Quests
David and Goliath
This page is about a quest: a story you play, step by step.
A spirit of fear grips Capernaum, an idol stands uncovered in the hills, and an old man of Judah keeps a scroll and a shepherd's sling.
Before you begin
- Start
- Talk to Elyakim, the old man of Judah who sits at his door at the east end of the upper lane.
- Length
- Medium
- Difficulty
- 7 of 10 (Hard)
- Quest points
- 2
- Requirements
- Faith level 40; A Cord of Three Strands
Walkthrough Show spoilers
- Talk to Elyakim, the old man of Judah who sits at his door at the east end of the upper lane.
- Read Elyakim's scroll with him, with It is written, and answer his questions about what you read.
- Take off everything you wear, then climb the rope in the old cleft behind Elyakim's house, at the top of the lane. Walk up to five smooth stones in the brook and choose each one. In the ring of the high place, hold the right guard against each blow, let go of every Word while it feeds, and sling a stone at its brow when it opens. Three stones will fell it. Then cast out its spirit in the name of Jesus Christ.
- Go back down to Elyakim and tell him.
If progress seems stuck Show spoilers
- You need Faith level 40 and A Cord of Three Strands complete before Elyakim tells you about the idol. Speak Words against the spirits in the cave or the High Place, or go down into the raid, to raise your Faith.
- Elyakim sits at his door at the east end of the upper lane. Read his scroll with him, then answer his questions. A wrong answer is no failure: he reads you the verse again and asks once more.
- The way up starts in the old cleft at the top of the cross lane behind his house, north of the upper lane’s east end, where a crag of black basalt columns rises over the rooftops and a tall dark opening splits it to the ground: three steps down into the rock, a great stone jammed across the split high up, and a rope on iron pins at its back. Climb it, and it brings you out up an old shaft in the valley floor; climb down the shaft to come home. The rope will not take you up while you wear anything: open the Equipment tab and take off everything, robes and all. Plain clothes stay on underneath.
- The smooth stones lie in the brook one by one, more than five of them. Walk up to the one you want and choose it (click it, or right click it and choose Choose stone): you bend and take it up, and it is gone from the brook for that try. A new try lays them all again.
- The brook in the valley gives 5 smooth stones in each try, and no more. Each goes into your bag as you choose it (keep a slot free), and every stone you throw leaves the bag, whether it strikes or not. 3 must strike its brow, so you may miss twice.
- When a try ends (knocked out, gone back down, or a new try begun), the stones still in your bag are left behind: “You leave your smooth stones by the brook.” They cannot be dropped, traded, sold or stored.
- Its brow only opens to one who holds no Word. When it begins to feed (a sickly haze reaching from you to it), use the Let go button beside the sling to release every Word, and leave them released until the stone has flown.
- Whirl the sling by holding the Sling button (or the Q key), and release when the marker turns green and the cue says Let go now. The green arc and tick mark the release window. Releasing while its brow is closed keeps your stone; cancelling a touch or losing focus also keeps it. Stand inside the ring of old stones, not right under the idol: you turn to face it as you whirl.
- Knocked out, or out of stones? Nothing is lost but the try. Climb up through the cleft again and choose five new stones.
- Pausing the game, or leaving the tab, holds the fight: the idol waits for you, and its brow opens on time when you come back.
- A won fight is never lost. If the idol has fallen but your quest journal does not move on, choose Try again, or talk to Elyakim and tell him it has fallen.
- After the quest the cleft still climbs to the valley, and it is quiet there: the idol lies fallen upon its face, its spirit gone, the brook running and birds in the rocks. Others who climb up are seen there too. With Slinging open, gather stones from its brook (a handful at a time, into your scrip) and practise at the old shrine stones by the way up to the ring.
- If you lose the sling or the scrip of stones after the quest, talk to Elyakim. He gives another only if you hold none in your bag, the storehouse or your equipment.
Rewards
- 12,000 Faith XP
- 40 denarii
- 1 shepherd's sling
- 1 scrip of smooth stones
The account Elyakim reads with you (1 Samuel 17, KJV)
You never play David, and the account is not acted out. You read it with Elyakim from his family’s scroll, word for word:
"And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span." 1 Samuel 17:4.
"When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid." 1 Samuel 17:11.
"And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him." 1 Samuel 17:39.
"And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine." 1 Samuel 17:40.
"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of YHWH of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." 1 Samuel 17:45.
"And all this assembly shall know that YHWH saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is YHWH's, and he will give you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17:47.
"And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth." 1 Samuel 17:49.
"So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone" 1 Samuel 17:50.
"but there was no sword in the hand of David." 1 Samuel 17:50.
"Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof" 1 Samuel 17:51.
And at the end, from further on in the same scroll: "behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of YHWH." 1 Samuel 5:3.
Elyakim’s family says their sling has been theirs since the days of the shepherd king. He says plainly he cannot prove it: it is the family’s treasured story.
The fight at the fallen shrine Show spoilers
- Take off everything you wear. The rope in the cleft will not take you up otherwise, and putting anything back on in the fight ends it.
- Choose 5 smooth stones out of the brook, one at a time. Each goes into your bag, as David “put them in a shepherd's bag which he had” (1 Samuel 17:40). The brook gives no more in a try.
- Collect all five stones before stepping into the ring of old stones: the idol wakes. Its spirit of fear throws darts, each warned by its colour, its sound and its name before it lands. Hold the shield of faith against a fiery dart, Resist the devil against a dart of doubt, and The peace of God against despair’s draining touch.
- Its spirit is like no other: a living crimson mist, bigger than the spirits in the cave, coiling round the foot of the idol with a dim ember glowing at its heart and thin trails reaching out over the ground. It never keeps still. Before each dart it draws itself in, rises, swells and glows brighter, leaning towards you: watch for it, and have the right Word ready. A stone in the brow makes it shrink back.
- After each volley it feeds on held Words: hold one now and its blows grow, up to 2.5 times as hard. Let go of every Word.
- Then a pale crack opens in its brow, for 2.6 seconds at first, 2.2 in the second phase and 1.8 in the third. Holding nothing, facing it, whirl the sling and let go at the top of the swing.
- From the second phase a dark shadow falls where you stand mid volley. No Word guards it: step out of it before it closes (1.7 seconds).
- Each stone in its brow begins a harder phase: 3, then 4, then 5 blows to a volley, each faster. The third stone makes it fall upon its face.
- It takes 2.8 seconds to fall. Its spirit is still there, and still throws its darts: speak In the name of Jesus Christ to cast it out. The mist thins and scatters, its ember goes out, and the fear lifts from the valley.
Finding your next step
Open this quest in your in-game journal. Highlight next step marks the current objective on your mini map. Walk there yourself, then talk or interact when you arrive.
This guide describes game mechanics. Skill names and levels describe a character’s progress, not a person’s spiritual standing.