2017, 04-06 Escape From Moria I am in a dark place. A very dark place. It is so dark that I literally can’t see my hand in front of my face. The night vision feature of my Penticon computer chip implant activates and now I can see around me, though everything has a strange greenish tint from the night vision. I am in a long underground passage that looks like it was built rather than a natural cave. It looks like a mine shaft. I follow it for a while and soon find it opens into a huge hall that is supported by many huge pillars. I am able to see the main hall with my night vision, but I see there is a dim light coming through a passage off to my left. I head down that passage to see if I can find out where I am and why I’m there. The source of the light is from a door on the right. I go through the door and stop short when I see an elf pointing an arrow at me. It’s Legolas, and he lowers his bow when he sees me. He says I have a bad habit of sneaking up on people. I tell him I wasn’t trying to sneak. Boromir looks puzzled and says he thought I got trapped outside Moria after the lake monster destroyed the doors. Sam looks upset and says he thought I was going to see Bill safely to Rivendell. Gandalf has been focusing his attention on an old book, but he looks up and sees me. He is standing beside a large slab of stone that looks like it might be a tomb, the book is lying open. He closes up the book and gives it to a dwarf, Gimli. He also wants to know how I got past the destroyed western gate. He then says I can tell them later, for now he has a feeling we had better all get moving out of there. He says to go back to the main hall and then exit through the eastern passage. But before anyone can move towards the western exit there is the sound of drums from all around. Legolas, who has gone back to watching the passage, calls to the others that they are coming. I reflexively ask who. Gimili says we cannot get out. Aragorn says to close and bar both doors. Boromir is beside the western door and he says it’s no good, the door is broken and wouldn’t budge if we had our own troll to push. Gandalf fires an energy blast down the hall outside and illuminates many orcs in the light as the orc in front gets a hole blasted through it. Gandalf tells everyone to run through the other door, there’s too many to fight. I don’t figure I have to listen to Gandalf, so I go out into the halls to stall the orcs and give the fellowship a better chance to get away. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade, charged with light energy so it is giving off a light that I can see the enemies by. The orcs fire arrows at me, but I knock them aside with my Alex Mercer blade. That doesn’t deter them, however, they are advancing down the hallway. The group of orcs parts and makes way for a troll coming through their ranks. The troll is practically filling up the entire passageway all by itself. I’m not sure how easy it will be to take on a troll in such a closed area, but remember talking to MoSh about the Ranma ½ anime series. I think of a technique used by Ryoga Hibiki called Bakusai Tenketsu, which shatters inanimate objects such as stones… so I use it on the supports of the passage to each side, causing the aging structure to collapse around and on top of the orcs and troll. I go back through the door into the room with the tomb and I see no one is left there. The far door has also collapsed even though I didn’t do my Bakusai Tenketsu anywhere near it. I assume I must have accidently caused the collapse, however. There were apparently some orcs on the near side of the collapse in the outer passage because now they come into the room and attack me without seeming to realize there is nowhere to go in here. I use my Alex Mercer blade arm to fight back. Only a few orcs got through so it doesn’t take long to cut them down. My next thought is that I have no idea how I’m supposed to get myself out of here with the outside passage blocked and the other door also blocked. Maybe I could find a way through the collapse? I start looking around the collapsed door to see if I can find a way. There aren’t any openings large enough for anything bigger than an ant to go through. As I pointlessly try to fit into a small opening, however, I find I am getting smaller and smaller… until I fit through! I hurry along the dark passage and stairs beyond by using night vision once again, and I seem to be my normal size again. Somehow I seem to have changed size without being consciously aware of how I did it. I wonder if I will be able to do it again if I choose to… I finally enter a huge hall at the end of a passage. The hall is lit by a red light coming from a giant crack halfway through the room. Fire is coming from that crack. In the other direction I see a long and narrow bridge. On top of the bridge I see something ugly like a demon of some kind and Gandalf. I can hear Gandalf speaking loud and clear, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." I see Aragorn and Boromir coming up behind Gandalf as he strikes the bridge, causing a wall of white flame to erupt and the bridge to break under the demon’s feet. I know what is about to happen and I take off at a sprint to reach the bridge in time. The bridge collapses underneath the demon, and it plunges into the depths. I am reaching the edge of the bridge as the demon sends its whip up to snare Gandalf, he is hanging on the edge as I jump the gap and dive to grab his arm… I barely get hold of his hand. He gives me a strangely calm look and says to me to just let go, this is not the end. I can’t hold on with only having his hand and the weight of the demon pulling down, and he slips away, yelling louder to everyone to, “Fly, you fools!” I’m about to jump right off the bridge and go after Gandalf and the demon, but the next thing I know strong arms are pulling me away from the edge, a man says not to be foolish, Gandalf is beyond our aid now. I look and Aragorn is pulling me away from the edge. The bridge is crumbling, if I hold Aragorn up he might fall, too… not acceptable. So I follow him the rest of the way over the bridge and we get off just in time. Aragorn calls to the others that he will lead them now, and we must start by following Gandalf’s final command, we must get out of here! So there really isn’t any option now but to follow the others down a passage and then into the final chamber. I see the door to the outside on the far side of the room, the light shining brightly through. There are more orcs barring our way to get there. Aragorn and Boromir charge right in and kill several orcs, Legolas hits a few more with well aimed arrows. I reform my Alex Mercer blade (it had changed back to a normal arm) and use it to cut down a couple more orcs. The rest run away in fear. We all pass through the door and onto a rocky landscape under the bright sun. We move quickly away from the entrance, making sure to get beyond the range of bows and arrows before taking a pause. I look around, everyone is sad, some are openly crying. I just kept thinking I should have saved Gandalf, I should have saved him. Apparently I said that aloud, because Aragorn says I did everything I could, we all did. He said this was what he feared from the start, alas but he spoke true. Gimili blames one of the mountains, shaking his fist at it, saying only if Caradhras had been less cruel. I look around again and I see Sam has a cut on his head. I don’t know where he got that, but I can heal it… I go over to Sam and focus healing energy on the injury and it closes up quickly. I’m not sure if he even notices, he is currently lost in his grief. I look around, but no one else looks injured. Aragorn says if I’m willing to stay around, they could use the extra help now. I tell him I can’t stay constantly, but I’ll be back if I’m needed. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.
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