Thunder cracked and lightning split the sky, bringing Fay back to the present. The rain seemed to give one final burst of rainfall, before the rain finally relented, turning into lighter rainfall.

Fay had been assigned to be the look-out, and she had been the reason they’d slowed down before during the rain, because she believed they were being pursued by howling creatures – in truth the rain had played a larger part to the party’s decreased speed, but Fay could not help but feel responsible for their pace – she wanted desperately to be the reason to pick up the pace when she heard Lodin’s words in her mind again:

“The first thing to be aware of is your surroundings.”

That’s when she saw it – just off the path – an undiscovered, hidden road, that seemed to move towards the direction of Weathertop. Had the rain not relented, there was a good chance she might have missed this hidden road. She was excited to find a short cut to Weathertop!

Moving off the road ever so slightly, up ahead in some ruins of a tower, she saw black smoke rising upward. She peered ahead and saw it – a man was talking to someone else – someone she could not see from here, because part of the tower’s ruined stones was blocking her view. She then saw three other men, moving around the camp, but she could not see who the man was speaking to.

She gestured for the others to come look. They could see a group of three men, near a campfire, another speaking to someone that they could not see.

“Travelers?” whispered Fay. “Traders, perhaps?”

But then the figure came into sight.

Even on this dark, moonless and starless night, there was no mistaking it.

The person had been speaking to an Orc.

Maethordan grimaced at the sight of an Orc so close to Weathertop, where the other Rangers of the North had gathered to keep an eye in the area. How had it gotten so close without being seen by the other Rangers that roamed and patrolled this area for such dangers?

Lodin gestured for everyone to hide in the buses and turned to Hobart and whispered, "Hobart, do you think you could get close enough to hear what they're talking about? Something foul is afoot and could be related to either the ruffians in Bree or the reason for our summoning.... Or both."

"If there are Orcs here then that is trouble,” Maethordan growled lightly. “I understand orc speech; I will move up and try and glean what is going on. I can move north and the west within the trees round until I have line of sight on the Orc and Ruffian Leader. I can listen and hear what they are saying once they have finished, I will fire the first shot but be aware I am far from an expert bowman so get ready to fire as well."

Maethordan slipped into the bushes and quietly disappeared.

Hobart, having recovered from the distraction of disassembling his boot to remove whatever had kept poking at his heel, looked up to see Maethordan slinking off into the woods. “Looks like our ranger friend is already doing that. With an orc here,” he whispered, “that definitely looks like trouble.”

"If we fight – and I suspect if there is an orc involved in this - Maethordan will not take kindly to an Orc this close to Weathertop – he will start it with the Orc. Fay, take Dolly and backtrack to a safe place to hide, not all the way to the road, but maybe a hundred feet or so, stay out of sight of the road."

Fay studied Londin, "There may be more on the road,” she whispered, looking behind Lodin, into the darkness of this moonless and starless night. “I trust Dolly here, but not the Darkness surrounding us. Besides, what if someone pokes you up like your old pants? You will need my herbalism and if I am too far away, I may be too late by the time you reach me."

She reaches for her bow just in case.  As she glanced around the forest – there was an eerie silence, other than the light rain that fell into the collected pools of water on the forest floor. Her eyes scanned the darkness – and there, just beyond the bushes was a lone jackal. The beast looked famished, almost starved. Why had it looked so hungry? Had other predators moved into their hunting grounds? The jackal seemed unaware of her and seemed focus on perhaps the foot crackling near the campfire which the brigand sat around. Perhaps it was waiting – or debating – to try to get the food and run into the shadow.

Fay looked over her shoulder and smiled, “We will be safe.” She then slowly began moving towards the lone jackal. Feeling her courage grow, mixed with the notion of sewing up clothing and undoubtedly wounds, after this fight, she reached into her pouch and pulled some of the boar meat from the night before, that Hobart had hunted successfully. “Hello there,” she whispered, tossing the boar meat to the jackal who looked at it wearily, sniffing the air. “Come here friend,” she gestured towards to jackal. “I mean you no harm. Go on, that the meat. It is for you.” The jackal grabbed the meat and continued to eye her suspiciously. The jackal devoured the small portion of meat, still hungry. “If you help me, I will see that you are as fat as a hobbit on feast day!” Though the jackal did not know what a hobbit was, Fay’s works had somehow reached the jackal’s starved mind, and it understood that more food would soon be theirs.

Lodin had watched Fay slip into the dark, and only the campfire by the ruffians, did he notice a glittering reflective light, like two eyes in the dark that Fay seemed to be approaching and whispering to. He turned to Hobart and shrugged, “I don't know what Fay is up to, I can only make out her shape from here, but I can get to her in a moment's notice if one of them breaks from the fire's light. If you have a bow, ready it. Otherwise get ready to ambush them."

As Lodin scanned the enemies in front of them, he saw something else glittering in the dark. Just south of the ruffian’s campfire, something was reflective in the bushes. As he strained his human eyes to their limit, he finally saw what it was – it was a weapon, a sword or axe by the look of it – whose metal was reflecting the campfire the ruffians had made. But the weapon was not alone, it was in a wagon – no doubt the wagon that the drunkard, Lenny Appleton in Bree had mentioned. The wagon was poorly hidden in the brush.

Lodin nudged Hobart, “There, under the brush – south of the campfire. There’s a wagon of weapons. I already had my doubts when I saw the orc there among them, but it’s clear now, these ruffians are connected to the three we ran into outside of the Prancing Pony.”

His eyes scanned those gathered around the campfire, then to the one speaking to the orc. "We should focus on the orc first. If he flees, there could be more trouble. We need someone alive to interrogate."

Hobart, crouched next to Lodin, had dealt with ruffians on the road, during his time delivering messages, but he was usually able to sneak around or talk his way past them. Now the idea of fighting, his heart pounded in his chest. The idea of killing an orc had not bothered him, but the idea of killing a fellow man or woman. It rattled his nerves that it could and probably would come to that.

As Maethordan moved through the forested area, he came to a stop, just at the edge of the woods that allowed him to hear Ruffian and Orc speak. He crouched down, his bow ready, should anything go wrong, and listed as the human spoke to the Orc. "We tried to follow them, but when the hard rain came, we lost any sight of them. We think the girl that’s with them – her name is Fay - may have hired them to find the woman we have. Harry was saying that Lenny knew the girl that's with them."

"We will deal with that rabble if they are indeed coming for the girl," the orc's voice was guttural, the Westron tongue, not its native language, and sounding like shards of glass, spilling from his mouth. "You were to bring that cart of weapons to us to Felyadûr, in the South Downs. What's the delay?"

The human looked nervous, "The blasted rain. We've robbed so many merchants that wagon is almost impossible to move. We need a strong horse to pull that thing. Harry told us that they tried to get one - but that girl's friends interfered. He left me in charge to speak with you and he continued back towards Chetwood last night after we lost the people with the girl."

Maethordan was familiar with the name the Orc had mentioned – Felyadûr. His time among his fellow Rangers of the North here in Weathertop, he’d heard the rumors of Felyadûr. According to what he’d heard, it was a cave system in the South Downs who had gotten its name because of the forbidding feeling the caves emanated. The entirety of the cave systems had never been fully explored, due to that sense of foreboding that slithered from the cave's main entrance. There were rumors (mostly from the people of Bree) who believed the cave system was so vast that it extended down into the Barrow-Downs, which was why there was a sense of evil and foreboding.

The cave system had initially become home to wolves of the South Downs, until the increased population of the Wargs, which seemed to have made the cave system their home. Some even believed the cave system crawled beneath Bree and went as far as Chetwood. But all of this was wild speculation and stories told by many who dared face the entrance - and ran.

Maethordan had heard enough – he took careful aim, lining the arrow, peering down the shaft, assuring it was on target, before releasing his hold on the arrow, as he flew straight and true, striking the orc, who howled in furious pain. The orc collapsed to one knee, howling something in his native tongue, to which the ruffian leader quickly reached on the floor and grabbed his club.

Lodin let fly his arrow, just as the orc was beginning to stand again, striking the orc in the neck. The orc howled again, though this time, his screams were gurgling in blood, before he began running towards the direction of the arrow – and collapsing to the ground, the last essence of his life, bleeding crimson on the muddy forest floor.

The ruffian leader shouted, “It must be them! The girl and her friends! Attack them!”

Immediately, one of the ruffians, leapt over the campfire, dashing in the direction of the last arrow that had struck the orc. Hobart seeing the ruffian heading for Lodin, released his arrow and struck the ruffian, who yelped in pain, clasping his shoulder.

The jackal, seeing movement and action, and under the charmed voice of Fay, sprung forward biting the Ruffian leader’s hand as he saw it lunge. The ruffian leader peered into the darkness, looking for the attackers – clearly the jackal had not unleashed the arrows that took down the orc.

“Find them!” the ruffian leader shouted. “Kill them!” Before yet another arrow flew through the night, from Fay this time, striking the ruffian leader in the leg. The ruffian leader howled in fury and snapped the arrow. “Kill them!”

===========================

Fellowship Points:

4 (1 per player) + 2 (Gandalf) = 6

Fellowship Bonus: Gandalf

You can spend a Fellowship point to roll an additional d20 after a saving throw (but before the outcome is determined), and choose which of the d20s is used.

Eye Awareness: 2

===========================

What I did was launch everyone’s surprise rolls as expected. Fay has a higher Dex bonus than the Ruffian_03, but since she held her action, she loses the extra bonus, so the Ruffian_03 got to take advantage of his bonus, but only really used it to dash to get out of the light to better see the party. So now it’s on Fay’s turn to attack or do whatever. But everyone explain what you’d like to do (if it’s attack, do so and roll damage). New thing is to add all your desired targets in order (so maybe if you want to aim for Ruffian Leader, Ruffian 03, then Ruffian 02) do that as well. So in the event, for the Ruffian Leader dies, I know your next target would be Ruffian 03, if possible.

After Surprise Round:

Fay:

Ruffian 03:

Ruffian Leader:

Orc Soldier: - Dead.

Maethordan:

Lodin:

Ruffian 02:

Hobart:

Jackal:

Ruffian 01:

For the map -

Solid black circle around token = Dead. (Orc for example)

Solid red circle around token = Bloodied (Ruffian 03 for example)