This ended up being longer than I intended... Some context precedes the play report:
Year 2951
The Company return to Wilderland from the Shire. They disband, having no adventures this year but they are troubled by nightmares of the Black Land, and the raising of the Dark Tower. Amras spends many long hours researching those dark dreams for he believes they are a portent and hold many great secrets.
Year 2952
Amras' studies reveal a warning in an ancient text—
after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again—and the Elf meets with his king to discuss what he has learned and how they might prepare for the darkness he felt sure was to come.
The Adventure begins.. as recorded in the
Lost Histories of Wilderland, Volume Two.
The Return of the Shadow | Book One: Secrets Buried | Part One: The Sigil of the Enemy
In Lake-town, on the twenty-third of March in the year 2952 of the Third Age, Talia was preparing to close her shoppe and attend the spring festival when her old companion, Sandarr paid her a visit. It had been almost a year since they last saw one another and she was pleased to see her friend after all this time. He congratulated her on her wonderful song,
Hidden Paths and Journeys Long, for all the minstrels were singing the tune in Dale and he understood that even the Raft-elves were heard humming the uplifting melody. The reunited companions had little time, however, to reacquaint themselves with all that had transpired in their lives. An Elf entered the shoppe and requested their presence in the Elven Quarter, though he would not say why. The Elf escorted them to their destination but when they crossed one of the three bridges into the Quarter, they were stopped by armed guards from the Woodland Realm and questioned about the reasons for their visit. The escort handed them a slip of parchment and they were allowed to enter but only after leaving their weapons in the guard's custody. Once inside the Elven Quarter, the company were brought to one of the residential homes where they found the Master of Lake-town, King Bard, and King Dáin deep in counsel with their friend, Amras, King Thranduil, and a stranger called Estel by the Elven-king.
"Five years ago," King Dáin said, "I sent a company of Dwarves to examine the state of the Old Dwarf Road and determine if it could be re-opened. A messenger reported that the company had planned to live among the Woodmen for several years, learning the ways of the wood before exploring the road and discovering which of the old keeps and fortifications survive. A last report came to us, in the autumn of 2950, that the company believed they had located the Eastfort. No word has ever come from the company again. I would send more men to seek out the first but for the whispered rumors of a new threat stirring in the dark places of the woods. And so I came at last to Dale to seek the counsel of King Bard, for the Dragonslayer has ever been a great friend to the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain."
King Bard nodded his head in agreement and said, “When Dáin Ironfoot arrived in my hall and told me his plight, I was on my way to Lake-town to meet with the Elven-king at the festival to see if we could not settle this dispute between our peoples for we had endured a hard winter and surely the Elves could understand the need for wood to warm our hearths? I invited King Dáin to join me. It is well-known by all that the Elves know more of the forest then Men and Dwarves. If anyone should seek counsel concerning trouble in Mirkwood, they should seek out the Elves."
"And so we have come," King Thranduil said, "to air our troubles. It would seem we are not alone in that regard" — and with a sweep of his arm, he introduced those present to the Ranger, Estel. He held a heavy object in his hands, wrapped in soiled cloth. Then the Elven-king stood by the window watching the calm waters of the Long Lake while the Ranger told his tale:
“I am new to these lands. Last year, I left the Hidden Valley of Imladris and came into the Wild. I ranged for months and wintered in a settlement of Men in the East Bight. These men live in fear of a power in the forest, a ghost they say, awakening the dead. And fear it they should, for I believe this ghost of the forest is an agent of a darker power." The Ranger set his burdens upon the table. “When winter thawed, a band of Orcs attacked the settlement. I took this off one of their corpses.” His hand hovered over the dirty cloth for a moment, then he unwrapped the object to reveal an Orc shield bearing the sigil of the lidless eye. The companions felt uneasy as some of them experienced a momentary flash of a black fortress as if from their dreams of the previous year.
The Ranger covered the shield again. "The North must answer this threat together, with a fellowship of your kin."
Amras addressed his friends, Sandarr and Talia. "This is why I asked my king to send for you," he said. Then the Elf scholar reflected upon the dark dreams and the warning he uncovered during the long hours studying those visions — a warning from the depths of time:
after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.
Talia thought of her mother and sister in Lake-town, and all that she held dear. "I will go for the people of the Lake," she said. Sandarr, too, offered his sword for the Men of Dale if that was his king's wish. Then Amras agreed that he shall go for the Woodland Realm. King Dáin offered one of his own warriors who, up until now, had been silently observing these proceedings with a scowl. Rabo was his name, called Thirstquencher for the fine ales his father brewed. King Dáin declared that the young warrior had much to prove before he would sanction Rabo's personal quest to retrieve his family's lost axe in the Greydelve. Here was his chance to show his mettle.
"It is agreed, then," Estel said. As he turned to leave, he promised to meet the company in the East Bight in good time.
And so the Fellowship of the North reformed to learn all they could about the missing Dwarves and whether their fate was tied to the troubles in the East Bight. Talia left her shoppe in her mother's and sister's care and met her companions in the market-pool where they had acquired a fine skiff with a swan-headed prow. Soon they were on their way. In a day's time, they reached the southern end of the Long Lake, close to the high waterfall crashing down to the River Running. They spent the night in the huts of the Lake-men on the western shore and regaled the porters with songs of their adventures from year's past. As the night pressed on, the Lake-men warned their guests that after several years of peace, the Werewolf of Mirkwood prowled the forest once again. They spoke of a dark presence in the wood, awakening the creature from its long slumber in the Mountains of Mirkwood and of a party of Dwarves from Erebor who foolishly took the Old Dwarf Road and were never heard from again. "You mean bravely," Rabo said with a scowl and the men begged his pardon for they meant no offense.
In the morning, the porters brought the skiff down to the river beyond the waterfall. The company thanked them and went on their way. They rowed south through a dense fog that had crept out over the river from the marshlands. Upon entering the eastern eaves of Mirkwood, the oppressive weight of that place took its toll upon their spirits and the company fell into a gloom. The woods had silenced all sounds save for the buzzing of insects and the lisping gurgle of the river. In four days, the Fellowship were south of the Mountains of Mirkwood, and nearing the Old Forest Road, when they saw an overturned covered wagon and the remains of a ransacked campsite upon the shore. They disembarked, tying up the skiff and covering it with underbrush. The campsite was littered with debris and footprints. The wagon cover was ripped and torn and the undercarriage was damaged. Inside, however, they found a crude yet seaworthy boat. Talia and Sandarr examined the footprints while Rabo pieced together the information to conclude that a group of barefoot Men attacked this campsite and carried their prisoners through the bracken and into the dense woods.
The tracks led the company to the ruins of the Eastfort, an ancient Dwarven keep built into the side of a hill. Ivy climbed upon the ruined stone walls. They were marked with strange symbols. Amras recognized them as the markings of the Wild Men of the Forest. A reclusive folk, dwelling deep within the Heart of Mirkwood, they were said to worship the Children of Ungoliant but they were never known to travel this far north. The company heard chirps and clicking and a scraping sound not unlike the sound of many spears being sharpened on stone. Rabo quickly found a side entrance. They made short work of the collapsed stones blocking the passage and snuck into the Great Hall where they did battle with a number of Wild Men. At the end of the fray, the Fellowship stood victorious, though Sandarr suffered a wound from the stone-tipped spear of one of his opponents.
Two passageways led out from the Great Hall, though one was collapsed and freeing the blockage was beyond their skill. It would seem the way was set: They would take the hall that ended in a spiral staircase and follow it down into a basement of moss-covered walls and thick old tree roots that had broken through the foundation. The roots were injured and decaying. It was apparent that some party, the Wild Men perhaps, were repeatedly and viciously cutting and hacking away at the tree roots. Tied up in the far corner were a family of four. In the opposite corner, was a vast spiderweb where six figures dangled from massive threads. The company released the family from their bonds and learned from the husband, Geirbald, that they had left their outlying hamlet of farmsteads in the East Bight about a week in a half ago after it was overrun by Giant Spiders. They were heading north to the safer lands of Dale when the Wild Men attacked their campsite and dragged them here.
Rabo cut down the dangling victims and found Bofri, son of the legendary Bofur, and his Company of Dwarves all dead. Among their possessions, Rabo discovered a journal and a map of the Old Forest Road with circles at either end and a third roughly halfway between. According to Bofri's journal, the lost Staff of the Roadwarden was hidden in the Eastfort and he had come to reclaim it. Upon reading this passage, Rabo searched the area and much to his delight, uncovered a secret door inscribed with ancient Dwarven runes.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much we enjoyed playing it! Until next time...
