Icewind Dale

Cold. Dark. Bleak. Forlorn. Deadly. These words describe Icewind Dale on the best of days in the height of summer, but these are not the best of times, and summer has not come to the 'Dale for two years. The sun no longer appears above the mountains at all, and noon brings instead of warmth a sickly light that could only generously be described as gloom. At night a strange aura weaves between clouds and stars. Blizzards are frequent and have all but closed the passes over the mountains known as the Spine of the World, preventing caravans from the civilized south from bringing supplies and news into the region. With the drop-off in traders, and no end in sight to winter, the scattering of settlements known as Ten Towns are isolated and frightened, and the Dalefolk are holding on in any way they can, as they have for generations.