Wow! What a lovely robe, and such a beautiful, close weave... A real treasure, and I am quite grateful.
Deor, as usual, will prepare to open our counter-ambush with a Fireball on Gil-Gandel's cue.
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Wow! What a lovely robe, and such a beautiful, close weave... A real treasure, and I am quite grateful.
Deor, as usual, will prepare to open our counter-ambush with a Fireball on Gil-Gandel's cue.
Mulligan is gracious when accepting the knife and even though she doesn't use poison, there are other mixtures that can be used. Heart of hearts, she is eyeing up the Boots of Levitation that Rorimac received and remembering what it was like to fly.
Rorimac replaces his current boots, which probably won't fit anyone else in the party, but would make good spares for either him or Mulligan.
Also as usual, form up the heavy foot troops to the centre, the lancers to either side of them, the casters behind them, the archers in skirmish order to either side, and I'll be looking to flank the enemy relying on my good Cúran to keep me out of hand-to-hand range while I look for key targets - leaders, spellcasters and archers for preference. The cue to open hostilities will be a loud blast on Glinras, but I'll Mirror Image myself just before sounding off.
*Upon receiving the chit:*
"Thank you Colonel. May your city be safe from here on out."
Bitur looks forward to getting to the capital again. But for now he prepares himself for the upcoming battle.
Ceol bows to the Colonel. "This is a most gracious gift, sir, thank you. I shall pray that Eonwë and all the gods shall watch over this city."
Thoroncir also bows and warmly expresses his gratitude. "Your generosity does you credit, Colonel, and I thank you. I have always enjoyed the use of halberds, despite having little opportunity to do so of late; when I was at sea in years past I found them to be particularly useful and effective weapons." Although he does not say it, he suspects he would be too heavily-encumbered if he were to try to bring it along on a march or ride of any great length; but he will put off any decision as to its eventual disposition for now.
The knight-errant is pleased to see the fair Gilraen don her new necklace, and thinks she wears it very well indeed, although in truth he knows of nothing which might enhance her beauty. She is already quite flawless in his eyes.
He will, with shield at the ready and lance in hand, prepare to charge the knavish fools who would dare strike at his king and liege lord.
Ceol, astride Leofwin, prepares a charge beside Thoroncir.
"Let us demonstrate to them how the knights of the North fight," he says quietly.
Drindoleth graciously accepts the robe. "A wise and generous gift, sir. I thank you. May your city prosper."
As it comes time to counter the discovered ambush, Drindoleth grimly prepares himself.
December 20th is a hot partly cloudy day. It is around 1pm.
King Elessar only takes enough time to allow the stealthy members of the army to be made invisible by the Invisibility in a 10’ radius spell. He allows Thoroncir, Ceol, Haldreng to lead the Sea Knights in a charge as Prince Éomund leads the Knights of Rohan to the left flank and the King leads the Knights of Gondor to the right flank. The Elves under Legolas ride to the rear right and Linwen’s group takes the rear left flank.
The ambush party scatters early as the riders set out. They must have their own spies. The swiftest groups of enemies spread out but are soon pursued by Mírëgol, Lindar and Haldreng and many of Legolas’ Elves. Then two groups of 12 and 13 split up. Gil-Gandel rejoined by his party pursues the 12 with 6 of the swiftest Knights. Captain Meriadoc and Prince Caramir join with Legolas and Gimli and the rest of the Elves of Ithilien in pursuing the 13.
Bjorn is flying high guard over this group and calls, “Drindoleth, please guard your group from the air.”
More to come a little later ...
Drindoleth changes to his eagle form and takes to the air to guard his group. He pumps his wings to climb to a great height, then soars there on the air currents to get a wider view of the region. He's looking out for areas to cast entangle on and give them another advantage, or perhaps other natural features they might be able to use for defense. As he looks, he catches sight of a large group. Far larger than the scattered men they'd pursued.
He makes careful note of what he sees before swooping down before his own party. Crying out in eagle form might get their attention, but he worries about important details being lost. Changing to his man form, he begins to speak.
"We're moving toward over a hundred men. There are at least five garbed in dark robes, gathered round a silvery basin. It reminded me of the Druid's Scrying Pool spell," he warns. "We may have been meant to see the 'ambush' before."
He'll call his owl to him, in preparation of sending word to the other group.
Zuul, is this information the DM has provided to you?
Added by What Exit: Yes
Yes, he told me to share it.
OK, thanks.
Be the enemy 30 in number or 100, Thoroncir will attack with his fellow Sea-knights, if the way seems clear.
"Based on what Drindoleth reports, I strongly suspect we are being led into a trap."
"A trap is only good enough if it can hold what it is meant to contain. It's no good if it is to weak or if someone decides to set it off before it is ready." says Rorimac. "Will that spell spot the invisible and if not, who fancies wrecking a trap?"
"Ok, as no-one has said otherwise, I'll go and spring the trap with the 100 or so people in it." says Rorimac.
Drindoleth is unsure if they can detect or see invisible but it does seem likely they can.
Deor can say, “Expect a full 120 yards for the range of said detection for the camp.
Sala says, “A hundred plus is very strong for just 18 of us to take on in additional to the dozen we pursue. Perhaps more help is needed. I doubt not your bravery but this seems very dangerous.”
There is still an excellent chance to intercept the 12 before the reach the hundred. Perhaps your fastest riders could slow them down? Their horse may sadly be the key to this endeavor.
Ithilneth will loose an arrow or few if any of the escaping riders are within range.
Sadly, yes. I do not like to shoot horses, but if there is no help for it... What is the range? If it's 80 yards or less then an Entangle would be an option.
With the speed of Cúran, Gil-Gandel could get ahead of them and cast an Entangle or two for them to run into. This would clearly allow them to be caught.
The owl makes it to Drindoleth.
That sounds like a workable and humane alternative - let's do it.
Drindoleth will send his owl off to the main camp to relay what has been discovered.
Unless ordered otherwise, Thoroncir will pull up his reins and halt his fellow Sea-knights with a raised gauntlet, and wait a moment to see how Gil-Gandel fares.
Ceol will wait with Thoroncir and the other knights, until given the signal to resume the charge.
One of the Knights says, “We need to keep racing to close the gap.” And he spurs on his horse.
Gil-Gandel gets ahead of the dozen fleeing, dismounts and has his horse drop down to hide in the scrub and tall grass. Gil-Gandel casts his first Entangle and waits to see if they hit it and how many and prepares his second if needed. He sees that most are about to strike but 3 will be to the north of the entangle and casts a second Entangle to slow these foes.
The spells work beautifully and 10 horses are entangled and 2 slowed. 8 riders fall off their horses at least partially caused by the extreme and unexpected breaking and all 8 are entangled. 2 are trying to get their horses out and helping by slashing the grasping plants and the 2 on horses only slowed are just trying to escape.
The rest of the horses come thundering up.
Ithilneth opens by sending arrows at the pair still moving. Of her first 6 arrows, 5 strike home for 43 points and this man looks badly injured.
Please state if you are using magic arrows and which types.
Ithilneth will continue to loose arrows at any riders still escaping. She will reserve her magic arrows for magic users and greater undead, who are both more likely to be unaffected by normal arrows.
Thoroncir can't help but admire the knight's headstrong impetuosity (a fault, or quality, of which he has himself been accused), but shouts after him, "Hold, good knight, and return! I have ordered a halt. We shall charge when I order it, and not before."
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...hoftheKing.jpg
Clearly I have failed to convey the situation. Lets try a picture.
So Gil-Gandel has stopped or slowed the foes. You are fairly far from the large camp. The Knights stopped charging though. I don't know where much of the party are.
Fully appreciating the situation now, Thoroncir points ahead and says, "Forward, men, to the aid of Gil-Gandel and Ithilneth!" He then lightly gives the spurs to his warhorse Baygir.
Call on the entangled enemy to thrown down their arms and surrender - as they can see, they are covered by superior archers and there is no way for help to come to them. But if we don't see very prompt compliance, we will have to make good on the threat.
Bitur addresses the melee fighters clustered with him:
"I think we should charge those in the entangle shouting 'Surrender or Die'. If they don't throw down the weapons, we assume they've chosen the second option."
Rorimac will lend aid to Bitur, while Mulligan will stay with the spellcasters to provide any protection should it become necessary.
Ok, so those Entangled are being approached by the Knights, Dwarves and Rorimac coming to the aid of Itilneth and Gil-Gandel. Mulligan and the other mages are off to one side out of trouble.
The other ambushed group riding away fast are being pursued by some from the King's Party.
Given that there is a large camp of enemies about a mile away, with a set of evil mages watching what we are doing, we might want to speed this up. It would also be worth finding a secure location, so that if they do decide to try and attack us, we can do so from a more defensive position.
Is there anywhere around that meets that criteria, perhaps Drindoleth saw something while flying around.
Drindoleth can report the most secure location is being setup back near the road by the King. Other than that there is a small wooded rise between us and the enemy camp. It is roughly 150’ long and 60’ at the most. Not overly dense but offering some protection.
The men in the entangled area hesitate and a few more arrows fly at those not entangled. The one man drops and the other is injured as the Knights and Warriors ride arrive charging and shouting in their foreign language. Weapons drop swiftly. Only Gil-Gandel can enter the entangled area though he could try sleeping or charming them with his songs.
As this is being pondered and the next step, a third golden eagle and 3 hawks fly near. The eagle swoops down and lands, “Greeting friends, it is I Ghân-Buri-Ghân, I was with the King and translated the owls message for him and then flew up to scout. The other party is nearly done and know to head this way. The King is sending a strong force to assist you against the hundred. He himself is staying behind but said, ‘I have a surprise for those spying wizards they won’t expect, tell the other parties to wait for some panic among the enemy camp before you attack.’ Though he did not give details.” He takes a breath, preens a wing feather and continues, “What can I do to help? Should I just scout with Drindoleth and the birds or do something behind the camp with my few magics?”
Those that are with me, hold your fire; I will indeed try to sing some of these foes to sleep. Then we had better wait for the reinforcements to reach us from the King.
"If you could cause some confusion from the back of camp, Ghan, that would probably be best. Having an opponent tied down in crossfire is a great thing. Making them merely think they are can be almost as effective."
Sir Thoroncir is very pleased. He says, "Ghan, is that really you, old friend? It's good to see you again - even though it is, at least for the moment, in eagle form. How are you?"
He will heed the Elf-captain's words and order his men to halt once more, and in the meantime will inquire as to the name and record of the headstrong knight who disobeyed his orders earlier.
"I don't think those trapped really understand us.", says Rorimac, "Can someone who can speak their language, let them know that they should surrender. I think they have the general idea, but it would be good to make sure they truly understand."
"Ghan", hails Mulligan, "it is good to see you again. I don't believe you have just a few magics at your command, but anything you could do to disturb them further and make them think that all is not within their control would be useful."
Gil-Gandel lulls 4 of the men to sleep and settles down all the horses. Weapons have been dropped. The one man is bleeding from several arrow wounds of course.
Ghân greets his friends, "My tongue has improved in this form, I have spent much time serving the Stone City King, Father to Gilraen scouting as an Eagle."
Gil-Gandel and Sala both speak the language of the captives and they have surrendered now.
Send the captives to the rear under guard of a couple of knights, and await the arrival of the reinforcements sent by the King. Once they get here, we'll form up in the usual order - heavy foot to the centre, casters behind them, heavy cavalry flanking the heavy foot and skirmishers out wide. As usual in open battle, I'll be looking to speed and horsemanship to keep me out of hand-to-hand while skirting round to the enemy side and rear in pursuit of spellcasters and leaders.
A hawk flies swiftly to Drindoleth. "The men in robes at the pool are shouting orders, they appear to be preparing for an attack from the north but none are coming from that direction."
Mírëgol come riding in swiftly. Her marvelous steed not looking at all tired. She reports, “The rest of my party is will be here shortly. I came ahead. Bjorn said he will disrupt their plans right before the attack. Deor, perhaps you can prepare a fireball for them? I plan to use my sleep spell with the largest area. I recommend we attack with spells first reducing the support troops and let the Knights and Warriors take out the wizards and their best warriors free from problems. Nico, Meriadoc and Legolas will be taking out any archers they have. Gimli wishes time to lead all the Dwarves to a spot where they are fairly close before the attack. Lindar said he can provide a distraction to cover their approach.”
She hears the hawk’s message and says, “Perhaps Lindar does not need to provide a distraction.”
The other party arrives as you discuss plans with Mírëgol. Then a hawk arrives with a hastily written message, “The King is controlling their scrying to fool them.” The hawk also reports that Prince Éomund is leading the Knights of Rohan and will be here shortly.
Finally Linwen arrives, “Hail and well met, what is the plan? What can we do to help?”
Ithilneth keeps her bow out and awaits a command.
Rorimac will hope to be standing by his father trying to take down the enemy archers. He may not be as good as Meridoc and Legolas (well who is), but he is going to be part of it.
Mulligan doesn't really want to get caught up in a major battle and will stay with the casters, just in case, someone on the other side tries something sneaky.
Thoroncir holds his men at the ready, and asks Ceol to remain with him. He looks around to see if he recognizes the headstrong knight who disobeyed his orders earlier.
Drindoleth will transform to his eagle form once again in order to watch from above, both for scouting and to best ascertain where he'll be needed. He will leave his wolf Hound to give additional protection to the casters.
I will stick to my previous plan of looking for archery targets from flank and rear. Although I have an area-effect spell that can hypnotise a number of enemies indefinitely, I do have to keep up my own concentration on it, which would preclude my helping out in any other way.
The over enthused headstrong Knight was Gareth. Orodreth reports he is not normally lacking in discipline. Pelendur agrees.
The camp of the necromancers has quickly reorganized to prepare for the attack from the north.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ingThecamp.jpg
Gimli leads the sturdy by small force of Gwaelur, Bitur, Hlíf, Láki, Páll & Rúnin to the southern front. The 7 should be able to charge and thoroughly distract the enemy. All are extremely well armored and great and hand to hand fighting. Láki is the least experience in battle and is worth a squad of human infantry as Gimli says.
Lindar has cast up a largish illusion from the distance of what looks like the dust and noise of a cavalry charge.
Linwen is taking the North East flank.
As the spellcasters and archers get in position, a large hedge appears behind the camp (to the east) this is surely Ghân’s surprise.
The 100 or so knights and riders are ready for their deadly charge into the heart of the wizards.
Gil-Gandel and Ithilneth have plenty of time to approach from the south east flank.
Deor is readying a fireball of course, he plans to wreck the day of those in front of the Wizards. Mírëgol will sleep a large number guarding the north flank. Legolas, Merry, Nico and Rorimac should see if their arrows will hit the Wizards around the mirror and if failing strike those between the Wizards and the Knights.
More to come …
Mulligan pulls out a couple of the few remaining smoke bombs. It might be a good time to use them to slow down any charge that may occur.
Rorimac will be using his finest arrows to see if the wizards can be taken down, otherwise switch to those targets that will go down.
For those with excellent sight, the Necromancers around the pool seem to be raising some dark spell when the pool erupts in a splash of water. It is as if their spell was broken and broken sharply.
In this confusion a horn blows to the north and the army charges in fast with great thundering.
It is now that Bjorn flies directly over the six central necromancers and a several soldiers and one dark robed necromancer have a variety of odd reactions. One soldier attacks the closest person looking berserk. 3 stand up looking confused and 2 drop down into slumber. The necromancer though just wanders off a bit.
Arrows fly from the guards on the northern edge of the camp and a few lightning bolts go off in the ranks of those charging at the enemy. It is now that Mírëgol’s sleep drops 18 of the lesser fighters. On the northwest of the camp.
Deor drops an oversized Fireball onto the fighters in front of the necromancers at the pool. It is place just to the northwest and injured or kills 11 foes.
Legolas sends an arrow at one of the remaining Necromancers at the remains of the pool but it veers away, he says quickly, “Leave the dark ones for the Knights.” He then starts sending arrows into the closest wizard on the north side. His speed of firing is frightening to behold. Mulligan is nearly memorized by it but then launches a two Glass Smoke Bombs into the gap between the pool and the southern weak front that the Dwarves are attacking with the party’s Elves supporting. Meriadoc and his son Rorimac send arrows at the one wizard on the south side and swiftly drop her. Gil-Gandel and Ithilneth begin dropping the foes closest to their position.
The Dwarves let loose cries of the far north. “Khazad-dûm” and “Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mânu!” meaning "Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!” Soon they crash into the 7 southwestern foes and swiftly overcome them.
Nico is dropping the remaining warriors to the southwestern side of the pool clearing the path for the Knights. The knights are now thundering in for real.
A flurry of arrows flies from the northeast and dozens of foes drop on the north east side.
A second hedge crops up to the south of the first one.
The Necromancers just have time to realize the battle is lost before it is begun.
Thoroncir, Ceol, Haldreng, Orodreth and Pelendur lead the crash into the 5 necromancers trying desperately to toss up spells before they are struck. One gets a magic missile spell off and does 25 points to Baygir , Thoroncir’s steed. Then the knights crash into the necromancer and several waves ride these foes down. The knights led by Prince Éomund make short work of the northern flank.
Lindar races down on his shadowy steed and runs down one of the northern wizards. The entire Northern attacking army disappears as he attacks.
Many men in armor are running but face the hedge. Drindoleth is now a man behind the hedge and throws up and entangle as they try to cut through. In but three minutes the battle is over. 7 have surrendered and many are sleeping. All the necromancers and wizards are dead but one and he is drooling and has a blank look.
Merry whispers to the pair of Hobbits, “Did you like what happened to the pool? I believe that was the King with the Stone of the Orthanc. No mere scrying spell can compare to his control with that stone now. Who are they compared to the Dark Lord. Pippin’s fascination is most handy.”
...Thus resolving all doubts as to whether I should toss my poor magics but about to improve with the impending level-ups into the mix. Well, but this battle was hardly worth a song - in another place and another age they might speak of it as an altercation by the side of the highway.