Synopsis Game 01: The Eagle has...landed

It is summer in the year T.A. 2008. The Kelumé, the Free People's resistance against the Second Darkness, have contacted Braìth and Sterling, the Eriadorian (human) owners of the Overhang to request they grant every possible accomodation to three operatives stealing into Khazad-dum via Moria Station. Since getting onto the platform at Moria Station requires very particular documentation, Braìth and Sterling set about procuring the proper documents, as well as the essential feature of a wax seal, done in the same sigil as the Lord Balrog's. Sterling, Braìth and their associates Kaa, a half-orc 'cleaner,' Gimli, a dwarven craftsman and Jae, a Silvan Elf courier all set about utilizing their contacts and skills, with the end result being a perfect replica of the proper documents necessary to gain access to Moria Station. In the process, Kaa was wounded bad enough to need medical attention, which was granted fortuitously by Tari, an acquaintance of Jae (who had also recently commissioned a series of ceramic icons of the Valar from Gimli).

As Jae descended the stairs from the Overhand towards Moria Station, a military procession announcing the Lord Balrog's presence entered the platform. While Jae was frozen in terror, unable to go on, Gimli and Braìth took up the document and continued toward one of two trains recently arrived. Their destination, a passenger train, was just disembarking. While Gimli and Braìth maintained a low profile, the Lord Balrog was presented with a shocking gift, representing a terrible blow to the hope of the Kelumé. A female Great Eagle, wings clipped, and her unhatched egg were presented as gifts, with the clear intention to force the female to hatch the egg, and then present the eaglet as a feast for the fallen Maia. The companions watching from the Overhang were shocked with horror at the prospect, even as Gimli and Braìth made contact with Braìth. After a brief altercation with the security force of Moria Station (which ended in an explosion which killed a number of the security force), they returned to the Overhang, where Tarondor (one of the Dunedain Rangers) revealed that his reason for coming to Khazad-dum was to retreive the Great Eagle egg. When Tari commented how confused she was by everything that was happening, the Kelumé retreated to a secret room in the cliff face behind the Overhang. Tari followed, undetected save by Tarondor.

When she was discovered, the group grudgingly resigned themselves to including her in their plans and mechanations, also having determined that they need to find a way to get the egg out of Khazad-dum before it hatches.

Memorable Quotes:

(right after the explosion went off on the main platform)GIMLI: Now, what would have made it explode like that?

KAA: So what I want to know is, when you've got some smelly orc drooling all over your face, and then they cut off your arms and legs and torture you, are you going to give us away?
TARI: No!
KAA: Why not? I totally would!

KAA: (realizing a half-orc can do things in Middle-Earth other races wouldn't) I'm totally smoking a cigarette...

STERLING: So I'm interrogating you! Why are you here?

The Overhang and Moria Station

Located on the outer circumference of the vast chasm containing Durin's Stair (also known as the Endless Stair), the Overhang is an inn and tavern built on a large overhanging outcrop of rock. As a result, patrons of the Overhang are afforded an excellent view of the central pillar of Durin's Stair, as well as the recent network of rails and sidings for the recently completed train station built on top of a huge natural basalt abutment which has been leveled by Dwarven engineering. The Moria Station is built on the abutment to increase the security surrounding arrivals and departures; the only way onto the abutment besides the rails is a 70' long bridge which connects to one of the "abyss' numerous natural basalt abutments," (Moria 54) which in turn has a number of bridges leading out to other abutments or a platform adjoining Durin's stair. Security at the station is extreme; papers signed by one of the various Steam Lords across Middle-Earth are required to disembark and enter Moria. The residents of Moria who are not in official positions within the rule of the Second Darkness are rarely permitted to leave the underground city, and so only those who have visitor status are permitted onto the platform without the proper paperwork, usually bearing the seal of the Balrog of Moria himself. Moria station runs from the Greatwood (Mirkwood) Line directly, running east to west. The line has not connected to the yet-to-be-completed Cardolan line, since construction of that last leg of the Great Endor Railway (GER) continues to be harried by the terrorist efforts of the Rangers of the North. Moria Station is also a stop-off for the Anduin spur line which runs North to South along the Eastern edge of the Misty Mountains, following the Great River Anduin, connecting Orthanc with Moria, Goblin-gate, Gundabad, and ultimately, Angmar. As a result, it is a constant site of activity, a swarm of armed forces, workers, and official dignitaries moving to and from the underground city.


The Overhang is known for it's excellent brews, clean rooms, and friendly staff. These attributes are those which are spoken of loudly, in conversational tones. What is whispered in dark corners and passed in encrypted messages is that the Overhang is the meeting point for members of the Kelumé ("rising up," Q.), the bourgeoning resistance against the Second Darkness. Table conversations are as likely to be about how the day's work has gone as they are to concern the rising tide of Light against the Shadow.