The Village of Whitewall - 2d6 Encounters in the Crevasse

As detailed in this post, the village of Whitewall sits atop a glacier, near a large crevasse where steam from a geothermal vent allows access to the ground far below. In the pale blue light at the bottom of the crevasse some moss and lichens grow, which were, until recently, the village’s only local source of edible plant matter. Steam and toxic gases collect, and many pickers have been poisoned or cooked alive. Many others have simply been crushed by falling ice, or most commonly, fall to their deaths climbing the ice walls of the crevasse. The townsfolk make days-long expeditions into the chasm to cultivate these lichens and sell them in the town above, staying in lean-tos and huts at the bottom so as to minimize dangerous treks to and from the surface.

There are newly-discovered copper deposits in a cave below ground, and a small mining operation has sprung up in recent years. A larger shanty town has sprung up around the mine entrance as well, where once there was only the makeshift dwellings of Whitewall’s lichen pickers. Work in the mine is slow, as only the most desperate will go underground, and workers must be brought in from distant towns.

Most recently, deposits of a mysterious ore that glows a sickly orange when struck have been discovered in the mine, and news of this has started to filter out into the wider world. Strange characters are beginning to show up in the village, looking for the ore.

2d6 Encounters in the Crevasse

2	3d4 mine guards, dressed in ragged armour in various states of disrepair. They will waylay the party if they don’t offer a bribe.
3	A miner, a bloody gash on her arm. Frustrated and clearly hurt, she speaks to a few assembled miners, arguing that they are putting their lives in danger for wages that are far too low. Others stand back and look on nervously.
4	Moss pickers sit around a small fire, cooking salted reindeer meat with dried lichen in a stew pot. They offer the party some food.
5	A miner, rappelling down the ice wall, loses his grip and falls a great distance. He does not move after hitting the ground.
6	Whitewall’s sheriff stops the party. The sheriff sells passes into town for the miners. Miners caught in town without one are jailed overnight. He sets the price at whatever he likes. He also decides who he thinks is a miner, and who isn’t.
7	Two haulers, loaded with ore, scale the crevasse walls more deftly than seems possible.
8	A man lies bleeding from a wound on his head. If woken up he claims he has discovered a way to harness the energy of the thermal vents on the crevasse floor. He was experimenting with his invention when someone struck him.
9	Miners come running out of the mine, screaming, some of them bloodied. They are followed by 2d6 Fire Beetles, which move at half speed once out of the mine, unable to tolerate the cold above ground.
10	Icefall! An enormous shard separates from the crevasse wall. When it hits the ground it strikes a geothermal vent. Steam erupts, killing several lichen pickers nearby. Players must save (DEX or other appropriate save) to avoid 2d4 STR damage.
11	A stranger in strange clothes wanders through the shanty town, asking anyone who will answer about the mysterious glowing stones.
12	Poison gas! Players must save (DEX or other appropriate save) to avoid 2d4 damage and becoming deprived.