Orders in Black Ice
Orders in Black Ice
Read aloud
At the Siphon's rim, the ice ends at a wall of black glass a mile high, and the wall is warm. The rim hums as something inside turns, drawing a breath that will not be let go. A woman in a dissident's grey coat steps out of the wind, one hand open and empty. “I was told you would come alone,” she says. “I am glad you did not.”
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Gain access to the Siphon's rim and reach Vigdis's dissident contacts.
- 2Reach the dissidents' safe house without letting the Absolute close every route.
- 3Learn what can be learned at court and decide whether to investigate the prisoner beneath it.
- 4Choose who receives the warning about the Quarter-Turn draw and secure the Black-Ice Cinder.
The clock
The Hour Is Set has 6 segments. Advance it by 1 for each failed success check at Sigvald's test or Hjalmar's court, for each day spent in Absolute territory beyond the third, and if Halli is caught and raises the alarm. At 4, the Absolute moves the hour forward. At 6, the Pylon Hall fight begins with all four pylons hot and the Count gains an extra mark. If it fills, record the Absolute as arriving a day early.
Scenes
- 0:00The Price of Shelter
- 1:00Footsteps Beneath the Ice
- 2:15Hjalmar's Court
- 3:45The Current Turns Cold
Cast
- Inquisitor-Dissident Vigdis Rime-WardQuestgiver and guide
- Watch-Captain Sigvald Hoar-SpearGatekeeper
- Halli Ink-RimeWitness and potential ally
- Grand Archon Hjalmar Frost-VeinAntagonist and political power
The hook
Set the scene
Begin at the Siphon's rim in winter weather. The black-glass wall radiates faint warmth against the killing wind, and a low vibration travels through the party's feet. Vigdis emerges from the blowing ice and offers no greeting beyond her request for help. Before she can explain further, distant sentries begin closing the route behind the party, making clear that shelter depends on earning the watch-captain's trust.
How Inquisitor-Dissident Vigdis Rime-Ward asks
Vigdis approaches in person at the rim, hands visibly empty, and asks the party to carry out her request rather than expose her publicly.
She offers a route through Absolute territory and warns that shelter is conditional. She does not demand that the party endorse her faction or promise a particular recipient for the orders.
Rumours
Scenes
about 6.5 hours0:00
60 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Price of Shelter
A wind-scoured checkpoint on the Siphon's rim, where shelter and access are controlled by Absolute guards.
Vigdis makes her request at the rim. Sigvald tests whether the party can plausibly pass as defectors-in-waiting. Run a group challenge: three successes before two failures. Possible checks include a convincing grievance with Charisma (Deception), a recognized name with Intelligence (History), a heat offering with Charisma (Persuasion) plus a Heat Point or Favor, reading Sigvald's fear of his daughter with Wisdom (Insight), or carrying a Wintersong Pass or Absolute token for an automatic success. Each attempt counts once.
NextOnce Sigvald has judged the party, he leads them toward a sheltered passage. Their footfalls fade into corridors where polished ice begins to catch every movement.
1:00
75 min
skill
2. Footsteps Beneath the Ice
Black-ice corridors below the rim, where footsteps carry strangely and the walls return distorted reflections.
Cross four stages: find the Cold Stair without a light using Wisdom (Survival); pass the Mirror Gallery without being reflected using Dexterity (Stealth); catch Halli with Wisdom (Perception) or Dexterity (Stealth); then open the dissidents' rigged Rim Door with Dexterity (Thieves' Tools or Smith's Tools). Use the supplied DC bands for the first two stages, 20, 22, or 24 by chosen difficulty, and for the latter stages. Failures cause the listed exposure, alarm, or frozen-door consequences. Halli is a doubtful scribe, not an assassin. If caught, he asks to be believed and will lead the party to the safe house if promised protection.
NextThe Rim Door yields, or freezes shut for an hour, and the party follows the narrow passage toward the court. The vibration underfoot grows more regular as voices begin to carry through the ice.
2:15
90 min
social
3. Hjalmar's Court
Hjalmar's court inside the Siphonwright's Crown, a vast black-ice tower whose shaft descends miles into the mantle.
Vigdis presents the party as defectors-in-waiting. Hjalmar asks five questions; each is an opportunity for a Wisdom (Insight) check. Every clue supports both a cruel and an afraid reading. A successful check reveals only that he listens to the count with his whole attention. A natural 20 reveals he has listened longer than he has been Grand Archon. Do not tell players which interpretation is correct. The party may also investigate rumors of a living prisoner beneath the court. Aldis Frost-Held can speak through a warm-air vent. Freeing her requires Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Thieves' Tools) and costs a day, advancing the clock by 1.
NextCourt ends with no verdict on Hjalmar's motives. Vigdis guides the party toward a dissident safe house, where the copied orders can finally be opened without an audience listening.
3:45
150 min
combat
4. The Current Turns Cold
The dissidents' safe house leads to the Pylon Hall, a round chamber of hot pylons, a central Siphon drop, and the grinding pull of the Siphon's intake.
At the safe house, Halli or Vigdis opens the orders. A Intelligence (History or Arcana) check reveals the likely consequences of a full draw: Anchor Terrace's seawall would go cold, its lifts would stop, and the population would have a winter to leave. A check also recognizes a pattern resembling the Concordat's hidden oath clause. The party chooses to destroy the orders, deliver them to the Ascendancy, or deliver them to the Concordat. Then resolve the Pylon Hall if the route in or out requires it. Each pylon destroyed records one Pylon Down. On the finishing beat, the Ember sheds the Black-Ice Cinder.
The Pylon HallNextAs the last order is read or the last guard falls, the Ember's light shifts toward Anchor Terrace. The party carries the Cinder onward while fleets, charts, or dissident networks begin to move.
Behind it
What people believe
Inquisitor-Dissident Vigdis Rime-Ward asks the party to enter the Siphon's domain, reach a secure location, and read a set of orders she refuses to carry out.
The route passes through guarded black-ice corridors and the court of Grand Archon Hjalmar Frost-Vein. A scribe may offer help, and rumors point to a living prisoner beneath the court. Once the orders are read, the party must decide whether to destroy them or entrust their warning to the Ascendancy or the Concordat. The journey ends with the party facing the Siphon's defenses and deciding who will be prepared for the Quarter-Turn.
Background
In the winter spanning 226 to 227 HC, the party reaches the Siphon's rim, where Monolith Omega and the Siphonwright's Crown loom above the Boiling Arc.
The Glacial Absolute contains a dissident faction that doubts the purpose of the ancient engine. Inquisitor-Dissident Vigdis Rime-Ward possesses sealed orders directing a full draw from the Warm Current at Anchor Terrace on the Quarter-Turn. The party must decide how to expose those orders while surviving the Absolute's scrutiny and the Siphon's lethal defenses.
The stakes
If the full draw proceeds at Anchor Terrace, the seawall will turn cold, the lifts will stop, and the people living there will face a winter to leave in.
The party's handling of the orders determines who is prepared and what advantage the Absolute brings to the Quarter-Turn. The choice must preserve the unresolved questions of the engine's purpose, Hjalmar's motives, and the third rhythm's identity.
Encounters
1The Pylon Hall
Combat
A circular chamber 100 feet across, with four pylons at the compass points, a 10-foot-wide drop to the Siphon at its center, and entrances at north, east, south, and west. The party enters from the south; the Sentinel initially guards the north door. Pylons have AC 18 and 80 hit points and are immune to cold, poison, and psychic damage.
Foes
Monolith Sentinel
Two Hearth-Quenchers
ComplicationFour active pylons pulse on initiative count 20. Each creature within 30 feet of an active pylon makes a DC 22 Constitution save or takes 4d8 cold damage, half on a success. A Quencher adjacent to a pylon restores 10 hit points to it each round. The 10-foot drop pulls creatures within 15 feet toward it on a failed DC 22 Strength save at the start of their turn. Falling in deals 10d10 cold damage and removes the creature from the fight until rescued with a DC 22 check on the next round.
ScalingFor three characters, remove one Hearth-Quencher. For five characters, add a Vent-Glass Colossus. The supplied benchmark is High for four level-19 characters. Destroying each pylon costs Hjalmar one Legendary Resistance in Act V, to a minimum of zero, and prevents Seal the Variable for that many rounds. If the Hour Is Set clock fills, all four pylons begin hot.
Cast
4Inquisitor-Dissident Vigdis Rime-Ward
QuestgiverQuestgiver and guide; an Absolute inquisitor who has turned against the orders she holds.
WantsVigdis wants the orders carried out only as far as safely needed to reveal their contents. She refuses to enable the planned draw and hopes the party will choose a way to warn or prepare the people at Anchor Terrace.
“I was told you would come alone. I am glad you did not.”
Watch-Captain Sigvald Hoar-Spear
Gatekeeper; a patient, thorough Deep Jotun-Kin veteran.
WantsSigvald wants to protect his people from infiltrators and keep his daughter, who lives on the Terrace, out of danger. His test is a genuine attempt to assess the party, not a simple loyalty ritual.
“Anyone can say they hate the Absolute. Tell me what you would give up to leave it.”
Halli Ink-Rime
Witness and potential ally; a human court scribe who may follow the party through the ice corridors.
WantsHalli has copied the orders from the court ledger. He is uncertain what they mean, fears both the Absolute and the consequences of disclosure, and wants to survive long enough to learn whether his doubts are justified.
“I copied the words because no one else would. If you want the truth, get me out of this dark alive.”
Grand Archon Hjalmar Frost-Vein
Antagonist and political power; his court audience is a tense social encounter, not a combat invitation.
WantsHjalmar Frost-Vein intends to carry out the draw, but his behavior admits more than one reading. He may be cruel, afraid, or driven by a motive that neither interpretation captures. Keep his true inner state unresolved.
“The warmth is not ours to spend.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
The Black-Ice Cinder, which completes the set of four Cinders when the other three are held.
A fragment of the Siphon-Breaker Greatsword.
One Wintersong Pass.
On a win
The party reads the orders, chooses what to do with them, and leaves the Siphon's rim with the Black-Ice Cinder.
Record Dissident Standing 5, the Wintersong Pass, the party's recipient choice and resulting Act V asset, the Hour Is Set clock, and the number of pylons destroyed. Advance the Count by 1 at the Act's close, plus any extra mark if the clock filled. The party reaches level 20. Do not resolve whether Hjalmar acts from cruelty or fear.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to earn three successes before two failures in Sigvald's test.
- The party loses a Favor, is searched, and The Hour Is Set advances by 1. Vigdis may still intervene, but the party's access to court becomes more closely watched.
- The party accumulates failures or spends enough time in Absolute territory to fill The Hour Is Set clock.
- The Hour Is Set advances by 1. At four segments, the Absolute moves the specified hour forward. At six, the Pylon Hall combat begins with all four pylons hot, and the Count gains an extra mark.
- The party fails to catch Halli during the corridor passage or leaves him behind after finding him.
- Halli is lost in the dark and raises the alarm. The clock advances by 1 if the alarm is raised. Without him, the party loses the safe-house lead unless Vigdis can supply another route.
- The party attacks Hjalmar in court or turns the audience into open violence.
- Hjalmar ends the audience with a gesture. The Sentinel arrests the party, who must escape through the Pylon Hall. Hjalmar's motive remains ambiguous.
- The party destroys the orders or fails to deliver them to either the Ascendancy or the Concordat.
- The relevant faction asset is not gained, and that faction does not receive the warning in time to prepare as described. The party still retains its knowledge and can pursue another route to alert others.
Complications (d6)
- 1A gust drives Siphon Wind through a shelter's open seam. Everyone outside must immediately make the Killing Cold Constitution save or take its stated consequences.
- 2A patrol finds fresh marks in the Mirror Gallery. Unless the party conceals the trail before moving on, the next failed corridor stage raises the alarm and advances The Hour Is Set by 1.
- 3Sigvald recognizes a name or token offered during his test and asks how the party obtained it. A convincing explanation can still count as one success; evasion risks a failure.
- 4A bell sounds beneath the court. Hjalmar falls silent for four breaths, and every character can feel the floor's pulse through their boots. The bell supplies no explanation of its source.
- 5A Quencher reaches a damaged pylon and begins restoring it. If not driven away or interrupted before the next round, the pylon regains 10 hit points.
- 6Halli is separated from the group by a closing ice door. The party can spend time freeing him, risking an hour's delay, or proceed without the safe-house lead.
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