Muster of Rohan, part II: Hunting a Traitor

Muster of Rohan Part II: Hunting a traitor

The second event in the Rohirric campaign. The event will start Monday June 2nd 1900 hrs BST (British summertime) and 2000 hrs CST (central european summertime) in the ruin in Eastern Breefields with a campsite, next to the lake.

Previous event
The Rohirrim have arrived into Breeland via Bruinen and Rhudaur, sent out by Erkenbrand, the aging now former Marshal of the Mark (Muster of Rohan) While not suspecting Théoden King of having lost control in any way - the king's son Théodred is still patrolling the green hills of the Mark - Erkenbrand sense the immediate need to find out who is Master of the 'White Hand Orcs'. Naturally it cannot be the old ally Saruman, but someone hiding his true nature behind Saruman's well-known symbol the White Hand. The tracks lead north into Eriador.

Some 'Horselords', living in exile in and around Bree, learn that a handfull of their kinsmen from the south have arived to the lands in the north. One by one, some decide to search for the rumoured Eored. Why have they come? Has war broken out at home? Is Théoden King alive and well? Are the kinsmen simply new fugitives from the homeland, having committed some hideous crime? The Eored itself has travelled from the source of Bruinen (where it arrived following the mighty river from the south) to the Weahtherhills, east of the city of Bree. During their ride Thérowan, son of Erkenbrand, and his Eorlingas have thus recieved unforeseen reinforcements in form of exiled kinsmen.

The Event
The growing Eored strikes camp in an abandoned ruin in the Eastern Breefields north of Far Chetwood. This will turn out to be their camp for the entire campaign. The event will mainly take place in, or revolve around the ruin. Horsebreeders in the nighbourhood have traded supplies for the increased security brought to them by Rohirrim hunting down the occationally sighted orcs.

There will be one, or possibly two simultaneous, scouting expeditions to the White Hand orc encampment north of Bree and possibly one into the Weatherhills. The scouting will be done by only a few people and during a limited time (to not keep everyone else waiting) while the others gather at the camp. Hopefully there will be a few newcomers that we can spend time on getting to know while the scouts are out. Low level Rohirrim are welcome to take part in the campbased activities as well.

The scouts return with information that lead to a discussion about the given information. Thérowan makes a decision to attack (if we are not too few) a bigger orc encampment further north in order to try investigate a rumoured 1) traitor of Rohan acting as a messenger for some unknown Master in Rohan (Gríma? or Saruman himself?) and 2) to figure out why he is in contact with orcbands from other tribes than the White Hand (and perhaps alter their success with steeltipped spears).

Before such a big assault Captain Thraindir demands that every Rohirrim wishing to take part in the mounted attack will accept a spear, a round shield and a full mailshirt (not only reinforced leather which is otherwise the everyday armour of the Rohirrim kinship) saved from a few fallen Eorlingas of the Eored. Horses could also be borrowed IC for the horseless - naturally you need to actually have a horse due to the game design - this is no offer of 4.25 gold coins. Rohirrim that rather wish to fight in some 'individual' fashion (read: with their personal gear that they feel is nice and 'Rohirric') have no place in the mounted Eored and will not be allowed to ride out with it. The mounted troops simply dont fight well carrying two swords or a big club and Captain Thraindir is not having unfit mounted fighters in his lines as long as it can be helped. Nor will he accept unarmoured riders that quickly will leave gap in the ranks as a result of stray arrows. We will make sure there are enough spears/shields and breastarmour from fallen eorlingas for those that wish to ride out. An occational exception will be made. But genereally be prepared for this.

The Call to Arms
Last event was, as I understood it, very much appreciated by all players that look for a somewhat low intensity Rohirric way of life. Some players replied to the last Muster of Rohan that they were somehow 'on the run' and preferred to 'avoid people from home' in order not to get caught. Do reconsider wether it might not be worth taking a risk to meet with the kinsmen that ventured so far and if their task might not be important to the loved ones at home. If you want to risk getting caught (you actually play you are on the run not only as an excuse to be in Breeland but because you want to be some kind of outlaw) then we can arrange to actually be loking for you and make your life more exiting!

Non Rohan characters
Last time some people not from Rohan met up in the start but took off quite soon seeing they didnt fit very well into that event. Any non-Rohan players that would like to meet Rohan characers are welcome, of course, but in that case it would be very good if you could send an in game message (or post here) in order for us to be prepared a little for your arrival. Typically this event would be a good moment for some Breeland militia or Knights of Gondor to stumble upon the camp of the Rohirrim, during a patrol for example, while we are still there.

Well met!

Thérowan,
Son of Erkenbrand

PS. To try and get rid of the 'classical lotro looks' we will use round shields. Those who have other shileds - even 'horsehead decorated' ones - will get replacements as long as there is enough in stock. I also wish for people to drop the most significant high level cloaks when joining on this type of events. Having Hammers, the Tree of Gondor and what not on the cloak does only painfully remind us (at least me and I guess otheres as well) of the limited line of gear there are in game. Get a new rag on you back, please, or just leave the one you own in your backback.
We also leave the bow/crossbow at home on mounted assautls. We arent going to hunt for food, nor 'pull' anything.

Whatever problems you get with metagaming, your character having to swap clothes, shieled, armour and what not for a day is, and will remain, a problem for you and you only. If you cant stand it, this might not be for you. The fact that characters need some gear to survive gamewise isnt an excuse for sticking with is when RP. There are for example no lvl 50 round shields, hence a Rohirric player might select the horsehead shield at that level since another one cannot be equipped for outlook purposes. Champions and other classes dont have shileds at all but will be required to have them in this event (25% of the fighters in Middle-Earth were not ambidextrous but on Laurelin they are). As you see all of this are a game issues, not an RP ones. We are hoping to see some Tolkien Eorlingas, as opposed to LotRo Eorlingas