The Battle of Hollin Gate, Part 3 The Finale

 The explosive and shocking finale of The Battle of Hollin Gate!

 

Mortimer launches another Lightning spell on the gate.

Lady Elerina uses her Stun spell to keep Chaos warriors and Beastmen from attacking Mortimer who is causing steady damage to the gate.

Mortimer: *winks at Elerina* We make a good team, dont we?

Lady Elerina: With victory or death in the balance... I will permit your possibly inappropriate speech towards my person.

Mortimer: No. I only meant that we make a good spell casting team...

Lady Elerina: Anais told you me of your easily befuddled ways, Mortimer. *laughs* Sorry couldnt help it. Ok, no more distractions. Lightning blast that gate to oblivion!

Mortimer: Ohhh... ha ha. Yes mi'lady! Oh that naughty Anais!

Paladin Cosette intercepts an ape Beastman that was bounding for Tuddles.

And with a great thwack of his tentacles, Nyarlathotep slays the Watcher in the Water. Tuddles gasps as his pet is brought low. Goodbye Watcher... we hardly knew ye.

And two more Night Gaunts arrive from out of the gate. Which brings a total of 3 Night Gaunts on the board. But where is the third one?

Ah, there it is! It drops down on Poppy! And wounds her!

She makes a Resolve roll and gets away from the Gaunt. And just in time, Sir Haystacks jumps in to tank it! Haystacks tells Poppy to stay back but she moves forwards instead! What does she think she is doing? 

Poppy heroically runs for the gate! Perhaps no one will notice a small hobbit who has set out to achieve the impossible. Poppy's time to shine has come and destiny calls! Hobbits may be small in stature but their time to show their mettle has come! A light shines from the sky and a choir of angelic voices is heard.

Poppy: Here I come, gate! I will destroy you! With only my little wooden staff with an acorn on top of it!

Sir Haystacks: Come back here, Hobbit! I saved your life and now Im responsible for it! Get back here! *tries to go after her but has to defend himself from the Night Gaunt*

Nyarlathotep puts fear into Shrub Beard's mind! Its a vision of a forest fire! With smoke, and heat, and burning leaves everywhere! Shrub Beard cant help but flee, which leaves Anais by herself!

Anais: Noooo... Come back, Shrub Beard! First the Watcher is slain, now Shrub Beard is gone...  Im all alone! Nevermind... I will fight on! Come at me mindless terror beast, if you dare!

But for all her bravery, and even with her magic sword... Anais falls to Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos...

Lady Elerina sees her bodyguard has fallen but its no time for sorrow. Not yet. She must fight on! They can still win this battle. She has to protect Mortimer. His Lightning blasts can bring the gate down.

Lord Mysterion vs Lady Elerina.

Lord Mysterion: I will break you, she-elf...

Lady Elerina: Thats Lady She-Elf to you!

Elerina casts an Intimidate spell on Mysterion... and succeeds!

Lord Mysterion routs off the board into the gate itself!

"Where you going dude? Im going home, Donnie. Phone's ringing dude. Thanks Donnie."

On the left side, a Night Gaunt kills another Azer, which leaves one Azer left on that side.

On the right side, the Azer Chief is the last Azer on that side. He faces the other Night Gaunt, but not before he lobs a throwing axe at the gate and damages it! The gate is down to 3 wounds!

Cosette intercepts a Beastman headed for Mortimer.  Cosette is the star player when it comes to intercepts this game. She looks back at Tuddle, hopes he will be ok without her for a bit.

Tuddle makes it to the gate at the same time that Poppy does! Can the Hobbits bring down the gate?

Tuddle: Oh no! This gate is too strong for me to destroy! This is as far as my imagination took me. Can you do anything Poppy?

Poppy: *grunts* Uh.... no. Nothing doing. Just keep trying Tuddle!

Cosette finally defeats her enemy and rushes to the Hobbits. Surely she can do it! There is still time.

Cosette: *whispers a mantra to herself* Time is the substance of which I am made. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me but I am the fire.

But she also fails to damage the gate! Time is running out!

Mortimer casts another Lightning and damages it! One more point of damage is needed!

Final turn is here! The Azer Chief also arrives. Together with all these heroes here, someone will do it, right? With Baron Orson still fighting at the Mausoleum, and Sir Haystacks fighting a Night Gaunt... this is everyone that can destroy the gate.

Mortimer: Ok everyone heave!

Chief Azer: Blast it to bits!

Cosette: For Rohan!

Hobbits: For the Shire!

But a Night Gaunt lands on poor Poppy and claws her. As she feels unconsciousness approaching, she forces herself to stay awake. Not yet, she thinks! I have to know how this ends! She turns her head and watches...

The Azer Chief is now in combat with the Night Gaunt.

Nyarlathotep slays Mortimer before he can cast another Lightning. Then crushes Tuddles with a smack of his tentacles. This place is a hotbed of tragedy!

The Azer Chief kills the Night Gaunt!

With the final two attacks, Cosette and the Azer Chief make their final rolls...

The Azer Chief fails.

Cosette fails.

And then Poppy slips away into unconsciousness. She thinks to herself, "So this is how the world ends. Bye!"

And a tidal wave of Mythos creatures pour out of the gate of Hollin! The game ends... in defeat!

"I have seen enough to know that I have seen too much."

~~~

Poppy wakes up in a bed! Where is she? Lady Elerina stands at the foot of her bed and gives her a warm welcome. At Poppy's side is another bed and in it... is Anais, who also wakes up. Mortimer walks into the room with bandages over a broken arm. 

Poppy: Where are we?

Mortimer: Isenford in Rohan. After we lost the battle, we picked up our wounded and slain and ran out of there with Nyarlathotep and his creatures at our heels. Baron Orson carried Kipper's body instead of taking some treasure from the Mausoleum. Shrub Beard came back and carried you, Tuddles, and the Watcher in the Water, who had shrunk back to the size of a cuttlefish again. *seeing questions in Poppy's eyes* Im sorry... Tuddle has passed away. We lost Kipper too. And the Watcher in the Water.  You, Anais, and I barely survived. Luckily for us, Butters the Pony and the Beercart was passing by and gave us a lift. He is faster than anyone would have thought.

Mortimer: The Azer Chief and one other Azer are the last remaining Azers in our world. The Interdimensional Port Authority has put sanctions on all dimenionsal travel for now. Many malevolent entities from the Dark Dimension has entered our world. We failed our mission. But we can still lead a defense here in Rohan and in other places. We must unite our world and fight Nyarlathotep and all other Mythos.

The surviving Fellowship members hold a farewell ceremony for Tuddles, Kipper the Squire, and the Watcher in the Water.

Elerina's song:
"Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But oh, how can they know, that it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know, that it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
For I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?"

Cosette's song: (she carries Kipper's swords and sheds tears for her squire, then recites a Rohan dirge)
"Thou wert swift, O Morar! As swift as deer in the desert: terrible as a meteor in the night sky. Thy wrath was as the storm. Thy sword, as lightning in the field. Thy voice, as a stream after rainfall, like thunder on distant hills. Many fell by thy arm: they were consumed in the flames of thy wrath. But when thou didst return from war, how peaceful was thy brow.

Deep is the sleep of the dead, and lowly their pillow of dust. No more shall he hear thy voice, no more awake at thy call. When shall it be morn in the grave, to bid the slumberer awake?

 Narrow is the confines of thy dwelling now! dark the place of thine abode! With three steps I encompass your grave, O thou who wast once so great! Four stones, with their heads of moss, are the only memorial of thee. A leafless tree and long grass which whistles in the wind.

Why then dost thou awaken me, O breath of spring? Thy voice exclaiming, I refresh thee with heavenly dew; when the time of my decay is approaching, the storm is nigh that shall whither my leaves. Tomorrow the wanderer shall come, the traveler who beheld me in my glory: his eye shall seek me in the field, but me... he shall not find."

Poppy's song: (she has the Clam Shell of Grey Havens now)
"I wish today could be tomorrow,
The night is dark,
It just brings sorrow, let it wait.

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I'm thinking of the days,
I won't forget a single day, believe me."

~~~

Lady Elerina: We lost the book-bearer. who now will carry the book?  *Elerina opens the book to find that the pages are blank* What was the password again? Anyone? 

Everyone tries and fails. Poppy remembers correctly (I solemnly swear I am up to no good), but still the book is blank. The password has changed somehow. Theories?
Poppy keeps the book for now.

So here is the new team: Lady Elerina is the new team leader, Baron Orson seems to have changed his narcissist ways and is second in command of the team. Kipper might not have been the Baron's squire, but his death seems to have affected him deeply. Oh and dont forget the Beercart and the 2 last Azers! The Fellowship also hope to receive reinforcements before the Mythos invasion of Rohan starts. The White Tower of Gondor has sent word that any survivors from another team sent to Eryn Vorn will probably join them. (Thats going to be Balthazar the Blue and his party of adventurers - Adeline, Prince Arioch, Mordecai the Butler, Lenore the Valkyrie, Malekith the Anti-Paladin, Karnov the Barbarian, and McGirk. And again, thats IF any survive their mission!)

What about Mortimer and Anais?

Mortimer is too wounded and will be recovering in the Undying Lands at the Istari Resort Hotel and Rehab. As he arrives there, he is greeted by a certain Grey Wizard named Olorin. And another eccentric Brown Wizard with an unkempt appearance. They talk of the olde days and Mortimer tells them of recent events in return. In time, who knows, Mortimer may return.

Anais also is heavily wounded and will rest in Rivendell Rehab with some elderly Elf celebrities who never left Middle Earth, namely Celeborn and Glorfindel. They give Anais history lessons and she teaches them new and hip lingo to use at inappropriate times.

~~~

Final thoughts:

I thought Tuddle would be the center of the new stories for this blog going forward. But the Dice Gods are fickle. Maybe its Poppy's story all along. She now holds the Book of Pickles and its map. With it, she is now the Quest-giver (or receiver).

Im glad Sir Haystacks survived. he is my favorite miniature of the team. Plus with Lady Elerina's bodyguard out of action, Haystacks will fill that role. Especially since Elerina made him a knight in their first battle - Redhorn Pass. Although, with the Baron's change of character, he might be my favorite ongoing character arc for this team. Which reminds me of Alpha's heroic turn in the Rogues of Rhun.

Oh and thanks to Joe P. and Steve B. for coming out and playing this game with me. Even though they lost, it was a cinematic and nail biting loss that could have been victory to the last die roll. Thanks fellas!

 So not sure what the next post will be. But the next big battle will be the Battle of the Brownlands with the Rogues of Rhun. And we will see if the House of Red Dragons will join up with them afterwards, since they are both in that neck of Middle Earth. 

Cheers,

Mar