Lac Dinneshere
Lac Dinneshere (alternatively spelled Lac Dinnershear) is a remote, ice-bound lake located in the frozen, windswept reaches of Icewind Dale. Situated near the unique Firbolg settlement of Kuldahar, it is a place steeped in ancient magic, draconic secrets, and the forgotten legacy of the legendary hero Hrothgar Hillsfar (now known as the adventurer Farwald).
Geography and Surrounding Environment
Lac Dinneshere is a vast, frozen, mountainous lake nestled deep within the glaciers of the far north. On its shores lies the settlement of East Haven, while the town of Targos sits at the freezing entrance to the Dale.
Not far from the lake lies Kuldahar, a major Firbolg community famous for its enormous world tree. Created by Diancastra, the favored daughter of the giant All-Father, Annam, this colossal tree exists outside the constraints of the traditional giant ordning. Regional clans, particularly Firbolgs and other giant-kin, protect the tree and isolate the storm giants dwelling in the neighboring mountains. The local clans preach balance between three deities: Othea (the mother goddess of nature, community, and home), Diancastra (the goddess of trickery), and Torvik (the sleeping father of giant-kin and god of ice and wind, whom the wider world knows as Ulutiu).
This majestic landscape is immortalized in historical artistry. The central chamber of the Dragon Barrow features an ancient stone carving whose fourth panel depicts Uther Vendrock and Elminster Aumar standing outside a tomb on the shores of this frozen, mountainous lake, with Kuldahar’s colossal world tree rising in the background.
Hrothgar’s Tomb and the White Dragon Mask
The lake’s most highly guarded secret lies hidden on its shores: Hrothgar’s empty grave. This tomb was built for Hrothgar Hillsfar—a 3.2-meter-tall Firbolg skald and cleric of Kuldahar who served as a storyteller, traveler, and diplomat of the regional clans. Following the war against the chromatic dragons, Hrothgar chose to have his memory wiped by Elminster Aumar using a powerful combination of Modify Memory and True Polymorph, transforming him into the human adventurer Farwald to protect the secret coordinates of the dragon masks.
To ensure absolute secrecy, Hrothgar never actually visited his own completed tomb. Only two people—Elminster Aumar and Uther Vendrock—attended the funeral and burial on the shores of Lac Dinneshere, preventing anyone else from discovering where the artifact was hidden.
Buried deep within this tomb is the White Dragon Mask, one of five powerful artifacts constructed 300 years ago by Hrothgar and his legendary companions (including Elminster, Lady Tanager Alagondar, Esfaloth Nightbreeze, Gorion of Candlekeep, Kiara Shadowbreaker, and Uther Vendrock) to defeat a coalition of destructive chromatic dragons.
Cryovain’s Binding and Escape
The bearer of the White Dragon Mask wields the power to directly influence and control white dragons, specifically Cryovain, the Everfrost. The heroes originally trusted the natural warmth of Kuldahar’s world tree to counter Cryovain’s icy environmental decay, commanding him to remain in his northern lair in the Throat of the World Mountains.
However, in recent years, Cryovain seized his opportunity to escape. He fled south to terrorize the Sword Mountains.
The Journey to the Lac
With the war between Neverwinter and Luskan formally declared, and the threat of the dragons rising, the current generation of heroes has set their sights on the frozen shores of Lac Dinneshere to recover the true White Dragon Mask before the Cult of the Dragon can claim it. To assist them, the ancient druid Esfaloth Nightbreeze (known also as Reidoth) has offered to guide them as far as the Silverwood and the northern edges of the Neverwinter Wood, leaving the companions to chart a path north through Targos or East Haven to reach the shores of the frozen lake.