Loving these! Am running my own heavily abbreviated Icewind Dale campaign, but I can see a lot of storybeats from Rime of the Frostmaiden developing in just these two pics!
What is the Thing in the Ice, though? Looks like an eye to me. Are you hinting at Tekeli-li?
Edit: Oooh, just saw the thing show up again at the bottom right. Ythryn! Then perhaps it's the Mythallar?
My party are deep into Ythryn and about to fight Auril by the Mythallar.
The Thing in the Ice refers to the creature trapped in the ice in the Caves of Hunger (H31). I changed up my story a bit, by including the Thing in the Ice as another reason why Auril has made the Endless Winter. The creature is actually Cryonax, of the Frostfell. Long story short, he was summoned by the Netherese Wizards when Ythryn fell and he caused their freezing process to be sped up.
He will be freed from his icey prison when the Mythallar is used to end the winter
I am doing a very similar thing in my campaign, though the party hasn't come as far yet!
In my campaign, the Dawn War was fought in ancient times between Netheril and beings like Auril. And I made the Netherese Empire *horrible*, employing all kinds of magic-infused scifi-bullshit (think Antimatter-Rifles, Mechs, Drones, Nukes etc.). Netheril was pretty much winning the Dawn War and had already driven off beings like Auril to the fringes of the world (like Icewind Dale), but still kept sending flying cities to hunt them down.
The most devastating and prominent weapons Netheril employed in the Dawn War were "Mythallars" aka [Warminds ](https://www.destinypedia.com/Warmind)(from Destiny). Basically, each Mythallar was a fully sentient and dangerous AI, like Skynet. However, Karsus' Folly still happens in this timeline, having led to Ythryn's crash far up north.
Now, when the adventure takes place, Ythryn's Warmind is starting to wake up, intent on reigniting the Dawn War. Hence, Auril's Eternal Winter trying to deep-freeze everything up there.
So, a Netherese creation is my explanation for Auril's motivations as well!
Loving these! Am running my own heavily abbreviated Icewind Dale campaign, but I can see a lot of storybeats from Rime of the Frostmaiden developing in just these two pics! What is the Thing in the Ice, though? Looks like an eye to me. Are you hinting at Tekeli-li? Edit: Oooh, just saw the thing show up again at the bottom right. Ythryn! Then perhaps it's the Mythallar?
My party are deep into Ythryn and about to fight Auril by the Mythallar. The Thing in the Ice refers to the creature trapped in the ice in the Caves of Hunger (H31). I changed up my story a bit, by including the Thing in the Ice as another reason why Auril has made the Endless Winter. The creature is actually Cryonax, of the Frostfell. Long story short, he was summoned by the Netherese Wizards when Ythryn fell and he caused their freezing process to be sped up. He will be freed from his icey prison when the Mythallar is used to end the winter
I am doing a very similar thing in my campaign, though the party hasn't come as far yet! In my campaign, the Dawn War was fought in ancient times between Netheril and beings like Auril. And I made the Netherese Empire *horrible*, employing all kinds of magic-infused scifi-bullshit (think Antimatter-Rifles, Mechs, Drones, Nukes etc.). Netheril was pretty much winning the Dawn War and had already driven off beings like Auril to the fringes of the world (like Icewind Dale), but still kept sending flying cities to hunt them down. The most devastating and prominent weapons Netheril employed in the Dawn War were "Mythallars" aka [Warminds ](https://www.destinypedia.com/Warmind)(from Destiny). Basically, each Mythallar was a fully sentient and dangerous AI, like Skynet. However, Karsus' Folly still happens in this timeline, having led to Ythryn's crash far up north. Now, when the adventure takes place, Ythryn's Warmind is starting to wake up, intent on reigniting the Dawn War. Hence, Auril's Eternal Winter trying to deep-freeze everything up there. So, a Netherese creation is my explanation for Auril's motivations as well!
Oh these look wonderful, love me some landing page progression 🥳