In the Shadow of Mount Gundabad

[Telcontar]

  premier tier on the server cost seems to be working Doug! I mean, wow Paul players are sooo lucky this scene.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Grimbeorn was more than happy to let the others gab and guffaw with their latest newcomer of old.  He sat back and watched the exchanges, peering into the heart of our their guest as they all talked on so as to discern her presence here along with her motives.

 

Rolled 1d12 : 8, total 8
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 6, 3, total 15

[Eclecticon]

As the others speak, Grimbeorn watches Essylt look from one to the other with hungry eyes.  Silently, he considers the difficulties one such as she might meet in trying to live in such an unforgiving land, in constant peril from the creatures that dwell within and without kinfolk to protect her.  He turns his mind also to the way in which her command of the Westron tongue has improved in the years since last he saw her, and wonders who (or what) might have taught it to her. 

In a flash of intuition, it comes to him: if the orcs, and worser things, that gave the fellowship such dolorous battle six years ago have not changed their plans, then their need of thralls is ongoing, and what better way to lure in the lost and the desperate than by showing them a seeming friend in similar straits?  Thus, she has been taught to speak the tongue of the Free Peoples, and naturally she would approach an unexpected fire in a familiar place.  But the ravenous haste with which she devoured the honey cake, and now looks to the companions' remaining food, is unfeigned.  Whatever bargain she has struck with the powers of Gundabad, it has scarcely kept her alive. 

Were we to offer her a way to deliver herself from this life, he thinks, she would likely leap at the chance, and remain steadfast... so long as we seemed able to keep our side of the bargain.


You guys basically have Essylt where you want her - make her an offer for her services as a guide and she will take you right to the spot you want. 

[Telcontar]

  hmmm, where are we going? Good insight roll, I hadnt even considered duplicity.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Essylt?" Grimbeorn starts slowly, interrupting the flow of conversation.  "We are in need of guide from this point forward to show us the best way unto the 'Burg and back again.  Would your belly full, protection from these lands, and my promise of continued service away south in my land suffice as payment?  What say you?"

His breach in conversational etiquette curious, the others silently excused it for the moment to listen to the response.  He offered none of his insight immediately unless there is push back from his friends or a disingenuous seeming reply is given.

[Eclecticon]

Essylt is quite clearly taken aback by the question, and she coughs out crumbs of waybread for several moments before, her eyes narrowed as she searches Grimbeorn's face for any sign of deception, she answers.  "For a portion of your food,  a seat by your fire and a roof of my own above my head (for I have heard that the southern folk enjoy such things) once we leave this place, I will take you where you wish to go, and give you my service as long as you shall have it.  I warn you, though, that the place you seek is not one that any but the foolhardy would wish to go."

[Eclecticon]

Nota bene, I've updated the AP for Grimbeorn and Hathcyn's rolls - try to do this yourselves, if you're making your own rolls and time and other circumstances permit. 

[Eclecticon]

One last Travel roll for everyone, with a bonus (TN 16 instead of 18) for Essylt being present as a well-motivated guide:

Arbogast

1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 3d6 : 5, 5, 3, total 13

Esgalwen

1d12 : 10, total 10
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 4, 4, total 10

Grimbeorn

1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 4d6 : 3, 5, 3, 1, total 12

Hathcyn

1d12 : 6, total 6
Rolled 3d6 : 1, 2, 5, total 8

[Eclecticon]

Okay... Grimbeorn has two bonus dice to spend.  Given that this is the last part of the journey, I'll roll them (with your indulgence, Matt):

2d6 : 3, 6, total 9

[Eclecticon]

So Grimbeorn's fine as far as Fatigue goes (and gets an AP into the bargain) but AT LAST someone has triggered a journey Hazard.  Be warned - the last has also revealed your presence to the Eye, which means that whatever happens is going to be extra-nasty.  Rolling and story to follow, but I have to do some shopping first.

[Eclecticon]

I was going to do some rolling for this, but I have an idea that just fits so well that I'm going to put on my GM hat and go with it.  Thread to follow. 

EDIT:  Having given it more than a few seconds' thought, I'll tag Esgalwen's Adventurous trait and Arbogast's Hardened one to give them each an AP for their successes above.  Tom, Hathcyn can pass the Fatigue check with a Hope spend, but on the assumption that you don't want to do that, I've applied the Fatigue gain. 

[Eclecticon]

It is hours before the rain shows signs of easing, and the company spends a cramped night in its rude refuge before Essylt leads her new companions forth.  Travelling on the sides of hills to keep out of dells and gullies now either awash or so sodden (she says) as to bar passage, she leads the companions west, hewing as close as possible to the course of the Langwell.   The hills bear a sparse cover of stunted, lonely-looking pines between which spring thistles cluster in great numbers, such that the entire landscape seems to be one of spine and thorn.  Here and there, though, a great storm of birdsong arises, and the sunlight that makes its way through the clouds shines from a hundred thousand droplets still clinging to needle and stone, making the entire landscape briefly shine like the bright jewels the company seeks. 

The sun has passed behind Mount Gundabad, and shadow lies heavy over the land, when Grimbeorn at last calls a halt.  "How much farther, hill-woman?" he asks of their guide. 

"My folk reckon not in the miles of the Elves and their kin," she answers, "but I would judge that another half-day, perhaps a little more, awaits us on the morrow.  But see," she adds, pointing to an outcrop overlooking the river on which stands the cracked and tumbled ruin of what was once a proud stone watchtower, "I know a safe refuge.  If you had not decided to stop here, I would have insisted upon it." 

As the companions approach, it is clear that, whether it be time and the slow working of wind and rain that have laid low the tower or the swift malice of orc-kind, the latter have claimed the victory as theirs.  The Mannish stonework has been carved and daubed with many years worth of glyphs and markings, their crudity detracting not in the least from their awfulness.  Atop them all, an eye surrounded by flame has been carved into the keystone of a still-standing archway. 

"We should not..." Arbogast begins, but he is too late.  As Essylt shrieks and collapses, desperately drawing her furs across her face,  the cold stone seems to blaze with a sudden and all-piercing light, the slit pupil of the eye a black hole in the fabric of the world at its very centre.   


This will require a Corruption test (TN 18) from everyone.  If enough Shadow points are gained, this could easily trigger another revelation episode, so let's see how the dice want this to play out:

Arbogast

1d12 : 8, total 8
Rolled 5d6 : 6, 4, 2, 1, 2, total 15

Esgalwen

1d12 : 6, total 6
Rolled 5d6 : 4, 3, 3, 1, 5, total 16

Grimbeorn

1d12 : 7, total 7
Rolled 5d6 : 1, 4, 1, 1, 5, total 12

Hathcyn

1d12 : 2, total 2
Rolled 4d6 : 3, 5, 3, 3, total 14

[Eclecticon]

Man, Hathcyn is really taking a battering this trip.  He gains a Shadow point unless you want to spend Hope on it, Tom.  I had a note here about the extra point tipping him over into Misery, but that's going to happen either way.

[Eclecticon]

Arbogast feels the flaying of his mind by the pitiless light.  All the falsehoods he has spoken to himself as well as others to create the seeming of a good-hearted man are laid waste and cast aside, baring the wretched, twisted, blackness within.  In a moment that stretches until the very end of time he is forced to recall each and every harsh word he has spoken and every bitter thought he has harboured toward his kin, his childhood friends, his close companions upon the lone roads and his wife and daughters.  Helplessly, he re-lives the moment when the corrupted river-maiden seized Wilone's tiny hand and dragged her to her death in the lightless waters of the Black Tarn. 

Your allies will turn upon you, comes the thought, from within or without he can no longer say.  You, who have suffered and bled for them and their kinfolk, will be betrayed and cast down that they might live one pitiful day longer.  Those that you love the most will flee you the soonest, for they see you for that which you truly are. 

"No," he speaks aloud, though whether any hear him he cannot say.  Though his limbs are weak and tears of self-loathing run freely into his beard, he makes himself stand.  "This is some trick of the Shadow.  I know myself for that which I am, and the lies of the Enemy shall not blind me to that, nor to the purpose for which I am come to this place." 

He speaks slowly, and in speaking makes it so.  "You have no power over me." 

[Telcontar]

  ugh. I was dancing with the Hope devil on this one trying to get to another fellowship phase. Im
Not burning it on the fatigue but I will on the Corruption test.

This poor guy takes it in the gut everytime something 'spectral' happens.