The One Ring Solo Pt.4: Evil Revealed

The depth of Jari's treachery is finally revealed.

To Lady Gilraen of the Dúnedain,

We have learned the truth of Jari's deceit, and it has cast a terrible shadow over our purpose.

In the grey hours before dawn, Jari slipped from our camp. Sefa woke me, and without a word, followed him into the dark. Not long after I heard the cry of a bird echo into the Morglynd Valley three times before being returned from below. A clear signal. The dwarf had betrayed our presence to someone, or something, waiting in the shadows.

When Jari returned to the cave he was shocked to find me awake. We did not allow him a chance to gather his thoughts. Sefa blocked the cave entrance, cutting off any hope he had of escape and demanded to know who he had just signaled. Jari initially feigned innocence but soon turned to hate and spite. With a vile sneer, he warned us that he had signaled a troll named Nelly Longarms, and her monstrous kin. They would bring ruin if we dared raise a hand against him. Worse still, he claimed that harming him would doom Diarmoc's family, who the trolls still held as prisoners. At the mention of his family, Diarmoc collapsed to the ground wracked with sobs, fully broken by despair.

As Diarmoc wept for his lost family, a vile grin stretched across Jari’s face and I could stand it no longer. Anger overtook me, I felled Jari, bound him hand and foot, and silenced his vile tongue. Had Sefa not been there I may have ended the fiends life, but for now he lives. Only when the villain was silenced did Diarmoc finally tell us his tale; it horrifies me even now as I write it.

Diarmoc and his family were once well-respected farmers dwelling along the banks of the Isen River in the far south of Dunland. For many years they lived there in peace until trouble with the Horse-lords of Rohan drove them from their land. Seeking a new life, he led his family and servants north through Tharbad and along the Greenway. There they eccounted Jari. The dwarf was kind, helpful, and seemingly trustworthy. He warned them to avoid Bree and told them of a pleasant vale where they might settle in peace. Trusting the kindly dwarf they followed him - and walked into a nightmare. The trolls fell upon them, capturing his servants as Jari held a blade to his wife’s throat.

For two days the Trolls consumed his servants and Diarmoc could do naught but listed as he waited for his time to come. But Jari had another cruel use for the man. Diarmoc would now help Jari lure other travelers to their doom, and to ensure his aid Nelly would keep his wife and children alive for as long as she remained fed.

Jari told us that Nelly keeps his family captive on a raft at the center of the nearby lake. Now, with Jari's signal unreturned, Diarmoc fears the trolls will slaughter his kin before we can act. I see no hope left in his eyes, yet Sefa and I will not be deterred. We will ensure Jari is secured in the cave, leave him with Diarmoc, and travel into the valley to see what we find.

[The rest of the letter is written in a quickly scrawled script. The page is blotted with drops of water and blood]

My lady, we have faced and defeated one of the trolls though not without cost. Sefa is sorely wounded and I fear that soon Nelly will seek revenge upon us, or worse, Diarmoc’s family. We press onward, seeking shelter in a ruined farmstead where we might gather our strength. I have left this letter in Diarmoc’s care with strict instructions. Should we not return in two days, he must abandon Jari and bear this message to Bree. I beg you, my lady, if we fall, do not let his family perish in shadow, send him aid.

May the stars protect us and guide us Diarmoc’s family.

Idril

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Notes and Summaries

Last time Idril and Sefa decided they still weren’t quite ready to openly confront Jari and felt they still didn’t have all the information. They were highly suspicious of him after his behavior related to the terrible campsite but they decided to wait and see what he did that night.

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Day 5

Weather: Scattered Rain (3)

In the earliest hours of the morning, Jari rose and slipped away from the camp. A moment later Sefa slid from her sleeping sack and woke Idril. She told her that Jari had just left and to wait for their return, with that she slipped out of the cave and into the darkness to trail the dwarf.

TT: Is Idril (high) or Sefa (low) awake watching Jari? Sefa
Sefa Stealth Roll to track Jari unseen: Success

Jari made his way back to the abandoned watchtower and Sefa listened as he mimicked the cry of a bird three times. The high, shrill sound echoed down into the valley of Morglynd and several minutes later the cry was echoed back by someone in the valley. It was clear that Jari was secretly signaling someone, most likely of the group's arrival. This was enough information to act.

Sefa Awareness Roll to see if she recognizes the return cry as a Troll: Failure

When Jari slunk back into the small cave the group had claimed for their camp he was shocked to see that Idril was already awake, and seemingly waiting for him. Before he could explain Sefa stepped into the mouth of the cave, blocking the only exit. She dropped the head of her axe menacingly onto the stone floor and asked Jari who exactly he had just signaled.

Sefa Persuasion Roll (-1 hope +2d) to threaten Jari to talk: Success+ (Gain Insight)
There isn’t really an “intimidate” option in ToR just Persuasion and both Idril and Sefa are terrible at it (probably an oversight on my part haha). But I did feel like she should get an advantage given the situation, and I spent a hope point to gain another success die.

Initially, Jari feigned ignorance but when it was clear he wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of his situation he changed tactics. He became angry and spiteful. He told us he had signaled a troll named Nelly Longarms and her son. They were powerful friends of his and would bring ruin down upon us. He said that if we harmed him in any way it would mean the end of Diarmoc’s family. At the mention of his family, Diarmoc let out a sob.

As Darimoc sobbed on the floor of the cave, Jari’s face twisted into a vile grin and Idril could stand it no longer. Before he could react she swept the dwarf’s legs out from under him and bound his hands behind his back. She shoved a rag in Jari’s mouth to silence his threats and finished the job by tightly binding his legs. Jari wouldn’t be going anywhere until they had gotten the full story from Diarmoc.

Idril Athletics Roll to subdue Jari: Success

Sefa and Idril gave Jari time to calm himself, promising to do anything they could to help the man. They told him they had come to Bree with the intent to hunt down these very trolls and they needed to know anything they could. The pair listened in horror as Diarmoc finally told them the truth.

Diarmoc and his family were once well-respected farmers who dwelt along the banks of the Isen River in the far south of Dunland. For many years they lived there in peace until trouble with the Horse-lords of Rohan drove them from their land. With no other recourse, Diarmoc sold all that he could then he and his family, along with their servants, loaded the remainder of their belongings into a caravan and traveled north from Tharbad to seek a new life. As they traveled north along the Greenway, they encountered Jari. He was kind to Diarmoc and his family and the caravan took a liking to him. He warned them to avoid Bree and told them of a pleasant vale where they might start a new farm. They followed him right into the arms of Nelly Longarms and her son. Diarmoc could do little but watch as the Trolls set upon them, and thoughts of heroism were broken when Jari held a knife to his wife's throat and warned him not to do anything stupid.

Over the next two days, Diarmoc listened as the Trolls consumed his servants knowing that eventually his time would come. But Jari had another cruel use for the man. Jari had convinced Nelly that he could lure even more prey for her if he had Diarmoc’s help. To “persuade” Diarmoc to help bring them more victims, Nelly would keep his wife Elda and his children Tecca and Sulain as her prisoners. Nelly made Diarmoc swear that he would help the treacherous Dwarf lure bring them more food. The longer he kept them fed, the longer his children would survive.

Now without Jari to signal Nelly that all was well it was only a matter of time until the trolls feasted on his family. And if Idril and Sefa were discovered his family was doomed. Diarmoc could see no path forward that did not end in his family’s death.

TT: Would Idril give into her Shadow Path (curse of vengeance) and slay Jari? No
Idril Valor Roll to reduce the effects of Shadow (Dread) from Jari and Diarmoc’s story: Failure (+1 Shadow Point, +1 Eye Awareness)
Sefa Valor Roll: Success+ (No shadow gain)
Shadow Points are ToR’s version of madness/corruption. Any time the player is exposed to a source of shadow they roll either valor or wisdom (depending on the source of shadow). On a success they reduce their shadow points gained by 1, +1 for each special success. In addition, any time a character gains a point of shadow they also increase their Eye Awareness by 1. Until they reach a certain threshold these points don’t do anything so I’ll hold off on that explanation until we get there.

For what seemed like an eternity Idril and Sefa both stood in stunned silence. They had predicted Jari was a liar for some time, but they were not prepared for this kind of inhuman evil. If they both survived they vowed to return to dwarf to civilization for punishment. In the meantime, they had a bigger problem. With Jari’s signal, they could assume the trolls knew they were coming. The overcast weather also meant the trolls could move about during the day. And to make things worse Diarmoc told them that Nelly kept his family on a small raft in the middle of the small lake that she lairs in. Reaching them would be practically impossible unless the trolls had left the lake.

Idril tried to comfort Diarmoc but just as she started to speak a crack of thunder split the sky, and Jari spit the gag from of his mouth and began to scream that the trolls would devour us all. While Sefa was able to quickly silence the dwarf, the damage had been done. Diarmoc looked like a broken man as if his family was already gone.

Idril Enhearten Roll to calm and encourage Diarmoc: The Eye of Sauron (+1 Eye Awareness)

While Diarmoc may have decided that their situation was hopeless, Idril and Sefa still believed they could save his family and defeat the trolls. And they certainly wouldn’t admit defeat without at least trying. After thoroughly securing Jari and leaving him with Diarmoc, Idril and Sefa made their way out of the cave. They planned to sneak into the valley and get the lay of the land before deciding how to approach the situation.

They made their way down to the river where Sefa found a long-abandoned trail on the south side of the river and we began to make our way along that path when disaster struck. Sefa accidentally dislodged a large rock as they made their way along the path. The rock clattered down the rocky embankment to the river giving away any chance of stealth. As if to confirm our suspicions Sefa saw movement on the other side of the river as a massive troll lumbered out of a crevice in the gully and clambered in our direction. Fortunately, it was on the other side of the river, but it wouldn’t be for long.

Sefa Travel Roll to find the hidden path on the south side of the river: Success+ (Make Haste)
Sefa Stealth Roll: Failure (twice!)
Idril Stealth Roll: Gandalf Rune (I’m going to use this to let Sefa roll just her Fate die again…she still failed)
Sefa Awareness Roll to spot the trolls lying in ambush for them: Success

Combat Rules

Well, we’re unintentionally about to kick off our first combat (stupid stealth roll) so I’m going to do a quick of how combat works and then we’ll get to the round-by-round of combat. If you want to skip the rules introductions (click here).

Most combat starts with a round of Opening Volleys. This represents the two sides firing ranged attacks at each other as they close in on each other in melee. While this seems like a whole other mechanic it’s not too bad, ranged attacks are handled the same way as melee attacks. Once in melee, the players declare their stance and then attacks are resolved. There are 4 stances and solo players get a 5th: Forward, Open, Defensive, Ranged, and Skirmish. Forward Stance gives you and your enemies +1d on melee attacks and allows you to take the intimidate action. Open Stance has no advantages or disadvantages and allows you to take the rally comrades action. Defensive Stance gives -1d to foes attacking you and gives you -1d for each enemy engaged with you. Ranged Stance makes it so that you can only make, and be targeted, by ranged attacks. Several somewhat complicated rules around this stance make it pretty useless unless you have a full group. To replace that solo players get Skirmish Stance. In Skirmish Stance you gain the following traits: you can only use ranged attacks and they are at -1d, melee attacks against you have -1d, to escape from combat you roll a ranged attack without the -1d, and on a success you inflict no damage but escape the battlefield. Finally, you gain the ability to take the gain-ground action.

Attacking is resolved by rolling your weapons combat proficiency vs a TN of Strength + the adversaries parry rating. For example, Idril has 2 levels of combat proficiency for Swords so she would roll 1d12+2d6. She would be trying to roll a 13 or better, as 13 is her Strength TN and the troll has no Parry bonus. If she hits, she automatically does her weapon damage to the opponent's endurance. When endurance reaches 0 the creature is defeated. If you roll a special success (a 6 on the d6) there are a few special actions you gain but I’m not going to go into those unless they come up.

If you roll a 10 or Gandolf Rune on an attack, you (or the enemy) score a Piercing Blow. When hit by a piercing blow you have to roll a Feat Die + success die equal to the protection value of your armor. The TN for this roll is the Injury Rating of the weapon that caused the piercing blow. On a failure, the character received a wound. The first time a character gets a wound they become wounded and roll on a table to see how bad it is, and how long the injury will last. If they receive a second piercing blow while wounded, they die.

Enemies are largely the same but with a few different keywords that I’ll call out. I’ll use the troll we are about to fight as an example:

Attribute Level: This is effectively the enemy level
Might: The number of attacks an enemy can make and the number of wounds it takes to slay them
Hate: The same as Hope and powers some abilities
Combat Proficiencies: The weapon/attack name, proficiency (# of d6) (damage/injury rating, Special Abilities)

With all that out of the way let's get into actual combat! (and pray our characters don’t immediately die to a level 8 adversary)

Combat Narrative

The troll moved at Sefa and Idril with alarming speed and Idril and Sefa launched projectiles at the creature. Despite several clean hits the Troll didn’t seem to notice the arrows jutting from its body, or perhaps it simply didn’t care. It cleared the water and charged at Sefa just as the pair drew their weapons.

Seeing the massive troll heading in her direction Sefa abandoned defense and swung her axe with all her might just as the troll’s club slammed into her shoulder, driving her to the ground. Both strikes were heavy blows but the Troll continued to charge in while Sefa was barely able to stand. In that moment both Sefa and Idril realized just how dangerous the situation was. They knew Trolls were dangerous but they weren’t prepared for just how much pain the creature could endure.

Summoning what remained of her strength, Sefa shifted her focus to defense while Idril pressed the offense. They both knew that if they could not put the creature down quickly it would be their death.

As Sefa took another brutal blow, Idril sliced a deep cut across the creature’s Achilles tendon causing it to drop forward onto one knee. Seizing on the opportunity Idril rolled beneath the troll, gripped the sword with both hands, and drove it upward into the jaw of the creature with all her Strength. The blade passed cleanly through the creature's skull, jutting from the top of its head. For just a moment the Troll growled at Idril and reached out for her, before collapsing to the ground, dead at last.

Combat Rolls

As the troll is on the other side of the river and has to reach Idril and Sefa I’m going to give them 2 rounds of opening volleys. This is essentially just ranged attacks that happened before combatants clash in melee. If you want to skip the rolls (click here)

Volly 1

Idril Attack (-1 Hope): Success, 3 damage
Sefa Attack: Miss

Volly 2

Idril Attack (-1 Hope): Success, 3 damage
Sefa Attack (-1 Hope): Piercing Blow! 3 damage
Troll Protection Roll: Success

Round 1

Idril/Sefa Stance: Open
Idril Attack: Success, 5 damage
Sefa Atack: Success+ (Heavy Blow), 14 damage!
I mentioned before that rolling 6 on the success dies allows you to use certain abilities. In this case, I chose Heavy Blow which increases the damage by the attacker Strength+1 as Sefa is using a 2-handed weapon.
Troll Attack 1 (Club vs Sefa): Piercing Blow!+ (Heavy Blow), 14 damage!
Sefa Protection Roll: Gandalf Rune
Troll Attack 2 (Club vs Idril, -1 Hate): Miss

Round 2

That last round did a ton of damage to Sefa. She is now Weary which means any rolls of 1-3 on the success die count as 0

Idril/Sefa Stance: Open/Defensive
Idril Attack: Piercing Blow! 5 damage
Troll Protection Roll: Failure, 1 Wound
Sefa Attack: Miss
Troll Attack 1 (Club vs Sefa): Eye of Sauron Piercing Blow! 6 damage
Sefa Protection Roll: Success
Troll Attack 2 (Club vs Idril): Miss
Quick note, for enemies the effects of the Eye of Sauron and the Gandalf Rune are reversed. This makes sense but is actually somewhat annoying to keep track of.

Round 3

Idril/Sefa Stance: Open/Defensive
Idril Attack: Gandalf Rune Piercing Blow!+ (Heavy Blow), 13 damage
Troll Protection Roll: Gandalf Rune (so super bad) Failure, 1 wound and the troll is defeated.

Combat Results

Idril: No damage (27/27 Endurance - 6 Load), -2 Hope (8/12)
Sefa: 20 damage (9/29 Endurance - 18 Load), -1 Hope (10/12), she is also weary because her current endurance is lower than her load.

The Aftermath

While Idril had come out of the battle unscathed, Sefa was not so lucky. She was barely on her feet and was in no position to face another threat, let alone another troll. At the same time, Diarmoc’s family couldn’t afford for them to rest for the remainder of the day. After Jari’s signal earlier in the day Nelly Longarms would certainly be waiting for the troll that had ambushed them. When he failed to return there would be little to stop Nelly from simply killing the family. Desperately needing at least a few moments to rest they decided to head towards a ruined farmstead they say up ahead in the distance. Assuming they could get there undetected, and that there were no threats inside, it would make a good place to recover and plan their next course of action.

Before setting out Idril wrote a quick letter to her patron and made her way back to Diarmoc. She informed him of their encounter with the troll and handed him the letter. She made him swear that if she and Sefa didn’t return within 2 days he would leave Jari bound in the cave and deliver her letter to Bree. Hopefully, her patron would eventually receive the letter and send others to deal with Nelly Longarms.

With that Idril descended the cliff and set off with Sefa toward the ruined farmhouse

GM Thoughts

I was a bit surprised at how directed the start to this adventure was but it seems like it’s getting better now that the group has gotten to the actual location. I asked around in the TOR discord server and got some feedback that The Lone Lands is a bit more of a “story” adventure. By that, I mean that largely the characters/players are interested in following the story to see what happens, rather than setting out to explore the world. For now, I’m going to stick with this adventure but after that,t I might start letting the dice decide where the group goes even if it means we don’t play the Lone Lands adventures anymore.

We talked about Shadow Points some in this post and there was something about them I found incredibly interesting. There are three sources of shadow: Dread, Greed, and Misdeeds. For the first two you can make rolls to try and reduce any potential shadow points but Misdeeds you can’t. The game very much wants characters to be good so you just get shadow points for behaving in a way that is unbefitting a hero. This tells you a lot about the kind of game The One Ring wants to be.

We also finally got into some combat and good lord is there A LOT OF ROLLING in ToR combat! The combat with the troll resulted in 20 different rolls with a total of 65 dice. That’s kind of wild to think about, especially since there were only 3 characters involved. Despite the high number of dice involved, I think in a standard group game this would go fairly quickly. Each player knows the target number they need to hit and damage is static. If players were on top of it they could fly through combat rounds and give themselves plenty of time for narration. It’s taking me a long time because I have to roll and then resolve everything. I think I like the combat system but I’m not 100% sure yet. I’ll need to play with it some more to really settle on an opinion, but I will say if you’re looking for a “light dice” combat system, this isn’t it.