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;

Ilvirin: a pirate fallen out with others;

Pimm: a roadwarden, friend to Ilvirin.

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 (Ilvirin & Pimm); Brand recounts his talks with the servants; Brand, Pimm & Ilvirin assault a passer-by, who is put to the question; Aerin and Ragnor talk to Royalty; Brand, Pimm & Ilvirin 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 Ilvirin all receive mystical presents from an aged seeress; Ragnor, Aerin, Brand, Pimm and Ilvirin 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 Ilvirin and Pimm; Ilvirin 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 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.

Part 20: in which we set off for Pelargir; Ranmes gives Ragnor a brief introduction to the politics of Umbar; we return to Pelargir without event to find Doronil, Merethin and Tegilbor recovered; Ragnor’s father reveals that Tegilbor points the finger at the Queen; Lord Lintoron and the Hyarmenost family turn traitor, but quietly; Ragnor gets a job; Doronil wants to swap places with Ragnor; Brand learns how to resist the Dark Arts and disposes of the maps; everyone is invited to a party.

Part 21: in which we find that Ragnor’s party invitation comes from the ‘Straight Man’; Bauglir urges Ragnor to go; we all attend the Underworld Annual Ball; Brand learns more of the Mirror of Fire; Ragnor fights three duels; the ‘Straight Man’ makes an offer; Ilvren beats her brother; the ‘Straight Man’ accepts tribute from the Underworld; we leave the ball; we learn of King Tarannon and his villa in the Ethir Anduin; Beruthiel – the legend and the woman; do we or don’t we?

Part 22: in which Ragnor learns on the job while Brand researches Tarannon’s Villa; Aerin sets off for the Ethir early; Queen Mûrabeth appoints Ragnor as her agent to Umbar for the budget talks; we sail downriver and join Aerin in Tarannon’s Launch; we experience marsh-lights and other unsavoury encounters in the marshes; we explore Tarannon’s Villa; the Diary of Queen Beruthiel.

Part 23: in which we escape from Tarannon’s Villa by boat; carouse in Tarannon’s Launch; sail through the Ethir with Ranmes; discuss politics over dinner and sail to Umbar.

Part 24: in which we disembark and settle in to the Drunken Southron; we take a guided tour of Umbar in the afternoon; we discover the remains of the Temple of Melkor is under Earnil’s Tower on Tol Cirya; in the evening, Ilvirin takes us on a tour of the dockland taverns, in which we meet Rastarin, an (allegedly) reformed pirate; we discuss politics; Ilvirin mentions her father is a cultist; we find the Street of the Smiths; Ragnor has an interview with governor Telemnar, the Queen’s father; we discuss politics and posit an exploration of the Haradwaith to find the source of the Cult of the Dark Lady; Brand locates Bergil’s house on the Street of the Smiths and we find it was recently purchased by the late Celebrindor; we apply to the Governor for access to Celebrindor’s estate as ‘interested parties’.

Part 25: in which we enjoy an invigorating fight with six automata left by Celebrindor in the Red House and Pimm suffers severe trauma; we plan an excavation and Aerin finds some letters and an enigmatic map.

Part 26: in which Ragnor and Brand meet with Squire Gordacar and find him amiable and punctilious; Brand is accosted by a strange woman over dinner with information on Celebrindor and portents of Umbar’s spiritual affliction; Aerin and Ragnor enjoy an audience with Zimrakhil, who proves genial, knowledgeable and apologetic prone to odd remarks regarding Royal genealogy; meanwhile Brand and Ilvirin dig up treasures from under the Red House, including a piece of the Key to Fuinur’s Well; Aerin reveals she has one piece of the Key to Fuinur’s Well while it is confirmed that I bear the central stone – we now have 3 parts of the five.

Part 27: in which Pimm asks if we can visit Tol-Cirya and is told ‘no’; Brand learns in the House of the Loremasters that they have few records of Melkor’s Temple while Ragnor uncovers the likely whereabouts of the descendants of Edhelud Al-Tayyib, who hopefully still have their ancestor’s part of the Key to Fuinur’s Well; Brand also learns that Celebrindor had asked for surveys of nearby stretches of desert to verify them as up for grabs; Pimm reveals that someone tried to kill Lord-Captain Menelmir this morning; Ilvirin says she asked Colfen, Neithan’s Lieutenant, about a tour of Tol-Cirya, he says we shouldn’t as it’s awash with dark cultists and will be raided soon; Governor Telemnar sets Ragnor and friends to investigating the attempted assassination of Menelmir; we tour the dockland pubs in search of Rastorin, who agrees to ask around and report in a few days.

Part 28: in which Aerin and Pimm indulge their morbid curiosity; Ilvirin seeks employment on Tol-Cirya; Brand uncovers the probable location of the fifth part of the Key; Ragnor and Brand meet Daeron, the King’s representative, who proves surprisingly likeable and is almost certainly a very shrewd politician; Aerin contacts her Umbar relatives during a pleasant evening meal; Ilvirin finds no old buildings on Tol-Cirya; Ragnor and Brand meet Marmedon, who is an apolitical soldier but advises that Zimrakhil has a hidden agenda; Aerin learns that that the fourth (Umbar) part of the Key was recently purchased…by Zimrakhil; Ragnor and Brand meet Mardil, who dislikes the Navy being above the Law; Ilvirin reveals that it will be difficult to land on Tol-Cirya, by day or night, so we decide to volunteer for Kolfen’s raid!

Part 29: in which Rastorin fingers Rhavas as the ‘mastermind’ of the Menelmir attack; we uncover an incriminating letter and trace it to the Umbar civil service; Aerin learns that Rhavas is being hidden in the Southron Quarter; Telemnar advises that Rhavas is the key to unmasking a Sea Faction conspiracy; we attend a meeting of the Pimm/Brand appreciation society in which Brand pulls.