The Yule Log Discussion Thread
 

Per request of LMP, you players now have a place to plot and rant.

One question - do you want to close this game to new players?

~*~ Pio

I'd prefer we keep just to the players we already have.

What do you other players think?

I agree.

And I offer to lead this rpg, since my plot line has sorta taken it over...... :p

One thing else to establish is an end goal, so as we know when this is done. Options (off the cuff):

* when we've written 12 days' worth.
* when the animal-Quenya sequence, unwith sequence, Stamo/Mori sequence, and other sequences have run their course; which begs the question, what goals do you guys have for your characters?

I'm sure we could use a number of those Yule days left to us to bring a close to the wight/Wenda scenario. I'm not sure we should drag it out much further than that. We can have sort of summing up epilogs at the end that bring us through the rest of the days and send our characters on.

As for old Goody - this will be her last Yule.

That makes sense to me, Undómë. I hope we hear from Arry, Envinyatar, and a lot of other folks, too.

I'm still not sure exactly how Wenda's going to come out in all this....

I'm in agreement about where to end the game - shortly after the resolve of the creature's demise.

I'd like not to tip my hand a lot concerning my two characters. They will certainly help against the creature, if those in the Inn have not figured out a way themselves. And I like the idea of the individual epilogs - where I can clear up a little of the mystery surrounding them.

Little wren here, too . . .

I believe we animals will help, too, as we can . . . at least the stout-hearted, if too fond of drink, wren will. ;)

Child -- how about old Owlie? :)

I like the idea of it winding down once the danger is passed . . .

The three brothers will live through the ordeal, despite Willem's thoughts to the contrary. :)

Nerindel

You mentioned a "Hell's Sword' - will Arato offer his services?

-----

I would really like to see the 'defeat' of the creature as a concerted effort - and not just the heroics of one person. Can we do that?

-- Arry

Yes Arato will offer his services, there is much more to him than first mets the eye. I am at the moment reckoning with a few things about his past that will become previlant but he is there watching and listening to all :P

The sword itself was created with purpose, and can only be wielded by Arato, any others attempting to touch the weapon will feel the icy pull of death come over them and fall into despair, this comes from touching the Void! ;)

Envinyatar if my suspicions are correct about Stamo and Mori, then they may know who and what Arato is and was!

Mara is still struggling with her last vision after Wenda's revelations, she is unsure as to weather her vision was that of what past as Wenda described or of what is yet to come. The workings of Irmo are oft unclear to her and never fully formed images, more sounds and feelings that often help her sense when danger approaches.

My lips are sealed (Envin told me somewhat once upon a time)...

This is a great idea! But how?!? Maybe only the writing of it will help clear that up, but maybe we can offer some suggestions?

Just so you all know what I've had in mind with this "unwight": I purposely designed the being to be wraith-like, to sort of give that same feel as Frodo had on Weathertop, of a powerful negative force from the spirit realm. To that end, I came the idea that this is an evil Maiar that had been tempted into evil by Melkor early in the First Age, and was in Thangorodrim/Angband most of the time, maybe as a torturer/twister of Elves into Orcness? (just thought of that now, not really important) Anyway, my plausable little theory is that this evil Maiar got trapped in the deeps of Angband in the cataclysm at the end of the First Age, and remained imprisoned there throughout the Second Age. The cataclsym of at the end of the Second Age, which drowned Numenor and altered the 'circles of the world', wrenched this nameless evil Maiar from its prison, and it has been roaming in the north for a few years, wreaking havoc upon the few creatures it meets (mostly polar bears and what-not) until it gets far south enough to confront Wenda and the village it destroys.

Make sense?

Maybe that will help us in figuring out how our characters might help defeat it...

Well, what a confounding bit of mystery and power we have going at this humble Green Man Free House! :eek: I eagerly await the build up, climax, denouement, and epilogues. :)

Great Owl would definitely like to give it a shot! Let's involve the animals in the story line, please. Let me drop a pm to Tevildo who also played the cat.

BTW, I tried to get on the BD late last night, but couldn't access the site for two hours or more. Finally, I gave up and went to bed.

Yes, please, my cat would like to participate. I do have a possible angle here. As Piosenniel and Child of the 7th Age know from the Inn, Tevildo is under the illusion that he was once a member of Melkor's household, charged with the gathering of meat. He has many memories from the First Age which is why he spoke with the two-leggeds in the long robes.

I personally believe that Tevildo was not a member of Melkor's following, but has "inherited dreams" in the same way that JRRT and his son did concerning Numenor and the great wave. Tevildo's ancestors (like all cats :D ) apparently had dealings with Melkor and can remember many things about life in the Dark Lord's household.

It is quite possible that he will be able to remember something about this wraith thing if and when he sees him. Perhaps he will remember horrible scenes in the dungeon when poor Elves were being tortured and such.

Would something like this work as one small piece in unravelling this puzzle?

Animal writers, play it up, I say! :)
This unwraith is going to be so harrassed by an erstwhile "battle of bywater" event, I think.... I just hope it doesn't get tooooo funny. :p

EDIT: Great post, Child! That'll help to balance the comic with the serious. Snow Owl has some great ideas, I'm thinking....

Also, when Wenda is a reindeer, I suppose she thinks and communicates like an animal. It probably doesn't carry over into any ability to understand animals' 'words' when she's in human form, but there is a base level of understanding and sympathy.... I'll keep that in mind as I write.

Save filled . . .

Save filled - Mori has spoken to Tevildo.

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Undómë

Thanks for the use of your character. Let me know if I need to edit anything.

-E-

I have yet to read Envinyatar's filled save, but I'll ask anyway: Is there anything that anybody wants to post before I move time along toward sundown and a certain confrontation.....?

Littlemanpoet -

Tevildo needs to respond to Mori, but I've posted a save. From my perspective, feel free to move ahead

Mara too needs to reply;to Stamo. My save is up and I hope to fill it today :)

So - I guess I will put up a SAVE for whatever the Hobbits can plan to do.

I take it you're moving us on to the confrontation with the creature? Is that correct?

If so - are we (the characters) simply to be surprised by it? Or will they have a plan in place?

That depends on what we establish here on the discussion thread. If we want to tell each other what we have planned, and use that to co-ordinate what we plan to do, that's great! Or else, if we want to surprise each other, we more or less plan "on the fly", letting our creative whims lead us through this. Both ways are equally valid, in my book. Just let me know if you need to put something up before I move the time along.....

My save is filled. Tevildo has made two suggestions: that you confront this creature at the moment of dawn when his strength begins to ebb and that, until this point, you not look directly at his shadow visage and form.

A very wise cat! Now to see if Wenda heeds this sage advice..... :rolleyes:

Save filled..... Wren is now under Owl's watchful eye, though I don't believe he knows that.

A generic question. Are we strictly tied to the Inn in terms of locale (as we normally would be in the Green Dragon), or can we have a first glimpse of this nasty Wraith wrecking havoc (maybe through Wren's and Owl's eyes?) some distance away?

Applying Pio's advice to writers at The Eorling Mead Hall, since this is Rohan, you have more freedom; just include the location of your post in the Title field.

Yay at last my ISP has finally fixed my bad connection and I can post again, so back on topic I have finally filled my save ;)

My save is filled. Sorry for the delay - the weather seems to have made dialing up (and staying up) nigh to impossible the last day or two. I'm looking forward to the reactions. I'm sending the three reindeer in the general direction of where Goody seemed to be suggesting the Green Man is to be found - - - if such a thing is possible.... ?

Child . . . Owl

Wren's delivered some news to you which may be of interest to those gathered in the Inn.

Many thanks for the nod. I hope to follow up tomorrow.

Sorry I'm late. Post is up.

I want to come up with a name for the Ent, but I haven't thought of any yet. This is NOT Treebeard even though it may sound like him. This is a fir-tree Ent, with appropriate soft but flowing and long-branched beard, and eyebrows with long needles for hair.

Any ideas? Nerindil, would you be willing to incorporate the Ent's "naming" into your next post?

some possible names right off the top of my head (and they ain't great!):

Windbranch
Windbeam
Greenbeard .... which has interesting confluences with the whole Green Man subtheme....I like this one best, but am open to more suggestions...

Just to let you know - since an Ent has been introduced into the story, I'm going to leave the Hobbits in the Inn so that there is no contact.

Sorry to put such limitations on you, but good point. Hadn't thought about that.... Still, the Ent isn't going to come anywhere near the Green Man Free House. He has no interest in leaving his forest.

yup not a problem LMP, I quite like Greenbeard too.

Save finally filled. I picked up on what Littlemanpoet said. Hope this is ok.

If edits are needed, let me know.

How soon do you want the confrontation with the creature?

And how do you want to play it? Are there any ideas of how the creature is to be taken care of - other than a direct confrontation with the two tall men?

Will someone take a first stab at it?

Just trying to get a general idea of how everyone wants to approach this part of the game.

- E -

I'm tempted to put in my Save now, but I think I'll wait and see what shakes out over the next day or two (fingers are willfully kept from going back and making that Save for fear of not getting in line quick enough....). No, I ain't gonna. No. :p

I've been waiting for Nerindel to fill her save. Nerindel?

Sorry sorry My son has been using the comp for his school project and I have been barely able to get near it, but my save is now filled.

My save is filled.

Relative Strength of Our Bad Guy
 

I'm in a little bit of a quandary. We're talking about a former servant of Morgoth, a relatively high ranking one. "Cook" may not seem so high, but "Chief Torturer and Enforcer" is a different story. So what we have here is a Maia that is obviously not as great as Morgoth, and I'll say also not as great as Sauron. Were the Dragons more powerful than Balrogs, or vice versa? Gandalf the Grey fought a Balrog and barely won. Gandalf the White was about even with the Lord of the Nazgul. Our two Blue Istari are individually probably just a little weaker than Gandalf the Grey, and probably a reasonable bit stronger than Radagast. So I'm thinking that this evil Maiar is a good deal more powerful than one Blue Istari, but weaker than both together. Sound fair?