Middle Earth FA64 D&D Game: Seventh Adventure – The Ruins of Old Hatha

Drinoleth, "Good plan Mulligan, I'll go with Thoroncir, Rorimac, Ceol and whoever else to check for magic and monsters."

To Thoroncir she looks tired. She responds, "Banishing the wights took much from me. I look forward to leaving this foul town. I am sad it is not in my power to help Sala. I thank thee for your kind words but I am just wearied. Brave Thoroncir, lead us down with Cirist and see if all is clear."

Gilraen does a Curelight on Rorimac to get him to full. While doing so she says in Quenya, "Brave Hobbit, another wraith killed by a Brandybuck. Will this one change you as much as killing the Witch King changed your father?"

Rorimac understand every word but understands it as Quenya and not Westron.

"Jewels?" Gwaelur says. "Count me in!"

Ithilneth says to Rorimac in Nandorin, "Galadhrim spake thus ago, now we speak our kindred's tongue."

"Really? Just pulling gems from their sockets? Feels a little like looting to me. Let's avoid ruining things if we can."

*Pulls out both his pick and his jewelers tools.*

"Fear not, Deor. Extracting gems is like performing medicine to us dwarves. No ruin should come to that which we want to keep intact."

Thoroncir hears his true love's words with concern but understanding, and says, "Perhaps a sip of miruvor will do you some good, my lady? It is yours for the asking, if you wish." He will gladly lead the party back downstairs, with Rory at his side, when all is in readiness.

Rorimac thanks Gilraen for the healing, "Let's hope this doesn't have to become a family tradition."

Mulligan smiles at Deor, "You're right, it's exactly like looting. Don't worry, we're professionals."

DATE: April 4, 64 and time is about 10:50am now. Sunset is around 6:22 PM

Part of the party starts down and checking the floors down to the web reveal empty floors. The going is not swift of course. Bitur is getting nervous with some of the sounds. Maybe the tower is not as stable as he originally thought or at least not the foundation.

At the Web there is a single corpse captured in the magical bindings. Deor lights fire to it as he said earlier and the Webs burn fast and swift and the living corpse is burnt badly and quickly dispatched by the 3 front line undead fighters.

The work of stripping jewels from larger swords is nearly done, the last bit could just be carried. The looting professionals head down.

They reach the party now exploring the 6th floor. No evil or magic is detected.

Is it time to leave or more exploring?

If we could expeditiously explore but still not make our civil engineering-expert Dwarves uneasy about the tower's collapse, I think we should. Otherwise let's give each room just a once-over-lightly glance and head for the exit.

Agreed -- let's not dally overlong.

"If the rest of the party wants to search a bit more, that's fine. However, I think Gwaelur and I should head straight down to the bottom. We're going to get a better idea of the stability of this tower from down there and we'll keep an eye out on the way down for any obvious indications as to whether we have only minutes left in here rather than hours."

Agreed. Feel free to err on the side of pessimism - we have recovered some precious valuables already, and ought not to risk our lives out of greed.

Bitur and Gwaelur do head down to check the stability. On their way down they decide the tower itself is still stable. However on reaching the ground floor they are confronted with two problems. A small horde of undead and the hill shudders a bit. The hill might not be stable. They envision hundreds of years of caves and tunnels dug out by non-Dwarves and they each shudder at the thought themselves.

On the way down exploring the floors they appear mostly cleared until the 4th floor is reached. Here the floor is open having once been servants quarters with wooden divisions. There is a huge pile of odds and ends in the south eastern corner. Magic is detected but no evil on approach.

Ceol frowns a bit as he sees the "huge pile of odds and ends". "That could take some time to sort through, unless those of you who can detect magic can isolate the magical items easily?"

Drinoleth says, "Aye, spread it out fast and I will point out those items of magic."

Thoroncir will stand guard while the pile is quickly but thoroughly examined. He is eager to have at the undead on the ground floor.

Let's be careful- it could easily be trapped.

Bitur shouts up to the party:

"The good news is the tower is actually more stable than we thought. The bad news is the hill it's on could collapse at any moment. Also, we have company. A good number of them in fact."

Who stays on the 4th floor and who heads down?

Gilraen is heading down, Sala & Drinoleth will stay at least.

Ceol will head down to deal with the undead.

Deor will not go down. He's low on spells right now and won't be much help.

Where Gilraen goes, so too goes her knight-errant, longsword at the ready.

While helping to spread the pile around, Mulligan asks Deor, "Do you have enough for a single Fly spell?"

Rorimac heads down with the others to deal with the undead, wondering what Mulligan is up to?

Ithilneth will help with the search for magic items, knowing that others will likely deal quickly with the remaining foes.

Bitur and Gwaelur are holding the stairs at the bottom floor forming an impenetrable shield wall and fighting like Dwarves fight best. There are a dozen foes but they cannot yet get past their guard. In the meantime Axes are reducing the numbers the dead.

Rorimac, Ceol and Thoroncir lead Gilraen down the remaining stairs swiftly. Redward follows.

There is no getting past the Dwarves when this group arrives but the 3 warriors can provide some archery support until Gilraen gets her Bauble blazing yet again and sends these last foes to their end. As she does this, Redward gives warning, behind us, back up again.

The group pivots and heads back up. Thoroncir is swiftest to move past Gilraen his love to join Redward in the front. He swaps back to his trusty sword Cirist which glows when pulls it out. Redward willingly lets Rorimac to the front, knowing he is better with his bow. He takes the inner stairs to offer his body as protection for the Princess.

They overtake a single wight moving up the stairs. Thoroncir and Rorimac are quick to attack it and both strike true. Redward shoots over Rorimac with his blesses +2 Dwarven arrows and hits 3 times. The wight is swiftly dispatched. Cirist becomes dim. The remaining undead are not close, almost surely not within the tower.

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Heeding Deor's warning, Prestolwen, Ithilneth, Drinoleth, Deor, Sala work quickly under Mulligan's and Gil-Gandel's expert supervision to safely spread the pile out.

Found here of magic is a fair horde. 7 magic stones, 3 crossbow bolts, 26 arrows of various types, 1 knife, 2 short swords, 1 long sword, 3 scimitars, a bastard sword, a golden belt free of tarnish, a pair of finely made leather boots. Of treasure there appears to be hundreds of coins without taint of evil or magic.

"Well fought, my friends. Let us form up with those who stayed upstairs to investigate the treasure, and then depart this place."

From my studies with Iarwain, is it likely that the tainted coins would benefit from the sunlight-and-fresh-air cure? If so, we can sack them up and drop them off somewhere outside this place. Some of the rest we could likely find a use for - and those we don't need we could take back as I'm sure some of Gondor's officers could find a use for them.

Forgive the ref, that was suppose to be without Taint.

So much the better. Let's bag it up and depart this foul tower forthwith.

"Nice haul," says Mulligan with a grin.

The party grabs the loot, laden down but made a bit easier by the extra strength provided by Redward's Spell. They proceed out the front door and begin to head out of town.
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They see several buildings lower down have crumpled and the tower at the first switchback has collapsed onto the road. The will have to take the crumbly steps down to the lower part of the road instead near the one long building that runs from road to road. Bitur worries about the condition of the stairs. They are shown as the green path. It appears several buildings and some old walls have already collapsed.

Any precautions?

Sure, let the two hobbits try them out first to make sure they are safe.

A rope around the waist is probably overkill, but better safe than sorry.

Is there a window to bail out through? I have some hithlain rope.

"Rorimac, Mulligan, it may seem to be unnecessary, but I deem it a wise precaution. We have made it this far without losing anyone, and I would much rather not suffer a loss on our way out."

"I have one Fly left, but that would nearly tap me out for the day. I'd rather save my spells for now, unless you have another brilliant idea."

Folca will fly high and look for any more dead in the area.

Mulligan replies to Deor, "Well, if Folca can find the undead, I was thinking of leading them a merry dance away from everyone else about 8 foot off the floor. If they follow me, everyone can get out safely and I can lead them to a place we are better suited to take them out. Might be worth considering"

No dead are in view and Cirist is glowing only dimly. They party is already out of the tower and heading down the hill.

Ropes are quickly and expertly tied and Mulligan and Rorimac head down first. So far so good. Next goes Gil-Gandel and then Prestolwen. So far so good. Bitur with ropes supporting him from both sides is next. He gets half way across and realizes the way ahead is not safe and could collapse. Bitur is sure it could support the weight of Gilraen, Deor, Sala and Ithilneth.

Drinoleth has shape changed into a Golden Eagle and takes to the air for additional coverage.

This means the heavier members still need a way across. there might be safe passage a lane further back. Leading down to a courtyard with an old well and then the main road. It is steep with old crumbly stairs also. Or it might be safer to go over the main wall at the high point of the town and scramble down the hill away from buildings. This wall at least is in good shape and as well built as the main tower. It is 20' up on the inside and 25' down on the outside. Most everyone has some experience using ropes to climb up and down such heights and Gil-Gandel and Mulligan can scale such with fair ease if Mulligan loans the Magic Climbing Gloves to him.

Seeing as the horse are back at camp, there is nothing necessary for us to do between here and the front gate. Considering the place is about to crumble, over the walls is probably a better idea than waiting to be hit on the head by falling masonry.

Mulligan heads for the wall with the rope is still tied to her. "Well, either I can climb the wall, or can Drinoleth give me a lift. Gil-Gandel, you might need these more than me. They are great at protecting delicate hands. Once I get up there, I'll drop them down to you, along with a rope to anyone else".

"I agree...no reason to go through this rapidly-disintegrating town, if the wall seems sturdy for the moment."

"I may be short in stature, but climbing a high wall does not daunt me in the least," Gwaelur boasts.

If there are suitable spots for attaching a rope, I could do the elf-bridge thing, but for such as have not spent a few centuries in Lorien and Mirkwood this may be of little help. But I am no slouch at wallclimbing with or without magic gloves, though I am not too proud to accept them. :)

"The wall sounds good to me and certainly better than navigating a collapsing stairway.

Mulligan and Gil-Gandel gain the top of the wall and begin to the rig lines. First up are Prestolwen and Ithilneth being light and nimble Elven-Folk and have their bows ready. Thoroncir and Rorimac in their light armors are next to climb up. Both do well. Gilraen is easily lifted up by Thoroncir as Theogrim and Gwaelur climb up. Deor is next to be largely hauled up as Sala climbs easily. Bitur sends up his backpack and spare weapons. He then begins the climb with a lot of help wearing his Dwarven Plate. Finally Ceol and Redward come up having stayed to guard the exit.

This time Sala & Deor are first down. Then Bitur is lowered. The hill shakes shortly after Bitur lands and the process is sped up using 5 ropes at once. Down go Prestolwen and Ithilneth and Ithilneth is ready with Feather Fall if needed. With them go Gilraen, Thoroncir and Rorimac. Theogrim and Gwaelur are swift to follow with Ceol and Redward a little slower. Soon as they are down Mulligan and Gil-Gandel follow after retrieving all but one rope. Mulligan using the Elven Rope from Pippin and was happy to use the trick of asking it to come down and it did.

The party forms up a little ragged with Rorimac and Gwaelur leading at a fast pace. As they get part way down they note the grave yard has largely collapse down and at this point the hill shudders again and they hear the sound of crashing stone on the far side of the hill. The main tower still stands firmly though as does the top wall they scrambled over. The party makes it off the hill and are ready to return to the horses but Sala is lagging for some reason and looking back. When asked why he says, "I thought the whole hill would collapse, I guess not."

Does the party mount up and ride for part of the day? Plan to camp here? Plan to go back one more time to the city? Something else?

Ceol asks his compatriots, "Do we feel that we have any reason to linger here, much less attempt to re-enter the city? If not, I think we would be well-served by riding as far as we can today."

"Let's keep moving. Our help is needed elsewhere."

Sir Thoroncir was secretly glad for the opportunity to hold Gilraen while evacuating the tower. Now he asks Sala why the swordsman thought the whole hill would collapse. Does he know something about it that he wishes to tell us?

Truth be told, the Sea-knight captain is a little reluctant to leave the ruined city just yet, and suggests sending Folca and a transformed Drinoleth over it all for one final reconnaissance. If need be, we can go back inside to kill any remaining foes. He wouldn't want to leave the task of cleansing this city incomplete.

Sala replies, "I'm not sure, the way it was shaking it just seemed like an old story I heard. It seems almost disappointing the hill is still there."

Gilraen speaks up, "I really need to rest but I can well rest while riding Kali if that is the decision. It might be best to be clear of here come nightfall."

Wisdom may be found in the memory of old tales. We shall not tarry here. Are we feeling strong enough to return to our camp on the bald hill?

"I think one last night on the camp at the hill and then return to the town. Besides, I think Mulligan wants to sell off all the nice shiny gems she just picked up." says Rorimac noticing Mulligan polishing one of them.

The gem quickly vanishes into a pocket.

DATE: April 4, 64 at night.

The party rides for the Hill and makes it there with little incident. Camp is set and watches should be close to normal. Gilraen must rest through the night and Deor of course needs his spells replenished. Does he cast any spells before going off to sleep?

Drinoleth will do several plant growths to surround the lower part of the hill in tough grasses and scrub and horse fodder. He leaves the two paths clear though.

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