The Kinstrife

A Middle-Earth campaign using Warhammer rules run by Louise Sellers

It is March 1441; a civil war broke out in Gondor a few years ago, which saw King Eldacar flee to his Rohirrim kinsmen, his throne taken by King Castamir, on the grounds that his mixed blood made him unfit to rule. (For the full story, see Louise Seller's Kinstrife website.)

Against this background, the loss of a merchant ship in the Ethir Anduin brings together a group of people soon to become involved in the politics of the aftermath.

The characters:

Aerin of House Altayyib – a herbalist acting as an amateur spy for her father;

Brand, a young scholar hired to instruct Ragnor in Quenya, the language of the Gondorian court;

Ilvrin: a pirate fallen out with others;

Pimm: a roadwarden, friend to Ilvrin.

Ragnor Curuhuan of House Hyarmenost (a cadet of House Miruvor) – a young noble of a family of Pelargir merchant princes;

Part 1: in which a merchant prince sends his youngest son to investigate the loss of a merchantman carrying a special cargo; by coincidence, another father in Bozisha Dar has sent his daughter to report on the political situation in Pelargir; Captain Neithan proves a hero; ambush on the return.

Part 2: in which Aerin sets up practise in Pelargir, finding that her clientele will probably be fellow non-Gondorians; Brand and Ragnor uncover worrying information in the House of the Faithful; this strange group, fast becoming friends, return to the Ethir for various purposes but chilling possibilities emerge once the extent of the recovered treasure becomes apparent.

Part 3: in which Ragnor gets in a fight with a cat; Benish Armon turns out to be furnished; Brand disturbs the ashes of the dead; several people talk about their lives; and we return to find Princess Telerien's dinner party has become a murder scene.

Part 4: in which Doronil and friends show no change; Aerin gains much glassware and small rodents; Hirluin reluctantly speaks of the banquet; Aerin proves it was the candles; and Ragnor has a strange, troubling but invigorating dream.

Part 5: in which Ragnor talks with his father and receives a summons; Doronil and friends still do not improve; Aerin acquires some housemates (Ilvrin & Pimm); Brand recounts his talks with the servants; Brand, Pimm & Ilvrin assault a passer-by, who is put to the question; Aerin and Ragnor talk to Royalty; Brand, Pimm & Ilvrin contact 'the Horrid Scum'; the Loremasters are stumped, bring in the Alchemists; it's either Khoradûr or someone else.

Part 6: in which Doronil and friends still do not improve; Brand and Pimm tour the inns and Taverns of Pelargir looking for Amlaith; Ragnor and Aerin interview the families of the victims; Ragnor receives an object lesson in political ambition; and Brand reveals he has traced a document that might help an assassin locate Eldacar.

Part 7: in which Ragnor asks for and gets an audience with the Queen; Ragnor and Aerin interview Khoradûr while Brand and Pimm burgle his quarters; Khoradûr gives Ragnor a sinister message for his father; Ragnor tells his father that Khoradûr is the culprit; Aerin finally isolates the poison.

Part 8: in which Doronil and friends still do not recover from klytun root poisoning; a small party; Ragnor admits to talking to Conath while on the ship and a clever lawyer sets him free; Bauglir hints at a dark enterprise for Ragnor; Ragnor's dad is most displeased; a lesson in politics for Ragnor; no one knows much about klytun root but there's a book in Minas Ithil…; georgeous Iriel announces her new job in Lond Ernil.

Part 9: in which Aerin, Brand and Ragnor enjoy an audience with Queen Mûrabeth who reveals her alternative view of Princess Telerien's political assets; we discuss Neithan and Khoradûr and her Majesty marvels at the 'third choice'.

Part 10: in which Ragnor enlists an entourage; Iriel proves to be very pleasant company of an evening; Ragnor 'borrows' a rapier from the Royal armouries; Aerin, Brand, Pimm and Ilvrin all receive mystical presents from an aged seeress; Ragnor, Aerin, Brand, Pimm and Ilvrin set off up the Anduin and a mystical malaise afflicts all those not of pure Numenorean descent caused by an artefact of evil; the artefact and its owner are put ashore and Ragnor gains a personal slave.

Part 11: in which our intrepid friends wend their way overland eastward toward Mordor before turning north on meeting the road; a skirmish occurs with nasty but overall ineffectual bandits in which Noruinivien is killed; afterward several friends are reacquainted with Echadil, who has joined a troop of 'rangers'; everyone experiences a mystic dream, courtesy of a local fertility deity; and everyone eventually reaches Minas Ithil to be shocked by the refugee encampment outside the walls.

Part 12: in which we learn of local politics and the inanity of bureaucracy; Toürthel is out of business; Brand and Aerin find an antidote to klytun root; about the vault of Anwar Serni; Pimm's late uncle Bergil was a bad poet; Adunaphel was of old one of Sauron's generals; the paucity of cash.

Part 13: in which we learn of Celebrindor's interest in Minas Ithil's sewers; we find rumours of a cult who wishes to bring back Adunaphel; Brand and Aerin discover that the source of the Siril may be an ancient artefact buried under Minas Ithil; we hear tavern gossip that Celebrindor has Loyalist sympathies; Ragnor attends Noruinivien's funeral; we visit the Guild of Engineers; and we ride to Anwar's Vault, to which, it turns out, Pimm has the long-lost key.

Part 14: in which we explore the vault of Anwar Serni, discovering a tunnel leading under the Ephel Duath; we find in the said vault a moderate amount of treasure, some dragul root and several disquieting documents concerning the Royal succession at the end of the Second Age; we loot the vault of just about anything valuable or useful, despite intervention from foul multi-legged arthropods from Mordor.

Part 15: in which we return to Minas Ithil; Aerin puts in some time at the Houses of Healing in the shanty-town, only to find herself embroiled in a clash between the refugees and a crony of the local governor; meanwhile, Ragnor and Brand read Lasbelorn's notes, discovering that there's a(nother) secret vault hidden in the walls of the Tower of Moon, approximately where to find it and how to open it; returning to the Moonswan, Ragnor finds himself invited to observe the torture of little girls, meet with a possible Black Numenorean and is invited to breakfast with a civil servant; breakfast with the civil servant proves pleasant, informative and (for Pimm) possibly lucrative; a day in the library confirms Ragnor's worst fears regarding the Karma of Aldarion, where to find it and why he needs to; finally Aerin pleads for Ragnor to intercede, which he refuses.

Part 16: in which Ragnor and Brand recount events of the last 24 hours to Ilvrin and Pimm; Ilvrin hurries off to help Aerin fend off unwanted mercenaries; Ragnor, Brand and Pimm spend a pleasant evening in the company of intellectual women; we learn of two Adunaphels and Pimm's uncle's girlfriend; finally, at last actually becoming worried, Ragnor leads Brand and Pimm to succour Aerin; who, of course, is preening herself for having saved the little girl and foiled Hargen, the captain of mercenaries.

Part 17: in which Ilvren returns; we buy gowns from Morwen the Red's dress emporium; Pimm buys drinks for everyone at the Eagle & Elf; Dringol agrees to discuss Pimm's uncle Bergil's alta-parma; Celebrindor talks about his travels and ambitions, he asks whether we know of a legendary artefact (Calvolului) but when we demure he wields a Word of Power at the dinner table - an outrage!

Part 18: in which we learn of the burgling of Ondoher’s house and his disappearance; Pimm undergoes a change of employer; Ranmes conducts us on a tour of the Tower of the Moon; Brand, Pimm and Ragnor discover the hidden chamber and therefrom pillage diverse maps; everyone gazes in to the palantir, several suffering as a result; Celebrindor discovers our theft; we take refuge in a nearby tavern.

Part 19: in which we discuss what to do with the stolen maps; we are spied upon from on high by Celebrindor’s ghastly, grim and ancient raven; Celebrindor threatens to take matters to Heruvorn; the maps are hidden; Pimm shoots Celebrindor’s raven is shot out of the sky - hurrah; Dringol loans Bergil’s alta parma to Brand for copying; Celebrindor, with four cronies, attempts a burglary of the Moonswan; Pimm shoots Celebrindor in the strongroom – nasty; preparations are made for departure, including returning Bergil’s original manuscript to Dringol.