Song of the Beast: Curse of Strahd 5e Total Conversion

by Isada

The idea is simple (though I imagine this process will be less so, ahaha): use the mechanics and set-up of Curse of Strahd to tell an Over the Garden Wall type story. Creatures and encounters and all will basically just have different flavor and maybe ability alterations-that kind of thing. The biggest changes will be to the overlying story.

14. Chapter 14

Chap 14: Winter Place

Part 1

The Unknown once had four seasons-spring, summer, fall, and winter. But in the first year of the Beast, winter proved too much for those Edelwood trees who grew from the bodies of the despairing. The leaves fell away and the bitter cold embrittled the trees from branches to roots. When the North Wind blew, the Edelwood trees fell and shattered as oily black shards.
The Beast could not keep his soul burning without the tinder and oil of the trees. So his path was clear. He had to prevent winter from coming to the Unknown. With the help of his servants, he discovered that it was the North Wind who brought the cold down from the sky and mountains to cause the season.
The servants of the Beast spent spring, summer, and fall constructing a prison to hold the North Wind and all the Wind's frigid servants. They called Winter Palace in jest. At the height of his power, the Beast trapped the North Wind here, and with the wind, all of winter, spring, and summer as well. The Unknown froze in time, an eternal fall.
The North Wind has weakened in power over the years, for the Wind (LN, sexless) sustains the lives of their servants through their own. Should the PCs release the North Wind, the Wind will gradually return to its old power and bring the seasons back to the Unknown in time.
Only servants of the Beast have ever entered Winter Place, however, so the creatures within, even the North Wind themself, will assume that the PCs are the Beast's servants and attack.
Extreme cold
Winter Place has a temperature of -10 degrees Fahrenheit or -23 degrees Celsius. PCs without heat sources, cold weather gear, or magic to protect them are subject to the effects of extreme cold (see Chap 5, DM's Guide). If the Highwayman (Chap 5, area N9a) is with them, he protects himself with a ring of warmth.

Areas of Winter Place
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS maps of the Amber Temple on pages 182 and 190.
All doors are fashioned from translucent slabs of ice with metal hinges and fittings magicked to withstand the cold.

X1. Facade of the Winter 'Palace'
A snow-swept gravel road climbs the mountainside as it travels north from Winter Road toward Winter Place.
When the PCs reach the end of the road: 'The road fades away under cover of snow. Ahead, you see a facade carved into the sheer mountainside. The carvings reach a height of 50 ft. Six alcoves contain 20-ft-tall statues relieved from the stone of the mountain. Each depicts head-bowing yetis in chains.
Between the two innermost statues is a 20-ft-tall archway with a staircase leading down.'
Looking at a statue for long fills the viewer with unease.

X1A. Narrow fissure
Text: 'A natural fissure has opened in the mountainside west of the facade, creating a gap 2 ft wide, 10 ft tall, and 15 ft deep. You see light from a room beyond and hear voices.'
The fissure leads to area X15. If the PCs make a lot of noise, one creature from the area investigates.

X2. Entrance
Text: 'Icy steps descend 10 ft to a time-ravaged hallway. Beyond the hall lies a frozen, sepulchral darkness.'
The hall connects areas X1 and X4.

X2. Guard room
There are two of these rooms. This empty room lies behind a secret door. The ceiling is 10 ft high.
Guards are no longer posted here after it was discovered that keeping the North Wind locked up was enough to keep their servants here as well. Moreover, none of the servants have the intelligence to free the North Wind.

X3. Empty barracks
Text: 'Shattered bits of wood cover the floor of this frigid, 20-ft-sq room.'
The ceiling in each of these rooms is 10 ft high. The wood is all that remains of the guards's bunks.
A secret door in one wall of each room can be pulled open to reveal area X2a or X2b beyond.

X4. Overlook
Text: 'A 20-ft-wide balcony of solid ice with a shattered railing over looks a vast chamber. Ice-slab staircases at each end of the balcony descend 30 ft above the balcony. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all ice, lending the gloom a bluish sheen. A set of translucent ice-slab doors stands closed at the west end of the balcony. A similar pair stands open to the east.'
If the PCs's light source or vision extends 90 ft or more, they see a large, cloud-like statue at the far end of the chamber (area X5a).
The open doorway to the east leads to area X6. The double doors west open to X15. PCs who listen at the western doors hear gruff voices but can't discern the words.

X5. The 'guard'
Text: 'Four massive columns of translucent ice support the vaulted ceiling, at the north end of which stands a 40-ft-tall blue ice statue of a cloud with humanoid but hollowed eyes and mouth.
It stands between two ice-slab balconies, one of which has partially collapsed and fallen on the frozen floor, in front of an open doorway. Arched, glacial hallways lead away to the west and east. Flanking these exits are alcoves holding blue ice statues of yetis n chains. One yeti has toppled over and lies shattered on the floor.'
Ned, the Beast's newest archmage (LE male, any race), was sent here on 'guard duty' after he got on the wrong side of the Beast's head accountant and manager of the Business Bats, Mr. Lippy (see Chap 4, area k30). Only once he arrived did he discover that there was no longer an official guard post here. He is on his way out, grumbling, when he encounters the characters. He attacks at once, believing that he can rub his unintended usefulness as a guard in Mr. Lippy's face.
The onset of combat, however, wakes three hibernating black puddings into the chamber. They attack the creature nearest them.
The ceiling is 60 ft high. Wide, ice-slab staircases ascend 30 ft to the southern balcony (area X4). The balconies that flank the statue (areas X11 and X23) are 30 ft high as well.
The yeti statues are 8 ft tall.
If asked why he attacks, Ned stops and can be persuaded not to continue attacking the PCs if the characters don't attack again. Ned carries a spelbook containing the archmage spells in the Monster Manual stat block. He wears a robe of useful items with the following remaining:
Iron door
Wooden ladder
Riding horse
Pit
Rowboat
Spell scroll (moonbeam)
Mastiffs

X5A. The North Wind
This 40-ft-tall statue, deep blue from the density of the ice, depicts the face of the North Wind. At the base is a secret door that can be found with a successful DC 20 Wis (Perception) check. It can be pulled open to reveal a spiral staircase that climbs to a trapdoor set into the floor of the statue's hidden chamber.
A pair of 2-ft-wide eyeholes provides an unobstructed view of the chamber floor south of the statue as well as the southern balcony (area X4) but not the northern balconies or areas-nothing behind or above the statue.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it's on the floor in the statue's head.

X5B. Secret door
Set into the middle of the north wall is a secret door. A character searching the wall for secret doors and succeeds on a DC 20 Wis (Perception) check detects seams in the ice of the wall. It is warded by an arcone lock spell that prevents it from being opened, but knocking 3 times causes it to swing open for 1 min, revealing a staircase. The ice-slab stairs climb 30 ft to another secret door that swings open with 6 knocks. The stairs lead to area X30.

X5C. Locked doors
These doors are sealed with an arcane lock spell. The password to suppress it is "Melt." A character can push a door open with a successful DC 25 Str check. The doors (AC 15, 60 hp) can also be smashed. If reduced to 0 hp, lightning fills the 30-ft-cube directly north of them. A creature in that area takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage, turning to dust if reduced to 0 hp. Beyond the doors lies area X31.

X5D. Ice mirror
Text: 'This arched hall rises to a height of 20 ft. You can see your reflections in the crystal clear and glass-smooth ice. But the images don't mirror your movements. Instead, they wave their arms and scream noiselessly as though in warning.'
These are illusions meant to discourage exploration of the prison. They can be dispelled with a DC 15.
The east hall leads to area X32, the west hall to area X36.

X6. Southeast annex
Text: 'This room is featureless except for a rough-edged, 10-ft-diameter circular hole in the floor to the east. Double doors of solid ice stand open to the north and west. A single closed door lies just south of the western set of double doors.'
The ceiling is 20 ft high. Beyond the open doors to the north, the PCs can see a long, wide hallway (area X8).
The hole in the floor forms a roughly hewn shaft that descends 20 ft, then breaks through the ceiling of area X33a. From the bottom, it's another 10-ft drop to the floor of area X33a. The shaft is built of slick ice and can't be climbed without magic.
A secret door in the south wall opens to area X7.

X7. Secret scroll repository
Text: 'Carved into the south wall of this frozen space are cylindrical holes fit for scrolls or maps.'
The old wizard guard kept magic scrolls here, but they've been eaten by the black puddings.

X8. Upper east hall
Text: 'The walls of this 20-ft-wide, 70-ft-long arched corridor are pure ice. The doors at both ends stand open. A closed door is in the middle of the east wall. Cracks in the floor run the length of the hall.'
The cracks were made by squabbling yetis in area X10.

X9. Snow dragon's den
Text: 'Huge piles of snow blanket the floor and cling to the solid ice walls. Descending stairs to the north and south peak up by the rails from the snow piles.'
A young white dragon and servant of the North Wind has claimed this room for itself. The snow over the stairs is unstable and PCs who tread over them will fall 20 ft. Those who tread over the rows marked in red on the ORIGINAL CoS map of area X9 will also fall 20 ft. The snow is soft, however, and they take no falling damage.
Hibernating 20 ft below the snow is the young white dragon. If a PC falls through the snow, they wake it and it attacks.
Treasure
At the bottom of the den, the dragon is hoarding an amulet taken from a guard it consumed ages ago. The amulet thrums when it comes within 10 ft of the shield guardian in area X35. It is the control amulet.

Part 2

X10. Northeast annex
Text: 'The walls and ceiling in the eastern portion of this bare, frozen room have collapsed. To the west and south are open, ice-slab doors. In the center of the room is a 10-ft-tall statue of a yeti in chains made of cracked ice.'
The ceiling here is 20 ft high. The statue has been cracked by four yetis in a territorial battle for this area. While they are currently licking their wounds, the entrance of the PCs throws them into another frenzy. They can, however, be tricked into fighting one another instead of the PCs.

X11. Northeast balcony
Text: 'This ice-slab balcony, 30-ft-above the floor, overhangs the northeast corner of the chamber. The two frozen doors leading from this balcony stand open.'

X12. Shattered statue
Text: 'The bare, frozen room consists of a foyer to the west and a shrapnel heap of shattered ice to the east. The shards are littered in a raised alcove at the eastern end of the chamber. Two pairs of empty alcoves line the north and south walls.'
The brawling yetis in area X10 knocked over the ice statue of a yeti in chains. Doors in the west wall open to area X13.
A secret door is set in the back of one of the alcoves on the north wall. It can be pulled open to area X14.

X13. Guard toilet
Text: 'This narrow room has a frigid metal chamber pot at its center.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.

X14. North staircase
When the PCs open the secret door at the top of the stairs: 'A corridor of ice heads north, then bends to the east, descending a dark staircase, blue at the edge of your light. The air is brittle and biting with cold.'
Three 10-ft-long staircases with landings between them descend 30 ft total to area X14a. The air grows colder down the stairs.

X14A. Collapsed lower hall
Text: 'The stairs descend to a collapsed glacial hall with a high ceiling and ice-slab walls. Frozen shrapnel covers most of the floor, and a path through the shards leads to an open doorway. The frigid air bites at your ears, nose, and lungs.'
This ruined area once connected to area X32 but was destroyed by the wizard guard to seal it off. The ceiling is 25 ft high.
Unless the PCs douse their lights and move quietly, the creatures in area X33c hear them and prepare an attack.

X15. Southwest annex
This room contains a young white dragon, four gelatinous cubes, and one white dragon wyrmling. They are the servants of the North Wind.
When they aren't expecting trouble, they try to hibernate, but the wyrmling keeps waking up, so the dragon tries to tell it stories to help it sleep. They all fight to the death.
There is nothing of value here.
A fissure has formed in the southwest wall and cold air seeps out from Winter Place through it. The gap is 2 ft wide, 10 ft tall, and 15 ft deep. It leads outside to area X1a. Those who listen from the outside can here the dragon's story (in Draconic). At the DM's discretion, it can be used to present the lore of Winter Place.
A secret door in the south wall opens into area X16. None of them know of it, as they've always tried to hibernate to conserve energy until the North Wind is free.

X16. West scroll repository
Apart from location, identical to area X7.

X17. Upper west hall
Text: 'The walls of this 20-ft-wide, 70-ft-long arched corridor are built of solid slabs of ice. Several doors lead from this hall. At the hall's center are three pools of shadow.'
Three black puddings hibernate here. They detect the PCs.

X18. Hallway
Text: 'This 20-ft-long, 10-ft-high hallway of solid ice has a door at each end.'
Area X17 lies beyond to the east, area X21 beyond to the west.

X19. Potion storage
Text: 'Solid ice blocks cut to resemble tables stand at the center of this room. Carved into the stone walls are niches filled with hundreds of frost-covered bottles. Wooden ladders have frozen where they lean against the walls.'
The ceiling here is 15 ft. The majority of bottles will shatter on contact, but 1d8 remain intact, containing frozen potions of healing used by the old guard.
The ladders can no longer support weight without shattering.
A secret door is set in the north wall. It can be pulled open to reveal a staircase landing in area X21.

X20. Architect's room
Text: 'Dominating this room is a 12-ft-tall ice sculpture of a massive tree atop an almost equally massive pinnacle of ice. On one side in an archaically fancy script is carved: "No Fun for You!"'
The model was built by the ancestor of Mr. Toymaker. Anyone who has seen the Elder Edelwood instantly recognizes the toy for what it is.
THe ceiling here is 15 ft high. A secret door in the sout wall can be pulled open to a staircase landing area X21.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's inside the Elder Edelwood toy model. The characters must smash their way into the toy to reach it.

X21. West staircase
Three 10-ft-long staircases separated by 10-ft-sq landings connect areas X18 and X36. The upppermost landing has secret doors set into its north and south walls. The south door opens into area X19 and the north door opens into area X20.

X22. Northwest annex
When one of the doors to this room is opened: 'A long table carved from one massive block of ice stands at the center of this room. Three shaggy, lanky beasts use it as a bunk bed.'
The three yetis will wake if the PCs carry a light source. Otherwise, the PCs can make a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check to sneak by.

X23. Northwest balcony
Text: 'This ice-slab balcony overhangs the northwest corner of the chamber, the floor of which lies 30 ft below. Nearly half the balcony has fallen away, leaving jagged edges and fractaling cracks.'
This balcony is unsafe. Weight over 250 lbs causes it to collapse. Any creature on the balcony when it collapses falls 30 ft to the floor.

X24. West statue
Text: 'This bare, frozen room consists of a foyer to the east and a statue to the west. The ice sculpture depicts a yeti in chains, standing with its head bowed. Two pairs of alcoves line the north and south walls.'
The ice statue weighs 250 lbs. Any living creature that enters this room must succeed on a DC 1 Wis save or be drawn to the statue as though affected by the sympathy spell. Covering the statue or destroying it suppresses the magic and ends the sympathy.
The doors in the east wall open to X25. A secret door is set in the back of one of the northern alcoves. Pulling it open releases a gelatinous cube.

X25. Guard toilet
Text: 'This narrow room has a frigid metal chamber pot at its center.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.

X26. Secret alcove
Two secret doors lead to this room. When either door is pulled open, a gelatinous cube is released (one adhered to each door in hibernation).
This room has a 30-ft-high ceiling.
Text: 'Attached to the 30-ft-high ceiling is an upside-down metal chest.'
The metal chest is held in place by four gelatinous cubes. Its lid is sealed with an arcane lock spell. The chest is impervious to weapon damage. Prying it open requires a DC 25 Str check. The inside is lined with lead.
If opened, it triggers a disintegrate spell, creating a 10-ft-sq hole above area X39. Creatures standing on the floor fall 30 ft, landing in the northwest corner of area X39.
The chest is empty.

X27. Den of the yetis
Text: 'This 15-ft-high room has been frozen in time. Ornate furniture, exquisite rugs and tapestires, and decorative statuary all lie under a thick sheet of translucent ice. Curled up in the center of the room are three massive, shaggy pelts.'
An abominable yeti and its two children yetis are hibernating here. They attack if woken by PCs failing a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check or if the PCs are using light sources.
On the table, under the translucent sheet of ice is an unrolled parchment scroll that lists the passwords of all the locked doors. If the PCs break through the ice, they discover more sheets under it that give the background information presented at the beginning of the chapter. Several quill pens have frozen to the parchment sheets and break if removed.
There are 3 secret doors. The door to area X28 has an arcane lock spell cast on it. The password to suppress the spell is "Blow."

X28. Master bedroom
The secret door to this room has an arcane lock spell (see area X27).
Text: 'Behind this door is a small bedroom frozen in time. A solid sheet of translucent ice lays over the ornately carved and decorated bed and furnishings.'
There is nothing valuable here.

X29. Secret room
Text: 'This is a bare, frozen room.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.

X30. Preserved library
Text: 'This library carved out from ice has 20-ft-high walls and a 30-ft-high vaulted ceiling. A railing of ice encloses a glacial staircase that spirals gently down a 30-ft-wide, 30-ft-deep shaft to the north. Sculpted into the frozen walls stand 6, 10-ft-tall bookcases. On their shelves are hundreds of frost-encrusted tomes. A solid sheet of translucent ice covers embroidered rugs, chairs, and furnishings in the south.'
The spiral stair descend 30 ft to area X42.
There are no surviving ladders to reach the high shelves. All the books are frozen shut. Only by carefully defrosting the books can they be opened. They belonged to the wizard guard and appear to have blank covers and empty pages. They require a command word (found in area X27) to read or a true seeing spell.
Many spellbooks are here, collectively holding every spell in the Player's Handbook. But a book taken from the library disintegrates as the magic preserving it is dispelled. The same goes for the furnishings.
The secret door in the center of the west wall can be pulled open to reveal an empty room (area X29). The one in the center of the south wall can be pulled open to reveal a staircase that descends 30 ft to another secret door leading to area X5.

Part 3

X31. Central prison
These cells contain those deemed the worst offenders of the North Wind's. They are in hibernation to preserve energy.
Text: 'You are greeted by a blast of frigid air that bites through your flesh to the very bone. The ice of these walls is darker, denser and glitters blue in your light.'

X31A. West prison
This prison contains an air elemental that attacks if the PCs carry light sources and/or fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check.
Text: 'The cold air whirls up into a vortex between the close, ice-slab walls. You feel your skin pulling away from your flesh.'

X31B. East prison
This prison contains a water elemental that attacks if the PCs carry light sources and/or fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check.
Text: 'Beads like sweat gather along the close, ice-slab walls. The unnatural liquid oozes down, pooling cold as ice at your feet.'

X32. Lower east hall
Text: 'The walls and ceiling of this great hall are covered by a solid slab of translucent ice that glistens blue. To the north, the hall has collapsed, leaving frozen shrapnel.
Many doors of ice lead from this hall. Standing in front of the south door are three, shaggy-haired mammoths. Their eyes are closed and icicles hang from the curves of their massive tusks.'
The ancient guard collapsed the hall to keep the creatures within the prisons at a distance.
The three hibernating mammoths wake if the PCs fail a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check or disturb them in any way, including moving through their space to get to the door.

X33. Ice vaults
Each of these rooms contains two or more frozen spirits. The doors are sealed with arcane lock spells that require a password to suppress. A PC can push open the doors with a successful DC 25 Str check. The door (AC 15, 30 hp) can also be smashed at the loss of all stealth. If the door is reduced to 0 hp, lightning fills the 30-ft cube directly in front of it. A creature in the area takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage, turning to dust if reduced to 0 hp.

Frozen spirits
These are the servants of the North Wind who were too delicate to maintain their physical form even while nourished by the North Wind's life force. Instead, the North Wind has frozen their spirits in pure, winter ice to prevent them from getting trapped in the mists.
The winter ice blooks are 8 ft tall, 5 ft wide, and 5 ft thick. Inside is a sliver or glowing wisp of a spirit no more than a few inches long. The spirit can't be harmed or controlled, and is immune to al condiitons.
The winter ice block has AC 16, 80 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying one causes the spirit inside to disappear in the mists, leaving no trace but an echoing scream that wakes any nearby hibernating creatures.
A creature that touches a winter ice block forms a telepathic link with the spirit inside. The spirits are sentient, intelligent creatures capable of speech and retaining all of their memories.

X33A. Password: Chilly
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice and a shaft in the center of its 10-ft-high ceiling. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves, pooling three black, amorphous shadows in front of them.'
The shadows are black puddings that attack anyone detected.
The shaft is 10 ft wide, 20 ft long, and can't be climbed without magic. It leads to area X6.
West block-belongs to the spirit of Phil, who died of pox.
South block-belongs to Hailey, who died from the lightning spell on the doors.
East block-belongs to Skylar, who died from hunger.

X33B. Password: Moist
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
The ceiling is 10-ft-high.
North block-belongs to Savory, who died of boredom.
East block-belongs to Tara, who died of a fall from one of the balconies.
South block-belongs to Sham, who died of dehydration.

X33C. Ghastly vault
The door hangs open.
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. There are seven gelatinous cubes here that fight to the death.
North block-belongs to Dax, who died from a bad climb and worse fall.
East block-belongs to Donny, who died choking on a bone.
South block-belongs to Angela, who died from accidentally sprinting into translucent ice trying to escape.

X33D. Breached vault
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Two ice blocks stand in alcoves. A third that once stood in the north alcove lies shattered on the floor. Clustered in the middle of the room are three, shaggy-furred heaps.'
Three yetis hibernate here. They wake if the PCs carry light sources and fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check. They fight to the death for their territory, possibly destroying more winter ice blocks in the process, but will not leave the room.
West block-belongs to Delmar, who died of hypothermia.
Other west block-belongs to Kiran, who died from falling into a drunken slumber beside a life-saving fire and catching.

X33E. Password: Hoary
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves. In the middle of the room lies a massive heap of shaggy fur.'
An abominable yeti hibernates here. It wakes if the PCs carry light sources and fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check. It fights to the death but won't leave its territory.
North block-belongs to Erwin, who died of an eye infection.
West block-belongs to Tammy, who died of accidental decapitation.
South block-belongs to Wally, who died of damage by falling shrapnel.

X33F. Password: Frosty
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
West block-belongs to Norman, who died of drinking an expired potion.
South block-belongs to Vicky, who died of teleporting into a locked, frozen room from which she could not escape.
East block-belongs to Sara, who died getting into a spat with the yetis.

X34. Sara, Vicky, and Norman's bedchamber
Sara, Vicky, and Norman were wizards allied to the North Wind and imprisoned with the Wind. They set up this room to dorm together, but ended up getting into a spat with the yetis over some of the more shiny contents. They ended up dead as a result, though only Sara was killed directly by the yetis.
Text: 'A triple bunk bed of sculpted ice stands in the center of this bare, frozen room. Its mattress has been completely encased in frost. The room's furnishings have been reduced to frost-encrusted heaps. Arcane sigils have been carved into the walls.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. The sigils were once wards to protect the room's contents from theft, but have been bled of their magic by persistent yetis and can no longer cause harm.
If the PCs break through the ice over the top mattress, they can discover three gold +1 rings of protection.

X35. Prison guardian
Text: 'The furnishings of this bare, frozen room have been reduced to frost-encrusted rubble heaps. Standing in the center of the room, its head scraping the 10-ft-high ceiling, is a vaguely humanoid construct made of metal. Its helmed head starts blindly in your direction.'
This room once belonged to Phil, Hailey, and Skylar, servants of the North Wind who fell sick with pox before imprisonment and were quarantined together. When Phil died, the others tried to open the quarantine chamber but found it locked. Hailey kept trying and was electrocuted to death. Skylar was too traumatized by the successive deaths of her fellow inmates to accept the nourishing life force of the North Wind and rapidly died of cold and starvation.
The construct is an incapacitated shield guardian that used to patrol the prison before the guards lost the control amulet (see area X9). They never recovered it, being decommissioned shortly thereafter.

X36. Lower west hall
Text: 'Glittering, translucent blue ice stands in dense slabs, forming the walls, floor, and ceiling of this enormous hall. The vaulted ceiling is 25-ft high. Set into the walls at a height of 5 ft are ice ledges lined with life-sized statues of yetis in chains, their heads bowed. Many statues have fallen and litter the floor with their jagged, frozen shrapnel.
A door in the north wall stands open. Four other doors to the west and south stand closed.'
The statues are mildly demoralizing and uncomfortable to look at but harmless.
The servants Dax, Donny, Angela, Erwin, Tammy, and Wally once met in this room in secret to plot their escape from the prison. They made it to the upper levels but ran into trouble with the territorial yetis who ended up pursuing and causing their deaths by one indirect means or another.

X37. Burned bedchamber
Text: 'This is a room frozen in time. A dense coat of translucent ice lies over a bedchamber and furnishings that went up in flames.'
Delmar, Kiran, and their companion lost to time were the first of the North Wind's servants to die in prison. They'd taken mass amounts of alcohol with them into the prison and drank themselves into a stupor on the first night. Delmar quickly died of hypothermia. Kiran, oblivious to the condition of his friend, fell asleep with the other. Both died in the fire.

X38. Savory, Tara, and Sham's bedchamber
Text: 'A triple bunk bed of sculpted ice stands in the center of this bare, frozen room. Its mattress has been completely encased in frost. The room's furnishings have been reduced to frost-encrusted heaps.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. Savory, Tara, and Sham were the other three to have taken mass quantities of alcohol into the prison with them. They saved it up until they finally couldn't stand their imprisonment and broke it all out. Then decided that they wanted to escape. They encountered no threats by others but ended up getting killed by their own drunken antics.

Part 3

X39. Guard room
Text: 'The frozen doors that once sealed this great room of dense, glimmering blue ice have been smashed. Their huge, jagged shards litter the floor. A 10-ft-tall statue carved of stone stands against the back wall. Its head turns, grinding stone against stone, to face you.'
The ceiling here is 30 ft high and flat. A 10-ft-square hole in the northwest corner of the ceiling forms if the chest in area X26 is opened.
This stone golem is an active and overzealous guard that broke through its own doors rather than wait for the magic to open them on the job. It attacks at once and will chase the PCs throughout the lower levels of Winter Place but will not follow them up.

X40. Workshop of the North Wind
The doors to the south are sealed with an arcane lock spell. The password to suppress the spell is: "Snowball." PCs cannot open the extra-dense ice door without the magic, and attempts to do so alert the stone golem guard in area X39.
Text: 'A thunderous crack shakes Winter Place, the doors of this cell bursting open. They fly off their hinges, shattering in the hall behind you. The air within is unnaturally cold and still. It draws the heat from your body in a visible mist around you. Through the clouds of your own breath rapidly diminishing heat, you see six sculptures of ice. They appear to see you as well.'
If the Highwayman is with the PCs he will fall to his knees and beg the North Wind as an ancient god to restore life to his sister Patty. The North Wind speaks through the ice sculptures of yetis in exultation. The Wind will agree if the PCs speak up on the Highwayman's behalf in honor of their help in the liberation of themselves and their servants. The North Wind gives the Highwayman a coin of ice to place on Patty containing the Wind's life-giving breath. Once this boon is asked, the North Wind leaves Winter Place forever, blowing up the slopes of the mountain to recover strength.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's in the hands of one of the exultant yeti sculptures.

X41. Fissure
Upon liberation, the North Wind shakes Winter Place to the very core, opening up a fissure between areas X40 and X42 through which to escape. The openings are 3 ft wide, 8 ft high, and 10 ft deep.

X42. The Quartermaster's
Text: 'An ice-slab staircase hugs the north wall as it spirals up a 30-ft-wide shaft. Lying in the middle of the room are six piles of frost-encrusted equipment thrown from the frozen shelves on the walls.
The west, south, and east walls contain alcoves, and standing in each is a pedestal of ice on which sits an immaculate but blank book.'
The spiral staircase climbs 30 ft to area X30.
This room once served as the stock room for the old wizard and warrior guard. They left the equipment here when they departed.
Pile 1
-Three suits of plate armor
-Nine shields

Pile 2
-Five suits of ring mail and six breastplates
-A silvered rapier with a pink glass hilt
-Four greatswords

Pile 3
-75 empty bottles
-A trunk filled with six fine sets of evening clothes, never worn

Pile 4
-Eight warhammers and six war picks

Pile 5
-Six no longer magical crystal balls
-The frozen remains of six barrels of alcohol

Pile 6
-Eleven helms
-A no longer magical obsidian scepter with gold filigree (worth 2500 gp in any town's currency item)

The three books can't be read with a spell of read magic. Each contains not a spell but a ritual to obtain an eldritch power.
West book-contains a ritual to become a vampire. The creature must slay a humanoid that loves or reveres them, then drink all of its blood within 1 hour of its death. The creature must then die by the hands of someone who hates them. When the conditions are met, the creature instantly becomes a vampire with the following idiosyncracy: 'I am surrounded by hidden enemies seeking to destroy me. I can't trust anyone.'
South book-contains a ritual to become a lich, available to any humanoid that can cast 9th-level wizard spells. The creature must craft a phylactery and imbue it with the power to contain a soul, then concoct a potion of transformation to enable the transition from humanoid to lich. A phylactery takes 10 days. A potion takes 3 days but expires after the next 3 days. When the creature drinks the potion, they instantly become a lich. The gain the following idiosyncracy: 'All I care about is acquiring new magic and arcane knowledge.'
East book-contains a ritual to restore the dead to life. The effect is identical to resurrectoin, but it works regardless of how long the creature has been dead. The creature must burn the book to ash and rub the ash over the dead's remains. The ash will form a cocoon and instantly restore the dead to life. But the one who performs the ritual is permanently streaked with the book's ash, preventing the book's reconstruction.
Teleport destination
Characters who teleport to this location from area K78 in the Elder Edelwood arrive at the point marked T on the ORIGINAL CoS map.

Special Events
Exodus
Once the PCs free the North Wind, all the servants of the North Wind are also freed and escape from Winter Place in a frentic stampede. Dragons fly, yetis sprint, and jellies ooze out as fast as they can. The remaining guardians attack to stop them but will ignore the PCs for in favor of the flashier servants. The servants only attack the PCs if they get in the way of their escape.

The Highwayman's Coin
If the Highwayman (see appendix D and Chap 5, area N9a) finds his way to area X40 and gets the breath of the North Wind with the help of the PCs, he'll ask them to accompany him to the rootbed of the Elder Edelwood to restore Patty to life (see Chap 4, area K84, rootbed 21).
Development
If Patty is restored to life by her brother (see Chap 13), she returns as an archmage with no spells prepared. If the characters have her spellbook, she asks for it back to help destroy the Beast. If the characters oblige, she joins them in the final fight against the Beast, but her harrowing experiences have left her extremely susceptible to the mists and she will become a mist-possessed during the encounter. As a mist-possessed, she will attack the nearest moving creature, friend or foe alike.