Rumors of Mirkwood is a roleplaying event on Landroval server on November 21st at Imlad Gelair, the Elves of Rivendell reputation area.

Premise

The new expansion Siege of Mirkwood will be changing the game world in a number of ways. Chief among them is that we will be questing into Southern Mirkwood. This event is an in-character council to discuss the troubling news from Mirkwood. In the books and the Movies, there was a Council of Elrond, where the fate of the One Ring was decided. This is a similar event.

Where and When

November 21st, Imlad Gelair, 9-11pm EST.
Reception to follow in the Hall of Fire

Who will be there

The Lonely Mountain Band
Tirn en Taur
The Mithril Guard
The Oathsworn
Seven Stars

How to Prepare

Decide what brings your character. Do you have some news from Mirkwood? Do you bring warning of a danger? Or have you some council to advise? Or perhaps you seek some question that the council may address?

What to expect

This is a council type RP event. It is held in the Gazebo in Imlad Gelair. Harperella will address the council, and then members may take turns speaking. You may address the council from the center of the circle. When someone is in the center, you may respond to their speech, but do not derail the topic until they have had their say. Individuals or delegations may each take the center until each who wishes to speak has spoken once. At this point, we will put up and actions for debate and finally make decisions as a council.

What you get out of it

If you are looking for a plot device to tie your own storyline or that of your kin to Siege of Mirkwood, this is it!

Known Plot threads

Harperiel, an Elf of Nan Elmoth dwelt in Mirkwood for a time. She finally left with the coming of the White Council, for their light exposed the rotten heart of the wood and she could not bear the shadows after that.

Harperella, unacknowledged scion of King Brand of Dale, has braved spiders and worse to find her way to the Dunedain of the north. She has braved her way across Mirkwood 3 times now and has gained the enmity of the spiders there.

The Dwarves of Landroval are on the trail of a stolen relic from the Lonely Mountain. All clues lead us to believe that one of the Dark Riders who dwell in Dol Guldur plans to pervert it to suit some nefarious plan of their’s. The Mithril Guard has been dispatched, amongst others, to stop this plot. We will send a representative to your council. Just tell us when; and send a guide so we’re not used as target pin cushion by the Elves; we’ll do our best to be there.

Astleigh of The Lonely Mountain Band is officially appointed bard, appointed to observe and compose an epic ditty from whatever may come to pass.

The Tirn en Taur is the last elven company from the original battle against the Necromancer (Sauron). They have been sent to Lorien to aid the Galdrhim in the assault on Southern Mirkwood.

Panhil son of Panhalg Lieutenant First class of the Estelldin rangers ventured into mirkwood returning with grave news he was asked to attend the Council in Imlad Gelair to reveal what he saw.

Kayleigh treated us with a sad but beautiful poem, complete with combat skills to accompany the words. Omsi the dwarf gave us a fun little story of fireworks and pubs. He’s the blur in the picture declaiming to the rest of us.

Master hobbit Keptwise, Macalaure and their musical troupe kept us supplied with big band music. Also of note were Fionualla and Arachis, playing some lovely duet pieces. Curulinde supplied us with some wonderful dance music as well.

We gathered up for some even larger group dancing this week, forming a circle of 8 dancers for a really lovely circle dance. It even brought out the Bog-Guardians to have a look!

All in all, a lovely Ales and Tales!

The call goes out by secret ways… a council is gathering in Imlad Gelair, hidden sanctuary of Rivendell. Come if you would have a voice in the decisions of the Free Peoples…

Rumors of bloodshed, rumors of darkness, rumors of Mirkwood. I have asked Elrond about these matters. But he seems so distracted with the struggles to the south. Si now I must ask myself… who will come and adress this rising shadow? Who will respond to the dangers of Mirkwood?

I send out the call for all those Free Peoples who hold Mirkwood in their hearts to convene a council in the heart of Rivendell–Imlad Gelair. There we may hear words of those who have seen the troubles brewing. There we may hear the council of the wise on what we should do. There we may plan deeds for the brave, who will venture forth into the east.

Our musician for the set, Luckmoon, should consider himself quite lucky, with 4 beautiful women dancing in synchrony around and about him.

–Harperella

Another great night at Ales and Tales with songs, tales and dancing… And then off to fight back the Shadow in the cursed lands of Angmar. Never fear, this is a band that will face the darkest shadow with instruments in hand! The Lonely Mountain Band rides forth!

“Do you still hear that?” Asked Astleigh.

“Yes, I do! What is that awful racket?” I replied.

“Its very strange.” Added Kaleigh’

“Its me,” said “I’m cursed! They exiled me from the village. Its been so long since I’ve seen Hobbiton! What I’d give for a decent pie.”

With that, the poor hobbit ran off honking and weeping… towards the rangers training grounds. A moment later, the honking returned as he realized his mistake and ran off towards the wilderness of the north downs. We all looked at each other.

“Kind of a doppler effect there…” said Astleigh. We all broke up laughing.

–Harperella

So there are several components of a musical event:

1) The Band
2) The Host or MC
3) The Audience

Lets look at each of these roles individually…

1) The Band
The band has a big job–to make multi-part music in a timely and correct fashion. This often involves a lot of behind the scenes chatting in /fellowship or /raid. All the band members need to have the correct files, instruments, and parts. Its good if the band has a leader who will keep track of who is playing what part. Its a lot of things to keep track of, so often the band won’t be RPing all that much before a tune. However, once a tune is queued up, the band may start to fidget and emote a bit while everyone gets queued up. Here are some examples of band warmup….

Galenswerd takes a sip of ale and wets his reed.
Harperella tunes up her harp.
Astleigh looks about expectantly, ready to play.

Once the music begins, there is a window of time where band members may RP a bit at being musicians. Here are some examples in performance:

Galenswerd takes a quick break from playing and swigs an ale.
Harperella continues to strum on her harp, but seems to have lost her place in the music.
Tombatuk puffs out his cheeks and plays a crazy riff.
Harperella says, “Everybody now! Always look on the Bright Side of Life!”
Galengorn whistles a little tune.

Once the tune is over, band members may remain in music mode, or drop music mode and take a bow.

2) The Host or MC
The Master of Ceremonies job is to fill blank space with patter and fun RP. This is the role I generally take in an event. The band needs time to get set up for the next tune and the audience needs something to do. So I generally will try for either a group activity, contest, or a bit of lore-flavored patter. Here are some examples of this:

Harperella says, “Please try and avoid the Diseased Boars near Archet, we’ve had reports that a fever is going around from these animals.”
Harperella says, “And now a tune written right here in Bree! Let’s give a hand to all the Oathbreaker Captains and their spooky pets. When you’ve got a spider problem, who ya gonna call? Oathbreakers!”
Harperella says, “We’ve a game to play now…”

3) The Audience
The audience’s job is far from passive. First off, make sure to give your musicians plenty of applause, laughter and /cheers. These will actually unlock new emotes for the performers. I learned to breath fire after being /cheered at Weatherstock. The main ones here are /clap, /cheer and /laugh.
The next thing the audience should do is interact with the music. This can be smoking a pipe during a slow tune, dancing alone, dancing with a partner, or making comments about the tune. Mixing lorebased comments lyrics on pop music can lead to some pretty funny jokes.

Javelarry claps for Keptwise.
Harperella says, “Jump in a PUG, everybody kill a bug!”
Aethlin says, “Got me 55 copper, but got no tin, And here I gotta another 50 crafting points to come in! I got the crafting blues!”
Harpereena cheers.

There’s always room for freeform RP during and between music sets. Notice and comment on your surroundings. We played once in the burned-out husk of the Mad Badger Inn in Archet. It was a great topic of conversation. Interact with your fellows around you. Invite someone to dance (/dance_elf, /dance_elf2, /dance_man are great partner dances. /dance_hobbit, /dance_dwarf2, /dance_man can be done singly or in pairs. /dance_hobbit2 and /dance_dwarf are a bit hokey IMHO)

Remember, just because there is music playing doesn’t mean you have to sit quietly by with a /dance emote until the end of the set. Get up and walk around. Talk to people around you. Comment on your surroundings. Comment on the music. React to what you see and hear.

Musical events can be a lot of fun. They are fairly easy to organize, easy to comprehend, and accessible to players on a number of levels. Come on down to Ales and Tales and give it a try. It makes a great change of pace from the normal grind of levelling, raiding and crafting!

–Harperella