The One Ring - Season 6 -The Passing of Beorn

The End of Season 6

We finished the sixth season of our One Ring campaign run by Paul Mitchener tonight. After a quiet fifth season, this saw our fellowship of four hunting down the Werewolf of Mirkwood, and entrapping its spirit in the body of our Wood Elf.

We travelled to take advice from Beorn, as a shapechanger and ended up travelling high into the Misty Mountains where the shapeshifting spirit of the Werewolf was taken away by the Hunter as he crossed Middle Earth. Unfortunately, Beorn disappeared at the same time (Eye of Sauron), sacrificing himself to free the world from an ancient evil.

We started back down to tell the Beornings the sad news, and quickly stumbled into a large patrol of orcs, led by an Orc Captain, two Uruk-hai from Mordor, a Mountain Troll and about two hundred orc soldiers and archers. On the plains below we saw a Nazgul riding towards the Beornings. Improvising, we split the vanguard from the main body by means of an avalanche (stonecraft use) which partly blocked the route down from the High Pass. My Dwarf despatched his Raven friend to warn the Beornings and we prepared to fight a desperate battle. We killed the orcs, but constant arrow fire and the Troll battered us back, and our Ranger collapsed unconscious from his wounds, to be saved by our Woodswoman. The whole fellowship was weary by now and had very little endurance left.

Fleeing down the mountain, we hid and rested in a cave, securing the entrance and then breaking into the orc tunnels behind as the troll broke through. A challenging scramble through the dark got us outside on the Eastern side and we made it to the resting house by the Old Ford. Use of Courtesy and Song inspired our Beorning hosts, and drove off the dire influence of the Nazgul. We rested our weary bodies, drinking ale and filling our pipes. The Raven returned, having warned the Beornings and also travelled to inform Radagast, who was on his way...

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We really thought we were going to have character fatalities tonight. Far too many Eyes of Sauron! The troll was nearly our undoing. This season felt really epic.

The good news is that the campaign will return in October, for Season 7. We're really loving the Darkening of Mirkwood...

The One Ring image - By Xander - own work, (not derivative from the movies), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1953341