Assigned to Mordor Planning/Discussion Thread

[the phantom]

I think I'll be able to post late tonight.

When I do, Mardil is going to choose a PT Cruiser and he's going to take off in the wrong direction- but for a reason. After a little stop, he'll turn around and head towards Mount Doom.

Mardil's detour will put him a bit behind everyone else, so if Alli gets stranded a bit later on like you say then Mardil will spot her. But I'm sure she won't particularly want a ride with him since she's mad at him- and he'll be frustrated with her to boot. So, I guess they'll have a big shouting match on the side of the Interstate.

We'll have to decide how it will end. Will Mardil decide it isn't worth the bother and leave Alli stranded, will they agree to travel together despite their mutual wrath, or will they reach an understanding and get along somewhat during the ride?

Is Sai going to tail me in her own vehicle? That would be better than carpooling, because someone would be there if something went wrong but we wouldn't have to give up any of our spare tires (if you carpool, you have to).

Oh, and did the reality tv people catch up to us overnight? Who will they follow at first- Mardil, Sai, or Alli?

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by the phantom

Oh, and did the reality tv people catch up to us overnight? Who will they follow at first- Mardil, Sai, or Alli?

Ah! Thanks for the reminder. First intervention coming right up!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Okay. I want the reality TV people for Alli. We'll see how their shout down goes when we get to it.

I'm about to start my post, therefore it will be up within a not terribly long amount of time.

Originally Posted by Elempi

(2) It WILL play into the game somehow, with interventions. Oh, and by the way, the moderator is currently disposed to interventions, and expects to remain that way for the duration of the game. [img]ubb/biggrin.gif[/img].

Glad to hear it.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

I want the reality TV people for Alli.

You got 'em, along with everybody else. If you want, you can have Karis Matiktwit in your vehicle; just write him in as a pushy reality tv show host.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Change of plans, I won't be writing tonight. Something came up. I'll post tomorrow though... presumably around 12:00 PM.

[the phantom]

Change of plans, I won't be writing tonight. Something came up.

Me too.

[Kath]

Sai will follow Mardil. No way is she going off on her own on the roads of Mordor when even her writer doesn't have a clue how to drive or follow road signs! Though, I suppose no one would follow them anyway in Mordor. I'll wait til you've posted phantom and then follow on.

[the guy who be short]

The M1 ends in Leeds... I presume we're ignoring that and following the A1(M) thereafter?

Grâce à Oroaranion for pointing this out.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Kath

Sai will follow Mardil. No way is she going off on her own on the roads of Mordor when even her writer doesn't have a clue how to drive or follow road signs! Though, I suppose no one would follow them anyway in Mordor. I'll wait til you've posted phantom and then follow on.

It's not too hard. It's only scary when there are actually other cars on the road and they pass you. I mean... I come from a little place with small roads. These cars and trucks are going reeeeeally fast and they come within about two feet of you. It's terrifying when they do it on curves. I suppose that will make it truly Mordor-worthy because Alli's got about the same driving experience as me; actually, less. I've driven a few times and she's never.

[the phantom]

...when even her writer doesn't have a clue how to drive or follow road signs!

Alli's got about the same driving experience as me; actually, less. I've driven a few times and she's never.

Well, this will certainly be a reason for Alli and Sai to at least trust Mardil's driving even if they aren't too fond of him. Mardil's writer has been doing 500+ mile Interstate road trips for years and has yet to get a ticket or create a traffic accident. I will think of a way to transfer some of this skill to Mardil.

Expect my first post sometime in the next three hours.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I just posted, so whenever you feel like it, TP, Alli's on the side of the road in a bad mood. It just sucks when your car explodes.

[the guy who be short]

I'm writing a post, it should be up in half an hour at the latest.


If Wilhelmina doesn't manage to get a good car, feel free to approach Fléin. He's taken a shine to the character, from the little he's seen of her - they seem to share views about the others, in any case.

[Durelin]

*bows* Thank you, most gracious Anakron. My post is up, and seven points it is.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Durelin

He heard a thud and a scream. “Did you get that on the kamura?!” he shouted at the kamuraman, conjuring up fake tears in order to better wallow in self pity upon injuring a helpless…child, cat, dog, whatever he felt like making it. He ignored the kamuraman when he said “It was the spare tire you were supposed to take with you, sir…”

A 6 on the Richter Scale for a good laugh.

Originally Posted by Durelin

“There have been rumours of Alumìne Umfuìl taking a certain interest in you…”

“Oh really? Well, then, I guess we might as well make it her. Is there a jealous lover involved, by any chance?”

A 3 on the inverted scale of uber-hilariosity for the reason that you only predict one jealous lover... there will be at least two.

Originally Posted by Celuien

For this reason, multiple versions of the exam are given, such that drivers are not necessarily tested in any consistent fashion. Is that clear?

An 8 on the Not-forcing-us-all-to-have-the-same-test scale.

Originally Posted by Elempi

"It is a flexible system (by which Anakron meant that he had not decided exactly how the point system would add up in the end, nor precisely what total signified failure) by which, for each test, members of the Offending Party will be given a point total not less than one, not greater than ten

A 10 on the flexible system scale (by which Fea means that she has not yet decided how this scale works yet, nor what its importance will be) by which, for each post, writers of the Offending Party will be given points that don't matter. Much like in Who's Line is this Anyway?

Originally Posted by Encai

"Now, now, Phineas," his mother was saying. "I already told you, no more nuclear devices this week."

'What a horrible name for a child,' thought Wilhelmina.

A 10 on Fea's scale of "Ouch, I was just reminded of that horrible book A Separate Peace by John Knowles."

Originally Posted by the phantom

But Mardil knew he wouldn't have it any other way. When there was a delicious damsel in distress, he simply had to be the one to rescue her.

A 13.43786 on the Maybe Chivalry Ought to be Dead After All scale.

Great writing everybody. I get a huge kick out of reading each new post.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by the guy who be short

The M1 ends in Leeds... I presume we're ignoring that and following the A1(M) thereafter?

Grâce à Oroaranion for pointing this out.

Seems my first try at a response to this didn't go through.

Answer: M1 is under construction north of Leeds. Mwua ha ha ha !!! How does that Abe Lincoln quote go? Some of the lanes are closed all the time, some of the lanes are open some of the time, some of the lanes are closed some of the time, but none of the lanes are closed all the time.

EDIT: Keep track of your miles and how many hours it takes you to cover them. You have 12 game hours to get from Lundun to Durham, as it were.

[the phantom]

My post is up, Kath. I already wrote Sai into a PT Cruiser, so you don't have to worry about someone taking the last one. And don't worry about your gas tank. So long as it is between 1/3 and 2/3 full we will be fine.

[littlemanpoet]

Durelin: Valde's car's tank is 1/8th full.

phantom: Your PT Cruiser has a leak in the tank, and drips to half full in a matter of minutes.

[the phantom]

Okay Kath, glad to see you found my car.

Now, here's a heads up for you.

I will bring Sai to where Mardil is when I make my next post (probably late tonight). Mardil will explain his plan to Sai and to help Mardil out, Sai will agree to (temporarily) become the sole focus of both her tv crew and Mardil's by announcing that she will tell her life story.

Of course, the tv crew will feel obligated to leave at least one person with me from their crew, but he won't be a problem. All Mardil has to do is lose him for a couple minutes, and he can certainly arrange a nice and understandable way to do that.

So anyway, be prepared to tell Sai's story, Kath.

phantom: Your PT Cruiser has a leak in the tank, and drips to half full in a matter of minutes.

Aye aye, captain. I will include that in my next post.

[littlemanpoet]

Celuien, you're crackin' me up. Good try on the lisping orc. There are a couple things to edit, since I'm being picky.

Make every 's' a 'th'. 'famouth'

Make every 'l' and 'r' a 'w'. deal becomes deaw. right becomes wight

And every once in a while, a 'y' becomes 'w'. 'you' -> 'woo'.

Lucky for you guys the lisping orcs are only the artsy fartsy ones that come with the reality tv show, which is only going to be around from now until you get through ALL the test.

[Encaitare]

Since the wireless connection in the hotel is somewhat dubious, I've put up a save, and will type up my post separately and put it up later.

TGWBS, Wilhelmina will be more than happy to team up with Fléin... as long as he's driving.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Unless something crops up (LMP: ), Alli's currently moodily walking toward her destination (potentially in the wrong direction since she refrained from actually bothering with a map... again) and will still be walking in that direction and fashion when Mardil and Sai show up.

[the phantom]

I just spit out a long post that places Mardil and Sai on the road. I'm really tired and I wrote it quickly, so I hope it makes sense.

Remember, Mardil is comfortable behind the wheel and is great with a map, Kath, so if you start to write about the drive don't have us go off the wrong way.

Feel free to add some encounters with bad drivers, construction, or anything else your heart desires- so long as it doesn't damage our means of transportation.

[Celuien]

No problem. It wil be changed shortly.

[the guy who be short]

Out of interest, whence comes the word Dweomer?

Encai: I've posted with you in here. Have a looksy so you can work it in with your post.

A lot of great posts from everybody.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Dweomer... I have thoughts and potential theories, but all of them are based on assumptions and therefore remain full of loopholes. I'll just not put forth any of them; that way when I find out the truth, I can conveniently forget all of my less-than-accurate theories and put forth that my theory was right.

And I've just posted. Alli's currently kamura-less, slightly injured, really hungry. Hookbill the Goomba's been attacked, and Alli was just about to go save the world when Mardil showed up again.

May the yelling match begin.

[piosenniel]

Some references on dweomer:

Do you know the exact meaning and etymological roots of the word dweomer? It is often used in fantasy literature as a synonym for "magic spell", but I was unable to find the word in any dictionary. Can you help?

-----

Of course we can help but, boy, those fantasy novels certainly go out of their way to use obscure words! What's wrong with straightforward words like cantrap? We are not surprised that you couldn't find this word in a dictionary. As far as we can tell, it occurs only once in medieval literature - in a work from around 1205. Even then it does not occur alone but in the compound term dweomer-craeften meaning "magic art". It is thought to be related to the Old English gedwimer (or gedwomer) "sorcery".

from: Take OUr Word For It - E-zine

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From The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 1 (A-O); 18th Printing, 1979; Library of Congress catalog number 76-188038:

Dweomercraeft. Obs. [f. O.E. *dwimer, *dweomer, in zedwimer, zedwomer, illusion, sourcery, necromancy, zedwinere, juggler, sourcerer + craeft, CRAFT.] Juggler, magic art.

c.1205 LAY. 30634 And Pelux hit wiste anan purh his dweomer-craeften.

Related: Dweomerlayk = Demerlayk

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The Encyclopedia of Arda has a section on archaic words:

dwimmer-crafty --- skilled in the arts of magic

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Hey, I was right.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by the guy who be short

Out of interest, whence comes the word Dweomer?

Why, from Tolkien, of course. In The Two Towers, spoken by a Rohirrim. Of course, I can't find the reference now.

[piosenniel]

Tolkien uses the word, dwimmer-crafty in reference to Saruman -

In 'The Riders of Rohan', when Eomer is speaking alone to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, he tells them of Saruman's designs on Rohan and the difficulties of dealing with him:

It is ill dealing with such a foe: he is a wizard both cunning and dwimmer-crafty, having many guises . . .

[Encaitare]

And let's not forget the term in Pio's PT.

[the guy who be short]

I'm resisting the urge to turn the Kamuraorc in my back seat into David Kamuran, mainly because most of you wouldn't understand...

Now to figure out how to drive a car, with no experience whatsoever.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

You know TGWBS, it really doesn't take much specialized equipment to siphon gas. Just a hose and a lot of guts and no observing authority figures.

No, I haven't done it! But the colorful lot in one of my old classes taught me how using muddy water in a flood tank we were playing with. It's amazing the skills you can pick up when you least expect to.

Just thought that might come in handy if anybody runs out of gas and wants to "borrow" some from one of the yellow vans, which would very conveniently (how I currently love this word) mean that the kamura crew runs out of gas instead. What a pity.

[the guy who be short]

Originally Posted by Fea

You know TGWBS, it really doesn't take much specialized equipment to siphon gas. Just a hose and a lot of guts and no observing authority figures.

I wondered through the internet looking for siphoning website, and concluded that I'd need some sort of hosey thing. Then I decided I couldn't be bothered to comprehend the physics. So it looks like hoses are scarce in Mordor now, eh?

Anakron gazed into the pouring sleet, watching the Dworc's and old womorc's

As Wilhelmina isn't driving, she's not in orc form. That's how I understood it worked, anyway...

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by the guy who be short

I wondered through the internet looking for siphoning website, and concluded that I'd need some sort of hosey thing. Then I decided I couldn't be bothered to comprehend the physics. So it looks like hoses are scarce in Mordor now, eh?

It's not so hard. A bit of tubey stuff and some suction and you'll have yourself some sketchily acquired liquid in no time.

As Wilhelmina isn't driving, she's not in orc form. That's how I understood it worked, anyway...

I'm not sure if it's "right", but that's the way I felt like doing it for Alli. Why eat a grapefruit to get your vitamin C if you can have an orange instead?

[the phantom]

Fea, in case you're wondering why Mardil hasn't found Alli by the road yet, I don't want to advance any more before Kath has a chance to post.

[Kath]

And I will post. I apologise that I haven't yet but the RS essay I have spent all weekend working on has sapped me of any imagination whatsoever. I'll get a post up by tomorrow evening - I'm sorry it's so delayed.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'm vaguely considering having Alli be unconscious when Mardil finds her. It would give me a good excuse to write more.

No rush Kath. I wait patiently. Or at least pretend convincingly that my impatience is really patience.

Don't worry. I know how school work gets in the way of things.

[Encaitare]

I think I know how to siphon, TGWBS, so Wilhelmina could do it if you want to work that in...

[the guy who be short]

Originally Posted by Encai

I think I know how to siphon, TGWBS, so Wilhelmina could do it if you want to work that in...

Of course, that would be marvellous. We'll actually need to buy a hose first, so could you cover the entire post from acquiring one to stealing Anakron's fuel (Hehe, I hope you work in the look on his face when the Cruiser re-enters the parking lot)? Plus as much more as you're up to doing, of course.

Small request. When we actually go to buy a hose, I buy a very large beaker too.

[Kath]

Fea, Alli is still walking in the post that will be going up any second now but if you do want me to change that just yell.