The Fellowship of the Fourth Age (Part 1): A New Beginning Discussion Thread

[Child of the 7th Age]

Nogrod -- Check your pms concerning orcs...

Everyone,

My mom was admitted to the hospital and is now thankfully home. I've had my hands full setting up help for her, but will try to get up a generic planning post by Lindir in the next day. My feeling is that we are kind of "stuck" at this point, and it would be better to push ahead and get to the scouting party that's going to meet up with the orcs.

Are there other loose ends that need tying? Do we need a lengthy discussion in the game on planning, or shall Lindir just lay out the plan?

I apologize for my own slow posting, but hopefully we will pick up again.

[Folwren]

I am glad to hear that your Mom is back home, Child.

I'd say we should push ahead. I don't think we need any terribly long discussion. Of course, I shouldn't have too much say in that, because if there was a long discussion in the game, my characters probalby wouldn't be taking part.

-- Folwren

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

I was wondering about the rather good point Nogrod brought up earlier, reguarding the remaining slavers ,and the likelyhood that they would return to camp to pick up their stuff before moving on. Has this been addressed?

I do apologize for being a bit behind, (real life's a little too unreal), but I am glad to hear that things are settling down now for you and your mother Child

[Durelin]

I'm so glad your mother is alright, Child! And I do hope things stay/get calmer for you.

I agree about the "stuck"-ness. While it would be nice for everyone to have a little conversation, moving on is best. Would it perhaps even be best for the departure (and perhaps even the arrival?) to be covered in your/a narrative post, as well?

In your post when you have Lindir lay out the plan, Child, could you perhaps have Beloan contribute something to this, even if it's just some sort of agreement? I think everyone's going to start working together better, and that would be a nice sign of it, I think. That was the only "important" thing other than general plot stuff that I imagined occurring in the discussion. Thanks so much if you could.

As for who's going, Khamir will definitely want to, but in his condition cannot, unless someone puts him on a horse. None of my characters can make it, I'd say. Typical. If you'd like to use NPC Nasim or Gamal as among those who go, they could be tossed around. Beloan didn't seem to get severely injured, so perhaps he could be carried along either by Nogrod or myself, unless he stays behind to keep things organized in the slave camp.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Beloan didn't seem to get severely injured, so perhaps he could be carried along either by Nogrod or myself, unless he stays behind to keep things organized in the slave camp.

I think Beloan should go and we could take him together. There is also this giant-guy Qat who is well and fine and would probably join the team too.

Happy to hear your news Child. I'll try to move those orcs from the tent as soon as I can. But as I said, if you wish to move them in a post for Makdush feel free to do it.

[Tevildo]

Child,

Dorran will stay in camp, but I'd like to have Azhar come along as her injuries were less serious (and otherwise I wouldn't have anyone to post with in those scences). You can mention her in the planning group if you'd like.

Folwren - could Azhar ride double with Kwell?

I'm assuming we can pick up enough horses roaming around for everyone in the party.

[Durelin]

Don't worry about characters being stuck behind. With all three of my characters staying behind, something has to go on.

[Child of the 7th Age]

I was wondering about the rather good point Nogrod brought up earlier, reguarding the remaining slavers ,and the likelyhood that they would return to camp to pick up their stuff before moving on. Has this been addressed?

Thanks, Nogrod and Hilde, for the reminder! Also a special thanks to Nogrod who once suggested that they become bait for the olog-hai. I've put up a save and will dispatch them that way. I am purposely being vague about the numbers in case anyone needs a stray ruffian to show up in a later scene. Imak, by the way, was severely injured but hasn't been seen from since.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Save filled. The slavers are no more, and Aiwendil has learned about the chest of gold. On to the planning session tomorrow.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Tevildo

Folwren - could Azhar ride double with Kwell?

I'm assuming we can pick up enough horses roaming around for everyone in the party.

If Kwell's ridinga horse, sure she can ride with him.

And I imagine that Athwen'll stay behind with the wounded people, unless this is when everyone's going to be deciding on whether or not they're going to kill the orcs. That's not what's going to happen now, is it?

-- Folwren

[Child of the 7th Age]

And I imagine that Athwen'll stay behind with the wounded people, unless this is when everyone's going to be deciding on whether or not they're going to kill the orcs. That's not what's going to happen now, is it?

No... There will be a preliminary decision made by Lindir and the "advance scouts" not to slay the orcs immediately. That will mainly be Lindir "forcing" the others to stay their hands. The decision will be to wait and have their fate decided by the group as a whole. That's when everyone will get a voice and Aiwendil will come running in at the last minute.

If I can manage to prop my eyes open late tonight after others are snoozing and the house is quiet, I'll get the planning post up.

[Durelin]

Don't keep yourself up, Child! And please, let me know if you need/would like any help.

Folwren - If you need something for Athwen to do, specifically, Vror is growing conscious again and Adnan has no idea what to do. If you have other plans, though, he can certainly be forced to handle it himself.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Folwren - If you need something for Athwen to do, specifically, Vror is growing conscious again and Adnan has no idea what to do. If you have other plans, though, he can certainly be forced to handle it himself.

I know. I aim to write a post today of some sort, and it may be for Athwen. She will get around to Vror, have no fear. I've been gone the past three days, so I'm kind of behind on everything...and that also explains why I haven't talked much. But, I'm back now.

-- Folwren

[Child of the 7th Age]

OK, I am starting to work on the planning post. I am going to put it up a chunk at a time in one space and revise it as I go along.... I'll let you know when it is actually finished (though you are welcome to read my half done, pre-revision chicken scratches along the way).

First I want to make sure where everyone is. I read back over the thread and also considered how injured someone was. Based on that, this is my best guess as to who is going where.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMEONE OR PLACED YOUR CHARACTER IN THE WRONG LIST. I WILL CHANGE OR ADD AS SOON AS YOU TELL ME.

Total good guys: 46 ex-slaves; 7 fellowship members
total orcs: 15

Absent in unknown location
Aiwendil


Staying in camp
Athwen
Dorran
Vror
Hadith
Khamir
Rog
34 NPCs


Going with scouting party
Carl
Lindir
Azhar
Shae
Johari
Beloan
Kwell
5 NPC's

Orcs immediately imprisoned
6 male NPC's

Male orcs on the loose who will attack during the night to try and save the others
Ishkur
Gwerr
Makdush

Female orcs and children still on the loose until the actual "trial"
Grask
female child NPC
Zagra
Mazhg
Ungolt
one female NPC

Is this right?

Durelin, Nogrod - Will you both be carrying Beloan, or just one of you?

Of those in the scouting party, who would be the one to first discover a sleeping/drunk orc and draw his/her sword to slay him? Would this be one of the characters listed or a NPC we devise? Which of our characters would realistically do this?

We seem to have a shortage of "real" males in the scouting party. I think they all fought so bravely that many were wounded. Are there any more "real" males going with the scouting party or will we be using NPC's for that purpose?

[Brinniel]

Hmm...lately I've been thinking that perhaps due to her injuries that Shae should stay behind as well. But then again, that'll make one less in the scouting party and though, I don't know how much you really need her (and hey, I won't deny that having her in the scouting party would be more fun for me). Of course, her injuries are quite treatable so this could be fixed with a brief mention of Athwen's healing skills. It can go either way, I don't really mind...I'm just trying to be realistic here...

Of those in the scouting party, who would be the one to first discover a sleeping/drunk orc and draw his/her sword to slay him? Would this be one of the characters listed or a NPC we devise? Which of our characters would realistically do this?

If Shae does indeed end up going with the scouting party, I will volunteer her for this role. As I've mentioned previously, she has a huge grudge against orcs, and for a good reason. And as we've all discovered, Shae does have a tendency to act before she thinks...

[Durelin]

The only person missing that I know of is Adnan, who will be staying in camp.

Nogrod - If you'd like to be directly involved in the scouting party, feel free to play Beloan, of course. Or if you'd rather focus more on Gwerr, then I'd be quite fine with playing Beloan. Or if you'd like to work something else out, just let me know.

[Child of the 7th Age]

If Shae does indeed end up going with the scouting party, I will volunteer her for this role.

Sounds good to me! A male orc will perhaps be stunned to find himself accosted by a "female" human....

[Child of the 7th Age]

My save is finally filled. I have liberally used your characters. Please let me know if something should be changed or I neglected anyone who should be in the scouting party.

We can either leap ahead to the scout's departure the next morning or play out more events from the evening (like the funeral pyre). Anyone with preferences here? Especially those who are staying in camp....

I am also hoping to hear from Nogrod about the question that Durelin raised.

[Durelin]

I think, to help get things moving again, jumping straight to the departure is perhaps best. Characters can always reflect back on the evening.

[Child of the 7th Age]

I can do a brief post kicking the scouts out of camp and getting us on the outskirts of the slavers' camp sometime tomorrow, but did you need to reply to Athwen first?

Nogrod told me he'd be on later today to fill in the orc save, so I'm hoping we'll get an answer then to the question about Beloan.

[Durelin]

Yes, sorry; I'll put up a save, at the very least, tonight, for that. And if Nogrod doesn't mind, if you'd rather I can move on to the scouts leaving from Beloan's point of view.

But if people would prefer to play out the evening a little, I'd be fine with that to continue some stuff with Vror.

[Nogrod]

Durelin: Feel free to take Beloan with you. I might use him every now and then, at least as a platform to bring at least this giant Qat-npc along. If no one else wishes to be rude to an orc I could figure Qat could do that (I'm having more time to write for a while again as I have gotten rid of the exams and being killed by the Faithfuls in a werewolf game...).

About the general timetable & the orcs: So the party leaves in the morning? That will make the orcses situation a bit more troublesome as they seem to be drunk in the middle of the night. So they sleep their drunkenness off when the party comes, but how about those non-drunk males? I mean the females have been witty and gotten off. No problem with them as they can hide around. But as Ishkur, Makdush and Gwerr all are now worried about the slavers coming back (how little do they know!) why would they just run away from the camp without a reason or at least without an effort to save the others from this threat they recognise unlike their drunken mates?

If they just run for the females in the middle of the night we have no motive for them to try and rescue the others after they get caught... So maybe we just let the time go and decide that where the orc-posting now stands we are already talking about the early morning hours there? Then they could just hear the noise of the party (as it sets on) and run away as they have no other choice. That would also make it believable that they would try to come back and save their mates?

I'm leaving my save unfilled before we have some shared idea about this (I might as well delete it if it becomes totally obsolete).

[Durelin]

Well, if the orcs are real partyers and drink into the early morning (so we could just say they continued?), they should be out for a while. I wonder if hungover orcs are more dangerous than normal ones, though...

The scouts will just have to leave really early.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Durelin

The scouts will just have to leave really early.

Rise'n'shine humans vs. the drunkard-orcses!

[Child of the 7th Age]

I have no problem editing Lindir's post to indicate an earlier time for getting the scouts out of camp. I had thought the orcses might not like the nasty sun and would be hiding their head under pillows by mid-morning. However, leaving at dawn is also fine, and I'll edit my set up post to suggest that sometime late tonight.

[Durelin]

I have no problem leaving things the way they are; I was mostly joking.

Apologies, but I will have to make it three saves in a row on the game thread, as a very unfortunate (and completely worthless...*grumbles*) project is keeping me from writing.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Wow, I think that that was a record for me. Carl's save is already filled. (No worthless projects going on here tonight, unless it might be my knitting. )

[Durelin]

Folwren - Athwen's endless seeming patience may very well get tested! I'm afraid Vror's suffering from short term memory loss. Yes, I like screwing up my characters....

If no one minds, perhaps the scouts can wait to leave for just a little bit, while Athwen deals with Vror...

[Child of the 7th Age]

This is indeed interesting. We can definitely wait!

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Folwren - Athwen's endless seeming patience may very well get tested! I'm afraid Vror's suffering from short term memory loss. Yes, I like screwing up my characters....

If no one minds, perhaps the scouts can wait to leave for just a little bit, while Athwen deals with Vror...

Oh dear. Well, her patience may not run out, but her courage might, with a patient loosing his mind and others having already died. She'll pull through, though.

Before I write my next post - is his arm actually broken? Any other broken bones? I was careless not to have her check him for broken bones before hand. But I guess she's been busy enough to make that an excuse.

-- Folwren

[Durelin]

Oh, yes, I'd say his arm really is broken. Other than that, I'd say only cuts and bruises. Likely he might have some strained muscles in his back or something, but... If you want to have Athwen discover another thing wrong with him, that's fine with me. But then, we do want him to be moving relatively soon.

Sorry, I'm coming up with these things as I go along.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Just to let folks know....

I'll be out of town for four days next week....from Tuesday through Friday. We are going to spring training in Florida (Yeah!). I won't have much computer access unless the hotel has a public terminal in the lobby so please feel free to use Lindir as needed to get over to the orc camp.

Just don't kill off all the orcs before I gte back.

[Nogrod]

Gwerr and Ishkur are back in action...

I decided to delete my save and post my stuff as a new post as the posting of the ex-slaves / fellowship seems to be slow anyway.

I have now tried to make these orcs a bit more sympatethic (I first thought of saying "humane" but realised it was a bad choice ) with their memories of war. I couldn't come up (and have no time to check it) with a specific battle from ME-histories where the goodies would have outflanked an army of the baddies (but the Pelennor Fields which I didn't wish to use here). So if you Regin come up with one, please feel free to name the battle in your next posting...

Child: it's up to you if you wish to let your Makdush-save stay where it is or post a new one for Makdush yourself too. Anyhow - as discussed in our PMs the two are not going to rush out of the tent before they will have to.

Regin: I have used Ishkur again a bit. I hope it's allright and will change anything you think needs to be changed.

[Folwren]

I have several questions...

How difficult is it to set a broken bone? What sort of strength is needed? What works as a splint? A wide, strong piece of wood? Would Vror need someone to hold him steady as Athwen set the bone? How painful is it? Would he need something to bite, like the Dr. Maturin gives Blakeney when he amputates his arm in Master and Commander?

Any suggestions or answers would be appreciated. If none of you know, at least give me your opinions so I can have more than my own opinion to form my post off of.

Anyhow, when I finish this post, I'm going to take it all the way through Vror's arm being set.

-- Folwren

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

I do know that a thick stack of papers makes a good splint when wrapped around a forearm. And I do wonder if Rog might have some on him as I think of him being a scholarly type. Otherwise, the party visiting the slaver's camp might find a stack of documents there to use. It could introduce all sorts of possibilities, if the slavers kept records of just who they had captured and sold over the years.

EDIT: I do suppose that parchment might be too precious a commodity to waste on such lists. Hmm....

[Durelin]

I can't say I'm sure about it...I don't know if it really takes strength or just precision to reset a bone; all I know is that it hurts a heck of a lot, hehe. Personally I'd just skim over it, but I guess I'm a little lazy.

And I think we'd better wrap up this, eh? Vror's damages can be revealed more at any point, and I think we'd better get the scout party moving. They'll both be staying back in camp for now, too, of course.

If you'd like to continue it a little longer, though, I'm up for it...as long as everyone else isn't getting too bored.

[Folwren]

Let them continue, by all means. I'll finish my post sometime this weekend. If you want to make a reply, we can insert it, but I think it would be great if the scouts could get going.

Besides, we could do this part while we are writing the scouts, too, can't we?

-- Foley

[Durelin]

Yeah - we could just jump to the morning.

Ah, I know - if you want you can make Vror pass out again when his bone gets reset.

Then he can come groggily back into consciousness all over again in the morning...

[Child of the 7th Age]

Goes over and gives the body a gentle prod.....

I am definitely guilty of not posting. I have been drowning under a pile of work and a writing block to boot! One way or another, I will get a post up tomorrow that will get us across the plain and into the other camp. (I can't promise you it will be the greatest writing, but hopefully it will do the job!)

I'd hate to see this story grind to a halt so maybe this will give us the shot we need to start moving again.

[Durelin]

I am so sorry for my absence. Due to a combination of illness and end of the school year insanity I've been lacking both time and inspiration. But I will try as hard as I can to help get things moving again.

I will get a post up moving the scouts out by tomorrow or wednesday (I'm sorry, I really can't guaruntee tomorrow because of accursed calculus), unless I hear otherwise or you get the chance to post before me, Child.

Oh, as a note - I will be completely gone thursday and most of friday for certain. No computer for over 24 hours! Agh!

I wish life were simpler. I've gotten accepted to all six of the colleges I applied to and Lord, I almost wish I hadn't! Well, by the end of April it will all be decided, and then in early May I will be completely done with school for the summer so I can dedicate myself to this RPG full-time. Promise!