Long Lake

[tomcat]

The trio broke up once more after their long discussion and Grimbeorn and Hathcyn made their way back into the town to the small inn where they had procured a room. It was called the Millpond Hall and it had a simple charm that the men of the vale enjoyed. Arbogast would need stand watch for one more hour before his relief came and this he spent on his own, for even Fen wearied of the cold.

Upon his arrival home, Lindwine smiled warmly - but the smile changed when her husband announced that Hathcyn and Grimbeorn were now here. It no longer reached her eyes. The look was one Arbogast had become accustomed to whenever the three men gathered, as it usually meant that they would be off on some dangerous errand. The plans for the next day proved no different and Lindwine finally acquiesced to Arbogast's desire to hunt the marshes, after long debate, but she did not like it.

So it was that the three men met once more with the light of the new day. Fen had also come, though his purpose was for direction only - the fisherman wished he had the strength of spine to track off with the Beornings and Fire-watcher, but it was not so. Instead, Fen drew them a rough map of Long Lake and Esgaroth therein, and the locations where he and his fellow fishers had seen the troubles.

Esgaroth stood upon a relatively shallow shelf near the western shore of Long Lake, which rose rather gently to meet the shoreline. The Forest River emptied into the mere only to become the River Running (Celduin), well beyond the falls at the south end of the lake. For centuries, Lake-town has endured thanks to its position, set strategically between the Woodland Realm, the Kingdom under the Mountain, and the city of Dale.

The confluence of these two waterways also creates a great marshland that nearly fills all the ground from the lake's western shore to the eaves of Mirkwood. Only hunters and merchant travelers on the Forest River willingly enter this landscape. Northward, the land is arable and good for farming, and the Spring sees this territory bloom with crops. As you continue east along the shore, the land rises sharply, becoming rocky and lightly wooded gullies and shale bluffs. It is here that the shepherds watch their flocks of sheep and goats.

All of this makes up the Nan Annen, as it is called in Sindarin - the Long Lake Valley.

With the territory visualized in its crude form, Arbogast looked to his friends. There was a question that was asked, though no words were spoken. Which path do we take?
Okay, with you guys wanting to ease back in with a simple hunt - I first want to know which of Fen's rumours you guys want to pursue. The lake is about twenty miles from north to south, and at least five miles from east to west at its widest. You guys could circumnavigate the territory on foot in about three days with good weather and having a good path to follow on the eastern shore.

Sorry the map is not in the new The One Ring art format, but the old MERP stuff is the only place I could find a good map of Long Lake.

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn strokes his beard.

"Well we dont often return hale and hesrty. Why dont we pole north along the river. Then if need arise we may float back towards the lake.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Grimbeorn chuckled. "Valid point.  The Wood-elves may have some information on those problems as well.  Does anyone know if there are any in town?"

[Eclecticon]

"Aye," Arbogast answers.  "There is an entire quarter of the town set aside for them in the south-west.  You would have seen it coming across the causeway.  Were I looking for an Elf to speak to, there I would begin my search." 


"We should begin our hunt to the southern shore," he adds.  "For if goblins are massing there in sufficient numbers to raid the traders of Lake-Town, then they present a threat to the Forest Road we have laboured so long, and so hard, to build anew." 


Check out the cool map of Esgaroth!  I assume the warehouse that Arbogast guards and lives in is near point 7. 

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Well I wasn't so much paying attention to the lay of the land but more the lack thereof, hoping that I wouldn't fall through somewhere in these rickety by-ways.  I'm not as small as I once was, you know.  Well, the news of that is much closer to the town, therefore a more urgent threat... also easier to call upon reinforcements if necessary.  I think you are right Arbogast, let us check out these goblin raids," said Grimbeorn.

[Telcontar]

"I'll not pass up the slaying of Goblins."

[tomcat]

Their direction decided, the trio found Fen down along the docks and persuaded the man to allow use of his boat.

"You won't let anything happen to it, will ya?" the man asked hesitantly.

"Not at all," answered Hathcyn.

"You can always join us," said Grimbeorn with a bearish grin.

"Well... err... no. I am sure it will be fine. Just be careful, as she can topple if you don't distribute correctly."

"It will be fine," assured Arbogast who was the keenest of the three on handling a boat.

Loading in a few provisions that would allow them a longer exposure to the weather, the trio poled away from the docks, all the while other fishermen murmured on Fen's loss.

Take a long good look, they joked. Whatcha be doin' now, Fen, seeing as you won't be on the lake? Never did him any good any way. The jokes turned into guffaws of laughter and Fen decided it best to head home.

Paying little heed to what was behind, Arbogast poled the boat south to where the forest river entered the lake. It was here that King Thranduil sent the barrels back south to Laketown, only for them to be re-provisioned and carried back north. The Fire-watcher struggled at the current and the boat bobbed and yawed, but soon he was through the headwaters and pushing up the calm river.

On either side of the river, the banks were a frozen scene of leafless bushes and brambles, and dried-out river reed grass that crackled in the wind. Lonely birds gave gloomy calls, but there were few answers. Not insects buzzed and no frog croaked. It was cold and lonely in this land between forest and lake. What was worse was the onset of a rainy, frozen drizzle that dampened everything - including their moods.

The men listened carefully for any sound and kept a keen eye upon the shoreline for any signs. It was at the noontide that Hathcyn pointed to the reeds on the south side of the river. The ground was churned to mud and a carcass lay stripped and bloody in the marshy waters. It was picked to the bones, but the men were sure it had been a good-sized sheep.

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn heard the murmurs and jibes of the other fisherman. He also knew that this boat was Fen's livelihood and primary means of living. This weighed on the man as the companions adventures were not always clean and tiddy.

The Beirning eyeballed the other fishermen and reached into his pouch.

"Fen, it is a brave thing indeed to part with ones prized possession for the good of others. Take these. Here is a coin for the use of your boat, and three more as a deposit should we or it not return. The Men of the Anduin know what danger lurks in the world and we know too it is small courage and ordinary help that keeps the darkness at bay as much as the sword and the axe."

The Beorning rolled a small barrel of beer he had procured into the boat and laughed.

"The Firewatcher knows all about such methods of movement. I'll be content to keep a watchful eye and not move a muscle. Other than to tap the beer."   

[Eclecticon]

Hathcyn's confidence at the outset of their journey brings a quiet grin to Arbogast's face, as does the coin that the man lays out against the possibility of their return without Fen's boat.  Poling away from the bustle of Lake-Town with his friends at his side he feels a world away from the cares and struggles that beset him west of the Wood. 

The merry mood is gone, however, by the time he turns the boat in to the channel of the Forest River.  The stillness all about them brings back memories of the Gladden Fields, and of the marshes that surrounded Dol Guldur years before.  The sight of the carcass, cleaned of blood only where the languid river water has washed it away, does nothing to lift their spirits. 

As the two Beornings begin to heft their weapons, he poles the small boat in towards the southern bank. 


Not to nit-pick, but weren't we going to tackle the goblins first?  We seem to have gone a little off course! 

[tomcat]

Hathcyn strokes his beard.

"Well we dont often return hale and hesrty. Why dont we pole north along the river. Then if need arise we may float back towards the lake.

Sorry - I read the thread down, but this is what stuck in my brain when I started writing. I can retcon the posts... it will be later tonight.

[Eclecticon]

I wouldn't worry about it - I'm happy to assume that there was further discussion and Arbogast agreed with Hathcyn's course.  After all, it's not like any of the group are skilled boatmen. 

[Telcontar]

  Arbogast claimed he was the captain of this vessel and well schooled!!

[Eclecticon]

And you believed him.  Tsk tsk tsk. 

[GandalfOfBorg]

Grimbeorn is ready for anything that might come along.

  Anything suspicious in the area of the carcass? Is it old or fresh?
 

Awareness -  1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 4, 3, total 13

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn eyed the shore. "Pull us closer so that I may get a better look."

Will Hunting work here?