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MERP: Dawn of the Fourth Age Session 12


This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar.
 
This session was played on July 26, 2020.
 
8 Urui F.A. 15
 
The fellowship arrives in Bree with the intention of finding and eliminating the bandits at their nearby base. They hope to get some help from the people of Bree while they are in town.
 
As they enter town, they see the black banners of mourning flying over the gates. Paladin Took II, Thain of the Shire, has died of the Red Flux. His son, Pippen, is expected to succeed him in the position. On hearing this, Tulip, a native of Bree, heads to find some local hobbits to get more news. He met Hob Gandry, a distant cousin and wily veteran of the war, who was eager to join them in their attack on the bandits and thought he could gather up another four hobbits for the fight.
 
The rest of the fellowship headed to the Prancing Pony Inn to get some drinks. Dirdan got a few too many and found himself in a semi-drunken conversation with a  fur trader named Cormac who claimed to have been attacked by bandits to the east of town.
 
Sindawe, suspicious that Cormac had honed in on Dirdan when he mentioned bandits, noticed that Cormac had been sitting at a table with another man. A quick inquiry to the bartender revealed that the man's name was Eowic, and that he was a local hunter and archery champion.
 
A sudden commotion drew Ardaer, Dirdan, and Cormac outside. A boy of about 14 was leading a horse into the center of town. A wounded man was unconscious in the saddle. Ardaer used her magic sword to heal the man and learned that the boy's name was Edrahil and that the man was his father, a Dunedain ranger named Hiraval. Edrahil explained that his father had been shot when they went to claim their ancestral manor to the west of Bree.
 
While Dirdan and Ardaer were busy with the ranger and his son, Tulip returned and noticed Eowic skulking away in a suspicious manor, she decided to follow him towards the west gate of town.
 
Meanwhile, in the inn, Sindawe had stayed behind to keep an eye on Cormac. When Cormac slipped out the back entrance, he followed. 
 
Dirdan and Ardaer, noticing Tulip slipping away, decided to follow as well. Eowic eventually met up with Cormac, who had retrieved their horses near the west gate. Dirdan tried to cast a sleep spell on them from afar, but failed and the pair rode away.
 
The fellowship returned to the ranger and his son at the inn. Hiraval, now awake, told them that Aragorn had tasked him to reclaim his ancestral home in hopes it could be used to help secure the, still mostly wild, north. As he and his son approached the manor, he was shot by bandits that were squatting in the house. The fellowship, concerned that these may be the very bandits they were looking for, decided to help Hiraval regain his manor.
 
The next went to meet with Mayor Daisy Erling, who Tulip warned was nice but useless. The mayor seemed concerned about the bandits and told them to meet with Meneldir, the captain of the town guard and to tell him she wished to support their efforts against the bandits. Meneldir agreed to lend them two of his men, Kelvin and Melvin. 
 
Before leaving, they caught up with Aelindar and gave her a letter for Aragorn explaining their mission and telling him about the "Palantir" they had found. They also requested men to help with the bandit problem. She agreed to give it to him along with the message she had been charged with carrying.
 
They left with Hiraval and Edrahil to retake the manor.
 
10 Urui
 
They came across a family trying to fix a wagon with a broken wheel on the road. As they approached the wagon, they could sense that something was wrong. Dirdan used his invisibility spell and saw that there was the body of a dead boy under a tarp in the back of the wagon. There was a tense moment as the fellowship almost attacked the family but the moment passed and they learned that the family was taking the body to The Shire on the mistaken assumption that the "powerful wizard" there would be able to raise their son from the dead. They helped the family bury their son and continued on.

 

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