The game started in the town of Bree. It was September 28th, 2965 of the Third Age. Thron, son of Glaem (played by Viktor Gorchev), was in the Prancing Pony with his hobbit friend Mungo Boffin (played by Rob from Pulp Hummock Press). Tom Pickthorn of Bree (played by Grumbler) and Wettham the Ranger of the North (played by Matt Barninger) were also in the Prancing Pony.
Word had just arrived that morning that a family of homesteaders heading down the Great East Road were missing. A week prior, another family was found murdered on the Greenway towards Tharbad. Because of this, the mood in the Prancing Pony was somber due to the bad news.
A dwarf named Thad the Merchant decided to stand up and speak. He often deals with trade as far as the Blue Mountains all the way to Dale and the Lonely Mountain. He has concerns for his trade routes because of these murders and disappearances. He offered a reward to anyone in the Prancing Pony that could find out what is going on. Mungo and Thron stood and took the offer. Tom, a widower and a man of Bree, did as well. Wettham the ranger, whose duty is to protect this area, of course offered to investigate.
Thad, considering that the group may be heading into danger, offered to buy them a nice room for the night in the Prancing Pony.
The next morning, they headed out with Thron on his goat and Tom on his Breeland Pony. Mungo also had a pony while Wettham walked. About two days in, Thron noticed the tracks of doe and deer. They considered this a hunting opportunity. Following the tracks led to no game, but did allow them to find a game trail which would cut their travel time by one day. They pressed on.
Finally, making good time, they arrived at a terrible scene with Weathertop in the distance. It looked as if a boulder was rolled down a hill and smashed a wagon. Blood was everywhere. A roll was made and all failed it, resulting in 1 shadow point for each of them.
The scene was terrible. It looked as if a slaughter had occurred and, to top it off, it looked as if children were harmed. A family traveling must have been attacked, and the party instantly suspected orcs.
As the group inspected the scene, 3 goblin archers and 1 orc soldier ambushed them. They failed their awareness rolls and immediately found themselves in melee combat.
The battle was fierce. Mungo was stabbed by a goblin blade that was also poisoned. This enraged his friend Thron, who lopped off the goblin's head with his axe. Wettham was injured but not poisoned by another goblin blade. The battle was in the sun, and the orcs and goblins were fighting ineffectively because of this.
Thron cleaved another foe while Tom, swinging his axe, cleaved one from shoulder to hip.
"Cuts bone as good as wood!" Tom cried.
When the battle was done, Mungo was wounded and poisoned, and so was Wettham. Three foes lay dead, and a single goblin was dying. Wettham tried to threaten him. The goblin laughed.
"You are not much better off than me!" he croaked.
Thron raised his axe, and this terrified the goblin. He told Thron that he served an orc named Burzgul. Burzgul had come to the South Downs and allied with a Warg named Ash. They have been harassing and murdering travelers to their heart's content. He claimed that his group had a camp not far away from where they ambushed travelers. There is a larger lair further down in the South Downs where Burzgul resided with Ash. And with that, the goblin died.
We stopped there. The party has to decide what to do next. It took them about 3 days to get to this point. Two of them are wounded, and one is poisoned. Mungo is powering through and despite his injury, suggests that Burzgul's lair should at least be scouted. We'll see how the poison affects him. He will be injured for one day but poisoned, while Wettham's injury will linger for two days.
Anyways, that was the game. It took a while because this is a new system for pretty much anyone. I have been solo gaming in it, but no one else has really played this game. I'm sure sessions will smooth out over time. The game is very simple, but there are a lot of layers of crunch and complexity over it.