Aredhel winces as he still notices the sting of the cut as the group travels. Luckily, the damned thing seems to be healing well.

"Use Daisy for as long as you need," Galar adds when he notes Aredhel checking his nasty wound.

In reply to Galar (msg # 382):

"Thank you, Galar," Aredhel says. "I'll keep using her for as long as I need - I do appreciate it."

That next morning, early on, as the Hobbits left at dawn - "Have to get home as fast as we can, bacon is sizzling!" - while Mip is trying to fix some breakfast. with a grumbling stomach, and while Galar is making sure Aredhel can profit from Daisy for the day-- you all hear some sounds carrying over across the plains to the West of the road.
Somewhere, out there, beyond the wisps of early morning fog that still rise above the tall Spring grass, you hear some sort of ruckus...
Any may make an Awareness check.

I will give the result of the Travel roll for the next step after this.

Distracted by the bacon while taking care of Daisy, Galar doesn't make out anything particular from the fracas in the surrounding wilds.

OOC
06:41, Today: Galar rolled a total of 8 (5 if weary): a failure using the The One Ring with a target of 15 with rolls of 5 (Feat Die), 3.  awareness.

Vidar turns in the direction of the sound, looking for its' origin.


07:58, Today: Vidar son of Flar rolled a total of 19: a great success (same result if weary) using the The One Ring with a target of 12 with rolls of 1 (Feat Die), 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 1.  Travel, Favored Skill, spending 1 Hope, with Determined.

07:58, Today: Vidar son of Flar rolled a total of 12: a success with the Gandalf Rune using the The One Ring with a target of 12 with rolls of 12 (Feat Die).  Travel, Favored Skill, spending 1 Hope, with Determined.

Total: 12 (a Gandalf) +18 = 30
TN: 17



07:57, Today: Vidar son of Flar rolled a total of 13: a success (same result if weary) using the The One Ring with a target of 12 with rolls of 8 (Feat Die), 5.  Awareness.

Total: 13
TN: 12


This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

Orodils ears would have perked up but alas, his attention is elsewhere.

16:11, Today: Orodil rolled 4 using 1d12 with rolls of 4.  Favoured roll for Awareness.

16:10, Today: Orodil rolled a total of 7 (2 if weary): a failure using the The One Ring with a target of 12 with rolls of 2 (Feat Die), 3, 2.  Awareness.

Ah, the sound of crisp bacon frying in a Hobbit pan!
Music to one's ears, that blocks out all other sound--

--yet, Vidar - as he plots the journey to come and is about to have you move out - perks up, for the ruckus he hears, out in the misty plains to the West of the Greenway... is battle!

Definitely-- that is the sound of metal clashing, blade against shield or armor.
And grunting... there is some fight out there.
By the sound of it this is no duel, there must be over a score of people having at it.

Vidar got a Great Success, so you can travel up to 4 Hexes (80 miles) before encountering an Event--unless your Journey ends before those 4 Hexes (in which case, no Event).
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:38, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

Vidar starts moving towards the sounds of battle, freeing his mattock from its' hangar.  "There's battle this way!". He bellows as he moves.

"But, my friends, we haven't eaten, yet, that is no way to begin the day, I mean, first comes the bacon than the battle...."

Again, he sighs, not a minute of piece but he couldn't let them go by themselves, one wounded, one with an questionable eye-sight.

He takes the pan away from the fire:"Hope to see you soon...!"

Orodil follows Vidar but with less haste,  carefully minding the surroundings as they go.

OOC: I keep an eye on the ground as we go, looking for tracks or other signs that will warn us of what is to come.

As Mip grabs a hot pan filled with burning hot fat, a lethal weapon--

--Vidar moves off the road, into the slightly rolling plains, moving through the tall Spring grass. His weapon is lethal too: a mattock!
Orodil follows along, checking for tracks and such-- but not finding anything... yet.

Ahead of you, you clearly hear, now, what seems to be a moving battle: some are attacking others, on the move, probably one group retreating while being followed by their assailants.
First the sounds, and the... 'voices'-- or grunting at least, tell you: Orcs.
Some fight between Orcs.

Now you catch sight of them, ahead: and, yes, that is it-- a bigger group following another smaller group, both fighting.
Like-- over a dozen, following a bit more than a half a dozen.
Both are orc groups.

Galar follows behind, eventually catching up and then looking to Vidar.

As Galar moves up to the trio already approaching-- you look at one another: what to do?
Wait and see, approach more, engage...?

Orodil crouches down and motions for the others to do the same, whistling softly to get Vidars attention. Better not to rush headlong into this, but perhaps there are some answers to be had to questions not yet asked.

OOC: I look for distinguishing marks between the two orc groups, how they look, what they wear, signs or the like.

Orodil sees that there actually are-- three groups?

It seems that the more numerous group, the one that is attacking the retreating group, is made mainly made up of well-armored and armed Orcs - silvery-white armor & blades, still shiny because newly forged.
About a dozen of these.

The ones are being attacked, the ones retreating, are also mainly well-armored and armed Orcs. But their gear is older, maybe even very old, and dark-- black armor, somber-hued blades.
About a half a dozen of these.

As for the third group-- well, it seems that in the midst of all this, there also are some rag-tag Orcs - no real armor, but leather & fur & rusty-metal parts ; random rusty weapons. Maybe some Tribe, but not organized like the other two groups are.
And, this third group, they must have been retreating with the "dark"-Orcs (black armor) but are now moving to side with the "light"-Orcs (silver-white armor).
Just now, you see the last of these "tribal"-Orcs (rag-tag leather & fur armor) split away from the "dark"-Orcs, and join the "light"-Orcs-- and the "light"-Orcs accept them in their ranks.

Orodil can roll-- Awareness, Lore, Scan whatever you feel works (and use Shadow Lore w. Hope if you want)

Tribes of orcs fighting? What force drives them? A sense of dread creeps up Orodils spine.

10:01, Today: Orodil rolled a total of 20: a great success (same result if weary) using the The One Ring with a target of 12 with rolls of 5 (Feat Die), 1, 4, 4, 6.  Awareness. Hope + Shadow-lore.

A sense of doom creeps up Mip's spine, he hasn't eaten yet.
Is this the end?
"Well, I'd kindly suggest that we retreat, I guess this is none of our business. Who wants some eggs?"

This cannot be the end, Mip thinks, how can things end before first breakfast?! Not before eggs are cooked in the bacon fat, no, that cannot be...

As for Orodil-- as he looks out at this strange fight going, where two mors Orcs go down, one victim one of the "tribal" group as it passes from the retreating losers to the vanquishing "light-white" attackers, the other victim part of the retreating "dark" group.
As Orodil observes this he tries to detail the garments, armors, weapons--

--he recognizes the "tribal"-Orcs, the ones with rudimentary and mis-matched armor & weapons, made of leather & fur, as being some local Tribe. This is an Orc-band, probably pillagers and bandit-like, who live down here, South-West of Bree.

The "dark"-Orcs, with their black-ish armor are part of some organized group, army-Orcs. Orodil sees the resemblance between their gear and that of the two Olog-hai Trolls that were found, killed by the Old-Troll.
Does this mean that these Orcs hail from... Mordor?

Finally, the "light"-Orcs, well, their armor seems more mannish, somehow.
Burnished-iron, silvery-white... their gear does not seem Orc-made, it is as though these were Men in arms-- yet they are Orcs.
Army-Orcs too, for sure, seeing how they fight in an organized fashion-- but Orodil has no idea at all where they might come from.
Their gear is so un-Orc-like that he is sure he has never heard of such foes.

While Mip is lying on his back, staring at the bright blue sky, he almost starts to whistle.

"Okay, whatever that is, there are too many and I have to say it but I don't wanna see the end of this. So, shall we retreat?"

Galar looks between Orodil and Mip after finding a place to crouch so he's not clearly visible to any orc that looks their direction.  He tries to get a headcount as he watches the fight before debating what to do.

Galar counts around 14 or 15 of the "light-white" Orcs, 7 or 8 of the "dark" Orcs, and 5 or 6 of the "tribal" Orcs.

Aredhel stays low to the ground, keeping his eyes on all the orcs. "I think a retreat wouldn't be a bad idea, because we are so vastly outnumbered."

Orodil grunts in agreement but lingers, crouching, obviously eager to learn more. "I have never seen the like of these orcs", he says silently, nodding towards the "light"-orcs. "We should learn more. Look at their armor, it looks Man-made, but what Men would make armor for orcs? And look at how they move, they know war".

OOC: Are the "light"-orcs leaving, and which way? Would it be possible to follow them without being seen?

Galar nods at Orodil, "At least see the results of the battle and maybe check the remains of it if we don't act against the survivors (and just remain hidden)."