SHADOWS OVER GONDOR III

[Rhiannon]

Rhiannon is still in the mountain caves of the orc camp, trying to find out what's going on and to find out about traps and guards. Arwen is somewhere in the forests, the rest of the party heading for the orc camp.

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

***One question Rhia: You said that certain colors are for certain parts of the war. Is it alright if I always write in purple while I am wondering about on my own, trying to find the rest of you?***

Arwen takes a bite of lembas and decides to continue on. She walks along the path quickly, pretty much running, but she sings in the meanwhile to amuse herself. However, she does not sing very loudly for she does not intend to draw any orcs toward herself. The Elven maiden is running by the tall trees and a strong wind is blowing. She wonders if it will begin to rain. The ground is full of leaves and they would have made a crunchy sound if she didn't step upon them lightly. She suddenly sees a tree which is so tall that it sticks out from the others. She wonders if there is anything curious about it...

[Grubhosh]

can i join in? what colour shall I post in?
Is there a shadows over gondor II?

[Rhiannon]

Shadows over Gondor II is just below, part I is already in the archives. THis is from the introduction:

To give our wars a bit more backbone instead of just opening threads and let an orc army appear, there will be a whole adventure with several battles. Like in normal RPGs there will be a storyline you can discover and rp along.

RULES/STUFF
#1 There is a given storyline, including given
speed of progress of the adventure.
#2 The 'Art Of War' Rules are to be followed in this
adventure.
#3 Narration will be written in green
#4 Additional information & narrator's messages
will be yellow
#5 NPCs showing up will be red
#6 narrator's character will be written in white as usual.

SHADOWS OVER GONDOR

The orcs have been strangely quiet for several weeks now. Something seems to be lying in wait over Mount Doom. Rumors have spread over Middle Earth, breathless messages left by rangers at the meeting points in the woods. Notes speaking of a shadow of terror rising over Gondor, speaking of orc attacks out of the darkness of the woods at night, battle cries in the evening mists rising from the rivers when the night falls. Villages are destroyed, the old and weak slain, the others dragged into the forests. And there are stories of a new kind of orc being bred...

Not long after the first news reach Rivendell, a ragged and wounded messenger arrives, wishing to speak before the Council. He confirmes the rumors that villages in the east parts of Gondor are attacked by small groups of orcs at night. The inhabitants, their cattle and the harvest are taken, the village is burned down. The army of Gondor who has been fighting bravely against the forces of Mordor is diminuished and can’t spread out to fight orcs all over the country. Gondor therefore asks Rivendell for help. Even if the Lord of Rivendell can spare only a small number of warriors, they will be of great help to hunt down the orcs and free the people of Gondor. Now the brave warriors of Rivendell are called to arms to fight the evil rising in the south. Departure will be soon, each hour of hesitation can decide over victory or failure of this mission. Now, who of our bravest warriors will come to help our allies?


Quest #1: Get into Gondor and find out about the orc attacks



Of course you don't have to read now about 40 pages but you should take a look at the first ones of part one and the last two or three of part II to know what's going on and where we are.
Also, you do not necessarily have to post in color as it is primarily to keep narration, information and NPCs apart because they are all posted by me (exception: everybody can introduce NPCs if they want)

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

Arwen halts for a moment and decides to look around at the tree. She sees that the north side (which obviously has moss of it) appears perfectly normal. She then takes a look on the east and west sides, which also appear harmless. Wondering why she had that weird feeling in the back of her head again, Arwen went over to the south side, only to find a large piece of bark which has almost fallen of!

*I wonder what that is all about,* Arwen thinks to herself as she realizes that this type of tree shouldn't have bark falling of at this time of the year. She runs her fingers across the bark and it easily falls of, revealing a gap which was crudely cut into the tree.

Arwen looked inside the gap, first to see a blur of sticks with feathers; perhaps a bird's nest. But then she looked closely, her keen Elven eyes being able to see inside far better than an ordinary man or dwarf. After looking at the sticks with feathers for a moment, she realizes that they were arrows! *Good thing! My quiver is almost empty!* she thought as she tried to reach them, though they were far too high.

*Now things are worse than ever!* she thought. *Aye, I am stuck all alone in the outlands while a war is going on and now have laid my eyes upon a storehouse of some sort (which is probably a secret). But I guess that there is still hope.* She looks at the arrows again; knowing that she may need them sooner or later to help out this war and sees that there is a long root lying on the floor. *Will this work as a rope?* she asks herself; keeping her fingers crossed...

[Grubhosh]

(OOC sounds cool)
An Orc messenger approaches the gate of the camp. She's covered in blood and mud but the symbol of the red eye is still visiable on the shield slung on her back.
Message for the general from the black land.

She snarled at the gaurd, one of the Uruk-hai
How do I know you're not a Tark?
She scowls at him.
you'd do well to watch your lip snaga you have no idea who you're dealing with.
Relutantly he stands aside to let her in. The messenger enters the tunnles and goes straigt to the generals chamber but finds a gaurd on the door. He stops her
I have an urgent message for the General!
I have orders from his personal assistant. He isn't to be disturbed for five hours.
Grubhosh looked at the gaurd. He didn't have a personal assistant.
You fool! this is some plot! Let me In!
The gaurd tightened his grip on his spear. I have orders to kill anyone that tries.
Urk lat! fruz-glob! I'll be back later! Gaakh ulu azublatluk!
she stormed off down the corridor.

[Rhiannon]

*Hears shouting on a higher floor and someone rushing down the corridor past the room she's in.* Seems that I have less time than I thought..*CHecks her belongings...*I have only two bottles of the potion left...and there must be hundreds of Gondor Orcs out there. Well, no choice but to get moving again.* Looks around and walks over to a puddle of dirty water on the floor. Kneels down to check her look. Puts some more dirt on her face and her. Just as she walks over to the door, she hears a rush at the window as the falcon lands. Reads the message and scribbles a reply* We must hurry, somebody got suspicious. Get as near to the camp as possible, further plans soon.* Sends her messenger off again and opens the door. Quickly steps into the corridor again and closes it. Continues to follow the way down, deeper into the mountain. Several orcs pass her without a second look. The deeper she comes, the hotter the air gets. Soon she hears the sound of a forge. Turning into a small side tunnel, she follows the sounds. Around a corner, she can see an opening, red with the light of flames. Lying down, she crawls up to it and looks down. *

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

Arwen then looks inside her quiver to see only four arrows left. *Wonderful!* she thinks to herself as she pulls one out and begins tying the edge of the root to it. She then gives the root a tug, but finds out that it is stuck to the ground. Arwen then takes the part of the root which is tied to her arrow and begins to gather it together, following it's trail on the ground. She then comes to a tree trunk some eight feet from where she originally was and sees that the root then comes to an end. She takes Hadhafang, her sword, and cuts the end of. *Good, now comes the part where I shoot the arrow.* she thinks as she takes her bow and runs back to the tree with the arrows, ready to aim.

She concentrates on the opening in the tree and predicts a path for her arrow to fly straight into the center where all of the tied up ones are. Hoping that it works, she shoots her arrow up into the opening but alas! she misses. Arwen gives the root (which is tied to the arrow) a pull and the arrow falls down to the ground once more. The elf picks up her arrow with a root tied to it again and aims, only a bit more to the east this time. The arrow flies straight into the air and lands exactly where she wanted it to: amist the others which were tied up in the tree.

*Yes!* Arwen thought to herself. *Now my quiver shall be empty no longer. Look out orcs, here I come!* Arwen then gives the root a pull or two (if not three) and all of the arrows fall down, though only three feet from her head! *That was close!* she says with a small grin, happy that it wasn't any closer.

Arwen casually picks up the arrows and sees that they are bound with a rope. *No problem* she thinks as she cuts the rope with her sword and then takes her quiver of her back. Before putting the arrows into her quiver, she examines them closely, realising that they were of a design unknown to her. They were neither elven, nor human, and had feathers in all sorts of colors, definitely not the black which the orcs and Uruk-Hai (as well as Goblins) used. *How odd!* Arwen thinks to herself. She puts the arrows into her quiver and then returns it to her back, fastening it not too tightly, but well enough so that it doesn't fall out and ends up as evidence for the orcs! *But shouldn't the others know about this tree?* she asks herself as she is ready to walk away. *The arrows which I found were of a design unknown and Mel, Firebird, Rhia or Merlin should be aware of it!*

Arwen then realizes that she was in one place for far too long and quickly takes a piece of perchment from her pack and makes a note of what has happened, as well as an extremely brief picture. She then puts the parchment back and begins to head towards the mountains, though she is well-aware that she will be in the forest still for quite some time...

[Melian]

the company reaches the outer borders of the orc camp, and set up camp afew miles away to awate instruction from rhia*

[Rhiannon]

*she looks down in a giant cave, lit by thousands of fireplaces. The noise of hammers hitting metal is overwhelming. A whole army of orcs is busy forging weapons and chain mail, piled up in huge heaps on the back wall of the cave.* Seems we have no time to loose* SHe crawls backwards. Just as she is about to step out into the corridor again, a Gondor orc turns around the corner. Making her decision in a split second, she grabs him, putting one arm around his neck, the other hand over his mouth and drags him back into the side way. With the hand over his mouth she feels for the right pressure point on his jaw. As soon as she finds it, the orc drops down unconscious. She quickly opens one of the bottles with the potion lets a few drops fall into his mouth. Within a few minutes, a handsome young man lies before her, slowly waking up. With a hiss he tries to jump at her but stops, obviously irritated.*

*My hands...my skin...I feel like...where am I and who are you?*
She quickly explains the situation.* I'm Rhiannon, a ranger. My friends and I have come to rescue you and the other Gondor prisoners*
*He nods slowly...*I'm Rhys. As far as I can remember.*
Fine, can you show me a way out of here? We need to reach the tents of your "comrades"
Just follow me *Turns around*
Wait a moment, you'll need some disguise, too....*Covers his face with dirt, too.* Let's go!

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

Arwen continues running through the forest, a bright light shining somewhere withing her; the only thing that is keeping her hopes alive. After running around the place for some hours, she reaches a clearing in the woods. *Now what! An obstacle course?* she thinks as she looks around the clearing, seeing only a field of green grass. But there was another unusual arrow in the distance. *Logic!* Arwen thinks as she comes up to the arrow, thinking that things weren't too dangerous out here.

She comes up to the arrow, only three steps aside from it and sees lots of blood on the tip of it. She looks at it carefully and notices that the trail of blood goes into the forest. *Someone was wounded, if not killed!* she thinks, knowing that she should do her best to help out. Arwen begins following the trail of blood into the dark growth of trees outside the clearing. The blood seemed fresh, it was obviously a new event. *But how come I didn't hear anyone scream?* Arwen thinks, realizing that someone with quite a bit of experience was most probably behind this!

[Kessa Star]

(ooc: OK, I think I understand all this. Is it OK if I join Arwen or should I join the larger group?)

[Rhiannon]

ooc: do as you like although the main storyline always goes with the green color and I have no idea what Arwen is planning ;D

* Rhys guides her through some twisting side corridors. Soon the air becomes cooler and a few minutes later they step out of the cave system. He turns to her*
What's next?
*She pulls him back behind a rock* We have less time than I hoped. My friends are still out in the mountains, waiting to take action to help us. I have no idea how long it will take them with all those traps out there. I have only two bottles of the potion left which will probably take too long if we give it to each of your friends individually. Any ideas?
He grins* THe good thing is, that general Zulturck never wastes one of his precious Uruk-Hai for guarding the prisoners or taking further care of the inferior orcs like us. We are the guards for our own people. How ironic, yes....Well, we can easily get into the Gondor orc area. It's almost dawning, so there will be only little other orc activity during daytime. Even the Uruk-hai prefer spending the day in the mountain. So I would go over to our camp and try to get the potion into the water barrel before breakfast. Over there I can also draw you a map of the camp and the traps around it.
*Smiles.* So that's was his name...That's a good idea! Let's go!
was? You....? !
I would call it suicide...tried to get my ki but he picked the wrong person for this match so his plan backfired...
*They walk over to the tents with the green stripes that mark the Gondor orcs. Much hissing and snarling is already going on as hundreds of orcs shove to get to the big kettles in the middle of the camp. Rhys leads her around the masses and up to the kitchen tent. He lifts the canvas. *
Over there's the barrel. Everyone will get some water out of it.
*She uncorks both bottles and sneaks through the swirling steam. The smell almost let's her turn around again but she holds her breath and quickly empties the bottles into the barrel. Sneaks back to Rhys.* Let's pray to the ancients that it will be enough....

[Kessa Star]

*Kessa steals quietly through the woods, searching for the humming noise she had heard earlier. She climbs up a tree and sees the elf moving down below her. Kessa leaps silently down behind the elf and follows her for a small bit, wondering when she'll notice*

(ooc: what's an NPC? *sorry for my stupidity!*)

[Rhiannon]

ooc: NPCs are Non Player Characters. People you introduce to carry the story along, e.g. giving hints or guide you through a strange forest.....

note: green is one of the reserved colors, this means I use it to make clear what the main storyline is because the group splitted up. When the group travels together, only main narration will be green, my char will be posted in white as usual.