Scouting Ahead, Part 6: The Road to Rivendell

[Shelob]

Estarion:

When he pointed the sword at himself, the Elvish looking Orc turned around and said something that resembled something close to Elbereth. A voice in the back of his head started nagging that an Orc would never use that name, but he muted it, much too occupied with what he thought were more pressing matters.
The Orc picked up a club and threw something at him, which he just barely ducked away from. Still slightly hazy, it wasn't as smooth as he could have done, thus he was caught off balance as the Orc hit the sword he had picked up and sent it flying through the air, out of reach for Estarion to pick up again.

As he thought there was only one other option left, he let out a fierce battle cry and hurled himself towards Meren, whom he still perceived as being an Orc.

[Indis]

Meren:

'A Elbereth, help me,' Meren cried in fright as the crazed Avar came raging toward her. She had never thought so quickly in all her life as she did now--all she had was the branch and her dagger, and if it had been an orc, she would not have hesitated to make lethal use of both. But this was one of her kind, and no matter what the excuse, kinslaying was absolutely not an option.

The horses! Her best help would come from the horses, and toward them she ran, club still in hand. 'Duroch, to me!' she shouted, and from among the horses came her dark-coated friend, rage in his eyes. 'Duroch, do not hurt him, only pin him down!' Duroch ran headlong into Estarion and knocked him to the ground. Once the Avar was supine and breathless, the horse quite deliberately put a firm hoof on his chest, giving the others time to come and help Meren restrain him.

[Varda]

Fainan:

Fainan looked back at the excitement happening on the shore. Putting an arrow through Estarion's arm was not a good option, making her especially glad that the team was handling the problem already. Meren's quick and creative actions looked pretty decisive.

Fainan continued poling hard against the current, forcing the front end of the ferryboat onto the bit of beach. She placed the pole back into its holder and stepped off the front into the squishy grass. Pulling the ropes, she beached the front end of the boat a little more so that it came under the carefully grown plants designed to partially camouflage it. She disliked having brought along the ferry pull ropes from the far side, but with orcs on the bank it seemed a necessary inconvenience.

Then Fainan jumped and caught a branch above her head, pulled up to stand on the wide bough and, thanks to long training, stopped and listened.

The rain had slowed to a sprinkle, but not far away it sounded harder. Just under the branches. Light, large bodies headed her way, local spiders most likely alerted to potential blood food from the sounds of a fight, and their many-eyed gazes had surely noted the boat bringing a potentially convenient meal.

The single, wet rope glistened over the water, her only nearby path over the Enchanted River, from which no one was near enough to pull her should she mis-step. And a single spider waited, very still, just above the near end of the rope. It had moved very slightly in adjustment as her bit of weight moved the branch. Fainan did not look straight at it, keeping it in peripheral vision as she drew her bow and nocked it while seeming to look towards what she now figured were beaters. Mirkwood spiders carried a remnant of the malignant intelligence of ancient Ungoliant, able to speak and work together effectively. Having only a few purposes in life made them even more dangerous. One of those was lunch.

But Mirkwood elves had adapted long ago, and she planned that elf lunch was not to be on their menu.

She lulled the lone spider into thinking that her attention was on the others. As it stalked forward a little more, that net of branches no longer covered it. Fainan fired. The spider chittered anger and warnings as it fell, curling up in death only after it hit the ground. The other spiders changed their movements completely, racing forward. She returned the bow to her back.

Fainan ran along the slippery rope, not wishing to be that lone patroller who was listed as missing in action until they found a dry husk later. She refused to look down at the turbulent, swollen Enchanted River below, filling her mind only with technique and reaching the far side. Keep one's toes a bit outwards while on the rope, beware of extra-shiny slippery spots, make sure one foot held firmly before raising the other, and do it quickly. Compensate for the expected, intentional shaking of the tight rope by the spiders. Use their rapid approach along the rope for improved speed.

She was almost to the end of the rope, listening to the tree on the other side croon encouragement to the wood elf. And a warning to speed up even more.

[arienv]

Frali:

Frali watched astonished as the Elf who had lain asleep close to him suddenly hurled himself at the beautiful young female who had been looking after horses with his drawn sword.

He was much too slow to deliver any blow with his axe and probably such a course of action would have caused more harm than good, and in anyway it was not necessary. One of the horses , presumably the attacked one's , knocked Estarion over and pinned him effectively down with one hoof on the latter's chest.

Just to be sure that the mad elf could not cause any further harm or run away Frali placed himself in a saddle like half kneeling postion over the Avar's legs, his axe ready on the forest floor, quick to pick up when needed.

[Shelob]

Estarion:

As Estarion hurled himself towards the Elvish looking Orc, it fled. It fled! Of all things possible, this was the least he would have expected. Even in the thralls of fury, this sudden upheaval of everything he knew about Orcish behavior made him hesitate. In that fraction of a moment he once again heard something shouted in a familiar language.
He didn't have time to register what it was though, for in the next few counts he was down on the ground, restrained by a horse's hoof... another one of those strange things!.. and a really fat Goblin half kneeling, half sitting on his legs. Of all the things that hadn't added up though, the strangest of all was that the Goblin had a beard!

All of a sudden the nagging voice in the back of his head would no longer be contained, and it roared out until it no longer could be ignored, and slowly, but surely, the truth dawned on Estarion.

Slowly Estarion stopped flailing about with his arms, eventually stopping the struggle altogether, looking around rather confused. Close by, with a stout branch in one hand and a dagger in the other, stood Meren, the scholar from Mirkwood. "Meren? What... Where..." Estarion's head was still ringing, and words hadn't formed themselves coherently in his head just yet.
"Why am I here?" were the first words that popped into his mind that seemed to have any meaning at all.

[Indis]

Meren:

At last, Frali arrived and planted himself solidly on Estarion's legs, preventing further movement except for his arms and head. Meren mouthed a hearty 'thank you' to the dwarf but kept her weapons in hand, just in case.

Slowly, the elf's struggles lessened, and the mad light in his eyes was gone. Meren let herself hope that he was finally recovering from his river-induced delusions but continued to watch carefully, not yet allowing Duroch or the cooperative Frali to release the Avar. At last he looked around and, after some incoherent questions, he asked, "Why am I here?"

Meren knelt and said, "You fell into the river and took a long time to recover. I think you had some evil visions as you woke up, so we had to hold you down. I can't tell you how glad I am that you are finally coming to yourself!"

She gave Estarion some time to gather his wits then asked, "Can Duroch and Frali release you? Our troubles have not ended with your tumble into the enchanted water, and we will need both you and Master Frali as soon as possible. If you would like something for a spinning head or other such, I have something both of you can take."

[Varda]

Fainan:

Fainan felt the light bouncing of the silvery rope behind her and knew she was being followed. She leaped forward, hands outstretched, and caught the rope. With more mental force than was probably required, she thought to the knot behind her: "Release!"

The rope slithered loose from the ferry-side branch and dropped rapidly, swinging her and several unwanted companions towards the shore with her friends. "Visitors!" she called in a quick cry. Then she jumped from the rope onto a waiting branch. Chittering screams and splashes spoke of spiders falling into the swollen river, yet a quick glance showed that three spiders yet clung to the bridge rope. From her branch, she called to this end of the rope to un-knot as well. The spiders fell in disarray.

Fainan slapped wet hair from her face and pulled her bow, hoping to prevent the spiders from harming her friends or the horses. Already the huge creatures had landed, one holding tightly to the bole of the tree and the others curled and already unfurling on the mushy turf below.

[ArPharazon]

Calion:

Calion witnessed Estarion's rude awakening from a short distance, for he was still standing by the shore; ranged help would do more evil than good, and the others had the Avar under control before he could have reached as far. Some seconds later there came to his attention an ominous sound from behind. It was the sound of spiders chittering.

He turned around just in time to see the rope untie itself, swinging Fainan and several spiders to the western shore. Through some quick action by Fainan the rope, with spiders attached, became wholly unfixed and fell towards the ground, as Calion grabbed another dagger.

He jumped forward and plunged his blade directly into one of the spiders' stomachs before it had a chance to unfurl its legs and turn its belly to the ground. But even as it was dying it fought back, biting Calion in the leg and unsteadying him. His weapon was wrenched from his grasp as the spider struggled, and he found himself thrown back on the soil with his hands empty, while the second spider skittered towards him.

Quickly rolling back over the turf, Calion put his hand on the Orcish sword Meren had knocked away from Estarion. Grabbing it firmly he pointed his new, probably poisoned weapon at the incoming spider. It would not find its prey easy to conquer.

[Varda]

Fainan:

Settling her mind and feet while nocking an arrow, Fainan prepared for the upcoming fight that had to come. She hoped her warning cal had been enough to let the others be ready.

Horrified at what had happened to Calion, Fainan fired two arrows into the huge head of the spider attacking him.

[ArPharazon]

Calion:

Calion prepared to defend himself from the large spider approaching him, wielding a weapon he was not used to: A sword, and of Orcish make nonetheless. But two well-placed arrows solved the problem for him, and the spider writhed on the ground for a bit, just out of sword's reach, for the last few seconds of its life.

He slowly got to his feet, leaning with one hand on the hilt of the sword. Smiling at Fainan up in the tree, Calion expressed his gratitude with a nod. A quick glance at his leg-wound revealed no poison on the edges, and the wound did not burn as it would have, had poison been inside. He had been very lucky; either the dying spider had not had much poison left to push through, or at least not the strength to, or he had pulled his leg away fast enough. Probably a bit of both. Time, with the aid of some herbs if they were available, would soon heal him with no lasting effect besides perhaps a vague scar.

With his free hand Calion took another dagger hidden within his clothing. It would be the third in this particular fight, and he would have to remember to retrieve the others when it was over. Now he looked for the third spider, which, when he had last seen it, was holding on to the tree Fainan was in.

[Indis]

Meren:

The sounds of more fighting on the riverbank alerted Meren. She saw Fainan in a tree, besieged by three large spiders, and Calion in battle with them on the ground. One of them appeared to have bitten his leg--once again her services and her herbs would probably be required. Quickly she reached for her healing kit and began to sort through it, while she waited for Estarion's response to her question. Until she was satisfied that he was safely alert again, she must leave him pinned down, which took Frali and Duroch out of action too. At least her bow and some arrows were within reach, and maybe she might be in time to stick a pin or two into the remaining spider at range.

[arienv]

Frali:

The familiar noise of battle helped to clear the young warrior's mind and quickly he scanned the tree line where Fainan was and spotted the third spider getting ready to jump up to the the Elf woman.

Swiftly he reached over his head on his back where he felt the familiar weight of his two throwing axes which had hitherto completely forgotten about. It was less than half a minute and he had the light weapons from their holder and they themselves flew in a deadly arc towards the spider. Only his skill with these weapons prevented his body weight and legs shifting from where they were at the moment - on Estarions outstretched legs.

With a sure eye the dwarf threw both axes in quick succession towards head and front legs which had come dangerously close to Fainans boots.

Both weapons hit , but obviously the axe thrown at the head did not kill the spider outright, even though the front legs were severed and fell to the ground to join its owner's dead companion.

[Shelob]

Estarion:

Estarion nodded slowly to Meren, indicating that he had heard her.
"I'm okay... just... woozy still."

[Indis]

Meren gave Estarion a relieved look. "Very well, Frali and Duroch, thank you for your services; you can let him up now. And Estarion, I suggest you get your things together, for we shall be leaving very soon--as soon as we can finish off the spiders and pack up. If you have trouble riding, just hold on to the horse's mane and let him carry you with us until you're feeling more stable. He knows what to do."

Now Meren waited to pack her herbs and potions until she had checked Calion's leg wound. Othewise, she ensured that she and Duroch were ready for the road. At the same time, she kept an eye on the still-woozy Estarion to make sure that all would be well with him.

[Varda]

Fainan:

Going wide-eyed at how quickly the huge spider had jumped up the trunk clear to the edge of her boot, Fainan fired off an arrow directly into the ugly, clacking mandibles, and continued firing a couple of more as it fell, dying and chittering, and shut its vicious voice.

Using the adrenaline, she swung down the branches to the group. Auros was watching sharp-eyed for any more orcs, leaving the spiders to those used to them. Estarion seemed to be coming back to himself.

"Thank you for those axes, Frali!" Fainan said, as she checked her spent arrows for any left whole and unbent. "You seem to have a stronger constitution than our Avari friend," she added with a wink at Estarion. "It's a good thing we have Meren's expertise!"