The Long Way Home

[Eclecticon]

Though their bodies ache and their souls are weary, the Fellowship knows that they dare not tarry long, for who knows whether, or when, either Tylquin or Tauler might return?  Fashioning a crude bier from deadfall branches and Hathcyn's own cloak and spear, Esgalwen and Arbogast bear him out of the twisting passage and once more into the scarcely less confined darkness of trackless Mirkwood.  Grimbeorn, working hard not to show how desperately weary he truly is, follows behind keeping torches held high as long as the prepared wood and oil last, and thereafter bearing lit brands that shed far more smoke than light. 

Before them all goes Radagast, back bent, lips ever a-mutter, his concentration seeming absolute as he follows the subtlest of Tylquin's threads south and west, toward the lands where Men might still live wholesomely. 


  We're back to Journeying again!  Hathcyn is obviously out for the next six days, so anything that arises before then that requires the attention of a Huntsman will automatically fail.  Grimbeorn is Weary and Arbogast and Esgalwen, due to the difficulty of carrying Hathycn's unconscious body as well as all their own gear, will be as well until at least the point when he wakes. 

With that all established, let's see how Grimbeorn's Travel roll (still at TN 16) treats you:

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

[Eclecticon]

That's a failure not even Hope can fix.  Further developments to follow.

[GandalfOfBorg]

  Failure for Grimbeorn?

[Telcontar]

  that looks like a pass to me

[tomcat]

Grimbeorn is so the 3's and 1's do not add in.

[tomcat]

Esgalwen toiled with the burden of Hathcyn and the gear on her back. The pain in her arms was real and it seemed that it would not have an end. Even with Arbogast on the other end of the bier, the task was brutally hard. The stress of going within the spiders' realm; the stress of the combat and seeing one of her friends fall and not knowing if he would live; the stress of knowing they had so far to go - the forest was wide and they were deep within and the thought made her weep to herself. She was dehydrated and so no tears made any tracks in the dirt on her face - just the quaking sobs that she tried to hide.

Mirkwood had torn at her will and her strength and she was not sure if it had won. In fact, all of her experiences since coming here had left more sorrow than joy. Esgalwen tried to remember a happy day to bolster herself... the meeting of Arbogast's children... a smile. But then sadness at the loss of his youngest. The meeting of Neldir in the grotto within Thranduil's fortress... a smile - the Elf had helped heal her mind and soul that night with his fair songs. The meeting of Tate and his incessant attempts to win her heart... again a smile.

Yes she had found joy in this hard forest realm. She stretched her neck left and right to try to ease the pain there and shifted her shoulders. Her eyes fell on Hathcyn and she murmured to herself, "This may take more days to escape this dreadful wood than it did for us to get here, but you will see your wife again. I will find the strength for you, Hathcyn."

Once spoken, the words seemed hollow as again the oppressive forest sapped at her will. The Ranger sighed and focused on making each step - trying not to trip.

[Eclecticon]

Grimbeorn is so the 3's and 1's do not add in.

Do not discuss this further, lest I recall that the same applied to his Corruption test (and Hathcyn's). 

That aside, let's see who's going to have to deal with whatever's about to come up:

1d6 : 3, total 3

[Eclecticon]

That'll be a roll for Esgalwen, as look-out. 

[tomcat]

Awareness test

TN -- awareness 3d

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

[tomcat]

 

This is absolutely typical for this chapter.

I will spend a  if it makes a difference.

[Eclecticon]

As her feet make tread after heavy tread across the root-littered moulder of the forest floor, the Lady of Gondor strives to keep her head up and gaze raised no matter that it hangs heavy.  Every effort does she give to listen out for hidden things going about behind trunks and above branches, no matter that her sorrows draw her thoughts ever inward. 

Is this perhaps why the shadowed trees begin to grow leering faces?  Is this why, in the lonely hours of the night (or perhaps even the day, for such distinctions have long since been lost by the companions) the noises of small and stealthy forest creatures take on the seeming of something more sinister than spider-prey?  The change is so gradual and so insidious that, when Radagast at the head of the company brushes close to an ancient oak that suddenly opens a ghastly, tooth-filled maw and any number of hideous eyes, she lets forth a cry of alarm, sudden and loud enough that her companions start mightily, and Radagast very nearly drops Duskwater's ball. 

"My goodness, whatever is it?" the Wizard asks as her companions immediately ready their axes. 

"There!" she exclaims in return, pointing to the woody jaws that clack and gnash, denied their fleshy prize. 

"There what?" asks Grimbeorn, warily approaching, the company's last torch held in his left hand, Bear Claw in his right. 

"It's but a tree," Arbogast says.  "No more a danger to us than any other.  Why?  What do you see, Esgalwen?"


Esgalwen needs to make either a Wisdom or Awareness roll (whichever is worse) to see whether she starts to see past the tricks of her own mind.  Turns out, 'whicever is worse' is Awareness, and the TN is 16.  I'll happily take your roll, Doug.  The Hope spend makes it a success

Esgalwen will slowly get a hold of what she's seeing and hearing.  She avoids gaining a Shadow point and becoming Miserable, though with now nine Hope and seven Shadow (I've swapped her temporary and permament scores around - same with Grimbeorn, who seems to have also fallen afoul of my shoddy form-reading) it's a close-run thing anyway... 

[Eclecticon]

Onward!  Another Travel roll from our Guide:

1d12 : 9, total 9
Rolled 4d6 : 5, 5, 1, 5, total 16

[Eclecticon]

Is it nigh on a week after the Fellowship of the Helm leaves the hidden hall of Tylquin, or have they trod this nightmare march for merely a day?  Time has lost all meaning and distance any significance as Radagast, his fingers slowly tracing the Weaver's thread, leads the company south and west.  Whenever the marching ceases, Hathcyn's companions moisten his lips with thin broth, but his body lies as if dead, so slack that they dare not give him solid fare lest he choke upon it. 

The weight of the Fox-goer blisters the hands of his friends as the hills at the heart of Mirkwood spread apart, giving way between them to deep and marshy valleys wherein stands of birch and alder grow thick and unwholesome mosses and fungus sprout from trunks that seem to rot as they stand.  Perhaps it is the dampness soaking into his clothes as his bearers, exhausted from their labour, rest on a patch of reasonably solid ground, or perhaps the dreadful venom of Tylquin has at last run its course.  Whatever the reason, Hathcyn gives a croaking gasp as his eyes open, wide with the terror of a battle already past.  Desperately, he grabs for his spear and struggles to free it from its bindings, not comprehending what has happened to it.  All he receives as reward for his efforts, however, is a series of dry heaves that wrack his body until it lies still again. 

Finally, he wrestles himself to sit upright.  "Where are we?" he asks. 


Let's see who the next failure plot-relevant roll will come from:

1d6 : 1, total 1

[Eclecticon]

And it'll be Arbogast!  Let's see what he can do - I'll add narration based on his success or failure on an Explore roll:

:00 1d12 : 5, total 5
Rolled 4d6 : 6, 3, 1, 3, total 13

[Eclecticon]

That's a failure (as he's temporarily Weary) and I don't want to spend Arbogast's Hope down any more than I absolutely have to (he won't stop being Miserable until it rises above his Shadow score).  Everyone gains two points of Fatigue (this happened with Esgalwen's thing as well, but I forgot to say so - ) 

I'll note also that the injured party members have been recovering Endurance - Grimbeorn at two points per day, Hathcyn at one.  Even though Grimbeorn's Endurance (20) is now above his Fatigue (19) he's still Weary - he won't get out of that until you all get a decent rest in a safe place.