MEO RP/Tales of Lore

[Eonwë]

New post from me, shifting time of day to the next morning before depature. Enjoy :}

[Eonwë]

Scouting Ahead Part 5:Return to Mirkwood, has been completed and closed. Take some time to breathe, to reflect on your character, and to look over the terrain between Mirkwood and Imladris, for tomorrow night begins Scouting Ahead Part 6: The Road to Rivendell (tentative title, hehe).

[Eonwë]

Part 6 has begun! Hope you like the mood I've attempted to set :}

[Shelob]

I'm not exactly sure what happened here... It seems like my post was interpreted that I fell in, but I did not intend such a thing (yet), nor did I give any indication I was actually falling in.

[Varda]

I set it up so that Fainan pushes off and hears a splash (possibly helping cause the problem), letting Arien's Frali and others fill in the activity. That was the intended start point for the action. We needed Arien's post after Fainan's, really, but it can work with other people reacting to the "off-camera" action as well.

[Shelob]

Aha! I was kinda worried there! Thanks for explaining

[Eonwë]

Just because, I thought I'd share the section of LotR that partly inspired my latest post.

It is from Fellowship of the Ring, The Ring Goes South. The Fellowship had arrived in Eregion (called Hollin by Men). It was a land inhabited by the Noldor in the Second Age, most specifically the Gwaith-i-Mirdain, who aided by Sauron created the Rings of Power.

"(Said Gandalf)'Let us be glad that the first stage is safely over. I think we will rest here, not only today but tonight as well. There is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.'

'That is true,' said Legolas. ' But the Elves of this land were of a strange race to us of the silvan folk, and the trees and the grass do not now remember them. Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago.'"


Enjoy.

[Eonwë]

I was doing some quick research for some RP-related writing and planning, and along the way I realized we could really use an article for the Valar Guild Encyclopedia on Rivendell, including geography, vegetation, and all that fun (essentially a description of the area). So, which one of you Valar Guild members or Tolkien-Onlies want to dig that stuff up and send it in? :}

[Eonwë]

I felt like going ahead and posting again :}

I gave one of the other party's Elves, perhaps the leader since I made him do a bunch of talking, a name: Lingalad.

I don't think I've contradicted anything we've discussed, but let me know.

[ArPharazon]

I've made my post, starting the ambush. It is open for edits, most notably because I can't remember if Calion has an actual sword to draw, and because I'm not sure if I've overdone it with the enemy numbers. Of course any part is open to discussion. I've set up the numbers and positioning, anyone is free to guide the course of the battle from here.

Have fun!

[Eonwë]

Hmm, your post says "at least" 2 dozen orcs, plus a contingent of spiders. I hate to think what he would've got together had the hunting party we shared a lodge with not dealt with the orc parties southward :}

On the numbers specifically, we have 6: Auros, Fainan, Estarion, Calion, Frali, Meren. They outnumber the group a minimum of 4 to 1, and that's just the orcs. If it were strictly orcs, in an open area, I would say 4 to 1 is probably not "that" bad, as we have very accurate archers (being Elves and all) who could even the odds a bit given enough distance before the melee engaged.

We're in Mirkwood however, and the advantage is obviously in the enemy's favor. Their boss picked the spot to leave the targets exposed while protecting his own forces. Auros et al. can't from their position be sure of enemy force size. If the orcs wanted to, they could fire arrows into the path with *near* impunity, until the ambushees tried to charge their attackers.

The biggest advantage Auros et al. have in this case is actually the objective of the enemy: the boss wants one or more of them, Auros in particular, alive. If (figuratively speaking) every orc and spider is busy trying to separate and subdue Auros, alot of them are going to die simply because they can't risk killing Auros. (refer to when the Orcs captured Merry and Pippin: many an orc lost a limb, and they didn't put up a fight until Boromir arrived and made them).

Put simply, as I see it 4:1 odds favor the enemy in the current situation, were they trying to kill the group. Since they're trying to take at least Auros alive, our characters have an advantage, albeit one our characters wouldn't immediately know of or realize.

[ArPharazon]

Which is exactly why I asked if I overdid the numbers. And it's just numbers. I could easily cut it in half or even less with a simple edit. I just figured that there would have been time to check in a few patrols, which might have been running rather unchecked in this part of the woods since the fall of the outpost earlier. This can easily ramp up the enemy forces, and I felt that this might even be a rather conservative number considering what he might have drawn for reinforcements over the course of a night.

But as I said in the meeting, it's a balance between what we could face, and what we can handle. If this is too much for us, I would like to hear your suggestions about what would be a better number. I'm sure we'll be able to discuss this some more in our next meeting, but discussing it here could save us some time.

[Eonwë]

OK, as I've nearly finished my research for my general Elves article, and deemed I can justify the thin wire I'm walking, I've made my newest post.

I've ended with a company of elves emerging from the trees at ground level. I don't quite recall if we decided or discussed the size of reinforcements, but one company visible could mean another company or two in strategic positions out of sight surrounding us.

[Eonwë]

The final post of the final chapter of "Scouting Ahead" has been added, and the thread locked. I'll leave this discussion thread open until the new section for the new arc is created. As discussed, we should start thinking of the name for the new arc, since we're no longer "Scouting Ahead."

[Shelob]

Perhaps "A stirring in the North" or some such? ^^