Hunt for the Palantíri RPG

[Child of the 7th Age]

Glad to be leaving the side tunnel, Luindal re-entered the main hall and noted that a number of Elves and Lossoth had already found their way to the spot near the back of the cavern where he had told everyone to gather. Weary and footsore, with backs and arms aching from bending down and squeezing through narrow holes, each of these told a similar account: despite hours of digging and close observation, they had seen nothing resembling magical Stones. There had been only endless twisting pathways covered with mud interspersed with an occasional patch of slick ice and cliffs that dropped precipitously downward.

"There's no Palantiri here," Luriel, one of the Wood-Elves, assured him. "Not even a hint of one. Can't we leave before things get worse?"

The Elf's heartfelt plea had mirrored Luindal's own thoughts. He could hear and see nothing of the outside world from this vantage in the cave, but the tide would soon be pounding against the shore, bringing with it a surfeit of water that would eventually submerge the entire cavern. Alahseey had told him grim tales of treasure hunters who'd hid shipwreck cargo within the recesses of the black cavern and, unwilling to give up their reward, had perished in the attempt to save it. This, as much as anything, had led to the cave's bleak reputation.

Holding his torch aloft to survey the men in his group, Luindal was appalled to discover that more than a few of their number were still missing. The reason for this soon became obvious. Rôg darted into the cave bringing a dire message: "The waters are rising in the lowest tunnels. At least one, perhaps two of the searchers, are having trouble getting through. The others have stayed trying to help them."

"Shall I send more Elves to help?"

The tiny bat blinked twice and seemed to shake his head. "It would do no good. Any more in such a narrow passage would only increase the risk. They are doing their best and I will help them."

Luindal turned towards the Elf, who had spoken with him before, "Luriel, lead this group outside. Wait on the shore. I'll stay in here till we get the rest

The brown bat had begun to flitter over to the side tunnel, but abruptly halted to alight on a rock, Rôg cried out in a tiny voice, "Can't you feel that? The vibrations from outside."

Luindal stopped and closed his eyes, leaning against the back wall of the cavern. he could definitely feel something. For a moment, he thought it might be an earthquake. Such things were not unheard of in lands made of ice. But then he had the clear sense of great giants thuds coming not from the ground underneath his feet but from somewhere over his head.

"Go now. A landslide!" he bellowed. "Get out of here as fast as you can...."

[piosenniel]

Pio's post

As he flew toward the tunnel where the searchers were still making their way out, Rôg noted that four people were just emerging from a tunnel near it. It was the two Elves who’d helped him on the ship – Carandû and his brother. In a flurry of little wings he flew to them and landed precariously on Annû’s thick fleece over-tunic. Working his way toward the surprised Elf’s ear, he squeaked a request for him and his brother to follow down the tunnel after him. ‘Two of the Elves are still down in the little cavern at the end of the tunnel,’ he said. ‘One of them may be injured. Help me get them out.’

‘And you, Freyn, can you wait here until we bring the Elves out? They may need your services.’

Rôg dove down the tunnel, the two brothers following . . .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arry’s post

By the time Carandû and his brother had reached the little cave, Rôg was already back in mannish form and kneeling by the injured Elf. It was Andtuariel! She looked quite pale, the blood on her face from the rock cut making her skin seem even whiter in contrast. The lower part of her leg had caught in a hole in the cavern floor and seemed quite firmly wedged.

Annû knelt down quickly opposite Rôg. He took out his big-bladed knife and began chipping at the rock edges of the hole. Elwë, too, was knocking at the jagged rim that held her boot tight. ‘At least her leg is not bent at an unnatural angle,’ whispered Annû to Andtuariel’s brother. ‘The boot has padded it a bit and hopefully there will be only a little swelling.’ Rôg stabilized the woman’s leg as the other two worked on enlarging the hole. After a number of minutes, the only sounds being the clack and scrap of steel against rock, Annû, Elwë, and Rôg were able to gently eas the Elf’s foot from where it had been trapped.

Carrandû had packed a thin piece of leather, all folded up, into the pouch slung at his belt. It was a fair sized piece with which he meant to wrap the palantir should they discover it. Now he laid it on the ground, and the four of them eased Andtuariel onto it. Her ankle was quite swollen and too painful for her to bear weight.

Rôg changed back to his bat form, flying quickly down the tunnel to alert Freyn. Carrandû knelt down and grasped the edges of the leather. He began backing down the tunnel pulling Andtuariel with him on the leather piece. ‘Sorry about the bumpy ride,’ he said, smiling at her as they jostled over a particularly rocky section of the tunnel floor. ‘Soon we’ll be in the main cavern, where the healer is waiting.’ Annû and Elwë took turns cradling the Elf’s booted leg as they inched toward the main cavern.

Finally, Carandû could just hear Galhardir’s voice saying, ‘Here they are!’ And hands reached down to take up the burden as he emerged from the tun

[Regin Hardhammer]

After the cave entrance was completely blocked by boulders, Marreth took a deep breath and sat down on the hard earth. Pushing boulders was painstaking labor and, although he had quite enjoyed trapping the Elves, he was glad to be done with it.

“We had better stay here and watch mates. We don’t want the Elves slipping away through some crack and escaping from under our noses. Anyways, it will be fun to sit outside and listen to the howls when they discover the jam that they're in.”

Marreth looked with content at the solid mass of rock blocking the opening completely. For once, thought Marreth, our plans seem to be working.

[Imladris]

Jarlyn peered over the top of the railing, his eyes boring holes into the drifting elven ship. The mooring lines hung limply, their arches almost trailing in the water. It seemed as if the air itself was resting from its fury the night before.

He glowered at the elven ship. Their sails were in rags, slime was smeared upon the hull. Elves had such an awful knack for complicating issues. Why did they want the Stones....why did the Corsairs want to see the Stones.

Seeing things that were best kept in whispered darkness tended to make one paranoid. It would suck the joy from life...you would always be afraid. You could not take the blows as they came, you would tense up, waiting for the blow, wondering how in Middle Earth they could ever stop it, how it could even be stopped. And the worry would eat away at them, like a parasite upon a host.

He heard a crash from behind him and he flung around. His fellow crew mates were pushing boulders from the mountain crags, blocking the entrance to the cave. His eyebrows shot up. Why would they want to do that?

With a shrug he dived into the water and began to paddle to shore. The water was cool, glimmering in the clouded sun. Pulling himself onto a bit of hard ground, he sauntered towards the cave entrance which seemed to be choking up clouds of dust.

"Why did you do that?" he asked incredulously to Marreth, gesturing towards fallen boulders. "Do you realize how you have complicated the issue?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jynne sidle up behind Marreth's shadow.

"We have trapped the vermin, killing them," said Jynne silkily. "The captain agreed to my plan --"

"Do not answer my questions, Jynne," Marreth snapped.

"So, you created a boulder slide to kill them?" asked Jarlyn. "It would have been so much easier to have a mock battle with them, pretend to flee before them, and, when they found the Stones, to set upon them in the night."

Marreth frowned and glanced at the rockslide.

"It would have taken too long," Jynne said smoothly, his dark eyes narrowing. "We would have run out of supplies skulking in the waters."

Jarlyn scooffed. "The Snowmen would have given us supplies. I think this was a convenient way for you to disguise your cowardice with cunning."

Jynne flinched. A grimace flittered across his face as he said softly, "I am not afraid of death. I value my life, and will do the utmost....to preserve it," he added in a whisper.

Jarlyn opened his mouth to retort when Marreth said, "That's enough, the both of you!"

Within the cave, there was a faint of scabbering, like rats trying to escape. A muffled voice began to shout.

[Lalwendë]

Tarn
Tarn had pushed more than his share of boulders and rocks down to the cave entrance, and now he sat contentedly chewing on a piece of dried reindeer meat which he had taken from inside his coat. He was perched close to the edge, and kept peering down to see if the trapped elves would appear. A pile of small sharp stones was at hand in case a head should manage to pop itself through the wall of rubble. He didn’t think this likely, but he would have some more good sport if this did come to pass.

The muffled sound of shouts came drifting up from behind the fallen rocks and Tarn looked around at Nilak and the corsairs, grinning. The shouts became more frantic and he heard some screaming, which made him laugh “Go on, scream like women in a thunderstorm!” he thought to himself, “You’re trapped in the Cave of the Dead and you’re all going to be food for the little fishies”

Tarn cast an eye out to sea. It was getting closer to noon. The tide was coming in, and it looked like it would be a high one. He saw the gulls coming closer to shore and below them the great shoals of fish which only came so far in on the highest of tides. He thought of the water filling up the cave, putting out the lanterns, consuming those trapped within, and how it would recede when it had claimed them all, only to wash up again and again until it had made skeletons of them all. A shudder crept down his spine as he thought of it, and shaking the thought off, he turned to the others to tell them about the tide.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Returning speedily to the front entrance, Luindal stared in disbelief at the outer tunnel where they had come through just a few hours before: it was now totally blocked off by rocks and boulders. Bending down to examine the spot more closely, Luindal could not see a shred of daylight. The twisting tunnel was inky black, with stones packed tight against the opening. Worst of all, the tide was beginning to pound against the sandy shore. Only an hour or so, and the greedy waves were likely to swallow up the cave, even the main cavern in which they stood. Several inches of water already lapped around his feet, while most of the smaller tunnels were wholly impassable. Even if the waves did not overwhelm the front entrance, the water that had flooded the side tunnels would ultimately come rushing into the main cavern, since it had nowhere else to go.

Alahaseey had spoken of an occasional rock that came crashing down from the hill onto the shoreline below, but she had never warned of a general landslide that could block off the entrance trapping the searchers inside. A cluster of Elves and Lossoth were crowded about the entry tunnel, frantically attempting to clear out whatever stones and rubble they could. Yet,even with the aid of picks, their work was proceeding slowly: they could not outpace the rushing waves.

Rôg had come back with Annû and Elwë and the Elf who had been injured in the side cavern. Luindal gestured to the small brown bat to come over and speak. "Are there any other ways out of this cave?" For the caves the Elf had known as a young lad often had more than one entrance.

"No," Rôg squeaked. "When I flew in, the first thing I did was to check all the passages. There is no other way in or out."

"Then we are in a mess indeed. For the front opening is crammed with a thick wall of rubble and rock, quite heavy stuff, and I see little chance of tunnelling to the other side."

Rôg's small brown eyes suddenly lit up and he cocked his head sideways, as if he wanted to say something. "Well, out with it, my friend," Luindal prodded. "I have no idea what to do next. If you have any good ideas, share them now, or none of us will be left to hear them...."

[Taralphiel]

Freyn stood in the open cavern, clambering in as much of an ordered fashion as he could, attempting to clear the stone from the entrance. He felt the slapping of puddles of water against the soles of his boots, and breathed heavily. In the back of his mind, the warning of his gut rang out.

‘Aye, I knew there would be happenings…but this…’ he thought to himself.

He had no time to finish his musings, for he heard a call ring out for his aid. One of the Elves had injured her leg, and he saw them carrying her in on a makeshift stretcher.

As they eased her down, he peered over her damaged leg. She winced as he carefully touched the swelling, and mumbled.

“I shall bandage it, and that should help it stay from any more damage…but I’ll wager you’ll be carried the rest of the way…”

Reaching into his waist pack, he took out some thin bandages, and wasted no time in bandaging the swollen ankle. Grinning lightly at his handiwork, and securing her boot, he said.

“There, that is all that can be done for now…” he said, stretching back up and smiling wearily. Casting an eye over his shoulder, he went back to his musing.

‘A fine fix we have ourselves in’ he thought.