R oad M aintenance

Deep, fast, and aching cold are the waters of mighty Mitheithel as it flows down from the Misty Mountains in the late spring. Called Hoarwell by the Men of Eriador, the river runs in a great curve from its headwaters above the

Ettenmoors, along the western edge of both the Coldfells and the Trollshaws, before eventually being joined by the River Bruinen and flowing away south. The only safe crossing of the Hoarwell is the Last Bridge, an ancient stone structure consisting of three arches spanning the river at the bottom of a deep gorge which rests along the south-western edge of the Trollshaws. The Last Bridge lies along the great East Road built by the Dwarves in ages past, though none are left that can remember whether they built the bridge too or whether it was the work of the Men of the West, who certainly had a hand in expanding it.

Regardless of its provenance, the Last Bridge and the road it sits upon are essential for those travelling east or west, and the Master of Imladris makes it his business to maintain them such as they are, within a week’s journey of his home. Unfortunately, the floods brought by this year’s thawing may have damaged portions of the road and possibly even the Last Bridge itself.

The adventure begins with the company on an errand for the Folk of Rivendell, so they are supposed to have gained entrance to the Last Homely House. They have been sent to accompany an Elvish stone-mason named Gondril as she travels along the great East Road to the Last Bridge to assess how well it weathered the winter. If the group is following the events of Nightmares of Angmar, the company might accept the task as a token of good-will towards the Master of the House. If one or more of the company are Hobbits of the Shire, or travelling Dwarves, perhaps they’ve agreed to meet their friends in late Spring near the Last Bridge as they journey to the west of Eriador.

t

s

c

The player-heroes reach the Last Bridge after three days of travel (no roll is required, as the trip is a very short one). The Hoarwell is roaring, strong and fierce, but the Last Bridge looks untouched by the winter and appears to be holding up fine. Characters with the Stone-craft Trait can tell at a glance that the bridge was made to endure for ages and remains faultless. Gondril declares as much after spending some time making certain.

While the characters are inspecting the bridge, a companion succeeding in an Awareness roll notices that a wooden object, and not just driftwood, is wedged under one of the arches of the bridge. It is half submerged by the running waters, so it is not possible to determine exactly what it is without getting closer.

To safely retrieve the object from the river requires an Athletics roll (TN 16). While the river is cold and swift, there are many points along the bridge where a character can securely fasten himself before they go “fishing”. Any character with the Swimming Trait can succeed automatically. If a companion fails his Athletics test, he is made temporarily Weary until a prolonged rest by the cold waters of the river.

The object proves to be several wooden planks connected by a crossbar. One side of the planks are painted a bright green.

Any character with an applicable Trait such as Boating or Woodwright can tell that the object hasn’t been in the water very long. Woodwright also reveals the handiwork of the smooth joining of the planks to be of Dwarven origin,

Gondril is talented carver of stone, though young by Elven standards (she is only 437 years old…). She is a thoughtful lady, often given to quiet introspection but followed by swift, decisive actions in her work. While she isn’t much of a fighter, she will absolutely insist on helping out – meaning somebody will have to constantly keep an eye on her if trouble starts.

Attribute level: 5

Specialties: Stone-craft Distinctive Features: Bold, Elusive

Relevant Skills: Craft ♦♦♦, Long sword ♦♦ Endurance: 18

likely from a wagon of some sort. A Riddle roll can reveal more: on a success, the hero notes that the edges of the wood have been roughly hacked, chopped apart with either an axe or a sword; a great success or better notes notches in the wood that indicate where arrows were retrieved. If none of the company think about it, Gondril suggests they should look about upriver, to the north of the road. If they do so, they easily find the remains of a campsite some forty paces or so back from the road, where a battle of some sort clearly occurred.

Anyone succeeding in either a Search or Hunting roll finds evidence that someone attempted to cover the remains of two different sets of wagon tracks that were clearly located beside the camp, along with several pack mules. There are bloodstains on the rocks and some of the bushes around the campsite. On a great success, a companion finds and identifies separate tracks belonging to Men, Dwarves, and one or more Trolls.

It is hard to determine exactly what happened here, as someone clearly went out of their way to obscure their actions. A successful Lore roll may indicate that Trolls are not clever enough to conceal their activities (someone with the Troll-Lore Trait knows this automatically). What can be gleaned with appropriate rolls (Riddle, Hunting, Search) is that survivors of the fight headed northwards, deeper into the dense woods of the Trollshaws, carrying heavy burdens, and that at least one among them is a Troll. When the time to decide what to do arrives, Gondril will listen to what the company has to say first, but she will then insist that they follow and see if there are survivors

that the company can help, or, if not, be able to report what happened.

If the company fails to find anything of interest, or if they choose to ignore what they’ve seen, they get ambushed by the bandits led by Amos the Stone-troll (see opposite) as they are sleeping one night on the way back to Rivendell. The Look-Out Man should get a decent chance to spot them beforehand (they aren’t the stealthiest bunch), but then the fight is on. From there, the companions may have more reasons to follow the trail of any survivors and find about the Dwarves…

i

t

Once they managed to get a long bowshot from the road, the bandits stopped bothering to conceal their tracks. Adventurers who are worth their salt should not find it too hard to follow their trail.

• The company need only accumulate a total of 3 successful Hunting rolls (or the application of some relevant Virtue, as the Rangers’ Rumor of the Earth, for example). Once they hit the trail, it takes them just over an hour to get to the bandit’s camp.

The encampment is located not far from the river, between two large hillocks in a particularly dense copse of tall beeches and willows. This is no accident – the deep shade enables Trolls to safely rest without having to hide underground during the day. If the companions reach the camp trying to be discreet (they propose Stealth rolls) they will be able to ambush the bandits at their leisure. Failing to consider this means each side is aware of the other before battle is joined.

Two nights ago, a band of outlaws and a pack of Trolls led by Mormog, the "Ogre" Captain, plundered a Dwarven caravan that was heading east. After killing the majority of the Dwarves, the bandits took the bulk of their stolen supplies back to their camp, along with a few prisoners destined for the Trolls’ "larder". They got rid or concealed any material they didn’t want to keep, and threw the bodies of the slain into the river.

Finally, they chopped up the two wagons, as they could not use them in the broken terrain of the Trollshaws: they kept some of the pieces for firewood, and tossed the remains into the river.

When they attacked the Dwarves they were led by Mormog, their Captain, but the mysterious monster left the camp the morning after the attack on the caravan.