SirGalrim's Adventure Summaries

[SirGalrim]

Spring 2947 T.A. - Don't Leave the Path
One day this spring Una and Hildebrand met young Belgo outside Lake-town. He called for help, and took us to his father, Baldor Rivergold. Baldor was being attacked by the three men he had hired to guard his caravan through Mirkwood. We knocked out the thieves and agreed to protect the merchant through the forest. Together with the rest of our company we set out from Lake-town a two days later. Baldor had an agreement with Raft Elves that took us on rafts up the Forest River to the Elvenking’s Halls. We impressed Lindar, master of the king’s cellars, and he allowed us (except the dwarf) to stay in nice quarters. We enjoyed our short rest with elven songs and fine wine, and Lomund even got to briefly talk to an fair high elven noble-lady named Irimë.

Days later Lindar and some other elves escorted us across the Enchanted Stream, and told us never to leave the path. After two weeks of travel with some smaller hazards we found a peaceful clearing beside the path. Here Baldor took a sip from a stream during the night, and instantly lost his memories of the last six years. He did not recognize any of us, nor his son, and he fled into the woods. We tracked him to a ruined castle full of spider webs, where he was hanging wrapped in webbing high up on the wall. We tried to climb up, but got stuck and alerted the sleeping attercops. They came with overwhelming numbers, and every time we slew one attercop another two jumped on us. Then Lomund and Hildebrand started taunting and intimidate the spiders, and the remaining attercops fled from us in the end. We carried Baldor back to camp and he recovered a little, but kept being distant the rest of the journey.

A few days later we met a young Beorning, named Beran the Seeker, that was lost in the woods. It turned out he was looking for a ring of his great grandfather that has the same symbol as Lomund's medallion! He and his companion, Odo the Runner, had found nothing, and had to flee when Attercops discovered them. We let the lost Beorning travel with us. At this time Narur started teaching Belgo how to use weapons, much to Baldor's disliking. Some days later we found a dwelling inside a hollow tree while seeking refuge from a thunderstorm. There was strange carvings on the walls, a very simple bed and some strange dried meat hanging in the ceiling. A crazed hermit soon returned home, and he was very upset to see us there. But we manage to calm him down with offering him our food. He offered us some of his mysterious dried meat in return, we refused it. He talked about escaping from Dol Guldur, and that darkness will return to the forest. Beran found old carvings indicating his great grandfather had been here once, but he found no ring.

Days later, as we neared the other side of the forest, we we spotted an ancient well. The Beorning yawned and walked over to the well to explore it, when he suddenly got grabbed by vines coming out of the well. It started to strangle him and pull him down in the well. Both him, Belgo and Farald did somehow not recognize the threat, and had day-dreams of their own. We stopped Belgo and Farald from going over to the well, and then hacked away at the vines until they finally lay still. We recovered an unconscious Beran from the well, where he had found and grasped his grandfathers ring right before he passed out! Finally we reached the Forest Gate, where Beran suggested that we all go to an new inn that he had heard about. Two days later we arrived at the Easterly Inn ran by the very friendly hobbit Donidas "Dody" Brandybuck. Baldor paid us for our help, but Hildebrand refused any payment. Baldor and Belgo thanked us again as they took their departure a few days later.

[Majestic]

Great recap! It's fun to read these stories, which very much remind me of our playing through these adventures.

[SirGalrim]

Loremaster notes:

The party was split after the last fellowship phase. So far the men have been most active in the combat scenes. And also interaction scenes in general (encounters). I wanted the Hobbit and the Woman be in charge of the events for once. Both are female players that are newer to role-playing games. So it fit well them being together in Lake town away form the men. They where very unsure how to handle the situation at first. Looking at the guys. But I would not let the guys interfere. As the scene played out the girls confidence grew and they handled it very well in the end.

The dwarf did not try to be courteous in the Halls of the Elvenking. So he of course had to stay in the cellars. I wanted to introduce Irimë now as I've read other LM's did. Though I wanted to keep her mysterious so I had to limit the interaction with her. My players are very good and asking every (non relevant) question possible to ask in the world if they are given the opportunity. Though they mostly don't ask out of character questions, they are still very good at quickly dismiss the more mysterious and/or legendary nature of things in Middle-Earth. They are want-to-know-it-all-right-now people. They ask very direct questions... so this is a continuous challenge when I introduce "epic" characters. Especially those known from the books. And if I hint the the NPC gets tired of all their detailed questions then they start to wonder if the NPC are not really who he or she claim to be...

Anyway. for out next session we had a guest player joining for the session. It was actually his own idea that he was a treasure-hunter looking for something lost in his family. So I merged it with the greater background plot in my campaign. Some might feel it was a bit to random that he showed up there and he found that ring. But I feel it was quite Tolkienish. Maybe he was ment to be tight there then... And for finding the ring it had to happen that night as he probably wont be gust player again for a long while. I will use him as an NPC later.

Players where thrilled to find a Hobbit Inn in Wilderland. They have not mentioned it being out of place. But then again my players are in general more fantasy-nerds than Middle Earth enthusiasts.

[Artaxastra]

Lots of fun to read -- thanks for posting! It's fascinating to see how the same adventure comes out differently with different players. This systems is so good about being flexible depending on the interests and experience of the players.

[Majestic]

Lots of fun to read -- thanks for posting! It's fascinating to see how the same adventure comes out differently with different players. This systems is so good about being flexible depending on the interests and experience of the players.

I totally agree, Artaxastra. I really enjoy reading these summaries for just that reason. I think it's not only the system (which indeed is flexible), but the quality of the published adventures is outstanding as well, giving the players lots of choices, so that their decisions truly matter (and can lead in completely different directions).

[SirGalrim]

Now the adventure I think all of the group as enjoyed the most so far:

Summer 2947 T.A. - Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit
We spent half the warm summer resting and enjoying the wonderful Easterly inn. As the weeks passed it turned out Dody was worried for his little brother Dinodas (Dindy). Dindy had gone west this spring to fetch supplies from the Shire. There was rumours of goblins being spotted in the High Pass again. We offered to travel to the Misty mountains and make sure Dindy arrived back at the inn safely. We crossed the great Anduin river after resting in the village at the Old Ford. Out in the wild on the other side of the river we met a dubious fellow, Shanker After a while he told us that he had bought pipe-weed from Dindy's caravan a few days ago. He said the poor fools probably would not live long, as goblins has retuned to the pass. Next day we camped near ruins of an city. In the night Narur was spirited away, and we saw a ghostly shadow moving towards us. After out initial shock we realized it was a Night-Wight. We managed to destroy the Wight, and found Narur trapped in a mud-hole. We saved him from drowning.

Next day we searched the mud for treasure but found nothing. We continued the journey and saw tracks of goblin scouts, and in the afternoon we encountered a panicked pony with an goblin arrow in its thigh. We calmed and aided her. In the evening we saw a fire up in the hillside towards the High Pass. We pressed on, and discovered it was Dindy's caravan that had been raided by goblins. And they had kidnapped Dindy along with stealing food and goods. And we just not stopped digging for treasure in the mud! Dindy's guards was wounded and weary, but had survived as the goblins had got what they wanted.

We decided to followed the goblins into their caves. We walked far down into the cold darkness. After a few hours we came to the goblins cave where we took out the half-drunk front guards. Inside we found poor Dindy chained up in a goblin kitchen. The goblin chief had demanded a feast after the triumphant raid, and Dindy had to do all the cooking, only to be cooked himself for desert! The chain holding Dindy to the wall was very solid, and only chief had the key. We debated long on what to do while we helped Dindy cook, and several times we had to hide from goblins coming to fetch food. Meanwhile Hildebrand stealthy scouted the caves and saw the chief fiddling with they key as he held a speech before putting it back in his pocket.

Lomund and Farald then dressed up as orc guards and talked their way into the feast hall. The first guards let them pass, but the guards near the chief got very suspicious. And while Lomund and Farald distracted the goblins Hildebrand sneaked up to the chief and stole the key. He returned to the kitchen and unlocked Dindy. But Lomund's behaviour in the hall was so suspicious for the guards that they followed him. Dindy's escape was quickly discovered. The goblins chased us, though luckily not so many of them as most where drunk and confused. We managed to trick those following us, and got out of the caves after a short fight. It was now early morning outside. We joined the caravan guards and quickly travelled down from the mountainside.

Alas that very night the goblins caught up to us and attacked us again. We found a good ground to stand on an old ringfort. Several companions fell, but we managed to withstand the goblins and kill the chief himself. We returned to the goblin cave and scared away the last few goblins there before we looted the cave. We returned to the inn and was met by a very happy Dody. With the help of some baths, sleep in a soft bed, a lot of food, some ale and a whole pouch of pipe-weed, Dindy finally came out of the shock. He could tell us that he had overheard the goblins discuss if they should eat him themselves or send him to the new Great Goblin. The goblins said it was after all "The Great Goblin" that had called for retaking of the high pass, and he would demand tribute. But the bigger orc warriors had laughed and said the order really came from someone more powerful, probably from Mount Gundabad.

Then Dindy got in a fouler mood again as he realized he now had to make the same trip the next spring because they lost so much of the goods. We halfway promised Dindy we would help him in the travels next year. After some weeks rest we decided to return to Dale and our homes for the winter.

[Majestic]

Great recap. You just made me realize that a return trip escorting Dindy would be an excellent adventure in and of itself!

[SirGalrim]

Great recap. You just made me realize that a return trip escorting Dindy would be an excellent adventure in and of itself!

Thank you. Yes absolutely. I considered it briefly. But I wanted to do more in the vales before moving on over the mountains. And the players also kind of forgot about their promise winter gone. Though they really want to see Rivendell. I guess I can always come back to Dindy. He is very funny to play.

Loremaster's notes
I wanted to establish Old Ford before the next adventure. So they did a bit more activity there than it seems from the journal. Shanker was cool to play. The players really reacted to his stinky feet. They where considering chasing him away. They did not let him take part of keeping watch in the night. Not that he minded that at all of course! He left next morning without much goodbye. I had considered to drop the whole Night-Wight as it was not so related to the adventure. But I ended spontaneously include it anyway. It was funny with a dwarf drowning in the mud and had to be rescued. So for the ringfort battle I had long considered if I wanted it before or after the caves. Just to mix things up a bit. Also that players would not having the displeasure of rescuing Dindy and then loose him again. On the other hand having it after might feel like a drag out adventure after they did rescue him. Taking a cue from the Hobbit and LotR I kind of wanted the goblins to come out after the adventurers after dark. The finally decisions was not made before the players decided to spent an hour digging for treasure in the mud. That treasure lust when they are on a mission should have consequences I feel. So they arrived just to late. I like the world to adapt to player choices and not be totally pre-determined. Often using written adventures things can become a bit to static. In the caves the players used a long time finding a solution. It was a lot of fun interactions with drunk goblins.

[Artaxastra]

Dody! Dindy! That's a fun adventure, and it sounds like your players had a blast. Mine got Dindy out without the key, thanks to one of them being a smith and a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean. "Half pin barrel hinges, mate!" The smith took the door off.

That's such a good adventure, and it's fun to read how another group played it.

[SirGalrim]

Dody! Dindy! That's a fun adventure, and it sounds like your players had a blast. Mine got Dindy out without the key, thanks to one of them being a smith and a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean. "Half pin barrel hinges, mate!" The smith took the door off.

That's such a good adventure, and it's fun to read how another group played it.

Thank you. Yes, its a great adventure. The dwarf isn't that a great smith (has 3 Craft as normal but no traits) so I just said it looked nearly impossible to break the chain or its hinges without better tools. He was okey by it. I wanted more interaction / subterfuge with the goblins as is the most fun parts to me. But if he had insisted I would certainly let him try. And epic feat perhaps. Easier if he had smith-craft.