Nogrod,
Killing too many slavers? It's good to remember not to go crazy but my feeling is that things may not be as clear cut or one sided as you suggest. Some of our characters have had success, but others have encountered their share of problems and hardships. In fact at this point,
I have grave doubts about killing too many more of the good guys. Let's consider the situation and the numbers. We started off with 77 good guys max (70 slaves, 7 fellowship) and about 24 to 26 slavers.
The initial strategy of the slaves was foiled because Imak split his troops....so right from the first, things were not a piece of cake. The storyline does include scenes where the good guys fought but were unable to bring down their prey. Lindir along with Gretl and Wulf, two members of the original band, tracked several slavers to the southern portions of the camp yet failed to harm the men. Moreover, Lindir and several other members of the fellowship are experienced fighters. Although the elf has been soldiering for several thousand years, stretching back to his days in Beleriand, he has made no kills in this battle. Aiwendil has chased one man out of camp but has also killed no one. And Tevildo's Dorran, an experienced Rider, brought down just one and still bears a head wound from the previous day's skirmish that prevents him from fighting further. (He has retired from the fighting to haul bodies in for treatment. ) We have one major character lying wounded, with no real idea how serious his condition may be. Finally, the charging boar witnessed the deaths of two women and has heard the shrieks of a number of others who are presently being attacked within the grove.
I pulled up the casualty list graciously supplied by Brinniel and updated it with some additional information on those injured, kidnapped, etc.
Slavers:
2- killed by Beloan
1- killed by Kwell
2- killed by Khamir
1- killed by Adnan
1- killed by Dorran
2- killed by Shae (unless you want to count the one from the other night?)
2- killed by Rog
1- killed by Joshwan
1- killed by Reagonn
1- killed by Aiwendil
1- killed by Johari
1- killed by Carl and Kwell
1- killed by Carl and Dirand
1- killed by Kwell and two men
2- killed by Nasim, Gamal, and Zaki
2- killed by Khamir, Nasim, and Gamal
Total: 22
Of course, I'm sure a few more will die as we conclude the battle...
*****I would add two names to this:
Run off/Unknown
Imak
Man chased by boar towards the Orc camp
That makes 24 slavers in trouble or dead.
The there are the dead Ex-Slaves:
1. Tareef
2. Joshwan
3. Erlech
4. Zaki
5. Ayce
6. Darren
7. Korden
8. Syth
9. Reagonn
10. Rowenna
11-12. pregnant woman
Again, you need to add these names among the injured, some more and some less seriously so :
Vror
Dorran
Hadith
Adnan
Rôg
Plus, there were those who had to be rescued:
Tom
Azhar [/i]
That means we've described serious problems for 14 members of our band. There is also the possibility that one or more of those wounded may die or suffer long term impairment. And it is likely that other fighters have fallen quietlly, a fact that is still unknown to us. Plus, when the dust from battle settles, many of those still on their feet will bear additional minor wounds. (Aiwendil certainly will.)
From Aiwendil's description of the activity in the grove and also from Undomie's save, I would estimate we're talking about another 5-6 folk killed or seriously injured among the women and children. That means out of 77 good guys, we've had casualties and mishaps for 24 members of our band. That is about one-third of our total! The temporary loss of one-third of any community is a huge loss, especially when 18 of those have perished (about one-fourth of our total ranks). I honestly don't think we want to hack down too many others. We need enough people to start a community in the north. The heart of this RPG isn't the battle (as fun as that is) but the establishment of a new Mordor and the relations between humans and orcs. We can't have a new Mordor without people to start it.
My only concern here is the number of slavers that I postulated from the beginning. We probably should have gone with a figure around 30 rather than 24-26. But I refuse to be hog tied strictly by an artificial number, especially one that can be so easily changed. What I would like to do, if no one objects, is to go back through the entire thread and change the slavers estimate upward to 30. This could be done very easily with the search function. Would anyone have problems with that? If I adjust that number upward, it would also let those who want to get in their final hacks do so with ease..... (without going crazy, of course). And if another slaver or two takes to the hills or to the orc camp, that would be fine with me.
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So we need more descriptions of those meetings where "our" people get crashed and lose as otherwise we will soon be needing to adjust the initial number of the slavers and raise their numbers to double our ex-slaves...
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One final note regarding this.... One of the constant criticisms of Tolkien is that he lets his major characters off too easily....only one member of the fellowship is actually killed depite the enormous danger. We know there are deaths and injuries going on among the various "good" soldiers during the battles but these are generally not described and, with a few exceptions, happen to characters we don't know well. My gut feeling is that many RPG's done in the spirit of Tolkien tend towards this same model. For the most part I am comfortable with that. And, as I said before, I wouldn't have a problem nudging up the number of slavers by just a bit. Moreover, just as in Tolkien, there is more going on here than first meets the eye. We won't know our full damages until the battle ends and things settle down.
So please don't whack too many more of the good guys down.