Orbs and Balrogs: Palantir

First Episode : Seeking a seeker spell...

Why all this?

The Palantirs are powerful scrying and communication stones that used to link key points in the early kingdoms of Men. Most stones were lost during wars. While cataloging the Royal Library of Minas Tirith, the King's High Seer has discovered the existence of a seeking spell in the lost vault of the royal library of Annuminas. Someone has got to make the long trip North to find this spell.

Who are they?

The leader of the company is Captain Arnadil Erwoen, a career officer of the watch and a scholar. He is accompanied by Halin Mitrilheart, an elderly dwarf from the Glittering Halls with an inclination for history and an impressive military track records. Araliniel Daavos is a seer who is appointed by the High Seer himself. To the company, Sir Galdor of Dol Amroth joined to seek glory and avoid a career as a lawyer. Finally, the Lord Chancellor suggested a hobbit, Finbert Brandybuck, who was sent by his famous uncle to Minas Tirith on a coming of age journey. Hobbits bring good luck, so they say. Later on, Kasper Murkeshan joined as Sir Galdor's squire, Irina Took joined when the commission reached the Shire, and Thannolf the Northmen got pulled out of a jail cell to guide the company on their journey to Forochel.

What happened?

The company set out in early September after a supper in the citadel of Minas Tirith. They crossed Anorien, and were embroiled in an argument with local ruffians who set the Inn's barn on fire and killed half of the company's horses. This didn't end well for the ruffians: one was executed on the spot, and the other was cared for only so he could be executed as well. They were joined then by Kasper Mulkeshan, a bookish squire who entered the services of Sir Galdor.

They visited Edoras, capital of Rohan and received as sponsorship from the Queen. They then visited the Glittering Halls and met Lord Gimli, and were escorted to the fords over the Isen. There, Araliniel had an eventful prophetic dream: chasing a tumbling palantir down a hill while hunted by a giant eagle. She discovered the location of a magic sword in a tower by a river.

The company, refusing to wait for an escort, made it through Duneland using a bit of money, a bit of beer, and a growing leadership rift . They met with the commander of Tharbad, and finally discovered a sword called Astor exactly where Araliniel had predicted. Arnadil took upon himself to wield the weapon until it can be returned to the King. Passed Tharbad, they headed for the Shire, where they were joined by a Bounder named Irina. Irina revealed to them that a Winter Drake Hatchling was prowling in the North. This made everybody quite happy.

Fearing an encounter with a Drake, or a bunch of wintering orcs, they scouted Annuminas and discovered it to be infested by trolls. This didn't end well for two trolls, and the others scooted out of the way. The company found the lost library and entered the vault, which they found intact. However, this didn't please two Stone Knights of Arthedain who peeled themselves from the walls. The battle against the knights took a dramatic turn when all got plunged into pitch darkness. The company pulled through, bruised and exhausted and began searching for the "Treatise on Shrouding Palantirs". They briefly had to contend with the ghost of a librarian, but managed to get their hands on the book fairly quickly.

Before leaving Annuminas, they descended by the banks of Lake Evendim to investigate one of Araliniel's oracle. They met a maiar that laid sleeping for thousands of years under the wakes of the lake. She was sent by Irmo to warn the company of a great danger looming over their heads: a dark and powerful wizard was also seeking the Palantir. She lent the King's bracelet to Kasper the squire, and begged Sir Galdor to revive Annuminas so that she can wake again.

Some 15 days later, the company was enjoying the best of the Shire when a terrible snow storm struck. The storm turned out to be the wake of a winter drake hatchling. The hatchling seemed more interested in hunting down three large wargs. The company got winded by the drake, and later found the corpses of the wargs. Nimrodel, an elf passing through the Shire and accidental company member, managed to get from one of the warg that the Shire was apparently the hunting ground of Farathu. The company later helped the locals to round up strayed sheeps after saving them from a pack of wolves.

The company decided to return to Annuminas to determine what kind of danger was lurking there. They left after spending some R&R time in the Shire. They found Annuminas buried in snow and the construction site for a rough enclave of orcs. A terrible battle ensued, which heralded doom for the orcs. The camp was mostly deserted, they found a momentarily deserted camp where orcs Northmen and trolls lived. They also discovered a network of tunnel under Annuminas. However, they chose to leave before the bulk of the hunters came back home on that day.

Finally, Araliniel managed to learn and cast the seeker spell. She found the Palantir, placed on an Altar in an open-air temple on the frozen shores of the sea. The Company decided to set winter quarters in Tharbad and set out for the Ice Bay of Forochel to begin looking for the Palantir of Arnor when the spring finally comes.

Second Episode : The Southron stones

After spending three months wintering in Tharbad, the company recruited a Northerling named Thannolf, and departed for the Ice-Bay of Forochel. They were working with a vision from the seeker spell which refers to a temple near a frozen shore.

They encountered a tribe of local hunters which explained to them that what they seeked was probably the Southron stones. These stones being sacred artifacts kept in a temple in a village called Mulkan. These stones have also attracted the attention of a Winter drake called Farathui, which was set on taking them away from the Lossoth people. The chief of Talta offered a guide to take the company to meet with the other Lossoth elder. The company, seeking ivory to prepare for a ritual, stopped by a colony of giant walruses and engaged the beasts. The combat was difficult, but the company emerged alive with 20 tusks and 4000 lb of blubber on board.

The company made contact with Elder Taaso who filled them in on the complex situation in the North. It appeared that the stones themselves were used by the Lossoths to keep in check a powerful demon called Shapithui. Taking the stones from Mulkan was likely to be endangering the Lossoth nation. The company visited Mulkan and managed to confirm that the Southron stones were indeed the Palantirs of Arnor and Amon Sul. In the process, they sowed confusion in Mulkan and were expelled from the temple by Elder Tiani.

After a few days, the company managed to obtain the amulets to turn them into a Lossoth tribe. With this new asset, they decided to investigate the Imenstone. The Imenstone is an obsidian spire that is said to open the gate to the shadow world. Once they reached the temple, five of them ended with a shard of the stone on hand and turned into wraiths. They decide to capitalize on the opportunity and headed for the Palantirs in Mulkan. They were confronted by Elder Tiani, but dispatched him rapidly to the ground with their new wraiths powers. The skirmish was short lived as Shapithui roared into Mulkan with the intention to capture the Palantirs. The wraith company members attempted to kill the demon by driving Astor, the gondolin sword, into the frozen heart of the demon. The struggle spilled away from the village. Halin and Galdor, after intercepting Lossoths on their way to the Imenstone, joined the fray and engaged the demon. Its heart was shattered and Shapithui faded into the ground.

Halin and Galdor walked to the shore with Finbert as a wraith scouts. Finbert made contact with the Lossosth of Hlechui and dropped the shard, returning him to the land of the living in his birthday suit. The wraiths took upon themselves to carry the Masterstone, which turned out to be rolling better than it flew. The wraiths hid the masterstone close to the Raven and proceeded to the Imenstone to recover their clothes and equipment. They had to fight a Lossoth wraith. All dropped the shard willingly but Kasper and Araliniel. Kasper was forced back by knocking the shard from his hand (almost severing the hand in the process), Araliniel instead flew away, never to be seen again.

The drake hatchling Farathu then found the Raven and started to thrash its rigging. He managed to get he company to hand over the stones and Astor (the gondolin sword). The company left Forochel empty handed, but alive and returned to Minas Tirith. The news that a drake was walking Middle-Earth caught the attention of King Elessar. The King asked the company to return to the North to find the drake and its hoard, find a way to kill the hatchling and recover the Palantirs.

Chapter 3 : The Winter Drake Hatchling

The company left Minas Tirith and headed to Gray Haven. There, they found evidence of ...

Character Cast

Alive and well:

Arnadil Erwoen, Captain of the 5th Gate of Minas Tirith ( Alex )
Sir Galdor Ghent-Ylinen, Knight of Dol Amroth ( Lucas ).
Halin Mithrilheart, Fatherless ( Zack ).
Finbert Brandibuck ( Chris ).
Kasper Murkeshan, squire of Anorien ( Harvey )
Irina Took, Bounder of the Shire ( Sophie )
Thannolf the Northerling ( Sergio )

Past Character(s)

Nirodel, Elf of Rivendell ( Lucas ), was just passing by for one session.
Araliniel Daavos, Seer of Minas Tirith ( NPC ). Died in Forochel as an Imenstone wraith.

The GM is +Christian Blouin .