Session 1: Torches in the Frost Night
Chapter 1: Torches in the Frost Night
The adventure begins in Thir, the ancient dwarven city nestled among snow-covered peaks and smoking forges. The PCs arrive independently at a grand peace celebration, the first of its kind in hundreds of years, only to be drawn together by a cryptic prophecy delivered by a mysterious woman. As they investigate three leads within the city, they uncover handouts hinting at an ancient evil named Malcath, and the chapter ends with four trails pointing toward their destiny.
A1. The Great Hall
Stone pillars rise like ancient sentinels around the Great Hall of Thir, each one draped with banners bearing the sigils of every nation. The air is warm with the scent of roasted meat, spiced mead, and forge-smoke. Hundreds of voices fill the vaulted chamber, dwarves, humans, elves, and others, all gathered beneath one roof for the first time in living memory. Near the central fire pit, a bard plucks a quiet melody on a lute, the notes threading through the crowd like a whispered secret. You find yourselves drawn to the same circle of warmth. You do not know one another, and yet something stirs at the edge of recognition, like a half-remembered dream. The bard's melody pulls at something deep inside each of you, something you cannot name.
Event: The Mysterious Woman (Den mystiska kvinnan)
While the PCs are still getting acquainted, the following event interrupts the celebration.
The great doors of the hall groan open, and a sudden draft snuffs a dozen candles. An older woman steps through the threshold, silver hair streaked with a single ribbon of fiery red, a dark blue cloak pooling at her feet, and a lute strapped across her back. The crowd parts before her without knowing why. She walks directly toward your circle, and her pale eyes move over each of you in turn, lingering as though she is reading something written on your very bones.
"Peace should be celebrated," she says, her voice carrying without effort, "but memories still swim in the water." She pauses, letting the weight of her words settle. "It is always so. When people turn their gaze toward the future, they forget what lies behind them. Peace lives in your hearts, but the struggle must not leave your souls."
She extends a scroll of parchment bound with pale red thread. "Shadows awaken in the north. Names are written in the ruins at Morningstar's well. But only certain hands can touch them without the world beginning to tremble."
She places the scroll on the table before you, turns without another word, and walks back into the crowd. When any of you try to follow, she is simply gone, as though the crowd itself swallowed her whole.
The Mysterious Woman (Den mystiska kvinnan)
Race/Type: Unknown (appears human or half-elf, elderly) | Role: Messenger / Catalyst
Personality: Speaks in riddles with the gravity of one who carries ancient knowledge. Serious and unhurried.
Ideal: "The truth must reach the right hands, and only those hands."
Bond: Unknown connection to the prophecy. She appears to know more than she reveals.
Useful Information: None directly. She delivers the parchment and vanishes. Any attempt to locate her (magical or otherwise) fails. She cannot be found again in this chapter.
The Sealed Parchment (Pergamentet med sigillet)
The scroll is sealed with a wax stamp bearing an ancient, broken signet ring. The wax glows faintly with residual magic (detect magic reveals abjuration).
Handout: The Prophecy (Profetian)
"Where peace was born, the lie rests.
Where earth and greenery became ash, a name sleeps in the fire.
In the shadow of the tree, beneath the three rootless leaves,
grows something that should never have taken root.
One of the fallen still speaks.
The living carry its voice.
You have met in dreams.
You have felt the cold in your bones,
and the warmth that leads both life and destruction.
Travel before the full moon sinks.
Seek wisdom beneath the frozen wall.
There you will understand why it is you.
Fate already knows your names."
Development. Once the PCs read the parchment and share their recognition of the symbol, they are bound together. The celebration continues around them, but they now stand apart from it, marked by something they do not yet understand. From this point forward, the PCs can investigate three leads within Thir, described below.
A2. The Investigation
Three leads can be pursued within Thir. The PCs can follow them in any order. Each provides a clue and a handout item. All three can be completed in a single evening of in-game time.
Lead 1: Count Liora's Housekeeper (Greve Lioras hushållare)
Asking around the Great Hall about the sigil (DC 10 Intelligence [Investigation] or Charisma [Persuasion]) leads the PCs to a housekeeper in the service of Count Liora, who can be found in the servants' quarters adjacent to the hall.
Count Liora's Housekeeper (Greve Lioras hushållare)
Race/Type: Human, middle-aged | Role: Informant
Location: Thir, servants' quarters adjacent to the Great Hall
Personality: Helpful but nervous. Speaks in hushed tones and glances over her shoulder frequently.
Ideal: "Some secrets are too dangerous to keep, they eat you from the inside."
Bond: Loyal to Count Liora, but deeply troubled by what she has seen in the count's study.
Useful Information: She produces an engraved coin bearing the same sigil as the parchment. She tells the party of a courier heading southeast who carried a similar symbol. "He was afraid. He said the ground was singing."
Development. The housekeeper's mention of a courier heading southeast and "singing ground" foreshadows events in later chapters. This thread connects to the broader mystery of the sigil's origin.
Lead 2: The Felled Stag Inn (Värdshuset Den fällda hjorten)
Any PC who asks about old places of power or the sigil in the market district is directed to The Felled Stag, a well-worn inn near the lower gates. The innkeeper is a retired scout who has traveled the region for decades.
The Innkeeper of the Felled Stag (Värdshusets ägare)
Race/Type: Human, elderly | Role: Retired Scout
Location: The Felled Stag inn, lower gates of Thir
Personality: Gruff but friendly. Speaks slowly and deliberately, choosing each word with care.
Ideal: "The land tells its own stories, if you have the patience to listen."
Bond: Has traveled the region for decades and respects the old places, the ones most folk have forgotten.
Useful Information: He produces a worn leather map and points to a location marked with the sigil. "The ground sang there. I have never heard anything like it. My bones hummed for three days after." He marks the route through Amber's Call toward The Great Tree of Morningstar.
Development. The map provides a concrete destination and confirms that the parchment's references to "Morningstar's well" are not merely poetic. The innkeeper's description of singing ground echoes the housekeeper's account of the courier's words, a pattern the PCs may begin to notice.
Lead 3: The Library at Mithrandrir's Watch
A scholar at the celebration mentions that the library at Mithrandrir's Watch may hold a book called "Roots of Sorrow" (Sorgens Rötter) that references the sigil and its origin. However, Mithrandrir's Watch is not in Thir, this lead cannot be resolved here.
Development. This thread leads directly to Chapter 2 and becomes the party's primary motivation for traveling to Mithrandrir's Watch.
A3. The Handouts
The following items are found during the investigation or given directly by NPCs. Distribute them among the party. Each is a physical prop the PCs can study between sessions.
Handout 1: Letter, "My Beloved, My Last Breath" (Brev, "Min Älskade, min sista andning")
This grief-stricken letter is found among the housekeeper's belongings, offered freely. It was written by someone named Elaen to a fallen soldier.
Player Handout
"I don't know why I write. There is no mail coach that carries grief where you have gone. No crow flies to the fields of the fallen. But my hands cannot stop seeking you, so they write... to keep from screaming.
They said you died bravely. That you fell with your sword raised and your heart open. But I wonder, were you afraid, my love? Did you think of me? Of her small hands?
Did you know that this... that this was the end of us?
Yours, in pain, in love, in eternity- Elaen"
Handout 2: Burnt Paper 1 (Sönderbränt papper 1)
A partially burned fragment, its edges blackened and crumbling. Damaged sections are illegible. The text references Malcath singing through crystal, a devotional passage from an unknown author.
Player Handout
"...stepped not..... ink.. we began k...before the light, but it lied and we smiled back. For when gods speak in sunlight, they whisper truths in darkness. I heard Malcath singing through the crys....and in every note was a question. Why do they fear the deep? Why do they shade themselves from what mirrors, but in... answers?
...lost your crown because you refused to bear it in blindness. They said you betrayed first, when they stopped asking. We who drown willingly, we remember. We sing beneath the surface, we watch in silence. And when the world stops breathing, your voice shall sound again. Not as storm, but as stillness."
Handout 3: Burnt Paper 2 (Sönderbränt papper 2)
A heavily damaged devotional letter. Much of the text is lost to fire. This fragment praises Malcath as "our king" (vår kung) and mentions that Tohu feared him.
Player Handout
"I wr.......... The ink..... But I remember you so............ alive, burning ....... The others turned away when the river died. I fell to my knees. I understood. Not a betrayal, an offering. You gave our city to the emptiness, to reach what the gods had hidden. What is a city, compared to truth? What is death, compared to eternal will?
Malcath, I have ........ dreams. Your name was whispered.......... in.... forbidden script. And yo.......r.....not gone. ............waiting...
You are ....th.....m....refuses to die out. Tohu feared you, because you saw what she concealed. We others closed our eyes, but you, you opened your eye in the darkness. That is why I remember you not as a monster. I remember you as our king.
Our king, who wanted more than quiet glory and stagnant faith. When you return I shall......... Not with swords, not with....... But with truth and with k........
For it was not your power I followed, it was your .........understanding. And I am still hungry."
Chapter 1 Item Summary
The following table summarizes all key items introduced in this chapter for quick DM reference.
| Item | Swedish Name | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sealed Parchment | Pergamentet med sigillet | The Mysterious Woman | Given to party |
| Engraved Coin with Sigil | Ristat mynt med sigill | Count Liora's Housekeeper | Given to party |
| Map to Morningstar | Karta till Morningstar | The Felled Stag Innkeeper | Given to party |
| Book: Roots of Sorrow | Bok: Sorgens Rötter | Mithrandrir's Watch library | Not yet found, Chapter 2 hook |
| Letter: My Beloved | Brev: Min Älskade | Housekeeper (Handout 1) | Player handout |
| Burnt Paper 1 | Sönderbränt papper 1 | Investigation (Handout 2) | Player handout |
| Burnt Paper 2 | Sönderbränt papper 2 | Investigation (Handout 3) | Player handout |
What's Next
The party now holds four threads, each pulling them toward the same destination:
- The Courier's Trail. Count Liora's housekeeper mentioned a courier heading southeast, carrying the sigil and speaking of singing ground.
- The Map to Morningstar. The Felled Stag innkeeper's map charts a route through Amber's Call toward The Great Tree of Morningstar.
- The Library. The scholar's mention of "Roots of Sorrow" at Mithrandrir's Watch promises answers about the sigil's origin.
- The Parchment's Warning. "Travel before the full moon sinks", time is limited, though the PCs do not yet know why.
All roads converge on Mithrandrir's Watch, where Chapter 2 begins. The journey from Thir is uneventful, the true danger starts on the road beyond the Watch, heading toward Castle Black.