Another Reaps

Date in Real Life: Friday, October 31^st, 2025

In Game Day: Shta’im, the 3rd of Irwol (early spring, almost a year after Bahanen Islands 10)

Format: On Rails

Theme: Evangelism

Author: Zachariah Kenney

Adventure Master: Zachariah Kenney

Player Characters:

• Phil the Potential, on his first mission.

• Wilhelm the Potential, on his first mission.

• Clyde the Potential, on his first mission.

• Thimble the Potential, on her first mission.

Log cabin. Image credit: https://www.wholesaleloghomes.com/history-log-cabin-america/

“And these are the Passage Lakes,” Gednow, a knight in the Lightraider Order, explained. “When the Overlord of Many Names calls Lightraiders on a mission, He opens a portal in the lakes. Lightraiders walk in and are transported to the Dragon Lands.”

“It’s pretty,” Thimble observed. The short humanoid stared out at the lakes from their vantage point on top of a spur of grass.

“Look, a raven,” Clyde pointed in the air.

Gednow frowned. The raven flew right to them and dropped a small scroll into Gednow’s hand.

“What’s going on?” Phil asked.

Gednow unrolled the scroll and read it while the raven flew away. “I’m afraid I have an urgent matter to attend to elsewhere. Do you guys think you know your way back to Ras Telesar?”

“Sure,” Phil shrugged. “Just follow the path back that way,” he pointed west.

“Yes. Well, enjoy the view. There’s not much planned until the other potentials arrive today and tomorrow. Supper in the main dining hall.”

“Thanks!” Phil and Clyde said. Gednow swiftly moved off. That left four of them on the outcropping: Phil, Clyde, Wilhelm and Thimble.

“You think we’ll be accepted into the academy?” Clyde asked.

Phil nodded enthusiastically. “I hope so! My uncle is a Lightraider Knight! I’ve heard of so many of his adventures.”

“Who’s your uncle?” Clyde asked.

“Philip the Guardian.”

“Really!?” Thimble sat up straight from where she was sitting in the grass. “He was there. I’ve met him.”

“He was where?” Phil asked.

“When my village was rescued from the dragon lands. He was part of the Raid Team that led the evacuation.”

“So you’ve met Uncle Philip?”

“Well, sort of. I mean, I was in a crowd of 300 other halflings who were meeting him at the time. He probably wouldn’t recognize me.”

“So you are a halfling,” Clyde interjected. “I wondered, but was too embarrassed to ask. You know, in case you were a short human who would have been insulted or something.”

Thimble smiled. “What about you, Clyde? What’s your story?” she asked.

“Sixth generation farmer from down south,” Clyde said.

“Why leave such a family legacy to join the academy?”

“Well, big family, and I’m not exactly the strongest. I wasn’t really needed.”

“That leaves the mysterious Wilhelm,” Phil said, turning to the silent young man with them.

“I’m from the Dragon Lands. My Pa and I were grave diggers.”

“Creepy,” Phil decided.

“Pa always said two things were certain: death and taxes. So we tried to figure out a way to make death pay for the taxes. Anyway, a Raid Team came and explained the Great Rescue to us. Now here I am.”

“Hoo! Hoo!” came an owl’s cry from a nearby tree.

“Whoa, that’s a big owl,” Clyde remarked. “It is a talking owl?”

“Hoo-Hoo! The Overlord is with us!”

“Always and forever,” Phil and Wilhelm responded.

“Hoo-Hoo! I am impressed that some of you know the correct response already. Yes, ‘always and forever’ is the correct response, and can be used to identify friends in the Dragon Lands.”

“It’s true,” Phil nodded to the others. “Uncle Philip taught me that!”

The talking owl continued, “I bring a message from the Overlord! He wants you to go on a mission to the Dragon Lands! Right now!”

“Uh, really?” Clyde asked. “But we just got here. We don’t have any gear or any training. We haven’t even been accepted into the academy, yet!”

“Hoo-Hoo! It matters not! Do not worry, others have already done all the hard work. He just needs you to go and finish a job! Into the lake with you! You have been chosen! Have faith! The Overlord will provide for your needs.”

“Into the lake?” Thimble said in disbelief.

“Yeah, these are the Passage Lakes,” Phil enthused. “Uncle Philip says we just walk right in, and a portal opens up and transports you to the Dragon Lands.”

“Automatically?” Clyde asked.

“They are the Overlord’s portals. I think they only work when He wants them to.”

“I don’t really do water,” Thimble said, eyeing the lakes. “I don’t swim.”

“Have courage!” the owl hooted. “Swimming is not required. Just walk in!”

“And pray I don’t drown?” Thimble asked sarcastically.

“Precisely! Have faith in the Overlord!” the owl said.

“Right…” Thimble said.

“We’ll go together,” Phil said, coming beside her. Wilhelm and Clyde joined them. “Let’s go.”

They approached the shore. Thimble took a deep, fortifying breath. Then they stepped into the water. Nothing happened, so the kept walking. Up to their knees. Their waists. Then Thimble was underwater. The rest dove under to join her.

They stepped out of a tree, gasping for air.

“Well, that was… um…” Clyde was at a loss for words.

“We went into a lake and came out of a tree,” Thimble said. “How are we not wet?”

It was true. They were dry. They looked around. They were standing in a lightly forested area. The ground was covered in old leaves, grasses and mossy rocks. A light breeze was blowing. The sky was overcast, but it didn’t seem like it would rain anytime soon. There were mountains in the distance in every direction.

“So, now what?” Clyde asked.

“Next time we ask for more details from talking owls.”

“The owl said to have faith, and that the Overlord would provide for our needs,” Phil said. “Maybe that includes directions.”

They stood waiting a moment longer.

“Well, if we make for the top of one of those hills, maybe we can get the lay of the land,” Clyde suggested. The others shrugged agreeably.

As soon as they took a step, they heard a voice. “Hi there! The Overlord is with us!”

“Always and Forever!” they all chorused. They looked around and saw a squirrel beside the tree they had stepped out of.

“I’ve been expecting you. My name is Sumi. The Overlord told me to tell you to go up that hill to the north to find a Sanctuary. But before you go, take a close look at my Hollow Tree, here. You’ll need to find it again, later.”

“Hollow Tree?” Thimble echoed.

“That’s what they call the portal trees,” Phil explained.

“We should mark it somehow,” Clyde said, drawing his hunting knife.

“No! Don’t scratch up my tree!” Sumi cried.

“Well, there’s lots of rocks around here,” Thimble said. “I could build some sort of Inuksuk to mark the place.”

“A what?” Phil asked.

“I’ll show you. Help me gather stones.”

They set about gathering stones for half a tick. Thimble stacked and arranged them so they resembled a small person. Unfortunately, the pile fell over a few times. But Thimble simply started over. At last, they stepped back to admire the Inuksuk.

“Wow, I’m impressed with everyone’s patience, but you’re burning daylight,” Sumi said.

“Right. Up the hill, then,” Clyde said.

The climb up the hill was a little steep. They arrived at the top breathing a little hard, but everyone was fine. At the top of the hill was a clearing in the woods. They stood at the south end of the clearing. A log cabin was at the west end of the clearing. A woodshed was at the east end of the clearing. A fire pit was in the center. A path in the woods continues to the north, back down the other side of the hill.

“It’s peaceful up here,” Phil murmured. The others nodded. They could feel it, too.

“I suppose we should introduce ourselves,” Clyde said. He made his way to the log cabin and knocked on the door. There was no response. He looked through a window. “There’s nobody there,” he called out.

Phil knocked on the door to the woodshed. There was no response there, either. His hand drifted to the knob. It was locked. “It’s locked. We would need a key,” Phil said.

Wilhelm walked in wide circles around the buildings. “Nothing,” he reported.

“Looks like the firepit has been used recently, though,” Thimble said. There was a half-burned log in the pit. A wooden spit was set up over the fire, but it was empty. They all gathered at the campfire.

“Whoa, hold on, there’s a paw print, here,” Thimble pointed.

“Let me see,” Clyde said. He got closer and examined the print. “I’d say this is from a wolf.”

“A wolf?” Thimble echoed. “You sure?”

“Positive, we had wolves near the farm a few years ago, harassing the sheep. I recognize the prints.”

“Do you think some wolf killed whoever lived here?” Thimble asked.

“Can’t tell,” Clyde admitted. “Maybe if we go inside the cabin? I noticed the door was unlocked, but I wasn’t sure if we should go in.”

Inside the log cabin, there was a simple bed in one corner with a trunk at the foot of the bed, a metal heating stove with pipe going towards the ceiling, and a wooden table with two chairs. On the table, there was a notebook and writing pen.

Phil went to the trunk and opened it. Clyde looked at the bed. Wilhelm examined the stove and wood pile. Thimble went to the table and looked at the book.

“Found a key!” Phil announced, holding up his prize. “Maybe it unlocks the woodshed?”

“Listen to this,” Thimble said, holding the book. “It’s a journal. The last entry was three days ago. “I am making great progress with Ovin. Tomorrow I plan to visit him again and share part 3 of the Great Rescue. I pray that he will continue to be receptive to the truth.” Thimble went silent and flipped back several pages, skimming the text.

“Maybe that’s the unfinished work that the Overlord sent us for,” Clyde said. “Something happened to this guy, and we need to find Ovin and finish the Great Rescue! Anything else helpful?”

“Well, he’s been praying about Ovin for weeks. Looks like Ovin lives in a village down the hill to the north. There’s also several references to someone named Torduk. Some sort of coworker?”

“Salt Warriors,” Phil mumbled.

“Salt Warriors?” Clyde asked.

“Twice born who choose to live in the Dragon Lands to be Salt and Light. They’re like long-term Raid teams.”

Thimble looked at the inside front cover. “I think his name is Sergios.”

“Sergios. Okay. So our theory is this Sergios and Tor…?” he trailed off, trying to remember the name.

“Torduk,” Thimble supplied.

“Torduk. Thank you. Sergios and Torduk were sharing the Great Rescue with Ovin, but got killed by a wolf or something, and the Overlord wants us to finish the job with Ovin,” Clyde summed up.

“Sounds about right,” Phil nodded. “But maybe Sergios is okay, but is delayed somehow. Let’s leave everything here in case he comes back.”

They made their way back outside.

“Caw! Who are you?” There was a large black raven perched on the spit at the firepit.

“The Overlord is with us!” Phil said quickly.

“Always and forever,” the raven replied. “I see you found the Sanctuary. Good thing, too, since you folks look totally unprepared for a mission. There are supplies in the Woodshed. Only take one weapon each, though. Other Lightraiders might need to supply themselves here, too.”

Phil crossed the clearing and tried the key in the lock. The woodshed door opened. Inside, there was about two cords of chopped wood, neatly stacked on the left. To the right was a low table with some etchings in the wall. On the floor beside the wood pile were some small cut pieces of wood.

“I don’t see any weapons,” Phil said, hands on his hips.

Clyde picked up the small pieces of wood on the floor. “Triangles,” he said to himself.

“Oh, bring those over here,” Thimble said. She was looking at the etchings on the wall and the low pedestal. “Yes. Look, there’s some geometric like shapes. I think we should try to make these out of those pieces. There’s four designs, and four of us.”

The four gathered around the table and took turns trying to make the shapes. “There, I sort of made the lion-like one,” Phil said.

“It doesn’t quite look right,” Thimble mused. “What about this coyote-looking thing? The head and tail are obvious, but the body is tricky.”

They continued for a while longer. “Got it!” Thimble announced. They heard a ‘click’ and the wall opened to reveal a secret room.

Phil pushed the door open fully and led the way through. Inside the secret compartment was a cache of weapons, a box, and a clay jar.

“Ooo! Throwing knives,” Thimble said, grabbing a bundle. “Does this count as one weapon?”

“I think so, they’re bundled together,” Phil said, selecting a sword from the wall.

“This reminds me of my grave digging shovel,” Wilhelm said, testing the weight of a large spear.

“I think I’ll try the battle axe,” Clyde said.

“There’s money in the box,” Phil said. He handed out small silver coins. “Petas, I believe. Uncle Philip showed me one, once.”

“Yes, these are Petas,” Wilhelm confirmed.

“What’s that in Liberated Land currency?” Clyde asked.

“About a Penny,” Phil answered, tucking his coins into his belt. “They look similar, and are worth about the same.”

“Easy enough,” Clyde said.

“There’s scrolls in this jar,” Thimble said, pulling out two small scrolls.

“Let’s see!” Phil said. She spread them out on the wood pile. “WordRunes,” Phil breathed. “Liberation and New Rights.”

“WordRunes?” Clyde echoed.

“They say WordRunes are a special form of prayer. We’ll learn a bunch of them at the Academy.”

“I remember these,” Wilhelm said. “The Raid team that found me used these in the Great Rescue.”

“Let’s go back outside where there’s more light,” Clyde suggested. The rest nodded and went back out, being careful to close the secret door behind them. Phil locked the woodshed as well.

“CAW!” the raven greeted them. “Now you look a little more ready for a mission! I see you found the scrolls as well!”

“How do we use them?” Phil asked eagerly.

“Caw! The Overlord gave you parts 4 and 5 of the Great Rescue. Find the person He wants you to share them with, and when they’re ready, say part 4 to them, while praying to the Overlord in your heart. The Overlord might open up their heart to His truth. If they respond, then lead them in prayer to become twice born. Then use part 5 for reassurance of their salvation.”

“Makes sense to me,” Clyde said.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Wilhelm said.

“Just going to put the key back in the cabin,” Phil announced, jogging to the cabin. Once he was back, they continued on to the path at the north end of the clearing.

The path wound its way downhill until it arrived at a fork.

“Which way? Left or right?” Phil mumbled.

“False dichotomy. We could also go off trail and cut through the bush,” Wilhelm pointed out. Phil looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not suggesting we leave the path. Just making sure we are considering all the options.”

“They both seem to go downhill,” Cylde observed. “Bear right?”

“Frog left,” Thimble said. They looked at her quizzically. She pointed to a frog hopping across the path on the left. “Bear right. Frog left. Get it?”

“Oh!” Phil laughed. “Except there’s no bear.”

“Good thing,” Clyde remarked and struck off down the path to the left. “We’ll go left, in case it was one of the Overlord’s frogs.”

They followed the trail for several minutes before Phil called a halt. “Check out this paw print. Clyde, can you identify it?”

Clyde went to look at the print Phil was pointing to. “Wolf again. Same size as the other track we saw. Possibly the same animal. Looks like it cut across the trail, here.”

“Stay alert, everyone,” Phil said as they continued down the trail.

The trail brought them to the outskirts of a village. They left the woods and walked along a path near a small farm.

“Where do we look?” Phil wondered out loud.

“I suppose we go to a public place and ask around,” Clyde suggested.

The group wandered into town. The first public building they came to was the general store. Phil bought some candles. The owner identified Ovin as the Tanner and suggested the tanner shop. The owner’s daughter asked them to let the stone mason’s son know she wanted to talk to him, if they saw him. They ignored this and moved on.

They found the tanner shop. There was nobody there. There were some coins on the counter, but they resisted taking any.

They tried the market. It was quiet, as it was later in the day. Thimble joined in with some children that were playing in the square. Clyde bought a pie from a baker and asked about Ovin. The baker suggested the tavern, but didn’t really know.

They tried the tavern. The bartender didn’t know where Ovin was. Suggested that sometimes Ovin got furs from the trading post.

They went to the trading post. The owner confirmed that Ovin had dropped by earlier that day to get some furs. He often cleaned them down by the river.

As the team stepped outside, they were met by a hunter, who invited them on a hunt. Thimble suggested they go with him to the river, in case there was a dangerous wolf around.

At the river, they found Ovin. The hunter went his way. Ovin was suspicious at first, but relaxed when the team mentioned Sergios. They then shared parts 4 and 5 of the Great Rescue with him. Ovin accepted. They invited him to go back to the Liberated Land. He eagerly accepted, saying he needed to get out of there, as the local Dragon Priest was getting suspicious. They decided to skirt the edge of town instead of walking through town, to minimize being seen leaving with Ovin.

They continued making their way through the forest. All at once, they were ambushed by four goblins. Clyde came under a sin enchantment and started trash talking the goblins while fighting them. Happily, the goblins were all killed. They searched the bodies to see if there was anything worth keeping, like weapons, when a wolf ran up.

Thimble almost attacked the wolf, but the wolf said, “The Overlord is with us!”

“Always and forever!” came the relieved reply.

The wolf introduced himself as Torduk. He explained that he heard trouble, but was too far away. Torduk was a talking wolf. Sergios the Salt Warrior was also a Wolf Soldier. Torduk explained that Sergios was killed by goblins two days ago. Torduk has been hunting goblins since then, and has slain several. Torduk is thankful that the Overlord sent more Keledan to finish the Great Rescue with Ovin.

Torduk was reminded of the Sacred Scrolls where it says:

John 4:37-38

37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

The team made it back to the Hollow Tree without further incident, easily finding the tree thanks to the marker they had built.

The team emerged from the Passage Lakes to find a frantic Gednow looking for them. He was surprised that the Overlord called them on a mission, but overjoyed to find Ovin and Torduk with the team. He escorted everyone back to Ras Telesar.

Once word got out about the mission, the Potentials were summoned before Master Simeon and the other faculty.

“What need do we have of a Quest, when the Overlord himself gave you a quest? You are officially accepted as Initiates of the Light Raider Academy. Congratulations.”