SHADOWS OVER GONDOR III

[Melian]

((hi kessa))

*melody instructs the others to set up camp, and then sends out 3 solgers to look for fallen firewood. *
now dont go two far. i dont want u to get lost, or worse captured agen.

*they walk off and melody eats a lebas cake*

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

Arwen goes after the trail of blood, though night is starting to fall upon her again and the trail begins to fade away. She sees a bit some seven meters in the distance, believing that's where whoever was wounded went. But since she was watching the pit, the elf wasn't watching where she was going and clumsily steps upon a twig. *Cruch!* the twig goes and Arwen hopes that nobody heard it. Her reflexes react quickly and she turns around; checking if anyone would hear it. But she was not alone, not any longer. There was a ranger there, clad all in camouflaged clothes; making her hard to see.

Arwen stiffens for a moment, wondering who the ranger was. She pauses for a moment, then comes back to her senses; knowing well enough that rangers are all Dunedain and likely to be allies in this war. "Greetings!" Arwen says, still a bit flushed after the previous event. "I am Arwen, daughter of Elrond. I used to be within a group, caught in a war here at Gondor. But once I decided to follow orc trails, I somehow got separated. As a matter of fact, all of us did!" Arwen sits down on a nearby rock, then continues speaking. "There are men here who were turned into orcs, and other evil is at work in these lands as well..." she briefly describes the situation and patienly waits for the ranger's reply, wondering who the new companion is and where she came from...

[Kessa Star]

(ooc: gotcha, I'll just use purple like Arwen since I'm with her!)

*Kessa grins slightly as the elf finally notices her and listens to her explanation* I am Kessa Star. Yes, yes, I know about this war, and your little group. *She looks down at the blood as the Elf sits and kneels to inspect it closer. She touches it* It's drying quickly. We should hurry. *Kessa stands and eyes the elf* Or... not. *she leans against a tree until the Arwen feels like starting again*

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

Ok, Kessa. So both of us are posting in purple. That's a good idea!

Arwen gets up from the rock which she is sitting on and examines the blood as well. "Aye," she says, looking at Kessa, "the blood is getting dry very quickly. Too quickly to be human blood, I would say. But it's not black, so it can't be orc blood; can it?" Arwen wonders what kind of blood it may be, then she suddenly comes up with a possible conclusion. "Could it be..." she begins, hoping it isn't true but knowing that she would have to face it sooner of later, "that this blood came from a man who is being turned into an orc? If yes, than we must go rescue him!"

Arwen comes about three steps away from the hole/pit where the bloody trail leads to. "Shall we go in now?" Arwen asks, "I'd say aye, since the orcs aren't out yet. It's not nightfall, not yet. But it will be in a few hours. I'll go in first!" Arwen smiles, but only for moment. She's glad that she has some rope in her pack, but wonders what kind of peril lies inside the hole...

[Kessa Star]

*Kes grins when she hesitates* Oh, don't think about! That'll make it worse than it is! *in a flash, she grabs the rope off Arwen's pack, loops it tightly around her waist and a tree branch, grabs Arwen and leaps into the pit, holding onto the rope with one hand. Kessa grows worried when their fall seems a bit long and winces when the rope jerks through her hand when it reaches its length* Mmmhmm. *she thinks and drops Arwen, only to catch her hand just before she falls completely* Sorry if I scared you, Lady. Can you touch the bottom?

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

"Whoa! That was something!" Arwen says to Kessa, considering what just happened to them. "However, I have both good and bad news, I guess that the good news may as well go first." She pauses for a second or two. "I can touch the bottom, but the bad news is that it's all gooey. Something like mud must be down there and it's deep. Very deep. But we should proceed anyways." Arwen lets go of Kessa's hand and drops down into the mud, covered in it up to her knees. "It's safe for now, Kessa!" she says.

[Kessa Star]

*grins and drops as well, landing up to the middle of her thighs, not being an elf and having the nimbleness Arwen did. She grabs a rock jutting out from the mud and hoists herself up till she's atleast just above her knees, as she does so, she grins at Arwen* I sometimes wonder how I lived to be just this old, never taking many precautions... *once able to walk, she sets off, trying to see in the pitch black beyond* OK... now, for light. *she draws her sword and it starts to glow with an internal fire. It only lights a bit, however* You have any light?

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

"Nay, Kessa." Arwen says. "I have light, but not too much. Only Hadhafang, my sword. It's elven and has a bit of magic in it, though the light of Earendil would be the perfect answer to this. Alas! neither of us have it!" Arwen then takes out the blade of Hadhafang and it glows a bale indigo in the dark pit.

Turning to Kessa she says, "Obviosly the blood trail won't be seen here so we'll just have to think about which paths an orc would probably choose if they had a prisoner. If that is indeed the situation around us, unless I'm much mistaken." Arwen begins to walk forward in the mud, barely seeing the begins of a tunnel. "Look Kessa! A tunnel!" She says, but not too loudly as to draw attention. "Shall we proceed into it?" Without waiting for an answer, Arwen begins to walk towards the tunnels entrance, her sword held right in front of her.

[Kessa Star]

Sure, I guess we're going... *grins and follows her through the tunnel, wishing Wind were with her. She looks closely at the walls some way in and sees blood streaked along it* They were in some pain... *Kessa touches the blood, seeing that it's still wet, she sniffs it* Yeah, smells like Orc blood...

(ooc: sorry i wrote dream in there, i was thinkin' of one i had just had while writing this and... well, sorry!)

[Melian]

*mel walks around the camp checking one the wounded, and see's one man more wounded then the others, he is in a fever and has gashes on his arm. mel kneels becide him, and touches his forhead. his fever has worcened. she slips on her ring and agen touches his forhead*

Lle naa belegothor

fea galad kal, mel per
iluve kir kel
Quende gul heal iluve.[/color]
^{(you are a mighty warior. sperit light shine, love suround, all cuts go away, elvin sorcery heal all.)}

*with theese words mels eyes grow to a brighter blue, her body seaming to give off a glowing light, then it seams to flow, and transfer to the hert man. as the man is engulfed in the light his wounds heal and his fevor fades to normal as the light fades around them. mel weakly smiles at the man, now fully recovered*

[LadyArwenUndómiel]

"Aye, it does seem like orc blood to me as well," Arwen says as she touches it with the tip of her hand, them brushing it against her tunic in disgust! The two continue doing down the tunnel for about half an hour, each lost in her own thoughts and not talking much. Pretty soon Kessa and Arwen reach an open area and a stream of water (or perhaps more mud, since Arwen couldn't see the stream) could be heard in the distance. There are three paths to choose from now, one of them is obviously twice as muddy as the other two and Arwen sees that the mud would definitely be up to her waist there. She looks carefully at all three path, wondering which one to choose.

"So where shall we go, Kessa?" she asks as she shines Hadhafang (sword) shortly on each path. "I think that we should follow the blood trail, though it may lead to peril. But where does the blood trail go?"

Arwen then takes a careful look and sees that it is going in two directions, both to the right and the center. It is strongest in the right, but that's where the mud is the deepest. "It seems to me as if more than one person was involved behind this," she says gravely, then takes a final look at the paths before choosing...

[Grubhosh]

Grubhosh returned to general Zulturck's chambers.
Five hours up yet maggot?
The gaurd relectantly handed her the keys. He still looked at her suspiciously.Grubby knocked on the door. There was no answer. She unlocked the door and slowley peered into the room. She stood staring at the sight that greeted her. She heard the gaurd behind her hiss. She quickly ran over to the general and knelt by his side. He was dead.

urk

The floor was covered in blood from a Orc who'd had his throat cut by someone who was very skilled with a knife.

What did this person who gave your orders look like?

She asked the Gaurd surveying the floor.

Umm I can't really remember. One of the Gondor Orcs...bit pale even for one of them.

Grubhosh grabbed him but the neck and pushed him into a wall

Fool! Can't you recognise one of them Tarks when you see one? If you value your miserable little life you'll go and she that the gaurd on every gate is doubled. I don't want anyone in or out of the camp 'till the intruder is found! and i mean anyone not the Uruk-hai not the orcs and espicialy the gondor orcs. Have them all questioned kill a few of them if you have to. I'll make whoever did this wish they had never been born!

She let go of him and he straighted up and ran off down the corridor muttering and cursing.


(OOC do you have an OOC thread for this roleplay?)

[Rhiannon]

ooc: No, but feel free to start one

bic*watches from behind the tent as right in the middle of a messy breakfast orcs start to shake and fall down. Soon all of them are lying on the ground between the tents. It takes a while but slowly human features emerge. Rhys and she carry as many of them as they can into the next tents. A few minutes later, hundreds of very puzzled Gondor people sit on the floor. She quickly explains everything.
Rhys nods after she finishes. So the plan now is to quickly free the humans in the pits and rush out of here to meet Rhia's friends in the mountains. Take every weapon you can find and some food. I'll just draw a map for our friends out there to guide them through the traps around the camp.* Starts drawing on a piece of paper* OK, this is the camp. THere is only a very narrow and twisted corridor that is safe. Your friends have to look out for those small stone pyramids that mark the safe trail. Our tents are on the left side of the gate, the pits are in the middle and the Uruk- hai are more towards the mountain on the opposite side.*

She takes the map and turns it around.* My friends, we must hurry. Here are instructions how to enter the camp without running into traps. We will need you to distract the Uruk-hai on the opposite side of teh camp while we will free the prisoners and start a mass escape. Take care and hurry, Rhia* Calls the falcon and sends it off with the message.* Fly as fast as you can, my friend!

[Melian]

*the recovered solger looks up into the sky as melody takes a deep breath to recover from the exsertion. a bird lands neer on a tree. mel gets up and go's to it, it has a message and she reads it, then instrucks the army of what they will need to do*

[Kessa Star]

*Inspects each of the three tunnels. She ends with the muddiest. She takes a bit of the blood from the wall and rubs it between her thumb and first finger* This is too dr- *she stops and listens closer. From deeper along this tunnel, she hears something different. A harsh, almost human like sound. Kessa takes her voice down to a whisper* Come on... *she motions, though knowing Arwen couldn't see her, and continues down the tunnel*