The first stop for most visitors to Icewind Dale is Bryn Shander, a walled town perched atop a cold, lonely, wind-lashed hill. Bright lanterns suspended over narrow streets twist in the wind and add flecks of color to the town’s otherwise drab surroundings.
The friendliness in this settlement has dwindled of late. Auril’s unyielding winter has greatly reduced the number of visitors to Bryn Shander, and local trade is suffering for it, eating away at the locals' sense of humor and goodwill. Still, there is no safer place in Icewind Dale to spend coin or spend the night.
The walls of the town stand some 30 feet high and are defined by two concentric rings of upright wooden poles, the gap between them filled with dirt and rubble. The outer ring of poles rises above the top of the wall, providing a rampart for defenders stationed on the wood-planked walkway. The wall’s hinged gates are 15 feet tall and can be barred from the inside with iron-banded wood beams. These gates are closed when it’s dark outside—which is to say more often than not.
Bryn Shander in a Nutshell
Friendliness ❄❄❄Services ❄❄❄Comfort ❄❄❄
Available Quest
“area Foaming Mugs”.
- Population 1,200.
Leaders
Speaker Duvessa Shane (lawful good human noble) speaks for the townsfolk. Though relatively young, Duvessa is the head of the Council of Speakers. Sheriff Markham Southwell (lawful good human veteran) commands the militia.
Militia
Bryn Shander can muster up to 250 soldiers (use the tribal warrior stat block) and 20 Veteran.
- Heraldry Black antlers above a vertical shaft of golden wheat on a white field, signifying the town’s strength and prosperity on the vast, snowy tundra.
Sacrifice to Auril
Humanoid (see “area Sacrifices to Auril").
- Rivalries None.
Overland Travel
Bryn Shander is connected to Easthaven by the Eastway, a snow-covered road. In addition, there are snowy paths to Caer-Dineval, Good Mead, Targos, and Termalaine. Travel times in the Overland Travel from Bryn Shander table assume that characters are on foot; mounts and dogsleds can shorten these times by as much as 50 percent.
Overland Travel from Bryn Shander
| To | Travel Time |
|---|---|
| Caer-Dineval | 10½ hours |
| Easthaven | 7½ hours |
| Good Mead | 6 hours |
| Targos | 2 hours |
| Termalaine | 6 hours |
Locations in Bryn Shander
The following locations marked on map 1.2 are just a few of the places the characters might visit during their stay in Bryn Shander.
Blackiron Blades
Smithy and outfitter
This combination shop and smithy stands just north of the main square. Garn the Hammer (lawful good shield dwarf commoner) manufactures the cheapest blades in Ten-Towns, while his sister Elza (lawful good shield dwarf commoner) sells adventuring supplies—including rations, cold weather gear, ice picks, and snowshoes—to fortune-seekers. Most of the veteran sellswords in Ten-Towns disdain Garn’s smithcraft, due to the uninspiring quality of his work. Jokes told about hapless newcomers to Icewind Dale often end with the line “an' ‘e was carrying a Blackiron blade, to boot!”
House of the Morninglord
Shrine of Amaunator (god of the sun)
Located near Bryn Shander’s northeast market square, this modest converted house serves as a gathering place for worshipers of Amaunator, a god of the sun known to take both male and female forms. A retired human adventurer named Mishann (neutral good priest of Amaunator) runs the shrine and aspires to see the sun regain its rightful place in the sky over Icewind Dale. She calls Amaunator “the Morninglord,” a name that southerners use to describe Lathander, a god of the dawn and rebirth. Mishann views Lathander as a usurper of Amaunator’s light and doesn’t like it when people confuse the two deities.
Copper Knobberknocker
Mishann rents her attic to a pessimistic rock gnome tinkerer named Copper Knobberknocker (chaotic good rock gnome acolyte of Lathander), who begrudgingly helps with services and chores. The two argue incessantly. Copper walks around in a fuzzy suit and hood that he made himself; although it’s quite warm, it makes him look like a teddy bear.
If the characters talk to Copper, he tells them he’s worried about a friend named Macreadus, who is conducting research at an old cabin in the wilderness (see “area Black Cabin"). He says that if the characters find themselves nearby, he would appreciate it if they looked in on Macreadus, who’s trying to build a device that could end the Frostmaiden’s eternal winter and return summer to Icewind Dale.
The Northlook
Inn and tavern
The Northlook is the establishment most frequented by mercenaries and adventurers, and as such it’s the rowdiest and most dangerous place to stay in Bryn Shander. At the same time, its taproom is the best spot in all of Ten-Towns to get leads on profitable ventures, along with the latest news and rumors.
Characters who hang out in the tavern are likely to hear a rumor or two, which you can determine by rolling on the Ten-Towns Rumors table (See “area Ten-Towns Rumors").
The inn’s proprietor, a retired sellsword named Scramsax (neutral human veteran), knows full well the cycles of an adventurer’s life. He often cuts a break for customers who are between jobs, allowing them to stay here on credit and then presenting them with a bill inflated by interest charges to be reckoned with as soon as they make their next payday. Those who don’t settle their accounts discover that the old mercenary still knows how to handle a blade, and that he doesn’t take “later” for an answer.
Ol’ Bitey
Stuffed and mounted on a plaque above the hearth in the common room is a battle-scarred knucklehead trout named Ol' Bitey, who pulled many a fisher into the icy depths of Maer Dualdon before it was finally caught by a human rogue named Kintyre and her companion, a human druid who called himself the Maverick. They hauled Ol' Bitey to the Northlook in the hope of having it cooked for them, but Scramsax bought it from them and had it stuffed instead. Years later, some prankster wizard cast a spell on the stuffed fish so that it turns and snaps at any creature that comes within 5 feet of it. Occasionally, seemingly at random, Ol' Bitey sings the following verse instead:
There’s a place I like to go
Farther up the river’s flow;
Where it is, I do not know;
Must be under all that snow.
If a character has the Ring Hunter secret (see appendix B), the signet ring that the character seeks might be in Ol' Bitey’s gullet, though Scramsax won’t let anyone even handle the fish unless he’s well compensated, and unless the deed can be done without ruining his trophy. (The ring, if you decide it’s here, is stuck in the fish’s throat and can be retrieved without surgery.)
Foaming Mugs
The characters can pick up this quest if they start the adventure in Bryn Shander or shortly after they arrive in town. It begins when the characters learn about a group of shield dwarves who were forced to abandon a sled loaded with iron ingots, which they were transporting from the mines at the base of Kelvin’s Cairn. The ingots belong to the Battlehammer clan and are stamped with the clan’s iconic symbol, a foaming mug. The dwarves ask the characters to retrieve the sled and deliver the ingots safely to Blackiron Blades, for which each character will receive a gemstone as payment. Characters who complete this quest also earn a 10 percent discount on goods bought at Blackiron Blades—a little thank-you from the establishment’s grateful owner.
Complications arise when goblins find the sled before the characters do. The characters must either fight the goblins or finagle the ingots from them using guile or stealth. To further complicate matters, the goblins have a wagon pulled by hungry polar bears. The bears aren’t fussy about what they eat, so clever characters might think to turn them against the goblins.
Getting the Quest
Three frostbitten shield dwarves approach the characters at the Northlook or in the snow-covered street:
Three stocky figures bundled in cold weather garb stumble toward you. They have snowshoes slung over their backs and ice picks fastened to their belts, and two of them have thick beards. The third holds up a gloved hand and says, through a thick wool scarf in a raspy voice, “Well met! I’m Hruna, and these are my friends, Korux and Storn. We need help, and you look capable.”
The three dwarves work in a mine located in the valley at the base of Kelvin’s Cairn. This mine is owned and operated by Clan Battlehammer, and it provides most of the iron for the smithies in Ten-Towns.
The dwarves wear cold weather clothing. Only their eyes are visible. Treat them as Commoner who speak Common and Dwarvish; being dwarves, they have
- Hruna speaks for the group in a voice made raspy by years of smoking. She has lost her right ear and two fingers to frostbite.
- Korux stares in silence and doesn’t talk much. He has lost three fingers, two toes, and his nose to frostbite.
- Storn has a terrible fear of white dragons and glances nervously up at the sky as though he’s expecting one to swoop down at any minute.
If the characters are interested in hearing what Hruna has to say, she presents the quest:
“We’re the survivors of a group of dwarves tasked with delivering a sled of iron ingots to Bryn Shander. A yeti surprised us and killed a member of our group. The rest of us fled as the yeti tore Oobok limb from limb. Now we need someone to go back and get the sled for us. As payment, we offer each of you a gemstone worth fifty gold pieces. The friendship of the dwarves of Icewind Dale can also be a boon in these harsh times. You’ll need snowshoes to make the trip in good time.”
If the characters slay the dwarves and take the pouch of gemstones that Hruna carries on her person (see “Treasure” below), witnesses report them to the town militia, leading to their arrest unless they flee Bryn Shander at once.
Korux can cover the expense of equipping the party with snowshoes if the characters are too cheap to pay for the snowshoes themselves.
If the characters refuse the quest, the dwarves leave in a huff and do not trouble the party again. They spend a couple days searching in vain for others to help them before returning home.
Treasure
Hruna carries a sealskin pouch that holds six
Search for the Sled
If the characters agree to complete this quest, Hruna points them in the direction they must travel—straight toward Kelvin’s Cairn. The sled lies halfway between Bryn Shander and Kelvin’s Cairn, in the middle of the tundra.
Blizzard
When the characters get within a couple miles of the sled, a blizzard sweeps down from the north and engulfs them:
A blizzard descends on you, reducing visibility to twenty feet. Kelvin’s Cairn vanishes from view as the blowing snow and howling wind engulf you.
Ask the players what their characters do during the blizzard, which lasts for
Oobok’s Remains
When the characters arrive at the location where the dwarves were forced to abandon their sled, read:
You crest a snow-covered ridge and see a frozen, dismembered corpse in the gully in front of you. Snow covers some of the gory bits, but the headless torso and severed limbs are visible. You see tracks in the snow all around the corpse, and the telltale grooves in the snow left behind by a sled that has been hauled away.
The corpse belongs to Oobok the dwarf. The yeti that killed him ate his arms and most of his internal organs before leaving with poor Oobok’s severed head. Both Oobok’s tracks and the yeti’s tracks were erased by the wind. The tracks that are present were left by goblins.
Characters who inspect the tracks around the corpse can, with a successful DC 10
Goblins
When the characters find the goblins, read:
The creatures you’ve been following appear to be goblins, based on their stature. All six of them groan, grunt, and curse loudly as they haul the bulky sled toward what appears to be a twenty-foot-tall wagon parked in the snow. Harnessed to this conveyance are two roaring polar bears that don’t look happy.
These goblins were rolling across the tundra when their advance scout, a trained hawk, spotted the abandoned sled. The one-eared goblin boss, Izobai, sent six Goblin forth to seize the sled and its cargo, while she and two Goblin stayed behind to guard the wagon and keep an eye on the two Polar Bear that pull it.
At the start of the encounter, the characters are 120 feet behind the sled, and the goblins' wagon is 120 feet farther still. The goblins hauling the sled are too distracted to notice they’re being followed, so the characters have surprise.
The sled weighs 300 pounds, and the iron ingots add another 600 pounds of weight to it. A single goblin can push or drag 240 pounds, so it takes at least four of them to move the sled. If they come under attack, the goblins take cover behind the sled and retaliate with ranged attacks. On the goblins' first turn in combat, one of them blows a horn to alert Izobai, who climbs to the roof of the wagon with a lit torch in one hand and her hooded hawk perched on her other arm. From this perch, she watches the battle unfold. If she spots enemies within 60 feet of the wagon, she orders the two goblins inside the wagon to shoot arrows at these enemies through gaps in the wagon’s walls. These two goblins have three-quarters cover.
If five or more goblins are killed, or if Izobai is killed or captured, the remaining goblins are willing to negotiate a truce, though it’s up to the characters to initiate the negotiations. The goblins are prepared to give up the iron ingots in exchange for their lives and freedom.
The prolonged winter has made the goblins as miserable as everyone else in Icewind Dale. If the characters act kindly toward the goblins, by offering them a blanket or some other gift, the goblins give up the sled and the ingots and allow the characters to be on their way. The goblins hail from the fortress of Karkolohk (see “area Karkolohk"). Their job is to scour the tundra for food and treasure, as well as creatures to enslave, but they are cold and eager to return home.
Izobai fights only in self-defense. If defeat seems inevitable, she uses her torch to set fire to the wagon and flees into the tundra with her hawk, her treasure (see below), and any goblins in the vehicle. The wagon contains goblin beds made of straw; they ignite quickly, turning the vehicle into a raging inferno by the start of Izobai’s next turn.
Freeing the Bears
A character who succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom (
Treasure
Izobai carries two
Concluding the Quest
Three hundred iron ingots are wrapped in thick burlap and tightly secured to the sled with leather straps. Each ingot weighs 2 pounds and is stamped with the foaming mug symbol of the Battlehammer clan. Each ingot is worth 5 sp to a blacksmith.
Once the ingots are returned to Hruna and then delivered to Blackiron Blades in Bryn Shander, the characters receive their promised rewards, including the 10 percent discount on goods they buy at the shop afterward.