The Frostbite Rite
The remote hamlet of Frostbite Hollow is paralyzed by terror. Not by the usual blizzards or dire wolves, but by the silent, terrifying kidnappings. Villagers vanish from their homes at night, dragged into the howling white by immense, furred shapes. The elders whisper of the 'Snow Apes'—a reclusive tribe of frost-giant-kin who have lived in the high peaks since time immemorial. The Apes claim the mountain's heart, the Mid-Mountain Ice Cave and its ancient, mammoth-sized skeleton, as sacred ground. They say the 'lowland vermin' defile it. But the village shaman, old Kaelen, has seen something else in the ice: a creeping, unnatural corruption spreading from the skeleton's bones, a blight that sickens the land. He believes the Apes' raids are not mere territoriality, but a desperate, brutal attempt to stop a greater horror. The path up Frostbite Peak is a gauntlet of ice and fury. To reach the truth, one must traverse the treacherous Frostbite Warrens, navigate the political ice between two desperate factions, and finally confront the terrible secret entombed within the Mammoth Skeleton itself.
Chronicle Prelude
The village of Frostbite Hollow, a collection of stone and timber longhouses huddled against the base of the mountain. Smoke rises from chimneys, but the streets are empty. Fear hangs heavy in the air. The village elder, Maren, will plead for help, while the shaman, Kaelen, offers cryptic warnings about 'the mountain's sickness.' The Snow Ape representatives, if contacted, will be found at a neutral truce stone on the lower slopes.
Environmental Traits
A creeping, necrotic frost-blight is spreading from the corrupted heart of the Mid-Mountain Ice Cave, threatening to consume the entire region in an eternal, lifeless winter. The two factions—the desperate human villagers and the ancient, territorial Snow Apes—each believe they hold the key to stopping it, but their methods are in direct, violent conflict.
Legendary Archetypes
Rayan
✦ Related Cases ✦
