Mordor Mischief 25: in which Gryfflet wonders how many names Ayorzén can give himself
8Gryfflet has been waiting patiently while we iron out some technical difficulties, occupying himself with observing the landscape here in Mordor. He reports his findings from the last session to Faeron at the Ranger camp: he refers us to his colleague Rhadrog while he considers the consequences. Rhadrog is troubled by the theft of some supplied and wants Gryfflet to investigate so we set out and quickly pick up some clues. On the road he also meets Linadar, one of the adventurers from before, who has lost track of his colleagues, so we add finding them to our list of tasks. Shortly thereafter we discover the thief, who turns out to be a goblin, but our attempt to capture him fails despite the dubious assistance of Faeron. We leave him to search while we continue our other tasks, including clearing out some infected orcs. Unfortunately the first solid sign of any of the lost adventurers is the corpse of one, and all we find of the other is his fallen sword: Linadar is not happy to hear of this and demands our help returning to the Black Gate. Gryfflet obliges since this gives him a chance to consult Mithrandir who is interested to hear his report. He wants us to join him in Minas Tirith to search for information, and our old friend Ayorzén is to accompany us. We find Rathnor who is leading the waggon train and set off. Mithrandir is impatient with our slow progress, Linadar is disturbed by the presence of Ayorzén, and Ayorzén himself reveals some of his people's history. Mithrandir recognises some parts of his tale, which refers to a minion of Sauron known as "Lhaereth the Stained", but believes she fell with her master. We arrive in Minas Tirith which is filled with more rubble than we were expecting but this gradually clears as we make our way to the Fifth Circle. A thorough search of the Houses of Lore eventually reveals one book, which tells about the Great Plague and how athelas proved helpful, and a familiar scholar who has a sample of the plant on hand. Pausing to ask Ayorzén for further details, we return to Mithrandir who has confirmed the return of Lhaereth who created the original Plague and is working to create a new version that athelas cannot treat. He sends us back to Mordor with a request for a startling quantity of test materials with the aid of Harthalin whom we met beforehand. Gryfflet sets out to find her but is distracted by the abduction of the goblin thief we met earlier. Rhadrog and Faerun have discovered his hideout but Rhadrog has fallen ill and nothing we try helps, so we will have to find the goblin who apparently knows of a cure. We rendezvous with Harthalin who is willing to share the sample collection, reducing it from ridiculous to merely manageable, which brings us to the end of the session.
"Can I just say how beautiful this land looks when you've been in Mordor for a really long time?"
"Shouldn't you be having a lie-down or something?"
"How can you be sure that she's gone?"
"I think I'm on the right track here."
"Hi, I'm looking for a book!"
"Your fireplace is three times the size of your table!"
"That's so many samples!"
We did not have time for Lore discussion this week.