IC Story Thread: Ch.1,Ad.2 - The Far Reach

As Eothain lights his lantern, a few things become more clear.

First, the mechanism that Duinhir is examining, can be noted to contain, in the bottom plate, rows and columns of small blocks all bunched together - totaling to more than a hundred in a square-foot space - each with... symbols? emblazoned on their tops in raised-relief carvings.

Second, Cirion notes that the "tops" to the boxes - which run the long way - must have originally been secured by nails, as there are many holes perforating the edges, but now there are just two nails holding each one on, and those are only halfway pounded in.

Upon opening them, you find they are basically completely empty. The only thing that really emerges with the removal of the lids is the faint remnants of a sickly-sweet smell of decayed flesh.

Duinhir

Stefron

Feb 22, 2024 9:01 pm

Duinhir was about to lose interest in the torture device when Eothain's light revealed the blocks with the symbols.
"This is odd." he says in a low voice. "Eothain, can you give me a bit more light, please?"

He studies the symbols in the light to see if he recognizes any of them or can get any meaning out of the device.

OOC:

I'm going with a Lore roll as he studies the symbols first.

Rolls

Lore - (1d20+3)

(18) + 3 = 21

Feb 22, 2024 9:18 pm

Duinhir has seen symbols like these before. For better or worse he is no stranger to some of the darker secrets of the world. And he's certain that these symbols are letters. And although he doesn't know the language, and so not what it says, he knows this is some form of Black Speech. The language spoken by the most powerful of orcs and evil men and other servants of the Shadow.

Feb 22, 2024 9:22 pm

OOC:

@emsquared, the device sounds like a printing press. Is that technology known in Middle Earth?

Feb 22, 2024 9:51 pm

OOC:

Oh boy, you're asking me to expose my true level of Tolkien Wonk...???

Yea that's pretty much what it is supposed to be.

And the answer to your question is: According to canon? Who knows? It's not directly addressed anywhere as far as I'm aware.

But wood block printing has been around IRL since 200 AD beginning in Asia. And ~900-1000 AD for moveable typesetting. Middle Earth is certainly well beyond 200 AD technology level, right? At the least we know the hordes of Mordor have primitive explosives, which is 13th century. And generally it's characterized ofc as "Medieval" (which covers a staggering range of progression), potentially up to the 1500s (which was when a more mechanized version of printing press was invented).

Granted, where were at in the 3rd Age the world is actually in a bit of a Dark Age/arguably having lost progress and technology compared to the end/height of the Second Age. BUUUT... It's more the Free Peoples who have lost or shunned technology. Sauron and the Shadow in part are an allegory for the evils of technology and thoughtless progress...

Proceeding from there, the Asia equivalent in Middle-earth is Rhun and other nations of "the East", which are broadly characterized as servants of Sauron.

Our "Astalor" is a known dealer in obscurities, at the very least in the Harad - which is another known servant-Nation to Sauron. But so maybe he has dealings with Easterlings too, or maybe the technology got to the Harad via the Evil Men and Dark Numenoreans who hold sway in both Rhun and the Harad.

And so basically I've taken those considerations and went ahead and made the leap of logic myself to put a primitive form of moveable type press (note - it is not automated in any way, it's basically a book binding clamp very slightly modified to accommodate moveable type blocks - very tedious to actually use) to try to insert a cool clue for you all here in the story.

Feb 22, 2024 9:59 pm

OOC:

And yes, that is indicative of how much thought I put into not only Tolkien and Middle Earth, but also this game specifically 😅

Cirion of Pelargir

Dr_B

Feb 23, 2024 12:25 am

He winces at the smell of decay coming from inside the tall boxes.
"Eugh... these are empty now... but by their smell, I'd wager they once contained something dead..." he shares with the others.

He steps close to the boxes containing parchments, gingerly examining their contents.

Feb 23, 2024 8:44 am

Standing near the device, Éothain’s mind churns. He guesses at its meaning. "You know how administrators can press an official seal onto a document? I think that’s what this machine does, except it can press many symbols on a page at the same time. And if you put pages together, you get a whole book."

He remembers a book that a traveling priest brought to his village. "I once saw a book bound in calves’ leather. Is that what was in the tall boxes?" He checks inside a box for animal skins.

Rolls

Intelligence (Investigation) - (1d20+4)

(10) + 4 = 14

Duinhir

Stefron

Feb 24, 2024 9:40 pm

Duinhir almost drops the device upon realizing what those symbols are. "This... This is in the language of the Shadow. The black speech. What malice is this?
If this Astalor possesses an item like this, he must be truly evil." he shares his discovery with others.
"Alas, I cannot read it. But maybe it is for the better not to understand its foul content."

Feb 26, 2024 9:45 pm

Digging around in the box of parchment, it looks to Cirion like the vast majority of it is just blank sheets. However he notices the corners of a couple of pieces of parchment, sticking up haphazardly along the edges of the pile, like they were tossed into the crate when it was empty and then the stack of papers was placed carelessly on top of them.

And when he digs these few bottom sheets out, he can see that they appear to be botched print attempts. Most of the characters on the sheet are clear and legible (if one could read the odd, curvey, flowing script), but either a column or row along the bottom or edges must have toppled over in the pressing process, smudging some of it.

...

Looking into more boxes, Eothain finds thin boards and soft, worked leathers that are both certainly of an appropriate size for books (and not much else). As well as boxes with more small inscribed blocks, some in the unknown script, but also one box with blocks of script in Westron, and a box full of blocks with script in Sundarin.

Feb 27, 2024 7:33 am

"It appears this Astalor wants to spread his tomes of evil to humans and elves." Éothain explains what he found in the box and walks over to the printing device. "Shall we make this device unusable? Destroying it would be too noisy, but we could remove some invaluable pieces and take them with us." He pauses, then adds, "Unless there's a reason to keep him, or any associates, unaware of what we know."

Cirion of Pelargir

Dr_B

Feb 27, 2024 9:05 am

Cirion extracts the print proofs, showing them to the others.
"These look like... tests that have gone wrong? See here?.. And they confirm what Éothain is suggesting! They are not handwritten, but created with that contraption... One could press many copies of the same page!"

He runs his finger on the arcane characters, a shiver running through him at the sight of that long-forgotten idiom, right there on the page. "I shall keep this as proof for Astalor's dark deeds... Lady Blackridge needs to see this."

Feb 28, 2024 5:49 pm

OOC:

Anything else anyone wants to do here?

Or are we ready to move forward?

Duinhir

Stefron

Feb 28, 2024 8:01 pm

"I agree, Cirion, the Lady needs to see this. Maybe she can shed some light on its meaning." Duinhir concurs. "And as for the device, let's render it useless as Eothain suggests."

OOC:

I take it the device is too big and awkward to carry around easily and discreetly.
I guess we are done here, having looked at all the places that were described initially.

Feb 29, 2024 12:54 am

OOC:

It's not super big, but yes pretty unwieldily, maybe roughly an ~18" (0.5 m) cube and ~45-50 lbs/20 kg?

It could probably be dismantled with some time and effort or just broken, dashed upon the floor or something.

Unless anyone else wants to chime in, I'll push us forward tomorrow.

Feb 29, 2024 5:36 am

Éothain will take any blocks that contain the shape of a horse or a horse's head, as he is offended personally by its inclusion in evil works.

Cirion of Pelargir

Dr_B

Feb 29, 2024 7:27 am

OOC:

agree to move on, after breaking the printing machine

Feb 29, 2024 3:31 pm

Papers in stowe, and the device dashed upon the floor, you all emerge into the daylight again, and are able to breath in air that is not burdened with dust and darkness and the remnant scent of decay.

After you emerge into the streets, the agents approach with some amount of visible eagerness to hear what you have to say.

OOC:

We probably don't need to play out that conversation, as I obviously know what you found 😅

But so if you just want to narrate generally what you share with them, that's good.

After hearing what you have to say, they will remind you that the plan is for the Lady to follow on after you all, once she can get away from her new position in Minas Tirith, and that will be 4 or 5 days from now until her arrival.

Aside from that they let you know that they intend to make a deeper dive into the records for the building with the city of Dol Amroth, and any business or personal associations with any names they have (they hadn't had the opportunity to do that yet, due to the observation routine they had to set up on Astalor).

But regarding the pursuit of Astalor, they are prepared to hand that over to you all, completely, to decide upon and enact the next actions.

Mar 1, 2024 7:18 am

Éothain asks the agents, "Since you've been following Astalor's movements, do you have an estimate of when he's likely to return?"

Mar 1, 2024 3:30 pm