CHAPTER 11 - The Siege of Black Tarn Hall

[GandalfOfBorg]

 
Grimbeorn believes haste is needed, so a small show of force at best is needed initially; I don't think we know enough to muster anything larger than that. 

Sending out messengers to request support of the Woodmen conclaves wouldn't be a bad idea and if we pick up more along the way, fine, but for us to leave now, only a small Beorning group is warranted at this time.

[Telcontar]

  We can head out now and move to the forst woodman settlement and ask for aid. They will take a bit to rally so we can wait for the supplies there or move on down the line raising the alarm and picking a final assembly point for everyone and everything to catch up.

[Eclecticon]

As for being agnostic - how? I presented my character's thoughts and wait for the consensus. These are Beorn's/Grimbeorn's people being rallied and Esgalwen has no say on what they do. Still, her opinion was asked and presented.

Aiiiiieeeee!  The dreaded division between player and character opinion!  Sorry to have misrepresented you, Doug.

Tom, that sounds like a workable plan, and certainly fits in with Matt's suggestion to leave now.  I'll get started on some more narrative.   

EDIT: Which will happen this evening, I promise.

[Eclecticon]

Beneath a cloudless sky and with a fresh wind at their backs, the companions set out.  Though their horses may not be the grand steeds of southern lands, their hooves thunder well enough as they cross the old track between the Old Ford and the new forest road.  The miles pass beneath them by and by, until the drone of thumb-sized bees is left far behind and the great pale rider, the white mark of a horseman cut into a hillside by Men of a forgotten kingdom in centuries past, gazes impassively down upon their passage.  Here the hilltops are crowned by tumbled ruins of ringforts, now garrisoned only by herds of wild ponies that raise their heads to stare as the Fellowship of the Helm ride by, then return their gaze to the grasses of the meadows. 

The first day of their journey is easy, but it brings them to the very edge of Mirkwood, beyond which the Elf-lords of old could perhaps ride, but Men cannot.  The companions take their rest on earth still somehow packed from when this place was the site of a village of Men, in a time when the trees were still far and the wolves, perhaps, further from the sheep-folds.  The only indication that it has ever seen inhabitants since that time is a handful of runes, to Esgalwen's eyes clearly those used by the Woodmen, scratched into what was once a hearth-stone.  Even these, however, tell nothing of they who left them here.  It is a place without a memory, wherein the brevity of the lives of Men is cast into stark relief. 

Come the dawn, they rise and move on, leading their horses into the shallows of the sea of leaves. 


I'll do the usual journey stuff here.  First Lore rolls:
Esgalwen

1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 2d6 : 4, 2, total 6

Grimbeorn

1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 3, 5, total 14

Hathcyn

1d12 : 2, total 2

[Eclecticon]

That's a nice pair of bonus dice for Grimbeorn - not that he's likely to need them (yet).

Travel rolls (only one between here and Woodland Hall):

Esgalwen

1d12 : 5, total 5
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 1, 3, total 6

Grimbeorn

1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 4d6 : 2, 4, 4, 5, total 15

Hathcyn

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

[Eclecticon]

Grimbeorn and Hathcyn breeze through without any problems.  Esgalwen has worse luck and gains two Fatigue. 

EDIT:

[Telcontar]

  just so I am not missing player knowledge here...
What was Duskwater offering? For everyone to leave? To join her in the lake?

[Eclecticon]

Her offer was pretty unspecific - to 'lead them to a place of safety' could mean a number of different things, many of them not good for the led.  Assuming she was telling the truth.