-  - `During the Age of Arcanum, this land was a vibrant continuation of the Veluthil Forest. However, stories speak of a great battle during the Calamity that violently dashed this region into rock and sand. Winter quickly reclaimed the new desert, the sands freezing over with northern ice and snow. Tall dunes glitter like piles of diamonds in the daylight, shifting with high winds and the movements of the remorhazes and frost worms that burrow and hunt beneath the sands. Nomadic clans of northern goblins form hunting parties and ride winter wolves, stalking the furred beasts that call these frosted dunes home. Other beings stay hidden to avoid the giant hawks and giant owls that fly over from the Flotket Alps in search of prey. In times of fresh snowfall, travel is extremely dangerous, since the soft powder obscures the shifting sands and ice-marked tunnels that lead to the gnashing jaws of the subterranean frost worms. Some travelers have speculated that, depending on the winds, great structures of forgotten epochs become partially revealed as the sands and frost are temporarily scattered, only to be swallowed up once more as the dunes shift in the next storm.` - ### Worshipers of the Worm - A tribe of wildfolk who worship Quajath are scattered across the northern fields of the Crystalsands, calling themselves the Mawcotters. They hunt by digging tunnels and caves in the sands and nearby rock, then lying in wait to spring when their quarry falls into the trap. These fanatical people make an annual journey across the treacherous Frigid Depths to the Eiselcross island of Gelier to mine flesh from the frozen body of Quajath. This meat is then brought back to the Crystalsands and ritualistically devoured by the leaders of these worm-cults, and by the young as a rite of adulthood. Fortunately for them, the flesh travels long enough before consumption to avoid the full wormkin transformation (see "[Tomb of the Worm](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/egtw/wildemount-gazetteer-eiselcross#TomboftheWorm)" later in this chapter). The Mawcotters eagerly seek a way to one day free their patron from its icy prison. - ### Crystalsands Tundra Adventures - Traversing these endless fields of frozen dust is a thrilling and dangerous journey for any adventurer. - __**Fair-Weather Friends (Mid Level).**__ While crossing the wind-swept snow dunes, the characters encounter three young [remorhazes](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/remorhaz) that do not attack. They are instead following Shwells (chaotic neutral, female, gnome [scout](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/scout)), who wields a recently scavenged pale, blue orb that keeps the creatures docile. She will not part with the orb and has grown attached to her monstrous companions, but characters with arcane knowledge will notice the orb is drawing more remorhazes to it from all across the tundra, and the magic that subdues the creatures appears to be rapidly fading.