The advantage of the funnel of thorns was that it kept too many of the gorgons coming through at once. The disadvantage is that it meant there wasn't room for everyone to attack the gorguns either.


Now that the gorguns had jumped the fence, there was lots of room and a lot of targets.

Grimfast had been the second to leap out from behind the makeshift fort, and had done an impressive job of knocking all four of the gorguns down before they could attack. It would take them time to recover, and for Grimfast to react, so Borjnen dashed over that way to lend a hand.

Getting to a target meant he could only get in one attack with his axe. He was much better at bull rushing his enemy.

00:21, Today: Borjnen Boulderol rolled 31,19 using 1d20+19,1d10+9 ((12,10)). Attack and damage.


"Hey-O, Grimfast! Well, that went better than I expected. They are much easier to hit when they are on the ground. That's why I like to bulrush them first! You took all the fun out of this one, though!"

Not being one of the battle sorts, he'd kept himself in reserve. If the plan had gone another way, he could have summoned an assortment of creatures to fight for him. He could see that the tide of battle had finally turned in the Keepers' favor, and saw that as his cue to finally take action... to make sure the tide didn't swing back the other way.

He cast his summoning spell and brought forth a celestial dire lion... and sent it right down the center as Tilaleria jumped the hedge of thorns to the left, leaving Borun to deal with three gorguns... and the ones breaking out of the black tentacles.

The battle rages on for another dozen rounds or so, but by now the outcome was already assured. Although the gorguns were rather durable, they weren't particularly adept at combat. Ferociousness futilely tried to make up for skill.


The spell-casters had softened up most of them to the point where they were easily defeated in melee. Still, when the last one fell, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.


Apologies once again for the delay. In this case, I was just procrastinating while I tried to figure out what to do about this game.

There seems to be only 2 or 3 people still posting, so I was debating on whether to continue this game.

As for the combat, I really had no idea how it would go at the beginning. I'd been half expecting the spell-casters to eliminate half of the gorguns right off the bat, but that didn't happen, so it turned into actual combat. It was close to impossible for the gorguns to hit anyone, so it was mostly just a case of attrition.

At this point, the end was obvious, so I felt it'd be pointless to continue the battle (even if a few players were enjoying it).

So, the question now is: do we continue? Are there enough players left to make it worthwhile to go on?

In the aftermath of the battle with the gorguns, everyone decides it's best to rest instead of moving out. It also takes a little while to restore the area to its pristine condition.

Aerial scouting does not detect any other threats. Although those that can fly can see a long distance when they are airborne, it doesn't give them a good perspective, or a lot of detail. Mountains can be seen in the distance, but it is uncertain how far away they are.

The night spent in the shelter of the giant tobacco plants passes uneventfully.

The next morning, the fellowship heads out early. The Ent-wives device still indicates that they lie farther to the east.

That day, and the next day and the day after that, passes uneventfully. It's almost like a walk in the park... if the park was a hundred miles across!

Finally, on the third day, hills can be spotted ahead, marking the end of the Plains of Rhovanion. It will take another day to reach the hills, though. By then, you will have passed beyond the ken of mortal men. Truly no one from the West has ventured this far east. Knowledge of the hills in nearly non-existent. Only a name is known: the Dorwinion Drift.

"It is a long time since I've been able to say 'I've never been this far from home before'" Tiloleria observed rather happily. She loved to travel and she loved to stay at home. Which ever she was doing at any one point in time was the one she preferred. "It is good as well that the taint we felt heavy on the land is not so noticeable here.

"It has an interesting name this place. Do any of you have any clue as to why it is called such?"


Do I have any idea?
23:58, Today: Tilaleria rolled 32 using 1d20+17 with rolls of 15.  Knowledge geography.

As the last gorgun fell, Borun heaved a sigh of relief. They were tough - tougher than he expected. However the tactical advantage of the choke point allowed the smaller group of companions to defeat the monsters.

Borun looked around at his friends, ready to administer healing to the injured. Fortunately no-one was seriously injured - indeed Borun himself seemed to have suffered the most. After a brief rest, the group headed forth.

Despite the pleasant countryside, Borun remained suspicious. It was only a matter of time before Mordor's taint arrived here. No doubt orcs, gorguns and worse were waiting in ambush just around the next hillock.

"Dorwinion Drift, huh?" Borun shrugged at Tilaleria's question. "The names of Men have little relevance in our halls."

Information about the East is sparser and sparser the farther you go, but there have been rumors of the Drift... according to some rumors, it's called the Drift because the hills... drift. They move. Slowly, but not in a straight line. Across the 200 miles or so, new hills slowly form to the north and drift south until they disappear.

Then there's the tale of the Dark Towers--two of them. This is an even more nebulous rumor, but probably more made-up than factual. Since the hills drift and disappear, any towers on them would vanish, too, wouldn't they? So to get around that 'contradiction', the towers also move, which is why they are also known as the Towers That Walk.

It also said that Men of Darkness live in them, but that may only be an association based on words.

As near as anyone can tell, these 'tales' come from Wainriders of Rhun, who may, in turn, have gotten them from trading with the Men of Darkness.

"You're saying the hills themselves move around?" Borun narrowed his eyes suspiciously and frowned. Then he suddenly burst out laughing, almost doubling over. "Hoho, that's a good one! You almost had me for a minute." The companions have not seen Borun so animated since the journey began. "Those superstitious humans love their tall tales." Borun coughed self-consciously and sobered up. "Present company excepted of course."

"Most folk don't believe that trees can move around and talk, and yet there are Ents," Radagast comments as he pulls his pipe from out of his beard and begins puffing on it. "As dark as Sauron and Mordor can get, none of that particularly surprises us, though perhaps we've just become used to that degree of evil."

"Just because we've never heard of it before doesn't mean that hills can't move. What we take as hills might merely be creatures of the earth."

"What intrigues me are these towers. If the earth moves, it might be a natural phenomenon. Towers that move, however, speak of sorcery."

"In either case, they might have knowledge about the Ent-wives. The hills may have long memories, and the occupants of the towers might have a history."

"The alternative, of course, is to go around the hills. I am not inclined to extend our journey any more than necessary."

Tilaleria listened to the exchange with interest. "I think it's obvious that we should take the quickest and safest route" she commented. "We know that dark forces are messing with the Ent Wives and I would feel bad if we delay enough to mean that another one dies. Either possibility sounds dangerous. Walking towers or moving hills are both quite scary and both have the possibility of being ultimately deadly"

"It is a hard call to say which is the most scary. Given who we are though, I think I prefer the risk of the towers. Borun and I are quite resiliant to magic, and you are one of the Wise.We have a better chance of avoiding the towers than the hills that we walk on I think"

"By a hard call though, I mean that I do not feel strongly about which is the best... or perhaps I should say worst. If either of you have a preference, I'd go with it"

"Then it's into the Drift," Radagast replies.

"Lady Isile can keep aerial watch for these Towers, especially if they are walking."

"I do not intend to detour very far to reach or pursue these towers, though. We must stay focused on our goal."

"Avoiding them is absolutely the best" Tilaleria agreed. She'd expressed that sentiment and was glad to see Radagast had the same view "Is there anything you can suggest to decrease the chance of them spotting us. For example do we go as fast as we can, or should we try and sneak do you think?" From her body language it was obvious she preferred the idea of speed, but was open to the other's views

Borun listened sceptically to Radagast's explanation. Borun was not entirely convinced, but he was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to the Istari.

Borun pondered Tilaleria's question. "I am agreeable to both options, although I would prefer to make haste. If we are forced to fight our enemies along the way, so be it."

They'd already learned that Saxon's wagon could move fast enough to keep up with most of them. The only one that couldn't was Arithal's bear. Getting it into Saxon's wagon was a bit difficult, but managed. It didn't slow down the wagon, though.


Heading into the Drift, moving rapidly, the group traveled through the day without encountering anything.

There was an odd feeling about the Drift, but nothing out of the ordinary. None of the hills appeared to move, but they could be moving very slowly. As dusk began to fall, Radagast called a halt.

"We'll take a rest for a moment," he told everyone.

"We don't know how wide this Drift is, but we've encountered nothing that was threatening. I don't sense any evil in the area, so I think we should continue to travel through the night... unless any of you need a rest."

Tilaleria looked at the others. Thr question about rest was clearly aimed at them. As an Elf she didn't need rest the way some races did.

"It would be good to be through the Drift" she agreed

"Aye, let's carry on," Borun agreed. "I can see in the dark and I am happy to lead."

Borun shouldered his backpack and prepared to continue the trek.

 Flying overhead she kept a watchful eye for any movement of mountains or any towers with her dark visions she can see a little further than normal eyes.

Lady Isile is able to fly high enough to get a sense of the distance involved. The hills stretch for 130 or so miles, so it will take three days travel to cross them, probably less by traveling at night.

Even from Lady Isile's aerial viewpoint, though, she can't see any movement in the hills.

Travel is about 4 miles an hour. That's a somewhat fast pace but not pushing yourselves too hard. Day travel covered only about 40 miles because of breaks, but night travel will drop to 3 miles an hour and cover only 30 miles.

If Lady Isile wants to continue flying at night, she can, but without vision enhancements, she's not going to be able to see much in the darkness.

Somewhere around 2AM, however, she spots lights in the distance, but it takes nearly an hour of watching them before she can determine that the lights are coming from two towers... and the towers are moving. She can't make out much detail in the darkness, though.

Lady Isile finally returns and lands to report what she saw.

She didn't have a very good sense of how fast the towers were moving, but it wasn't very fast.

"Hmm" Tilaleria commented "If they aren't moving fast you can probably steer us around them. They might pick up our trail at dawn of course, but that should give us time to have a good head start"

"If they do turn and move towards us, could you let us know Sky? We'll probably move from avoidance to going to talk with them. I suggest I go do that openly as I have had probably had more practice approaching strangers than many of you. Could I also suggest that those of you that are sneaky act as backup."

"Moving towers." Borun frowned. "Almost as weird as walking trees," he muttered under his breath.

Borun listened to Tilaleria's suggestion. "'Sneaky', huh? Are you talking about me?" Borun scowled. "We prefer to say 'covert'." Nevertheless, Borun assented to Tilaleria's plan.

"Covert is good" Tilaleria laughed "Myself... I can be very sneaky. As well as being very covert." she punched Borun gently on the shoulder as gesture of affection "Maybe that's too much talking to humans coming out in me"

"You are right they are weird. Still we'll see how it works out" it was obvious she was hiding her nervousness about her plan. Being bait in a negotation was always a dangerous role. She did have training for that role, and some magical defenses, but would they be enough?

"I must say, I am torn between wanting to know more about these walking towers and drifting hills," Radagast offers, "and continuing our quest."

"While they might have valuable information, the question is will they share it willingly? And if they are not friendly?"

"We have no idea how much farther we have to travel, and therefore no idea what else may delay us."

"So, I agree, too, with Tilaleria. Let's avoid the towers."

When there are no other opinions, he directs Saxon to steer his wagon a bit to the south.

Upon entering the Drift, it's actually hard to tell where the Drift actually begins, though Radagast can point out that the grass between the two areas is different, though only slightly so.

The Drift is grass-covered rolling hills, no trees though a few scrub bushes and some rocky outcroppings here and there.

It's about an hour later that you realize that you aren't making as much progress as you should. You quickly figure out that the ground seems to be moving beneath your feet and wheels. However, it's a slow movement. You can increase your speed to compensate for it.

You finally exit the Drift by morning. That is, the Drift ends... at a scarp. Tales tell of it, calling it the Bastion Scarp because it was almost impossible to scale it.

A bit to the north, however, you can see a series of switchback stairs that have been cut into the face. With the sheer rocky cliff face around 200 feet high, that would mean around 250 steps to the top.

There are a number of bird nests on the scarp, where a bird has managed to find a small ledge.