Book 6: Act 2 - Men-I-Naurgrim

It is the year 2946 of the Third Age, and the lands east of the Misty Mountains are astir. From the cloud-shrouded peaks above the High Pass to the spider-infested gloom of the forest of Mirkwood, paths long-deserted are trodden once again. Busy merchants carry their wares to new markets, messengers bring tidings from foreign realms, and kings send forth armed men to extend their influence and the rule of law. Some say that a new age of freedom has begun, a time for adventure and great deeds to reclaim glories lost in long centuries of oppression and decline.

But adventures are not really things that people go out and look for. They are dangerous and rarely end well. While it is true that a handful of valiant individuals set out to make their mark on the world, for others it seems that adventure chooses them, as though it is the path they are fated to tread. They are restless warriors, curious scholars and wanderers, always eager to seek what was lost or explore what was forgotten. Ordinary people call them adventurers, and when they return successful, they call them heroes. But if they fail, no one will even remember their names...

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Blubbo_Baggins
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Tending the Fallen

Post by Blubbo_Baggins » Fri Sep 29, 2017 8:07 pm

When Rathar is seen to, Finn returns to the Dwarves to help as he can. There is little work he can do to help with the burial, and so he takes his lute and hums a sad tune. For a moment, sunlight seems to penetrate through the thick foliage of Mirkwood, and the Lakeman can see signs of animal life in the high canopy. For a moment, there was more to this forest than the brooding Shadow.

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Tending the Fallen

Post by Muskrat » Sat Sep 30, 2017 2:34 am

Even as she stabilizes Rathar, Varuthil hisses with frustration. Grimly, she says, "He will remain in this world for now, but my leechcraft is not enough to draw the poison from his system." Her face is pale and taut with anger. Nodding at Finn's suggestion, she helps move Rathar into the Millfort.

Once she has made him as comfortable as possible, she leaves. She gazes in morbid fascination at Brok's broken corpse, then turns and stares off in the direction Tauler went. She clenches her fists so tight her nails draw blood. She blames herself for Brok's death and Rathar's perilous state, having been one of those pushing to fight Tauler. So eager to kill the thing of Shadow has she been that she had forgotten what the cost might be to her companions. She says nothing to the others, but just stands there staring into the forest, pale and tense.

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Vardaen
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Tending the Fallen

Post by Vardaen » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:16 pm

Bofri is silent a great deal after burying Brok. You can tell he takes his death hard, and Rathar's wounds as well. He sits on the doorstep gazing at the road that had held all his hopes and now they hold nothing but his fears.

The day grows on, minutes turn to hours, and hours turn to the setting of the sun and the coming of night here, a night that worries Tom, "We best thing about camp master Finn."
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Blubbo_Baggins
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Tending the Fallen

Post by Blubbo_Baggins » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:32 pm

Sure," replies Tom, "You get a fire going just outside of the fort, while some of us should take a quick look around, to make sure it is indeed safe there. If so, it will be a defensible place for us. What do you think Varuthil? Shall we explore it a little?"

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Tending the Fallen

Post by Muskrat » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:52 pm

Varuthil looks at Finn blankly for a moment, then takes a deep breath, returning from the thoughts she was lost in. "We may as well explore it--we paid a hard price to gain access to it. Let us make the price worth it."

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Tending the Fallen

Post by Shurijo » Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:59 am

Borir overhears Finn and Tom talking and interjects himself into the conversation. "Bofri and I will join ya, Tom. Don't want to be wandering off in these parts alone. We'll bring enough wood back for a fire and some sharped branches for a perimeter ring."

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Making Camp in the Mill Fort

Post by Vardaen » Wed Oct 04, 2017 2:58 pm

Tom looks at the fort, "Can't we have the camp inside this place? Seems safer and more comfortable to me."

He might be right, the inside of the mill fort is a disaster, the old fort is crumbling and broken in places, and plants grow up through the floor or in through the windows. The old furniture is rubble and rot, making the whole place one debris field. Still you can make out this was once a guard like tower, with all the design and style of the dwarves of old. There are stone stairs that lead to the second floor.

Tom clears a place for a cook fire near a window so smoke can escape, and starts to set out bed rolls for Finn and himself in a nearby patch. He has a spare blanket he covers Rathar with and smiles at him whispering low, "Don't you worry Mr.Rathar, Varuthil's an elf and she'll have you back on your feet soon enough. We drove that nasty attercop away, and it won't be coming back any time soon." He gets the fire going with Borir and the other's help and soon he frying up some fatback and green tomatoes for dinner with what's left of the dwarf cram bread.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Making Camp in the Mill Fort

Post by Blubbo_Baggins » Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:05 pm

Finn nods at Tom's good work and begins to investigate the millfort ruins.
Explore

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Making Camp in the Mill Fort

Post by Muskrat » Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:21 pm

Varuthil joins Finn, looking around with curiosity at the old ruins, hungry for any lore she might discover, however minor.
Explore + Wary trait

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Making Camp in the Mill Fort

Post by shipwreck » Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:29 pm

Rathar stirs in his sleep, muttering from some fever dream of walking trees with egg legs.

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