons. This is dangerous in the case of the many spectral undead, since a horror as fearsome as a spectre is not easily commanded. Priests may be accompanied by mages who will use spells to locate and study the undead without undue risk. The camp at Greenhead has a pair of magical amulets which makes them invisible to undead spells 3 times each day, which are shared among the priests. Also, there are a fair number of deposits of bones from ancient Bakluni-Flan battles in the frozen northern swamps, and these can still be used for animating skeletons. Every extra undead warrior helps to swell Iuz's armies, after all.
Finally, Iuz's priests search for swamp trolls they can capture and force into servitude. Such expeditions are always accompanied by mages with charm monster spells. Trollbar is the major base for expeditions of this kind.
Note that a posting to the Cold Marshes isn't exactly a sign of favor for a priest, except for those conducting magical research at Halga's command. The priesthood here tends to be dour and cynical, although most aren't posted here for very long. Any priest who has been here over a year is definitely out of favor with his superiors.

Localized Phenomena

All year round, even in summer, there is a chance that the conditions in the Cold Marsh are so cold that characters exposed to them may suffer cold damage. These dangerous conditions are known as blackfrost and hoarwind. Blackfrost is a numbing, chilling, clear, sharp chill which inflicts 1d4 hp of damage per hour on unprotected characters. Hoarwind is a clammy, frozen-damp, whistling wind which inflicts 1d8 hp of damage per hour on unprotected characters. The chance for blackfrost or hoarwind occurring depends on the month of the year, as shown below. The percentage chance is for time duration of 1d12 hours during any day being affected by extreme cold.
In addition, a hoarwind is 10% likely in the winter months, from Ready'reat until the end of Readying to be a whipping hoarwind, a screaming, howling gale with extreme wind chill, inflicting 1d8 hp of damage per turn on exposed, unprotected characters.
Characters are unprotected if they are outdoors, unprotected by magic, and also bereft of thick furs. Furs which protect against damage result in disadvantage on Dexterity checks and reduce movement rates to 75% of normal. These rules may be extended into the Howling Hills locations in addition. Cold damage may be kept at bay by sitting around a good campfire such as a bonfire, not a handful of twigs, but strong wind or dampness makes fires difficult to sustain. A whipping hoarwind will extinguish even the best camp fire.

Even more dangerous than the winds are the mists and fogs which can even flow up into the Howling Hills from time to time. Each day, there is a 10% chance for characters to encounter such a mist or fog. If such an encounter occurs, roll 1d10 and consult the table to the left to determine the nature of the phenomenon.
Encounters with mists or fogs last 1d12 hours (mists) or 1d8 hours (fogs) unless specified otherwise, or the DM may consider the area covered to be ld4 hexes in size, allowing PCs to travel outside the mists' range. Wisdom checks may be required for orientation to avoid getting lost in a fog. Mists and fogs descend very suddenly, progressively thickening to maximum density in but one turn.

Mist and Fog Effects

Mist: Mist reduces visibility to 30 feet and movement rate to 75% of normal.
Vampiric Mist: This is an ordinary mist, save that at a randomly determined time, those caught within it will encounter one or more vampiric mist.
Chilling Mist: The mist is intensely cold and unprotected characters lose 2d6 hp per hour within it.
Mist of Undeath: At a randomly determined time, those within the mist encounter 1d4 wraiths (50% chance), 1d2 spectres (30% chance), or 1 ghost (20% chance) which attack with automatic surprise from the cover of the mist. Only characters with the ability to see invisible things can negate the surprise.
Fog: Fog reduces visibility to 15 feet and movement rate to 50% of normal.
Choking Fog: This yellowed, very thick fog makes those breathing the air cough and splutter, even if wearing a scarf over the mouth, but not if protected by a necklace of adaptation or a similar magic. This choking adds 1 level of exhaustion per 2 hours or fraction thereof spent in the fog.
Blanketing Fog: Characters caught in this fog, which seems to descend to the ground in semi-solid sheets, are hopelessly lost unless they have the aid of a powerful spell such as find the path. Direction sense proficiency and even the use of ground markings will not negate this effect. Characters wander haphazardly, in random directions. If an encounter occurs while within this fog, every character must succeed on a successful DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or they suffer the effects of a confusion spell. At the end of each of its turns, an affected target can make another Wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, this effect ends for that target.

Empire of Iuz

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Type

Wetland / Swamp

  Location in the Flanaess