There and Back Again: The Shire and Minas Tirith

Short Version:

The group stops in the Shire to acquire Gandalf's staff and a Cauldron of Great Cooking and Fortune-Telling. We are saved by Shiro and his companions, who teleport with us back to Minas Tirith. There, we prevent a plague from spreading any further by finding and killing Ralph, one of the Lich-King's servants. We then teleport to the Living Mountains and find an amulet which can create a wall of impassable force, and a map that can show us where we want to go. Afterwards, we destroy Akmed's army of undead, and acquire a crossbow that fires icebolts, and a topaz ring. We now head towards Tharbad to pursue another pair of artifacts - there are only three pairs left, with two pairs being in Moria...


Long Version:

As we walk towards the Shire, Akmentu’s airship picks us up, and we continue on to our destination at a much faster pace. The palantir tells us that Gandalf’s staff is in an exceptionally large burrow. We disembark, and come to a red door in the side of a hill. Upon knocking on the door, we are greeted by a young hobbit woman. We ask to speak to the master of the house, and she brings us Samwise Gamgee. We sit on the floor in his home after being invited in, and tell him of our mission. Ardwinna tells Samwise that they are looking for the staff, and he gives the staff to her. We tell Samwise that we are also looking for a cauldron, and he tells us where to find it.

We find another hobbit home, which seems a bit rundown, but which appears to be lived-in. We use an Intuitions spell, and find out that we are going to be attacked if we enter the building. We use the Crown of Happiness to make the woman inside happy, and when we knock on the door, she invites us in, once she sees a plate of cookies from Mia. After eating stew from the cauldron, we get feelings of happiness even more so than the Crown of Happiness gives. We try to get her to give us the cauldron, but she says that it has been in her family for generations, and that it is the source of all her power, and that she cannot. We offer to help her with work around the house, but she says she does not farm, but does fortune-telling on the side to earn some money. Walter tells her to look into her cauldron to see what the future will be like if the artifacts fall into the wrong hands. Instead, she sees that we are after her cauldron.

The hobbit woman casts a spell on us, and we cannot resist; we all suffer from nightmares, worse than we have ever dreamed. When we wake from our dreams, we see four elves and two humans we have never seen before, with weapons drawn. The old hobbit lady is dead, however. Ardwinna recognizes two of the elves as Elladan and Elrohir (her uncles). We also see Erestor, Glorfindel, Radagast the Brown, and Shiro. They tell us that they have the Doorknob of Teleportation. We then make introductions, and acquire the Cauldron. We use the Doorknob of Teleportation, acquired by our new allies, to teleport to Minas Tirith. In a flash of light, we find ourselves in Minas Tirith. The group of 18 of us approach the castle, and show our badges, with Princess Ardwinna at the front. We are led to the throne room, and see Aragorn and Arwen there.

Akmentu tells Aragorn that he is going to help against the elves with his Corsair and Black Numenorean forces. Aragorn accepts this aid, and then informs us that the Elves under Jacques have crossed the river and entered Gondor. There is no word, however, on the Haradrim. Walter suggests that we should attack the Haradrim, take the paintbrush teleportation artifact, and use it and the doorknob to pincer the Elves (a classic move). However, Mia suggests that we should try to take out Jacques, because the Elves are under his control, and doing so would save innocent Elven lives. The palantir tells us that there are only four sets of artifacts left unclaimed; one in Tharbad, two in Moria, and one in the Living Mountains.

Before we leave to acquire more artifacts, however, Aragorn beseeches us for help. For there is a plague in the city, because of the Lich-King’s follower, Ralph, in Minas Tirith. Allen uses the Cup of Potions to immunize the group to disease, and also produces a cure for those already infected in the city. Then, we use the palantir to find out that he is on the fourth tier of the city. We spend some time tracking him down, and Mia, Allen, and Deanna sneak up on him, walking down the street. The rest of the team follows him on a magic carpet and watch him, infecting a house in the city. Mia uses Tom Bombadil’s bolas to throw at the man, but he dodges quickly. However, the bolas follow him, and he is tied up. Allen uses the Staff of Sorrow Ralph, and then uses his holy water to destroy him. He had clothes, rigid leather, and some gloves.

We ask Ronald to analyze the artifacts left behind by Ralph, and determines that the gloves are Gloves of Disease. When concentrating, the wearer can spread plague and disease. Mia uses the Disruptor Scepter to destroy the Gloves of Disease immediately, after a unanimous agreement from the group. The paired artifact is the rigid leather he was wearing – the Armor of Mimicry; it allows the user to imitate others. Ralph used it to imitate a human being and pretend to be human to fit in. It can also be used to imitate stats, spells, etc. The group with Shiro that we met recently also gives us: Flask of Power – gives full power points back to whomever drinks from it. Magic Dagger – a throwing dagger that, when thrown, can be thrown at everyone in the room, and hit them all at once.

We then teleport to the Living Mountains, in search of another pair of artifacts: a shield amulet and a map. We see the items appear to be sitting in what looks like a grassy meadow. We step out into the cold on a snowy mountain, after the doorknob creates a portal for us. Brunhilde uses the thermometer to keep the group warm, and we try to stop the snow from falling with Tom Bombadil’s hat. We all walk into an invisible wall, and Walter decides to use the siege beetle to break through. The beetle crashes through the wall, and we walk through into the meadow to acquire the amulet. Allen and Walter find the amulet, and Mia finds the map, both on their own separate pedestals. Melian’s Shield Amulet: she made it to protect a mortal she loved, and his city, from harm. He eventually died, when he forgot the amulet and died in battle. The amulet can create a shield of impassable force, and we can still move while using it. The map can show us anywhere we need to go.

We leave, and pursue Akmed’s undead army, the remnants of the Lich King’s forces. We create a hurricane with Tom Bombadil’s hat, and use holy water to destroy the army in a matter of minutes. We find a crossbow that shoots icebolts, which was being used by Akmed, and a jeweled ring with topaz. Ronald tells us that the crossbow shoots a stream of ice that deals a powerful ice critical using missile OB as attack, and the ring is one of the nine rings of power. At this point, we feel that the best course of action is to pursue the pair of artifacts in Tharbad, forsaking the two pairs of artifacts in Moria for now.