Mordor Mischief 22: in which Gryfflet progresses by leaps and bounds
7Gryfflet has been waiting patiently outside Akhrûn's cell in Naerband, presumably commiserating with her about their mismatched attire, but he is ready to defend himself when the guards attack. This works fine until their boss Thraknûl shows up and captures him with suspicious ease. The subsequent torture session is fortuitously interrupted by the arrival of Urudanî herself before Thraknûl can complete his monologue and Gryfflet is thrown into a cell from which he escapes using the information given to him previously by Akhrûn. He locates her, they escape from Naerband, and she bids him a fond farewell. We return to the road, pausing only to defat some more fiery foes which clears up our map nicely, and set off to our next adventure which gave us some space to consider a Lore Question that had been submitted. We were able to acquire some more Lore Pages on the way, although this did require a brief retrace of our steps, and then we meet up with Harthalin who has been waiting patiently for us to catch up with the Epic Quest-line. She wants us to investigate a Watching Stone nearby so Gryfflet proceeds to negotiate with the spirit within. Its first request is the recovery of s scorched skull from inside Naerband: Harthalin counsels caution but does not object, and the time taken to locate it gives us more time for our Lore Discussion. Gryfflet returns to the Watching Stone and the spirit grants him visions of the eruption of Mount Doom and reveals its name: Zaghárog. Now that the price has been paid Zaghárog is willing to show us how Urudanî was turned into a spirit of fire by the monstrous Borangos which completes this leg of the Epic Quest-line. We return to the Black Gate to consult Mithrandir, who has heard worrying stories from Agarnaith, near to where we have been adventuring. He wants us to interrogate Ayorzén who has been curiously silent on this matter, but we defer this conversation pending completion of our current line of quests. Gryfflet therefore returns to Nargroth and, after a brief diversion to pick up another Page, enters the fortress. He is confronted immediately by another Watching Stone which implants a suggestion to acquire an offering of unspecified nature—which turns out to be easier to obtain than expected. The Watching Stone is pleased enough to allow us more freedom of movement and suggest certain avenues of exploration which as usual require wholesale slaughter and a certain amount of destruction. Gryfflet is willing to comply until we run out of time so he finds a suitable place to await our return.
"Poor Gryfflet[…]ends up looking like a clown!"
"I never cease to be grateful for the ignorant decision that I made!"
"What's the good of a treasure chest with no treasure in it?"
"There she is, looking non-incendiary!"
"It's like a mother-lode of Pages—but they're the wrong Pages!"
"So I'm just wrecking things?"
Our Lore Discussion this week concerned the relationship between JRRT and CS Lewis.