LotR roleplay: sometime in the first age

[dplax]

OOC: Just to speed things up a bit.

Bober, Kirûn, Terias, Therlion and Hrolf arrive about simultaneously at the clearing. Feldorn gets back about 15 minutes later.
"I could not find any more survivors. I made a full search all around the campsite and I only found dead bodies. I also found a lot of our people missing so I think the orc's might have taken prisoners. And as some of you might already know, Elfalas just before dying designated Turin to lead our party onwards. I do not question this decision since he was the wisest among all of us, and I hope everyone else accepts it." Then drawing Turin to one side so that the others could not hear: "After we set out on this mission Elfalas told me that should he not survive he has a diary with some details in it that should go to the new leader after his death. He has not told anyone about what was on that paper. I took the paper off him after his death, but I haven't looked at it. I hereby give it to you. I saw him writing in it each day. So it might give us some clues of what to do now." With that he handed over the diary to Turin and left him alone to be able to read it. This is what he is able to read (most of the diary is in elvish or much too bloodied for him to read)(OOC:I consider that the members of the group speak their own racial languages and the common tongue and since Turin was a farmer I consider that he didn't have ample opportunities to learn elvish up to a level sufficient to understand the diary):

"I am Elfalas. This is my journal. Should this journal be among your hands it means that I am dead."


"1st day of the mission:

I feel extremely uneasy about this mission. The are we have been told to scout is much too close to one of the strongholds of Morgoth. We might run into trouble before the end. I write the essence of my diary in the common tongue too since it might not get into elven hands."

"15th day:

One of the rangers, Helbion picked up the tracks of a group of about 300 orcs running parallel with our course about 4 miles away from us. He said they were about 4 days ahead of us. I didn't tell any of the group about this, since I did not want to cause panic."

"17th day:

I sent Helbion to scout out further the troop of orcs."

"25th day

Helbion still hasn't come back. I fear the worst. In the event that our group gets attacked by the orc troop, if whoever is reading this journal is part of our group, I hereby entrust the details of the mission to you. It will be your decision whether to tell the others about it. I decided not to, because I could not know whether everyone in the group could be trusted.

The mission as it had been explained to the whole of the group was to scout out a human encampment which humans who had went over to Morgoth made about 3 days journey from one of his strongholds. This actually is only part of the mission. The elders of the elven city (here the name is written in elvish) have come to know that Morgoth is training these humans as spies to be sent among those who resist him. The mission is not to destroy the encampment but to get enough information about those who have been implanted in other humabn encampments to be able to identify them, and feed them false information. For this some of the humans will have to infilter the base and get the information. If after my death Turin is still alive I would suggest it to be him to lead the spying mission, although the leader after my death will have to make that decision. The rest (the dwarves and the elves) will have a different mission during this time. The stronghold Morgoth has, has so far proven to be a mystery to us. It has been known that some dwarves have joined Morgoth so dwarves bringing captured elves to the stronghold could be accepted. The dwarves after bringing their "captives" would have to find out the most information they can about the stronghold, while the elves if possible, would have to misinform and escape. The elders entrusted this to me, although I dislike it greatly. Knowing to walk among all of these people and then having to send them to a nearly certain death has greatly troubled me during the time since I had been told about this mission.

An important note to the leader of the group. Those whom I am completely sure that can be trusted are all the elves, since no elf has ever joined Morgoth, Turin, Roland, Helbion and Bober (and four or five other names of people who lie dead in the clearing). Turin holds such a deep hatred for Morgoth that he could not betray the group. Bober had been specially suggested to us by one of the visiting dwarven lords, although Bober does not know about this. Roland I have found too young and too innocent to be able to be a traitor. Helbion is the most trustworthy human I have ever met. Although he wasn't the best scout of the party I could trust him with the fact that we were in danger."

"26th day:

Feldorn who had been the advance scout for the party since Helbion's disappearance came to tell me that he had found a clearing about 5 miles ahead of us, where he had found a body. He was nearly certain that it was Helbion's, but he could not be sure since the head was missing. I told him about the orc tracks Helbion had sighted and sent him forward to scout. He came back only an hour later to tell me the orcs were bearing down on us at great speed. I now knew it was inevitable to tell the group about the danger."

That is the last entry in the diary. Elfalas never told the group about the orcs, since it was only about 10 minutes after Feldorn came back that the orcs attacked. He never had the chance. He had been among one of the first to fall in the battle.

OOC: well that got a bit long. It is now Larr's choice of what the party is going to do since his character had been designated leader.

[Larry_OHF]

Turin

Finding Feldorn, Turin said:

"Unless I have miscounted, there are eight of us. Three elves, three dwarves, and two humans. Such a small number can more easily travel and remain hidden from Morgoth's evil than a large army. We need to disappear now in some fashion while I study over these notes, for there are tactics here that may bring us victory yet! But we must not allow the Enemy to know we have survived. Everything counts on them thinking that they have wiped us out completely. I do not think we have much time. Most of the bodies were left unspoiled and I will have to assume that somebody will be coming along in hopes of finding a treasure amonst us. We need to be gone by then. In fact, we need to know if they are already approaching! Take the other elves with you and see if you can forsee any advancing foes. Meanwhile I shall consult with the dwarves to see if there be any caverns near here that might aid us in secret passage.

What do you think?"

[ 03-12-2004, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Xen]

OOC: I was busy with school nowdays so I am back again.

Bober looked to Turin.I still have some friends between the Dwarves. Deep in the mountains and caves. Not all Dwarves had joined with the Dark Forces laddie. I can go search for them if ya`ll wish...

[Larry_OHF]

Turin

"Thanks Bober. But we need to stick together and I would like to hear what everyone else has to say before we decide what should be done."

[Cienden]

Kirûn folds his arms and furrows his brow as he considers the problem facing the group and the options available. He looks up and over at Turin and screws up his face strangly.

After a few moments he coughs to get Turin's attention. "I dun't know ye well boy, but if Elfalas trusted ye to this position, I'll lend ye me support. On the one hand, I dun know 'bout any dwarves in this here region or their 'legiance, but we may be able to find some with Bober and Hrolf's help."

Shifting his weight around, and leaning on his large axe, he continues. "On the other hand, ye asked 'bout secret passages? Aye, they ain't uncommon, an me kin here got the nose for'em. But...ye never know how far they'll go or dun go, or who lives at the bottom. If yer elf friends can find us a good hole, we might be able to find ye a route. No promises though. I can also disguise the opening if not too large so them orcs wun see an opening 'less they be lookin far it."

[Sythe]

Roland

Nods at Kirun's statement and faces the party leader.

Yes I agree with Kirun. I think we should go find some of these passages. I doubt our foes will expect us to come through rarely traversed roads. Maybe the dwarves who joined with the great evil built the secret passages, maybe to transfer supplies without intervention which would indefinetly take us where we want. But there is a possibilty that the routes will take us further from our destination. And my wacky thought is wrong. And even if it was right it would mean we have to sneak past many enimies. I am sure not everyone in this party is skilled in stealth as our good ranger.

[ 03-12-2004, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: Sythe ]

[Xen]

Bober nodded for a while. He took his Axe out and start sharpening it becuase he was bored. Then he said:"Aaahh. I like nice sharp Axe. It makes good tool to make one shorter from neck down. Haha!

He was pondering on Roland`s speech. Maybe Mages can make us invisible against Morgoth`s and his servents eyes?

[Cienden]

Kirûn slowly nodded also, as he agreed."Aye, ye both have good points. Perhaps we should don some of the stinkin raiment and armaments of the slain orcs. Maybe we wouldn't need to be actually invisible...jest...havin a magic enhanced disguise so we could slip past'em or they'd ignore us."

[Bozos of Bones]

"An invisibility spell engulfing several people and lasting for hours is a difficult cast for any wizard. But an enchantment of only several minutes is a much more accomplishable task. If any of us spot an enemy I can cast the spell which will hold untill we can hide or the enemy leaves. The forest over there looks like a good place to hide." Therlion points to a dense forest on the side. "We could hide there for now, untill Turin examines the diary."

[Larry_OHF]

Turín

Listening to all the suggestions, mostly from the dwarves, and now the elves voicing their opinions...mostly due to the idea that they probably would not enjoy going underground like the dwarves would so now the mention of finding seclusion in the forest is being brought up...Turín realized that leadership was far harder than he ever imagined! Taking a clearing deep breath of air into his lungs, he said...

"I first would like to apologize for myself that I know that most of you would make far better leaders than I would, as you are all much older than I and you have seen more of the world than I have. I am honored that Elfalas has left the team of survivors in my undeserving hands and I shall serve him not as I would do with my own intellegence as a mortal man, but in honor of Elfalas we shall continue to serve his memory and do things the way he wanted them done, for he gave his life for this mission and this mission is consecrated with his own blood...and the blood of our fallen brethren.

Therefore, by following this procedure that Elfalas has laid out for us, I realize that he knew what he was doing, and the faith that he has in each of us shall be proven this day forward.

Now...

1. It says here that there are human spies that need to be exposed for who they are. As humans, Roland and I have the mission of getting close to the areas that may lead us to these humans and stop them individually. We are suggested to feed them false information that would in turn protect the innocent. I would like to go further than that and actually remove these traitors from their positions, but Roland and I will need to consider this during the mission.

2. For the Elves and the Dwarves, this letter spells out a particularly difficult mission. In fact, it is a mission of suicide, but I think that we can pull it off. The letter I have here says that some dwarven tribes have been known to be helping Morgoth by bringing him elven slaves. We have three dwarves in the group, and three elves. The task as explained in this diary is that the dwarves lead the elves into the stronghold and give them up to whatever fate awaits them...meanwhile as the dwarves have the opportunity to search out the area and find possible weaknesses in the defence...the elves will have to endure whatever befalls them. As soon as the dwarves find the secrets out that are needed, they in turn help rescue the elves again that were brought in, and the six of you flee as fast as you can and as quietly as you can out of the hold. This information about Morgoth's weaknesses will be what our leaders are needing to ensure victory when the army is created that would wipe him out of our land forever. Meanwhile Roland and I would be stopping the armies on the outside from rallying by removing those faithful to the Dark Lord.

Now...I know this all sounds ludricous, but we can do this, if we believe in the mission and for what purposes we are doing it. It would mean that Roland and I break away from the rest of you, while you have the most dangerous mission that anyone has ever come up with...but think of the benefits of what you would learn for all of us.

I accept my orders and will do as requested by these words written upon this paper, but I will not order any of you to accept your part in this. If you so choose not to accept these plans I have spelled out, we will formulate another plan.

My friends, what say you to this? Each may speak for himself or herself. "