Greetings, and Help!

[Helms Deep]

So, after Ineti's constant harrassment on the Decipher boards (or maybe it was just the one post), I'm here. Hello all.

Now that we're done with the pleasantries, I need some help ideas for the campaign I am currently running. Which means my players, if they have found this forum, should probably not be reading this thread.





Are they gone yet?



OK, the awful truth is that I really don't know exactly where I am going witht he campaign, and I haven't been able to spend as much time developing it as I would like. In fact, I've been pretty much scrambling to get a week's session doen before it comes.

Now, as a bit of background, the campaign is set in the Year 1 of the Fourth Age. The characters are:

• Cirion: a Gondorian magician
• Deor: a warrior from Rohan
• Eradan: a Dunedan noble from Minas Brethil in Gondor
• Sutherland: a craftsman from Dale

There is also a Rohirric minstrel named Leofwyn who has been tagging around with them after their initial adventure involving a ghost that was haunting her village.

The main villain of the campaign (who has only made a brief appearance thus far) is Arannel, a Gondorian noble who resents 'that northerner' coming down and 'being crowned by the elves.' He has become aware of a loremaster named Pelathanor who is on the trail of some royal treasure of Numenor that was, unknown until now, smuggled out before the island sank. He wants the treasure to legitamatize a revolt of the 'true Gondorians' against Aragorn.

The PCs, meanwhile, were serving as Pelathanor's escorts while he followed the trail of clues to this treasure until he was murdered in Pelargir. The characters continued following the trail, and have just discovered that the 'treasure' was actually the infant daughter of the last King and Queen of Numenor, and that this girl fell in love with the son of the elvish family that raised her and ran off with him to somewhere in Mirkwood.

Now, this is about the point where I've run out of developed material. The general idea is that the PCs keep tracking down the children of this bloodline until they find a living heir, a daughter whom Arannel will attempt to kidnap and marry to set himself as the true King of the Numenoreans. What I need yet are interesting places for them to go and enemies to encounter.

Some things that have also happened to them that may or may not be related to the main plot:

• Sutherland was coming to Minas Tirith to help rebuild the main gate under a dwarf named Farin. Farin asked him to go politely intimidate a wizard named Malbeth to come up with some mithril that he owed the dwarf.
• Cirion was asked by master, Malbeth the Yellow, to tell a dwarf named Farin he would have the mithril soon. Cirion discovered the dwarf murdered when he went to see him. Malbeth announced the next morning he had to leave town suddenly.
• A Ranger of Ithilien named Damrod showed up while the party was at Pelathanor's ancestral home in Ithilen. Even though they ditched him in Pelargir, he showed up again as they were passing through Bree on their way over the Misty Mountains. He claims to be on an errand to Rivendell and is again travelling with them.
• Pelathanor was killed by a single pisoned knife wound -- exactly the same way the dwarf was.
• After returning from Ithilien, there was a lot of talk about a village that had been raided and burnt by a renegade group of Rohirrim, led by Deor's rival. They investigated and found arrows that were definitely not Rohirric in origin (they are, in fact, from Pinnath Gelin -- Arranel's demense -- although the PCs have not connected this yet).

I have vague ideas of leading the party into the wilds of Rhun and perhaps coming across one of the Blue Wizards, but if anyone has other ideas, I'm all ears.

[toadkiller]

So, is the "Yellow wizard" a real wizard - i.e. one you have added? I sort of like the idea of folks coming along post-Gandalf and claiming to be wizards, but not really being in the same league. That is, just men who know some magic - not a supernatural being like of old.

IF that's the case and the PC's manage to hold their own against some of these would-be wizards then having them run into the real thing in the form of a Blue Wizard (or even our old friend Brownie) could be a real shock!

I also like the idea of a story that is more political rather than a grand saga against a new dark lord. Build the characters up with that THEN have them face a neo-nazgul or balrog or whatever.

Also the long lost rival heir is a good thought. You can get out of the implications in the end by either killing her or having her refuse to stand vs. Aragorn. He can give her a principality or something as well....

Not much help from me - but welcome to the boards!

[Helms Deep]

Originally posted by toadkiller
So, is the "Yellow wizard" a real wizard - i.e. one you have added? I sort of like the idea of folks coming along post-Gandalf and claiming to be wizards, but not really being in the same league. That is, just men who know some magic - not a supernatural being like of old.

Well, he is a member of the Wizard order, but not one of the Istari. According to the backstory, Malbeth was a former student of Gandalf. What Cirion does not know is that, being very interested in alchemy, he also studied some under Saruman and picked up some rather unsavory traits from him.

Not much help from me - but welcome to the boards!

Thanks. Any other ideas?

[Grutos]

The lure of Mithril may take them up the Silver Load into the depths of Moria - now that Gandalf has kindly rid Middle-Earth of the Balrog (anyone have a screen capture of that wonderful beasty - twud be a great desktop for work!!), Moria would once again be "safe" to go looking for Mithril. Granted, there are still things that not even Gandalf wanted to disturb, but do those outside of the Fellowship know that?

Could take them up North into the mountains past Mirkwood. "Anastasia" has escaped to the north - or was taken by force - and now the party is heading after her. Find themselves some orcs, perhaps a dragon or two, perhaps some allies wandering around.

Beorn and his ilk have always resided near Mirkwood. Could have a story-line tie in with Beorn and his own.

You could have "Anastasia" running a counter-plot. She knows that Arannel is "hunting" her for her blood-right. In the party, she sees her salvation. However, she can't venture out herself, lest she be seen and captured by Arannel and his own. But, she could work it so that the party is pointed this way and that by symbols, sigils, prods from the denizens of Mirkwood and the surrounding area. Knowing that they don't yet have enough umph to take on Arannel and his forces, but with no shields of her own, "Anastasia" could have banner-men through the party - build them up until they can take on Arannel and protect her and her lineage.

Something of the Necromancer survived. It may have been on patrol in other lands when the Necromancer fell. A lesser lieutenant, but still a power to be reckoned with by the party. Sees no real use for "Anastasia", but sees a possible use for Arannel and so decides to use Arannel to rid the area of the party with promises of knowing where "Anastasia" is how he can have her and the "phenominal cosmic powers" that the lieutenant can offer....for an as yet undisclosed price.

Oh well - as much as I can put together right now. Time to figure out whether or not it's sleep or nap.

[Helms Deep]

Originally posted by Grutos
You could have "Anastasia" running a counter-plot.

The only problem being that the original princess is dead. By about 3000 years. And since no heirs have pressed the claim, that probably means that they are unwilling or unable to (or, what I am leaning towards, completely unaware of their ancestry).

I guess, to make the matter a little less vague, I am looking for interesting places that the line of hidden heirs may have gone and reasons why. The only things that are firmly established in the game are:

--There was a daughter of Pharazon (although he knew nothing about it) and Miriel named Estelbereth born in about 3010 of the 2nd Age, who was brought to Mithlond by Elentir (Elendil's incle and Miriel childhood love).
--Estelbereth fell in love with an elf (Noldo/Sinda mix) named Durindir and ran away with him to somewhere in Mirkwood

Although these have not yet been established, my working plan for how things progressed from there includes:

--Estelbereth and Durandir made their home in the Mountains of Mirkwood and had a son together
--She would have dies somewhere around 200-300 of the 3rd Age. Durandir buried her at the headwaters of the Enchanted River (which is why it is enchanted), then he and the son took off for parts unknown
--At some point relatively soon thereafter, the son marries and has a daughter, but he and his father die soon thereafter, possibly battling some evil (thus getting around the issue of whether the son was immortal or not before it arose)
--The daughter may still be alive, and the legitamite heir they are seeking

So, where would two elvish wanderers gone in the first couple centuries of the 3rd Age, and why?

I like the idea of north, but I can't think of any reasons why they would go there (much like my idea of 'beyond Rhun' before). Ideally the place should have some elvish population -- perhaps a group of Avari akin to the Silvan elves -- since the son gets married soon.