052 - Snuffing lives: the end of the Palantir Commission Campaign.

Before you read on, none of the deaths were PC deaths. So there, the title is misleading but the post isn't. The Palantir Commission has run its course. This post is the last session report for it, although a character-wise epilogue post will follow (so we can all have some closure).

Ulrich, 324 y.o., ice troll, tumbled down, way down.

I tossed my rock at a little archer, but she stepped aside. Across the room, I saw Armech fall to the ground for no obvious reason, Erlich was teetering. The intruders were streaming up the stairs and were about to break into the temple hall. I jumped over the bannister in an attempt to stomp on the little archer. I missed by a yard, slipped on the snowy stairs and toppled into the void (critical fail). My hand caught the stairs on the other side. I swivelled down by one swirl of the spiral staircase.  I landed on my back, with slightly more than my body overhanging, the snow under me turned to ice as a I slipped.

It didn't hurt, I landed head first on Merloch, who tumbled down the shaft at few minutes ago when the invaders first attempted to get to the temple. It could have been worst.

Erlich, 578 y.o., ice troll, humanely disposed of by a hobbit

I tossed my rock at the leader of the invaders. He, and the little bearded northmen had spoiled our surprise. Me was angry. My rock missed the mark and rolled down the stairs into the wall. To my left, Armech fell over backward for no particular reason. The last thing that I remember is the sight of a knight waving a twig at me. I blacked out. 

I wasn't awake when the battle was over, that Farathu lay dead on the floor and all of my friends but Borkum had died. I wan't awake to plead for mercy: a little hobbit gently walked to me and snuffed my life with a few strokes of a sword. I had so much potential.

Armech, 221 y.o., ice troll, inhumanely disposed of by a hobbit

I didn't even had the time to throw my stone when I felt the choking grip of witchcraft on my throat. I remember the look of Ulrich as I slipped backward and hit my head on the stone bench against the wall. 

When I woke up, both my eyes had been gouged and I couldn't find my bearings. The pain was searing. I could hear the rumours of battle, but I knew that my fate was decided. I tried to stand up once or twice, then I passed out for good.  

KerKhan, 324 y.o., ice troll, his last straw was a... knee lock

KerKhan is enjoying his last second in the upright position.

By the time that I managed to shoot my rock, a hobbit and an elf (without a nose) had run by me. I missed the elf by an inch! I jumped over the bannister and slammed into a Lossoth warrior (Nilppi). The lossoth made a crunchy noise and never stood up from my slam, at least until I expired. 

A little bearded Northling grabbed on to me. I tried to push him off, but he instead latched on with both arms and legs. There was no way that I could get rid of him (10 CP, pretty helpless). A dwarf sung his hammer at me, but I dodged it. Two more humans in chainmails moved forward. The chubby one with a longsword stabbed me in the arm, the other scratched me on the chest. I couldn't do much: even the filthy elf was coming back to hit me from the rear. 

My best bet was to try to jump backward over the bannister in an attempt to pop the northling off my chest. My jump attempt failed, badly: my foot got caught and I hit the bannister at the height of my shoulder blades. In the reclining position, I noticed that reinforcement had arrived! Farathu used his irresistible shout to force the Northling to let go. Borkum was picking up a stone bench to throw at the invaders. The dwarf tried to hit me on the head, but their leader managed to sink his sword deep into my throat. Out of breath, in utter pain, I could feel the Northling grabbing on to my leg but I couldn't shake him off. I don't know how he did this, but he snapped my knee backward. The shockwave ripped up my spine and I finally closed my eyes. 

An airborne stone bench grazed my cheek and slammed heavily on the invaders. But this is not part of my story: I was dead by the time that the bench hit the ground. 

Farathu, 4 y.o., Winter Drake, beheaded in his sleep by a warhammer (ouch!)

Less than a second before Farathu lose his head.

I am the campaign supervillain. I was a little unimpressed when Borkum roused me from my sleep with the news that there was invaders in the temple hall. By the time that we arrived in the hall, KerKhan was swarmed by them. I used my command to force the Northling to let go: he rolled off KerKhan and slipped from my sight. 

By then, KerKhan had been mortally hit at the neck by an inordinately tall man in chainmail. I caught the glimpse of another knight in the background waving a wand at me. His magic was weak, but I flukily was weaker. It was bedtime for this drake. 

I could feel Borkum dragging me on the ground, I was about to wake up. A blind dwarf was running in my general direction, I knew this dwarf... the invaders were the demon slayers from Forochel! My last memory of the screech of a possessed warhammer shearing my head off before I could move it out of the way. 

Borkum, 322 y.o., ice troll, retired to live another day

When I opened the door, a lossoth lay dead on the stairs while the other invaders were swarming KerKhan. I picked up a stone bench and threw it at the knights. The dwarf dodged, the leader mostly got out of the way but got hit on his leg. The brunt of the bench's mass landed on the third knight's groin. He should have died, but he didn't. He instead teetered until the elf caught him and used his witchcraft to prop him up for good. 

I pulled Farathu out of harm's way, but got overtaken by one of them hobbits. The dwarf ran up to the drake and pinned his head against the ground. I panicked and ran off to the hoard room. Some of the invader followed me there. The hobbit tried to make me surrender, but the nicer knight told me that my life would be spared if I helped them recover a large glass sphere. The sphere was across the chasm, and the little bearded Northling tried to make me jump across to get to it. 

The invaders were pretty smart: they found a secret door in the temple which lead to the hoard. They stuffed their pockets with as much gold as they could carry. I carried the big rock for them as we hiked out of the temple and through the valley. We parted the following morning. I was free, and frankly I still don't know what to do with freedom. 

There is a twist, which will be explained in the epilogue post!

051 - The Numarii King

This session began where the last one ended, in the middle of an interrogation of an orc sergeant that had been put to sleep by Kasper's elf twig hoodoo voodoo. 

Thannolf bent down to the orc's face and repeated his question. The orcs smiled but didn't answer. The northerling lost patience and locked his elbow at a very awkward angle. The orc tapped out from pain and told the company that the dwarves should still be loyal to Farathu. Halin kicked him as they decided to let him go. The only way out was back to his bethren (and into certain death).

050 - Noseless in Middle-Earth

... or as +Zack Mackay puts it, "Fear and Nosing in Middle-Earth".

Kicking up dust

Nimrodel and Nilppi walked up the valley road towards the orc camp. The goal was to draw the orc army's attention as soon as possible. While the elf remained alert, bow at the ready, the lossoth hunter busied himself throwing dust up in the air to make himself seen. A keen eye would have probably noticed the hobbit creeping overhead off the mountain side. A keener eye would have been required to spot Irina perched above the back gate of the Numarii fort that the company had just cleared. She stood there, motionless, behind a large rock with her bow in hand. 

The rest of the company had fashioned heavy curtain by weaving all sorts of rubbish and orc cots together to make it hard to rush through the open door. The contraption was a sigh for sore eyes, but would probably be heavy enough to cramp the orcs' style for a moment. 

Nimrodel spotted two wargs in the camp. That was just about when Nilppi's dusty mess drew their attention. The two companions sprinted back to the gate to gain high ground.

Thus tumbled down an elven nose

The first wave of orcs to rush away from the camp was 20 strong. Among them, two wargs and their riders. Nilppi climbed above the gate on the cliff side and readied his weapons. Nimrodel found a good shooting nook and arrayed his ammunition. The wargs didn't overtook the orcs and seemed to match the group's speed. Both Irina and Nimrodel had a limited stock of arrows and decided to hold fire until the orcs were in range. Irina mowed four in the last leg of their charge, while Nimrodel cut two down. 

Arnadil prompted Kasper to make the best use of his magic elven wand and "do his trick". Kasper gave him a puzzled look, but obliged. A wave of panic filled the valley and sent the majority of the orcs running away from the gate. A warg rider was attempting to rally the troops, but without luck. Nimrodel and Irina zeroed on the leader right away. Irina almost sprained her wrist in the heat of the moment and was left defenceless. Just at this time, Nimrodel placed an arrow into the warg, with no great effect. Nilppi sprang from his hiding spot and jumped down the cliff side down to meet the warg. 

The charge had failed: most orcs that didn't get terrorized by Kasper's magic had turned around anyway to follow their allies. Nimrodel's fancy footwork as he shot caused him to slip (critical fail #1) and tumble down the cliff. He ended at the bottom of the cliff in the crouched position, presenting his head to the last orc still charging (he failed to notice that he was almost the only one left in the charge). The orc sliced Nimrodel's nose almost cleanly from his face. The elf, in shock, recoiled to protect himself while Halin the dwarf rammed through the orc and knocked him dead. From then on, the company was out of one cartilaginous appendage.

While Irina, now out of arrows, rushed down to the ground to tend to Nimrodel's profuse bleeding. Nilppi and Thannolf were working together to flank the warg. Thannolf's well placed Lossoth's dagger punctured the beast's lungs and knocked it unconscious.  The rider fell to the ground only to get skewered by Arnadil. He arrived just on time to look good (after fighting off a few orcs on his way). 

Irina did stop the bleeding, and the elf used his elven healing to bring himself from the brink of death ( -4 hit points ). The orcs that once were on the run were starting to regroup some 500m down the road. Time for round two.

   

Keeping the eye off Frodo... ahem Finbert

The plan called for making enough noises to allow Finbert to slip to the orc camp and scope the entrance of the Numariis. Finbert noticed that a second wave of orcs had waited for an orc leader to get outfitted before leaving the camp. Some 20 other orcs left at the jog to link with their companions at some point down the road. Finbert leaned against a rock and determined that there was no more than 10 orcs left in the camp: all of them squinting to find out what was going on at the other end of the valley. 

The second wave, combined with what was left of the first one, didn't attempt to enter the gate. They stood there, jeering and shooting the occasional arrow at the company members. Poo was flung in the process, which was a nice touch. Nothing was happening at the other end of the valley.

Finbert took advantage of this situation to slip by the camp and walk through the open gate of the Numariis. The first gate didn't have door and lead into a kill zone room similar to the first Numarii's entrance. The room was dark and cool. Finbert slipped along the wall until a faint noise caught his attention.

Finbert isn't dropping no eaves on the dwarves.

Through the murderholes on his left, he could hear the muffled voices of dwarves arguing in the Naugrim language. Finbert considered slipping past the open doors at the end of the killzone, but decided instead to back down for the moment.

He sneaked into the camp to find many cooking fires. The tents were filled with straw beddding. Finbert managed to set a few of the tents on fire without being noticed. As he was plotting more destruction, he heard the rumours of many armored feet coming from within the citadel. He slipped out of the camp and found a hiding nook just on time to miss a wave of roaring dwarves.

There was about 10 of them, and the overran the camp: burning what was left and slaying the remaining orcs. When the dwarves were done, they stopped and debated while looking at the far end of the valley. The smoke of the burning tents drew the besieging orcs' attention. A great many of them abandoned the stalemate against the company and ran back to their camp.

The dwarves hurried around to create chokepoints amid the smoke. They were about to fight the orcs! Finbert smiled and began the tedious way back to the company. 

Thus tumbled down a pair of dwarven spectacles

Nilppi lying down after a critical fail, Irina badly hurt on her chest, Halin looking for his
spectacles on the ground, and noseless Nimrodel hidden beyond the gate.
Not exactly the most glorious moment of the company.

The company had braced for a big showdown into the entrance hall. To their disappointment, the orcs didn't dare barging into an obvious trap. When most of the orcs ran back to their camp, Nilppi didn't wait for a cue to launch into a pursuit. About 5 orcs sprang from cover to meet with the lossoth hunter. The company was taken aback by the tactical soundness of the remaining orcs. Halin, perched up above the gate had a rock ready to push down. However, as the company poured out of the gate, he decided to change tactics to flank the green mob.  After a brief conga line to get out of the gate, the company fanned out to engage the orcs. This is when things started to go bad. Nilppi, about to strike slipped on a flung orc dung that was steaming on the ground. Thannolf and Kasper moved into to cover the lossoth.  Halin, some 5 yards overhead, began a charge down. Quickly, the charge turned into a tumble, then into a bowling strike against the nearest orc. The orc was knocked out alright, but in the process Halin lost his spectacles. The world turned into a whirl of blurry sploshes while the dwarf was feeling around. At this point, Thannolf would have suffered a major wound to the groin, but we figured out that his +1 to active defence due to combat reflex saved him. Arnadil had taken on two orcs and Irina, sword in hand for the first time in this campaign's history, moved in to fill a gap. The orc thrusted his sword into her chest, shattering a few mail loops and causing her great pain (Picture above taken at this moment).

This was the low point, Nimrodel's arrows rescued Irina who moved on to strike at orcs in anger. The last orc to fall was their leader. He collapsed to the ground without a strike. From the other end of the melee, Kasper was waving theatrically his pair of elven wands.  

An orc with no hope... wait... nope.

Halin's spectacles go crushed during the tumble, making him now a card carrying member of the nearsighted club (-2 combat, -6 Perception, ouch). Irina tended her own wound briefly to stop the blood flow. Nilppi wiped his foot on some rocks. At the other end of the valley, orcs and dwarves were about to clash and nobody in the company could have explained why. 

They gathered around the sleeping orc sergeant and kicked him until he woke up. The orc considered his options and realized that he was dead. With nothing to lose, he jeered and insulted the company in hope to the slain before he had to say anything useful. The company tightened the ring around him as Halin gave him the best string of dwarven expletives that money can buy. Kasper even used his elven wands to bolster the dwarf in his attempt to take control of the raving orc. 

The attempt was successful, the orc was cowed into silence, his chance to meet a quick death dashed. The company got out of him that orcs and dwarves hated each other. That, the master would skin the company members alive when he'd chose to. When prompted as to whom was the master, the orc replied "Farathu". 

Thannolf roughed him up, trying to get more out of him. But the orc smiled, he knew that he was about to die. "And so will you", he concluded with a smile.

049 - One big, elaborate dwarven joke.

The Entrance of the Numarii dwarves.

Walking knowingly into a trap

The gate under the mountain was adorned by two large statues of drakes. The gate itself was made of solid steel. At its center, there was a ring. Two flames shone like bright beacons atop pillars from which the mechanism of a draw bridge was secured. A canal crossed the hall, some 3 meters deep. Dark water was flowing from left to right through a pair of grates.

The company looked around in suspicion. Irina was the first to cross the bridge. She approached the steel gate and kicked it. Her toes absorbed the shock: no sound was heard. This door was in a wholly different league as the last three. Arnadil drew from his past as a fortification engineer to inspect the draw bridge. He noticed that the floor off the far wall was in fact a platform. The platform was made of slates and a steel structure that was bracketed at both ends and off the pillars opposite to him.

While Halin was prompted to inspect the structure, Nilppi got Thannolf to help him fathom the canal. There was only about a foot of water, and the current was marginal. Nilppi lowered himself with the help of a rope. The water was foul smelling and oily on its surface. Nilppi didn't made much sense of the steel structure underneath the floor until Halin got himself down there. The old masterdwarf had carefully removed his armor before taking a dip. It became obvious to him that the brackets holding the platform were moving components of some larger mechanism. Halin noticed that the platform would probably swivel down if the mechanism was triggered.

Nilppi, unable to grok dwarven engineering, headed to the upstream grate. At first, he thought that he heard a noise and stopped. He stretched his neck and drew his torch though the bars to see farther outward. A shockwave of roars rammed into the grate. A wall of claws and bony faces pressed senseless against the bars. Nilppi stepped back, some other members of the company readied their bows.

By the time that they had decided what to make of this. The brawling ghouls had turned against each other and drifted out of sight. The clamor died down. The company turned to the gate. The whole thing smelled bad. The choice left was walking into the trap, or go home.

Waddling in the wading pool

They knew that things would have to get bad before they got better. Two ropes were strung across the hall. They ran between the dragon statues: one on the ground and one at chest level. A third rope was tied to the ring on the door. Kasper, Nilppi and Irina got themselves on the ground-level rope such that they would not fall down if the platform was to collapse. The rest of the company returned to the near side of the canal to tug on the third rope. The pulled on the ring, which slid out smoothly. 

Nilppi jumped in style.

Predictably, the platform swung down into the water and the grates opened at both ends. The gate clicked open. The three company members balanced themselves against the wall. Kasper grabbed the door and slipped beyond. The disappointment was sharp when he realized that the gate lead to a room the size of a closet which housed the trap's mechanism. Nilppi dodged the claws of the ghouls by shoving Kasper into the closet. Irina considered jumping in, but one of the ghoul was in the process of chewing up the rope on which she stood. 

 Nimrodel and Finbert were shooting freely into the pit. Arnadil took a leap and knocked a ghoul off balance on his way down. When the rest of the company realized that he was now in close combat against 6 raving ghouls, they began jumping in as well. Nilppi first, then Kasper dove with his longsword swinging. Thannolf took a flying jump and snapped with his knee the head from one of the ghoul's spine. The ghoul fell in the water, then stood back on its feet. 

The melee was made of an unstructured mix of good and bad guys. Arnadil got clawed on his chest and blood started to drip from his armor. His attempt to retaliate was more spiteful than effective: his sword hit the ground and bent his wrist at a questionable angle (critical fail, crippled hand for 30 minutes). Thannolf, still hot in the collar from his super cool entrance grappled the ghouls from behind and tugged at its head. Halin hit hard but failed to silence the beast which fell only after Thannolf sliced its head with his sacred Lossoth knife. That was the last one still standing.

The company discovered that the ghouls didn't want to stay down. They had to hit them until their bodies were mechanically destroyed. Once that the smallest parts of the ghouls were too small to be articulated, only a floating mess of writhing flesh was left drifting to the right grate with the current. 

The Palantir commission as a novelty act

Climbing out of the pit was a trivial affair, but would lead only back to the entrance. A summary exploration of the upstream hallway lead them to an octogonal room. The room appeared to be the bottom of a chute set at its center. The chute was a mere 1m by 1m, but how far above was its origin couldn't be estimated. Nilppi tried to climb up but slid back down. By tossing a grappling hook, the company figured out that the chute was about 3m long. However, the grappling hook didn't caught on anything near its upper rim. 

The company decided in the most bizarre chain of reasoning to make a human pyramid so that the lighter and more nimble member could climb up to the chute's top. To convince the GM, there was threat to fetch video of cheerleader teams performing said action. The GM finally got swayed when the company threw into the plan the trunks used to make the battering ram. Kasper, Thannolf and Kasper were to make the base, supported by the battering ram's components. Arnadil, towering over his 7 feet made the second layer which took the construct into the chute. Nimrodel, nimble and light elf climbed up, then the hobbits. Irina managed to pull herself to another octogonal room. The beams from the ram were passed upward and Irina secured the ropes. In about 15 minutes, even the stoutest company member had made it up to the top.   

The only way out was a set of stair, running parallel to the stairs that lead to the hall. At the top there was a dead end and two small levers. Irina spotted in the dust many recent tracks of orcs and evidence that the far wall swiveled around a hidden axis. Pulling on the level brought them at the foot of a new set of stairs and to another secret door. Crossing the second door took them back behind the third wooden gate that they had rammed through about an hour ago. Irina tracked a large number of orc tracks in the dirty floor. Evidence of outdoors dirt could also be found. The company headed up the stairs and noticed a cool and fresh draught coming from higher up. 

The subterfuge revealed

The company walked through a storage room turned into an orc barrack. Beyond the door, they found themselves outdoors on the other side of the mountain. A path ran down into a close valley. It went back up at the other end, some 1500m away from the door. A camp of orcs was bustling with activity on the mountainside. Beyond the camp, there was another gate carved into the cliff. Arnadil used his looking glass to scan the area. He estimated the number of orcs to 50 to 70. He also noticed higher up on the cliff side there was an elaborate opening. 

The complex behind them seemed to be a decoy to mislead invaders. Halin shrugged at the Numariis' strange ways (The players are actually thinking that the Numariis could be some kind of duergars). The company was acutely aware that it was just a matter of time before the orcs would notice the death of all of their gatekeepers. Irina and Finbert, the resident hobbits in the company, volunteered to scout along the valley road. Finbert stumbled, lost his cool and came back to the gate right away. Irina kept on climbing, identified a hidden spot on the mountainside, but determined that she would be detected if she dared going further. 

The company pondered whether wait 15 days to get the support of Sir Galdor and his the soldiers of Gondor, or somehow trick the orcs into a winnable battle near the exit of the false Numarii gate. 

048 - Knock knock, who is there?

The Lossoth warriors of Arthon

Nilppi of Arthon, Lossoth Warrior overjoyed to join
the demon slayers from the south

After talking with the Arthedain chieftain in Arthon, Thannolf headed to the Lossoth area of the village. He was received with suspicion by the lossoth leader. His attitude changed radically when Thannolf's identity as one of the demon slayer was clarified. 

To Thannolf's greatest surprise, the Lossoth of Arthon did not appear to be great fans of Mulkan and its antics. Thannolf was treated with a large meal and hours of interesting conversations. The Lossoth leader offered the service of one of his top warrior, a middle-aged man called Nilppi. Thannolf tried to learn more about the Numarii dwarves and their relationship to the Winter drake. Unfortunately, nothing new came out of this interview. Thannolf and Nilppi took leaves of the chief and returned south to Kalt to link with the rest of the company. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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] [+].   

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.  

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.  

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. 

028 - The last word of a warg.

November 15 FA 15 (1:30PM)

In the previous encounter, the company ran into a skirmish between three wargs and a winter drake hatchling. The company decided to evacuate the farm stead before taking on the pursuits of the dark creatures. Unfortunately, this delay in tracking the beasts meant that the snow slowly started to accumulate along the path. Luckily, the wargs left deep grooves into the snow, and the drake left in his wake countless splintered trees. The going was difficult for the hobbits and the dwarf, but simple for Nimrodel as elves are unencumbered by frost and snow. By the time that they reached a clearing and found the bruised carcass of one of the wargs, the three small folks were starting to bleed Fatigue points due to the strain of walking, and exposure to the cold. 

027 - You mean, dragons are for real?

November 15th, FA 15

Only Halin, Irina and Finbert were sitting at a table of the Slapfoot, the premier inn in Michel Delving. The company was celebrating Finbert's and Arnadil's recovery from the foray in Annuminas with a trip to the capital of the Shire. As the snow storm worsten, Galdor and Arnadil decided to return to Bywater so as not to miss the dice contest. The three remaining company members were promised to sample Wesfarthing Honey Ale on the following day. They met Nimrodel, a Noldor elf from Rivendell on his way home from Grey haven. The mounting storm convinced him to stop by the Slapfoot Inn and sample the rustic charms of the Shire. Nimrodel and the company got acquainted and engaged in small talk.