D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Frost Highlands Station: The Hound's Bargain

# Wilderness# Beast# Magitech# Investigation

The party arrives at the isolated Frost Highlands Station, a mining and hunting outpost on the edge of a frozen wilderness. They find it paralyzed by a silent crisis: the prized domesticated hounds, vital for transport and defense, are growing increasingly erratic and violent, their eyes glazed with unnatural fury. The grooms whisper of a 'calming agent' in their feed, a cheap local straw, but its effects are proving catastrophic. The station is split between those who see the hounds as tools to be controlled at any cost and those who believe the beasts are suffering victims of a poisoning. The players must navigate this powder keg, uncover the truth behind the straw, and decide the fate of the station before the hounds break their chains for good.

Chronicle Prelude

The main gate of Frost Highlands Station: a sprawling complex of wooden longhouses, stables, and a central chieftain's hall, all dusted with perpetual frost. The air is thick with the scent of animal musk, woodsmoke, and something acrid and sweet. Guards eye the players warily, while the distant, frantic baying of hounds echoes from the kennels.

Environmental Traits

The station's survival is threatened by its own tools. The hallucinogenic straw, 'Morrowweed,' is causing the hounds to perceive everyone as threats, leading to fatal maulings and shattered supply lines. The true nature of the Morrowweed—whether it's a native plant being misused or a deliberate sabotage—must be uncovered to stop the escalating violence and save both humans and hounds.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Chieftain Bjorn
A broad-shouldered man in his late fifties, his face a map of old scars and weathered lines. He wears practical furs and bears the heavy, fur-cloaked mantle of station leadership. His eyes are tired but shrewd.
Head Groom Elara
A woman in her forties, her strength evident in her calloused hands and steady gaze. She wears the practical, fur-lined leathers of a handler, and her expression is one of deep, weary compassion that can quickly turn fierce.
Scribe Halvard
A thin, nervous man perpetually dusted with ink and parchment fibers. He clutches a ledger to his chest like a shield and flinches at loud noises.
Kennel Captain Ulf
A mountain of a man with a thick beard braided with iron rings. He wears heavy, scarred plate armor and carries a massive, notched axe. His posture is perpetually aggressive, and he eyes all strangers with contempt.
Exiled Groom Fenris
A gaunt, wild-eyed man clad in patchwork furs and hides. He moves with a paranoid, skittish gait, constantly scanning the mist. A crude totem of hound teeth hangs around his neck.
Old Trapper Gudrun
An ancient, stooped woman wrapped in layers of dirty furs. Her eyes are clouded with a milky film, but they occasionally flash with startling clarity. She mutters constantly to herself, rearranging piles of hound bones and straw.
Morrow-Hound Alpha
A monstrous canine the size of a warhorse, its fur matted with frost and dark, oozing sap. Its eyes glow with a sickly green light, and its jaws constantly drip with hallucinogenic saliva. It moves with a mix of predatory grace and pained, erratic twitches.
Ice Mephit Swarm
A chittering, swirling cloud of tiny, bat-winged humanoids made of jagged ice crystals. They are drawn to the magical resonance of the Morrowweed, and fiercely guard the territory they've claimed around a frozen, half-buried corpse.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Reignited Forge: A Crisis of Iron and Will

The Crystalline Scorpion Frenzy