USH'S LORD OF THE RINGS GAME PART 4- The Hunt in the Hills

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.

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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.