Tunnel Vision
Style: hexmap
Theme: Outbursts of Anger
Author/ Adventure Master: "Dad"
Available from: Homemade Adventures section of this website.
Time for us to complete: 4 play sessions.
Session 3 is in story form. The other sessions are just brief adventure master notes.
Session 1
Date in Real Life: Monday 18 Apr 2022
In Game Day: Mid-Spring, Day 1, From about 10am to 11am.
Player Characters:
Philip the Overlord’s Guard (14th mission. 2nd mission with this qualification)
William the Bear Knight (with Bill the Bear) (14th mission. 11th mission with this qualification),
Starflower the Lion Warrior (with Regulus the Lion) (13th mission. 10th mission with this qualification)
Edward the Knight of the Way (13th mission. 7th mission with this qualification)
The team heard a scream shortly after stepping out of the hollow tree. They ran over the grassy slopes and spotted goblins chasing a girl in the distance. They gave chase, but lost them over the next rise. They were able to track them to a hidden door in the side of the hill.
They entered the door, and found themselves in a dark maze. They explored the tunnels, finding a cave troll guarding a door. They killed the troll and broke into the room, finding the girl, Hilary. She was concerned about her missing lamb, and was too scared to listen to much counselling. They group continued searching, in case the lamb was in the tunnels as well. They came upon another door. After forcing it open, they found themselves in the goblin’s bed chambers. They fought around various corners in the maze, slaying 16 goblins in all. After the battle, they found a green gem stone, which they identified as an emerald.
(Session ends. They are in area 8 of the maze)
Session 2
Date in Real Life: Sunday 24 Apr 2022
In Game Day: Mid-Spring, Day 1, From about 11am to 1pm.
The team continued down a tunnel. They encountered several cave spiders who tried to tie them up with webs. Several people were bitten, and Starflower fell under the white lie sin enchantment. After fighting through them, they found a black gem stone on a shelf. Starflower identified the gem as an Onyx. They heard rumbling, as if there was a cave-in nearby.
The team doubled back (pausing to fight a patrol of 4 goblins) to the entrance and found that the door was blocked by a landslide. Hilary got very angry at this. The continued on in the maze. They found a janitor closet with an unused broom and bucket. They took these with them. They found a sleeping goblin in another room, so they sneaked up on him and killed him. He was in a room full of weapons. Philip grabbed a sword and a crossbow with several arrows.
The team continued on. They came to a fork in the road, and went East. They continued on, until they came to two doors, with a fluster beast standing in front of them. The fluster beast tried to ask them a truth-lie riddle, but was too mixed up for it to make any sense. Starflower and William lost their patience and fell under the double-minded enchantment. Philip killed the fluster beast. Hilary freaked out, and angrily yelled at the team. She tried to leave, but Philip stopped her while Edward counselled Starflower and William. Once everyone had calmed down, Philip sensed evil from the Eastern door, so they went through the west door.
The found several more forks. They chose at random and found a door with a crack of daylight shining underneath it. They figured it was the exit. There were four indentations in the door. They noticed the emerald and onyx stones fit perfectely in the indentations. They put them in various places and combinations, but nothing happened. They deduced they needed more gems, so they doubled back. Down one branch, they found a goblin kitchen, with nine goblins eating chicken and corn. The goblins tried to throw food at them while they marched in a slew them all. They searched the kitchen and found a cupboard with eggs and a large white gem. Starflower identified it as a pearl. The team ate some food, even coaxing Hilary to eat a bit.
They continued to double back, checking side tunnels, until they found one area with a pile of rocks. They swept the rocks with the broom and found a grey gem that seemed about the right size. Starflower identified it as Nuumite.
Armed with the four gems, they made their way back to the exit. They put the gems in the indentations in the order of Onyx, Pearl, Emerald and Nuumite, using the first letters from each word to spell OPEN. Sure enough, the door swung open and they stepped out onto the plateau in Sector 7.
Session 3
Date in Real Life: Saturday 7 May 2022
In Game Day: Mid-Spring, Day 1, From about 1pm-7pm.
“Feels good to be outside again,” William said, breathing deeply. Starflower looked around. They were on a large plateau, somewhere up the eastern cliffs. She could see a lake and a forest on the valley floor in the distance. The sun was high in the sky. Early afternoon.
“See, Hillary, we got you out,” Starflower said, putting a hand on the child’s shoulder. Hillary looked up at her. Now that she was in the light, Starflower figured Hillary was around 10 or 12 years old. She was dirty, and the sleeves of her tunic were ripped a bit, but the dirt looked recent. Starflower glanced up at Edward and Philip, who were also dirty from the goblin tunnels.
“Yeah, I guess you did,” Hillary said. “I tried praying to the Overlord, but he didn’t answer.”
“What?” Philip said, flopping down on the grass enjoy the sunshine. “What are you talking about? We’re the Overlord’s servants. We ARE the answer to that prayer.”
“You are?” Hillary’s eyes went wide.
“Yes,” Starflower agreed. “And the Overlord wants a friendship with you, too.”
“He does? He knows me?” “Certainly,” Edward spoke up. “Not only does He know you, He loves you. Listen to what it says in the sacred scrolls:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16”
“Wow! He really loves me!” Hillary said, her eyes wide.
“There’s a problem, though,” Starflower said.
“A problem?” Hillary asked, her eyes glancing back to the door to the goblin tunnels.
“Yes. It’s called sin. Sin separates you from the holy Almighty, and you can do nothing about this; accept it as a fact and seek a Savior.”
“I don’t understand. What’s sin?” Hillary asked.
“It’s all the bad stuff we think, say and do,” Starflower said quietly.
“Oh, I’m a good kid. I don’t need to worry about that,” Hillary said, standing up straight.
“Really?” Philip said, sitting up. “Have you ever told a lie?”
“Uh...”
“Even just once?” he pressed.
Hillary stared at him defiantly for a moment, then hung her head in shame. “Yeah, I suppose I have. My mom doesn’t even know where I am right now.”
“We’ll deal with that in a moment,” Starflower said gently. “We’ve all sinned, you know. It says in the sacred scrolls:
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
“And as I was saying before, you can do nothing about this; accept it as a fact and seek a Savior. You need someone to save you from sin. The Overlord is that Saviour. He paid the penalty for your sins by dying on your behalf.”
“You mean I prayed to a dead god?” Hillary asked.
Starflower shook her head. “He didn’t stay dead. He came back to life. He completely closed the gap of separation between you. The only way to find peace is through the Overlord. Listen to this passages from the Sacred Scrolls:
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthian 5:21
“The Overlord can become your Saviour.”
Hillary scrunched her brow in concentration. “Okay,” She finally said. “So I need a Saviour, and the Overlord can be that Saviour. How does that work, exactly?”
Edward nodded. “In the Sacred Scrolls, it says:
Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
“I believe. How do I confess?” Hillary said, bouncing on her toes.
Philip was standing by this point, and stepped closer, “Pray with me,” he said. “I’ll lead you through an example of a prayer,”
“Okay,” Hillary said.
“OverLord of Many Names,” Philip intoned. Hillary repeated the phrase, a little uncertain.
“Please come into my life,” Philip continued. Hillary repeated him, her voice quavering in trepidation.
“...to be my Saviour and my Lord.”
“To be my Saviour and my Lord,” Hillary said, her voice gaining confidence.
“Please forgive my sins and sinfulness,”
“Please forgive my...” Hillary gulped, “sins and sinfulness,”
“And give to me citizenship in your Eternal Kingdom”
Hillary repeated the last line. Philip grinned at her. She smiled back. “How do I know it worked?”
Edward spoke again, “You can be sure. It says in the Sacred Scrolls,
John 1:12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:12
“So if you’ve received the OverLord into your life, you are now TwiceBorn!”
Hillary smiled from ear to ear. “I feel different.”
“Where do you live?” Starflower asked gently.
Hillary turned at pointed to the lake. “You see those buildings down there? That’s my village.”
“Okay. We’ll have to get you back home. How come your mom doesn’t know where you are?”
“My lamb is missing,” she said.
“We’ll help you find your lamb,” Philip said.
“Really?” a tear formed in the corner of her eye. “Her name is Cotton. I tied a blue ribbon around her neck.”
“That’s helpful,” William said.
“She was missing when I woke up this morning. I went looking for her without telling anyone, and then those goblins started chasing me!”
“Wait, I think I hear sheep,” Edward said, looking north along the plateau.
“Let’s go check it out,” Philip suggested. “Maybe Cotton is just over there.”
“Okay,” Hillary agreed shyly.
The party moved north, coming up over a slight rise. They saw a flock of sheep, under the care of a shepherd. The shepherd turned to look at them. As soon as he saw Regulus the Lion and Bill the Bear, however, he whipped his sling out and loaded a stone.
“Look out! A lion! And a bear! They mustn’t get the sheep!” he called out.
“Whoa, it’s okay!” William called out, holding his hands up in the air.
“They’re tame!” Starflower joined in. “They obey us.”
“Keep them away, then!” the shepherd called back, starting to twirl his sling.
Starflower turned to Regulus. “We don’t want trouble. Best to stay away and look as non- threatening as you can,”
“Of course, M’Lady,” Regulus said. He turned around and flopped down in the grass for a nap, his back to the sheep. Bill joined him.
The team approached the shepherd. He was probably in his mid forties, and his skin looked wind beaten and rough. He watched Regulus and Bill a moment, then put this sling back in his belt. “Greetings, travellers. Welcome to my flock.”
“Hi, Coban,” Hillary said shyly.
“Oh, Hillary, I didn’t see you there,” the man greeted her. “How’s Cotton doing?”
“She missing,” Hillary admitted.
“Have you seen any extra sheep, perhaps with a blue ribbon around their neck?” Philip asked.
“Well, I know all my sheep by name, and I haven’t seen any extras. That one’s Fluffy, that one is Cedi, this one here is Flappy. This one is Steve. That one is Philip.”
“Hey, my name is Philip!” Philip broke in.
“Really? Fancy that. Philip the sheep, meet Philip the human. Philip the human, meet Philip the sheep.”
Philip crouched in front of the animal bearing the same name and scratched it behind the ears.
“Nope, no extras, I count all the time. I last counted about a tick ago.”
Starflower looked at the flock. They seemed everywhere. “How many are there?” she asked.
“I have exactly one hundred sheep.”
“What happens if you don’t have one hundred?” Edward asked.
“I recount to make sure. One time, I counted and recounted, but only had ninety-nine. I had to leave them all here on the plateau and go rescue one from some wolves.”
“Wolves?” Philip asked, standing up. His hand drifted to his battle axe.
“Mind if we look around for Cotton anyway?” Starflower asked.
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Thanks,” Starflower said.
“Here, Cotton!” Hillary called.
“Does Cotton come when you call?” William asked.
“Usually,” Hillary said.
“My sheep know my voice and come when I call,” Coban said. “It’s normal if you’re a good shepherd.”
“Do you know the Good Shepherd?” William asked.
“I try to be a good shepherd,” Coban said. “Oops, if you’ll excuse me, Freddie is causing trouble over there,” the shepherd scurried off towards a lamb who was climbing up on a rock.
Starflower glanced at William, then at Coban’s retreating figure. She shrugged and gave William an encouraging smile. “At least you tried,” she said.
As they made their way through the flock, Starflower came over another rise. Edward was staring into the distance. “Wow, what a view! Praise the OverLord!” Starflower breathed.
“I see several flocks of sheep in the valley,” Edward said. “And cornfields. And look over there: a castle.”
“Hmm...” Starflower mused. “Looks pretty big. Hard to tell from this distance, though. Maybe the proportions are wrong. Or perspective or something.”
Philip’s voice floated up from down the hill. “Any wolves?”
“No, no wolves,” Edward called back.
“No Cotton, either,” Philip returned.
“Did you feel that?” Edward asked quietly.
“Feel what?” Starflower asked.
“Part of me wanted to be angry about not finding Cotton, just now.”
“Yeah, actually. I thought that, too. But I didn’t let it get the best of me.”
“Me neither. Strange, though. The desire to get angry was whispering to me in the Goblin tunnels, too. Feels a little stronger up here.”
“Hillary did pray something about angry people in her village. Maybe some sort of sin enchantment is at work, here?”
“What kind of dark creature has anger as a sin enchantment?”
Starflower pondered this a moment. “Orcs? No, revenge isn’t quite the same. Goblins? No. Gall Buzzard? No, bitterness isn’t quite right.” She shrugged. “I’ll have to think about it.”
They lingered a moment longer. Philip came up and tried to squint at the sheep below. “Too far away to see blue ribbons,” he muttered.
“Let’s go back, then,” Starflower suggested. Edward nodded and they went back down the hill.
When they found Coban again, he was sitting on a rock, playing a wooden flute.
“Do you know who lives in that castle over there?” Edward asked, pointing in the general direction of the castle they saw.
“Thumoi,” the shepherd said, then spat into the ground.
“Thumoi?” William echoed.
“The Liege Lord of the area. He technically owns all the sheep and corn. The nice thing about the flock on the plateau here, is that he doesn’t steal any of the sheep.”
“What is Thumoi?” Starflower asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, is he a troll?”
“Not sure I know what trolls look like. He’s big, though.”
“Maybe a giant?” Philip suggested.
“Maybe,” Coban shrugged and went back to playing his flute.
“So, how do we get down from here?” William asked the others. “Back through the goblin tunnels?”
“Oh, there’s a secret path down the ridge,” Hillary said. “I’ll show you.”
“Regulus!” Starflower called out. The lion stood up and stretched, then nudged Bill. The party headed over to the cliff. Sure enough, there was a path. Starflower doubted they ever would have seen it if Hillary hadn’t been with them.
They climbed down the narrow trail, hopped from stone to stone across the river, and found themselves on the shore of the lake on the valley floor. Hillary led them to the left, and they approached the fishing village they had seen from above.
“This is my village,” Hillary said. Starflower looked around. Typical fishing village. People working with boats and ropes. Fish getting smoked over a fire. People repairing fishing nets.
“RRGGHH! Stupid net!” someone yelled, throwing down a net with force. He threw a tool of some sort into a bucket and stormed off.
“Hey, that was my foot, you oaf!” another voice carried from the wharf. Starflower glanced over and saw a team of six men dragging a boat to shore. In the blink of an eye, all six were yelling at each other.
“Aren’t those fish smoked yet?” another angry voice started scolding a lady at a fire.
“What is going on, here?” Philip muttered quietly.
“This is why I prayed,” Hillary said sadly. “Everyone is angry all the time.” She gestured. “I live over there.”
The team made their way over to the wooden shack.
“Mom! I’m home!” Hillary called out.
“Where have you been, young lady?” demanded a tall woman in an apron. Hillary tried to explain, but her mother proceeded to give her a sound tongue lashing.
Starflower’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t like the woman’s tone.
“I feel it again,” Edward whispered to Starflower. “Like I want to get angry at the mother for yelling at Hillary like that.”
Starflower’s eyes widened. Edward was right. “Self-Control,” Starflower whispered back.
Once the scolding subsided, Hillary managed to explain about Cotton and the goblins and how the LightRaiders had helped her, and wanted to help find Cotton. At last, the mother relented, and gave her permission for Hillary to keep looking for Cotton.
“I think we’re going to find our answers in that castle,” Philip said as they left the village.
“North, then?” Edward suggested.
“No!” Hillary said. “The forest comes right up to the shore over there, see? There’s wolves in the forest!”
“We can handle wolves,” Philip said, pulling out his battle axe.
“I’m scared. I’m not supposed to cut through the forest that way. There’s a road through the forest. It’ll be safer.”
“Let’s take the road,” Starflower advised.
“Fine,” Philip said. He tossed his axe into the air, caught it with the other hand, and then re-sheathed it behind his back.
“Show off,” William said.
The team skirted west along the edge of the forest. As they came to the road, they saw a lady picking flowers.
“Hi there!” Philip called out.
The woman stood up and looked at them.
“What are you doing?” Philip asked.
“I’m picking flowers,” she replied.
“I see that. What are you going to do with them?”
“Sell them, of course. But you’re interrupting my work,” her voice suddenly had a nasty edge to it. “Excuse me!”
“What was with the random outburst of anger?” Philip wondered out loud once they were heading north on the road into the forest. “I almost wanted to shout back at her.”
“Edward and I were talking about that earlier. There’s something about this place. Some sort of outburst of anger sin enchantment.”
Philip paused mid step. “I don’t remember that from the Academy. Which Dark Creature does that?”
“I don’t know,” Starflower caught up to Philip and they kept walking. “But the Sacred Scrolls talk about outbursts of anger. You remember the passage about the Fruits of the Spirit, right?”
“Of course. Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
“Right. Do you remember the context? Right before that was a list of sins.”
“Yes. I even remember my dad preaching on it when I was young. The Deeds of the Flesh.”
“One of them was outbursts of anger, I’m sure of it.”
Philip pondered this a moment. “Yes. I think you’re right. We’ll need WordRunes to combat anger.”
“I hear something!” Edward called out. “Footsteps coming this way.”
“Hide!” Starflower said. Starflower dove into the bushes, Regulus just behind her. She peered through some branches and saw Hillary still standing in the middle of the road, looking confused. “Hillary!” she hissed.
“What?” Hillary asked.
William and Philip came out of the trees to Hillary’s side, just as a patrol of goblins came around the corner, led by a hulking green forest troll. Philip’s body morphed into the form of a different human. He could have been mistaken for a fisherman from the village. Starflower was still amazed at this new gift that the Overlord had granted Philip as one of the Overlord’s Guards.
“Halt! Who goes there?” the forest troll demanded.
No cigar, Starflower thought. Good. They wouldn’t have to worry about the Power Hungry enchantment for the moment. Even still, she quietly wrapped her scarf over her mouth and nose.
“Just passing through!” Philip said.
“You’re trespassing in Lord Agac’s forest!”
“Lord who?” Philip asked.
“Lord Agac! The ruler of the forest. Come with me to pay your proper respects and gain safe passage.”
Ten. I count ten goblins. And one forest troll.
“Are you Lord Agac?” Philip asked.
“No, I am his son, Magac.”
Philip slowly reached a hand behind his back. Starflower caught his eye and shook her head. Hillary might get hurt.
“Okay,” Philip said, bringing his hand back to his side. He stepped forward and moved to follow the patrol. As he got closer to Starflower’s position, he whispered, “Follow us!”
“Who are you whispering to!” the troll whirled around.
He could hear that? Starflower thought. For a moment, she wanted to be angry with Philip for giving her away. No. The Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control.
“Come out!” the troll demanded. He sniffed the air. “All of you! I can smell you!”
Reluctantly, everyone emerged.
“Good. Now, no funny business. To Lord Agac’s magnificent throne room!” the goblins surrounded the team and marched them off the path into the forest.
“Magnificent. Indeed. Typical Forest Troll log cabin,” William muttered as they approached the building.
“What was that?” the troll said. “There’s nothing typical about it! Check out the decor!” he gestured to a set of antlers hanging over the door. Magac marched up the stairs and rapped on the door four times: two slow and two quick taps. He stood to the side. A moment later, the door swung open. A goblin stood there. The goblin kicked a rolled up carpet at his feet, which unrolled out into the yard. A horn sounded a pompous tune. William raised his eyebrow, unimpressed.
“Enter the presence of the great Lord Agac!” Magac said, gesturing widely to the door.
If we must, Starflower sighed. She looked around for Hillary, and moved to be beside her as they entered the hall.
The hall was spacious. The walls were decorated with an assortment of antlers and horns. Starflower saw moose antlers, deer antlers, ram’s horns, and a few she didn’t recognize. In the center of the room was a pair of thrones that looked to be made of twisted antlers. On the thrones sat two forest trolls. One, a male, wore a crown with antlers, and he held an ornate staff. Beside him, a female, with a more subdued crown. They both wore garments of untreated (and therefore, smelly) sheep skins. Several more goblins were inside as well.
“Lord Agac, and his queen, Lady Moa! Rulers of the forest!”
“Welcome travellers!” Lord Agac said from his seat. “You are here to pay tribute to my greatness?”
“And how would we do that, exactly?” Edward asked.
“What treasures do you bring? Present a token of appreciation.”
Hillary took a shiny object from her pocket and gave it to a goblin. “Here you go,” she said. The goblin presented the item to the troll. Starflower didn’t get a good look at it. A rock, maybe?
“Will this do?” Edward took a copper half star from his coin pouch and handed it to a goblin, who presented it to Agac.
Agac eyed the coin. “Yes, yes, exactly. Now, what of the others?”
“No,” Philip crossed his arms in defiance.
“Excuse me?” Agac glared at him.
“What if I refuse?” Philip said again.
“Insolent peasant!” a goblin said from behind him. He kicked the back of Philip’s knee, knocking him down. Two others rushed forward and held his shoulders down. The first goblin drew his sword and held it against the back of Philip’s neck.
Starflower’s heart was beating wildly. “We’ll pay, we’ll pay!” She looked at Edward. “I only have Tals” she said quietly. Worth more than I care to give to this pompous troll.
Edward produced a few more half stars for her and Philip, and William produced a copper coin as well.
“Are we free to go?” Starflower asked. “Do we have leave to cross your forest?”
“Yes, you may go,” Lord Agac said, dipping his sceptre in what was probably meant to be a ceremonial gesture.
I can’t believe they did that to Philip, Starflower found herself seething as they exited the cabin. To her surprise, they walked right into a cloud a smoke. Magac was right beside the door, smoking a cigar. Starflower immediately held her breath, grabbed Hillary’s hand and pulled her past the smoke.
She turned around, watching the others come out. The patrol of goblins was still in the yard.
Are we in trouble? Will anyone fall under a Power-Hungry enchantment? She didn’t think she was enchanted herself. Her scarf probably helped. Hillary seemed to be okay.
Regulus, Bill and Philip moved quickly through the smoke.
William stepped through and towards her, then turned back. “You know, I could probably be Lord of the Lake,” he commented.
No! William!
Edward was the last to come out the door. He also looked like he was seething. His face was contorted in an angry snarl. The door closed behind him.
When he realized there was smoke, Edward drew both of his swords and attacked the forest troll, yelling.
No, no, no! We were free to go! I hate sin enchantments! Starflower brandished her quarter staff, while Hillary started backing away. Magac was barely scratched from the attack, and Edward took a solid blow from the troll’s quarter staff.
The sound of steel rang out as half a dozen goblins drew their swords. Others were preparing crossbows.
Not good, not good. Regulus! Go! Fight!She thought urgently. She ran towards a pair of goblins near her. She saw William draw his daggers. At least his enchantment wasn’t preventing him from fighting. But it would prevent him from praying. Overlord! Protect Edward!
They were outnumbered. Starflower found herself battling two goblins at once. She would block and attack one, only to be slashed by another. She felt pain shooting through her arm.
She could hear laughter. The troll was now just standing there laughing as Edward slashed at a couple of goblins. She winced as Edward took another blow. He didn’t look too good. He might get himself killed in this angry outburst of his. She also heard Regulus roaring. The lion had just pounced on another goblin.
“OW!” Starflower said as a goblin blade nicked her arm again. She saw Bill out of the corner of her eye, so she whirled away from her current sparring partner to face the goblin who had just nicked her. Bill bowled over the first one in a moment, mauling the creature. She saw the troll moving towards Edward.
“Edward! Look out!” she yelled, blocking another goblin attack.
A battle axe went flying through the air and sunk into the troll’s arm. Magac roared with rage and turned to see where the axe came from. Philip, in the form of a poor fisherman, was standing there with a grin on his face.
It worked. The troll turned away from Edward and stomped towards Philip, grabbing the axe out of his arm as he did so.
Starflower spun her quarterstaff and gave another solid blow to the goblin in front of her, knocking it to the ground. It didn’t get up. Edward was a few feet away from her, breathing hard and clenching his swords. He looked mad with rage. Blood was dripping from cuts in his arms and on his forehead. An arrow was sticking out of his backpack. Starflower wasn’t sure if it had pierced his skin or not.
The troll threw the battle axe back at Philip. Philip reached his hand out to catch it. The axe sailed right past him. Philip missed his catch, Starflower thought.
Philip launched his body up and backwards, doing a reverse hand spring. He was back on his feet in a moment, holding his battle axe. William moved in with his daggers, distracting the troll. Starflower spotted Regulus charge behind the corner of the building, chasing a goblin that was trying to run away.
“ARRGGHH!” Edward yelled, charging towards the troll.
“Edward!” Starflower said, running after him. Thankfully, Philip had thrown the axe again, bringing the troll down. There were also no goblins left.
“There’s more inside!” Edward yelled, running towards the closed door.
Starflower’s eyes widened. Philip got there first and blocked Edward from going in.
“We can set up our kingdom right here if we take over the cabin,” William said, still clutching his daggers.
Starflower whirled on William. “‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it!’” she quoted. “God is the ruler of everything, we are just his humble servants. We don’t own any of this!” she gestured widely at what she hoped he would understand as the entire world around them.
William blinked rapidly and then lowered his daggers. “Gah! Sorry! Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it,” Starflower said. “And as for you!” she marched up to Edward, who was trying to push Philip out of his way to get to the door. “Ephesians 4:26, 31 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry... Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”
“Get rid of all rage and anger...” Edward repeated softly, slowly relaxing his grip on Philip’s shoulders. He turned and looked at her. “There’s an anger sin enchantment,” he spoke quietly.
“Let’s get away from this cabin and get cleaned up,” Regulus suggested. “You guys look like you need some first aid, but this isn’t a safe place.”
“Help me hobble,” Starflower said, putting her arm around her lion. “Did you get hurt at all?”
“No, M’Lady. Some goblins shot arrows at me, but I didn’t even feel it.”
After the team struggled a safe distance away from the cabin, they sat down to bandage their wounds.
As William applied bandages to her slashed up arm, Starflower recognized anger at the goblins welling up in her. She reminded herself of Ephesians 4:31 again and felt control returning.
“Do we have any healing potion?” Starflower asked.
“No,” William said. “I have some sleeping powder.”
“Not helpful,” Starflower said.
“Oh, wait,” Edward said.
“What?” Starflower asked.
“Do you remember 2 Kings 5? The story of Naaman?”
“The guy with leprosy?”
“Yeah. I’ve had that story on my mind since the battle. Since the sin enchantment was broken, really. I think the Overlord wants me to dip into some water seven times to find healing.”
“I prayed for you during the battle,” Starflower said. “Maybe this is the Overlord’s answer.”
“Okay. Where do we find water?” William asked.
“There’s a river west of here,” Hillary said.
“Great,” William turned to his left.
“West is that way,” Edward pointed.
“Great,” William turned to his right.
As the team stumbled along, Starflower said, “We have to guard our thoughts. Are you guys struggling with anger more than usual today?”
William nodded, glumly.
“I almost got angry about missing that catch when the troll threw my axe,” Philip admitted. “Usually that wouldn’t bother me as much. But I got over it.”
As they approached the river, mosquitos started to buzz around and bite them.
“Ah! Stupid mosquitos!” Edward yelled after a few moments. He started thrashing around.
“Edward! Edward!” Philip ran in. “Get rid of all rage and anger! Remember?”
Edward shook his head. “Gah! It was happening again! Outbursts of anger!”
“I know. Let’s get you into the water,” Philip said.
The team was surprised by a pocket of valpaza, which they easily dispatched. After dipping in the water seven times, they all felt somewhat refreshed.
“I could still use a rest,” Edward admitted. “I mean, I feel somewhat better, but I’m not 100%.”
“The sun is setting,” Philip pointed out. “Perhaps if we back off from the river a bit to get away from the mosquitos, we could make camp for the night.”
“Good idea,” Starflower agreed, yawning.
Session 4
Date in Real Life: Sunday 15 May 2022
In Game Day: Mid-Spring, Day 2
The night passed without incident, and the team felt refreshed in the morning. Since Hilary did not have any sleeping gear, Philip lent her his bedroll. Over breakfast (Edward shared some of his rations with Hilary), the team agreed they needed to head north to the castle to investigate Lord Thumoi.
Summary:
-Encountered Shepherds. Shepherds concerned about Bill and Regulus, but were reassured. Shepherds mentioned a farmer who was in trouble for losing sheep. The team ignored this.
-Met a Gardner for the castle grounds. Gardner mentioned the castle’s back door.
-At back door of castle, sneak in, and find Hillary’s stolen sheep.
-The sheep bleats loudly, alerting the guards to their presence. They are escorted to the throne room, where Thumoi the Cyclops holds court. The closer they get to Thumoi, the more difficult it is to resist the Quick to Anger sin enchantment.
-Battle. Orcs and Thumoi killed. Human guards backed off, reluctant to participate in the fight.
-Trip home. Cross lake as a short cut. Come to fishing village.
-Hillary’s mother converted
-Back to Liberated land
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