ROTN Chapter 1. Moors and Shadows

Gondril and her pony have departed, she never broke the cover of the rowans where they had made their final camp together.

Shouldering packs after the breakfast, they will set out northwards. To the right, the row of black teeth that are the tips of the Misty Mountains forms a wall and a horizon.

Over to the west the yellow and brown lands are dotted with many patches of pale green grass as far as the eye can see. Jagged clumps of black and grey rocks can be made out, jutting out from the thin soils. Thus is not a very fertile place, and there is little sign of other beasts here. Gondril has said that goats and some small mountain deer flit around at night: small herds or solitary creatures for the most part. The howl of the wolf comes in winter - when some of the northern packs come south if the weather or other conditions are fierce towards the north - or so said Gondril. She had added that that did not mean there would be NO wolves here, just less likely.

The Company will be setting off through the Trollshaws. And heading north. Elrond has left the choice to them about how close they travel towards Mount Gram, or instead how tight they follow the line of the Hithaeglir. He wants to know where the spies he discussed are coming from. If he can learn that he can investigate further. The Company are not tasked with uncovering the purpose of these spies (that can be easily surmised!); nor even whose bidding they are doing. But if there is little risk, Elrond will find all additional information useful.

Since several of the Company have journeyed here before, the trip through the Trollshaws needs but a simple TN 14 to be successful. They have the advantage of the boost provided by the supplies carried by Gondrils pony: until now, there has been no need to hunt for food and they have full food bags. Water is plentiful too - once it has been filtered through any of the many reeds to be gathered from the pools and puddles of the moors and bogs.

Travel test at TN 14 please. The Trollshaws would be harder, except the Company have had a particularly easy start.

Making very good progress throughout this stage of their journey the company finally reach a significant shelf of rock, almost a plateau really.

From this elevation they will see the lands to the immediate north before them all at lower level.
Somewhat undulating in nature, the lands beneath them carry a slight, yet distinct, smell of rotting plant material lying in slow moving or stagnant waters. This part of the lands at the edge of the Trollshaws has a lot of rainfall in Autumn and Winter. In Spring the snow melts from the Misty Mountains provide a further soaking in addition to the storms of that season. This is a land of bog and shallow swamp. Poorly drained or slow-draining, it will be a damp experience marching through this terrain. Pools and other stretches of water dot the land before them.
There are almost no trees, and certainly none of any height. There will be little protection from the northern winds said to sweep down from the cold lands much further ahead of them. When they set up their campsites those that are assembled in hollows where the cold winds might be screened will be particularly wet; and in the higher parts that will be less waterlogged, those campsites will be exposed to an incessant chill.

The Company expect to have to travel through these wetlands, and even Explore the region somewhat: Elrond needs to know the routes taken by spies attempting to make the reverse journey to the one the heroes are making.

---

Ooc: Since the company has either 2 or 3 skill level in Explore, we can each have a roll in order to obtain as many Successes as we can and locate the most promising routes that would lead back towards Rivendell. TOR1e has a similar mechanic for Encounters, and TOR 2e has its own mechanics for Prolonged Tasks and Councils, where a running total of Successes lead to the degree of Success.

Can each one of us attempt an Explore roll? TN 14. (Please remember that Explore is a Survival skill for gaining Advancement points)

explore

The Company seem to be particularly blessed with good fortune in these lands so far.
It takes a day or so of scrambling up and down but Ahmo comes across a series of steps hacked out of a steep section of the drop off, angling diagonally upwards (or downwards). In addition to this she can see (partly covered in loose soil with fresh weeds growing in it) several disturbed blocks of stone: large boulders that she can reasonably guess were removed from this new pathway.
But more pertinent are the tracks leading around the base. Tracks that the members of the company have witnessed before when they travelled in these regions last time. Trollprints. The way the boulders were moved and the trackway constructed seem evident now.

The others follow Ahmo down and join her as she casts around. Then she chooses to run back up the slope: she wants to know how quickly someone might make it.

Larsi potters around and around, calling for the assistance of Jot to examine the tracks that Ahmo has discovered. Aeglief joins them as well as soon as the dwarf explains he has an inkling that the troll work was done over a few days or more.
Jot can offer his opinion that the disturbances are truly not that old... maybe even in the last fortnight or so, and barely a month old in other words.

Ahmo has been down, up, and down the "stairway" again. It is quite a secure path: but not one a horse could ascend; unless completely unburdened. At the narrowest parts of the path three men could easily march up in line across.
However,as she descends she joins Larsi in examining the land at the base of the stair. Most of the terrain right at the base of the steep drop is reasonably firm, and covered in an emerald green reedy grass. but a few paces is all it needs before some patches of soft and waterlogged ground begin even to give way under her elven balance and light tread. There are few secure places here, and an armoured man in mail or with heavy boots or a large pack would struggle to move quickly.

Larsi himself, with Aeglief behind, are watching Jot at work. The ranger picks up small handfuls of mud, and sometimes sand. He looks around at the plants growing in various patches. There is little of the Sapphire Mallow flower to be seen here. But some clumps suggest higher and drier ground. One such clump attracts his attention and he moves to the base of Ahmo's "Ladder" as they are calling it. And looks again at the same clump and the mound.

"Yes. Here, and leading to there. I think this is what you are after, Larsi. The marks of the troll-workers make an shallow indented trail from here to there. Let us proceed carefully."

Despite his own professed warning about being cautious, the ranger calls out to Oderic and waves at Cora. The two are further away along the line of the drop. while they come back quickly Jot will take off his pack and ready his weapons. He also takes out a short piece of wood to prepare to make a torch.

---

Seven success even before Jot rolls! The company have discovered all the clues they need to reveal that the trolls directed to make this thoroughfare will have rested during the day in a hole - and that hole was inside a dug out or cave on slightly higher and drier ground, marked by the Sapphire Mallow flowers. Jot will realise that if there are enemies in the hole they will have been seen already. And if the enemies are trolls it will be nightfall before they can come out.

Jot displays skills in tracking and interpreting that even many elves are not experienced enough to do. In this meticulous survey he puts together observations of details that many can see just as well, but they do not see what such a sign ( or lack of sign) must mean.

"We will find no trolls in the mound. Yes, there is traffic of several days here, three or four days.
And two different sized trolls made most of them. Along with booted feet. Several boots. Mainly orc feet in their boots.. see the discarded sole nail there?
And standing here, a set of bigger boots. With a tread cut into them by a stirrup. No horse came out here, so a being who is more commonly a rider: they stood and watched. From here, supervising or commanding, no doubt. Only one other set of the orc boots comes up to this point. The Leader was not one to be in with the mob: powerful, intimidating I think.

The clearest troll prints head off from here, back northwards. Orc marks followed them. The smart boots probably led them away, and there is no sign of His passage.


No. The construction crew has left. Possibly 7 to 10 days or more now."

There is little to be interested in at the mound.

As they cross on the western side of it and start off following the line of marks northwards, they come across the remnants of a fire: charred bones suggest some meat was directly roasted or grilled here.

The construction crew must have felt themselves secure here in the far wilderness.

Another Travel roll please (from the drop off to within close enough viewing of Mount Gram), as the Company will be moving across wetlands with patches of sticky mud, other open pools of standing deep brown water, and peaty material. They will have to pick their way through and along as much solid ground as they can find.

The tracks they could follow soon disappear in this sort of terrain, as the ground, when disturbed, soon oozes around and fills in any prints.

Fortunately there is one piece of evidence on the first day of this journey that suggests the construction party went straight towards their goal: a piece of discarded cloth, too dirty and wet through from sitting on the ground so it will not yield any further information. And this scrap of brown animal skin lies directly on the same path and direction as they travelled on that first day.

TN 18.

Will pass one of the other Successes on, however, it is an Eye.... somethings gonna happen...

The little company progress northwards, and a little west aways now. The rising ground on their right heads up towards the Grey lines and spikes that are all they can glimpse of the Misty Mountains; yet there is a spur waiting for them to reach it. A short chain of its own that leads from the main mountain group across to the bloated rock mass that is termed Mount Gram.

But just as the Trollshaws* that they left so far behind them when they descended the landslip had its own features, this terrain they are crossing has its own (depressing) character. Most of the company feel the effort needed to get across the dripping, sliding surface is so much greater than the easy time they had across the southern section above Rvendell. And with every mile spent trudging along the terrain seems to be more sticky, and has a darker and darker hue.
To the sides there are occasion stone features: Jot and Ahmo recall what they can of the war of the Dunedain and the Dark Northern kingdom of foul Angmar: almost a thousand years ago now. These stone features are all that remains of various buildings that once were important places in the old Kingdom of Arnor, before this region was claimed as part of the old territory of land once called Rhudaur. And then subsumed into the Realm of Angmar for a brief while.

Ahmo can recall that the lands here cannot be so very far away from where the mighty Elf Lord, Glorfindel of Rivendell, pressed the pursuit of the remnants of the army of Angmar: after the final defeat of that foul, sorcerous regime some weeks were spent by the cavalry of Gondor over the plains much further to the west, harrying the men of Rhudaur into the ground.
Ahmo declares that small groups of elves went after the last rearguard of Rhudaurans - trying to retire and rally in these stones buildings. She smiles when she recounts her meeting Glorfindel within thirty miles of Mount Gram. The Elf Lord was returning with his report that he had forced the final group into a morass of black mud and cold brackish water. There they had been slain to the last, else they had blundered too far into these swamps, and so foundered.

---

* earlier described as the Ettenmoors, in error. The Ettenmoors are close to Mount Gram!

Here even summer is no excuse for sunlight: the days are often overcast with low grey uneven clouds scudding across the horizon. And rain falls on and off. The wind blows from different directions on different days.

And if there is no wind, there is instead an increasing frequency of mists and fogs.

The ground, if possible, feels wetter.


One day the fog is so bad they hardly make any progress: and they only know it is night when the grey walls of fog turn to dull black.

It is time to rest. Tonight, on Larsi's advice, they watch in pairs...

Larsi has taken the first night watch with Jot.
Then there will be the two elves, and Cora and Oderic will wake for the cold last watch before the blackness fades into the thin white wall of the mist or fog of the previous days.

Jot patrols relentlessly. His ears are of more use than eyes in this deep darkness. With no fire possible in this tree-starved, desolate, drenched - area even if they had considered one safe enough to strike up - he has arranged several thin pieces of string as both trip hazards for animals approaching and as a guide line for his own quiet circuits.

The Ranger is accompanied by Larsi: and, by the grace of Aeglief to whom it belongs, he carries a small wondrous lantern of elven make that shines with a fairly glow all through the night. It illuminates a small area and reveals that the fog rarely persists into the night, but instead becomes thinner wisps. Nonetheless the stars are not visible overhead. Inside the lamp is a stone of crystal that holds even the pale light of the day and releases it when the sun has run its path across the sky. " A gift from the Woodland Realm" Aeglief called it, "for those who may need to travel underground."
Right now it reveals where Jot has placed his tripwire lines - four altogether, each with a bell.

The first watch passes without incident - but both Ranger and dwarf find that the night is not silent.

Creaks, like branches shifting in a breeze; Sighs, like wind over stones; Murmurs, like the mumbling of sheep or wild ponies when threatened by an unseen wolf; and sucking squelchy noises, as if footsteps were pulling across the mires and marshes that still stretch before them.

This land is not still. But neither watcher feels any wind that might explain some of the night-noise.

They end their time and rouse Aeglief and Ahmo - neither of whom truly seem asleep. As they settle, Oderic notices Larsi and grunts a muted question. The old dwarf grimly chuckles and jokes that he and Jot overcame every Troll and Water Giant that appeared in the night. But as he lies down, he adds, " we are far from the haunts of Feredrun, our guardian huntress: yet I feel her eye is not screened by the mists" before he is soon snoring.

Even as the two elves start to settle into a routinue for their Watch, the noises reported by Jot and Larsi begin to increase in volume and intensity.

The two soon realise that there is a gathering beginning some way away from the camp. And whatever is gathering outside there is getting closer as well.

Edging inwards.

They have to rouse them all, and now.

As Larsi and Jot awake again (though neither was too settled in) Cora and Oderic are scrambling up and gripping weapons: both have been advised to ignore Ranged weapons...

... the worst of it all is the very limited range of their vision, the mists and the darkness combine to give little other than the reach of their melee weapons.

---

This darkness is such a disadvantage that no preliminary Battle rolls for bonus dice can be made.

The situation now seems very close to impossible, Cora cannot imagine how they will be able to coordinate and protect each other: there are six of them, yet she can barely see Oderic to one side as she braces her feet and shifts her buckler around in its strap, and judging by his height, and the swirl of a cloak, it is Jot on the other.
She senses rather than sees the two elves are a little further away, and she reasons that Oderic will have Larsi on his other side, altogether the six are making a ring (she hopes!)

The approaching sounds are very much like boots lifting and dragging up mud and water as they come louder and closer... from all directions in the darkness it sounds like...

... and then some faint spots appear in the darkness... ahead and all around...



The lights have a sickly look, and Cora can hear the intake of one of the elves, a sound of distaste. She hears someone say "Prepare yourselves, these mean no good...

All but the Elves present need a Valour Test to avoid gaining Shadow points. If Jot fails, he gains 1 point; the others if they fail gain 2 Shadow points. Failing with an Eye leaves them Daunted and unable to spend Hope while the darkness lasts.

Three of the Company were unaware of having very similar thoughts at this moment.
All about a helpful entity holding a long history with this part of the mortal world.


Of course, those thoughts may have been a coincidence, and if that were all, the Change in circumstance may have been nothing other than the pernicious nature of weather.


Whatever the cause, or lack of cause, the wind came from the South, and above their heads, the fog became a mist; that then shredded into wisps of stringy vapour: abd the starlight was visible again...

... more, A Hunters Moon shone clear revealing the immediate land around...

.... revealing shambling, somewhat disjointed, bodies wearing half-rotted clothing and armour, moving with Purpose towards them.





Many bodies. The faces streaked with black mud or green slime or both, but the edges of their weapons glinting slickly in the moonlight.

But at least they can be seen now. The elves by their nature are not Daunted by the mere prescence of decaying mortals... however, the others still need to take a breath before the ghastly sight revealed.
With the others standing firm around her, Cora too remains resolute.

The Company assume an easy circle as their foes are coming from all directions.

Oderic stoops and flings a stone at one. It seems to bounce off the arm of one of these creatures.

The voice of Jot comes across, quiet and grim,

"I deem we would do best by Cutting into these re-risen foes. They feel nothing, no pain, their limbs will not get tired. We need sharp edges and points to slice them apart. Deliver hard blows, and quickly."

hahaah- 'one'- twice no less

(( that was rearward stance- sorry- switching to sword and shield now an staying in the line.

LM We will just ignore the roll then... " the arrow flies straight through the sleeve of the coat of a bog soldier... but this one is missing his limb anyway... "

So just take a swing as the Round starts

As the corrupted shambling beings move towards them from all directions Jot and Laicamiril have time to mutter a few warnings


Fortunately Ahmo and Jot have some knowledge of these creatures. They will be able to communicate a few facts.
Ahmo calmly delivers facts about the fighting style of these beasts.

"These foes are Undead, and will be hard to finish off. Bog warriors such as these have some momentum with their attacks - they aren't properly dead until its lying on the ground and not moving. Although they Fear Fire - we have none, and these are too Unthinking to be cowed by Battle Cries: save your breath for the fight!"

LM Note (Unnatural Vitality ability) when reduced to zero Endurance they continue to operate by spending 1 Hate point per Round. Effectively they get a few extra Rounds of attacking before they realise they are dead.
Intimidate Foe will be ineffective.

They would have Fear of Fire... but there is no Fire here in the bogs!
Sunlight etc has no impact.

---

After nodding, Jot too will add in one of the Tactics of the Bog warriors...

"Bog soldiers are known to attempt to Seize their foes, in order to drag them into the mud and drown them. While one fights you, another will try to grip you if they can get around the side or to the rear.
We must not permit them to break our circle, or to leap in. If one of us falls, the others must drag them inside and close the gap. Do not try to revive them, there will be no time. If you fall to the ground, it is almost certainly your final move!"

---

LM Note: If a PC is engaged by one soldier, then any other bog soldier will attempt to Seize the PC from the side or rear. So if a PC takes knockback, then the gap in the shield wall will permit this. Standing shoulder to shoulder in the ring stops these attempts. If a PC is defeated, they must be dragged back inside the ring (one other PC loses their own/next attack roll to do this), and the circle tightened - else the bog soldiers will push through and attempt Seize from behind. The fallen comrade will be automatically Seized if left in the open. With a group of size 6, only two fallen comrades can be so protected - same restrictions as Rearward Stance in Combat.


When a PC is seized, only an Athletics roll (TN =10 + Attribute, 3, = 13) will permit the PC to break free. The PC can continue to fight - but counts as hindered, their Attack roll is altered by raising the difficulty of the Attack TN by 4, while their Defence is reduced by 4.
If a PC is Seized another Bog Soldier can pile on with a fresh Seize attack, increasing the Athletics roll needed by + 3 (Attribute) to TN 16.
If the Athletics roll fails with an Eye, the PC counts as drowning in the mud (lose 1d6 Endurance per turn, can only roll Athletics, Parry is reduced to 6 )

Endurance of a Bog Soldier = 12, Parry = 2, weapon skill = 2. The weapons all have similar characteristics Damage 4 , Edge 10, Injury 14 being rusted and in poor condition.

Assume each PC will be occupied by two Bog warriors. One will do the fighting, but the other is lurking for the opportunity to Seize you!

In each Round then, only one Attack will be made against your PC: but IF that Attack Hits you, then the other Bog warrior will roll their Movement skill (2) against a TN of 10 + your Body score: if Successful you are Seized and will have to roll Athletics instead of your next attack to break free. If you do not then the Bog warrior who has Seized you will Attack with Claws...

Jot steps boldly into the thickening shadow where one of the bog warriors looms — a hulking figure risen from the mire, its armor slick with peat and its eyes dim with ancient hate. Holding his stance wide and balanced, Jot moves with purpose, dual weapons drawn: his sword gripped firmly in one hand, and his hunting knife in the other.

Rather than aiming to kill outright, he strikes with discipline — the flat of his blade crashing against the bog warrior’s weapon-arm with a crack of steel. With practiced speed, he twists his body and slashes in close with the hunting knife, aiming not for death, but for disruption — a gash across exposed muscle, a flick that turns the foe’s balance against itself. The knife twists in his hand as he pivots, every motion seeking to weaken and stagger the warrior, rather than end it outright.

All around, the sucking mud seems to hold its breath.

LM: the sword hits for 5 damage. But his sword has a feature that always inflicts (Valour) worth of extra damage even with a miss, so total damage = 7.

Even if Laicamiril chops the Bog Warrior down in one go, its Hate energy and its Unnatural Vitality will permit it to continue the fight with zero Endurance. So far only Aeglief has reduced her foe to zero endurance, but it will spend 1 Hate to attack this round. The others will all have to take an attack. I believe that everyone is in Defensive Stance?

Bog warriors Attack in round 1 (remember - if your PC is actually hit then the partner to your Bog Warrior will attempt to SEIZE you in this Round too)

A: Warrior Ahmo (Body 6) 7 / 12 reduced to zero by her Round 2 attack
B: Warrior Aeglief (Body 4) 0 / 12 Uses 1 hate; will use 2nd Hate in Round 2
C: Warrior Jot (Body 7) 5 / 12 reduced to zero by Aegliefs Round 2 attack
D: Warrior Larsi (Body 6) 5 / 12 reduced to zero by Round 2 attack, if he spends 1 Hope
E: Warrior Oderic (Body 3) 2 / 12 reduced to zero by Round 2 attack
F: Warrior Cora (Body 3) 2 / 12 reduced to zero by Round 2 attack

The Bog warriors may be slow, but they do not seem to respond negatively to being hit - it is disconcerting to say the least.

They have little care for their own damage and relentlessly pummel away. For four of the Defenders these warriors blind attackers are able to be parried away; but for Aeglief and for Cora, both receive a strange move from their direct enemy, drawing blood on each of them.

And it is as if the scent of Blood calls to another Bog warrior: in each case Aeglief and Cora find outstretched limbs coming for them, pulling at their clothes...

Aeglief remains calm under the sudden second assault, her elven grace and skill evading the clutches of the second warrior. Pushing it back she realises that the first warrior landed a deeper cut than at first she felt - is she Wounded? Aeglief also needs to roll an Armour/Protection roll at TN 14, and has suffered a loss of 4 damage anyway.

Cora too finds that the thing was grasping at her throat and face, but somehow, the first warrior impedes its partner. However, while dodging the gripping claws, she suffers the sharp and deep attack of the sword of the first warrior. She dare not look down, but feels the blade even more as it is withdrawn than when it cut first..
Cora also takes Damage 4 and needs an Armour roll at TN 14 from the wounding strike of the first warrior

As the Bog Warriors begin to enter the phase where they have Zero Endurance, the PCs need to stand fast and absorb any damage they might receive while the Hate is being run down.

It is a good time to bring two Combat Tasks added to the Core by the Adventurers Companion.

1. In Defensive stance select FULL DEFENCE. Any PC holding a shield (and those holding 2 one-handed weapons) chooses this, and - forfeiting their Attack - they add even more to their Parry total. The extra Parry is equal to the ENCUMBRANCE of the shield. (Buckler +1, shield + 3, great shield + 5) OR increase the Parry score by the Encumbrance of the heavier one-handed weapon.

2. In Defensive stance again, select STAND GROUND. Any PC with a two-handed weapon can attempt to keep the space in front clear of foes. Spend 1 Hope and all Attacks in that Round have to roll the Feat die twice, taking the worst result.



Note: This does mean that Jot can exploit Aegliefs generous stab, and can choose to go FULL DEFENCE or STAND GROUND.

Bog warriors Attack in round 2 (remember - if your PC is actually hit then the partner to your Bog Warrior will attempt to SEIZE you in this Round too)
Edit After rolling.
I assumed we stuck to our Defensive policy, in which case most TN for the Bog warriors are about 16 or higher at least. All such rolls in this Round therefore miss.


A: Warrior Ahmo (Body 6) 0 / 12 Uses 1st Hate;
B: Warrior Aeglief (Body 4) 0 / 12 Uses 2nd Hate;
C: Warrior Jot (Body 7) 0 / 12 Uses 1st Hate reduced to zero by Aegliefs Round 2 attack
D: Warrior Larsi (Body 6) 0? / 12 Uses 1st Hate reduced to zero by Larsi's Round 2 attack, if he spends 1 Hope
E: Warrior Oderic (Body 3) 0 / 12 Uses 1st Hate
F: Warrior Cora (Body 3) 0 / 12 Uses 1st Hate

---

In fact there is little value in our rolling any more attacks now, because further endurance losses will not change the situation. The attacks from the Bog Warriors are all that are left to roll in Round 3.

At the end of the 3rd Round, Aeglief's opponent will subside and collapse. The others will drop at the end of the 4th Round.

Following Attacks for Bog Warriors in Round 4 and 5.

Incredibly these foes prove to be unable to overcome any of the skill of the defenders. There are no further slips or errors made, and when first one Warrior keels over, followed a little while later by the others, the Company will see the strange semi-cannibalistic nature of these beasts in action.

The unmoving "corpses" are set upon by those behind them and dragged off into the background.

The Mists swirl back in a little, and clouds sometimes scud across the light of the Moon, reducing the conditions of observation somewhat.

However, Ahmo and Aeglief can still report that the bodies were seemingly pulled under by clutching hands rising from the thicker, blacker places that are undoubtedly mud pools.

The Company march off, northwards generally, and a little to the east. It is soon apparent they are rising in height, and the ground gets somewhat firmer.

They do not need Jot to state that the route they had been following must have led straight through a bog-swamp; but a little casual conversation - made on the march really - finishes with the ranger and the High Elf concluding that the bog below would have been one place where the Rearguard of Angmar were driven into and then perished: a thousand years ago. And that it was likely to have been a significant number of corpses that once were Men from Rhudaur.

After three hours the Company are almost seven miles away from the site of the conflict. They come across some bare flat rocks projecting up from the ground. More solid terrain cannot be imagined!

---

Those PCs who suffered some Endurance loss can reclaim (Heart) value back soon after they make camp for the rest of the night.
And that resolves the Travel Hazard!

The Company have left the trail they were attempting to follow, that led them into the bog in the previous night.
But it is agreed that the original line of march was directly towards Mount Gram. It is instantly proposed that they amend their direction slightly and head back towards Mt Gram again.


Unless anyone can persuade the Company that in their opinion they need not go to Mount Gram, this still seems the best place to locate the group that helped to construct a path that ascends the escarpment and would soon enable quite an army to pass that way and head much closer to the edge of the maze that forms a great part of the northern defences of Imladris.

Ahead of them they can clearly see Mount Gram. A bit of a peak coming at the end of a low range, itself sticking out directly westwards from the Misty Mountains to their right.

Ahmo and Jot will know that this was once a staging post for Angmar's armies to rest and gather before striking southwestwards into Arnor of old.

Since then it has been known that goblins have favoured the old hill with its tunnels and caves. Larsi can remember the Blue Mountains dwarves telling stories of the spite of these goblins - always applied to any "visitors" and often applied to their own kind too. Oddly these goblins loathe bats (but not the taste!) and are said to encourage darker feathered birds to the peak instead. Carrion crows, magpies, and cave owls.
Larsi also tells of the belief that the legbones of several hobbits dangle from the roof of one of their important meeting caverns. Mount Gram goblins have a strange reverence for one of their old captains, Golfimbul the Wolf Rider. In the hobbit mathom house, and in some of Bilbo's tales, Golfimbul is described as a Goblin King: slain by the head Took at Greenfields. Larsi shakes his beard and laughs quietly at the memory of how earnestly Bilbo said this.

(( I don't have the material for this so I can't 'cheat' - I got a good roll to know which side of the mountain mass the goblins have their main gate on. Facing us? Facing the north?- thinking how best to observe the place)

The Lore roll above had an 11 on the Feat die = an Eye of Sauron result, which counts as a zero. The total is therefore 7, which is no kind of pass. Ahmo's memory must be of a chat with a dwarf who either knew nothing, or the little bearded wonder was wrong