My group played the Marsh Bell as an interlude to our ongoing WFRP campaign, and enjoyed it enough that we finished the WFRP game, they decided to adopt TOR as our regular game. I decided to run Tales from Wilderland for them, but instead of making up new characters, they decided to pick up from the moment they'd left off (emerging from the ruins). That gave me a chance to adapt things to the campaign (you can find my notes about that here), and I inserted the rescue of Baldor and Belgo into the return to Lake-Town. But I also needed something to bridge the gap between The Marsh Bell and the beginning of Tales, especially since I didn't want to send them to the other side of Mirkwood and have them miss the Gathering of the Five Armies. For that reason, I decided to adapt the fan-made Decipher scenario, Shadow Over Dale.

This AP is, like the one for The Marsh Bell, written up from Trotter's point of view by his player, with some commentary from me, the LM. Unfortunately Caranthir's player had to drop out because of work commitments. Reshuffling the Fellowship Foci gets Beran and The Bride having Trotter as their Focus and Trotter having Beran as his.

First Session

During the peaceful time between our adventures I spend a lot of time helping Gloin about the business of Lake-Town, pestering him for stories of his adventures and making myself useful in his work. Eventually my persistence pays off [great success on my riddle roll] and he takes me into his confidence, treating me as a proxy Bilbo and regaling me with tales of his adventures with Bilbo and before, providing me with a huge amount of information I can use in my memoirs and embellishments of great tales. The Bride uses some of her newly found wealth to sleep comfortably in an inn and enjoys living a prosperous life for a while, buying some jewellery for herself and some equipment for her next adventure, spending her time amongst the soldiers [success on awe roll]. She manages to impress the relatively peaceful Lake-Town men with her forthright and powerful personality, spreading her reputation as a tough and mysterious lady throughout the soldiers of Lake-Town. Beran, suffering from depression due to his exposure to shadow on our last adventure throws himself into work at the docks helping to repair boats. He puts a lot of effort into his crafting and manages to lighten his mood through his good work, however his dark mood keeps him from making any real friends during his time at the dock.


COMMENTARY: Beran had picked up some Shadow Points so decided to Heal Corruption during the Fellowship Phase. With Trotter and the Bride it was a bit more complicated. They chose Meet Patron and Raise Standard of Living respectively, but neither has much in the way of game effects. I decided to let Trotter cultivate Gloin as a contact and had the Bride's wealth last into the next season – I think measuring the standard of living by season rather than month makes more sense, given that everything else is measured that way in any case.


Mid-summer 2946: Beran, The Bride and I receive an invitation to meet Gloin at the Hall in Lake-Town. It's most peculiar that he is inviting us to his place of work rather than his personal house through our own private contacts. The Town Hall is built in the style of old Lake-Town, but it is clearly very new, rebuilt after the town moved following the desolation of Smaug. The building is the most impressive civilian structure in Lake-Town, it is a huge, great house slightly away from the marketplace and removed from the nearby buildings by a sturdy palisade. It is the sole building in Lake-Town which is separated from the rest of the town proper. This is the place where the master of Lake-Town meets the guild leaders and councillors to establish policy for the city. It is a free city which is not beholden to King Bard despite him originally coming from Lake-Town. We all arrive at the town-hall over a period of the afternoon and wait in the hallway until a valet dressed in the colours of Lake-Town approaches us and asks us to follow. He leads us down the corridor and into a rather small, side room. It has comfortable decor, a table in the centre, a bookshelf, and comfortable chairs. It reminds me a little of a study in a hobbit hole, not a grand council chamber, but a place for informal chats. There are two humans and Gloin himself inside when we arrive and Gloin welcomes us warmly and gestures for us to take a seat on a comfortable sofa. In an armchair near us a fair-haired, martial Northman sits.

COMMENTARY: The idea of the hall as old in style but clearly new in construction was, IIRC, taken from a comment by John Hodgson here. The setting of this meeting is supposed to reflect the sort of informal nature of back-room power between influential advisors and consiglieri.

He is introduced as Elstan, the right-hand man for King Bard of Dale. Then he points to the other man standing by the Window who is called Gundred, personal private secretary to the Master Of Lake-Town. Gloin has been asked to act as an introducing intermediary to present people who are not associated with Lake-Town but are still trusted enough to undertake sensitive tasks. He thought immediately of us after our stellar work previously.

COMMENTARY: Elstan is a character from Tales from Wilderland. Gundred I just made up, and is based on an unholy mix of Francis Urquhart and Sir Humphrey Appleby, with a dash of Havelock Vetinari as played by Charles Dance.

Beran and I both notice [with successful Insight rolls] that the two Men are ill at ease with each other. Elstan takes the initiative and says to us that he needs someone to deliver a message for them. He has heard of our great success in rescuing Oin and Balin. They have set out again on that mission with a larger group and not through Mirkwood. However there are other people who need to be invited to the Gathering of the Five Armies and Bard and the Master Of Lake-Town have decided together that they should invite the headmen of various villages in the upper and nether marches in the east. It would be a good opportunity to consolidate relationships across the lands of men and to build up trust and trade amongst the various people now that the Shadow has finally receded from the Lonely Mountain. Gundred interrupts confirming that this is an invitation for people to visit, and not a claim of Kingship over the nether marches by Dale. The people in the East are very proud and independent and they must not be made to feel that Dale is being too heavy handed in its claims of influence.

He nods pointedly towards Elstan at this point.

COMMENTARY: I wanted to highlight the ongoing politics here. Partly this is to do with a military man and a civilian not getting on with one another, but I also wanted to get across the idea of the various cultures still not being entirely friendly – pride is still a powerful force.

Elstan resumes: We need a group of people to extend out invitation to these peoples inviting them to the celebration, held in Dale. It is a peaceful gathering. We would like you to go into the marches, find these headmen in their nomadic lifestyles and get word out to enough of them that their people are invited. The invite will spread between the tribes on its own. He emphasises that the invitation is, as the Secretary says, just that: an invitation, not an ultimatum.

I cheerfully accept the mission, delighted to be trusted by such high company. The Bride expresses surprise that these two magnates do not have their own people who can undertake this mission. Gloin explains that because of the sensitivity around the claims to lordship by the new king in Dale, this needs to be presented delicately so as not to offend the Men of the marches. Thus it was decided that they should send some independent adventurers. He also expresses his agreement that the adventure does not meet the martial standards that the Bride might expect after her last exploits. He also assures us that there will be some monetary compensation for the task, obviously not as much as the Lonely Mountain could offer: he looks smug at the discomfort of the Men about their relative paucity of money.

They expect that the journey, including the search for the headmen, would take no more than a month which should give us plenty of time to be back before the celebration in November. We should report back to Gloin on our return and he will pass the message on to the Master Of Lake-Town and Dale.

I ask if there are any headmen they think we should address ourselves to. The Master tells us that they have had some trade dealings with Scowri The Black, the head of a community called Lunn Edgwin and he should be able to spread the news further on amongst the communities. Elstan tells us that Dale has had dealings with Hamar Maltök of the Bel-Naig, a warrior community. They have had some contact, but mainly know of him by reputation. It is an Easterling name. They also tell us of another village in the area which is a free village without a headman, Lunn Doring. Not really a community in and of itself, but more a neutral marketground where the various communities meet to trade. If we spread word there it is very likely that it will reach the right places very quickly.

COMMENTARY: The original adventure just features Lunn Doring, but I added a couple of other groups as well. The idea was to have the PCs visit them first, and then discover what happened to the village. As it turned out, they went there first. Here's the map I put together for them (note that Bel Naig is an area, since Hamar Maltök's people are semi-nomadic):



Beran deduces from the conversation and the attitude and antagonism of the Men that the Master of Lake-Town (and his secretary) are worried that if the King Of Dale sends the invitation personally it will be seen as a claim on the Nether Marches by Dale. By both of them sending us together as an independent party, Lake-Town are asserting that the marches are still not under the control of Dale and thus that Lake-Town is not alone as an independent power to Dale's south and east.

The Bride and I use our prosperity to purchase pack ponies for the journey. However our knowledge of the terrain is not very strong so we try our best to plan a general route to the South East and hope for the best.

[We all failed a lore roll for travel at this point and so none of us have any idea of the area or contacts who might direct us.]

[Before we set out I spent two treasure points to purchase some small, fine statuettes to offer to the two chiefs we are going to speak to.]

COMMENTARY: This, as well as the Bride's purchasing of ponies, was pretty good roleplaying and gave an opportunity to use the temporary prosperity rules, which otherwise don't seem to be much use.

As she bids farewell to her soldier friends the Bride finds out some information about Elstan: he is a leader of Dale's armies and a very popular man, a symbol of the future along with his King. A very useful man to have as a friend.

--

We set out on our journey away from the Lake, for the first week of our travel we are travelling through hilly and partially broken lands of the Upper Marches, the area between the Iron Hills and Mirkwood and the Long Marshes. It is hilly farmland and alternates between Hills with low and wet valleys to the south, and broken scrubland to the north. We make good speed, as it is not a very dangerous area at all.

We travel through the Upper Marshes, I am having a wonderful time, enjoying the scenery and delighting in being out in the open away from the river and the woods; regular breaks for food makes the journey wonderfully exciting. The Bride is having a harder time, being so far away from the woods and out under the open sky puts her very much out of her element and she is constantly on edge, as the journey progresses and we move into the nomadic lands the feeling of discomfort intensifies at the loss of any fixed villages.

[Trotter got a great success on one of his Travel rolls, whereas the Bride failed.]

We have been travelling for around twelve days now and are getting well into the Upper Marches. Beran sets off away from camp to scout out the surrounding countryside to try and find any leads to direct us to Lunn Doring, the fixed market settlement. He has a bit of a weak start but perseveres and manages to find some information. He returns to the group with the information he has gathered and we resume our travels along the route he has found.

[Beran has to spend a hope to boost his miserable Explore roll. For the rest of the journey they exchange roles, with the Bride taking over as Scout. She soon gets a great success.]

One day as the Bride is keeping her eyes on the horizon she spots a strange haze on the horizon and as we get closer we see that the haze is smoke, Lunn Doring has been razed to the ground!

Second Session

The Bride continues to creep closer to the site and sees people moving around the ruins. Utilising her woodsman's skills she manages to remain completely unseen as she sneaks virtually up to the settlement.

[Bride makes a great success on Stealth roll.]

She gets close enough to see that there are mounted figures moving around the settlement, they are dressed in local clothing and the footmen are burying bodies. She can see they are talking, but it unable to make out what is being said.

[Bride makes a great success on her Battle roll.]

Using her knowledge of how forces act after combat she is certain that the people moving through the gutted wreckage are not the attackers, and are friendly forces trying to give the villagers a decent burial.

[The bride makes a successful Awe check.]

Stepping out of the woods, the Bride proudly identifies herself as a warrior of renown. The defenders react immediately and draw weapons, but their officer quickly overrides their response noting that she is not an Easterling. The leader asks what sort of message she has to deliver and identifies himself as Beoric of Celduin. If she assists with the work here she can accompany them to Celduin and speak with the master of the town who would be the only leader that they can address to now that this town is burned out.

COMMENTARY: Those of you who have read Tales from Wilderland will notice I'm seeding things for later here.

The bride asks to return to her camp and retrieve her companions, the Captain agrees and assigns a young ensign to escort the Bride just to be certain that she is not a spy and about to report the state of the town to aggressors.

[The Bride fails her Persuade check.]

She asks what has happened to the town, but the Captain doesn't trust her enough to reveal that sort of information, and tells her that all will be revealed at Celduin.

The Bride and her charge return to our camp and explains that she has discovered the ruin of Lunn Doring, but we have been offered safe passage to Celduin. We greet the guard and have a brief drink of tea to empty out our kettle and then strike our camp and travel to the site of Lunn Doring.

When we arrive things are much the same, the soldiers are finishing off their simple ceremonies of interning the dead and building small kerns over the graves to keep the animals out. Beoric advises that we should leave as soon as possible to avoid a possible second attack by the Easterlings, who he tells us have been responsible for a lot of attacks.

We agree and depart as soon as we are certain the dead are buried. We head off to the Southwest, heading towards the river, the ground slowly sloping downwards into a river valley. We camp out for a night and have a very early start the next morning, and by midday we see a settlement on the river at the base of the valley. Following the group we head down into the town itself, most of the buildings in the town resemble the style of the Northmen of Dale, but the toll bridge over the river is of a quite different style. It looks a lot older than the rest of the town. The Bride is reminded of ruins that she may have seen in the forests of Anduin, her homeland down south. It is made of clean white stone and is very impressive.

Entering the town proper we notice a group of people, some sort of reception committee who have come out to meet the group. There is a very old man leading the group who is lead by a pair of 12 year old girls who support his weakness and seem to be acting as his eyes, which are squinting. Beoric speaks to the man and gestures towards us, at a signal the two girls lead the old man towards the Bride. He peers closely at the bride and introduces himself as the master of this town, and that Beoric has told him that we have a message for him.

The Bride presents herself as a messenger of the King Of Dale who requests the presence of the chieftains of this land to be present at the upcoming celebrations of the Five Armies.

[The bride fails her Courtesy roll.]

The old man bridles at the invitation, asking for a reason why he should grovel at the feet of Dale? The bride, excuses her rough behaviour on account of her being a woman of deeds and not well used to speeches, but that I, her companion can deliver the message.

[I succeed my Courtesy roll.]

I play up the invitation not as a command of a King, but as an invitation of equals, the old man's ego swells at being invited as an equal of a King and he is immediately much kinder to us, while being rather more trouble to his wards who he leans upon a little harder. He accepts the message and directs us to the Inn at the Crossings and gives us an invitation to attend dinner later.

COMMENTARY: We've generally not found much use for the Tolerance rules, preferring to play encounters by ear rather than force them into a framework.

The Captain leads us to the inn, a large stone structure near the toll bridge for travellers. The Master returns to his own large house closer to the centre of town.

It is a stone walled building and second to the Master's house the largest in town. Beoric introduces us to the innkeeper and then says he will return to bring us to the feast, but for now he must speak with the Master about the events at Lunn Doring.

I speak to the innkeeper about the town to try and get some information, he cannot tell me anything in detail, but there are rumours of an ancient kingdom from the south which built the bridge. He is very dismissive of the Easterlings: it is in their nature to attack anything that is not peaceful. He tells me that Lunn Doring used to be a temporary trading place, not a permanent settlement. During the winter when there is no trade it vanishes. He wouldn't be surprised if the Easterlings had disguised themselves as a caravan to sneak up on the settlement. Apparently the Easterlings have only really been riled up recently, there was some trouble after the Battle Of The Five Armies, but he cannot think of any reason that the Easterlings would have become active recently.

[I make a critical success on my Riddle roll as I press the talk.]

I ask him about Lunn Edgwin and he happily tells me that the settlement is further north than Lunn Doring. Scowri the black isn't the best warrior, but is a clever man. Scowri definitely knows a lot of people as part of his trading: they are not very strong and so his diplomacy skills have made his people useful to more powerful tribes to keep them safe. Scowri might attempt some duplicity and use his chance to pass on the invitations for the Gathering to selectively choose his allies.

COMMENTARY: I was trying to set up Scowri and Hamar Maltök as contrasting powers: one a cunning plotter leading a market village, the other a warrior, leading a half-Easterling semi-nomadic people. I wanted to give the impression of a frontier region, with lots of different communities trying to survive. I was thinking a bit of Deadwood here.

I decide that there is just enough time for some afternoon tea before the feast and while away the afternoon with gentle snacking. Eventually a woman who introduces herself as Amadisa, wide of Beoric, arrives at the inn to fetch us for the feast.

She leads us back to the Master's house, a large, long house of stone. It is larger than the entirely stone-wrought inn, but in contrast only its lower levels are stone, the higher parts being constructed of elegantly carved wood.

The main hall is already set up with large dining tables and there is a large cauldron bubbling with meat stew in the corner. Beoric is seated a one of the lower tables. Up at the high table is seated the Master of the town, and another person who looks to be his son.

We are seated at one of the low tables, quite far down the social order.

Eventually the Master stands and toasts the warriors, speaking of their strength and how they protect Celduin's freedom. The Master strikes a bit of a sour note when he compares its strength to Lunn Doring's weakness.

[Beran gets an extraordinary success on an Insight roll.]

Beran's flash of insight allows him to notice that not only is the Master a bit of a swine for this declaration, but he also notices that Beoric is very, very uncomfortable with the stament. He is quite ashamed of being praised at the expense of some other settlement's misfortune.

He wraps up his speech with the news of our arrival and the glorious news that he has been invited to the Gathering Of the Five Armies by the King Of Dale as an equal. He then offers the bounty of his table to all his guests and everyone digs in heartily.

The tables are occupied solely by men and the women are all busy serving. I dig in cheerfully and am delighted by the quality of the food, this town must be a trading post as there are plenty of spices from different parts of the world seaoning their food. We are seated at one end of a long trestle table. The bride offers toasts to anyone who walks past and attempts to be sociable.

[The bride fails an Awe roll for her dog, but makes her own Awe roll.]

Her dog is enjoying the extra food being thrown to the floor and attempts to mount one of the bitches also at the feast, but is rebuffed and snapped at, and retreats back to the Bride's side. However the bride is readily accepted at the table and has a group of people gathered around her listening to her tales of wild adventure in the woods. Amadisa is very impressed by my appetite and between mouthfuls we have a discussion over the different types of flavouring on show.

After a while Beoric approaches Beran and asks him what our plans are. Beran takes a healthy swig of ale and wipes dregs off his face and then talks about his plans to journey next to Lunn Edgwin with a hope of finding another fine feast. Beoric explains that the reason he is interested is that he is growing dissatisfied with the Master's response to the Easterling raids: the Master is simply defending his own town and not being proactive about the whole issue. Beoric would like us to carry some word of the Easterling threat back to Lake-Town and see if anything can be done about this threat.

The master is resistant to Beoric's proposals to form an alliance with the other local tribes to deal with the the Easterling threat, content to just defend the town itself. Beoric suggests that as the Master is a proud man, the suggestion that dealing with the threat might raise Celduin's standing, might convince him to respond to the threat. Beoric is very worried that unless something is done about the Easterlings their incursions will grow more bold and eventually the whole area will be at risk. He is convinced that one decisive battle which pushes the Easterlings back across the river might dissuade them from further aggression.

After the dining is done, the bride joins in with the other warriors in physical challenges of prowess.

[The bride wins an opposed barehanded combat roll.]

The bride wins a challenge and soundly bests one of the local warriors to the jeers and cheers of his companions. Beran and I watch and enjoy some post-dinner pipeweed and drinking.

COMMENTARY: I'm trying to set up the idea of athletic competitions as a cultural fixture, in preparation for The Golden Prize section of The Crossing of Celduin.

As the feast starts to wind down we see the that the Master at his high table, while unable to leave the feast until all his guests are gone, is gently sleeping, but his son wakes him up and we talk.

[I make a great success on my Persuade roll.]

I talk to the Master about the security of the local realm and how his standing would be greatly improved as a protector of the region driving back the Easterlings.

I'm not quite able to persuade him of the tactical advantage of defending the entire area over the safety of the town, however he does concede that we can take his son and a selection of warriors from the village, and should we be able to unite more warriors under his banner, we can defeat the Easterlings.

The Master decides that he would like to retire to his bed at this point and, rising from his table signals everyone else to return to their home.

I meet Beoric before we leave and tell him of my progress with the Master; he thanks us for our effort and is grateful that we have made some progress at all. He says that we shall talk further on the matter in the morning and we return to the inn to sleep.

--

We enjoy a good night's sleep at the inn recovering somewhat from the fatigue of our journeys thus far. The next morning we rise for a rather modest breakfast and during our meal Beoric passes by the inn and tells us that he has been granted a small force of people to accompany us on our journey. He says that our plan to speak to Scowri the Black is a good one, but that we should not approach him first, we would need to be in a position of strength before he would throw his lot in with us. He asks for any other names we might have been given and I reveal that we were asked to seek out Hamar Maltök of Bel-Neig, he reveals that Maltök is actually an Easterling name.

The master has granted us a small force of about 20 warriors, about half of the town's men and that we can be ready to depart within the hour. Beoric calls the inkeeper over to ask about Hamar and Bel-Neig, but the inkeeper is at a loss and offers to speak to a traveler that he knows has been up north recently.

The traveller comes over to our group and introduces himself and says that he has met Maltök. A warrior tribe of northmen with some Easterling blood, Bel-Neig itself tends to move nomadically, but if we look in an area far north, close to the Iron Hills we should be able to locate him. He is a well known name in that area.

--

We set out to the North, scouting around and attempting to find Bel-Neig.

[Bride succeeds in an Explore roll]

The bride offers her services to the group as a scout and ranges ahead of the group to find the of Bel-Neig. Passing through various smaller settlements and speaking to shepherds on route she manages to refine the direction of our travel.

[Bride succeeds her Explore roll again, Beran fails.]

We continue riding North, Beran and the Bride go out scouting and the Bride manages to catch more talk and directions further narrowing down where people have seen the nomads. Beran rides off in the morning and eventually returns having got thoroughly lost.

[Bride succeeds her Explore roll, Beran fails.]

Another day of travelling and the Bride's continued scouting is starting to yield actual eye witness reports allowing us to be confident of our destination. The wide rolling plains are starting to give away to the slopes of the Iron Hills when we see Bel-Neig.

The settlement itself is very different to the others we have seen, it is a ring of reinforced wagons drawn up in concentric circles to form a temporary settlement. Looking down on it from the hill we have crested we see a gap in the wagon ring which then funnels attackers around to the opposite end of the ring before reaching the opening to the inner area.

COMMENTARY: I based this partly on Hussite lagers, but adapted to take account of a semi-nomadic people who live in wagons. I wanted to give them an Easterling flavour.

The reputations we have been picking up on during our travels portrays Hamar as a proud man of his word, leader of a strong warrior people. Violent and a bit cruel, but generally an honourable man. Other locals are a bit suspicious of them because they have mixed blood.

We decide to approach them with Beran and The Bride in a show of strength, introducing themselves by elicitng mutual respect for each other's strength, while the rest of the force stays in sight, but at a respectful distance.

The pair stride towards the camp and address the gatesmen.

[Beran rolls a great success on his Awe.]

The gatekeeper is suitably impressed by the northman and asks them to surrender their weapons before they are lead to Hammar Maltok. They reach the very centre of the Lager and find a very large well embroidered tent, the guard disappears inside the tent for a few moments then reemerges and bids them to enter but the Bride's dog has to stay outside. As they are approaching Beran tries to size up the force and arrives at the impression that they are a decent, strong warrior people.

Inside the tent is fully furnished, there is a firepit and chairs and cushions. On the other side of the tent there is a raised dais and a stool on it. Upon which is sat a large man, as big as Beran. He introduces himself as Hamar Maltök and bids them to speak their piece.

COMMENTARY: I drew this idea from images of Asian rulers like the Mongol khans.

[Beran makes a successful Persuade roll.]

Beran presents the invitation to Hamar with a bent towards making the invitation an opportunity to be seen as present at such an auspicious gathering as that of the Five Armies. Hammar asks for some assurances that he will be welcomed at this event as his people are not readily accepted in the company of Northmen.

[Beran makes an extraordinary Awe roll.]

As he lists off the luminaries and great heroes and legends which will be present at the event, Beran successfully impresses Hammar who is honoured to be considered as part of such an auspicious gathering.

--

Up on the hill the son of the Master is getting very antsy and frustrated wondering why he, as a leader of the party, is not in the party speaking to Hammar.

[I spend Hope to make a successfull Riddle roll.]

I manage to convince the young Master that my comrades are simply laying the groundwork of an introduction for a great lord such as himself and invite him to join me in tea which seems to calm him down.

COMMENTARY: I'm playing this scenario as largely diplomatic, so in order to create a challenge for the PCs I try to make the potentates as varied as I can: one honourable warrior, one cunning wheeler-dealer and, in the Master and his son, people who are playing out of their league (and therefore brittle and insecure, although for different reasons).

--

Back in the tent the Bride is making a grand impression on Hamar, impressing him with her feats and tales of the west. He is particularly impressed by her wandering and strength, a woman to his own tastes. Eventually The Bride leads the conversation around to the sack of Lunn Doring and the attack by the Easterlings. Hamar is quite worried by this as any misbehaviour by Easterlings usually comes back to them.

COMMENTARY: The implicit racism of some of LotR has always bothered me, but it can't really be removed from the setting. So Hamar and his people give me an opportunity to address it organically as part of the plot.

[The Bride rolls a Gandalf rune on her riddle.]

The Bride manages to persuade Hamar that joining in the force repelling the Easterlings would put them beyond suspicion of collusion and be another great victory for the Bel-Neig.

Hamar says that it would be possible to take the entire community and its wagons after the Easterlings, tracking them back from Lunn Dorring, but that this would be slow and they might not be able to surprise the enemy. The Bride is not able to give a satisfactory answer as to any plan, but her rousing response of just heading for battle regardless delights him and he asks if she has a husband.

The talks conclude with Hamar agreeing to assume command of the force and lead us in our battle. He rises from his stool and the pair are granted permission to camp near the wagons and are led back outside where they return to our hilltop.

--

[The bride fails an Insight roll, Beran fails and Trotter passes.]

During our talks I have got the impression that the Young Master's heart is in the right place and he does want to be brave and be a leader, but I don't think he has the experience to pull it off.

The Bride and Beran report their success in delivering the invitation and that Hamar Maltök has agreed to join us in our quest to combat the Easterlings. She goes on to say that Hamar has opted to lead the group.

We return back to the camp, it is evening and people and sitting around the campfire, the young master is impatient for news of the negotiations. Beran sits him down and speaks to him gravely, warrior to warrior, he tells the Young Master that this is a good opportunity to learn from a proven warrior and become a more masterful warrior. He agrees that it would be suitable to allow the barbarians to fight it out between themselves while better people with more subtlety would take the opportunity to learn from Hamar.

COMMENTARY: All three players did really well here, first pitching the issues to Hamar, and then making sure the Master's son didn't get too upset about not being the leader.

We discuss the tactics of any pursuit with Beoric and he believes that the entire caravan will just slow us down and get us noticed, so he is of the opinion that we should only take what warriors we can, however Hamar needs to make the decision of how best to defend the rest of his people.

Very nice write up Ovid. I really like how you're using Shadow Over Dale here.

In particular, the commentary is really interesting. It's great to see your thinking and how you're foreshadowing future events etc. Very helpful. You've given me lots of good ideas for my own campaign, which is greatly appreciated.

I very much look forward to reading more of this Fellowship's adventures.

Thanks for the kind words, Fictionaut! I'm never sure how interesting/useful these things are to others.

Trotter's account continues...

Third and Fourth Sessions

The next morning we all return to the lager to present the Master's Son to Hamar Maltök. Beran convinces the Young Master that it is good to show respect to the new commander, and he agrees to the extent that he will meet Hamar at his own camp's gate. Maltök accepts that this gesture of deference is good for the group's moral so our meeting takes place at the entrance to the lager.

[I make a great success on a lore role while thinking about the problem of defending the lager.]

Thinking about the problem of the different peoples I realise that the people of the lager are likely to be very distrustful of settled people, so it would take an order from their chieftain to get them to band together at Lunn Edgwin.

As the Master's Son has such a good rapport with Beran he stands in as the advisor, whispering our suggestions to the Master's Son in the negotiations.

[Beran makes a successful Persuade roll.]

We propose the idea through the Master's Son that Hamar could move the lager to Lunn Edgwin to be defended by Scowri leaving more of his fighting men free to come with us in our battle against the Easterlings.

We finalise our discussions and settle on the plan that the lager will move towards Lunn Edgwin while we and Beoric go on ahead to announce the plan to Scowri.

The journey is relatively easy going and we know the direction of travel so we make pretty good time and no one is overly worn by the journey.

[The Bride passes her Explore test.]

Forging ahead of the party the Bride is able to find good directions to Lunn Edgwin and we arrive without any incident.

The area around Lunn Edgwin is very flat and the settlement itself is built on the only hill in the area; it might even be a man made one. It is surrounded by a stockade and is about of a size with Celduin, although it is more clustered around the centre of the hill. We are greeted at the gates of the stockade by some guards who ask us to identify ourselves.

[The bride fails her Awe roll but spends a hope point to carry her reputation.]

The Bride steps forward to the gate and proudly introduces herself as a warrior of renown; the guards are overwhelmed by her presence and while one of them stares in wonder the other runs to fetch Scowri The Black. Eventually a group of eight men walk down from the centre of town, led by a very slight person who is very finely dressed in black.

COMMENTARY: Scowri's actually a woman passing as a man, but only Beran found this out on a successful Insight roll and he didn't do anything with this information.

He passes his eyes over the group and accepts our introduction with a bit of surprise at the presence of an Easterling in our group, but he bids us enter his hall and he will hear our petition. The path leads up to a large wooden hall with a thatched roof, as we enter Scowri has already entered and is seated on a throne.

[I pass my Courtesy roll presenting the invitation of the king.]

I eloquently present the invitation and he agrees to the invitation to the gathering.

[I spend a point of hope to put conviction into my words while telling him about the campaign against the Easterlings and pass my Persuade test.]

I continue my speech to convey our plans to push back the Easterlings, he is convinced by the logic of my intent to force the campaign against the Easterlings, but he doesn't think that the merchant men of Lunn Edgwin will be of much use in a fight. So I propose that instead he just guards the lager while Hamar Maltök's men take the fight to the enemy. Scowri's advisors talk vehemently with him for a few moments but he waves them away and agrees to defend the half-Easterlings with a smile.

[Bride fails Riddle, Beran passes Insight, Trotter spends Hope to pass Insight with great success.]

As I ponder the strangeness of his response, I realise that all of his advisors are against protecting half-Easterlings, but Scowri is agreeing with it because he has no interest in prejudice and is solely focussed on getting Hamar Maltök into his debt.

[Bride fails her Inspire check.]

The bride steps forwards at this point and while she is grateful for Scowri's help she tries to inspire him into taking part in the battle to be a part of legends in the days to come. Scowri is amused by her outburst but remains strong in his view that the responsibilities of leadership require him to keep his armies to protect his people, not to go to war for his own dreams of glory.

I continue my discussion attempting to separate Hamar Maltök from the request to protect the lager so that he remains out of debt in this situation. The news that he will not be directly gaining influence with Hamar deflates him a little, but he swiftly rethinks his position and realises that as Envoys of Dale, helping us will put the King of Dale in his debt. I move swiftly to disabuse him of this belief as well, stating that we are just free men acting in the defence of free men everywhere to try and live up to the legends that have gone before us. The news that he has no real way to gain from the situation has completely cooled him off on the situation and he retires to consult with his advisors.

We return to the rooms he has granted us with slightly heavy hearts. We realise that Scowri wants to get some sort of leverage out of the situation and I have removed Hamar and the King of Dale from the options. Beoric states bluntly that he will not allow us to negotiate anything from Celduin to garner favour. However he does remind us that we seem to have the ear of a great many influential people in the west, surely our connection must be worth something even if we cannot directly put out employers into the debt of others.

COMMENTARY: I was using Beoric as something of a LM's mouthpiece here. I thought it was appropriate, since I was more or less freely inventing the politics of the marches, so it was my responsibility to get the players the info they needed to make decisions.

We continue with our deliberations into the evenings and come up with a plan to offer Scowri an introduction to the king, along with tales of his martial prowess which the king would respect as well as backing for a plan to make Lunn Edgwin the centre of trade.

--

The next morning one of the gate guards leads us into the main hall again, but we are lead into a sitting area off to the side where Scowri is sat on a folded stool just finishing his breakfast. He is enjoying some pipeweed after the good repast and waves us in to be seated with him. The area is very opulent and clearly designed to impress visiting traders and inspire awe in warriors.

COMMENTARY: I based this scene on historical examples of rulers granting audiences over breakfast or even while dressing.

He opens negotiations saying that he has been considering our proposals and that while he would like to help and throw the Easterlings over the Redwater river, he cannot see how it would be possible.

I join him in smoking and we make our arguments promising to introduce him to the king at the gathering.

[The bride fails her Persuade roll]

The bride fails to persuade Scowri that he will be held in great esteem by the King for being a warrior. He wants to know how his men's death on the field will be relayed to the King when Hamar Maltök is already known as the great warrior and will likely garnish all the glory.

COMMENTARY: We should have been using the Encounter rules for this, but they don't really fit with our group's freeform style.

[At this point we are in danger of failing negotiations so the bride uses her forthright trait to deliver her argument bluntly for automatic success.]

The bride tells him that when it comes down to the line, the battle will be won by the side that has the greater numbers and we will be presenting that report to the king. It is in his best interest to be amongst those we report favourably of. Scowri cracks a smile at the bluntness and seems to relax for the first time in the discussions, appreciating that we are getting down to motivations at last. He agrees in our interpretation of how he would like to be reported in his meeting with the King and agrees to both defend the lager and to give us some of his best scouts who know the area closer to Lunn Doring better than Hamar's men would. We assure him that we will paint his scouts in the best possible light.

Satisfied that he will get significant renown with the King out of these negotiations Scowri dismisses us, and goes off to arrange for supplies for the soon to arrive lager. He advises that we should go out and meet the arriving refugees and report our success which we agree to.

COMMENTARY: Scowri could have done more, but because the group had failed so many rolls and relied on a Trait in the end, I decided to limit his help to some scouts.

We meet up with the lager a day or so away from Lunn Edgwin and then accompany it back to the village where Scowri and Hamar meet outside the town and exchange pleasantries. There is a brief bit of reticence from Hamar at the thought of being put into Scowri's debt, but I am adamant that the deal for protection has been struck by me and I took full responsibility for his people, none of it can come back to Hamar and I will not accept Scowri making a liar of me.

We retire for the night and start to formulate our plans to be discussed by the leaders the next day. We think that the most likely situation is that the Easterlings have crossed the river at one of the natural crossings or by boat and have set up a temporary camp and are raiding the local area from their camp. Hamar Maltök is reasonably confident that the raiders will be horsemen and thus will steer away from the woodlands to our north east, so we resolve to scout to the southeast towards the fork of the two rivers checking any known narrow points on the Redwater as well as known docking places.

The leaders accept our plans and after some minor haggling and bickering over positions and responsibilities and the next day the scouts ride out early while the rest of the force sets off at a slower pace. The men of Celduin are assigned as lookouts for the convoy and managing the safety of our camps when we pitch.

[The Bride makes a great success on her Explore roll.]

The bride elects to ride with the scouts as she feels too restless being with the column. They make a mounted sprint east to the Redwater and then trot southwards along the bank. Along the way they find a great many settlements moving out of the area and fleeing west. There are lots of groups talking of Easterling raids and they begin to get clearer and more detailed including how they crossed the river. The rumours are a bit fuzzy on where the Easterlings are at this moment, but are a bit more concrete on where they originally crossed. Deciding that there is little point in knowing where the crossing was after so long, The Bride and the scouts follow the rumours southwards to locate the current encampment. Along their route they find burned-out, isolated farmsteads; the Easterlings don't appear to be striking at any other larger settlements, but the carnage is definitely their work, probably to secure provisions.

[The Bride makes a great success on her Hunting roll.]

At one of the burned-out farmsteads The Bride finds a trail of a small group, maybe a dozen men, leading away from the ruin. She takes her group of scouts and follows the trail. After a short while following the trail she sights a group of riders on the horizon, and realising that her numbers are not sufficient to engage directly she directs her group to shadow them discretely with an aim to take them at night when they camp.

They follow the riders southwards along the Redwater and as they crest a small hill and ride down into a hollow she discovers a much larger camp of between 100 and 200 Easterlings. They have built a perimeter of strongpoints dispersed around the camp to break up any incoming charges. On one side of the encampment is a penned-in horse corral. The rest of the ground is covered with tents and other temporary lean-tos.

The Bride makes a note of everything and then leads her group of scouts back to the meeting point with the rest of the force.

Armed with her report we review our options. Our numbers are almost the same as theirs with the entirety of the Bel Naig with us. We have 50 scouts who are are proficient at keeping quiet, 100 soldiers who are better at horseback fighting, but are also strong on food, 50 men from Celduin who are a foot force militia.

We settle on a plan of having a small group of men sneak into the corral and tie ropes onto a fence section and runs it over to the mounted scouts outside. The force of Celduin stands ready at the other end of the camp ready to charge on foot. The infiltrators will start screaming and shouting and scaring the horses towards the camp and the fence which the scouts will have pulled down giving the horses a way to flee. Once the horses are clear the Bel Naig and Scout cavalries will ride through the now empty corral and hit the camp while the Celduin foot strikes from the other direction. The Bride and trotter will sneak in with the scouts to scare the horses; Beran will be with the footmen.

COMMENTARY: I was using the fan-made mass battle rules here, although again fairly fast and loose. I'd deliberately set up various elements within the camp for the PCs to react to and exploit, and they did well to make them part of their plan.

[Battle Roll. Trotter, Gandalf. Bride, fail. Beran, fail.]

[The Bride spends a point of hope to keep quiet, Trotter rolls Gandalf and a great success.]

Our scouting group manages to sneak into the corral without being seen.

[Trotter spends a point of hope on a Craft roll to help the Bride in breaking down the fence. The bBide just cuts into it with her axe.]

The fence breaks and collapses outwards, the racket we make breaking down the fence has roused some of the guards from the camp side of the corral and they move in to investigate. As soon as the fence is down the infiltration group light torches and start to scream and whoop. The Bride's Beast Lore allows her to panic the horses and they start to stampede out into the camp and through our broken fence. The infiltrators press themselves against the side of the stockade as our cavalry charges in headlong after the stampeding horses.

[Beran fails his Inspire roll.]

The men of Celduin are not very well trained soldiers and it takes a while for them to get their act together in the dark, but they do start a careful advance into the camp.

[Cavalry Roll FEAT DIE + 3d6 + 4 against 11. I roll 22 with no great success.]

The cavalry sweeps in through the corral like a storm, there is confusion and chaos inside the Easterling camp where they are still trying to work out what is happening from the stampede. The men of Bel Naig lay about them furiously hacking into the milling, confused forces.

[Easterlings roll FEAT DIE + 2d6 and get 5.]

The Easterlings try to rally but they are floundering in panic and are largely ineffectual.

[Infantry roll Feat 3D6 + 4 against 11. Beran rolls 25]

Beran and the Celduin men march in from the other end of the camp striking the confused Easterlings and contributing to the chaos without making too great an impact.

The Bride and I see an Easterling chieftain attempting to rally his forces as well as a small group of Easterlings attempting to get their horses. On the other side of the camp Beran can see the chieftain outside his large tent as well as a knot of Easterlings who have rallied in defence on their own.

Beran directs his fighting wedge towards the small knot of men. The Bride and I swing round our skirmish line and engage the enemy Chieftain.

COMMENTARY: As part of the mass battle rules, the PCs get an opportunity at individual acts that might affect the outcome.

[Bride rolls a great success with her Axe skill.]

The Bride enters an open combat stance and swings her axe at the Chieftain while he is trying to rally his forces, the blow strikes him by surprise he stumbles back from the blow in shock.

[Chieftain rolls a great success with Eye Of Sauron. The bride rolls her armour save and does not become wounded, but she does lose 9 endurance.]

The Chieftain regains his feet and returns a heavy cut to the bride, it does not pierce her armour but the blow is heavy and pushes her back.

[Beran fails his Awe roll for Initimidation and the defenders manage to roll a hit and he takes 4 endurance damage.]

Beran charges into the clump of defenders roaring in defiance, however the Easterlings are stout warriors and stand their ground.

[Trotter rolls Gandalf Rune and a great success on bow skill. Landing 5 + 4 endurance and a piercing blow.]

Trotter loses an arrow into the Chief, it is a good shot and it slams into his shoulder biting deep into armour and knocking him back onto his heels, he is looking incredibly ropey by this point.

[Cavalry roll feat + 3d6 + 4 against 14. The Bride rolls Gandalf and great success.]

The cavalry take a more defensive posture now that the element of surprise has worn off but continue a very powerful advance and cleave through the camp.

[Infantry rolls feat + 3d6 + 4 against 14: two great success and 24.]

The small group of men who stood against Beran's charge, rather foolishly, are swallowed up by the men of Celduin who crush through them and cut them to pieces.

The battle is now very well and truly running in our favour, only a few clumps of men are still holding out and they are separated and panicked.

[Bride rolls 10 + 2 great success with her axes.]

The Brude cleaves her axe deeply into the Chief and he stumbles to the ground bleeding out. Seeing this, the Easterlings break and flee screaming from the field. The men of Celduin are standing triumphant, their great charge reinforcing their courage and confidence along with the Young Master who fought alongside them (although to the back of the group). The scouts of Scowri the Black are sliding across the battlefield slitting throats of survivors as they go. The men of Bel Naig are roaring their triumph as they chase down survivors on the edge of the camp. Beran is slathered with gore and screaming triumphantly from his small pile of corpses.

--

The Bride searches the body of the Chief and claims his Saber and Shield as a trophy and all the fighters search throughout the ruins of the camps and tents to claim spoils of battle. We manage to recover some small trinkets and a few coins from the wreckage.

[We each claim a point of treasure.]

The men of Bel Naig are setting up some of the bodies as a warning and preparing to kill the captured Easterlings.

[I spend Hope on Persuade to roll 19]

I make an impassioned speech to Hamar Maltök telling him that this sort of horrific behaviour is beneath the Free Men of the north, my hope moves him and he agrees that we should be better than the Easterlings. He orders the bodies buried and the prisoners stripped of their property and released to carry the warning back across the river.

[Beran and the Bride make Corruption tests to resist the blood lust of battle. The Bride passes. Beran passes too. They both understand the battle had to happen, but are not consumed by the violence.]

With the battle won we camp nearby to get to some rest and then head back to Lunn Edgwin with the rest of our force. We are greeted in celebration by Scowri the Black at the news of our great victory. Over the feast I remind the three leaders that the invitation should be carried to all other leaders of the free men of the North, and they all agree, though how much we can rely on their promises will remain to be seen. We ride with the lager back towards the north as they return to their regular roaming grounds, then branch off and return to Lake-Town across the northern plains.

Our journey home is long and tiring, but largely uneventful. When we eventually return we are summoned to present ourselves to Oin and the secretary of Lake-Town and Elstan.

--

The three leaders listen to our report of the success of our mission as well as the extra report we deliver to them about our battle against the Easterlings to secure the eastern borders of the northmen.

Everyone is grateful for our efforts in delivering the message and astounded by our courage and success in driving back the Easterlings, they accept the promises we have given of introductions for the Chiefs and promise to carry the news back to their masters.

I entreat the secretary and Oin to get the men of the Lake-Town militia to help train me in my bowmanship and they have no objections and will put a word in with the head of the militia to allow me to get training over the coming months.

[Reward, one point of treasure each. We also gain 4 experience points from the 3 sessions of our journey and 1 for completing the mission.]

--

COMMENTARY: And that's that for Shadow Over Dale. All told, this went well. We were still getting used to some of the mechanics, but everyone had a good time and I think I got everyone a chance to shine (unlike in The Marsh Bell, where Beran got a bit neglected).

Next up will be the Gathering of the Five Armies and the start of TfW. We've already played them, but it will be a bit before I'll be able to post. Hope people like this so far.

Well, I can only speak for myself but, as I said, I find them very interesting and useful. So many thanks for another entertaining and informative update. Please keep them coming.

Will do. I've now added the map I gave the players to the first post.