Session 27: In Defense of Archet

January 5, 2966…

Captain Brackenbrook called six men to his cabin. “The six of you are to go with these four. There’s goblins on the Western Mountains, along with William, and two Wargs from what the Rangers here have reported. We sent three to venture to Bree to gather reinforcements, to deal with the goblins and the Giant Spiders in Chetwood. The brothers, Julian and Vance Blackstone had made it through, but Cooper Fernglade will probably not live to see the sun’s light. He’d stopped to ensure the brothers could escape and in doing so gave his life so that Julian and Vance could succeed on their mission. We must dispatch the goblins before Julian and Vance return, because the goblins will be ready for their return. They should not suspect other leaving from Archet. We may be able to catch them by surprise. I will remain here to command the patrols that return and prepare for retaliation from the goblins should that come. The six of you are to listen to the commands of these four.”

The six soldiers, long in Captain Brackenbrook’s service when he’d been a sell sword and offered protection to travelers, nodded their heads in silent agreement. The descent up the western mountain, under the cover of night, had gone relatively without trouble. However, upon nearing the peak, over the edge, the glint of orange dancing indicated a small campfire was nearby and the smell of smoke filled the air. Maethordan silently nodded, that just over the ridge is where the goblins had been.

However, any hope of surprise was ruined, as the Wargs howled, having caught the scent of the approaching company!

One of the goblins, eager for battle drew his weapon and moved up the path, spotting the approaching Company, its eyes gleaming with evil and mischief. The other goblins quickly scampered up the path, doing little to hide their excitement as two large Wargs raced behind them to meet the Company head on.

The two large Wargs, their incredible size provided cover for the goblins, as the path narrowed; their snarling fangs shimmered in the shadow of night, like tiny, eager, daggers, dripping with saliva. Steel and flesh clashed, then steel and steel clashed, as the Company fought against the Wargs and the goblins. Spotting William down the path further, Lodin took his trumpet to his lips and echoed the song he’d heard from Arthanar and played the Song of the Great Eagles. Piercing the shadows the lingered in the heavens, hiding the stars from the bloodshed below, the cry of Beleram pierced the night as the clouds exploded as he folded his wings behind him and dropped from the sky, like a giant arrow; extending his wings at the very last minute, his eyes acutely spotting the very person he’d been searching for - William. His claws clasp onto William tightly, and in one fluid motion, Beleram lifts him into the air, disappearing above the clouds that seem to seal behind him once again. Lodin waits, almost expecting to see William dropped, just as Beleram and the giant eagles had done with the ruffians in Gwathpind ("Shadow Ridge"), but William never falls. He must have taken William to Weathertop, Lodin concluded as the battle raged on, so that Strider can deal with him, or perhaps, Gandalf.

Blood soaks the soil, as both the soldiers of Archet, the Wargs, and goblins shed their blood; the mixture of their blood, creating murky, crimson mud. One of the soldiers, badly wounded, falls before Lodin, who up until now had been using his bow to fire at the Wargs and goblins; as he  saw the soldier fall, a surge of adrenaline overtook him as he got one last bowshot off before dropping it and jumping into the fray taking the fallen soldier's place on the front line attacking with Rukhsfelak. The blade cut deep into the Warg’s shoulder, which howled in furious pain, but seemed to refuse to die, despite the grievous wounds. 

Before his sword fell on its foes, Maethordan’s blade suddenly grew brighter, as he shouted, "Come then goblin scum, face a blade that will cleave you. Face your doom and quail beneath its light"

As Maethordan channeled the weapon - and felt the light surge forth from the blade - in that blinding flash, he bore witness to a dwarf, surrounded by goblins, as he shouts, "Du Bekar!" 

In this vision, the moonlight catches the blade that the dwarf holds in his hands and in his darkest hour; he knows he dies this night, on his way to deliver this gift to the elves; but the light of the moon reflects from the blade, blinding the goblins, and in all of his passion and might channeled into his final moment, the dwarf, Azanfelak, creator of the blade, cuts down row after row of goblin, who scream in terror as the moonlight becomes one with the gleaming blade, infused into its metal, as the goblins fall. By the time he is done, Azanfelak has cut down well over thirty goblins himself, but he is critically wounded in the battle. As the last goblin falls before him, he slumped against one of the trees of Lothlórien. A grey figure stands over him suddenly, "You fought well, Master Azanfelak. Your gift will still reach the Elves as you had intended; but it might take longer. Rest now, Master Azanfelak. The threat of Shadow is gone for now."

As Maethordan’s eyes suddenly focus - a magnificent light bursts from the blade - and created a reflection of what he had just witnessed. The goblins shriek in horror, hands before their eyes. Goblins retreated from the light and were cut down, tripping over one another to get away from a blade that none of them had seen before, but felt down to their core that this blade had slain many goblins!

As the battle started to turn in their favor, Lodin, thinking about preserving as many lives as possible, yelled, "Get the injured to the back!" As he continued to attack the remaining goblins.

When the battle was done, only two of the Archet soldiers were grievously wounded, barely clinging to life, however, Arthanar was able to stabilize both of them. As he tended to the two fallen warriors, thankful that neither had been hurt with the Giant Spider venom; Lodin and Maethordan moved down to the goblin’s campfire.

As Maethordan move down the hill, investigating the goblin camp where the goblins and warg had originally been before having caught scent of the Company; he examined the camp area looking for William's dreaded dark blade he had glanced originally, and knowing full well it's shadowy abilities, unfortunately the blade is nowhere to be found. He cursed inwardly.

However, his eyes caught something else - a scroll that appeared to have been dropped when William was taken by Beleram. He knelt down and picked up the scroll; his flesh crawled, something even about the scroll seemed unnatural. He unrolled the parchment and stared in horror; it is clear that there is indeed a plan to assault Archet by the goblin horde. 

In the madness of William's writing, it detailed how he believed the people of Archet had fallen to shadow and he had called for the aid of Bree, who now line the Eastern Mountains!

Two goblins, who had died near the campfire, their bodies riddled with arrows and a spear, Lodin noticed each of them had a pouch; that appeared to be full of liquid. He knelt down and cut the pouches free and opened them; the smell churched his stomach. He sealed them again and after a moment brought them to Arthanar. “Know what this is?”

Arthanar gave the pouches a smell and quickly pushed Lodin’s hands away. His eyes looked at Lodin with fear, “The venom of the Giant Spiders; the same venom that nearly killed the Hobbit companion; and took the life of the other Archet soldier who returned to warn us of the goblins in the mountains.”

Lodin threw both pouches into the fire; men do not use such vile tactics. The liquid bubbled and screamed horrifically, as if somehow alive.

Maethordan joined Lodin and handed him the scroll, explaining, "Plans by the looks of the, for an attack on Archet, we should get back as soon as possible."

The Company, with the Archet Soldiers, ventured down the mountainside, returning to Archet and explained to Captain Brackenbrook all that had happened; from the goblins, wargs, William, Beleram, and the plans to attack Archet.

Captain Brackenbrook grimaced, “We must prepare to defend Archet! Even though it seems the Giant Eagle has taken William, they will no doubt continue the plan without him!”

January 6, 2966…

The following night, as grey clouds form in the skies, it’s as if the stars themselves have fallen from the heavens and landed on the mountains of Archet as hundreds, if not thousands of torches light up, almost simultaneously… then the horrific sound of goblins roaring and descending down the mountains, some on foot, some on Wargs, and the Shadow comes closing around Archet…

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Fellowship Points:

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

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.

Yule Activities –

Lodin – Gather Rumors - Choose this undertaking to receive a rumor from the Loremaster. Until the next Fellowship Phase, Player-heroes in the Company have advantage on Intelligence checks related to the rumor.

Lodin – Write A Song - Choose this undertaking to compose a song, choosing whether it will be a Lay, a Song of Victory, or a Walking song (no ability check is required).,

The D100 Event - In Defense of Archet!

How it works! Keep in mind, there are hundreds of goblins! So the battle is happening all around Archet and its defenses! So some events you will not be able to respond to and simply lose (or gain) Morale.

So for example, you might get a roll that results in something like:

Three Southern Raiders break through Archet's defenses. -2 Morale

There is no combat, that just means where ever these Raiders did their thing, it was not visible to the party (whether it was because it was on the other side of town or whatever).

Some events WILL have combat opportunities and might look like this:

A large mass of (six) goblins are at the gates! Fear shakes the people of Archet! -2 Morale; if the Company defeats them, you gain +5 Morale. (At Gates)

This means, the Company can go fight the goblins. If they win, they gain +5 Morale. If they don’t want to fight the goblins, it’s assumed there’s enough Archet Soldiers, that the goblins will get defeated, but it will cost the party -2 Morale, because soldiers died or were wounded, decreasing Archet’s defenses.

Some events, are just things that impact the environment and may impact Morale, such as:

The moonlight pierces the shadows (any fog effect is removed)

Or 

Rain pours from the heavens, the people of Archet see this as an ill omen. -1 Morale

Now if the party is in combat (say for example the party is fighting the six goblins mentioned in the above example) - each round of combat, you will roll a d100 at the start of your turn, to see what event triggers also. Events will continue during combat. So for example, you might be dealing with those six goblins, and at the start of your turn for initiative, you roll - you might get an event like this:

A wounded soldier falls next to you (requires a Medicine Check, DC 12 to save him - requires an entire Action, in the event you're in combat). +5 Morale to save him, -5 Morale if he dies.

It would require your entire turn to do the Medicine check (and hope to save the wounded soldier) if you wanted to. Naturally, you could let him perish and take the hit to Morale.

There are more positive morale scores than negative in the chart, however, since it’s a d100, it leaves it pretty open to what might happen. There are some unique events that can only happen once (those tend to be a large boost to Morale).

The idea is to get from 0 Morale (where the event starts) up to 100 Morale (at which point, the battle has turned completely against the goblin forces and they are decimated). If it reaches -100 Morale (which should be pretty difficult), then Archet is lost and the people of Archet (and the Company are forced to flee and retreat to Combe and the event ends there).

Some events are similar, but have a different Morale Boost/Loss.

You can "Disengage" from a combat - if there's another event that you want to tend to.

So for example, the six goblins mentioned above - if the party agrees to "Disengage" because perhaps they rolled an event that results in greater Morale Gain/Loss, they can retreat from that fight to tend to the other thing. 

When the Event is over (one way or the other) I will share the d100 Event table.