Frostmarch

Frostmarch
Category	Locations
Type	Overland
Lost Zone entrance	The Shrouded Woods The Bone Orchard The Hollow Heart Bal Duum
Connected zone	Reaver Woods

The Frostmarch is the ancestral home of the Woodwen, a culture rooted in ancient primal magic. The Woodwen fiercely resisted the Avar Imperium's expansion, but in the last century the Woodwen king allowed a group of Avar settlers to establish a peaceful lumber community, Deepwood Holt. This resulted in a decade of uneasy coexistence, balanced carefully by the Reeve (or headman) of the Holt. When the Gloom struck, the Holt was cut off from the Empire. A brutal new threat appeared: the Reavers, ruthless warriors who slew any Avar who ventured too far outside the Holt. For the last year, the colonists huddled in the heart of the Holt, struggling to survive. Now that a Wayfinder has connected the Balefire of Deepwood Holt and the Beacon of Skylight, the majority of the survivors have evacuated to Skylight. The Seekers have posted a Warden and a small team to explore the region, protect the handful of colonists that remain, and salvage what they can. As for the Woodwen, they haven't been seen since the Gloomfall, and may have been destroyed by the Reavers.

Map

Bee's Frostmarch Map

Pending generation, Deepwood Holt map is "out of date" to current version of game.

Enemies

Astral Zephyr

Boss

Fallen Greedlord

Boss

Kindled Heartwood

Boss

Notable NPCs

Graymourn

Quest

Warden Rust

Quest

Seeker Avala

Quest

Events

Astral Ascension

Main article: Astral Ascension

Initiated by inserting 4 Star Shards into the pillars found between the Betrayer's Blade and Cindered Village. Summons a portal to the Astral Zephyr.

Seed of Corruption

Main article: Seed of Corruption

Found East of the Cindered Village in Frostmarch. This event is the only way to find the Kindled Heartwood.

Reaver Traps

Main article: Reaver Traps

Disable several Reaver Traps and summon The Trapper.

Everburning Village

Main article: Everburning Village

Found in the Cindered Village in Frostmarch. Ignite 4 flaming sigils within the village and summon the Everburnt Apostle.

Summoning Circle

Main article: Summoning Circle

Event found in the Imperial Mill in Frostmarch. Disable the Hollow arms and defeat the Hollow Witch.

Defend Fort Koken

Main article: Defend Fort Koken

Event found in Fort Koken in Frostmarch. Defend the fort from the Reaver assault and kill Kahl Vuul.

Reaver Gauntlet

Main article: Reaver Gauntlet

Found in the northern part of the Orchard's Threshold in Frostmarch. Survive the Gauntlet and defeat the Key Master, The Trapper and Kahl Vuul.

Gloom Incursion

Main article: Gloom Incursion

Found west of the Cindered Village and north-west of Betrayer's Blade in Frostmarch. Dark Star meteorites fall to our world and summon creatures of the gloom.

Landmarks

Ritual Stones

This standing stone dates back to the time of the Stonegren, an ancient tribe that has since faded to obscurity. Skilled in stonecraft, scholars believe they built monuments atop junctures of ley lines throughout their lands to honor the local spirits.

Bal Duum

The Sunken Road was avoided by the settlers of Deepwood Holt. Before the appearance of the Breach here, the road led into the ancient mine of Bal Duum—a cursed place shunned by the Woodwen long before the Empire came to these lands.

The Bone Orchard

The Bone Orchard was the haven of the Woodwen people. Functioning as residence, sanctuary, and shrine, here the tribe worked to preserve the natural balance in the Frostmarch and prepared rituals to cleanse the spirits of the land. Some months before the Fall, the nearby settlement of Deepwood reported a chorus of screams could be heard from within.

Bitterwind Hollow

It is said the witch, Graymourn, came to these lands when its forests were still saplings scattered across the snow. Few have seen the inside of her sanctum, Bitterwind Hollow. The settlers here claim she performs dark rituals within. Whatever the truth, it is the Reavers' fear of her that has kept them from overrunning Deepwood Holt thus far.

Boreal Ridge

Near the turn of the century, the Avar Imperium committed vast resources to the settling of the Westreach. The Imperium hoped new footholds in the region might drive Mazen forces back toward the Pyrolith. When their settlers first reached the Frostmarch, they spotted the site that would one day become Deepwood Holt atop this very ridge.

Deepwood Holt

Before the Fall, Deepwood Holt was primarily a logging settlment. Supplied weekly by the intercontinental Avar Express, the lumber stripped from the Frostmarch became instrumental in fueling the Imperium's expansionist efforts. Now, the Holt is a husk. And what few survivors remain have fled in silence.

Church of the Open Flame

This church featured in many stories of the latter half of the Imperial expansion into the Frostmarch. Like many Avar structures in the area, this church was built atop spiritual sites once important to the indigenous tribes of the region. Even in initial skirmishes, however, the Woodwen kept a distance from the stonework here. In the years to come, the Avar church fell several times to sudden and unexplainable infernos. After the third fire, the settlers abandoned the site. Though it is said embers still linger.

Fort Koken

This Imperial outpost once held a modest garrison to keep the peace between Woodwen and Avar settlers. In the months before the Fall, lookouts reported seeing strange lights at night from the direction of the Heart of the Woods.

Imperial Mill

This sawmill represented an important step in the modernization of the Westreach. The intercontinental railway shipped resources to and from the most advanced cities in the Empire, including desperately needed lumber for the imperial war machine. A month after the mill's shipments went quiet, it was reported Maze forces stormed the trenches of Whitemarsh, rolling over the Imperials with relative ease.

Sinner's Grove

Avar church writings indicate that these trees were once called the Khetayan Grove, a sacred spot to the Woodwen. Their exact practices here were not so much shrouded in mystery as buried in misinformation. Though the Woodwen's rites here were antithetical to Avar Creed, the ceasefire struck with Aturach the Deathless forbade the settlers from interfering.

Shrine of the Fallen Scribe

Shortly after the Order of the Silver Codex's founding, a schism formed in the heart of the Codex. Convinced their leader was more interested in the mysteries of creation rather than recording the Architects' glory, the Second Scribe and his closest adherents abandoned the Order, determined to found their own sect.

Hovels of the Mad

It is difficult to tell what remains of the minds of the Reavers, but a glimpse of that darkness can be seen in the shelters they create. They understand tough wooden structures are necessary to keep captives, but give little thought to shelter or comfort. If they can't value a prisoner long enough to break their spirit in interrogations, then perhaps there are other cracks in their understanding of the enemy.

Balefire

It is theorized that the Great Powers—the Dominion of the Seven Winds, the Avar Imperium, and the Maze—came to power largely due to their leveraging of the Beacons at the hearts of their cities. Though the Beacon's true purpose remains a mystery, the Arcane Lords of the Dominion came to believe some form of connection persists between the structures, carried by the network of Balefires and their lesser Signal Fires throughout the world.

The Intercontinental Avar Express

A railway powered by Godsblood, the Avar Express spanned most of the Empire at its height. Its name was the subject of some controversy, as the Avar peoples were not the only citizens of the Empire, and it was in-fact the laborers of vassal states that laid most of the tracks. The Empire's legions quelled many riots after the train's maiden voyage, giving rise to the derogatory nickname for the railway, the Imperial Blood Line.

Conquerer's Shard

When the Kingdom of Ashes was still new, The Conquering Sun gifted shards of his providence so that each land might flourish beneath his light. It is said when the shard atop these mountains split, the meadows here turned to frost.

Burning Village

The atrocities committed in this place have been burned into the soil. Whatever this village once was has gone. In its place, spirits have flocked to the flames becoming twisted and charred. In times past, the people of the forest performed rituals, reenacting the acts which scarred their lands to draw out and face the corruption. In their absence, the fire's hunger grows.

The Shrouded Woods

Although the woods nearest Deepwood Holt have yet to collapse completely into the Gloom, it is clear their corruption is only a matter of time. Omen believes their proximity to the nearby Balefire has protected them, to a lesser extent, much like the Beacon shields Skylight. Still, each day the darkness grows, and the natural life within is driven further toward frenzy.

The Hollow Heart

The Woodwen believed the Heart of the Woods was not a place but a power. Only their chosen mystics were allowed to enter the Heart and commune with the Ancient slumbering within. Their possessed tribe, the fallen spirits, and even the tainted wildlife in the Frostmarch stem from The Hollow Heart's corruption—the final result of a vendetta held since the dawn of the world.

Betrayer's Blade

In the oldest pages of the Silver Codex, it is written, the betrayers were lured into their creator's design—a star which blackened the sky. From the heavens their swords fell and pierced the land. A torrent of scars to mark the war's end.