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Post by Vendla on Feb 9, 2012 2:29:27 GMT -5
Sign up here if you want to join the (IN CHARACTER) mission to rid Trestlebridge of the orc threat.
(ooc - Friday night, 9 PM Eastern Time)
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Post by ainurial on Feb 9, 2012 11:29:02 GMT -5
I will bring Ainurial along. I'm looking forward to developing his character more. My internet connection is spotty today, so hopefully it'll be going strong tonight.
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Post by Onnika/Bookwerm on Feb 9, 2012 18:47:49 GMT -5
Onnika shall be glad to put her skills in gathering information undercover and combat to good use. Bookwerm, I suspect, shall be mixing up potions and other healing aids to see our men and women back to health when they return from their mission.
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Post by Cuarlang / Legladhor on Feb 9, 2012 20:24:00 GMT -5
Yester morn Faral sent Cúarlang to Trestlebridge with the aim of scouting the town's northern vicinity and determining the extent of the orc threat as well as its dispositions. Cúarlang returned early the next day and gave Faral the following report:
Trestlebridge and its folk have suffered much at the hands of the orcs that still besiege them. I arrived there in late afternoon yesterday, and till eveningtime I went through the town and spoke with all who were not unfriendly. (The folk of Trestlebridge have little love for Rangers, thinking that the Dúnedain of Esteldín have purposely failed to give them aid, so they looked much askance at me as I made my way among them.)
At sunset I crossed the bridge and spoke to the stalwarts who were guarding its northern end. They told me that the orcs send skirmishers several times a day to harry them, such that the Trestlebridge-folk must have many of their number on guard beyond the bridge day and night. I was heartened to see that the towers flanking the northern end of the bridge still stand, which suggests that the orcs have little in the way of siege weaponry. However, since several of the town's buildings lay in smouldering ruins, I surmised that the orcs recently did have some siege engines (with which to hurl stones, perhaps covered in oil and set alight, across the river and upon the town) and that a force of Trestlebridge-folk perhaps sallied forth and destroyed those engines.
At nightfall I went along the road from the bridge northward and then eastward. From the ridge south of the ruins of Minas Vrûn I could see the westernmost part of the orcs's encampment. Within sight of the Trestlebridge to its east but well out of bowshot are a few outlying camps at the feet of a ridge. Upon this ridge the orcs have a sizeable camp surrounded by a tall palisade. East of this palisaded camp a bridge crosses a chasm through which a river flows out of hills to the north. On the far side of this bridge are more camps. Indeed, the folk of Trestlebridge say that Nan Wathren, the deep vale beyond the southward-flowing river, is rife with orcs as well as goblins and perhaps foes even more terrible.
In the deepest part of the night, after moonset, I crept close enough to one of the outlying camps to overhear some of what the orcs there were saying to one another. At whiles they spoke in the hideous sort of Westron that orcs of one clan use to speak with those of another, but I know enough of the foul Black Speech to make out a little of what they said otherwise.
In foredawn I made my way back along a somewhat different path. I went to Amon Raith and passed on what I had learned to the handful of Rangers there, who were glad for a little better insight regarding their foes to the southeast. I returned to Trestlebridge and told Captain Trotter what I had told the Rangers, and afterward he seemed somewhat less dour toward me.
My reckoning is that a strong attack by daylight with as many of our kinsfolk as we can muster would wreck the outlying camps and open the way to the palisaded encampment, which we could then also lay waste to; and perhaps we might even be able to plunge the bridge into the chasm below, closing off Nan Wathren from the west and much lessening the orc threat to Trestlebridge.
[[ OOC: It remains to be seen if I'll be able to get online in time for this mission, but hopefully I can take a (very) late and slightly longer than usual "lunch" break and take part in it with y'all. =) ]]
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Post by Vendla on Feb 9, 2012 21:22:36 GMT -5
*Sits with Cuarlang while he delivers his report to Faral, watching her betrothed with pride*
(ooc-awesome report!!)
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Post by Eldic on Feb 10, 2012 17:08:09 GMT -5
my spead is at your calling
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Post by aegjoros on Feb 10, 2012 17:08:21 GMT -5
Aegjoros is down ! and ready to fight and slay!! and...ohhhh candy..i mean wait what? oh yea ill go
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Post by Faral Garriden on Feb 10, 2012 19:32:05 GMT -5
Faral is ... of course
FORTH EORLINGAS!
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Post by Elenesse on Feb 10, 2012 19:33:31 GMT -5
I shall join the group and lend my healing aid.
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Post by Faral Garriden on Feb 11, 2012 10:31:11 GMT -5
BTW Cuarlang .... you did a great job of "Scouting RP"
We all enjoyed it and it set the temp of the RP to which we marched!!!
Thank you again!!
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Post by Vendla on Feb 11, 2012 17:48:42 GMT -5
Here is my take on our trip to Trestlebridge last night. I'll try not to hurt anyone's feelings... 1. Numbers: The turnout was nice, we had at least 9 people, probably more with some coming and going at various times. However, poor Faral had a difficult time keeping everyone together...he reminded me of a mother hen trying to contain her brood of chicks who had a penchant for wandering off. Lesson learned: We need smaller groups. 2. RP: Everyone did a good job roleplaying with the exception of one person who decided that his personal idea of his character's behavior was more important than the enjoyment of the group, which was the entire reason for the event. Lesson learned: Put your ego on the back burner when joining a group for rp...it's not just about you showing off what your character thinks or wants to do. Yes, we all want our characters to be recognized for who they are and what they do, but not at everyone else's expense. There is a way to blend your rp into the group without being a loose cannon. 3. Organization: Faral did his best to lead his people on an assuredly dangerous mission, and as leader, he needed to be deferred to, watched and listened to. If any of you are Star Trek fans, you'll notice that Picard will listen to the suggestions of his trusted bridge crew, namely Riker, Data, Warf, Geordie, Deanna and Dr. Crusher....at no time do you see lower rank people 'suggesting' a course of action, or 'telling' the captain what they'll be off somewhere doing. They will always, always, always wait to be 'told' what to do...never assuming they can go off here or there. Lesson learned: Do not TELL your leader what you will do, even if it's to guard the rear....wait till you are TOLD to guard the rear. Do not SUGGEST going to see to this camp or that bridge....if your leader wants it looked at he will TELL you, otherwise keep quiet and listen for orders. 4. Raid Chat: I personally didn't like it, though I understand that in Raid Mode you can have a very large group whereas normal Fellowships limit you to a small number. But I feel that if we keep our future groups small, we can avoid Raid Mode. And the reason I told everyone how to use Chat Bubbles was so we could 'talk' out loud....meaning people other than our group could 'hear' what we were saying. It was my hope that seeing us out there as a group, roleplaying, might encourage other groups to want to do stuff with us. But in Raid Chat, no one but our people are able to 'hear' what is being said. All in all, I'm very excited to go out and try this again, and I feel we have a very awesome kinship with totally awesome people.
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Post by Cuarlang / Legladhor on Feb 11, 2012 22:28:17 GMT -5
I concur with Vendla. Smaller groups; subordinate one's own RP to that of the group; heed the leader; and /say (with chat bubbles on) for better immersion.
Additionally I offer these (OOC) observations:
1. "/walk"-ing everywhere allowed mobs to respawn very close to or sometimes right on top of us. In military terms this would be seen as moving so slowly as to come up against frequent "penny packet" counter-attacks. I know that "/run"-ing everywhere goes contrary to RP principles, but we're dealing with a well-planned attack on an enemy encampment, not a stroll through a bucolic village.
2. Sending a small fellowship's worth of players ahead of the group's main body as a vanguard would have allowed them to clear any obviously hostile mobs (in this case orcs) from upon and immediately beside the road, such that those following could ride on to their objective unhindered. The orc outpost on the east side of the road south of Trestlebridge could have been dealt with swiftly and decisively, rather than allowing it to bog us down and take us so long that we had to fight more than one round of respawns.
3. To me immersion felt, not broken, but fractured by dealing with too-prompt respawns and by encountering other players who flouted our RP efforts by "/dance"-ing at us and so on. It also dealt a blow to immersion when we came upon camps that had already been "depopulated" because non-RP-ing players had blown through there just seconds earlier. Perhaps a better "venue" for a future IC mission would be one that takes place in an actual instance. That way we don't have to deal with respawns or with random other players spoiling (intentionally or not) our RP.
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Amrun
Junior Member
Kin Officer
Posts: 66
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Post by Amrun on Mar 31, 2012 6:56:02 GMT -5
At the risk of speaking out of turn to a leader ( ), I might suggest that all of these are to be expected on a ''learning mission'', which is what a first-run will always be. And that all of these can and will be corrected with time and practice. A first-run of any group is going to be a trial run, working out the bugs. Cohesiveness, chain-of-command, even RP - all of this will self-correct over time. A baptism of fire is never pretty - but it's also the fastest way to learn (i.e., to learn or die trying). (Now, all that said, maybe a raid organized into 2 sub-groups, 2 parallel chains of command, might be the solution - allows 2 simultaneous objectives and less bandwidth confusion. Half the newbies follow 1 voice, and the other half the other. Then the coordination only need be between two veteran leaders, and not the group structure as a whole. I'm all down for RP-immersion, and I know it's frustrating (been there, one way or another), but abandoning the raid-structure because the bar was set at its goal height and not a starting height may be a bit premature. ...erm, assuming you approve, Captain. (oh - side note - next one of these (and I hope it's soon!), could you add the appropriate Level range? So we know what's too low/high to enter? thx!)
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