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Eastern Arthedain, Autumn 1973 TA

It's getting chilly again already. At Fornost, the shutters are closed and the fires are on. Like last year, it promises to be a chilly winter. There is more life out in the fields, as the vital harvest is prepared.

It will need to be a good one, because Artheadin is arming. Arthedain fears Angmar, a mountain kingdom of evil men led by the mysterious Witch-King. These men make pacts with the foul Orcs and Goblins breeding out of the Misty Mountains and from there they threaten the whole of the north.

To Arthedain's east lies Rhudaur; once its sister kingdom ruled by the same line. But the human kingdoms fought amongst themselves and Rhudaur got the worst of it; it gave into pressure from Angmar and the line there was lost. Now it is full of Dunlendings- vicious hillmen who bear hostility to any other type of man. A great Dunlending Lord sits on the throne once meant for a Dunadan.

To the south lies Cardolan, also a sister kingdom. Cardolan resisted for longer but it too was weakened by struggle with its neighbours- and then by plague. In the end, Cardolan did not fall as much as rot; it has fallen into a disparate collection of local fiefdoms with no central authority.

The north of Cardolan is now almost toal chaos where the Dunlendings raid at will- some times with Orcs and Goblins from Angmar amongst them. The south still holds firm, but has little contact with anyone else.

Far, far to the south and east lies the mighty kingdom of Gondor. Once, Arnor was the greater kingdom,; now split i n three and with only one of those three still functioning, Gondor has the lead. The true line of Kings, though, and the power of man lies still in Arnor. They had hoped Gondor- victorious in recent war with the Wainriders from the east, though also weary and weakened by plague, would send aid to fight Angmar. But it is too far and the spiri too weak. After mighty efforts by Arthedain's vigorous and competent king, Arvedui, Gondor has sent some people to observe and some money and materials... but no army.

Arthedain must see to itself. A recent disaster- a huge orc raid to the north that destroyed a fortress near construction- has cost Arthedain dear and caused it to re-think its whole approach. New armies are being built. New strategies considered.

Refugees from Cardolan pour into its borders, and they are being armed and armoured. New men are being trained all the time- the reach goes for ever younger men to form armies against an unknown number of enemies. But what is to be done? To defend forever? That has done Arnor little good so far; two of three parts of it lost. But to invade Angmar seems lunacy. Arvedui has a different plan- hold out until a new alliance can be built against the threatening evil. He still hopes to get Gondor on his side. Even the Elves have been approached, but they are few in number and are tired of helping men- men who only destroy themselves in internal struggle regardless. But Arvedui's plan for now is more straightforward- he seeks union with Cardolan; to rebuild it into a strong new kingdom joined with Arthedain that can take back both Rhudaur and then end the threat from Angmar. They call Arvedui the 'Last King' due to a prophecy made at his birth that he would be the last king of Arthedain. He seeks to confound it- by then becoming the first king of something greater.

Since that great raid, the Orcs have been quiet- light-averse, they rarely move in the summer regardless. The Dunlendings have not threatened Arthedain, still taking pickings in Cardollan. Arthedain has had some time to prepare and reocver. Twi new armies have been built- the great one in the north, the most prestigious. And a smaller one in the east, to deal with the possible threat of Duneldnings and keep order.

But the new commander of the Eastern Army- the Lord Farael, of impure lineage but great strength of spirit- is not content to sit back with his men. He has become convinced that Orc raids within Arthedain over the past years have not come from over the border- but from a base within Arthedain itself. The eastern part of Arthedain is full of downs and hills, stretching down to the fallen fortress of Weathertop at the south-eastern border where the three parts of Arnor meet. Not only hillmen like the hills; Orcs and Goblins like to dwell in such places too. The hills are too large and awkward to be patroleld at all times and few live there. The enemy could be hiding within.

Farael has persuaded King Arvedui to expend supplies on a great expedition into the hills to seek out this theoretical orc base- and destroy it. Many think he is a fool to waste his time so; he is not to be dissuaded.

Some that agree with him are foreign travellers, many of who heeded Arvedui's call for a united front against Angmar. Whilst nations stay silent, individuals- Man, Dunadan, Hobbit, Dwarf and even Elf- have listened and many have come. Now they are travelling with his army into the hills- to seek the Orcs.

So, who is with him?

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Originally a prequel section to the next story, I have upgraded this to a larger- though still relatively short- story to get you all used to fighting in this system and get a bit of xp under your belt!

Well Palidan of the Doom-Light, and Poor-of-Combat will be going with.

Those are some intimidating titles there

Ellothiel will also go along.

Strikes fear in the hearts of his well-illuminated enemies he does...

Anglomir will lend his experience with a sword to Farael's call for Orc blood. The ordeal with the tournament has left a bad taste in Anglomir's mouth, especially as he had to purchase new shoes.

A map has been requested- here is a very basic one.

The hilly eastern area of Arthedain begins at the North Downs and down south into the Weather Hills which is where you are looking- a very large area to explore. Amon Sul/Weathertop- which is where Frodo got stabbed by the Nazgul- is at the southern end of the search area. Bad memories there; the battle at Weathertop was lost after Arthedain backed out the fight at the last moment, leaving the armies of Cardolan and Rhudaur ti be defeated. The great tower there was wrecked and never rebuilt.

Oh, boundaries also requested.

The East-West road is the boundary to Cardolan. The Weather Hills are the boundary to Rhudaur. Angmar is to the far north-east.

Note The Shire exists in this period but the name is not well-known (even less so than in the future); the Hobbits are under Arvedui's protection and are generally left alone.

Looks like this was requested before! I seem to have drawn some boundaries on here. X is Rivendell and Y is Fornost.

And I have found a large map as well.
http://3rin.gs/
Its rather cool, check it out.

"Thank goodness for that," says Menelacar to Anglomir as they ride in the hills, "my sword arm was going numb stuck here all summer." Having donned his mail, and with the borrowed Rhudarian blade from Talin, he rides with the expedition.

Speaking of Talin, the Dwarf is damned sure ready to chop up some Orcs.

Well, the hills in the growing cold are not the best place to be; this is the true wilds where civilisation holds no sway. Trying to organise and supply an army through here is not easy.

Good scouting, meanwhile, needs scouts and, lacking other specialist skills (which some of you may have) this requires horses. How many of you have your own horses?

Since I assume Ellothiel returned the horse she borrowed a while back, she will need one.

Menelacar rode a horse into Fornost; not sure if he still has it! I haven't bought one officially.

Anglomir purchased a lesser warhorse that has yet to be named!

I should have bought a horse too.

Well, those of you without a horse have an issue.

Menelacar, you are looking at the provided set of horses as you are about to enter the hills. The term 'pile of shit' comes to mind. You've finally found one that you don't think is diseased; this one is just starved and has not been bred for military use. None of them has been.

...well blargh. What the hell good is that supposed to do us?

And of course somehow I doubt any of my spells will be helpful here...

Actually, I Cherdir o Levain is bloody handy for this job...

(A Ranger would have been the best of course)

At least it won't have the energy to bolt at the first sign of an Orc!

It's never going to support a long trek through the hills. The horse option would appear to be non-existent.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Actually, I Cherdir o Levain is bloody handy for this job...

(A Ranger would have been the best of course)

Oooh. Well that could be quite handy then!

Sure a Ranger would be best, but an Animist isn't bad...

Well, Kitty boosts the handy skills, for sure.

Talin hates horses anyway. They are too tall.

In any case, it means we will have to do the scouting job on foot aside from of those of us with horses.

Maybe some combination of foot scouting and horses?
Ride horses to a base camp of sorts, and then fan out and do foot-based scouting from the camp?

Ellothiel, you'd object to even trying anything with these horses. You'd cause them great pain.

This is no way to run a war, Menelacar!

Alright, well first order of business then is diplomacy for new horses!

We're not using these horses, there's no way.

Why do they only have horses that are not trained for military use and unsuited for such things anyway? That can't be all they have left...

A fair question!

Well they arn't exactly supportive of this scouting mission right? So we were probably given the crappy horses.

Ah, so speaks the wisdom of the Noldor!

Yes, there is a lot of political opposition to Farael's leadership- and not many believe him. He could be on the receiving end of a deliberately poor supply.

Menelacar will approach Lord Farael. "My Lord, is there no way we can acquire better horses for the party? These animals are under fed, untrained, and to be frank would be a hindrance."

Farael, in a green tent by the hills' edge, is with a council of some of his senior knights, discussing their next move, but Farael is as ever informal and does not mind visitors- especially a man of some note like Menelacar.

Farael says the supply situation is a disaster all over. The decent supplies are all going to Lord Morsire's Northern army. True, the greater need is there, but this is far beyond that; Farael's enemies must be shutting him out. They want him to fail.

"But it could take weeks just to get fresh horses, let alone solve the other problems," he says.

"well as it stands, without proper horses or supplies, then this expedition is pretty doomed anyhow. Is there any way we can send a smaller advance properly resourced scouting party whilst the rest get properly equipped?"

Can I go address the court to ask for better horses?

Other than 'no' (obviously horses have been asked for, and you have no political power to change the subsequent decision), the time involved does not change from what Farael said.

"I need many, many scouting parties," says Farael. "One would be useless. I'll be asking for volunteers to do the work on foot."

So I guess we are going to have to obtain horses in the field. Take them from Orcs, if they have them or whatnot.
Yay Scavanging!

There are no horses in the hills- and you certainly wouldn't want to try riding what an Orc does, as it would try to eat you.

Well then, I guess we're boned.
And probably going to go as one Player-based scouting group.

Doesn't that work out amazingly well?

Almost as if someone had written it that way or something....!

No, never!



Scouting, though...again, a Ranger would be handy for that.

Well, it's hard to play a Middle Earth game without Rangers being bloody handy for large parts; that stuff is all over the source material.

If you have your own horse, of course, then you may use that just fine.

Which Anglomir does so Anglomir will. He is not man of what-will-become Rohan, but he is not totally useless with his horse.

Who wants to help name my horse?

I've got a decent amount of scouting ability however, and so do a bunch of others so we should be alright.

I'm also not bad at tracking/scouting/etc.

What sort of name are you looking for Anglomir? http://www.tuckborough.net/horses.html has some ideas!

How about Orcsbane? Fitting for a horse ridden by a Gondorian soldier, I'd say. Anglomir wouldn't really use any fancy names, he's just not that kind of guy.

Are we going to be needing any supplies aside from what weapons we carry with us?

Only kinda fitting I am afraid- Orfcs are pretty rare in Gondor these days. You all heard tales of Mordor in its heyday of course, but its just a wasteland right now.

Orcs mostly dwell in the Northern mountains, and, so they say, the Greenwood, now known as the Mirkwood due to its decline.

Gondorians have spent a thousand years mostly fighting other humans.

Wainbane? Reference to the Wainriders?

Ooh, I like Wainbane. Thank you, Mithlond.

Gee up Wainbane! :-)

Wainbane? Really? You should have just named him after Talin.

Talin wants to gather supplies before we go anywhere.

Ok! What sort of supplies?

As indeed it does seem that you guys are going to form an oddball scouting party. Your objective is simple- look for Orcs and, if found, find where they are coming from.

Food, ropes, grappling hooks, maps, survival stuff ie fire lighting gear, any spare armour/weapons we can get hold of. Anyone think of anything else?

Spare arms and armour would be a real burden!

Which reminds me- you are going to be travelling around for a long time in awkward terrain. This is no task for metal armour.

Menelacar would still be keen to take his chain - it is a family heirloom.

You may take it, but bear in mind it takes time to put on in a crisis.

Rigid leather should be alright for long-term hunting parties, yes?

Yup!

And we can all source that from supplies?

Beyond food, there are no supplies available for you!

It will take a Money Option to have enough survival supplies to last the party for a story.

Unfortunately Menelacar doesn't carry cash. He is a noble after all...

Half-elves that like to wander wherever catches their interest tend to not carry money, either...

Ellothiel can forage for herbs for medical supplies, at least, though. You know, assuming that there's anywhere around here that's suitable for that sort of thing.

Talin has the money option, but he spent it on metal armor. would that still work?

Well no, he spent it!

Then we have no money. And no ranger.
Sweeeet....

Talin will have to be satisfied with lighter armor, then. He is not pleased about that but won't waste the effort bringing it with him.

Tell you what though- you guys earned a Money Option between for your placement in the Team Melee last story.

You could spend that now or save it...

What would spending it get us?

Survival gear enough to last the story.

I say that's worth it. Going out on an Orc hunt unprepared would be rather foolish.

I'd like just one more vote so it feels like a group decision...

I'd be OK with that. Although it does seem like daylight robbery!

Well someone is certainly shorting this army of supplies.

Anglomir gives his consent there.

Who, exactly, would be responsible for this sort of thing?

Well, the council of Lords make all the major decisions in the end. Tracing how the decisions come together can be pretty complex though.

Might be something worth looking into at some point, though.

And yes, that might just be worth spending money on

Well then, it is expedition time! You have an area of the hills to search. It's a pretty big area and will take at least a week. What approach do you have planned?

We should have those with horses maintaining a loose perimeter so that we can widen our sweep without having to split up the group too much... that's all I got right now. Any ideas guys?

Don't suppose we have anyone with the skills or magic to manipulate birds, etc to widen a sweep for us? In the way men of Dale used birds?

Needs a sufficiently levelled Animist or Ranger!

Assuming beyond our current group?

I believe so.

If I were a level higher...

Though I do have and can use this, will that help?



...for that matter, do I have my magickitty?

Yes, and of course you do!

So... how does that change things for you guys?

Is there some way to get a bird to take an aerial view? Or for the familiar to ask birds if they have seen The Enemy?

Not as well as at higher levels, but to some extent yes.

Well anything would help...

Better than nothing, says Talin. Scouting is not really his thing and he is not sure what to suggest here.

Ok, so let's have a final scout-a-thon plan!

I would suggest communicating with animals initially. If there is no luck there, I think head centrally with outriders on any available horses scouting our flanks, with regular animal contact as we go along.

I like it.

What are the rest of you doing whilst Ellothiel is out trying to find birds?

Start heading towards our section of hills?

Anglomir will take Wainbane out to scout ahead of the group as we make for the hills to start our search.

Ok, so Anglomir is riding ahead, Ellothiel is going to do an animal check and the rest of you are going searching in the meantime, yes?

Two more important questions:

Are you going to be carrying all of your survival gear- which will slow you- or are you using a pack animal for it all?

And what armour are you all wearing?

Anglomir is just going in rigid leather.

Can his horse carry any of the survival gear while scouting, or would that be a hindrance?

It's not built for heavy duty carrying.

Pack mules might be a good idea then. Would it slow down the group?

If you stayed with it!

So, what I think we should do, is have a central group, and then do scouting our from it. So we have the pack mules, and a few people that stay with it, maybe Talin as he isn't good at scouting and Ellothiel as she is doing her little bird thing. We can then leave all our stuff there, and scout outwards, to try to pick up the trail. That way our gear is close by, but not a hinderance.

Ellothiel will be in rigid leather.

(also, need to name my magickitty! Hmmm...)

I vote pack animal, but if the battle is joined then we'll need someone to stop it bolting.
Menelacar would prefer to wear his chain. He will have that in a sack on him otherwise.

Wearing your chain will exhaust you very quickly. It will leave you at large penalties in a fight.

Boo! Can I have it on my person?

Yup, it can be on the pack animal! But it takes time to get on in a crisis.

All characters have access to leather armour; I assume you were not planning to go unprotected?

Oh OK then, but if the pack animal bolts with my heirloom I will be majorly annoyed!

Yeah, Talin is okay with staying with the pack mule. He is going to wear rigid leather since going scouting in chain will wear him out so. He won't be bringing it on the pack mule, though; he'll do without.

Looks like we may have a new joiner!

Time we named that kitty, Ellothiel! Elfcat won't quite cut it. Nor will Rathgar, Destroyer of Mice.

But I like Elfcat...

(and as far as I can tell, there is no Sindarin word for 'cat', what the hell.)

I shall think of something...

Okay, magickitty (who is a grey tabby) has a name. She is now known as Randis.

Alright! Well, you are effectively leading the way with this one, Ellothiel, so what is your particular plan? I assume you are travelling solo.

Anglomir is going to take his leather armor and ride out ahead to see what can be seen.

No Elf-plan? Booo...

Ok Anglomir, you're up. Obviously you are going to look for whatever you can find... but there's a lot of chilly hills out there. Is there any particular strategy? What are you trying to find? You;re no Ranger...

Not being a ranger, Anglomir is going to look for more obvious signs that Orcs have been around. The remains of campsites, maybe? Discarded food, extinguished camp fires, garbage, footprints, clearings.

The elf doesn't really have a plan...nothing beyond looking for evidence that something had passed through here recently, and sending Randis out to chitchat with the local wildlife.

Ok, Anglomir, please not somewhere that you made a standard successful Ride roll whilst out and about!

Well, you've looked all over the general area, Anglomir. Nothing- no sign of campsites at all! Time for you to be making camp yourself. You'll need to eat provisions, of course, as you have no means of making your own. No tracking skill either, of course...

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Ellothiel- remember you DO have Tracking whilst with your cat!

You are a bit short on major wildlife around here. What sort of animals are you looking for, and what do you want to glean from them? Simple animals can only impart simple feelings.

If you can get Randis to do anything, that is. He seems to want to sleep all day and then pesters you when you try to sleep at night.

-

Ok, time for the rest of you to get into action. Where is the mule-HQ group headed?

Is there a central-ish location? Possibly higher up, on a hill so we can see some of the surrounding area? (for the HQ).

I'll take a look, moving outwards from the HQ, but in the opposite direction of Anglomir, looking for the same sorts of things

Your area to explore contains hundreds of hills.

Is there a particularly large hill?

Damn cats. Ellothiel will poke her awake to go out tracking.

And I'd say one of the larger and more intelligent birds - an owl, or a hawk.

There are many, Palidan!

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Won't get much from an owl by day, Ellothiel!

Talin will be our steadfast mule-handler and keep the beast of burden from bolting for any reason at all.

Sure! What he is not, though, is a wilderness spotter. And you are getting hungry already; you feel like a Halfling!

I'm not sure even Menelacar could manage a whole one!

So - we need food. Anyone have any hunting/foraging skills? If not, what supplies do we have?

Originally posted by Ushgarak
There are many, Palidan!

-

Won't get much from an owl by day, Ellothiel!

Well, no, but I was giving an example of what sorts of animals I want to look for

You have some basic provided rations, Menelacar, but they won't last particularly long.

-

Ellothiel, you've not been having much luck. Ranids is sleepy and doesn't seem to be getting on with anything he meets; he'd much rather eat the birds he sees.

You are not getting much of a sense of orc-i-ness. Some of the animals have been disturbed of late, but that's just how they react to humans being around!

Provisions it is, then.

Ok! Are you going to camp out for the night alone, Anglomir?

Menelacar is happy to go with Anglomir.

Bit late for that! Anglomir has actually lost track of you.

Anglomir is okay with camping alone.

Are you making a fire or shelter or just sleeping in the open?

Anglomir doesn't want to draw attention to himself... he'll sleep in the open, bundling up with some blankets and leaning up against his horse.

I think that Elfkitty is trying to tell us that, for whatever reason, nighttime is going to be the best for tracking or finding things out.

Hmm, so my initial plan of going to a high place and looking around isn't working out too well.

So here's what I've understood as going on, Talin and Ellothiel are with the pack animals making camp/playing with the kitty.

Anglomir took off into the wilderness, and Menelacar attempted to go after him, but lost track and now is somewhere?
And I have no idea what I'm doing.

Alright, fun.

I'm wondering if there are any geographical features that a marauding band of Orcs might want to follow, Paths, a river/stream of some sort? Wandering blindly in the wilderness strikes me as unwise, both for orcs and for us.
But if we are reaching nightfall, I think everyone who isn't Anglomir should return to camp and then we can sort of spread out tomorrow.

I think the general plan should be that we keep a stationary camp, and then do sweeps outwards from it, looking for things, Paths or other signs of armies marching through. Then when we've finished one area, we move the camp, and continue. That way we are can all stay in one place in case we get attacked, and can cover the most ground.

Thoughts? I'm just thinking of this off the top of my head, let me know if I'm being an idiot or something.

I'm assuming Menelacar is at base?

Well, if Randis isn't going to cooperate, then Ellothiel is going to head back to the 'base' with her and wait to go animal chitchat again until night.

Do any of you have any Tracking or knowledge of Orcs that might help answer some of these questions?

Menelacar is with the pack mule, yes.

Tracking roll for you to find the others, Ellothiel.

I do not, and I should probably get that.

(maybe use those language skill points I have that I haven't done anything with for that?)

However, kitty has Tracking.

I have Stalk+Perception?

Elves are cool for stalking! But finding anything in the wilderness is Tracking.

-

Ok, in the interests of keeping things moving, just a few lore lessons here...

Elfkitty is indeed giving a hint- she symbiotically knows what Ellothiel wants.

You will never find an Orc by day! They hate sunlight. Likewise, they never camp in the open- Anglomir won't find anything.

They move by night only. And where do you think they shelter?

Caves? Dark places?

Yup!

Well, lets find some caves.

Are there any mapped? Or other dark places such as forests?

Forests there are none- but the official mapping in the downs is no-existsant.

So! What's the plan for day 2?

Finding caves or dark places.
I assume that doesn't require tracking. But there doesn't seem to be a skill called "Geography" either.

It's Tracking.