The party is given no instructions and locked in a dusty room, standing in the center is an archway. Who ever steps through is blinded for a round and when they can see again they are standing on a flat, snow covered tundra, shivering in the arctic air.
The archway has vanished.
The test is to simply survive and it is considered impossible but if the characters reach 5th level they are summoned back to Mourningstar and are considered members of their guilds.

Encounter One
Bewildered and clueless whether they set off in a random direction or stand there, a few minutes later a patrol of penguins spots them and being the loyal servants of IceFang, the local dragon god, the penguins attack.

Encounter Two
Whatever direction the party takes after an hour they encounter another long range penguin patrol. This time however, they are hiding behind a patch of ice hidden under the snow (Treacherous Ice Sheet, pg 89 DMG), when the PCs reach the ice they attack.

Encounter Three
The cold is starting to set in, the PCs must make a DC 20 Endurance check or lose a healing surge, if out of healing surges take 1 hit point of cold damage per character level.
A DC 10 Perception check reveals tracks in the snow that lead to a large dragon shaped igloo, the entrance is the mouth.
Repeat this encounter every 8 hours until the party finds the igloo.

Encounter Four
Inside are the sleeping quarters of 30 penguins, a table made of whale bone, a barrel of fish, a stack of odd looking wood and a small unlit firepit.
There are five False-Floor Pits (pg 87 DMG) that are frozen shut, if they light the fire to warm up, the pits are thawed out when the party is done resting. Four of the pits are around the fire and the fifth is under the fire and reveals a spiral tunnel going down into the darkness.

The icy tunnel winds 20' down to the ceiling of the chamber below, then a 20' drop to the floor. Climbing down the first 20' without a rope is a DC 15 Athletics check, with a rope only DC 5. Climbing up increases each DC by 5.

If the party doesn't want to go down the tunnel, every day or two another long range penguin patrol shows up. After fighting four patrols the fifth shows up with a captive arctic hare that they want to jam into the tunnel under the firepit. If freed he recovers his stuff which includes a 50' rope and wants to go down the tunnel to explore it.

Encounter Five
This 50' by 50' chamber has only one other exit, a 10' diameter hole in the floor. Carved into the walls in draconic is the name IceFang.

Anyone saying IceFang aloud triggers a minute long, silent illusion on the walls showing a giant white, toad-like creature with a lizard tail and wings battling hordes of hobgoblins.

The smell of rotted meat rises on a tepid draft from the hole in the floor and a successful DC 15 Perception check hears the sound of fluttering wings approaching from below. A few moments later a fat white toad head pops up from the hole and says in draconic "ahhh, lunch." The young snow dragon spends two rounds scrambling up into the room, barely fitting through the opening, giving the PCs combat advantage for two rounds, three if they win initiative.
TearFly does not fight to the death, If bloodied he will use his breath weapon one more time, then spends two rounds squeezing back down through the hole.

After TearFly leaves or dies nothing enters the room for a few days.

Encounter Six
Its a 100' drop to the watery cavern below, anyone jumping can make a DC 10 Balance or Acrobatics check to not do a belly flop and dive or jump into the water. A DC 10 Athletics check lets them swim back to the surface, two more lets them swim to a glowing blue island of bones.

The cavern is half filled with cold water and the bones of giants, arctic hares, goblins and penguins are piled so high in places that they form islands. Growing on the bones and cavern walls is a blue bioluminescent fungus.

Swimming 50' down to the bottom of the cavern the first time will result in the diver making a DC 10 Endurance check versus the cold and finding a small box (level 2 treasure parcel), the second time a backpack (level 3 treasure parcel), the third time an old scabbard with a +2 sword in it.

Encounter Seven
If someone wants to swim to another nearby island of bones its three DC 10 Athletic checks and a DC 10 Endurance check versus the cold. Scavenging among the bones are two hungry ice beetles.
Use this encounter each time someone swims to a different island of bones.

Encounter Eight
A DC 18 Perception check reveals something large moving under the water.
One of TearFly's clutch mates swims in the cold water, TardFat, he is so fat he has lost his ability to fly and swims at a speed of 6. TardFat hates his name and likes to be called Ben, he is also tired of eating ice beetles. TardFat will fight until he is bloodied and then swim off.
If down to one party member still standing TearFly, who has been watching, flys down and attacks his clutch mate, he wants to eat the party.

Encounter Nine
After TardFat has been defeated or the two young dragons are fighting, a successful DC 5 Perception check hears a gong off in the distance. If the dragons were fighting each other they stop and fly/swim to the east. If the Perception check was made by 5 or more the character thinks the sound came from the east.
If the party wants to investigate use Encounter Seven and then walking east on the island until they see a dimly lit cave mouth in the side of the cavern, 20' above the water. They can make out a few humanoid figures throwing bundles into the water and the dragons merrily crunching away on whatever it is.
After a few minutes the figures go back into the cave and the dragons swim/fly off. If the party goes closer a successful DC 15 Perception check reveals a humanoid toad hiding among the bones below the cave.
If spoken to the toad soldier happily agrees to guide the party in exchange for a weapon, A DC 13 Insight check reveals he is being truthful.

Sal, the toad soldier (pg 139 MM) answers whatever questions the PCs have or attempts to swim off if attacked by the party.
He knows that to the west is an entrance to a penguin Temple of Tiamat
The cave above leads to the remnants of a great toad city, now mostly ruins
There are at least a dozen more young dragons in the cavern everyone is standing in
He was thrown into the cavern as a sacrifice along with nine others who were just eaten
He knows who IceFang is
and the location of a secret staircase that leads to the surface
But he doesn't tell the PCs that the stairs lead to the old city's necropolis before it goes to the surface.

The ruined city of Coasser is cut off from other toads and although very proficient in warfare their vulnerability to cold and lack of natural resources means they are slowing dwindling while the penguins are still growing. It was once a great city of martial lore and might, the greatest warriors of the world made pilgrimages to hone their craft here. Their greatest hero once severed the white dragon head of Tiamat and placed it in the war college he founded. But as the ages went by the curse of the dragon goddess slowly froze the plains into vast fields of ice, now only the undercity near the hot springs remain.

The penguin Temple of Tiamat was founded in the ruins of a toad war college, a few centuries ago when the land was finally completely frozen the great white wyrm IceFang led his concubines and followers on a crusade to recover the severed head of Tiamat. IceFang now only wakes every few decades to slate his vast hunger and mate with his concubines, using his gift of immortality to indulge in sloth, gluttony, lust and more sloth. Penguins make pilgrimages here bringing offerings of food and slaves to mine diamonds, all for sacrifices to their frozen god.

When IceFang awakens every few decades he tears the wings off any dragons in his lair, so judging by the size of the young that still have wings the time of awakening might be near.

Decisions, decisions
Explore the Temple of Tiamat
Go to Toad Town
Take the stairs
Hunt dragons




Mourningstar Campaign