Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner is a scenario for Third Level Player Characters and is both an archetypal scenario for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, and like both Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #8: The Land of the Eight Cities and Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #13: Treachery in the Beggar City before it, it takes the Player Characters far beyond the walls of the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes. However, it is less of a sourcebook than either of those scenarios, although it does expand the world of Nehwon. Inspired by two stories by Fritz Leiber, ‘Stardock’ and ‘The Snow Women’, it takes the Player Character far to the north to Gnamph Nar and then along the frozen banks of the Mangrishik River to the foot of the Trollstep Mountains, and then from there climb over a mountain pass and down into the Coldwaste. They are providing escort for the merchant-lord Arishot who has arranged to meet the Snow Clan’s at its midwinter camp at Cold Corner and purchase from the clan, a cache of gemestones. Not just rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, but also snow-diamonds, the fabled invisible gemstones said to be worth a king’s ransom. Of course, being good thieves and cutpurses, they have no intention of simply escorting Arishot there and back again to Lankhmar. Instead, this is an opportunity for larceny—and not just petty larceny—but it will be far from easy. Anyone carrying out such a theft is sure to earn the ire of the Snow Clan and it will not only attempt to get the gems back, but is sure to want to have its revenge too. So, anyone who can steal snow-diamonds from the Snow Clan, escape its clutches, and get back to Lankhmar is certain to earn a reputation worthy of any thief in the City of the Black Toga.
The scenario does really need a Player Character who is a Wizard as otherwise they will all be sorely tested throughout the scenario by the abominable weather they will be subject to in the second half. The adventure itself can begin into two ways. The Player Characters can either be hired by the Thieves’ Guild as members in good standing, or they can be thieves who just happened to be in the same dive when a band of Thieves’ Guild members in good standing got hired to do the job and thought they would try and get there first. Either way, the Player Characters will have another band of thieves to contend with throughout the scenario who will attempt to steal the hoard of gemstones before they do or steal it from the Player Characters once they have. The action really begins in Cold Corner, the midwinter camp of the Snow Clan. Here amongst the ice and snow, under the trees, the Player Characters will have to put up with loud and boisterous youths issuing challenges involving ribald rhymes, drunken merchants and drunken barbarians, and perhaps even their rivals lurking, ready to pounce, but worst of all—the women! Known as the Snow Witches, they suffer from both xenophobia and misandry, so men, particularly men from outside the clan are subject to their most severe ire. They also control the clan’s magic, so they are powerful as well.
Of course, once the Player Characters—or their rivals—have made the theft, in their eyes, the xenophobic and misandrist outlook of the Snow Clan’s Snow Witches has been proven correct. Of course, the satisfaction being proven that you are right is not going to be enough and as the Player Characters flee back up and over the Trollstep Mountains the way they came, the Snow Witches bring their most powerful magic down upon the miscreants. Over the course of three days, they are beset by a fiercesome storm of freezing ice and snow, impeding their flight and forcing them to find sufficient shelter should they freeze. Three such locations are described along the way—if they can recall where they were on the journey there (and doing so may require a little Luck to be expended)—as are the truly nasty weather conditions day and night and the menfolk who have been sent after them by the Snow Witches and are not expected to comeback without the gemstones or the bodies of the Player Characters. It is a nasty challenge from start to finish, but any Wizard in the party will have a chance to shine as his continued efforts can alleviate the very worst of the Snow Witches’ storms, whilst all of the Player Characters have opportunities to find some treasure and even strike back if they believe themselves to be capable.
In addition to the stats for the various NPCs, the scenario includes for the ‘Skald’s Challenge’, the rhyming battles consisting of spontaneous songs and poems. The Player Characters will probably be forced to engaged in one of these whilst in Cold Corner and will do so again during their flight south. This time though, the consequences are deadly.
Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner is a relatively short afair, probably lasting two sessions’ worth of play, perhaps three at most. If they succeed, it does leave the Player Characters rich—though not as rich as they might have hoped once a fence has had his cut—and thus subject to the attention of every other thief in Lankhmar. They might come away with one or two nice items in the meantime. Rounding out is another entry from ‘The Phlogistonic Eye Sees All!’, this time a report from Gen Con 2022, though not as good as the one detailed in The Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner is well presented. The artwork and cartography are both good, the artwork in particular, having a very frigid feel to it. That said, it would have been nice if the scenario had included a better map of the area where the adventure takes place and the route that the Player Characters are likely to take back over the mountains.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner is well presented. The artwork and cartography are both good, the artwork in particular, having a very frigid feel to it. That said, it would have been nice if the scenario had included a better map of the area where the adventure takes place and the route that the Player Characters are likely to take back over the mountains.
Unlike the earlier scenarios, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #8: The Land of the Eight Cities and Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #13: Treachery in the Beggar City, before it, in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner, the Player Characters are very unlikely to be going back since opportunities for crime are light on the ground and word their involvement in the theft from the Snow Clan is likely to spread. So it is much less of a sourcebook then the previous two scenarios. As a scenario, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #14: Thieves of Cold Corner provides a clash of cultures, temperatures, and temperaments for a more grueling experience than most adventures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. The players and their characters may find it just enough just to survive, but if they are clever and a little lucky, they might get a bit more adventure and reward in addition to their frostbitten extremities and a box of gemstones.
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