Middle-Earth Role Playing Campaign

Rhôn, Luinár, and Mîriel searched again for healing plants, finding seven ur nuts and seven kathkusa leaves. The ur nuts they gave to Bradlegar. Rhôn, who had found the kathkusa, gave two leaves each to Dennenor and Luinár, one to Bauglir, and kept two for himself.

They started out again after carefully hiding all traces of their camp. As they rode, Araquenval quietly asked Mîriel if she would consider using any of her medicinal plants to heal Maz-hur if it was ever required. Mîriel did not like the question. "I do not believe I can afford to waste my medicines," she said curtly, "and healing that little bastard is a waste. Aside from amusing you, Maz-hur has added little to our existence. And he may prove to be even worse than useless in the future."

"Indeed," said Bauglir, "if we get into a fight, he may just put a knife into you to clarify who's side he is on. We should have someone keep an eye on him in battle."

"I would not miss the Orc if he were not with us," said Dennenor.

"And if he does anything out of line," Luinár added, "I will separate his head from his shoulders without a second thought!"

For his part, Bradlegar was thankful the others in the group now were openly discussing their disquiet with Araquenval's little pet. He had never forgotten the hungry look the Orc's eyes when they had first met two days before. Being the one closest to Maz-hur's size, he was afraid he'd be the first victim if the Orc decided to turn traitor.

Because they were not on the road, their way south was torturously slow. As on the north side of the River Angsiril, the land was criss-crossed with ravines and gullies that forced the group to navigate around them. In the distance they saw a large herd of cariou milling about, apparently grazing. This was welcome news: it meant the broken ground was coming to an end. They also saw a long line of warg-riders come around the cariou from the west, then turn and head north at a great pace. Bradlegar counted fifty of them.

"This may be good news for us," said Mîriel. "Troops all over this part of Angmar could well be heading north to investigate the tower, leaving us free to continue south."

"And their great pace will obliterate what tracks we left upon the road," said Dennenor.

Luinár laughed. "You kill a high military priest and you certainly get some attention!"

"Angmar does appear to be pulling troops out of their standard positions and sending them to investigate what happened at the tower," said Mîriel. "And they appear to be doing so with great haste and are staying on the roads. For today at least they are not looking for us. The Easterlings we met may be a weak link. Although, having let us go on our way, they may be hesitant to admit their mistake. It may cost somebody his head."

Indeed, there was a lot of troop activity about them, but every group they saw was swiftly heading north and away from them. So they carefully picked their way forward. In the late afternoon they came upon a large rabbit warren. Maz-hur ably snatched one of its inhabitants, killed and ate it. He insistently offered the head to Araquenval and seemed quite disappointed when it was not readily accepted. Eventually the Orc ate the head himself.

They travelled on into the evening, looking for a suitable place to camp. At first they were afraid they would have to spend another night in the open, but eventually they spotted a stand of conifers beneath a large outcrop of slate. Once they got there, they discovered there was enough soil to hold a tent. Rhôn checked the place carefully for tracks. He announced he had found nothing to cause him concern, and they proceeded to set up camp.

Not having used the sleep spell he had stored the night before, Araquenval dismissed it, then cast a familiar spell on Burzot. Bauglir again checked for signal fires. "It looks like the beacon on the tower we attacked is lit again," he said. "It is flaring up every few minutes and going down again. That is a distress signal."

"Then tomorrow people will go to the tower to answer the signal," said Mîriel. "There will be some delay while they decide what to do. Hopefully those Easterlings we met will not willingly offer up their information. The bigger concern is the high military priest may have already reported in before we killed him, providing our description all over Angmar."

"If the Witch-King gets interested enough in the case," said Araquenval, "he may bring the high military priest back from the dead to gain more information."

"It is well within his power to do so," said Bauglir, "in some form or another. He may send him off to hunt us down, too."

"There's a cheerful thought," mused Mîriel.

Bradlegar asked Bauglir, "Did you notice any signal fires in the direction we're intending to travel?"

"No, I saw nothing to the south."

The group retired to their tents for the night. Mîriel and Dennenor stood watch. Near the end of their watch, Mîriel picked up the sounds of harsh voices and snarling wolves. She signalled to Dennenor, watching on the other side of the camp. He quietly stole over to Mîriel's position. Now he, too, heard the voices, speaking harshly in Orkish. "Climb, fool! Climb! Why do you think we bring you along with us?"

Mîriel quickly roused the camp and they made ready for battle. "Be careful," she told them. "We may be attacked on two fronts." Luinár and Bauglir headed to Dennenor's position, while Araquenval, Maz-Hur, and Rhôn went to the opposite side of the camp. Bradlegar remained among the tents, bow at the ready. Araquenval ordered Maz-hur out to stand beside Rhôn.

Two Orcs, riding wolves and carrying spears, came around one side. They saw Rhôn-Hari-Rhôn and Maz-hur, and after a moment's contemplation lowered their spears and charged. Araquenval put one wolf to sleep. The Orc riding it tumbled off as the wolf came to a sudden halt, and Bradlegar hit it with an arrow. Bleeding heavily, it tried to flee. Bradlegar hit it with a second arrow and killed it.

The other Orc was more successful. He charged Maz-hur, and his spear impaled the unfortunate Orc before he could jump aside. Rhôn killed its wolf with one mighty hit of the warrior-priest's mace. The Orc tumbled off, then got to its feet and tried to escape. Rhôn hit it with one of his throwing-axes and Araquenval hurt it with a shock bolt. Then Rhôn threw his second axe at it, and it struck, killing the Orc.

On the other side of the camp, two more Orcs on wolves, also armed with spears, came around the outcrop of rock. One of them saw Dennenor and charged him, trying to negotiate a narrow gap between the slate wall and a tree. The Elf was ready: with two swings of his sword he killed the Orc and sent its wolf running. The second made a wide turn and charged Luinár. It ran into a cold wall Bauglir had just set up, then Luinár landed a blow on the wolf, knocking it out. She took a hit from the Orc riding it, then killed the Orc with a hard blow to the head.

On the slate outcrop above the camp, an archer Orc fired an arrow at Bauglir, hitting but not wounding him. Bauglir vanished. Mîriel instantly launched one of the sleep spells in her ring at the archer, but the spell appeared to have no effect. The archer turned around and disappeared. "Watch out!" Mîriel called to Dennenor and Luinár. "An archer is getting away on the other side!" Dennenor ran around the outcrop--and into the archer on its wolf coming his way. The wolf attacked the Elf, biting him hard. The wound began to bleed. Luinár came in running. The Orc suddenly yelped: Bauglir had jolted it with a shock bolt. Dennenor killed it before it could recover. Luinár dispatched the wolf it was riding.

The battle now over, Dennenor bandaged his bite wound. The others dragged the bodies of the Orcs, Maz-Hur's included, away from the camp, and piled the weapons in a heap beside the rock. Araquenval stored another shock bolt spell.

The Elves stood watch, themselves watched by buzzards that gathered to wait their turn at the Orcs' bodies. Nothing further happened that watch. Dennenor woke Bradlegar, who watched with Araquenval. After an uneventful watch, at long last the dawn began to break on the eastern horizon.

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Guided Tour

Day 12: The Enemy Closes In

Day 10: The Battle at the Tower

MERP Campaign #2: Index

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Based on events played to July 05, 1997. Accesses since September 30, 1998: