Although the place descriptions of the
North are liberally seeded with hints
and suggestions for adventures, a few
are presented here in the form of plot
outlines so that each DM can adjust
events and NPCs to challenge PCs of all
levels (and so that players who peek
into these pages cannot learn explicit
details). A good DM will modify the
events (such as changing names or villains),
add plot complications and blend
these stories into his or her own campaign.

1. Grandfather in Green
Looking dreadfully out of place in the
city, a gnarled old man in green, barbaric
clothes makes a nightly appearance
at a local tavern. He approaches each
group of likely heroes and tells them a
strange story.

?Beneath Grandfather Tree in the
High Forest lies an ancient shrine with
doors that lay open onto evil worlds.
Close those doors for me and the
ancient treasures that surround them
are yours to keep.?

Although the old man will not say so,
he is the Tree Ghost of a small section of
the High Forest, a guardian spirit worshipped
by the Tree Ghost tribe of the
Uthgardt barbarians. If the PCs accept
his quest, he gives them a wish-boneshaped
branch from the ancient tree. If
used like a divining rod, this branch
always points directly towards Grandfather
Tree.

The Grandfather Tree map on page
64 shows the general layout of the giant
ant tunnels, the location of the Hall of
Mists (temple), and an enlarged view of
the temple shrine itself. The entrance
to the warren is up in the crotch of the
tree trunk. The gates from the shrine
lead to the Abyss and the Negative
Material Plane. The lizard-like golems
will leave the Hall of Mists stalk foes
throughout the temple, but not in the
ant tunnels. The giant ants here have
been magically warped (see Grandfather
Tree description in chapter 9). The
treasure of the shrine includes much
gold and platinum in the form of statuary,
religious ornaments and decoration
(no coins) and several odd magical
items of a clerical nature (the DM may
wish to use standard magical items
from the DMG, but give them a unique,
possibly confusing form: such as a staff
of curing in the form of a hideous reptilian
statue or a book of vile darkness in
the form of a crystal ball which projects
its contents into the mind of the reader).
This is one place to put a few pages
of the Nether Scrolls. At least one item
should be sacred to the Tree Ghost
tribe. They will unerringly seek out the
PCs and ask for the item back. Another
item (possibly the crystal ball book) is
craved by Tanta Hagara, who will stop
at nothing to get her hands on it. If she
does, she takes it directly to Hellgate
Keep and Grintharke. Whatever deities
the PCs may worship (good or evil) will
charge the PCs to recover and or
destroy the item (the deities will not
make personal appearances, only speak
through high-ranking clerics).

2. The Hunt is On!
The freshly-painted sign in the alchemist
?s shop says ?Hunters needed,
inquire within.? The dark, crowded,
storefront reeks of spices, preservatives
and the distinctive (and particularly
odious) aroma of a popular, oily hair
pomade. The source of that aroma
makes its presence unpleasantly known
as one of the PCs touches something in
the shop (how could anyone know it
would crumble into dust?)

Shayk Alhambrezzo (the oily-haired
proprietor who just watched a 50 gp
antique crumble into powder) needs
hunters: unicorn hunters (this is
bound to irritate Mielikki worshippers).
Alhambrezzo needs as many as the
characters can get for him, hooves and
hide too. He will pay 1,000 gp for each
horn, 200 for the hide and 50 for a set
of four hooves.

The only known source of unicorns
in the North is the southern High Forest,
along The Unicorn Run.

Whether or not the PCs spot any unicorns
is up to the DM. However, this is
an excellent opportunity to lead the
party on a merry chase through the
High Forest, discover the location of an
elven tomb or intrude upon the very
private war occuring in the Stronghold
of the Nine.

3. To Hellgate and Back Again
Why is Hellgate Keep so quiet? What
are the demons planning? Lord Helm,
Master of Sundabar, asks the PCs to
infiltrate the ghoul-hold and find out
answers to these questions. The
reward is high, but the danger higher.
Magical and physical disguises will be
provided to the PCs? specifications.
Grintharke may be negotiating his
return to the Abyss or extending his
power deep beneath the earth. This
adventure could easily take the adventurers
down into the Deepearth or
across several of the outer planes.

4. For the Greater Glory
Whether Waterdeep declares war on
Luskan and the Captains? Confederation
or not, mercenary bands from
around the North and all along the
Sword Coast will seek employment
with either side in the conflict. The PCs
are approached to join one of these
companies.

The fame of their band precedes
them as they travel west. The DM may
wish to have each town or village offer
them short-term employment. An orc
bandit gang is raiding one, a payment of
gold or goods to another town requires
guarding, something has been carrying
off villagers at night (tearing houses
and barns into firewood in the process).
The company eventually ends up in the
employ of Neverwinter (which assigns
the mercenaries to guard Port Llast).
Luskan will make several attempts to
conquer Port Llast with large scale sea
and land assaults, backed up by mages
from the Hosttower.

5. The Discontent of Our Winter
A bitterly cold winter brings up tavern
talk of the frost wizards, rare frost
giant witch doctors of unusual power.
Legends say the frost wizards use only
magics relating to cold and ride on huge
white dragons. This seems a laughable
myth until the warmth of the tavern is
shattered as a snowball literally forms
and explodes within the tavern as
screams outside break the winter stillness.
There is confusion and carnage
everywhere as tall white-skinned giants
carry off food, valuables, livestock, and
villagers, while overhead a huge white
form flaps slowly northward carrying a
giant robed form on its back. If the
characters have any friends here, they
are among the missing, as are at least
75% of their own valuables, including
their mounts.

GAME INFORMATION: The general
guidelines for frost wizards are that
they can use all cold-related clerical and
magic-user spells and have cold and
frost variants of all fire-based spells,
such as snowball for fireball, freezing
hands for burning hands, and so on.

6. Red Book, Gold Seals
A village elder approaches the PCs and
hires them as guards for an estate auction
of a local recluse who died and left
a collection of unusual, exotic and
eccentric items, including books,
stuffed monsters (say, isn?t that an
owlbear?), and many jars with unindentifiable
contents. She was, of course, a
wizard living here incognito.

The need for guards is apparent. The
auction barn where everything is kept
has been burned, and battered, yet
something (protective magics?) has kept
them out?so far.

No spell books are to be seen, but one
book, bound in scaly red leather, contains
only twelve pages, each with a single
rune-carved metal seal: seven gold,
five lead. During the auction, someone
attempts to steal it. The thief grabs it
and before anyone can react, activates
one of the seals on the Tome of Twelve
Seals (see Appendix B). His accomplices,
who include an illusionist, cause confusion.
If the thieves escape, they flee to
the headquarters of the Kraken Society
in Yartar with the Tome. The village
elder, realizing the book?s value, wants
it back and that is the responsibility of
his guards!

Finally, where did the old wizard hide
her spellbooks?