I only meant as in Radagast the ‘Brown’, not the Woodland creature!
Anyway it’s good to have the Owl along.
I got that. Besides I think of brownies as household Good Folk and not woodland creatures.
I’ll wait til the morning for any objections or changes to the marching order.
I’m fine with this. Keep Folca well overhead, keeping an eye out, and be prepared to break and run back to the main party if we’re attacked.
Now, Folca is not in and of herself magical, and so she won’t stand out like a sore thumb to an enemy mage, right? Are there any things in the area that are likely to be a threat to her? Not much natural will attack a hawk in the air.
Specific orders:
Deor will sneak as best he’s able, taking cover where possible and taking the advice of the more stealthy members. If we succeed in approaching the enemy stealthily, take the best notice possible of enemies that are behind cover or otherwise invisible to our ground-based scouts and relay this information to the scouts.
If we come up on a small group of orcs and the advance party agrees to attack it (after making sure it’s not bait for an ambush) Deor can assist using Sleep.
If we come up on a large group or the main camp, I expect we won’t attack it without our reinforcements, so lay low, watch through Folca’s eyes, and prepare to withdraw silently after getting the lay of the place.
If we’re attacked, Deor can use Sleep, Magic Missile, or Shield only if necessary to clear enough space to run away. If things get really bad, cast Invisibility and bail.
Different DM’s do things differently. It’s all part of the charm.
In my game (in case this comes up) an MU familiar would permanently radiate Magic.
So a well-informed enemy would consider using Dispel Magic or Magic Missile. :eek:
OTOH, most enemies probably don’t routinely Detect Magic on every two- or four-footed beastie that passes within a furlong of them. :dubious:
Oh absolutely. I’m not saying that having a Familiar is suicidal.
However a well-informed opponent who knew there was an MU coming to attack him might throw out a Detect Magic…‘one false move, wizaed, and your familiar gets it!’*
*‘Dave, get the barbarian in the corner another drink, quick!’
Gil-Gandel (bow ready)
100 yards (10”)
Brin (Tracking) (Long & Shield)
Caramir (bow ready & checking for side tracks)
Ghân (Owl on shoulder)
Deor (nervous, a pinch of sand handy for sleep)
Mulligan (sling at the ready)
Nanthor (bow ready)
A ¼ mile back (44”)
Gwaelur (Xbow ready)
Merry (On *pony * and Bow ready)
Gimli (Xbow ready)
Jari (Xbow ready)
Thoroncir (Long bow at the ready?)
Theogrim (Bastard & Shield? )
Pony
Brúni (Xbow ready)
Pony
Víli (Xbow ready)
Pony
Náli (War Shield Out and Hammer handy)
Pony
Moose (Antlers at the Ready)
On the Issue of Folca, very few Mages would ever think to or be able to Detect Magic on her while she is a ¼ mile up. That works out to 44” in game terms. If anything, he will think Moose is the oddest familiar ever and Moose would take many Magic Missiles to drop.
The party leaves the road to start along this rocky path. Gil-Gandel is on point and roughly, 100 yards ahead, difficult to see by any but Brin, who generally does not see him when Gil-Gandel is not moving. (Must be the Elven Cloak he has on.)
Brin finds following the tracks easy and the weather looks to be holding. It should remain fair. We are making good progress and the going gets tougher. After about 4 miles and two hours of tracking, Gil-Gandel has had to double back twice and Caramir noticed two times where a single goblin or orc went off by themselves to pee and then hurried back to catch up.
The path now appears to provide no chance for the wagons to have proceeded. We must be at the point where they planned to off load them. Proceeding with more caution, Folca reports a suspicious lump to the east of the current path, about 200 yards off of Gil-Gandel’s position.
Just confirming: yes, bastard & shield. Thanks.
Yes, Thoroncir will have his longbow at the ready.
After some consideration, I will stick with a shield. The best defense may be a good offense, but they still put armor on tanks. 
My job is to keep Deor, Ghan, and Mal alive should anything get close - like Aragorn at Weathertop.
On receiving this news, I’ll suggest the trackers stay in cover while I sneak in and investigate the lump.
Fun with “familiars”: Stick a Charm Monster on a troll. Polymorph it into a cat, explaining to the troll that it is going to get a good meal this way. Send the cat in to scout. Enemy mage spots cat, casts Detect Magic, it shows up nice and bright, he casts Magic Missile at it. Screeching, instead of dropping dead, the cat makes a beeline for him, whereupon the mage trots out his Dispel Magic… and finds he has a pissed-off troll in his face as the Polymorph goes away. 
Do you want some backup cover while you are having a look?
Isn’t Folca Deor’s familiar? He would report back to Deor, wouldn’t he, and then someone would have to reach Starharp to tell him of the find, versus Starharp coming back to tell us?
Or I’m totally confused, which is par for the course.
Gil-Gandel carefully makes his way up the east side. Even with Mulligan’s well trained eyes, he can barely follow the elf. Using maximum stealth, he trails 100 feet back. Meanwhile Folca scouts in a wider circle and picks up some height. The party front and back hunker down and hide as well as they can.
Gil-Gandel gets within 60 feet and the lump appears to be man (orc) shaped under a dirty blanket. Mulligan begins circling wide while Gil-Gandel observes the approach to this figure.
Yes, but Gil-Gandel would see Folca return to Deor and then Deor would call Gil-Gandel over. Gil-Gandel can see the party easily, he is the only one nearly invisible and he keeps glancing back to see if he is off trail. In the discussion, I sped things up a bit and just had Mulligan tail behind using Hobbit stealth and moving very silently and using all available outcroppings and bushes to remain out of sight. Mulligan is only 3’ 5" and 40 pounds.
I’ll have a look around and see if anyone else is nearby - or if there is any cover that could conceal an observer. If it looks like the coast is clear, I’ll approach the mysterious figure with my long sword drawn; but I won’t run it through just yet. 
I want to know if it’s a Man or an orc, if it’s about the right size for either. I will crouch by its side and wait for a minute or so, and if nothing’s happened by then, I’ll remove the blanket. It gets the edge of my sword to its throat, the palm of my hand across its mouth, and in the clearest Common I can enunciate, but barely above a whisper: “If you be a friend of Gondor, be silent for both our sakes; if a foe, be silent for your own!”.
Then we’ll take it from there.
Exactly. In this medium, the idea was not to waste time role-playing all that.
You look around and see only Mulligan checking beyond this one. You note Mulligan is quite quiet and stealthy for a non-elf. The hobbits appear to live up to the stories you have heard.
You carefully approach the figure from the side, as you get to within two feet, the blanket flies off and a dagger flies at you. You barely dodge the dagger and recognizing the figure to be a half-blinded (by the light) orc, you try to run him through. You also miss.
He tries to rise and starts call for help, “Help. Help.”
You swing and hit but fail to kill him, as he lets out a yelp to go with the “help”, a sling bullet bounces off his head and he drops like a rock. You see Mulligan readying another bullet and trying to look every direction at once.
Folca dives back to Deor, screeching out a warning that Deor and Ghân recognize as “Orcs are coming from up the path.”
The rear hears the orc crying for help and realizes the time for stealth is up.
Gimli, “Forth at a run lads, the scout with need our help from the sound of it.”
Moose begins leaping over bounding over boulders picking his way off the main trail and sending rocks and light brush sliding down the mountainside. He does no look as nimble as a goat, but he does look surprisingly nimble.
Gwaelur begins running up the trail with all following.
Folca rises down the side of the mountain regaining height and circling back to the south again to take high guard.
The Owl knocks its hood back and launches into the air.
What does the front group do?
What does Gil-Gandel and Mulligan do?
Theogrim takes off at a run, in the direction of the front party.
As soon as orcs are in xbow range Gwaelur will fire off a bolt or two, being especially careful to not to hit anyone in the party ahead.
Ghân translates Folca’s warning for the party “Orcs are coming up the path”.
(He is ready to step in front of Deor.)
N.B. He has a range of 8 on both Entangle and Faerie Fire (plus the area of effect).
If he can see both Mulligan and Gil-gandel will not be caught, but some orcs will be, Ghân casts Entangle.
If the situation is too confused for that, but there is either a caster or a dangerous looking leader, he will cast Summon Insects on them.
Otherwise he will Faerie Fire any 3 orc archers (else the leading 3 orcs).
If there is still time, he will cast Barkskin on himself.