Oldhammer LOTR - A King in the North & A Wizard in the High Tower

Before we get to the big battle of Willowbottom to decide the fate of the Shire, let us travel far to the north to find the ranger known as Strider...

This particular Aragorn figure is from the box set known as BME3 Balrog, Encounter at Khazad–Dum.  I dont have the box set, nor any other figures from it besides this Aragorn. 

 So fluffwise in our campaign, Aragorn, the heir of Isildur, is busy defending the Wall at Castle Black against the Night King, the heir of Slitherine.  Despite being outnumbered a thousand to one, the Rangers of the North put up a valiant defense.  Attackers are repelled from the Wall itself every hour of every day.  The Castle is also constantly being breached and the battle is fought corridor by corridor, room by room. 

Aragorn has loyal companions fighting beside him - the young Jon Snow, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, and the half elven sons of Elrond - Elladan and Elrohir.  Aragorn outranks all the other rangers, as befits his status as the True King of the North. 

And while each day the Night King is defeated, each day he rises back from death.
For he is immortal.

Aragorn knows he is losing a battle of attrition.  Maester Aemon has formulated a plan of action that will take the bravest of Rangers beyond the Wall to a mysterious Weirwood in the Ice Bay of Forochel.  Aragorn remembers his history, and his family heritage.  A thousand years ago, his ancestor, King Arvedui retreated there to Forochel and made allies with a tribe of people known as the Lossoth.  In the end Arvedui met tragedy there in Forochel, will Aragorn make the same mistake?


Meanwhile, far to the south...

 Gandalf the Grey is a prisoner on top of Isengard Tower.  The head wizard, Saruman the White has betrayed the Wizarding Order and turned to the Dark Side!  Saruman knows that Gandalf has found the One Ring, but nothing he does can make Gandalf reveal where he has hidden it.

Saruman:  We must join with Him, Gandalf.  We must join with Sauron.  It would be wise, my friend

This Gandalf is the one from the original 80s box set, BME1 - The Fellowship of the Ring.

 Mord the jailor of Isengard checks on Gandalf in his "sky cell".

Everyday, Mord tortures Gandalf and threatens to throw him out the Moon Door... a hole in the floor that is a long drop from the very high tower of Isengard.  Everyday, Gandalf wonders if Radagast has forgotten the task he was given to send an Eagle to Isengard.  Did Radagast know about Saruman turning evil?  Or is Radagast just a forgetful nincumpoop?  The Grey Wizard regrets that his life is now dependent on the Brown Wizard's reliability.  He worries about Frodo and wonders if the little Hobbit is still safe.  And the Ring... is it secret, is it safe?


Gandalf:  (To Mord) Tell your master that the more he tightens his grip, the more star systems will slip through his fingers.

And everyday, Mord brings in the mind probe to break Gandalf's will.

Mord:  Your resistance to the mind probe is considerable. It will be some time before we can extract any information from you.

Gandalf:  Mr Mord, how kind of you to visit.  Have you come to ensure the taxpayers' dollars are keeping me comfortable?

Mord: Now... Mr Lehnsherr. Or should I call you Magneto?  I'd like to have one final talk... about the house that Xavier built and the machine called Cerebro.  

Gandalf:  Same actor, different movie, bub!

Mord: Tell that to Count Dooku!

~~~~~

So a small little post to show off what Gandalf and Aragorn are up to and why they arent in the Shire.
This reminds me that not all games in the campaign make it to this blog.
For which, I apologize if there seem to be gaps in the storyline.
Tyrion, Radagast, and Arwen's adventure in Moria never got an update.
Perhaps its best not to explain at this point, though.
It will be more exciting to find out what happened in the course of the upcoming posts after the Shire campaigns are wrapped up.

But suffice to say, that Radagast is definitely at the center of why everything is getting screwed up in Middle Earth!


If my blog is like Marvel Movies then:

Phase 1 was all Moria posts, Phase 2 is the Shire and Eriador, Phase 3 is Rhovanion with Mirkwood, Rhosgobel, and other areas on the eastern front of Middle Earth.  I actually have 6 Phases in mind, all written on post it notes.  

Perhaps to emulate Star Wars, we should aim for 9.  Three sets of trilogies for this blog then...

At least thats what I have planned.  Like any good Dungeon Master, Im also planning that the game will go off script at any time.

Back to your regularly scheduled Shire Campaign...

Cheers,
Mar