The One Ring, Strider Mode: Episode 4

I know that Sarn Ford is an important river crossing, so let’s ask: is there somebody else there when they arrive? The chances are likely, so I’ll roll against a difficulty of 4. The result is 5, so the answer is yes.
What sort of company awaits them? I’ll roll on the Lore Table for an Aspect and Focus. Aspect: Sheltered. Focus: Love. Interesting.

The sun is growing low as Ûrdis and Bella reach the banks of the river. “Let’s make camp in the woods, and cross in the morning,” says Ûrdis.
Before they can find a suitable sight, she hears splashing steps approaching from the river. She draws her bow and knocks an arrow quickly, only to see that the approaching group is not armed.
It appears to be a small family of Men: a father, a wife, and three children, the youngest of whom is being held in her oldest brother’s arms. The family stops when they see Ûrdis with her bow drawn. “Peace! We mean you no harm!” says the father, holding out his hands to show he has no weapons.
Ûrdis lowers her bow but doesn’t put the arrow back in her quiver just yet. “What brings you across the river in such a hurry?”

What indeed? Rolling on the Lore Table again. Action: Discover. Aspect: Broken.

The Man gestures to his family, shivering in the water. “Brigands destroyed our homestead! We’re hoping to find shelter across the river.”
Ûrdis nods and gestures for them to approach. The family wades across the water, and they make a fire to hear the story and dry off.
The family introduces themselves: Giles Foxglow, his wife Etta, and their children Tom, Fay, and Sage. Giles explains that his family has lived in the shadow of an ancient ruin off the Greenway for generations with no trouble. Then brigands occupied the ruins, and began digging. Soon afterwards they began attacking nearby farms and towns, taking food but also digging more holes, as if looking for something.
“Naturally, Lady Ûrdis will render you aid,” says Bella without a hint of shame.
Ûrdis smiles but glares at Bella from the corner of her eyes. “What my companion means to say is that I have urgent business in Tharbad. But if you need provisions for your journey, we can give what we have to spare.”
Etta speaks up for the first time. “We’d be much obliged to you, my lady. But if you are taking the road south, that will lead right past those ruins. The brigands will have you for sure.”
Ûrdis stops to consider this. Cutting across country would waste days of travel time, but might be safer. “Thank you. May the light of the Valar protect your way.”

That night, as Ûrdis tries to sleep, she feels Bella’s eyes on her. Finally, she can tolerate the angry silence no longer. “What is it now?”
“Charity? Is that really everything an ancient elf-lady can do for a family in need?”
Ûrdis rises up from her bedroll to look at Bella from across the fire. “Ancient, you called me? Aye, I suppose I am. I have seen kingdoms of Men rise and fall into ruin. There are always families in need. There are always towns set aflame, innocents butchered in their beds. It is the nature of mortals, and not even the wisest or mightiest among the Eldar can alter it.”
For a time, Bella seems cowed by this. “So, since you can’t fix everything, you’ll leave them to their fates?”
A flash of anger rises in Ûrdis. “What would you have me do? Walk into the bandit camp and slay them all?”
“Could you do that?”
“No! Maybe. That’s not my point!”
Bella looks down into the fire, her long hair falling in a curtain around her. “I know I’m not Ages old, and I know that I’m no warrior or scholar. But my mum always taught me that when you see folks in need, you help them. And those folks need their home back.”
Ûrdis thinks of a hundred arguments, a thousand hurtful words to strike back with, but they die in her throat. “I will investigate these ruins, but I make no promises. Satisfied?”
Bella says nothing, but her smile says everything.
Several long minutes pass, with no sound but the crackle of the fire, the rush of the river, and the calls of nightbirds. Ûrdis breaks the silence. “We only agreed to travel together as far as this point. What will you do now?”
Bella rests her chin in her palms. “The Foxglows need someone to stay with them, til you get back.”
“And then? The way forward is dangerous, especially for a hobbit.”
Bella smiles again. “If I’d be in danger, then Brandy definitely is. I don’t think I could live with myself, safe in Michel Delving, without knowing he’s alright. So after you beat those bandits, I’ll stick with you a while longer. If you’ll have me.”
In spite of herself, Ûrdis smiles.

The next morning, Ûrdis tells the Foxglows that she intends to scout out the ruins, to see if she can find out what the bandits are looking for. Before leaving, she gives her short sword to Bella; in her hands it looks almost like a longsword.

To determine just how far away the ruins are, I’m going to roll a d6. I get a 2, so 2 hexes away. I don’t feel like making a thing about searching for it, so I’ll gloss over the journey to the ruins, and roll the Lore Table to see what the ruins are like. Aspect: Stony. Focus: Shadow.

It doesn’t take Ûrdis long to find the ruins the Foxglows spoke of. Upon a small hill overlooking where the small road from the Shire meets the Greenway is a squat tower, constructed of weather-beaten stone. Perhaps this was once a watchtower of the Kingdom of Arnor, meant to hold guard over the river crossing. Now, however, it bears an ill-favored look.

In order to get closer, Ûrdis will make a Stealth roll. I am going to invoke her Burglary feature to become Inspired, and spend a Hope point. I get a Success with a Tengwar. I’ll spend that Special Success to gain insight into the situation. I roll again on the Lore Table and get Aspect: Ghastly.

Ûrdis creeps forward across the hill through the dark, her cloak helping her blend into the scrubland. In no time at all she makes it to the base of the tower, and begins to scale it. Her fingers and toes find easy purchase in the rough, pocked stone face of the wall.
The brigands’ watch is irregular, sloppy. Ûrdis finds a dark spot to crouch on the wall, and looks down into the camp. What she sees there chills her heart.
The men there are dirty and rough, but they also move as if half-asleep. Their eyes are almost shut as they wander around, their pupils not visible. Ûrdis has seen this before; these Men are possessed by spirits of the dead.

I’ll have Ûrdis resist the effects of the Dread she feels with a Shadow Test with Valour. She succeeds, reducing the Shadow points received from 2 to 1.

Ûrdis shakes the shadow passing over her, and continues to observe. The ground of the keep is covered in pits, dug through the rock and into the earth itself. These wights must be looking for something, but she does not know what. She is not sure if she wants to know.
What she does know is that simply killing these men will not banish the wights; they will simply find new hosts in time. She resolves to banish them back to the pits that spawned them.

I’d say that being an Elf-Lord gives her the ability to have a Magical Success on this Awe roll. I will spent a Hope, and roll to see how well it goes. I don’t get a higher degree of success, but it still automatically succeeds.

Stepping out of the shadows, Ûrdis shows her true nature to the wights. She glows from within, the light of the Eldar pouring forth from her like the sun. When she speaks, her voice booms like the drums of judgement. “By the name of Arien and Tilion, begone! Return to the Shadow, foul dead things!”
The faces of the possessed Men twist in agony for a moment, before the wights are expelled from their bodies. The ghastly things glare up at her, but turn and flee the tower into the night.
Ûrdis slumps against the wall, the light within fading. The wights were fled, not destroyed or fully banished, but it will be some time before they return to this place. The people of this land must know that they cannot return here, or more will be possessed or killed.
Ûrdis looks among the bandits, who are still dazed from the experience, and finds the one who appears to be the best armed and dressed. “Leave this place, and never return,” she says. “Tell all who will listen that this tower is a place of death and ruin.”

I will make another Awe check for this, not magical this time. I think he’d be inclined to listen considering what he’s just been through, so I’ll give myself a bonus die to the roll. Fortunately I roll a 10 on the Feat die, which means the result counts as a magical success without needing to spend Hope thanks to Skill of the Eldar.

As Ûrdis speaks, the remaining light from earlier shines from her eyes, casting the rest of her face in shadow, and her stature seems to grow. The leader of the brigands looks up at her with terror and awe, and simply nods in understanding.
Without another word, Ûrdis turns on her heel and walks form the cursed tower.

A day and a half later she returns to the campsite at Sarn Ford, where Bella remained with the Foxglows. Ûrdis kicks the travel dust off of her shoes as she sits down by the family. “The brigands are fled, and should not return. Just stay away from the ruins. It is a cursed place.”
Ûrdis politely receives the thanks and praise from Giles and Etta, but spares glances over at Bella, who had been entertaining the children with a story. She looks unbearably smug, but also pleased in a way that Ûrdis had not seen before. A heat rises at the tips of her ears that she hurriedly banishes.

Skipping ahead to the next leg of the Journey, from the ruins to Tharbad. It’s a seven hex trip, so should take about a week. The Greenway and Arnor itself are Wild Lands, so the events roll will no longer be done with Favor.
First I’ll do the Travel roll. 11, a failure, so the event will take place two hexes away. I once again get a 9 on the event roll, so a short cut. In particular it might be a familiar waypoint. I need to roll Awareness to recognize it. Thanks to the Ring of Draugnir I take +2d on the roll, and get a success. I still gain a point of Fatigue, but shave a day off the journey. I’ll roll on the Lore Table to see what kind of landmark it is. Aspect: Ominous. Focus: Doubt.

Two days past the ruins, Ûrdis begins to realize that she is passing through familiar territory. The Greenway was once free of the weeds that give it its current name, and this was once a pleasant and peaceful land. At one point she stops and looks at a the gnarled remains of a tree, and realizes that she has passed this tree before, when it was once full of life. Just as she remembers, the tree marks a goat trail that cuts through some of the rough hills and saves them time.

Another Travel roll. This one is a success, so we travel 3 hexes before another event. With the boost from the shortcut, this puts us just short of Tharbad.
Unfortunately the Event roll is Ill Choices: Lost Quarry. I gain 2 Fatigue points, and must make a Hunting roll or gain a point of Shadow. Thankfully the Hunting roll is a success, so no Shadow points, but the Fatigue is enough to make Ûrdis weary.

As they approach Tharbad, Bella points out the tracks of a wild boar. Ûrdis follows it, and realizes soon that they’ve gotten lost amidst the gullies and hills. Taking a moment to recenter herself, she finds the trail once again, and takes the boar for their dinner, and they return to the road.
The next day, they see the old, worn stone buildings of Tharbad, and rising above them, the remains of what was once a great bridge over the Greyflood river.

As you can see, the Travel rules can be a bit repetitive, especially in Strider mode. I found this to be the case when playing it with other people too, especially if rolls fail repeatedly.

I also haven't mentioned yet that while I selected Tharbad as Ûrdis's destination at random, it actually has an entire section of a sourcebook dedicated to it. I'll be using the world-building and characters seen in Ruins of the Lost Realm going forward.