🎲 Random Map: Frozen Lake Harbinger

 

Behind the Die by Charlie Stayton

“Beneath the stillness of ice lies a hunger older than the thaw—step lightly, for the lake remembers every footfall.

Imagine a bleak expanse of ice and snow:

• The Lake: A frozen oval sheet with jagged cracks spreading across its surface.

• The Ship: A stranded three-masted vessel, half-encased in ice near the lake’s center.

• Cracks & Fissures: Veins in the ice radiating outward, some leading to water-filled crevasses.

• Drifting Ice Floes: Large sheets of broken ice pushed by unseen currents beneath.

• Underwater Caverns: Openings where the ice thins near the northern edge, leading to a hidden network below.

Keyed Encounter Locations

1. The Frozen Wreck (Central Ship)

• Description: A massive ship, its hull groaning with the pressure of ice. The deck is frozen, ropes stiff as iron.

• Encounter: A pack of ice mephits scavenges through frozen barrels. If disturbed, they call for aid from an ice elemental bound in the ship’s hold.

2. The Shattered Floes (Southern Lake)

• Description: Large chunks of ice drift freely, shifting with deep underwater currents.

• Encounter: PCs must make Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks to leap across floes; failures risk plunging into icy water where frostbite eels lurk.

3. The Crevasse Fields (Eastern Edge)

• Description: Spiderweb cracks spread across thin ice; stepping here risks collapse.

• Encounter: Thin ice hazards (DC 15 Dexterity save to avoid falling through). Beneath waits a snow hag who emerges to charm and drag victims under.

4. Cavern Maw (Northern Cavern Entrance)

• Description: A yawning hole in the ice, wind whistling from below.

• Encounter: Ice wights—drowned sailors animated by the lake’s malevolent spirit—guard the caverns.

5. The Ice Spire (Western Lake)

• Description: A jagged spike of black ice rises unnaturally from the lake.

• Encounter: A frozen obelisk that radiates necrotic cold. Touching it deals damage but reveals visions of the ship’s cursed past.

Hazards

• Thin Ice: Random checks cause cracks (2d6 cold damage + risk of immersion).

• Blizzards: Sudden storms obscure sight, halve movement, and impose disadvantage on Perception.

• Slippery Surfaces: DC 12 Dexterity saves to avoid falls.

• Frostbite: Extended exposure without magical or mundane protection causes exhaustion.

Rumors & Hooks

• “They say the ship was a treasure galley bound for the northern kingdoms, its gold cursed by the Frost Queen.”

• “Sometimes, in the dead of night, you can hear the sailors’ screams echoing from beneath the ice.”

• “The black spire wasn’t there last season. It grew overnight—like the lake itself is alive.”

• “Old hunters whisper that something stirs in the caverns—something that hates the warmth of fire.”

Adventure Seeds

• Treasure Salvage: PCs are hired to recover a chest of relics from the frozen wreck.

• The Cursed Lake: Villagers ask the adventurers to banish the spirit that haunts the ice.

• Obelisk of Winter: A wizard’s guild pays handsomely for any shard taken from the Ice Spire.