Taking the Bait

[Eclecticon]

Few sleep that whole night through, for the thirst for revenge is bitterly felt among the Beornings and all are keen to slake it with the blood of orc and warg.  Nor do they hesitate to stir from their places on the floor of the hall when morning comes, but break their fast with what ale and bread remains and, stout shields and iron spears hefted, march forth with voices lifted in song. 

After a brief council with his thegns, Grimbeorn gathers the Fellowship to him.  "I'll march the army about just as we decided yesterday, and keep it together, but it'll only be as good as our scouts.  We can't fight what we can't find, after all!" 

He tears a huge mouthful from the half-loaf in his massive hand and continues, crumbs dropping into his beard.  "I've sent some of our folk's best hunters out to follow whatever tracks we can find, but I'd like you to go out as well, unless you've some objection.  If you find foes, harry them but try not to slay them all!  I want them to think that we're buying time to flee, not coming to conquer.  Now, unless there's anything else, mount up and ride well." 


The army is going to start heading out in a broad circuit, with scouts ranging out and then reporting in every day or so (so we're not going to be using the Journey rules for travelling around).  Assuming that you go with Grimbeorn's plan, someone will need to succeed on a Hunting check to find an orc-band or wolf pack (there are several out there).  The TN will start at 14 and change according to circumstances. 

[Telcontar]

  will my Orc Lore trait impact the TN?

[tomcat]

Esgalwen is endowed with that specialty as well.

[GandalfOfBorg]

  2 pips + Favored here but no appropriate specialty

[Eclecticon]

Ooooh, this is one of those times when having a particular trait can be used to open the possibility of knowing more.  Let's do some Lore rolls, shall we? 

Esgalwen

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

Hathcyn

1d12 : 7, total 7

[Eclecticon]

Right.  Esgalwen has seen signs of many orc-bands leaving their holes under the Misty Mountains, and heard tell of even more.  Of these, most seem to have travelled east, as if called to something in Mirkwood.  Or, possibly, they were defeated in the wars that have raged in the darkness beneath the peaks since the slaying of the Great Goblin by Beorn all the way back at the Battle of the Five Armies.  In either case, these bands were disorganised and not operating with any plan beyond flight and opportunistic pillage. 

If the orcs have now emerged to raid in force, it suggests that even if the Orcs of the Misty Mountains aren't united under a single leader, then the number of contenders has dropped markedly, and those that remain have enough followers to spend their strength on the surface. 

Is this immediately useful?  Probably not, but it's what you know at the moment. 

[Eclecticon]

Since nobody's stepped forward yet, Luindîs is going to take a look around...

1d12 : 1, total 1
Rolled 2d6 : 5, 2, total 7

[Eclecticon]

On horses borrowed from Grimbeorn's men, the companions ride forth, ranging ahead of the main army.  Luindîs, grin as wide as her eyes, watches the birds circling high in the sky more than any signs of wargish passage upon the ground, and it is little surprise that it is another who first gives the call that a trail has been sighted. 


Who that person is, is largely up to you guys now.

[Telcontar]

  hunting roll

Rolled 1d12 : 5, total 5

Rolled 3d6 : 5, 3, 4, total 12

[Telcontar]

The longspear hing like a lance as Hatcyn rode in search of the wargs. He could not make up his mind on whether they were natural beasts ot note. They could not be tracked like normal beasts and they tended to be hard to find during the day, but their bite and their blood were real enough at night.

When he relaxed his thoughts and used his passive mind to scan he then began to see the signs. Not so much as tracks, but as if in their passing they were angry at the earth and the growing things underfoot.

"Here!" He called out.

"I think I have found something."

[tomcat]

Esgalwen's roll
TN 14 hunting 2d

1d12 : 9, total 9
Rolled 2d6 : 3, 5, total 8

[tomcat]

Even as Hathcyn called out, Esgalwen's own eyes locked on to the telltale sign.

[Eclecticon]

Though the spirit-wargs have indeed left no trace of their passage, the skinned carcasses of those slain in the rainy skirmish some days past now bloat in the sun, and within the walls of Ferthald's steading their hides are stretched to cure, and will in time grace the cloaks of thegns and famed warriors.  These have, without a doubt, left a trail to follow.  The cool wind blowing from the mountain slopes tosses the grass and carries the scents of summer meadows as the companions ride forth, the expert eyes of Hathcyn and Esgalwen finding tracks and spoor aplenty, as from the passage of a host much larger than that which gave battle before Ferthald's gate. 


A brief pause here, as this calls for some Riddle rolls:

Esgalwen

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

Gwaithlim

1d12 : 1, total 1

Hathcyn

1d12 : 10, total 10
Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5

Luindîs

1d12 : 1, total 1
Rolled 2d6 : 6, 6, total 12

[Eclecticon]

Not willing to pass up the option of an Extraordinary success, Luindîs is going to drop a Hope point on that to turn it into a success. 

[Eclecticon]

So many, Hathcyn finds himself thinking as he reckons the count as at least fifty wargs.  This thought is followed by a more uncomfortable one: they must have outnumbered us more than two to one, though we could see only a few of them through the downpour!  Aloud, he at last asks the question that now bedevils him.  "A full two and a half score, I make it.  They could have crushed us against the closed gate.  Why didn't they?" 

His gaze, and Esgalwen's, turn toward Gwaithlim, thinking perhaps that some subtle wizardry of the Eldar kept them at bay, as Radagast's will held the spiders of Mirkwood in check.  But Luindîs, her ears attentive even as her gaze takes in the wide and rolling sward about them, is swift to answer.  "Sometimes, when the high lords and ladies of the Elvenking's court go a-hunting, low-born beaters are sent out to find game and scare it into a chase, to ease and speed their hunt.  Mayhap we were to be the quarry of some terrible thing even now leashed in the caverns beneath the mountains!  Or perhaps the orcs sought to hold us all in one place while they went about their dark business elsewhere, like a conjurer guiding the eye away from where he prepares his trick?"