The last task of the player's party is to journey to the Sea of Moving Ice where Icasaracht's Lair is located. There, they battle through her minions (including the remaining loyal barbarians, trolls and sahuagins) and ultimately find the white dragon herself. She explains she wished to avenge herself upon the Ten Towns for the seizure of dragonkind's lands, and for her death a century past. She claims she saw a kindred spirit in Wylfdene and sympathized with the barbarians, who she claims face extinction from the encroaching Ten Towns. She had thought they would be fitting instruments for her plan. The party kills her, and shatters the Soul Stone that had saved her from death a century before, ensuring her death is final. Development Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter was announced on September 25, 2000, shortly before the release of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. By that time, the expansion had been in full production for between one and two months. Designer Josh Sawyer said that the impetus for the project was the strong retail performance of Icewind Dale; Interplay greenlit Heart of Winter around two weeks after the launch of the original game. The team began work "immediately", Sawyer wrote, as there was "a limited amount of time to work on the project and we needed to sharply define exactly what we wanted to accomplish." Producer Darren Monahan said that the team "included a lot of fan feedback, particularly relating to the balances of each of the classes in the original game." Another focus lay on importing code and features created for Baldur's Gate II to the Icewind Dale series. One of the development challenges was the straightforward and linear structure of the original Icewind Dale, which left little room for additional content. The team's solution was to take players to a separate region by using the barbarian Hjollder as a "catalyst character", who could be met either in Icewind Dales hub location of Kuldahar or after completing the game's main story. Team members John Deiley and Steve Bokkes handled the "majority of area and quest work" in Heart of Winter, according to Sawyer. Heart of Winter went gold on February 12, 2001. It shipped to retailers on February 20, and was officially released on the 21st. Reception Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter received fairly positive reviews, with multiple reviewers complimenting its new features and areas. According