Riders of Rohan: 3rd Muster: Mods please lock

[lark]

Smor, I still haven’t had a chance to write anything, so if you’ve already started, please go ahead and post. I'll be looking forward to reading it.

Mara, be brave! Remember, you’re a shield-maiden! At least to all of us you are. I’m sure everything will be great! I’ll be praying for you!

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

Mara-- it's a tough transition to be sure, but I'm sure you'll do great. (And if you have time to spare, TORC is great for maintaining sanity-- one of the main things that got me through grad school!)

Ok, I have a post. Kind of feel like I should apologize to Tolkien for this one, but here goes...

As the source of the footsteps stepped out into the light, with several dwarves scattering before it, all the Riders could do was stare in disbelief. “Is that…” Elrosar started.

“But I thought…” Lark said.

Mara was the first to actually put words to it, her Elven side taking over as she cried out, “Ai, a Balrog!”

It certainly looked like what they’d heard a Balrog looked like—a tall, imposing figure with skin that resembled the crackling surface of cooling lava and wreathed in both shadow and fire. Rowyn noticed that this one also had a suspiciously bulging stomach, and she wondered how many of Ranthim’s dwarves it had eaten already. She tightened her grip on her bow—she had no intention of being the next course.

“Wait a moment,” Déor stated, interrupting her musings. “I thought Gandalf killed the Balrog that lived here?”

To everyone’s surprise, the Balrog burst into tears, huge billows of steam forming around its face. “Don’t talk about him!” it shouted. “I told him not to go attack the wizard, but did he listen? Of course not!” Rowyn noticed that Lark and Adrial were exchanging knowing grins as they glanced towards their own husbands. “And now he’s dead, and I’m all alone with this!” The balrog, which Rowyn was fairly certain was a female by this point, gestured impatiently towards her belly.

The Riders exchanged looks. “You don’t think…” Mara asked.

“She—if it is a she—is certainly acting like it, from what I’ve seen,” Lark replied.

Riot shook her head in pure disgust. “Just what the world needs,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?” Rob asked, clearly not understanding what was going on.

“She’s pregnant,” Rowyn said bluntly. Most of the male members of their party looked at each other in horror, clearly not wanting to contemplate the implications of that.

“I would think they’d hatch from eggs,” Elwing whispered to Rowyn.

“I thought that was dragons?” Rowyn whispered back, and Elwing shrugged.

By this time, the balrog was sitting down with her head resting on her knees and sobbing, while steam continued to pour off her head. Ranthim regarded this for a moment, then calmly stated, “But that was years ago.”

The balrog’s head jerked up, her eyes glowing a fiery red. “That’s because it takes several years for a balrog child to be born,” she replied tensely. “It’s not like you weakling Elves and even weaker mortals! There’s a lot of evil that needs to grow!” She narrowed her eyes at Ranthim. “You’re not implying that I cheated on him, are you?”

“…of course not,” Ranthim answered after a confused pause.

The balrog stood up and began ranting, “Mommy told me that he wasn’t any good for me. All he really cared about was scaring those silly dwarves and orcs. I should have listened to her. If he hadn’t decided that blasted wizard would be a more interesting challenge…” Then she noticed that several in the party were trying to suppress laughter. “What?” she demanded.

“Mommy?” Ranthim replied with a snort.

The balrog’s eyes flashed again, and she quickly stomped over towards the half-Elf, throwing something at him as she did. Ranthim ducked and it hit Riot in the head, then bounced off and fell harmlessly to the ground. Riot picked the small metallic object up, looked at it and shrugged, then tossed it back over her shoulder, where it fell at Adrial’s feet. She, in turn, picked it up, looked at it, then turned to Rowyn. “Didn’t you say something about a comb and a cave?” she asked, handing it to the other shieldmaiden.

Rowyn looked at the comb curiously. “Well, it looks like the one I saw…we’re not exactly in a cave, though.”

“Mines would work, right?” Haleth asked.

“We’re not exactly in that, ei…” Rowyn started to reply, but she was interrupted by Ranthim yelling war cries in a mix of Sindarin and Dwarvish, then running down the hill with the balrog in hot pursuit.

“She moves fast for a pregnant fire-demon,” Déor commented.

“Do you think we should help him?” Lark asked, obviously concerned.

“Obviously, it’s part of his plan to provide a distraction,” Elrosar stated. “Quick, everyone into the mines! Ranthim can catch up!”

“But what about the horses?” Rowyn asked.

Melody held a quick, halting conversation with the leader of the dwarves. “He says he will safeguard the horses for us until the king and his… minions? What? Anyway, until we come back from the mines victorious.” She shook her head and tried to hide her disgust.

“Good enough,” Elrosar said. “Let’s go!”

So they left their horses in the care of the dwarves and dashed into the mine, pausing inside while Luke and Agoth lit torches. Then Riot looked behind them and said, “We might want to move.”

“Why’s that?” Adrial asked. Riot wordlessly pointed behind them, and as they saw Ranthim barreling towards the mine entrance, with the balrog still chasing him, they turned and ran down the passageway until Rob found a small side passage. They all crowded into that and let the pursuit pass them by.

The loud footsteps receded, and a few minutes later, Ranthim walked back towards them, a smug look on his face. “Told you I’d take care of the dangers of the mine,” he said gallantly. “The hormonal she-balrog is off nursing her wounds and in pursuit of some orc-meat to cheer her up, and will no longer trouble us.”

“Uh, Ranthim…” Lark said.

“What is it, my darling buttercup?” he asked.

“Your hair’s on fire,” Lark replied. Sure enough, the ends of his long hair were smoldering, and beginning to burst into flame in some places.

While Lark and Adrial helped him smother the fire, the others just looked at Rowyn. “What?” she said. “This isn’t my fault, I just told you what I saw.”

Riot scowled. “I guess this means you’re not crazy after all. For now.”

“Well, thank you for the vote of confidence,” Rowyn said dryly.

Elrosar rolled his eyes and held up his hand to stop the two women before they could start bickering again. “All right. If the rest of it is true, that means the bandits will be here any time, if they’re not already, so let’s just keep moving. Rowyn, you can test the comb first to see if it works, all right?” Rowyn shrugged, shooting another dirty look at Riot, and the Riders continued on their way, deeper into the mines.

[Maranwe-Ar-Feiniel]

Great post, Smor!! A pregnant balrog...well, it is certainly original!


Thank you for the prayers!!!!


I love you guys!

[lark]

Wonderful post Smor!! Much better then anything I could have come up with.

The balrog stood up and began ranting, “Mommy told me that he wasn’t any good for me. All he really cared about was scaring those silly dwarves and orcs. I should have listened to her.

We all know that good balrogs always listen to their mommies.

[lark]

Sorry about the DP, but I wanted to say something to our fearless leader…a day late.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!!!

This thread has slowed down so much. Is it possible that we’ve grown weary of this RP? We could feasibly find the treasure in Moria and wrap things up, then start a new one.

What say you?

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

This thread has slowed down so much. Is it possible that we’ve grown weary of this RP? We could feasibly find the treasure in Moria and wrap things up, then start a new one.

What say you?

Hmm. Good question. I think we could probably find things to do with this still, but it seems a huge part of it is that a lot of people have kind of dropped off the thread (again) or stopped writing. So maybe it is time to figure out something new to do in here.

Any thoughts on what? I mean, we've already done Star Wars, and sort of pirates...

[Elladan_Elfhelm]

Sorry about the DP, but I wanted to say something to our fearless leader…a day late.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!!!

This thread has slowed down so much. Is it possible that we’ve grown weary of this RP? We could feasibly find the treasure in Moria and wrap things up, then start a new one.

What say you?

Thanks Lark!

As far as the RP here goes do you have an idea Lark? We have slowed for sure in posting, but we are still alive. I'm open to a new one for sure. Let's put our heads together (ouch Lark not so hard) and see what we can come up with.

If anyone has any suggestions then email the council at rohancouncil at gmail.com

FORTH EORLINGAS!!!

[whereismysam]

Happy Birthday (a-day-late), Dan! I hope it was a good one!

I haven't dropped out! I've just had a hard time coaxing my muse into giving me anything to write. She's eeeevill...I will not, however, be opposed should the majority wish to finish up this RP and start on something else.

Or could we try our hands at something else in addition to the RP? I mean, awhile back, we had a photo contest (and did all the categories have winners chosen in them? I can't remember if they did or not). What else could we do that would inspire people to post more?

Smor, I loved the pregnant balrog! :rofl:

[lark]

As far as the RP here goes do you have an idea Lark?

Didn’t I come up with the last one? Or maybe it was you …I know I wrote the first post. *shrugs* We joked about a Narnia type RP once. I can’t really think of anything else at the moment, but I’ll let you know if I do. Anyone else have any ideas?

Or could we try our hands at something else in addition to the RP? I mean, awhile back, we had a photo contest (and did all the categories have winners chosen in them? I can't remember if they did or not). What else could we do that would inspire people to post more?

I don’t think we declared a winner on the last category because no one voted. (including me ) Hmm…not sure what else we could do, though something to stir up a little interest seems like a good idea. Maybe some sort of writing contest?

[Borin_Silversmith]

Just wanted to drop in and say Hello to you all... I have been reading the thread even though i don't post much anymore. I had a stroke in Oct and it has made it difficult to write. I know what I want to say I just can't figure out how to say it... Dan and Gwen your kids are so adorable.. well sorry to interupt but .... Hello and may your lives be all you want them to be.

Borin

[lark]

It’s wonderful to see you here again Borin, and I’m so sorry to hear about your stroke! I’ll certainly be praying for you to make a full recovery!!

Edit: I’ve been thinking a lot about a possible scenario for a light RP here but not having much luck. I reread the history of Rohan in the Appendix, but didn’t find much inspiration there. I did however find something interesting in Appendix F which deals with the different languages of ME:

But at the end of the Third Age a torll-race not before seen appeared in the southern Mirkwood and in the mountain borders of Mordor. Olog-hai they were called in the Black Speech. That Sauron bred them none doubted, though from what stock was not known. Some held that they were not Trolls but giant Orcs; but the Olog-hai were in fashion of body and mind quite unlike even the largest of Orc-kind, whom they far surpassed in size and power. Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race, strong, agile, fierce and cunning, but harder than stone. Unlike the older race of the Twilight they could endure the Sun, so long as the will of Sauron held sway over them. They spoke little, and the only tongue that they knew was the Black Speech of Barad-dur.

Perhaps if we picked up just after the War of the Ring, our group could be sent to south Mirkwood to clean out the remaining trolls? Something like that.

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

Intriguing idea, Lark. I've been thinking hard about this the last few days, and the only thing I've been able to come up with is something set just after the war, kind of an alternate storyline to what we did in the Pony. So that would fit right in.

Though, you know how I feel about giant spiders, which would be inevitable if we went to Mirkwood...

[Elladan_Elfhelm]

Good ideas for certain. These trolls would be very worthy opponents for us to trash! Of course Mirkwood might burn before it is all said and done. We could be sucked into something in Dol Guldor for that matter. We'll see what we can do about wrapping up this one and then bang some more ideas on the next one. Got a good start though.

[Maranwe-Ar-Feiniel]

Of course Mirkwood might burn before it is all said and done.

Why doesnt that surprise me?

But seriously, it does sound like a good idea fo an RP.

Yup, I'm at college, finally. Got nice, new, SHINEY compy...which, of corse, has windows vista so I don't know how to work any of the programs really well.

Well, it's off to geology. Now that I've my own comp, I ought to getting on more....so maybe, hopfully, I could do this RP!

[SmogsFlame]

Hey guys! Sorry about not being around much. But I got out of the habit of posting and am just now trying to get back into it. I'm open to any ideas that anyone may have.

I kinda liked the idea about cleaning out Mirkwood. Whether it's spiders or Olog-hia.

[lark]

Nice how everyone‘s checking in.

*chants*
NEW RP!
NEW RP!!
NEW RP!!!


I like new RPs.

We'll see what we can do about wrapping up this one and then bang some more ideas on the next one.

If we wanted to end it quickly, we could write a post where our characters are already on their way back to Rohan with the treasure and reminiscing about what happened in Moria…Or, if no one objected, we could just stop writing it.

[Elladan_Elfhelm]

A reminiscing post would work for me. Just let us know what we want in there so we can get it up. Going to be changing the first post in this thread when I get a chance to as well.

[SmogsFlame]

I'll post something inside Moria if you're not gonna post a new RP soon Dan. Nothing major, just a little something that will buy us some time. Time for whoever wants to post the thread ending to have time to compose it.

[lark]

Have fun writing your post SF.

Do we have a volunteer to write the last post to finish up the old RP?

Just let us know what we want in there so we can get it up.

Hmm…we should mention something about how the lice have been defeated, and perhaps we could leave our little dwarf friends behind to defend Moria. Maybe we could come up with an amusing ending for the expectant Balrog too. That's all I can think of.

Oh! I’m not sure what we should do with Bristlehide though. nonsense hasn’t been here in a long while. nonsense, are you out there?

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

I was wondering about Rob and Bristlehide as well.

I won't volunteer for the wrap-up post yet... not saying I wont' get inspired, but at the moment I've got nothing beyond the last thing I posted.

[SmogsFlame]

Hey I just had this interesting idea! What if we did finish up in Moria (finding the treasure or whatever) then after that we can go looking for the Entwives?

It's a just a thought.

Agothdín, walking at the head of the line with Ro Ranthim, Luke following at the end of the line, held his torch high so that it casted light onto a large swathe of ground right in front of them. At some point, after entering the mine he had put his sheild on his arm, though couldn't exactly remember when.

Everyone except Ranthim and Rowyn seemed to be paying attention to their surroundings. Ranthim was pinching the ends of his hair, causing little wisps of smoke to curl from them, and cursing under his breath. While Rowyn was furiously brushed her hair with the comb the she-balrog had thrown at them. Agoth couldn't tell whether it was working or not.

After walking for some distance Agoth finally asked the questions that were searing his brain. "Exactly what are we looking for again?"

Ro opened his mouth to answer but Agoth continued. "And how exactly do we get back out when we've found whatever it is we're looking for? Then once we do get out, if we do, what then?"

About that time they came to a bridge. Not a perticularly long bridge but a very narrow one, with immeasurably deep chasms on either side. Walking right up to the very edge and handing the torch to Ro, picked up a small stone and held it over the edge. Thinking better of it he quickly pulled back his hand and said. "Shall we toss the hobbit over and wake all the little orcs?"

[lark]

Nice post SF.

It doesn’t matter to me which RP suggestion we use, although I liked Smor’s idea that we pick up just after the war.

Maybe we could make mention that Rob took Bristlehide with him somewhere to try and get help for her. Perhaps to Rivendell, or to look for Radagast? That's all I can think of.

[lark]

Sorry about the double post but pains me to see this thread so low on the board. It’s so quiet around here!!

I guess I could volunteer to write the final post of our old RP if no one else wants to. Anyone else want to? It might take me a couple days if I’m the one to write it.

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

It's not a case of not wanting to... just need to see if inspiration hits me or not. I've been low on it the last few days.

I'd been wondering about Rob and Bristlehide too, but I like that suggestion, Lark!

[Nimhiril]

*Nim slips in*

Sorry I've been absent... life got really busy all of a sudden.
You all have been writing up nice posts though.

I'm sad to see the thread end, but I can also see the reasons behind it. On the bright side, getting rid of the old makes room for something new.

I look forward to reading the last post.


Nim

[whereismysam]

I haven't been here because after my last post, I seemed to have stopped getting the email updates. Argh...



I do not seem to have any inspiration at this point either. I look forward to the end post! Maybe a new RP is the thing I need to get my uninspired brain back in gear...

[shieldmaidenofrohan]

*throws a rock*


*listens to the echoes*

Nim, just to clarify, despite how quiet it's been in here, we're not ending the thread. Just this particular light RP, since it seems to have fizzled anyway.

*throws some more rocks just for the heck of it*

[lark]

*bonk*

Ow! Watch it with those rocks!

It has been terribly quiet around here. It’s almost like everyone’s become obsessed with some sort of MMORPG or something. Everyone but me.

I’ll volunteer again to write the last post for this RP if someone else will volunteer to start the new one.

[Gwenare]

It has been terribly quiet around here. It’s almost like everyone’s become obsessed with some sort of MMORPG or something. Everyone but me.

That and RL getting in the way. It has been terribly busy as of late for me with everything. I'm feeling like Bilbo again. At least I have stress relief which is a good thing right now. I'm hoping it will keep the doctors and ulcers away because I'm feeling if things continue the way they are, I'll be seeing one and getting some.

[lark]

I was just kidding around, Gwen. I can certainly understand the need for stress relief. I guess I’m just feeling a little lonely here on TORC. It’s probably all for the best though. I’ve been having a hard time writing lately anyway.

BTW, it was awesome seeing you and Dan and the kids last week! My girls are still talking about how cute the kids were and how much fun they had playing with them.