The Mithril Knights Shadows in the East OOC

[erinhue]

Might as well get this opened up now.

I been digging around for info on The East. Seems we could start this off by land or by sea. Where ever we're headed, both ways lead East

[Teltasarewen]

By land or by sea...both sound intriguing Hue.

[erinhue]

the questions just seemed a natural progression to me.

[Tempest]

Is there a port relatively close to us that we could sail into? We haven't done a sea-faring theme for a while now, which could be fun. But we should only be on the sea briefly because it limits our actions (and interactions with other people beyond pirates. ) Where's the nearest Eastern port?

[erinhue]

I'm on it. In any event we can only take to the sea for so long anyway if we are headed far east. Im map surfing right now

[erinhue]

Now this will all depend upon where East we are headed. I am assuming here that our destination is Rhun which is East but far north of Dol Amroth. What I am seeing for a sea voyage is for us to sail out into the Bay of Belfalas and up the River Anduin up through the Argonath to where it meets the River Limelight near Celebrant (as in Fields of..) We could land there and head off east through the Brown Lands and on and on until we get there ( as Rhun is placed on the map)or as east as we are going to go
This would put us South of Mirkwood’s southern most reaches and East of Lothlorien and North of Emyn Muil in what the maps call the Brown Lands. The map is pretty much empty until you get to the Bay of Rhun.

[erinhue]

this would let us avoid entering Mordor as we would turn East well north of there.

If we are headed for Harad or Khand which I get as more South then we would need a different route.

Gonna check out what we might find if we take an overland route

[Tempest]

The sea/river route you suggest sounds good! Unless we want to go through Harad for some reason? Does Djaleh wish to visit?

Rhun seems rather far, so I think we need to pick the quickest route----going by land the whole way seems like it will take us FOREVER. Poor Tempest will be dead by then. If she isn't already.....

[erinhue]

We could take the river Ringlo up to Ethring and then go by land across the White Mountains. This would most likely lead us to the WetWang marshes and the Dead Marshes as well on the way north and east. Once we passed the Dagorlad Battle Plain again the map is empty on east to the Bay of Rhun

If I were planning the actual trip I would take the water route for as far as I could. The over land route will be very tough even before we get to the same point our water voyage would take us then again there could be some fun on the road getting to our take off East for real point.

Im goning to sleep now but I will check out another route I was looking at See what ya think of these in the mean time

[erinhue]

I vote the sea route as well. It will be faster and we can always stop in the so called Brown Lands which are the East if we don't want to go all the way to Rhun.

[erinhue]

Oh No She Didn't

[Tempest]

I couldn't help myself.

Just wanted to make sure that Akara and Agarak got off on the right foot....

[Cock-Robin]

I like it! Let's do it, the sea route. Though Brondgast might get seasick, LOL. No detours into Mordor? Interesting. I had a few ideas if we get there.

I hope you like those mysterious verses. They may come in handy. A takeoff on Dante.

[Cock-Robin]

On second thought, Meneldor could make a scouting trip to Mordor as we pass it by near Cair Andros. But I like this plan. To sea, then to Anduin and up to the Brown Lands. Then East.

[erinhue]

We could take it through Mordor if we want, I just thought that from where we are we would have to tackle two mountain ranges, Mordor's borders are mostly all very mountainous and that would not be the easiest (?) way to go. We actually need to go more North than East at the moment if we are headed toward Rhun which is an Elven word for East. I was just offering up some suggestions that would be viable given the landscape. We can head any way ya want and I'll find us the in general route. Just sayin'

[Cock-Robin]

No problemo at all, Hue! Meneldor would probably see nothing of importance there on his flyby, but who knows? He'd be flying solo to keep his companions from the arduous trip over the mountains.

[Teltasarewen]

Goodness me go to sleep for a couple of hours and the thread explodes! Wow!

Great posts!

[erinhue]

Once these things get rolling... you know how it goes

[Teltasarewen]

Oh I do indeed Hue. And I am looking forward to it with great anticipation. Bring it on!

[Claymore]

So Djaleh is a man with a plan.
What say you
I figured that in this situation having information is vital and as we have one Knight who can fly and one who can play chameleon a scouting is in order.

[Tempest]

I think we should go with Erinhue's suggestion to head up river until we reach the juncture at the Field of Celebrant, and then take to land the rest of the way. Djaleh and the Eagle can scout ahead for us, but I don't think we need to mess with Mordor. At this time in the Third Age, its closeness to Gondor would have kept it a barren wasteland---nothing would be stupid enough to return quite yet. I'd say the real problem areas would probably be South (Harad), Far North (The Waste) and the East around Rhun, where any minions left from the war would have fled.

The nice thing about the East is that Tolkien wrote so little about it, that we really can use our imagination.

The only thing I ask is that no one finds Pallando or Tempest for awhile. I have thought out some of the plot strands related to them (don't worry, CR, we'll get Pallando eventually ) and I've figured out what happened to them both. I'll leave enough breadcrumbs so that your characters won't be totally frustrated in their search.....

[Tempest]

Okay, so I decided to move us towards Erinhue's plan, but I can always edit the post if anyone would prefer something slightly different....

Oh, and quick question, Telta----is your character a human or an elf? I feel stupid for asking, but I wasn't sure and I've been afraid to have Akara interact with you until I knew....

[erinhue]

Known Telta a long time. She's an Elf.

So it's two if by sea. Oakey Doakey I'm off ta get us a ship

[Cock-Robin]

I'm game. OK, Mordor is out. I was planning on a bare escape for our Eagle when Mt. Doom blew its top, but he'll be in enough scrapes. He's hard to hide.

[erinhue]

OK I'm confused here. Are we going by land by sea or as the eagle flies. Makes no real diff to me but I did just go to get us a ship. If we're gonna go out piecemeal, I can always have Agarak send the Bard East. He has been there before to spy for Elbren so he could do it again.

Maybe splitting up would serve us better than going in a group. Harder to detect maybe. Not so sure I like that idea but majority rules, just let me know if the Lord of Belfair was cooperative or not. So which way do we go?

[erinhue]

Nope, I'm sure. I'm not loving that idea

[Teltasarewen]

Not to worry Tempest. If one doesn't ask one would never know.

Thanks Hue for letting Tempest know. Things are happening when I'm off sleeping. Darn that pesky thing called sleep. It sure puts a cramp in one's posting time.

Like the idea of heading up river. A bit of "fun" on the water.

[Tempest]

I think we should stay together for the first part of the journey up the river, but then let the Eagle and Djazi go ahead a bit to scout for us? Maybe?

[erinhue]

Yeah I thought that was the plan We're out of coffee and I'm still confused so...

Do I come back empty handed? Do I show us to our ship? Or should The Bard just go East and send word where he is? Or should I try and convince Agarak to take us all to some Eastern point? I'm kidding about that last one but I am confused. Gotta make a little visit to the nearest bodega and get that coffee.

[Cock-Robin]

I'd say start out by boat. Don't know if the Eagle will fit on it, but I'm game. Merry shipmates, all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl7aM3nCqC0

Ship ahoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iuetrhn2y0