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Two adventures since the last update, following the Marsh Bell.

The first, as said before, was a kind of appendix to the Marsh Bell:
After arriving to Esgaroth with Balin and Oin, and receiving their reward, the players were invited to stay at Glóins manor to rest. The next morning, with everyone still battered from the journey and battles, the group joined the dwarves for breakfast to talk about what had happened. Then, all of a sudden, Balin and Oin began to feel ill. Their state worsened and Glóin called a healer from Lake-town. The healer diagnosis was a certain poison from their wounds, for which she had no cure. The herb needed to brew the cure grew in the Grey Mountains Narrows, and she had none left.

The players, of course, volunteered to look for it and bring it as soon as possible.

I had envisioned this adventure as a combat-free adventure, and with some encounters to force the players to role-play their characters.
They still hadn't recovered from the Travel Fatigue and time was crucial, so the fear of any kind of combat was upon them (they didn't know, of course, that no combat was planned). Glóin gave them horses and the company of Tholin (from Heart of the Wild) to show them the way. Tholin was an NPC that asked them about their lives, about what they came looking for in Lake-town, etc all while the group was travelling north and making travel rolls. All the way there they hear wolf howls and Tholin warned them about how aggressive the beasts turn when hungry. Then, when they reached de Narrows, Tholin showed the group the way to the ruins of an old human town, where Frár the Beardless lived now. On their way there, some wolves scared the horses, and the heroes where able to recover just two of them (Athletics to catch them, Song or Hunt to calm them). When the group found Frár, he also questioned them about their intentions, and talked about Greydelve and returning it to it's former glory. The player of the dwarven treasure-hunter was delighted to find Frár. After dinner, Frár asked them for a story to pay for the shelter, and we had a very funny Hobbit Tales game in the middle of the adventure.

After that, the group went to the hills following the advices of Frar looking for the herb. Then I used Farmann, the ghost from HoW who explained to them that he was looking for an herb to help his daughter, and that he knew where to find it. The group didn't try to force the information out of him of some other evil and helped him reach a lonely tower where an old lady lived. Right when she was handing the herb to Farmann, the sun rose and everything vanished around the heroes. Surrounded just by a ring of old stones, they found some samples of the herb and loose 1 Shadow Point, as if someone very dear had just recovered from some illness.

With the two horses, two heroes rode back to Esgaroth while the others returned by foot. They managed to get the herb to the healer two days before Balin would have died.

For the next adventure, we had the Gathering of the Five Armies.

After having helped Glóin and Balin (two noble and very important dwarves), the renown of the group among dwarves grew. As a reward, the heroes where invited to join them at the Gathering next year.

For the Gathering, I also wanted a very peaceful adventure, without thefts, murders, poisons or anything. That kind of mischief will strike later in the campaign. I used the info in The Crossing of the Celduin (ToW) for the street games and the people the heroes could meet. They were very interested in the Easterlings that are just mentioned in the adventure, and the Lake-town hero, who is a trader, decided to make business with them. During the masked ball the players met Glóin, who introduced them to Dáin and Bombur. Also I described the rest of the charming people there (Elstan, the Beorning mercenary, etc.) and the players created relationships with some of them.
Also Rich H's Dale supplement came very handy here. The part about the dinner and some of the "Hazards" that happen there added a lot of flavour to the party. The group managed to know Ameolda from Black Tarn (DoM), the emissary I chose for the Woodmen, and were involved in the negotiatons between her and the dwarves to recover the Old Forest Road for massive trading between Erebor and the Vales of the Anduin (and beyond) without depending on the narrow and... well, "elven" Elf Path.

Glóin agreed to hire the company for the exploring of the Old Forest Road, and as protectors of whoever dwarf would be chosen to act as emissary and entrepeneur amongst the Woodmen (of course, this will be Bofri).

The game session was interesting, as the players interacted with lots of NPCs, some of which were totally secondary or added for flavour, but which they used and developed in relation to their characters. On the other hand, this kind of adventure doesn't hold much tension, so I decided to keep it short (3 hours) and not add the archery, battle, etc contests. I'll keep them for future Gatherings, and maybe I'll include the sabotage from The Crossing of the Celduin in 5 or 10 years.

Next adventure in line:
Clearing the path.

Just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading through much of your summaries, Fallenthal.

Falenthal wrote:It shouldn't be difficult, the company being the rescuers of the Major just a year ago, but suddenly NPCs and places that seem to be secondary in one adventure become important and alive in another one. Being nice to someone is not just a way or roleplaying or avoiding getting Shadow Points, it can be useful in the future and the world begins to form connections and fell alive.

Excellent point here!

Majestic wrote:Just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading through much of your summaries, Fallenthal.

Thanks a lot!
I guess it's kind of stressing in a way due to my "apache" level of english!

Yeah that's a good takeaway from this -- setting up characters and places for the future. I'm trying to figure out how to plan that better and do it more intentionally. It's hard when I don't want to read DOM for the sake of spoilers. HOW is helpful on that regard.

I find HoW one (if not "the") best supplement I've ever read. It gives you, as LM, tons of places and NPCs with very original and interesting hooks. Sometimes you just have to plant them and the players will make them grow with their suppositions, interpretations and wishes.

I just present my players with some sketched NPCs every session. Most of the time they pick up one or two that, for reasons unknown, they like. After that, I bear in mind to use this NPCs once in a while in the future adventures and Fellowship Phases. This way, they help out flesh the character as much as I do. And, as said before, HoW is full of interesting characters.

Clearing the Path

For this (long) adventure, the group were hired by Glóin in Lake-town to accompany Bofri in his journey to Woodland Hall. The young dwarf was the emissary sent to the Woodmen to negotiate with them about a new trading route between the Lonely Mountain and the Vales of Anduin. Also, the group was asked to travel along the Old Forest Road to take note of its state, so that it might be used to transport the goods after some rebuilding.

The first part included the choice of travelling south across the Long Marshes or around them, to find the eastern entry to the Old Forest Road. I had prepared an encounter with eastern merchants and dorwinrrim on the road, so that this cultures might be introduced in the game for future plots (Una, the wife of Bard, and the easterling traders turning to spies from Sauron after he reveals in the future). But my group, who had played the Marsh Bell, decided to cross the Marshes again . They wanted to know for sure if the River Running was navigable so that more goods could be transported via boats, instead of the slow pace of poneis and carts. They really have a business mind!

At the entry of the forest they found a poor town (Erlingburg) that welcomed the group, but wanted "a small price" for every favour. The main building was built with dwarven stones, that Bofri recognised as belonging to the eastern dwarven fort from the Old Forest Road. After the first night in town, a wounded man arrived at the gates asking for help and shelter. He was one of the dorwinrrim traders from the caravan the group had to find on the road: he reported an attack by vicious wolves that killed the rest of his family. The party went there to investigate and discovered the corpses and the carts, with the goods untouched. Had they travelled along the road, they could have helped them survive the ambush. The guards and the mayor from Erlingburg told them that no wolves had attacked travellers in years, and none had been even seen since the Battle of Five Armies. There was a bad feeling about this...

From Erlingburg they entered Mirkwood. After a week in the forest, wolves began to stalk them. All of a sudden, a pack of wolves attacked them after the group heard an otherworldly howl: Corruption tests everyone! They have just heard the howl of the Werewolf of Mirwood, although they still didn't know it. Even though they resisted the attack, more wolves were gathering around them, until the Werewolf himself showed up. The group couldn't confront the Beast, and had to run until they found the Beacon Tower. There they managed to shut the doors before the wolves catched them and could rest for the night.

In the basement they found an entry to some old dwarven mines that lead to the east. There they encountered a group of wild forest goblins that, after the first two rounds of battle, surrendered. Their chieftain told the companions that they could show them the way out if the heroes managed to kill the spiders that guarded the exit. The group accepted and, when confronted with the spiders, the aracnids told them that the goblins were going to betray them. Not knowing whom to believe, the heroes decided to attack the spiders (a succesful Insight roll by the Beorning let him know that the spider was lying).

The spiders had a Hoard, and I let the players roll for Magical Treasure (my first use of the new rules). Luckily, the dwarf rolled a Gandal and then two 6!!!! He found a Famous Armor, the Coat of Shining Stars from the Rivendell book. Later, at home, I had to reread all the new rules for Famous Armors, as I was taken by surprise that such an artifact would come up in the first Hoard!!

After escaping the Beacon Tower, the group continued their journey and found the Hermit from "Don't Leave the Path!" in the Millfort (the western dwarven outpost). We have a Woodman in the group, so Wolfbiter was given to him.

They finally reached the Vales of the Anduin Weary and with some extra Shadow Points. There, when travelling south to Woodland Hall, they crossed the Erringmen from Heart of the Wild, who were travelling north. Their leader warned the group to avoid the The Pale Rider's Cave, where strange lights are seen at night. He tells them that only those who can handle the undead should go there, without more explanations. The group saw then that the leader's wagon was decorated with skulls. The feeling was creepy, but the Erringmen were friendly to them and nothing bad did happen during the night. When both group parted ways, the players didn't know what to think of the Erringmen, and that was really the intention.
Once again, it was a normal encounter in the road, but helped to introduce live to the world and new NPCs to the group, so that they don't only cross with goblins, spiders and undead. Also, new cultures add always some fresh air to the campaign, allowing to present people that is neither a servant of the Shadow nor one of the Free People. Groups like the Erringmen, the people from Mogdred, the Leofrings,... are what I consider neutral in the first place. Depending on how the characters interact with them, they might remain neutral, surrender to the Shadow, or join the ranks of the Free People. As for the Erringmen themselves, I don't have a clear idea of what to do with them, but I have sketched that they migrate along the Anduin Valleys from time to time (which allows for future encounters with the companions). No one knows where they're headed, but their northern destination (if the heroes want to discover more about them), is the Hill of Skulls (HotW p.18). After all, the leader's wagon is described as being decorated with skulls... I intend for them to have some relation with the undead. Not really necromancy, but more in the way of having charms and rituals that allow the Erringmen to resist the Fear and become inmune to them for short times, allowing to enter the tombs and rob them. That's how they get all the ornamental gold they have. In the future, if the company befriends them, they might help them with some charms that help confronting the undead. If not, the Erringmen might be influenced by the Shadow in their travels to the Valleys of Gundabad, or even by Viglund in the East Upper Valleys.

Once in Woodland Hall, the group was welcomed by Ingomer Axebreaker. After the first warm words about their difficult journey, the news about the return of the Beast of Mirkwood and the axe Wolfbiter sinked Ingomer into a gloomy mood. In my game, Wolfbiter was lost when Ingomer's son (the future Mogdred) went with the axe to kill the Werewolf. He went with some companions and never returned. So Ingomer suspects that the Hermit might be his son gone mad, and the Beast and Wolfbiter are considered bad omens of a returning darkness. The Woodman of the group gave freely the axe to Ingomer, who kept it until he could decide what to do with it. (I gave the player 1 extra XP for this, and plan to give Wolfbiter to him as a Reward further in the campaign).

The company was welcomed to stay and was invited to the last hunt of the year, in the last week of autumn.
This way we're going to play "Words of the Wise" next, introducing also "The Wizard's Man" before the ambush by the Orcs.

Good read Farenthal, you make me want to play in your campaign! I will probably shamelessly steal some of your ideas, like the scene with the goblins and the spiders. Marvelous. I suppose the incident with the spider and Staff of the Roadwarden will appear later on when Bofri sets out again?

Thanks for your kind words.

Regarding the scene with the goblins and the spiders, I must admit it isn't mine... as is not mostly all of this adventure. It all comes from a wonderful fanmade adventure in spanish called "Abriendo el Sendero" (freely translated by me for this thread as "Clearing the Path"). I also liked this scene a lot, making a new use of goblins and spiders that is not the simple "I find them, I kill them". Negotiating with treacherous creatures is always a source of tension in a session.

The spider in Millfort and the Staff will appear later. Probably the group will return to Millfort looking for the Hermit, only to find that he's disappeared and a Giant Spider is sleeping on his shelter. Still haven't decided if the Hermit will live or not. Maybe he can be used afterwards as a deus ex machina help if the players find themselves half dead in Mirkwood.

And steal whatever you want... as said, most of the material isn't mine!

Nicely done, Falenthal. Thanks for sharing it with us!