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Session 3: On the Road Again

The party has no sooner arrived at Woodland Hall and deposited Baldor and his son safely, along with the trade goods, when they decide to return to deal with the Dark Forest that intruded near the Elf Path. Resting for but a few days to recover their strength (And so the Healer could get rid of his fatigue), they set off immediately back to the Woodland Gate, and hence into the woods. They took advantage of their recent trek to make better plans for travelling this time, but were burdened down by heavier gear, taken in anticipation of the turn of the seasons. While the Healer was again worn down by the journey, the rest of the group had no real problems with the trek. As they approached the section of the Elf-Path that lay within a darker shadow, the Healer was reminded of his previous dream, and sank slightly into a foul mood. (Another failed travel check, and a corruption check).
As the party cast into the ruins, leaving the path behind, they quickly found the source of the corruption, a gaping hole leading down into darkness. Picking their way across a vine strewn clearing, but one where the tall, twisted trees blocked out any trace of the sun, they peered down into the ancient well, where they saw a skeletal figure, spear in hand, wrapped around with thorny, sharp thorned vines and forest detritus. As the figure creaked to its feet, red eyes gleaming in the darkness, the vines themselves snaked into life, as some horrid ... Thing from deep within the well heaved its grotesque bulk upwards, reaching hatefully towards the two legged intruders.
As the Wood Wight crawled from the well, the party steeled their nerves against the wave of revulsion and fear from the horrid Thing. Courage and skill in battle were evidenced as they cried out, weapons gleaming with faint traces of light, and the Wight was dismayed, but the Thing cared not. (Lots of hate loss, but given the Thing, I opted to drain the Wight instead ...), meanwhile the Healer sank his axe deep into the root of one of the tentacles, and the thing was wounded. The Thing then swept the terrible tentacles across the clearing, battering several members of the company.
The fellowship then sprang into action, landing blows on the Thing, and punctuated with an aimed shot from the Bard, which sent the putrid thing squealing as it and its tentacles shuddered and died. The Wight was now left alone, and while it struggled for a time, landing a few blows that tested the armor of our heroes, a burning flask of oil and the combined forces of our heroes eventually led to Glabum the dwarf sinking his axe deep into the Wight, and ending it, while the Healer was as quick with an encouraging word during the battle as with his axe.
As the fellowship caught their breath, and cleaned up the area, making sure the threat was ended, treasure gleamed from the lair of the foul Thing. Glabum recovered a pair of iron nailed marching boots, from some previous dwarven victim, while the Healer found a true treasure, an ancient corselet of thin black plates, flexible and made from some unknown metal. Already grim from his travails, the added weight of the shadow clinging to the item went unnoticed, for now. (Cursed treasure, 1 pt of Shadow that cannot be removed without breaking the curse). The others split the gold and silver between themselves, and the party supervised the burning of the clearing, being careful not to let it spread, but cleansing the ruins of the putrid bulk of the dead Thing and the Wight.
Their primary task completed, the party sent word via the Elves at the Forest Gate back to King Thranduil, and were assured that someone would 'sing the trees back to sleep'. On their way back to the Woodland Hall, they stopped off along the way to track down the massive boar that had threatened Farmann the hunter on their previous trip through the Beorning lands, both to protect the farmers, and to provide for a lavish feast the two Woodsmen were planning, to present the broken axe, Wolfbiter to the Elder Council of Woodland Hall. The beast was quickly dispatched (two wounds in the opening volley via called shots), and heavily laden, but bright of spirit, they returned to Woodland Hall to spend the winter there.
The feast was a great success, and with the profits from their trade goods and gifts, and the return of the axe, both Woodsmen were celebrated as people of worth by the Woodsmen. (The Healer, who started the game with Status 1, bought his up to 2, the Bard bought his to 1, both with the aid of the Field of Combat.)
Meanwhile, Lorrie the Barding, a trader herself, spoke with Baldor and helped set up a holding for continued trade and communication along the Elf Path between the Free Peoples of the North, enlisting the aid of Aurel to help sway the Elf King. Farmann also set up a holding, though unlike those two, went off on his own, founding a Hunting Lodge near Woodland Hall to help provide for it's people, and establish a place for himself.
The Bard spent the remaining winter working with his Hound, training Roach to harry his foes in close combat. The Healer, on the other hand, went seeking answers about The Black Corselet with Radagast, and found both information, and yet more questions from the old Wizard. The armor hailed from the forge of Eol, an ancient name, and not one of good reputation. Radagast knew less than some of the origin of the armor, and recommended seeking out an elf who remembered the Fall of Gondolin, or perhaps Saruman the Wise, ever clever with making and crafting, for more information.
Farmann, Aurel, Glabum and Lonnie all chose to take advantage of their newfound fame as 'followers' of the two recoverers of the Axe, and established Sanctuaries at Woodland Hall and Rhosgobel. Glabum built himself a forge of sorts, but he needed iron to breed iron, and the smithy had a ways to go before he would count himself satisfied with it. (He grabbed a holding, and spent his downtime burning off Shadow).
Lonnie spent her time tending to her new holding, and managed to set up a network to deliver from Woodland Hall to the various smaller thorps and holdings (she got a Gandalf, and improved her holding on the first try). Aurel and Farmann spent their time hunting with the Woodsmen, and helped to keep the burgeoning population of Woodland Hall fed over the winter, though some were already discussing following Amaleoda, the childhood sweetheart of The Healer, in order to expand the reach of the Woodmen deeper into the wood, and relieve the population pressure. Both Woodsmen were given some good natured ribbing from friends and family about getting married, especially given their status and treasure. Lonnie overheard some of this, and got worried that a married Healer (nobody really worried that seriously about the Bard. He's very much a rolling stone) would not be available for adventures with the company, and began a plan to sabotage his courtship. (Leading to a great many out of character jokes about how far 'any means necessary' her plan to scuttle his marriage was).

Thanks Scrollreader - I enjoyed reading it!

This session went smoother, from an LM perspective. The Healer finally passed a travel check (on the way home). The party is still at full Hope, even with the added Wight, who was tough enough, but not necessarily that threatening. Luck took out the Thing pretty swiftly, which made the fight much easier on the PCs, as his multi-attack is just nasty. The fellowship phase went pretty smoothly, and the players are 'leaning in' to the mechanics without prompting, which is nice.
The Bard had already declared his 'trade goods' were actually gifts before the session, so he sort of accidentally bought standing, and Lonnie was all about helping to establish the trade route for the good of the Free Folk of the North before I had even talked about the Holding rules. Overall a good session, though the Treasure rules slowed things down a bit, but were reasonably well received.

The Black Corslet is a Galvorn coat of mail. Currently of Cunning Make, with Radagast revealing the next quality is Mithril, though the Healer hasn't the XP to raise his valor yet. It has a point of Shadow that cannot be removed until someone who witnessed Maeglin's betrayal can tell the tale. (And I will use the Fall of Gondolin as inspiration for any fits of Madness, until he removes the curse). The Healer is currently sitting at 5 temp Shadow (with the Black Corselet), so Miserable is not out of the question, though a bit unlikely unless the player continues to gamble just a bit too long. Everyone else is at or below 3, and is being careful with it.

On the one hand, I worry about the non-decreasing Hope, since skills are being raised (particularly travel role and combat skills), and with six PCs and a pretty broad skill coverage, they're getting at least one success even on lower ranked skills. On the other hand, they're using traits well, actually working together, and willing to let a fair few rolls fail, rather than be profligate with Hope, which is good and thematic. I'm going to continue to tweak combat a bit, and hopefully a rather nasty combat encounter coming up will deplete Hope a little, but they're already down to a third or a half of a normal fellowship pool, due to session length, so I don't want to go too far in the other direction, especially as. Darkening and Tales do tend to get more difficult and with higher stakes as time goes on.

Any feedback from more experienced LMs, or people further into DoM?

It's my experience that, as players get more advanced and experienced, their skills become better and more proficient, and they tend to use Hope less often to accomplish things. My players hardly ever touch their own personal Hope reserves, and only end up using what's in the Fellowship Pool (and by that I mean they spend their own, and immediately replenish it, with permission from the others, so there Hope scores stay the same).

Your PC's Shadow scores seem a little higher than most of my players (other than a Dwarf who wanted a high Shadow score). My players tend to use Fellowship Phases to remove Shadow points.

Overall it sounds like you're managing things well, as are your players, and it sounds like they're embracing the mechanics and the themes of the game excellently.

The Healer is the only one who has any significant amount. Everyone else has been dropping it if it hits 3, but not worrying about a point or two. And he wants to do so but, until this fellowship phase, had craft/song of 1, and chose other fellowship actions as being more important, this time around.

But with max hope, he isn't really in that much danger, even with the curse on the Famous Armor. This is a bit of my worry with hope not depleting, yet. Admittedly, they're not going into Dol Guldur or the Heart of Mirkwood, yet. Perhaps I am worried over nothing, but it seems like they should be losing hope slowly, but steadily by now. Maybe just an artifact of running two 'starting' adventures, via Marsh Bell and Don't Leave The Path?

Really interesting read. Thanks for posting these as I'm finding them quite inspirational for my own game which is still relatively new.

Scrollreader wrote:But with max hope, he isn't really in that much danger, even with the curse on the Famous Armor. This is a bit of my worry with hope not depleting, yet. Admittedly, they're not going into Dol Guldur or the Heart of Mirkwood, yet. Perhaps I am worried over nothing, but it seems like they should be losing hope slowly, but steadily by now. Maybe just an artifact of running two 'starting' adventures, via Marsh Bell and Don't Leave The Path?

Probably. Wait until they go into the Heart of Mirkwood (or another deadly place like that).

Back to where it all began ...

The party traveled to Rhosgobel, in order to speak with Radagast, at his request. On the way there, they ran across a Woodsman, feverish and obviously poisoned, who crashed to the ground at their very feet, while baying hounds sounded in the distance. The Healer quickly tended to the man, putting his moniker to the test, and successfully treated the man, keeping him among the living, as the desperate man pushed a scrap of paper into his hands, begging him to see it made it to the Brown Wizard.

The rest of the Fellowship took up arms and spread around the clearing, eyes and ears peeled for his pursuers. A half a dozen armed Men soon broke into the clearing, each with a massive, snarling hound on a chain snapping before them. Seemingly taken aback by finding an armed party with their target, they hailed their hounds to heel, and sent forth their leader. As she removed her helm, and shook out her hair, the imposing woman introduced herself as Dagmar, and demanded the party hand over the man, branding him a thief. The Bard was Cunning enough to hide the scrap of paper from her, as the Healer stepped forward to speak. After some discussion as to their right to be here, and the hunters claim to be 'Free Men of the Wood, and servants of Tyrant's Hill' an uneasy truce was reached. The party agreed the man should face justice, if his crime could be proved, and negotiated a compromise. He would be held at Woodland Hall, until evidence could be brought for a trial. Dagmar herself did not know what he stole, but was swayed by the words of the party (some good rolls of awe and courtesy by the party combined to make her wary).
She insisted on accompanying him to see him imprisoned, and the party set a deadline of a year for her Master to bring charges. On the two day journey back to Woodland Hall, Aurel and Lorrie noticed a couple of the Tyrant's Hill men trying to come near the poisoned man at night, but were able to keep them from being alone with him, being suspicious of their motives.
The Healer took the time to speak with her, and gave her his name, and discovered a bit more about those who dwelled in Tyrant's Hill, mostly refugees from the dungeons of the Necromancer, and other wanderers, some of the Woodsmen, and other not, but that they claimed to follow their leader Mogdred, in dwelling as Woodsmen, free under the shadow of Mirkwood. Though the party mistrusted the harsh men, they had no real reason to doubt their claims. The Bard also reached out diplomatically, finding common ground with Dagmar, and suggesting that their half wild hounds, with some wolf in their ancestry, might have some merit, and the idea of breeding Dagmar's 'Bitch' and his 'Roach' was broached.
Upon arrival at Woodland Hall, the men of Tyrant's Hill left, after the Elder Council backed the Healer's deal (his standing of 2, and his diplomatic solution ensured this), and while Dagmar did not stay more than a day or so, the Bard managed to riddle out a bit more of her personal history, his own vices helping her feel a bit more at ease.
The fellowship then continued to Rhosgobel, where the Bard, once a student of Radagast, told the boy Belgo he would ask the Wizard if it was alright for the boy to meet him, fulfilling a promise he had made when the boy's spirits were lowest during the journey across Mirkwood. They presented Radagast with the scrap of paper, and he was deeply concerned by the news that Orcs had been spotted at Fenbridge, and somewhat troubled by the news of Tyrant's Hill. In turn, he revealed the reason for his summons, as a Raven from Dale had come, with a message for the Bardings, Lorrie and Farmann.
The Raven, Blackwing, bore a message from King Bard, and surprised some of the party when he spoke aloud to the Bardings. It appeared that, soon after their departure from Dale, the Mewlips had begun to range far afield and were posing a threat to some of the scattered farming villages under the protection of the King. After a brief consultation among the party, the others agreed to accompany the Bardings back to Dale, to help deal with this problem.
Having made the trek before, but in reverse, the party had a better idea of what to expect, this time. (Free attribute bonus to preliminary rolls). The trip went more or less as planned (with the Healer failing each fatigue check, as usual, despite using preliminary dice), though Lorrie only barely managed to ward off a suffocating swarm of black velvet butterflies, which threatened to drone the party into a slumber from which they might not awaken. They made their way to the Halls of the Elvenking, where Aurel confirmed the arrangements for the trading route. While the Halls of the Woodland Folk would not to open to all travelers, a sheltered space was set up near the river from Laketown, where traders could prepare for the journey across the Elf-Path. There was a bit of trouble at the entrance to the Hall with Glabum, the dwarf and with the Healer, who was a bit grim of aspect (5 temp shadow), but both were admitted to the Halls after bandying words with the guards.
Arriving at Laketown, the group found an unexpected surprise, as they saw the handful of Ruffians they had run off from threatening Baldor, along with a sallow and familiar looking Eastern Merchant. The Captain of the Watch informed the party they stood accused of banditry by the merchant and his 'guards'. Words were exchanged, as the party sought to prove their innocence, but perhaps most effective was the silent glare of the Bard towards the leader of the ruffians (A Gandalf, followed by a Gandalf and a Tengwar. The dice apparently didn't care that he has only one die in Awe). Finally, the ruffians' nerve broke, and they confessed they had been bribed to testify falsely. Taken into custody, along with the protesting merchant, who claimed a 'Northman Conspiracy' and entrapment, they were taken away by the watch. The Captain thanked the party for their time, and apologized for the disruption, promising he would see justice done. This additional trouble sorted, the companions immediately made for Dale, to answer the summons of a King.
Upon arriving in Dale, they were immediately escorted to the court of King Bard, where a noble was making a case that, if it wasn't for the meddling of these rag-tag sell-swords right /there/ (pointing to the party), none of these raids, with crops and trade goods lost, would have happened. The party was allowed to defend themselves, and handled the encounter well, using Farmann and Lorrie's ties to Dale well, being more concerned with the lost lives than profits, and explaining their mission for King Dain, one of the staunchest allies of the Dalemen.
Though unable to lend them troops, as they were guarding his frightened folk, and some of the pushier nobles, King Bard was impressed enough to grant them writs to borrow boats, and give them time to rest and recover before setting forth. In private, he told Farmann, a King's Man, that while he did not blame the party, he had little choice but to task them with resolving the matter, due to pressure from his nobles and his people. Resting and recovering, the fellowship had a brief span of respite, and prepared to seek out the source of these suddenly organized attacks.

Very impressive and entertaining reading! Really love how you manage to weave such a coherent and fluid tale so far. Your players also seem like a great group of people.

I shall follow you and your party's continued adventures with interest.

I'm glad to hear people are enjoying this. I'm behind a couple sessions, but I try to keep notes so as not to mess it up too bad. I'm also always available to answer any questions, if people are curious about anything in particular.