Welcome to the first adventure in the Chronicles of Katerina series, a roughly-monthly offering of encounters and one shots that will be initially posted here for Paid Subscribers and eventually gathered into a book. (The series was called "Encounters in Katerina” when I introduced the notion, but I prefer the alliteration of “Chronicles.”)

I’ve learned I don’t do “small,” and what was meant to be an “encounter” has morphed into a 5,000 word one-shot adventure with quite a lot going on. Tomb of the Frost Giant uses two maps from our friends and partners at Heroic Maps, their Explorer: The Northern Forest map and their Tomb of the Frost Giant Queen map. You can get both maps at the links for 25 % discount!

Written for the Black Flag Roleplaying system, and fully compatible with Dungeons & Dragons, the adventure features three monsters and a new magic item. And while I fully intend to use this series to begin exploring outside Norrøngard, this inaugural adventure does take place in my frozen northlands.

And so, without further preamble, may I present…

Tomb of the Frost Giant

An adventure for four to five 5th-level characters

Adventure Background

The frost giant Keila is the leader of a small tribe that dwell in caves in the southern reaches of the Ymirian Mountains. One of her clan, Grimólfr, is practiced with the magic of runes. Grimólfr has foreseen a dark time when Keila’s people will suffer. He claims that to protect against this future, they must find a great weapon, Þrívaldi’s Greataxe. Only by wielding Þrívaldi’s Greataxe can Keila hope to protect her people when the time comes.

Þrívaldi the Thrice Mighty was an ancient frost giant champion from the time of the long vanished frost giant empire. Grimólfr has located this tomb and believes that his legendary weapon lies buried with him. Alas, the word is not as cold as it once was, and the ice just beyond the entrance to the tomb has long since collapses into a bottomless crevasse, leaving only a narrow ice bridge too unstable for massive giants to safely cross.

Keila seeks “small folk” to enter the tomb for her. Traveling with Grimólfr and a loyal companion named Miðjungr, and taking advantage of a fortuitous snowstorm, she has journeyed down from the Ymirian Mountains into the Raven’s Wood. If she can find heroes among the humans, dwarves, and huldrafolk of Norrøngard, perhaps these brave adventurers can enter the tomb on her behalf. But unbeknownst to Keila, there is more to the dark time than she has been told.

Norrøngard Map by Robert Lazzaretti