K12 - The Evil Eye

Recollections from Donarik, ranger of the Ark.

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

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

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

K10 - The orc with the plaid sash

Prelude: What Khazek knows about Sarn Goriwig
The hunters from Thranduil hall reported to the Ark-lot, via Khazek Strongmoss, that the obsidian tower of Sarn Goriwig appeared to be occupied again. Khazek has heard of this tower from the Lore of Mirkwood. He knew that the tower was a large glass construction which was built by Morgoth in the first age. It seved as an outpost in Mirkwood and a gate to the underdeep. When the Necromancer was expelled from Mirkwood, the tower was deserted. However, the presence of "fresh" orcs suggested that Sarn Goriwig was occupied again by a new overlord. 

Act 10, Scene 1 - The ranger's raid over an orcs' forward depot.

The Attack-Lord of the Ardacer sent the Ark-Lot North to move to contact with the orc's main body. Gomar Flameaxe, Herd-lot of the Ark ordered his crack ranger guard to open the march. This guard was lead by an impetuous member of the Royal family called Khazek Strongmoss. Training dwarves to fight like elves was a difficult task, but he was getting better at it. Khazek proceeded North off the path, keeping his 13 rangers under close control.

K09-1 - The Battle of Green Creek

This story summarizes the action seen by the Gate-Lot in Mirkwood. Gate is tasked with the improvement of a ford over a small creek. It can be easily forded on foot, but crossing with the heavy carts is more difficult.

Battlefield preparation

Herd-lot Hillar Granitedigger didn't like the look of this: his lot was now lagging by at least 20km behind the main force, in a trackless forest. His force were bound to the old forest road (-1) or else contact would soon get lost. Instead of setting up a thorough screen (-2), he dispatched a guard along the Northward path that had been previously recon'd by the rangers and order all haste in upgrading the ford. The orcs, moving to contact soon figured out that the path was guarded and approached along the creek instead. The margin of success for the recon contest was +7, enough to achieve surprise, but not an ambush.

K09 - The Battle of Browek Bridge

Act 9, Scene 1 - Mopping up Browek Bridge

By 1500Z, the combined Ice and Slammer Lots poured through the defensive positions of the orcs. Drolf pressed on with the Ice-Herd into the ruins while the orcs opted for a Full Retreat option. The command post got a chance at a beheading operation on the orcs' leader. The setup was simple: catch/neutralize the leader in 6 seconds and grant +1 on the MASS combat resolution contest. Kalin, Herd-Lot of Ice ( +Alex Safatli ), Vadek, Sergent-Major of Ice ( +Arne Jamtgaard ) and Drolf ( +Justin Aquino ) , Attack-Lord of Ardacer had spotted the new  field-pomoted commander atop a ruin wall. They set on a charge through a downpour of arrows and a defensive line of spearorcs. To their right, one of the axdwarf suffered a major wound which weakened the PCs flank. Drolf, after a bit of encouragement, engaged on their left while Kalin and Vadek plowed towards the orc commander. 

Vadek eventually managed to strike the last standing orc in the defensive line. The orc, still standing but stunned got bypassed to be picked up by Kalin on Vadek's rear. Vadek slammed into the commander, who by then had started to recoil. He knocked him over, leaving him lying down and winded. By then, the orc archers had abandoned their high vantage points on the walls and were fleeing. Vadek, with cold determination, started to kick the commander until he croaked. As he applied himself to his craft, he beckoned the last remaining archer who decided to slip away while there was still an opening in the rear [ Intimidation-based influence check, MoS=+4, archer turned away ] [+]. Drolf, wanting the commander for an interrogation, dispatched his opponent with a great blow  [ Pretty cool end for this orc, he got slammed in the torso and sent flying due to a knockback. However, a tree was standing behind and the resulting slam damage on his head knocked him unconscious! ] [+]. Unfortunately, he arrived too late to save the commander. Both dwarves argued over the poor strategic value of killing this orcs before interrogating him [ Vadek has bloodlust, and no interest in strategic matters ] [+]. 

By then, the last of the orcs were scurrying into the woods to the West. Some 5 orcs were dead and about 10 left reeling from heavy wounds. The dwarves didn't pursue them as this would have caused a messy scatter [ Ooops, the GM forgot to check for spontaneous pursuit... ] [+]. By Kalin's estimate, about as many escaped. Drolf encouraged his dwarves to make grim displays with the corpses in an attempt to "dehumanize" the foes (de-orcanize?). Two dwarves had to be put on litters with major wounds (out of about 100 fighters) while 4 others had to be rallied after getting lost in the forest during the assault (and being mocked about it for the rest of the day).

Act 9, Scene 2 - Intelligence Gathering, Drolf Style

Option B for interrogation was not exactly commander-quality. Drolf picked the least dumb looking of the prisoner who still had teeth. He interrogated him forcefully and managed to pull a lot of good information [ Magin of Success of +8] [+].  The orcs called this location Browek Bridge and manned it as an advanced post against giant spider raids. He told Drolf the tale of 7m spiders coming in waves from the South to feed on his kin. He couldn't specify how many more orcs there were (he obviously was not a commander), but placed the number between 300 and 2000. He also specified that his kind were in the service of a terrible wizard living in a glass tower in Mirkwood mountains.

Drolf kept on using enhanced interrogation techniques until the orc could speak no more. He turned to the North and tried to spot the mountains through the trees. He couldn't, but earlier glimpses of them along the old forest road suggested a distance of 10-15 km. He looked south of Browek Bridge: the dwarves from the Ark-Lot had managed to ford in high water and had secured the southern approaches. A forest path to the south had been discovered on the Western bank. Drolf rallied his subordinate commanders for a quick command post chinwag.

Act 9, Scene 3 - Council of Dwarves and FRAGO* to the Ardacer 

Browek Bridge, just after the battle. Click to enlarge.

Drolf gathered the Lot-Herds and senior non-commissioned officers such as Vadek around him. He was in a bit of state of panic, but didn't let on any of it on the surface. There were spiders to the South and maybe up to 2000 orcs to the North. The Bridge would require 3 days of work to bring up to standards and two other sites to the East also required up to 12 hours of work. The Gate-Lot was stationed 25 km behind to make a quick ford over another of Mirkwood's murky streams.  Drolf wanted to reinforce the defensive positions, but Kalin advocated an emphasis on scouting. When asked for advice, Vadek proved rather unable to grasp the operational situation. He muttered grumpily only about what was in front of his eyes.

It was decided in the end that Ledge-Lot was to seek the Fire-Lot to the South, make contact and bring them back to Browek Bridge. Ark-Lot, the scouting unit including Khazek's rangers was to scout Northward until contact was made. Dispositions and numbers were to be reported back ASAP. The other Lots were to prepare defensive position on either side of the former bridge.

Act 9, Scene 4 - SITREP** at twillight

By nightfall, a small party of messengers from the Ark-Lot returned to the command post. Contact with orcs had not been made by the dwarves, but a report from the hunters of Thranduil Halls was passed along. The elves determined that the orcs living in the Mountains were new orcs, rather than orc spawned in the days of  the War of the Ring. This suggested that a new orcs spawning pit was active somewhere. They also reported that Sarn Goriwing, once an outpost of the Dark lord, appeared to be occupied again. The elves specified that the glass tower had been cleared when the Necromancer had been chased from Mirkwood. Its bridge was then taken down.

The messengers from the Ark then returned to the deep shadows of Mirkwood, on their way back to the Ark-Lot. Also, a dispatch from the Gate arrived late into the night to report on an engagement that occurred earlier in the evening. 

*FRAGO: Fragmentary orders

**SITREP : Situation report

K08 - Warmongering into Mirkwood

In this session, we're shifting the campaign to another group of characters. The Ardacer is a military Attack (a kind of unit containing some 350 dwarves). Their task is to open the way and improve the road to Khazad-dum such that the main force will be able to transit when they set out 30 days later. 

The Characters

There are four PCs in the Ardacer storyline. Drolf  ( +Justin Aquino ) is a wealthy dwarf from Iron Hill who has cultivated his personal legend as a hero of war for his whole life. His last feat was to convince the King of Erebor that he was the man to open the march to Khazad-dum at the head of dwarf mercenaries that he himself had bankrolled and outfitted. The first shoe has dropped for Drolf as he got his wish and is now  leading the Ardacer into Mirkwood. Kalin  ( +Alex Safatli ) is an erudite, master crafstman and staunch chauvinist. He has lived his life in the shadows of his brother Gimli and father Gloin. To appease the contingent from Aglarond, Thorin III has granted Kalin the Title of Lot-Herd of Ice: one of the better units of the Ardacer. Khazek Strongmoss is a PC that participated in the previous storyline. Khazek ( +Jason Woollard ) is a young and impetuous dwarf from Aglarond. His demeanor and incredible luck in matter of social interaction has made him a favourite of King Thorin III. As a result, he landed the gig of master trainer for a crack unit of open-sky dwarf rangers (Khazek, unlike Jason, is no teacher yet). Finally, Vadek is +Arne Jamtgaard secondary character in this storyline. Vadek is a straight-laced professional soldier at the head of the Axmens of the Ice Lot, this puts him in charge of 7 guards and overall some 49 dwarves. His main duty is to protect Drolf. Vadek is no politician, he has no sense of humor and functions strictly on a need to know basis.

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.

The GURPS cinematic Middle-Earth Orcs

Background

Orcs were created by Morgoth by torturing and mutilating first borns (elves) during the first age. Their biology is mysterious, and certainly non-traditional. They can only multiply in large nests that are created by powerful wizards, and requiring the bodies of living elves to seed. Their birth is more akin to a cystic process than what we understand to be childbirth. 

Approximating GURPS Mass Combat Troop Strength (TS) for Dwarven units

In this post, I'm trying to approximate Troop Strength (TS) for dwarves for the purpose of Mass Combat. It should be 2 according to GURPS Mass Combat p.17, but yet again it should also be 2 for orcs if we follow these rules as written (maybe less due to training and equipment). Let's see: this post is both a thinking aloud post, and way to communicate to the campaign's player how dwarves and orcs compare, and a chance to get shot down by my thoughtful readers. The punchline is 6:1 assuming parity of number and an infinite and unrestricted terrain that +Peter V. Dell'Orto doesn't love at all (and neither do I, but that is material for another post).