Shadow Over Rhudaur Planning Thread

[Rian]

Gordis - I took Arinya out of "other Dunedain of Rhudaur" because she is an elf. I put her in the elf section. Do you want to keep it like this, or change the title to "Others in Rhudaur" so it keeps her with the Rhudaur group? Also, is she Odare's tutor, too? I thought she was just Tarniel's. Either way is fine with me.

I added Callon and Caelen's ages. I also added my other elves - Tyaron and Alagos. I like how you did Arinya's age, so I did a similar thing with the guys. I may or may not use them, I haven't decided yet - as I said before, the character list is a great idea, but it makes it a little difficult to add other characters as we go.

[Witch-king of Angmar]

I just added the background for Belzagar to the character information thread. A number of characters will play lesser parts and I probably won't add them. I'm still undecided about the orcs.

[Valandil]

gordis said:

Val and Rian- about dating the arrival to C.Brin
:
:
:
So , my suggestion to Val is to make Eryndil scout around a bit more before going home for winter - i.e. to re-date the scene in Ostinand from the 13 of October to Oct. 18 and make Eryndil and CC's arrive to Cameth Brin on the 20-22.
Why Oct 18? - technical reasons, just because the Shadow II "Intrigue and Sorcery" starts on Oct 19 with Broggha's arrival to Cameth Brin. If the event takes place on the 18, it will fit nicely as the last post in the Shadow I "Runnings" -where it is now.

Alright - I think I have a compromise solution that should work for all.

I'll keep the celebration on October 12 (OK - it's my birthday! ;D ) - but take the urgency out of the summons, so that the poor guy gets to stay on a few more days with his family.

If they had left the next day, the messenger would have been glad to accompany them - but since it's delayed a week, he'll go the next day himself. Eryndil will be sure he meets Callon, and explain that Callon will soon be arriving to the King's stables with a letter of recommendation from Eryndil - and asking that he advise the stablemaster of it.

So - the party will move along toward CB several days later (and yes - I could reasonably make it the 18th). When they're within a couple hours' hard ride (or maybe even in sight of the tower) - about noon on the 22nd, Eryndil frees C & C to go on ahead, since a few of his men are having trouble staying in the saddle for so long, so many days. So they can go on ahead and arrive on the afternoon of the 22nd - and Eryndil and his men will either get there in early evening, or stop over one more night and arrive early the 23rd. If they arrive on the 23rd, they won't have to appear so "saddle-sore" ;D

Good all around?

(PS: Gordis - I saw that we shouldn't put N / N on the caravan - that's fine too)

[Gordis]

OK to that, Val

My only suggestion is to start moving on the 17-18 (your choice) but arrive to C. Brin: CC's on the 21, Eryndil on the morning of 22, not 23. He has to go see the King, but on the 23 the King will be busy - Private Council.

Again I have technical reasons: we have to squeeze your posts into riight place in the archived Shadow II. There are lots of posts for the 19 of October (feast and fight day) and lots of posts for October 23 (counsil day and Nauremir's "death" and funeral) - but nothing dated in between. Your arrivals, Val and Rian, and Eryndil's presentation to the King will fit there perfectly.
For now, I suggest just post everything at the end of Shadow II "Intrigues and Sorcery". Then I shall try to squeeze it into the proper place on the 1 page of Shadow II.

[Valandil]

Alright Gordis - will do. I'll make it so Eryndil arrives on the 21st - and I'll try to come up with something that delays C & C by one day, so nothing Rian wrote has to be changed. Any suggestions though, Rian, on a good delay for C & C - between maybe one day's ride - or even within sight, of Cameth Brin? The closer it is, the better Eryndil would feel about moving on without them. If he can put them up at an inn, two leagues (6 miles) out from town, that's about perfect.

Question to all: I COULD bring Eryndil's sister Hendegil to town, but there are so MANY young Dunedain ladies already. Is it best to wait until the action of our story might shift back there before we return to that family? Of course - some could always come to join Eryndil later, so I can leave them all in Ostinand for now.

- - - - - - -

Gordis - I can handle getting Eryndil to CB with just one more post. I have two other posts I want to get in though:

1. Beleg on the road to Amon Sul. I can easily get this in at the end of "Runnings" and make it between October 12 and 18.

2. The one I mentioned to you in PM - I will try to post it the same time I post the next Eryndil post, if it's best for you to do all your "squeezing" at once - so I can also make this Oct 21. Won't be long because I won't really tell the story yet - nor expose the identity.

I will do the Eryndil and #2 above next - and then post the #1 above a little later. The idea dates back to when we had active plans to bring Cardolan into the story - and this will just drop hints about something going on there. At least something between Arthedain, Cardolan and...

Also - I'm starting to conceive of one later Eryndil post to put backward in time - and it fits perfectly between Shadow II and Shadow III - so I'll put it at the end of II, before the first date of III, if that seems most equitable (and it definitely involves intrigue).

[Gordis]

OK,OK - just post everything (well dated at the end of Shadow II - Then, when everything is there, I will do the general squeezing.

Delay for CC's... I guess the best idea is to let them check on the village near Cameth Brin where their aunt once lived. Eryndil can send a couple of men with them for protection, who will later leave them to ride alone to the stables.

[Valandil]

gordis said:

OK,OK - just post everything (well dated at the end of Shadow II - Then, when everything is there, I will do the general squeezing.

Delay for CC's... I guess the best idea is to let them check on the village near Cameth Brin where their aunt once lived. Eryndil can send a couple of men with them for protection, who will later leave them to ride alone to the stables.

Gordis,

Oh - I got confused about the aunt (thought she was IN Cameth Brin or Tanoth Brin). I'm composing right now, leaving them at "The Riverside Inn" six miles up the river from Cameth Brin, at noon on the 21st. This site could be a small town - the Inn, a Mill, a Smith, maybe a local Thane's manor - so the aunt could easily live (or have once lived) in this town And - we could call it "Riverside" if you like. I didn't go into exactly WHY they stayed (my post starts with waving good-bye) - but it's clear that it's only for a day, and that Eryndil thinks this works best all around anyway. Maybe one of their horses needs a shoe - but maybe it was to find out about the aunt. I can add explanation if Rian has a preference.

And - I'll put the Beleg post at the end of I - Runnings - and I think you can leave it alone there.

[Rian]

Gordis - I see you picked up on my knife statement ... a good reason to search him!

I made a few small edits to my post, and added the line "He then gave a brief account of what had happened to them on the road." because I forgot to have Callon explain the whole thing.

I don't quite understand why Gimilbeth wants Callon to go further than Brochenridge (sp?) because he had never seen Nauremir, though :confused:

Val - I'll get back to you later today about if those details will work

[Gordis]

Rian: "I don't quite understand why Gimilbeth wants Callon to go further than Brochenridge (sp?) because he had never seen Nauremir, though :confused"Because she wants to take Nauremir to Amon Sul as Hurgon's apprentice. The young man is still too weak to fend for himself: to go alone to Gondor or something like that. Callon is meant to continue to drive Hurgon's wagon from Brochenridge to Amon Sul.

I think you have forgotten, Rian, that Naurenir is native from Brockenridge - the son of its Lord. It is reasonable to suppose that almost everyone in Brochenridge knows him. So she can't hire another wagon driver for Hurgon's wagon there: the new driver would recognize Nauremir.

Angmar, I quite agree about orcs. They should fear the daylight.

I think they should have prepared the attack in the evening - after all in November the day ends at about 3- 4 p.m. So, I suggest the main party is waithing further down the road while the scouts are sent north to spy on the party. It is reasonable to suppose that they will still be waiting for Algeirr's signal, once the sun sets, but they will see none.

[Witch-king of Angmar]

gordis said:

Angmar, I quite agree about orcs. They should fear the daylight.
I think they should have prepared the attack in the evening - after all in November the day ends at about 3- 4 p.m. So, I suggest the main party is waithing further down the road while the scouts are sent north to spy on the party. It is reasonable to suppose that they will still be waiting for Algeirr's signal, once the sun sets, but they will see none.

Gordis, I've made a few modifications in the post. I had to have Durbûrz and Saakaf spying on the morning of November 2nd to keep it concurrent with the apprehension of Algierr, since he would be the one giving the signal. The two scouts will be spying upon the Princess' party throughout the rest of the day, but the attack itself should not come until that night or early the next morning.

Orcs are actually very weak soldiers, unless you are a god or wizard or whatever and can create cloud covers for them to protect them from sun. Their weaponry and armor are always inferior. Daylight hurts them. Their travel time would doubtlessly be longer since they cannot tolerate the sun over open spaces. They must travel mostly at night or under cover. It would be like having an army of soldiers who were taking drugs which made them photosensitive and their use is limited only to certain hours of the day. They are easier to write about after the advent of Uruk-hai and Black Uruks.

I wonder sometimes if Tolkien invented the improved orcs simply because of the difficulty of writing about these characters who are so limited in use. They're great for scenes in caves and darkness, but daytime? Forget it.

And trolls! Useless in the daytime. Scary as all blazes at night, but let the sun come up, and you have some statues. ;D