Team Builder.
Part 16
Goblin Tunnels. The Misty Mountains.
We were deep within the massive mountain range that acted as a divider, separating the western parts of Middle Earth from the eastern.
The elves had a legend about how the Misty Mountains were created by Melkor a long time ago. He made them because he wanted to make it difficult for Oromë, the Valar who was pretty much the god of the hunt, to be able to hunt and kill Morgoth's fell beasts across all of Middle Earth.
These mountains were once the location of the largest and most powerful Dwarven realm ever to exist in Middle-earth, Khazad-dûm, later named Moria.
It had been located at the midpoint of the Misty Mountains and the mines were used by the Fellowship of the Ring during their attempt to get to Mordor when they couldn't go through the mountains.
Sadly the great Dwarven realm came to an end when the Dwarves who were digging deep so as to find more mithril, unearthed a Balrog, a demon I was very glad to be keeping my distance from even if it did bother my inner dragon to hide from any creature. Luckily my human mind was far more sensible about the matter.
Since the fall of Khazad-dûm, the Misty Mountains have become increasingly perilous for travellers as goblins and other foul creatures came to dwell here in great numbers. They lived both within and under the mountains as in their vast tunnels it was easy to hide from the sun.
I could vouch personally that these mountains were indeed infested with goblins. They had kingdoms of their own down here, which we were making an effort to avoid as we moved ever closer to our goal.
As planned Gandalf, Hermione, Elladan and Elrohir the twin sons of Elrond, and I, as planned, broke off from the group that looked to be travelling from Rivendell to Lothlórien. We did so under the cover of night and with as much stealth as possible.
Even with my memories of going on hunts as the Dragonborn, I felt loud and clumsy when compared to the elf brothers. They never complained about us making noise or slowing them down, and the twins were more friendly towards us than most of the elves.
I wondered if that was because they had some humans in their family tree or if elves were just less formal when outside of Rivendell.
Elladan and Elrohir both had a strong hatred for orcs due to something that had happened to their mother, and I was glad that while this made them eager to engage the small groups we ran into, they didn't rush off on their own.
We had a mission to complete and we had to remain focused.
Not that this stopped me from collecting a few trophies along the way, something that repulsed Hermione.
"Do you have to keep doing that?" she asked.
I was removing a tooth from the mouth of a goblin that I had slain in combat not so long ago. Doing this should disgust me as well, but I could recall doing this many times in the past in my false memories, and it seemed right. The taking of trophies was just something warriors did.
"It's not that different from harvesting potion ingredients" I pointed out.
Our conversation was cut short as Elladan came over. He'd been scouting ahead.
"More goblins ahead" he warned "Just a small group. I think they are hunting us".
Making our way through the mountain to find Gollum was taking its time. The twisting paths were sometimes naturally formed while others were the result of digging, and more than once we'd needed to double back to find a different route because some tunnel had collapsed.
As for the goblins, they didn't take kindly to having what appeared to be a group of humans and elves moving through their territory.
I knew that it was very good for us that they weren't able to coordinate a proper search or they could have overwhelmed us with sheer numbers by now.
It also helped that when we made camp we could place defensive enchantments up that led to the goblins not being able to find us. More than once a gang of the creatures had wandered right past us.
"We must press forward" insisted Gandalf.
While few knew it, all the free peoples of Middle Earth were counting on us to find the One Ring and then destroy it.
Gandalf's staff provided us with light as we moved through the darkness. Not that I really needed it as I was using a spell that gave me the ability to see in the dark.
To me the world lacked any colour and it was hard to see any fine details, but I could see threats and the path ahead, that was what mattered and there wouldn't be much to admire down here anyway.
The last time I'd summoned the Dremoa Merchant, I'd purchased a well-built shield, it had proven its worth as we'd through the tunnels. Soon it would serve me again even if it was getting a little battered.
"Oak and iron, guard me well, or else I'm dead and off to hell" I whispered.
I heard the goblins before I saw them and I saw them soon after my sword started glowing in the darkness. Orcrist did indeed have that feature and it worked even after thousands of years. Elvish works were truly marvellous and more than ever I hoped to one day be able to emulate their work.
When we entered a cavern, I didn't have time to count the numbers of the enemy, all any of us could do was fight. Hermione and the elves hung back so that they could use ranged attacks while I got into melee range so as to keep the attention of the enemy on me.
The wizard known as Gandalf stayed close to me, making sure that nothing could attack my rear. His staff was rather good at cracking skulls and like me had a sword meant for ending the lives of goblins.
It was a testament to the skill of the elves and Hermione's careful spellcasting that I was never the victim of any friendly fire. Not that I was worried about that right now as I was too busy fighting.
My shield blocked the blow of a goblin who had tried to strike me with some sort of club. I pushed my shield away from my body, moving the enemy's weapon with it. That left the creature exposed enough for me to drive my sword into the monster's chest.
Orcrist went through the flesh of orcs with barely any effort, making battle with them easier. No wonder they feared weapons such as this.
I let the goblin drop to the ground and moved on to my next target. I swung my sword and cut the creature open even just before an arrow struck it in the shoulder. The elf who'd just fired his blow had known exactly where to strike.
Lashing out again I removed the arm of a large goblin as it lifted up some sort of hammer, then I used the first word of the Drain Vitality Shout so that I could steal the last of the being's stamina as it bled to death and use it to keep myself fighting at my best.
Quickly I turned my body and protected myself against a goblin archer, they were slow and had Stormtrooper levels of accuracy when compared to the elves, but they could get lucky so it was good that I'd brought my shield up in time.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Hermione didn't know many lethal spells so she focused on disabling foes for others to finish off once the skirmish was over.
Her Hogwarts education hadn't prepared her for this sort of fighting, not that this was her fault given the poor quality of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers and Hogwarts lacking duelling lessons.
She'd learned something from being a part of the DA, and when fighting Death Eaters, she disarmed and disable many an enemy during our fights.
Despite her lack of lethal force, I was impressed by how well she was doing. She'd already realised that by hanging back and offering support she could be of great aid in battle while keeping herself out of the fighting.
It helped that I'd been able to provide her with an amulet that gave her the night vision spell without having to keep casting it. My spells could last quite a while, yet I still had to keep casting them to allow myself to see while down here.
I removed the head of the goblin before checking the map. Gollum was moving and hiding down here, which was why we'd not caught up to him already, and I was happy to see that this had changed.
"He's here," I informed the others.
I cast the detect life spell as Hermione waved her wand.
"Homenum Revelio".
She's cast a spell that should reveal any human presence nearby, but only she and I were affected.
"Won't work. He's not human" I told her.
Elrohir suddenly moved and grabbed something that had only just registered to me thanks to my spell. It was Gollum, the horrible creature struggled as the two elf brothers tried to restrain the poor sod with some sort of rope, that didn't look strong enough to keep anything tougher than a kitten yet proved effective.
"I have it," said Elladan
He held up the One Ring and the wretch went crazy. I knew that to do and I drove my sword into Gollum.
"Was that necessary, Marek?" Gandalf asked.
That had been an accusation as well as a question. To be fair, it had been a rather shocking action.
"The only thing keeping Gollum alive is the Ring" I explained "He'd have died with the Ring and until then he'd been driven to reclaim it. Which means he'd follow us all the way to Mordor and try to murder us to take it back".
Practical reasons aside I'd done that partly out of mercy not just because it made sense.
"Gollum had the Ring for centuries and he was twisted by it" I went on to say "No one should live like that".
I'd been planning to kill the poor sod to put him out of his misery for a while.
"That thing was corrupted by evil" stated Elladan "Little different than every other abomination living
in these tunnels".
Gandalf and Hermione didn't agree, I could sense that, however, they saw no reason to argue the point.
"We need to get moving," said the wizard "We must leave these caves and seek out of the sun".
I noticed that my witch looked upset.
"There are fates much worse than death," I told her "What happened to Gollum was a bit like how Ginny Weasly was affected by the diary Horcrux only spread out over centuries. The Ring drove Gollum mad a long time ago and made him into a monster. I would rather die than become like him".
It had already been agreed that none of us would carry the Ring for more than a day. and Gandalf agreed to be the one to carry it first on a mithril chain I'd made once I'd gotten done with the chainmail.
While I felt sure that the mental protection given to Hermione and myself by the CYOA would provide some protection from the corrupting effects of the Ring, it wouldn't last forever so we best get this over and done with as quickly as possible.
"Here," I said to Hermione as I passed her a bottle "You'll need some of this".
Stamina potions were easy to make and you didn't need to drink a whole one to get the benefits. The natives didn't seem to need any aid and that was good as we didn't have that many potions.
As the group headed out of the tunnels we found out that was already morning. My sense of time had failed me as I'd been convinced it was the middle of the night.
"We just use the day to put some distance between us and the goblins," said one of the elf twins "Make haste, we must travel many miles south to my grandmother's home".
I'd forgotten that Elron's wife Celebrían was Galadriel's daughter. Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen sure had a lot of important relatives. I'd met Galadriel only briefly and I hoped to see her home as it was supposed to be even grander than Rivendell.
Team Builder.
Part 17
The Vale of Anduin. The Wilderland.
While following the river made sense as it would take us very close to our destination of Lothlórien, as the river went right by that elvish kingdom, thus reducing the chances of anyone getting lost if we were somehow separated, there was a risk as the river flowed between the Misty Mountains and the Greenwood.
If we'd so wished then we could have followed the river right to the borders of Mordor itself as the waters passed by that horrible place before finally making it to the sea.
Although I didn't think we'd be taking that route, Gandalf had hinted that he had some plan to get to us Mount Doom quickly once we'd rested and resupplied within the elvish kingdom of Lothlórien. He was keeping the details to himself in case the enemy had some way of hearing us.
As for the risk, this was because the Greenwood or the Mirkwood as it was also known, contained the ancient fortress called Dol Guldur. Like the mines of Moria that was a place, I wished to avoid as I knew that despite all my power I wasn't prepared to face such a threat. I might be able to handle one of the Nazgul, but I'd rather not have to try.
I wondered if there were giant spiders in the Mirkwood yet. Dragonborn or not I'd rather not go find out as I didn't find even normal-sized spiders to be pleasant to have around.
Massive ones would be unsettling to see. I felt fairly certain that the end result of my meeting with such abominations would be a good part of the Greenwood being lost to a massive forest fire. Something that would greatly upset the elves.
My focus was better spent on dealing with orcs and guarding the One Ring. Both of which I'd been doing a lot of recently. Sauron must indeed be returning to power if the creatures of Melkor are around in such numbers. I wondered if this meant the events of the Hobbit must take place soon.
The history books say that without a powerful leader to unite and drive them the orcs tend to be more of a nuisance than a real threat to the kingdoms of Middle Earth.
With the return of Sauron, his evil influence had begun to spread like a sickness, and their numbers were increasing once more. Hence why there were groups of orcs to be found wandering these lands.
We'd been followed south by the goblins from the Misty Mountains, however, since they had to avoid the sun and we had elven rangers with us to guide us while working to cover our tracks, they'd lost us.
That should have been the end of our troubles for a time. Only we'd run into a group of orcs, these larger and more dangerous than the creatures we had battled before, and we'd had trouble taking them down, or at least we'd had to put more effort into slaying the bigger monsters.
I ended up with a few more teeth as trophies. By now no more cared about that as long as I didn't let it slow us down by more than a few moments.
As we moved south we worked to avoid more camps until Gandalf decided that we needed to find out what they were doing here. We could keep avoiding the orcs as the elven twins could scout us a route that avoided them, but that wasn't enough for the wizard who was growing more concerned as time passed.
To this end, we'd taken shelter in a thicket of trees and started watching a camp. The last few days had been rather cloudy due to a storm building up in the north, but today it was much brighter and the orc party was sticking to its camp to avoid the sun.
While the camp was next to a river and set up somewhere cool, with pleasantly green surroundings, they were set up in such a way that you'd think they were camping in a desert.
The majority of the foul creatures were sleeping and eating, with very few of them paying any attention to their surroundings. A mistake.
"I can make one of them talk if we can capture an orc," I said.
Gandalf gave me a disproving look.
"Torturing even an orc is distasteful" he admonished.
On that, we agreed. There were much more humane and effective ways of gaining information. Besides, Orcs are sadistic in nature and possibly masochist as well, if so then inflicting pain on them could be counterproductive to breaking their will.
"I have ways of making them talk," I told the wizard "Just restrain one of them and I'll get the information we need from it".
We did need to know why they are here. Were they scouting the area for an attack? Or were they looking for someone? Maybe something?
"So we attack" stated Elladan.
He and Elrohir would have both run out of arrows if not for the fact I'd packed plenty extra for myself, keeping them within the expanded bag Hermione made for me. They were good with a sword, but I'd rather have them fighting at range while I played the role of tank.
"We attack" agreed Gandalf.
I turned to Hermione.
"Try to petrify one of them" I instructed.
We'd already discovered that the larger orcs had a bit of magical resistance in them. Enough that the Stupefy spell didn't knock out one, our other spells were thankfully more effective, and my Shouts worked just fine. This wasn't surprising to the witch, she'd informed us that many magical creatures in her world could resist spells cast by a wand to some degree.
After resting for a while the elf brother declared that it was about midday and the sun was bright in the sky, so it seemed like a good time to attack. We sneaked as close as we could, and when I was spotted I charged into the camp as even a couple of orcs who were on watch, died as arrows hit them in the necks.
Orcs are made to follow strength as such their leaders tend to be the biggest around or at least the best well-armed of the group. Orc leaders also liked to get stuck in and led by example, so it wasn't hard for me to locate him.
I intended to kill the boss so that the rest of the scum would be demoralised or at least less organised. He might have access to the most information, but if he wasn't the toughest of the group he'd also be the toughest for Hermione to disable.
An orc with a spear came charging at me, I could see the bloodlust in its eye despite the distance between us. Its charge didn't last long as the monster hadn't accounted for the brightness of the sun.
Killing that idiot might be a favour to the species since I'd be removing a fool from their gene pool. Assuming that orcs had a gene pool? Weren't they grown in cocoons rather be bred the old-fashioned way?
While it tried to shield its eyes I brought my sword down and broke its skull before turning my attention to the camp.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The Shout struck the camp, sending small objects flying and knocking down things. Some of the tents the orcs had been using to block out the sunlight to make it bearable for them, no longer offered any protection.
This didn't cause them to catch fire, or anything so dramatic, but as the monsters tried to pick themselves up it became clear they were in pain and they couldn't properly see.
As the monsters recovered from my Shout they began to run, somewhat unexpectedly, and I let them be chased off by arrows and spells as I planted a boot on the chest of the leader who had dropped his weapons as he fell.
I carefully placed the tip of my sword very near the monster's eye to make sure it wouldn't try anything foolish.
"You're going to tell us what you are doing here" I stated.
The ugly being growled at me.
"I don't talk to man-filth," he said.
Given that this creature looked and smelt as if it had never taken a proper bath I found the insult rather amusing.
"Yes, you will talk" I corrected.
I waited until the others came over to me before acting.
"GOL HAH!"
It was as if a switch had been flipped and the orc went from hostile to acting as if being pinned to the ground by me was a perfectly acceptable situation and that my sword wasn't ready to end its life.
"Ask your questions," I said to the wizard "I've bent his will to my own, but it won't last for long".
Thanks to the CYOA I had a way to bind someone to my will permanently, but I only intended to do that to someone like Hermione who could be of use to me. I'd want her to get something out of it too. If only to make myself feel better about making someone my slave.
"What are you doing here?" Gandalf demanded to know.
The creature didn't even try to resist my mind control, and the wizard didn't waste any testing my statement, he just went for the knowledge he sought. Gandalf might not approve of my methods, but he wasn't going to argue about their effectiveness.
"We were sent here by our master" admitted the twisted being "To search for a ring made of gold. It was lost here a long time ago. The Master wants it. If it is here then we will find it. We have many bands out looking".
None of us needed to learn more to figure out which ring the orcs had been sent to find. This river must be where the One Ring ended up after it betrayed Isildur during an Orc attack.
The person whom Gollum had once been, later found the One Ring and took it into the Misty Mountains for reasons that I'm sure made sense at the time.
"Who is your Master!" Gandalf questioned.
Either the spell was ending or the orc was starting to resist my power. I could see the hostility returning as its body language changed.
"Sauron!" it yelled.
The tip of my sword went into its skull via the eye socket before the creature could do more than roar at us. Even Hermione didn't protest, she understood what was at stake.
"Marek I must see your map" insisted the wizard.
I took it out and I focused the map on Dol Guldur, a place that wasn't far from here. By the looks of things, Elrond and others were making their way to the old fortress. It wouldn't be long before they faced The Necromancer. I couldn't help wondering what that battle would be like.
"You four must carry on going south," said the Maia "I will join you in Lothlórien".
With that Gandalf started moving towards Dol Guldur at a pace that made it clear he wouldn't be convinced to come with us.
"I don't understand," said Hermione "What's changed. We already knew Sauron was there".
Something had changed. Sauron was on the map, his name kept appearing and then vanishing and there was another name there, one that remained fixed.
"Who is Khamûl?" Hermione asked.
I actually didn't know.
"He is second in command of the Nazgul," said Elrohir "He is known as the Black Easterling or the Shadow of the East. If he is at Dol Guldur then The Nine have returned, at least in part. The hour is later than we thought".
Sauron must have Khamûl overseeing the orcs who were looking for the One Ring. Perhaps the Dark Lord was getting some sort of status report from his underling, or maybe he could sense that the Ring was near. I could only speculate and the Maia wasn't my concern.
"Let's look around the camp for anything useful" my witch suggested.
She was likely thinking about something like written orders, or maps, of which there were if rather crudely done, I was more interested in any loot they'd found, but aside from some rations and basic tools, there wasn't much here.
I did find a few bits of what looked like gold prospecting equipment such as those pans you can use to filter out mud and bits of plants. For a group of savage orcs, this lot had been rather well-equipped for their mission. An indication of how important their work was to their master.
"We need to keep moving" declared Elladan "Our father and grandmother can handle the enemy. We need to get our burden away from Dol Guldur as fast as we can".
It was a good thing Gandalf hadn't been carrying the One Ring when he'd decided to go running off on his own. Taking the One Ring anywhere near Sauron was a very bad idea.
"Those orcs we scared off will be back, and in greater numbers" the other elf stated.
On the subject of running the twins were off again. We just couldn't keep up with them so Hermione would have to apparate the two of us as far as she could see so that we didn't fall too far behind while moving south.
Hermione could only transport us to somewhere she could visualise and it wasn't something she wanted to do if she got too tired so we'd have to make camp when it started to get dark and keep depending upon the protective enchantments.
Team Builder.
Part 18
Caras Galadhon. Lothlórien.
I'd read back when staying in Rivendell that Lady Galadriel had turned this part of Middle Earth into a blissful but isolated Elven haven, and I could see what the author had meant, there was a sense of peace in the air and the locals certainly looked content.
However, the elves living here seemed disconnected from what was going on around them. It seemed as if they weren't fully part of this world, and I wondered if that really was the case.
They paid no attention to Hermione and me as we moved around the settlement, taking in the sights. Often elves walked right past us as if we were invisible, showing no sign that they had even noticed us on the path. I wondered if this was how the homeless felt when in a human city.
While we'd been in Rivendell many of the elves had treated us with polite indifference, they'd never been rude, but they'd not made any effort to get to know us, to treat us like proper guests.
Here in Lothlórien, we might as well have not existed. There was no malice in us being ignored, it was just clear that the elves didn't care that we were here. Perhaps they hadn't even noticed us.
Long before coming here I'd read about how Caras Galadhon means Fortress of Trees. Although it didn't seem very defensible to me, I wondered how much of this place's defences were magical rather than something physical.
It would be very interesting to learn more about that, alas I didn't think anyone would be willing to spend any time explaining it to strangers.
There certainly were a lot of trees. It was hard to tell when nature ended and the work of the elves began. In Rivendell roads and homes had been built where there had been space so as to avoid harming the trees and allowing the water to flow naturally.
Here in Lothlórien, civilization and the wilderness were more fused. As if there wasn't as much difference between the two as normal.
While walking around I recalled how during the events of the War of the Ring, the Fellowship of the Ring was brought through Lórien to Caras Galadhon, and here Galadriel was tested when Frodo offered her the One Ring.
I had no intention of testing anyone with the Ring or letting anyone other than Hermione or me carry it from this point onward.
Elrond's sons had done an admirable job resisting the Ring while we travelled together, and they quickly went off on their own once we'd arrived here. Since they never had any issue with Hermione or me, I suspected that they wanted to put some distance between themselves and the One Ring.
"We should get some rest" Hermione advised.
At least we'd been shown a place we could stay in and it was so peaceful. We should rest while we could. It had been a hard journey even before Gandalf had gone running off to help his friend.
I could only assume that had been the work of the One Ring, as it was able to influence even the wisest, and that the wizard had been influenced into rushing off to weaken the group. Perhaps the One Ring had been trying to get Gandalf to go into the Greenwood while he was carrying it to get it closer to Sauron.
At least Gandalf and others were well. I'd not been watching the map when they'd arrived at the ancient fortress, but I was tracking them on the map and they were heading this way at a good pace.
Neither the Dark Lord nor his minion could be found on the map so it seemed likely that they'd been weakened enough that they couldn't manifest in the physical world.
At least for a time, and that should at least delay their plans and make it harder for anyone to stop us from taking the One Ring to Mount Doom.
I hoped that when Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond and Sauraman arrived that we wouldn't delay long before moving on to the next stage of the plan.
So far the Ring didn't seem to be affecting Hermione and me, perhaps because we were alien to this world or because of some feature of the CYOA, however, I felt that given time this would change.
We'd run into orcs far too often on our trip for the One Ring not to be doing something. Without the elven twins as guides, we wouldn't have been able to avoid the orcs as they moved their camps and we'd been chased into this forest by a large group.
"Yes, let's lie down," I agreed.
We might as well take advantage of this place while we were here. Lothlórien itself seemed welcoming and safe as if the troubles of the outside world ended when you entered its borders.
I laid down and when I woke up I wasn't where I should be, yet I felt no concern over this, it was as if I were still in Lothlórien and protected by it.
However, I certainly wasn't where I was supposed to be because for sure I'd not gone to sleep on the ground and there certainly hadn't been inside a massive fortress.
This fortress and I called it that because I couldn't think of a better word to describe this place, was a truly massive scale and almost empty.
In the distance I could see people, humans and elves although it was hard to tell, moving through vast halls as they went somewhere I couldn't see.
I simply couldn't take it all in because this place was so grand that it seemed impossible that this place could have been built.
It took me some time as I randomly wandered about, but I found something to focus on that I was able to better understand.
For some reason, I was now surrounded by tapestries, and upon closer inspection, I discovered that they depicted many different scenes that were important events in the history of Arda. As I followed them to the source I saw different bits of history.
There were beings of starlight standing over a flat world. Some sort of demonic figure being cast down, Melkor I assumed, I saw battles between elves and orcs, the slaying of dragons, and Balrogs marching to war.
I also found scenes showing dwarves at work, digging in their mountain holds, other scenes showed humans farming and elves at peace in their forests.
"Few of the living ever walk the Halls of Mandos," said a voice "Even in spirit".
I turned and felt the urge to drop to my knees, and I ended up falling over as I also tried to back away from the being who had just spoken to me.
She, the figure was feminine and humanoid as far as I could tell, walked towards me, and as I stood up I realised that she was much taller than me.
The woman, if that term applied, wore a dress made of some golden fabric and she had what seemed to be a literal halo around her head.
It took me a few moments to figure out what sort of creature I was looking at. She had to be an angel, she had an aura of power that outshone my own as the sun outshines the moon.
"I am Vairë the Weaver," she said.
Now I was beginning to understand what was happening. She was one of the Valar, someone who was the closest thing this universe had to archangels or lesser gods of a pantheon, and she was not someone to be trifled with.
"I record the history of Arda and spin the threads of fate" Vairë declared.
Since I had no idea what to say or what I was doing here, I kept my mouth shut. If nothing else it wouldn't do to offend someone who could smite me from existence on a whim.
"You have changed the fate of Middle Earth" Vairë stated.
She moved away and I felt compelled to follow, as I did I saw a tapestry that was not yet finished. It depicted events that should have happened and I'd gone and derailed the timeline so hard that all of this work was useless.
"Unless fate is changed, Aragorn will never be the King of Men, the elves will flee Middle Earth and the dwarves will dwindle away as they hide in their mountains" I was told, "The golden age of man will never come about".
It took me a few moments to figure out why I was being told this. I must be successful in destroying the One Ring and thus preventing Sauron's next attempt to take over Middle Earth.
Without that war, Aragorn would never unite so many men under his command and he won't have the support he needs to be crowned King of Gondor.
If I hadn't been standing next to an angelic figure I might have been able to think things through, and come to my own conclusions more quickly, being here in this place, had me feeling a bit overwhelmed, and as such it took me longer to put things together.
"Do you want me to do something about it,?" I inquired.
I wouldn't be here if this angelic being just wanted to lecture me on how I'd messed up her hard work. I proved to be correct when the Valar showed me more of the things that could happen in the future.
"Just as Sauron was the successor of Morgoth, so too will Sauron have a successor" I was informed as I saw a tapestry depicting two dark creatures battling each other "The mantle of the dark lord will be passed on".
The two creatures were the Balrog and a dragon I guessed to be Smaug, each had an army of orcs and trolls with them.
"There can only be one dark lord" I was told "The war to decide who will wear the crown would destroy the last kingdoms of men, yet there must be an evil for men to rally against at the end of the Third Age".
It wasn't until I saw the next scene that I realised what my purpose here really was. I saw Smaug, who stood on a pile of treasure, being stabbed with a spear, the people in the scene moved as things played out and I assumed it was me slaying the dragon.
Then I saw more. The Balrog of Moria marched at the head of an army made up of monsters, only to be defeated by another force. One made up of all the more good races, even the eagles.
"Man, elves and dwarves, standing together at the end of the age" explained Vairë "Mankind will be united as never before".
For a moment I wondered if there was any point in destroying the One Ring if someone else was just going to fill the void left by Sauron.
Perhaps the war against Durin's Bane would result in a lot fewer people dying. Saving lives had been a strong motivation for me when deciding to tell Elrond about future events.
I also wondered why any of this was my concern since I wasn't of this world and I hadn't originally planned to be involved in dealing with the One Ring.
On the other hand, I had been considering going and slaying Smaug anyway so perhaps this angelic woman was just trying to encourage me to take that path.
In the original timeline, both Smaug and the Balrog are defeated before Sauron, so there was no successor, aside from Saurman, for Sauron who would just fade away once the One Ring was destroyed.
"Why can't Saurman be the next dark lord?" I wondered.
He wasn't corrupted yet even if he had his own plans that could lead him to become corrupted. He could sort of serve Sauron as Sauron had worked for Morgoth in ages past.
"Saurman is not touched by Morgoth" I was informed "He can not wear the mantle of the dark lord. He would always be a pretender to the throne and would meet his end quickly".
Without a proper leader, the orcs would remain few in number and never again become organised enough to threaten a kingdom.
"So assuming that this isn't some dream, you're telling me to go kill Smaug after dealing with Sauron so that the people of Middle Earth will only have one new dark lord to worry about" I summarised.
Certainly easier said than done, but not exactly a complex plan, I could with the right team and the right weapons take down Smaug. A mortal man had done it and I was a being meant to slay dragons.
While I didn't feel that I had to do anything I didn't wish to doom Middle Earth. I wasn't evil.
"I'll do it" I stated.
Why not? I'd be a famous dragon slayer, and be able to carve my name into the history of this world. As the Dragonborn should.
Team Builder.
Part 19
Caras Galadhon. Lothlórien.
Within what I could best describe as a very fancy tree house, even if that term didn't do the building proper justice, I sat with Hermione, Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel as we discussed our plans for the future of Middle Earth.
Aside from being a surreal experience, because I was being treated as an equal by such powerful beings, it was a very important meeting as I needed to tell them about the possible future I'd seen when one of Valar had deemed to speak with me.
I'd gone into great detail about what I'd experienced and what it meant for Middle Earth as these people needed to know that information.
What I'd been shown should Sauron be destroyed rather than later, was only a possible future, nothing was written in stone, yet it was likely to happen it would be for the best if it was prepared for.
I didn't mention the bit about Saruman siding with evil because I didn't think he'd really gone over to the dark side yet, and he might not if we got rid of Sauron.
Besides, the last thing we needed right now was any division in the ranks. The Dark Lord had been weakened, but he could still act even if it was in a limited way, and we needed to keep up a united front, at least until the One Ring was destroyed.
Oddly no one thought me mad, or that I'd just been dreaming, I had gained some powerful allies who seemed to trust me.
Saruman still gave me the odd look which let me know he wasn't totally on my side, however, yet he didn't seem interested in working against the rest of us even if he wasn't eager to commit to any action. That could just be him being overly cautious.
This meeting was different than the last one I'd intended with these VIPs because I wasn't just here to provide information.
I was here as part of a group that would decide the fate of Middle Earth because even if there was some sort of divine plan, it seemed a flexible design that could be changed by the actions of people who were willing to act.
It made me wonder if free will and fate could co-exist after all. That was something to ponder in length at another time.
"So we defeat one darkness only for another to rise" summarised Elrond.
I would understand if anyone thought it made defeating Sauron a bit pointless, but I didn't think that was the case.
"If nothing else Durin's Bane and Smaug aren't as crafty as the current Dark Lord," pointed out "And it would be much worse if Sauron was somehow able to subdue one or even both of them into his service".
I knew that Gandalf had for some time been thinking about how a Smaug/Sauron alliance would doom all of Middle Earth.
"In the short term I don't think this should change our chosen course of action," Mithrandir said to the others "We should destroy the One Ring as it is a danger to us all even without its master".
The others were deep in thought.
"At least we have been given time to prepare" stated Elrond.
No one seemed comforted by that.
"Even with time we might not be able to hold back the darkness," said Galadriel "When the One Ring is destroyed our rings will lose their power and we elves may need to leave these shores".
As I understood the matter, elves only age when they are weary of the world, and they are drawn to cross the sea. The elven rings help to keep the elves living in both Lothlórien and Rivendell from becoming weary.
If the elves left then only men would be around to fight the next evil and that might not be enough. The dwarves were mostly a broken people having lost too much of their strength to dragons and the Balrog.
"Why can't you just make new rings?" asked Hermione. "Marek has been looking into the idea for a while".
The council members seemed surprised by the question.
"Most of the knowledge used in the forging of the Rings of Power was given to the elves by Sauron" Saruman "We have some of the lore, but not enough to copy Celebrimbor's work".
I'd already given this matter a lot of thought. I wouldn't have tried to make a new Ring of Power with the One Ring still intact, but once the One Ring was destroyed and Sauron was just a formless spirit, then things would change.
"It's not like Celebrimbor did it all alone" I reminded everyone "There were other smiths involved and as for the lore, there might be a lot of it scattered about".
People were always too eager to accept that impressive things done in the distant past couldn't be matched by the people of today. As if we were somehow lesser in terms of intelligence and creativity than our ancestors.
"If the lore could be gathered and we had the right experts, I think we could give it a try even if it takes time," I said "It's not like we can go after Smaug right after dealing with the One Ring".
Gandalf would have to go and find Thorin Oakenshield, and put together an expedition. That alone could take months since Thorin likely had plans of his own. Then we'd need supplies, weapons, and a safe route to the Lonely Mountain.
Plus I wanted some elven archers to go with us and given Thorin's disliking of the elves getting him to agree to that would also take time.
"Do you think it is possible?" asked Saruman with great interest "I have looked into the matter myself. Perhaps you and Mistress Granger should visit Orthanc. My library might contain the knowledge you seek".
I worked hard to hide how repulsed I was by that idea. I'd actually like to visit Orthanc, I just didn't trust Saruman not to try locking me up and forcing me to forge him a Ring of Power. Lucky for me I didn't have to shoot down the idea.
"Rivendell would be best," said Elrond "Marek has studied our crafts with one of the last remaining Gwaith-i-Mírdain".
Paper had been a bit of an issue for me until recently when some notebooks had been sent to Hermione and me. They had mixed in with the supplies sent to us as part of the CYOA. I showed the VIPs my plans.
"I have an idea to forge seven Rings of Power to be divided among the leaders of Middle Earth," I said.
"Each would be made of mithril that I can transmute or it might be better to melt down something of this world that is made of the metal. Each ring would also have a gemstone of a different type to help tell them apart".
My skills at drawing were crude, so it was good that rings are easy to draw.
"Why seven?" Galadriel wondered.
That hadn't been my reasoning.
"Seven is a powerful number when it comes to magic" Hermione explained "Certain numbers like one, three and seven are more likely to be successful in magical endeavours than others".
Voldemort wanted his soul in seven parts for a good reason.
"The Rings of Power had an easier time corrupting men because nine is not a good number in terms of magic" I added, "If there had been seven Rings of Power for Men as there had been for the dwarves then things could have worked out differently".
I was sure that Sauron would have still chosen ringbearers who were open to his influence, it just would have been harder to turn them into the Nazgul.
"The rings I envision wouldn't be that strong on their own" I was now saying "But combined they could be used to overcome a great darkness".
I envisioned my rings as a way to bring powerful people together for a common cause.
"We start with rings of water, air and fire," I told everyone "Then a ring of the earth for one of the dwarves, a ring of nature, a ring of light, and a ring for the future king of men. That ring would have to symbolise people in some way. Perhaps by giving the wearer power to influence the minds of others, or at least make others more open to his words".
What I wanted the rings to do would become important when it became time to forge them. Until then I could refine my ideas.
"Who would these new rings go to?" asked Saruman.
A very good question.
"We'll need new elven rings they can go the current owners of the three rings if they feel fit to carry on with that burden" I stated "And the ring of light would be suited for the White Wizard I think".
It was a calculated risk giving Saruman a Ring of Power, assuming that we could even make any, I intended the Ring of Light to provide guidance and keep the bearer on the right path.
There was a chance Saruman might corrupt the ring, but if I didn't it might cause division between him and the rest of this group.
He might corrupt the Ring of Light and make it a Ring of Darkness, he also might try to forge a new One Ring in an attempt to control the others if denied his own, thus letting history repeat itself.
Despite these concerns, I knew that the future wasn't fixed and Saruman would never be the Dark Lord. I hoped that with a ring meant to be used with others that the wizard would become closer to his allies.
"Thorin seems like a good candidate for the Ring of the Earth," I said.
I intended that ring to aid its bearer in remaining strong, and reliable and to care for the world around him. A good ring for a king under the mountain.
"The Ring of Kings will be for Aragorn," I told everyone.
Elrond spoke next.
"I know Aragorn, he can be prepared for his role," said the elf lord.
When he was only two years old, his father Arathorn was killed while pursuing Orcs. Aragorn was afterwards fostered in Rivendell by Elrond. Since I'd never heard anyone in Rivendell other than myself use the name Aragorn I assumed he must be hidden away and be using a different name.
A wise precaution as Sauron would want to wipe out Isildur's line as while that king did succumb to the One Ring, he was also the man to defeat Sauron during that battle so long ago. History can repeat itself and Sauron wouldn't want to lose more of his fingers to Isildur's heir.
"I see no harm in attempting this once the One Ring is destroyed," said Gandalf "Lord Elrond can oversee the work to ensure that it proceeds safely. This Aragorn can be prepared to lead the kingdoms of men and Smaug the Dragon shall be slain".
There were no disagreements with this plan. The elves need Rings of Power to preserve their realms. Once the One Ring was destroyed the decay of time would start to affect this place and Rivendell. I hoped to be able to forge rings that could hold back the decay even if it was just for another century.
"I will return to Orthanc and seek out any tome or scroll with any knowledge that will aid us" declared the white wizard.
Galadriel promised the same here.
"I will be going with you to help destroy the One Ring" stated Elrond "I wish to help finish what should have ended thousands of years ago".
From the accounts, I'd read Elrond didn't push Isildur into the fires of Mount Doom or take the ring from him and throw it in himself because he'd known how dangerous the One Ring was at the time.
Besides if he had killed or attacked Isildur that could have started a war, with so much having been lost already, another war could have spelt the doom of all civilization in Middle Earth and it wasn't as Elrond could have known what was happening here in modern times.
"I sent the message already," said Gandalf "The Eagles should be here within a few hours. With a little luck the Ring will be destroyed before the end of the week".
Mithrandir had hinted about having a way to quickly end our quest, but he'd been light on the details until now for fear of Sauron getting wind of the plan.
With the Dark Lord having been weakened it was safer to speak of such things since were deep within an elven kingdom so this was as secure as we could be.
"Then we should gather our supplies and leave as soon as possible" Elrond told us.
While we would be flying it would still take time to get to Mount Doom and we could be delayed or forced to walk if anything happened to the eagles, so we'd be wise to pack provisions.
"I don't like flying" stated Hermione.
If possible I'd let her stay here, but we were the only two people who seemed unaffected by the One Ring. If in the end, I couldn't bring myself to throw it into the fire she had to even if it meant disabling me. Something I'd given her orders to do.
The One Ring had to be destroyed.
Team Builder.
Part 20
Mount Doom. Mordor.
Flying to Mordor on the back of an eagle took longer than might be expected. After all, they were not supersonic jets, they were living creatures, that needed to stop to rest, and find food to fuel their flight, as such getting to Mount Doom took a few days.
Still, it had been a great experience to fly like that, to look down on Middle Earth from above, even if Hermione spent most of her time holding onto me for dear life and sometimes screaming far too loudly given how close her mouth had been to my ears.
At first, it had been a nice feeling to have her holding on to me like that, but I'd taken my armour off so as to reduce my weight and the eagle's burden (once stored away the armour did seem to add to my mass) and after a few days my ribs were aching a little due to Hermione having a lot more strength in her arms that she should.
It would have been nice if they could have flown us directly from the Misty Mountains to Morder, however as Gandalf had mentioned just before we took flight, the eagles are an intelligent race with no obligation to anyone other than themselves.
Given that they came when he called I wondered if perhaps they owed Gandalf some sort of debt and were working to repay it, or they were helping us now because Sauron was their enemy too.
If they were suspectable to the power of the One Ring, and it made sense that they would since they were complex beings just like elves and humans rather than mere animals, then understandably they would want to limit their exposure to it.
Before leaving her kingdom, Galadriel had given us a supply of Lembas, which was a type of bread I'd been told, even if it had the texture and taste of a cake.
I'd been told that it could last for months if carefully carried, so it must be imbued with some of the power that kept the elven kingdoms I'd visited from suffering the ravages of time.
Perhaps on the way back, I could learn how it was made as it would be useful to Hermione and me if we could make such long-lasting rations that could nourish the body without having to eat a lot.
Sure we had our supplies that got delivered regularly thanks to the CYOA, but supplies can be lost or cunt off, and we'd be able to feed more people if we had the recipe for Lembas as well.
Hermione and I took turns holding onto the Ring. We kept it in a box that we carried in our expanded bags as we got closer to Mordor in an attempt to keep from thinking about it by keeping it out of sight.
I could feel something coming from the ring, something that was increasing as the Ring got closer to its end.
It wasn't anything mental like telepathy, I heard no seductive whispers, offerings of power or anything like that, it was more subtle.
I felt as if a weight had started pressing down on me. Hermione and I were both having trouble sleeping and our appetites had diminished as we got closer to Mount Doom.
I wondered if this was how it started for Frodo. He resisted the Ring's effort to make him use its power so it began doing all it could to slow the Hobbit down, to make him feel as if his task was impossible so that he'd give up, and accept death or become like poor Gollum, a slave to the Ring.
As we got closer to the end, I did my best to ignore the feeling and was glad that this would soon be over. The eagles made this all so much easier and the lack of giant flaming eye or Nazgul on flying monsters meant a journey free of hazards. We had spotted some orcs, but we flew right over most of them.
Sadly not all of the orcs could be bypassed, but there were no armies of thousands to block our way, only scattered groups, most of which were too far away to make any difference and not all of them were even heading in the right direction.
Sauron must have been weakened enough that he can longer direct them. He somehow knew we were here, yet couldn't focus his forces on us.
I did notice quite a few camps at the base of the great tower, which had not yet been fully rebuilt, and I wondered for a moment if Sauron feared that we were coming here to finish what had begun in the Greenwood.
The idea that the Dark Lord might be cowering in his fortress made it easier for me to endure the final part of this quest.
There had been no time for me to put my armour back on once we'd landed, so I was attempting to deal with the orcs who tried to stop us before they got too close, as were my travelling companions. It was good that we had such powerful people in the group.
Elrond led the way and it was easy for me to see from where his sons had inherited their skill with the bow, and when he ran out of arrows he used his elvish blade to a significant effect, moving with a speed no orc could hope to match. He was death to any monster foolish enough to get too close to him.
Gandalf swung his staff, sending rocks flying at targets with enough accuracy to make me wonder how much control he had over the world around him. When the enemy dared to get close he too would use his sword and it glowed blue in the darkness as it ended the life of many an orc.
Hermione was always on the move, knowing that she was no match for an orc even if she had Sting, a weapon I'd given to her to be used as a last resort, and she stuck her wand. She was skilled at non-verbal casting and knew many spells to disable, drive away and even kill those who got in our way.
When things looked the most desperate when we had dozens of orcs who were riding strange creatures baring down on us, I used the Animal Alliegnece Shout. The power of my Thu'um turned to steads against their riders, and the orcs were ripped apart as we ran to the entrance of the mountain.
"We're almost there!" I heard the wizard call out.
An arrow went right past my hand so I sent a fireball back at the orc and then suddenly we were out of enemies to fight. For some reason, they weren't willing to get too close to Mount Doom. Something that worried me.
In the movies this volcano is seen as active, filling the air with smoke, and lava can be seen flowing from it. In reality, Mount Doom was dormant, and while it filled the air with the stink of sulphur, it wasn't until we entered the volcano that we could feel the heat and the smoke began to sting our eyes.
"Mordor hasn't changed in centuries" Elrond commented.
Rather than reply to that, I took the box that contained the One Ring, and when I did I almost put it on without meaning to.
I could feel the desire to possess the Ring to begin to fill me, I wanted the power it would grant me, and it would increase my power. I could subdue it with the Bend Will Shout and make it serve me. Then I could do whatever I wished.
It wasn't until something struck me that I came back to the world.
"What was that?" I asked.
I'd nearly dropped the box because had hit my hand.
"Stinging Hex," said Hermione "You're letting the Ring distract you".
She'd done as I'd told her to, I'd warned that this could happen and she'd cleverly come up with a way to snap me back to my senses.
I began moving closer to the volcano's centre as I did my best to strengthen my will. No piece of gold was going to get the better of me. I am the Dragonborn I would not be controlled by some fancy magical item no matter how powerful it was.
"Cast it into the fire!" someone yelled.
I was about to that, to take those final steps, when someone or something appeared, before blocking my way. It was a figure made of fire and shadow, yet the fire did not show me what I was seeing, it was as if the shadowy parts drove away all light.
Until now I'd never known what true evil was like, but I felt it now and far worse than being around an orc or Gollum. It was as if malic and the desire for total power had been given a form.
"Sauron!" I heard Gandalf call out "Go back to the shadows".
Darkness enveloped me only for a barrier of light to appear suddenly to drive the shadows back. The light was as intense as the darkness and the two forces fought against each other. Neither giving any ground. It was the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
"He is still weak from our last encounter," Elrond said "We can drive him back. We need more light".
Hermione acted before I could.
"Lumos Maximus!"
I had an idea for something more effective.
Mul Qah Diiv
Energy surrounded me as I externally became more like the power within. I was now armoured by the power of the Dragonborn, and I felt my power filling my body.
I stepped out of the light and swung my sword. It shouldn't have harmed a being of spirit, there was no flesh to cut, no bones to break, no blood to spill. But my attacks were not purely physical blows.
Thanks to the Shout I was channelling a spiritual power and this was Sauron's less stand, he was much weaker now than he had been before. He could not stop me from finishing this quest.
There was no style to my attacks, no plan of action, I lashed out as I drove the fallen angel away from the group, matching the power of the Dragonborn against this former servant of Melkor. I won, I could feel the Dark Lord being forced back.
The fire and shadow fled as I pushed forward with great effort, and I almost fell to my death, only just stopping myself from tumbling into the lava.
Then I threw the metal box and the One Ring contained within, into the magma. I gave the One Ring no last chance to say me I just threw it into the heart of the mountain.
Nothing happened at first, but soon it became clear that the volcano was going to erupt in speculator fashion, and none of us would survive that.
So as planned some time ago, we all grabbed the chain that Hermione had turned into a portkey for our quick escape.
We were pulled out of Mordor and when I let go I found myself at the campsite we'd stayed at a couple of days ago. This place was called Emyn Muil, it was a collection of jagged rocks and crags that even an experienced climber would have trouble with.
There were some flatter parts hidden between the rocks, but unless you could fly you'd be unlikely to stumble across them.
The eagles came to rest on long trips according to Gandalf and it would have been almost impossible for a gang of orcs to sneak up on us even without keen eyes keeping watch.
"Well, that went well" stated Gandalf.
Everyone was now picking themselves up from the ground. That had been a hard fight even if it hadn't lasted long, and I figured that we'd all had to resist the urge to take the Ring at the end.
In a way, Sauron had done me a favour by showing up as it had ensured that I was too focused on defeating him to let temptation bother me.
"Are you sure the One Ring was destroyed?" questioned Hermione.
Given that we'd nearly been killed by a volcanic eruption that seemed an odd question, however, she was simply being cautious, and who could blame her given all the trouble we'd just gone to to get rid of that abomination?
"I can feel my ring losing its power," said Elrond.
Gandalf confirmed that this was the case for him as well, knowing that there was no point in hiding the fact that he had one of the elven rings.
Of course, I'd know all along, and I'd told my witch, but I'd made it clear that we shouldn't talk about it in case someone heard and tried to take the ring.
"Will the eagles be okay?" Hermione wondered.
I'd warned Elrond and Gandalf about the potentially energetic reaction, hence why they'd been prepared to use the portkey, so the wizard should have warned the eagles away.
"They knew to keep their distance and to keep the skies," said Mithrandir "Once the mountain the Ring was destroyed their part in this was over".
Which meant we would have to walk about to Rivendell stopping off to see Galadriel along the way.
Unless everyone agreed to try using another portkey, although given the strange nature of the elven kingdom I'd rather walk in from outside the forest.
Maybe a walk would be nice. Now that the Ring was gone we could actually enjoy the scenery and talk more about our plans for the future.