045- The longest day on Middle-Earth

This session picked up at the height of a cliffhanger from last session. Arnadil, the company's moody but fearless leader had fallen off the mast and seriously injured his pelvis. Kasper, the squire with spells, has managed to climb up to another mast with only one hand working. The rest of the company is running around trying to hit a winter drake hatchling which is having fun ripping off the ship's rigging. It was dark, in the middle of an unnatural snowstorm, and the company were caught in this while binge drinking, following the death of their friend: Araliniel the seer.

Act 45, Scene 1 - Slipping right through the fingers

One thing that got clear for both parties was that this combat wasn't going anywhere fast. Thannolf began negotiations. The drake asked all to lower their weapons, and in turn the snowstorm immediately subsided. The drake pointed out that their ship was getting in a terrible shape, and that they would need it to escape the angry Lossoths from Mulkan. He pointed out that his army would also be there in a few hours to collect his treasure. He proposed to stop thrashing the Raven against both Southron stones and the gondolin sword. 

041 - Five wraiths over Mulkan

Session 14 - Frost Wedging part 3 of 3. 

A chip from the Imenstone

This session report covers the adventures of the Palantir Commission members who have crossed into the shadow world. Its timeline is intertwined with the previous story (Act 40). 

Act 39 - Lossoth Tales...
Act 40 - We're not in Kansas anymore
Act 41 - Five wraiths in Mulkan 

Act 41, Scene 1 - The eye of the storm

Arnadil banked on his leather glove to keep the Imenstone from affecting him. This theory went out by the window. The tumult of the world of the living was suddenly replaced by a void. Little of the world around remained: there was a standing stone close to his head, but it was crystal clear and didn't look to be solid anymore. The shard was clasped tightly in his hand. Astor, his gondoling sword, was glowing like a mirror in the sun. He turned around and saw Kasper and Finbert in similar predicament as his. Where his other friends stood, there were only faint outlines, barely a shade darker than the background. Arnadil noticed that the amulets were also glowing, and in his pack, one of the ruby encrusted in the key of the library of Annuminas. The three friends nodded at each other, planning to let go of the shards and return to the world of the living. Neither Kasper nor Arnadil managed to let go: against their better judgment, they chose to remain in the shadow world while Finbert vanished. 

040 - We're not in Kansas anymore.

Session 14 - Frost Wedging part 2 of 3. 

A chip from the Imenstone

The company is exploring here the possibility to cross into the shadow world in order to advance their quest for the Palantirs. 

Act 39 - Lossoth Tales...
Act 40 - We're not in Kansas anymore
Act 41 - Five wraiths in Mulkan 

Gwirith 29th, Midday 

Act 40, Scene 1 - Going up...

The air was thick like pea soup, a heavy sleet was washing the ice bank. Reitu pointed at the cliff where the fjord meets the bay. "It is easy to find, good luck, Southrons". The fact that their guide flatly refused to follow wasn't enough of a warning of things to come. The company crossed the icy kilometer to the foot of the cliff. The ambient light started to shift from white to blue. A rhythmic wind ebbed from the heights. The trek up the cliff would take 10 minutes. From the chiseled rocks overhead, the skeleton of a giant walrus peeked forward, but then recoiled at the sight of the warding totems. Finbert cued the company to two other tall skeletal figures lurking in the gray backdrop. Halin, Galdor and Kasper kept the totems high as the company resumed their hike upward. The demons kept on recoiling, kicking stones that tumbled down to the company's feet. At one point, one of the bone terror slipped downhill beyond sight. The light faded to a deep purple. The flight of countless bats could be heard, making circles above their heads. 

When they reached the edge of the cliff, the rhythmic breathing had gotten intense and seemed to originate from a circle of standing stones. The snowy ground was a vast boneyard, thousands of bats were grasping at any rough surface available. The only sound to be heard was the low breathing from the Imenstone shrine. The bone terrors could approach closer due to the lower light, but the totems still kept them at bay.   

039 - Old Lossoth Tales to keep the children awake

Session 14 - Frost Wedging part 1 of 3. 

After an eventful day in the Lossoth village of Mulkan, the company headed back to the shore to beat the terror of the night and quickly update elder Taaso on their success in stirring the hornet's nest among the keepers of the Palantirs. 

Act 39 - Lossoth Tales...
Act 40 - We're not in Kansas anymore
Act 41 - Five wraiths in Mulkan 

Act 39, Scene 1 - Returning to Hlechui

The company walked the 10km back on the frozen water of the fjord. The mood was good because interesting points were scored during the day. They headed to the fisherman village of Helchui to report to Elder Taaso. Taaso took their news coldly, and reiterated that he would step in only if Shapithui (the demon) was to be let loose. He stressed that his responsibility as an elder was the welfare of the Lossoth people, and that he would not condone harm to his kind. He expressed doubt that the Southrons had fared half as well as they claimed. This irritated Arnadil who forcefully reminded the elder that the company was capable to take the Palantirs out of the great white north.

Thannolf cooked up a plan to get Reitu (their Lossoth guide) to go back to Hlechui and spread the rumor that the witchcraft done by the Southrons was bound to get Farathui (The drake hatchling) enraged. It would follow from this that the Lossoths should brace for a new onslaught. Reitu agreed to drop this misinformation on the account that if the rumor gets to Mulkan, it may sway the more moderate elements to surrender the Southron stones to the company and get rid of the threat.

038 - A diplomatic surgical strike in Mulkan

This session reports on the Palantir's commission first contact with the tribe in possession of two Palantirs. They know that they are personae ungrattae in terra incognita. A number of demons are lurking around, and the locals to be swayed are xenophobic yocals that eat angels for breakfast. The ice is thin under their feet, literally and figuratively.

Act 38, Scene 1 - The Raven gets skittish

During the night of the 26th, a sailor panicked and climbed the Raven's rigging. In the midst of the raves and pleas for help, he appeared to be fending off an invisible foe. The last that was seen of Paulof was when he got plucked from the ladder and dragged to the black waters below. Then there was silence.

The Captain of the Raven reported the story to the Palantir commission members on the following morning. He made clear that the crew and himself weren't paid enough for this kind of travelling. He bemoaned the lack of commercial opportunities and threatened to cut short the expedition. Halin let out a grunt and a stare good enough to cow a troll [ Intimidation check won by +5] [+]. Arnadil explained to Vacros (the captain) that the commission wasn't going anywhere and that no payment would ever be made without their safe return. Vacros backed down [ Intimidation vs. Will, supported by Halin. Success.] [+], but maintained that his crew was getting restless. It was settled that double pay delivered up-front should be good enough to keep the sailors content for about another week of lingering [ Merchant quick contest, won by Arnadil with MoS +2] [+].   

037 - A narrative crossroad into the Palantir Campaign

This session report summarizes the knowledge acquired by the company members on their next step: getting the Palantirs from a very powerful tribe of Lossoth hunters/guardians. The coming adventure is a sandbox: It should be a mixture of many play style, but I didn't plan for the player to solve the problem in any particular way. I cannot guarantee that it can be achieved for any possible course of action. We will figure this out as the campaign plays itself out...

Gwirith 26 FA 16 (April), Bay of Forochel

"Something happened while the Gondorians were hunting walruses. Something bad. This place is evil, and the crew is not willing to risk their souls for 2 celebins a day.", Haram complained out loud to Captain Vacros on the quarter deck of the Raven. Thannolf's attention was drawn by the shouts.  He worked as part of the crew since Tharbad, and had the chance to keep track of the ship's attitude towards the voyage north. He was worried with this turn of event. 

A few minutes later, Vacros and Thannolf were discussing the day's events. The two men were standing beside the two huge walrus carcasses. Vacros wondered aloud whether there was any chance that the carcasses could spring back to life. Thannolf tried to be reassuring, but neither men were satisfied.

"The men witnessed three burst of green energy, or wraiths, coming out of one of the chainmail knights". Vacros expressed to the company the concerns of the crew, and their wavering support for the expedition. Galdor and Kasper denied any knowledge about the green manifestations that took place during the combat. Thannolf further interrogated [ Detect Lies on both, failed on Kasper.] [+] the knights and couldn't find any evidence that they knew anything about it.  

Vacros also explained to Arnadil that he was concerned that there would be no opportunities to salvage scrap metal, nor find clients for their ware.

Consequences :

• The crews and Vacros' attitude to the Company is decreased to reflect the perceive threat on their lives and the poor commercial prospect of the expedition. The sailors are now vaguely debating about leaving Forochel and cutting short the contract.
• Since the company keeps on getting help from an unknown and mysterious source of help: orcs/trolls falling asleep, trolls walking pass them, bursts of wraith terrorizing their foes, the company members now collectively suffer from a minor delusion that they are helped supernatural forces when they get in trouble. This means that the company will not shy away from stating this fact out loud, and it will make you look like you have partially lost your marbles. 

Gwirith 26th, FA 16, Forochel, off the shores of Hlechui (Fishermen village)

The Raven arrived near the shores of Hlechui in the last lights of the 26th. Reitu, the hunter from Talta and their guide into Forochel, got off the Raven and made contact with the Chieftain to announce the company's arrival on the following morning. 

Kasper had a sleepless night as a number of tornadoes kept on roaring on shore. Through their roars, he thought that he could hear them calling his name [ Incurring 2 FP of sleep deprivation.] [+]. With anticipation, Chief Kirken received the company in the village on the following morning. He offered them a ceremonial broth and an audience in his hut. The company offered to him the two walruses as a gift and told him about their hunting adventure. Kirken was most grateful and impressed by the donation. He looked upon the 10 walruses heads and told them that they would have to talk to Taaso the Elder once the audience over.

The company got from Kirken that the Southron stones were at the heart of tensions within the Lossoth nation. The Lossoth of Mulkan, a most powerful tribe, were the custodians of the stones and drew from the stones the power to control a powerful spirit called Shapithui. A winter drake hatchling called Farathui was now raiding Forochel to appropriate the stones. The devastation left behind by the Drake's raids, and the looming threat of Shapithui had driven the Eastern tribes to demand that the stones be disposed of. Mulkan firmly refused to this request. Chief Kirken showed sympathy to the company's mission to take the stones back to the south, but caution against the means to accomplish this as Mulkan is a very powerful village. Without the Stones, there is a good chance that Shapithui will be turned loose and exact a terrible revenge on the Lossoth people in retribution for centuries of servitude...

The company then met with Elder Taaso. Taaso explained to them that in the Lossoth Lore, amulets carved from the tusk of the same walrus binds the souls of tribe member and allow them to provide mutual protection against demons. Without an amulet, the living must face demons on their own when the terror descends from the highlands. Tasso also explained that amulets embedded in totems were also used to ward off the tribe's demons. He pointed out at the dozen of totems scattered around the village. The company was most interested on possibly exploiting this vulnerability to strip Mulkan from its defense if the need arises.

Taaso also told them that there was TWO stones, a small one (40 lb) and a large one (900lb). Both came from the Southron King and were recovered from the sea a thousand years ago. Arnadil and Araliniel figured out that the Masterstone of Weathertop (Amon Sul) must be the large stone. This will cause a logistic problem to simply get this stone back on the Raven. Tasso told the company that both stones were easy to access, in a shrine in the village, but that taking them forcibly from a tribe tasked to keep a lid on the Gate of Baatan (an open gate to the underdeep), was simply not possible without a large armed force. Taaso, in fact, didn't advocate for a violent solution: the Western tribe folks are impossible to deal with, but they are not bad people.

Much attention was paid in the nature of Shapithui. This spirit is allegedly a giant snow spirit which travels through ice and crush its enemies by smothering them under ice and rubble. Taaso explained that the spirit's heart contained the amulet of the tribe of Elder Tiani, and that this amulet was the basis for the spirit's control.  The company was most interested in the possibility to swap the amulet to one of theirs to take control of the spirit. They made a case to Taaso to help them take control of Shapithui. Taaso, very reluctantly and probably out of fear of letting Shapithui exact its revenge unchecked, agreed that he would step in if the company was capable to remove Tiani's amulet from the heart of the snow spirit.

A last alternative was presented, which is to appropriate glass shards from the Imenstone. These shards allow their owner to pass into the world of shadows. Tasso, however, cautioned that becoming a shadow was a very dangerous option and that most people attempting the feat do not come back to the world of the living. Nobody in the company showed much enthusiasm at this possibility.

036 - A walrus called Wanda

In the previous session, the company members decided that a simple charge against 200 walrus was a good way to harvest a little bit of ivory. Why ivory? To satisfy some Lossoth supersition about warding off demons. The intention here was good, and the plan certainly shone for its elegant simplicity. When the last session wrapped up, +Alex Safatli suggested that the engagement was over, which I almost believed to be true. However... wrapping up took an additional two hours of swashbuckling and wraithswirling. BTW, the GM is a flake, we all know that. I really want to commend my players for pointing out how their own disadvantages and situations complicate things: this is bloody awesome that we're doing this together instead of having a GM vs player atmosphere!

This is where we left...

Giant Walruses in Middle-Earth

The Giant Walrus of Forochel

Background

In the terrifying region of Forochel, only the toughest creatures stand a chance of survival. The Giant Walrus is an example. They live in colonies of 100 to 400 beasts and feed on open-water fishes. At night, they escape the muderous waters of Forochel and spend the night tighly packed on the shore.

Statistics

ST 19, DX 11, IQ 4, HT 13, Will 11, Per 10, Sp 6.0, Mv 2(land)/6(water), dodge 8(head), 5(body)
SM +1 (5yd), HP 30, FP 15, DR 6(body), 4(Face)
Skills: Wrestling-12 (Grapple with tusks, Slam dmg:1d-3), Brawling-10 (striking with tusks, dmg:2d+1), Intimidation-14 (Effective 16 with in colonies)

Tactics

1. Move until 2-3 yards away.
2. Group intimidation to surprise/paralyse their predator/foes.
3. all-out attack with Giant Step (1FP) [Their active defense is useless... so might as well.]
1. Grapple if ends in reach 1
2. Slam if ends in reach 0 (Slam counts as a grapple, but with their huge bodies.
4. Follow-on actions
1. Strike pinned/choking opponents 
2. Pin slammed/Grappled foes (+6 SM+1, +9 SM-1)

Walruses use an aggressive tactic designed to protect their females and pups. Once threatened, they concentrate the weak elements inside the colony and form a solid wall of mature males all around. They will remain tightly packed as to avoid being attacked from the side or the rear. Once a predator gets in range (2 yards or so), they will coordinate a group stomp-and-scream (Intimidation-14 (individual), Intimidation-16(group)), which margin of success is applied as a penalty to a Fright check. They will repeat this maneuvers a few more times during an attack on the colony. The collective stomping is also liable to weaken the ice underneath their body. If the colony feels that it cannot repel the predator, it will endeavor to shatter the ice under their body in order to drown the threat. This has a downside to them, as plunging in the dark waters at night expose them to the terror. They won't resort to this unless they females and pups are endangered.

Engaged, the Walrus will charge and attempt body slams (Wrestling-12). Their main strategy is to pin foes to the ground and smother them. In case of imminent danger in doing so, they will resort to crushing attack with their strikers. This is more a plan B for them. They will often gang up 2-3 walruses to attempt to overwhelm a predator. Once a foe is pinned, the walruses will strike with their tusk to finish their victim. 

During the day, they will tend to flight if a few walruses are killed. At night, they will fight aggressively until the ice under their feet is shattered. They will not fly into the dark waters of Forochel. 

035 - The wall of walruses, part I

Walruses sighted

There was over 100 miles of water to navigate before the Raven arrive to Hlethui. On the first day of navigation, the open water held nicely and the ship remained in sight of the ice attached to the shore. By mid-day, a moan-like clamor could be heard ahead. Reitu prompted the company members to come to the forecastle of the ship. "This is a lucky day for you, Southrons", he claimed. "These are the moans of a pack of walruses". He told them that the ivory of walruses was ideal for the ritual foundation of a tribe. He instructed to sever their heads, that only an elder should remove the ivory from the skull of these beasts. 

Araliniel tried to get herself out of this "harvest", but Reitu insisted that she participates. He excused himself from the venture as he already belonged to a tribe, and had no desires to count on a bunch of pink-skin Southrons to protect him from the terror. 

The Raven approached the ice and let out a gangway to the ground. The company stumbled down and peered at the colony of walruses some 200 meters to their right. These were not Earth walruses! These beasts were 5 meters long and their head standing over 2 m tall above the ice. More than 200 of them were huddled at the edge of water.  

034 - Everybody's life just got a notch more complicated

Entering the Ice-Bay of Forochel

Gwirith 24 FA 16

The Raven had finally weaved a difficult path through the ice floes into the Bay of Forochel. Forochel was created in the First-Age when the Valars came to destroy Mortgoth's fortress of Utumno. The place is the flooded site of the dark lord's gateway to the underdeep: a place so vast and and dark that Sauron managed to hide and survive the ordeal (with the results that we're all aware of). Keeping this in mind, the company members kept a close eye on the surrounding. The bay, in sharp contrast with the open sea left behind, was eerily quiet. A thick fog was covering the place. The light of day and night were no more than subtle variants in shades of blue.

A porpoise was circling the Raven, underneath Finbert's eyes. Something was out of sort, however. The porpoise was particularly skinny, if not bony. Finbert pointed out his observation to others, but no one could see the beast even when it passed under their eyes. The bony porpoise hit the hull of the ship a few times, but still no one but Finbert could hear the thuds. Finbert grew tired to be looked at as if he was insane. Nerve shot, he packed a pipe choke-full with Longbottom leaf and sat on a pile of ropes.