Spoilers (City Card #3; Scenario #14. The Frozen Hollow)
The Gloomgärde
Members of the Gloomgärde that braved The Frozen Hollow
Gloomhaven
As the daylight fades, you find yourselves wandering through a half-crowded market street, browsing wares.
“Hey! Over here!” You turn in the direction of the voice to see a filthy Vermling gesturing from a dark alley, “Yeah, you grim-looking chaps. I have something you might be interested in.”
The Vermling holds out a piece of metal covered in sludge. “Found this in the sewer. Writing on it I don’t understand, but I know it’s valuable. You can have it for ten gold!”
The Gloomgärde pays for the thing. You never know.
You hand over the gold and take hold of the metal. you wipe off the grime and slop to discover a foreign contraption made of large gears and many moving parts. If you can figure out what it is, this device might actually be of some worth. (Gain “Curious Gear” Item 125; “Ancient Technology”)
City Card #3
The Frozen Hollow
An enchanter has been called for, so an enchanter must be found.
Following reports of an Aesther in the Boiler District, you find yourself standing before an abandoned and decrepit tavern: the Crooked Bone. Opening the door, the inside looks exactly as the outside advertised: spiderwebs, splintered stools, and dusty, broken glass.
Stepping past the threshold, a translucent female suddenly appears before you. “Why have you come to this place, mercenaries? Your presence is unwanted, and you are disrupting my research.”
You quickly explain why you have come and the woman’s frown deepens.
“‘Oh, look at the Aesther woman. She can fulfill all our wishes. All she has to do is wave her hands and our wildest dreams will come true.’” She sighs in frustration and actually does wave her hands. “Leave me in peace.”
You don’t move. She stares.
“Well, instead of disrupting, then maybe you could help. Scratch my back, maybe I’ll scratch yours. That’s how these things work, right?” The woman turns and walks towards a destroyed set of stairs, but after a few steps, she fades away entirely.
“I need an orb from the Frozen Hollow in the Copperneck Mountains.” The woman’s voice comes from directly in front of you, as if she hadn’t moved at all. “Bring it back to me and I may help you.”
A map drops at your feet. “My name is Hail by the way. Do not come back without the orb.”
The map is easy to follow. Deep in the Copperneck Mountains, obscured by snow drifts, you find the opening to a dark, narrow cave. The wolf tracks around the entrance are troubling, but, with a firm resolve, you enter.
The Gloomgärde makes lightning quick work of a few Hounds and then defeats some Living Spirits and Frost Demons.
With the last of your adversaries dead, you approach the back of the chamber, where a small blue sphere floats above the floor. You slowly reach out your hand and find the orb cold to the touch. With a firm grip on it, the temperature is almost unbearable, but you quickly stash it into your pack and make your way back to the Crooked Bone.
You enter the abandoned tavern and call out to Hail. With no response, you wander around, observing the chaotic mess around you. You wonder how she gets any work done in this environment. As you approach the counter, Hail appears before you, holding the orb.
“Very interesting.” She doesn’t seem to notice you at all. “A rift in our plane, somehow contained within a spherical barrier. Good thing you didn’t break this on your way back. You easily could have been sucked into a realm of pure frost and been frozen solid before you had time to breathe. Or something worse could have happened.
“It’s just so confounding. Who would have the power to do this?” Hail takes a step to the left and disappears again.
You wait for what feels like hours, refusing to sit on the few stools that haven’t yet fallen apart. You call out occasionally, but receive no response.
“Oh, you’re still here.” You turn around to see Hail in the middle of the room. “Good, I’d like to experiment on you if it’s all right.” She reaches out to you and you stumble backward, falling over a table that splinters into hundreds of pieces.
“Oh, don’t be a baby about it. I’m pretty sure it will end well.”
Hail explains that she wants to try to bring forth raw power from another plane and contain it in a small orb that could give enhanced powers to anyone possessing it. The containment process, however, requires a lot of gold metal.
“Now that you have helped me in my endeavors, I suppose I should return the favor,” Hail sighs. “So what was it exactly that you wanted?” (Gained The Power of Enchantment)
Scenario Book, p. 19-20
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