Glirion of Dale - Edward H.

[Glirion]

(NOTE: Feel free to delete THIS comment, keeping the others from Fellowship Focus, below, and put your character's history, background, and any other relevant information or notes concerning your character, here.)

Fellowship Focus:
(NOTE: Your Fellowship Focus is another person in the Company you have some manner of connection to. You may spend Hope to help this individual, including giving it to them. It is up to the LoreMaster when and how you rejuvenate Hope, but using Hope for the benefit of your Fellowship Focus, but which also aids the Company, is cause for immediate rejuvenation.)

Company Roles ~ Here find the definitions of the four roles in the game. At the beginning of each new Journey Phase, the Company selects who will play in which roles: Guide (1 only), Scout, Huntsman, and/or Look-out Man. While each character may be able to fill multiple roles, as listed, only one character can hold the primary slot of each role.

• Guide: One companion has the responsibility of guiding the group during the journey. The Guide of the company is responsible for decisions, such as when the group should stop for a rest or how to manage their reserves of food. The main asset of a good Guide is a superior Travel skill. There is never more than one Guide, as they could also be considered to be the Captain for the Company.
   
• Scout: A character acting as a Scout can be called upon to find a suitable location for setting up camp, or when a situation forces the company to abandon the road it was following to find a new one. Leaving a well-trodden path is difficult and dangerous, involving climbing up steep hills, wading wide streams or scaling doubtful paths along cliff-sides. A good Scout is characterized by a decent Explore skill. There may be more than one Scout, although first-come first-served is the Primary. Anyone else may act as a Secondary as long as they have a good Explore skill.
   
• Hunter: When traveling with haste, a company can soon run out of provisions, especially when completing a journey that is going to take several weeks. A companion skilled at Hunting is always ready to track prey into the woods before making camp. There may be more than one Hunter, though the first one to choose Hunter is the Primary; it is expected that all will hunt, but only those with at least one Rank in Hunting may be called on to roll that skill.
   
• Look-out: A journey brings a company through wildly different territories, most of them dangerous. The Look-out is a vital duty that often puts a hero in the position of saving the lives of all members of a group, or of dooming them all through inattention. The Look-out’s skill is Awareness, usually tested at the LoreMaster’s request. Though there is one Primary Look-out, everyone can aid in the Look-out's effort by either requesting to make an Awareness roll, or if the LoreMaster rolls for the Player-hero passively.)

[Glirion]

GLIRION
Edward H.

 

Culture	Calling	Shadow Weakness	Standard of Living
Barding	Scholar	Lure of Secrets	Prosperous (12)

 
Cultural Blessing: Stout-hearted ~ Living for many a year under the ever-present menace of Smaug the Dreadful has made the Bardings a courageous race. After all, there are not many creatures more fearsome than a great Dragon... When making a test using Valor, Barding characters can roll the Feat die twice, keeping the best result.

Background: Healing Hands ~ Glirion was identified early as a born warrior and swordsman and, at the age of nineteen was more or less conscripted into the City Guard of Dale, starting as a Page and rapidly working his way up to a Guardsman. Just after his twentieth birthday, while part of a patrol in the Brokenstone of Dale, a fight broke out in one of the many taverns and Glirion was stabbed through his side. Immediately he was taken to the Waterhouse, where he was able to show his skill as a natural healer; healing fully within weeks, his prowess was not missed by the Mistress of The Water House, Asfrid, and she requested he stay on for the remainder of the year, to help and to train the volunteer Nurses, there.

Calling: Scholar ~ For you, knowledge makes the wild world a less threatening place to live in. Strangers become friends if addressed properly, yellowed maps in lost books replace a fear of the unknown with curiosity and wonder of places you have yet to explore, songs composed in ages past strengthen the weariest of hearts. A love of learning guides your every step and illuminates the way for you and those who listen to your advice.
 

- TRAITS -

Adventurous: Your spirit is attracted by new experiences and challenges, especially when they seem perilous enough to put your mettle to the test.

Ancient-lore: You are learned in the traditions and the rumor of bygone days. Your knowledge may derive from different sources, from stories heard around the fire to the dusty records of a chronicler.

Lordly: Your dignified bearing arouses feelings of reverence and respect in onlookers.

Rhymes of Lore: Rhymes of Lore are brief compositions in verse created by many cultures to remember significant facts from ancient history. Your knowledge of them can supplement a test of Lore, but is used especially in conjunction with any Custom skill (Courtesy, Song or Riddle). Scholars may credit much of their knowledge to rhymes.

Trading: You find yourself at ease when negotiating the buying and selling of items, or even information.

[Glirion]

The One Ring
History of the Setting

 
(NOTE: The setting of The One Ring is VERY rich, and your Player-hero will know and/or understand different aspects of that history than other Player-heroes, depending on various aspects of their cultural and historical makeup. This post allows you to understand what your character knows of the world. This knowledge will likely change over time as, through game-play, your character learns more of the world, of its history, background, and setting, and as the game itself progresses.)

Sanctuaries: Dale
Patrons: King Bard

The Tale of Years
(NOTE: The following comes as a result of our playing the game, and what effects your Fellowship has on the world...)

T.A. 2946; Character’s 20th year in Middle Earth; born in 2926, June 7th.

• Year 2946: As the fifth anniversary of the Battle of the Five Armies draws near, folk from both sides of the Misty Mountains, Rhovanion and Eriador, from all points North and South, from the Upper Vales of the Great River to Lorien in the South, have begun to gather, to such populations that camps within and around the forests between Lake-town and Dale have begun to grow. Yet, with all that has been accomplished, the Shadow continues to flourish in the dark places of the world, growing to darken yet more. Purpose is given to the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in these waning days of the East, and with that purpose comes prosperity, growth, and hope that the Shadow will soon be vanquished.

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The Recent Past

• Year 2941: The Wizard Gandalf, Thorin Oakenshield and thirteen Dwarven companions visit Bilbo the Hobbit in the Shire; they set upon a quest to recover the treasure of Durin’s Folk and free the North from the threat of the Dragon of Erebor.
  
  A series of unlikely events lead to the death of Smaug and to the destruction of Lake-town. Dáin of the Iron Hills becomes King of the restored Kingdom under the Mountain, while Dwarves, Men and Elves collaborate in rebuilding new cities in Dale and upon the Long Lake.
   
• Year 2942: Bilbo returns to his peaceful life in the Shire.
   
• Year 2944-5: Bard completes the reconstruction of Dale and is crowned King. A new Lake-town is completed on the Long Lake and trade resumes up and down the Running River.

_______________________________
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Old Lore

• Year 2590: The Dwarves open the Kingdom of Erebor. Other Dwarves go East to settle in the Iron Hills.
  
  Woodmen from the South move North to be closer to the trade center of Erebor, building the city of Dale. The following hundred years see it become the capital of a strong Kingdom extending far and wide to the East and South.
   
• Year 2770: A Dragon takes over Erebor, scattering the Dwarves within to the winds, followed by the people of Dale, who start the first Esgaroth/Lake-town on the Long Lake.
   
• Year 2841: A lust for gold slowly takes possession of Thráin. He resolves to return to Erebor and convinces Balin and Dwalin and a few others to leave the Blue Mountains with him. Their wanderings bring them again beyond the Misty Mountains, until on a dark night Thráin disappears in Mirkwood.
   
• Year 2911: An extremely fierce and long cold season begins in November. Remembered as the Fell Winter, its frozen grip doesn’t release the regions of the North from snow and ice for five months. Rivers and lakes are frozen over, and white wolves descend from the frozen wastes of the far North.
  
  When the frigid winds finally relent in March of the following year, rivers overflow with the melting of the snow and many lands are flooded as a result. It is about this time that the Long Marshes spread extensively, extending from the Old Forest road to the Forest River.

[Fieranor of Imladris]

Alright, my friend, it's all yours, now. When I get home from dinner with Sarah's Dad, I'll start working on that background story, k? You're basically all ready to go. - Completed.

[Fieranor of Imladris]

Alright, since I screwed up Step 2 of the Fellowship Phase, because you only have 2 XP to deal with, I'll get rid of the excessiveness of that post, and I won't post for Fellowship Phase ~ 3. Disposition of Treasure and Found Items or Fellowship Phase ~ 4. Year-End Only: Standing Upkeep at Home, in a Sanctuary, or at a Holding because they're not relevant to you, either. I was trying to get a lot done for eight characters in the game, and I had made a mental note to come back and ensure that things were going straight. For your next Fellowship Phase, however... many if not all of these will be here.

[Fieranor of Imladris]

Ed, you're probably wondering why you get anything in this Fellowship Phase, and that's a fair question. The reason is that the Fellowship Phase is NOT a reward for participating in the last adventure, it's an in-between time that allows you to practice something, make or develop something, or find or purchase something you can use on at least the coming Adventure Phase. So, I've skipped to Step 5 so you can choose an undertaking for Glirion over the course of the four months of this Winter. One of the things I love about The One Ring is that it provides for your character to live, in a more or less epic way, attempting to aid you in chronicling the life of your Hero, not just the periods of adventure. It's how we live, not only the great deeds we live through, that mark our lives and allow us to live beyond the normal.

So, here we go; it's not much, but it's something...
 

Next, during each Fellowship Phase, when a player is done updating their Hero’s Skills, Characteristics, and/or Attributes, they may choose a task to undertake, to help stay busy and/or to build some manner of skill or advantage that can be used in the coming Adventure Phase, for the remainder of the Fellowship Phase.

Players are invited to exercise their creativity and find new and exciting ways to spend a Fellowship Phase. Often, players need look no further than the recently concluded Adventure Phase, as the story that was just completed might have provided several leads worth following, like a new friendship to consolidate or a new sanctuary or patron to be built up, or something to calm themselves from any recent fracas. Any activity that could have a lasting impact on a character can be considered an undertaking.

Normally, a player can choose one activity for their character to undertake. During a longer Fellowship Phase, such as the one at the end of each year, if the LoreMaster agrees, or sees the necessity of a second undertaking, the player may take a second undertaking for their Hero.

The following list of Fellowship Phase Undertakings is designed to either better fit your Player-hero, their destination and the culture amongst which they will live during the Fellowship Phase.
 

• Go to the Market - When your hero chooses this undertaking, you can spend 2 Treasure and select one of the options shown below to acquire an item that gives them a bonus of +1 to all rolls made using the corresponding skill. Each option can be taken up to two times, for a total bonus of +2 (representing an upgrade of the original item, or a new, additional item of the same type). This bonus is applied until you acquire a new level in the modified skill, then you lose the associated bonus, unless/until you purchase it, again.
  
  For each two (2) Treasure you spend, select one of the following at +1, or +2 if you spend twice; you lose this bonus when you acquire a new Rank in the augmented skill, though you may purchase it, again,
  • Find a goldsmith to have precious stones set into your sword’s hilt, or gold wrought into a chain, torque, ring, or other piece of jewelery. Gain a bonus to Awe.
     
  • Visit an ironmonger or a woodwright to buy fine tools appropriate to your favorite trade. Gain a bonus to Craft.
     
  • Buy a musical instrument of superior make, be it a fiddle, a flute, a drum or a viol, or visit a master luthier to build you a new harp or lyre. Gain a bonus to Song.
     
  • Learn how to prepare salves and healing herbs and acquire the necessary materials from a hospital healer. Gain a bonus to Healing.
     
  • Buy robust rope, walking staves, comfortable sleeping cots and a regular supply of cram from a baker. Gain a bonus to Travel.
     
  • Visit the shop of a tailor or shoemaker to have a rich dress or a pair of quality shoes made. Gain a bonus to Courtesy.
     
  • Search the market to find a rare book or old map, or parchment, quills and ink for you to write. Gain a bonus to Lore.
     
  • See a master hunter to get all you need for your hunting exploits. Gain a bonus to Hunting.
   
• Join the King’s Hunt - A character spending the Fellowship phase in Dale may choose this undertaking to join King Bard on his jaunts. The hero gains a deeper understanding of the wilds surrounding Dale and may roll an additional Feat die on their Travel rolls, keeping the highest, whenever they take the role of Huntsman during a journey that takes them through the Northern Dale-lands or the Upper Marches.
   
• Search for Answers – Being near an appropriate source of learning, be it a collection of scrolls of lore and song, a treasury of books and tablets, or a wise man or council of elders, they may choose this undertaking and research an obscure topic. When a companion chooses this undertaking, you first specify the subject you are researching; then, you make a Lore test, followed by a roll of the Feat die. This second roll is modified by +1 if the hero possesses an applicable Lore Specialty, +2 if the Lore roll was a great success, +4 if the Lore roll was an extraordinary success.

 
Once you have decided which undertaking you wish to embark on, please post your plan in your character’s journal thread, so I can update your character sheet. If a second Fellowship Phase Undertaking is to be allowed, I will determine that and let you know so you can make a second choice from this same list. For your Fellowship Phase Undertaking(s), if you would like to write a story in your character’s journal thread about what they did for the phase, according to your understanding of it, may also benefit them with extra experience. As always, if you have questions about clarifying one or more undertakings, post them in this thread and let’s get out the bugs. Also, if you have an idea you glean inspiration from one of these undertakings for, write it up or let’s discuss it and I’ll see what can be done to alter the existing undertaking, or create a new one just for you; all of the existing FPUs are easy examples, but more can always be created.

[Glirion]

Out-of-Character

Learn how to prepare salves and healing herbs and acquire the necessary materials from a hospital healer. Gain a bonus to Healing, I will go for this one, seems to fit the best.

Gliron leaned back on his chair stifling and yawn as he stretched out his long arms, his muscles ached and his eyes were tired. He was surrounded by what seemed to be a small mountain of books, all of which dated back to some medical practises extending from manuals to theories along with some in languages he could hardly read. Placing the quill in his right hand back to parchment the Barding signed his name upon the work, before he looked down on the parchment only lit by the dying candlelight that stood next to him. It was a documentation on the experiences that he had practised upon that for the recent time he had spent under the watchful eye of his mentor. It listed symptoms he had come across, the different techniques and herbal remedy he had used to counteract various symptoms.

It was not a masterwork and any expert on the subject would possibly scoff and roll their eyes, yet Glirion felt proud in his growing abilities. Letting the ink dry for a few more moments as the last embers of the candle began to flicker and fade, the Barding would finally take the written parchment and add it to his journal. Putting out the candlelight and stretching once more, he made his way to the windows where sunlight burrowed it's way through the gaps of the moth eaten curtains. Throwing them aside, Glirion looked upon the rising dawn and once more as he began donning more suitable clothing to gather supplies for the healing houses stocks against the siege of the ill patients that would inevitably arriving soon. At the back of his mind however, the ever looming promise of adventure was ever scratching, and he longed the day for when he could leave and travel the world, the conversations and stories from those he had met at the crowning of King Bard promised more than Glirion could ever dream of.

[Fieranor of Imladris]

LoreMaster Note

Thank you, Ed, for both the answer and the story... excellent both. I will update your character record on Friday before we leave out of town and I will ask everyone to review their character records for possible errors prior to the coming of the new adventure. Other than that, you're ready to go for the coming Adventure Phase. I will announce it as soon as folks finish the current Fellowship Phase. Unfortunately, some folks don't like to read certain posts, for heaven's sake.