Connects to: 26.20, 38.28, and 39.32.
The lands directly north of Blackhorn’s Maze (39.32) are glazed flat, as though everything has been melted together into one. The heat from the Maze prevents any life from flourishing here. The minotaurs say the land became this way because it was scorched by the trailing blood from Tiamat’s severed head. The gnolls dispute this assertion (often vigorously and with weapons).
However it came about, this glassy wasteland conceals beneath it an astonishing secret: a cavern where the climate conditions of prehistoric times are preserved. In those days, they were not the Burning Lands but the Lands of Verdant Snow. All men had heard tales of the beautiful iceplants, which grew just like normal plants but were made of crystalline fractals and bore fruits that would melt in the northern sun. It appears that the iceplants were all wiped out by the sudden climate change after the fall of Bergolast, but in this sunken cavern they have mysteriously survived.
Only one report has been received of the place, from a band of brash young gnolls. The bard of their party composed a short Lowing saga (51.29.02) to describe how they descended the stone stairs to the underground forest, felt the cold burning their fur, and saw between the trees a mysterious pale figure beckoning. One of their number followed the figure, and was never seen again; his death is the subject of the Lowing.
Despite this grim report, there are rumours of an eccentric botanist in Blind Midshotgatepool who will pay good money for a specimen of ice flora. He plans to reintroduce it to the colder climes of the northern mountains, though perhaps this is unwise; the histories tell that when the south was still cold, the iceplants quickly overran every other form of flora in their path.
Hooks:
- Tell me about the ‘disputes’ between minotaurs and gnolls.
- What varieties of ice flora exist?
- Why is the sunken cavern still cold? Is it something to do with the pale figure?
- Who is this botanist and why does he want a sample of ice flora?
