Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Join us at our virtual table as we play Mysteries of the Loop, our Tales from the Loop series; explore the Arthurian mythos in The Sword Campaign, the first part of our Great Pendragon Campaign; chart the stars in Star Trek: Magellan, our Star Trek Adventures series; and sail the seas in Dark Blue Sea, our Mutant: Year Zero campaign. Stories from other worlds are coming soon, including The One Ring, The Electric State, Legend of the Five Rings, Twilight: 2000, and so much more.
We’re not voice actors, professional entertainers, or trained performers—just friends from around the globe sharing virtual dice, stories, and a laugh or two as the game unfolds.
Stories with Dice
The Fellowship of the North S1 E7 The Iron Crown: An Actual Play of The One Ring
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The fellowship stands at the summit of the Tower of the Star, where a mummified lord sits upon a mockery of a throne, an iron crown nailed to his skull and set with a strange, glowing jewel. In the ruined heights, they encounter the haunting presence of the lady of the tower—a Fell Wraith—whose demands compel the company to unravel the riddle etched upon its accursed walls. What they uncover there forces a perilous choice—and will shape the tidings they carry to Rivendell.
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This is the Fellowship of the North, an actual play of the one ring from Stories with Dice. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Stories with Dice. We're playing the One Ring from Free League Publishing. This is episode 7, The Iron Crown. Our previous session ended with the fellowship at the top of the Tower of the Star. There they found the mummified corpse of the lord of this ruined castle seated upon a throne of rotting wood. An iron crown had been nailed to the very bones of his skull, and set in the center was a jewel that glowed within eerie's sickly light. Our tale resumes as the lady begins climbing the spiral stairs. Her voice echoes through the tower's hollow chambers.
SPEAKER_03Give me the elf, and you yet may live or join me in my torment.
SPEAKER_01I reckon it's because of the jewel.
SPEAKER_05No, but I'm trying to think, is there any lore behind this because the elves didn't come to help them? You know, I'm kind of to figure out what's the reason behind.
SPEAKER_01I reckon it's an elf jewel, and you're an elf. Surely you should help them.
SPEAKER_05I think there's no help to this, that's just the jewel.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so let me jog your memories a little bit, especially the goldfish. So remember, you had been captured by orcs, and you know that these orcs have been kidnapping or capturing elves that have been traveling to the Grey Havens, but you don't know why. When when she was speaking with Sabian at the base of the tower, he told her, I bring an elf for the dark whisper, the one that had escaped. So you must assume that he's referring to you. Uh and she had said, I am no servant of Morlos, and neither are you. And then he said, Remember his promise to us both. The Dark Whisper, also apparently known as Morlos, had made some promise to both of these individuals.
SPEAKER_05So she's expecting that I can do something to help her. And I had these names, Morlos, Dark Whisper, don't mean anything to me, right?
SPEAKER_04Other than the rumors that you all had heard about a dark whisper in the Misty Mountains that had been waylaying travelers passing across the high pass.
SPEAKER_01Just trying to think if I had the name of the creature that I had in my rumour around the one that was creating a new breed, a brood. But I don't think it was more lost or anything like that, so.
SPEAKER_05No, it wasn't.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so we'll answer the woman. Uh I don't know her name, right? No. What do you require of me, Lost Soul? Your flesh. How is my flesh gonna bring back or help your husband, your love? How is my death of any help to you?
SPEAKER_03It is not your death I seek. So what do you seek? You can come with me willingly or you can come with me wounded. And where could you be taking me? Into the mountains. To do what? End my torment.
SPEAKER_05And how an elf like me can end your torment. I didn't grieve you, didn't do anything for your suffering.
SPEAKER_04I do not need to explain myself to you or to anyone. You can either come with me willingly and your companions will live or I will kill them all and take you into the mountains myself.
SPEAKER_05Don't don't hurt my companions. If I have to go with you, I will go willingly, but let them be.
SPEAKER_01You're not going anywhere. You're definitely not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_05I will not pull you in any peril.
SPEAKER_00That is our choice to make.
SPEAKER_05No way. This is my choice to make. I don't want you to be involved and suffer the grief of this creature.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so we've all pretty much put together the inscription at the entrance and the potential of the crown, right?
SPEAKER_02Yep. I was gonna say while all this has been going on, this debate and the talking, I'm not even listening to it. I've taken it quite literally, and I've pulled out the sword and I'm trying to un uh get the nails out and try and prise the crown off of the head.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and with the direction that this is going, I'm gonna go help him.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say. I was gonna that was my next thing. I was gonna go, asshole, smash the uh gem or take the gem out or something, but you've got the hair before me. Do we want to smash the gem? Could the curse be contained within the gem?
SPEAKER_04You're not entirely sure, but you have worked out that the what you read on the wall, that there's something about the crown, whether it's the crown in conjunction with the gem or not, that is nailed to this mummified corpse's head is has some power to it, is somehow part of some curse.
SPEAKER_00How is the gem staying on? Is it affixed to the crown or how is it affixed to the crown? What can I see? Is it soldered? Is it like a piece of metal holding it together? Is it wire wrapped and tied onto the crown?
SPEAKER_04It's like affixed somehow into this inset in the very center of the crown. But you don't see any like wires or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00So it's in a setting that's on the crown itself.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And the crown is like it has these uneven spikes that come out of it in in like broken teeth, and it, you know, it's disfigured and cruel looking. The gem itself is a is a sapphire. It's a blue sapphire. And the iron itself is pocked with these tiny nicks and dents, and it's spider webbed with fine veins of obsidian. So, Assel, make an athletics test, and if if Baranwyn is assisting you, she'll need to spend a point of hope to give you an extra die. And I will spend that point of hope. So when you roll Pete down where it says bonus penalty, just add Yeah, support from a companion.
SPEAKER_00I am helping.
SPEAKER_02Oh, could I also add a hope to it myself? Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Ooh, a great success. Alright. So, just as you start to see the lady, who is most definitely some sort of wraith asshole, and Branwyn pry the iron crown from the head of this mummified corpse, and the body of the of the man that it was nailed to crumbles to dust. The lady sighs, turns to you, Assel, and Branwyn, and for a moment she no longer looks like this horrifying fell wraith, but this beautiful woman, she says, Thank you. And then she looks at like the the the dust that was once her her lord, her husband. I now go to my lord's hall, and then she fades and just turns into mist and disappears. I look over at Brendan at Asshole and go, Well, that's how you do it.
SPEAKER_01I wasn't sure this was gonna work, but I'm glad that it did. Is the uh gemstone still illuminated like it was before, or has it gone dark or it's gone dark.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if we should take the gemstone to someone who might be a little bit better equipped to deal with it if it could pose a lingering issue. I would agree.
SPEAKER_05Perhaps um and take it to our patron, but I don't know, I will be careful by handling this stone. We don't know if it is still carrying any course. I wouldn't I couldn't touch it with your hands. Take a cloth, cover it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if I have like a scrap or something, I'll take it and put it in my bag. Like a scrap of cloth.
SPEAKER_04You cover it with a scrap of cloth, wrap it, and then put it in your bag.
SPEAKER_05Is there anything of note? Any any more in you know, lore or no, you say that there was this urn. Is there anything else like this? Appulk.
SPEAKER_04There's nothing here but this the mockery of a of a throne.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll just have a uh a look around if there isn't anything else of any use. Perhaps we should make our way away out of the wind and the cold. And if we think there is no one else around, maybe we can rest up. But I do not know if there are any other Southrons or Orcs that are using this as their base. I think we should get out of here and go back to where we've had our camp set up. That makes sense. Check out the Southron's camp. Or was there like some stairs going down? There was as well, wasn't there? But the lady went down. We we could just go down that way, because we'll have to get out anyway. So perhaps we can go that way and avoid the uh the dead soldiers in the um flooded chamber, which I don't know how flooded it will be now. You you descend the tower.
SPEAKER_00Wait, hold on. I wanna get I wanna grab some of that gold. At least we'll have a comfortable night or two and get back to the town. Make a wisdom test for me. This ain't going to end well.
SPEAKER_04That's a no for me, Bob. So you take a shadow point, and you have ten treasure points worth of gold. Which will increase your load by ten. So you've gone down to the base of the tower, you see Berenwin pick up a bunch of treasure, put it into her into her pack. You take the stairs that the that the lady took, which leads you to a corridor that's flooded.
SPEAKER_01I guess we've got to go back the way we came then. Or try and climb down the outside of the hill.
SPEAKER_02There must have been a mechanism that released the water. Maybe we could look for that.
SPEAKER_01Did they say something about a crash of stone and stuff?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it was a bunch of rubble that the Sabian had released with you know using some kind of leather. Le lever, yeah. Okay, I guess we're gonna have to go back the way we came. Through the flooded hall, you mean? Or did you want to just because you can take a longer route and c and climb down the side of the hill. Climb down the side of the hill, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's it's it's a you know, it'll take several hours. Well, that's fine. I mean that would make that's far more preferable to me. I don't know about the rest of you.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So you do that. It's long, it's difficult, it's arduous, it's really difficult, rugged terrain with through a bunch of thick ruins, and you're back to the to the South Ron camp and the and the cave entrance. And the campus as it was, it's abandoned, it's empty, there's nothing there. There's the there's the the bridge that they sort of repaired that leads across the chasm to the other side. Are you going back to the the ruin that was a refuge? Is that where you're going?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, a place to sort like, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So you get there, and it is now long past midnight, you're exhausted, you're in the ruin, you know, all you hear around you are sort of the sounds of the night. You hear insects and hooting of owls and animals, and you've seen you haven't seen a soul. So you spend the night here?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we'll spend the night here. I've had that elixir, so I'll probably I'll be happy to stay up because I've got no fatigue or anything like that. So I'll take watch and look let my let my let my fellowship rest.
SPEAKER_05Or we can take a prolonged rest.
SPEAKER_04Yes. So you can all recover one fatigue point.
SPEAKER_05And hope points, we don't recover anything.
SPEAKER_04No, but if you want to spend the last of your fellowship points, you can recover hope that way.
SPEAKER_05You have two, no?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you have two left.
SPEAKER_05So I kinda use I can put two in my recovery for the head. So I can put here on the recover hope points from fellowship. How many hope do you got left? It's everyone. If we put two, it's everyone, or it's only one person like that.
SPEAKER_04Yes, one point for one person, so you all have to agree on how to spend it.
SPEAKER_05Ah, okay. I mean, I would like to use at least one to not be miserable, if that's okay with you. Sure, absolutely. I don't need to use the two of them, but at least one. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Do we did we find the bones that we're looking for before we departed the camp?
SPEAKER_04You did, and and I sort of glossed over Assel making a carn for the foradon. I kind of forgot that. And the night goes by uneventfully. Nothing again but the sound of the night.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I like that. That that makes me feel very comfortable and very comforted that it's just nature out there and nothing horrible or gribbly or anything nasty. Are you guys spending the that last fellowship point anyone? No, I don't need it.
SPEAKER_00Any complaints if I use it? No, you go for it. I'm feeling more hopeful.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so the morning comes with the sound of birds, and again, it's just you feel very at peace here.
SPEAKER_00What do you do? I I kind of don't want to leave here. I would like to stay here for a few more days. It has been a rough trek getting here. It has been an ordeal dealing with the issues in the area and the Southern's. We deserve a few days of rest and relaxation, and I don't know if there's any better place than this. I haven't felt like this in a long time. I agree. Okay, so how many days do you want to spend here? Three.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that seems like a plan. We can kind of from Halbrin will kind of like start making shelters and going out, cutting down some tree bits, and yeah, just making it more homely.
SPEAKER_04I might set some passive traps for food. Okay, that sounds good. So, Berenwin, why don't you give me a hunting test? Hunting, hunting, hunting, rolling, and failing. Yep, so you've you've you've set a bunch of traps around the refuge, and in those three days it's got nothing.
SPEAKER_01Halbrin, what were you doing? I'm gonna make the place just a little bit more cozy, so put some shelter over the top of us, so if it does rain or anything, just make it a little bit homelier, put like a small sort of fire to the side, using rocks and mud and stuff, just to kind of just use some bushcraft just to kind of make it a bit nicer to stay in. It's a good place then we can know that there's a safe space for us to stay in if we happen to come this way again.
SPEAKER_04Uh Danian, are you doing anything? You still have that those that parchment that you took from the tower. Did you want to look at it? Uh yeah, I will actually. Okay. So you spend the next couple of days looking over this parchment. Here is recorded the fall of the house of Hatteron and his wife Elwyn. It was in the time of, and then the rest of that part is illegible. The next part that you can read is Baranor, captain of the guard, has fallen in the outer fortifications, so past the blade of Baranor, a work of Western S. And then again the next couple of pages are illegible. And then the next part says, The orcs built a wooden seat in mockery of a throne at the top of the tower. Then they tied our lord to it, to torment and ridicule him. They tortured him for hours. When the orcs nailed an iron crown to his head, hailing Hatteron as the rightful ruler of the land, the Lady Elwyn summoned me, and asked me to prove my reputation as the best bowman in the north. I chose an arrow from those that I received from my father, and he from his father before him, a white plumed, slender arrow. I bent my bow with all my strength, and the arrow flew straight, piercing the hand of an orc who was tormenting my lord, and burying itself deep into the chest of my lord. I broke my bow after the deed was done. And then the rest of the records chronicle the fall of the castle, uh in broken fragments, those who survived the onslaught fled underground and were trapped, and the Lady Elwyn disappeared. Assel, what are you what are you doing during these three days of rest?
SPEAKER_02Probably just pooping about the camp, maybe actually observing the weather, the stars, the sun, the surroundings, and trying to actually kind of like uh dead reckon as to exactly where we are in relation to other places that I know. So uh basically create my internal map to give myself a better chance of knowing exactly which direction to set off to navigate to anywhere.
SPEAKER_04Okay, why don't you give me a travel roll? And you do have your useful item that you can you can use which will give you a bonus. So you can just add a a bonus die to your to your role. So you know from studying the stars and the land here that you are in the cold fells, north of the trollshaws, just at the tip of the Etonmoors. So the Cold Fells is a region in northern Iriadora in the foothills of the Misty Mountains, also called the Troll Fells or the Etendales. It's an inhospitable place riddled with trolls and orcs who might be wandering down from Mount Graham. And you're very close to Angmar, so the realm of Angmar is just north of your location.
SPEAKER_02We're in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. May I suggest when we leave this place we we can either take the long route following the river back to the way we came, or we could cut along through the foothills of the mountains and head towards Rivendell. Probably our two quickest routes out to safety.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you you you you do know that the the closest safe haven to where you are would be would be Rivendell.
SPEAKER_05I would say to go to Rivenden and then take the the road through the last bridge, but go to Rivendon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we have the stone that we need to return.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. The two.
SPEAKER_04We are going to have a journey. So you you you've planned your route. So your route is going to be sort of following the foothills south, is that it? Until we reach the loud water. Until we reach the river there, yep, the loud water. Okay. Assel, give me that marching test that you're famous for. You got this. We believe in you. So it's still summer, you know. Uh you had set out on your journey in early summer. You've been gone now for me a month. A month? All that study has paid off. Ooh, an extraordinary success. Alright. Dead. Yep. Should I make a roll that I'm really famous for? I'm gonna ask you to roll a six-sided die for me. Oh, okay. How does a five grab you? The target is the hunter for the event. So your provisions are running thin. Remember, Berenwin didn't catch anything in her traps while you were in the refuge. So so she's been going out hunting, probably every night as you've made camp. And the land is quiet. And whatever creatures remain in the foothills of the misty mountains keep well hidden. Still a fresh catch would lift your spirits and certainly fill your bellies. So Berenwin, please make a hunting test for me.
SPEAKER_00Because we are starting to get a little bit hungry, our things are running out, I think I'm going to spend hope on this. And away we go. Hey.
SPEAKER_04So your patience has served you well. You found a faint track, nearly lost in the thick undergrowth. It leads you toward a shaded hollow where a boar is rooting in the dirt for food, and your shot is clean. And tonight you bring back a hearty bore. Bore to feast upon. So everyone gains two fatigue points for the length of the journey so far. And had you failed, Buranwin, you would have gotten more fatigue, but you don't. We roll to avoid fatigue? No, no, not. Not until the end of the journey. Assol, give us another marching test. That is a success. So that is the event takes place. The next journey event takes place three hexes from your current location. So you can move your token three more hexes along the route that you've chosen.
SPEAKER_00And that kind of puts us at the entrance of Revendal, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I don't know that. I know I'm in the vicinity. Whenever I turn up there, I know spots to hang around, and usually elves come out and find us if we hang around there, but I don't know the route in. Halbrin, why don't you roll again for me at D6?
SPEAKER_04Okie dokie. Would I Danion know how to get into Rivendell? How about a one? Idanian has never been to Rivendell. A one, you say. A one, yes. Why that is the Scout. Where's the Scout? Oh shit. So you've made camp among these tall pine trees. Assel tells you you're you're close to Rivendell. And you're eager to make good time tomorrow morning and like, oh, maybe tomorrow we're gonna f you know we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna be in Rivendell. We're gonna we're gonna find the hidden valley. So you slip away in search of a really good path, one that will take you to the hidden entrance to to the valley. So give me uh an explorer roll, please.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I'm really no, I don't want to spend any hope because then I'll become weary again. So no. You mean miserable to say? Miserable, sorry. I'll make a normal roll. You have failed. No. I can't seem to find anything.
SPEAKER_04You wandered long in doubt, testing one trail after another. None felt sure beneath your feet. Shadows hid the ground and the hills gave up no easy path. At last you chose the least treacherous way, but the decision has cost you dearly. The night was nearly spent, and the rest you found was brief and troubled. You gain a shadow point. And everyone gets too fatigue for their journey up to this point. Oh make a valor test, Halbrin, to see if you can avoid the shadow. Yes. Oh. A star shines upon our meeting. You have avoided the shadow point.
SPEAKER_01Excellent, because then I would have matched my hope. Phew. I just lose some sleep, that's all.
SPEAKER_04So in the morning, you've you've had your your breakfast, and now you're so close to Rivendell, Assel believes it with all of his heart. Make an ifsworn roll. If anyone wants to help the scout, they can spend hope to do so, to give him a die. I will help. So you're you're losing one die because you've never been to Revendel Rivendell before, and then you're gaining that die back with Berenwin's assistance. Okay, right.
SPEAKER_00And then plus one from uh as well.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so then an additional die from Assel.
SPEAKER_01So it's back to zero, so I'll get a plus one die to that. Okay, let's let's go for that. Uh yeah yay, a success. But I am miserable. You're miserable? I don't know why I'm miserable.
SPEAKER_04Oh, because I spent a point of hope, didn't I? Okay, so yeah, so early in the morning, uh you you go out searching with Berenwin and Assel's help. You find a path marked by small white stones running to the edge of a sheer drop. Far below lies the hidden valley of Rivendell, reached by a steep path that switches back and forth as it descends toward a river at the bottom. You see majestic waterfalls tumble from the cliffs above as you start to make your way down. There's the mist of the waterfalls mingling with the crisp mountain air. There's a scent of pine needles on the upper slopes giving way to a warmer fragrance of beech and oak as you get closer to the to the bottom. And through breaks in the trees, you catch glimpses of gardens and meandering rivers and scattered buildings and graceful arches, all nestled amid the woods, and then the path ends in an open glade not far above the banks of the Brunen, where the soft murmur of the river mingles with the distant roar of falling waters. And there, standing tall, flowing hair cascading in the golden light of the morning, fair and ageless in bearing, is an elf. His face shines with courage and joy, and his eyes are bright and keen, and his voice sounds like a song, and it stirs your heart and lifts your spirits. And he addresses Idanion. He doesn't even look at you guys. He's just looking at Idanion. Well met, friend. I am Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower. You're found in Lodrus the Hidden Valley. What business brings you here? And and why why do you travel with such strange company?
SPEAKER_05We seek sanctuary. We've been traveling for s some weeks now, and we bring dark tidings of outside world. I hope you can give us protection and some time to recover, and we'll tell you everything. I'm travelling as you see with these fair men of the north and a Bjornida, and we are in need of your help. Two rangers, you say, and a bioning. What are these dark tidings, may I ask? We've been to the north, a small location all lost by the kingdom of Arnor. We were looking for some southerns, southerners that they were attacking all the rangers and causing trouble on the way. And we encountered this lost castle, in which a course was set upon one of the old lords of Arnor. We are bringing proof of this work with us, and we seek your guidance.
SPEAKER_04Well met, rangers and my lady, and he bows to you. You are welcome in Rivendell. Please follow me. And he leads you uh into the guest house, and he says, Please make yourselves at home. You may stay as long as you wish. I will inform Master Elrond that you have arrived. And then he leaves. And so you are alone in this little guest house. The accommodations are spectacular. You know, you haven't slept in a bed in a month. You and when you did sleep in a bed, it certainly wasn't a bed as as comfortable and lavish with the the sheets and the pillows, everything is just beautiful and exceptionally comfortable. There's fresh water, little it's a f you know, little finger foods if you would like, if you would like to to eat. What would you like to do in Rivendell while you are waiting?
SPEAKER_05Um probably no, I guess, by this location hidden within the forest and and by the music, 'cause I feel like this music brings me back to old memories of my people singing under the stars. And I feel rested in this location. I make it no, perhaps they see me like singing when I'm looking to the waterfalls, to the river, and they probably hear me like I take out perhaps my my instrument, right? I was I had an instrument with me. Yeah, you have a small harp, yep. Exactly. So I probably will take it out of the harp and and start jamming a little bit, like timidly first, and then more and more, you know, animated with with with as the time goes, and perhaps I see I hear another elf singing. I don't know where it comes, the sound, but uh perhaps I follow, kind of remembering the music, and it gives me joy. And perhaps I even forget about my companions in this moment. So I'm just taking back and and just on my own, on my word.
SPEAKER_04You follow the sound of of some el of some elves singing, you step out onto the porch of the guest house, and you can see off to the side there's a little gazebo, and there are some elves there singing and playing some instruments, and you start playing along a little, you know, like you said, a little timid at first, and then your your music beautifully matches the song that they're playing, the accompaniment, and they it it you just start drifting over toward them, and you sit down among them in a circle and you're just playing these these old songs. You l you lose track of time, your companions, the next thing you know, it is like supper time, and you've no idea where the the the day has gone, what your companions have been up to what have you guys been up to? Like Danyan has just drifted away he's in a drum circle jamming.
SPEAKER_02Well, Assel's been here before, which in his backstory he picked up a dark blade from Rivendell across from the Great Havens. So the only person he really knows to speak to is the Elven Forge Master who passed the blade on to him and told him gave him the mission. So he wants to seek him out and ask him about this new sword that he's acquired. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so now we're entering into a fellowship phase, my friends.
SPEAKER_01I guess for for Halbaran, he is not happy with everything that's happened, the passing of the man who raised him as a child, the fact that my shadow is uh is quite high, and my hope is quite low. He is properly miserable, so he will drop his stuff and he will just give a great big sigh when he gets in, drop into sort of like a cozy chair, and just kind of go into a bit of a bleak, dark place, wondering and mumbling to himself as to what's the point of all this. You know, people are just gonna keep dying. And even though like we should be in a place where I've never been, my guy's never been to Rivendell, it should be a place of joy. His heart is just dark, and he just kind of slumps in a corner. Hopefully, Berenwins is gonna be a lot happier than that's where we're gonna end me. What do I do while we're here?
SPEAKER_04You see that your one of your companions has sort of got a dark cloud over him, and and and he's sort of off off on his own in a corner. Assel is wandered off. I Danyan has wandered off and joined some elves at a at a gazebo playing music in the distance. It's quite beautiful music.
SPEAKER_00I do I want to try and cheer up Halbrin? Or do I want to go wander around and see if I can find the Smiths or the Warriors? You know what? I'm gonna leave this to a coin flip. Alright. Uh, where's the D6? One to three, I'm helping Halbern. Four to six, I'm a wandering. Looks like I'm helping Halbern. Hey! Okay, so how are you how are you helping Halbrin? Gonna go over to him and gonna offer him a piece of I'm assuming that some of the borough that we would have had left. We would have like dried. Yep. Just for the rest, I'll hand him a piece and ask him what's bothering you. You seem miserable in like one of the most beautiful places that we could ever be.
SPEAKER_01I've I've lost the man that brought me up. I thought that I was able to survive and to travel through the wilds, but the Trollshaws and the Eton Moors have beaten me about that. Things are not going how I expected it to. We have almost lost others from the from from from the travel, from the meeting of the lady in the tower. It it all seems pointless. I know that we are supposed to suffer for our so that others do not have to, but I am beginning to feel that maybe this is too high a price to pay. I feel the uh the darkness, I feel the the eye looking at us in our direction. We're getting closer to the the creatures of darkness finding us. I I just feel that everything is just closing in.
SPEAKER_00All life comes to an end. Some are more tragic than others. Unfortunately, it is uh in our lot to life to have trials and tribulations, and each one makes us stronger. By dwelling on it, it only weakens us. I understand that you lost a father figure, and this may sound cold, but he was gonna die eventually, one way or another. Our kind do not live forever.
SPEAKER_04Yes, it is known as the gift of men.
SPEAKER_00What does it serve to dwell and let yourself sink lower and lower, and potentially succumb to the darkness that's around us? Perhaps I need just need rest. Maybe that is all I require. Maybe sleep does help, but also remember that you have us with you. We're still here. We are we're companions.
SPEAKER_01And for that I am very grateful. It's almost like we are forging a friendship. Almost? Almost. Who knew? I think I think perhaps I just need to rest, gather my thoughts, and and I will think on what you have said. Well, I'm very grateful that you and Assel and even the elf is by my side.
SPEAKER_00Just take it from me. Dwelling upon past actions and things that have happened is not always the right way to go. Look forward, look for brighter days. Enjoy our time here. And maybe we can find the orcs that did this to your friend.
SPEAKER_04Let's hope. Remember, Ed, you also have those maps that the Southrons had made. Yeah. Where they were look- it looked like they were trying to find the location of Rivendell. So I'm wondering if we should do the undertakings first before we do give out experience and then spend those. So it sort of sounds like at least one of the undertakings is study magical item. That's what Assel wanted to do. There really isn't. There used to be a like, you know, see a lore master who will like tell you about the weapon you found, but the now it's just called study magical items. But it's so it says here, so first of all, actually, how long do you want the fellowship phase to last? So it should last a minimum of one week up to an entire season. So you could stay here the entire summer if you want to, or you can stay here for a month, you can stay here for f you know, just a week, two weeks. It's up to you guys.
SPEAKER_01I mean, how long does it take to I guess from a game mechanic, how long will it take to recover all our fatigue? And how long would it take to recover our hope?
SPEAKER_04One point for every day that you're resting in a safe haven.
SPEAKER_01Was that gonna be a couple of weeks for us? Oh, what's your fatigue at? Mine's at none. Well, mine's at mine's at sort of like five, four, no, two.
SPEAKER_00So mine's mine's at eight, so eight days max for mine. So yeah, a couple of weeks, I suppose. I mean, I've I've also got that gem, which I wanna hand off.
SPEAKER_01So if I remember correctly, we get like one free undertaking as a fellowship, and then we get one more, is that correct? Yeah. But that's dependent on one of us.
SPEAKER_04Right. So this is it's not a year-end fellowship. It's a so it's considered an ordinary fellowship. So the company as a group chooses one undertaking, and then you get one additional undertaking selected among those that are listed as free based on the callings represented among the player heroes. And here's the sticky, the sticky point, because the study magical items says a company, including a treasure hunter, can choose this activity as a free undertaking. So here's where the wording is a little unclear. Does that mean you have to have a treasure hunter in your group? Or be the Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because we had this conversation, didn't we?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I hadn't really found the answer to that question.
SPEAKER_01Post your comments in the Yeah, I mean, I kind of figure it's either going to be our free undertaking, or it's the undertaking we all choose as a fellowship to do that. So do we then yeah, we'll take that one?
SPEAKER_04Because it does say choose one additional undertaking among those listed as free based on the calling. So I'm assuming that means that it's limited to the calling that's mentioned, right? So if it says if it says treasure hunter, then you can't take it.
SPEAKER_01That's the freebie. You can't take it as a free one, perhaps. So yeah, so so it would be the main undertaking that we're taking, and then the free one will be one of ours.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so okay, so study magical item is is the undertaking you're doing as a group, if that's what we're all happy with.
SPEAKER_02You know, is that I'm not gonna push it, because I can always do it at another time. If there's something else that's more important, we'll go for that.
SPEAKER_01But so we could still do the study magical item as the main one, and then pick the figured maps and stuff for Tony's one. I'm down with it.
SPEAKER_04Yep, I'm happy. Okay, so Assel, you go up to where you know the forges are and they're in the uh the caves of Nardathal. There you find Damron. You show him the sword. What do you say?
SPEAKER_02This I would say that I'd acquired this sword, but rather it seemed that this sword acquired me. I had a vision of its previous owner, telling me to return it to the fight against the dark forces. Don't know how it will help. I wondered if you knew anything of its origin and how it might help us in our task.
SPEAKER_04And so he he's holding the blade. He has the hilt in one hand and he's got the blade in his other hand, and he's looking it over, and he says, Do you know the name of the gentleman whose sword this was? Yes, he was a a captain.
SPEAKER_02Uh Baranor, his name was.
SPEAKER_04His voice grows quiet. Yes, I see the sigil of his house. You have found the blade of Baronor. In the days of its forging it was named Warden of the North. Through many generations it was born in their line, an heirloom of proud Numenorian make. It was wrought as a bane upon evil men and the restless dead, the foes that long assailed Arnor in its wars with Angmar. You know something of its making, for the men of westerness forged the splade to deal superior grievous blows, but see these older markings. They are runes of foe slaying, an ancient craft laid down to thwart evil men and the restless dead. Against such foes, a piercing blow leaves their defenses ill favored, and if misfortune has already claimed them, the stroke becomes a certain wound. He hands the weapon back to you. Whatever trials shadowed your path, they have brought you to this gift. Truly the Valar have looked upon you with favor, that the blade of Baronor should once more return to the hands of the Dunadine. It is a thought that warms the heart and steadies the spirit. Inclines his head, then returns quietly to his work.
SPEAKER_01And what was our other undertaking? Maps and maps and stories. I suppose it's for the scholars to do, but I guess it'll be taking those maps that we found and using those. And I suppose in our meeting that we have at some point to kind of also give the information, I suppose, that the the the the the evil men and the orcs are looking for elves, right, etc. etc. Right.
SPEAKER_04Um so I Danian, when when you when you realize that the time has passed and you've spent the whole day playing music and and just feeling so much joy to be among the elves of Rivendell, your distant kin, you see Glorfindel again is sort of standing over you and he's smiling and he says, I Danian, supper has been served. You and your companions have a table with Master Elrond. You may tell him all that you know, these ill tidings that you bring, and may we find in his wisdom the right answers that you seek. And so he takes you into the house of Elrond, where you reunite with Halbrin and Branwin and Assel over at this huge table with all of this wonderful food, and at the head of the table is Master Elrond. Halbrin, you have the maps, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so I'll kind of like get them out and pass them. I mean, I I start to kind of have a conversation, but I'm not in a particularly great place to do that, although I'm feeling a little bit better off speaking to Baranwin. I sort of like will pass them to Idanion to do because you know, him being an elf and everything. And then kind of explain what we found. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Charlotte, roll in hearton for me. We'll do. Also, while we're here, I want to hand off that gem after the map started out with. Yes. And you have the crown too, so. Right. And I was thinking, since I didn't originally choose a useful item, I figured it would have been a bag. Just a a bag to hold things. It's useful. Maybe it's embroidered or something from my home.
SPEAKER_04What skill would it be associated with?
SPEAKER_01Tra travel. That's a good idea, actually. Yeah, travel's good. Because you've got you've got a nice bag, which means that you could potentially help you with sort of like the reduction of fatigue and stuff, you know, when you make travel rolls.
SPEAKER_04Sorry, give me that in heart and roll. Yeah, give me that in heart and roll. I just want to see. Just straight, no added. Correct. Yep. No, actually, you know what? Give yourself a bonus die. Sorry. Okay, let me re-roll that.
SPEAKER_00You're in Rivendell, after all. We are in Rivendell. One bonus die, and it's a success. Okay, Ed, give yourself a hope point.
SPEAKER_04So she gave you she gave you a pep talk and lifted your spirits a little bit.
SPEAKER_01It gave me some hard real it was real talk. Let's get serious here. It wasn't like a proper pep talk, but it was a kind of like, you know, talk about hey, bucket the shit together.
SPEAKER_00The world we live in.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so you're you're hand the maps off to Idanian. Idanian, what do you do with these? So you have these maps that the that the men of the South had made that Assel had determined they were making to try to find the location of Rivendell. So you're you're in Elrond's hall at his table with a with food being served and wine being poured.
SPEAKER_05I mean I will tell you a little bit what I will say, and then if if you think I should, I probably will do it with a song because I think I've been the whole day you know in the presence of these uh of the elves, kind of remembering the sea, the music. And I will try to lift a little bit the spirits, because we'll be, you know, not to be so dark and broody. But first I will start by you know acknowledging Elrond and being humble about it, like you know, my heart is my heart is touched by being in the presence of the mighty Elrond. Long time I've heard of your sanctuary here on the east, and long wanted to walk the roads that bring me to Imbladris, and now I've had the opportunity to sing again the music of our people and rejoice in the presence of of the apple trees. Even the smells are different, and yet it reminds me of the sea, of the long islands of the Alps. We're following with our friends some rumors of people being taken and dark tidings of orcs and southerners that have been attacking Rosir, and we followed these tracks to a small castle in the north of this location. I will probably point in that direction. Not far from Mount Gundabat and an old location of the Kingdom of Arnor. And there we found I forgot the name of the lord, but Lord Heteron, yep. Lord Etheron, who was chained to a throne of wood in mockery done by the orcs, with a crown nailed to his head and you know jewel of the elves that was chaining his soul and that of beloved to this corset land and using their pain to anchor everything that is evil in this land. That we also found this the maps, and I will show the land maps where show that they have been trying to find the sacred location of Finlands, and yet this time of hope of taking arms and fighting against the evil. And basically, I will say all this in in a song and you know mixing poetry and and prose. My heart is uplifted and I show it, and I'm in general a very merry elf. So after all these dark moments that we have spent together, it's a moment for me to feel happy again and and show it, and I share it with my companions, and when we are talking about dark deeds.
SPEAKER_04Even as you're speaking of these dark deeds, the weight of them never touches your shoulders while you're here. So you feel this lightness, this sense of peace. Here, even at this while you're at this table speaking of these of these dreaded deeds, and uh Elron he listens to you intently, he smiles on occasion, when you when you mention the the elves being kidnapped, when you mention the the ruined tower and Lord Hatteron, you know, sort of a little bit of a shadow crosses his brow. And when you mention when you show him the maps and mention that the men of the South were trying to pinpoint the location of Rivendell, that shadow grows a little deeper on his brow, and and he he sits in silence for a moment when you're done. He looks at the maps, sets them down. Well spoken, I Danyan of Linden. You and your companions are welcome here, though your road has been dark and fraught with peril, and though those who walk with you have lost much, and he looks at you and he says that, Halburn, know that a star shines upon our meeting, your coming here to Rivendell in this hour. It is a good omen. I will take these maps and study them more in the morrow, and we will have much to discuss before you leave. But for now, let us enjoy this feast. Let us shake away our burdens and our troubles. Eat well, sleep well, stay as long as you need, but not longer than the need of the peril that we face.