(The date is a guesstimate – it must have been between August 25, and August 30.)
This log is special in that it starts out with a combat scene that was abandoned the day before due to exessive lag (delays in the network connections). When it was abandoned, Gumbart was not part of the RP. In this log, Gumbart is caught by the Spiders of Mirkwood. Worse, Khamul, the Nazgul of Dol Guldur appears. We then decided OOC (out of character, ie. the relevant discussion is not shown) that Khamul would carry Gumbart and Brican away to Dol Guldur. The remaining trip to Dol Guldur is thus cut short and Gumbart’s end is nigh...
Cliff bottom The damp and warm forest trail fades quickly here, the entire forest about blacker than the deepest night, slight rustling sounds can be heard from about, the trees growing thick before stopping abruptly against a looming cliff-face. All about is the sense of being watched, and thick, silken threads seem to hang from the thick boughs above. No sign can be seen of the weather above the pressing tree cover. The damp and warm gives a little beneath your feet, though why can't be deserned. [...] <OOC: Spiders posed by Arcanine and Puk> With angry slash after angry slash. Brican uses his blade to make quick work of the dangling thread. He takes little notice of the trees above as his attention is focused completely on the chopping of the threads. At that moment a spider releases a thread from above, which is directly aimed for the head of the young dwarf. The thread quickly ravels itself around the young dwarf, leaving only enough movement in his hands to defend himself with his broadsword. Gumbart, awake for three seconds, quickly crawls out of his tent, and stumbles through the camp, blindly waving his hands around. Panik rising within him, he stumbles and falls. He continues crawling, gets up again, crashes into a tree and turns around. Fear in his voice, he shouts, "Where are you all? I'm here!! What's happening?" A sudden ruffle of leaves fill the trees then every thing but the yelling dwarf quiets down. Almost a perfect silence. Then, a hissing in the trees starts up and a blanket of the thread starts to fall down on top of the dwarf named Gumbart, aimed for his chest. Another batch of the stuff, also falls out of the trees, this time aimed at the other dwarf, who is already stuck in the stuff. A large spider, clacking away as its legs skitter amidst the air, drops from the sky on a thread of strong silk. Once its body reaches the ground the silk detaches from its abdomen and it rises menacingly on its hind legs before racing of to chase the invading meals. (Known colloquially as Dwarves.) In the shadows, a dark-clad figure walks up, moving it's head as if disagreeing with something. Gumbart screams, nearly choking with fear. He thrashes and pounds. To no avail. Within seconds he is thoroughly stuck within the sticky mass. As the mumbling black shadow descends down through the trees, his stomach heaves and he nearly gags with the foul breath. His dying screams are muffled as he is quickly and deftly cocooned in the grey mass. Keithlyn suddenly jumps up from the shadows, landing precisly on the spider's neck. It looks up and makes a protesting squeeling sound. The spider trashes around, attempting to get rid of the uninvited rider. Keithlyn stands upright on the spider's neck. It turns it's head around, attempting to bite her. While doing so, it shows it's unprotected neck. She grabs it, and pulls it upwards, effectively breaking it. The spider sinks down, dead. The spider with now has covered the screaming dwarf in the stuff, drops down beside it momentarily, finishing the jobs before he grabs the cocoon in it's claws and crawls back into the trees, to hang it's meal somewhere so it can season. Moments later, it comes back and drops down beside the other spider and raises a claw, about to pierce the little dwarf mounted on the other spiders kneck Out from the silent encampment strides the unexpecting old warder Ordin, blinded by the darkness that surrounds him. He's not phased by the fire which lays in red coals, or the odd noises of the forrest, knowing full well that nothing can be easily explained. At the first sound of a scream his hammer is unsheathed and his feet quickly in a warrior's stance. In all directions he looks, and yet sees nothing, not even the ground that lay before him. Nor does a sound come from his lips, knowing that his fate could quickly be calculated with one battle cry. It's not long before a twig snaps under his feet. Brican shouts angrily, and rips through some of the threads that were already entangling him. He uses his sword to quickly free his legs, and thus, covered with pieces of threads, he jumps aside and tries to make for the cover of some bushes. Quietly and stealthily he disappears under the foliage, the figure from the darkness providing the necessary distraction for his -- perhaps -- unnoticed disappearance. Puk begins scuttling after the confused, angry dwarves, eight legs runing up and down as it heads towards a rather plump specimen. Just as it is about to attack however and even plumper target presents itself in the view of its many eyes and it turns to race towards him. Just as it is ready to strike however the scene is played out again and the spider again changes targets. This results in a rather large, though rather un-intelligent spider running about creating chaos and confusion but causing little damage. Keithlyn glances at the spider behind her. She quickly jumps off. "Better get out of here, fast..." As the camp errupts into chaos, the remaining two dozen dwarves start scrambling through the darkness, shouting for a light, wieldings their hammers and axes, but as soon as any dares to step aside, to leave the protective company of his cousins, he becomes easy picking. The numbers are rapidly diminishing, as one by one they are captured and ensnared, stumble and fall not to rise again as eight-legged shadows carry them off into the darkness. Keithlyn grabs a branch and swings herself up, staring down at all that happens behind her. As the Quendi jumps off the now dead spiders kneck, instead of attacking, the rears up and scrambles into the trees. Letting lose a loud, high-pitched noise, the rest of the spiders on the ground quickly climb back into the trees and disappear. A few minutes pass and just when it seems they're gone, multiple eyes shine through the leaves, at least 6, maybe 7 spiders. As they hisses, all but one drops to the ground, in which they all charge, attacking the other people. The one spider left in the tree hurries over to a spot where an elf has made it's way into the tree, letting lose a large bundle of thread it hisses, "Don't struggle..it'll all be over soon.." One of the spiders spys a tasty Dwarf and races towards it, the poor sod notices the oncoming predator just in time and swipes with his sword to chopof one if its hairy legs and then races back into the safety of the camp. The spider, focused on its potential meal and enraged by the dismembering of its leg, chases after the dwarf and ploughs head-long into the camp where it presents an easy target for the defenders. Keithlyn senses something behind her. She hears a sound, and decides that it's not safe. She swings down again, using her cape to conceal herself in the darkness. Gumbart struggles and moans, to no avail. Beneath the elf, Brican is scurrying through the brushes; stealthily and quietly, he makes his way, evading all the twigs that nature has put in his way, making for the silence further away. Behind him, the fighting dies down. As Keithlyn drops on the ground a few feet away, however, Brican is startled. As he sees one last spider approaching and unleashing another dreadfull thread, he quickly cuts it down and grabs Keithlyn, dragging her away from the fighting. Keithlyn mutters "What in...?" as her voice is muffled by Brican. As the hidden dwarf grabs his prey, the spider hisses and from the tree lets lose another volley of thread, covering both the dwarf and the quendi in the sticky substance. Laughing, the spider drops down from the tree and walks over to the two, careful to stay out of the way of any blades. Keithlyn attempts to wriggle free. The spiders now on the ground, all at once attack the camp, though it is poorly planned. 3 of the spiders quickly find their prey and carry them off to the treetops, to hang next to the others. Even though they make off with prey, the other 2 spiders are quickly encircled and one is killed, the other manages to escape with only 6 legs and wounds. Keithlyn suddenly notices the feel of the sharp arrow on her back. She gets an idea. Softly moving up and down, the arrow's point scratches open the back of the cocoon. Ordin's mind races as he finds himself left alone among the creatures of the vile forest to fend for himself. The glowing orbs seem as though to surround him with all their foul sounds and smells. The old Veteran, worn like an old piece of leather, cowers in fear for the first time ever in battle. With his buckler he attempts to cover his head and stagger about aimlessly, spinning about, swinging his hammer wildly. Keithlyn succeeds in softly sneeking away from the cocoon without warning the spiders. With a growl, and a moment or two of stuggling the young dwarf Brican quickly makes his escape perhaps more noisly behind the elf. He growls in her direction for a moment, "Be nice if ye would be kind enough to save your saviours." With this he follows the elf, looking back in dread towards the lair of the spiders. Finally finding herself in the safety of the brushes, she softly reaches for the bow on her back. She spans in an arrow. Aiming it for one of the spiders 'guarding' Brican's cocoon, she releases. The elven arrow pierces right trough the spider's skin, weaking it so much that it sinks to the ground. Khamul comes through the forest from the south west. As an arrow pierces the spiders hide, it shreaks in pain and searches for the being that inflicted the wound. Gazing out, he sees nothing but does not persue the person, neither does he continue with the half-cocooned dwarf in front of him. Running, it scrabbles up into the trees, while several more spiders return to the area after they had hung their prey. Keithlyn aims another arrow, this time directing it towards the cocoon. It slizes trough it, opening a hole in the back. She hops up, and pulls the dwarf out. Keithlyn drags Brican with her into the underbrush. Keithlyn smiles, and whispers, so softly that only Brican can hear it, "Now we're even." Spiders are not the only creatures which haunt this forest, and some are dreadful, much more dreadful than they. A feeling of evil and deep despair fill all hearts as a terrible thing approaches from the gloom to the south. Man shaped he is, but his appearance does not soften the terror which goes before him. As his cocoons violently falls to the ground, Brican lets out a little cry. He lets out a larger cry as he feels the carefully aimed arrow pierce the cocoon next to him. He sighs in relief as Keithlyn pulls him from the cocoon. Of the three spiders that return, two quickly run over to the spot where the dwarf was, just in time to see the elf carry off the dwarf into the bushing. Hissing, both spiders run over to the place, a place far to close to use a bow. Hissing, one spider covers both in thread while the other one runs up, ready to bite them, putting them to sleep. <OOC> Keithlyn says, "We set one step, and you've caught us again?" <OOC> Brican says, "hmm Arcanine thats just poor RP.. you don't even give me a chance to use my boardsword" <OOC> Arcanine says, "They ran over to the spot where the dwarf was, and you went over there to pull him out. They just saw you pull him out." <OOC> Arcanine sighs, "Your right..ignore that pose" <OOC> Arcanine thinks he needs more coffee Keithlyn mutters something in elvish as she stares at the figure in the clearing before her. Gumbart struggles and moans, trying to free himself. Hanging upside down is slowly starting to numb him. Struggling, however, doesn't help -- the tightening hold just gets stronger. Shortly before finally strangulating himself, Gumbart faints. The other dwarves, warders and merchants all, fare no differently. Tightly packed and unable to free themselves, they are dangling in the darkness, surrounded by whispering voices and occasionally prodded by long and hairy legs. Keithlyn snaps out of her revery, and pokes Brican, softly pointing upwards. Three cocoons dangle from a branch there. Staring around, the spiders all hiss and vault back into the trees, seemingly pleased with the prey they have. As the spiders scamble around, they cut lose all the cocoons and carry them back to another place, deeper in the forest. After they leave, a lone coccon still dangles in the trees, left behind by the other spiders... Turning towards Keithlyn with a shake of his head, "I think it be best lass if we take our leave now, ye have folk you can bring here be my bet, and it will be better then having another battle with these here beasts." Turning he quickly pulls Keithlyn towards the west. The Wraith, the Lord of Dol Guldur, the greatest fortress in Mirkwood emerges into the area and no being, dwarf, elf or spider can ignore his presence. His head turns and sees with other senses the presence of one of the hated Elves, and the anger he feels towards those of that race cannot be hidden and is not veiled, the sheer malice towards that figure is almost staggering. Keithlyn pulls herself loose from the dwarf. "They won't be coming, not for a long, long time when we're both dead. Besides...Haven't you noticed that...that...thing? It'll kill us!" Brican shakes his head towards the terrified dwarf, being terrified himself doesn't help, but the dwarf tryes to hide it under a calm demenour, "Aye, I have noticed that thing over there, and it be killing us if we don't do something now, and ye people might be our only hope. What else is there to do, we can battle the creatures of this evil place by ourselves if ye wish." Keithlyn, suddenly noticing a small figure running around, softly sneaks forwards. She grabs Ordin by the collar, dragging him towards Brican, trying not to get the attention of anything nearby The captured dwarves, feeling the shadow of terror creep into their hearts, stop struggling. The spiders have bound them, hung them from trees, prodded them, poisoned them, dragged them to some other place, and until a second ago every single one of them would have rather died than continue to slowly suffocate in their sticky prisons, the goo covering their faces, the blood pressure rising and the stench overwhelming. Now, however, things have changed. The cold terror has them in their hold. No one is struggling. The spiders are silent. Nothing is moving. The icy threat of something worse than death has overcome this place as if the Dark One's gaze itself had frozen it all. The Wraith's eyes glow a fiery red beneath his hood and his right arm moves to his side where there hangs hidden a scimitar of ancient origin.. The weapon is a bane to the eyes of Elves, burning a cold light and wrapped in spells of ruin and destruction, the first flicker of it emerges as it is drawn from it's sheath. No time is wasted by this creature in moving towards the hated Elf.. Ordin growls as a hand grabs at his neck. With a distorted view of what enemy now lies, growls and attempts to break free with a wild swing of his jagged-edged buckler. No contact is made. A wild swing of his hammer grazes the arm that hold him, giving a good clue of where the source of strength comes from. Another, more accurate swing is placed, giving him the edge to escape Keithlyn. In any other situation, the dwarf would strike until his enemy lay cold on the harsh earth, but no. Fear takes him by the legs and wrist and guides him about the forest, into trees, into fallen logs, and into any other danger that might find itself handy at the time. The heavy panting is hard to hear over the uproar that plays out in the land that lays behind him. Keithlyn frightened by whatever Khamul unleashed, she utters some more elvish, then does her best interpretation of the sentance, "Run for the hills!" Keithlyn tries to make her way through the forest but finds it blocked by webs. Her efforts slowly begin to clear a way, however. A way opens up where Keithlyn was making her way though the forest. The way which Keithlyn departs closes up with webs once more. Seeing the frantic dwarf pass him by, Brican quickly runs after him, giving little notice to the noise he makes as he approaches. He smiles as he reaches the dwarf, careful of the old warder as he saw the frighten elf run further into the forrest before he attacked her. Whispering towards him he says, "Warder, peace, we are free of those spiders for the moment." In no mood to chase the fleet footed Elf, the Wraith turns back towards the dwarves who are freed from their bonds.. The sun flashes brightly on the horizon. Night gives way to morning.
#Elendor