From the beginning of the adventure:
The winters are harsh in these northern realms, but you have been forced to get used to it over these past few weeks as you have taken a job guarding caravans travelling along the trade route from Sturovf to Surrig. It is a poorly paid job, but it was the only one available in Surrig, where you found yourself after following a known felon to these northerly lands. You captured him, finally, and handed him over to the authorities, but you did not have enough money to pay for a coach trip back to the lands of your birth. Hence, the boring job on pitiable pay that you find yourself stuck with.
Your job is to guard a troupe of caravans that stop off at every north-man settlement along the several-hundred mile trade route. It is an uncomfortable journey, particularly since you have to travel ahead of the convoy, eyes peeled for traps, ambushes or impassable roads. The tundra, the name given to the land terrain that you are travelling through, is barren and desolate, covered in frost and snow for nine months of the year. According to Khris, the owner of the caravan company, in the late spring and summer it is awash with brightly coloured flowers, and many creatures come out from hibernation to bask in the warm sunshine. Unfortunately, it is the third month since yuletide, and spring has yet to come to this vast, icy desert.