Raid the lair of the ruthless white dragon Challidax in an effort to end a blistering heat wave! In Shivering Death, an adventure from Dragon Delves, you'll have to contend with the environment, formidable monsters, and warring factions to reach your goal.

As rivals plot and ancient secrets thaw, you’ll uncover chances to turn your enemies against each other—or forge uneasy alliances. Will it be enough to make it out alive?

Warning! This article contains minor spoilers for the Shivering Death adventure in Dragon Delves.

• Shivering Death Adventure Overview
• Dungeons, Dragons, and Dangerous Discussions
• The Art of Shivering Death
• DM Prep for Dragon Delves Adventures

Shivering Death Adventure Overview

Artist: Ed Kwong

Character level: 11
Location: Characters will explore the lair of an Adult White Dragon—a series of icy caves set into hills or mountains. The quest giver can be found in any rural community near the cave complex.
Themes: Dungeon exploration, alliance-making and social gamesmanship, intense combat encounters.

Adventure Premise

A terrible heat wave is drying up the land and devastating crops, but a sage believes she's found a solution.

Long ago, a frost giant druid developed a powerful ritual to impose an ice age on this area, but he was frozen by a white dragon in her lair before he was able to cast the spell. Grahlista, the sage who sends your party on a quest, believes that performing this ritual will cancel out the current unprecedented heat wave.

The characters must infiltrate the dragon's lair, locate the body of the frost giant druid, and obtain his ritual, then get out in one piece.

But how will the party react when they discover that they aren't the only ones interested in the dragon and her frozen prize?

Dungeons, Dragons, and Dangerous Discussions

Artist: Ed Kwong

Once they enter the cave complex, characters will quickly learn that a group of frost giants has already arrived at the lair—and then promptly split into two factions, one inclined to slay Challidax and the other hoping to ally with her. While a few frost giants are happy to chat, others will attack on sight, so the party must be prepared for tough fights from the moment they enter the lair!

This adventure focuses on action and exploration while still providing plenty of opportunity to trick, parley with, or outwit opponents. It will feel like any sort of beast, ally, or treasure could be behind the next corner as they encounter Ice Mephits, Winter Wolves, and Frost Giants, and even more dangerous foes.

Will the party attempt to make a deal with Challidax, disrupt her budding alliance with some of the frost giants, or ally themselves with the frost giants looking to slay her? And can they end this catastrophic heat wave before it's too late?

White Dragons: Savage, Survival-Focused Predators

White dragons are among the most primal of dragonkind. Survival-oriented and brutal apex predators, they inhabit frigid climates and are motivated by their next meal as much as their next conquest. Sporting vicious claws and teeth, scales as thick as a tundra's permafrost, and an icy cold breath weapon, they freeze fallen foes and their treasures into icy sculptures to decorate their lair.

This adventure's white dragon is Challidax, an Adult White Dragon with a ravenous appetite and very little patience for intruders. Challidax, also known as Shivering Death, is a cruel and vain dragon who passes the time by admiring her own trophy collection of defeated foes. She is cunning, but can be outwitted or potentially bargained with by a clever party. When portraying a white dragon, I try to imagine how a shark might behave if it could speak and revel in its own savagery.

The Art of Shivering Death

Artist: Ed Kwong

Shivering Death is a deadly adventure that forces players into an unforgiving environment: the home of the remorseless and ravenous white dragon. Ed Kwong's art brings players straight into this treacherous lair, capturing the calm, assured hostility of a dragon lying in ambush in the adventure's illustrations. The art’s color scheme reinforces this effect, using almost monochromatic shades of icy blue to evoke the frozen chill of the dragon's realm.

The chapter's art goes on to immerse players in a harsh and frigid setting, where bones of long-eaten prey and weapons of fallen adventurers litter the cavern floor. Kwong's work also clearly understands body language and posture; his trolls, wolves, and white dragons all appear sincerely eager for violence.

In addition, Kwong's work incorporates the white dragon's new design from the Monster Manual in his storybook-style depictions. Challidax's head features the white dragon's signature ridged horns and blunted snout, giving the dragon the appearance of being able to brute-force its way through tough enemies, hard-packed snow, and thick ice.

DM Prep for Dragon Delves Adventures

This adventure channels the classic, perilous feel of a dungeon crawl while incorporating dangerous environmental conditions. At level 11, this adventure is in a higher tier of play, giving characters the chance to try out some of their more epic abilities while facing down tougher foes.

As characters fight or sneak their way through the icy lair, the threat of a hostile and highly territorial dragon is ever-present, forcing characters to play smart or end up as an icicle!

As the Dungeon Master, you'll want to keep the possibility of danger at the forefront of players' minds. Challidax herself assists you here, as she's decorated her lair with the frozen corpses of her foes, providing a chilling warning of what might await them. Most of the adventure takes place in this one location, helping ensure you don't have to spend too much time preparing to run the adventure. When you need to refresh yourself on key plot points, stat blocks, or NPCs, you can use the handy reference charts provided at the start of the adventure.

If you'd like to slot this adventure into your existing campaign, maybe on a week where you need a break from doing much prep, this adventure can fit into nearly any setting. The quest giver, Grahlista, can be from any rural community near hills or mountains, making this adventure an easy side quest as your party travels from one town to another. If you prefer to run all of the Dragon Delves adventures as one big campaign, the first chapter provides specific suggestions.

Delve into Draconic Adventures!

Dragon Delves presents a collection of ten ready-to-play adventures that put dragons front and center at your table.

Each type of dragon brings a unique tone to their adventure: Some are light and silly mysteries with heavier investigation and roleplay, while others—like Shivering Death—emphasize an intense threat of danger and action-packed exploration.

Able to meet any table's preferences, Dragon Delves boasts adventures with every type of metallic and chromatic dragon, from level 1 to level 12. Get your copy today and start your next draconic adventure!

Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerûn, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.