Confused about the Elf Path

[KathD]

What's the benefit of traveling via the Elf Path, instead of 'off road' through Northern Mirkwood or going via the Grey Mountain narrows?

Assuming I'm reading the journey rules correctly (a large assumption!), traveling on any road in Mirkwood is equivalent to Severe terrain in terms of speed. As Northern Mirkwood is already Severe terrain, this means that there's zero mechanical benefit for following the Elf Path instead of hiking through the woods. This seems really odd to me, as a recent re-read of the Hobbit places huge significance on the Elf Path.

This also means that it's no faster to travel from e.g. Lake Town to Beorn's House via the Elf Path instead of using the Grey Mountain Narrows. In fact, because you specifically can't use horses in the forest, it's twice as fast to travel the northern path if you can afford the mounts!

I'm asking because I'm preparing for the second session of my new campaign on Saturday. The first session was the Marsh Bell, and I was thinking of leading the players into "Don't Leave the Path" by having Gloin task them with delivering the invitation to the Eagles. If they accept, they'd heard north from Lake-Town and run into Belgo and start DLtP.

I'd assumed that traveling via the Elf Path would be faster than any other route, which would give them an extra incentive to do so. However, if I'm reading things correctly, there's no benefit at all. The fellowship is also rich enough for everyone to ride (2 x Hobbit, 1 x Dwarf, 1 x Barding and 1 x Woodman), which means that helping Belgo and using the Elf Road is considerably slower than avoiding the forest.

This really doesn't match with my understanding of the importance of the path in-character, and so I'd like to
a) check that I'm reading things correctly, and
b) ask what other GMs have done to make the Elf Path's mechanics match its fiction.

[Terisonen]

Some of the reason are explain in Tales From Wilderland, TN for Corruption Test are 12 on the Path not 14 or more elsewhere in Mirkwood. And you cannot be lost on the path, cannot be attacked by spider or wolves.

[Earendil]

This is something I noticed myself some time ago, but forgot to post about it...

Some of the reason are explain in Tales From Wilderland, TN for Corruption Test are 12 on the Path not 14 or more elsewhere in Mirkwood. And you cannot be lost on the path, cannot be attacked by spider or wolves.

That's true for travelling through Mirkwood, but why not simply go round it via the Grey Mountains Narrows? By my count, using that route from Lake-Town to the Forest Gate takes 27 days on foot, while the Forest River and Elf-Path takes 34 days (5 by river and 29 by the path - the adventure says 24 by the path but it seems to have miscounted the distance: I checked twice!)...

Mirkwood is obviously the more dangerous choice as well, so if Baldor's plan to take the Elf-Path is to have any logic to it, it needs to be significantly quicker than the northern route.

My solution was to say the Elf-path is an exception to the bit where it says "any road or path through Mirkwood" is considered severe terrain, and instead consider it as medium. That shortens the journey by the Elf-Path to 14 days instead of 29, so the whole journey takes 19 days (instead of 27 by the Grey Mountains Narrows). That might make it worth going through Mirkwood!

[Terisonen]

In the Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstadt, clearly it take more or less 26 [Edit: 29] days for Thorin&Company to go through Elf-Path [From The Forest Gate to Thranduil Palace].

Encounter within Elf-Path should be less severe than taking full tour to Ered Mithrin north of Mirkwood. I wonder what route take Gandalf and Bilbo when returning to Imladris.

Edit: surely to the north since the orc threat must be near non-existent since Battle of Five Army.

Edit 2: I find 34 day RAW by Elf-Path from Forest Gate to Esgaroth and 27 day by the north road.

I think passing by North Road before the battle of five army would mean going into serious trouble.So to explain the choice of Gandalf.

If the guide of a company is a Mirkwood elf with Mirkwood Lore, I think a significant save of time to travel must kick in.

[Glorelendil]

From the Forest Gate, departing in summer, I get 22 days to the cell with the word "King" in it on the east side when going via Elf Path, and 25 days when taking Grey Mountain Narrows.

That's without horses, of course.

[Earendil]

In the Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstadt, clearly it take more or less 26 days for Thorin&Company to go through Elf-Path.

Encounter within Elf-Path should be less severe than taking full tour to Ered Mithrin north of Mirkwood. I wonder what route take Gandalf and Bilbo when returning to Imladris.

Edit: surely to the north since the orc threat must be near non-existent since Battle of Five Army.

Yes, in the Hobbit it says they go round the northern edge of the forest because "now that the goblins were crushed, it seemed safer to them than the dreadful pathways under the trees."

[Earendil]

From the Forest Gate, departing in summer, I get 22 days to the cell with the word "King" in it on the east side when going via Elf Path, and 25 days when taking Grey Mountain Narrows.

That's without horses, of course.

Your count for the Grey Mountains Narrows route agrees with mine allowing for slight differences in measurement. But I'm not sure how you get only 22 days along the Elf-Path. It's 19 hexes (following the route shown in the adventure, but the official Loremaster's map matches it well). If it's severe terrain as the rules suggest that should take 28.5 days (which I rounded up to 29). If you make it medium terrain as I suggested it takes 14.25 days (which I rounded to 14).

Season doesn't make any difference to journey time, does it? As far as I can see it only affects fatigue.

Anyway, even 22 days vs 25 wouldn't seem to make it worth braving the dangers of Mirkwood; Baldor's a merchant, not a half-crazed adventurer!

[Terisonen]

Passing North of Mirkwood before Battle of Five Army is more or less near suicide...

[Elmoth]

We are talking about the period after battle of 5 armies, though. At least for most campaigns.

[KathD]

Yeah, my question assumes the default campaign start time. Gandalf's choice to send the dwarves via the road makes perfect sense in the Hobbit, but I don't understand why the merchant in Don't Leave the Path would use that route (and the adventure implies he had to trade to gain access to the path, which makes no sense given the respective journey times).

I'll probably house-rule it so that the path is useful, as it doesn't appear that I've missed anything apart from slightly lower TN on Corruption checks. As per the revised rules, you only check once a week to even see if they're required, so even that benefit is iffy.