Well Unhallowed got pretty messed up last night!
We failed to talk down our parapsychologists brother who has mutated into a horrific insectile thrope. Combat went bad almost immediately with the first hit the brother got off would have killed the parapsychologist if he didn't use his reroll (we all get one per session and we all used them!) Ezra got in the way of the thrope to protect his friend.
Going to pop the rest under a readmore cause it is long and I want to talk about Ezra finally getting some closure.
Thropes have insane vitality so we spent multiple rounds doing damage for him to only heal and degenerate into a horrible fleshy creature. Blood acid, a leech tentacle and a horrific Krang like face. It was rough.
Unbeknownst to us in the room the Medium who was watching the door was fighting off 3 of the people who had multiple spirits in them. Because of again some terrible rolls she decided to open a rift in the veil to suck the souls into it. But she couldn't close the rift and got sucked in herself. As the rift got bigger...
The Dhampir failed her roll not to get sucked into the rift. The parapsychologist tried to close it whilst the Undertaker and Ezra managed to take down the brother.
We rushed to the veil to help the Para close it. Then the Para failed his roll to get sucked in. Leaving Ezra to try physically close it with the spectral energy of his hands. Which turned into a stalemate with Ezra's wound penalty. It wasn't getting bigger but he was failing to close it.
Until he heard a voice telling him to let go. It would help. He refused until the voice told him he did forgive him but he was angry that he never visited the girls. It was Oliver and Ezra let go of the veil in shock and was sucked in with the Undertaker.
We awoke in the Land of the Dead, somewhat aware we were not dead but our souls were out of our bodies. We got to see the Tower up close, it is enormous and breaking the laws of physics, with non euclidean houses bending at the bottom, stacked on top of each other. Spirits were here doing day to day tasks. We were almost attacked by a spirit of a man we killed in the first session. Until a man came to our aid, scaring them off telling us he was a Lieutenant of the Sepulchre Guard to the Lords of Death. It was Oliver, the first thing he did was hug Ezra before telling him he looked like shit. The laughter came back to Ezra like Oliver had never left.
Oliver told us that he was here to guide us to the First Lord of Death and Ezra struggled to look him in the eye. Oliver was as charming as was in life and the group noted how different Ezra was with him before giving Oliver and Ezra sometime alone.
Ezra told Oliver how much he missed him. Oliver fired back at that he missed him too but he thought he would have done more for Oliver's family. They needed him. Ezra argued that they needed their father and not him and he could barely look Oliver in the eye, let alone his daughters and wife knowing he should have done more to protect Oliver.
This angered Oliver further telling Ezra it was never his fault. The only one that could take blame was Mandolin. It was split moment decisions akin to fate. Ezra should be the last person to take the blame. He lectured Ezra that he did not give his life willingly but he wanted Ezra to actually live. Not this half life he had now.
He told him how he visited often and saw how much he hurt himself. Barely eating, working himself too much, not sleeping and how the nightmares had got out of control because Ezra gives himself no time to rest and no time to heal. He had given himself no time to mourn and he saw how close Ezra was to giving up. He wanted Ezra to reach out to his family. Their family, he had support there if he would just take it.
They finished their conversation with Oliver asking Ezra to promise to live. To find people in his life, and regain some happiness. It was the one thing he desired that would make his death worth it. Ezra was honest and said he had thought he would let go after he dealt with Mandolin but he promised he wouldn't. He would live and keep on living even with the way he was now. He would reach out to Clara and the girls even if it was hard.
Oliver also revealed that his dying energy that had leaked into Ezra left him with no hands in this realm, like Ezra he had gloves on. But underneath them was nothing because they are in Ezra. Ezra told him about his experience about eating the soul of a spirit. Oliver explained that was not from him but the veins on his chest and neck. It was a spiritual backlash that caused him to be a half-lifer when he killed the body Mandolin was in. Apparently it also had this effect of destroying a soul.
They headed back to the group, Ezra feeling distraught but with much needed closure. He cracked a few jokes with Oliver as they traversed the weird geometry of this land before finding themselves at the entrance of the Tower to meet the First Lord of Death.
So yeah! It was a lot. Ezras promise is in earnest, he won't give up. The shame and grief is still there, it might always be there but Oliver certainly gave him a talking to. He needed to hear it. And once he destroys Mandolin he can try and rebuild his life and keep his promise.
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Day 1: Breach - Nightmare - Character POV
Read it on Ao3
The Abyss
It’s always one more thing.
Killed the Big Bad? On to the Bigger Bad.
Completed a mission? Here’s five more.
So it wasn’t a surprise when Varric’s letter arrived. The first time he read it, he’d laughed. Not “this is hilarious” laughter, but “well, shit, we’re all gonna die” laughter.
Garrett sighs, idly thumbing through the crinkled yellow parchments, already worn thin at the edges. The stalactites surrounding him drip, echoing through the musty, candle-lit cavern where he bides his time. Ink smudges decorate his fingertips, streak across his forehead and cheeks from running them through his hair and beard. He reaches for the cup on the "desk", if it could even be called that, to find it empty and huffs, slamming it down upon the rough-hewn surface. Standing, he groans from the ache in his back, neck, knees. His everything.
I’m getting far too fucking old for this, he muses, pouring another drink.
First Kirkwall, and now this. The great, ugly, gaping maw in the sky taunts him every time he steps out of hiding, it’s swirling verdant miasma stretching and yawning further with each passing day, hour, minute.
Still, curiosity gets the better of him for the millionth time. He wanders toward the entrance of the cave, steps more lithe than a mage’s has any right to be, cup in hand and disaster on his mind. That thing taints the entire sky, sickening green hues bleeding into the raw-edged bruise of impending sunset like slithering tendrils, grasping and polluting all it touches. He can feel it, even from here, rippling and electric. The sepulchral, unearthly energy extending through and beyond the Veil calls to him, a permanent and painful reminder of his failures permeating his every waking thought as well as his dreams.
There’s a rift nearby, one of the Breach’s little offspring. Demons stalk its perimeter, their presence itching beneath his skin almost as pervasively as the magic flowing through his veins. Raising a palm, a small, roiling ball of flame springs to life inches above his gauntlet. He stares into its amber depths as it flickers and dances before clenching the fist around it, snuffing it out. Were the tears in the Veil so simple to seal, perhaps he wouldn’t be in this Maker-damned cave. In one long pull, he drains the remainder of the cheap wine and barely resists the temptation to hurl the cup into the darkening night.
It’s all my fault.
Blue eyes wrinkled by age and exhaustion flit to the sky once more. There was a time, not long ago, when he’d have cracked wise, masked the pain with humor and bravado. Yet now he watches the sky split apart in quiet, determined contemplation, wavering between apathy, despair, self-loathing, and seething anger.
“We stand upon the precipice of change,” she’d said. “Watch for that moment... and when it comes, do not hesitate to leap.”
He turns away.
Soon, he will do what must be done. Even if it costs him his life.
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Genesis 26 split, 12 Tribes Split, Church Split
written by Will Schumaker
God has told the end from the beginning.
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
God prophesied that Ephraim would become the “fullness of the gentiles.”
Genesis 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
This is Bible verse 1471. Strong;s H1471 = gentiles or nations
Ephraim, the head of the northern kingdom, rebelled and Assyria took them over and they have become known as the 10 lost tribes.
Somehow God sees the Gentiles as Ephraim. I wrote a post on this a while back called “I am Ephraim”. It would be very helpful to read to understand what I believe the Bible says on this.
About 10 years ago I started studying the Bible through Jewish eyes. I was struck by the fact that the early church was all Jewish. Then the Gentiles or “Ephraim” was brought in. Both Gentiles and Jews were meant to be one and worship together; James indicates this in Acts 15.
Acts 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
My understanding is that there was a split in the early church that began with the destruction of Jerusalem and was pretty much finalized with the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Over time the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, there is no observance of God’s feast days, and the Torah is looked upon as a burden.
Many messianic Jewish rabbis that I listen to still keep the Saturday Sabbath, still observe God’s feast days and although they see the Torah as not able to save them, only Jesus can, they see the Torah as a protective fence sent by a loving and merciful God to guide them.
Since God has already told the end from the beginning, I looked at one story in the Old Testament that seems to be a type of what has happened to the Church.
Solomon, the son of David, and builder of the Temple is a type of Christ. There is a glorious reign under Solomon which reminds me of the Acts 2 Church where everyone is acting like one body through the Spirit.
But then there is a split.
Jeroboam and the northern kingdom which is Ephraim (who becomes the fullness of gentiles) splits from the southern kingdom and King Rehoboam.
The first thing Jeroboam does is change God’s feast days (what the gentile church did) and where they worship.
1 Kings 12:27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah
1 Kings 12:32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah.
When you read why this happened it was because Rehoboam, King of Judah wanted to lay a heavier yoke upon Israel and Ephraim didn’t want this heavy yoke.
1 Kings 12:14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Recall Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light. In Jewish writing the Torah was likened to a yoke. So Jesus is saying take my Torah upon you and learn it.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light
Now I understand that Rehoboam wasn’t talking about the Torah when he said he would add to his father’s yoke. I believe this is a prophetic type though.
The other interesting thing Rehoboam said is that he would chastise Israel with scorpions.
Recall God called the “false prophet” leaders of Israel “scorpions”.
Ezekiel 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Jesus called the enemy “scorpions and serpents”.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
So scorpions or serpents are a visual picture of people against God.
In the New Testament, the false prophet of Jesus’ time was the religious leaders of Israel. He called them serpents or vipers.
Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Matthew 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
The false prophet Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time had made a mockery of God’s Torah. They had taken each command and made a set of strict rules to follow for each. It became a huge burden. It is called the “oral Torah”. It is a man-made law, not of God. Jesus was regularly against it.
Peter spoke of this in Acts 15. The Torah through the scribes and Pharisees had become too much of a yoke to bear.
Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Peter then gave minimal expectations of the Gentiles to worship with the Jewish people because they will be listening to Moses (God’s Torah) every Sabbath, and thus learning how to live obediently.
Acs 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
SO, I hope you see the prophetic type. The "scorpion" religious leaders of Judah tried to impose their definition of God’s law on the people just as Rehoboam made the burden too heavy and chastised with scorpions.
The gentiles, not used to God’s law, said the burden is too much and separated from the Jewish church. They made up their own feasts on their own schedule on their own days just as Jeroboam and the 10 tribes did.
There is an example of the rift between the Gentile and Jewish part of the Church in 3 John.
3 John 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3 John 1:10 Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
Diotrephes loved preeminence. Strong’s G1361 = Diotrephes. Strong’s H1361 = haughty or lift up.
Strong H1361 seems to be a definition of Strong’s G1361.
There seems to be another story in the Bible related to Jeroboam and Rehoboam as a type of the church split.
Jeroboam is Strong’s H3379 and means “the people will contend” It is formed from Strong’s H5971 and H7378.
Rehoboam is H7346 and means “a people has enlarged” It is from H5971 and H7337.
So Strong’s H5971 = ”people” and they both have that root. So the difference in their names comes from H7378 meaning “strive or contend” and H7337 meaning “to enlarge or make room”
Both of these roots are used for the first time in Genesis 26 in these two verses about Isaac digging wells.
Genesis 26:20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive (H7378) with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the
name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room (H7337) for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
Isaac is the promised child of faith. Wells are a type of God’s Torah. Philistines are the enemies of God’s child of faith.
The story starts with Isaac digging the wells of his father Abraham which the Philistines had stopped up.
Genesis 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
Isaac’s servants then finds a well of “springing water”. This of course is Jesus who a Messianic Jew calls the “ Living Torah” since John calls Jesus the “Word of God”.
Genesis 26:19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
However there is strife and it is named Esek, meaning “strife”. Isaac’s servants then dig another and call it “Sitnah”, which interesting has the same root as “satan”.
Genesis 26:20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Genesis 26:21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
So Isaac moved again and dug another well and called it “Rehoboth”.
Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
This sure looks to be the same story. Israel, the child of faith, dwelled with the enemies of God and was seeking the faith of his father Abraham that the enemies of God and “stopped up”. The child of faith found a well of springing water - the righteousness found through Christ and not man made laws. That well turned into strife through the adversary Satan. Many Jewish people clung to the man-made laws and their belief that as a natural child of Abraham they are saved. Many gentile believers didn’t want anything to do with God’s Torah.
The ideal would have been to continue being fed by the well of living water, Jesus. Instead there is a split just like the northern and southern kingdoms, and the Jewish and Gentile church.
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