USH'S LOTR RP Game part 2- The Fortress of Baranar

They are trying to surround it, though that is not possible yet. A straight attempt to ride in behind may carry some risk.

Of course!

"I think we should help Baronar,as every dead orc is better then a live one,wherever this would be and of course to free the Last Bridge to make the orcs understand that they are not belonged here." says Palanfirith

"i am skeptical, lord elrond" says VArdalain "the men prove brave, but you know we cannot relay on them as to leave imladris vulnerable. we must ballance this alliance carefully"

It is the Dunlending javelineers that move in against you, Anglomir and William! As you ride home, you are under fire form a hail of missiles... just going to ride in and brave it?

-

"I shall talk of Baronar in a moment," reminds Elrond. "All things concisdered... do you think we should aid Man's war or not?"

I think we should because if we don't the race of Men will be destroied and then all will attack us which is difficult.If we help them to survive and increase their power we shall find in them a good race with whom to cross-swords against orcs.

"i doubt they can win this war" says Vardalain " but we should help them. An ally is always of value in these dark days"

"It is not the fate of man we are talking of," says Elrond, "but the fate of Arthedain. Some might say that they have brought this upon themselves. Arnor was a great realm once, after all. But it was not Orc or Troll or Wight that struck the first blow against it; it was Man himself."

"men are wierd beeings..."

tell me when I'm done sleeping

"That is true," says Elrond, "though when you consider the history of the Noldor one might be wary of judging too quickly. And there is still some faint hope for man in this Age."

"there is........but I'm not sure if alone or with help.."

You can be up and about now, Argentis, if you wish. Elrond will even speak to you if you want, though he would like to discuss these matters of state first.

"Yes," says Elrond. "Many have been their requests for help." He sighs. "This Age was supposed to be the Age of Man, when the Elder races would fade from this world to return West for all time, as this world sees it. Yet all I seem to have done this Age is help Man, aid Man, send our people to die for the sake of Man. How much more, I wonder?"

I just wander around in rivendell, looking at the beauty of it all, these wooden homes remind me of home, tho they are of finer, altho slightly gay, like quality

"the enemy is common for both man and elf" says Vardalain
"the decision is yours, lord Elrond."

"That the enemy is common may have been true of the last Age," says Elrond. "Times are different now. The Last Alliance was concluded two thousand years ago- the lifetimes of many men.

"Do not think me callous. If I had the power to save Arthedain with merely my will I would exercise this power but it is not so easy. We Elves are diminished and our power slowly wanes in these lands. Our intervention in the world of Men in this Age was always meant to be in the form of comfort, succour, advice... but never in war. Elendil left the world of Man in these shores a great legacy of power and resources. But from Isildur onwards, slain by his own pride, look at how that legacy has been spent!

"When Isildur and his sons were slaughtered at the Gladden Fields, the survivors brought the emblems of his rule to me. His youngest son, Valandil, had been left here in Imladris, where he had been raised. Barely any time at all after the defeat of the Dark Lord Sauron I took it upon myself to give Valandil the support he needed to rule Arnor. Even then there was division, as Arnor and Gondor drifted aparet, something that neither Elendil nor Isildur ever wanted. But I trusted in the faith and strength of men.

"How wrong I was! Were I to take my decision again I would have kept Valandil here forever and let Arnor fade to nothing, or found a more fitting line to rule it. The Dunadain, as the Numenoreans before them, are my kin but they have wasted the legacy of my brother. There is fire and anger in that line, much as ther was in the Noldor of the past, and for each hero like Elendil it produces, it produces ten, twenty, more of idiots and fools who would destroy each other before they saw any sense. I watched in horror as Arnor divided into three and started to war against itself. No aid from the Elves was sought then! When I tried to provide counsel otheriwse I was rebuffed by all three new 'Kingdoms'. Loathe is Man to seek aid when his pride is fired, but fast as soon as a blow from the wolf sends his mewling and crying back!

"I watched as the King of Arthedain was slain by his own kin in Rhudair. I watched as the new Kingdoms gave the darkness forming in Angmar the very chance it needed. Together Arnor would never have had this fate. Instead, they destroyed their own safety, feasting upon themselves like the carrion bird pecking itself to death. Even at the mighty battle at the end of the war to face off the enemy, Arthedain's army betrayed its kin, took the Palantir and fled.

"Back then, I intervened. I told all that this would be the last time, that treachery and betrayal had undermined the Kingdom of Man, that it needed this chance to be saved and re-build itself. Many of our people died in a war that was not theirs to drive the enemy from Cardolan, and we began our long watch on Angmar, hoping we could contain this evil until Arnor re-built itself.

"This never happened. In five centuries it has not happened. Rhudaur remains evil, Cardolan a morass of petty ambition and idiocy, Arthedain shut off from the outside world behind its stone borders, as if they will hold off the dark forever. And now the Witch King is ready again and our Long Watch can no longer hold him back.

"So, why should we go fight? What could we in? This time we could only save Arthedain, Cardolan would fall under permanent evil just as Rhudaur has, and Arthedain's doom will be complete, and our people will have died for nothing.

"And this is even if we would win. We would not. The Witch King has been cunning and patient. He has waited centuries. His plans are complete and his forces without peer. I have no confidence in the armies of Man and I believe if we sent forces to aid him we would simply be sucked into a slaughter

"So, look at the people of Imladris, our fair dwelling of the immortal races for whom the times of death should have been long passed. Look at them... look at me, and give me a reason why our people should meet this fate of death in a war that is not ours, in a time that is not ours, for a victory that cannot be won, and if was won would only buy the smallest of reprieves for a doomed people?"

Put like that you can see his point. But has Elrond truly totally abandoned his commitment to the Dunedain, the kin of his long dead brother? If so utterly contemptuous... why does he even care? What were you two sent for?

yep..i was just thinking of all that..😛

"the dunedain must still mean something for you, lord elrond" says VArdalain "that's why we were acting as ambasadors for you to them.
i trust you'll make the wise decision, and we will support it, whatever it will be"

"Hmm," says Elrond. "They ARE still my kin, on some level. And Mithrandir tells me that this 'Arvedui' may be one of the one in twenty I speak of. Is that your impression?"

"he seems to be a fit leader." says Vardalain "and he has more than just the desire to fulfill this task"

Elrond muses.

"Tell me more of your mission in Cardolan again," he says