Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeNotCharles" data-source="post: 5789073" data-attributes="member: 79945">[sblock=ooc]Ack, how has it been 5 days since I posted last?  Very sorry, I kept thinking, "It's been, what, 2 days since I posted to Marsh Bell?  That's the longest I can leave it - don't have time now but I'd better post tomorrow."  And then thinking the same thing again the next day.[/sblock]Alas, Riggins' search is unsuccessful.Vardolas considers what he knows of this area: the area around the mouth of the river was always swampy, but nearly two thousand years ago, when the Shadow fell on Greenwood the Great and men began to call it "Mirkwood", fell things and strange mists entered it.  Though it is not as dangerous as the southern regions of Mirkwood it is still a perilous place, and when trading caravans crossed it in times of old they went well-armed and tried to travel quickly.What keeps the marsh from being impassible is that it lies on either side of a river of clean, running water from the falls at the Long Lake. This untainted water should be easy to tell apart from the stagnant pools and smaller, brackish streams that meander through the swamp, and it is likely to attract fewer unnatural beasts.  It's very unlikely that the Dwarves would leave the wide river, and hopefully they would choose to move quickly to get through the area as fast as possible, rather than stealthily.Armed with that knowledge, you decide there is nothing more to learn here and it is time to push onward.  You scramble into your two boats and begin to row southward down the stream, which flows sluggishly but is still easy to follow within well-defined banks.  While Kurin spies out the way ahead, alert for any choices of direction that need to be made, most of the rest peer at the passing terrain, alert for any Most of the mist has by now burned off in the morning sun, leaving you with a clear view of the river banks overgrown with hanging creepers, and shadowed by stunted trees and fields of tall marsh grasses higher than a Dwarf's head.  To your right the marsh stretches away nearly to the horizon, until it reaches the distant dark green line of trees that is the edge of Mirkwood.  To your left, the marshes spread out over only a few miles before reaching the foot of a line of hills.[sblock=Map]<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2nl45lf.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />You're at the northern tip of the Long Marshes, on the river which runs down their eastern side.[/sblock][sblock=OOC]We had previously decided on these roles:Guide: KurinScout: OrinHunter: AuthielLookout: Borin, Hobnob, Riggins, VardolasAnybody want to change these now?Assuming not: it will take 5 days to trace the dwarves' progress through the swamp.  (Normally it would take 4 due to the terrain, but back on page 7, Kurin and Vardolas both failed their rolls to help plan the trip, leading to the trip being extended by 2 days for following their bad advice. This is balanced out by the good planning of Hobnob, who had the highest roll with 18, reducing the trip by 1 day.)  Since it is spring, you need to make a test every 5 days (or portion thereof) to see if you become fatigued.  So only 1 fatigue roll each is needed.  We'll roll this on the 5th day.Day 1:As you enter the marshes, boating becomes difficult, as dangling branches and submerged roots make for unexpected obstacles.  The guide (Kurin, unless you decide to switch) must make an Athletics test, TN 14.  If he fails, everyone loses 3 Endurance as you must enter the cold water to free the boats when they get stuck in the mud, or from a tangle of dead boughs.Everyone acting as lookout may make 2 Awareness rolls (TN 14) to see if they spot any danger.Everyone acting as scout (currently just Orin) may make 2 Explore or Search rolls (TN 14) to look for signs of Balin's passage.  (You may want to change some lookouts over to scout.)And every hunter (currently Authiel) may make a Hunting roll (TN 14) to see if you catch enough for everyone to eat today - if you fail, you eat from the supplies you're packing instead.[/sblock]</blockquote>

Verification