The Road to Mirkwood

A Merchant's Life For Me

They decided to take up residence in Lake Town and settled into the pace of local life. One day, as Amros and Gelvira took a constitutional stroll along the lake shore, they were approached by a panicked lad, shouting that someone was killing his father. They followed him to find his father holding off two thugs with a tree branch. Amros stepped forward and told the thugs to leave or the Elven nation would fall upon them, at which points the thugs ran, albeit with rather poor grace. The man introduced himself as Baldor and his son as Belgo and offered them employment as caravan guards, seeing as how his last guards had proven a little untrustworthy. The party accepted and, the next day, set off upstream towards Mirkwood.

The journey was relatively uneventful an they met Baldor contact in the Elves without incident and were ferried up to the caves of the Elvenking. After a few days wait, during which Holfast and Vigar resupplied as they were forced to wait in the kitchens (not being Elves), they were escorted to the edge of Mirkwood and set upon the Elf-path. Spider The journey continued on foot, with a number of events interrupting Holfasts sleep along the way until one night Amros, on guard, saw Baldor rise from his bed looking confused. He explained he could not sleep and took a drink from the stream at the edge of camp.

Suddenly, a look of confusion came over him and he started babbling about not knowing who the people in the camp were, before running blindly into the forest. They followed him and a madcap dash through dark and unnerving woods ensued. Finally, they burst into a glade with a keep in it. High up the keep was a web bound bundle which they took to be Baldor as a giant spider started toward them down the web.  As they killed it, the webs all round the glade began to shake with movement.

The Hermit

As they searched for a way to reach Baldor, Holfast came under attack from another giant spider and the webs around them began to shake as more approached the tower. They fought valiantly to clear the area long enough to rescue the merchant but as Holfast and then Amros succumbed to the spiders venom and became paralysed, Vigar took the sensible option and retreated, carrying his comrades to safety. Once things had quietened down, he returned and, using stealth, climbed a spiral staircase to the top of the tower and released Baldor. As the spiders again responded to the disturbance in the web, Vigar handed Baldor a sword so that the could make their stand atop the wall – Baldor convinced him that retreat might just be the better option. Loading the paralysed heroes and Baldor on to the cart, Vigar moved away from the area before resting so that his comrades could recover.

They continued on their way until a torrential downpour forced them to seek shelter in a large hollow tree. They noticed many signs of occupancy, as well as some disturbing carvings on the wall before they heard sounds of someone coming in. Soon, a stench preceding him, a scruffy elderly man stood before them, brandishing a spear. When asked his name, he helpfully said he did not need one, as he was me and knew who he was. The rest of the conversation continued in much the same vein, although Vigar somehow managed to calm the man down, despite refusing his offer of unidentified meat. The hermit spoke of a shadow in Mirkwood, growing and corrupting the hearts of men and gave them a lump of metal ‘because the shadow hides in things and it was better to have "no things".

On inspection, this turned out to be a legendary axe head, named as Wolfbiter.

The next day, the rain cleared and the hermit seemed to have no real memory of them so they moved on swiftly, pausing for a meal at lunchtime and then taking a nap, against their better judgement, almost as though under some form of compulsion.

The Woodland Hall

As they slumbered they dreamt, of riches, power and revelation, until Amros was awoken by screams and saw Belgo moving away from the camp. She tried to follow but lost the tracks in the wood and returned, eventually managing to wake Holfast and then Vigar. His tracking skills lead them to a well in a glade that seemed to resemble one from their dreams. As Vigar climbed down the well to a ledge where Belgo lay, he was attacked by tentacles, which soon assaulted the others as well. The battle was brief, but extremely painful before they managed to rescue the
boy.

Holfast climbed to the bottom of the well, convinced the floor was covered in gold, but was sorely disappointed.

They rested to recover from the strain of battle and treat their wounds, before moving on. Several days later, after a skirmish with some giant spiders, they left the forest behind them and accompanied Belgar to the Woodland Hall, where Vigar handed over the axe head and much feasting was had.