ROTN Chapter 1. Moors and Shadows

"Far Harad".
It was Harad where that Corsair captain had come from. The one who Bellam Stock was paying for.

Did the people of Harad live like ants? Surely not.

She does not want to ask... after the recent praise she does not want to ask a stupid question, nor appear ignorant!

Instead she stares ahead, at their destination: Mount Gram.

Yes, she can see the paths that Oderic and the others are discussing. She looks at the peak - the very top is white with snow... and in the sunlight there is a brief flash

"Something at the top is shining - there was a yellow gleam up there. "

---

LM

Jot climbs a low rise just off their current path to get a better view of the approach to Mount Gram. He scans for movement, flight paths of the dark-feathered birds, and unnatural patterns in brush or rock that might betray goblin patrols, sentries, or trap

---

And will see some inevitable evidence: there has been sustained traffic over many years into and out of and around Mt Gram by the goblins. Such peoples, who abuse the natural world for their own simple and harsh pleasure, leave trails and stains across a landscape.

The mountain itself has some marching routes across it - and it is testament to the callousness and indifference of the goblins that their 'roads' are able to be identified at the distance that the Company are still standing away from the mass of the mountain.

Against the background of the pale grey sky, and the dull white snow on the peak, Jot ( and more so the elves) can spot the movement of crows and similar birds, as they circle the rocks and the ice.

Jot advises that they slowly sit down to continue their own observations. If they are careful and take their time, they should find that the time when dusk closes in to be that interval when they can slip in closer without the birds spying them easily; yet also when the goblins that must be resident in the mountain are not at their best.

From what he has seen already, he is reluctant to get much closer as the ground does not offer much cover from aerial observation. Later, the slightly undulating terrain will give them some screening from goblin sentinels. It is to be hoped that the garrison is not expecting anyone to be so foolish as to want to come closer to Mount Gram, and be less diligent in their Watch...

---

A possible first pip in Perception for the Success with Awareness, unless it has already been picked up.

"I see precisely the path you intend. We can reach that rocky outcrop by full nightfall. Then perhaps we can observe their comings and goings."

---

And that would be the first pip in Perception group; or the second pip if she has already picked the first one earlier in this adventure.

She can see that the birds are Magpies and that there are two (or possibly three) nesting areas across the mountain face.

Prolonged observation will show her that these nest groups are either VERY territorial, or at war with one another for control of the mountain. She can see how a group of four magpies leave one site, to raid a single nest within a different zone: bringing away some shiny material as booty. Too late, the second nesting area reacts and can only make a half-hearted attack on the aerial raiders before giving up the pursuit.

The calls of the magpies come across the air to her, faintly. These are Angry Birds, full of Spite for each other - and probably everything else. She has no doubt it is living in such a place with such neighbours as goblins for generations...

Thinking to herself and looking at Larsi hopefully, "I seem to recall where the main gate was said to be- Learned it from a dwarf. Long ago."

"Lore from a dwarf you say? I can't say I've seen them much recently but maybe there was something..."

She shakes her head, "No, I can't remember anything about it at all. Too few Dwarves come through the Mirkwood I suppose."

Now he is looking across the rest of the mountain mass. In front of this main cone there are two significant lower hills. Neither have any snow on them.

And the line of march seems to run off to the western side of these hills, before getting unto the initial slopes of Gram itself.

"I would like to know how much dead ground those two mounds produce: Will it be patrolled?

in his mind, except for the birds of course, few on the mountain proper would have a clean line of sight to a few people quietly slipping along in the shadows of the foothills.

Using his innate sense of observation on the geography of his surroundings, he spends several minutes in relaxed, almost elf-like calm, as he contemplates the world ahead of him. He sees wisps of dirty dark grey smoke; issuing from the ground on one side of the mountain. The goblins are IN and they are busy, underground on the western side and slopes of the mountain, heating (and cooking!) with fires inside their lairs. Something reassures him that the eastern flanks of the mountain will be less occupied and more poorly watched. If they were to strike out to the right they would have a stronger chance of a stealthy approach, without being discovered.

---

Virtue: Natural Watchfulness - an Explore roll gives information from a panoramic POV; and all Awareness rolls are improved by one level while outside.

"Let us take counsel here," Ahmo says after they have an extended rest and some restorative food and share a nip of her brandy which she passes around.
She stood casually, assembling a pipe from bits of brass and ivory. Stuffing a crumb of compressed cannabis resin into the bowl, she lit it with a twig from their small fire and continued.
"Let's get down to cases: Our errand here is not to enter the mountain, though we are under no injunction not to. Our task was to find the path upon which spies filter down. We have followed the trail thus far, though we seem to be in agreement that some remnant of old Angmar remains and that is the true source of what we saw on our way.
The choice before us now seems to be this; spy from here in different directions and intercept their spies on the path. Or work out way around the mountain on the east face and look for a road to old Carn Dum. And this may provide the most valuable information.

---

Nods enthusiastically at the High Elf's words. Yes. This seems to be exactly what she can remember that the Elf Lord Elrond had asked of them.

Scouting around is much more familiar activity to her than all the talk of rooting out goblin hordes and the like. The recent combat they undertook against the orc mob and the hobbit archers was hard enough. To go into a whole nest of goblins - led by some powerful entity, with maybe trolls as well...


... if they were all killed underground, then NO news would get back to Rivendell, and even their limited gains would be lost with them.

Nervously she asks, " Would anyone be able to tell more of this Carn doom thing? Or more about Angmar?

Oderic now wishes he knew more about the history of these lands too. Time spent in Rivendell, or with Mr Bagginses books and maps, and around the fire in the Talltrees house in Archet; these had given him some random snippets of information about people and legends. Larsi and of course Ageric (and even Atawulf, briefly) had thoroughly discussed the geography of the lands they had been travelling through, but could add little of their history: and what there was was usually seen from the viewpoint of the Dwarves!


Larsi might know somewhat of the mountains and of goblins in those parts. And Jot too has a deeper fund of knowledge of all Eriador.

Oderic wonders what they might add to the debate. Ahmo's words match his instinctive feel for the terrain he can see: the eastern edge "seems" the most discrete way to improve their knowledge, and maybe uncover the source of all this strife they have come across in Eriador over the past years.

Larsi took a moment to rest as well as the others spoke. There were many mountains in the world, and as many of the vermin that riddled them. The dwarf listened to the others as he rummaged his mind, pulling at whatever strings of lore he might remember from talks with his fellow dwarves or the wandering dunedain.

As the Company gathers on a rise of firmer ground with the outline of Mount Gram looming ahead, Oderic narrows his eyes and points with his spear toward a slight dip in the boggy terrain.

"That hollow there," he says, "feels too quiet. Could we move unseen through it, or would we be walking into a trap?"

Jot crouches beside him, brushing a hand through the reeds. "That’s dead ground," he says. "Low enough to break line of sight, which works both ways. If we move carefully, it could shield us from lookouts near the hill. But if something’s lying in wait, we won’t see them until it’s too late."

Cora folds her arms, glancing from the hollow to the ridges beyond. "Too many of these gullies and folds, though. Feels like a spider’s web of hiding places. And we’re the flies."

Jot nods, but his eyes remain fixed on Mount Gram. "This is no ordinary hill. Before the fall of Angmar, this was a forward base. Armies gathered here—rested, refitted—before striking deep into Arnor. Carn Dûm was the seat of the Witch-king, but Gram was his hammer-hand. They built secret ways through these bogs, and if someone’s clearing them again…"

He trails off. The suggestion hangs in the damp air.

Cora frowns. "You think it’s more than goblins, then."

"I do," Jot answers simply. "Goblins don’t build roads. They don’t organize. Not like this. Someone—or something—is leading them."

Jot adresses, Aeglief, "surely, your folk remember."

Joy tilt’s his head as if to ask Ahmo "anything to add".

Jot’s hand tightens around the haft of his spear. "If they’re remembering their old kings, they might be remembering old wars too."

He rises and scans the bog again, eyes sharp. "Let’s move around that hollow. Cora, keep the right flank. Oderic, left. I’ll find the line that keeps us in cover but out of shadow. And if the elves see anything too old or too dark to name, I want to know before it’s upon us."

As the Company gathers on a rise of firmer ground with the outline of Mount Gram looming ahead, Oderic narrows his eyes and points with his spear toward a slight dip in the boggy terrain.

"That hollow there," he says, "feels too quiet. Could we move unseen through it, or would we be walking into a trap?"

Jot crouches beside him, brushing a hand through the reeds. "That’s dead ground," he says. "Low enough to break line of sight, which works both ways. If we move carefully, it could shield us from lookouts near the hill. But if something’s lying in wait, we won’t see them until it’s too late."

Cora folds her arms, glancing from the hollow to the ridges beyond. "Too many of these gullies and folds, though. Feels like a spider’s web of hiding places. And we’re the flies."

Jot nods, but his eyes remain fixed on Mount Gram. "This is no ordinary hill. Before the fall of Angmar, this was a forward base. Armies gathered here—rested, refitted—before striking deep into Arnor. Carn Dûm was the seat of the Witch-king, but Gram was his hammer-hand. They built secret ways through these bogs, and if someone’s clearing them again…"

He trails off. The suggestion hangs in the damp air.

Cora frowns. "You think it’s more than goblins, then."

"I do," Jot answers simply. "Goblins don’t build roads. They don’t organize. Not like this. Someone—or something—is leading them."

Jot adresses, Aeglief, "surely, your folk remember."

Joy tilt’s his head as if to ask Ahmo "anything to add".

Jot’s hand tightens around the haft of his spear. "If they’re remembering their old kings, they might be remembering old wars too."

He rises and scans the bog again, eyes sharp. "Let’s move around that hollow. Cora, keep the right flank. Oderic, left. I’ll find the line that keeps us in cover but out of shadow. And if the elves see anything too old or too dark to name, I want to know before it’s upon us."

"So it's resolved we work our way further north?" She tapped out the crumb of ash and disassembled the pipe, having savored the taste. "The mountains of the north have sheltered wicked things long before Carn Dum was built, Cora."

She looks over to Jot and shrugs. The various grievances and wars between Elves and Dwarves went back as far as the same between Elves and Men or Dwarves and Men. In her own mind it was not all that long ago when Thranduil had fought against Thorin and Bard until the orcs had shown up and the elves, dwarves, and men set aside their petty squabble to fight their true enemies.