Battle of the Forest Gate - Help needed

[Indur Dawndeath]

Hi, I'm running the battle for the Forest Gate, or at least I was planning to.
Situation
** SPOILERS**
The company had just returned from an encounter with Tauler while helping Bofri clear the Old Forest Road, when the Beorning get a summon to arms from Ennalda, who is watching the northern border after Aestids escape with her Beorning lover.
A large force of Viglundings led by Viglar has taken the Forest Gate and are fortifying it against a counter attack from Ennalda!

The company immediately think that this is a diversion, and the real threat is to the south, so they spend some time watching over the lamp of Balti and discussing the possibility that Mogdred will attack, but as time passes they decide that waiting here is worse than confronting a possible diversion.

But now the Viglundings have had time to fortify the Forest Gate!

As they arrive at the Forest Gate they see that Ennalda have no control over the Beorning Army. She need help!

But instead of taking charge, they decide to sneak into Viglunds land and try to negotiate a peace with Viglund. This I did not prepare for...

Is there a chance that the Viglundings will abandon the Forest Gate. I think not.
Will Ennalda attack, even though she gave them 4 days to try a peaceful solution, when Beorn starts to roam the Forest Gate growling in anger. I think so.
How will Viglund treat the company, if they are within his grasp, when the conflict starts. Beheaded under his floor seems most logical, but not ideal to say the least.
And now when Viglar have had time to prepare the defense, will the Beornings even be victorious without the players.

Help. How would you proceed?

[bluejay]

So a great situation for you to play with! I really like it when your players surprise you like that.

Where would I go with this?

If the players are really trying to push forward as a peace envoy then I would certainly reward their initiative. Their approach is very heroic and I think their efforts to avert war should be recognised. On the other hand perhaps this splits the Viglundings? Some want to avert war but others push hard for it.

At the same time, the Forest Gate is accessed by more than the Beornings and Viglundings. The Elves will be furious to have it taken by the Viglundings so an attack by them is one option.

Another possibly more exciting option is to have the Forest Dragon attack the Viglundings at the gate. He already does that to the Elf guards there so it's not an unreasonable option.

So overall I would perhaps think of a vague game plan like this: -

The diplomatic approach is at least partially successful and builds some trust from within the Viglundings.
The dragon attacks the fortified army at the gate bringing ruin to the Viglundings and potentially killing off some of their most vehement war chiefs.
Soon after the dragon attack, the Elves march in force on the gate and the Viglundings either retreat, are killed or sue for peace.

How the fellowship is involved in these events is up to them. Lots of exciting stuff to do though! If they managed to kill the dragon I could easily see them earning the trust of the Elvenking AND the Viglundings.

Just my thoughts, hope they are useful!

[Andrew]

What Bluejay said!

You could even throw in some wrinkles to a negotiated peace by having the deaths of the gate guards by the Dragon be blamed on the Beornings, and the PCs have to go and prove otherwise!

[Indur Dawndeath]

Thank you Bluejay,
I agree it is very heroic to seek peace when all other Beornings want war!
The bit about the dragon intrigues me, but I thought it was far later in the campaign... BUT all those crunchy men could attract him. And it is a tough group of heroes. They killed the Crab creature in Nightmares of Angmar...

It will be a little overwhelming for them. They just saw one of the ancient spiders, Tauler. They are hunting / Being hunted by the Werewolf and now a Dragon!

But what about Viglund, would he really want peace?? If a dragon attacks, then of course...

[Terisonen]

Keep the dragon outside the situation: in the Third Age they all seem's to appear only when riches is at hand. It's no more that the impersonnation of greed, like ye balrog in Moria.

[Otaku-sempai]

I agree with Bluejay: The Forest Gate is at the west end of the Elf-path and was presumably built by the Wood-elves. How does Thranduil react to it being seized by Viglundings? A force of Elves emerging from the Forest might put a crimp into Viglund's plans.

[bluejay]

My own honest opinion is that there is so much that could be done with the Forest Dragon in DoM. The actual scenario where it turns up seems almost like a blank canvas.

Of course the team don't need to kill the dragon. They could wound it or whatever and have it retreat back into the forest to return at a later time.

What made me think about it was the reference to it eating the Elves on the Forest Gate. Checking back on the Tale of Years I note that the dragon starts hunting along the eaves of Northern Mirkwood as early as 2960. She attacks the Elves on the gate in 2970.

Terisonen makes a good point about the dragon being related to avarice. The way it's written in DoM the dragon comes across more like a wily, cunning beast and there's certainly a lot of room to add depth and complexity to the character. I wonder if it's deliberately kept quite simple to avoid stealing the limelight from the werewolf. Anyway I would say there's a lot that could be added there. Perhaps it could be drawn to Viglar's dark nature? If you really wanted to keep with gold then perhaps the Nazgul have provided the Viglundings with gold to help strengthen them against Beorn. Alternatively perhaps the Viglundings stole gold from Dwarves of the Grey Mountains. There's a fair few ways you could go with that. It would be poetic that their dealings with the dark lord brought about their ruin.

Regarding Viglund's thoughts on peace ... difficult to say. He wasn't a huge part of my campaign the first time I ran it although he will be now I'm running it a second time. Perhaps it's worth considering what would be the most interesting for the campaign as a whole? He clearly hates Beorn and is tyrannical. Perhaps he will lure the fellowship to their death? Perhaps he might try to persuade them to side with him? At the same time their actions may generate (quiet and hidden) sympathy within the Viglundings. If Viglund is faced with an overwhelming force then I would say he would most likely retreat and return with a greater force.

[Indur Dawndeath]

We're at 2952, so a little early compared to the DoM timeline, but I'm not rejecting the possibility to introduce the Dragon... Only fear that it will overshadow the Werewolf, which is the main adversary at this point.
One of my main story lines is the collection of the lost pieces of the Wolfbiter axe (3/5 at this point), which they need to slay the Werewolf... At least that is what they think.

The Elves will get angry if their realm is invaded, but as long as the Viglundings keep away from the path, then I see it as "not their business". If Viglar get help from orcs, then I can see the elves get involved.

[Finrod Felagund]

It seems to me that you can make the Adventurers encounter with Viglund crucial to the development of the story:

1) Adventurers negotiate with Viglund. They succeed at the encounter test. Viglund will force Viglar to retreat from the forest gate but only on payment of a large wergild. Adventurers go back to Ennalda and Beorn who either pay up meaning they can all go home for tea and cakes (bit anticlimactic) or refuse (far more likely) and then there is a large battle which the Adventurers can do lots of fun sword-swingy stuff in. Viglar is either victorious in which the Adventurers are likely killed, or Beorn wins and occupies the Forest Gate himself. Viglund is still there to be dealt woith on another day....

2) Adventurers negotiate with Viglund. They fail the encounter test. Viglund enslaves them. Battle takes place without adventurers and Viglar is defeated. Meanwhile Adventurers are approached by slave regarding a possible uprising. This happens and is/isn't successful. If unsuccessful the Adventurers are killed. If successful Viglund is killed and the Viglundings are defeated, slavery is abolished, Beorn rules the lands, and the Adventurers gain lots of kudos.

3) You could have an external force such as the Dragon or Elves or other Deus ex Machina turn up, but I'm tempted to suggest that this is veering from the heart of the story and adds needless complexity.

Hope this helps

FF

[bluejay]

We're at 2952, so a little early compared to the DoM timeline, but I'm not rejecting the possibility to introduce the Dragon... Only fear that it will overshadow the Werewolf, which is the main adversary at this point.
One of my main story lines is the collection of the lost pieces of the Wolfbiter axe (3/5 at this point), which they need to slay the Werewolf... At least that is what they think.

The Elves will get angry if their realm is invaded, but as long as the Viglundings keep away from the path, then I see it as "not their business". If Viglar get help from orcs, then I can see the elves get involved.

Ok so yeah 2952 is a little early to fully introduce the dragon (and I would definitely want to keep it around for longer) although there's nothing bad about foreshadowing. If the players are unaware of the dragon's existence then perhaps it just strikes from the shadows and eats a few of the Viglundings and the fellowship hears vague rumours of this after the fact. It's enough of an attack for the Viglundings to fear the forest and give up the gate. From this point onwards the fellowship potentially have a mystery on their hands as to what happened there. I'm sure their first suspicion would be the werewolf but then it should be clear that something else was at work.

I guess what I'm saying is it depends where you feel you are through the story arc. 2952 is early in the campaign and so I would have a tendency to be foreshadowing a lot and hinting at mysteries to come with perhaps less direct conflict (although obviously still some). I would want the Viglunding conflict to last out until around 2962 or so (when it comes to a head in the text). This means that I would tend to diffuse and distract from the current stand-off temporarily allowing the conflict to continue to grow and rise again in the background. Of course if you'd prefer to bring it to a head now then absolutely go for it. You'd have to either have another in the Viglundings take over (Viglar for instance), bring another threat on the Beornings or accept that the Woodmen will have significantly more allies throughout the campaign (and perhaps increase the direct threat from Dol Guldur accordingly).

It would be easy to feel that there are way too many factions involved and a straightforward situation is becoming overly complicated but one of the things that my group loved about DoM was the sense of a living, breathing world with consequence and reaction. Nothing feels like it happens in isolation and there are other groups and powerful individuals all at work with their own agenda. The Elves or Dragon pushing the Viglundings from the Forest Gate doesn't remove the Viglundings from the conflict and shouldn't feel like it solves the situation externally to the players. It should add depth and complexity. It shows the Viglundings' limitations and possibly suggests to the fellowship how they can make the situation work to their advantage politically. For instance they could ride to Thranduil's court to try and bring the Elves and Beornings closer together.

Of course these are all just my suggestions and I've been really impressed with the other excellent suggestions posted on this thread.