LOTR RP Game part 1- Journey to Fornost

(Those better armoured orcs were in Arthedain, not Cardolan)

"Oh, believe me, my people know where the Witch-King's armies are," says Arvedui. "The main bulk of his trained forces use swords and bows of fine quality, not spears and javelins. If he had sent any serious forces into Cardolan then NONE of it would be holding out, as it is, some of it stands fast from the ragged bands of orcs and Dunlendings who have not the means to take a fortified position. In that way, at least, our position is fortunate for Cardolan; so keen is the Witch King to dominate us at the lines that he will not spare his forces to destroy the stronger part of Cardolan. At least, not yet. That part of Cardolan may yet hold out for a while; I suspect our foes will seek a fresh assault on our own Realm before finishing our nieghbours, for he sees no threat to him from them.

"But what about the Cardolani people? What was their spirit like? Will they still fight, or are they broken?"

"Oh, they will still fight. They have very few soldiers, though. The camp we stayed in had little over a dozen, and their Captain was killed by the Orcs that attacked us. The people's spirit is still very bright despite the fact that they have little hope for survival against the Orcs. They invited us to dance and sing and drink with them before they all went to sleep in their tents. Before the attack..."

(is Dexx on holiday and I forgot, or something?)

Arvedui nods.

"I see," he says. "Damn that thrice cursed plague! Their Royal Line may yet still exist if it were not for that, but now all they do is squabble over whatever weak Dunadan blood some Lord there claims is in his veins, and divided their people suffer... how the Witch-King must laugh, to see us so divided. 'twas always so, since the Kingdom was split in 3... we are sure that is why he came here, seeing Arnor divided against itself. But why he exists at all... Gandalf and Elrond seem to have some ideas, but they will not speak of them with me."

He sighs.

"There is much work to be done! Are there any other requests or entreaties you wish me to hear?"

(Oh yeah, he is on holiday...)

"Not that I have," Talin says. "I have so far been denied, but for good reasons, so I shall not complain."

Silly me forgetting...

Arvedui bids keen welcome to the Elves in your Fellowship. Unlike the others you spoke to earlier, Arvedui seems genuinely pleased to see you all- for "It is not well that the Kingdoms of Elf and Man should forget their ancient friendships." He accepts Elrond's gesture towards Arthedain for what it is, and Arvedui does not raise the question of Elvish intervention- for now.

If people are done with requests for Arvedui (anything from Mah) then he wishes to call Council with his Lords- and he asks for all of you to attend as well, as he plans to discuss the next move Arthedain will make against the Witch-King, and he thinks it will interest you.

an update if you please, ush...or anyone

You didn't miss much. We talked with the King and Gandalf for a few posts and then made our requests. Now we are going to sit in on a Council between the King, his Lords, and Gandalf.

Dexx! Woo-hoo! Ok, the King is taking audiences right now (and I am hoping people see him as a reasonable man)- state your business here! (technically he has already commented on your business here, but state it anyway)

(Actually Gandalf commentated, but same difference... 😄 )

(No, Arvedui did, just a few posts back!)

(Besides that... 😛 )

(I don't think there are any more requests to be made.)

Very well. In that case, King Arvedui is summoning his ruling Council, who are entering the throne room now. You guys and Gandalf are in attendance; the Council consists of the King, his two sons Aranarth and Elendur, and the Lords Farael, Gorlim, Morsire, Annphor, Halatir, Annuneryn and Seinost, the dark-haired Dunadan Lords of the North, more pure in their heritage than the Lords of the South but with a more tenuous grip on their power.

They spend a little while discussing the logistics of the situation on the front; the harvest has been good this year and it looks like the tropps will remain well-supplied. The new northern fortress that will guarantee security for a huge swathe of Arthedain should be finishes inside a year. There is, as yet, no sign that the With King plans to make his decisive thrust into Arthedain. All are agreed that the Witch-King will continue to swell his vast army until he can make one decisive stroke on Arthedain that will annihilate it in one. He does not want a repeat of what happened in Cardolan, where he was halfway through destroying it befoe he got chased all the way home again- it has taken him centuries to prepare this new army and he will not leave himself hastily exposed again. But the Lords' guess of when this decisive stroke will come is anywhere between six months and a five years.

There is still no sign of any help from the outside world. The Elves, as we all know, remain aloof. And Gondor's sending of material is welcomed, but there are not even the barest plans there to send any men. Aranui and Anglomir- you know all too tell the reason. No-one really CARES about Arthedain in Gondor; it is just some funny Kingdom up north to them fighting some irrelevant war. Few people like yourselves have actually come to see what is happening. If it were not for the fact that Arvedui took a Gondorian Princess for a wife, and that your King Earnil is known to be sympathetic to the Arthedainians, no-one in Gondor would know what Arthedain was at all.

As for the minor powers of the world... The Hobbits, of course, cannot fight, although they are at least maintaining a part of the kingdom at little cost. The Dwarves still seem remarkably uninterested in anything other than mining for metals; the Witch-King is taking great care not to disturb them knowing that in return the Dwarves will care nothing for him or the affairs of Man. The Eotheod, the Council resolves, are small and irrelevant, still re-building their numbers as they try to establish their new nation. The Beornings have bnot been heard from in some time- though they, at least, are known to hate the Witch-King. Strange people though, the Beornings. Hard to make contact with.

There is some hope that, perhaps, the peoples of the Mirkwood might find common cause with Arthedain- their home is also assailed, though in different fashion to Arthedain. The Mirkwood is home to Man and Elf alike (and a few nods are being made in Finuvien's direction, seeing as she comes from there...). But no-one really knows how such a venture might end up, or how best to frame such an offer. Certainly few are interested int alking with the Elven King there, who is seen as haughty, arrogant, maybe even hostile (as anyone who read The Hobbit should know. Mind you, his son is quite cool... though I must confess to being unsure if Legolas has been born yet).

All in all, it comes down to one thing- none of the Lords have any idea what, exactly, can be done about the Witch-King's army. It cannot be assailed directly, but nor are many confident that it can be resisted. Some demand action, some demand caution, and there is a noticable Hawk/Dove split on the Council, with Farael being the odd one out, a Hawk but favouring a defensive campaign.

"I do not intend to sit here and do nothing for years more whilst the Witch-King's power continues to grow," says Arvedui, eventually. "My father died waiting and waiting for some miraculous opportunity. The whole Kingdom may die if we wait any further."

"Do you actually have a plan, father?" asks Aranarth. Arvedui nods.

"I shall need an army, equipped to leave our borders," says Arvedui, with due drama. Many around the table are shocked, and you all see Morsire give a little smile. "There is no immediate hurry. I need it ready to leave in.... maybe a year? A mix of veterans from the line and new recruits; any fighting men from Cardolan that have come to our borders as well. It will need to be well-supplied also."

Morsire nods.

"That should be possible within a year. But much will depend on where we plan to strike. Do you intend to break through the lines of Rhudaur to the east, or march around north and assail Angmar directly?"

"Break through the lines? That would simply see our army destroyed!" says Annphor.

"Trying to supply an army through the frozen mountains of the north may be just as futile," says Morsire. It seems that another argument is about to start when Arvedui holds up his hand.

"Gentlemen, please, there is no need to debate on these tired old themes any more. It does not matter in any case. The army shall not be going north or east. It shall be going south.

The army's task is to re-take Cardolan."

The room falls silent. Gandalf is giving a wry smile.

vardalain pleasantly grins hearing the decision
"wise indeed.." he mutters to himself

"I am in agreeance, Vardalain," Talin says, also grinning. Talin then steps forewards to add something.

"If I may be allowed to speak, King Arvedui, I could make a request of the warriors of Darud-Mor to join this army that you have proposed."

"Feel free to try," says Arvedui, "but they will say no." He seems quite certain.

"Forget the damn Dwarves!" says Morsire. "Your Majesty... I... you KNOW that is not practical!"

"I know," says Arvedui.

"ANy army we send into Cardolan will be a pointless exercise whilst leating our borders fatally exposed!"

"That I also know," says Arevedui. "Seeing as our finest strategicians have told me so a hundred times, and I myself concur."

"Then why..."

"Because, Lord Morsire, none of us in the decades since the Witch-King started to move again has ever come up with any plan to deal with the situation at the front. We cannot win an offensive war; his forces are too large. We cannot win a defensive war; the Witch-King will isolate and destroy us piecemeal as he did Cardolan." Several Lords open their mouths to say something, and stop. "All of us know that all that awaits us if we carry on as we are is eventual destruction."

"Unless others come to our aid," says Farael.

"Which, as is abundantly clear, is not going to happen," says Arvedui. "Not while we remain a half-forgotten realm a thousand leagues from where Sauron was defeated."

"Forgotten Realm? We are the true heirs of Isildur!" says Gorlim.

"And they have forgotten us," says Arvedui. "They forgot us when we started to fight amongst ourselves. It is the design of our enemy and our forefathers did exactly what the Witch-King wanted. If the people of Gondor had listened and made me their King, then maybe something could have been done then, but they did not. Now we are trapped in his plan and friendless, and if we are to change that fate then we must do something unexpected."

"That's certainly unexpected," says someone, quietly.

"Father..." says Elendur. "I mean, if you could at least tell us... WHY Cardolan? Why not, say, Rhudaur?"

"There is nothing left to save of Rhudaur!" says Annphor.

"There is bugger all left so save of Cardolan!" says Morsire.

"Very well, I shall tell you why," says Arvedui, raising his hand for silence again.

"It's because even though many of us have forgotten the people of Cardolan are our people... my people as well as those of Arthedain, and some of them may yet have a chance. It is because part of Cardolan still exists and may yet hold, if we intervene. It is because an army still exists in Cardolan and we could add its strength to ours."

The others do not seem convinced.

"And because to go to Cardolan is our only remaining hope for survival."

There are confused glances from all around.

"The army will only go to Cardolan once we have established proper relations with the nobility there. And persuaded them to accept me as their King."

"Is this really a time for politics, father?" says Elendur. "I mean... it is few generations since your ancestor was killed at war with Rhudaur over such a thing!"

"Yes. Now IS the time," says Arvedui. "Now was ALWAYS the time. LISTEN!" Arvedui has stopped speaking with his fair voice, and speaks now with a harsh and firm certainty.

"I am Arvedui, the Last King. There will be no more Kings of Arthedain after me. There shall be no more Arthedain at all." Everyone is silent, faced with Malbeth's prophecy that they cannot deny.

Arvedui holds out his hands, bunched as fists, and brings them expressively together. "But we shall UNITE Arthedain and Cardolan. We shall unite them into the NEW Arnor. And I shall be the FIRST king of the Reunited Arnor

Thus shall the Prophecy be fulfilled! Malbeth addressed my father so: "A choice will come to the Dunadain, and if they take the one that seems LESS hopeful, your son will change his name and become King of a great Realm. If not, then much sorrow and many lives of men shall pass, until the Dunadain rise and are united again."

I now TAKE that decision, the one of no hope, the one to save Cardolan. And then the world shall see the true heirs of Isildur coming TOGETHER, not falling apart. THEN the Free people of the world shall rally to our side! And we shall drive the Witch-King's armies back to Angmar, and assail his havens, and if need be I shall to the field and slay him myself!.

THAT is the option I bring to the Council. Are there any who doubt my words and my plan?"

There is silence.

"Does the Council concur?"

"AYE!" they yell as one.

"Then the Council is decided. Our goal is Cardolan."

The Council is alive with buzz and activity and conversation, during whiuch Arvedui turns to all of you.

"Gandalf tells me you can help me in this. I have always found it wise to listen to his counsel. And each of you will benefit from my plan. You want me to save the people of Cardolan? They will be saved, if this works. You want trade routes between the Dwarven Mines and the lands where the Hobbits dwell? With Cardolan liberated, you may trade safely through those lands. Elrond wishes to send emissaries to see Arnor? Then you shall see it. ALL of it. And a Gondorian Lord seeks our friendship? Then here you may earn it for him.

But I would also think that you would help me not because a wziard says you should, or because you would benefit from it. But because it is the right thing to do. Because you come from races and cultures that cover the length of Middle-Earth. Your Fellowship will be a symbol of the unity needed to defeat the Witch-King.

"So. Are you with me?"

"Indeed I am, King Arvedui. I want to save Cardolan and I want my trade route. You have my axe," Talin says.

(around here, we always thought it would have been funnier if Gimli had said "and my BEARD..." sorry, just a thought.)

😂

"I agree with Talin," William says. "We Hobbits need our supplies. I will join this quest for Cardolan's freedom."

"i am, your highness" says vardalain "unfortunatley i cannot speak in imladris' or elrond's name. these news must be presented to him.."

(i haven't read the histories of middle earth. Elrond really doesn't help them at all? )