The group is on a quest to aid your old friend Quaranar (Noldo Elf Alchemist/Mage/Rogue) recover the skull and spirit of his son, Celebrimbor, from the prison in which Sauron placed them during the middle of the 2nd Age of Middle Earth (the height of the Great Darkness).

Please remember that this is the Middle Earth that players in our campaign have created through their actions; it is significantly different from Tolkien's Third Age.

This was the first session for Bob and Rich Franz, (Welcome) who rolled up a South Gondorian knight and a Rhohir mercenary who then joined Rich Ohlson's character (who was not present last meeting) in investigating a series of murders in the decaying tenements in the worst slum in Osgiliath, which is where the rest of the party had run into trouble last meeting.

The arrival of these 3 warriors was perfectly timed to disrupt the actions of Tevilda, a fallen maiar known as the Princess of Cats.  She is an ally of Sauron, but is not his servant and is not bound to his power.  With the help of Rich, Rich and Bob, the rest of the party hiding in the tomb of the Knight of Shadows emerge and slaughter the human servants of Tevilda and scatter the demonic cat spirits that project her power.  The ceremony that would have freed Tevilda from the gem she is bound too was disrupted almost at the last possible moment, and Tevilda swears eternal vengeance on those who have foiled her plans.  (hint, hint)

The ghost of Marluk, knight of shadows tells the group that they must journey to the castle on the northeast tip of Tolfalas in the bay of Belfalas, to find the resting place of Danior (an Arthedain knight who had lead a party into the heart of Mordor 2000 years before).  There they might find the information they seek.

The party takes ship down river to Pelargir, but sense that they are being followed by something or someone.  Some in the party sense undead. They reach Tolfalas to find the castle is a crumbling ruin, abandoned for almost 2000 years after an immense storm wrecked it.  The party tethers their horses and starts searching.  They still sense the presence of undead and feel that someone is watching them.  They eventually find a old ramp under some rubble and start digging.

After excavating about 20 yards of rubble, they find evidence dating back to the destruction of the castle that indicates it was the site of a battle, and the ramp they are on was the scene of a running fight.  They find more than a score of skeletons, some killed by arrows, others literally torn limb from limb.  They break through the rubble and enter a corridor that turns a corner and ends at a barred door.  They find more than a dozen more skeletons, 2 of which were fighting to defend the barred door.  When the door is opened, the ghosts appear, 4 of them, one of whom is Marluk who has followed the party from Osgiliath to join his old friends in killing them if they judged to be enemies.

Inside the room are 4 skeletons, 1 of Danior and the other 3 of Castamir and his 2 sons, princes of Gondor who vanished 2000 years ago.  Danior discovered their planned treachery and barred himself in this room to fight them to the death, while his friends fought a delaying action against Castamir's guards. The party (aided by the presence of the Banner) persuade Danior that they are enemies of Sauron and he tells them not only how to get to a backdoor into the tunnels under Mount Doom, but also gives them permission to take items from his and his friend's bodies to aid in their quest.

Bob F. took the Scales of Bairanax, a hauberk of dragon scale armor that can turn the wearer into a North bear. Rich F. took the King's Bow, a  dragon-horn bow that added to the wielder's skill and was of slaying versus any wolf or wolf-like creature. The party also got Forodnaur, the Flame of the North, a weapon that can only be used by someone who swears an oath, and the more powerful the oath, the more the weapon gives to you in power. And some other loot. They then sealed the room and left the island, heading for the eastern edge of the Mouth of the Anduin river,  and followed a tributary east into the mountains bordering Mordor.

There they met Quaranar and proceeded into the heart of the Black Land. Following the instructions given them by the ghost, they reached the foot of Mount Doom at the place Sauron was defeated at the end of the Second Age by Elendil and Gil-Galad.  Sauron cannot look at this place and even his most powerful servants are weakened here.  The Banner of Gil-Galad on the other hand, is at its most powerful.

The group found the hidden door and entered a tunnel that went down and linked up with the tubes and corridors built into the side of Orodruin itself.  Five levels of corridors lie between them and their goal, the bottom 4 levels having been built to be used by creatures who could fly or climb sheer walls.  These four levels held storehouses for raw materials and finished items and smithies.  The last level was for the private quarters of Sauron's greatest servants.

The party moved quietly down the fifth hall, past the private quarters of the 8 Nazghul, and the Mouth of Sauron, Gothmog, Warlord of Mordor and others. The only room that was known to be occupied had a ring carved into its door and sounds of hammering coming from within.  After some argument, the party decided not to invade the private quarters of Celedhring, Master Smith of Mordor. They proceeded up the ramp leading up to the main level of Mount Doom.

Moving quickly to take advantage of daylight, the party went left and crept to the door of a huge chamber lit by the light coming from the crystal pillars at each corner; Quaranar told everyone to avoid stepping on the black stones that floored the center of the room.  This was Sauron's trophy room, and in each crystal pillar, Sauron had embedded a great treasure taken from his enemies.

In one pillar was a crimson bladed broadsword, in another a gleaming golden staff, in the third was a silver-bladed longsword and in the fourth, the skull of an elf, with a mishapen ring embedded in its forehead.  The skull glows with the power of the spirit bound into it; Quaranar has found his son's prison.  But how to get it out?  All attempts fail, until the party decides to strike the crystal pillar with the Banner of Gil-Galad.  The pillar shatters and the crystal walls of the other 3 pillars are misted by a skein of cracks.  Quaranar grabs his son's skull and runs for the ramp in the other room; Almost everyone else follows, except for those who get greedy and grab for the other trophies.

The swords are great weapons but the staff is the Staff of Annatar, the staff Sauron used for more than 1000 years, and it holds part of his awareness.  Rich F. grabs the red sword, Thad grabs the silver sword and Rich O. grabbed the staff. Metaphysically speaking, when Rich grabbed the staff, he picked up Sauron's cell-phone, speed dialed the big guy himself and said "Hey, S-hole, we're looting your trophy room!  Neener, neener, NEENER!"

The results were dramatic. All Eight of the Nazghul began preparing to teleport into their private quarters to investigate; all of the servants of Sauron in 500 meters were awakened and told to capture all intruders, and Sauron began casting powerful lightning bolts thru his staff at anyone he could sense. Rich O was killed immediately. Rich F. was blasted and reduced to 1 hit point.  By the time a successful divine intervention took place he was out of range; this means he was captured BY SAURON. Everyone else ran down the ramp into the tunnel that led past the doors to the major servants private quarters.  Celedhring opened his door, came out and was knocked down and then hacked by at least half the party (guys, you came within a hair of killing a level 40 evil Noldo elf; but he survived and he's holding a grudge.)

Uvatha the Horseman, the weakest of the Nazghul came out of his room and attacked, it got nasty, but somebody set Uvatha on fire and the party continued running, although Thad got a piece of morgul knife in his head.  The party was then pursued by Uvatha and Akhorahil (the Blind Sorcerer) while Murazor, the Witch King moved to cut them off.

It helped that the most of the party was immune to spells cast by undead 50% of the time, but 3 Nazghul are 3 Nazghul and eventually Thad was pimp-slapped by Uvatha and became a semi-wraith in Sauron's service.  Things took another turn for the worse when the Witch King of Angmar, greatest sorcerer born in Middle Earth, grappled with Dwayne.

Furious because his best spells had failed against the Servant of Maat, the Witch King (critical, special) reached into Dwayne's soul and tore away his ability to cast sorcery, forever.  However, Dwayne responded by knocking the Witch King down and while he was helpless, cutting the straps that held his helm to his undead noggin.  Dwayne stole the Witch King's helmet and ran. The party managed to stumble out of the tunnel and into the area protected by the monument to Sauron's defeat, where Quaranar destroyed his son's skull, freeing his spirit.  His quest accomplished, he then told the party to run for it while he held off the forces of darkness.

He then unleashed his full power on the Nazghul and (along with the Banner's presence and the blessing given by the monument) managed to free Thad's character from the grip of Sauron and hold off the enemy until a divine intervention (by Mark, 16 points of power) opened a world gate to Maat's presence. Dwayne retired his character; he (and the helm of the Witch King) are now at the side of Maat until the worlds end. The party then went through a gate opened by Maat into an Earth where the creatures of myth lived along side humanity.  Rich F. rolled up a minotaur, Dwayne rolled up a leprechaun and Rich O. rolled up a human servant of Ra.

They then joined Charles Martel and his army defending Tours from the Muslim army of Abdul al-Rahman, who (with Lunar support) is seeking to conquer Gaul for Islam. The party was helping to lead the defense of the left flank and did a superb job; they slaughtered the magical allies of the Muslims (which were acting as scouts)  killed the first rank of skirmishers and then ripped up the wave of cavalry that came into the woods after them.  Then, Mark took a slashing scimitar to the head; the wound itself wasn't that serious, but then Rich F. rolled an 00 trying to remove the sword (apparently, the 800 lb minotaur tripped and fell on Mark's head.) and only the fact that every dryad in Gaul was present kept Mark from dying.

Mark, you are just going to have to be more careful at these sessions you're not present at.

If you've read the history books, you know the rest of the story about the battle: how the flanks were unable to make any headway and the Arab center piled up in front of the Franks, who scythed through the packed masses of cavalry with their 2 handed axes, and when the Arabs began to retreat, the Yelmalio heroquesters on the right flank wiped out the Lunars with a massed attack of stacked Sunspears, and then opened up on the Arab cavalry with their submachine guns, precipitating a rout that ended with the Arab commander dead and the Franks taking the enemy camp.

The Arabs retreated to the Pyrenees, the party members are hailed as heroes (minor heroes, but what the heck).