Our Darkening of Mirkwood Finale

[beckett]

That’s a wrap! My long-running TOR campaign came to an end last night. We've been playing since the slipcase edition first came out. With a few exceptions (notably the Ranger and Hobbit), the player-heroes at the end of the Darkening of Mirkwood were the offspring of those very first characters.

With the Woodmen settlements deserted and all that remained of that folk fleeing north to seek Beorn’s protection, the player-heroes took the Lamp of Balthi to Rivendell, but one of them betrayed the others (the Woodmen suffered a bout of madness). He stole the Lamp in the middle of the night and ran off to give it to a waiting Nazgul. They tracked him for days until a light blazed in the distance. When they found him, he was dying and clutching the Lamp to him. In the last moment, he had redeemed himself and uncovered the Lamp, but the Nazgul struck him down before retreating. The rest of the company buried him and then took the lamp over the Misty Mountains, but just as they came down the other side I sprang two bundled Revelation Episodes on them that I'd been withholding. They found themselves surrounded by hundreds of Orcs and a Nazgul!

Everything looked hopeless and the players were all talking about making peace with the fact that they would all die here. A really awesome moment. But then the Hobbit used his Art of Disappearing to escape with the Lamp while the others fought a battle they knew in their hearts they could not win.

Wounded with two unconscious player-heroes, the Dwarf among them used his Wonderous Artifact (a pendant with a Blessing to Search) to find a door to an ancient ruin covered in snow. Kudos to the Dwarf player, who really saved the day by spending Hope to take the reins of the narrative for a magical result and tell us all that he found a way out.

Carrying the two unconscious companions, they shut the door behind them and the Dwarf sealed it with his Spell of Shutting (from his Broken Spells virtue). Lighting torches, they could hear the Nazgul screeching and pounding on the door, but he could not open it. Finally blessed with some luck, they moved quietly and unmolested through the ruins and found another way out several miles away. Failing to find Rivendell, the sons of Elrond came upon their campsite and escorted them to the Hidden Valley where they were reunited with the Hobbit who thought they were all dead. From here, we all took turns narrating the year's end together.

Elrond would not allow the Ranger to remain in the Hidden Valley since she held within her, the ancient and evil spirit of the Werewolf. After two nights in Rivendell, healed of their wounds and injuries, the Ranger decided to set out for Beorn's House. Beorn had told her previously to come find him when she was ready because there was someone she needed to meet. The Dwarf desired to retire from adventuring and stay in Rivendell for a time and Elrond granted this request. The Hobbit, longing for home, returned to his peaceful life in the Shire and completed his book devoted to all the ways one could prepare mushrooms. The Barding and Beorning would not let the Ranger cross the mountains alone so they accompanied her. When they reached Beorn’s House, Beorn told the others that he and the Ranger might not return from their journey. The Beorning player would be in charge until Grimbeorn came of age. The Beorning player settled down, started a family, and ensured the Woodmen refugees found a peaceful new life among his kin. The Barding continued on home to Dale, where he learned of King Bard's death. Worn with sorry from this news, the Barding set aside his sword and shield and returned to his holding where he found joy and peace in raising his little ones. The end.

[Falenthal]

Beautiful.

I'm very pleased to read such a story, and can't but congratulate your players for being epic and in-character with their decissions.

I'm sure you enjoyed the campaign as much as them!

[beckett]

Beautiful.

I'm very pleased to read such a story, and can't but congratulate your players for being epic and in-character with their decissions.

I'm sure you enjoyed the campaign as much as them!

Thank you! I really did. They're a great group. I love how it ended with the unanswered question of what happened to Beorn and the Ranger in the mountains? Did they ever return?

We're taking a break from TOR to play some other games, but we're all excited to return soon and find the answers to that question (or not) and see what else is in store for these characters and/or their children.

[gsecaur]

Congratulations on running the entirety of the Tale of Years! That's a rare accomplishment.

[Mytholder]

Yay! That sounds wonderful!

[Dunkelbrink]

Thanks for sharing this great tale, there seems to have been moments of both heroic acceptance worthy of myth and creative player input.

Is there a chronicle somewhere of your Darkening Campaign? It would be really nice to read more about it! I'm especially interested in the offspring of the old heroes taking over after the old. Were the players keen on this, and were the old heroes alive?

In my own Campaign the heroes are getting close to being too old for adcenturing but I'm not sure how to convince them to lay their Mighty heroes aside to start anew with beginning ones.

[farinal]

Very impressive. Really sounds like a beautiful story...with a bittersweet end. It fits.

[Glorelendil]

/goosebumps

[zedturtle]

What a fantastic end to the campaign. Awesome!

[beckett]

Yay! That sounds wonderful!

Squeals with delight. Thank you, Gareth!