Saruman's Legacy: RPG thread

[Gate Troll]

There are seven  people involved in this:
Me (Sniggit)
AgentDrake (Ectheow)
GarrisonofGondor (Sorin II)
Elf Lvr (Silvarin)
SickofPalantirs (Tuilin)
Centurion (Candron)
NBarden (Duinihir)
The Confessor (Arandur)
Aragorn_Ellessar (Feanon)

Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Tolren
Gothmog the Balrog

as well as a few surprises in store for everybody in the way of new characters. 








***************
Location: Underground cave below Orthanc
Date: August  8, TE 3014
Saruman sat near his furnace and held up a pair of tongs. In them was a ring, black and white gold mixed together in fanciful designs, which, if you looked close enough were encircled letters that read:

One Ring, not bound to any other,
One Ring, hidden from the sight of men
One Ring, master of ancient power
One Ring, the servant of Curunir.
Curunir wrought it, Curunir brought it, the doom of Sauron.
One Ring to enslave Gothmog the Mighty. Shall not the Istar rule?

Saruman smiled. All who called Middle-earth home would bow to him.
***************


***************
Location: Plain of Isengard
Date: March 3, FA 3019

Saruman had been at the gates to watch his army march. It was a glorious sight; 10,000 Uruk-hai
2,000 Men of Dunland and 4,000 Orcs on Wargs. The last horn had sounded, the last orc marched through the gate before it clanged shut. A few minutes later, Saruman was startled out of contemplation by the sound of someone banging on the gate, and a voice… …the voice of Treebeard. Orc archers on the ramparts immediately began to fire on Treebeard, and there was soon revealed to be at least a score of ents with him.
Saruman fled as the ents broke through the southern walls  and launched a mass attack on everything in sight.
***************


***************
Location: Plain of Isengard
Date: July 16, FA 4

The noon sun shone brightly on the backs of the working men as they attempted to fill in the gaping holes in the plain of Isengard. Every pit was filled with hundreds of men, occupied filling in the scars in the ground with fresh dirt. Gimli had been put in charge of the re-building of Isengard and seven hundred dwarves from the Lonely Mountain were re-building the walls of Isengard with dwarvish precision. The sun reflected off the spire of Orthanc high above the plain, as deep underground, men using some of Saruman's blasting powder were collapsing tunnels filled with feral Wargs. One man, stooping to dig heard his shovel clink against something metallic. Looking down, he saw that it was a jet-black ring with lines of white gold surrounding it in complicated traceries. The man said nothing, and pocketed the ring.
***************

***************
Location: Minas Tirith
Date: July 1, FA 4
Aragorn, king of Gondor thumbed through the well-worn book Gandalf had given him before he left Middle-earth. In it were a detailed summary of his travels and much lore of men, dwarves, and elves. There was also much ring-lore of Saruman that Gandalf had added saying  "Aragorn, when I was imprisoned by Saruman I noticed a ring on his hand. When I cast him out of the Order he was no longer wearing it. I want you to be on your guard, though I doubt it is as powerful as the enemy's ring was. It could cause great destruction and should e destroyed at once if discovered." Aragorn immediately sent a message to Isengard, to Gimli via palantir to and King Eomer, via scout
***************


Gimli sat at the window of Orthanc with Legolas. They were overseeing the re-building of Isengard and many of Gimli's kinfolk were down on the plain, re-building the walls with stone cut from the near-by mountains. The window was open, and a cool breeze blew through it. Everything was peaceful as the people were occupied eating lunch, it being about noon. A dwarf walked into the room and approached Gimli.
"Greetings" the dwarf said, to which Gimli replied, "Greetings Sniggit." The two dwarves engaged in conversation and Gimli learned that a rear tunnel had caved in, trapping about fifteen humans along with twenty dwarves.


Okay, time to start folks. Post away!

[GarrisonofGondor]

"Must use short breaths." Thought Sorin II. How he had been persuaded to come to this blasted Isengard place he never knew. "Well, I know but I'd like to forget." He thought. Recalling from the depths of his memory that day. The day had started like any normal day. He had his breakfast, smoked his pipe, and ate somemore. But then, his close friend came running to him. "Sorin, there are some Dwarfs here to recruit a crew." He said. "A crew for what? " Sorin asked."A crew for mining of course." His friend responded."Well, lets have a look then shall we." They later found out that the crew was to rebuild Isengard.
 "Well count me in." Sorin shouted to the head recruiter. Later that week Sorin and 699 other dwarfs marched to Isengard. Now, Sorin II was traped under ground, the result of a cave in.
"We'er running out of air." A voice shouted."This might be be our end." Sorin thought

[Centurion]

Curses  Thought Candron when he heard about the tunnel collapse he had seen his target go in there. He cursed again as he remembered that he had made an agreement that unless he brought the  the Easternling spy's head back to his employers than he would not receive his fee and he certainly not be getting the horse of Rohan he had been hoping for, if he did not receive his fee.      

[Gate Troll]

Tolren had been working in the caverns for some time and had just come up for lunch when the ground shook and he nearly fell over. He looked toward the source of the disturbance and saw that about 100 yards away from where he stood a part of the ground had caved in. He fingered the ring in his pocket and headed in the direction of the work area. Men were shouting and a dwarf ran toward Orthanc as fast as his short legs could take him; he looked to be Sniggit, the gruff overseer of the group of dwarven miners from the Iron Hills. Soon Sniggit was gone and Tolren heard a man shout: "Help! Help! There are people trapped down there!" Groups of workers looked hesitantly towards the cave in, wondering what to do but loathe to act for fear up of accidentally finishing what the cave-in had started and entombing the trapped workers forever. Soon Sniggit was back. "Dig!" he roared as he noticed the workers standing there motionless. "Dig ten feet to the left, we can still save them!" The workers obliged and swarms of them concentrated on the spot, as the dirt began to be removed...

[SomeRandomDude]

Duinihir was walking through a dark alley in the midst of the slums of Minas Tirith. He was growing restless with the inactivity since the War of the Ring, and felt eager for some action.

His thought process was broken off by a sound he heard all to often during these...voluntary patrols, if you have it. The sound of a woman screaming.

He quickened his pace and rounded a corner, where he saw a young woman being attacked by a handful of ruffians. He quickly drew his bow and shot one of them in the face before grasping his sword and charging them. The band scattered, as they were armed solely with knives, and realized that this man was a veteran fighter.

Nonetheless, a pair of his arrows dropped another couple men as the remaining three or four beat a hasty retreat.

The woman turned to thank him, and received, as typical, a short lecture on the dangers of this section of Minas Tirith before he turned and left. Duinihir needed action, and to be certain, the streets of Minas Tirith were a tad safer because of his lack of it. Slaying a handful of unarmed, unskilled ruffians, however, wasn't his idea of adventure, though it was as close as one could get to it in the blasted city.

**********************************************************************

Duinihir returned to the slightly less unsavory area of the city where he made his residence. He entered and was about to retire when he heard a knock on the door. "King Aragorn requests an audience with you posthaste."

Without a moment's delay, Duinihir hurried to the court, not minding to put on his courtier clothes. Aragorn had known him when they were both naught but rangers in the frozen north and would care not how his friend looked.

Arriving quickly at the court, a guard made a motion to stop him from entering, when Duinihir showed him the notice. The guard looked at it, then turned at looked at the clothes Duinihir was wearing, still disheveled from his skirmish. Duinihir snatched back the summons, gave the man a scowl and burst into the room.

"Duinihir!" called Aragorn. The two embraced, and after a short period of banter, Aragorn cut to the chase.

"Duinihir, I have a mission for you," Aragorn began. "These dispatches are of the utmost importance, and it is critical they get to Eomer, King of Rohan. The mere fact that I have chosen you for this mission testifies to the utmost importance of the dispatches. I would that I had more time to inform you of the issue, but our prior inactivity on the issue insists that you leave at once and make as quickly as you can to Eomer. Once there, you will act on my behalf, and Eomer will inform you of everything in the dispatch."

"Yes, my king," replied Duinihir, bowing and turning to leave.

***************************************************************

The great city gates flung open after midnight, gates that were never opened at night save by urgent order of the King of Gondor. Duinihir spurred his black steed to a full gallop and began the trek across northern Gondor to Edoras.

[Elf_Lvr]

Unlike Duinihir,  the elf-Sorcerer Silvarin had been very busy since the War of the Ring. He had returned home to Mirkwood in the stead of the Prince, Legolas, who had gone to Isengard with Gimli. Silvarin spent these past years rebuilding his hometown on the border of Rhun, all the while struggling to fight off remnant bands of Easterlings and other unsavory creatures that had made Mirkwood their home over the years.

Though many Elves had opted to leave Middle-Earth forever, the greatest population perhaps remained in Mirkwood, though many were preparing to leave. Silvarin had contemplated it for many years, but knew he could never leave his friends here, not until Mirkwood truly was safe again.

**********************************************************************************************

One day, Silvarin received a letter from his friend Tuilin. Legolas had sent a missive to Thranduil's home saying that an object of grave importance was lost in Isengard. More men and elves were needed in the reconstruction efforts. Tuilin had decided to go, and that made up Silvarin's mind as well. In short order he had saddled his horse and packed a few days of provisions, as well as his twin swords, before riding off to the edge of Mirkwood, where the two would meet.

[Gate Troll]

"Break camp!" snarled the voice of Zurog, as he woke his troops. In the decayed remains of Lothlorien the Uruks had made camp the night before, and now their commander, Zurog was rousing them for their daily march. The Uruks were remnants of Saruman's once mighty army now given over to pillaging and plundering, burning homesteads and stealing all sorts of livestock. They were one of the small bands of Uruk-hai that roamed the land as raiders in search of anything remotely valuable.

This band was 56 strong and led by an Uruk called Zurog, one of the first Uruks bred by Saruman and a veteran of the battle of Helm's Deep only escaping because he had disguised himself as a Dunlending and surrendered. Zurog had decided the night before to take the group into the border between Rohan and Gondor where a small number of isolated villages were located...

[sickofpalantirs]

((here we go...finally go tto it. Lets see if I can figure out Tuilin personality finally.
This is post war-of the ring, and around secrets of the south he got...melancholy kinda...lets give this a whirl))

Tuilin was near the edge or mirkwood, waiting for silvarin.  He knew the elf would be unable to resist the chance of adventure, along with the opportuinity to slay some foebeasts. 

His horse was tethered to a nearby tree, with several days provisions, 2 quivers of arrow, and various other necessary supplies.  He was, as always, armed to the teeth.  First and foremost was his bow, foedeath, than a quiver of arrows, his longsword, a dirk and 2 throwing knives.

At the moment he was sitting against a tree, watching what nature there was go about its day.  He found it calm and meditating, a welcome break from the killing of his last 500 years. To tell the truth, he had tired of killing, especially that of men, easterlings, haradrim, corsairs.  The fierce hate of orcs still remained in his blood, but for men, he was more reluctant.  he chose the causes he would fight for carefully.  This "Artifact" that had been mentioned Intrigued him and the chance to unite with Silvarin again had sealed the deal.  Silvarin should be here soon He thought.

[The Confessor]

Arandur took grim comfort in the treacherous mines. He reacted with plodding determination as Tolren barked orders. Digging with a rhythmic efficency, he took his place among the men and began to work. Here, along side the shadows and the dirt and the darkness, no one knew who he was - no one knew his past. And maybe if, just maybe, he could forget the horrors of war. 

[Gate Troll]

Tolren's back ached. They had been toiling for hours to rescue the trapped miners and it was showing on the men. Sweat rolled down their faces and soaked their filthy clothes as they worked and the men were physically tired, aching and weary from the seemingly endless digging. Finally, they broke through. After clearing a small hole they sent a man down to report the condition of the trapped miners. They all seemed fine, despite the overabundance of carbon dioxide in the cave. The men were rescued one by one and the hole was enlarged so that the cave would not collapse once more. That night, after the evening meal, Tolren fingered the ring he had found. He had shown it to no one, fearing that someone else would try to steal it. It was very beautiful but its elvish runes confused Tolren and he resolved to decipher it as soon as he could...

[Elf_Lvr]

Silvarin and Tuilin had been riding for days toward Isengard. The ancient tower was in sight on the horizon. The two of them should arrive by tomorrow. For now, they sat by their meager campfire. Although both were tired, neither really seemed to feel like sleeping. The two elves sat in relative silence. Tuilin was fletching more arrows, and Silvarin was reading from one of his spellbooks.

Something was amiss that night. Silvarin could feel an unhealthy tension in the air. The sun had risen red that day. The elves had learned long ago that this was an omen of bloodshed. Perhaps that was the reason that Silvarin and Tuilin couldn't sleep.

A gruesome roar split the air. Silvarin and Tuilin leaped to their feet, elven eyes scanning the horizon for the source of the noise. They saw, far in the distance, rising smoke and fire. More cries soon joined the first. Both elves recognized the sound. It was a battle-cry they heard often on the blood-soaked fields of Helm's Deep.

Uruk-Hai...

[GarrisonofGondor]

"Sweet air, sweet air oh how I love you." Sorin thought. After being rescued he had decided to stay out side to get deep breaths of clean air. Sorin II was a very active dwarf. After being trapped in a mine for several hours he decided to go into the forests out side Isnegard to practice dodging amongst the trees. He had just ducked, done a 180 degree turn, jumped, and swung his axe, when he found himself surrounded by Uruk-hai. Sorin was worried. He was worried because he had foolishly not told anybody of his leaving the grounds. Suddenly, an arrow took one uruk through his neck. Sorin turned to see two Elves charging to his aid through the trees.

[sickofpalantirs]

"I...Hate Uruk-hai" Tuilin said.  This was no small thing, many of his kin, some good friends had perished on the deeping wall to their crossbow bolts and swords.  They were one of the few races left in middle earth that he had no qualms in killing, all the better for the dwarf they had surrounded.  Some elves would be reluctant to get to the aid of a dwarf, but knowing Rorin had put all such childish prejudices behind him.

He could conservatively kill a target at 250 yards  and the uruk-hai were roughly 40 away in a stand of trees.  He broke a dead run, trusting that silvarin would be behind, most likely muttering some incantation,  His bow had already been out and he fitted an arrow to the string, took notice of the trees that might be in the way, and fired.  The unfortunate first Uruk took it in the neck,  He drew the second arrow and fired it from 15 yards,  another one was flipped over from the force of taking it in the mouth.  10 yards...he tucked his bow in its hold behind the quiver with his right hand, while his left drew the sword underhanded and tossed it in the air, he was 5 yards away and a uruk hai had taken a step his way, he jumped into the air grabbing the in-air sword with his right hand, and while the uruk-hai's brain was still catching up to the fact that the elf had dissapeared, he brought it down on his helm, there was a clang, and than a sickening thud, as it cleaved helm and skull. He did a somersault as he landed on the ground came up and ran a 4th uruk-hai through.  He spun and withdrew his sword, and parried a 5th, this one seemed to know how to duel.


((hee hee...I felt like having Tuilin do something kick but, like flipping in the air catching his sword and killing something just a note, I generally dislike godmoding for some of the more established characters, as it seems like they have deep personalities, and I really shouldn't be messing with them    I do like people godmoding tuilin ( as in saying he did this/that) because  it helps establish his somehwat lacking personality and helps me figure out what to do   just a rather long though...))

[Centurion]

Silently, swiftly, deadly the words of his long dead mentor came to Candron's mind as he flitted through the shadows towards  his target. Who was a spy in the employ of the Easternlings here to hide from Gondor's retribution. Having decided that it was to trivial an assignment to give an actual ranger of Gondor they had simply chosen to deliver the retribution by the hand of a simple bounty hunter. He had surprised them with his appearance a "scumbag" that looked like a ranger. Even he disapproved of killing for money. Not to mention his dwarf upbringing had given him a strong sense of honor so he did not take pleasure in it either "What I'll do for Menya." he muttered to himself. He could have kicked himself for losing concentration at such a time Candron slipped up behind his target and slid his blade across his targets throat. Leaving the man to his gurgling death Candron left a note for Sniggit telling him of the man's "previous affiliations" and sending him his best regards. It was over now to recover the proof. Here comes the disgusting part he thought to himself.   


(( my reference to Sniggit in this post is with GT's collaboration so I just wanted to say that))

[Gate Troll]

Zurog's band of Uruks had gone raiding earlier that day and had joined forces with about 100 orcs that had fled from Dol Guldur. They had reached the trees of Fangorn and had set up camp for the night near the edge of the forest. One of the sentries had heard a sound and looked to see an oblivious dwarf practicing fighting moves. The Uruk had run back to base and gathered 10 more Uruks and two-score orcs. They had quickly surrounded the dwarf and were moving for the kill when two elves burst into the clearing, quickly killing 4 Uruks and several orcs. Then Zurog arrived. "The orcs were already running, curse their cowardly hides," Zurog thought angrily. "Let the fighting Uruk-hai do the work as usual," he muttered as he engaged the first elf. Their blades met, locked and spun around. Zurog parried the elf's next few strokes, surprising the elf. Zurog smiled grimly. The dwarf had taken two arrows, one had only dented his armor but the other had pierced his shoulder between two plates of armor. Zurog slowly backed the elf against a tree; and was annoyed as the elf managed to draw blood on his blade-arm. Five minutes later they were still fighting fiercely, the dwarf was completely surrounded and the second elf had vanished completely. Then, the battle-noise was shattered by a massive boom. The second elf had reemerged from the trees and a white pillar of lighting was flying from the sky towards the orcs. At least a score died instantly. The rest fled into the forest, leaving Zurog's position much more… compromised. The dwarf seemed to have escaped and the second elf had disappeared as well. Zurog's thoughts returned to the battle as the elf punched him in the face. Zurog roared angrily and punched the elf back. The elf brought his sword down quickly on Zurog hand, cracking his gauntlet and breaking his hand. Zurog's sword clattered to the ground as his broken hand dropped it; the last thing he remembered seeing was the elf's sword raised high in the air…

[Elf_Lvr]

Silvarin crashed through the trees, wounded dwarf slung over his shoulder. He seemed to be barely conscious - the blows from the Uruk arrows were very strong. Once the noise of clashing swords had dimmed, Silvarin laid the dwarf on the ground and ripped off his plate mail to expose the arrow-wound on his shoulder. He placed both hands on the wound and whispered the magical words of healing. The flesh and muscle knitted back together, now the wound was but a bruise. Luckily, the armor had absorbed some of the blow and the wound wasn't difficult to heal. Silvarin had spent a bit too much energy on the lightning spell, but it had paid off - many orcs that weren't killed ran scared.

Yet there was no time to rest. The Uruk fighting Tuilin was very strong - Silvarin guessed he was their leader - and though Silvarin knew Tuilin was an able fighter, he saw too many able fighters cut down at Helm's Deep. Especially when outnumbered. Who knew how many Uruks were lying in wait in the woods?

Silvarin slowed once he had reached the clearing. He peered through the trees and saw that the Uruk Tuilin had been fighting was lying on the ground, and three uruks had engaged Tuilin. Another was attending to the commander. Silvarin raised his fingers to his lips and began to speak the words of a spell.

Suddenly, a black-feathered arrow flew past his shoulder and struck a tree behind him. It seemed some uruk-hai hadn't run at all - they had retreated further into the forest to use their bows. Silvarin loosed his spell, but not against the uruk leader - instead, bolts of magical fire sped towards the Uruks fighting Tuilin. One had already fallen, the others were roasted in their armor. Silvarin screamed, "Archers!" Knowing Tuilin would respond quickly and escape, Silvarin ducked back into the cover of the forest and ran for where the dwarf was hidden, infusing magic into his weakened muscles. He could already hear the sound of uruk footsteps behind him.

[Centurion]

Candron was just slipping out through one of the many damaged parts of Isengard's outer wall when the distant sounds of a fight in the woods. Half because he was bored and half because he was really interested in helping he began towards the sound. What he saw stunned him. Uruks he thought AND elves oh this gonna be just lovely. He then proceeded to load an arrow to the string of his bow pointing it towards the uruks dueling an elf but then he heard a shout"archers!!!" and saw an arrow sail into the tree next to the source of the shout and decided to cover their retreat instead. he fired a few arrows toward the uruk archers and then ran after the two elves carrying his countryman.   

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sorin II had awakened to find himself on the forest floor. "Am I dead?" Sorin wondered aloud. In answer an Elf came thundering through the trees toward him."Guess not" he muttered to himself. Sorin saw a group of Uruks chasing the Elf. Sorin raised his hand in the air and shouted, "Nenoliar!" A round, indigo blue bubble incased the Uruk-hai. "Heal yourself!" he shouted to the Elf. "I never learned to how to keep this up!"

(I'm going to say Sorin II learned 2 spells from Tharkun.)

[sickofpalantirs]

the uruk had fought well, But Tuilin had him now...than his ear caught a noise, almost imperceptible, a slight woosh centuries of fighting had given him the reflexes that now saved his life, he fell.  This was actually harder than it sounded as his brain hadn't quite caught up,  his legs jerked to the side, he contorted his chest, and a blade that had been meant to decapitate him took a chunk out of his thigh instead.  He rolled and came up, parried the uruks next blow and ran him through.  two more leapt at him, and he swiftly dispatched them, he heard Silvarin cry archers, and decided it was time to leave.  He sheathed his sword while on the run, and drew out his bow and an arrow, a bolt struck in a tree by him, and he spun, mind calculating where it came from. There...a metallic gleam. TWANG...his tale stood at 8.  another bolt, another arrow...9.  He caught up to silvarin.  just in time to see thw dwarf awake and cast a primitive spell. "What now?" he asked Silvarin.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sorin's strength was failing him. The Magic Elf was healing himself and Sorin was getting weaker."Done!" The Elf shouted. Sorin II's strength gave out. The Dwarf saw a ring of fire surround the Uruks, and then he passed out.

[Elf_Lvr]

Silvarin was rather impressed - he'd never seen a dwarf that could cast spells before. Keeping a spell like that up for that long in his weakened state was interesting, to say the least. He didn't have much time to marvel at the little dwarf, however, for soon he collapsed and the spell faltered. Tuilin, however, was ready with arrows nocked and Silvarin joined him with bolts of fire. The pursuing uruks fell dead, though Silvarin could still hear Uruk-voices far off in the forest.

"Come, Tuilin," said Silvarin, "Let's get this little fellow to Isengard. I fear our friends may be in more danger than they know."

[sickofpalantirs]

"I think we have enough danger for now" Tuilin muttered as he shouldered the dwarf.  "He's going to be angry when he wakes up you know"
"Undoubtedly" Silvarin replied.
"It always seems to me like magic rather spoils things" Tuilin joked " You stand around mutter some words, throw some energy around and bam...all your foes are dead.  Don't you long for a little honest killing every now and than?"

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sorin II awoke to find himself on an Elf's shoulder. His first thought was to punch the Elf in the nose But when he saw there was a few Uruks chasing them. "Master Elf," he shouted. The spell casting Elf turned. This Elf muttered something and crossed and uncrossed his arms three times. Instantly two of the Uruk-hai were surrounded by a ring of fire. The Uruks were roasting in their armor. "Nice," Sorin thought. The Elf carrying him broke into a dead run. Reaching the side gate of Isengard, this Elf began pounding on the gate. Suddenly, the gate swung inward to reveal a Ranger bearing a broken Longsword.

[Centurion]

Candron was racing through the woods as fast as his feet could carry him. Why is it that I get all the interesting assignments and my idiot employers always fail to mention the risks URUKS and ELVES which is worse don't know.He thought the elves and the dwarf were almost to the gates now and the uruks had given up chase for the most part "HEY!!" he yelled "wait up" the gate was opening aaaaaaaaaaaand closing "BLAST!!" he said well I'll just go back in the way I got out. He then proceeded to the breech now with a guard. No problem to sneak past, the guy was half asleep anyway. He had a feeling things were about to get interesting and he would have to stick around besides he could get back to his favorite occupation lost since his youth ... ...annoying Sniggit.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 "Let me down!" Sorin II shouted. The Elf that had been carrying him finally set him to the ground. "Thank you." Sorin said grumpily. Sorin turned to see the magic Elf clasp his hand into a fist and raise it to the sky. Three aura colored lightning bolts slashed down and slew three more uruks. Only two Uruk-hai remained. Suddenly, an arrow seemed to grow out of the first ones neck. The second one, ran away as fast as he could. "Nice Shot," Sorin admitted gruffly to the Elf behind him."Thanks," The Elf replied," I'm Tulin,'' he said extending his hand. "Sorin the Second or just Sorin I prefer," Sorin II replied, shaking Tulins hand. "You know, I've never seen a Dwarf cast a spell," Tulin admitted. "I learned a few spells from Tharkun."

[sickofpalantirs]

"It actually wasn't a very good shot" Tuilin continued "I was aiming about an inch in,  there was a possibility he would've taken that and kept coming, small but if I do it enough times someones going to survive it...though it hasn't happened yet." he said with a smile.

[Gate Troll]

     Sniggit had risen early that day and after the hullabaloo about the tunnel collapse he figured the excitement was over for the day. He though wrong. The reports that came back were mostly garbled though they did have one interesting part of them. Something about Uruks. Sniggit looked up in surprise as the messenger informed him of the battle: "...and their are several elves and an injured dwarf coming this way, with a human a good bit behind," finished the winded man as he gave his report. "Hmm," though Sniggit, "I wonder who the elves and the human are?" He didn't have long to wonder. Reports soon came back that the elves were at the gated and had been let in while the human had disappeared. When Sniggit heard the description of the human he started to wonder and quickly headed for the stairs.

     Down in the plain of Isengard, Sniggit soon discovered the identity of the two elves, an elven warrior named Tuilin and some elvish sorcerer named Silvarin. Sniggit shivered. Unlike Gimli he detested elves, and elvish sorcerers even more. Whats more he also discovered that the human was none other than Candron, someone he had known as long as he could remember, which was a very, very long way back. Candron immediately greeted  Sniggit: "You've gotten old, dwarf." "Same to you," growled Sniggit, though inside he was overjoyed. Candron was the one human he saw eye to eye with. Maybe it was their shared appreciation for cynicism. Maybe it was their shared dislike for elves. Or maybe it was the fact that Candron had been raised by dwarves, and in Sniggit's earlier years they had spent 17 years travelling Middle-Earth together on a quest for the last dwarven ring which had been rumored to have been consumed by dragon fire; but also rumored to have survived. For whatever reason, Sniggit was glad to see his old friend for the first time in 22 years…

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sorin II was listening. He was also a little bored. Because of this bordem, he decided to explore further inside Isengard than he had ever been before. Rounding a corner, he accidently bumped into another Dwarf. "Gimli!" Sorin exclamed. "Sorin, I heard you were injured," came Gimli's reply."I hear your a bit of a sorcerer", Gimli added. Sorin II nodded,"I learned 2 spells from Tharkun." Gimli nodded and said nothing.

[Gate Troll]

     Tolren had been working when he heard of the Uruk attack. Earlier that day he had snagged a copy of
Elvish Runes and had tried to make some sense out of the ring. All he understood was something about
One Ring-ancient-not-bound-hidden-sight-of-men and something about Curunir, Istar and Gothmog.
He had given up and gone back to work; this time helping to locate and chart any small tunnels. They had located and collapsed three when their overseer, a stout little dwarf named Byrok reported the news about the skirmish with the Uruk-hai. The team moved on to a different tunnel but as they did so Tolren's ring lit up, and he fell over, unconcious. No one noticed his absence. When Tolren awoke his fellow workers were gone, and his lantern was out. The white gold of his ring emanated a soft, but powerful glow and black gold seemed to suck all light from around it. Tolren found that he felt a strong urge to follow one of the tunnels, and, almost as if in a dream, he started walking, down, down, down. Several minutes later, Tolren managed to regain control of his legs. He felt sleepy, and a little light-headed, but what he saw before him erased any thoughts of rest. He at the edge of a gigantic chamber, about 500 feet wide and completely circular, with the ceiling roughly 200 feet high. In the center was a circular platform 20 feet high and on it stood the immense statue of a demon. The whole room was ornately carved with runes, and many smaller life-sized statues of goblin-soldiers in full armor and armored troll-men stood in circles around the demon. Tolren was lost for words at the splendor of the hall. Once again, his legs began to move until he was standing before the demon. Then, without any orders from his mind his mouth began to move, and a voice that did not belong to him started to chant in a loud voice.

One Ring, not bound to any other,
One Ring, hidden from the sight of men
One Ring, master of ancient power
One Ring, the servant of Curunir.
Curunir wrought it, Curunir brought it, the doom of Sauron.
One Ring to enslave Gothmog the Mighty. Shall not the Istar rule!

     As he spoke the eyes of the statues glowed with a red light and a horrible chorus of voices joined his own. The room grew unbearably hot and before Tolren's eyes the ring burst into white flame and the demon on the pedestal spoke. "What does my master require of me?" The he saw Tolren and his face cracked into a horrible smile. "Where is Curunir, little worm? Where is he? Tell me, or I shall consume you!"
Tolren muttered something incomprehensible and the demon spoke once more. "I am Gothmog the Mighty, and I shall not suffer a worm to rule over me." He grasped Tolren and, and as he did so, Tolren burst into a blinding flame. Then, Gothmog took the ring and placed it on his own finger. It seemed to join with his finger, melting into it as Gothmog  raised himself to full height. "Come, my brothers!" he roared to the crowd. "Our master has fled or perished, our slavery is over, let us rule over Middle earth!" Stepping over Tolren's blackened bones, Gothmog went towards the entrance, the army of Greater Uruk-hai and Troll-men behind him...

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Sorin II had been conversing with Gimli when suddenly,, the ground shook. "What in blazes is happening," Gimli shouted. Legolas, who had recently joined them, ran to a window."Legolas, what do you see?" Sorin roared."Hundreds of Goblins and Uruks, and...", His voice trailed of."What!,"Gimli shouted again.

 In the cold air, three words chilled everyones bones.

 "Gothmog has returned," Legolas whispered.

[Aragorn_Ellessar]

Feanon had been working in the gardens of Isengard. He had been hired by some of the overseers to help restore the trees and plants in the courtyard. As he walked through the rows of growing plants, an oak tree here, some athelas here, he thought about what Isengard had been like before it had been turned into a stronghold of evil. He had visited once, on an errand of Galadriel. He had been impressed with the beauty. And now all that was gone. His heart burned with anger towards Saruman for destroying a beautiful place. He noticed a small group of elves rush in. One of them was carrying a dwarf. Feanon, seeing them not watch where they were walking, or laying, or sitting, ran over to ask them what had happened, and then to get them off of his plants.

He was just about to run over and interrupt their conversation when the ground began to shake.
"What is this?" he thought.

As the shaking stopped, he ran over, and was about to ask what had just happend, when the elf (whom he recognized as Legolas)  spoke.

"Gothmog has returned!"


A shiver suddenly ran down his back. Gothmog. How could he be back? This was bad. As in, very bad. This also meant that there would now be Orcs and Uruk-hai running all over his precious plants and destroying them. He interjected into the conversation.

"What can I do to help stop these monsters?" He said.

[Gate Troll]

     Above, high up in Orthanc tower, Sniggit and Candron were oblivious to the goings-on below. By chance, Candron glanced out the window. "What the #$&*@! is going on down there?" he asked Sniggit, as he watched the ground break open. A great quantity of smoke was pouring from the ever-growing hole in the ground, and small black shapes were swarming out of it in great numbers. Sniggit looked out the window and swore in dwarvish, then, turning to Candron he said "Something bad," and dashed out of the room.