The Warriors, Part 1

Ned: So are you, Joel. I'm Tiffany's agent.
Theo Brown: Really? I didn't know
Ned: When she gets here, she needs the script.
Theo Brown: Sure, right here.
Ned: And a spray of geraniums.
Theo Brown: Excuse me?
Tiffany Rockler: Greetings, support staff. I'm ready to go. Is tape rolling? Good. Is this the script? I may ad lib a bit. I am Tiffany Rockler from Wildwood. I have come to encourage you all to get a copy of the very first Pause and Tales book ever, The Overcomers. How was that?
Ned: Oh, so inspiring, Miss Tiffany.
Theo Brown: Uh, just stick to the script, please.
Tiffany Rockler: The Overcomers is a wonderful continuation of the grand story of Pause and Tales. This is better. A continuation of the original story arc. How's that?
Ned: Oh, I have chills, goosebumps.
Theo Brown: I don't know. Story arc is too technical. Please, stick to the script.
Tiffany Rockler: To get a copy of your own, just log on to pause and tales.org. You are going to love all the adventure, the fun, and the great teaching that Pause and Tales is famous for. Wait. Manny, where are my geraniums? There are supposed to be geraniums in here.
Ned: Hold on, hold on. Do something, do something.
Theo Brown: Stopping tape.
Host (Insight for Living): Welcome to the world of Pause and Tales. Wild Mountain can be a pretty dangerous place. If you stay on the trails and stick with me, there's adventures to be had there, too.
Goose: Come on, CJ, jump.
CJ: It's too far.
Goose: It wasn't too far for me.
Host (Insight for Living): Inside for Living Ministries is proud to present Pause and Tales. Howdy and welcome to Wildwood. It's a good day like today. When the sky is blue and the mountain air is cool and crisp, it's also a good day like today. When you're hiking with good friends way up in the trails of Wild Mountain, but it is the very best kind of day like today. When all of that is going on and you're on your way to the best fishing spot Papa Chuck has ever seen.
Ned: What if the fish are giant trout?
CJ: I just love giant trout. That's my favorite kind of trout.
Ned: Small fish are fine, but giant trout are so much bigger.
CJ: Dad, we're only going to catch the giant trout. I'm worried though that our frying pan won't be big enough for those giant trout.
Papa Chuck: Son, I think our pan will do a fine job of handling any size of fish you boys will catch today.
Ned: Oh, you should have said giant trout instead of fish. We had a bit of a giant trout thing going on there. It's what we do.
Host (Insight for Living): They do that all the time.
CJ: Yeah, dad. We had a giant trout thing going on.
Papa Chuck: I apologize for non-compliance of the giant trout thing.
Host (Insight for Living): Theo Brown is a beloved fixture here in Wildwood. He's a lawyer by training, a bit of a philosopher as a hobby, and to tell the truth, a pretty mediocre fisherman. He's more widely known as the father of one CJ Brown.
Papa Chuck: Fellas, I never said the trout were giant. I said they were
Ned: You said they are the biggest, fattest, most eager to get caught fish on the mountain, quote unquote.
Papa Chuck: Did I really say that?
Theo Brown: I heard it myself.
Papa Chuck: So the one thing you need to know about fishermen
CJ: They lie all the time.
Ned: I've heard that about others, but Papa Chuck
Papa Chuck: Well, lying is a big word.
Theo Brown: I think we can reasonably get our arms around this by saying that men who talk about big fish are commonly enlarging the truth.
Papa Chuck: Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Theo Brown: And it's part of a time-honored tradition to listen to a truth-enlarging fisherman.
CJ: A guy who lies.
Ned: Yep, I'm with you.
Theo Brown: And know up front that anything a fisherman says about a fish is
Papa Chuck: I like where you're headed there.
Theo Brown: A lie.
Papa Chuck: What?
Theo Brown: Yep, a lie.
CJ: Of course it's a lie.
Host (Insight for Living): I'm not sure I can defend myself on this one, so I'm just going to be quiet and keep hiking. While the men folk headed off on their adventure, Mrs. Collins has invited Goose, Stacy, Marsha, and Goose's mom, Mrs. Gonne Goozler, over for a lovely and very frilly kind of lunch. This is the kind of thing Mrs. Collins loves to do and is so gifted at. While the adult ladies prepare for lunch, the younger gals are doing their favorite thing while at the Collins mansion. They're exploring the crates and artifacts in some random room in another wing of the house.
Goose: Have we ever been in this room?
Marsha: I I don't think we've ever been in here.
Goose: I don't think so. I would have remembered this. What a beautiful painting.
Marsha: Nope, I think this is our first time here.
Host (Insight for Living): If you can remember from before, the club are not the only ones interested in the treasures and artifacts of the Collins mansion. There are two rats up there on the bookcase to the left and they're watching the activity below with the greatest of interest. The larger rat is Rick. The smaller, older one is Madavi. He came to the Collins mansion from the Middle East.
Theo Brown: I can't believe they're finally in this room.
Papa Chuck: As many times as we've tried to get them in here, and this time they just skipped in like they were drawn to it.
Theo Brown: Oh, it's because the boy's on here. They would have never come in here with all those floral paintings on the walls. They're only interested in weapons and arms.
Papa Chuck: Well, I wouldn't have said it like that, but yes, Rick, you are absolutely correct. And here they are.
Madavi: I am.
Host (Insight for Living): As you can see, Madavi and Rick are not your typical rats. Your common rat is very, well, uneducated. They only think about eating and stealing things to make a bed with. Madavi, on the other hand, is highly educated and even wise. He and Mr. Collins were great friends and they both traveled back here to the Collins mansion to create a wonderful museum of all these artifacts. That was before Mr. Collins suddenly passed away. Now Madavi has to hide in the walls and care for these treasures with the help of Rick, a local but also very unique rat of considerable ability.
Stacy: The stuff in here is so much more feminine than all the stuff we usually find.
Stacy: I like it. I wonder who owned all of this. A queen or something. Whoever she was, she was tall. Look at this beautiful robe. It is so long.
Stacy: I think that is just supposed to drag behind you when you walk. I think they call it a train.
Stacy: I want to have a robe with a train.
Theo Brown: So what's the trick to catch a fish? Move the bait around or let it sit still on the bottom?
Ned: It actually has a lot to do with how you hold your mouth.
Theo Brown: Your mouth.
Ned: For sure. If you squish your mouth up until the left, that's good for bringing in the timid ones. And let your tongue stick out just a bit like this. And now you're getting the big ones that are too smart to bite the hook of some guy with a straight face.
Theo Brown: So no straight face while fishing.
CJ: Dad, everyone knows that.
Theo Brown: Where did you hear all this rubbish?
Ned: Oh, Papa Chuck.
Theo Brown: Of course she did.
Papa Chuck: I feel like I'm getting into a lot of trouble today for some reason.
Ned: Was that you?
Theo Brown: I thought it was you.
Papa Chuck: He's over here. He's been beaten badly.
Theo Brown: Bandits?
Ned: Um, maybe maybe we should leave now.
Papa Chuck: We're here to help. He's choking.
Theo Brown: Around his neck there there's something choking him.
Papa Chuck: It's too tight to cut off with my knife.
Ned: Oh, no. It's an amulet.
Theo Brown: What does what does that mean?
Papa Chuck: Heavenly Father, we need your help. How do we free him? Help us, Lord.
Ned: We really need to get out of here.
Host (Insight for Living): While Papa Chuck was praying out loud, Theo was praying silently. Papa Chuck set this poor choking man upright and grabbed the amulet trying to give the man some space to get some air in. The very moment he held the amulet it just came off. The whole thing came off by itself.
Ned: No, they don't do that.
CJ: What are you talking about? How do you know anything about this?
Papa Chuck: Thank you. My leg
Theo Brown: I'd guess his leg is broken.
Papa Chuck: Couple of fingers and I'm guessing some ribs are broken, too.
Ned: Oh, yeah. I think they about crack my skull like an egg. I wouldn't have made it without you. Thank you so much.
Papa Chuck: Of course.
Ned: My name is my name is Mendel. Do you have water?
Papa Chuck: I 'm on it. Here. Drink a bit. Slowly at first.
Host (Insight for Living): Bandits down this far is unusual.
Ned: Not bandits. I caused this.
Theo Brown: Well, then who did this?
Ned: My friends did it. It was my friends.
Goose: Here it is. The best treasure in the world.
Marsha: What? Show me, show me.
Goose: Goblets. Two amazingly gorgeous goblets.
Marsha: Underwhelmed. I'm lots of underwhelmed right now.
Goose: They're pretty, but I think you overdid it with the best treasure stuff.
Goose: Do you know what you can do with gorgeous goblets? Oh, you can
Marsha: Drink from them?
Goose: Put really short flowers in them?
Marsha: Good, Marsha. You could make a gorgeous ice cream sundae in them.
Goose: Good for you. You could keep all of your spare change in them.
Ned: I want to go drag it out so she can find it.
Papa Chuck: No, too dangerous. If they see you, they may never come back in this room. Just wait and pray. This is a time for prayer. Heavenly Father, lead her to it. Help us all today. Lead her to it, Lord.
Goose: I suppose you'd be more interested in something like this old thing.
Marsha: Dagger? You found a dagger? On a bejeweled belt?
Goose: You found a beautiful bejeweled belt with a dagger on it. Oh, let me see it. Let me see.
Papa Chuck: God be praised. I didn't think. Thank you, Lord. They have it. So has it. We're gone. I think this means it has actually begun. God be praised.
Guest (Female): Hi, I'm Charlotte from Virginia. Don't go away. There's more Pause and Tales coming right up.
Tiffany Rockler: Hello, lovely listeners. Tiffany Rockler from Pause and Tales here to tell you all about the very new and very fashionable t-shirts now on sale in our store. We have a wonderful Tiffany Rockler shirt with a lovely detail.
Ned: Uh, Tiffany, that is not true.
Tiffany Rockler: Ned, what are you talking about?
Ned: Well, we have new Goose t-shirts and Ned t-shirts. Just go online to pause and tales.org to see them.
Tiffany Rockler: Wait. We have no Tiffany t-shirts?
Ned: Oh, boy. Here it comes. Bye, everybody. You all will rue the day.
Goose: Ned, did you get that amulet? What terrible thing did you do?
Papa Chuck: Ned, what are you doing?
Ned: He's right. I came from Frontera with my friends. We were on a mission from my master, the one who gave me the amulet.
Goose: Guys, we got to get home. It's it's not safe here. I am telling you.
Papa Chuck: I am going to make a stretcher and we're going to carry it back to town. I'd just carry you, but you're a no shape to be thrown over a shoulder.
Ned: Thank you. I can't thank you enough. I would have died out here. They wanted me to die.
Theo Brown: So what kind of friends What you dead? What is this all about?
Ned: If I tell you, do you promise to help me anyway?
Papa Chuck: Of course we will. What happened?
Ned: My master is pure evil. He hates everyone in Wildwood with a passion. He made me promise to carry a small barrel of poison and pour it into the Salmon River just before it flows into town.
Theo Brown: That's our water source. We all drink from that water.
Ned: I know. Was going to kill many people and the rest, well, they were going to wish they were dead. I couldn't do it. I snuck off last night and hit it, buried it so no one could find it. I just couldn't do it. So they beat me nearly to death. After they left me in the dirt, the the amulet began to get tighter and tighter slowly killing me inches at a time. That was my punishment for disobeying my master.
Papa Chuck: Why would he want to poison a whole town? Why?
Ned: He wanted to kill the one.
Papa Chuck: The one.
Ned: We don't know who he is. So my master wanted to try to kill him by killing most of the town.
Theo Brown: Insanity. This is insane.
Papa Chuck: Okay, Mendel. Stop. Just rest. It's empty. Ned, give him your canteen.
Ned: But it's new. I I just got it. Okay, okay.
Papa Chuck: I'm I'm going to go get some good branches for the stretcher and do some scouting around. Be back soon.
Theo Brown: Ned, how do you know about this amulet?
Ned: Well, it's a funny story and you're so going to laugh when you hear it.
Tiffany Rockler: Daisy, it is just so lovely of you to do this for us.
Mrs. Collins: Well, it's a pleasure to have you over. I just love it when the kids are here and now to have you too, it's the highlight of my week. Your little Goose is just the most precious, special thing. I just love her.
Mrs. Gonne Goozler: You're sweet. We love her, too. I was wanting to tell you a bit of our weekly get-togethers. A few of us gather to do some little bit of Bible study and sharing.
Goose: Goblets. We have gorgeous, gorgeous goblets. I'm going to wash out the goblets so we can drink milk out of them. Be back in a jiffy.
CJ: Goose, don't be so familiar.
Goose: Oh, Mrs. Collins lets us do this kind of thing all the time. It's okay, isn't it, Mrs. Collins?
Mrs. Collins: Of course, sweetheart. Go ahead.
Stacy: Dagger with the belt. Dagger and with it a belt.
CJ: Belt with a dagger. Oh, I love it. Bejeweled.
Stacy: Look. Bejeweled.
Goose: Oh, girl, that looks priceless. Put that back.
Mrs. Collins: It's fine. They're always very careful with those things. That is a very interesting piece, though. Come along, Goose. Now remember, young ladies, your very best manners.
Stacy: Yes, ma'am.
Mrs. Gonne Goozler: It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Collins.
Goose: Best manners, ladies. You're very best.
Mrs. Collins: Well, this is very impressive. You have somehow taught them manners. Dinner at our house is more like a piranha pit than a fine table like this.
Goose: Manners are fun here, mom.
Mrs. Collins: Well, my compliments, Stacy.
Stacy: I want to wear the dagger belt. Can I, Marsha?
Mrs. Gonne Goozler: Of course. It doesn't go with my blouse today anyway. I'm be my guest.
Goose: Wow, Stace. You look so good and powerful in that. Looks like it was made for you.
Host (Insight for Living): Papa Chuck took a couple of small trees and snapped them off at the ground like twigs. He and Theo were working on turning these into a stretcher they could lay Mendel in.
Papa Chuck: I scouted the area and it looks like Mendel's friends are halfway to Frontera by now. I think we're safe for a while.
Theo Brown: Glad to hear that. You seem to know more about all this than I do. What's going on out there?
Papa Chuck: There's an awful lot to tell, but to make it short, there's a place called Shadow Valley.
Theo Brown: I've heard the stories since I was a kid, but no one believes they're true. Thousands of people trapped there. It's the stuff of campfire stories.
Papa Chuck: I heard them, too, as a kid. Then I found myself trapped in there. It is sadly, terrifyingly, all too real. High up in the mountain, in a dark and disgusting cave, the second-rate demon minion is informing several new recruits on how things work on Wild Mountain.
Guest (Male): Oh, once the prisoners are captured and transported into Shadow Valley, what happens to them? But that they will, one day, blindly do whatever you ask.
Ned: Too many questions for your first day. If you ask me,
Guest (Male): No. The longer they stay in the valley, the weaker their will becomes. They lose hope and when that is completely drained from them, they will believe any lie I tell them. When I give them permission to release them, they will small like locusts over these mountains, destroying, devouring everything they find. Then I will be able to repaint these mountains the way I envision.
Ned: And me, don't forget your promise to me.
Guest (Male): Yes, of course, I remember. When it is all done, I will have a legion of fire. Ready? Aim. Fire.
Ned: Annoyingly done, everyone. Ready again.
Guest (Male): And then what happens if the prisoners in Shadow Valley are rescued before you release them? I've heard stories as a child.
Guest (Male): They will not because you will find the one and make certain that none of them are there released. Ready? Aim. Fire.
Guest (Female): My name's Eleanor. I'm from Reno, Nevada. Don't go away because there's more Pause and Tales coming right up.
Stacy: I'm here today with author Dave Carl. I understand you have written the very first Pause and Tales book entitled The Overcomers.
Dave Carl: That's right, Stacy.
Stacy: So is The Overcomers something very different or is it a continuation of the big Pause and Tales story?
Dave Carl: Good question, Stacy. It absolutely is a continuation of the big Pause and Tales story. The Overcomers is like one giant Pause and Tales episode. I'm excited for folks to see what comes next.
Stacy: Get your copy today at pause and tales.org.
Papa Chuck: I escape Shadow Valley only by a miracle. I can't find it again though I've tried. If I did get in again, I have no confidence that I could find my way out. There is a rumor, a prophecy that the one will release them, save them from this terrible curse if they are released before the swarm.
Theo Brown: Then they can wander back to their homes and families. I heard that in third grade. So you're telling me now it's all true? It's all real?
Papa Chuck: I am. Here, hold this while I tie it off.
Theo Brown: Well, that's a lot to take in in one afternoon.
Papa Chuck: All the wicked people and evil things in these bounds desperately want to find the one and kill him. Stop him if they can't kill him. They'll do anything to keep him from releasing the prisoners. The biggest problem for them is that they don't know who he is. So they keep looking, trying anything. Clearly, they would happily poison most of the town to kill them by chance if they can. They'll keep searching. It's been going on for decades that I know of.
Theo Brown: Well, it's you, right? It's got to be you.
Papa Chuck: It's not me. In many ways I wish it were. It make things much simpler. But it's not me. You hold these together.
Theo Brown: Keep going.
Papa Chuck: I've had my run-ins with this kind of evil many times in the past, not for a long time now. Something seems to have changed. They seem stronger now. Makes me nervous.
Guest (Male): Recruits, attention. We've been building an army for years, sending them in every direction to find the one. We have been thwarted every time and in every way. There are powerful forces protecting him. They are called The Warriors. This is no band of stragglers. These warriors wield power that is unimaginable. They seem to know where we all are and where we're going. They protect Wildwood and circle it so that only a rare few can enter. Yes, I am one of these few.
Guest (Male): I am recruiting only those who will not fail me in battle and warriors and anyone else in my way. I will grant those who might choose great power. I am looking for a few who will never stop until victory is ours. The of this mountain will only be the wicked.
Guest (Male): Minion, I will find this one that stands in your way. I will do whatever it takes it. If I have to burn this mountain to ashes, I will. Find the one and bring him to early end. I promise you.
Theo Brown: Well, we need to tell Officer Hunt, the the authorities. They they need to prepare for this.
Papa Chuck: It's not that kind of fight exactly. I have more to tell you. It won't be easy to hear.
Theo Brown: Go on.
Papa Chuck: There are physical fights ahead for sure. There are emotional battles to face.
Theo Brown: I suppose.
Papa Chuck: And there are spiritual battles, too.
Theo Brown: How do you mean?
Papa Chuck: If a wagon breaks its axle, it's a physical problem. Smartest thing to do is physically jack it up and fix it. If I'm grieving a terrible loss and it's hard to get through the day, it is just smart to sit down and talk with some wise person to help me make sense of it all.
Theo Brown: Agreed.
Papa Chuck: If there's a spiritual problem, if evil has found its way into my life or the life of someone dear to me, it would be foolish to go fix the wagon axle and expect the issue to be solved. If there's a spiritual problem, only spiritual tools will have any effect. This problem we are looking at here coming into Wildwood, it's a whole bunch of all three. I'm sorry to tell you that you're right in the middle of the whole thing.
Theo Brown: Well, you have my attention. What does this all mean and what role am I going to have in it?
Papa Chuck: Theo, I'm pretty sure the one is CJ. To order a copy of today's program, The Warriors, just visit us online at pause and tales.org. The Warriors was written and directed by David Carl. The song I'm a Warrior was written by Sandy Howell and Ned Brown. Music was by Tim Hausman and our sound designer was Eric Basil. Pause and Tales is an Inside for Living Ministries production.