Mordor Mischief 26: in which Gryfflet is introduced to some unexpected allies
9Gryfflet and Harthalín have been hanging out in the swamp. presumably swapping tips for sample collection while eyeing the gigantic evil fortress looming on the horizon. We quickly take stock of our situation and set out into the swamp to collect samples and discuss some Lore. When we rendezvous with Harthalín she directs us to the corpse of an Orc that she shot, which turns out to be carrying a message from none other than Borangos. She deduces that there might be others incoming from other regions and tasks us with intercepting them as well. We defer that while we deal with our local tasks and set off towards the Orc-camp in search of the strange goblin we met previously, whose names turns out to be Visnak. On our way we clear out some infected Orcs and investigate the strange totems that fascinate them so much: we manage to rescue the goblin but one of his captors gets away which might or might not come back to bite us later. Gryfflet finishes up his tasks in a particularly burglarious manner and makes his way to Viznak's hideout where Faeron is tending poor Rhadrog who is no better. Viznak claims to have a recipe for a cure which includes some truly disgusting ingredients but we have little choice so off we go. We find all his ingredients and capture some Tree-rats for his supper while discussing some more Lore, then return to the hideout to prepare the medication. It proves truly disgusting but Gryfflet, Faeron, and Rhadrog manage to keep it down and it seems to be fairly effective. Viznak reveals that he has an idea to recruit some allies who live not too far away: his sense of distance proves about as reliable as his ability to keep out of trouble but we escort him to our destination without significant damage while he drops some interesting details on Lhaereth the Stained. Faeron is amazed to discover that there is a tribe of Drúedain living in the hills and determines to impress them so we head back out into the swamp to slaughter some Orcs and cremate some Drúedain bodies. This takes us to the end of the session: we can find out next time whether they are in fact impressed.
"Yes! I can collect from Plague-flies!"
"I'm going to look more carefully at the next one before I blow it up!"
"So Lheareth is an Ewok? I did not see that coming!"
"Oh, that was burglarious! Come on now, truly Gryfflet is a legendary Burglar!"
"Oh, now they detect me coming through?"
"So now I'm being sent on errands by the goblin!"
"It's really easy to think of 'The Silmarillion' as a thing!"
"Oh, this is excellent!"
"It's right there! What do you mean 'we suspect', are you blind?"
"That could backfire, you know!"
"I have a feeling about where Seregost is!"
Lore discussed this session included different approaches to reading the books, JRRT's letter to Milton Waldman about the Silmarillion, and the course of the main storyline in LOTRO with particular reference to our next destination after Mordor; we briefly touch upon the nature of Huorns.