Into the Shadow, A Middle Earth RP

I found the autosave version - it wasn't complete, but I only had to redo the last paragraph, so it wasn't QUITE as bad as I thought.
Thanks for the sympathy though.

Kalon Ordona II ((me)) wrote:So this RP is "currently closed to new players," right?
Well... if that changes sometime, I have a redeemable Avari mini-villain all lined up.

Do you think it will be changing sometime?

Ryona Noel will post as soon as I finish posting elsewhere and give her the computer back

Also, I've been working on a couple of maps in MS Paint, using Karen Whynn Fonstad's work in the Atlas of Middle-earth largely as inspiration (where I don't directly copy it). My eventual hope is for the maps is to extend beyond the general areas of Middle-earth into the Far East, South, and North that I have seen mapped out on other sites.

But for our RP here, they might be a bit of use. And I could create more detailed, zoomed-in maps for specific areas now that I've sort of got the pattern down.

https://2img.net/h/i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/Silvone/small.png

https://2img.net/h/i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/Silvone/map1.png

https://2img.net/h/i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/Silvone/map2.png

https://2img.net/h/i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/Silvone/map3.png

Anyway, let me know what you think...

I do have a question...how many of us are actually riding horses? Séodred's plan involves at least one other rider, and I'm a bit confused as to who is on foot and who is riding.

Éocéne's on horseback!
Rohan ancestry FTW!

Elendyne is on foot. I figure the group is moving forward at a fairly slow pace so that she can keep up on foot without much issue.

EDIT: Just read Seodred's plan. Elendyne can either be one of the bowmen or help cover the top of the hill. I wasn't sure which characters you were intending when you referred to bowmen. I would start writing up a post, but I would like to wait a little longer to see if Kathryn Lacey responds to my character's dialogue first. Plus, I don't have a lot of free time right now, since I'm on a trip to a research conference.

Emi is on horseback, with her dapple gray mare Lili.

Thanks everyone for making it clearer.

As for bowmen, anyone with a bow can participate. They will release the initial volley, and then draw back to defend the hill with the rest of the swordsmen. What I mean is, the bowmen will also be defending the hill.

When I initially wrote the post, I was referring to Inwë, Elendyne, and Iodar, all who have stated they are proficient with a bow.

Éocéne is welcome to be a part of it but she said her bow was mostly used for hunting, so I didn't include her.

The rest will be on standby until the orcs make it up, except for Séodred and another rider, who will herd the orcs to the front.

Sounds good, thanks for clarifying. I'll definitely make sure to include that in my next post. But for now, I need to go to bed...

All right. Sounds like a plan. I currently have three role plays to which I must reply, so just give me some time. If it isn't up by tonight, it will be up by tomorrow night.

Pengu is on foot, but can keep up with a horse for three leagues.

I was thinking about using my character as the bait, since he is the fastest moving/ stealth character we have.

Kalon Ordona II wrote:

Kalon Ordona II ((me)) wrote:So this RP is "currently closed to new players," right?
Well... if that changes sometime, I have a redeemable Avari mini-villain all lined up.

Do you think it will be changing sometime?

Sometime, yes - when, I'm not very sure. It probably won't be until after chapter 3, but if you want to PM me the character then I will take a look and see if he works in somewhere.

Um... I hate to be the wet blanket again, but you do realize, Cyber, that three leagues is nine miles? Do you mean your character can keep pace with a walking horse for than long or with a running horse? I honestly think that's a bit too much for any character's endurance no matter what their race or training if you mean a 'running' horse. If everyone else disagrees with me, or if Aeselon says it's okay, I can't really oppose that, but I just thought I should mention something.

I think as long as the horse is trotting, that would be doable...I seriously doubt a running horse though. And obviously, everyone on foot must keep up with a walking horse

All right, I just posted. Sorry for the delay, but I just wrote it on the fly after listening to research presentations all morning. This is probably going to sound like a n00bish question, but here it goes anyway. I've never actually RP'd a battle involving multiple people at once (My characters usually end up fighting solo), so how is this going to work? Is someone going to write the orcs' charge, and then we just each do our own thing while sticking to the battle plan?

I imagine that those with bows will post about their volley, and then falling back, while the riders each post about what is going on at either side of the hill, and the swordsmen (and axmen) will post about the orcs when they finally make it up the hill. Also, there is the option of a few orcs getting around to the back side of the hill and attacking from there.

I purposely made the plan that way so it would be easier for us to post individual battle sequences.

Our other option would be for the RP owner to post up an outline of how the orcs will attack, and go from there...actually, you may want to do that anyway, so we are all on the same page!

Okay, first things first:
An average horse gallops between 30 - 35 MPH, the fastest human in the world runs about 27 MPH (at least for 100 to 150 yards.) It seems possible that an elf could sprint slightly faster than Usain Bolt, though probably not much. Endurance would be on the side of the elves though - they run tirelessly (as long as there is hope at the end of the chase.)

The other factor is that Pengu's people have channeled magic from the earth, giving them a physical advantage beyond their other elvish cousins. (Though it is at a great cost, which will soon be shown.)

So, I would say: Yes, he probably could keep up with a rider for 3 leagues.(Probably not the Rohirrim though, their horses are not average in any way.) BUT...Unless the circumstances are truly dire, I would not recommend that he tries.

Silvan Arrow: Group battles are tricky, BIG group battles are doubly so. When the Orcs come, I will post from Snaga's point of view to set it up, and then post here as to what the enemy force is comprised of and what they will try to do. Then, like you said, do your own thing - but feed off the posts of those who are physically around you in the combat.
The hardest part is to try not to get too far ahead in the space of a single post, I have found that it's easiest to keep things to about 20 - 30 seconds of action during a group combat, but maybe others have a different preference that works. (Please share. )

NOTE: As I wrote this novella, Ryona stole my thunder and answered SA's questions.

Hehehe...thanks for the input. That really helps. I figured I would wait and see what a few other people posted first and try to figure it out from there. This sounds like fun!

Aesalon wrote:

NOTE: As I wrote this novella, Ryona stole my thunder and answered SA's questions.

You're novella was much more detailed!

Posted, and I do hope I've managed to cover all the bases, and get Emi into the proper position for this battle? Please, if not, just let me know. I'm well acquainted with the edit button.

I will post tonight after work.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for going along with Séodred's plan. I admit I was a bit nervous at proposing it, since I really don't know much about battle strategy!

Hey, no problem. It's a really good plan! It takes all our characters' abilities into account and really exploits the advantage of the higher ground. I'm excited to see how everyone writes their fight scenes.

My pleasure, Ryona. And the fleshing out of the plan helped me give something to focus on, for a bit of a transition post as well. And so you and Aes get a big from me, at least.

I'm back and I will post shortly if it is my post.

Work has had me doing overtime and the work makes me very tired.

Aesalon pm me, I need to know a little about the weakness about Pengu's people.

I couldn't help but notice that no one commented on Silvone's maps... On here, at any rate...

Brilliant job, Silvone! ^^

My apologies, Silvone, for being so slow - but yes, THANK YOU for those beautifully done maps - you did a fantastic job!

Okay, I will be working on Snaga's post today (Hopefully I should get some time at work to do that. )

Sorry that it has taken me so long - everyone that I know seems to be having a 'chaos moment' at the same time.

Hey, no worries. Chaos moments in real life should always take priority over RP's, IMHO. And just another FYI, I'm going out of town tomorrow morning (Yes, again... I'm so sick of traveling) and won't be back til late on Saturday. Not sure if I'll have time to work on a post. If Snaga's post gets up early enough today, I might have some time to work on mine between packing and other stuff.

Okay, here is the run-down:

With the exception of Snaga, these are not intellegent creatures, even as orcs go - they are pretty dumb.

The majority of the orcs will come in a frontal charge, horns blowing and making a LOT of noise. (This will be about midnight.) There are about 75 of them and they are not quality fighters (Mostly recruits/younglings.)

Snaga knows that we have means to know when they are close (he has his ways.) so he has instructed his 11 veterans to stay about a mile from the hill, and when the horns blow, they will rush the back of the hill, aiming for ths horses - they will arrive roughly 5 minutes after the initial orc attack begins.

That should get us started...woowoo!