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

[Durelin]

Yes, I thought the fake camp idea would be a good one, but I quite forgot about the horses. I think, if Athwen was up to it, that having her lead the slavers in would be marvellous.

Beloan as leader of the archers sounds great, too.

Hadith could be one of those, maybe one of the the leaders of that party - alongside Khamir and Vrór?

Alongside Khamir sounds good. I have another plan for Vrór, I think.

I propose Joshwan to be one of the riders, the others might be some of us writers characters here or then unnamed veteran escapees. That ok.?

Definitely! Keep using those cool NPCs that have gotten so much char. development.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Child

I think there is one thing we are all going to have to be careful about. We have 24 or so slavers so we should probably resist the urge to take out 6 at a time! Rather than describing large numbers hitting the dust at once, we will probably need to have the focus be the single individual and the particular enemy he/she is facing.

I agree to the fullest!

Let's not play the baffling heroes but let us also describe the misjudgements and unlucky strikes of our characters too. And the actual situations where our people are just outwitted or overcome by the enemy...

The enemy has 24 (?) battle-hardened riders, we have one to match them (Dorran) and some nearing that status (Beloan, Joshwan, maybe one or two more -and a few to rise to the occasion, maybe?). Still we are outnumbered on count of staunch warriors by 1:5 or something. For a commoner to bring down a soldier is more than a feat! So let us make this not too easy! (Well, we have to win anyhow, but still, let's not make it without a cost or with incredible heroism)

[Durelin]

So let us make this not too easy! (Well, we have to win anyhow, but still, let's not make it without a cost or with incredible heroism)

Yep, and I can pretty much guaruntee you that, personally, I'm going to kill someone off...

[Child of the 7th Age]

Yep, and I can pretty much guaruntee you that, personally, I'm going to kill someone off...

Oh my goodness, Durelin. Don't do anything drastic. We have lots of NPC to dispose of on the side of the good guys.....
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Athwen could be riding boldly to meet the slavers and act like being surprised and make a run away from them towards the camp - thus luring the slavers to follow her.

Good ideas! I really like the decoy on horseback catching the eye of the slavers and leading them on a merry chase that heads straight towards the hidden trenches/tunnels and our waiting cavalry who attack from the flank. I can also imagine the foot soldiers lying in wait and springing out once some of the slavers have been knocked off their horses.

One problem I see is the burning fires. Durelin and I had agreed that there would be a little wind/sand storm blowing in to complicate the battle and to let Rôg and Aiwendil do their mischief to help even the odds: here. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. It won't be that bad, but you get my drift. We would have a hard time keeping any fires lit.

Actually, with a storm swirling around, the slavers won't expect to see fires lit. I am wondering if we couldn't use our own real camp rather than constructing a "fake", The people who need to take refuge will already have been led to the safety of the knoll with the sheltering boulders as Lindir described. We could set the stage in our own camp by making it look "occupied". If we just leave some "stuff" on the ground....a few tents, bedrolls, garbage from dinner, the glowing embers of the now extinguished firepits, a goat or two running underfoot, even some dummy figures clad in robes and filled out with hay if we want to get fancy, it will look as if we're still there at least from a distance. Visbility is going to be quite bad.

We need Tevildo and Folwren to weigh in on these suggestions before we take this too much further. Since Folwren's poster and character both have a lot of experience with horses, she would be the logical one to play this part, but we have to see if she would like to do it. I hope so. I have to admit that the slavwers would be more likely to follow an attractive woman, seemingly unarmed, with hair flying out in back of her, rather than a battle hardened man.

Also, Dorran as the leader of the cavalry makes a lot of sense if he would do this.

I'd like to use Lindir with the archers. He has a fair amount of experience on his resume ( )---several thousand years of fighting with the Noldor, including most of the major battles of the First Age.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

I'd like to use Lindir with the archers. He has a fair amount of experience on his resume ( )---several thousand years of fighting with the Noldor, including most of the major battles of the First Age.

Okay, I found it. I thought I had seen something like this somewhere. If Lindir leads (and teaches) the archers & slingers the others might be available?

But surely Khamir might be a good choice to lead the footsoldiers too?

[Durelin]

Well I've been missing things left and right...Sorry!

Khamir isn't going to want to lead anyone, so Beloan is still definitely a good choice. Alrighty, I shall edit in that Beloan is in charge of a group of foot soldiers, and some other reason why Khamir doesn't want to talk to him.

Edit: Post edited! Sorry about that.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Edit: Post edited! Sorry about that.

No reason to be sorry about anything. This is quite wildly embarrassing to anyone and as one sees one corner another sees the next one...

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

If you'll humor me a minute, I've a few questions.

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

I'd like to use Lindir with the archers. He has a fair amount of experience on his resume ( )---several thousand years of fighting with the Noldor, including most of the major battles of the First Age.

Does this still hold true, Child?

And Folwren, where would Kwell be during the attack?

And one final one. Is the wind storm going full blast now? I haven't had a chance to read the post for Imlak, so forgive me if its already mentioned there. Should make for very, very close range shooting in order to be effective, I would think.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Hilde,

Yes, you're right. The archers will likely have to get in very close range or their shots would go totally off course. I had sort of envisioned archers darting out from cover and virtually running up to the mounted slavers in order to get in a shot.

Isn't Carl with the archers too? If so, maybe we can coordinate something.

Aiwendil, by the way, has gone back to try and help guard the women, children, and elders who are hiding in the boulders behind the camp. Anyone is welcome to join him.....

[Folwren]

Hilde,

I really don't know myself where Kwell is. The last post I did with him left him helping Vror with the tunnel, but he's quite through with that by now, I'm sure.

Where do you need him? That's where he'll be. No, really. Tell me where you need him and I'll consider. Pretty much any place will work. He has a dagger that Lindir gave him and knows how to shoot a bow, though he doesn't own one himself.

-- Folwren