A Cold Night

Arthur certainly didn't think that the quest intended for the players to do what he was going to do to solve it.

It was simply impossible for them in the first place. And that was if they could even get close to the Ice Dragon. Most wouldn't even know something like that existed and would simply think this was some kind of magical anomaly.

This was also what the merchants and nobles were thinking right now.

Such abnormal phenomena usually occurred due to a magical event, as such one needed to analyze what it was before finding a solution to that. 

'Did they intend for the players to simply melt it all or something?' Arthur wondered. 

It was certainly an option, but he didn't know how viable it was. 

One could of course, melt just enough of the ice to open up a part of the path, but it was simply going to freeze back up again. This was something Arthur knew since it had already been attempted in the past.