Have we finalized the plans for the journey north and interviewing potential fellow travelers?
The party has passed through Osgiliath at least twice already. The city is under heavy construction and will be for decades to come. What is the interest in the city? Merry has a friend or four that can act as guides and he will join you.
Gilraen has permission to participate in the ceremony as long as it is understood her loyalty is first to the Reunited Kingdom and second to the House of Healing.
There are few restaurants but there are better taverns with fancier dining areas.
I can’t speak for Elendil’s Heir, but in my case my post was just passing time until we met with the potential travelers at the Elfstone Inn. I figured it was something you could write over with a few sentences when you were ready to make posts about the meeting.
Ghân suggests we do interviews for travellers in the Elf Stone Inn, using various Detects + Know Alignment to ensure we take the right sort of people.
'If in doubt, leave ‘em out’ is the applicable Wose saying…
He reassures Gilraen / Renee that this is purely an honorary tribal membership and carries no responsibility.
Her Royal family have already decreed that ‘the Duradan Forest belongs to the Wose and that no man shall enter it without their leave’.
Ghân will not visit Osgiliath (unless anyone wants his assistance).
He will spend time gathering herbs, stocking up on Goodberries and training his animal friends.
Well, Deor willing go shopping now that we’re relatively sure that we’ll be going through Edoras. He’ll spend about 25 gp on finely woven cloth and some exotic spices to take home to his mother. That leaves Deor with about 20 gp left, figuring that he’s probably paid a bar tab or something lately. I’ll make a note.
Osgiliath has many ruins of great buildings and even a goodly selection of intact stone houses and mansions. However, it is a major construction zone, there is some crime and chicanery and the bars are rougher in much of the town. It is supporting a good size construction force and many of the laborers are not of the best character. In all honesty, there is still much more to see in Minas Tirith and though much smaller, more of the ancient buildings are intact.
**Deor **finds much to bring home to his mother. His horse will be well ladened for a change.
It will be June 30th when those applying should show up at The Elf Stone Inn.
24 applicants show up.
There is a Dwarven Merchant group happy for the extra escort, there are 10 of them and they have 15 ponies for themselves and 20 packhorses. They will gladly bring the food supplies and take the dark watches. None are evil and of 2 checked, one was Lawful Good and one was Neutral Good. They are headed all the way to the Blue Mts, so they will go as far as Tharbad with you.
There are 4 men of Dunland that would be happy for escort, especially through most of Rohan. None are evil, Gilraen checks all four, two are Chaotic Good and one is Neutral and one is Lawful Neutral.
There are 2 families for a total of 9 that are going all the way to Fornost and will go with you to Tharbad and then figure out what is next. They all have Light Riding Horses, 3 spares and another 6 draft horses. The families are two couples, one grandmother in her late 50s and 4 kids ages 9-15. None are evil and the 2 men are Good as is the 15 year old daughter.
There is a lone woman that is seeking Rivendell and figures that at least Tharbad will get her close. She hopes to study Elven lore first hand and learn much. She is around 22 and a fairly pretty blond, probably part Rohirrim and part Gondorian but not Dunedain. She is not evil and is in fact Lawful Good.
Once in private with the rest of the party, Elfstan lets out a low whistle in exclamation, “We could start a caravan with all of these people. That’s 24 people with at least 53 animals by my count! Ghan, would it be a problem bringing them all through your forest?”
Do the men from Dunland or the lone woman have mounts? Obviously all these people would slow us down, but we would lose all but one before we head for Rivendell.
She does not know you are headed for Rivendell. The Ad said as far as Tharbad.
It might be too many to take through the woods and it is a very large group. The men from Dunland have no mounts. It turms out that none of them can read and they just heard your group was headed out.
The Woman has a horse.
This would be the largest group of strangers in the Druadan Forest since Ghân’s grandfather escorted King Theoden through.
Merchant Dwarves- I’d love to take them, but I think if we’re going to be avoiding being inundated with fight-capable NPCs, we’re probably better off leaving them.
Dunlendings- Same thing. Maybe if none of them have goatees, we can consider it, but if they do, I vote no- goatees are a dead giveaway of evil intent.
Families- Good candidates, I think. Probably can’t pay much, but that’s not really the point, is it? We’re looking to make some extra money on our way north, where we’re going anyway, not run a for-profit guard service. Besides, Deor is young and Chaotic Good and prone to making illogical decisions.
Lawful Good woman seeking Rivendell- Perfect candidate. Let’s ask her more about her background and why she’s seeking Rivendell, but let’s not give away that it’s our final destination too.
Lawful Good woman seeking Rivendell- I agree that she sounds like a great candidate, but as **appleciders **said there’s no reason to tip our hand while interviewing her.
Merchant Dwarves- I think we’d be better off taking them with us: they might be vulnerable, but they have a lot of potential value as allies, especially if we can befriend them and talk one of them into offering us better-than-market rates for any spectacular magic goods we try to sell.
Families- We almost have to help them, and if any of the girls had kittens, I don’t think we could even consider refusing. I think they’re the most vulnerable members of our group, but there’s no reason not to include them.
Dunlendings- If we’re going to refuse someone, I vote for these chaps, although things might change if we get to know them.
So I say we interview the woman and the Dunlendings, and then evaluate potential strategies for slogging the whole caravan safely to its destination.
Maybe we should talk to some of the local military detachments posted here? It’s possible, if not likely, that they’re planning on transferring a unit towards Rivendell anyway, and I think that even 5-6 additional 4th-6th level characters could seriously sway the balance in our favor.
Although the alignments are OK, Ghân is doubtful about taking so many for two reasons:
the forest of Druadan is not a ‘way-station’
what is our strategy if a long straggling caravan is attacked?
The more people you have, the longer it takes to get going each day as well.
If we were just sightseeing or travelling, it would be fine to help as many as possible.
However we do have a mission (and also remember Eldarion would like us to take the road through Stonewaith Valley and ensure it is safe - not really ideal for families).
He votes for just the woman and perhaps the 4 Dunland men.
And everyone going would all need horses and spares. If we’re aiming to do 40 miles a day, one traveller without a horse will completely wreck that.
Our strategy obviously depends on the number of travelers, and I think that 20-30 people is the maximum we could effect this with, but if we were attacked by a small party it might help for the travelers to gather in a tight group while the party surrounds them: it would hopefully let us intercept any attackers who are focusing on the squishy civilians, and our archers could try and single out any projectile users in the crowd.
Note to self: if any baddies have Fireball, we’re screwed.
20-30 travellers, all with horses (and baggage), surrounded by 8 of us?
No, no.
There’ll be panic and confusion. Ghân foresees at least a couple of horses bolting (with their riders), definitely screaming and even travellers firing mistakenly at us as we try to intercept the enemy.
‘Rivendell is quietly looking for help in the North. No details and not to be discussed openly. But Curunauth does mention this. Strictly brave adventures not masses.’
So it would be good if we got there sooner. (And we already have one person to escort.)
Ghân hopes he’s not a voice of doom and gloom.
If the party decide in future that they’d like to be outstanding caravan escorts, Ghân would enjoy that. Fresh air, travel and helping others.
But at present we’re an adventuring party on a mission…
Gilraen would like to point out, "the Dunlenders are already out of the picture, they have no horses. The family has spares at least and it would be nice to offer them protection, but Ghân is correct. If the road through Stonewaith is still dangerous, we might not be doing them a favor.”
She pauses and then continues, “The scholar has some magics on her.”
The woman of 22 is one Lorliana and was raised in the City and has studied for 12 years with the Loremasters. She has the money to pay a small fee and purchase a spare horse as soon as one can be found. She was hoping in Edoras. She mentions that she has a few small magics at her disposal.
The Dwarves are armed and armored, but none would be more than 3rd level and most are 1st or 2nd. They do not carry any magic. The can offer to have your lightly armored mixed in among them and then your party could take front or back or both. They will pay up to 200 gold for escort to Tharbad and supply food and drink. They are very efficient at getting started in the morning, taking night watches and building camps and mostly smokeless fires. They also have 3 expert farriers* among their numbers. This could help everyone during the travels. You’ll note they already have 5 spare ponies for this journey north.
There are no military groups heading North for now, in fact with a two front war in the south and the small campaign in Ered Lithui, the might of Gondor is spread thin and they are already counting on allies heavily. This is probably why Rivendell is looking for strong adventurers and not armies for whatever they hope to do.
The family can not offer any money and can only promise to take orders and stay out of the way in case of battle and do what they can to make and break camp swiftly. They do have 2 cats they are taking north with them. If you mention the Druadan Forest however, they look very nervous about the idea.
The good news is Stonewaith will easily accommodate riding 3-4 wide and the main road will handle 3-4 wide most of the time. The Forest will require single file, but with Ghân along might be the safest part of the journey once he makes contact with his people. He is actually from an important family and a notable among them as one that trained under Radagast.
I just had to add this to the Word 2007 Dictionary. Microsoft, you should be embarrassed. You have it listed in the Encarta Dictionary.
