For your consideration, I am presenting the notes for my first The One Ring RPG adventure. I based this on "The Fellowship of the Spear" by Ken Walton as presented in Hall of Fire #22 < http://halloffire.org/wp-content/uploads/2...07/Issue-22.pdf >. Several years ago, I ran this as an adventure series for use in a Middle-earth d20 system. It didn't run as smoothly as I had wanted (several of my players did not understand subtleties), so I thought I'd resurrect the idea(s) for use in my first TOR campaign.

I invite any thoughts or comments....

The Fellowship of the Spear

• When: The adventure is set in the early Spring of III 2993.

• Where: Erebor, Esgaroth, Dale, Rhosgobel, Moria, and Lórien.

• What: Ereinion Gil-galad was the last High-King of the Noldor when he fell at Mount Doom alongside his friend, Elendil, at the hand of Sauron in hand-to-hand combat in the Battle of Dagorlad. His favored weapon was a long spear: a long shaft of sturdy wood with an intricate blade of elf-crafted steel. While in battle, the blade shown with such a brilliant white light that it was named Aiglos (variously translated as ‘Snow-point,’ ‘Snowthorn’ or ‘Icicle’). This renowned weapon unfortunately was never recovered from the field of battle that day, being lost among the carnage – many feared forever, but it was not so.
Sometime before III 1981, the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm discovered the spear as a part of a great troll hoard in the Anduin Vales north of Lothlórien. Recognizing the weapon immediately and knowing of its great significance to the Elves, they took it into Khazad-dûm, the grandest and most famous of the mansions of the Dwarves. There, they intended to return it to its former glory and present it to the Elves as a token of goodwill between their peoples. But with the unleashing of the nameless terror that that came to be known as Durin's Bane, the spear disappeared into the treasuries of Durin’s Folk and was utterly forgotten when the great realm fell to shadow and flame.
At present, the reclamation of the Lonely Mountain has led to the discovery of a Dwarven document pertaining to the spear’s finding. The Kingdom under the Mountain is abuzz with the news that important documents have been discovered concerning some Elven artifact. It is rumored that King Dáin is dispatching agents to locate this artifact.

• Why: Although at first the company believes that they are responding to a solicitation for treasure hunters, the diplomatic envoy to Radagast in Rhosgobel instead provides an excellent opportunity for them to make a name for themselves.

• Who: The heroes will meet the famed wizard, Radagast the Brown, and Balin, one of the twelve Dwarves that accompanied Thorin Oakenshield on the Quest for Erebor.

Notable Events

• The documents are incomplete, yet Radagast believes that Balin, the leader of the new Moria colony, may be able to lend some aid if shown to him. He tells the heroes of the Spear of Gil-galad and where it is now to be found. He gives them back the document, and tasks them with traveling to Moria, meeting with Balin to request his aid in recovery of the spear, and finally returning it to the Elves in Lórien.
• Radagast does not know of the whole perilous situation in Moria: how little of the ancient settlement has been retaken, how dangerous a journey under the mountains will be, or the form of the great evil within its depths.
• News of a document concerning the of an Elven artifact soon found its way to the ears of Sauron. The news is garbled and incomplete, but the Dark Lord knows there is a document telling of the resting place of the artifact and that it is being carried from Erebor by a diplomatic envoy. He sends out his spies and one of the Nazgûl from Dol Guldur to claim the document and acquire the artifact before it falls into the hands of his enemies.
• None of the Wise know that a Nazgûl is in pursuit of the spear.

Suggested Hazards/Session Ideas

• The heroes’ rooms are broken into in the night by a thief looking for the document.
• The heroes are ambushed by spies of Sauron in the wilds.
• The heroes feel they are being watched as they travel, and realize that crebain are following them. They may be attacked by Orcs or wargs and wolves in the wild. The crebain may be sent as scouts by orkish raiding parties from the Misty Mountains.
• While camping in some ruins, the heroes are first stalked by a Nazgûl. If they confront it openly, they may be in serious trouble. To save them if they can’t escape, send in a party of wandering Noldor or possibly Gandalf.
• In some long abandoned Elven ruins, the heroes encounter spectres of the deceased, who entice them to their destruction but in turn show them to heroic weapons hidden in the ruins. Giant spiders, wargs, and/or wolves, or possibly other fey creatures inhabit the area and in underground passages beneath the city, the descendants of those Sauron used to attack the ruins.
• Once the heroes get to Moria, they find Balin ... he is friendly enough, but unwilling to spend much time looking for Aiglos – the Dwarves are too busy with their own concerns (i.e., keeping down the growing Orc menace). He may be able to lend the group a warrior or two (maybe replacement characters, if any characters have been killed), but the heroes are more or less on their own.
• The spear resides in the Twentieth Hall of the Dwarrowdelf, in the Seventh Deep. This area is infested with Orcs, so should give the heroes a challenge, both obtaining the spear and getting out again. They should have plenty of chances to actually try the spear out once they’ve got it.
• Once they’ve got the spear, they’ll need to get down to The First Deep and into the Dimrill Dale. On getting to the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, they find their way blocked by Orcs and a Cave Troll or more.
• Once outside, they find a host of Orcs, led by a Nazgûl (same as earlier if the previous encounter occurred), waiting for them. The Dwarves (and their allies, the woodmen from near the Anduin and Misty Mountains) rally to their aid and a large battle takes place. The heroes escape but many of the Dwarves are killed. With their numbers depleted, Balin’s party has no chance of staving off the Orc attacks later, so the players can feel they’ve played some part, if not a positive one, in the history of the War of the Ring.

**********

We conducted the character generation session last night. I have 5 players. The heroes are:

• Anar — a male Dwarven Slayer (Background: A Life of Toil).
• Beran — a 16-year old male Beorning Scholar (Background: Keeper of Tales).
• Hithriel — a female Elven Warden (Background: Wild at Heart).
• Saffron Gardener — a 40-year old female Hobbit Wanderer (Background: Restless Farmer).
• Treowine — a 19-year old male Woodman of Wilderland Warden (Background: Sword-day Counsellor).

If there is interest, I'll post session notes as the adventure progresses.

I'd absolutely be interested!

sounds pretty awesome. Couple of thoughts though:
- you may want to make the nazgul the chief foe or some lesser agent that the part can face off against as a continuing nemesis.

Also, why go through the western gate of Moria? I believe Balin came in through the east. it would make the most sense instead of crossing over the mountains.

I'm a bit confused:
first the heroes have to go to Rhosgobel, there Radagast send the party to Moria.
Then they hit Tharbad?
How come they have come to the other side of the Misty Mountains? And even not near the foot of the mountains... From then on the Western approach to Moria make sense, but if I'm not mistaken, there's a huge leap before that...
What I've missed?

I think that the parts of the adventure that occur west of the mountains are from the original scenario that starts in Eriador. They are easy enough to leave out.
I would suggest that a plot of this magnitude is certainly not for new characters. Travelling the blighted areas of the Long Marshes and the Old ForestRoad would be a walk in the park compared to travelling through the Mines of Moria using the current travel rules.

To work the party towards this grand adventure, you might have them come across another ravaged fellowship fallen in the course of its mission. This dying fellowship originally bore the task bestowed by Dain to find the spear.

Not completely understanding the mission these intrepid but doomed adventurers undertook, they quickly realize that King Dain commissioned them on a special quest. Recovering the last items of importance from the dying player-heroes, all that can be done is to bury them and see that these items (e.g., books, maps, special compass to home in on magical devices, whatever) are returned safely to the King Under the Mountain.

The adventuring back from your fellowships starting point to Erebor can be a process of introducing your players to the game, earning experience, and besetting them with strange and perilous circumstances that don't make sense. But, these hazards and dangers begin to bring home the urgency and gravity of the quest the original fellowship, doomed though it was, set out under.

When they finally arrive to seek audience with Dain, after some great encounter roleplaying, they are chosen to undertake the mission where others failed. And, now, they undertake it as a slightly more experienced fellowship.

Also, I would suggest making the of the spear uncertain because the dwarven documents are unclear as they now exist. This might produce an adventure to Dale to consult a scholar (another opportunity to use and develop skills in a non-combat situation), the wood-elf realm to work out some archaic text in High-elven speech beyond the normal ken (an opportunity to navigate a tricky encounter with a dwarf among elves), and ultimately Rhosgobel where Radagast helps them put the prices together. Again, more opportunities for the player-heroes to gain experience in a diverse area of skills before undertaking Moria.

Have you worked out yet what brought this intrepid group of adventurers together?

Regards,
E

Nice to see my old campaign ideas coming to light again! I never did get to run that campaign myself for the LOTR RPG. Maybe I should resurrect it for TOR!

Oops! That's just me not editing the original text properly to change the original direction of the campaign ... in the original version, the heroes came from Bree and entered Moria from the western side. Thanks for catching that!

I like the idea of a continuing nemesis. I don't think I'd use a Nazgûl, though. What do you think of some sort of Angmarim sorcerer like from Lord of the Rings Online? I hesitate to use this (as it might be way off target, canon-wise), but it's what first came to my mind.

And, confused you should be! I screwed up my edit and didn't change the direction from which the heroes would be coming. Again, thanks for catching.

You're right! :-) Bad edit!!! No treat for me!
BUT, I have now gone back and performed a quick edit in the original post.
I was thinking this adventure series may be rough for new heroes. This is the exact sort of feedback of which I hoped. Thanks to all ... keep 'em coming.

EXCELLENT ideas!!! I'm supposed to start my run on Saturday, Dec. 3rd. That evening we were going to test out a sample journey (which wouldn't count), two sample combats with surprise on for each side (which wouldn't count), and then we'd brainstorm the reason(s) for the company to have gotten together. Now, your ideas give me other ideas. I can do some of this (setting up the company first, of course) AND have it count (no wasted time). So, thank you!

Wow! Thanks for your original work! It has given me and my friends many hours of fun (so far) and will do so again.

I'm going to start my run tomorrow night. Taking Eluadin's advice, I've decided to run The Marsh Bell as the start of the company, changing the setting's time to that of the original campaign (i.e., the early Spring of III 2993). After the company finishes, but before returning to Erebor, they will "come across [the other] ravaged fellowship [that has] fallen in the course of its mission."

Fair winds on the outset of your adventure! And, I can't wait to hear more!

Regards,
E

Last night's session went really well! I love this game! It ran great and really captured the feel of Tolkien! My players really liked it, too! They even want me to "convert" my current Middle-earth d20 campaign to TOR. If the players I didn't invite to play TOR agree, I'll happily do it!

On with the session descriptions....

Again, the heroes are:

• Anar — a male Dwarven Slayer (Background: A Life of Toil).
• Beran — a 16-year old male Beorning Scholar (Background: Keeper of Tales).
• Hithriel — a female Elven Warden (Background: Wild at Heart).
• Saffron Gardener — a 40-year old female Hobbit Wanderer (Background: Restless Farmer).
• Treowine — a 19-year old male Woodman of Wilderland Warden (Background: Sword-day Counsellor).

One of my players was not able to make the session (Anar) as he had to work. I expect him to miss sessions until his work schedule settles down after the new year.

The Marsh Bell Spoiler(s) Alert!

I had to change the following items in The Marsh Bell in order to integrate it into my campaign's time setting:

• As Balin and Óin are otherwise engaged in Moria, the missing Dwaves are Gimli, son of Glóin, and Nár, son of Ónar. Having one of the missing Dwarves be Gimli really added impetus to Glóin's desire to locate them!
• Glóin is 210 years old. As such, he was more elderly and sported a full white beard.

As in other campaigns I have ran, I offered the players additional experience points if they write up session details from their character's viewpoint(s). I am expecting them this week. As I receive them, I'll add them to this thread to incorporate their reflections.

Per the players' own ideas, Beran and Saffron knew each other as Beran had rescued Saffron from a bear which had treed her. She had traveled all the way from the Shire to see the places she heard about from Bilbo. Hithriel and Treowine knew each other about 3 years prior to the start of the campaign, having become friends from hunting together. Shortly after Saffron's rescue, the four became fast friends. The new company decided to travel together to Lake-town in order to accompany Saffron on her site-seeing trip.

The heroes gathered at an Esgaroth inn, The Unbearable Shrew, named after the innkeeper's wife (one of the players suggested this name, referencing his ex-wife). Hearing of Glóin's plight, the company decided to offer their help. Saffron was quite excited to have the chance to meet Glóin, made famous by Bilbo's stories! Having heard of Glóin's prejudice towards her people, Hithriel opted to not visit the famed Dwarf and stayed behind at the inn. Treowine stayed behind, too, keeping his friend company.

Glóin was amused by the enthusiastic Hobbit, remembering his friend Bilbo fondly. He was, however, doubtful as to the capabilities of the pair of heroes ... "a boy who has never grown a beard" and "well ... uh ... well, you're a girl." But, remembering Thorin and Company's initial doubts as to Bilbo's inclusion in their company and how wrong they all ultimately were about the Hobbit, Glóin decided to relent and offered the pair the quest. He suggested that they get additional help, though ... he was happier when informed they had two other companions who were presently occupied, but who would be going on this quest. They did NOT indicate one was an Elf, though.

The company's travel south went well. Having regaled the Lake-men with the tale of Saffron and Beran's first meeting, the company did meet Nerulf. They did NOT, however, ever see the Elves who shadowed the company! They did pick up Gimli and Nár's trail, but did NOT discover the small ivory jewel case.

All-in-all there were good events and not-so-good events (brought about by good and bad dice rolls). Fun was had all around, though!

We ended the session with the heroes camping at Gimli and Nár's campsite (i.e., Balin and Óin's campsite) at the end of day 2 (LB, page 132). Next session will start with the Stone Troll encounter.

You seem to be having fun with your chronicle.

I laugh when I read about Glóin's comment regarding Saffron.

Seriously though, you've selected some great names for your NPCs, very Tolkien, & I also like the inn - The Unbearable Shrew.

I'm actually glad that they didn't spot the Elves shadowing them. When I read The Marsh Bell, I understand Francesco's intent with this encounter, but I like having the Elves be more difficult to spot (just a personal thing).

In addition, this is a great idea:

"As in other campaigns I have ran, I offered the players additional experience points if they write up session details from their character's viewpoint(s). I am expecting them this week. As I receive them, I'll edit this post to incorporate their reflections."

I've also always encouraged players to do this but never awarded them additional XPs, & I'm obviously going to have to plagiarize, er, incorporate this .

I cannot take credit for the names as I pulled them from a Names of Middle-earth document I got from someone at the Hall of Fire magazine several years ago and have been using ever since. I tell all of my players, "Unlike in our world, names in Middle-earth have meaning and power. As such, character names must be selected from this document." I do have the document saved on my own site ... for those who are interested, you can download the document at http://www.meetthenewboss.info/kent/midear...dle%20Earth.pdf .

Thank you, Mim! I hope it works for you.

As for it working for me, at present ... I'm still waiting for my players get back to me with their reflections ... Saffron's player told me she wrote it last night and "thought" she HAD e-mailed it to me ... she'll check tonight to see what happened. As for the others ... insert cricket noises here. C'est la guerre.

As promised, here is the session as experienced by Saffron Gardener....

Saffron Gardner's Diary
I grew up listening intently to Bilbo's stories of his great adventures among the Big Folk wishing that I could have been with him and have seen what he has seen.  Being the dutiful daughter, I remained the good little Gardener until I came of age.  At that point, I began my preparations for my own Grand Adventure.
When I turned the respectable age of forty, instead of seeking the boredom of marriage to some complacent fool unable to see the world from a hole in the ground, I went in search of adventure.  I headed far off from the Shire to the east, even to the Misty Mountains and into Wilderland beyond where, through a lucky circumstance, I made the acquaintance of a Beorning named Beran.  He came upon me at a most fortunate time as a rather large bear had taken umbrage at my harvesting of some blackberries and had chased me up a tree.  Beran convinced the bear that I was not a snack and, at some point between that and helping me climb down out of the tree, decided I was best not left on my own.
Beran and I traveled easily into Mirkwood.  Unfortunately, just like in Bilbo's stories, the place is rather infested by large spiders which were taking a serious interest in trying to eat us when we luckily were found by an elf -- a real elf -- named Hithriel and her human companion Treowine.  They were gracious enough to continue to travel with us through Mirkwood and beyond.  Treowine is an all right kind of fellow, but I asked Hithriel a couple of times if she was sure she was an elf because, well, no offense to her, but Bilbo's stories of elves was more cheerful than I have yet to see her be.   It is as if she has forgotten the joy and the wonder of the world.  I suppose I'll have to work on reminding her.
We arrived in Lake-town safe and sound.  While eating in the inn, we heard the dreadful news that Gimli, son of Glóin (of Biblo's fabulous stories) and Nár, son of Onár were missing.  Glóin, most worried about the safety of his son, was seeking adventurers to find out where he was.  Since folk of the Shire had helped out Glóin before, I felt it my duty as representative of my kind, to offer a Hobbit's assistance to him again.  As it was obvious from the stories -- and several things I heard in the tavern -- that he isn't much fond of elves, I figured it was best for Hithriel to wait elsewhere while I talked with Glóin.  Treowine decided to keep her company while Beran felt it best to come with me.
We sought out Glóin's house and met with the dwarf himself.  Glóin was a little concerned that we might not be up to the task since Beran seemed too young and I am female.  Though flattered he was nice enough to notice my femininity,  I reminded him that he was forgetting one fundamental fact -- I may be female but I am also a Hobbit and that accounts for much.  He acknowledged the wisdom of my words and relented, providing us with a starting point and a path to follow.  He gave us some papers to show the Lake-man, Hamar, so we could get boats.  He also advised we might need some help in our endeavor and I assured him that we have some.  I saw no need to mention that part of that help is an elf as it would do nothing but distress him and he is worried enough about his son as it is.
At a Lake-man village near a pretty set of waterfalls called the Stair of Girion, Beran made quite the impression by regaling the Lake-men with the story of how he and I met.  They were so impressed they introduced us to a very nice old man who provided words of sage advice, warning us to be on the lookout in the Long Marshes for plant called "gallows weed," a dangerous one that could grab people.  As I am the smallest of our company I am in all likelihood the least likely to be grabbed, but one always needs to be respectful of nature so as not to be caught unawares.
We traveled into the Long Marshes, in which it is most difficult to maintain one's optimism.  Beran started getting quite depressed, which will not do as Hithriel already has enough depression for herself and everyone else.  Even I felt a bit daunted the first day, but things are looking up as on the second day we found the remnants of a camp -- it has to be Gimli's.  I just know it does.

Ran another session this past Saturday. Note that there are spoilers for The Marsh Bell adventure!

Saffron Gardner's Diary
Figuring that our campsite being near Gimli's former one was most fortuitous, we settled down for a nice comfortable rest. I took the first watch and then woke Beran up for his turn. He does not wake well, usually a bit snarly and grumpily, but that's all right. As soon as he was awake enough to notice it was me, he most graciously reminded me we must be quiet so as not to wake the others, turned me into the direction of my blanket, gave me a gentle push in that direction and took over the rather dull and uneventful chore of watching he darkness.
I curled up and fell asleep almost instantly. I was having a rather interesting dream about a bright sunlit meadow full of pies. Odd thing about them is that they all had little legs and were frolicking about. Anyway, I was chasing a particularly tasty looking gooseberry one when I was awakened by Hithriel, who told me that something was causing Beran to act oddly.
I immediately hopped up to help my friend. As I started to approach where Treowine was trying to get Beran to return to camp and stop wandering about, a troll erupted out of a pond with the intent to hurt Beran. That will not do so the rest of us lept into battle to protect him. Hithriel shot it a couple of times and Treowyn hit it. Even Beran hit it. I, sadly, proved not useful in the fight at all, never even hitting it once. To make matters worse, I was unable to protect Beran from a traitorous blow by the beast. Blessedly my companions were able to defeat it and Beran was not as injured as I first feared. I think Beran spent a couple of hours that night cheering me up.
By morning I had shaken off my melancholy and the day was going fabulously well, continuing our journey through the swamps in our boat, Beran and me rowing one while Hithriel and Treowine scouted ahead. As we were traveling along, however, a very rude vine, one of those gallows weeds the old man warned us about, felt the need to pick on me... perhaps I had offended one of its relatives at some time with my pruning shears. Well anyway, at first it seemed playful, tickling me on the back of the neck as we went by. I giggled. Then for no good reason it wrapped around me and yanked me out of the boat, hugging me most fiercely. I did not enjoy its attentions and kicked in protest. It took the combined efforts of my companions to free me from its clutches. I do not think I kicked anyone but Hithriel did tell me to stop kicking.... so maybe I had. Anyway, once I was free of the bad foliage, I spent the next several hours in the bottom of the boat at Beran's feet, despite his repeated assurances that there were no more bad vines around.
I had just settled back into the comfort of companionship when we arrived at a ruined Big Folk town. Everyone, even the ever practical Beran, started talking about some nasty birds ... gore crows I think they were... and about hearing a bell. I did not get to see the birds, which Hithriel said were as big as me, nor did I hear the bell, despite my making every attempt to do so. We found the tracks of Gimli and Nar heading into the water and were preparing to follow them when the ever gallant Beran picked me up and put me on his back so my feet would not get wet. Well, they wouldn't have but the water became very deep and we had to swim under it. I, of course, hung on tightly... perhaps too much so as Beran had to lightly tap my arm to remind me to loosen my grip a little on his throat so he could better hold his breath.
We ended up in a large room. By now the bell had stopped, but I did find the pull for it. Hithriel said I should not pull it, no matter how much I wanted to hear it in case it would bring things where we were. I acknowledged the wisdom of her words, but figured maybe later it would be all right.
We had two likely directions to choose from - one passage had a golden glow coming down it while across from it was a passage with ornate carvings. We all tried to think like Dwarves because none of us are. I figured if I was a dwarf I would go to the ornate area because Dwarves like ornately carved things - especially when the carving is in stone. But then again, I have had few direct dealings with Dwarves -- none actually except for Gloin -- and the Big Folk seemed to think the golden glow direction was much more likely so that is the way we went. The passageway stunk -- not like a compost pile in the summer (which can be quite ripe if you know what I mean) -- but like old fish in an outhouse... very unpleasant if you ask me. So here we were wet in a stinky place and I had not even gotten to hear the bell. The day just could not get much worse.
We reached the end of a cramped dingy passageway where a poorly fitting door blocked most of the sight beyond when a creature came out -- the thing was something out of a nightmare - you know the kind you get when you have too much mead, milk, and wine and spend half of the night dreaming of creepy crawlies chasing you and the other half puking your guts out and swearing that you if you don't die from this you will never do anything like this again.... not that I would know anything of this first hand ... or anything. Well, back to my story ... this thing came out and Beran ... or Treowine hit it... it screamed and rushed back into the room, where thousands of glowing eyes turned to face us ... yes they actually GLOWED and three guesses what color they glowed..... gold.
Beran scooped me up and we dashed away into the hallway I had suggested before. While we were looking for a place to stand and fight we went down some stairs to a large reinforced door with scratches from the claws of those things chasing us on it. Beran put me down near the door and while the three Big Folk were debating what to do, I knocked on the door and announced that I was looking for Mr. Gimli and that I would like to come in if they did not mind since, well there were decidedly unfriendly creatures out here and I would prefer the company of whomever was inside. Beran looked at me a bit puzzled until he heard a gruff voice on the other side and some movement. Then the door opened and two dwarves motioned us quickly inside. It was a close thing but we got in and the door closed before the first of the creatures -- Marsh Dwellers according to Hithriel -- reached it. They proceeded to bang on the door but we ignored them because the door is quiet strong. I, of course, made the introductions and advised Mr. Gimli that I was here to rescue them and return them to his father. They were mightily hungry so we shared our food and drink with them as we began to formulate our plans to escape this place.

Very nice, seems like Saffron's player is getting immersed into character. The sort of thing that makes being LM a pleasure.

Yes, indeed. She even does this giggle-thing when she plays that is ... uh, so sickeningly sweet you want to pop her head off! Though, she really doesn't like when I compare it to Delores Umbridge from the Harry Potter movies ... it's not THAT disturbing, but it IS distinctive.

It is a pleasure to run this. I am sooo glad to have found this game! It is a blast to run! Too, I really do have some good players ... a fact, of which, I am most appreciative. I just wish my other players would write up their own viewpoint(s), too. I awarded the experience from the last session at the beginning of this session. "OK, everybody gets 2 experience points for last session ... except for <Saffron's player> ... she gets 3 for writing up her hero's viewpoint on the session." I'm hoping THAT will get them motivated!

Tonight, the company successfully rescued Gimli & Nár. During the Fellowship Phase, one player wanted to cultivate Glóin as a patron. Unless I am missing it, I don't see any information pertaining that in The Marsh Bell adventure. So, what requirements would you recommend for this? My thoughts are ...
Glóin can be made a patron of the company if the heroes rescued Gimli & Nár (i.e., Balin & Óin) and if at least one character in the group possesses a Valour rating of 2 or more, or at least 1 companion is a Dwarf or Barding with a Standing score of at least 1.

The players in my game (after Marsh Bell) wish to adopt Gloin as a patron as well; though this hasn't happened yet.

It was discussed at this point that Gloin has a use for them yet - should they succeed, then their relationship would blossom to that of him being their patron (should they officially complete this during their fellowship phase.


To answer your question - I personally see no problem with Gloin in this role.

I ran another session this past Saturday. Note that there are spoilers for The Marsh Bell adventure!

Saffron Gardner's Diary
After good food, good company (except Hithriel, who is still very gloomy about our prospects), and a good night's sleep, we were ready to address the situation we had found ourselves in the night before. The creatures were still outside the door, periodically scratching on it. Although Beran, ever brave, was willing to try to dash past the creatures, I was concerned that our dwarven compatriots might not be fast enough -- especially since, unlike me, they had nobody to carry them. Beran had initially suggested going through the ceiling, but the dwarves were not sure that would work - there was probably lots of water above us.
I suggested seeing if the ceiling was wet, but that ended up being inconclusive. I asked the dwarves if they could poke a small hole and check, but they lacked the tools. People were starting to eye the door again because we were running out of food. That's when I asked if someone -- not me since I am little -- could pull down the ceiling. There were pillars and I've heard about big folk pulling trees over so I figured the principle was the same, though I did not know how to do it.
Our esteemed dwarven friends agreed to give it a try, though they were skeptical. They also lacked tools. We, however, had plenty of rope and Beran and Treowine were willing to sacrifice their spears to the cause. The dwarves tied up some sort of rigging to the pillars, broke the spears into manageable pieces, and used those to put leverage on the ropes.
We were lucky to have the two dwarves to assist because it took their might as well as Beran's and Treowine's to complete the task. Sadly, I was unable to help and just sat by the wall with Hithriel, who kept muttering that this was not going to work. It did, however, and there was sunlight pouring in when the pillar finally cracked and the ceiling collapsed. Nobody was hurt. Treowine had some trouble climbing out but I did not, as Beran had me climb on his back -- which was easy as compared to trying to climb out of the hole.
Gimli was determined to continue their mission, assuring us that we could take a letter from him back to his father. We were concerned for their safety, but Gimli and Nar promised to be careful.
On our return to Laketown, we ran across a bit of sadness. Two dwarves lay dead amongst the bodies of eight goblins. None of the combatants survived. We collected what would be important to the families of the dwarves as well as the pouch identifying one as a messenger from the Lonely Mountain, buried them, and proceeded on our way as we were within the territory of the tribe the goblins came from.
As our boat approached the dock at Laketown, I saw Gloin waiting for us on the dock. Knowing he would want to know his son was safe as soon as possible, I waved the letter and jumped up and down in the boat (much to the consternation of my companions because the boat was bobbing a bit and Beran had to reach out to steady me once to keep from going overboard). Gloin picked up on the fact that I was happy and realized that we had been successful before we reached land.
As soon as we were close enough to yell, I clarified where Gimli and Nar were. As we reached the dock and Beran gave me a boost out of the boat, I saw Gloin looking a little skeptical in the direction of Hithriel. He reminded me that I had not told him anything about an elf going with us and I reminded him that he suggested I take help and she acquitted herself quite well in the rescue of his son.
We were all (even Hithriel) invited back to Gloin's house and what a feast we had! It appears he and Hithriel agree on at least one thing - they share no love for Thranduil, the Mirkwood King. For him it has to do with the fact the King imprisoned him -- one of the times that Bilbo saved the dwarves during the great adventure. For her, I'm not sure.
Gloin has been very nice and most generous. It was a princely sum he gave for the word of his son's continued existence. He was also quite helpful in getting the personal belongings of those brave dead dwarves back to Lonely Mountain.
Much to our surprise, we were informed that the King there wished to meet us. It will be a glorious adventure to there, I'm sure. I just hope that I can be of some use, for a fear I was not of much use on this trip, not much use at all. I would not wish to be a burden to my companions and I do want to help ... but I'm just so ... small.

Thank you, SirKicley! <Insert an emote for bowing.>

Those are XPs well deserved.

good for Saffron!

Saffron Gardner's Diary

Uncle Bilbo, for we all called him Uncle Bilbo when we were little, would be so very proud of me. Not only have I helped one of his companions, but now I get to visit the King Under the Mountain. I wish it was Thorin Oakenshield, for I always liked him in the stories and would have liked a chance to meet him, but, alas, he had gotten himself killed during the War of the Five Armies and now there is King Dain.

The dwarfhold is massive. I can’t see the roof in most places, not even from the top of Beran’s shoulders. I made friends with the Captain of the Guards when we arrived and I asked for the King. At first he didn’t want to disturb the King, but I reminded him that the King had sent for us so to my reckoning, that meant he wanted to see us. The Captain thought me quite polite and courteous so we went to the throne room.

The King has left for the evening and the steward did not seem interested in being helpful, at least not at first. There was some bickering between him and the Captain of the Guards, but some good old fashioned Hobbit friendliness came into play and the next thing we knew we were en route to the King’s private chambers.

I like King Dain. He was very nice to us, even Hithriel. He even offered me a pillow to sit on when I climbed into the chair at the table for our talk. It seems that the pouch we found had some papers in it he wanted help from the wizard Radagast in translating. He made it sound awfully important and so we decided to help him.

The trip across Mirkwood on the Elf Road was long and very tiring; some evenings when we stopped I would fall asleep so quickly that Beran had to wake me up to EAT. It is a disadvantage sometimes having short legs when those around you don’t. Even Beran with his very long legs (almost as long as two of me high) was asking “Are we there yet?” though by the time we were through. The only ones not bothered by the trip were Treowine and Hithriel but they are from that area so maybe that is why. At least there were no spiders.

Beran had a chance to drop some things off with his family and I got to meet the little sister he says I remind him of. I really don’t see much of a resemblance. She’s a good head and a half taller than me and has tangled brown hair in desperate need of a good brushing. Then again, so does Beran.

Anyway, we arrived at the town in the area where Radagast lives and were told to be careful if we wanted to go see him. Specifically, we are to leave the animals alone and watch out for birds.

We started traveling and… they were everywhere – in the bushes, in the trees, behind the rocks. I stuck close to Beran. Maybe too close because I think I stepped on his foot a couple of times because he eventually picked me up and put me on his shoulders. The others didn’t see the birds. Don’t know why… they were RIGHT there. One surprised me… and that surprised Beran, I think, because he didn’t know until then how tightly I could wrap my arms around his neck. When he could breathe again, he told me that it was just shadows and asked, quite politely under the circumstances, for me not to squeeze so hard.

We started seeing animals, lots of animals, playing nice with each other. Rabbits were chasing foxes and bears were playing with wolves. Figured we must be getting close to Radagast’s. I asked to be put down but Beran reminded me that I am little and the bears, which seemed friendly, are quite big and he was not willing to trust that I might not seem like a snack to them.

I finally got put down when we arrived at Radagast’s. I knocked on the door and it opened, but I didn’t see anyone. Figuring if he didn’t want us to come in, he wouldn’t have opened the door, I entered with the others following behind. A large… and I mean LARGE dog was inside. He seemed friendly so I told him we were here with a package for Radagast. He kept looking at the package so I gave it to him. He started up the steps and I figured we were supposed to follow… until he growled. That’s when we decided to stay downstairs.

The room was quite interesting, though I must admit that I spent most of my attention in watching the stairs. I did catch a glimpse of Hithriel, though, as she was looking around. It must be a trick of the light because she actually seemed … happy. If that is the case Radagast must truly be a powerful wizard.

Eventually the dog came back and indicated we could come upstairs. On the way there was a disagreeable bird. I stayed close to Beran while the dog chased it away.

Radagast was very kind to us and explained that the message contained information about an elvish spear. It sounded quite impressive. It seems that the spear had made its way into the hands of the dwarves, who sort of misplaced it. The paper advised where to search. He needed to do more translating and then he said we would have to go see Balin at some mines. I think he called them Moria.

Radagast, though quite friendly, appeared a bit scatterbrained and did not seem to put much of a sense of urgency on finishing the translation. He said he had other things to do first and would get to it in the next few days, or weeks, or months, or years. Well, though I think this is a fine place to be, I have no intention of spending the best years of my life HERE so I suggested maybe we could help him with some of his projects so he could work on this one. He said he’d think about it and in the meantime sent us to the headsman of the village to acquire a place to stay.

We met a bunch of very friendly animals when we left the house. Beran had fed the bird earlier a little and it must have told the others. In general, the bear, horse, and wolf that were blocking our path were polite about being fed. When Ridgerunner (the large dog from the house) wanted food too, I began to wonder if anyone ever feeds these animals. I fed him and he seemed to enjoy it.

When we reached the village, we were overrun with children who wanted to play. I was still quite tired so I said later. They were disappointed until I promised Beran would tell them a story or two. I always like his stories.

Anyway we met the headsman of the village and he suggested we stay in the barn. Downstairs was already occupied with animals so we would need to stay in the loft. I eyed the ladder skeptically. It is designed for people much bigger than me… and I don’t much like climbing anyway. Beran gave me a boost up the ladder and I landed face to face with an orange tabby cat. Both of us were startled and it went “Mrrrw.” Anyway it also seemed to want food. When Beran came up the ladder, he gave it some. I think under most circumstances Beran is a solid, steady, practical sort, but if you feed one cat you better feed them all…. And they came out of the woodwork to be fed. They were not quite as polite as the other animals and it took a lot to get them to go to the first floor and leave us in peace. I found a corner that looked to be dry and full of clean hay, plopped down and went to sleep.

Really enjoyable read, Throrsgold.

I really enjoy the way Saffron almost seems to brush over the important events and then describes the minutiae of the mundane things, like hair and the animal encounters.

A very nice writing style. Well done.

Great stuff - thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for sharing.

Saffron Gardner's Diary

The next morning … at least I think it was morning… it was still mightily dark outside, my new friends woke me up to go play. I was a bit groggy to say the least, but even so, I was much more awake than Beran, who tossed the cat that was poking at his nose (which woke him up) onto Treowine. It was kind of funny. Until he doused himself with cold water Beran had the same groggy expression one would assume a bear would have just coming out of his winter’s sleep.

Anyway, I digress. When I went outside I found a dwarf hunched over on the ground. <LM's Note: We had a new player join us • Ginar – a male Dwarven Treasure Hunter [Background: A Penetrating Gaze]> He assured me he was not looking for anything … except us. He wanted to help though he did not seem to know exactly what he was to help with. About this time the others came out and the children wanted to play so I left the big folk to talk. He seemed nice enough. Anyway, the children had already had breakfast. I had not so our first game was to run to the various children’s houses to see what was left over. I wouldn’t say there was PLENTY left over, especially because I was quite hungry, but I bundled up as much as I could refrain from eating myself to take back to share with the others.

Much to my surprise, my companions were not interested in the food that I had brought back to them. They must have eaten elsewhere while I was gone. As I was standing there holding the tray, suddenly Beran grabbed it out of my hands (he had already passed it back to me earlier) and tried to hand it to the dwarf. It appears that when he took it, several of the copious barn cats decided to try to get it from him and they leapt at it. The tray and the cats ended up on the ground. I don’t think anyone feeds the animals around here because they were swatting and hissing at each other for the food.

About that time the children demanded another game. I chose hide and sneak since I am good at hiding. They wanted me to be first and so I counted while they hid. I left the others to check in with Radagast and began searching.

I am not as good at finding as I am at hiding… or maybe I’m just out of practice looking for folk my own size because I do believe I got lost. The area where Radagast’s estate is at has a big thick hedge around it and only one way in. Well, I found the other way in… a child sized hole. Figuring that maybe someone would have hid on the other side, I went through to look. Unfortunately, I lost the hole. I was walking around the hedge looking for the hole when I saw Beran…. He had come looking for me, but was not seeing me, so I found him, Treowine and the dwarf. Hithriel was off somewhere communing with nature.

Radagast wanted to see us. He had not really touched our project, being concerned about a sickness that was affecting some folks and animals. I reminded him we could help and he wanted us to get some thistleweed. Yeah! This was something I knew about and I could help with. I might not be much of a fighter but I know my plants!

We hiked outside the hedge into the forest and found Radagast plenty of the stuff. We split up and that was fine. Beran helped me carry what we found while the dwarf and Treowine each found some.

We got back and Radagast was pleased, but then expressed worry about the Tree Wardens acting strange and violent. He wanted to check on them by means of inspecting the moss from their nests. We were to go back out and get moss without hurting the Tree Wardens. I checked and the paperwork had been moved so maybe he was starting our project so, after a hearty meal with the locals and a good night’s sleep, we headed off.

Oh, before that I should say that one can sometimes have an excellent idea only to have it thwarted from the least likely source. Figuring on an early morning and no breakfast to speak of, I had taken some leftovers, put them in a box, and guarded them from the cats all night long…. Only to open the box in the morning to see the insides teeming with ants and other things. Radagast really should feed the creatures around here. I ended up leaving the box, ants and bugs to the cats. They seemed to appreciate it.

It took us a couple of days but we brought the moss back. The paperwork to be translated had been moved again, which I took as a good sign and eagerly asked what else we could do. That’s when he told us he thinks Wights are to blame and he wants us to go FIGHT them. I don’t know much about a lot of things, but I know wights are dangerous. Beran and Treowine looked none too thrilled about it either, whereas our new dwarf friend, Ginar, seemed unconcerned. He is either very brave or very dumb… we’ll see.

Anyway, Radagast gave us some weapons to assist in our endeavor, including some special arrowheads for me (or Hithriel if she stops communing with nature) and swords and spears for the others. One of the swords – they call it short but to me it is quite long – I am to use if I have to get close. I’m not sure I want to get close.

Before heading off on this trip, we WILL have a good breakfast.