Eorling Mead Hall Planning/Discussion Thread

[Ealasaide]

Glad that you are feeling better, Foley!

Wow, looks like we won't be seeing much of you over the summer. Have lots of fun!

[littlemanpoet]

Augh! I'm dying of thirst! Water! Water! Somebody help me!

Ahem.

In other words, how long am I going to have to wait before someone else posts?

[Ealasaide]

I should have something up tonight. They actually expected me to work at work today. (Of all the nerve!!)

[littlemanpoet]

Good posts, Foley and Eala.

I just remembered we have a cavalry from Meduseld that needs to make its arrival. I'll make that post at some point in the next day or so.

Big Festival in my home town may keep me away for much of the next three days.

[littlemanpoet]

Oooh, I love a good plot turn! Nice one, Eala! But your sailor most certainly has made an enemy of Foley's bandit (sorry for already forgetting names of characters).

I guess I'll have Eodwine reply to the Captain of the guard's social miscue, soon as I can figure out who the devil the chap is. Anybody have an idea for a name for this bloke? Or do we already know? I'm supposing he's the replacement for the dearly departed Haleth, right? Not Hama either. Hmmmm! (Elempi mulls....)

[Ealasaide]

Nice one, Eala! But your sailor most certainly has made an enemy of Foley's bandit...

Yes, he thought of that but figured it might be smarter to kiss up to the guys in charge since they outnumber the guys in shackles...

Of course, there is the possibility that my sailor might end up in shackles right alongside the other bandits, in which case this might not have been the most clever thing to do. hmmm...

It has possibilities either way, doesn't it? However things happen to go, Elián has got a few tricks up his sleeve.

[littlemanpoet]

Eala, I goofed. Somehow, I missed reading the paragraph in your previous post that refers to Elián having stepped over to Rowenna and telling her. Had I actually read that the first time, I would have written from her perspective instead of Eodwine's. I'm going to copy and save both my last post, and yours, to this post, and then we have the option to delete those posts and start over again giving Rowenna the chance that you were trying to give her. And we have the old posts here if we want them after all.

Are you willing to do that?

formerly post # 801

Eodwine looked up at Haleth, for so the captain was named, and furrowed his brows.

"You would speak differently had you known these two as did we, Haleth. These were Lefun and Ritun, friends of ours, killed by these outlaws."

Haleth's eyes widened and he looked about him. "Oh! Hm!" He coughed into his fist, his face reddening. "Forgive me. I did not know."

"Will you help us return Lefun and Ritun to the my mead hall?" Eodwine asked.

Haleth gave a curt nod and gave his closest warriors quick orders. While they began the work of hoisting Lefun and Ritun amongst six men, the new stranger spoke up.

“Don’t ask me how I know,” he said barely loudly enough to be heard over the snarling of the dogs. “But this man has not been properly searched. If you value your life, check behind his buckle and bracers. He still has the tools to free himself.”

Eodwine narrowed his eyes at both the speaker and the outlaw whom he had just betrayed, the wiriest and weakest looking by far of the three bandits. "Thornden, check him."

As Thornden searched the outlaw, who was staring balefully at the sailor, Eodwine spoke again.

"You tell me not to ask how you know. But that begs the question, friend, if so I may call you. You know each other." Eodwine meant his words to be statement of fact rather than question. "Do you know any of these others? Are you perhaps the odd one of their number that we cannot find? Speak quickly or you may find yourself bound and taken by my law."

formerly post # 802

The muscles along Elián’s jaw line clinched as the Eorl overheard his remarks to the woman holding the dogs and rounded on him, firing the volley of questions that Elián had been hoping to avoid. He had chosen to address the woman because she had seemed the least likely to interrogate him, but had forgotten to take into account his sea-farer’s voice. From necessity, he had developed the sort of voice that could carry from one end of a ship to the other in a gale. While he could speak as quietly as the next person – after all, it was the only way to have any privacy whatsoever aboard a small ship -- oftentimes ashore he found that he had been speaking louder than he had intended. This, apparently, was one of those times.

Ignoring the baleful glare of the outlaw that he could feel drilling into the side of his face, Elián turned toward the Eorl with an expression of calm equanimity.

“Begging your pardon, milord,” he said politely. “I only pled not to be asked out of embarrassment over an act of very poor judgment. I do know this man, but only in passing.”

“Liar!” muttered the outlaw behind him. Actually, they had done quite a lot of business together. And drinking.

Elián pressed on regardless. “He has a set of lock picks and a miniature dagger hidden on his person. I know because I sold them to him.” That much, at least, was the truth. “I had won them at dice and, being in need of money and having no call for such things myself, sold them rather than destroying them... as perhaps I should have done.” Another lie. Before running away to sea, Elián had spent several years apprenticed to an unscrupulous cutler who had taught him, among other things, how to craft a very efficient set of lock picks. The tiny dagger had been Elián’s own invention. He had made at least fifty sets of both with his own hands over the years and sold all of them for a tidy profit. For all he knew, the rest of the outlaws had them as well. For his own sake, he hoped that they didn’t, but the other two were beginning to look vaguely familiar as well.

“Oh, you liar!” said the first outlaw even louder. By then, the other two outlaws were watching the proceedings with interest as well.

“I speak the truth,” lied Elián confidently. “I am not an outlaw. If I were, why would I turn on my friends? If I chose, I could have killed the Shirrif here and his young friend with ease when I encountered them in the woods, yet I did not. In fact, I offered them my aid.”

He paused, looking innocently from face to face, trying hard to judge how far his bravado would carry him. “Also, I could have chosen to remain silent and let this fellow use his picks and his blade to free himself. I did not. So, arrest me if you must, milord, but do so with the knowledge that it is an ill way to repay a stranger for a service rendered.”

[Ealasaide]

Oh, I don't mind leaving things the way they are or, if you would like to get Rowenna into the picture, I don't mind doing the rewrite. I'm agreeable either way. It's all good fun for me!

[littlemanpoet]

I'd prefer to do the rewrite featuring Rowenna. I have reasons.

However, I don't know when I'll be able to get to it as I'm going on a 25th wedding anniversary 4-day vacation this weekend. And I'm busy tonight. So this may not happen until Tuesday night. Sorry.

[Ealasaide]

Sounds good to me. Have a great time on your vacation!

See you on Tuesday.

[littlemanpoet]

I'm back.

I had more than half of my new edit typed when I inadvertently deleted the whole mess. I'm really ticked off at the moment. Maybe I'll finally start typing on wordpad and saving, then posting the finished thing here. This usually doesn't happen to me, but once like this is too often, thank you very much.

It was a long post.

I'll try again tomorrow.

[Ealasaide]

Okay! No hurry.

[littlemanpoet]

My edit is up.

[Ealasaide]

Okay, my new post is up, too. I did want to point out a little confusion that occurred between old posts & new posts, though.

In your post, Elempi, you say:

Ghem's talk had been as if he'd snitched his lockpicks off their previous owner unbeknownst, which might or might not be true; so either Ghem or this Elborn was lying ... about that.

I'm guessing that refers to Elián's tale of having sold Ghem the lockpicks after winning them at dice. Unfortuately, that entire speech of Elián's got deleted in the re-write, so, at this stage, Rowenna has nothing on Elián other than his phony name.

I'd be happy to work the dice tale back in somehow, but at the moment, Rowenna's ahead of the game.

[littlemanpoet]

Ah. I see what you mean. I had thought that I remembered that his original words to Rowenna, he had said they were his. I'll fix.

Interesting comment, by the way, in regard to Bree. I've been planning on sending Falco Boffin away back to the Shire. Depending on how much you want your character to go to Bree - or not - there could be some dovetailing. Of course, that doesn't entirely make sense considering this rpg-ish thing is in the Rohan forum. But anyway....

[Ealasaide]

hmmm... sounds interesting nonetheless! We'll have to see how things progress. There may also be an RPG lurking in there somewhere...

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Ealasaide

There may also be an RPG lurking in there somewhere...

There are actually a couple. If Anguirel still haunts this part of the Barrowdowns or wishes to, there's his Manawyth character, a Dunlander who is currently under house arrest and Eodwine wants to get to the bottom of his case ... while he goes in search of rumors of his late wife....

Oh by the way, to all of you: Eala and I are building a post via PM that I expect to be ready no later than the end of the weekend, and probably sooner. So if things seem a little quiet it's the "still before the storm", after a fashion.

[Mithalwen]

On the matter of the north kingdom.. Due to the difference in the start of the Fourth Age in the Shire and Gondor - I am not sure if 1436SR is FA 15 or 14 ... The year of course is when Elessar rides North to dwell by Lake Evendim for a while. Even if it is FA 15 there surely would be a certain amount of preparatory to-ing and froing along the Greenway which might be utilised?
I don't think this has been mentioned already but I may well have missed it

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

On the matter of the north kingdom.. Due to the difference in the start of the Fourth Age in the Shire and Gondor - I am not sure if 1436SR is FA 15 or 14 ... The year of course is when Elessar rides North to dwell by Lake Evendim for a while. Even if it is FA 15 there surely would be a certain amount of preparatory to-ing and froing along the Greenway which might be utilised?
I don't think this has been mentioned already but I may well have missed it

Good of you to bring that to our attention, Mith. The "Hills of Evendim" rpg was set in FA 14 on purpose; Eodwine was a scout loaned to Elessar by Eomer at that time. So it would actually be very appropriate for there to be mentions of to-ing and fro-ing through Rohan between Gondor and the Shire.

[Mithalwen]

Ah well a quick search informs me that that RPG was finishing as I arrived here ...

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Ah well a quick search informs me that that RPG was finishing as I arrived here ...

Sorry, did not mean to mislead. I mentioned it merely as something possibly worth using as set-up for a new rpg.

[Folwren]

Elempi, I'm here for the weekend...about forty-eight hours. Are we anywhere near Falco, Thornden, and Eodwine's talk?

-- Folwren

[Nogrod]

"Long time no sea!" as Kath's signature says...

I try to read myself up to date this weekend and if not earlier then after the Midsummer eve's party I will be joining again with full effort...

I have not forgotten this game. It's just that the RL keeps running over...

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Elempi, I'm here for the weekend...about forty-eight hours. Are we anywhere near Falco, Thornden, and Eodwine's talk?

I've closed the latest post with a nifty little lead-in to it.

By the way, much thanks to Eala for a most enjoyable post created via PM. I always have fun doing those.

I know how it is, Nogrod; my own efforts to be around here have been quite limited, compared to the "good old days".

[Folwren]

Ehehehe...funny and very nifty, yes. Sometime today, I hope to have time to sit down and write a post. Of course, if I don't get a post up and you get on and want to write something, then go right ahead without worrying about cutting in before me.

-- Folwren

[Ealasaide]

By the way, much thanks to Eala for a most enjoyable post created via PM. I always have fun doing those.

Thanks to you as well! I had great fun with it & hope to do more in the future.

[Folwren]

Elempi,

I posted something, but I'm afraid it's short and didn't get very far into the conversation. I didn't know what else to do.

I will be leaving for camp around 3:30 tomorrow - about 23 and a half hours from now. So, if you post today sometime, I should be able to reply again, if necessary.

-- Folwren

[littlemanpoet]

I got carried away, but I've left you a prompt, Foley, so you can continue the conversation. Let me know if I went too far, if there's anything you want me to remove.

I've added a word in the introductory post to this discussion thread on PM-built posts, with a couple of examples. I encourage others who wish to try out this conversation-style posts. They're fun.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

I encourage others who wish to try out this conversation-style posts. They're fun.

I've done a few with Firefoot in the Fellowship of the Fourth Age and can assure you that lmp speaks the truth: they're fun indeed!

Truly recommendable if the timetables fit!

[Folwren]

I would be more than happy to do a post by PM, but I really don't have time. I"m leaving tomorrow...sorry. I'll go see what happened.

- - Folrey

[Lhunardawen]

I do hope Eodwine and the rest get back to the Mead Hall soon, so the rest of us could finally share in all the fun.

I'll post something about Ginna and Lèoðern's walk either later today or tomorrow.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Lhunardawen

I do hope Eodwine and the rest get back to the Mead Hall soon, so the rest of us could finally share in all the fun.

Sorry about that. I think we can pretty much wrap up this little side-plot by the end of this weekend.

[Lhunardawen]

My post is up. If you've any complaints in my handling of Lèoðern, Celuien, please do let me know.

Kath, what do you think if we let Ginna and Kara meet again before Eodwine's lot arrives?

[littlemanpoet]

What a great post, Lhuna! I can't wait to get the crew back to the Mead Hall. I'll try to see that accomplished soon; that is, as soon as Foley posts to finish off the little "ruckus" between Falco and Thornden.

[Folwren]

There, that should finish it off. Go ahead and use Thornden again if you need to in your next post so that after you have Eodwine answer, you can take them all the way back the Hall.

I used Eodwine. If you'd rather me change anything, then just tell me so.

-- Folwren

[Kath]

Kath, what do you think if we let Ginna and Kara meet again before Eodwine's lot arrives?

Sounds like a plan to me. Give me a PM and we'll get some ideas going?

[littlemanpoet]

Okay, we're back at the mead hall, from Rowenna's perspective.

Foley, do not take personally anything Rowenna thinks about your characters. She has gotten very cynical and critical in the past two years. It - uh - scares me how much she looks, in my mind's eye, like that eye-blinking Merisu 'smiley' .... (but her eyes aren't that big nor does she have such a smoochy pout.)



...so you know what I'm talking about.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Foley, do not take personally anything Rowenna thinks about your characters. She has gotten very cynical and critical in the past two years. It - uh - scares me how much she looks, in my mind's eye, like that eye-blinking Merisu 'smiley' .... (but her eyes aren't that big nor does she have such a smoochy pout.)

Okay, I'll try not to. Thanks for saying that, though. I'll go off and read what you've written and I'll try not to take it personally. I feel so dumb, though, sometimes, trying to write for a young man. I'm too young to do that still. Oh well.

-- Folwren

[littlemanpoet]

There's a contradiction between something I wrote in post # 801 & what Foley wrote in post # 805.

#801:

She gave him not even a glance, holding the eyes of the Eorl, who agreed to her offer. He sent Haleth on ahead with the two headed dead man, then he and his men showed her each of their kills to Rowenna.

#805:

The entire group set off. Some of the guards of Meduseld took up Rilef’s body and walked behind Thornden. The others from the Mead Hall walked behind those – Garmund going directly behind Rilef, looking crushed and depressed.

I like what you wrote in 805, but then I need to figure out how to change 801 so there's not such a huge party of cavalry in the way while Rowenna identifies the dead. Any ideas?

[Folwren]

O-oh. Oh dear. That's entirely my fault. I had thought I had read that somehwere, but then I couldn't remember where, and I guess I didn't try hard enough, but I didn't find it.

Let me know what you decide on doing - changing your post or having me change mine. I'm leaving for camp shortly and will have to fix it later if you want me to do the changing.

Sorry.

-- Folwren