Things Frozen
in the Ice
There is a reason why things frozen in the ice is a common horror trope. But it's not always easy coming up with cool and scary things for players to find frozen, for you to inflict upon them. Digging deep into the Necromancers of the Northwest freezer, I've pulled out some of my favorites. How many of them will still be alive once the ice thaws? How did they get frozen in the first place? These questions I leave up to you, and I think you'll find that whatever answers you come up with, they all offer fun opportunities for adventure.
1. Pirate Ship, Complete With Crew. Just barely visible inside a massive glacier, this ship appears as little more than a hazy shadow set some ways into the ice, but even though the image of the ship appears murky, several details can still be identified, including the shadowy forms of several figures that are frozen in the act of climbing up or down the rigging, or standing on the decks. Some even claim that it appears a few of these figures are carrying what seem to be large chests, which are speculated to contain gold and other treasures. How the ship wound up frozen in a glacier in the first place is unknown.
2. Ancient Dragon. It's impossible to tell for certain exactly what type of dragon it is, as its color is difficult to make out, and its shape slightly indistinct. It could easily be a blue, green, or even black dragon, or any other type of dragon with a similar coloration. It stands encased in a perfectly smooth obelisk of ice, forty feet across at the base, which rises from the middle of a frozen field. It stands in a battle pose, its wings furled around its body protectively.
3. Mystic Archway. This stone archway is twenty feet tall, and thirty feet from one end to the other. It is made of stone blocks that fit together perfectly, without any sign of mortar or other means of holding it together. Each block is engraved with a single rune, and every once in a while, one of the runes will light up, glowing bright blue for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. The archway stands on a stone platform that appears to have once been part of a larger ruin, although nothing else of the structure remains. The archway, and only the archway, is encased in a thin layer of ice, perhaps six inches thick.
4. Severed Human Hand. This hand is unquestionably humanoid, although the exact race is difficult to determine for certain. The skin is pitch black, and appears shriveled, though whether this is because of the donor's original race, or simply due to frost exposure is impossible to say. It sits within a cube of ice, precisely one foot to any given side, which rests on a stone pedestal.
5. Wizard Casting a Spell. Trapped within a rough and jagged block of ice that forms an uneven and craggy stalactite on the floor of a huge ice cave, this figure appears to be an archetypal wizard, with long pointy hat, blue star-studded robes, and a long white beard. In one hand, he holds an open tome, and the other forms a strange arcane gesture. His mouth is open, and his gaze shows intense concentration, leaving little doubt that he was frozen while in the middle of casting a spell. The ice is so clear that one could almost read the text on the page, but not quite.
6. Massive Tentacle. Erupting up from the middle of a flat plane of ice over a frozen lake or section of ocean, this black-purple tentacle is reminiscent of that of a squid or octopus, except for the fact that the visible portion of the tentacle is nearly a full mile in length. The entire tentacle is covered in a thin layer of ice, and much of it is further covered by recent snows, allowing one to travel beside it for some ways without realizing it is anything more than an odd terrain feature, until stumbling across an uncovered portion. Without breaking into the ice near where it emerges, it's impossible to say if the tentacle is still attached to its original owner.
7. Black Stone Monolith. Barely visible in the side of a massive glacier, this black stone has been carved in the shape of a pyramid, nearly thirty feet high. On the visible side of the pyramid, huge bas-reliefs have been engraved into the stone, depicting strange and alien creatures. The details of the creatures are difficult to make out, and no two observers seem to be able to agree on their features, although all agree that they are strange and unsettling. Some of those who get close to the glacier report feeling a strange sense that they are being watched.
8. Ancient Man Battling a Saber-Toothed Tiger. This block of ice contains an ancient tableau, captured through some freak cold snap. A primitive human, dressed in animal furs and wielding a crude spear, is locked in mid-battle with a vicious saber-toothed tiger, which snarls and appears to be mid-leap, claws and teeth extended. Many of those who have viewed the scene up close report feeling as though the eyes of the primitive man followed them wherever they went, although it never seemed to move.
9. Dubious Mermaid. This block of ice can be found in museums, freak shows, carnivals, and similar places, as it makes a slow tour in search of new customers interested in oddities and curios. Preserved with the help of magic, the unusually cloudy block of ice clearly contains a figure that resembles a mermaid, with the upper body of a humanoid woman, and a finned tail for a lower body. However, the details are all but impossible to make out, and many have claimed that the entire thing is a hoax, with a carefully constructed doll or puppet preserved in the ice, rather than a real mermaid. Curiously, many of those who touch the ice report hearing the sound of a woman singing in the back of their minds, an experience that sometimes persists intermittently for weeks after the encounter.
10. Clutch of Unusual Eggs. Found beneath a thin layer of ice on the interior wall of an unusually long and winding ice cavern, the origin of these eggs is difficult to determine. They are a bright orange color, and seem to glow with a faint light from within. There are six eggs in the clutch, and they appear as though, if they were not frozen solid, they would be gooey and gelatinous, rather than covered in a hard shell. All of the eggs seem to be stuck together by some sort of mucus, which is also frozen. Every now and then, the light in one of the eggs flickers.