Erebor news archive 2013-02
IC News for February 2013
Date posted: Fri Feb 08 2013
By: Bardur
Title: Mist, Mud and Menfolk!
This report comes to us from a Londaroth worthy:
"Those Dwarves are a right queer lot! All grim and grouchy, you'd think we were due for a dragon or something. But at least they help fill up the tavern, right? Wrong! There's this one little fellow with a bit less beard than the rest - DORN I've heard them call him - who hasn't been in to sample the ales once! Stand-offish or what? Makes you wonder, it does ...
"Another one of them, BARDUR, tried to foist his singing on us! Fortunately the Innkeep put him off right quick, we don't want any of that Dwarven caterwauling in these parts. Maybe in Dale they know no better. The Dwarven skald (is that like the proverbial cat?) was a bit miffed though, I heard him grumbling to his teetotal pal about it. So did old Harry, he walked up to the pair of them and I thought there was going to be trouble (we all know Harry's not quite right in the head). But no, they got bored sizing each other up and he wandered off.
"Pity he did, I'll tell you what I saw afterwards: those two pint-size Dwarves hitting each other with sticks. Regular treat it was, better than a puppet show! Shame the short folk are meant to be leaving town soon."
Date posted: Sun Feb 10 2013
By: Shavyak
Title: Dinner!
A winding road follows along the river Celduin throughout Rhovanion. Twin paths that fuel the machines of commerce and draw plundering hands from afar. Many hands. Delving hands. Wicked hands that poured from a hiding hole dug into a hillside when their scouts' horns alerted: a caravan of Dwarves, a force of Dale-Men on horseback. Too much temptation, too much chance of being discovered and one solution to the cave-bred mindset - battle!
With righteous fury the cavalry charged upon the largest visible contingent, BERNAR leading a clash with a masked Uruk-Hai (OXLRIF). The score of foot-soldiers took heavy casualties, but accomplished the orders of their lieutenant and that masked orc: unhorsing many to their end, and the misery of their now captive beasts.
Should an eagle have flown above, the directions of forces mingling and retreating were indeterminable. With the way that the wind favored the Orcs' bowshot, saviors from above would have been welcomed.
RUKHET and DORN found enough taste of each other, and distaste in the result, both escaping the other to fight again another day. AGARACUK and BARDUR found a similar unspoken agreement, the former retreating with his best mates to provide cover fire for the largely victorious orcs while the latter helped lead the dwarven folk on to safety. SAHGIGOTH and ARZI traded bowshots and curses, having enough of each other at length to retreat - Arzi with his kindred, Sahgigoth with an obscene ritual and a solo disappearance amidst the chaos.
Caught in the epicenter of activity, SHAVYAK stood defiantly against the finest dwarven warriors led by NELETH. At half the orc's stature, the dwarf had an advantage swinging up that the mighty brute could not match with his attempts to swing down. Should the battle have continued, Neleth may have gained a mighty trophy in the death of an Uruk-Hai - but with the Orcs gaining the upper hand in the clash the wiser creature removed himself from the scene with his band largely untouched.
Clearly Orcs grow more dangerous, and clearly they are present in troubling numbers in the Dale-Lands currently - but from whence did they come, and where might they appear next? All previous encounters in recent history have been in the midwest areas of this kingdom - do they venture forth to beat upon paths already tread?
Date posted: Fri Feb 15 2013
By: Neleth
Title: Beards, Hammers and Tricks
Flowing from the north, the river Celduin brings many good things to the people of the land - water for crops, fish for meals... this day, however, the river bore witness to yet another battle near its water. Two separate parties. One sent to scout the road. The other; to pillage, raid and burn with no discernible direction. Their meeting was unavoidable, if the stories of the past hold any sway on the present.
The party of well-armed dwarves sent north to scout the road does little to hide themselves, staying between the road and the river as they move north, looking for signs of orcs. There is a hill not far away that blocks from view the party of orcs, moving back westward towards the road, looking for more havoc to reek. GANON the dwarf if the first to spot orcs climbing to the top of that not-so-far-off hill. SHAVYAK, at the top of that hill, begins to serenade his troop with a sort of... war song, one might call it. It he who leads the charge, leaving RUKHET and one other to shoot arrows down at the dwarves. Below, NELETH takes command of his cousins, urging them forward to meet their age-old foe.
When its in yer toothies will ya get yer brew? NO MAN NO MAN CHEW CHEW CHEW!
Shavyak's song end just as the two parties meet, and battle is joined with the swing of his sword at the first dwarf he sees, Ganon. Ganon is not alone, however, and Neleth is able to join in the dismantling of Shavyak. Meanwhile, at the edge of the battle arrows soar from darkened trees at the uruks. Soon, three figures (HORT) wearing the garb of the elves of the wood emerge. Their arrows are aimed at the orcs, and the dwarves have a few moments to be cheered - not yet noticing the fact that those arrows aren't actually hitting their targets.
Two dwarves can be a handful. Shavyak's singing voice might be on higher notes is the future due to his encounter with Ganon. Only seconds after Neleth's blade cuts him deeply, Ganon's war hammer is swung upward at his taller foe's groin. OUCH! To make matters worse, amidst his retreat from the dwarf an arrow, shot at Ganon by the newly wakened and hung-over AGARACUK . The arrow sinks into the uruk's posterior, and he is saved from further damage by the dwarven retreat.
The battle's tides turned quickly, though, as those "elves" turned their arrows upon the bearded folk, and executed one in a gruesome way before cutting his beard off in front of his comrades. Anger would have led the dwarves to chase those imposters, but with arrows now coming from the woods, and two of their number dead, Neleth calls for a retreat - something many of the dwarves find hard to do. They obey, however, and the field is abandoned by the dwarves.
Date posted: Mon Feb 18 2013
By: Bardur
Title: A lesson in stealth
In the hour before dawn, the rolling hills and dark thickets of the lands bordering the Celduin were once more witness to spilled blood. It began with two dwarves, Skorri (NPC) and BARDUR, who were abroad before the sun had risen in order to spy out the lie of the land and locate the orcish group (and for Skorri to impart his wisdom to the young and inexperienced Skald, who was rather less than total in his stealth). They got more than they bargained for when a thicket that promised 'cover' proved to hold the Mordain shaman SAHGIGOTH; he and Skorri took turns hacking branches to bits until a lucky swing of Skorri's found orcish flesh and the shaman wriggled back into the bushes out of easy reach.
Bardur, meanwhile, had thrown himself flat to avoid AGARACUK's arrow; he spent a fair bit of time wriggling about in the mud before he realized he'd never find the archer and stood up to 'assist' his comrade. In actual fact the inexperienced Skald was more of a hindrance. Not only did Agaracuk have two clear targets now, but when outbursts of drumming from more than one direction ('an army!' claimed the wide-eyed Skald, 'two or three,' muttered Skorri) heralded the approach of more goblins Bardur darted forward into bowshot range to engage SHAVYAK, leaving his more heavily armoured companion to lumber after and become the target of not one but two well-placed arrow. War drummer and Skald exchanged a couple of rounds of middling blows and less-than-middling poetry, but in the end Skorri's plight recalled Bardur to the danger they were in and as the light grew the two scouts very sensibly chose to 'report back' at high speed. Others, of course, might claim they fled.
Date posted: Tue Feb 26 2013
By: Dorn
Title: It's a bird! No, it's an orc!
The orcs are still around. The two dwarves scouting the area around their camp - DORN and BARDUR - found that out by following the noises of cursing in black speech, huffing, puffing and pools of black blood in the mud by the river. It was SAHGIGOTH, trying to get away from the open area or maybe just trying to get some distance between himself and the dwarves, humans and who knows what else being after his tail! While Dorn, a scout of some experience, remained quiet as he prepared his bow for a shot, Bardur called out quite excitedly as he was fussing with his own bow but oddly enough, pointed his arrow somewhere completely different than the scout. Well, both released their arrows at the orc but neither of them hit - it was getting dark! It's not their fault! Dorn hit a rock and Bardur shot at a tree not even close to the Uruk, managing to rouse up a few deers. Sahgigoth scooted though and after a momentary consideration, Dorn took after him to see if there was an orc camp in that direction while Bardur was sent to warn the others of the dwarven caravan that orcs were still stalking the area.
Date posted: Thu Feb 28 2013
By: Brev
Title: Bonfire party
In the dark of the night,
The fires burn bright
As orc-kind plan
Their doom for Man ...
Nigh on a hundred orcs must have been gathered there as Zonk the Foul praised his troops and declared his intent to curse the heart of the Northmen's lands. A volunteer he had - SHAVYAK - yet his ceremonies were interrupted by the arrival of unwelcome guests: an alliance of Barding horsemen and doughty Dwarven footsoldiers. The scout RUKHET moved nimbly forward to harrass the interlopers; Shavyak and his Wolf squad stepped up to the fight then, buying the High Hag SSAMORI time to evacuate the walking wounded to safety (the remainder she despatched in person and with honour; the bonds binding Sharku's troops are deep).
Amongst the horsemen, one rider stood out as less competent and perhaps Shavyak thought to find BREV easy prey. Once unhorsed, however, the man proved fleet of foot as any forest lynx and his spear had a nasty sting into the bargain. NELETH, meanwhile, grew angered enough by Rukhet's arrows (though none found its mark in his tough Dwarven flesh) that he stomped off into the brush to seek her.
In the end it was the Free Peoples who had the upper hand, though not without their own losses. With many of Shavyak's squad already corpses, the big orc and his remaining fellows retreated under cover of shouting and confusion to rejoin the remainder of their kind, heading ... where?
Perhaps time and RP will tell.