The Mount Zoom Challenge - GAME

[Maeggaladiel]

"PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT, MOUTH," Sauron called from the ground, casually reading the giant newspaper. "I AM NOT PAYING YOU TO LAZE ABOUT ALL DAY, YOU KNOW."

Mouth, halfway stuck on the spider web, hacking away at the ropes holding Mount Zoom, wondered what would happen if the mountain just HAPPENED to fall while Sauron was standing underneath it...

"This would be a lot faster if you helped, My Lord," Mouth grumbled. "Or at least if the Rat Wraiths helped." Sauron gave a snort and turned the page.

"I'M WATCHING THE SPIDER," he said. "THAT WAY IT WON'T RETURN FROM THE GRAVE AND EAT US WHILE WE'RE UNAWARE. AND THE RAT WRAITHS CAN'T DO THIS KIND OF MANUAL LABOR. IT'S IN THEIR CONTRACTS."

Mouth, muttering to himself, gave the mountain an angry kick. SNAP!! The last of the web broke loose, and Mouth and the Mountain fell straight down and landed on the ground with a loud THUD!! Sauron looked up from his paper at the giant racing machine that had impacted with the ground a mere four feet away.

"I HOPE YOU DIDN'T SCRATCH THE PAINT, MOUTH," Sauron warned. Mouth just sort of whimperd from the place he had fallen, halfway trapped in a thorn bush. "AH WELL. NOW THAT WE HAVE THE MOUNTAIN, I SAY WE HEAD NORTHWEST FROM HERE."

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Barrad Dash freed.

While the other vehicles zipped along, Barrad Dash hung in the spider web helplessly. Gothmog had fallen asleep and his Orc assistant was jabbering in the corner. The other Orcs had decided to make a meal of the Spider that was asleep some feet away, but they were so stuffed that they couldn't move to free the vehicle

Suddenly, Dwafry the Dwarf flew down in the Eyrie copter with three of his best Dragons. In no time flat, the web was burned off and Barrad Dash zoomed off into the distance, although it was a little behind now.

"Don't let it happen again!" Cried Dwarfy.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

The hardest Challenge yet is coming!

BAD BONUSES!

Medel Zoom and Minas Mor-go have come into a strange situation...
While climbing over the Misty Mountains by the High Pass, they came across some troublesome goblins. The Goblins captured the vehicles and knocked out the driver and assistant. When they awoke they found themselves in Drúwaith Laur near the river Isen.

Dwarfy watched as Bag Endless fuel seemed to be going forward again. Yet something wasn't right with the buggy... or any of the other vehicles either! Something was terribly wrong! There was smoke coming out of the bottoms of the vehicles. Dwarfy sent a Baby Dragon to report. When it returned, he was terrified!

[Hookbill the Goomba]

The Fifth Challenge: Balrogs in the Basement

The Dragon reports a terrible evil in the lower reaches of the vehicles! A creature of shadow and flame, messing about with the inner workings of the engines and generally scaring the heck out of everyone.
Get it out of there!




Challenge ends on Wednesday 17th May

[Caranlondien]

A Very, Very Warm Welcome

Having finished the Dorwinion wine in celebration of their narrow escape, the hobbits sat around the table enjoying a pipe with the recently arrived Gandalf. He had reached Bag-Endless-Fuel an hour or two ago, after several days' searching for the wayward hobbit hole. Upon hearing of their goblin-induced detour into a spider's web, the wizard laughed heartily.

"I bet he wouldn't find our near-death experiences so amusing if we weren't in the lead right now," whispered Frodo to Sam.

As the company puffed on their pipes, they failed to notice that a darker, thicker smoke was rising from the engine room below.

The hobbits listened politely as Gandalf recounted a particularly amusing decloaking incident that had occurred last week, hoping this meant that he'd not be decloaking this week.

Gandalf finished his tale. Frodo blew a smoke ring and sighed contentedly. "Ah, it's nice to be back on track," he said.

"It is indeed," said his uncle. Bilbo sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, prepared to have a bit of a nap. His plans changed, however, when Bag-Endless-Fuel gave a stomach-turning lurch and careened suddenly off to one side, spinning as it went. Finally the craft came to a halt.

The kitchen furniture went flying, and it took a moment or two for the chair's previous occupants to extricate themselves from the jumble of wood that was now strewn about the floor.

Standing, Sam volunteered to have a look from the chimney-top to see what was going on outside. Gandalf looked around, a frightened (and frightening) gleam in his eyes. He muttered something to himself and waved his hand through a cloud of smoke, which was now quite clearly not coming from the hobbits' pipes. Sam re-emerged from the hearth with the news that he could see nothing outside which might have caused their course-change.

"Well what could have done it, then?" asked Frodo. The other hobbits looked around uncertainly. Frodo turned to Gandalf. "What could have caused this?" he asked of the wizard. Even as he asked, he could begin to smell the odor of something burnt. Thick, dark smoke was pouring into the kitchen now.

"I fear this is the work of a power far beyond you," Gandalf replied gravely. "But let us hope I am wrong. Perhaps it is merely some trifle; That we're on fire, or something."

"On fire?" cried Sam. "You call that a trifle? The engine room's full of fireworks!"

The sound of Ted Sandyman's horn confirmed for them that something was, indeed, wrong.

"You can all go check on that," suggested a nervous Pippin. "And I'll start making elevensies." He quickly donned an apron.

[The Saucepan Man]

The Tale of Durin’s Drain

“What do you think the problem might be, Gandalf?” asked Bilbo.

“I hope to goodness that I am mistaken, but I fear that I am not. Long ago, under the leadership of Durin the Breathless, the Dwarves opened a brand new racing track in the depths of Moria. The circuit of Khazad-Zoom, it was called. Yet, in their eagerness to fashion the perfect racing line, they delved too deeply and awakened a dreadful creature: a thing of smoke and fire, which sustained itself through the consumption of mechanical items. On the circuit’s inaugural race, the beast attacked. Cars, pit garages, grandstands and hospitality suites: all succumbed to its insatiable appetite. Only two teams escaped the carnage, and they lost most of their cars and spare parts. Of the terrible fate of the race organisers, nothing is known. The affair dealt a perilous blow to Dwarven racing ambitions and the sport took years to recover. The loss to the Dwarven economy was incalculable, and so the creature ever after was known as Durin’s Drain. The circuit of Khazad-Doom itself was abandoned and fell into ruin. In recent years, however, a party of Dwarves, led by Nascarlin son of Formallawundin, attempted to re-establish and refurbish the facilities there. I fear that they may once again have awakened Durin’s Drain.”

“But what does that have to do with us?” ventured Frodo.

“There has been no contact with Nascarlin and his company for some years. I suspect that all there is now lost and that, hearing of the Mount Zoom Challenge, the creature has emerged from Moria in search of further mechanical parts to satisfy its terrible appetite.”

“Y-y-you m-mean …?” stuttered a terrified Bilbo.

“Yes! The creature is feasting within engine room of Bag-Endless-Fuel right now.”

“Ai!” all wailed.

“Come, now that the exposition is done with, there is not a moment to lose,” commanded Gandalf. “To the engine room!”

[Valier]

Medel-Zoom Of DwarfBots and the Balrog Bagman



Eowyn: *dreaming*She is seen running through the fields of "Faragorn" running and spinning in the middle of knee high Aragorn's and Faramir's, their wild hair waving in the wind, when suddenly she hear a poor little puppy, whining.... then......*POOF!!*

The dream dissipates as Eowyn lifts her head from the steering wheel, as a great throbbing begins. A long string of drool connected to her face drips into her lap as she opens her eyes and *sighs* realizing it was only a dream. She also realizes that the puppy whining is coming from her uncle. He lay sprawled on the floor, arms raised, pawing at the air and whimpering slightly.

Eowyn: *jostles Theoden* "Uncle! Uncle! Wake up!"

Theoden: *Startled and shouts* "No more goat soup!"

Eowyn: *stares in bewilderment* "Goat soup? It seems uncle that we have been ambushed! We are no longer where we were! The mountains are no longer in sight!"

*KNOCK!! KNOCK!! KNOCK!!*

Theoden opens the doors to Medel-zoom holding his head in pain. There stands a scrawny little man in a long white coat. He shouts with a swooping wave of his arms "Hello everybody!"

Theoden: "Who are you and what do you want?"

In turn the stranger replies " I am professor Nick and I hear you have a terrible problem in your basement."

Eowyn and Theoden look at each other in puzzlement, then back at the Professor. But before Theoden could speak a mighty thunderous noise was heard from bellow their feet.

Eowyn: "Ssschman what was that?"

Professor: " Splaaah! Don't you know a Balrog when you hear one?"

The colour quickly fades from Theoden's face

Professor: "Don't you worry! I have the perfect solution to your problem!"

Eowyn: "That's odd.....a Balrog?....Mighty convenient that your here eh?

Theoden: "A Balrog?!!....I wish Gandalf were here, He would know what to do!"

Professor: "Such a powerful demon cannot be smotten!"

Eowyn: "Ok so what do we do? We are not wizards!"

Professor: "I have many things, but what you need is some dwarves! ...Well not real dwarves...Oh no!...DwarfBots! much more efficient!"

Theoden: *whispers to Eowyn* "This guy has had way to much Shire weed for his own good!"

Suddenly heavy footfalls could be heard coming up the steps....There stood a bunch of shiny metal Dwarves, lined up ever so nicely...

Eowyn and Theoden simultaneously: "You were serious about them!"

Theoden: "So what can these things do against a Balrog?"

Professor: "I won't tell! I just supply them, you figure it out!......Oh and each Bot is 35 dollars to rent."

Theoden: "Do you not know who I am? Do you not see my name tag?" *points to large brass plaque on his chest* There in big, bold letters read.. THEODEN KING

Eowyn: *rolls eyes*

Professor: "Ok I go talk to my wife"

30 seconds later...

Professor: "Since you look like nice guy, with fancy name plate, I will give you an extra super, special deal of only 34.50 per Bot!"

Eowyn: "That is only fifty cents off!, that is not a very extra super special deal!"

Professor: *In utter disbelief* "What!! That save you 50 cents...now if you take that fifty cents from each Bot you rent and go to another store...you can buy something else!"

Theoden "I do not know....Maybe we should try a different way...."

Professor: "Ok you go shop around, but when you come back....maybe no deal...maybe 40 or 50 dollars...demand and supply gone up!"

Eowyn: *pulls money from her secret Ta-ta hiding place* "Here this should cover it, we will take 6 Bots"

Proffesor: "Done deal! Rental one hour!"

Theoden: "No way we can do this in an hour!"

Professor: "One hour!, then I be back!"

Theoden: "Too bad Gandalf wasn't here....This Balrog seems much smaller than the one in his tale... Don't Balrogs hate heights? *tilts his head slightly to the side and stands pondering*

Eowyn: *Almost visible light pops up over her head* "OOOOOOOooo I know why don't we take two Bots and put one on top of the others shoulders...... *Eowyn stops talking and looks slowly over at the professor, who is careening forward to listen, then snaps back straight at the look* Eowyn pulls Theoden aside and cups his ear with her hands and whispers him her plan...

To be continued.....
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