The Last Great War

[Rubeus]

Many years have passed since the War of the Ring. Gondor is still in a state of peace with Aragorn still on the throne. Eomer has passed on and his son Eorlas has ruled over Rohan in relative peace. The Shirelings have coexisted with the world of Men quite well. The Dwarves have remained within their mountain halls and have not bothered with the worries of the outside world. However, despite the peacefulness, a great shadow has taken form in the far southeast. Evil men from Harad and corsairs from the deep south have been making their way to what used to be Mordor. <the next person can fill in the rest>

[Beren One-Hand]

Gorthrond and Gothran, the princes of Harad, led a massive army of corsairs and Haradrim to the destroyed tower of Barad-dur. There Gothran took entire control of the Haradrim, while Gorthrond took control of the corsairs. And they both ruled the Army of the South together. Secretly and massively building up thier armies, searching out the orcish tools of war and training the troops that the already had. Untill they finally had enough men and specially bred trolls to attack the Gondorian port city of Pelargir.

[Rubeus]

Far to the North, there was a small encampment of Dunedain Rangers. They were led by a man called Rubeus. He was the son of Ronann, who, before he died, was the second greatest Lord of the North (next to the now king of Gondor, Aragorn). Whispers of an ever-growing shadow in the South had been going around, and the men had been going out every day to scout the surrounding lands. One day, a scout came sprinting into the camp and ran straight to the large tent in the center of the camp where Rubeus stayed. "My Lord, our brothers to the South have confirmed reports of Hardrim pouring into the ancient borders of Mordor. They have also confirmed that a good-sized detachment of them along with a group of Corsairs are making their way to the Gondorian port city of Pelargir." "Very well," replied Rubeus, "tell the men to break camp, we ride for Minas Tirith on the morrow."

[Beren One-Hand]

Along the way the Dunedain, saw a small company of riders. As the riders approached, the Dunedain noticed Gondorian banners. Three riders came out to meet them an elf, a dwarf and a man. The man spoke, "Hail Dunedain, we have seen the mighty armies of the South. We are all Minas Tirith could spare. My name is Beren, and I bring with me, Gimli the dwarf, Legolas the elf and a company of elite Knights from Dol Amroth."

[Rubeus]

"Very well," said Rubeus, "we shall accompany you and your men to the Black Lands. However, I wonder if you might know the state of Rohan."

[Beren One-Hand]

I will send a scout to Rohan to find out what we can, but we shall hasten to Pelargir.

[Rubeus]

Of course, let us go then. Be prepared for an onslaught of unspeakable proportions though.

[Beren One-Hand]

So, after a few hours riding, They arrived at the last hill before Pelargir. As they arrived, they saw a massive fleet of Umbardrim. Beren turned to Rubeus, now what do we do? We could go into the city and help fortify it, or we could hide in these hills and wait for the right moment to ride against them. we could split up. What do you say?

[Rubeus]

You take some of your men and try to get across the river, send a small detacment into the city to gather what volunteers you can,we'll stay here. When I stand up and wave the flag of Gondor, we'll catch the Corsairs in a crossfire and then we'll send the men from the city to charge the ships. If our luck holds out, we can overtake them with our strategy.

[orithil]

Durial chased the last of the wargs away with a small contingent of rohirim.
"Hey!, look the banner of gondor" cried one of the men, Durial rode out to meet him "what news from Gondor?."
"I have been sent by Beren too see the state of rohan, is all well?"
"ahh, there have been many warg and goblin attacks lately but nothing we cannot handle is there anything Gondor needs, are they in need of aid?"

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren turned to one of his men and said, Tarcil, Take three men into the city and see if you can get enough for a charge.Then he turned to Rubeus I need you to send about 8 men with me so they can return with the boats, otherwise the corsairs are gonna see them and suspec something. And if my scout gets back have him stay with you, or join the charge.

[Rubeus]

I shall join the charge when the time is right. By the way, I have received word from Rohan. King Eorlas plans to send a detachment of his finest Rohirrim to aid us.

[orithil]

IN few minutes Durial and a company of rohhirim armed with bows and spears and swords came riding over the hill top :"beren" Durial began "i have been sent by king Erolas how can we assist your cause?"

[Beren One-Hand]

What do you think Rubeus? I think we should send them on the fields far away from the castle. And have them charge at the same time my men charge out of the castle they will charge in and meet in the middle, once that happens you come out, and push one side of the army into the mountains while the calvary pushes the other side into the water. I will swim to the boats and board them with my men.

[orithil]

I am willing to do anything if it means the death of those corsiars by life or death.
Durial hits his hand against his chest and bows.

[Rubeus]

"Aye, we shall stick to that plan, Duriel, when you see my signal, you and your men come charging towards the river and we shall overtake the corsairs."

[orithil]

"we ride yells durial and him and his men ride off to wait for the signal.

[Beren One-Hand]

As Beren and his men were getting to the other shore, the corsairs could be seen. "Quicklly get in position everybody," he said to his men. Then he drew an arrow, and crouched beside a tree in some bushes. As the Corsairs drew nearer, one of beren's men said ", Should we fire now?" "No wait for the signal," he replied.

[Rubeus]

As the ships moved closer to the shore, Rubeus stood up and began to wave the flag of Gondor. It was the signal.

[orithil]

Durials men charge down with full force straight towards the corsairs and the rohhirim archers begin firing their bows.

[Beren One-Hand]

"Fire now, men of Gondor! Fire Now," Beren shouted as he stood up. All the Gondoroians on that side of the river stood up, and fired.

[Drake]

"Ah, finally after a long journey, it is good to see Minas Tirith again." said Bao son of Drake, King of Rhun.
"My lord, what is that in the distance." one of Bao's calvarymen said.
"It looks like battle, shall we go to help my lord?"Ru son of Bao asked.
"We go to Gondor's aid." Bao said."Let the world know the power of the Rhun calvary!"
As the king of Rhun said this, his men cheered."Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren was standing a few feet from the river. He noticed one of the corsair captains standing on the deck. He drew an arrow, fit it to the string, took aim and fired. the captain fell dead with an arrow struck in his chest. "Don't stop men of Gondor, Rain your arrows down on them." Then an arrow slammed right into his shoulder, but his thick Numenorean armor kept the arrow from going deep. He reached up and pulled it out.
Just then one of his men shouted, "Look! To the northeast, yet another army approaches."
Beren turned and shouted, "What is this, that is no Gondorian army." When he turned back he noticed something, it lookd to be like red and black cloth slowly creeping across the deck. As he gazed at it, another arrow bounced of his helm. Then he realised what it was. He shouted, "Take cover. There are Haradrim. Their arrows will not so readily miss. Take cover!" But it was to late the poisened arrows of the Haradrim cut them down. Only a handful safely made it to cover.

[orithil]

Durial swung around and called his men back "haradrim approach keep your head down and ride for cover, go!!" as the rohhirim rode arrows rained down upon them very few made it out of arrow range and they began riding for minis tirith.

[Drake]

"We are here to aid you Beren," Bao said,"we will protect you while you fall back to Minas Tirith. Men let us show the enemy the might of our mounted archers."
As the Rhun calvary mounted archers fired upon the enemy the rest of the calvary escorted Beren and what was left of his men back to Minas Tirith.

[mighty_half-elf]

OOC: ok guys, this is Rubeus, except this mighty_half-elf was what my name used to be and then I forgot it and made a new account under Rubeus. Anyway, I just remembered my old info, so I'm gonna use it instead...so you guys can figure out a classy way to kill Rubeus and then I'll introduce Albus into the story..

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren was walking to Minas Tirith. All around him were women, children, and other soldiers. He felt that he had failed them all. He was looking at all the faces, "Where is Rubeus," he suddenly asked. Nobody stopped or said anything. Beren ran to one of Drake's men, and said, "Give me your horse."
The man just looked at him. "Give me your horse," he said again. Still no reply. Beren got angry, He reached up and pushed him of his horse, quickly jumped on, and rode away.
As he rode away he searched for Rubeus. It wasn't long untill you could hear the corsairs again. As he neared the scene he noticed something, it was a single figure, a Dunedan, standing alone between all the corsairs and thirty or so young children. It was Rubeus. He was losing his life to save the lives of the children. Beren rode harder now in the hopes of saving Rubeus, but just as he was nearing a corsair shot an arrow right into his chest. Rubeus stopped fighting, his sword fell to the ground, the corsiars were motionless waiting to see if another arrow would be needed. Rubeus fell to the ground. A very big corsair walked to Rubeus, and drew a giant sword, lifted it up ready to strike the Dunedan. Just as the sword was coming down Beren brought a single stroke across the corsair's chest that slew him. The other corsairs seeing their mightiest fall, and thinking Beren to be accompanied by a large army, all fled. Beren looked down on Rubeus.
Rubeus asked, "Are the children safe?"
"Yes," answered Beren, and with that the dunedan passed away. Beren lifted Rubeus' body on to the horse, and lead the children away to safety.

[mighty_half-elf]

OOC: That was a great ending...thanks buddy

All of a sudden, a man on a horse came riding up to the remains of the battle. As he slid off of his horse, he shouted at the men, "Men of Gondor! Where is your captain? For I much wish to speak with him."

[Drake]

"Who is the man who comes to speak to the Gondorian captain?" Ru asked Bao.
"He is known as Albus, he is strong willed and is a freind of mine and your grandad my son." said Bao as he went to greet his old friend.
The Rhun soldiers dismounted and bowed to Albus, for to them he was considered a higher rank, and they were taught to show respect to their superiors.
"It has been a long time since we've seen each other Albus." Bao said stoping three feet from his friend.

[Beren One-Hand]

As Beren was approaching, he heard a voice he didn't know shouting, "Where is the Captain of Gondor?"
Beren asked, "What service do you require from the Captain," as he turned to meet him.

[mighty_half-elf]

"Aye Bao, it has been too long." Turning to Beren, he said, "Tell your captain that I have ridden from the far North to aid you in your conflict against the Shadow that has sprung in the deep South."

[orithil]

The riders of Rohan rode up towards the soldiers of rhun and dismounted Durial put and hand to his chest and bowed "many thanks for your cover" he then turned to Beren "I have more soldiers coming from Rohan in order to strength'n Gondors security it would be a honor to fight along side gondorians once again"

[Beren One-Hand]

Turning to Albus, Beren said, "I am the Captain of Gondor," he reached out and shakes his hand, "Thank you tor your aid."
Then a rider of the Riddermark galloped up and said, "I have more soldiers coming from Rohan in order to strength'n Gondors security it would be a honor to fight along side gondorians once again"
Beren answered, "The honor is mine, but we all must hasten to The White City. I fear she will be next on the Barbarians list."
Just then, on the road to Minas Tirith, they could see black smoke rising ahead of them. Beren quickly turned to a Gondorian soldier and said, "You must lead all these women and children through the hidden paths to safety," then turning to the rest of the company, "Come," Beren said as he started to run.

[mighty_half-elf]

As the soldiers began to lead the people out of the city, Albus turned to run with the captain and began to tell him how his people had been living peacefully in the North and then a band of orcs had attacked the village and burned it to the ground and had killed all of the children and raped and killed all of the women and then had proceeded to hang the men from trees. "I was out scouting the surrounding areas and when I came back, the village was gone, and I saw all of the dead bodies scattered across the ground. It was at that moment when the orcs jumped from the trees and began to encircle me. I fought them off one-by-one. And then I decided to journey south to the land of my ancestry, Gondor.

[Drake]

"Beron, If we can get these people to my land in the north they will be safe Minas Tirith is open for an all out siege if we stay to defend it, it would be possible to protect the city, but it would cost us dearly.If we head to Rhun we can build up our forces and then strike when we have the man power. If your king picks the first strategy we will have to attack under cover of darkness,and gain the element of suprise." Bao said.
At that moment ru rode upand rreported,"Orcs have been spotted heading to Minas Tirith from the north east out of the Dead Marshes. the scout count maybe 50,000."

[orithil]

"Orcs, I see, I will send a scout back to tell the rohhirim to head for rhun or we can wait and lead a flank attack later in the battle" "what is your council Beren?"

[Beren One-Hand]

"This is The White City, I see no way we can abandon it. It is filled with thousands of women and children. Which will not be able to flee in time. The White City itself is worth more than all the rest of Gondor combined, and it is a good stronghold the men of the Army of the West defended it, so can we.
However, I, being the Prince and son of the King, will ask my father, in case there is some wisdom in this move that I will not see. I'd like the three of you to acompany me."
Beren then took his three companians Through all of the White City, as he rode he would look sadly at the people of the city, as the people tossed roses and flowers at the feet of the four riders. An elderly women walked to Beren, took his hand, and thanked him, but when she noticed he didn't smile, she asked, "Why don't you smile Prince of Gondor?"
Beren answered, "Because I am starting to see the wisdom in this move." She didn't understand, but Beren rode away at a gallop untill he finally reached the halls. There he, the King, and all the advisers debated for some time. After a while they had Beren and the other three leave the building. When they had finally made their decision the king's standard bearer walked out of the building and shouted, "Send word, we leave for Rhun."

[Drake]

"Men we are to gather the men,women,and children of Minas Tirith and tell them to bring only the essentials,anyone who brings more than this can not be guarded thus their fate is in the enemies hands." Bao said to his calvary.

Beren then said "but lord Bao these are innocent people, you can not just throw away their lives."

Bao then replied "That is the price of war but if we can avoid it we will. If we go over the mountains we will have a better view of the route we must take and where enemies lie on the route."

[orithil]

"I will ride to Rohan and gather i mighty host of riders we shall arrive in seven days until then your defences must hold, Beren, Bao," he turned to them nodded then turned and rode off.

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren pulled out a map:
We are right here at point X, Minas Tirith, The army that just took over Pelargir is right here, about three days away for such a large army, the goblin army is here, they'll be here tomorow, here way of in Nurn in the south of Mordor, There is a massive army that my scouts report are planning to attack Minas Tirith in precisely eight days. Now on the other hand we have the Rohirric army coming in a week, we must hold off for exactly one week, then get out of here in exactly one day. Any questions?

[Drake]

"If there is no way to leave sooner, then I will send word to my allies in the north." Bao said as he take up his bow and shot an arrow into the center of the battle feild.

[Beren One-Hand]

There is no way we can leave with out Rohan's cover. We can, however, get a lot of women and children together, and send them for Rohan. They'll be safe there for now. There will still be plenty of people left to defend. Just then a Gondorian horn was blown. Beren said, "That is the call to arms, we must go." Then he mounted his horse and galloped away, blowing his small horn in answer.

[Beren One-Hand]

As Beren reached the walls of the White City, he saw before him an army so large and fell it amazed him. Turning to an officer on the wall Beren asked, "Are they within bow range?"
"I don't know," came the reply.
Beren then took an arrow from his quiver, and shot as far as he could. It landed just short of the orcs. "No, they are not," Beren said.
And for seven days the orcs camped out around Minas Tirith, until at last the Rohirrim could be seen on the horizon.

[orithil]

The Rohhirim rode up onto the hilll top Darius at their lead he loooked at the vast army of orcs with amazment i numbered in the millions.

He turned his horse around and said..."hold steady"
"riders of mark, of rohan, my brothers!
200,000 spears i see before me!
200,000 sons of Rohan!
and i see in your eyes 200,000 flames of hatred for these...orcs and evil men!
So now draw your weapons!!! for wrath for ruin!!! ride now for a new dawn!!
Sons of Rohan ride now!!
The horns of the Rohhirim could be heard for miles 200,000 rohhirim shouting and blowing their horns and 200,000 horses thundering along the plains the sound was near deafening and just then the front lines of Rohhirim crashed into the endless tide of vile creatures killing one after another, beheading shooting all manorr of tatics were employed to kill these things.

[Beren One-Hand]

As the Rohirrim swept the last of the orcs, Beren rode out to meet Darius, "Well done, Master of the Rohirrim, maybe we will not have to evacuate the city after all." Beren let out a small laugh, the smile quickly faded and he said, "But the losses are many. Come let us raise a great mound in their honor."
Just then a rider rode up beside Beren, "Sir, I bring grave news of the enemy," he said, "They come in numbers far superior to our own, there is no way we can keep the city. They will raze Minas Tirith to the ground, we must act now."
Beren's heart sank, "Well then we must evacuate to Bao's Deep."

[orithil]

"Indeed, we must if bao says it will protect us for long enough then that is what we must do, my men can fight on fooot but we need somewhere our horses can be stabled, otherwise we can do hit and run tatics on the approaching army and then attack with full fore later in the battle.

[Beren One-Hand]

After weeks of traveling through forest, desert, and swampland. The entire group made it safely to Bao's Deep. It was a large fortress with a thick wall, the stone every where was dark grey. When the Gondorians and Rohirrim entered, it was just like coming home. The people were extremely nice, even giving up their own beds for one of their former enemies to sleep on.
A random soldier passing by Beren said, "To think, we were at war with these fine people only twenty years ago."
Beren answered, "Shows what Sauron's evil will could do to a person."
"Well it's not here anymore," the soldier said.
Beren looked back through the gate, "But it still lingers in other places."

[orithil]

The easterling and goblin horde could be seen aproaching in the distance a storm brewed and lightning strike, thunder rolled.
"they are about a days march away" yelled the herald
"looks like we could be in for a fight" darius muttered

[Beren One-Hand]

"I never thought I'd die in Rhun," Beren muttered. Beren then noticed a mangonel sitting on the wall, there were two people beside it, but they weren't doing anything. Beren walked over to them, "Are you managing this mangonel?"
One of the Easterlings turned to him, "Yes sir, we are."
"Could it reach the goblins from here?"
"It's a toss up sir, but maybe," the soldier answered.
"Well, let's try it out," Beren said. As the two of them were getting it ready, Beren aimed the mangonel, right into the middle of the hordes of goblins. "Fire!" A bunch of large rocks smashed right into the middle of the horde. All over the wall peoble were shouting with triumph.

[orithil]

"Impressive" said Darius
"Now" he whistled and two war hounds came beside him.
"We must arm ourselves i will be in the armoury"
With that Darius walked off with his armoured warhounds beside him.

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren drew his sword, "Make ready ALL mangonels."
All along the wall they men were struggling with their mangonels.
Just as Beren was about to say "Fire" all the approaching goblins and Haradrim, drew back just out of the range of the mangonels.

[orithil]

Darius came out in different armour now, large shoulder pads two long swords and wearing ful plate knights armour.
His two wolves Draken and Duros were beside him, before Beren could say anything Darius replyed.
"I have to wear this armour since i will have barely any room to move then i shall were this plate, even my dogs have their armour on" he gestured to Draken and Duros who were being fitted with some light chain.

[Beren One-Hand]

Beren just sttood there for a moment with his mouth dropped open. Then he asked, " Do the dogs do a good job of killing orc?"

[orithil]

"They can kill orc, i believe, anyway when do you think they will make there charge we are already going to die why dont they just get it over with" Darius muttered.

[Beren One-Hand]

"They'll probably attack when the sun sets. That will be about two hours. Untill then we should inspect this place." Beren then got up and left.

[orithil]

Darius drew to swords from the sccabards on his back and began walking up and down the wall shouting orders "double bolt, NO triple bolt that gate shut, hurry up now...fix up the moagonal, get your bows ready, anywhere that can be fortified i want it fortified, we need more arrows on the wall now, come on! are you easterlings or mice?"

[Beren One-Hand]

"Untill night I'm gonna get some sleep," Beren mumbled to himself. He then left the wall, and headed for his room.

[Drake]

"Beren, night has come and the enemy are moving." Ru said as he entered the room.
Out came Bao in his ancestral armor, and Beren in his Gondorian armor and his new chainmail.
"Prepare to fire men." Bao said.

[james_the_great]

As Albus was standing in his tent preparing for the battle, a shadowy figure slipped into the camp and slid quietly into his tent. He crept up behind Albus, drew his dagger, and slit his throat. Albus slid to the ground without a sound. The figure slipped back out of the tent and hid in the shadows of the outskirts of the camp.

[orithil]

"Send these creatures to the abyss" Darius smirked.
Thousands of arrows flew towards the approaching army.