The Fellowship of the Fourth Age (Part 1): A New Beginning Discussion Thread

[Firefoot]

Save filled. That was rather fun...

[Durelin]

Here is the edited post to replace my post for Vror in Pio's post #59.

Sorry again to Pio...I tried this already, PMing her about replacing the post, and forgot to send the post with it!

Now we'll just place it on the discussion thread, so either Pio or Child can place it where it belongs.

Sorry if I held things up...

Here it is:

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POST PLACED ~*~ PIO

A man who can converse with the birds?

Vrór, growing up under what was once the Lonely Mountain, had heard the tale of Bard on many occasions, and how the man could actually speak to and understand the thrush, though it was said that those birds could understand most speech. Now there was something the Dwarf had always wondered when told those stories – was it only the Common Tongue it could understand? But Vrór could only stare at the old man, and did not really hear a question asked. Were not men such as Bard long deceased?

“We have to reach the slaves before that gang of thugs and miscreants do, or I fear there’ll be no one left.” Vrór’s conscious return to the conversation was not a pleasant one.

He opened his mouth, but found it impossible to form words, or any sound at all. No one left? All…captured or dead? He truly felt that he would prefer death to being recaptured and forced back into chains, and that thought disturbed him to the bone. It was not natural for one to wish death on oneself. It was a horrible thing indeed that anyone would be left with two options, one worse even than being forced to leave this world in brutality and pain. Vrór certainly didn’t want to have to make that kind of choice, and right now, he did not even want to be faced with the decision of what to do next. It seemed Aiwendil had decided for them, though, and that didn’t sit too well with the Dwarf. He was sure that the old man was quite wise, but Vrór couldn’t help but thinking he was a little far off his rocker. Age could do that to you, among other things.

He waited respectfully, if a bit anxiously, for the old man to return from speaking with Rôg, who had pulled him aside. Vrór also couldn’t help but strain his ears, though he felt as guilty as a little boy peeking at his present. As soon as the two were finished, and the Haradrim ventured off on his own – something which Vrór spared a second to wonder about – immediately piped up. “But surely we can’t leave…now? We have naught but a general direction, and I…I’d be a warbler if any of you think you can track this group across Mordor, particularly when we’ve presumably got at least two different tracks on our hands. We’re no help to those slaves if we get ourselves into as deep a trouble as they, according to you, seem to be. With no offense meant to you, Master Aiwendil.”

Vrór couldn’t help but be gruff with his words. He was disturbed by this suggestion. Simply running off across Mordor was not what he had signed up for, nor did it seem rational enough to him. A headlong charge of a rescue mission wasn’t going to get them, or the slaves, anywhere, as far as he was concerned. Still, he regretted the harshness that might have been behind his words, and was glad that he had not added in any mention of a threat to give up on this Fellowship. It would have been an outright lie, anyway.

The Elf’s rather candid explanation of what the device they had found was had opened Vrór’s eyes, and though the understanding he came to of how much pain that single chunk of iron represented was a great one, he wished he had never laid his eyes on it, and for a good long moment, that he had never stepped foot in Mordor. But how could he, or anyone, abandon a being to such a fate as…that. Being branded like an animal, and treated like a disease. There was already so much sickness in this land that Vrór doubted could be healed. If they let just one more thing end as it would without intervention, they would perhaps be worse than the slavers themselves.

He felt strongly about doing good in this world, and though he rarely thought about other worlds, he was an idealist at heart. But he also felt strongly attached to the earth, particularly to rock and stone, and never let idealism whisk away his sensibilities. He desired direction, a plan, a map, a blueprint…something other than an ideal. But with an Elf and a man who could talk to birds, he doubted he would get so much as a push onto the determined path.

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Thanks!

-Durelin

[Child of the 7th Age]

Save # 66 has been filled in. Although Lindir and Aiwendil have pulled off to the side, please feel free to continue discussing the object that Carl and Athwen found.

[Durelin]

Just as a note - I'm going to be slower with posting for a few days due to back problems (I have no clue what happened, but my back's killing me, and the computer chair is not good for it....I'd love to sit in the recliner with a laptop, but I don't have one with internet service).

I apologize, and will do my best to keep up.

[Brinniel]

Sorry about the back. I know how it feels- lately I've had back pains too (I have a lot of problems with muscle tension- I have to see a physical therapist for it). You ought to get an appointment for a massage- it really does help.

Anyways, I'm busy working and packing for the rest of the week, but I'm definitely going to try to get a post in before I leave on Sunday.

[Nogrod]

We have been having fun again (Firefoot and I) and the relationship between Johari and Hadith seems to be deepening dangerously...

My last post is now a quite direct consequence to the last posts actually written in the thread (Firefoot & Novnarwen) so those who have saves should probably check the places of their posts if they are to take the story of the slaves forwards...

Hang on with you back Durelin! Khamir surely is getting some pressure on him...

[Undómë]

Save filled.

Let me know if it's alright, Pio.

~ U