“ The villages around the capital have a strange new disease cropping up. Spread by a fungus (much like ergot poisoning), it causes its victims to be very sensitive to sunlight. Hundreds of peasants are hiding from the sun, only coming out in the darkness to labor in the fields. Unfortunately, rumor makes their behavior sound more sinister and secretive than it really is.”
“ The Yugzhee, or 'hedgehog-people', guard a great, secret treasure inside their giant burrowed lair. The mysterious Wall of Keys, a 12'x10', foot-thick, cold-iron, 'wall', upon which, on iron hooks, hang 100 ornate iron keys of all shapes and sizes. Each key opens some heretofore un-openable barrier, door, or gate, in the particular game world of choice.
The PCs have come upon a great boon, except for the fact that the keys cease to function properly if separated from the iron wall for more than a few minutes. Higher level characters will be able to figure out how to take the wall 'with them' via magic. Lower level characters will have to get creative.”
“ Far to the north amidst the endless ice-flows it is rumored that a dwarven Walrus Totem clan exists. These rumors have been unsubstantiated to date, unless the dwarven sage Glurt Goblinguts is to be believed. He claims to once having encountered a troupe of huge dwarves, each standing a beard's length higher than the tallest known dwarf. These dwarven 'giants', their hairy chins crusted with frozen shards of ice and dirt, hauled gargantuan yellowed horns or tusks upon their wide shoulders, and their helms, likewise, sported massive, down-ward pointing tusk-horns. Glurt Goblinguts later speculated that the impressive size of these dwarves was most likely due to their arctic diets, almost exclusively fat-based.”