Thinking about Free Will, and Jesus’ endless hope and love

This morning I was thinking – for some unknown reason – about Judas, who betrayed Jesus.  

This was prophesied, that Jesus would be betrayed by one close to Him.  

So I got to thinking about this whole thing.  

Jesus knew.  He invited Judas to be one of the disciples – even knowing.  

Which made me wonder, do we have free will?  Was Judas destined to betray Jesus, and nothing could change that – so Jesus chose Judas knowing this?

Or just maybe…  Maybe it wasn’t predestination – but simply knowledge.  Maybe Jesus knew what was going to happen because He is omniscient (all knowing).  Maybe He chose Judas to give Judas a chance to make a different decision – even though He know that wouldn’t happen.  But He was THERE for Judas.  He made Judas one of His inner circle.  He counseled with Judas, taught Judas, loved Judas.  Waited, with an eternal hope that Judas would make a different decision – even though He knew that wasn’t to be.

But what THIS viewpoint means is amazing.  Jesus is SO full of hope, and of love for us, that even KNOWING what choices Judas would make, He was there FOR Judas.  Judas wasn’t a tool, Judas was undying hope and grace.  Judas was Jesus never giving up, even though He is omniscient.  It was Jesus walking side-by-side until Judas made his final choice.  It was Jesus giving Judas ALL the chances to see things differently, to hand his life truly over and truly follow Jesus.  It was allowing Judas complete freedom to fall on his own sword, as it were.  

Which, for ME, means that no matter how stupid I am, I can ALWAYS CHOOSE to follow Jesus.  To lean into Him, to hand him control of my life, to fall into obedience and trust even when it makes no sense.  Jesus may already know what I’m going to do – but He won’t ever walk away from me, turn His back on me, or give up on me, until my time is gone – and if I live for eternity with or without Jesus – well, that’s on me – but HIS grace and love will never be the point of failure.

That’s pretty dang amazing.

Should Christians Play Dungeons and Dragons? A List of Articles.

Should Christians Play Dungeons and Dragons? A List of Articles.

As both a member of our youth leadership team, and an avid D&D DM who runs multiple campaigns, I have many many conversations with parents (mostly) about whether Dungeons and Dragons is something that a Christian can – and should – play.  

I’m formulating an actual post about this that will be released whenever I have time (so…..?)  But for the moment:

Yes.  I believe that Christians can – and SHOULD play Dungeons and Dragons.  They should do it enthusiastically – but with intelligence and thought.  Because – as with ANY hobby or activity – it CAN be problematic.  There are definitely themes and content that can be contrary to Christian belief.  It’s important to play with someone who is running a game that has the boundaries that you are comfortable with.  I’ll elaborate more on that when I get my actual thoughts out.

But in the meantime, to help those that are looking, I thought it’d be helpful to post some links to articles that discuss this very thing.  So without further ado, here we go.

 

More to come as I have a moment!

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Started about 6:15. They started off talking outside the temple. The decided to go up to the top of the temple and examine the circle they saw from before. They studied the top of the temple, closing paying attention to the circles on the top. They immediately noticed that the three smaller circles had symbols of constellations in them – the archer, the chalice, and the dragon. The four in the party were able to manually turn the giant stone disks to align correctly. Then a hand print was revealed in the middle – Reo pulled Quelenna Amastacia over to it and put her hand on it – and the larger circle started to spin until it too was aligned correctly, and all the symbols of the elements lined up with each other. At that point, to the sounds of grating and clanking, the top of the temple started to sink down into the temple itself. It dropped roughly 10′ down, and aligned itself to a platform against one wall. That landing was the top of stairs that followed the walls all the way down the base of the interior of the temple. As they walked they noticed that there was a break in the wall that sat at about 8′ high, and stayed at a constant distance from the stairs all the way down. There were also sconces every 30′ along the walls. Reo reached over and stuck her torch in the wall, and flame shot both directions, lighting the oil that was in the recess, and lighting the sconces in the walls.

The inside of the temple is covered with vegetation; vines climb the walls to the very ceiling. As they descended the steps, they found that the steps were covered in moss and vegetation and was slippery. The party made their way down to the bottom of the steps. At the bottom of the steps they found a recessed nook, with the bust of an older elf druid. Draped over the bust was a set of pants and a top made of what appeared to be a very fine dark green silk. Quelenna Amastacia decided to try the clothing on, after examining the nook for traps. As she donned the clothing and then got dressed again, she had a feeling of peace and security that she didn’t have before.

While this was happening, Elitacee was absolutely enraptured with the central pillar that extended from the floor of the ceiling up to the ceiling (shy 10′, where the ceiling dropped down to). Something was calling to her from the pillar, and she couldn’t break her concentration. Reo Grayrlock noticed at the far side of the temple was a raised dais that had some sort of arch on it.

Elitacee started walking to the pillar, and Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia joined her. They reached the pillar, and walked all the way around it. Quelenna Amastacia noticed some writing on the far side of the pillar, written in ancient elvish. This was the prophecy :

 

In the whispers of forgotten groves, where ancient trees sway to the rhythm of time’s eternal dance, there echoes a prophecy veiled in the mists of ages past.

“A trio of unlikely kin, bound by threads unseen,
One who reads the stars, one of metal’s gleam,
And she, a monk in guise of feline grace,
Seeking redemption in the shadows’ embrace.

Together they tread the path of strife,
Amidst the chaos of the mortal life.
In trials small and great, their strength they’ll find,
As shadows loom and allies wane in kind.

But as the tempest rages and darkness falls,
Their spirits soar, undeterred by fate’s cruel calls.
For in their unity, a power unseen unfurls,
To shape the destiny of worlds.

Through trials untold, they shall endure,
As allies rise and fall, in courage pure.
In their hands alone, the world’s salvation lies,
A beacon of hope beneath darkened skies.

So heed the whispers of the ancient boughs,
For in this trio, destiny vows.
In their journey’s end, the world shall see,
The light that blooms from unity.”

 

As she was reading this, Elitacee was focused on a point about 8′ high. She circled the pillar multiple times, finally reaching her hand up and trailing around with her hand on the pillar – eventually pushing her fingers hard enough to cause sparks across the pillar and leave char marks. She noticed her chest was getting hotter and hotter; there appeared a pulsing glow from up in the pillar, and a door slid open. Reo Grayrlock looked into the cavity that had opened and saw a 2″ metal ball that had crystal “studs” poking out of it. The ball was starting to spin and vibrate; Elitacee jumped up and grabbed the hole in the pillar and pulled herself up, and reached in and grabbed the metal ball, which felt warm. Unsure what to do with it, Elitacee placed it in her chest cavity – and nothing happened.

The party decided to move on and examine the dais. They spent about 10 minutes walking over to it, and found that it was raised up, had large willow trees at each corner, and at each end of the dais is an arch that is covered in some sort of writing or runes, but not any that anybody in the party can read.

After spending some time examining the dais, they decide to go see if they can find the source of the water that they are hearing. They walk along the outer wall for about 15 minutes and they find themselves (after having pushed through dense foliage and plants) standing at a crystal clear small lake, with a waterfall that is falling out of the temple wall.

From there Elitacee realized that what she had found was a docent – and that she needed to attune to it. So the crew decided to take a short rest to give her that opportunity, and to give Quelenna Amastacia the time to really examine her new clothing..

At the end of the attunement process, Elitacee heard a voice in her head, introducing Samuel The Docent to her. The crew spent some time getting to know Samuel The Docent, and attempted to have him interpret the writing on the arches, and then on the pillar, which he could not do. It however turned out that much of the writing on pillar was in druidic, which Quelenna Amastacia could read. The writing was a history of the war between He and She, and recounted battles and details far too numerous to get in to.

They finally decided to go explore the other end of the temple, where they had not yet been. They did so, and found an underground cavern that went down underneath the edge of the temple, and contained a library that was in amazingly perfect condition. [NOTE THAT I NEED TO FLUSH OUT BOOKS AND MATERIALS]

Leaving the library the decided to go back to the pond and waterfall and follow it through to see where it led – which was around the entire temple. down the wall in the corner they found an arch that led down a ramp under the temple wall, with a cave in of rocks blocking the way – they decided not to dig through that.

they returned to the library to see what they could study and find. And that’s where we left it – about 6 in the morning.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-021

We started by leveling up to level 4. Quelenna Amastacia also got some new Circle of the Stars Homebrew including a new cantrip, starmarks.

The session itself started with the entire crew still in the water after having defeated the fire-elemental and the fire sprites. Gendithas Firpride is almost dead, and everybody needs to heal. As they stand there, they see the shadow of an airship cross above them, above the smoke, casting a shadow below. They hurriedly made for the forested shore, where they took refuge from any searching eyes deep in the trees. Gendithas was immediately snoring, and out. He slept all day. The other three took their turns, and after a full, long rest ending about 6:30 at night, they all got up and eat some rations and start to head out. There is no sign of the airship.

They cross over back on to the peninsula, and Quelenna Amastacia finds that her eyes have gone weird – they’ve turned black, with glimmers of stars dancing in them. As they make their way a across the water, she – and she alone – starts to see faint glows of light. Blue, White, Green, and White. They followed her to the first – a blue light – where she could see the blue light sitting basically on the ground. They then started digging. Down about 2 feet, in hard, charred dirt that has been on fire for …. centuries. They finally reached the top of a pillar that had a symbol on the top (the symbol represented water). They tried to dig the pillar out, but were unable to. They left it, and moved on the the next – a red / orange color. They repeated the process, and found a pillar (this one represents fire). On to the third (earth), and then the fourth (air). As they contemplated this, Quelenna Amastacia decided she wanted to try something. So she blew on the pillar of air – and it sunk into the earth and a beam of bright light shot up into the sky. With actual glee, she raced to the blue – and dumped water from the waterway over it. It sank into the ground, and a beam of blue light shot up into the sky. They raced to the red pillar, and she cast produce flame, and was greeted by a sinking pillar and a pillar of light into the sky. They ran to the green, and couldn’t find any actual soil or earth to use. Reo Grayrlock ran back across the stream and brought back soil – which they dumped over the final pillar, causing it to sink down into the ground and a pillar to shoot into the sky….. And in return, a fifth glow, a deeper red, coming from the center where all points intersected.

They all walked over to the point of the new light, and started digging, this time a little deeper. They found the fifth pillar, this one with a hand print. Quelenna crawled down, and leaned down into the hole, and placed (reluctantly) her hand in the print – and all the air around her evaporated. She was pulled down into the pillar, and blood rushed to her hand – and then through her hand, into the print, activating the magic. She saw visions, again – of the locations of the rune stones. She saw a vision of 4 additional pillars (on the temple)

– One is hidden in the base of a tower above a waterfall. 
– One is hidden in a specific wall block of a dark castle.  (this is the one they found on the airship)
– One is hidden in a deep pond in an underground temple.
– One is hidden with Her

At the end of the vision, she saw the look of concern cross her ancestor’s face and then she saw creatures attack her and then things went black.

As the vision ended, she sat in the hole and recovered herself. All the lights from the element pillars (including the 5th with the hand) had gone dark.

Once Quelenna Amastacia was released from the stone and was able to see and hear again, she filled the crew in on what happened. Then they covered up all the pillars they had dug up, and they headed towards the other end of the peninsula where they came across the old temple. They circled the temple, and eventually noticed the glowing writing around each of the pillars – in Sylvan. It reads:

“When what was stolen is returned, help may be found”

 

They also saw the glow from marks way up at the top of the temple, so they climbed the stairs. At the top they found a recess where the stone they had from the airship fit. The other pillars had a similar recess with markings for stones they have not yet located. The top of the temple is a square shape, with a step down into an area that is round. Around the outside of this area are the elemental markings; in the center is a giant circle, which has (among other things) those same markings – but they are turned out of order.

They decided to see if the rune stone that they had from the airship did anything when it was matched to the correct pillar. They dropped it in, and it immediately fused itself in to the pillar where it fit – and it started to blizzard and freeze at the top of the temple. In just a couple of moments the top of the temple was covered in snow and ice.

Seeing as how it was almost 2am (???) they climbed back down the temple steps to Elitacee and Gendithas Firpride, and that’s where we left off.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-14

Played up at Alderbrook house, started about 6:15

The team woke up with the dawn, and cooked some fish for breakfast. They left the mouth of the cave that they were in, having come up from the underground passageways and the myconid circle safely thanks to their two guides.

The moved towards the smoke. Thick, filling the air, and effecting both their ability to breathe as well as their vision, they proceeded to follow the coast line for a little over an hour. On occasion they could see some sort of bright light moving around, but little to nothing else. The heat from the ground was burning their feet and making it miserable to walk; they had each pulled a creature out of the bag of tricks to have available to them in case they were surprised, and they all felt pity for the feet of the 3 badgers that were trucking along with them (2 badgers, 1 giant badger). As the coast line started to turn, the air around them suddenly shifted, and they found themselves in the middle of gusting winds that seemed to suck the oxygen out of the air. Heat was exploding around them, and rushing out of the smoke came a burning light filled with rage. The crew found themselves facing a very angry fire-elemental, screaming at them in ignan. Since the adventurers were on alert and expecting something (although the definitely didn’t expect a fire elemental), the battle was immediately engaged.

Reo immediately shot at the elemental, and watched as her arrow burned in flame as it approached the heat; the head of the arrow continued its course and still managed to damage and irritate the elemental. Elitacee shot her crossbow from the other side of the elemental, with similar results. Quelenna Amastacia launched herself off the bank and into the water they had been following, finding it was only 6-8 feet deep. She quickly moved as far across as she could. Everybody else followed suit, plinking away at the elemental. Which followed them into the water, taking its damage on an ongoing basis in an effort to get to this group.

To be honest, I cannot recall every single thing that happened that day, with many of the actions of the heroes being lost to the sands of time. However, of note – Gendithas propelled himself out of the water and performed as powerful as a cannonball as he could muster, splashing water high up on the elemental. Elitacee grabbed his badger and in a feat of crazy strength through it 60′ high into the air, and it landed immediately next to the elemental on the other side, drenching it with water. Quelenna Amastacia ended up with the killing blow, and rammed a javelin straight through the last glowing ember of a heart that the elemental had – but not before he had done significant damage to herself, Reo, Elitacee, and Gendithas. And not before he had called two Fire Sprites to his aid, who joined the battle just as he fell. Since the sprites floated above the ground, they had less trouble reaching the adventures who were spread out all over the water. Gendithas managed to grab one and drag it to the bottom of the water before it forced him to let go and escaped – he took some damage, but it hurt the Fire Sprite more. Elitacee rushed over to Gendithas, who was sitting at the bottom of the inlet, and pulled him up. Meanwhile, the other sprite attacked Reo, and Quelenna Amastacia hacked away at it with her wicked sickle. Eventually the two weakened it enough that Quelenna was able to decapitate it. At the other bank of the inlet, Elitacee and Gendithas continued to battle the other sprite. Gendithas tried to drown it again, but ended up as close to death as he might, sinking to the bottom of the inlet and not moving. Reo rushed forward and threw her Covolt Dagger, with brutal accuracy and force (NAT 20) – the dagger buried itself into the Fire Sprite, with lightening bolts shooting into it from the dagger and burning it from the inside until it literally exploded. They hauled Gendithas up and looked around, finding themselves alone at the moment.

And that’s where things were left. It’s about 10am.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-02

The session started out in the hut in the myconid colony. They spent 3 days resting and investigating all of the items they’ve acquired over the various locations (this took QUITE a lot of time)

They ended the session traveling with Myconid escorts through the tunnels and up to the surface, where they spent the night in a cave.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-04-25

We met after Reo’s track meet; Quelenna Amastacia showed up about 6ish. We sat around and chatted about everything and anything and ate a chicken dinner about 7:15, which we finished over conversation about 8.

From there, we got in to things.

The group revisted the past session and refreshed our memories on what happened.

They talked to Sporeglow, and eventually left to return to the hut they had spent time in previously. They left off in the hut.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-28

The session started with the party being sucked down in the hole in the middle of the underground pool in the Owlbear’s lair, where they proceeded to be thrown with the current down a massive underground river, bouncing off walls and doing their best to hold their breath. They find themselves washed up in a little inlet of the river (and Reo Grayrlock holding on to a stone in the middle of that calmer inlet). Somewhere further down the river a waterfall raged, making conversation in this area nearly impossible. As they lay their trying to catch their breath, they heard scraping from a ledge up the wall, and felt a nauseous wave of fear hit them. A little looking around revealed a couple of Meenlock up on the ledge, having come out of some hidden tunnel up above their heads.

Reo Grayrlock immediately sprang into action and ran up the wall with her [[slippers-of-spider-climbing]], where she successfully grabbed both the meenlocks by their claws, somersaulted down and threw them to the ground.

The rest of the party then engaged the meenlocks, trading blows. Two more meenlocks appeared on the ledge down at the other end of the inlet, and came down to attack. From out of nowhere a figure appeared from what appeared to be a solid wall, attacking the new meenlocks.

The battle raged, with this figure suddenly vanishing from sight as quickly as it had appeared. Several rounds of combat later, and all of the meenlocks were finally destroyed, with one thrown out in to the current by Luh Kranky Krank and the others having lost limbs in their attempts to grab members of the party.

After the battle, the crew ventured down a 5′ wide path to where the mysterious figure stood waiting for them; the sound of the waterfall still too much for conversation, the figure gestured for them to follow him. He led them to the “dead end” wall at the end of the path, where a very narrow switchback passage led them through the wall and out on to a ledge in a gigantic cavern filled with a fully myconid circle. The full circle encompassed several smaller circles, each with their own activities going on. A large, deep, crystal clear lake filled with bioluminescent fungi sat in the middle of the lake, with an island in the middle of that. Bridges spread out from that island like spokes, each leading to the shore and the various circles.

On the ledge, the mysterious individual introduced himself as [[Xander]] . he explained that he had been on watch when the crew came sputtering out of the river, and watched the meenlocks come down – they had started to become a nuisance to the Circle – so he stepped in to help dispatch them.

Two Myconid guards were stationed on the ledge, at the top of a ramp that wound down and in to the lower cavern. The air became filled with airborne spores, and as the crew breathed in they found themselves hearing the voices of the myconids in their heads. The guards ask the crew why they were there. The crew, and [[Xander]], explained the battle outside, and the crew explained that they had been pulled down into the underground river and were just trying to figure out how to get back to the surface and on with their mission.

As the crew stood overlooking the underground cavern they noticed that the cavern was laid out in a giant circle, made up of smaller circles. At the center of the cavern was a giant lake, and in the center of the lake was an island. From the island were “spokes” that branched out to the shore, connecting the island from all around. On the island itself was an absolutely enormous myconid; this is the Sovereign of the colony, Sporeglow.

The crew, after additional discussion, requests to speak with Sporeglow to ask some questions and get some guidance. At this point two additional guards arrive at the top of the ramp, where they all confer, and the group is led down the ramp by the new guards. As they walk, they get a better look at the cavern. There are what appear to be gardens of some kind growing all sorts of fungi and vegetation up the walls. Each circle below appears centered around a main giant fungus that serves as a dwelling, with smaller “buildings” around that. Each circle has myconids in all shapes and sizes and kinds going about their daily life. At the very bottom of the ramp as they wind through they find a nursery full of sprouts. They continue to wind through the cavern once they reach the floor, where they are taken to a building where they can rest and await their meeting with Sporeglow.

A very short time later the guards showed up, and they were taken to see Sporeglow. They would their way along the shore of the lake, which was crystal clear and filled with bioluminescent growth. The bottom was deep enough they could not see it. They came to one of the bridges out to the island, which were made of roots. They crossed the bridge, which was a good 50′ long, and found themselves on the island looking up at Sporeglow. He towered above them, each leg at least 8′ round, and his torso twice that. His cap, which was 40′ up, spread 30′ out around him. The air here was more densely filled with airborn spores, and the crew found themselves relaxed and at peace as they communicated with Sporeglow.

They explained all that had happened, and asked him **SOMETHING BUT NOBODY CAN REMEMBER WHAT.**

He explained that he did not know these answers, but perhaps a colony meld would reveal the information that the crew was seeking.

While they waited, they rested and talked. Xander told some of his story and how he ended up down here in the colony. (see [[History of Xander]] ). Luh Kranky Krank also shared some about himself, and The Legend of the Beta Masta . Xander revealed that he had one of the rune stones that the crew was seeking to go along with the ones they pilfered from Jeb’s cabin at the bandit camp.

About the time they finished up their sharing, the guards showed back up to bring them to Sporeglow for the meld. They followed the guards out to find the entire lower cavern around the lake filled with myconids, hundreds or more of them. They crossed the bridge again to the island, and sat down near Sporeglow. As they waited, the air grew thick with airborn spores, and they all found themselves sinking into a deep, relaxed, trancelike state. As they relaxed, they started to experience random visions and the very odd sensation of becoming one with hundreds of other minds. Visions that obviously belonged to various myconids in the colony flitted through their consciousness.

NOTE: At this point DM turned off all the lights and turned on the blacklight so the room was filled with glowing everything (around the table)

The Meld:

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-05-28

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Luh Kranky Krank couldn’t make it, initially because he was going to go play in the sunshine, but found out later he was down with a migraine. 🙁 Lexy, Savannah, and Ben came to play.

Given it was a super sunny and 70 degree day we BBQ’d burgers and had a little picnic and hung out for a little. Lexy and Savannah played some cards first.

The session started off with a very brief overview of the previous session. I reminded them that they were standing in the hallway having just exited the room where they defeated all the zombies. Gendithas Firpride was standing over the body of a giant spider he had cut in half, and was making sure the crew was silent.

They decided to go down the hallway that Reo Grayrlock had gotten such a bad feeling about. As they approached the hallway this time, both Elitacee and Quelenna Amastacia were hit with a wave of fear that was almost paralyzing. The further down the hallway they walked, the more visions ran through their heads, and the more unsettled they became. Reo Grayrlock took point and went into the room first. She scouted everything out and saw nothing. The rest of the crew came in once she declared the room as safe as it could be.

The ceiling was close to 40′ high, and very dark. Stalactites hung from the ceiling. There was a book shelf that was being used as a room divider. On the side they crew was currently on, there was a sleeping area with 4 beds, and a round wood table with 4 chairs. Four crates stood behind the iron gate that gave entry into the room.

Elitacee went over and checked the beds and found nothing, and checked the bookshelf and discovered nothing.

The crew investigated the crates and found several useful items. There were 4 moon-touched-sword-xge (shortsword) in fancy leather scabbards. There was an immovable-rod , an odd looking dagger , and 6 sets of super lightweight chain-mail. There was a 4th chest that was empty but was lined in fine linen; there were 4 divots in both the top and the bottom of the case, which was obviously meant to hold 4 spherical items.

Upon a close investigation of the rod, Quelenna Amastacia noticed the button, and pushed it – expanding the rod to its 5′ length and locking it in to place – much to their delight. They then sent Reo Grayrlock over towards the bookshelf where she jumped and extended the rod at the top of her reach. She then pulled herself up on the rod to get a better view of the cavern ceiling to see if they could discover anything. She was able to see that there was a ledge that ran all the way around the cavern, as well as stone bridges that crossed all over from edge to edge. This was all she could really see from there, so she got down.

They left Luh Kranky Krank to guard the door, and they all gathered towards the end of the large bookshelf so that they could head in to the other side of the room. The feeling of dread continued to grow for Quelenna Amastacia and Elitacee.

They ventured through into the other side. Immediately to their left they found a side room that had multiple weapons racks and additional chests, which they explored. In the chests they found: On the staff rack they found 4 staffs. One is an old gnarled piece of wood. One was an obsidian staff, smooth and black, with three pointed prongs off the top. The 3rd is a basic wood staff with a metal wrapping at each end. The fourth was a staff that tapered at the bottom, and had entwined metal like substance that wraps its way up the top of the staff and culminates in tangled, electricity-like tendrils coming up off the top. They also found a longsword and a shortsword on the weapons rack, which they left.

From this point, they ventured out more in to the middle of the room. Reo Grayrlock used the rod to climb up near the ceiling again, holding her moon-touched-sword-xge up high to illuminate the ceiling area, where she saw nothing, despite the feeling of being watched.

Quelenna Amastacia lit the large torch sconces on the walls – there were 3 of them – and they found themselves in the middle of a office workshop. At the far end stood a large, imposing desk. To each side of the desk was a locked glass cabinet, and immediately across from the side room was another, short bookshelf.

Elitacee went to the bookshelf, and found a case with three scrolls in it (2 of which could not be read by anybody in the party, and one that was some sort of star chart).

Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia went to the desk, and on the way by noticed that the one cabinet was filled with jars, vials, and containers of some sort of ingredients, and there was a leather case in the bottom of it. The other case had filled vials and flasks. Both cases were locked.

On the desk was an odd jug that had multiple spouts, and was covered in symbols. A pedestal with a glass cloche over it held a folded white cloth. There was a handful of scrolls, and a ink pen with a dried up ink well. A strange, jet black box sat in the middle of the desk. Black metal bands wrapped the box, and also made up the latch for it. When they opened the latch, the box was finished inside with a fine, rich black fabric lining and contained 3 rings.

They pulled the cloth out and unfolded it, to reveal a 6′ x 6′ square with a large, black circle in the middle. Holding it up the fabric, they couldn’t figure out anything about the cloth, and decided to move on. They unsuccessfully attempt to figure out the jug. In the meantime, Elitacee unfolded the fabric again and put it on the ground – at which point the circle became a hole in the ground, much to the surprise of Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia . They tried to figure out how to get down into the hole safely – until they looked over the edge and realized it was only about 10′ deep. So Reo Grayrlock jumped down into the hole – and found hanging on the wall a set of keys, which she grabbed. Unsurprisingly they figured out the keys unlocked the two cabinets, which they then packed up.

They used one of the empty chests to pack up all the vials and flasks, and they packed up the leather case and all the components they could fit from the other cabinet, and placed it all in the bottom of the hole, along with the staffs.

After having packed everything up, they folded the cloth up and Elitacee put it in her storage compartment. They then turned their attention to the ceiling to see if there was any way to get up above and explore – at which point they started seeing movement. Quelenna Amastacia through a produce-flame up into the ceiling – and the light reflected off of a whole lot of eyeballs. Followed by chittering, and a rush of huge spiders coming through the crevices in the ceiling. Gendithas Firpride yelled for everybody to run, which they were all already doing. As they rushed through the room, Luh Kranky Krank ran out into the hallway with everybody following. Reo Grayrlock brought up the rear, and pulled the iron gate shut just as an enormous spider crashed against it, reaching through the bars and trying to grab her. The crew ran down the hallway, and as soon as they breached the entrance Harry and Precious came barreling down from the entrance, with Precious carrying the unconscious gregornie the camel which he had knocked out. They were yelling that the airship had landed outside and those on the ship were coming into the cave. As they barreled towards the rest of the crew, everybody turned to go deeper into the caves, and all of the floor traps were sprung releasing darts which flew back and forth across the hallways behind the fleeing party.

They came to the end of the tunnel they were in to another large cavern – to find giant spiders pouring out of the crevasses in the ceiling and coming down the walls. At this point everybody could hear yelling from the entrance to the caverns from the airship crew. A bunch of the spiders broke off and headed up the passageway to confront the new group. Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed deeper into the cavern and found the lair of the owlbear – complete with all the bones and remains. This end of the cavern had piles of rubble, and a large, clear pool of water filled with bioluminescent creatures. The middle of the pool held a hole that had a current rushing through under it, which was visible by the fact that the bioluminescent creatures that were waving in the current. As they watched (all while the spiders were advancing on the rest of the party) the lake started to get darker, and large bubbles started coming up and breaking the surface. As the surface got more violent with whatever was happening both Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed back to join the main group. Gendithas Firpride and the rest of the group had backed down a crevasse with only one way in, with the logic that it was easier to defend a single point. As Reo and Quelenna made it up to the entrance and rushed inside, the owlbear broke the surface of the lake and let out a horrific screech and barreled out of the lake. The spiders vanished almost instantly as the owlbear rushed past and up the tunnel, leaving the party stunned – and both euphoric and panicked. They all very quickly decided to head into the lake and down that hole, since the owlbear had to come from somewhere. While they listened to the battle up the tunnel, they opened the fabric piece, knocked the camel out again who had come to, dropped him in to the hole, folded the cloth back up, Elitacee stowed it in her body, and then they all jumped in to the water and vanished into the hole, where the current grabbed them and sucked them down into the hole.

And that’s where everything left off.

Jebeddo Kreesp

Jebeddo Kreesp

jebeddo kreesp

Jebeddo Kreesp is a male gnome paladin who is currently the top dog in charge of the bandit camp located at the old lumber camp.  He is currently working as a mercenary at said camp, which is overseen by the Zhentirim for a 3rd party.

Jeb also has ties to Kiri’s group – at least, the heroes found a signet ring with that logo hidden in his quarters.  Additionally, despite being the one who orchestrated their capture (I mean, they literally walked in to his camp and tried to sell him goods they had stolen from …. their prisoners, who were members of his bandit group), he also was the one who help cover their bumbling attempts to escape on more than one occassion.

Gendithas Firpride

Gendithas Firpride

Gendithas firpride

Gendithas Firpride is a Firbolg Ranger.

The Heroes don’t know much about this quiet giant, whom they rescued from the airship drop site at the bandit camp.

They do know that he and his companion, an elf named Zindan, are affiliated with Kiri and her group.  They were sent to investigate the owlbear – one of two teams sent out who vanished.

They were captured by the bandits led by Jeb and were subsequently imprisoned in a cage with an anti-magic field to keep them from escaping.

Gendithas has accompanied the party, and been a strong asset in several violent altercations, but mostly stays to himself.