K17 - Yavanna's eye

Heading back to the light...

The dwarven company turned to Drolf for guidance. Gimvar's shoulder was mangled and the ranger was on the cusp of collapse. The wraith had had the best of Donarik, which was laying on the ground, breathing weakly. Gimvar, usually a go getter, reminded the company that to get in the Obsidian Tower, they had to bypass a large force of Mirkwood orcs camping a few kilometers down the vale.

Vadek was fidgeting with the obsidian rod. The air coming from beyond the gate was bad. Any dwarf could tell that unless some mechanical pumping of air from the surface was arranged, that this cave would soon become dangerous. Drolf, Kalin and Khazek seemed to be more interested in the daggers pulled out of the elves. Without much debate, they agreed to try to get out of the tower before the trap sprang on them for good. 

They dragged Donarik up the tunnel, into the great hall where the Huorn died. As they passed by the hall's door, Khazek noticed that the elven wraith was circling slowly above the green orb. Donarik was put down against the stairway's walls. Gimvar and Kalin sat down for a rest. Khazek, Vadek and Drolf entered the hall to inspect the orc once more.

K15 - The orc's nest

This report is the second part of Session 10 - The Botanical Educations of dwarves. The first part can be found here. This report is incomplete and will conclude during our next session. +Douglas Cole posted some notes about this session here. 

Barging in...

The companions caught their breath after the fall of the huorn. The defunct tree straddled from the edge of the cliff down to a small opening leading down deeper under Sarn Goriwig. The dwarves decided to explore the way down in hope to find what the wizard didn't want them to find.

The orc's nest under Sarn Goriwig

The tunnel was winding at a steep angle. It lead some 50 yards below into another large chamber made of obsidian. The dwarves were advancing at a good pace and found themselves on an elevated platform. The platform turned into a wooden bridge. The pavement of the bridge crossed most of the room some 2-3 yards above ground. The front dwarves spotted right away an orc archer on guard beside a rough statue made of wood. To their right, there were at least two more orcs working around a large pit of mud surrounded by pillars.

The dwarves charged ahead at full steam. Donarik stayed behind to take aim while Khazek, Vadek and Drolf rushed through to get to the archer. Uncle Kalin and Gimvar slid down the way to get to the other orcs faster.

Drolf blocked an arrows and overran the archer with a sweep. The orc tumbled to his knees as Donarik's arrow hit its chest. Seeing Khazek and Vadek barging in, he slipped down the way to hide by the base of the statue.

K13 - The Botanical Educations of Dwarves

This session was all combat, it started one that has yet to be finished. Here is the update so we all remember how the last session ended. The session started with this scene:

The orc sarge was excitedly shouting at the Green Wizard. 

K12 - The Evil Eye

Recollections from Donarik, ranger of the Ark.

"Bimbo" the troll gets a hatchet blow in the kidneys and another one in the guts
from an unseen dwarfy thing. 

Once that the screaming in our heads stopped, we noticed two large trolls coming out of suspended animation from alcoves in the walls. Khazek-boy and I shot but hit the wall instead. I dropped my bow, drew my axe as I stepped back. I hit the troll really hard in the face and knocked him senseless. As he was teetering, I hit him again on its skull. This seemed to snap him off of his stupor. The troll grabbed me and used me as a projectile on my leader. Khazek dodged, I landed heavily on the ground. Rough day.

Around me, Khazek took over to push the troll back. Drolf and Vadek were about to fell the other troll. A number of orcs were streaming into the hall. Khazek and Vadek covered my flank as I stood up again. Kalin and I pushed the troll back into its alcove and finished him off as the rest of the battle unfolded.   

K07 - Diplomacy 101 with elves

This encounter is a continuation of the previous session.  I was trying to imagine how I'd think if I was a few thousand years old, on a delayed trip to the undying land. I don't think that I'd care either. I kind of dropped the ball as a GM in this session and left unexplained most of what happened underneath. Herion's backstory is funny and related to some of the trouble in this adventure, but maybe this will come back so I'll keep quiet. But that's OK, elves care about the world only on an elective basis. Getting down to the bottom of things of people living idle for millenia is probably worst than fighting the Balrog all over again. 

K06 - Many doors, many chambers.

Thranduil Hall, Gwirith 16th FA 15 (April)

This gaming session took place on May 14 2013 and involved +Arne Jamtgaard (Bain Stonetongue, viceroy), +Alex Safatli (Donarik Swiftfoot, ranger of the Ardacer), +Justin Aquino (Gimvar Arrowroot, ranger of the Ardacer) and +Jason Woollard (Khazek Strongmoss, Leader of rangers of the Ardacer). It was a continuation of K05 - Prisoners or visitors?  , where a dwarven diplomatic mission had to contend with a lukewarm reception in Thranduil hall. A visual representation of the social network is available here.

Act 6, Scene 1 - Breakfast with elves

The morning air was cool and crisp. The dwarves left their cottages and found their way to a nook in the Queen's ground where they were expected for breakfast. Already waiting were three of the Queen's retinue: Akshana, an haughty close advisor of the Queen, Lord Meldor, the Queen's administrator and Ngai, the Queen's stepdaughter and youngest child of the King. Bain sat first, followed by Khazek and the rangers. More fruits on the menu it seemed. Donarik and Gimvar were drawn to a gold carafe containing a sweet and sparlink fruit juice. "It's got alcohol in there", though Donarik. Good enough. Elves really don't drink ale for breakfast.

Lord Meldor proceeded to ask Bain a number of questions. Bain ran through his many-times rehearsed explanations while Meldor took notes. Then, out of the blue Akshanna asked whether business had anything to do with the Grey Mountain expedition. Bain and the other searche through their recollection but couldn't figure out what she meant.  Bain, a strongly empathic dwarf, got the strange vibe that Akshanna had broached a taboo topic. The others looked nervously at her. There was an awkward silence, then Meldor excused himself from the table. Soon the dwarves were left on their own.