The Lord of Darkness: Synopsis

A “play by e-mail” chronicle for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game,

Narrator: Scott Metzger (Scottomir)

 

CHRONICLE SYNOPSIS

 

This is the second part of The Lord of Darkness.  In the first part, King Elessar of the reunited realms of Arnor and Gondor called a Council of the North in Rivendell in May of the 15^th year of the Fourth Age, for the purpose of organizing a campaign against the vile Orcs of Gundabad.  Vassals and allied emissaries gathered in the Elf-haven, now under the care of Elrond’s sons Elladan and Elrohir and their world-weary advisor Erestor.  The king came to Rivendell escorted by a mighty company.  Among their number were a young warrior aged twenty-five years named Finbor, the son of Angbor, Lord of Lamedon; Frolin Droli’s son, a Dwarven-loremaster sent on behalf of Lord Gimli’s colony in the “Glittering Caves” of Aglarond; and a mysterious golden-haired man of thirty years known only as “Vornmir” of the Tower Guard.  From the Shire came a party of hobbits led by Rariadoc “Rard” Brandybuck, a cousin of Meriadoc the “Magnificent” and a Bounder-bowman obsessed with stories of Legolas the Elf.  From Rhovanion came the young princeling Barion Brand’s son, youngest brother of King Bard II of Dale, and with him an Elf of Mirkwood named Belegil.  Envoys from other realms also came to Rivendell, including Dwarves from Erebor and the Blue Mountains, Elves from Lórien, Ithilien, and Lindon, and men from the western fiefs of Gondor and the new settlements of Eriador.  From Rohan came a middle-aged nobleman named Halcred, who recognized Vornmir from his past; despite having sworn an oath to Vornmir not to reveal his identity, Halcred privately warned Finbor and Barion that Vornmir was exiled for cowardice in battle many years earlier.

 

Missing from the Council was the Dúnadan loremaster Belemir, a Ranger of the North who had long sought out lost relics of kingship for Aragorn.  Fearful that his old friend may have come into jeopardy, King Elessar chose Finbor, Vornmir, Frolin, Rard, Barion, and Belegil to form a new Fellowship to find the missing sage.  The companions interviewed the Elves of Rivendell and searched for signs of Belemir’s activities.  Frolin found an ancient scroll that Belemir had studied during his last visit to Rivendell purportedly written by Pallando, one of the forgotten Wizards of Gandalf’s order, shortly after the destruction of the Witch-realm of Angmar.  Pallando’s scroll related how the Angril, the “Iron Jewel” made by Morgoth as a pale forgery of the Silmaril taken from him by Lúthien and Beren, survived into the Third Age.  It was carried out of Angband by Sauron at the end of the First Age and, when Sauron was captured by the Men of Númenor in the Second Age, given as a reward to the Lords of Andúnië by the king (for the Númenoreans thought it merely a gemstone).  Thus it came back to Middle-earth in the treasure trove of the Dúnedain of Arnor, languishing forgotten in the hoard of Fornost until the citadel fell to Angmar.  Angmar was destroyed soon after, however, and the jewel was spirited way by a greedy Orcish captain, who carried it off to the Far East.  According to his scroll, Pallando and his compatriot Alatar set out to pursue the Orc to the land of Rhûn.  No one in the West ever heard of the Blue Wizards again.

 

The new Fellowship traveled across Middle-earth, retracing Belemir’s steps.  Crossing the treacherous Misty Mountains during the height of spring thaw, they passed over the Anduin at Carrock (guarded by the Beorning chieftain Grimwine and his folk), trekked through the Heart of Mirkwood (battling a brood of horrid spiders that blocked the way), and made their way to the Elf-king Thranduil’s Woodland Realm (escorted by the beautiful Elf-maiden Mithalqua).  Finally, the heroes were able to piece together Belemir’s activities before his disappearance.  Earlier in the Year 14 Belemir had recovered from a band of grave-looters a lost Ring of Friendship of the Elder Days, but before he could deliver it the king sent him to Mirkwood on embassy.  Taking with him the Dúnedain brothers Calanlas and Calanhir, Belemir spent August and September of that year in the Woodland Realm, where Thranduil gave him an enchanted Elf-staff as a gift.  While in Thranduil’s halls Belemir met a traveling Dorwinion minstrel named Wogan, from whom he heard a tale that alarmed him.  Without consulting Calanlas and Calanhir or asking leave of Thranduil, Belemir departed Mirkwood in early October and briefly returned to Rivendell one last time to consult Pallando’s scroll.  He then suddenly set off for the east, without leaving behind a message or the ring.

 

Wogan’s traveling party departed the Woodland Realm for Dorwinion not long after Belemir disappeared, and the Fellowship decided to seek out the minstrel.  Thranduil ordered his subject Belegil to remain behind, and when the Fellowship reached Lake-town a message was waiting for Barion, summoning him back to Dale.  The four remaining companions chartered a riverboat to carry them to Dorwinion, where they met a Northman from Framsburg named Herubrand, who had been sent to join the Fellowship by one of the fast-flying Eagles of the North in the service of Rivendell.  Now a Fellowship of five, the heroes found Wogan residing in the House of Hengel, Master of the town of Winburg.  Wogan revealed that Belemir learned from him the old Dorwinion legend of “The Wizard and the Dragon” that related the fate of the Blue Wizards and the Iron Jewel they pursued.  Using the Angril, the Orc from Fornost made himself master of the goblin-hordes of Rhûn and conquered the land; Alatar passed further east and was lost to the tale, but Pallando remained in Rhûn for many decades striving unsuccessfully to organize the Men and Elves to resist.  Ultimately, the desperate wizard lured to Rhûn a great-wyrm named Icáthax, who decimated the Orc-army and seized the jewel.  Pallando confronted Icáthax on the western shore of the Inland Sea and destroyed the dragon by sacrificing himself; the mighty explosion shattered the Angril, scattering shards all across Rhûn.  Wogan knew of two purported jewel shards, information he had also shared with Belemir.  One shard had long been held as a tribal totem by Golaric’s clan of Easterlings, but a few months before the heroes arrived a mysterious traveler calling himself “Baldur” (“lover of power” in Sindarin) stole the shard from Golaric’s clan, who blamed the Men of Dorwinion for the theft and threatened war against their towns.  The other shard was held as a family heirloom by Galleth, master of a great villa in the Dorwinion countryside.  Wogan did not know of any other shards, and he recommended that the Fellowship visit his old teacher Dáma in Marsburg.

 

The Fellowship set out from Winburg for Galleth’s estate, finding the countryside crawling with goblins.  Forced to fight a goblin patrol at night, they overheard them identify Baldur as their leader.  Most of the rural estates had been abandoned already, the people fleeing into the beleaguered towns for safety, but Galleth’s mighty estate was still occupied and not yet touched by the goblins, though they had almost completely surrounded it.  The heroes found Master Galleth in a deep gloom because his only son and heir Halgo had been stung by some venomous beast while hunting in the forest south of his villa.  The Fellowship was surprised to find Belemir a guest at the villa: he was tending the lad’s wound, and in payment Galleth had promised him the shard of the Black Crystal.  Belemir proved unwilling to take the Fellowship into his confidence, insisting that it was his task alone to deal with the Angril.  The taciturn loremaster eventually permitted the heroes to venture into the woods south of the villa in hopes of finding the beast that stung young Halgo.  Deep in the wood they encountered a nest of gigantic hornets, watched over by a pair of trolls in Baldur’s service.  The trolls were slain and the hornets chased away, and Belemir claimed to know nothing about them.  That evening Halgo regained consciousness, and in joy Galleth gave Belemir his prized shard.  Frolin and Rard were suspicious of Belemir and convinced their companions to follow him the next day, but the wily sage used shadow-magic to escape the villa during the night and avoid pursuit, perhaps flying away upon a gigantic black raven that had been skulking in the wilds.  The next day the goblin raiders began massing to assault the villa.  Since Belemir and the jewel-shard were gone without a trace, the heroes agreed to stay and take charge of the villa’s defenses.  The defenders were badly outnumbered, and Galleth’s chief retainer Garad rode off to Dunburg to plead for the aid of the town’s militia.  In a climactic night battle, the Fellowship led the villa’s defenders to hold back the Orc-horde until Garad returned at the head of the Dunburg militia, routing the fleeing goblins.  During the fight “Vornmir” reclaimed his true Rohirric name, Eogar Garbald’s son.  Many of Galleth’s men were killed in the battle, and Galleth himself was badly wounded.  All of the companions were hurt, Frolin and Heruband most seriously.

 

The Quest of Angril is far from finished.  There are still missing shards to be found and stolen shards to be recovered.  Golaric’s Easterlings are mobilizing for war against Dorwinion.  Belemir is once again missing, and with him Galleth’s shard.  Is Frolin correct that Belemir is actually the ominous “Baldur” who appears to be behind both the goblin war and the provocation of Golaric’s Easterlings?  Or is Belemir merely a misunderstood man with his own mysterious ways and purposes?  Will Belemir be able to find more of the missing shards, and if so what will he do with them?  Can the Fellowship find Belemir again by finding other shards, and can Dáma, Wogan’s old mentor from Marsburg, help the Fellowship?

Go to Part I: The Quest for the Black Crystal (click here)