Book One: All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

[Grimbold]

Display

Melvan: ;-)

The three scouts are off and after a few hours they return to report.

Rolls

Vardanil: Perception r152, success.
Stalk&Hide r106, success.
Aegmoth: Perception r127, success.
Stalk&Hide r135, success.
Velethahl: Perception r77, fail.
Stalk&Hide r114, success.
See pm.

[Vardaen]

OOC

GAH! Sorry about that! Some times I try and post at work while working, I know you're thinking 'you do work at work! How dare you!' but its true.

Vardanil glances up at Melvan as he's making some noise, and realizes he never mentioned Mevlan. "I... I assumed you'd want to stay in camp as well Melvan. Sorry I didn't mention you." He looks a bit shamed, and perhaps he needs to get more sleep.

Eventually he's off scouting, and returns a few hours later to the camp. Giving the signal of the nightingale so as not to get attacked he walks back into camp. "We found it. It's not going to be easy, they have taken over an old fortress!" Vardanil moves right into the middle of camp and begins to draw out the lay out of the stronghold using rocks and logs and twigs for the model. "It looks like to me that the bandit hideout is an old Dúnadan fort from Arnorian times. It is hidden in the forest and clearly has long been fogotten even by the Rangers. It seems the bandits have repaired some of it and rebuilt some of the old walls with wooden palisades. There are several out buildings, here, and here, though I do not see exactly what they are for. However if they are barracks I would expect they could house 30 men or perhaps more. The main entrance is in a small tower here, and there is a walkway atop the stone walls."

Finishing his map he looks up at the others, "We are going to need a plan, and a good one.

Map

Map provided by Grimbold, I resized it smaller.

[Galen]

Velethahl asks the other scouts if they recall certain details of the castle.

"Did either of you notice any windows or arrow slits in the towers, or are we just concerned about guards on top of the walls? As far as entry goes I would expect things to be easier on the west through the palisade side. I do like the tree cover from the east, but I want to make sure our melee can get to the fight." Velethahl pauses to think.

"I should have moved closer. I didn't get as good of a look as I would have liked. Was there a door at the base of the tower where the trail meets it?"

[Vardaen]

Vardanil points to the hills behind the keep, "We could try and circle around to this ridge here, and then try and set one of the wooden building ablaze. It might cause enough panic and distraction to allow another team to move in through the door, or over the walls.

[Grimbold]

Aegmoth answers: "There is a heavy wooden door in the tower. The two wooden buildings could be stables or barracks. We do need a good plan to pull this through. Perhaps we should just watch them a bit more, to find out more." While Aegmoth is definitely valorous and will not back down, the young ranger is unsure if they will survive a fight against thirty. He looks worried and counsels caution.

Remembering what you learned when listening to the Fallen Ranger.

The Silvan and the Dúnadan come closer to the camp without being detected. One of the guards says something in a strange language. The two companions freeze. The black Dúnadan has just woken up. He answers: "Nah, you are imagining things. They could never have followed us here." The bandits relax and one laughs. Velethahl and Vardanil continue until they are at their positions, right in some bushes close to the camp.

They listen to the following dialogue as the Dúnadan and the guard chat.
"Youse here boss, what we do now?"
"We go back to our base and we will get new orders."
"Wha will him say when hearing Strider is ded?"
"He will not be pleased. We need to change our plans. Perhaps we will attack the town and kill all. I do not know. Let us just hope we get this hobbit and the ring back safely. Perhaps we will be rewarded."
"Oh an we gets lotsa booze, right?"
"We just need to make it throught the marches, it still is two day's journey. And if we got the right ring, we will not need to worry about anything."
"Yeah, right."
"I just wonder who these interlopers were. They were a bit nasty, we will have to deal with them. Perhaps we can send Furgash and his lads after them. Or perhaps the troll."

"Well, I hope we make it back in time for the meeting. I hear some kinda messenger is coming with new orders" the ranger concludes. All but the two guards and the ranger are sleeping.

Then two bows sing and two arrows hit the Black Númenorian Ranger.

Thluck...Thluck...

Plans

A fire might be a good idea. You could also act as Fallen Rangers and infiltrate the fort. Or you could wait for the "messenger" or any other reasonable (or unreasonable) plan. As far as you know, there is also a Troll somewhere in there!!

[Vardaen]

Vardanil nods to Aegmoth, "We hear tell of a troll in the area, as well as someone name Furgosh, perhaps one of these Arauruk's captains." He invents a name for the half orcs not in the Westron language. "There is also a messanger coming. Perhaps we should set a trap on the road. We could hope to capture the messanger and perhaps infiltrate the base as the messanger and his guards. We'd want to move quickly to get into position as I have no idea when the messanger might be coming. Its possible we missed him already."

OOC

Uruk is Orc in Adunaic or Sindarian I can't remembe, and Ara is Half, so Arauruk is Half Orc! We used to use this term alot back on Ellendor MUSH.

[ManWithDoor]

The hobbit stays quiet for most of the day, going about his cooking duties without trouble, and listening to the scouting reports. "I like the idea of grabbing their messenger. That's one less Biggun to worry about, and some information on their fort. Ooh! And trying to burn down the buildings is a great idea. ... can we do that? I've never purposely tried to burn down a building before."

[Vardaen]

Vardanil smiles at the hobbit, "We should try and burn them down. Did you get a good look at the roof material?" He asks of the others that scouted the fort. "Tatch should go up easily enough. I also think trying to snatch their messanger, if its not too late, is a smart move. We might remove a few more men from the fort, and be able to get intel."

[Melvyst]

OOC

np, actually I do only have time to write at work @home things are going crazy with the whole family....

A slight shiver goes over Melvan as he thinks about the troll. He never met one and only heard about them in fearsome stories.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but what is our primery goal here? I don't like the idea to fight against a troll. If it's just to get rid of this evil we might sent a message to Master Brano and I'm sure he will send us some help! But I doubt this is all to it. It might be the best to capture this messenger to gather more information."
After making his point he continues:

"Did you follow the road to the fortress? Is there any good spot where we might ambush this messenger?

Besides I think it might be the best if we keep an eye on the fortress, who knows if they might sent a escort?
"

[Vardaen]

Varndail gives as much details as he can about the route the scouts took to the fortress. "I have no desire to fight a troll either, but we can not just sit here and do nothing. I think we should move out now and try and ambush the messanger, if its not too late. From there we can try and formulate a better plan. We need to destroy these Arauruk, killing the half orc abominations, and put a stop to whatever evil these false rangers are spreading." He looks at the dwarf, the elf, the hobbit and Melvan, "I guess none of you need to do this. You've proven yourselves over and over again and I plan on going with Aegmoth & Beremund regardless, I can only hope you will want to try and see this through. Yet if you don't I won't fault you or find shame in leaving now."