Session 1 (April 25, 2026)

The party picked up mid-combat, dispatching the last wolf from an ambush that had already destroyed most of the caravan. What followed wasn’t a dungeon or a villain — just weather, and weather in Icewind Dale is its own kind of enemy.

With the caravan swept away and night coming on, their guide Pasha advised making camp before the temperature dropped further. They scavenged the wreckage: digging out a lockbox, finding a sturdy crate. The crate held a knitted pink hat and mittens, a package of home-baked chocolate chip cookies, and a handwritten note from someone named Jordan’s mother, worried and hopeful. Jordan was already dead beneath the snow. The lockbox was more complicated — the velvet pouch of coins had been soaked through by shattered potion vials, staining everything in rainbow colors. One vial had somehow survived intact. Whoever touched the stained coins had to make a Constitution save or start developing strange rainbow discoloration on their skin. The intact vial was a Potion of Growth. Dr. Medicine immediately recognized it as a premium sales opportunity.

They survived the night — barely. Constitution saves against the cold meant some of the party woke with a level of exhaustion and the story award Frostbitten. The next morning brought a quicksnow field (snow concealing a half-frozen river surface; Pasha spotted it and guided them through with advantage), then razor snow — sheets of ice hurled by unnatural wind that sent the party sprinting for cover. Three rounds of dashing. Two slashing damage on the way in.

When the wind cut out and strange yellow eyes appeared in the settling snow, Berg rolled Arcana and identified them as elemental manifestations — not natural creatures, but something conjured. Giant owls dropped from the snow-sky. Four of them, with Flyby and, oddly, Spellcasting (Detect Good and Evil, Detect Magic, Clairvoyance — none of which helped the owls in combat but raised questions about what they were doing with those spells otherwise). River went down to a crit in the first round. Dr. Medicine stabilized her with his Healer feat. The sidekicks took serious damage. The party ground out the fight.

After: a frozen caravan member found clutching a Potion of Healing and a platinum ring set with a large sapphire. A warm cave with an underground stream — shelter, and the equivalent of a long rest. They settled in.

They woke to find the gnome expert sidekick torn limb from limb, his remains arranged in a careful geometric pattern in the snow. Something large had done it. Pasha recognized the sign — the creature had developed their scent. It would hunt them every night until they dealt with it. The party voted to go after it immediately. Pasha led them into the blizzard. Somewhere in the whiteout, between one step and the next, they lost sight of her. When they retraced their path, the cave was empty and Pasha was gone.

Session ended with two sidekicks lost, an unknown creature in the dark, and a guide they couldn’t find.