Theme: The Doctrine of Christ
Type: Sandbox hexmap
Time for us to complete: 22 game sessions.
Date in Real Life: Sunday February 6th, 2022
In Game Day: night (early in morning of) Shta’im the 26th of Yuwol (really early on 8th day of mission)
Player Characters:
Philip the Raid Leader (commanding his third mission), riding Johny the horse,
Starflower the Lion Warrior (with Regulus the Lion), riding Alogo the horse,
William the Bear Knight (with Bill the Bear and Arled the horse)
Edward the Knight of the Way (1st mission as Knight of the Way), riding Edmur the horse.
Cenbald the Potential (NPC), on his 1st mission.
Milda the Potential (NPC), with Cyna the badger. On her 1st mission.
“What was that?” Milda asked, sitting bolt upright from her bedroll.
Starflower felt a chill creep down her spine. The scream from outside could only be one thing: a dragon. Krokerdes had found them.
Starflower was already up, since she was on watch. She rushed to the window of the giant’s living room and peered out. Something large was moving along the ledge above the house. It twinkled in the starlight.
“Dragon!” Starflower said. “Get up! Get up! Everyone up! The dragon is here!”
Bill the Bear and Regulus the lion sprang to their feet. Milda’s eyes widened and she hurried to gather her weapons.
Starflower ran down the hall to the bedroom where the men were sleeping. She banged the door open, not bothering to knock. “The dragon! Get up!”
Edward, William and Cenbald were up in seconds. Philip... still had a broken leg. What were they going to do about that?
The house was rocked by an explosion on the roof. “The roof’s on fire!” Milda called out.
“We have to get out of here,” Starflower said.
“Out the back,” Philip suggested.”
William and Edward grabbed their gear, then scooped up Philip between them. “Bill! Come help us carry Philip!” William called.
Starflower heard Milda scream.
“What?” Starflower called.
“Back door’s on fire, too,”
“We’ll have to...” Philip stopped.
Starflower heard it, too. The dreaded dragon Mind Speech. You’re monotheists. Monotheism means one God. So Jesus couldn’t have been God. Jesus was just a good man. A prophet, but not God.
Starflower pursed her lips angrily. She thought, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Colossians 2:9.” She prayed that the others remembered that portion from the Sacred Scolls. They had all seen it. Praise the Overlord for providing it as a reminder!
“Sorry,” Philip suddenly said. “If the heretic dragon is done interrupting, We’ll have to go out the front if the back is blocked.”
Edward and William met Bill in the hallway, and helped get Philip onto the bear’s back. Starflower looked around. Parts of the roof were caving in. It was getting hot. She was starting to see flames lick the rafters.
The dry air suddenly felt humid and moist. Starflower saw Philip’s Helmet of Salvation flash on for a second. “Breath attack!” Starflower concluded quickly. “WordRunes!” She waited a second to make sure everyone understood her. Bill was starting to move slowly towards the door with Philip laid across his back. Edward started reciting a WordRune, and Cenbald tried to copy the words.
Starflower let her words flow, “Psalm 68:19, Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Psalm 68:19.” She looked around for Milda and found her staring out the window, presumably at the dragon.
“Come on, Milda!” Starflower called out.
“Krokerdes... she’s so beautiful,” Milda said softly.
Great. Milda was enchanted. Starflower jogged over and grabbed Milda by the arm. “Come ON, Milda!” she had to pry Milda from the window and push her towards the door. “This whole place is going to collapse any moment!”
“Hey!” Milda half protested in a far-away airy voice.
Out on the porch, she could see Bill and Regulus had moved several feet away from the burning building, towards the front gate. Cenbald, William, and Edward had their range weapons out. Krokerdes was up on the ledge, all right. And was looking at them. Starflower had also noticed from the fire light that some human guards were in front of the barracks building, and looked like they were on their knees, worshipping the dragon.
Jesus was an ordinary man until the Spirit of God descended on him at his baptism. Starflower heard the mind speech in her head. Gah! She didn’t have time for this, but she needed to refute it quickly, or she’d fall under enchantment as well. That’s easy, she thought. How about the angels in Luke 2 when he was still a baby? Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Doesn’t sound like an ordinary human to me!
“The gate’s locked!” Regulus called out.
Starflower would let Phillip and the guys figure out which way to go. She had to talk sense into Milda. “Milda, who is Jesus?” Based on the Mind Speeches, it sounded like Krokerdes was attacking the doctrine of who the Overlord was. She led Milda off the porch into the grass.
“Hmm? Oh, He’s the prophet that God sent.”
“No, he’s one with God.”
“No, that’s impossible,” Milda said, a smirk on her face.
“Really. Listen to me. The Sacred Scrolls record his words in John 10:30, ‘I and the Father are One,’”
“It says that?”
“Truly.”
Milda shook her head, as if waking up from a dream. “Whoa. What happened?”
“Dragon enchantment. Stay with us.”
Divine and creation can’t mix. If Jesus was God, then he did not have a physical body.
This dragon just doesn’t let up with the Mind Speech, now, does it?
Starflower recalled the passage of the Sacred Scrolls where Jesus had asked to eat some fish and had his disciples touch his scars. She watched Milda carefully.
“You okay?”
“I know this one. Like when Jesus fell asleep in the boat!”
“Good,” Starflower nodded.
Starflower and Milda jumped as a streak of fire leapt from Krokerdes’ mouth and lanced towards the guys in the grass. Starflower was far enough away to not be in danger, but felt the heat of the blast. She prayed, watching helplessly as Cenbald, William and Edward were completely engulfed in flames.
“Awesome sauce!” Cenbald cried out when the fire died down. They were unharmed! William and Edward immediately returned a volley of stones from their slings, while Regulus and Bill started dashing towards the gap between the burning house and the ledge.
“Let’s go,” Starflower grabbed Milda and started running to the gap as well.
Krokerdes quickly repositioned on the ledge and sent another blast of fire, this time at Starflower and Milda. Starflower closed her eyes and hugged Milda, praying their combined Shield of Faith would be enough to see them through this. She felt her arms burning. When the blast was over, she could feel pain on her arms, but they were alive. She turned to the guys to let them know they survived. Cenbald gave them a look of relief, then hurled his dagger up the cliff in a mighty throw.
“Overlord, guide that blade,” Milda prayed.
The dagger spun end over end, glinting in the light from the burning building. At first, it looked like it was going to miss, but at the last moment, the dragon ducked to avoid stones being slung from William and Edward, and the dagger struck Krokerdes right in the neck, burying itself to the hilt. The dragon screamed in pain, and ran further down the ledge.
The team all made it into the gap while the dragon re positioned itself.
Then, the narrow space between the house and the cliff filled with dragon smoke. Philip started coughing first, and there was no escape. Soon they were all coughing. Starflower could feel all sorts of images flashing through her mind. Burdens of the world. Money. Clothing. New equipment. Would she get married? What were her retirement plans? No. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. God would take care of them.
“1 Corinthians 8:1,” Starflower coughed. “We know that we [cough cough] all possess knowledge, [cough cough]. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds [cough] up. 1 Corinthians 8: [cough] 1.”
“Ah, my clothes are filthy and smell like smoke!” Milda cried out.
Seriously? “Milda, we don’t have time for this.” Starflower was practically dragging her down the path. “God will provide for your needs. Don’t worry about what you will wear. Your Father in heaven knows that you need them. Seek Him.” When Milda suddenly started moving on her own, Starflower knew the counsel must have worked.
Philip started coughing again, which was the only warning they had before they were in another cloud of smoke. This smoke felt less intense.
“1 Peter 5:7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5:7,” Starflower coughed out. She glanced at Milda. Milda seemed to be fine. She hoped the guys were doing okay.
As they got past the far corner of the house into the back yard, she could see the horses peeking at them from behind the latrine. “Over here!” Alogo called.
If God is One, and Jesus is Divine, then Jesus is the father in a different mode, like a costume change, otherwise you have two Gods.
More mind speech. Starflower racked her brain for relevant passages from the Sacred Scrolls. Something that had both Father and Son together at the same time. Oh! Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane! She let her mind dwell on that truth as they dodged burning debris in the yard.
“Then why would he say ‘Why have you forsaken me?’” Philip hollered from Bill’s back.
Krokerdes seemed to stumble and drop out of sight on the ledge. Had they defeated it?
Starflower wasn’t going to stick around to investigate. The team rushed to the orc hole behind the giant latrine and dashed in. They rushed through the caverns and came out on the mountain slope.
They fled down the mountainside, encountering three orcs in the forest, who they quickly cut down. Then they made camp for the night under the cover of the forest.
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