The Western Arc: Sunstead Pass, Thornfold & the Pale Steps¶
West of Coldhollow's trail-country the world keeps going — up. Past the kobold warren, the Sunstead Pass crosses to Thornfold, the last inhabited hearth in the west; above Thornfold the Daykeepers' ruined ridge-house, Sunstead Abbey, keeps its terrible appointment; and behind the abbey the Sunstead Steps climb the headwall to the Pale Steps — the glacier shelf, the Frostmaidens' country, and the sealed western door of Hammerdeep.
This is the first arc where the mountain itself is an adversary: real climbing pitches with real falls. Read CLIMB — and buy the rope.
Getting there¶
From Coldhollow take the Frostspine Trail west (the level 1–4 starting ground) all the way up past the Wolf Den Approach, then WEST at the Western Cairn. The cairn's board says the rest: the pass is open, the pass does not care, turn back proud.
The ladder, in order of appearance:
| Stretch | Levels | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Sunstead Pass | 11–13 | crag cats, scree vipers, reivers (locked boxes) |
| Thornfold | — | Safe hamlet: outfitter, furrier, healer, inn, bounties |
| Daybreak Road & Sunstead Abbey | 13–16 | the unquiet dead; ethereal things; the Graven Sacrist |
| The Sunstead Steps | any | five climbing pitches, difficulty 40→60 — falls are real |
| The Pale Steps shelf | 18–26 | hoar-cats, pale trolls, the frost-sworn, Mother Rime |
| The High Shelves & the Under-Ice | 26–32 | north off the Rimefield: rime-hulks, ice-augers, the frost-sworn's elders, the glacier's interior, the dark-elf margins, the Western Door |
A level-11 party can hunt the pass from Thornfold. The abbey wants 13+ and the right weapons (below). The shelf is top-rung country — the surface rival to the Deep Delvings — and the High Shelves above it carry the ladder to 32.
Thornfold — the last hearth¶
A crofter hamlet of turf hovels behind a blackthorn hedge: thirty-one souls, four hundred years, no intention of leaving.
- Reeve Maud Fell (the hovels): outfitter — hobnailed fell-boots and climbing spikes (ice grip), rope, lanterns, wool, food, and the sun-faded itinerary (READ it: the whole arc, annotated). Buys skins at 135 — best west of the river. Posts bounties on the pass's predators and reivers; ask her for WORK.
- Lay-sister Aldith (the hearthhouse): healer. The hearthhouse fire is the region's resting place — die in the west and you wake on her sheepskins. CHECK IN for the loft (training room).
- Sister Brunna (the green): once a month she carries lamp-oil up to the abbey gate. ESCORT her — the road is level 13–16 and she pays like she knows it.
The hamlet leaves a bowl of porridge at the fold gate at first snow. Ask nobody. (See Mother Rime, and don't.)
Sunstead Abbey — the tables still set¶
Abandoned mid-meal in 889 SR; the refectory is laid for forty under two centuries of dust, and Prior Aldous — the patient ghost — still sits at the head of the table, courteous, translucent, and extremely well informed. Talk to him. He gives WORK, and he remembers everything the Sacrist did.
Arm correctly. The abbey's dead follow the undead rules: no bleeding them out, and the hollow vestments and the Graven Sacrist are ethereal — mundane steel passes clean through. Bring enchanted or virtue-forged steel, a BLESS, or holy conviction. The Sacrist's rare drop is the dawn-gilt mace — white orichalcum, +8, and its holy flare wakes against the undead: the abbey's own relic is the tool for its cleansing.
- The Dawnhearth (east chapel): a greater recovery node deep in hostile country. The fire has no keeper. Rest anyway; it insists.
- The bell tower is the region's deed shrine: climb the ladder (difficulty 40 — the fall is to the nave floor) and RING BELL with a deed on your heart. Deeds are earned up here.
- The lychfield graves have been turned to face west. The wiki declines to speculate. The Prior will not.
The Sunstead Steps — mountains you fall off of¶
Five named pitches up the headwall behind the abbey: the First Stair, the Sunwarmed Ledge (a recovery node — the one kind spot on the wall), the Chimney, the Cornice, and the Rim. Difficulty runs 40 → 60. A badly failed climb is a fall: you land at the bottom of the pitch — or, on the open face and the Cornice, at the bottom of two pitches — prone, hurt, and in real roundtime. A bad enough fall from a high enough face can kill.
Train Climbing. Wear the hobnailed fell-boots or climbing spikes (they also grip the shelf's blue ice above). The abbey's chiseled advice stands at every stance, and the last one reads: THE MOUNTAIN IS NOT FINISHED WHEN YOU ARE.
The Pale Steps shelf¶
Levels 18–26, and the first surface hunting to rival the Deep Delvings' top rung: hoar-cats (pelt 110), pale trolls (hide 135), unkindled wretches (boxes), glimmer-ice stalkers (the glimmer pelt, 185), and the frost-sworn cantors (tier-5 boxes) who sing Mother Rime's offices along the wind gallery.
- Ozzel's moraine camp: the highest shop in the west. Salvaged arms — a full rack, swords to pikes to scale — plus rope and bread, and he buys skins at 130. The wretches walk wide of his fire. Don't ask; he won't.
- Blue ice is a footing hazard (icy ground), on top of everything else. Spikes.
- Mother Rime holds court at the field's western end: level 26, the eldest Frostmaiden, and the current summit of the surface game. Her rime-veil (300s) does not melt.
Past the court, under the western spur, stands Hammerdeep's West Postern — dwarf-work, sealed these thirty generations, and not opening today. The knocker is right there. The runes say knock in need, and be able to prove the need. The frost-sworn keep clear of the forecourt, which is either etiquette or advice.
Survival notes¶
- The palesteps region begins around the saddle: THINK, escapes, and respawn are all Thornfold-bound past that line. Deaths east of the seam wake in Coldhollow's chapel.
- The pass reivers carry locked boxes (tiers 3–4); the frost-sworn carry tier 5. Bring your lockpicks or your locksmith budget.
- Skinning ladder: crag cat 55 → hoar-cat 110 → pale troll 135 → glimmer pelt 185 → rime-veil 300. Maud (135) and Ozzel (130) buy; Brinemoot's scale-buyer (145) still pays best if you want to haul it east.
- Everything on this road is easier at dawn. That is not superstition. It is the founding charter.