Dark Tidings

[Eclecticon]

"Aye," comes the gruff reply of Claudas, "but they sought no man in particular.  Those two were Beorn's hands, and often toured the villages and steadings to see his laws enforced.  What's more, if there was such a lawbreaker at large, Beorn would have sent messengers to us, it being every man's duty to apprehend him, or slay him if he will not submit to judgement.  If they were returning with a prisoner, it was because they found him and subdued him." 

The thegns and other important men nod their agreement, their faces stern and serious. 

[Eclecticon]

...passing from the bounds of body he took the form of a red fox with a silver tipped tail. Passing from the camp into the night the skin changer attempted to run along the river and see what he could find...

Quick as flowing water, Hathcyn's spirit-form rushes from Beorn's theshold, only to pull up short near the wooded banks of the Anduin.  By the light of the moon, he sees orcs both large and small milling on the eastern shore, and he hears the yelps and splashes as more row crude rafts across the water.  A slope-shouldered orc, its curved sword brandished, calls out 'move it, mud-leeches!  We've miles to go yet, and if we don't have time to find food, it'll be the slowest of you who feed the rest!" 

Though the reeds where the boat was found are now trampled into the mud by goblin feet, and the scent of orc hangs heavy in the air, there is still an undertone of the blood that was spilled here, and a scent leading away that could perhaps be followed. 


Activating Hathcyn's Night-Goer virtue costs a point of Hope, if you haven't spent one already.  There's enough of a scent that you could follow it with a Hunting roll at TN 16, but you'll need to make a Stealth roll to get close enough to pick it up without the goblins' look-outs seeing you. 

[Telcontar]

  i'll take a moment to circle around the orcs to see if I can find the trail without going amongst them trading time for more security.

Hunting

Rolled 1d12 : 10, total 10

Rolled 3d6 : 4, 3, 1, total 8

[tomcat]

Esgalwen nods and thanks those that offered the information, and then she turned to Tate. "Let us be on our way. The sun reaches its zenith, even now."
Okay...time sync check.

I thought it was early day that we were having this meet. Grimbeorn gave orders, canceled the games and we are to be off.

Tom has it as the end of the day and into night.

Where are we all at, LM? Do you want to separate this into three story threads that you will then need to keep in sync? 

[Telcontar]

  games were canceled and i assumed a funeral was occuring that night.

[tomcat]

Yea, I am sure that is how it will play out for that part of the story.

I just need to know if Tate and Esgalwen have the day to start off on their search for the criminal.

[Eclecticon]

I have assumed, for the sake of convenience, that Esgalwen and Tate are staying for the funeral and that the hunt will start in earnest in the morning.  I will absolutely split the party into multiple threads once everything gets going. 

[Eclecticon]

The evening begins sombrely, as the cloth-wrapped bodies of Odo and Merovech are laid out before the high table in Beorn's hall and old songs of mourning and loss are sung.  By the light of the setting sun, the two bodies are borne to where a small group of carved timber posts, the final resting places of several of Beorn's early followers and companions, rise from the grasslands.  There, they are laid on wooden beds, and the dirges continue, the deep notes of the men mixing with the higher voices of the women, as the soil is piled atop them. 

The journey back to the hall is quiet, but by the time all have returned, grieving has begun to give way to the business of the living.  Mead is drunk, food eaten and some of the joviality of the previous festivities begins to creep back into the assembled folk.  As Tate leads the Beornings in song, Hathcyn finds a quiet alcove and lets his spirit slip away to the river. 

Rorin approaches Grimbeorn at the high table, bows formally and says "I never did offer my condolences.  If half of what I hear about those two is true, your house has suffered a grave loss.  I wish that I had better news, to lift your mood, but Magrac has returned and told me that he cannot find a trace of my missing kinfolk south of the Elfwood." 

Hathcyn, meanwhile, has slipped like a bead of quicksilver from gully to bush, and passed the goblin sentries without a whisper of alarm.  The scent he picked up hangs still in the air.  It is faint, but a mix of the blood and fear of Men leads away to the south. 


Aaaaaaaaaaaand we're back in sync.  Tom, give me your Hunting roll, if you please.

[Telcontar]

  it was in my post. 18. Unless you want another one.

[Eclecticon]

Whoops!  I thought that was your stealth roll! 

[Telcontar]

  are we waiting on me?

Roll again if we are.

Rolled 1d12 : 6, total 6

Rolled 3d6 : 6, 5, 1, total 12

[Posterboy]

  Tom, I think Paul is looking for you to make a stealth check, so 2d.

I think the mix-up is Paul said Hathcyn would need to make a stealth check to get close enough to pick up the scent without being seen by the goblin scouts.

You then said that you'd rather take the extra time to go around the goblin scouts.

However, my sense from Paul's post is that you can't actually go around... you have to make the Stealth check because, to pick up the scent (and be able to make the Hunting check), you have to go amidst the goblin scouts.

I may be wrong though. 

[GandalfOfBorg]

Grimbeorn returned the condolences with a solemn nod of appreciation.  "I was afraid of this", he responded to news from Rorin's scout.  "We will make to intercept the group as if they were heading towards Vigor land.  This affront cannot stand."

[Eclecticon]

Hathcyn follows the scent-trail south, skirting around isolated farmsteads and keeping to the empty, half-wooded lands close to the river.  The joy of racing beneath moonlight fills him, and he knows, for a time, the impulse felt by the ancient elves that leads them to dance beneath the stars. 

Quicker than any creature born of flesh, he races over hill and dale, many leagues from where his body lies, until finally, as the far-off leaves of Mirkwood begin to meet the dawn, he finds a lone traveller, sleeping by a banked fire.  A homespun cloak is pulled tight about the man's body for warmth, and an unsheathed sword lies near to his hands.  Though he can be no older than three-and-twenty, he is clearly long of limb and great of strength, and has all the hallmarks of an up-and-coming warrior.  His face is dark, though, his brow furrowed even in sleep, and the twitches and occasional noises he makes speak clearly of troubled dreams. 

Then the sun rises fully, and Hathcyn is once more on a straw pallet in the Hall of Beorn. 



I'll take the second roll to be your Hunting roll, so give yourself appropriate AP for your Stealth check if you haven't already. 

[Telcontar]

  stealth is ine less d

Rolled 1d12 : 12, total 12

Rolled 2d6 : 3, 2, total 5