I am
loving the new depth we have back with Helen writing again and others picking up on it. Thank you very, very much for coming back.
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Originally Posted by Helen
All, what's the status of Erebemlin's group? Frantically searching for Indil? Where are they?
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Do you have Barbara Strachey's "Journeys of Frodo"? If so, then I'm basing things on map 43.
If not, I'll try and describe what I'm looking at. From Minas Tirith the Great West Road runs due north for toward the Anduin and after 25 miles enters the Grey Wood. After perhaps 10 more miles the road rounds the foothill called Amon Dín, on which is set the first of the seven Beacons. (From the eastern foot of this hill is a small tributary that runs into the Anduin; where this river meets the road, is the new village where the "Four Hobbits Inn" (created in this rpg) is located, about 10 miles north of the beginning of the Grey Wood.) From Amon Dín the Great West Road now runs west, into the Drúadan Forest, which surrounds Eilenach, the foothill on which is set the second Beacon. Amon Dín and Eilenach are about 15 miles apart. Due south of Eilenach is the great Mount Mindolluin, the first of the White Mountains, at the eastern foot of which is Minas Tirith. The peak of Mindolluin is 25 miles west of Minas Tirith and 20 miles south of Eilenach,which is itself 5 miles south of the Great West Road.
It was never established where the women came into the White Mountains, but the most reasonable guess is that they followed the same road that the Riders of the Rohirrim took through the Druadan Forest (to bypass the orc encampment), which intersects with the Great West Road in the middle of the Grey Wood, about 5 miles south of the "Four Hobbits Inn" village. From this road the women slowly moved south and west until they were at the southernmost reaches of the Druadan Forest (where Rûgh lives), which climb the feet of Mindoluin as high as 2,000 feet.
What I'd like to suggest is that the cottage of Saethryd is just beyond the western edge of the Druadan, near the source of the river that flows out of the White Mountains about half way between Nardol Beacon (the 3rd) and Eilenach; this puts the cottage at roughly 2,000 feet high and 14 miles west-southwest (that means halfway between west and southwest) of Eilenach.
Tharonwë is moving quickly upward and south-southwest, to the pass between Mindolluin and the next unnamed peak, which is at least 5,000 feet up but less than 6,000. Mindoluin rises to above 11,000 & the next to over 9,000.
Tharonwë is about 10 miles north-northeast of Nimrodel and 7 miles south of Saethryd, and Raefindan and company are a half day's march (2 miles) behind him. The way is getting steeper and the time it takes to climb a mile will lengthen, so we are still perhaps a few days away from the climactic events. The longer the group is with Saethryd, the farther behind they get. One problem to solve is how to slow down both Tharonwë and the Raefindan group so that the Ravion group can catch up. The only thing that comes to mind is that Tharonwë injures someone and the rest have to halt; but that doesn't slow down Tharonwë, which maybe is okay because that gives time for his attempts to woo Nimrodel without the others around time to be told. That would be very interesting to write.
Actually, the way these maps look the way does not get very much steeper to the pass between the two peaks, so maybe we should have Nimrodel somewhere up higher on Mindolluin?