# Standardized testing > [!Summary]+ > **Location:** `= this.location` > **Characters:** `= this.attendees` > **Setting:** `= this.setting` ## Session Summary `=this.summary` ^session-summary ## Last Session Recap ![[241209 - Vulture Culture#^session-summary]] ## Session Log ### A test of cruelty... We enter the suffocating stillness of a snow-choked village. Small, huddled huts lean against one another as if seeking warmth that does not exist. Smoke curls weakly from chimneys, but the air remains heavy with despair. The people here—gaunt, frostbitten, and weary—glance at you with hollow eyes, their faces etched with hopelessness. - There is a group of villagers crowding around elderly--the leader of the village explains to us that it is a sacrifice to [[Auril]]. - [[Gray]] refuses to execute them. - [[Zeno]] attempts to redirect them via procedure. - [[Strath]] tries to deflect the execution by proclaiming the crude tools don't honor [[Auril]] - [[Galath]] starts executing folk, the big dumb idiot. - We realize that the village was harvesting the elderly for food. Yoinks! [[Zeno]] attempts to unravel how they intend to move forward. Meanwhile, the village Shaman attempts to warn the village off on us, calling us charlatans. - After some fuckin' about we shift back to normal space, feeling "a little sad, maybe unfinished" ### A test of endurance... We move clockwise, shifting to a test of endurance. Emerging from the swirling frost, shapes begin to take form: a band of **hunters**, clad in furs and armed with crude spears and bows. Their expressions are hard, weather-worn, and unyielding, their gazes fixed on something just beyond the storm. It becomes clear—you are not mere travelers here. You are expected to _prove_ yourselves, to join this relentless hunt. Whatever prey lies ahead will not be felled by strength alone but by grit, teamwork, and the ability to endure what the Frostmaiden’s frozen domain throws in your path. - We march through the blizzard. - [[Zeno]] offers to move to the front of the [[Jarund Elkhardt]] - [[Gray]] tries to cast light, spell fails - [[Strath]] examines his maul—it's well made, but he doesn't feel the connection to the spell infusion - Time keeps marching on, we start rolling for points of exhaustion. - [[Strath]] quizzes the leader [[Jarund Elkhardt]] on the goal of the hunt—how do we know when we've found the herd? He explains that we have to follow the tracks, and we have to keep moving so the blizzard doesn't cover them. - [[Brosef]] is in a bad way, most of us aren't far behind. - We transport back, feel a deep sense of accomplishment. ### A test of isolation... The world fades again, and when it returns, it is vast and empty. You stand alone in an endless field of ice, the horizon swallowed by a sky of unbroken gray. The wind has died here—no sound, no motion, just an oppressive silence that settles into your bones like a second frost. We find ourselves at the edge of a camp under a clear sky. Warriors are sharpening their weapons. - We are approached by [[Bornhild]] and asked to watch her camp. They are going to raid the Elk tribe. [[Zeno]] questions her—what should we expect, why does the camp need guarded? - [[Gray]] attempts to convince [[Bornhild]] to seek peace, rather than raiding. - They are completely silent—did not expect an emissary of [[Auril]] to suggest peace - [[Bornhild]] consults with a shaman, they confer for a moment, and she says "we must raid" - Meanwhile, we realize that we've been meeting different tribes - Wolf tribe - Preservation - Bear tribe - Cruelty - Elk tribe - Endurance - Tiger Tribe - Isolation - We speed run wisdom checks and drop like flies, but eventually end up back on the mortal plane. ### For next time We head south to the vault, and get a sense of what's inside the vault. We enter the vault, read a few plaques about the different tests, then discover the [[Codicil of the White]].