Impromptu chat session by Eonwe and Ar-Pharazon

[arathorn]

Okie, got back to the chat room after our D2X quest game about 1/2 hour after Eonwe and Ar-Pharazon left, and read through their very informative discourse.

SO, I've pulled out a couple of excerpts I'm responding to here and have also created a temp page that we may want to clean up and use as a transcript of some sort later (keeping it in my dir on the guild site for now).

Here's a link to their full discussion:
valarguild.org/arathorn/MEO/MEO_RPG_chat1.htm


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Here are the excerpts and my responses:


ArPharazonV (8:59:14 PM): In between rants, Haran lit several weapons and set alight the more brave, or foolish, of the attackers that stepped into the firelight.
ArPharazonV (8:59:26 PM): what's that supposed to mean??

Eonwe Valar (8:59:54 PM): that could mean just about any creature approaching :}


Basically, I meant that while I was ranting about us hightailing it as soon as we could, I was also lighting axes by the fire and throwing them at any spiders that poked their heads out of the darkness into the ring of light the fire was emitting.


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ArPharazonV (9:13:59 PM): and I'm at the south, trying to defend against the enemies there, sidekicked by Helvy and Haran probably
ArPharazonV (9:14:12 PM): or something like that
ArPharazonV (9:14:47 PM): Haran is probably at the fire, to the north, as he is able to quickly light his weapons


Not sure exactly which side of the fire I might be on... maybe moving around it continuously to get a view of where they're coming from. But north sounds as good a place as any.


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ArPharazonV (9:20:28 PM): but, perhaps, he's actually throwing his axes through the fire

Eonwe Valar (9:20:35 PM): The path itself probably should be around that wide
Eonwe Valar (9:20:42 PM): a good way to light them :}

ArPharazonV (9:20:45 PM): indeed
ArPharazonV (9:20:59 PM): and hitting the large spiders on the other side
ArPharazonV (9:21:09 PM): so, from north to south:

Eonwe Valar (9:21:10 PM): but he's given no indication of that, so it's speculation :}


hmm.. hadn't really thought of it that way, but I *do* like the visual! ;D


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Eonwe Valar (9:26:26 PM): Based on the given information so far (unless Arathorn changes something ) Haran would be quite near the tree


Most likely I've moved right next to the fire at this point to be able to light my axes quickly as Ar-Pharazon suggested.


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ArPharazonV (9:28:55 PM): Haran was throwing axes through the fire, or at least he was throwing lit axes
ArPharazonV (9:29:03 PM): which would strike the larger spiders
ArPharazonV (9:29:18 PM): the fire of those axes could then be used by me to rekindle my daggers
ArPharazonV (9:29:35 PM): seeing as how I can't reach the fire itself at this point

Eonwe Valar (9:29:51 PM): well, that may seem a bit much as far as skill goes if you can light your daggers off of flying axes :}

ArPharazonV (9:29:56 PM): but no... that's no good
ArPharazonV (9:30:03 PM): I need more paraffin
ArPharazonV (9:30:22 PM): but anyway, I meant lighting my daggers from the axes already stuck in the spiders


heh.. yeah that sounded a tad unrealistic, but as you say, most likely relighting from burning spiders. Sounds feasible enough. But you do make a point about running out of paraffin. Could be that there is still some dripping off the axes that you can use though... sparingly


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Eonwe Valar (9:40:19 PM): how many of these do you imagine there are?

ArPharazonV (9:40:33 PM): I'm sure Helvy will be fine, as long as he keeps control over his anger, and not turns towards his friends, for he is and ever will be a wolf, and he may not, in his rage, recognize friend from foe." That's a later edition too

Eonwe Valar (9:40:36 PM): by your account there were probably upwards of ten-15


My way of thinking is that we have no idea (and can't know) how many. I was trying to paint the picture that they were 'sent' or 'driven' here from the north by the unknown force... *SO* more numbers could easily be continuing to arrive <eep!!>



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Eonwe Valar (9:49:31 PM): I imagined there would not be burrowing spiders in the forest as they would not need to
Eonwe Valar (9:49:54 PM): sort of,.. you speak of burrowing spiders native in some part to Mirkwood

ArPharazonV (9:50:07 PM): well, they've probably learned the trick from their cousins in the mountains


Possibly, but as I stated just above, my initial thoughts were that they *were* the spiders of the north being brought here for reasons unknown to us by a yet unidentified foe.



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Well, those are my replies to some queries brought up in the chat. The rest of you can read the whole transcript from the link up top and let the now three of us hear your comments.

[Eonwë]

Thanks for posting this, Arathorn, and for giving your feedback on parts of it. :}

To add a slight piece, I imagined that Fainan was sitting in a branch, which I thought would put her high off the ground, at least a few feet above a typical elf head. Auros joined her, and I imagined the conversation wouldn't be able to be heard by ground-level characters, part of the reason I see Haran as being so close to the tree.


My next piece to the tale, coming soon :}

[arathorn]

MP

You both devoted over an hour to the discussion, so it was the least I could do (as the rest of us were AFK ... playing, no less ;D)

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Hmm.. I guess it depends how close the tree is to the fire.. I suppose Haran could run up to the fire, light, then run back to use the tree for cover.. as fast as his little legs could carry him ... makes sense...

I await the next post to see where we're taking this <heh>.

[Varda]

Nice discussion! Wish I'd been there. Here's two cents worth:

If we are saying trapdoor spiders are native to the mountains, we dont' have to make up any cross-breeding. A set of mountains are close to Dol Guldur, the same mountains from where the Gulhuine issues. The spiders could have been sent from there to the path area, maybe to several areas. More might be in reserve. Fun huh? Trapdoor spiders are a great idea!

Fainan sees pretty well in darkness, in answer to Auros's unspoken question in the rp text.

We probably can't tell if the spiders came from north or south, as they popped up from underground. They would try to drive us north into a trap.

I imagined the narrow path as being able to take one but not more than two horses side by side in the wider spots. It should be protected, so that webs can't be set across it. Since it's narrow, I imagine the baddies can cross it if they go quickly. It is at about half-strength since only one of the two royals remains in Mirkwood, or I doubt orcs could walk on it. Trees don't grow in the path, partly because the path winds around the larger ones. Straight it's not!

[arathorn]

The only thing that I've been undecided on regarding the spiders being driven to us, is the question of how the spiders could create trapdoor tunnels so quickly and intricately in such a short period of time? This lends credence to Ar-Pharazon's suggestion that they are actually "cousins" of the northern (or as Varda suggests, southern?) spiders and have lived beneath the woods for some time and have created tunnels over the years.

Unless we agree to the possibility that the 'dark force' is creating the tunnels for them or giving them the ability to do so uncommonly quickly, that still nags at me

[Varda]

The baddies have been setting us up for a long time. They want to take over Mirkwood, which is unprotected by a Ring. I suspect they didn't let the trapdoor spiders make themselves obvious until the Gulhuine was ready. I'm sure the spiders have taken a few deer and wild pigs while waiting well away from the path.

[ArPharazon]

Well, my post is made! I have made use of Fainan's most recent arrow, and I have also made use of one of Haran's axes, as suggested and discussed above. Perhaps that could be any of Haran's axes he's throwing towards the spiders, or perhaps he wishes to mention that specific one in his next post. Your choice, Arathorn

[arathorn]

Varda:

Ok, I buy that. They could have created those tunnels even all the way from up north over, say, a year now (just closer to the surface) and were just awaiting their master's go ahead for the time when they could attack. I'm just throwing a year in at random, as it might take more or less to get tunnels to go that far (can't see them sneaking into the forest above ground then burrowing though... elves would have spotted them long ago).


Ar-Pharazon:
Heh, looks like you covered the dispatch of the 3 biggies pretty thoroughly... nothing really for me to add! I'll just wait for the next post to see what Haran will/should do next.

[Eonwë]

Well, I kinda saw it as if they can dig through rock, they can probably make pretty short work of dirt :} I would imagine some tunnels would've been set up beforehand, but I think given the size of the spiders as well as uncertain numbers, they could've probably done most of this in a few days at most.

Darkness:
The "darkness" I mention is the same one we've alluded to and mentioned elsewhere in the tale: one that weighs on the mind and soul. I imagined it being hard to penetrate with thought or eye, but the eye part might just be Auros' perspective from being inside it at the time :}

[arathorn]

Hmm.. I never thought of them as being able to burrow through rock... don't think any animal could. In the mountains there were still dirt areas (roads) underneath that they could use to create tunnels.

Course it is a fantasy world <heh>.

[Eonwë]

Well, when I think mountain I think rock (or at least tightly packed dirt), even though I know some types of mountains aren't, and it'd be hard to come upon Dwarves at unawares if they couldn't :}

[arathorn]

Well, the paths in mountains can still be dirt, and that's where the spiders could have grabbed dwarves from.. underneath the dirt paths. When miners dig in mountains they're not always going through solid rock..

I guess what I'm trying to steer towards here (or away from actually), is that if they can burrow through rock, then the 'refuge' we're trying to get to next won't be much help . (Haran asked Fainan if she knew of a rocky place... thus implying that he 'knew', or at least thought, that the spiders can't get through it... most likely from stories from other dwarves that had encounters with the beasts in the mountains).

Of course, that supposition isn't 'carved in stone'. ;D

[Varda]

Hah! Let the rascals try digging through memory-wiping water! More than one way to de-bristle a spider, if we make it that far.

[ArPharazon]

Won't they just dig under the river? That way they can reach the other side even before we get there, and crossing the river won't really be the way to get rid of them.

Edit: Memory-wiping water? I just thought the river put creatures to sleep? Or are you not talking about the river?

[arathorn]

I see.. then I don't

Varda:
When you mentioned the water last time I wasn't sure why (figured that we just had to cross it to get to a possible rocky place). Didn't see how water would make a difference (as Ar-Pharazon says, they could just use tunnels around it and beat us to the other side or even have others waiting there already). Then now you mention memory-wiping and I thought 'Oh, so you DID mean the water itself as a deterrent' which brings up the 'why' again, since they can have tunnels around it.

I also agree with Arphy that I don't remember the water having an amnestic effect, just that it was the equivalent to being hit with a tranquillizer dart or being forced to watch operetta. ;D

In any case, seems we have a bit of uncertainty here we need to decide on before we continue...