Session 55: The Test Passed & Finding the Dragon's Lair

The party passes the Tests of Garm and gets Garm's Blessing. After recovering, they search for another entrance to the Temple of Frigga, and instead find an abandoned dragon's lair.

This write up is based on our Sunday, July 6, 2025 session and was written by our scribe Carl with a few additions from myself. Thanks to our mapper Jimmy for the screen shots.  Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: The Tests of Garm

Date: May 18, 4433
Location: The Tests of Garm

We were fighting the BIG wolf in the wolfie temple, subdual seemed like a good choice, so we started attacking to subdue rather than kill as much as we could. The fight ended with the wolf turning to mist and swirling down through a floor grate. We were not sure if that was a subdual, but it was gone.

When the mist cleared the room, a door at the far end of the room opened, giving us access to all our supplies and equipment that had not stayed with us as we entered the room.

Re-equipped, we proceeded. It was a room with glassy, reflective pillars. We decided to go across fast, NOT looking at the mirrors.  There was an arch but no doorway on the east side.



Reebo looked for a secret door, and Aefir walked the perimeter looking. No door was revealed.  We decided that facing a mirror was probably in our near future.

Beneddar was the designate, and we all went back toward the room of the big wolf to see what happened, but found the passage blocked. We grouped up next two where the door was. Roped up, Benedaar walked in and looked into the mirrored surface of the first pillar.

The pillar he faced became a window onto a room with Beneddar and an official looking person, maybe a court room. In the 'room' there was no rope on Beneddar.  After a little bit, the mirror went back to mirror status, except to Beneddar (it and all the other pillar faces were opaque to him). Beneddar told us he had seen a person being convicted of murder, a murder that Beneddar had committed.  Beneddar, in the courtroom, confessed to the crime. The pillar Beneddarhad faced was opaque to everyone.

Reebo went next, pretty sure that it was a test of honesty. His visit was about getting credit for something he did not do.  Maybe a test of morality, to do 'the right thing'.

Shadow went next, then  Aefir and Paraselene. Pillars opaqued to them after they came out as well.  Natalie brought up the rear, with a definite 'do the right thing' scenario.

At that point, a doorway in the archway appeared. We looked into a very grey room, with what appeared to be a scroll in the distance.  Floating in the air, illuminated by light from the floor below.  

Roped up, Reebo went to the scroll, started to pull it down with Mage Hand, and when the mage hand touched the scroll, it disappeared and we were all pulled into the grey room. No exactly pulled in, the room around us dissolved and became part of the grey room. 

A giant wolf-person/werewolf was the full contents of the room besides us, standing where the scroll was.

An endless grey plain, a big werewolf looking down. It pointed at Aefir and said 'passed'. Aefir felt a massive pain in his head and vanished.
 
  Arkelm next, a finger point and passed and poof...
  Beneddar - passed and poof
  Natalie - passed and poof
  Paraselene - passed and poof
  Reebo - passed and poof
  Shadow - passed and poof

We found ourselves back in the Monastery of Garm, in the main room kneeling. Master Lofutu was a bit surprised, but welcomed us back. We were escorted to see the main master of the temple, Master Kandasto.

He recognized that Garm approves of our quest. He said that there has been strange shifts in the religious energy of the area, and he thinks the Frog God Tsathoggus has returned. He thinks the Temple of Frigga is responsible for the missing people. He will give us as much information as he can. He thinks Tsathoggus has moved in and taken over from Frigga.

'The god of swamps is being summoned.  Nothing good can come from this'

There was nothing that we can take to town to 'prove' the monastery is not involved, but we have eliminated it from our investigations.  

The cave the kids talked about was near the swamp, so we were off to the swamp to look for a possible underground access to the Temple of Frigga.

We searched out the cave area, knowing from the town kids that at least one was north of the swamp. Took some looking, but we found one for sure.

Smelly... there were some ledges about 10' up. As we moved into the cave a pile of bones stirred, and woke up some skeletons.

The rest of us could hear it, and we moved to get together.  

Skeletons dealt with, we moved on to find several pools of acid that were a little tricky to negotiate.

We found an area with tools and money on the ground. Possible trap? Or the dragon horde?  Not much treasure, but better than a poke in the eye.

There was a pattern of something that was laying on the 'treasure'... a small dragon, of all things. Maybe this is where some of the people who disappeared wound up. Farming tools, and some money.

So, we found a dragon cave but NOT an entry to the temple. A thorough search of the cave area found no secret access that might lead to the temple.

Back to town, to talk more with the kids about caves. We told the mayor that we were pretty confident that the monastery had nothing to do with the disappearances of the townsfolk. We tried to match up the tools with families so at least some of the people could know what likely happened.


We pick it up in August... Session 56: Into the Temple of Frigga