Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game, the Game itself

Rest and provisions are a good idea. So is the idea of letting day overtake us. I for one do not see as well in the night as the elf or dwarf.

Ghân explains to Moose that his brave fighting deserves a share of the gold.
Does Moose want it?
Can Ghân spend it for Moose, i.e. donating it to something, or buying supplies to help the party defeat more orcs?

Ghân says that if Anthor doesn’t want a share, we should not press it upon him.
We have done the right thing by his family! :slight_smile:

Ghân thinks that Aiglos was Gil-Galad’s weapon, so understands Brin is having a little fun at the expense of Merry’s speech.
Since Wose humour mainly consists of who can break wind loudest round the campfire, Ghân decides not to explain anything about comedy.

Ghân is delighted that the party wants to take on the orcs and their sorceror in the camp.
He suggests that it will not take long to pick up supplies from Minas Tirith - after all only a short time has passed since Anthor staggered into the pub.
Also both casters need to rest and recover their spells (Ghân needs to make some more Goodberries)
Once we meet up with Gimli, there will be plenty of people to do anything we want to swiftly before setting off.

Just to get the planning started, Ghân suggests that if we do manage to ambush the Sorceror Gash and his troops in their camp, then:

  • Ghân should cast Summon Insects on Gash
  • Ghân should cast Heat Metal, Entangle and Faerie Fire on the troops
  • Deor should Magic Missile Gash
  • Deor should Sleep troops
  • Mulligan could try to backstab Gash (if possible)

What Exit? If the party agree to wait for resupply, then I believe Ghân has three spare 2nd level slots to cast Goodberries, i.e 6d4 berries…
He will also cast Detect Magic on the orc stuff (highly unlikely, but since the spell is laready loaded…)

Ghân explains to Moose, "Your brave fighting deserves a share of the gold. Do you want it? Can Ghân spend it for Moose, i.e. donating it to something, or buying supplies to help the party defeat more orcs?
Moose replies, “Let me get this right, Slay Orc and Prosper!?” He thinks a moment more, “Me want my share, spend it on whatever helps kill orcs.”

Let’s wait on a few more members to check in on the waiting or pursuing now.

Ornan asks, “Didn’t the orcs say that some went to get help?”

I agree with Ghan in general, but points out that he cannot cast Magic Missile, Sleep, and Shield to protect myself in the same fight, so some compromise will have to be made. Invisibility would give Mulligan an excellent chance to get behind Gash, too.

I don’t especially need to return to Minas Tirith unless we’re pooling money to purchase me new spells. Actually, we could even send a rider back to bring me a scroll to learn the spell from.

Send Folca up to keep an eye out above the camp and to scout the ground back to the road.

Could someone give me a detailed rundown of how the process of learning new spells from scrolls works?

[metagaming]The DM is trying to get us to take the shortcut back to the road! It’s a trap![/metagaming]

It takes hours, Ink and a Write spell to learn a spell from a scroll. You use up the magic scroll by scribing into your own spellbook instead.

It might be difficult to buy a scroll in the middle of the night. Mages are often grumpy old men and bugging a grumpy old wizard can be a bad career move.

BTW: you could cast 3 1st by memorizing a 1st instead of a 2nd. However, your idea of making Mulligan Invisible for a cheap backstab is a good idea.

As to the metagaming: Em not.

No seriously, I don’t ref from modules. My ref’ing style is very fluid in most cases. It should only take 15 minutes to return to the road by the shortest route as opposed to over an hour the other way. It was just sound advice. Besides I used my NPC to remind you that the Orcs might be on the way back.

No, I’m just needling you.

There’s no failure chance for writing a spell?

There is a chance but not with your intelligence.

I vote to make contact with Gimli, set up a night guard, and proceed on at first light. We could show a profit on the looted weapons, sure, but we’re well equipped now. Why lose the initiative? Adding Gimli and Pippin to our little party would leave us in excellent shape to take on this sorcerer.

Treasure: The fun is in the finding, not the keeping and they probably need it more than we do to keep their family alive, but I am happy to go along with everyone else.

If Invisibility lasts all day or until I attack, give me an hour or so and I can probably tell you where everyone is located in their camp, once we find it. If you really want to move the odds in our favour, give me something slow acting I can flavour the food with, I’m betting Gash and the Uruk-Hai have their own food prepared for them and I don’t think cooking is an offensive action? :smiley:

Doing a sneak attack on Gash will not be a problem if the situation allows it.

More importantly: there is a good chance that there are some orcs on the way back here. They will certainly be on guard when this party fails to arrive.

I think we need to get Anthor and his family out of here along with the captured orcs, but then I think we need to watch out for the second party of Orcs coming our way, especially if led by one or two of the bodyguard.

Ghan could probably set you up with some slow acting poison pretty easily. I doubt he’d get you anything fatal, but maybe something debilitating.

Invisibility can last longer than all day, and attack is defined pretty specifically- I remember seeing somewhere that it’s good through cutting ropes on bridges with enemies on it, and this is certainly sneakier and less obvious than that.

I agree that we should get Anthor and the orcs (Band name!) out of here quickly. We should move on at daylight, or possibly earlier.

Oh, absolutely. I hope you don’t mind me making suggestions (but you did say you were new to this!)

Excellent idea, but perhaps Folca should be Invisible? I don’t know if there are natural predators of small hawks around, but you really do not want to risk your familiar

Do be aware that invisibility may not be a guarantee of safety when sneaking around an enemy camp, especially when there is a sorceror to be dealt with. You can still be heard (though I’m sure your stealth skills are excellent), you still leave footprints, objects that you move can still be seen moving, and you can still be smelled, if they have any guard animals, or scent-tracking orcs, or there are Wargs along.

I’ll happily cover your back when you go a-spying. Just remember, if we have to run for it, I don’t have to run faster than the enemy - I just have to run faster than you. :smiley:

Still making haste here - well, a brisk canter at any rate; no need to go flat-out.

Ghân: As long as our rescued family have an escort back to Minas Tirith. There should be enough extra dwarves with Gimli…

Also a little preparation can make a big difference. We are not far away from the city. I am happy to wait for anyone who needs to pick up something.

Finally although we are a jolly decent party, Meriadoc, Pippin and Gimli are highly distinguished veterans of the war and members of the Fellowship.
We must ask their advice and respect their decisions. We cannot simply recruit them, for example.

Ghân: We should travel together to the neighbourhood of the camp (Folca should give us an excellent chance of doing this).
Then from that base, if Mulligan wants to have a go at scouting and ‘cooking’, that’s fine by me.
As Deor rightly surmises, I will not use deadly poison. (Also that would surely be an offensive act, breaking the Invisibility.)
I can offer Arunya, which used as a brew causes sleep :cool:

(If Mulligan wants to rub Mir-Melellen directly onto the Sorceror Gash, he would smell fragrant for several hours. :confused:
Surely then the other orcs would promptly attack him?! :eek:
Yes, that was Wose humour… :smiley: )

Ghân agrees. :slight_smile:

It’s all good.

I’d love for her to be invisible, but I already cast that once today. Tomorrow morning I can do that. And a red-tailed hawk is fairly large; four-foot wingspan or so. She’d be in more danger from wildlife if she were in a tree; no raccoons in the air.

I will respect the opinions of all three, but the hobbits are both very elderly for their kind, and even Gimli is over two hundred. Admittedly you have to put up with an even older fogey in your party, but he has an unfair advantage. :slight_smile:

Sure.
I meant that we should primarily rely on our own strengths and also be aware of the fame and influence of such veterans.

Merry, “We still seem to be in debate over what to do. However, don’t expect Pippin to be along for the Wizard. He is basically retired now. I imagine Gimli is leading several strong Dwarves and a small company of Gondorian Knights. You never know you he is likely to recruit quickly. He is well known and liked in Minas Tirith.”

Mulligan knows that Uncle Pippin is too old and venerable to pull a bow or use a sword. He also winds easily with hard activity. The years have not been as kind to him as to Merry.

Deor is voting for continuing on towards the Orc camp at daybreak but doesn’t have a strong opinion. If it comes to a fight, he’ll stay back, use Sleep and Magic Missile, then cautiously use his cantrips to give our fighters the edge. Cast Invisibility on Folca (and myself, if What Exit? allows spell sharing with familiars) and keep both of them out of combat. Reasonable variations will be considered and implemented by Ghan.

That’s all, folks! I’m officially on vacation now. I’ll try to check in every day or two, but there’s some guidelines so that Deor can be played in my absence. Have fun! I should be back for good on March 19.

Brin will help out with the final decision, whatever that may be. If the call is to raid an orc camp at night, he’ll do so (but ask that Ghan light up a few targets with Faerie Fire so he has an actual shot at them).

And Brin is upset that Merry let his statement pass :frowning:

:smiley: