Every month I answer questions posed by my patrons, and this month someone asks...

Would you be able to share some version of the Dral Khatuur write-up you did a few years back? The weather is getting colder after all!

In 2007 I worked on an article called Sunless Feoral for Dungeon Magazine. This coincided with the release of the 3.5 Frostburn sourcebook, which dealt with arctic environments, and part of the idea was this is how to use Frostburn in Eberron. However, they changed their mind before the article was entirely finished. At the time you couldn't publish Eberron material online and I had no reason to finish it, so it's been in limbo.

What exists is deeply tied to the Frostburn sourcebook and to the 3.5 ruleset, and it's fifteen years old; my own ideas about things like the prisons of the overlords have evolved in that time. I don't have time to untether it from 3.5 or to flesh out the parts that I never wrote up, so I'm not going to post this for a general audience. But it does include a 3.5 stat block for the Overlord Dral Khatuur, the Heart of Winter, as well as some other things that might be interesting, so I'm sharing it with you all as patrons. Note that Dral Khatuur as presented here is dramatically more powerful than the overlords in Rising From The Last War. She's in line with the overlords as presented in the article "Eternal Evil", who were on par with lesser deities—and she's supposed to be powerful even for an overlord. In general, adventurers aren't supposed to be able to defeat her with brute force; fighting her would require some sort of dramatic edge that could even the odds.

The is unfinished work that is 15 years old and two editions behind the times. There are many things that won't match with later canon and I'm not going to answer questions about it. It's a chance for you to see something that was never fully developed, and I hope you find some inspiration here, but it's not final work and isn't fully canon or kanon. Thank you for your support!

SUNLESS FEORAL

* Material marked with an asterisk can be found in Frostburn.

Six hundred years ago, a group of prospectors led an expedition to the Frostfell. They found fantastic wealth hidden beneath the ice – dragonshards and all manner of jewels. Gold brought settlers, and for a time the colony of Feoral prospered; its snow sapphires and Eberron shards were prized across the Five Nations.

Then all contact was lost.

It was many centuries before an expedition finally made a successful trip to Feoral and returned to speak of it. They told tales of a graveyard of ships, haunted vessels frozen deep into the ice; packs of arctic wolves that called out in an unknown tongue; and the ancient city itself, cold and dead. The wind whispered with a lulling voice and the darkness was deeper that nature should allow, and they left swiftly before the cursed land could claim them.

There are many treasures in Sunless Feoral: The snow sapphires and other gems that first lured the miners to the region. Ancient maps and texts assembled by the sages of the city, which could prove invaluable to those who which to explore the greater Frostfell. And the answer to the mystery: what destroyed Feoral? What force did the miners unleash from beneath the ice, and how has it twisted this frozen land?

BACKGROUND

The ancient war between the fiends and the dragon-couatl alliance raged across the length of Eberron, from the depths of Xen'drik all the way to the Frostfell. A handful of mighty spirits claimed the arctic realm, and greatest among them was the overlord Dral Khatuur, the Heart of Winter. This fiend was feared even by her own kind, and populated her icy domain with undead minions instead of rakshasa. But in the end, even her power could not stand against the dragons and the Silver Flame: Dral Khatuur was defeated and bound deep within a field of Khyber dragonshards.

The prison of Dral Khatuur remained undisturbed for a hundred thousand years – until humanity came to the Frostfell. Perhaps it was simple misfortune that led the explorers to the rich gem deposits that lay over her prison, or perhaps the overlord was able to beckon to weak mortals even as she slept. The expedition was funded by scholars who sought to expand their knowledge of the Frostfell. But when the explorers returned with word of the wealth within the ice, a force of Aundairian prospectors quickly followed in their footsteps. Located near the arctic coast, Feoral was one of the only human outposts ever established in the Frostfell. Some delved deeper into the frozen land, returning with tales of distant ruins that might have been built by a forgotten civilization of dwarves, or ancient battlefields covered with the bones of dragons. But most of the people of Feoral were interested in the wealth that lay beneath their home: the gemstones and dragonshards buried in and beneath the ice. And so they dug, deeper and deeper. They discovered a field of Khyber dragonshards of remarkable power and purity, and eagerly stripped these jewels from the depths. Little did they realize that these stones were the bars of Dral Khatuur's prison. Every shard that was removed weakened the wards holding the fiend in stasis – and in time, she awoke.

Though conscious, Dral Khatuur was still trapped beneath the ice, drained and weak. Such was her power that her hunger took physical form. Those nearest to her when she awoke were transformed into pure ice. The miners who escaped this terrible fate were hunted down by frost specters, merciless creatures that tore out the settlers' spirits and cast them to the wind to feed the Heart of Winter.  None escaped her wrath.

Since that time Dral Khatuur has schemed beneath the ice, acting with the patience of an immortal. She has fed on those that have come in search of the lost colony, and as her power grows, the land around her prison has become a dark and terrible place. Now she is ready to emerge from the ice, and to cast her darkness across the world.

Winter's Plan

Dral Khatuur has the power to rival a god. Why has it taken her so long to break free from her prison?

As one of the first children of Khyber, her memories stretch back to the dawn of time; a century means little to her. It is far more important to wait until the time is right: until she can regain not only her old power, but the strength to challenge the descendants of her ancient enemies.

Most important, she cannot free herself. Her weakened bonds allow her to reach out from her prison and touch the world. But she is held by more than Khyber shards, and it will take more than miners to release her. The wards that hold her can only be broken under very specific circumstances—a particular passage of the Draconic Prophecy—and it's up to you to set this to best fit the needs of your campaign. An obvious key is to tie her release to one or more of the player characters. Consider the following:

• A final seal can only be shifted by a specific combination of dragonmarked characters – a combination that exists in your party of adventurers.
• An ancient spellshard is buried in the depths. This is a dragonshard with arcane formulas imprinted within – a crystalline spellbook. It includes any Frostburn spells you want to introduce into the campaign; it could even provide guidelines for entering into a Frostburn prestige class, such as the frost mage. A few spells are far more powerful than normal. These have the benefits of metamagic feats with no change to the spell slot, and could range from an intensified polar ray to a maximized chilling touch. But every time a character uses one of these powerful spells, they are providing Dral Khatuur with a greater bond to the world. Will their actions break the seal – or will they actually become a host for the spirit themself? The spellshard cannot be broken, and even if the PCs decide not to use it, once it has been found it could easily fall into the wrong hands!
• Along similar lines, other powerful magical artifacts found in Feoral could channel power to Dral Khatuur. Her power grows every time Winter's Edge slays a dragon. And when it is used to kill the Lord of the Chamber, she will rise from her ancient tomb and stretch her hand across the globe.

While the party could be unwitting agents of Dral Khatuur, she could also fill the more traditional role of villain, allying with other sinister powers. Perhaps a faction of evil dragons within the Chamber believe that a new ice age suits their goals. Maybe Erandis d'Vol agrees to work with the Heart of Winter to learn her dark secrets. Perhaps Queen Aurala of Aundair seeks to embody the Heart of Winter, convinced she can use this power to restore Galifar. And then there are Dral Khatuur's own ice assassins!

You can use Feoral without ever releasing Dral Khatuur. Perhaps it will be another century until the forces she needs will be properly aligned. If you want to bring an ice age to Khorvaire, the Heart of Winter gives you the opportunity. But Feoral is also an exotic environment for PCs to explore, and a possibly source for frost magic and unusual artifacts.

Dral Khatuur and the Lords of Dust

One of the reasons the overlords were defeated was that they failed to work together. There were bitter divisions among many of the overlords, and Dral Khatuur was especially cold towards her peers: she preferred the company of her undead creations and her snowborn to the fiends of the world. As such, she does not have a prakhutu on the Council of Ashtakala, and is more likely to work with the Order of the Emerald Claw than with the Lords of Dust. The question is whether the Lords of Dust will oppose her, or ignore her. Most likely they will continue with their own plans; a new ice age and the fall of human civilization would mean little to the rulers of Ashtakala. But if the party is in a tough spot and you want to provide a little help from an unexpected source – perhaps one of the Lords of Dust can lend a hand.

GETTING THERE

Feoral is located on the southeastern edge of the Frostfell, approximately 1,500 miles from Khorvaire; the most likely ports to use would be Thaliost in Thrane or Wyr in Aundair. The journey stretches across the Bitter Sea. There is little piracy in the regions north of the Demon Wastes, but fearsome creatures haunt the sea and air – fiendish animals and half-fiend monsters, creatures tainted by the spirits of the Wastes.

Of course, the first step in reaching Feoral is hearing of the colony and choosing to go to the frozen land. Here are a few possibilities to consider.

The Lure of Gold. The gem mines of Feoral are legendary. A greedy party could simply hear the tale, or be hired by an Aurum mine-lord who wants to increase her holdings. Perhaps a lone survivor returns from a previous expedition and offers to show the party the path in exchange for protection. Of course, this guide could actually be an ice assassin, luring the party to Feoral so they can fulfill their role in releasing Dral Khatuur!

An Ongoing Quest. Is the party searching for a long-lost artifact? The hidden homeland of the dwarves? The crypt of a famous explorer? Feoral could simply be a stepping stone for their primary question, containing a vital clue they need for the next step.

Rescue Mission! The University of Wynarn and House Tharashk sent a large team out a month ago, with the intention of locating and resettling Feoral. Via sending, the team reports that they have found the settlement – but that their boat has destroyed, and that they are under attack by undead and savage humanoids. Consider the movie Aliens: will the PCs arrive in time to save the colonists from the horrors of the Frostfell? And by the time the party reaches Feoral, will any of the colonists still be alive – or will they all have been replaced with ice assassins?

Race Against Darkness. The Children of Winter have sent a force of druids and rangers to the Frostfell. The great druid is concerned by the recent actions of the Children and asks the party's druid or ranger to find out what the expedition is up to. Can the PCs track down the sinister druids and expose their alliance with Dral Khatuur? Alternatively, the party could be sent by the Keeper of the Flame: Jaela has sensed a disturbance in the Frostfell, and she charges the party's paladin or cleric to investigate this mystery.

THE LAY OF THE LAND

Once Feoral was on the coast of the Frostfell. But time and magic has caused the shape of the land to shift, and now the colony is 20 miles inland. As the party approaches the region, they will that the land is hidden beneath a permanent shroud of thick, dark clouds – a blanket that spreads out in a thirty-mile radius from Feoral, and which resists all winds. Even in the seasons when the sun shines, the region beneath the cloud has only shadowy illumination; in the half of the year when the sun hides its face from the Frostfell, the land is left in total darkness. At night, an even deeper darkness grips the land around Feoral – a supernatural darkness that neither torchlight or darkvision can penetrate. This will be discussed later in the chapter. Within this area, any attempt to magically control the wind or weather will fail; the spellcaster can feel a stronger force at work in the region, something more powerful than any mortal wizard.

The approach to the Frostfell is a chilling one. Most of the journey across the Bitter Sea will be in cold weather (0 – 40 degrees Fahrenheit). During last hundred miles of the approach, the temperature drops below zero degrees, creating a conditions of severe cold; if you are using the Frostburn sourcebook, treat this as frozen sea terrain; the water is choked with icebergs and smaller chunks of ice, and the journey is a hazardous one for fragile ships or inexperienced sailors. An airship can avoid the 'bergs, but bitter snowstorms and potential whiteout conditions make it a dangerous proposition, and there has been one unconfirmed report of an elemental breaking free of its bonds over the Bitter Sea; there are unpredictable forces at work in the region, and House Lyrandar will be loathe to place one of its airships at risk.

Once the party lands, the terrain is a barren ice field. The temperature drops below -20 degrees, creating conditions of extreme cold. Because it is always dark in Feoral, night does not reduce the temperature – but wind and weather can prove a greater danger.

The Dungeon Master's Guide provides information about the effects of cold and weather in arctic environments; the Frostburn sourcebook expands on this. If you are using Frostburn, a cold snap or high winds can reduce the temperature to unearthly cold. Unless explorers come prepared with protection against the chill, the journey will be quite short. The coast is a desolate plain of ice, punctuated by drifts and dunes. Travelers must make a Survival check once every hour to avoid getting lost; this check has a base DC of 15, and it can rise as high as DC 25 based on the weather conditions.

A Graveyard of Ships…

The region around Feoral hungers for ships. This is a danger for any expedition that makes anchor; the ice will actively creep forward, chilling the waters in order to trap a new vessel. To avoid this trap, a ship must stay in motion or make use of heat-based magic or constant labor, driving the ice away from the hull.

As the party moves forward across the ice, they will find the hulks of over a dozen old ships, scattered across the first mile of coastline. Most of these vessels show signs of violent struggle – but there are no corpses to be seen, and cargo has been left behind.  Of course, these ships were coming to Feoral, and have little in the way of treasure; holds are filled with dried rations and other expedition supplies; still, there is a 10% chance that a ship will include 1d4 potions of endure elements and 1d4 everbright lanterns, either of which could prove useful to an ill-prepared party.

A handful of ships still bear traces of their former crews. There is a 5% chance that a ship will contain 2d4 human skeletons led by an icegaunt (EL 7); if you do not have access to Frostburn, replace the icegaunt with a wight (EL 5). If these undead creatures are destroyed, they will reform the following day: the only way their spirits can be laid to rest is if the ship is blessed with a hallow spell.

Wolves that Spoke…

The frozen ships are clustered around the coast, but a determined party will soon pass through this bleak fence. As they progress across the next two-mile stretch, anyone with low-light vision can make a Spot check (DC 18). Those who succeed will catch the faintest glimpse of a huge, winged shape darting through the clouds. The creature is visible only as a shadow and only for a moment; an instant later, it is gone.

Within the course of the next hour, the party will be ambushed by winter wolves. The number will vary based on the average character level of the party:

These wolves are guardians of the waste, a lupine order established long ago by a rogue red dragon named Ixenejhir. The wolves will approach the party quietly, taking advantage of darkness, Move Silently, and Hide. Once within 50 feet, the wolves will hail the party: "Strangers! Leave this land! Cold death lies ahead, and we must battle any who seek to aid the darkness!" They are reasonable creatures, and neutral good in alignment; they would rather not fight unless they have to. But there's a catch: the wolves only speak Draconic.

If someone in the party understands the wolves and chooses to speak with them, they must make a Diplomacy check to improve the leader's attitude, which begins as indifferent. A friendly wolf will explain that Feoral is the prison of a mighty force of evil, which has corrupted the land. It will mention the savage humans that lie ahead and the evil spirits that haunt the old city. But even a friendly wolf cannot allow the party to proceed.

A helpful wolf can be convinced to allow the party to travel to Feoral unchallenged; perhaps the PCs are destined to lay the evil to rest. It can provide directions to Feoral, which will provide PCs with a +3 on future Survival checks to avoid getting lost. It will also warn them not to listen to the voices on the wind. Finally, it can describe any other travelers who have recently fought the wolves – so if the party is racing to catch up with an enemy, the wolves can describe the force that opposes them. Unfortunately, the wolves know very little about the history of Feoral or the power within it: they only know to fight those who might fall to its power.

Unless the wolves are feeling helpful, any attempt to move deeper into the waste will result in combat. The wolves are not suicidal, and will flee when reduced to 6 hit points or below.

There are two red half-dragons among the winter wolves, Hranzar and Rrtan. These huge creatures carry the blessing of Ixenejhir and are the leaders of the pack. In combat, they will use Hover and Flyby Attack in conjunction with their breath weapons to soften up enemies, then rely on claws and teeth to do the trick.

The Wind and the Darkness…

The sun never shines on Feoral. But from 6 PM to 6 AM, the darkness grows deeper – an unnatural gloom that settles over the land. Low-light vision becomes useless. Darkvision and any form of illumination has its normal range reduced by a factor of 4: Thus a light spell provides bright light in a single 5-foot square and dim illumination for an additional 5 feet in every direction, while a daylight spell provides bright illumination in a 15-foot radius and dim vision for another 15 feet. Undead creatures and ice assassins are immune to this effect, but the snowborn and other inhabitants of the waste are paralyzed by the darkness, and go into hiding until the shadows fade.

During the time of darkness, undead creatures receive a +2 profane bonus to turn resistance and a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls. Make an encounter check every hour on the following table:

Death Hail. Shards of black ice hurtle down from the sky. The hail is charged with negative energy, and every 10 minutes that a character is exposed he must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or suffer 1d2 points of Strength and Constitution damage. A storm lasts 1d6x10 minutes.

Hungry Wind. See the Winter's Minions sidebar later in this article. Mechanically, these creatures are similar to specters.

Winterspawn. These creatures are the twisted remnants of soldiers and hunters who once protected Feoral. If you do not have Frostburn, replace this encounter with the hungry wind.

Voices on the Wind. The hungry wind tears the souls of its victims from their bodies and casts them adrift. Dral Khatuur feeds on these disembodied spirits, consuming their essence to restore her strength. It is a slow process, and there are still a handful of spirits from the fall of Feoral; they are bound to Dral Khatuur and cannot travel far from Feoral, and distance is no object when the Heart of Winter decides to feed. By now most of the spirits are completely mad. But a few are still sane enough to seek some sort of salvation – and the simplest salvation is to find someone to take their place.

These spirits manifest as voices on the wind. Initially it is hard to distinguish any meaning, but eventually the sounds become clear: warnings, mad ravings about people long dead, pleas for help, sobs or terrified screams. A kind and clear-headed spirit will warn the party about the hungry wind and urge them to leave at once. A self-centered spirit will beg one of the characters to let the spirit ride in his body, to save it from destruction. It might throw itself on the mercy of the party, or offer knowledge in exchange – promising to lead them to a secret trove of treasure in Feoral, for example. But if a character uses Sense Motive to get a hunch (DC 20), he'll come to the conclusion that the spirit is holding something back.

What the spirit hasn't mentioned is that it will evict its host when it settles in a body. If a character agrees to give a spirit a home, he may make a Will saving throw (DC 20) as the spirit seeks to seize control. If he fails, he is cast out and cannot return unless the possessing spirit is driven out. The simplest method for doing this is the granted power of the Exorcism domain; consider the spirit as an 8 HD creature for this purpose. Otherwise, short of wish, limited wish, miracle, or spells specifically designed to deal with non-extraplanar possession, the only way to overcome the possessing spirit is to voluntarily convince it to leave – a task that would require a successful Diplomacy check (DC 50) on its own, though an excellent roleplaying exchange could lower this dramatically.

THE LOST COLONY

If the characters overcome the cold, darkness, and savage predators, they will eventually arrive at the shattered colony of Feoral.

Your first view of the colony is hardly an inspiring sight. A dozen buildings are spread around a gaping hole in the ice, a tunnel that must lead down to the mines. The longhouses have been buried by blowing and drifting snow, and with only an occasional glimpse of dark stone visible beneath the ice. For a moment, it seems that there are people standing on the avenues between the buildings, but as you squint through the darkness you realize that these are chunks of ice and snow, formed into strangely human shapes. As you draw closer, the cold grows even deeper. It's not the wind. Some force is simply drawing all of the heat out of the area – something unnatural.

Closer examination reveals that these blocks of ice are perfect sculptures of people – unkempt miners, their faces twisted in expressions of surprise and terror. These are the first inhabitants of Feoral, transformed into ice by a frostfell effect when Dral Khatuur first awoke. Most of these ice statues are half-buried in the snow – a sign of the time that has passed since the disaster.

Any character with the Track feat or five or more ranks of Survival will recognize that there has been activity in the area within the last few days. The wind and snow makes it virtually impossible to follow specific tracks, but a number of medium and large creatures have been moving around the settlement – large and medium humanoids emerging from the mines and heading out the plains. These are the tracks of Dral Khatuur's undead servants, who come out of the mines when the shadows are at their deepest and hunt the mortal creatures.

In addition to the ice statues, the party may come across a few preserved corpses – bodies completely encased in a translucent exoskeleton, a massive humanoid crust of ice. If the party knows nothing of the Frostfell, this may just seem to be another oddity – a variation of the statues of solid ice. But someone who makes a successful Knowledge (religion) or bardic knowledge (DC 30) check may recall a tale of undead creatures consumed by ice – which is what these creatures are. An entombed that has been spotted will remain perfectly still, waiting for creatures to come close and examine it, at which point it will strike. The entombed can pass through ice and snow, so it may appear to be buried in the ice like the other statues – and it can dive into the deeper ice for cover. The entombed can be found on page 128 of Frostburn.

The mining buildings are bare and functional, providing the essentials of life: barracks for the miners, a commissary and dining hall, a workshop for maintaining tools and polishing stones, and an administrative office with more comfortable quarters for the owners. The vault is in this building. The security – and the treasure to be found – is up to you. The safe could simply be protected by an arcane lock. Or it could have glyphs of warding, magical traps, adamantine chests, and golem guardians (who have long outlived their former owners). It's not a dungeon: it's a vault in a mining office. But the security should reflect the value of the goods: a safe holding 100,000 gp in gems should be a tough nut to crack.

The terrible cold is one aspect of Dral Khatuur's presence. The entire area is in the unearthly cold category, well below -50 degrees Fahrenheit. Furthermore, detect evil will register an overwhelming evil presence that stretches out for a mile from the settlement; this has 50 hit dice for purposes of stunning those who search for it. The source of the aura cannot be pinpointed within the region.

The Mine

The hole in the center of the settlement leads down into the old mine complex of Feoral.

This passage has been carved deep into solid ice. Gazing down into the tunnel, you see that the walls are stained black – the ice is as dark as a moonless night.

The tunnels are formed of ebony ice. All undead creatures within these tunnels gain a +2 profane bonus on attack rolls and a +4 profane bonus to turn resistance.

The mines are a labyrinth. Some are tunnels in the ice, dredging Eberron shards from the icefield itself. But the mines extend down into the rock beneath the ice, and it is down here that explorers can find traces of the ancient citadel of Dral Khatuur. War and the passage of eons have worn these structures to rubble, but there may still be an Infernal inscription or a fragment of a statue – a shard of the face of a strange, inhuman creature. Dral Khatuur's prison is not a thing that can be seen: she is bound by the Silver Flame, and her spirit is dispersed beneath the ice. But she can be felt: the deeper the party goes, the colder it gets, and the sense of evil becomes a palpable force pressing against their thoughts.

Once again, it is up to the DM to decide how dangerous the mines are. The hungry wind is incorporeal, and entombed can hide in ice, so even if Dral Khatuur has an army, it could be hidden from explorers. If you want a hack and slash adventure, the tunnels could be crawling with winterspawn and specters: can the party find shelter before the darkness rises and the undead emerge from the mines? But if you want a bug hunt, Dral Khatuur's power may still be weak. Perhaps she can only touch those who come deep into the mines, and relies on a mere handful of servants to lure explorers to their doom. The greatest threats are the ice assassins. The key question is low restricted Dral Khatuur is within her bonds. Can she use her magic to craft ice assassins of any creature that enters Feoral? Or must she wait for her target to descend to the depths of the minds – or possibly, ritually sacrificed by her winterspawn? The question is whether you want PCs to see people come face to face with their own duplicates – or if an assassin will only appear after its counterpart has been killed.

The mines of Feoral are intentionally ambiguous. How deep do they go? How many shafts and tunnels are there? What would it take to get the mines running again? The decision is up to you, based on the power of the party and the goals of the adventure.

The Treasures of Feoral

Feoral holds dangers that could threaten the world: so what are the rewards that could lure adventurers to the frozen land? Here are a few ideas.

Cold hard cash. Feoral was a mining colony, a source of gemstones and dragonshards of peculiar power, and stories say that the vaults were filled with precious stones when the colony was lost. Of course, a story doesn't make a thing true. Gems may have been stolen by previous generations of tomb robbers, or used by Dral Khatuur if her ice assassins have spread out beyond the Frostfell. As such, it's up to you to determine what is available, based on the needs of the story. If the party needs a vast sum of gold – perhaps they're trying to start a business, build a castle, or even build up a nation in Q'barra or the Lhazaar Principalities – Feoral may be the answer. Feoral was known for its mystically charged dragonshards and snow sapphires, described later in this article. However, the mines also had large deposits of iron, hematite, and bloodstone, providing suitable treasures for lower-level groups.

The wisdom of the ages. Feoral was once a gateway for exploration. A party could travel to Feoral in search of an explorer's journal or his maps of the deep Frostfell. Alternatively, these things could be an unexpected reward: while searching for gold and jewels, the party discovers a sheaf of maps and an old diary that will lead them into future adventures.

Mysterious magic. In the first war, dragon and fiend wielded items of power far beyond anything known to the modern age. The mightiest of these artifacts are hidden far below Feoral. The miners uncovered the first traces of fiendish ruins just before their colony was destroyed, and a few of these items may be locked away in the vaults of the settlement. Winter's Edge is one example of this: a terrible weapon that feeds the power of Dral Khatuur herself, and one she may wish to be found.

The treasures of the first age should always be powerful, but they don't have to be permanent. A lower-level party might find a wand with a few charges of an intensified cold spell, or a potion that would normally be impossible: a maximized potion of cure moderate wounds or potion of ice shield. Like artifacts, these things cannot be created in the modern age, but they can only be used once. Ancient spellshards are an excellent source of Frostburn spells. As noted above, however, a spellcaster who obtains spells from the trove of a rakshasa overlord may get more than they bargained for!

Relics in the Ice

Here are a few examples of the wonders to be found beneath Feoral.

Eberron dragonshards, Feoral. A handful of the Eberron dragonshards found in the Feoral fields are charged with mystical energy. A dragonshard is attuned to a randomly selected school of magic. If it is used to create a magic item tied to that school (destroy the shard and subtract 50% of its market value from the base, unmodified gp cost to create the item), it reduces the gp and XP costs of the magic item by 5%. This effect stacks with feats or other items that reduce costs, such as Extraordinary Artisan – but multiple Feoral dragonshards cannot be combined on a single item. A Feoral Eberron dragonshard has a market value of 4d4 x 75 gp (750 gp average).

Snow sapphires.  These gemstones radiate a faint aura of evocation magic, and are slightly cold to the touch. They are beautiful blue gemstones with a unique color and an almost luminescent quality, but they have another use. If a snow sapphire is used as an additional focus item when casting a spell, it is treated as a handful of snow for purposes of using the Snowcasting feat (described in the Frostburn sourcebook). A snow sapphire has a market value of 4d4 x 100 gp. Stones found in Feoral are often unfinished, and have an average value of 600 gp.

Winter's Edge. During the Age of Demons, Dral Khatuur had little need of armies; the cold itself was her greatest weapons. But there was some joy to be found in corruption, and she crafted Winter's Edge as a lure to the minions of her rivals. It takes the form of a greatsword forged of black steel. The blade is inlaid with patterns of ice, and it is always chillingly cold to the touch. Winter's Edge is a major artifact. It has the base abilities of a +6 keen icy burst Keeper's fang greatsword, but it holds a number of additional powers. It is considered to be a bane weapon when used against dragons and good-aligned outsiders. It is evil-aligned for purposes of bypassing damage reduction, and its icy burst damage penetrates any natural immunity to cold. Finally, it grants its wielder snowsight, snow walk, resistance 20 versus cold damage, and a +4 enhancement bonus to Constitution. The sword is intelligent (Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 16, Ego 34) and neutral evil; its sentience is an aspect of Dral Khatuur herself, and the Keeper's fang quality channels the souls of its victims to her. So using this weapon strengthens the Heart of Winter—but its power can be seductive!

THE HEART OF WINTER

Dral Khatuur is the embodiment of deadly frost – the early chill that ruins the harvest, the icy cold that saps the strength from flesh and bone. She has made her home in the Frostfell since the dawn of time, and she was bound beneath the ice by the forces of the Draconic Alliance. The settlers of Feoral awoke her from her sleep, though she was not fully released from her bonds; since then, she has schemed, planning her terrible vengeance for the world.

Dral Khatuur is a rakshasa overlord, as described in Dragon #137. While she can change her form with a thought, her preferred shape is that of a tall, lean humanoid wearing a shimmering white robe. Long claws of ice stretch from her hands. Her face is a pallid mask of frost, and her eyes are ice crystals; her lips do not move when she speaks. Translucent horns curl back over her head. Her glacial globe of invulnerability conceals her in snow and mist, however, so she is usually seen as little more than a horned silhouette. Her voice is the howl of the arctic wind. She is cold and dispassionate: even when she hungers for vengeance, she never lets her anger show.

These statistics will suffice for a direct encounter with Dral Khatuur, but she may have additional powers as suits the need of the story. Perhaps she needs to rebuild an ancient eldritch machine to regain her full powers – but when she does, the range of her personal fimbulwinter effect will stretch out to blanket an entire nation… or farther!

Dral Khatuur

Druid 25/Sorcerer 15/Frost Mage 10

NE large female outsider (evil, native, cold) (20 HD)

Init +8

Senses Darkvision (can see in magical darkness), snowsight, senses extend 7 miles; Spot +23, Listen +23

Languages Can communicate with any creature that has a language, verbally or telepathically.

AC 62, touch 39, flat-footed 53 (+8 Dex, -1 size, +7 infernal, +14 deflection, +24 natural armor)

hp 1,160 [20d8+200 (Outsider) plus 15d4+150 (sorcerer) plus 10d4+100 (frost mage) plus 25d8+250 (druid)]

Resistance 25 to electricity and sonic; Immune to acid, cold, and fire damage; immune to ability drain, ability damage, cold effects, death effects, disease, disintegration, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, petrification, poison, sleep, stunning, and any form of involuntary transmutation. Immune to any standard binding spell, including binding, imprisonment, repulsion, soul bind, temporal stasis, trap the soul, and turning or rebuking; Spell Resistance 40; Damage Resistance 20/epic or 15/piercing and good

Fort +51, Ref +43, Will +62

Spd 80 ft. (16 squares), 160 flight (perfect), burrow 40 ft.

Atk 2 claws +66 melee (1d8+9+2d6 frostburn) (+51 BAB, +9 Str, -1 Size, +7 infernal) or +65 ranged touch (spell)

Base Atk +51; Grp +64

Special Atk Detect thoughts (DC 31), dread aura (700 ft radius – either cause all enemies to become shaken, or grant allies a +4 morale bonus to attack rolls, saves, and checks and give enemies a -4 morale penalty to the same) (DC 32), may turn/destroy fire creatures or rebuke/command cold creatures 15 times/day as a 25th level cleric.

Cold Mastery (Su): Dral Khatuur possesses a number of powers related to ice and cold.

• In addition to the spell-like abilities listed below, she can use flesh to ice* (DC 36) or freezing glance* (DC 37)as a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
• She may raise or lower a glacial globe of invulnerability* (negates fire spells in a 10-ft radius, 20% concealment) as a free action.
• She has permanent snowsight* and snow walk*.
• If a spell with the cold descriptor is used against her, it is automatically repelled, as if by spell turning.
• Any damage dealing spell she casts carries the effects of the Energy Substitution (cold) and Piercing Cold* feats. This is not an option; she cannot use fireball to inflict fire damage. This does not increase casting time. As a frost mage, her Piercing Cold spells completely bypass any resistance or immunity to cold granted by spells and the spell-like effects of magic items.
• Finally, she is the center point of a permanent fimbulwinter* effect. She cannot negate this effect.

These effects have a caster level of 25th, and the saving throw (where applicable) is Charisma-based.

Mystical Prowess (Ex): Dral Khatuur does not incur attacks of opportunity for casting spells when threatened. She can cast spells with an effective spell slot of up to 16th, as shown below. Finally, she gains the benefit of Spell Focus on all spells that she casts.

Druid Spells Prepared (CL 25th):

15th—intensified cometstrike x2 (36 points bludgeoning damage, 100 points cold damage, DC 42)

14th—heightened frostfell x2(DC 47)

13th—intensified fire storm x2(280 points cold damage) (DC 40)

12th—intensified death hail x2 (4 points Str & Con damage) (DC 39)

11th—heightened empowered maximized fire storm x2(220 points cold damage) (DC 41)

10th—empowered maximized greater aura of cold x2 (22 points of cold damage)

9th—antipathy (DC 40), cometstrike* x4 (DC 42), foresight

8th—earthquake x2, glacier* x2, frostfell* x2 (DC 41)

7th—fire storm x2 (DC 40), heal x2, greater aura of cold*, raise ice forest*, whiteout*

6th—animate snow*, death hail* (DC 39), entomb* (DC 39), greater dispel magic, ice rift*, snow wave* (DC 39), cure

5th—antilife shield, blizzard* (DC 38), ice shield* x2, mantle of the icy soul*, move earth, stone tell, wall of coldfire*

4th—cure critical wounds x2, freedom of movement, freeze armor* x2 (DC 37), hibernal healing* x3

3rd—arctic haze* (DC 36), cure serious wounds x3, column of ice* (DC 36), dominate animal x3(DC 34), winter's embrace*

2nd—barkskin x2, blood snow* x3 (DC 35), bull's strength x2, numbing sphere* (DC 35), obscuring snow*

1st—crunchy snow* x2, endure elements x6, speak with animals

0—cure minor wounds x3, guidance, resistance, virtue

Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 25th, 6/10/10/10/10/9/9/9/9/8/3/3/3/2/2/2/2 per day):

9th—frostfell^B* (DC 43), ice assassin*, soul bind, time stop

8th—demand (DC 40), discern location, polar ray

7th—control undead, delayed blast fireball (DC 41), ice castle*, project image

6th—greater dispel magic^B, heartfreeze* (DC 40), Otiluke's freezing sphere (DC 40), true seeing

5th—boreal wind* (DC 39), cone of cold (DC 39), dream^B, flesh to ice^B, Mordenkainen's private sanctum, nightmare (DC 37)

4th—bestow curse (DC 36), conjure ice beast IV^B, greater invisibility^B, ice ship^B, iceweb (DC 38), mindfrost* (DC 38), remove curse^B, scrying (DC 36)

3rd—arcane sight, conjure ice beast III^B, lightning bolt (DC 37), nondetection, shivering touch

2nd—arcane lock, bear's endurance, conjure ice beast II^B, mirror image, misdirection, zone of glacial cold* (DC 36)

1st—chill touch, conjure ice beast I^B, expeditious retreat, identify, mage armor, shield

0—arcane mark, detect magic, detect poison, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 25th):

At will—animate dead, blizzard* (DC 36), call avalanche* (DC 36), cause fear (DC 32), chill touch (DC 32), chill metal (DC 33), cone of cold (DC 37), conjure ice object*, control weather, create greater undead, create undead, death hail* (DC 37), death knell, death ward, deeper darkness, destruction (DC 38), fimbulwinter*, flash-freeze*, ice shape*, ice storm, ice to flesh*,meld into ice*, move ice and snow*, obedient avalanche* (DC 40), pass through ice*, polar ray, slay living (DC 36), sleet storm, snow walk*, snowdrift*, snowsight*, teleport without error, wail of the banshee (DC 40), wall of ice, winter's embrace* (DC 35).

This list includes the spells of the Winter*, Cold*, and Death domains. The represents an unusual level of power, as most overlords only have access to the spells of two domains.

Combat Gear Dral Khatuur wears the amulet of arctic dominion. This major artifact has a number of powers. As long as the wearer can command/rebuke creatures with the cold descriptor, the amulet grants her a +10 insight bonus to all checks associated with this ability. Furthermore, she is no longer limited in the number of cold command checks she can make per day. Neither of these powers affect any other use of turning, including the ability to turn or destroy fire creatures. In addition to these powers, the temperature around the wearer is always reduced by one band. The amulet has a CL of 20 and radiates a strong aura of evocation and transmutation magic.

Abilities Str 28, Dex 27, Con 30, Int 25, Wis 37, Cha 38

SQ Change form, fast healing 25, remote sensing and communication (five locations). Dral Khatuur receives a +7 infernal bonus to all saving throws, to hit rolls, skill checks, ability check, caster level checks, and turning check. She can always take 10 on any check, and does not automatically fail on a natural attack roll or saving throw of 1. These bonuses have already been added in to the modifiers listed here.

Feats Automatic Quicken Spell x4 (1st-12th), Automatic Silent Spell x2 (1st-6th), Cold Focus*, Cold Spell Specialization*, Empower Spell, Enhance Spell, Epic Heighten Spell, Frostfell Prodigy, Frozen Magic, Greater Cold Focus, Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Intensify Spell, Maximize Spell, Multispell x2, Quicken Spell, Silent Spell, Snowcasting, Spell Knowledge x3 (one 6th-level, two 5th-level, and three 4th-level sorcerer spells), Spell Opportunity

While in an area of extreme cold, her cold spell damage is increased by +2 points per die and spells with the cold descriptor gain a +2 to caster level.  Dral Khatuur gains a +4 to her ability scores for purposes of determining bonus spells while in an area of extreme cold. Since Dral Khatuur should always be found in areas of extreme cold, this has been added in for spell calculation.

Skills Bluff +64, Concentration +85, Diplomacy +57, Disguise +44 (+46 when acting, +54/56 using change form), Hide +44, Intimidate +62, Knowledge (arcana) +37, Knowledge (nature) +77, Knowledge (the planes) +39, Knowledge (religion) +50, Listen +68, Move Silently +48, Search +45, Sense Motive +68, Spellcraft +85, Spot +68, Survival +70, Use Magic Device +37

Hook “All things succumb to winter's embrace."

WINTER'S MINIONS

Dral Khatuur has never had close ties with the rakshasa and other fiends of Eberron. She is a spirit of cold and death, and has always preferred the company of her own creations. The undead creatures of Frostburn – especially the Entombed – are all suitable forces for her armies. However, she also has two unique types of creature in her service.

Hungry Wind. These undead creatures appear as swirling distortions in the air, moaning with the sound of the arctic wind. Mechanically, they are identical to specters, with one difference. Intelligent creatures "slain" by the energy drain of the hungry wind do not actually die; instead, they fall into a comatose state, arising as snowborn within 4d6 hours.

Ice Assassins. These creatures are created using the ice assassin spell found in Frostburn; they are precise duplicates of specific creatures, and possess all of the abilities of their counterparts – however, duplicates of clerics will possess the cold, winter, or death domains instead of their usual domains. Dral Khatuur's ice assassins are unique in a number of ways. Most importantly, they can continue to exist after the death of their counterpart; if Dral Khatuur has agents in Khorvaire, they are most likely ice assassins sent back in place of Frostfell explorers. Beyond this:

• Ice assassins have the cold subtype. They are immune to cold damage and vulnerable to fire damage.
• Dral Khatuur's assassins are immune to poison, disease, and the effects of age. They do not have to sleep, though they may choose to.
• Ice assassins cannot recover damage through natural or magical healing. However, Dral Khatuur's assassins can be healed by the cure spells of any cleric who possesses the Cold or Winter domain and the Snowcasting feat.
• Under normal circumstances, ice assassins cannot advance in level. At the DM's discretion, when Dral Khatuur forms an assassin from an exceptional creature, it can progress in one of the following classes or prestige classes: Adept or cleric (with the Cold or Winter domain); frost mage*; frostrager*; winterhaunt of Iborighu*. Divine casters do not actually draw their power from Dral Khatuur, but they draw from the same primal source of cold and darkness that gives her power.
• The ice assassin spell has a range of touch. By expending an additional 9th-level (or higher) spell slot, Dral Khatuur can increase the range to 1 mile; she must be able to see her target to use the spell.
• Dral Khatuur can destroy any of her ice assassins as a free action. When an assassin is slain, its body reverts to ice and snow; those who search the body will find a snow sapphire worth 1,000 gp in place of the heart.