Event 12: Ruffians and Anna
Fay had thankfully paid attention in class when Anna had spoken of her travels and what she looked for. Anna never ventured far off the Eastern Road, and had spoke of how she had met many travelers, who often offered her protection when she did need to travel off the road. Fay’s mind wandered – Anna, in many ways, was like Fay herself. Both of them bore a look and an accent, though Fay’s sounded much more Bree-like because of her time growing up there; but neither of them were native to Bree-lands. One day, after the bothersome Lenny Appleton had gotten in a fight with Gabriel Greyfield, after school, Anna, after breaking up the fight, had seen someone or something that frightened her, and she quickly retreated to the class. Fay had asked her what was wrong, and Anna seemed as though she was about to say something, when she drew herself up and shook her head and smiled and said that everything had been all right. This had been one month before Anna had gone missing.
“We’re not alone,” Maethordan’s voice pulled Fay from her wandering thoughts. Maethordan pointed at the ground. “Fresher tracks here, next to the ruffian tracks. We’re not the only ones pursuing the ruffian it would seem.”
Maethordan observed the new tracks closely and confirmed. “Dwarven,” he said, though he knew not if these tracks were allies of the Ruffians or otherwise. “We should be careful.”
It’d been several hours of tracking, just as the sun was setting on November 12, 2965. Thankfully, the stars twinkled and the moon watched, casting her light down. Maethordan saw a dwarven figure hunched down peering over a small ridge at the ruined towers ahead, which were a common place for ruffians to gather this far off the path.
The fallen tower here was known as “Gwathpind” – or “Shadow Ridge” for these towers over looked a deep chasm.
The sounds of voices could be heard, and orange campfires lighting up, casting their light and dancing shadows against the ruined walls.
Lodin whispered, "Hold, I will approach with Dolly. Make no sudden movements."
Lodin moved forward toward the dwarf. Though he didn’t fully speak Khuzdul, he knew the formalities and greetings.
As he drew closer, he said loudly enough for the dwarf to hear, "Ushmarûna Durinul."
The dwarf spun, hand on the blade and gruffly whispered loudly, "Who goes there?" After peering into the dying light of day and spotting Lodin and Dolly, the dwarf eased the grip on his blade. The stranger approaching him looked nothing like the ruffians he’d been following, the dwarf thought. Far more civilized but traveled.
"A fine steed," the dwarf noted, "and a fine young man. You should turn back if you're lost friend, there are ruffians in that tower, if that's where you were headed for shelter."
His voice is barely above a whisper, odd for a dwarf, even this far from the ruffian base.
"Well met, my name is Lodin son of Brodin. I think we may be after the same quarry, seeing how you seem ready to...." Lodin momentarily trailed off his sentence, unwilling to finish it. "Anyhow, I have two more companions just over there. We had a run-in with these ruffians two nights ago. We are tracking those who fled. We believe they have a woman from Bree held captive who is very dear to one of my companions."
The dwarf squinted passed you, barely catching sight of Fay and Maethordan. "If you're after these ruffians, then you are correct - it seems our paths have come to a common goal. My name is Frerin Stonecliff, son of Vidar. I am a Captain, under the command of Balin, Son of Fundin. He has sent me forth to seek out the reports from several merchant dwarves of Blue Mountain reporting bandits ambushing them. I tracked one of them running from something," he paused, then chuckled, "I'd wager, he may have been fleeing from the lot of you?" He nodded, seeming to feel much better about the situation. "Let us make our way back to your companions and see if we can come up with a plan."
Fay frowned as Londin came back with the Dwarf. Biting her nail as she listened to Lodin's introduction. She bowed muttering "Fay Foxglow, your service is my pleasure." Her frown deepened as she was not sure she said the greeting correctly.
Lodin looked to Fay and chuckled at her attempt to speak Khuzdul.
Fay shot Lodin a scathing glance, to which he replied, “Bug went in my throat.”
"Frerin Stonecliff, son of Vidar," the dwarf said, with a deep bow, his beard sweeping the floor. He smiled at Fay, having heard her greeting, but well trained to never shame anyone, "The pleasure is mine. You are fine company if you're here to put an end to that riff-raff," he gestured behind him towards the ruffian camp. "They have a blasted tower they're using as a watch tower. There's two ruffians up there from what I saw. About six others in the camp."
Frerin Stonecliff, son of Vidar, wore a fur cloak with a hood. An axe at his side, a sword in his hand. His fiery red beard stretched down to his knees and woven tightly into braids.
Looking up at the tower Fay thought about what Frerin shared, while chewing on her fingernail, "Do you know if they have a woman with them. She has dark hair, looks to be in her middle years."
Frerin nodded, "Aye, lass. There was a woman there. She appears to be their prisoner. She's bound by her hands to a post near the tower."
The Ranger finally spoke, the dwarf noticed. "Is she guarded? Can we get her clear before we put them to the sword, though we must keep the leader alive as they have been consorting with orcs." Maethordan paused for a moment almost forgetting himself and said, "I am Maethordan, it is good to see a friendly face round here.”
Frerin bowed to Maethordan, looking him up and down. "A Ranger of the North. That is good." Frerin looked over his shoulder back at the ruffian base. "She is guarded. I just thought she was someone they abducted from one of their attacks on merchants. But, being tied just below the watch tower, tells me, she's important to them, perhaps? Ensuring that she is under constant vigilance. I suspect if it's the lass you're after, you're not getting her without a fight. There's a patrol that moves around their encampment. Two in the tower, six inside, and two that patrol the outside from what I have seen."
"We need to avoid engaging all of them at once. Maybe Dolly can draw a few away on a chase. What do you think?" Lodin patted Dolly affectionately. "With this moonlight I don't know that we'll get a good chance for the sneaky play and waiting too long leaves more opportunity for us to be discovered. Our best bet is to draw them out somehow. I've got an idea, if you'll hear it. I take Dolly around to the west and call out to them. I'll say something like "Hey Freddy, you lout! You in there? I brought that horse you bin wantin'!" And if 3 or more of them come out, we can shoot them dead and rush in to engage the rest. If less than 3 come out I'll handle them myself and you guys try to take down as many around the fire as you can before they get to cover. What do you think? Of course, Fay, you need to keep your distance, so the 3 of us will handle the hand-to-hand fighting. You support with your bow and words. Frerin, do you have any advice to give us, seeing as you're the most experienced of us? We could benefit from your leadership."
After some discussion, Frerin shared what he’d observed by watching them, waiting for dark to fall. Two patrol the outside, one in the southwestern corner stands on a shattered building as watch, two in the shattered tower, and at least four more inside the ruined keep.
“Let us take out the patrols,” Frerin said. “They’re far enough apart walking around the vast keep. Then take out the one in the southwest tower. With those two taken down, we can then move quickly to get closer.”
"Whoever can get to Miss Wintermoss first, should take her as their charge to protect her," Lodin nodded.
Arrows flew and the first patrol went down along with the guard in the shattered southwestern tower.
“Let’s move!” Frerin whispered.
However, the highway robber, positioned in the tower, turned, thought he'd seen something and called down, "Did you see anything over there?"
The Southern Raider peered out into the darkening field, "No. It's your imagination."
"Must be," the Highway Robber sighed on the floor above him. "I could have sworn I perceived something out there."
Initiative:
Highway Robber 06 – 20
Lodin – 18
Highway Robber 01 – 15
Maethordan - 14
Highway Robber 03 – 11
Southerner 01 – 10
Southerner 02 - 9
Highway Robber 04 - 8
Footpad 01 – 7
Footpad 02 – 7
Highway Robber 02 - 6
Highway Robber 05 – 6
Frerin - 4
Fay – 3
Your first group allows you all to move 90 feet.
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Fellowship Points:
4 (1 per player) + 2 (Gandalf) = 3
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.
GUIDE: Fay
LOOK-OUT: Lodin
SCOUT: Lodin
HUNTER: Maethordan
