K41 - The infernals are here!

This report covers a two-session encounters against the campaing's villains and the PCs. To make things more interesting, I gave the steering wheel to one of the player whose PC was there only through a dream projection. What a good move on my part.

Where we left (A month ago)

We're on the 4th deep of Khazad-dum. Gror lead an expedition of Axe-dwarves to recover the body of Khazek, friend, colleague and dead PC. They ran into Khazek's wraith instead and things went sour. A mutiny took over the expedition and the bulk of the dwarves ran back to the East Gate. Gror lead 5 dwarves to find Lathmelen, an ally elf noble, struggling in the dark and calling for help. When Gror saw Khazek's wraith, he fell to a panic attack while the others kept their distances. Khazek tried to help Gror, but his wraith body nearly drained Gror off of his life force.

Tordar, the Viceroy's butler and spymaster arrived late and tried to talk to Khazek. Meanwhile, Khazek was in a conversation with the Viceroy who had traveled to the 4th deep in a dream using his amulet of Irmo.

Snuff out that light!

Khazek was most offended at the torch light and wandered away, barely able to contain his anger. Bain, overing in dreamscape, tied to calm him down while Thordar passed on his torch to Shortneck. Lathmelen roused Gror from his embarrassing slumber and brought him back to his feet. He was cold and pale after an accidental body slam with a wraith.

In the distance, goblins from the Snagaii kingdoms were coming down (or up) the endless chasm. They got near, then faded out to silence.

The Infernals are round the corner.

Unblurred infernals: Now imagine an army of 'em.

Three shapeless masses appeared from their rear. They couldn't pin down their appearance as their body seemed to flicker like the flame of a candle. They were tall, canine looking, armed with shortswords and shields and moving in rather fast. Without skipping a beat, they engaged the company.

The combat as difficult, in between the blur and the low light, the PC had to set their strikes very carefully. The infernals fought together very well: keeping close and striking hard.

One of them dropped his sword as he was pushed back. The third one entangled Lathmelen with his whip, but got skewered by Thordar Ithilnaur's knife (which cuts through steel like it was lead). Khazek joined in. All 8 dwarves struggled to keep on top of the two infernals. Thordar neck nearly got severed by a powerful attack to his neck, he got whisked away by a dwarf and healed by Lathmelen. The other infernals delivered a deadly blow to Gror, who fell to the ground bleeding profusely. By then, Khazek had knocked the last burning torch off the hands of Shortneck and the light was waning. The two most powerful warrior were on the threshold of death (nearly -1*HP). Khazek managed good strike from an overhead position and sent the infernals running. One was knocked down the stairs, the other barely escaped with his life.

Thus ended the combat. Blood loss was put under control despite the evil properties of the infernals' blades. The dwarves didn't spend too much time reflecting on their victory and left the two dead infernals behind on their way back to the East gate.

What about the dreamer?

Bain, Viceroy of Khazad-dum and dreamer was roused by an aide. He rushed to his feet. While he was rubbing his eyes, Roghel MoonOath entered the room with a serious look in his face. Roghel was the commander of the Silver-Attack, the elite unit of the invasion force. Bain understood that this was not a social call.

"We need to talk.", he said in a grave voice.

Gaming note

Giving the villains to a player meant that Arne got to play, try something new, and give a rough ride to the PCs. This is the second time that I give monsters to players: the stakes are higher, player death more imminent. I will reward Arne's character for his ruthless playtest of the infernal with bonus on all important loyalty check at the onset of the next episode. 

K37 - Stress testing Thordar the fearless fencing dwarf.

The 31st session of Reclaiming Khazad-dum took a turn for the interesting when it became a single combat pitching one dwarf PC against temporarily PC'd orcs. Thordar has an interesting concept, embodied by his daredevil advantage and a selection of cinematic combat technique, machismo, reverse grip antics and overconfidence. Thordar shredded through two large panthers using single strikes to the vitals in the past, greatly simplifying an otherwise difficult encounter.  I wanted to stress test the PC while he ended up isolated and hurt. NPC orcs were given to other players to ensure that the brittle orcs got their very best shot in this fight. 

The background

Thordar was a bit too enthusiastic as a rear guard on the day that the dwarves collapsed the two approaches used by the orcs to assault Erebor's positions. Consequently, he got cut off from the main body, alone in the dark. His only known option was to follow a breakneck footpath on the wall of the unending well up to a small footbridge across. Scouts reported it, but never investigated the location. 

K34 - and thus died the Kraken

This session is the conclusion of a side adventure with alternate characters that pitched the Kraken against Gandalf, Quickbeam, Elphir, Beorn and Gwaihir the Eagle-Lord. 

The setup

Time 0 for session 3

It all resumed with the Eagle-Lord lying face up under a yard worth of water, grappled by the Kraken. The Kraken had been lured in really shallow water after the lake was partially drained and Gandalf lured it from the depth using a blue sphere of light. The blow from the diving Eagle was harsh, but the Kraken was still a serious threat.

Quickbeam was then carrying Elphir of Dol Amroth on his shoulder while Gandalf was slinging anemic fireballs to the beast. 

Felling the beast

If you laugh at the GM's artwork, you won't be invited anymore.

While Quickbeam and Elphir were wading to the Kraken, Gandalf propelled Beorn (in bear form) halfway to the beast.  Gandalf then offered a reprieve to the Eagle-Lord by casting a spell to push away water around both creatures' head. This beached the Kraken which was embroiled with the Eagle. By then, Beorn caused much damage with its claws and disabled a basal tentacle. Quickbeam put Elphir on the ground so the knight let out a power-blow that tore a large gash in the beast's side. Beyond the gash, a void full of stars was sucking in air. Elphir was struck by horror at this sight and failed to prevent tipping over into the emptiness. 

By his side, Quickbeam tore an even bigger hole in the Kraken's side while Beorn knocked one of the large eye off its socket. The beast had absorbed by then well over 100 HP of damage to its head and became unresponsive. 

Quickbeam used a tentacle as a rope to climb down into the oblivion while Beorn simply jumped straight in to follow the listless Elphir. When Gandalf arrived, all that he could see was Quickbeam hanging over a bottomless void. His intuition told him to Jump!, and so he did. Quickbeam let go and all fell into a maelstrom.

Evaluate(Opening) - Results from playtesting

This post is in part a repost of an earlier blog entry introducing the concept. I repost the key bits here for convenience, and add to this my observations after playtesting. 

You will find more on Evaluate on +Douglas Cole 's Melee Academy 301 - Evaluate.

The Serendipity Engine

Screen Shot of the alpha version on May 21st 2013

http://serendipity-engine.appspot.com

Objective

Simulate how combats are made of serendipitous opening that perceptive and skilled fighter take advantage of. One can fight according to a plan, or be nimble and go with the flow. This option provides the "flow". It is based on a web-based app, requiring nothing but a browser.

Principle

A skill contest between the Per-based melee combat skill of the attacker against the DX-based melee combat skill of the defender. In case of a success by the attacker, the attacker spot a combat opening with a benefit that is a function of the margin of success. If the margin is negative, but the Per-based skill check was successful, the bonus is applied to the next active defense.

To generate interesting openings, the random "table" is implemented as a web application. This has the potential to generate over a few hundreds different combinations of opening and conditions, and this number of permutations blows up into the thousands if we take into account the range of possible attack bonuses and defense penalties.

Procedure

The phasing player may call an Evaluate(combat opening) as a melee combat move. The skill contest is resolved by the app, determine the success and generate an opening. In case of failure, the phasing player my be compelled to take a Do nothing action. In other cases, the phasing player is free to take advantage of the opening by converting the evaluate into a new action and immediately resolving it to exploit the opening, or take instead a Do Nothing or All-out defense action. The gamble here is that if the opening isn't desirable, the turn will be spent looking  for an opening and deciding not to take it.

1. Declare an Evaluate (combat Opening)
2. Per-skill vs DX-skill (handled by app)
3. Pick Either of:
   1. Immediately convert to attack to exploit opening.
   2. Do Nothing

A critical fail on the Per-based skill check is narrated to the player like a critical success, but is converted instead into a bonus for the opponent as a bonus to any form of counter attacks.

Discussion

This is not a new idea, if you want a low-tech table instead, try Sean Punch's post of SJG's forum, or +Douglas Cole 's post on Gaming Ballistic. Here follows some questions that I was looking for in playtesting this combat option:

Are players using the the Evaluate (opening)?

In my Face-to-Face game, yes. At first for novelty but then again because I think that my players enjoyed the unpredictability that it brought. As a disclosure, I tend to limit combat to a few very important once which tend to revolve themselves fairly quickly: the first strike often sets the tone for the rest of the combat.

When presented with an opening, are the players deciding to exploit the opening?

Usually yes. If the random opening generator suggested something that didn't make sense, there is a button to generate another opening without re-rolling the skill contest. 

1. If not,
1. Sometime, ending in the kneeled position isn't outweigh by the bonus conferred by the opening (especially for contest won by a small margin). 
2. If so,
1. I think that my players like how it sends the combat into unforeseen directions. It comes down to a gamble: waste a turn looking or get something more substantial than a plain Evaluate. 

In summary, I like this option and we find it fun. Rolling against this option gives an edge for perceptive characters and bring laughters all around.  I can't recall a single instance of a player getting a smile out of using the base Evaluate maneuver (let alone the whole table). It works really only against an anthropomorphic foe.

K33 - An unlikely patch of green

This session is part of a mini-side adventure for the campaign "Reclaiming Khazad-dum". We transport ourselves in the 12th year of the fourth age, some 2-3 years before the start of the campaign itself. The PCs are here a collection of high-powered, A-list Tolkien characters. The outcome of this side quest will determine what Army Group West will run into. 

The Characters

Each players was given complete creative license and 500 cps to create high-profile characters from the Middle-Earth lore. +Paul Stefko decided to play Elphir of Dol Amroth, the heir of Dol Amroth and a damn great Numenorean knight. Paul has posted some design notes on his blog.  +Jason Woollard  create his version of Bregalad (Quickbeam) the hasty Ent. +Arne Jamtgaard traded Bain the Viceroy for Gandalf the White. He modeled Gandalf's magic using effect shaping syntactic magic using the verb and noun variant. Finally, +Alex J. has crafted Beorn. In the next session, +Alex Safatli will be joining the fray with Gwaihir, the Eagle-Lord.

That, friends and fellow gamers, is a 2500 cp worth of protagonists, soon to swell to 3000 cps. 

K31 - Dear Diary...

This session continues on the dungeon delve involving all PCs deep into the 4th level. They left to find out more about the curse of the Balrog. They found it. The following is the narrative as recounted by the mysterious bride that just got rescued.

K30 - The Love Polygon

The bride of the unborn reincarnation of Durin had to be put away into a hidden chamber of Khazad-dum until the day of her wedding would come. The viceroy saw her in a dream, and so the Royal party left the Tomb of Arvin in a quest to find that pretty needle in a wraith-infested heystack. What they found was a giant black pudding guarding the sarcophagus of the bride where she lay, at the threshold of bonified death. 

Both Khazek and Thordar saw in her eyes what they interpreted as the promise of true and everlasting love. 

The black pudding is playing with its food

But hey, the job wasn't done. Khazek pulled the bride from the sarcophagus. She was frail, pale and shivering. Her knuckles raw from beating from within the stone receptacle. Khazek pulled her gently and huddled her, careful not to smear her with the acid burning through his heavy chain. He gently kissed her, she was gasping for air. Was this passion? Thordar, boiling with rage lunged forward and punched Khazek in a mad hope to make him drop the bride into his hands. Khazek avoided the blow and misinterpreted it as an overenthusiastic offer to help carrying her to safety.

Lathmelen stumbled while jumping over the pudding, she fell feet first into the caustic mud. Her boots were now smouldering with a brown smoke, but her adarcer shin protector remained unaffected. A foot slipped out, but the second foot stayed stuck. The wraith that was wrestling her for the sword wandered off as she became invisible to it once that she let the sword go. A second attempt to free herself sent her face first to the ground with one foot still mired into the muck. The black pudding rolled over her body and began burning at her clothes and hair.

K29 - The dwarf bride

In the previous episode, Interview with a tombstone, the intrepid royal party has made their way to the crypt level of the old city. Bain, in a dream, can hear the plight of a young female trapped in a sarcophagus. The dream is true alright, as he is wearing the Eye of Irmo, which lets him travels around during his sleeping hours. 

The party is made of 13 dwarves: Bain, viceroy of Khazad-dum (PC ); Thordar, right-hand of the viceroy and daredevil-fencer-rogue (PC); Khazek, irreverent ranger-extraordinaire (PC); Lathmelen, Niece of the Elf-Queen of Greenwood (PC); Gror, son of Bain and frontline commander; Gesdrek, Maiar loremaster; and 7 dwarves from a Battle-guard of the Bronze Attack (Nalik, Rogi, Helg, Kelvar, Volkvak, Rakmir, Nordan). 

Delving silent, delving deep

Gror "butterfinger" faces off with the pudding while a wraith
prances around with Khazek's elven blade.

The night was long for the dwarves as they bunked deep into Arvin's crypt. There was whimpers, and Volkvak certainly lost sleep and looked terrible when the delvers woke up.

Bain explained to the other how to get to the Bride's crypt. The party ate a bit and set out along a major artery to the West. Khazek demonstrated an almost prescient sense of direction and lead the dwarves soon into a side passage in order to keep as close as possible to the description provided by Bain. Lathmelen stayed close behind, as ever impressed by the "young prince".

They wove deeper to the the far reaches of Khazad-dum. Khazek had a close encounter with a wraith and swing wildly into the dark. The wraiths had started to accumulate on their tails, both repulsed and attracted by the dwarves' torch light. The wraiths were particularly interested in Khazek's Ghost Blade and Lathmelen's glowing sword. It occurred to Bain that, after seeing Khazek nearly trip and struck down by a wraith (a pissed one), that if their guide was to go, they would be prisoners of an impossible labyrinth.

Bain's pulse quickened, he started to stumble. He was acutely aware that the minds of his dwarves had started to fade because of the Balrog's curse. He became agitated, jumping around to dodge the real and the imaginary wraiths of his ancestors. Khazek picked up on this and became agitated as well. The other dwarves grew concerned, but did their best to sooth the torment of their friends.

Lathmelen kept a steady eye and found a hidden passage which concealed entrance had been damaged in the past. They wondered about the architectural patterns, but none of the party member could identify details. They proceeded inward to eventually enter a large hall.

K27 - Stairway to Heaven

In the previous session, the viceroy's retinue cleared the Rising Hall which had been reported haunted by the scouts. It was, and infested by black panthers which looked like they were feasting on a regular diet of small orcs. 

Orc on a Hook (play-by-post)

Lathmelen, Khazek and Bain are contemplating the chasm below. They can hear the growls of the ancestors some 150 ft below, out of sight. The chasm here is not as wide. Lathmelen established that the vines spanning across the chasm are strong enough to hold one individual at the time.

Khazek, as usual, is the first one to cross. He is followed by Lathmelen. Bain remains behind, surrounded by the axedwarves while Thordar is catching his breath outside.

On the other side. Khazek looks on the ground for signs. He sees that the panthers are commonly passing by and heading West into the hall. He finds evidence of blood, as if wounded bodies are dragged by the animals. Some of these tracks are recent.

While Khazek is looking for clues, Lathmelen advance into the hall and finds a rustic barricade. The barricade seems to be designed to be protecting from threat from their side of the barrier. She inspects the stockade and finds a squeeze near the top. Khazek can trace the paws of the panthers all the way to this squeeze.

“This is where the panther are coming and going.”, the ranger whispers.

There appears to be be no other ways other than forward. The place is deadly quiet, but the two companions can hear a lone snore beyond the barricade. The smell of orcs is also competing with the musk of the giant cats.

Khazek 20140309 - Khazek studies the barricade, trying to get an idea of how long it’s been there. He keeps an eye out for any dangerous looking areas or traps as well. He then carefully and quietly begins to climb up toward the narrow opening, trying to get a look at what lies beyond.

Bain 20140309 - Bain looks at his axedwarves.  “Well?  Don’t just stand there, get moving!”  He grabs the last Dwarf in the line.  “Go back and tell Gror we went on a scouting mission.  Then come back here with another lot and secure this area.”  After the axedwarves finish crossing, Bain will follow.

Lathmelen 20140309 - Lathmelen approaches the barrier and attempts to cast Find Weakness (M116) on it. This is in order to investigate the material and determine if there is a way to create an opening without disturbing it excessively and causing too much sound. She spends two seconds to cast the spell, performs the appropriate ritual most likely involving hand movement, and rolls a 7 which is a success. She will report to the others, enigmatic as usual, the results of her investigation.

The reinforcements

Bain sends out an axedwarf to contact with the Silver to the North. He estimates that if everyone rushes, a lot could be here as soon as in about 20 minutes. Bain can barely make up what is going on across the chasm other than something glittery has snaked up the barricade from the ground to the ceiling...

The barricade

Time T - Khazek approaches the barricade and notices that this is used as a passage for the felines. He looks very carefully amongst the coarse woodwork and sees no treachery. Bain is showing signs of impatience somewhere in the rear. Lathmelen utters are few words in old Sindarin and light a sequence of boards and stakes with the faint glow of a glittering light.  Lathmelen feels a little weak from drawing so much upon the valar in the recent past.

“This is the weak spot in the structure”, she whispers. Khazek plans his climb to the squeeze of the barricade against the upper right corner of the hallway. He identifies a path to climb up. Unfortunately, the shoddy structure gives way and Khazek causes the structure to creak as his footing shifts by a few inches.

The squeaky voice of a goblin comes from over the barricade. It is both raspy, and high-pitched as if he had inhaled helium the moment before.

“Come over! Demon, feast on this orc’s flesh.”, the voices calls out. Khazek can hear the difficult breathing of a lone orc over the edge. There are no audible footsteps, maybe the rattle of something wooden dragged on the ground.

Khazek 20140310 - Khazek stops short when he hears the voice call out. He does not reply just yet, but looks back questioningly at Lathmelen. He pauses for but a moment until curiosity overtakes him and he continues forward, trying to get a look at what is going on up ahead. “But I’ve just recently eaten, thanks though. They call me Rock Walker, and who might you be?”

Lathmelen 20140310 - Lathmelen readies her blade and attempts to find a spot nearby that could serve as a hiding spot and from which she could strike at someone coming out from the barricade. Moving there, if one is found, she then looks to Khazek to gauge his reaction, raising her eyebrow at him and mouthing, “Demon?”

Bain 20140309 - Bain slaps his forehead at Khazek’s impudent reply.  “No!  Demon was the voice’s pet, probably one of the panthers” he thinks, but holds his tongue. That stone had fallen, time to see the nature of the avalanche.

Khazek gains footing to peer through the squeeze. The weak flicker of his torch suggest the shape of a lying orc of a small size.  His left leg appears to be impaled by a large barbed hook that is chained to the ground. He lies on the ground, breathing laboriously, staring up to the ceiling. Beyond, the hallway expands into a hall which the weak torchlight can’t light all the way through. The room is cluttered, but quiet, and cool.

Khazek can squeeze through and slide to the other side. It implies an awkward moment, but poses no real challenge. The area still looks to rustic and simply laid out to be dangerous. Lathmelen is a yard behind, unable to see inside the hall.

“These tricksters talks.”, the goblin whispers in a gargle. “Do your bidding, make it quick, Ghost walker!”, he yelps. The sound echoes back from the far end of the hall. The only noise to be heard is the crackling of the torch and the goblin’s plight.

Khazek can’t help but to slip through and belly slide a few feet before getting on his feet. The goblin still lies there, his eyes appear to have been gouged out. He is waiting for something really bad to happen to him, teeth clenched.

Khazek passes the squeeze and make his way on the other side. The goblin is a sad sight to see. His wounds are not recent: he must have been lying there for a few days. The goblin is conscious, but not particularly aware of its surroundings.  As Lathmelen crawls in, he run his sight along the hall’s wall to scan for danger. There is a door at the far end of the hall, maybe 20 yards away. There are also a set of spiral stairs on the left and right walls.

Khazek 20140311 - Khazek tries not to make a sound. He continues to scan the area looking for signs of danger or escape. Very slowly, Khazek moves very slowly to make room for Lathmelen, keeping his weapon at the ready.

Lathmelen 20140311 - Lathmelen, as amused but frightened as she is of the scenario, moves to action and follows Khazek through the barricade, spending two turns to crawl through. She tries to hold her sword while crawling through, but with sheath it if this proves to be difficult. Speaking carefully, once she acquires her bearings on the other side of the barrier, she asks the goblin “The demons in this place are countless. But I am not quite sure we are those who you should be frightened of. Maybe you are willing to accept our help?” Her eyes immediately go to Khazek in question, hoping he understands her reason for her abysmal attempt at diplomacy. They might learn something from this one.

The goblin seems to hear Lathmelen but doesn’t respond. His grin has faded, his fists are no longer clenched. It is unclear whether he even understood the elf but certainly isn’t inclined to start a chat with the unseen visitor. As far as you can tell, he may not even be aware of Khazek’s presence.

“Me no talky”, he squeaks with half a voice.

Lathmelen 20140312a - Lathmelen shakes her head at Khazek and dismisses the idea of questioning the goblin. She quickly walks over further into the room, to where the left stairs are, and glimpses around the corner, investigating where it leads.

Khazek and Lathmelen look around the hall. There has been a lot of fighting in this place a long time ago: there are broken arrows, the remains of a warg, a panther. The hall was once a gathering place and probably part of the Rising Hall. The tracks on the ground suggest that goblins come in numbers, maybe 10, regularly and drag a goblin to the meat hook. There is little evidence of traffic up and down the stairs.

The door at the far end is shut. The goblin on the hook is moaning quietly.

Lathmelen 20140312b - Lathmelen looks to Khazek for direction, “There is a stairway up and down, but they look hardly travelled. This is a rather dragging scenario. What do you suggest, prince?”. She looks at him amusedly.

Khazek 20140312 - “Well, if the Goblins can move in through here freely, then we need to figure something out, find out where they’re going, figure out what this is,” indicating the hooked Goblin. Khazek moves toward the Goblin slowly, taking his canteen out from his pack. “You, Goblin, you want water? Why are you here? What did you do?”

The goblin is at first ignoring the offer and avert his eyes, as if he still had his eyes that is. The offer for water is too much for him and he opens his mouth. Khazek let a thin strand of water dribble down to its mouth.

“You give me water. You speak different. Here I am, an offering to keep the peace with the demon across the chasm. I bet you are not a demon.”, he turns his face towards Khazek. “I broke my arm, that’s why I’m now as good as meat. Maybe us Snagaiis are only good for this in the end...”

The hall and the boiler room.

The thousand-year old boiler (live play from here on)

Khazek and Lathmelen shake their shoulders and summon the Viceroy to come forward. Bain steps over the chasm and squeeze over the stockade. Khazek explaines the situation and leaves Bain the task of interrogating the delirious goblin. 

While Bain is talking sweet with the goblin, Khazek and Lathmelen inspect the door leading to the city and find it locked. They rig some pieces of wood to secure it from opening from the other side. They decided to look at the spiral staircase to the right. 

They find the stair unused for many long years. It leads to a large and warm room some 20yds high above. The room if filled with refuse and a large boiler powered by a magma pipe. The construction is dwarven, and miraculously still functional. 

Lathmelen returns to the lower level while Khazek inspects the rubbish. The temptation is too strong, and he engages the mechanism. This sends water into the boiler and starts to push steam into a pipe heading towards the cliff. 

Downstairs, Thordar has joined the Viceroy. He explained to him that he spotted a subtle plume of smoke on the 4th level, suggesting that the end of the ladders up the cliff are guarded. Bain, in turn exasperated, begs Thordar to make the goblin talk. Thordar, now a pro at it, uses the tip of his smallsword to prod into the goblin's eye socket. The goblin breaks down and begin to cry. 

The goblin explains that he is a tribute sent to feed the demons from the outside. He points at the locked gate and confide that the Snagaii kingdom lies beyond. The dwarves, disgusted by the sight of a grown goblin crying all over the floor, puts its miserable life to an end. 

Bain turns to the gate: "A Kingdom of Snagaiis, hey."

Five little dwarves climbing up a ladder

Thordar lead the others to the terrace outside the Rising room. They were met by Gror, announcing that he had decided to rotate out the dwarves from the Silver-Attack with fresh troop from Bronze.  "They are hard to keep in check, Father, the curse... I guess.", he explains to Bain.

Once outside, they marvel at the sight of Dimrill Dale down below. Lathmelen uses her elven sight to inspect up above. She sees that the two ladders are climbing to trap doors underneath the terrace on the 4th level.  She spots the plume of smoke, and more seriously the wavy air around the steel ladders as if they were very hot. Khazek figures out that the boiler was probably connected to the ladder system as he had seen such mechanism in Erebor. He quietly returns to the boiler room and turns off the mechanism. 

They decide to climb up the 80 yds by daylight after the ladder cools down. About halfway to the terrace, arrows begins to fly down to the climbers. Thordar is shot on the hand and brush off the pain while the crew accelerate their ascent. As they get closer to the trapdoor, the volume of arrow fire increases. Many arrows would have caused mortal wound had the dwarves not be protected by sturdy dwarven armors. 

The dwarves sprint up the ladder to enter firm ground, as falling off 400ft down to the foot of the cliff isn't an attractive prospect.  

The Eastern eyes of level four

Thordar is the first dwarf to enter the towers. He dodges a few arrows and skewers an archer. Khazek enters next and dispatch another archer with his stick. Lathmelen comes next and attempts to create an illusory panther, but fails to summon the dreadful sight. While Gror slips in and chase a fleeing archer, Thordar lunges recklessly into the goblins, dispatch another with his smallsword and ends with a goblin's arrow deeply embedded into his thigh (Funny bone critical). Khazek fell the goblin's NCO in a dramatic knife throwing one-shot death. This opens the way for Thordar to roll back toward his friends while Lathmelen meets him to deliver some elven healing. 

Thordar is reeling and in terrible pain, Lathmelen is on the brink of collapse. The goblin archers recoiled away but are not defeated. Bain climbs up into the tower to catch sight of his son severing the foot of a fleeing goblin. 

Are things going well or not? Well, they are at least on the fourth level. If they can make it passed the Snagaiis, Gesdrek should be able to lead them to the crypts to interrogate them about the rise of the ancestors. 

Final scene as seen by Bain.

K26 - The Rising Hall

Taking a breather

Bain took a last look at the rabble across the unending well. Hundreds of ancestors, pulled from their tombs to jeer and gesticulate offensively at his dwarves. He headed back up to the East Gate Hall and ordered the rotation of the Mithril-Attack out of Khazad-dum. Bronze filled in, with strict order to avoid descending to the first deep except for a skeleton crew to keep a watch on the Hall of Trees.

Khazek left with Donarik and his Goldleaf rangers. Thordar reported to the hospital camp to have the wound in his thigh bandaged. The festering, unhealing gash in his cheek that was made by the Ghouls months ago started to tingle. The poison spread to his blood and made him very sick. He vomited for the whole of the following day and missed on the slow slug of the Silver-Attack up the Marzabul stairs.

K25 - A needle in a haystack

Instructions

Getting Started

Backgrounder

Area Knowledge

Lathmelen’s last words

Queries

The forbidden forest

An interview with Ngaii

The Stalker

The stalker’s shadow

Getting Started

Previous Scene: Lemmings

Location: East Gate

Present: Khazek, Bain

NPCs: ?

Special Circumstances:

• Everyone’s Will is at -1 at the moment to reflect a malaise that is affecting the invading force.

Situation:

• Bain wants to get Lathmelen back from her diplomatic mission into Lorien. She was last seen entering the woods through the East approach (Red dot).
• Khazek and Bain are conferring in the East Gate hall. Khazek may leave on his own, bring rangers  or anyone else.

Khazek is more than excited to get back outside and under the open sky. He will select a small group of Rock Walkers (hopefully the 7 ‘usual suspects’ that he normally takes with him. Are Gimvar and Donnarik up to snuff?) He will get as much information from Bain about the Elf woods and from anywhere else he can scrounge up information before heading out.

Important Skills he will be needing are:

• Tracking: 19
• Survival Woodlands: 16
• Area Knowledge (Rhovanion): 13
• Navigation Land: 13

Backgrounder

Khazek has three patrols of 7 rangers at his disposition. Each patrol is training well in all key area, but each has developed a specialty of their own. One should be sent to the West Gate to link with Farin’s force.

1. Goldleaf: Lead by Donarik. They are surefooted and quiet. Donarik is respected and loved by his dwarves. The best trackers are in this patrol. Donarik is still an insolent bastard, but responsibility has given him a tad of wisdom [Khazek teaching check PASS, morale good, quality good.]
2. Arrowroot: Lead by Gimvar. They are the tough, brawling and insubordinate ones. They never were the same after their foray into the underdeep. Gimvar keeps tab on the lot. They are the least excitable of the three patrols. [Khazek teaching check FAILED, morale OK, quality good]
3. Saffron: Lead by Bakar Bluebeard. Bakar is a great teacher himself and has high standards of marksmanship. Saffran has not participated into serious action so far. However, they acquitted themselves of all their assignments very well so far. Khazek just don’t know how they will react when they see themselves “in the eyes of the elephants”. [Khazek teaching check PASS, moral OK, quality OK?]

Area Knowledge

Lorien is a mystical place. However, Khazek knows enough about Rhovanion [AK(Rhovanion)-13, -4 Lorien, MoS +1] to be aware of the main entry points into the forbidden forest and the key landmarks. Khazek knows of the path shown on the map which was once used in the trade with Khazad-dum. He also knows about Caras Galadhon, the nerve center of elfdom. He is aware that historically, elves used the Celebrant to ferry materiel in and out of Lothlorien.

Each 3.9 miles on the map is about 1h of walk at full speed. 2h to get to the edge of Lothlorien. The current time is 1000.

Lathmelen’s last words

She complained that Lothlorien seemed abandoned. She planned to look for Cara Galadhon, then return to the dwarves. Lathmelen is traveling on an elven horse given to her by Thrandhuil himself when they last met at Sarn Goriwig. She confided to Khazek, whom she likes very much, that she was worried that the last of the dream elves at left Middle-Earth without saying goodbye.

On good thing is, if you are not an elf, and you want to be found. You probably will...

Queries

1. Who is going along? Who is going West?
1. Goldleaf will come with Khazek to the forest, Arrowroot will go over the mountain to West-Group while Saffron will remain in the valley providing perimeter scouting or whatever other functions are needed.
2. Where to begin, how far to go?
1. Khazek will plan to enter the forest and follow the river to where he believes Lathmelen was heading. He also hopes that this would be the path she would take to make it back to Khazad-Dum after she was done. (Ive marked Khazek’s proposed route on the map, of course it could change given developments discovered along the way.)
3. What is the overall general strategy? Key skills to rely upon?
1. Tracking: Looking for evidence of what?
1. Tracking for ANYTHING larger than an animal. Specifically 2 legged folk, Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs.. etc and of course Lathmelen’s horse!
2. Navigation: Where to?
1. To the Elf city Cara Galadhon, hopefully following the banks of the river will make it considerably easier.
4. In the abstracted travel, what should trigger me to pause and report to Khazek?
1. Anything that seems important or unexpected (signs of anything passing recently that might be a danger or lead him to Lathmelen)

---

The forbidden forest

Technical details: [Tracking-19, MoS:+7; Navigation-13, MoS:+0]

Khazek rounds up the Rock Walkers and issues his orders. Goldleaf will be entering the land of dreams with him while Arrowroot will link with Battlegroup-West. Saffron will remain in Dimrill Dale to provide area patrols. Saffron is now the main force assigned to area patrols since the Bronze-Attack was mobilized to enter Khazad-dum.

By noon, the eight rangers are reaching the edge of Lothlorien. The forest takes on an unusual look as they progress deeper into the land of dreams. The trees are taller, mightier. The ground is mossier, soft and rich. Khazek notices that the water from the celebrant seems to have poisoned whatever is growing on its banks.  

Khazek looks for tracks but finds nothing.  Absolutely nothing. It is like the forest has had no animal living in it ever. Khazek isn’t sure whether this is normal in this land or not. He cross-references with his observations from Queen Ildamadhui’s garden and sees a few similarities. However, there are no birds singing, no insects.  Donarik notices that Khazek gets distracted and takes over the patrol lead. Following the river is simple, the rangers are moving at first at a good pace. However, soon enough as the afternoon grows old, they soften their pace and relax.

A white doe comes into sight and beckons the rangers to follow inland away from the celebrant river. The doe is a bit skittish. [Reaction check with the doe: Charisma +1, Elven blade +1, race in decline -1, Pacifism +1].

Khazek 20140223 -  Seeing the deer intrigues Khazek, especially since he has not seen any tracks from such an animal. Khazek notifies his rangers to be on guard. Khazek and the rangers quietly follow the creature. Along the way, Khazek will check the ground for the beasts tracks.

[reaction roll: 6+2=8, poor]

The doe is startled by the dwarves and begins bouncing nervously across the forest. However, she seems to be slowing down to let the rangers keep up. They follow a gentle incline upward, heading North. Khazek has to hurry a bit to keep up. By the time that the doe pass beyond the crest of a rise, Khazek turns around a finds himself alone. There are no signs of the other rangers. He can hear the doe bouncing away to his North, but suspect that his colleagues have fallen behind to the South. The light overhead suggest a late morning, but this makes no sense to him as it should be later afternoon.

Khazek 20140224 - Unsure of what exactly is going on, Khazek continues in his pursuit of the doe. Before moving on, however, he makes a very obvious mark on the ground indicating that he had been here and which direction he was heading off in, hoping that his Rock Walkers were at least good enough to track a plainly marked path.

An interview with Ngaii

Khazek follows the doe, mostly by ear since she apparently leaves no traces on the ground. He proceeds until he catch from the corner of his eye the silhouette of someone he know. It is Princess Ngaii, daughter of King Thrandhuil. She is dressed plainly in white linen and is wearing no visible jewelry. "I'm glad to see you again young Prince.", she says.

"Lathmelen is fine. She is with me.", she adds with a smile. "Dwarves should never come into Lothlorien. Dwarves cannot stand alone and in this land everyone is alone." A whisp of sadness shrouds her smile for a moment. She invites the ranger to sit at a table that was set amidst the gold leaves and the trees.

"It pains me to see you here. You brought with you a sinister stalker, Prince.", She pours a clear liquid from a carafe to a silver cup. Khazek notices the inscriptions are in Old Naugrim. This cup came from Khazad-dum, probably a long time ago.

"I see that the curse has withdrawn from the Celebrant." (the river running through Lothlorien). "Tell me, young Prince, about your toils.". She offers the cup to the ranger.

Khazek 20140224 - “What are you doing here? We left you back in Thranduil Hall months ago.” Khazek takes the cup and drinks from it. He tries hard to rein in his impetuous ways with some courtly skill “What in Durin’s name is going on here? Have you seen Lathmelen? Why do you keep talking to the deer? And no one is stalking me, why do you say someone is stalking me?”

[-1 Impetuous, +1 Savior Faire (Court)-11, (-2) Status of 2 vs Ngaii of 4, (+2) Rank of 2. +1 Friends of elves, charisma;+1. Roll: 11+1=12, Good.]

Khazek’s impetuosity turns out to be a bit much for Ngaii. Khazek remembers his manners but is full of questions and doesn’t have the patience for elven riddles. At the end of the day, the young officer’s natural charms manages to draw a smile out of the elf princess.

The drink is exquisite. Khazek can’t quite tell what it is, but it could be water. It fills him with a sense of wellbeing that he has not experienced before.

Ngaii speaks slowly and deliberately for the next little while. She suggests that she is now the elf queen since the departure of Lady Galadriel. She inquires about the viceroy. Khazek can see the star in the sky move quickly in semi-circles.

Khazek can barely pay attention after a while. Lathmelen appears to be somewhere in Lothlorien. Ngaii tries to calm him down. She seems interested in what the dwarves have been up to.

Khazek 20140224 - Khazek freely tells Ngaii all that the Dwarves have encountered so far since reaching Khadad-Dum. He asks how to find Lathmelen and then wonders where all the other Elves have gone. Khazek stares at the pretty lights swirling around for a while, then turns and asks Ngaii why the Dwarven ancestors have started behaving so poorly and what Evil lurks in the mines of Moria.

Ngaii humors the ranger for a long while. She listens carefully, answers questions politely. She believes that there is indeed treachery that made the ancestor walk. She points out that the river that once was poisonous is coming back to normal: that she has seen a fish in the flows for the first time today.

The deceased walk only for one reason: restlessness. In the case of Dwarves, Ngaii doesn’t believe that the ancestors have really returned. I fear that the old Maiar has not left Middle-Earth just yet, making a reference to the Balrog. She asks Khazek to inspect his elven sword. “This blade can dispatch restless souls. Spare your axes, hammers and pointy sticks. This is one of the best gifts that elvendom may have for you.”

She offers an amulet to Khazek and begs him to take this amulet to Bain Stonetongue. “This is the amulet of Irmo. It is a gift from the Queen of elves to him. Bring it back when this is all over, for I do not know for how long I can part with it.”

She tells him that Lathmelen will join the dwarves to complete her work.

Khazek is drowsy. Time is standing still. Ngaii gets this sad look once more. “I told you you once that the land of dream is a dangerous place. I will let you go, but I cannot help you any further: you are alone and you brought with you a great danger.”

Khazek doses off.

---

The Stalker

Khazek wakes up after a nap that could as well have lasted for a thousand years. He is aware of the weather: a cold nip carrying nearly icy droplets of rain. The sun is warming the moss and creates a shroud of ground fog. He can see the towering mount Silvertine to the north.

Khazek awakes to the faint sound of slithering. No one but him would have heard the noise, but he knows that there is a very large snake rustling leaves and lurking in the brushes some 20 yd. away from him. His equipment is some 5 yd. away towards the snake. There are no reasons to believe that the snake is aware that Khazek is no longer sleeping.

Khazek 20140224 - Khazek slowly moves toward his gear, staying low and trying not to alert the snake. Khazek peers around, trying to get his bearings.

Khazek manages to slip silently to the rock where his stuff was leaning against. The stalker, a 6+ yd. long constrictor of some kind (he’s never seen this species before), is heading towards his original position.

At this precise moment, the stalker spots the ranger. Khazek is in the crouched position, with access to his staff and sword. Everything else is in the pack. The bow is not strung, he seems to remember unstringing while he was talking to Ngaii.  

Khazek 20140225 - Khazek watches and studies the snake. The snake slowly makes it way toward Khazek and the young Dwarf slowly retreats. Eventually the snake climbs up into the branches of the canopy above. They continue their slow dance until Khazek finally makes his stand near a rock. The snake drops from above and Khazek sets his spear, bracing for the attack. The snake twists and avoids the point of the spear and tries to grab Khazek but the Dwarf drops back quickly and brings his spear to bear again.

The stalker falls to the ground behind the retreating ranger. Khazek retaliates with a swift blow which is avoided by the beast at the cost of moving its forward quarter out of striking reach. However, the stalker swings its rear half to grapple the ranger but failed to get a grip. Khazek retaliates with an impaling blow that lodges itself deep inside of the stalker’s body. The stalker, uses the action as a leverage to lunge forward after a brief deceptive move (AoA determined canceled by a deceptive attack to neutralize the ranger’s defense), but its body overshoots and simply thud against Khazek’s legs.

Khazek moved back and hit the snake again, this time through its head. The stalker’s body fell to the ground, stunned. Khazek finished it off before it had the time to recover and fight back.

---

Awakening from a dream

Shortly after expiring, Khazek notices a faint shadow splitting away from the stalker’s body and moving swiftly close to the ground. The shadow is heading North, apparently towards the nearby edge of Lothlorien.  It is fast, but not too fast for the ranger if he hustles.

Khazek 20140226 - Khazek watches the shadow curiously as it slithers away and thinks about Lathmelen and his rangers. He longs to follow the shadow, but then remembers his duty to his Rock Walkers and to Bain and Lathmelen. Turning, he heads back toward where he believes his rangers might be, hoping they at least made an attempt to follow him.

Khazek begins running behind the shadow but soon gets a hold of his emotions. He hesitates, look back into Lothlorien and decides to head back in to search for his Rock Walkers. He traces his step back to the river, some 2 hours later. For the longest time, he doesn’t find the footsteps steps of his rangers. He doesn’t understand why they have disappeared.

At one point, he finds the steps of one of them. They are so light, barely perceptible. Khazek realizes that Lothlorien isn’t “behaving” the way other locations do. He remembers the movement of stars in the sky and figure that he may have spend days wandering in the woods.

In the distance, he hears the steps of a horse riding at a fast pace. By his hunch, the rider isn’t quite heading his way, but would be passing North of his position beyond the crest of an incline.

Khazek 20140228 - The young Dwarf breaks into a run, hoping to get to a point where he can at least see, and if necessary, hail the rider, believing that it must be Lathmelen.

And a small world it is. Khazek runs up the incline and then down into a vale, which wasn’t there when he came in looking for the river. The forest looks more familiar: tree species are more typical of Rhovanion, he can even spot tracks of small game on the ground as he intercepts Lathmelen.

The elf is riding her purebred, which first hears Khazek, then cue the elf to his presence. Lathmelen is wearing a beautiful light plate armor made of finely crafted and intricate components. A matching elm is hooked on her saddle.

“Here you are, young Prince.”, she says as her palfrey turns around and slows to a trot. Queen Ngaii has released the both of us, for we have much to do. Galadriel had foretold that the soul of the Balrog would withdraw from the Celebrant river when the heir to Durin returned. Whether he is retreating or fading, no one can tell, but I fear the former option.

Khazek 20140301 - ... “Hey, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! What have you, um, where did you get that armor? Did you find, wait, why do you keep calling me Prince? Did you see that snake? I saw some shadow form slink out of it after I killed it. The forest looks different now. Did you do that? Come on. Let’s get back to report to Bain. I’m glad to see you, by the way, I’ve missed you. Oh yea, have you seen my Rock Walkers? I left them around here somewhere.” After he calms down a bit from his initial meeting with Lathmelen, Khazek will ask her if she found what she had been looking for in Lothlrien and if she had figured anything out. He also fills her in on the Dwarves progress and problems at Moria as well.

Whoa. Lathmelen jumps off her horse.

“Be at peace young Prince.”, she replies. “I missed you too my friend. I’m afraid that your friends have to find the strenght on their own before they can leave Lothlorien. Queen Ngaii has released the both of us, at odds with the laws of the land. We really do need to talk to the Viceroy. I bear serious tidings for him.”

She offers the dwarf to climb on her palfrey. “You are a prince to me. C’mon now. There are none of Yavanna’s snake in Lothlorien. Whatever you saw was a creature of Morgoth.”

Once saddled up, they ride with haste as the young dwarf blurts updates with the coherence of a twitter feed.