(as the city's peopel settel in their bed's at dusk a lone scout serches the forests on patrol) scout:(whistles song to him self) well what a mighty fine night we have here!(as he pass's into a clearing he hears a noise) i think ill cheek it out!(as he run's out to the noise uknown to the danger that await's) what! goblins!!!(those are the scouts laste word's as the half troll king spots him) half trool king- all is going acording to plan...(and so night falls as the city is obliviouse to the growing danger...

(to add to top post) the half troll king enters the city and offer's annaeru a huge sum of gold. I AM ONLY HERE TO HELP...I WANT TO BE ALIES THE ORC'S OF ISENGARD HAVE INSULTED US ONCE TO MANY... WE ONLY ASK FOR A SMALL PATCH OF LAND TO MAKE A SETTELMENT ON...

((Here are some tips for making roleplay posts:

1. This isn't a play script. No need to put your characters actions/background/etc. in parenthesis. Also, no need to put "Scout: ...whistles..." Just write "the scout whistled to himself..."

2. Organize your posts by using correct grammar, punctuation, and dividing the post into separate paragraphs when necessary.

3. Detail. Use more detail, otherwise your post won't be very interesting for others to read.

4. A little bit more of a serious tone, when necessary. Here, given what you are doing, I would consider it necessary. "...i think ill cheek it out!" is not very serious, nor is it very descriptive. People in a Middle-earth setting wouldn't talk like this either.

5. Be more realistic. If you're going to infiltrate my city, with all it's new defences, no less, at least explain in detail how you accomplished that. Also, half troll king isn't really a name. If you are actually half-troll, it is even more unrealistic that you entered the city unnoticed and unquestioned.

6. There is a time and place for using the caps lock button. Generally using it for more than a few words in a row is neither appropriate nor effective.

Until you put in a little more effort, I'm choosing not to recognize your post. I understand that you may be new to the forum, but please just try to do a better job. Thanks.))

then im not even gona use thisforum...im never good at anything see ya i gess...

"But where will we travel! who will we hail to, it has been eight months!" The screaming douts of Uno's second command was growing tiresome.

Uno knew the army, if orc could be called that, were hungry, weary, organised, lacking morale and otherwise a pathetic bunch of fools who could stand in a straight line.

Uno's mail lay on the relitively new table. So did all his armour. He ran his fingers along it. What had caused sixhundred men and six hundred orcs to join together into a semi-marmony? This was foolish. Is foolish. Does it matter?

Uno walked from his small house. All the houses were small, but they still had that yellow color of fresh cut wood. It reminded him of the first time they had built a village. It was the second haven to be built at his command, the second one that was now at the mercy of some nation.

He stared longingly at the white/gray walls and traced the towers with his eyes. The towers were to the west, across the lake. Across the lake that the men controled. The men he wanted to have save all the blasted souls...

He walked back in the house. Observed all his crude furnishings some of the men had borught him. He knew it would come to this. It all came down to five men and they ability to convense some bloody count, or king, that all they wanted to do was live. They could escape if the men desided they shouldn't, but how many would be lost this time.

It was time to put all his idel thinking aside.

How well would his men follow the plan? It was just a treaty, but last tim... Idel thinking aside... How would they fare?

Four tall dark figures dressed in silver trimmed black robes aproched a large sturdy wooden bridge. The bridge of Esgaroth.

They stood in a square two paces from the foremost gaurd.

One had a rought silver foxhead medalion hanging on his chest. He spoke. "We carry the plead of those who are lost and wonder no more. May this nation's king find pleasure in our exsistance, and may he recieve this writing." The voice was neather deep noe high, menicing or pleasurable. It's calm tone sent a gostly shiver of cold down the guards back. The gaurd slowly extended his hand to grasp a large piece of parchment, sealed with the same foxhead shape, but the other mans hand retracted.

"I will not relinquish this to a gate guard. I must at least speak to your capitan. We will wait here for him." It was that same emotionless tone.

(My writing style varies from yours, and I am still quite rusty at this. Please forgive my mishaps)

((I felt your post was very well-written and enjoyable to read :]))

The guard looked at the man nervously... suspiciously. He then called back to two guards that stood on the mid section of the bridge, telling them to relay the message to the King, and receive further orders. One of them hurried off to the city, while the other walked slowly towards the end of the bridge where the other guards stood, incase trouble brewed up. Several minutes of awkward silence ensued in which the guards remained alert, though uncertain.

Finally, when it seemed that the guard must have somehow become lost on his way to deliver the message, a fluttering was heard above their heads and a large, black bird descended to the railing of the bridge. The Raven belonged to that ancient order which dwelled in those lands and which had at one point, before their numblers had dwindled so drastically, been well known to bear the messages of Men and Dwarves between the Lake Town and The Lonely Mountain. This particular Raven, Voák, was recognized by many of the guads as a close friend of the King.

Voák peered at the four strangers with his large eyes, black as the Void, in which were reflected an intelligence and wisdom equal to, if not surpassing, that of humans. It spoke with a voice that sounded more ancient than time itself.

"Had you come less obscurely and without such an air of secrecy it is likely that, given the cirumstances, you could have easily found yourselves welcomed into the city for tomorrow's events without so much as a questioning glance. Yet, perhaps that would not have suited your business. If you desire that your message reach the king, I will deliver it. If you do not trust me then you will settle for no less then the king himself, who will no doubt come with a large number of his personal guards. I assume, by the manner of your arrival and selectivity, that you would prefer that this not drawn an unsolicited amount of attention."

The Raven's stared at the man with his piercing eyes, unflinchingly.

"Indeed."

His head pivoted to lock with the ebony eyes. The other three did so as if they too were part of him, despite the obviouseness that they were all average dark haired men.

"I am Thearoads, third lord of the eastern nameless lands. You would greet us with malice, spears and bow had we met on our home. Since the destruction of.." Thearoads' talking slowed to insenuate that his words would have been differnt had they not been in such a populice place. It was furthermore confirmed when his easys twitched to some civilians who slowed to overhear him talking. ="...who was one our Power, but is no longer, we have wanderd north. We search for a home. I fear I may have conversed more than I have been comanded. Take this letter to your king Annaeru, if that is how one is to speak a majestic name such as is."

Thearoads held eye contack with the fowel. He hadn't observed any emotional effects concerning his well trained voice on the creature. The gaurd was another matter. Suppresing his small amusement he tilted his wrist out to display a parchment. This parchment was now rolled as a scroll, not in a fold. It still held a the wax imprint of a foxhead.

((for your own referance, the letter reads thus:))((haha, I just said "thus")

King of men, Defender of joy and the will which is life.

I entreat the pardon of the Great Men of Long Lake on the behalf of the remnants of the Red Arrows. To make a tale short and not tedious I will be quick on the subject. The numbers are a thousand and six hundred, not including the younglings and the female halfs. We were once thought to be of honor and valor serving one I will not name. If I must kneel at your feet to have you realise that an orc can grow crops that do not have maggots within I will honor the Red Arrows with my life. I present to you these four men as a gift of servese. Know that these have toiled the fields alongside orcs, who I am convicted will once again bear Elves as children, and they are still man. Is it that your people could accept such foul beasts as neighbors? Could it be that these remnants of the East Gaurd of the Voided Land will find favor in such a legendary place? Grant us peace on your land and we will be nothing but a asset.

Uno, Honor of the Red Arrows, Keeper of the lost.

Uno sat in his house in a puddle of his own worry. How would his forsaken people be recieved this time? He was man, they were man, but his people were neither.

We will find the light in our own darkness... we will. They have shurly known of our home, they have not destroyed us. Shurly they observe... See how peace can be created. That a orc can be a farmer.

Uno did not rest that night, he knew the morrow would bring answers.

Will it be on the end of a spear or kissing the king's ring?

Voák recieved the letter and took flight, rising directly to the south-east tower where Annaeru still remained in solitude. He was in a sort of daze when the Raven arrived so that he did not at first notice the pice of parchment cluthed in the bird's talons. Voák dropped it on the floor and alighted on the window closest to the king.

Annaeru glanced up at the soft sound of the letter hitting the stone floor. He snatched it up quickly, broke the seal, and read the message several times over. Having finished, he looked to Voák with a somewhat troubled expression. The Raven seemed to already know somehow the essence of the letter.

"The most negligible leak, though gone unattened, may one day cause the whole dam to burst."

With that Voák flew off into the east, in the direction of Erebor, leaving Annaeru alone to deal with the situation. He reread the letter once more. The request that this Uno made was rather bold... rather too optimistic, Annaeru thought. Yet, it seemed to be sincere, also, and he must respond with the same courtesy which he had been shown.

Annaeru departed to a more private room, taking the letter with him, and began to compose his own reply.

Uno, Honor of the Red Arrows, Keeper of the lost,

I have become (to some extent) informed of the request which you have sent to me on behalf of your people. I feel I must stress to you that I consider myself to be neither a prejudice nor prejudgmental sort of man. Yet, I must assure you that no orc will be welcomed into the presence of our city. The race of orcs is a brutish one which is incapable of being truely civilized. Indeed, it is written in the ancient history which the Elves have kept over the ages, that orcs were created by Morgoth, in mockery of Elves, to be his servants. No good may come of them, though some of their labors may seem to be good at first. Even Sauron himself was once considered a firend to the Men, Elves, and Dwarves who dwelt in the regions of Erebor, and so they gave him the name Annatar, which means Lord of Gifts in the Elven tongue. And yet these "gifts" which they praised at first betrayed them and lead to their demise. So it is with the endeavors of orcs, for they may be cunning and guileful when in meets their purpose and what they may seem to be working towards may not reveal their true intentions. I am convinced that the race of orcs is nothing more than a tool of evil, through the teachings of history, the testimony of those who I trust, and by my own person encounters with thei kind.

Thuse I must utterly, though respectfully as possible, reject that which you have proposed. For even if I were to be convinced of the trustworthiness and usefulness of these orcs, can you not see that the large part of my citizens would not feel safe existing side-by-side this race which they have fought (viciously) many times against in their history. More than that, our neighboring nations, prodominately the Elven kingdom of Mirkwood and the Loney Mountain, would be outraged that any number of orcs have been given refuge by our city. In the young days of this growing country, it is more vital than ever that we remain faithful to our current allies.

You yourself have expressed similar views on this race of orcs, calling them "such foul beasts". Therefore I hope that you will understand that neither my conscience, nor the will of my people whom I serve, will permit me to grant your request. For if this is allowed, it may just pave the way for more dangerous agreements to be made in the future. Then it will be too late to enforce a stricter policy and the nation will either fall or cease to exist as it is and as I would have it remain.

With all due consideration,

King Bain II of the Kingdom of Dale

a.k.a. Annaeru

Annaeru set down his pen, stood up, and walked around his quarters, mentally tired. He was bothered. The letter he had recieved seemed truely sincere, written courtesously and with good etiquette, and yet when stripped down to its basic point, the proposal was quite ridiculous. Annaeru took up his pen once more and added to the bottom of the his letter:

P.S. I have addressed your inquiry as completely as I was able, given the information you have given me. Yet, perhaps, your making of the tale "short and not tedious" has left out much which would have aided me in understanding your situation. If I have not responded adequately or clearly enough, you may I will meet with you privately. If you desire this, lash three oak boughs from the forest into the shape of a triangle and set it adrift in the lake at night. Upon seeing this symbol in the water the following morning, I will meet you in the plains east of this city. Come alone. I will know if you do not, for the land there is broad and open, with no places to conceal oneself. You have the next three nights to place the symbol in the water, after which I will disregard any attempts at communication, other than by written word or your personally coming to the gate of the city.

Annaeru was finished, yet he desired that Voák read his letter first, before he sent it. It was late afternoon by the time he returned, and when he had left to deliver the message, the sun was just beginning to set. The water glowed orange.

((That should have been Eregion, rather than Erebor. Other than that, I'm not going to bother going through my many typos.))

((Im unclear as to wether the city and mountin rest on the east or west side of the lake.))

Im up here once again infront of a small malitia talking of peace and cattle an... I am such a fool... look at the dry dirt streets, the clean faces of the orc kind, the honor of trying to save them in the eyes of every man and child. Surely one of them knew poetry and writ. I certinly do not.

"Ar yoo threew wiith ours man UnO!?"

The orc's voice was one he didn't know, but it was definatly grating as it spoke the commen tung. Uno reliesed he had stopped the debate mid-stride, once agian due to idol thoughts. He shifted slightly to his left, shifting the long blood red embroidered robe, to set his eye on the respectless one.

"Must you be so insolent? We all must survive this, so when we decide 'no taking other villeges livestock', what does that mean? We do not do such. Sidion, Larcre and Dion all plead for grace. I ask you: The Fletch or the Forgiveness?"

The crowded mass of black shirted beasts and men all raised their wrists in a show of forgivness. This gained wails and a scream pleading only punishment but they masses wanted these to never repeat their sin. It was indeed a action that could leave every last soul, if orcs were possesors of such, in peril and death. So these three would die in the most honorable death avalible without war. Six men and six orc approced the three who were bound in some of the newly crafted rope and began dragging them to towards the woods. Uno began again, he knew ever ash bow and every red fletched arrow would strike the forgiven three in their hearts.

"When a law has been laid, we must follow it till death!"

He practically screamed, but never lost his tone. The perfect tone of evil in his opinion, but Evil was now destroyed. The places of the land were created for those who were good. He was once a second lord to the east gaurd of mordor, but he had escaped the destruction, for now.

I will drill this into their heads untill the sun rests on the city... They will heed survival!

He walked back through the villge with all the new built houses, and some that were not more than shacks, flanking him. He reacehed the end of the small vally and glanced west toward the distant city, his only hope of bringing order to these... these... no, they needed salvation in world where there was none.

He would rest well that night, but only after he went over the nightly report of Theloes. Theloes was the man who he had sent to the city a week ago. The king's name WAS Annaeru. The report included all the real titals of the king, too late to be very effective in his writ. The final population count and the location of know patrols, gaurds and other military things- stuff there was strong hope he would not need. Even a sketch of the citys interior, it was beauty.

Bloody ashes I should have had someone else write for him... too late. That thought is Idol and useless. I'll scrape through these and find sleep.

The Second's knock on the dorr was allways one percise clear bang that shook every board in the house but that is the way or an orc. Uno spoke an entreaty and the muscular orc walked in.

"Uno, we grow crops, we have few cattle and... we a falling apart Uno. We must reach out to Esgaroth. We must!"

"I know. Thearoads and his three honor were or are at the city. He has deliverd a treaty, or plead rather than anything else... I am not sure what will come of anything. Send six to watch the road for a messenger, they will not show how much they know of us. I dout they would send a courier direct."

The Second slowly sat on one of the sturdy stools. Uno had not noticed them, he hadn't noticed much lately.

The orc voice was raspy as normal, but all the voices were inproving in mannor and kind.

"We must eat still though. Our people are growing worse and better by the hour. We decay and ripen in harmony. We must do something."

Morning brought the two out of their long discussion. It also brought four dressed in night guard's cloth to Uno's door, and one began speaking without address.

"Lords, there was a sizeable bird... a.. a... a Voák resting on your own roof in the night. It was shot, to be eaten. As the shaft was to catch it, it caught the shaft in it's own talons, or diflected, or some magic."

His whole body shook as he spoke.

"He fell and was taken to Regan to be healed."

Uno was quite starteled. He maintained the tone.

"It spoke, gave it's name as Voák? You see me as fool?"

"Yes!... No!... Ah, it screamed a curse on my head as it fell!"

The first word was a shriek, the second a higher pitched shriek. The inteligible piece was accompanied by a scroll being thrust toward Uno and his Second.

"Release it you fools! This bears...! ah, go! !Set it free or I will forgive you myself!"

Everyone heard the shout. Many peared up from their work to quickly attempt a look as if they haddn't. The two orcs who had squated in the back behind the men coverd the distance to the healers house the quickest. Uno knew the creature would be set free now, but what of his people? It was dawn, he needed sleep and now he had this foolishness to contend with. he should start with the letter first.

((The city of Esgaroth is, in fact, built directly upon the lake. By the mountain, I assume you refer to the Lonely Mountain/Erebor. This would be located, depending on what map you refer to, about northwest of the Lake.

http://www.bjornetjenesten.dk /teksterdk/Tolkien/middle-earth- film.jpg (delete the two spaces)

Try using that map to help. This map shows Erebor as being directly north of Esgaroth, but whatever. It also may help to google "Encyclopedia of Arda" and search for Esgaroth/The Lake Town on that site.))

((Thank you.))

I make tedious plans to not fail this time and here I have almost let their messenger be killed. I hope he will be kind enough not to spare me words of admonishment.

Uno and the Second, by way of succession, pivoted and re-entered the house. They both knew they had considerable plans to make. Taking the seats each of them had occupied the whole night Uno began to read. As he read softly the words aloud the orcs breathing became furious

- but in a level controlled rage.

"I will do this, I must. It will likely end in carnage. He may mock us, call us evil or not know who we are, but I shall tell him. No, you shall come with me. We are brothers, there will be two. Have Theodred bring back to me the Robe of Faction. You will need to don something presentable, but I want you in steel. Just see to it that the trees are failed and lashed. Do this north of the city, and erect a sail on it so that the wind will carry it south into the city's fishing harbors. Have this by morning tomorrow and they will not be discovered by any patrols. See to it."

The Second rose and poured a mug of ale and handed it to the man. After pouring himself a cup from the brown ceramic jug he exited the building.

This will not be good at all... This man is willing to risk exposing himself to a man who sends only four men as a delegation... ha, he could be a very foolish man, over wrought with curiosity or have a very good sword arm. Beliák.. ha, no - Second could still kill any man with his axe. I myself could down a man with bow at three hundred paces. Those thoughts should be called idol and worthless.... but none of us are diplomats...

Uno went to his rugs where he would sleep. He rested and planed within the confines of the small house for the whole day and the next.

The morning of the third day found a small floating wooden triangle floating amongst the piers north most of the city, eight of the Red Arrows striding back into the village after obeying a strange order and sever fully armored pairs on a exodus to the plains.

Mid-day found a small camp of fourteen tents amongst the last stand of trees on the very edge of a long lush plain. Eight heads were around the campfire. Four were hunting to the east and two were sitting back to back on a small rise over a thousand paces away. Embedded in the rise was the sigil of the Red Arrow, it was the color of dried blood. They would wait out in the open during the day, and one day would find them next to the kind of the land on which they now sat, on which their new homes were built, on which their only chance for survival was left.

Annaeru had been worried when Voák did not at first return. When he did, several days later, and told what had happened, he felt a deep sense of guilt for sending him on such an uncertain errand. But, there was soon more to consider. The following morning the triangular symbol could be seen bobbing up and down on the center of the lake. Annaeru prepared him self adequately. Perhaps the attack on his messenger had only been a mistake, but he could not take any chances with those who could act with such haste and so little consideration.

He garbed himself in light amror and slung his large bronze shield at his back. At his side was clipped a longsword. If this "Uno" met him alone as he had asked, he would propse that they leave all their weapons behind and progress futher into the plains. If he found himself outnumbered, it might be necessary to send for others to join him.

It was still early morning when Annaeru arrived some 400 yards east of the Long Lake. He had been keeping a good look out in all directions for any sign of the one who was to mee him, but so far he was not aware of anyone. He sat himself down on a boulder that emerged partially from the ground in the midsts of the plains and waited.

Voák came to him as he sat there, and he had seen much with his keen vision already.

"A camp has been made at the edge of the forest. Several are there, although it is not yet evident how many will make the journey. Stay alert. This was a rather dangerous decision to make..."

((I fear I must retire my exsistance on this forum, I apologise for the abrupt end I bring. I have become over-obligated in my social life as well as my edjucation. All I can say is that I am no longer capable of spending the time necasary to advance this tale and I am deeply sorrowful for my uncomplete actions. Walk in peace))

((I understand. Thanks for what effort you did put into it, though, and I hope everything goes well in your personal life.))