Still looking shaken, Elfstan steps forward to get the party’s attention. As he speaks he makes eye contact with members of the party.
“I fear that I owe Brin and the rest of you an apology. I was the one that the orcs spotted. I also have something that I need to show you.”
With that, Elfstan draws his sword. It’s clearly Elvish and of highest quality.
“This is Sting. Many may know more of it’s history, but I was told that it was made by Elves during the First Age. It was recovered from trolls many years ago by Old Bilbo Baggins when he was on his adventure with Gandalf and the Dwarves. Bilbo passed Sting on to Frodo the Ring Bearer, who passed it to my Grandpa Samwise. I received it from him when he left these lands.”
“It is said to glow with a blue light in the presence of orcs and their kin. Indeed it does. I thought to use these orcs to learn of its potential and find its properties. Only in spite of my best efforts (or through direct DM intervention! ;)) I was unable to conceal its light from the orcs. One spotted the glow from Sting and alerted the rest. I’m afraid I’m responsible for Brin’s and Riglo’s wounds and for us now being unable to follow these orcs to their destination. I hope you will accept my apology.”
“I can’t speak for the rest of the group,” calls Miron, speaking while still turned and seeing to Riglo’s wounds, “But I for one refuse to become angry over innocent mistakes. Doing something foolish once is called learning, small one. It’s only when you keep making the same mistake that you smudge your own tracks.”
At which I will obviously maintain my cool and in no way, manner, shape or form trip over myself to get a look at this historically-significant weapon. For Elbereth’s sake, we make up songs about this sword, what with it featuring in several important events in the Great Years and being carried by two of the five most famous hobbits of all time (the Bullroarer and the Old Took come in at about six and seven).
So Frodo bequeathed Sting to Master Samwise in the end. I don’t suppose you have anything to tell us about what you’re wearing under that waistcoat? :dubious:
[elvish, sotto voce]Thank you, Captain Miron. :D[/esv]
Young Elfstan still has something to learn about being unseen.
Some of the blame is mine as well, I should know better than to go walking towards a bunch of Orcs with a brightly glowing sword, wrapped or otherwise.
[elvish, sotto voce] “I don’t get it, did I do something wrong? Stomping towards a horde of orcs with a weapon that glows when orcs around is a terrible idea, but he’s a hobbit for goodness’ sake, and journeying with hobbits is certain to entail its share of hijinks… most of them are such remarkably loyal and true companions when they’ve gotten to know you, I would’ve felt bad chiding him. I barely did better, after all… I instantly focused on the companion who was receiving the most medical care, without a thought for checking the rest of our company: what kind of healer uses the groans of the injured to figure out how to distribute bandages?”[/esv][/elvish]
As if to punctuate his comment, as soon as he finishes tending to Riglo he turns to circulate throughout the rest of the company, wordlessly scrutinizing each member in turn for cuts, scratches, scrapes, or other injuries.
It’s a little busy right now, but assuming Ghân is amiable to his interest, Miron will begin to spend his breaks quizzing the druid on how he makes his poultices, and on any general plant and healing knowledge he has to offer.
As Elfstan shows **Sting ** it is glowing a bright blue, one of the Orcs must still be alive.
Brin is fully healed with the Neutralize Poison and Renee’s cure light that does double and some basic first aid and salve. The healers of the party do excellent and swift work.
Does Ghân have [color=blue] plant growth memorized? I thought you did not. [/color]
Ghân is happy to discuss Herbology and offers his healing poultices for inspection.
He also uses blowpipe paralysing venom, so let him know if you see any of that!
“If we’re to search the bodies,” Miron observes, glancing about the party to gauge what should be done next, “It might be best to carry some of those remarkable berries along: with the damage we inflicted anyone left alive in that mess is likely close to death, and I would hate to lose the opportunity to interrogate him.”
Miron stays with the wounded for now, assuming that he is more valuable acting as a healer than he is helping the fighters with a largely controlled situation.
“I wouldn’t mind some of that poison myself, if you could grow and spare it,” he idly comments to Ghân, “My arrows lack some of the punch that our other archers seem capable of delivering, so it would be nice to have an alternative to brute force.”
Elfstan holds out Sting for Gil-Gandel to examine.
While Gil-Gandel is holding Sting, Elfstan produces a formerly unseen throwing knife and mutters, “maybe a few.”
“Sting is going to be an interesting problem for a Treasure Finder such as myself. It began to glow slightly a good 1000’ from these orcs. It was at 100’ that the trouble happened. It flared brightly then. I have black grease paint with me that I hoped to use to conceal the glow when necessary. Now I’m not sure if that will be enough. It also seems a shame to do that to such a beautiful blade. Still, I don’t know that I have a choice. As things stand now, every orc between here and Harad will see me when they get close.”
I think I’m going to take this problem to the setup thread for a bit. I’ll post something on it a little later.
*edit due to more info from What Exit?: After retreiving Sting from Gil-Gandel, this seems like a good time to see if Sting can detect which orc is still alive.
All the orcs are either dead or playing dead very well. As Elfstan joins Mulligan, **Sting ** flares the brightest near the Orc in chain mail with the excellent bow that Brin dropped with the critical hit.
Does Elfstan have any response to Gil-Gandel’s shrewd guess about what he might have under his waistcoat? (I gave no hints on this one)
Don’t mind me, I’m a little preoccupied with seeing and actually handling something that was made in Gondolin before the end of the First Age… and has been stuck in Shelob to considerable effect, at that.
[elvish, sotto voce]Don’t trouble yourself overly with saying “well done” or “ill done”… or with beating your breast over any errors of judgment. The former is my responsibility and the latter is seldom helpful. Your healing talents will be invaluable but we have two good healers already, so do not be too concerned about not having chosen the optimum course at all times - your back is well covered[/esv]
[elvish, [sotto voce]] "I’ll keep both in mind, and I hadn’t intended to usurp your authority: I was only hoping to reassure Elfstan before he worked up a undeserved guilt that could take days to dissipate. I didn’t chose my words carefully, however; I’ll leave such matters to you in the future. [/esv]
