The North Rages

The North Rages is the second chapter of the first book in the series, Threat From Beyond. It follows the Legends of Altmar on their journey through the Viking lands and the Northern Passage. The chapter is a travelling chapter that gets the players from Ithilia to the Northern Passage itself.

Plot
The party fights their way through Vikings, ghosts, monsters, and the elements themselves as they battle their way through the North on their quest to deliver the remains of a demon to the Magicians in Fallharbour.

Synopsis
The Legends of Altmar enjoys the Ithilian harvest festival and King Sidd thanks them again for their help with the Silver Woods. The next day, after resupplying they head north, eventually crossing Mansbridge into Viking territory. As the party trudge through the tundra, they decide to take a shortcut to the Northern Passage through Wailing Woods. There they were beset by many creatures and the elements, as a blizzard buffetted them on all sides.

Upon a frozen tributary that feeds into the River Ithil, the party faces a ravenous pack of wolves who attack them on the ice. After defeating them and warding off tortured spectres that haunt the woods, the party took shelter in a strange ice cave. They were however not alone, as the molted skin of a large lizard-like creature animated and attacked them. In the cave they also found a cache of old coins, weapons, and other things, including the Sword of the White, which Rikkert pulled from the pile.

Continuing deeper into the woods, the party continued to be harassed by the wind and the spectres of dead soldiers. Finally they came across the woods' true haunt: the restless ghost of John Mooreland, a lost hero of Falasan and former Falasan ranger. After a fight, the group put Mooreland's soul to rest, though they did not recover his body. The next day they escaped the forest and continued through the blizzard into the Northern Pass, but before they could enter were assaulted by Viking raiders waiting to ambush travellers for their goods. Cal and Alia fought off most of the attackers, while Rikkert dueled their leader among the snow, killing him, and allowing the party to travel through the passage.

Through the passage the group dealt with the harsh winter elements, dangerous cliffsides, and even more viking raiders, saving a caravan passing through to Ithilia, though a magical mishap caused Baravio to shrink several inches. In a small crevasse they were attacked by yetis who were burned through Baravio's magic Firebolt spell. Finally the group had to cross a small narrow ledge, which most did with little trouble, however the question of how to get Atlas, the horse, across. With clever use of a Levitate spell and a rope, they were able to carry the horse across the gap.

About halfway through the passage, the group came across the Shrine of Exodus, an ancient dwarven ruin with statues of three dwarven heroes. Cal and Alia informed the party based on their knowledge of dwarven history and their ability to read the runes on the walls that this shrine is where the dwarves left the undermountain for the surface world thousands of years ago, beginning the Dwarven Diaspora. The party decided to rest here, not knowing that danger loomed above them and bubbled below.

Bestiary

 * Viking Raider
 * Viking Elite
 * Wolf
 * Specter
 * Animated Molt (Animated armor)
 * Ghost
 * Peryton
 * Yeti

Trivia

 * Due to the open nature of the adventure, this chapter has the most cut content out of any chapter in the series.
 * This is the only chapter not to introduce any new characters.
 * The Horse Baloon is said by the DM to be one of his top 3 memories from the game.
 * Baravio climbed more trees during this adventure than any other party member in the entire series.
 * The elements were particularly deadly as exhaustion stacks and causes disadvantage on future saves.