View source for Game-Summaries:11/17/2018 Recollections

==Ci's Campfire Story== 
Jeroy, Ci, Cassio, Ember, Pearl, and Amon sit around a hasty campfire carved out the frozen tundra near Frostgorge Sound. Jeroy is doing his calisthenics as usual, but everyone else seems to be taking the moment to truly rest. The fight with the giants tested them all sorely, and some more than others. Amon seems particular down... In between push-ups Jeroy quips "Why so serious, Amon!?! Any fight you walk away from is a good...." his voice trails off as he realizes what his comment might bring to mind. Amon looks up... "it's true I have only recently returned to the land of the living... but that is not what I was thinking of. I just felt so... useless... My skills are not up to par, and though I am pleased to truly serve my mistress, instead of a vile deceiver, I wish I had NOT been so deceived... perhaps then I could have been a  greater help to you all."

"Do not worry friend Amon," Ci begins, "your path is your own and only you can walk it. Master Liu used to tell a story that I've always liked. A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On that day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. It just seemed to be stuck. "

"Then the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

"What the hell CI!?! How is THAT supposed to make us feel better!?!" yells Jeroy.

Ci continued quietly "What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health. Fear not friend Amon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. You can be stronger now than you would have. Now you can be free."

With that Ci went back to quietly meditating, and Jeroy with a quizzical look on his face, went back to push-ups. Amon rested easier that night than he had a many days.