047 - A journey up the Lhûn valley

The Gulf of Lhun

The Swan had entered the gulf of Lhun two days earlier and was making good progress against the current. A small elf-made craft approached the large Gondorian hulk as the harbor of Gray Haven got in sight. The elves on deck were neither friendly nor hostile, but made the whole crew uneasy. The ship attached itself and pushed a gangway up to the Swan's deck. An austere looking elf introduced himself as Alumnim, dockmaster of Mithlond, and informed the crew that Gondor was not allowed to sail passed this point.  

There was a pile-up in the leadership of the Swan as Arnadil, Galdor and the ship's captain all felt that they should address this edict. However, Arnadil had the key document: a letter from King Elessar. Arnadil introduced himself the best that he could in Sindarin, and managed to convince Alumnim to let the Swan enter the port under a number of restrictive conditions.

The Swan sailed into the harbor. On both sides were arrayed a number of ships being built to take more elves to the undying land. The Swan moored itself to a pole off the shore and a few of the crew members made it to shore with a rowboat.

046 - The legend of Sir Galdor

This post refers to play that occurred in a more abstract way in between Chapter 2 and 3. Some was played by post, some was done at the table. Some really neat gameplay took place in this session: I skimped on the technical details but the Social Engineering book saw a lot of page flicking. 

Session 18

• Part I - The Legend of Sir Galdor
• Part II - A journey up the Lhûn valley

Arnadil wrote a masterpiece

With his hip badly mangled, Arnadil had to find a way to kill time while sitting down. Arnadil began gathering notes about the commission's journey. He really got into it an began writing prose from his notes almost right away. His keen intellect allowed him to learn fast, and by the time that the Raven had touched the docks in Osgiliath, Arnadil had a manuscript that read like a professional piece from a chronicler. Little did he knew at this point that his manuscript would play a key role in thwarting Sir Galdor's takeover bid on the commission!

Meanwhile, and after his hip got better, Arnadil also spent a good amount of time teaching swordplay to the hobbits. He learned a lot about teaching while his companion got to refine their rough skills a little bit. 

Thannolf the sailor man (toot! toot!)

On the way back from Forochel, Thannolf busied himself to become the first mate of the Raven. He wanted to get the pay boost, and definitely had some time to burn off in between drinking binges. He applied himself to the craft of seafaring. Using his empathy, and a good dose of acting at the right moment, he won the respect of the crew and the affection of Vacros, the captain of the Raven. This got him to the position of second mate with a small pay increase. An unintended secondary effect of this effort was that it became clear to him that the Palantir commission had been deceived by the crew all along: The Raven was indeed on lease from Dol-Amroth, but Vacros had assembled the crew specifically to take the commission to Forochel in hope to sail away with the Palantirs and fence them to a mysterious high bidder. With the Winter Drake involved, Vacros cut his loss and dropped the plan.

Vacros, knowing Thannolf all too well at that time, bribed the northmen into keeping this secret for long enough to avoid trouble with the other commission members. Thannolf added his celebins to his (ethically muddled) stash and decided to take the secret to his grave. 

Finbert's lost treasure is really lost 

Finbert was very sore that his purse had disappeared at the Imenstone, unlike all other commission members. He suspected Thannolf, whom he distrusted because of his insatiable greed and criminal past. Over the length of the trip, he tried to take advantage of Thannolf's compulsive carousing to interrogate him while he was drunk. However, Finbert got more often than not drunk happy faster than the young northmen [Carousing contest won by Thannolf.] Furthermore, Thannolf's empathy allowed him to get cued that the hobbit was on his tail and caused him to remain guarded. Overall, Finbert's attempt to pull information from Thannolf was unsuccessful [resolved as an influence check as the gameplay was abstracted]. To make things worst, Thannolf's Fortune telling allowed him to read through Finbert very well. The northmen took advantage of this. He ended up having a little fun at the expense of the hobbit. Finbert stopped drinking, which was hard for him as he is fond of food and drink. But Thannolf was already cued and kept his guard up. 

When Finbert arrived in Minas Tirith, he sought employment Public Houses. Surprisingly, what got him the job came from an unexpected place: Finbert was the companion of the now famous Sir Galdor of Dol-Amroth, champion in the North.

The Legend of Sir Galdor, Hero in the North

A buzz came upon Mina's Tirith in the early days of July. A minstrel name Petron proposed a new epic saga put to music which told the story of Sir Galdor, knight of Dol-Amroth. According to the epic song, Sir Galdor met with Linluile, patron said of Annuminas, struck down a demon in the north and confronted a winter drake. He was accompanied by valiant hobbits, a legendary dwarf warrior and a rabble of other who played no large parts in the tale (other than giving up too fast when facing the drake). This tale spread like wildfire through the city, and rubbed the party members as both offensive and inaccurate. 

Arnadil invited the nobility and the gentry to a ball in his Mina's Tirith home. Petron may have wrapped his fingers around the crowds in public houses, but Arnadil intended to make truth prevail for the upper crust of Gondor. Arnadil's invitation made the rounds in the City Watch mess halls, and throughout the King's court [Propaganda check success]. Arnadil passed his manuscript to Irina who started to put keys parts to songs [Signing check success with MoS 3]. The evening was well attended, except for the notable absence of Sir Galdor himself. Irina's music moved the crowds and a few good laugh were shared on Petron's version of the company's adventures. Although at a great expense, Arnadil's ball had the effect of setting the records straight at least on the 7th level of the city. Irina couldn't outperform Petron on the public house circuit, but the ball had a deep impact on how the coming week developed.

The news that Prince Imrahil of Dol-Amroth had pledged a navy ship and a small force of horsemen and pikemen shook the company at first. The word on the street was that Sir Galdor was to lead the new expedition. The company learned from Kasper (still Sir Galdor's squire), that Mildred Imrahil, the grand-son of the prince, had joined Galdor as a page. Some company members expressed the concerns that the legend of Sir Galdor was drifting from a bad joke into a potential disaster. However, the Lord Chancellor made clear to Arnadil that King Elessar had never specified who should lead the company, nor that anyone could impose a leader no matter how generous the pledge may be. It was thus decided that Sir Galdor and his new pet would be given the command of the slow soldiers while the rest of the company would rush ahead and hopefully solve the problem before the circus hit the town.

Another point of note is that Sir Galdor wasn't capable of coming up with all this on his own: a force was seeking fracture lines within the company for its own purpose.

044 - Dashing through the snow

... with a 900 lbs crystal ball!

Act 44, Scene 1 - Dashing through the snow

After cleaving the Palantirs from the altar, the two living members of the company set on foot to reach the Raven before nightfall. Sir Galdor was weighted down by his armor. Halin offered to carry his hauberk to lighten his load. To maximize their speed, they decide to travel on the hard ice of the fjord, which should put them on sight of Mulkan at some point. Finbert, as a wraith, decided to follow the two and scout ahead. 

The snow was falling with increased intensity. By the time that the pair was passing east of Mulkan, the visibility was less than the width of the fjord. Finbert flew over to the village to take stock. The Lossoth of Mulkan were picking up the pieces after the wave of destruction of the afternoon. Halin and Sir Galdor never realized that they had passed the village.

043 - To kill a demon, a picture story.

Act 43, Scene 1 - The temple guards of Mulkan

Three Lossoth temple guards to the rescue of Elder Tiani.

After sucking Elder Tiani dry of his life force, the company left the previous session with a number of charging temple guards. The bad news was that their weapons were clearly visible in the shadow world and this meant danger for them. The wraiths, wrapped in cool flames, flew above the charging guards that didn't flee following Kasper's casting of the Panic spell.

Arnadil remained close to Tiani's body while the hobbits and Thannolf swooped from the guard's rear. The Lossoth used their hooked swords to attempt to disarm Arnadil, but managed to get grazed by the sneaking wraiths from behind.

042 - Cliffside swordfight

As the party has split, this encounter was played off sequence to speed up the coming session. Its outcome remained secret to most players in the campaign until its consequence were revealed to the rest of the company. This encounters is a continuation of a previous one: "We're not in Kansas anymore". 

Act 42, Scene 1 - Leaving the Imenstone Shrine

The two "surviving" members of the company left the Shrine and decided to follow their wraith friends along the top of the cliff. Their destination was more than likely Mulkan, and the time to get there was anywhere between one and two hours. At first, the fog was thick and the sky unnaturally dark. Sir Galdor and Halin both waved their warding totems at the bone terrors lurking maybe a dozen yards away. Soon, however, the fog lifted and the light came back. The bone terrors faded and were soon left behind. 

Halin lowered the totem, put it against his shoulder and wrapped his arms around the pole. Soon, Sir Galdor was dragging the pole in the snow.

Halin spotted five figures heading in their direction at the edge of sight [ He was shortsighted, but has spectacles and managed to roll a critical success on his Perception check. ] [+]. This unusual warning allowed Halin and Galdor to descend into the cliff side and seek concealment. 

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.

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...

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.  

032 - Bulky trolls in narrow tunnels

Session 10 - Would you like to be my neighbor? 

This session takes place as the members of the Palantir commission are returning to Annuminas to determine what lies within the ruined city. In the previous session, they ran into a number of orc workers busying at erecting an enclave around a few rough buildings. 

An unexpected encounter

The last scene left the Palantir commission members in possession of an Orc prisoner and a pile of bodies. The orc camp was suspiciously featureless: an enclave made of a rough palisade and two buildings. The first building was built from stone walls from within a large ruined mansion, the other was a neater-built wooden structure.

While Galdor occupied himself finishing orcs laying about, Arnadil, Halin and Irina busied themselves in setting a watch. Finbert and Kasper entered the stone building from where a small plume of smoke was coming from. They found a rough kitchen. Something was cooking over the fire. A set of stairs lead to a lower level, some 15' down, and ended against a heavy grate. The grate was mounted over the door frame and could be removed by simply pulling two pins near the top. Whatever this grate was put up for, it wasn't to keep out smart invaders. The cellar was filled with junk: shovels and picks, fire wood. A torch was lighting the place. Finbert climbed on Kasper's shoulder and reached the pin with his hobbitish hands. Another grate was covering the approach from a set of stairs heading down. There was a door on the opposing wall, as well as a door on both left and right. The voice of excited children could be heard beyond the door on the right. Children, there is no such thing as juvenile orcs right?

Finbert fetched the rest of the company, but left Galdor to keep a watch and the prisoner. The company stacked behind the door and bursted in. The throng of children ran in fear to the far end of a wine cellar. The hobbits sneaked in the cellar to follow the children while Arnadil followed, sword in hand. They were met with a number of Northmen women interposing between the party members and their kids. One of them was holding a club, but to her surprise, Finbert snatched it from her hands, covered by Irina [ This was the first playtest of the Evaluate (combat opening), Finbert was standing in the shadow of an oak barrel and managed to remain unseen, he called for an Evaluate(combat opening) the outcome was a bonus for a weapon strike if he selected an all-out attack . Still unseen, Finbert decided to go for it with an all-out attack (determined), and got a net +5 to grapple the club and ripped it from the woman's hand ] [+]. Arnadil and one of the women began to argue. The women asked them to leave, she stated in broken Westron that nothing of value was to be found in this place. After a bit of interrogation, the women told the company that they were all cowering underground to protect themselves from the witch-king blight. They also told the company that there were some trolls in the lower levels [ Interrogation vs Will won by a large margin. Overall reaction was determined to be poor, but the women were in a position of weakness while protecting 13 children.] [+]. Arnadil ordered them to leave the camp with the children and locked them out after resetting the grate.

The witch-king blight was probably making reference to an epidemic of ghouls that was released by the WitchKing of Angmar during the war with the Arthedains. The company did not particularly looked forward to deal any more with the dead. 

They scoured the place, which was once the cellar level of a very large mansion. They found weapons, a large sharpening stone, about enough bedding for 20 orcs or Northmen. One of the Orc dwelling had a larger bed behind a makeshift wooden division. They found beside the bed a small chest filled with silver and some gold, and a collection of three elven skulls. At the far end was a lair for wargs, also empty at the moment. 

The only unexplored part of the cellar was now the set of downward stairs beyond the other grate. A small horn was hung on a peg beside the grate. Galdor released the women and children that were held prisoner in the kitchen and joined the company. The stairs were narrow and steep: a perfect place to engage trolls
coming from below.

Bulky trolls in narrow tunnels

The company knew that a number of trolls were present below the cellar level of the mansion. Arnadil sounded the alarm by blowing on the horn. He descended a few steps, followed by the other members. The hope was that the trolls would meet them and fight an uphill battle in a very narrow passage. However, although some noise could be heard in the distance, the trolls did not come. The company carefully advanced and reached the stairs' landing some 30 yards below. Another grate could be seen on the left, but the corridor itself kept on going straight ahead. It was possible to hear a quiet shuffle of heavy feet in the dark. 

Two charging trolls realizing that
they had just decided to run into the dreaded
troll slayers.

While Finbert was trying to pull on the pins, a large stone flew out of darkness into Arnadil's shield, making a large thunk. Behind followed two large female trolls, charging madly to close in on Arnadil and Kasper. The first troll collapsed, fast asleep, before reaching the company. The second troll jumped over her friend to slam into Arnadil. Arnadil cleverly side-stepped the charge [ Arnadil applied the side stepping technique described here ] [+] and made way for Halin's waiting hammer. The hammer lodged itself into the troll's leg but slipped from his hands under the momentum of the charge. While Halin was trying to wrestle his hammer back into his hands, Kasper and Arnadil delivered heavy blows to the troll's torso. In writhing pain, the troll attempted to grab Halin by the neck, but was then felled by one of Irina's arrow in her chest. Galdor dodged the falling body. The anemic trolls of Middle-Earth had yet again made a poor show of themselves and died too fast (Time to ramp up the challenge rating of the opposition, me think). 

The company entered the adjacent room beyond the grate and found a vault now used as a dormitory for orcs.  There was nothing much in there of value, except a small bag of coins underneath the pelts of  the leader's bed. They dragged the trolls into the room, laid one of them grotesquely on their dining table and the other in their leader's bed. 

The hobbits celebrating atop one of the female troll.

Beyond the vault, they found a complex of tunnels that was part of the defensive structure of the high-city in the days of the Arthedains. The troll lair was there. They traveled west up to the river crossing but found that the hall was flooded chest-deep in frigid water. Although Arnadil suspected that the tunnels would probably lead all the way to the citadel and the library, the company decided that soaking themselves up to get there was a bad idea. 

On their way out of the camp, they destroyed the sharpening stones and threw the little weapons of values under the ice of Lake Evendim. The women and the prisoner had left while they were exploring the camp. There was only a few hours of light, and no way to tell when the bulk of the orcs and Northmen would come back. They decided to head back to the horses and return to the Shire. They got to Longcleeve a few hours into the night. 

Reflecting on the day's toils over a warm hearth, they decided that the terrorized orcs would probably be on the defensive in the coming few days. They settled on returning to Bywater for a week. Then they could decide whether to return to the library as planned. Many in the company argued that this foray in Annuminas was not really helping the search of the Palantir of Arnor.

A glimpse of the Palantir of Arnor

The week in Bywater went quickly. Everyone busied themselves with merriment and errands. Halin, Finbert and Irina sparred together in mock wrestling contests: but the lightweight hobbits and the legendarily strong dwarfs were not exactly even matched. Arnadil spent the week riding his warhorse across the Shire. Galdor spent time with his dogs and played dice, Kasper read in the peace of his bedroom and Araliniel studied the seeker spell.

On the eve of their departure for Annuminas, Araliniel declared that she had managed to put together the pieces of the seeker spell and was about to be able to cast it. It took her two more days of high anticipation before she emerged from her room, a bright smile on her face,

"I have seen the Palantir of Arnor. It is atop an altar in a temple, somewhere on the frozen shore of a very desolate place". The news came as a big surprise as the Palantir was thought to lay beneath the waves of the frozen bay of Forochel. It seems somehow possible that the Palantir had been retrieved and placed into a temple somewhere in the frozen North of Middle-Earth. 

The company poured over maps. They needed to know more about Forochel, and find a way to get there. Traveling overland and off road into the Forodwaith in the stone-cold middle of an unnatural winter didn't appealed to them! The Shire was eating up their budget very fast. They decided to set winter quarter in Tharbad. There, they can send news to Tarquillan the High Seer, and hopefully get their hands on some information on the Ice bay of Forochel and the Lossoth people.

031 - Piling up orcs at the gates of Mandos

After deciding to come back to Annuminas to mine the Royal Library once more, the Palantir Commission decided to do a proper reconnaissance of the ruined city.

Mandos, out of time

The place is Mandos, or rather it should be. It is dark in here: the hall is large and majestic. Wrug and Jugag are looking at each other, flabergasted.

"What just happened here?", asked Wrug. Jugag shaked his shoulder. "It began when Buomug rang the alert, I think..."



It indeed began like this. Buomug was standing on a ladder, overlooking Annuminas when he spotted a number of figures on foot along the banks of Lake Evendim. Vabugbu, then in charge of the camp, called all to their weapons. "I bet that these are the troll slayers", Vabugbu exclaimed. The orcs in the camp began to fret, cursed and ran around in circles. The strangers in the distance were standing there, barely in sight at about 300 meters. Vabugbu hatched a plan to intimidate them by giving them the impression that the camp had a lot more defenders than it had. They began chanting and making war cries. They soon started to feel silly, but Vabugbu was adamant that the ruse had to work. They rattled their spears against the palisade, peeking in between its lumber in an attempt to find out if the their subterfuge was working. It looked like it worked for a few minutes: the strangers were no longer in sight.

Out of the darkness, Ougigoth advanced and continued the story. "Then, this stupid hobbit started to gesticulate to the South-West. Anyone remembers?". The others nodded. "I remember Vabugbu round up four others to hunt down the twerp. I think that Vabugbu called the hobbit 'supper' as he left the enclave." Meat on the menu! Smeguh and Mudagog headed to the North wall when popped in front of them two men armored in chainmails and great helms. Both very young, one of them on the pudgy side.

"Then all went black for me. T'was like a tingle... then nothing", said Mudagog that had been listening from a distance. Ougigoth shook his head: "I thought that you decided to play dead, stupid grunt!". Our sergeant  Smeguh braced for impact when the knight charged. Smeguh's spear was pushed aside by the knight's shield. "The first thing that I knew, Smeguh was flying backward into the snow with a deep gash in his leg. The squire then charged at me, broke my arm with his longsword. By the time that the squire had me skewered through the stomach, the knight with a swan helm was finishing off Smeguh".

"Yeah... that's how it happened, and it sucked.", added Smeguh. "The squire finished you off too, Mudagog, while you were sleeping like a baby."

The orcs present looked at their feet, dejected.

Wrug and Jugag were still scratching their heads. "We arrived here first. What on earth happened to us?"
Raghat, who was the archer under Jugag stepped from the shadow to fill in the story. He recalled first some arrows flying and hitting Knagud, and a tall man in chainmail charging at the squad to his right. Then, out of nowhere, an elderly dwarf wearing spectacles leaped from behind the barrack, and in a heroic charge and rapid strike managed to take in a single sweep of his warhammer both Wrug's throat and Jugag's skull. Raghat tried to avenge his friends with a point blank shot on the dwarf, but the plate on his leg deflected the arrow with a spark. Raghat then remembered the dwarf, a mad look in his eyes, pulling his hammer from Jugag's skull. From behind, a knight with a swan wings helm was charging. Raghat drew his sword but never managed a blow before the dwarf dispatched him to Mandos.

"Yeah, that arrow was for me alright...", added Knagud. "I hate hobbits." Knagud was the archer for his squad. Rhaged and Ruthag charged to meet a tall man in a chainmail. I saw two orcs fly in the air to my right when an arrow lodged itself into my torso. A hobbit lass shot the arrow from atop a pile of lumber. She was too far, so I shot back but at the soldier instead. His shield got in the way. The man was caughing and wheezing, but kept on charging. Ruthag got struck in the leg, flew a yard backward and landed in the snow, unconscious. Rhaged gave him a run for his money, or at least tried but never made it pass the hero's shield. By the time that Rhaged was struck down, Knagud had turned around and was running for the cover of the south palisade. He dropped his bow, and as he attempted to draw his sword, an arrow pierced his right arm and severed an artery. Knagud's arm went limp but onward he carried. "I hate hobbits.", exclaimed Knagud. Another arrow hit him in the left arm and shattered his elbow. Knagud was leaving behind a trail of red body fluid in the snow as he escaped the hobbit-lass' flurry of arrows [Irina rolled two natural 3 criticals in a row, a 1/40000 event].

"I was running along the south wall, and towards the river when I saw... another stupid hobbit. I hate hobbits.", Knagud was dumbfounded. The hobbit halted, meticulously put away his blowpipe, drew his sword and charged at Knagud. Knagud, an arrow in his chest and both arms crippled had run out of options. The hobbit-lad struck him in the leg, severing another major artery (really?). Knagud, now bleeding from both ends, stood in front of the hobbit-lad, struggling to remain conscious. The hobbit attempted to strike again but failed. One of the hobbit-lass' arrow finally struck Knagud's leg and threw him over the edge.

"My last memory of Arda is a sharp pain in my leg and a hobbit, covered in my own blood, striking me in the neck. I really hate hobbits.", the place remained silent. "There are better ways to go, certainly.", added Ougigoth sympathetically.

"I saw you fall, Knagud", said Vabugbu, "It wasn't pretty".

"I saw you go, Vabugbu, and it was worst if that's possible.", exclaimed Sinsbog. Before the bloodshed began, Vabugbu took the five of us along the south wall and across the river to find that gesticulating hobbit. We could follow his footsteps in the snow. Unfortunately, the little pest had hidden atop a wall and shot Vabugbu with a poison dart. Vabugbu was in terrible pain, but we kept on looking for the hobbit. When we found his track back in the snow, it led back to the enclave.

When we arrived to the river, Knagud was bleeding all over the hobbit. Before he was even lying down, the hobbit-lad was on the run under the cover of arrows raining from another hobbit some 60 yards away. One arrow was dodged by Vabugbu, grazed Buomug behind and lodged itself in Fubguh's abdomen. "Fubguh never saw that arrow coming".  The five orcs charged onward to realize that they were met by a single, elderly dwarf. What the orcs thought would be an overrun played out quite differently.

"The dwarf braced his hammer and rammed into Vabugbu. Our leader got impaled by the blunt end of the weapon as the dwarf kept on going, and rammed into poor Fubguh.  Fubguh was already reeling from his arrow wound.", said Sinsbog. The dwarf hit Fubguh so hard that he flew some 9 feet backward, lifeless. Buomug, Sinsbog and Xomath the archer then jumped on the dwarf but couldn't penetrate his armor.

"It got weird then, I think.", added Buomug. "I got hit once or twice by arrows and one of these poison darts. I could hear a man wheezing behind me, but when I managed to turn around it was too late: his broadsword went through my pelvis and I was thrown backward."

"Ah... this is what happened", added Sinsbog. "Buomug got knocked-back at my feet, I tripped on his lifeless body and my spear flew up in the air [He got a critical fail on his dodge against Halin]. This spear was right at my feet, and as I tried to pick it up, the chainmail soldier hit me in the groin! "

All orcs in the hall owled in dissaproval. What kind of sick RPG let this happen to a fine orc like Sinsbog? "Did he target this shot?", asked a few. "No, I think that it just came out of the random hit location table.", answered Sinsbog.

"I'd rather be a red-box goblin", stated Knagud.

An awkward silence filled the afterlife's hall for a minute.

"Anyone know what happened to Xomath? He is not here with us..."

November 18th FA 15

Arnadil had rushed after Halin against the last five orcs. The exchange looked more like a bowling strike as Halin smashed into the charge and then got rushed by the remaining orcs. By the time that the last two spear-wielding orcs were slain, Halin had pulled his hammer from Vabugbu's chest and was about to go after the orc archer. The last standing orc considered to aim at the dwarf's face: his only exposed body part, but rather hit in his steel breastplate. He then dropped his bow and surrendered: "I won't hurt you, stop!".

Arnadil asked the archer how many more orcs there was around. The archer begged for mercy, answered that there were over 50 orcs, plus trolls, plus Northmen. Arnadil asked him what they were doing in Annuminas. The orc replied that the master would be pissed when he'd learn about this: that there were building a stronghold, a home. The archer was so upset that he began vomiting. Arnadil lost his patience and started punching the orc to quiet him. Sir Galdor joined in to subdue the orc. Soon, he was lying down, unconscious. He was bleeding profusely from an arrow wound. Irina proposed to tend his wound as he could provide more information later on.

"Treat this filth", ordered Arnadil. Irina treated the orc's wound that she create herself half a minute earlier. Way to boost your First-aid skill, hobbit-lass!

By then, Session 9 had run over by 1 hour already. Time to fold until the next one!

GMing notes: This combat pretty much went the way I wanted it to go, using my brand new cinematic orcs. I think that the orcs will need to be buffed a little, but they are meant to require a larger numerical advantage before they become a credible threat. Listening to the recording to the session to make better notes, about half of it are busts of laughter and giggles: good enough.

030 - Rebooting Annuminas

Getting fancy with the adventuring gears.

This encounter covers three small bits. A playtest of the probabilistic rules on learning and researching. Some roleplaying around the dining table and a rather abstracted travel overland back to Annuminas. The meat of Session 9 is in the next encounter.

Two weeks in the Shire...

The last two weeks had been fun for the company. Shirefolks still raved about Irina and her friends slaying the wargs in Westfarthing. Arnadil and Sir Galdor were sorry to have missed the encounter with the winter drake. Irina sent the best of her day straining her upper body with a borrowed bow a little too heavy for herself. She religiously practiced for days on end on strength training in hope to be able to shoot well with a more powerful bow [Playtest report #1]. Arnadil looked for a mentor in Bywater to teach him about the North. He found a great storyteller called Tom Herder, but poor old Tom turned out to be a better storyteller than an actual teacher [Playtest report #2]. Finbert begged the grumpy Halin to spar with him at wrestling. Halin, unenthusiastic eventually obliged [Playtest report #3].  Sir Galdor spent the best of his time at the Green Dragon, playing dice and making a bit of silver (10 celebins). Kasper dissapeared in his room at the Green Dragon for most of the time. Spending some time with Araliniel on the Treatise, and reading. 

026 - Down time at the Green Dragon

...you can drink 'em by the flagon...

October 30th to November 15th FA 15

Once that Linluile returned to Lake Evendim, the company hurried back to the Shire while daylight still held. They arrived in Longcleeve by nightfall where they spent the night at the farmer's stead where they left their cart. Two days later, they arrived at Bywater where they spent a few night at Finbert's family hole in the ground. Over the next few days, they sampled the pleasures of the Green Dragon Inn. 

025 - A maiar awakened

Oct 30th FA 15

After sealing the vault behind and hoping that the angry librarian wraith would not chase after them to "scan the book", the company decided to follow up on Araliniel's oracle and descend to the lake to seek a "Stone coming out of the water". Arnadil, accutely aware of the company's precarious condition, used his Sense Foes once more and also concluded that the ruins of Annuminas were a very dangerous place to roam around. 

024 - Don't mess with the librarians

October 30th FA 15

The instructions from the High Seer was to seek a book called the "Treatise on Shrouding Palantirs". All that the company had to go with was that the book was to be found in the Seer section of the Royal Library. This was not much of a clue. Arnadil, closed his eyes and uttered a few words. His ability to sense enemity was to come handy in this dark place. He sensed that the company was in a clear and imminent danger: that something really bad was lurking in the other wing of the vault. However, he couldn't said anymore than that. They didn't know about the Stone knights, but they knew that a few librarians had been walled in the vault when the Witch King assaulted Annuminas. These librarians were left behind to tend the library for the centuries to come, until the King of Arthedain would come back to free them from their oath. 

022 - Hush! We are in a library.

This encounter pitched the members of the Palantir Commission against the Guardians of the Royal Library of Annuminas. The combat lasted pretty much the whole evening and involved a number of pretty awesome twists and turns. Most combat options got used at least once as the players discovered the awsomness of GURPS tactical combat. Enjoy. 

019 - Why can't we all be friends

October 29th, FA 15

Once the trolls walked away from the camp, the members of the company hustled to come up with a plan. It seemed probable that the trolls were to come back on the same path. The main challenge of setting an ambush was that none but Halin could see in the dark. It was decided that the four walls of the camp would be used as a strong point to constrain the trolls into a tight space. Meanwhile, Finbert would act as a bait, well in sight in the old city gate barbacane. Irina was to cover with her bow while Sir Galdor and his squire Kasper would hide, mounted on their horses, across the road from the camp.

014 - The sword under the river fortress

Oct 14th, FA 15

Kasper, Galdor and Finbert entered the Alehouse and stretched their feet. The two Gondorian knights have been displeased with the company's leadership from the beginning, and wanted no part in the chit-chat with the commander of the city. In fact, Galdor's interest in the Palantir is really only in hope that the glamour of bringing home a national treasure would earn him enough reputation so he would not have to train as a man of law anymore. Kasper, in turn, was drawn to become Galdor's squire mainly to escape the drab routine of a Gondorian beacon posting in Anorien. Neither had much interest in getting all excited over a crystal ball, nor be told what to do by a gentile career watchmen. Finbert was in the Alehouse for a more direct reason, there has to be food in a place like this, and life owed him a meal or two since that they set out for Annuminas. 

012 - Sleet, drunken haze over Dun Lannach

Fan of action RPGs may not like this kind of encounter, but I do. The setup was again an old school tavern deal, in the middle of a xenophobic hinterlands. The characters were tired, some under the effect of exhaustion I, and without a good catch, this could have turned bad.

010 - Meet the Yocals

On the bank of the Isen River

October 4th, FA 15

Most of the company was arrayed in the eat-in tent to have breakfast. Araliniel was one of the last to get in. She scraped the bottom of the pot and sat at the end of the table. "I've had a powerful vision in a dream last night", she said. Galdor turned his sight away, uninterested. Finbert prompted for more information.

"I have seen a sword, under a few inches of dirt. It was in the cellar of a tower, in a ruined fort. Built somewhere on a wide river." She proceeded to describe the fort in as much details as she could. It became clear to Finbert that he had seen this fort in the ruined city of Tharbad. Further descriptions seemed to corroborate with descriptions of Tharbad that many other company member had ran into in their research. The company, satisfied that their path was leading directly into Tharbad, made a note to drop by the fort and check the tower out. "Did you say a Gondolin sword?", asked Galdor.

The company broke camp, which attracted the attention of the other craftsmen camping near the ford. They were most intrigued that the company was not going to wait for the Red Company to escort them through Dunland, but Arnadil failed to sway anyone to join them in the possibly dangerous crossing.

The company lined up by the ford, bid the Rohirim guards goodbye and entered the Isen. Arnadil, Halin and Galdor were on their horses, leading the cart which was driven by Kasper. Finbert and Araliniel were sitting on the cart's bench, beside Kasper. Quickly their attempt to cross the river was detected by a watch of Dunlendings. One of them left and came back with about a dozen other wildmen. They menacingly arrayed, arms in hand, across the road as it crept out of the ford.  The company was resolute that the wildmen would be swayed by a strong show of resolve, and simply plowed ahead. The wildmen, used to deal with cowed tradesmen got taken aback and let the leading horsemen go through by opening their ranks. However, the rank closed by by the time that the cart was pulling out of the water. Some grabbed the horses' harnesses, some inserted the butt of their spears through the spokes of the cart's wheels.

The leading riders realized that the assertive stance's success did not extend to the lumbering baggage. The largest and greasiest wildmen declared in a broken Westron: "Us no sign treaty. This is my home. You pay 12 small silver coins." Sir Galdor, in disbelief, smiled and declared that he would pay the toll and get on their way.

"No, we're not paying. We are the representative of the King of Gondor, and we are on the road, we are not paying any fare.", declared Arnadil in his best mission leader voice.

A lithany of confusion then erupted around the cart as most company members began to argue against Arnadil with varying conviction. Arnadil's opinion essentially was that the Dunlendings were in no right to charge a toll at the gates of their land, and that some 20 wildmen could be dissipated by a small contingent of  cavalery. The problem mainly is that there is no such cavalry, and that any delay would set the company back further into winter. The wildmen could not understand the argument, but were satisfied by the donation of the silver by Galdor and simply walked away. The agument was cut short when Arnadil fell like he was about to faint. He had to get off his mount and catch his breath. After about one minutes, the fog in his mind lifted up and all was back to normal.

Arnadil and Galdor prolonged the heated argument well into the riding day, and relented only by lunchtime.