Raina's Journal.

After destroying the Jackal headed priests we traveled on but it was not long before we came to a fork in the road. One path was clearly the more used and major road while the other was smaller and showed less signs of use. I wanted to take the lesser road, hoping to more fully explore this valley but the rest of the group wanted to strike out into the heart of the valley. There is still so much we do not know about this place, we do not even know fully what we are looking for. It might be the Nazgul or it might be something else.

After a few hours of walking we decided to make camp for the night. As always the hobgoblins dug a trench and fortified their camp while we rely on Agrippas magic to keep us safe at night. Our two groups do not really mingle or do much of any interacting, even keeping two separate camps.

It is clear that both side of our unlikely alliance do not trust each other and there is clear animosity between us. I thought it best to go talk to the hobgoblins about the danger we face and hopefully build a little trust between us. I warned them about how a Nazgul can make even the bravest warrior run and cower in fear. I told them that I have faced 3 Nazgul in my life and that it never gets easier.

I cannot help but wonder about my life. I vowed to spend my life fighting Sauron and his forces and I must be doing that well as I have fought his wraths many times, most people never even see one let alone do battle with three in their lifetime, those that rarely live to tell about it.
As I was getting ready to head back to our camp when the Hobgoblins healer Borkach asked me to give a tin of freshly baked muffins to Vanimo, in hopes of winning him over. She had made enough for each of us to have one. They were good, seems as though she is a rather good cook.

Later in the evening Ahusklug, the leader of the Hobgoblins came over to talk to us. He felt it might be best if we merged camps, the dangers we faced warranted the risk of any conflict that might arise from the animosity between our groups. We agreed and a short time later we shared one camp.

That night Agrippa and I took first watch with two Hobgoblins. We were both curious about Hobgoblins having never really been able to talk in depth to any before. One of the two we tried to engage in conversation became very angry when we tried, he said that his family was killed by men of the Rohirrim and he wants to kill and eat us. He then got up and walked away. The other Hobgoblin was friendlier and willing to talk to us. We spent a fair amount of time getting to know each other’s culture. Too be honest I have enjoyed my time talking to the Hobgolins, they are plain spoken and forthright. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if we had killed the first group of Hobgoblins like Vanimo wanted to.

When my watch was over I went to my tent only to find Vanimo sleeping in it. It would seem that Borkach had set up her tent right next to his and he feared a visit in the middle of the night. I did not wake him instead I went to sleep in his tent.
We were awoken by a blood curdling screams out in the night. I asked Vanimo to use his magic to let me see in the dark but there was nothing near us. Milamber and I volunteered to sneak out into the night and see if we could find where the screams where coming from.

It did not take us long to follow them as we were running for most of the way there. We found another small open temple with an Alter in the center. We crept close until I could clearly see the Nazgul that took the ring from us; he was torturing a living Jackal headed man on the altar. Seeing this I decided we had learned enough and did not want to tempt fate by letting it know we where there.

I tried to get Milamber to leave but the moron tried to ready his bow, I grabbed at his bow not letting his fire an arrow. He refused to leave and then started towards the wrath, I tried grabbing him but he nimbly dodged away from my hands. As he started to walk my hand went to my sword, I was going to strike his leg and arm with the flat of my blade and drag him away. Wearing only leather armor and there being only the two of us we would have no chance if it came to a fight.

Milamber walked forward and demanded the wrath let the Jackal go. It said it did not know what the Jackal was but very much enjoyed torturing it; it also told us that the Jackals should not exist. It invited Milamber to join in torturing it. They talked for a short time before Milamber stepped forward and cut the Jackals head off and we left, or I should say it let us leave. I think it finds us amusing... for the time being.

I have tried very hard to keep my anger in check, to not let it cloud my judgment or control me but I was so angry with Milamber that I honestly do not remember much of what was said between Milamber and the Nazgul. I do remember it saying there is no other Nazgul, thank the Valor for that.

It also looked at me and told me I was beautiful. I very much down that it was talking about my physical appearance, could it see into my heart? Could it have seen all the terrible things I have done in my life? Was it happy at seeing that?

I had time to think about what had transpired as we walked back to camp in silence. The fury had been building up the more I thought about it. When we finally got back to camp I attacked Milamber. I violently let out my anger and frustration at what he had done, how he needlessly and recklessly endangered not only our lives but the mission as well. If he and I died what chance would the rest of the group have?

I tried twice to punch Milamber but both times he evaded my strikes. Despite all of his faults, which are too many to list here, He is a talented warrior and an elusive target. He dodged both my strikes with ease. He then told me he would defend himself if I struck at him again. I very much wanted him to try, for our fight to escalate to something more deadly, however I finally was able to restrain myself enough to stop.
I told him I wanted to kill him, that he is a liability to the group. Milamber is fool hearty and a truly stupid man, if he endangers the lives of our group again... I just hope I can control myself.

I walked away without saying anything else.

The next morning Milamber came to give me some half-assed tempt of an apology without actually apologizing. I was still too angry to care, not wanting to cause a fight I again walked away from him.

Later that day while we were traveling on the road Borkach came up to me asked if I would accept money to relinquish my claim on Vanimo. It turns out that she really fancies Vanimo and thought that he and I were a couple.

I could have gone along with it, told her that he and I were very much in love and that she could not have him. I am sure Vanimo would have been rather grateful had I done so, I could have put an end of her unwanted advances. But where is the fun in that?

I explained to her how she had misunderstood our situation and that while we do have a close personal relationship, which are more brother and sister. We have fought along each other’s side for too long, risked our lives together too many times to not have a deep connect but it is not romantic. I did warn her that Vanimo does not like Hobgoblins and that she has little chance of winning him over. She decided she was going to try anyway.

After she and I had finished talking I went over to Vanimo and told him of everything Borkach had spoken about. He was unhappy that I had not gone along with Milambers lies. I slapped him in the ass and told him to get “some”.

It was not until later that night I learned that Milamber was the one who had told her that Vanimo and I were together, seems he had wanted to spare Vanimo any grief having to reject her.

Later in the day we found a small village much like the others we have found. After some argument we decided to not destroy the undead priests. We searched the village from top to bottom the only thing we found was an ancient child’s doll that was oddly in very good condition. The doll had the body of a human but the head of a Jackal.Agrippa sat down with the doll and tried to use his magic to see if he could learn any of its history. The magic takes a rather long time to work and in the end all we really learned is that this doll has been unused for the last 400 years.

While Agrippa was casting his spell I asked Milamber to climb to the top of the tallest building here and see if he could see anything of interest. He was unable to see much, just two villages. One of the villages was on the other side of a lake that was a few miles around and the second village was in the opposite direction.

After the odd encounter we had with the Nazgul I was finally able to convince the rest of our group that we did not know enough and that it would best to take our time and try to figure out what was going on here. We all agreed to head to the closest village that Milamber saw. It was only about a half days travel from us. The village turned out to actually be fairly large city with a large ornate temple in the center of it. Inside we found 100 of the undead priests. Like all the others we had found they did not react to us at all and stood perfectly still.

I asked Vanimo if he would be willing to use his magic to see if we could try and talk to one of them but he said that they had been dead for too long and it the magic spell would not work. However he pointed out that not far from here was the body of the Jackal that been killed by the Nazgul the day before and he should have no problem getting its spirit to talk. Agrippa agreed to fly on his magic carpet to quickly go and retrieve the head. It did not take Agrippa long to return with the head. Speaking with the dead can be tricky and we spent quite a while figuring out what we wanted to ask it.

When we finally decided what we would ask it Vanimo cast his spell and a translucent, shimmering figure appeared in front of us. It shifted and swirled about as if it was steam rising from the boiling kettle. We asked it what Valor it served and it did not understand the question, we then asked what the purpose of the undead priest was and their ritual and it did not know. Then as we always do, we started to bicker and could not decide what to ask despite already having agreed on what we would ask.

Having rested a while Vanimo cast the spell a second time and again the spirit appeared. The Jackal told us it served the King Father and its people were in a fortress to the north west of here. That was all we could get out of the spirit but that gave us enough to go on.

We all voted on what to do next and Ahusklug asked if he got a vote, we all agreed that we needed to find the living Jackals before we do anything. Ahusklug did not seem to think our why of deciding what to do was very effective and that we should just pick a leader and have everyone follow that person. I fully agreed with him and pointed out that I should be the one to be our leader, it seems to me that I am the only one capable of making a rational and logical decision in the group. If it was not for me then we would still be the enemy of the Duchy of Karameikos, nor would we have the Hobgoblins as our ally in this. We would be marching through a sea of blood to get here without my leadership.

I don’t really see anyone else able to lead our group. Vanimo is too passive in his opinions, Diorwine is all but absent from any decisions that have to be made, Agrippa is too bound by his own biases to be an effective leader and Milamber is an abject moron.

Once we finished questioning the head one of the wargs asked if he could eat it, seeing no further use for it we agreed and they almost went into a frenzy to get it. Once they were done with it three of them ran off to find the body. There is not a lot of food for the wargs to get and they are already dislike us, we better find something for them to eat before they get too hungry to listen to the hobgoblins.

We marched the rest of the day and spent the night. Nothing happened in the night, a welcome change from the night before.

A short time after we set out the next morning we came to a set of old ruins. Inside we found the body of a lesser man; he had been killed with arrow. Clear this was not the work of the Nazgul.

While we were looking around we saw in the distance of group riding towards us. When they got close we could see that they where lesser men, they armed with crude clubs and spears and wore furs and rough leather for armor. They also were riding giant lizards; I have never seen or heard of anything like it before. This valley is a most strange place.

The lesser men demanded to know why we are here and they accused us of being friends with the "dogs", clearly speaking of Jackal headed men. They speak Westron but in a primitive way.

Before we could respond to them a few living Jackal headed men came to use from the other direction, they spoke Adunaic and westron. I did not want to alienate either side so I said we should spilt up and half of us talk to one group and the other half talk to the second group.

I went to talk to the lesser men while Milamber talked to the Jackals. The lesser men were very angry with the "Dogs" they said that the dogs took them as slaves and made them do all their hard work. They very much hated the Jackals and wanted them dead. I tried to convince them that we were their friends but that I wanted to talk the Jackals before we fought. They refused and got ready to attack until our group formed a skirmish line, I drew my sword and threatened them, I told them to come back tomorrow. They ran off.

The Jackals said they that tried to teach the lesser men a better way, tried to civilize them but the lesser men rebelled and attacked them. They claimed that they had been keeping the Nazgul as prisoners in their holy city and the lesser men attacked and took the city from them.
The jackals said they would take us back to their fortress to meet with their high priests and he would explain it all in detail. It was getting dark and they said that the undead roamed at night and where very afraid to be out when after night had fallen.

We got to their fortress at dusk. The fortress was guarded by a stream of water that was fed from a waterfall. They told us that the undead had trouble crossing water and that was one of the only reasons they were still alive. Once we got in we were asked to be respectful of their high priest and not ask too many questions of him

We were brought before their leader; he welcomed us to their home and invites us to stay the night. We had many questions for him but I really do not feel I need to keep a record of there here. What was important was he said that they lesser men took their holy city about 2 months ago, this is roughly the time we entered the valley. He told us this fortress had been abandoned until his people came here fleeing from the lesser men.

He also told us that it was the magic rituals they performed in the holy city that keep the Nazgul prisoners and the dead in the ground, after they lost the holy city the Nazgul where freed and the undead started to walk. The undead priest where not active until this point and they do not know what purpose they have.

He dodged all of our questions; he said he would need to consult their history scrolls anytime we asked even the most basic questions. When we asked him the name of the King father he refused to answer the question and ended our meeting with him. Ahusklug believe he is lying to us and I fully agree with that, he was too evasive and claimed to not know any of their people’s history.

I also find the time line unlikely, the lesser men just happened to revolt the same time we entered the valley? If they had full control all that time why has every city we come across have been unused for hundreds of years? Why would a child’s toy lay abandoned for 400 years?
They offered us a building we could sleep in but we did not trust them and decided to take our chances with whatever evil roams the night then stay with them inside.

I think we need to go talk to the lesser men and see what they can tell us. I do not trust the polite and honeyed words of the Jackals. Maybe we should not trust any of them.

I think we need to go talk to the lesser men and see what they can tell us. I do not trust the polite and honeyed words of the Jackals. Maybe we should not trust any of them.

We can't. The lesser men are no more along with the lesser women and children. All the lesser things are gone: the lesser lizards, dogs, goldfish, lambs, sloths, affordable convertibles, breakfast cereals, and fob watches. All the lesser things are gone.

Not trusting the Jackals we decided to make camp outside of their fortress. We made camp on the opposite side of the stream guarding the fortress; the Hobgoblins dug a trench while we went about placing spikes. Agrippa used his mystic mist as he calls it, a large dense cloud of mist arose around us, it did not hinder our vision but no one on the outside could see past it.

Feeling safe behind our defenses we settled down for the night. I took first watch, nothing happened and I stripped out of my heavy full plate and went to bed. I slept in the fine leather armor I got from the elves of Refflian, it took quite a bit of getting used to sleep in leather armor but there was no way I would sleep without some kind of protection.

Later that night I was awoken by Borkach yelling that our defenses had been breached and a group of undead where upon us. I was the last to be woken up as the others had all been silently woken by Vanimo already. I quickly tried to ready my shield as everyone else had already taken up a defensive line.

In the excruciatingly long seconds it took me to get ready and join my companions combat was already raging. Once ready I ran quickly to join the battle. I ran to the edge of the battle near a fallen Hobgoblin. I flanked an Undead Jackal; it was wearing ornate scale armor. The foul thing was armed with a shield and spear. It was busy fighting the fallen Hobgoblins frost worg and did not notice me. My first blow cleaved its arm off and my second ripped open its chest and sent it spinning to the ground unmoving and finally truly dead.

As I readied myself to strike again I felt the burning sting of an arrow pierce my back, somewhere behind us they had archers. Outnumbered by enemies in front of us and archers behind us I felt the need to finish the battle as quickly as I could. With reckless abandon I threw myself into battle.

I had three of the undead Jackals in front of me and with a flurry of strikes I attacked; I had hoped to finish all three of them before they could attack me back. I felled one but the other two I underestimated, believing them to be simple opponents I had not expected them to fend off my attacks. Normally I would be wear my heave plate armor and not worried about the enemy striking back at me but I was in leather armor and it offered little protect.

One of the zombies struck me twice as second arrow hit me in the back. Now badly wounded, I was for the first time since I had rejoined the group actually worried about my survival.

With a tremendous roar the worg fighting besides me let out a blast of shockingly cold breath from its mouth. The breath seemed to solidify into a solid chunk of ice as it traveled thru the air, hitting the undead jackal squarely in the chest killing it. Even standing to the side of the beast I could feel the jarring impact of the attack, my joints temporarily aching from the extreme cold of the blast.

I quickly finished off the last of the undead and turned to face the archers. I could hear Milamber come up behind me and start casting a spell. I felt a burning, searing pain wash over me and I knew that yet again the novice mage Milamber had miscast his magic. The pain was staggering. I was already badly wounded when his magic harmed me, now I struggled to stay on my feet. I did not let the pain distract me from watching for the archers attack but none came.

Moments later Vanimo was at my side and used his magic to heal many of my wounds but not all; there is a limit to what magic can heal. The battle was ours but we lost one hobgoblin and Diorwine was unconscious on that ground as always.

We had heard a voice incanting something in the distance at the start of the fight, two hobgoblins and their worgs had gone to do battle with whoever or whatever it was. Paludo after the fight was done had also gone out to find it and they had yet to return.

After a short time Paludo came back and said he saw it was the Nazgul leading this group of undead Jackals. He told us that the Nazgul had tried to bend him to its will but it was able to fight off the attempted mental domination. Paludo told us he had seen no signs of the Hobgoblins and believe they must have been controlled by the Nazgul and joined forces with him.

Too badly hurt to help even after the magical healing I went back to my tent to grab a few healing potion incase the enemy came back. After attending to the more critically wound like Diorwine and Borkach, Vanimo came and removed the arrows from my back. After the wounded where attended to Milamber and Vanimo went out to find the archers but found nothing.

Of all the curious things I have seen since we starting this journey, seeing a ice breathing white worg ask Milamber to perform first aid on him AND Milamber agreeing to do so might just be at the top of the list.

The next morning we found the bodies of the 2 hobgoblins and their worgs. They had been killed slowly and with surgical precision it was clear they had been killed by the Nazgul.

Milamber wanted to heal me in the morning, I was apprehensive so say the least However I was still too wounded to be of much use so I agreed to it. I count myself lucky that his magic worked. I still have wounds too deep for magic to heal so it will take time to rest and recover.
Later that morning the gates to the Jackals fortress open and the Jackal that originally brought us to the fortress came out to talk to us. I believe his name is Mathis. A group of us approached him. We asked him if his High Priest had time to consider our questions or if he had consulted the scrolls like he said he needed to. Mathis told us to wait, that he would go ask the High Priest. It did not take him long to get back to us. He told us that the High Priest wanted us to write down any questions we had and give it to Mathis. It clear they had no intention of helping us; they were just jerking us around.

We decided to leave for a more secure location, to a nearby abandoned village we could rest at. Diorwine and Borkach where still unconscious from their injuries so we loaded them into the back of the wagon. I was too injured to walk quickly so Ahusklug told I could ride the worg without a rider.

I was ecstatic with the idea, the chance to ride a worg was very much appealing to me. Such large and powerful animal! The worgs are sentient and fairly bad tempered, so even though Ahusklug told me to I felt it prudent to politely ask the worg for his permission to ride him. It only agreed to it if I consented to allow only my new worg to eat me if I die. I had no problem agreeing to this for two reasons. First I would not care since I was dead. Secondly and more importantly I had no intention of dying out here.

We before we left I made sure to take 3 of the shield left by the undead Jackals we killed the night before. Diorwine needed a shield and despite my... dislike of him, I thought it best that we all be at our peak fighting ability.

A few hours later we reached the village, it did not take us long to find a well built Manor house with a low wall that would make defending it easy. As always the remaining Hobgoblins went about fortifying our camp.

After a day’s rest I was well enough for magic to finish healing me, fortunately for me it was Vanimo that healed me and I was ready to go. Diorwine on the other hand was not, it took him seven days to recover. Diorwine always seems to be the one to be hurt the worst, maybe he has bad luck or maybe he is just an inferior warrior.

Vanimo also used his magic to heal Borkach, I am sure that will only serve to deepen her interest in him.

It has become more and more clear that we are not going to be able t o beat this Nazgul through conventional means; we need to find another way. We all agreed that the best course of action was to find the Holy City the Jackals spoke of, if the Nazgul were indeed held prisoner there for the last few thousand years then it stands to reason that we might find something we can use to fight or capture them.

We did not know where we needed to go so Milamber used his magic to lift Paludo into the air so he could get a better idea of our surroundings. Paludo said he saw 4 villages in the distance but that one of them had smoke rising up from it. That seemed to be the best place to start.

As we prepared to head out we realized we were starting to run low on food. Milamber of course volunteered to try and forage food for us. He quickly found some grubs and started to eat them and then went on at length about all the ways you could cook crickets. As we round I leaned down to the worg I was riding and I told him he could also eat Milamber that seemed to cheer him up a bit.

We traveled for most of the day before we finally got to the village. We found that the whole village had been razed to the ground; there were bodies of the lesser men everywhere. Everyone, the men, women and children had all been killed. No one was spared. The buildings had been toppled as well; nothing was left of this city. The Jackals had told us that the men had been living in their Holy City. If this was the Holy City then we would find no help here.

The worgs ravenously started to eat the bodies of the people; they had not had any food for some time. It was... disconcerting to see and even a little upsetting but I understood the necessity of it; we would need them at full strength if we were to have a chance at killing the Nazgul.
We were fortunate that we were able to find food stores that the people in the city had kept; we were starting to run out.

Milamber sent Paludo into the air a second time in hopes of finding any other nearby villages. There were a few towns scattered around the valley that we had yet to travel and a road that curved around the side of a tall peak nearby. He could not see where the road lead but it was at least something new we could look into.

We had travel most of the day and decided to spend the night here. We did not stay in the city though; there was too much death and decay there. We set up camp a few miles away. It was an uneventful night and I was great for that.

The next day we set out on the road that curved around the mountain peak. The road lead to a temple carved into the mountain side. This temple resembled the one where we fought Narcissist and his Hobgoblin knights only much larger and grander it would seem. Now I prepared to enter this temple and do battle with whatever was in there, while being allied with the Hobgoblins. The irony was not lost on me.

We took up formation and I entered first shield and sword at the ready. The inside of the temple was old; there were half rotted chairs and the remnants of tapestry hanging from the walls, time had clearly gotten the better of a once grand temple.

We found four undead Jackals waiting just inside the entrance. These Jackals noticed and reacted to our entrance. One stepped forward holding a tray with a wash basin and vase of water. Milamber explained that it was an ancient Numenorean custom for guests to wash up before entering into the home of a noble or royalty. I put way my sword but not my shield. I did my best to wash my hand. The others did the same, even one of the worgs tried to wash its paws that was funny to be honest.

Milamber asked one of the Jackals to take us to its master. This temple was much large then the first one we had been in, where that one was only two rooms this was a whole complex. We followed the Jackal through the temple, as we past we saw many other undead Jackals work in the temple. Many of them doing cleaning or repair work. I get the feeling that in life the Jackals where slaves to the ancient Numenoreans.

The Jackal brought us to a large throne room. Sitting on the throne was a very old and decrepit man. He was sitting forward and leaning on a long word. He watched us as we walked in, clearly very much alive. Around him stood 20 undead Numenorean solders armed with steel longbows and long swords.

The man who sat before us was Ar-Pharazon the last king of Numenor. He was the mortal man who thought to challenge the Valor, the man that thought himself the master of Sauron. Ar-Pharazon was responsible for the destruction of Numenor. For the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people. He is no king but an insane monster that needs to be killed, again.

There was much said during our encounter with him but none of it I feel worth recording. I will instead give a brief account of it.

Ar-Pharazon new Milamber and implied he was responsible for his death. He did not know who the undead or living Jackals were or how he came back to life. Nor did he know where he was. He claimed claimed Sauron was his vassal and that the Nazgul here served him.

The Nazgul showed up half way through our talk with Ar-Pharazon, otherwise would have just killed him. The Nazgul does indeed serve Ar-Pharazon and is trying to figure out what happened here for his old king.

Milamber tried to convince him to surrender to us so we could take him to Elrond for judgment but he only laughed that the idea.
Ashklug wanted to find a political solution saying that Valk would not want us to kill him out right as they are both King‘s who lay claim to this valley.

Ar-Pharazon and his pet Nazgul let us leave without a fight. As we walked back to the ruined city we went over what options we had.

Diorwine wants to fight the Nazgul head on; he thinks that if we cannot beat it no one could.

Milamber would like to trap it using water somehow.

I would rather not fight it until we have explored all other options. We are heading back to talk with the living Jackals. With a little luck we can convince them that we are there only hope of not being killed. If they did keep the Nazgul in check for 2000 years then they might be able to lend us some kind of aid while we fight it.

Of course that does not answer the question how to transport the rings to Rivendale without being corrupted by its power. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.

We also will have to deal with Vlak as well, I somehow doubt he will just let us leave his lands unharmed.

Very well written! So many quotable quotes:

Raina wrote:I stripped out of my heavy full plate and went to bed.

Foreshadowing. I love it!

Raina wrote:I could hear Milamber come up behind me and start casting a spell. I felt a burning, searing pain wash over me and I knew that yet again the novice mage Milamber had miscast his magic...

...Moments later Vanimo was at my side and used his magic to heal many of my wounds but not all; there is a limit to what magic can heal.

Like massive damage from a miscast Healing spell?

Raina wrote:ice breathing white worg ask Milamber to perform first aid on him AND Milamber agreeing to do so might just be at the top of the list.

Yes, but this is matched by

Raina wrote:I was too injured to walk quickly so Ahusklug told I could ride the worg without a rider.

I was ecstatic with the idea, the chance to ride a worg was very much appealing to me.

Raina wrote:Later that morning the gates to the Jackals fortress open and the Jackal that originally brought us to the fortress came out to talk to us. I believe his name is Mathis. A group of us approached him. We asked him if his High Priest had time to consider our questions or if he had consulted the scrolls like he said he needed to. Mathis told us to wait, that he would go ask the High Priest. It did not take him long to get back to us. He told us that the High Priest wanted us to write down any questions we had and give it to Mathis. It clear they had no intention of helping us; they were just jerking us around.

Clarification: Just after dawn Mathis came out of the fortress and came up to the edge of your Mystic Mist spell. He waited a few minutes, but none of you went to speak with him, and so he returned to the fortress. Later, you went to the gate and spoke with a guard there. That's when the conversation about writing down your questions for the High Priest Kexius occurred.

The man who sat before us was Ar-Pharazon the last king of Numenor. He was the mortal man who thought to challenge the Valor, the man that thought himself the master of Sauron. Ar-Pharazon was responsible for the destruction of Numenor. For the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people. He is no king but an insane monster that needs to be killed, again.

Right. We just met into Senator Ar-Pharazon and his nigh-undefeatable warrior. Where have we seen this scene before?

Its pretty obvious Jon stole this whole campaign from Starwars.

Its pretty obvious Jon stole this whole campaign from Starwars.

Makes sense to me. Vanimo is Han Solo, Borkash is Princess Leia, Milamber is Wedge Antilles, Deorwine is Bobba Fett 'cause he doesn't say much, and Agrippa is Salacious Crumb.

Who is Raina?

grumpit wrote:Who is Raina?

Hayden Christensen.

Saule wrote: Hayden Christensen.

So what you are saying is Raina is unstoppable killing machine,

Who is Raina?

Raina could be Princess Leia. Just bear in mind you'd have to marry Vanimo in the end and bear him a son who will become a whinny bad guy who wants to be like his idol, grand leader Sauron Eye.

Still, I think Raina would make a pretty good Mara Jade.

The Son of Dior wrote:Agrippa is Salacious Crumb.

Salacious' voice is too low.

Who is Raina?

Chewbacca?

Salacious's voice is too low.

I don't know. Salacious Crumb's laugh hits a pretty high register. Agrippa's voice can reach the range of the munchkin singers surely, but I think he and Salacious Crumb are on pretty equal footing.

This is not anywhere near what I wanted this to be. I didn't really get time to proof read it or make some edits that it needed. Nor is it finished but I will add the ending of this to the start of my next journal entry. Its been a very difficult week and I did not have the time or mental energy needed to make this any good. I did want to get something up before the game though.

As we walked back towards the fortress of the living Jackals we talked about or options. Ahusklug said we should only have one person talk for the group and it was agreed that I would be that person.

Paludo wanted us forcing the Jackals to tell us what they knew and to help us but fortunately that is something that the rest of us would never do. I believe that if we reason with them they will help us.

It did not take us long to walk back to their fortress. We asked to see the High Priest telling them that it was a mater a great urgency and life and death. The High Priest agreed to see us but only the humans and only if we completely disarmed, after some trepidation we agreed but only Milamber and I would go in. We asked the rest to come rescue us if we were not back in 4 hours.

When we entered into the fortress we could see many Jackals of all ages. There where children playing and a worried look on everyone’s faces. They once controlled this valley and all the cities and villages. There must have been hundreds if not thousands of them at one time, and now all that is left is a few dozen families. I can only imagine how they must feel, the fear and terror that grips there heart. I am surprised they even let us in to be honest.

We where lead to a room with a large table and chairs around it. The High Priest was sitting there waiting for us with a number of Jackal priests standing nearby.

I told the High Priest the truth of what we saw. Their Holy City in ruin and all of the lesser men slain. I told them of the temple we entered and all that transpired within.

I told him we meant no harm to his people, that we came here to kill the Nazgul but it was too powerful for us to slay as it is now. I told him that even if he does not help us we will still fight it but we would like his help before we do. I asked him to tell us what he knew of it and how they kept the Nazgul and the dead at bay for thousands of year. I pleaded with him to help us stop or weaken the Nazgul.

He told us that he would helps but it might already be too late, that they might not be able to do anything now that it was free, particularly since it now had two rings of power. I find it odd that the High priest knew the name of both Nazgul, he used them when talking about the rings of power, and he also knew what a Nazgul was.

The High Priest told us that at one time they performed rituals within the temple to keep the Nazgul and the dead weak and imprisoned but the lesser-men and gone to war with them and had thrown them out of the temple and the Holy City. He said they had everything they needed to perform the Rituals but two things prevented them from helping us. They would need to perform the rituals inside the temple and they would need water from the singing pool.

The High Priest told us that the singing pool was located a day and a half from here and that his people used to go there to collect the holy waters of that pool and use it in the ritual that kept the Nazgul bound. Over time his people became wicked and their King Father placed a great and dark evil there to block them from its waters. They still had a basin of the holy water in the temple that was magical and could replenish the holy water but it was lost and now we had to find a way past the whatever evil now guards it.

The High Priest told us that over the last few hundred years many of their warriors had tried to defeat the evil that lived there, but none had ever returned. He did not know what the evil was only that it was powerful.

We told him we would clear the path to the singing pool and return with the water they needed to complete the ritual. We as always were confident in our abilities and we had all the powerful Hobgoblin warriors with us. We thought at the time it would be easy...as we always do.

We set out to find the valley. We traveled for most of the day when we came to a large river that blocked our path. With no clear path around the river we decided to camp there for the night. We decided it would be best to set our camp right on the edge of the river, we then dug a trench around the camp so that water then flow around us. The dead seem unable to pass over moving water and we had hoped that it would offer us some protection in the night.

Our were starting to get along with each other a little better; however there was still clear animosity between our group. Milamber started training with the Hobgoblins and Paludo even got a few to smoke and drink with him. I challenged Borkhach to an arm wrestling contest and won!
Nothing happened that night

Then next day Ahusklug sent out his worg riders to up and down the river to try and find a way across the river. It was not until later in the day that his riders returned having found away over. Since it was so late in the day we decided to stay the night in the same place, we would strike out in the morning.

That night I was awoken silently woken by Vanimo. Terror gripped me at once; I knew at once it was the Nazgul. The fear was different this time, stronger than it had ever been. I was frozen in fear, a feeling I am not accustom to. I would have run screaming into the night had I not been too afraid to move. Fortunately I was able to center myself and fight off the gripping terror.

When I finally got out of my tent I saw that the Nazgul was standing on the other side of the trench of water we dug, Milamber was talking to it. I got up joined them.

The wrath looked at me and asked me about the Hobgoblins, asked me if I trusted them. I told him the truth, that they are honest and honorable and that they have yet to give us reason to not trust them. In truth I trust them more than many men I have meet in my life. I took a risk in trusting them, perhaps I was a fool and they will kill us in the end but I truly believe that there can be peace between our peoples maybe even friendship.

The Nazgul asked me what the Jackals are but I had nothing to tell him, we still know nothing about them.

The Nazgul then told us how rude it was to threaten the King in his own throne room and how we were out of line in doing so. Milamber grew tired of speaking with it and commanded it to leave. It did not.

It told us it would only go if Milamber asked politely and shockingly he would not. He thought it best that stand there all night terrifying us and not letting us get any sleep. After a few minutes of it just standing there I ask Milamber to ask it to leave, that it would be a great personal favor if he did. He agreed and reluctantly asked for it to leave. It did so.

I honestly do not understand Milamber at all. Is his pride really too great for him to ask something so foul and tainted to leave us? It’s very presence was almost too painful to bear. A feeling of profound relief washed over us when it departed but Milamber would rather have just pouted all night anguishing in its presence then simply asking it to leave.

It was the first time any of the Hobgoblins had every encountered a Nazgul and while they had been brave and stood their ground you could tell it had rattled them. Ahusklug said he had too beaten of few of his men to keep them in line.

He must have thought us fool hardy the way we taunted the Nazgul. He asked us if we ever did any gambling as some us his men had taken bets on if we would ever leave this valley alive. Ahusklug only gave us 1 in 3 odds.

Milamber thinks it’s a mistake to talk to the Nazgul now. He does not want us telling anything further. There is much it does not know and perhaps it’s been to do our best to keep it in the dark.

We traveled all the next day, nothing happened. We made camp that night and I did my best to fraternize with some of the Hobgoblins but most did not want to. I get the feeling only about 3 of them are friendly to us. Borkhach, Ahusklug and of course Vanimos not so secret admirer.

I do think my worg is warming up to me though, I think it might help that I am always polite with it. I asked its name and it even told me, or I think it did. Its name was just some evil growling and a bark. Of course Vanimo thinks it’s a bad idea to be friendly with both the worgs and the Hobgoblins. He is absolutely convinced they are evil spawn of Morgoth.

By mid day it was clear that we had reached the entrance of the valley we had come looking for. As we walked down into it an unnatural mist started to surround us. It was dark and became thinker the further in we went. We unhitched the wagon and left it close to the entrance.

We could see shapes dancing and swirling in the fog around us. I could feel many eyes on me, my skin was crawling. Ahusklug asked us to form a single file line no more than an arm’s length apart so we would not get lost in the fog. We could not see more than 20 feet in any direct.

Vanimo calls us to a halt. I looked over at him and he looked pale and sick, the veins in his neck and head pulsing with strain. Whatever it was it was about to strike. I dismounted from my worg, I prefer to fight on my feet not mounted.

Borkhach heard something behind us. Everyone but me turned to face that way. I stayed facing front to make sure that nothing else was coming our way.

We could all feel it. Some kind of dread was upon us. Milamber started nervously rambling about the time we killed Narcissist and his Hobgoblin knights and the priest. I try to quickly shut him up as this is not the right group to talk about that with.

I heard a collective gasp. I turned around and saw a giant spider coming towards us. Though I say spider that word does not really do it justice. It was a horrifying monstrosity, a dark spirit in spider form. The light did not illuminate it well; it was so black it seemed as if it absorbed the light. It was massive in a way I have never seen given form before. It must have been 30 feet from side to side.

I would have been terrified had I not lived a life of constant fear and nightmare. I have faced down too many Nazgul too many times to truly have been afraid of such a monstrosity.

As it came towards us I quickly pulled one of my knives and threw it at it, I didn’t really think it would hurt it much if at all. Unfortunately in the dark mist my aim was off and it missed its mark clattering off into the darkness. The spider rose up on its rear legs to a towering height and struck at me with one of its front legs. I used my shield to help me dodge out of the way but my shield took a massive strike. Another strike like that and my shield would be useless.

The others quickly moved in to surround the monster. Most of the Hobgoblins rode off to its rear, as did Pauldo, after he jumped on my worg that is. Milamber came at it from the side and Vanimo moved in to the front of it. As Vanimo stepped too close to the spider it reared up again and struck him with vicious blow that sent him reeling back a few yards and badly wounded. I saw Borkhach running towards Vanimo.

I charged at the monster as fast as I could but it was tall and its legs long, it took time running as fast as I could to even get to it. I heard Vanimo swear and Borkhach, It sounded like she was trying to drag him away from the fight.

When I got to the spider I started to attack its leg. The leg was as large as a tree trunk... I was not making very much head way with it. I could hear the cries of battle and of pain all around me. The monsters legs seemed to move with a mind of their own, striking out with lightning speed and immense strength.

I have fought in many battles in my life. Usually there is a flow to combat, you can see if your foe is wounded or if your side is losing the fight. This monster was a fight unlike anything I have encountered before. Many of our strikes where only on the surface of an immense creature, I was not even sure we were really hurting it.

I was fighting towards the front of the spider with Milamber a little ways down from me attacking its side I could not see Vanimo, Diorwine, Paludo or any of the Hobgoblins, when suddenly the spider lurched backwards slamming its self down on the ground. It slammed in the ground with such force I could feel a shockwave through the ground, if it had been any stronger it could have knock me off my feet.

There was a sudden silence, where there had been the sound of Hobgoblins, humans and worgs all fighting now there was nothing. I knew what had happened. The dark spirit in spider form had crushed everyone to the rear of it with such force that there could be to survivors. All I could see was Milamber a few feet to the side of me. My heart sank, where we the only ones that had not been crushed? Did we stand any chance of beating this monster?

I did not have time to think to season or absorb the details of what had just happened. The spider struck at me with one of its legs. I tried to dodge out of the way but it was too fast. The blow destroyed my shield and hit me so hard I was knocked back 6 feet, injured but still on my feet. I knew I would not survive another strike that this fight was likely to be my list.

I was desperate; I decided to throw everything I had into one last reckless attack, I did not think I would survive but maybe I could give Milamber and anyone else that might still be alive a chance. I attacked wildly three times, throwing what was left of my strength I had into each blow. My first strike hit but the monsters thick skin was hard and I barely hurt it. My second strike again barely found any purchase is the thick skin of the monster.

On the third strike however my sword bit deep into the spider’s side, slicing in upward manor my sword sunk into the hilt and cleaved a four foot gash into it. The spider shuddered violently and died as its insides poured out of the gapping wounded in its side.

Though the monster had dropped to the ground unmoving we decided to not take any chances. Milamber, Diorwine and I went about cutting its upper body from massive abdomen. Satisfied that it was dead we went about trying to find our friends and any survivors. To our dismay we found none.

I was wounded and walking was difficult so I asked Milamber to head back to where we left the wagon and all our supplies. I had magic potions there that could help with healing my wounds; at least enough to get me back into fighting shape. Diorwine stayed with me while the ever swift footed Milamber went to get them. Milamber had been taking longer than he should have to return so we started back towards the wagon, I had trouble walking so it took us time to get there.

We found Milamber performing first aid on Borkhach. Lying dead next to her were two worgs, a hobgoblin and the unconscious Vanimo. Borkhach told us that when Vanimo was almost killed by the spider that she had taken him against his will from the battle, she wanted to protect him. Later when the battle seemed lost the other hobgoblin fled and came back to the wagon where he found her treating Vanimo. He hated elves and with his leader dead decided he was going to kill Vanimo. Borkhach fought with him to protect Vanimo. Milamber saw them fighting and killed the other hobgoblin and tried to treat her wounds. Seems their worgs killed each other.

Vanimo and Borkhach were badly wounded and it was going to take weeks for them to recover. I also was wounded but not nearly to the same extent. We used 5 of the 7 healing potions I brought with to heal up faster.

It’s been a week since we fought the monster, we have been fortunate that the Nazgul has not found us. I do not know if Jackals are still alive or if they still will be by the time we get back.

Borkhach seemed concerned that we would kill her now that as she put it “the balanced of power has shifted” and all her compatriots are dead. It would seem that a few of them thought the only reason we did not attack and kill them was because they outnumbered us, she seemed particularly concerned that Milamber wanted her dead. We assured her that no harm would come to her from us. It also helps that I do not think she worships Morgoth, she seemed to elude while at the same time saying we should not talk about religion.

A month passed while Borkach and Vanimo healed from their wounds. Nothing happened during this time. No Nazgul attacks, no undead, no giant steel statues, no giant spider monsters, no nothing. It was fantastic!

Having all fully recovered from the battle we set out to find the singing pool. We headed back down into the valley. The valley was still full of dark mist and while nothing attacked us it very much felt creepy and as if we were being watched. After a few miles the valley started to rise up. Step by step we followed the valley trail until finally it rose up out of the fog.

We found a beautiful shimmering waterfall, rainbow hued as the water fell down to the pool below. We could see a cave behind the waterfall; we went in to find the singing pool.