Act I · The Ashen Glade
The Valcendre Glade
The ruined square where the Emberbearers lit their braziers.
The valley of Valcendre
Chronicles of ash
A fire older than kings, a valley where ash falls like snow, and a Winter that would put it all out. This is what the elders still tell.
Codex
The chronicles
The Mother Hearth
Beneath the glade of Valcendre smoulders a fire older than kings. No hand lit it, none ever fed it. As long as it burns, the valley lives; the elders said the ash falling like snow is its dreams.
The Emberbearers
Each carries on the heart a shard of the Hearth, the Alliance Ember. It warms, it guides, and it binds those who carry it: when one changes calling, the ember lends them its knowledge.
Ash falling like snow
It never truly snowed in Valcendre. What whitens the roofs is the ash of the Hearth. Since the Winter came it falls mixed with frost, and no one can tell anymore which one covers the other.
The charnel pit
The first dead of the Winter were thrown into a pit at the edge of the glade. The necromancers went down with thread of frost. What climbed back out no longer remembered being many.
Givrecombe
On the hill, the graveyard of Givrecombe kept the dead of the whole valley. The frost took it first. Its graves lie open, its bells ring on their own, and every path leads to the mausoleum.
The gravedigger
He knew every name carved on every stone. When the Winter came, he refused to let his dead go. Malgrim only had to promise him: they would never leave.
The Endless Winter
Malgrim’s Citadel hangs over the void, carved from ice that never melts. At the heart of the throne room burns a stolen fire: the captive Hearth, chained by frost. It is the last night: if it goes out before dawn, there will be no more dawns.
The fallen keeper
Malgrim watched over the Mother Hearth before they called him Lord of the Winter. He wanted to own it; the fire burned him to the bone, and the bone froze. He will never forgive an ember for being warm.
The ember rekindled
In the morning, the Mother Hearth drew breath again. The ash fell grey once more, without frost. Yet the Emberbearers know the Winter does not die: it waits beneath the snow for the fires to weaken.
The lost huntress
Vaelith shot farther than anyone in the valley. She went to track the first dead of the Winter and never came back. Today she is the one hunted, and she never misses.
Nights without end
Some Emberbearers do not go home after the victory. They stay in the glade night after night, facing ever more dead. People call them the Dawnless; they only say they are “on watch”.
The Marked
Some dead rise from the ground with a halo: the frost chose them and gave them a gift. The Emberbearers know them by their glow and strike them down first. They always leave a life orb behind.
The Alliance of Callings
An Emberbearer is neither warrior nor mage: they are what the ember asks them to be. The eldest change calling in the middle of a blow, and the ember follows, without a word.
The Pact of Winter
The hardest expeditions are prepared like a pact: caution is given up so that the Winter, facing you, gives everything. Those who come back do not tell what they saw. They light a fire again, that is all.
The expedition
Places
Act II · The Twilight of Bones
Givrecombe, the Frozen Graveyard
A hillside graveyard seized by frost. The dead no longer sleep there.
Act III · The Eternal Winter
Malgrim’s Citadel
The fortress of Winter, hanging over the void. At the heart of the throne room, the captive Hearth still burns.
The lords of Winter
Bestiary
What the Emberbearers have learnt from the dead of Winter. The anecdotes, you will have to earn in game.
Lords
Gorrhak, the Greater Abomination
Gorrhak, the Greater Abomination, master of the glade’s charnel pit. Bile tanks strapped to his back, butcher hooks at his belt.
Weak point His hook aims at the farthest hero: roll as he throws. His charge is drawn on the ground, step off the line.
The Warden of Tombs
The Warden of Tombs, a colossus of stone and frost bound to the mausoleum of Givrecombe. His shovel digs, his hands freeze, his bell tolls the Knell.
Weak point When the Knell tolls, the wave of frost crosses everything: roll as it reaches you, or put a tomb between it and you.
Malgrim, the Eternal Winter
Malgrim on his throne, in his true form: broken crown, bare soul. He freezes the hall, shatters it to pieces and readies a last breath that spares only the Hearth’s surroundings.
Weak point When the hall freezes, stay near the Hearth and break its chains of ice to push back the frost. When it shatters, stay on the platforms and, at the Last Breath, gather in the golden circle.
Malgrim, Lord of Winter
Malgrim, Lord of the Winter. His crown of ice commands the dead of the valley, his crystal sceptre snuffs out fires.
Weak point His Nova charges for a long time: leave the circle. At range he throws a frost lance that tracks its target, roll at the last moment.
Vaelith, the Archer Lich
Vaelith, the Archer Lich. Wings of shadow, a crown of violet frost and a bow of bone: she strikes from afar and never lets anyone close.
Weak point The Black Arrow is slow and seeks its target: an obstacle stops it. Stay on her: she has to teleport to regain her distance.
Undead
Ravenous Ghoul
Starving dead, the first to crawl out of the pits of Valcendre. They run on all fours when their prey slips away.
Weak point Frail: one area strike mows down several at once. Never turn your back on them, they sprint as soon as they lose sight of you.
Skeleton Warrior
Warriors of the old guard, raised by the frost with blade and shield. They leap at anyone who keeps their distance.
Weak point Their leap shows coming: a red circle marks the ground. Step aside, then strike while they recover.
Risen Skeleton
Bones hastily raised by necromancers and liches. They do not think: they advance.
Weak point Kill whoever calls them. Without their master they fall quickly and give little.
Skeleton Archer
Skeleton crossbowmen who aim at the most isolated hero of the party, and lead their movements.
Weak point An obstacle between you forces them to lob their bolts, more slowly. Stay together: they prefer lone prey.
Frozen Wraith
Frozen souls floating above the snow, faster than anything that walks.
Weak point Little life: ember ends them in a breath. A freeze stops them dead.
Cult Necromancer
The priests of the Cult of Winter. They cast bolts of shadow and raise the bones around them.
Weak point Target them first: every second they live means two more skeletons. They flee close combat.
Bloated Carrion
A corpse bloated with bile that drags itself towards you, swells, then bursts.
Weak point When it swells, leave the bile circle. Brought down from afar, it bursts without hurting anyone.
Stitched Abomination
Stitched flesh around a heart of ice. Every blow of an Abomination shakes the ground.
Weak point Its slam is announced by a red circle in front of it: roll out of the zone, strike its back.
Frozen Gravedigger
The gravediggers of Givrecombe are still digging. They dive under the frozen earth and come out behind the loneliest hero, then sow frost traps in their path.
Weak point Stay together: he targets whoever strays. His exit is announced by a circle on the ground, and his traps glow: go around the blue runes.
Banshee
Dead mourners floating between the tombs. Their wail chills the blood and sends the bravest fleeing.
Weak point The wail charges inside a lilac circle: get out before it bursts. Little life, she falls quickly under your blows.
Frost Knight
Malgrim’s elite guard: knights who died beneath the ice and rose again in their armour. Their great shield stops almost every blow struck from the front.
Weak point Go around it: from the flank or the back, nothing stops you. Fire melts its shield (three hits, or the Melt reaction on a frozen knight); stunned, it lowers its guard.
Iceweaver
Weavers of frost who raise walls of ice in the middle of the fray to split the party, then pelt stragglers with slowing bolts.
Weak point Its walls are announced by a row of blue circles. Fire melts them in three hits; otherwise they crumble on their own after a few seconds. Little health: go and get it.
Bone Totem
Bone stakes planted by the necromancers, crowned with a soul crystal. While they stand, the graves give up their dead.
Weak point Motionless and defenceless: strike them first, the skeletons they raised crumble with them.
Elites
Some of the dead bear a mark of Winter: an affix, read from the shape of the shards in their halo.
Swift
+40% movement speed.
Elites faster than their kin, who never let you catch your breath.
Weak point A slow or a freeze brings them back to the others’ pace.
Freezing
Its blows slow you down.
Their blows freeze the blood: every wound slows you down.
Weak point Ember melts frost: Fire attacks burn them harder than it seems.
Summoner
Raises skeletons.
Elites who raise skeletons around them as long as they stand.
Weak point Their call shows: a green circle on the ground. Interrupt them or kill them before the second handful of bones.
Volatile
Releases a frost nova when it dies.
When they die, a frost nova bursts after a short moment.
Weak point When they fall, get out of the blue circle before it closes.
Guardian
Shields its nearby allies.
They shield nearby allies with a ward that soaks up blows.
Weak point Kill the guardian first: its wards only last a few seconds without it.
Stalker
Teleports next to heroes who keep their distance.
Elites who vanish and reappear next to heroes who keep their distance.
Weak point Their arrival is announced by a pink circle: leave it, then strike while they reform.