FELLOWSHIP PHASE - 'Neath the Upraised Stone

[Eclecticon]

FELLOWSHIP PHASE:

Mechanically, everyone receives seven XP and as many AP as are marked off on your sheets. 

I note here that 2E dispenses with the 'marking off' requirement and just allocates 3 skill points per session attended.  I'm happy to go with that rule for AP on the grounds that it would simplify book-keeping quite a bit, but just as happy to leave things as they are for flavour and familiarity reasons.  I agree with Doug and Tom's observations that the new edition seems to be much more generous with its advancement than the current one! 

There are five points of Fellowship to divvy up (from memory, nobody used any as a replacement for Hope - I'm happy to be corrected here).  Esgalwen can't take one, so that's five among three.  Tom, Hathcyn probably needs at least two to keep him from Misery's door, as I'm sure you're aware!

Unless you guys particularly want to do otherwise, the next adventuring phase will kick off about three weeks from the current point - late August 2958 - at the Fox's Tale (which is on your way into Mirkwood).  That gives you time enough for a single Undertaking. 

[Telcontar]

Yeah I need to do something about my Hope situation.

[Eclecticon]

Alternatively, you could run him into the ground, suffer a bout of madness and see what comes after...

[tomcat]

With our rewards, Esgalwen now has 18 XP available and 10 AP. I will tell you how she spends them and what Undertaking she will do, as well as give narrative very soon.

As for trying to wedge 2e rules into this game, I would just as soon not. I have not been sold on the new rules as
a better replacement for the original. The 1e rules feel more like Tolkien to me, if that makes sense - not the new throw a bunch of dice at it 2e.

[GandalfOfBorg]

I will have to get back to you on the totals, allocations, and undertaking.  Are there any company undertaking efforts remaing?
Grimbeorn would like at least 1 of the pool for Hope.

[tomcat]

Okay here is the breakdown on Esgalwen's advances...

• After the struggle she had to fashion a couple torches, I think it wise to up her Craft skill to 2 pips. That will  cost her 8 AP and she will bank the remaining 2.
• With her 18 XP, she will spend 16 to increase her Valour to 5 and bank the remaining 2 points. It will also gain her a Reward and she will add the Close-fitting quality to her Armour of Rangers gaining a +1 to protection tests.

I am not sure the armour is the best option, but when she gets hit, she gets hit! I may rethink this, Paul, before we get into too much with the next chapter.

I will add her undertaking soon - I need to read through them.

[Eclecticon]

Matt, if you download your character sheet from the Dropbox, it'll have his totals already in place.  Since the completion of the Road, there are no more company-level undertakings, so your time is your own to spend. 

Doug, don't stress too much about your Rewards - I'm quite open to people swapping them around between adventures if you can come up with an in-story reason for it to happen. 

On the subject of rules, I'm also a bit iffy on the 2e approach, but that may just be the grumpy old man in me.  I definitely like the look of the new Journey rules, though.  I'm going to propose that we try them out in the coming adventure (which, as you might imagine, is pretty journey-heavy).  If anyone black-balls them after that, I will grumble and groan and switch back to the revised 1e system without any real trouble.  If we like 'em, then I'm cool with running a hybrid game.

[tomcat]

Yes, the Journey rules are definitely better in 2e, so I would support that option.

[Eclecticon]

Arbogast will drop 12 AP on increasing his Insight from two to three, and with 15 XP is one short of what he needs to increase his Axe skill, so he'll just bank those. 

For an Undertaking, I would suggest opening the Fox's Tale as a sanctuary, but that'll take the whole group.  Any other takers?

[tomcat]

As the only Undertaking that makes any sense to Esgalwen right now being Collect Marsh Herbs (which I was going to see if I could get a LM caveat to allow it to happen along the Anduin) - I am fine with the Fox Tale sanctuary instead.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Xp 22
Ap 13 -> Spend 12 Ap for +1 Awe (Favored) -> 1 remaining

Undertaking: Search for Answers
Grimbeorn consults with his father and knowledge of his ancestors regarding the Arbogast's errand.  Does this have a chance of working?  He is torn in his absolute and total loathing for the spiders of Mirkwood and his fealty and love for his friend and brother.

Lore -  1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 1, 6, total 10

Table -  1d12 : 3, total 3

[GandalfOfBorg]

3 + 1 (Lore: Enemy -Spiders) + 2 Great Success = 6

6-7. Precious information : The Loremaster must
provide two useful elements of information about the
researched subject.

[Telcontar]

Well played Matt. Hathcyn is 100% not sold on this mission either. I'd like to explore alternatives too.

Paul, what will the sanctuary opening do for the group?

If Hathcyn is going to be of any use he needs to get his Hope sorted out.

[Eclecticon]

Matt, the lore of the Beornings regarding the spiders of Mirkwood is patchy - the Woodmen, or better yet the Elves, would know more, but you have to work with what you've got.  And what the greybeards and grandmothers know boils down to this:
1. The spiders of Mirkwood are not bound by ties of kinship in the same way as Men are, and it is common both for squabbles to erupt between them, and for these to turn deadly very quickly.  If other spiders know where the Weaver keeps her lair, then they may be all too happy to tell you, if there's something in it for them. 

2. The eldest among the spiders are unknown to the Beornings, save the lore that Grimbeorn himself has brought back.  But old tales brought by the rare Elves who have passed through their lands on their way west tell of shining gems, treasures of that folk from when the wood was green and wholesome, borne by noble heroes who fell before great spiders, themselves the children of some horror from the beginnings of the world.  The spiders were said to have shared the appetite of this elder thing for the light of gems, so preferring this delicacy that they declined to pursue Elves fleeing from strongholds deep in the wood in order to enjoy it. 

Tom, it looks like we're not going to be opening any Sanctuaries this phase, but if we were to do it later my thinking is this: normally, opening a place as a Sanctuary means forging good relations with the prominent personages of a place in order that you can make use of its resources if and when you need to.  In the case of the Fox's Tale, you are the prominent personages, so this would be a collective process of ensuring that the inn is appropriately fortified, with stocks of food and an armoury you could draw from.  It would also mean ensuring that there are people around who can be relied upon as healers, messengers etc.   

[Telcontar]

Im going to be taking, there and back again for a Hope boost.

Paul, did you add the checks from my sheet into my character totals?