Gondor Gambolling 64: In which Gryfflet once again picks up sticks but doesn't lay them straight
12Gryfflet has taken the initiative and returned to Ost Rimmon while awaiting our return, where he has been keeping poor Sithgar company until we can retrieve his missing horse. We set off in what turns out to be the wrong direction but it enables us to clear up some caltrops as requested, and we decide to visit the nearby beacons to fetch supplies and thence into the woods to pick up sticks. While there Gryfflet hunts for enemy scouts while we consider a Lore Question: this continues while he revisits Nardol Beacon in Drúadan Forest for more supplies, and while he returns to the hills to pick up grass, one of his tasks being to build diversionary dummies. Back in Ost Rimmon we report to Lady Glánhar, the Keeper of Ost Rimmon, and the Riders Three, the latter being more impressed by our progress than the former: they need some fresh horseshoes which we can pick up around the town. Gryfflet ventures into the nearby quarry, to explore and to clear out the burrowers, another task accomplished. We fit the horseshoes and discover Gondrad who has been hiding from the irascible Lady. While he trudges to his doom we fetch weapons and cloth to make our dummies more convincing and take the materials to Bargwen for assembly. On the way we detour to chat with the Riders Three who are on their way to Drúadan Forest, hoping to catch up with the main host, so we make an appointment to meet up with them later. In the meantime, while Bargwen constructs the dummies, we are tasked with fetching out some old banners and cleaning them up for display. We quickly touch base with the Riders Three, who have concluded that their fourth member, Leofdag, was murdered and they need revenge, so we promise to help when we catch up with them. First we visit the nearby Beacon to collect the last of the supplies, then we join Gondrad who has been tasked with negotiating for the return of Glánhar's sons from the enemy who captured them. We fight off an ambush and meet with a Variag Captain who has some conditions before he returns his hostages. It turns out that the shepherd who discovered the hostage situation has lost his sheep in the process, so of course we promise to fetch them home. There is no time before the end of this session, however, so they will all have to await our return.
"Hopefully this one won't have any giant turtles in it!"
"Oh, look, a stick! I found a stick!"
"Is there anybody more annoying than people who run away when they're about to die?"
"I'm not going to fight you, I don't care!"
"No, that's an Anniversary Pig, it's not the same thing!"
"I love doing menial quests for local towns!"
"This is the stuff of which heroes are made!"
Lore discussed this week covered literacy or the lack thereof in Middle-earth.