Thief Hunt::Series IV

[Fuin Elda]

Hmmm not she wasn't quiet right perhaps it was Narv, he was quite a character and stealing Grobby was not above him so she began to see if that was what happen after all there wasn't much she could do for the time being. So she kept her eyes out, looking for the tiny creature seeing if he'd gone missing She knew she would need to bite the bullet. The arrow head? She wasn't sure exactly she was gonna bite but she wasn't overly excited to have to make the march to Minas Morgul, she heard there were snakes. She crossed her fingers and tip toed into the fortress hoping she didn't spring any traps. "please, please, please..." She whispered as hoped she had the right place even if she didn't have the right thief or item.

[The Good Hunter]

I assume that even though things are no longer fine, I’m still good to go?

Escaping the snakes, and walking a little tenderly as one of the snakes bit him on his fungal ridden big toe, Fleeg inexplicably decided he wanted to find out where the anise smell was coming from. Was it a bad idea to sneak around Minas Morgûl like this? Absolutely! Was that going to stop Fleeg from doing something dumb? Absolutely not! What if he found some bottles with ghosts in them or something? Think of all the pranks Fleeg could pull on his ChaOs HeRManO! He could fill the bottle with a bit of cheap booze then watch as Reg got possessed by a ghost! The ultimate prank! Yes, Fleeg was gonna go exploring for sure.

He supposed he felt a little bad, leaving his brother Mig to deal with Thalionwen. But to be fair to all three of them, he had no idea how to fill out any forms. Even at the Black Market, he’d just plopped his tent down where there was space. He hated signing things like leases and rental agreements and payment plans. Numbers and legal nonsense were for the birds! Or Mig, who was so ugly he might as well be a vulture with teeth. Fleeg shuddered. Was Mig that ugly? Yes. Actually, he felt sorry for Thalionwen for having to deal with his brother.

Fleeg wandered for over an hour and saw nothing, no one. This place was creepy. Like super, super creepy. How does one go through an entire city for an hour and see know one? A few times he heard the skittering of clawed feet behind him that reminded him of Grobby from the bar, but every time he turned around there was nothing. A creepy giggle would break out when he did that, and echo off the walls until the entire chamber was filled with a decaying, raspy giggle. Fleeg began to wander exactly how worth finding a ghost bottle really was. The smell of anise was getting stronger and for some reason he could not explain fully, that made him much, much more nervous.

[Lady of Shadow]

"These thieves are getting more crafty by the minute!" Naelia thought to herself as she continued to track down where Narv would end up next.

For some odd reason, he led the minioness out of the Black Market and towards Minas Morgul, obviously trying to throw her off his trail by trying to lead her on a wild goose chase (even though the only fowl that Naelia had come across in the Land of Shadow was a chicken or rooster that probably ended up as some Orc's dinner palate).

Determined to catch up to him, the minioness once again came across the Hauberk of Angmar, not very well hidden. "Is he trying to tell me the reason that he took this particular item is to constantly try to trip me up while he hides out in another location, or has he led me to this particular location for a reason?" Naelia wondered, recalling the other times potential thieves have led her into a trap, so tried to keep her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

[Moriel]

DING DING DING!

The thief has been caught!! @Lady of Shadow has successfully apprehended that trollish thief Narv in his hiding place in Minas Morgul, where he had made off with the Hauberk of Angmar. Lady of Shadow, you are now a Minion First Rank Hunter! Nothing special happens.

As always in Mordor, thievery is rife, and it's time to set out after one again... a new culprit is abroad, the traps have been reset, Thief Hunt Round Eight, commence!

[The Good Hunter]

Forget that Minas Morgûl nonsense! Fleeg couldn’t find a bottle with a ghost in it to give to Reg. All he found, in fact, was a bottle of cannibal sand. Why it was called cannibal sand when it ate everything except other sand? He had broken into the top chamber and found the bottle with a juniper scented note from… Nixë? Who the hell was that? Fleeg was in no position to find out, nor did he actually care. As long as it wasn’t Jorgy he was happy. Wait. It wasn’t Jorgy right? Please don’t let it be Jorgy. Anyone but Jorgy. Sil, perhaps? Someone was coming, grab it and run!

Fleeg escaped the city of the dead and decided it was time to make good with Reg. Fleeg still hadn’t had some good ChAOs Bro time in what felt like weeks. The bottle of cannibal sand would be a great gift. But Fleeg knew he couldn’t just give it to Reg. The guy was dumb as a bag without an opening but even he would be suspicious of a gift from Fleeg at this point. He needed Reg to find it and open it in his own. He hid the bottle Beneath a Rock, making sure it was closed tight.

So now, what could Fleeg do to get Reg out here and find the bottle? Oooh! Fleeg had a sneaky idea. A game of orcish kickball was in order. What was orcish kickball? Same was regular kickball, just with a Hoppit head as a ball. Hey even Búbosha could join in and… well something. What does the winner get? Fleeg didn’t care, if Reg wanted a bottle from Ìrimë's Wine Stash Fleeg would easily agree. It wasn't like Reg could count how many home runs he had anyway.

[Lady of Shadow]

"I finally managed to capture someone!" Naelia thought to herself, glad she was able to stop someone from trying to take something from the Land of Shadow. But the minioness' job was hardly over, since there seemed to be another suspicious person lurking around her native homeland. "Let's see if I can can apprehend this suspicious someone." Naelia thought to herself as she headed away from the Nazgul's lair and tried to find clues for this new person that seemed to be up to no good in the Dark Land.

Trying to track down clues to the whereabouts of Mordor's latest thief, the minioness somehow found herself back in the watering hole known as On the Rocks, where she came across a suspicious thing; none other than the One George, but who had left it here? As she was contemplating this, she could have sworn she saw the Hobbit, Dwim, trying to sneak away like a petty thief so that nobody would notice him. "How many times am I going to run into this pesky little Halfling?" Naelia thought to herself as she continued to watch him to see if he would somehow slip up.

[Zôrzimril]

Where were we? Right. Reg was submerging half his body in a huge tank full of baby WitW (Watchers in the Water). If only Thalionwen hadn't distracted him! ARGGH!

Satisfied that the fire had gone out, Reg hoisted himself out of the tank and pried a WitW off his face. "Bleh!" he shouted as he threw it forcefully onto the ground, where it exploded. "Ha!" That had balanced itself out quite nicely. He stomped on the WiTW's head and picked up a huge Grond replica and smashed it a few more times. Then he trundled off. Time to find Fleeg.

Not far from the Black Market, he heard the dull sound of someone desperately gasping for air. What could that be? Hopefully a nice strangling. Or . . . no! Was that? Could it be? It was! It was Fleeg! Fleeg, running around and trying to exercise! Reg howled with laughter and doubled over at the sight of his cHaOs bRo running up and down a makeshift field, kicking a hoppit head about. "Oy! Dungface!" he cried, waving happily at his brO. "What's this, eh? Trying to work out to impress your bride??"

[Moriel]

The thief has NOT been found!
The item has NOT been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@Zôrzimril, within the Black Market you have stumbled upon a Tar Pit! Here the thief has cunningly concealed a deep, wide tar pit beneath the floor and you must swim or otherwise make your way out of the hot, sticky morass before hunting again.

[Dwim]

The tattoo shop at the Black Market had led to a dead end. There was no information to be found on the One George in there. Dwim left Taethowen alone to get her tattoo in peace, hoping that she would not tell anyone that she'd seen him there. He did not want the other thief hunters sniffing around his trail, trying to get on the back of his leads. He snuck out of the shop, hoping that Naelia would not spot him. He knew she was around, and she always seemed so suspicious of him.

As he continued to sneak around, he realised it was good fortune that he'd come to the market, as rumour began to spread that a Lava Snake had been stolen from Dhâd Bûrz. Exotic animals like that seemed to sell well at black markets like this, so he decided it would be worth a look around to see if it had been smuggled here. He looked around, either for some kind of exotic pet shop, or a specialty butcher. Turned out there were shops like that all around the market. This was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.

[The Good Hunter]

Shut up eelbreath!” Fleeg shouted at his BrO. Yes… yes in fact he was working out to impress Búbosha. What goblin wouldn't? He threw the Hoppit head at the dance, hair face of Reg who toppled into a pit of tar! Fleeg broke out into uncontrollable giggles. “I would like to formally challenge you to a game of Goblin Kickball!” Fleeg raised his voice so everyone in The Shadows could hear him, then slapped Reg in the face with a giant centipede. “I’ve already recruited Elenhir, to argue the rules with you until you want to cry like a whiney little elf, and Gwai, because Gwai not?”

Fleeg folded his arms over his chest and beamed as Reg struggled in the tar. “If you win, I will steal all the alcohol in the pub for you. If I win, you have to stick your head in Ketchup the Fell Beast's mouth. Deal?”

[Lady of Shadow]

"I may have lost my touch." Naelia thought to herself, as she decided to let the Halfling be for the time being. Now, the minioness found herself searching for clues around the Morannon for some reason. Probably because she didn't want to run into any more traps, although Naelia seemed to steer clear of them for a while, but that could change in an instant, especially if someone that was up to no good got nervous and was trying to throw those that were closing in on them off their trail.

As the minioness was heading towards Mordor's entrance, she came across Grobby looking as if it were abandoned in a haste. "Running scared, are we?" the minioness thought to herself as she spotted Uruva near the entrance, trying to see if she could somehow sneak out of the Land of Shadow without being seen.

[Zôrzimril]

“WOW,” Reg managed to shout as he fell once more into a tar pit. Of course Fleeg would lure him here, the prospect of mocking his string bean of a cHaoS brO serving as the juicy bait, only to shove him into a tar pit. That’s what had happened, right? Oh no! Fleeg had chucked a hoppit head at him to knock him off balance, then slapped him with a stupid centipede.

“Airhfjejrjfh,” Reg burbled. He reached out his hairy arms to grab at something, anything, and he found the hoppit head, now bobbing along in the sticky goo. It served as a kind of flotation device and Reg kicked his way to the edge of the tar pit. With a great grunt, he hauled himself onto the blasted earth. He caught the centipede by the tail before it could escape this chAotIc scene and shoved the huge creature into Fleeg’s stupid grinning mouth.

“DEAL!” he roared.

[Taethowen]

Somewhere, she'd lost track of time. She wandered back to The Halls of Injustice to see what had happened since she was last in the know with the Thief Hunts. Along the way, she tried to keep an ear out for any rumors with the current thief hunt, but so far as she could tell, no one had narrowed anything down yet.

It was just inside the doors to the Halls of Injustice, though, where she noticed Krumhûr sneaking down the halls pushing One Huge Barrel Full of Hobbits. How he'd gone unnoticed, she had no idea, but it was worth investigating to see if he might be the thief after all.

[Fuin Elda]

She wasn't sure where the time had gone, she'd clearly missed some time but that was alright she could see that people were already running around all over the place which made it so she could perhaps sneak in now a bit later so that she would be able to hopefully find the thief this time.

She tapped her fingers eyes narrowed, but decided it was time to look into Moriel who was like hiding in that Dark Corner... But what would she hide in a dark corner? Something you were ashamed of. She was certain of it. Which would likely mean the Pink Trike. Yes that was the first thing that she would investigate.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The item has NOT been found!
The hiding place HAS been found!

@Zôrzimril, you may now hunt again!

@Lady of Shadow, within the Morannon you have stumbled upon Shelob's Lair! Herself is branching (webbing?) out! Shelob has decided to expand her territory, and you have stumbled upon her. You must RP your escape before hunting again.

[Dwim]

No sign of Naelia yet, and Taethowen hadn't dobbed Dwim in yet either, so he was free to creep around the black market. He'd expected to find lava snakes for sale everywhere, but there was some kind of supply issue, and not a one could be found. Maybe the orc who'd tipped him off had been confused or been fed incorrect information. Maybe something else had been stolen from Dhâd Bûrz. Some other highly sought after delicacy. Perhaps it was One Rotting Leg O’ Las. It wouldn't hurt to have a look around for it anyway...

[Fuin Elda]

There was so much to do and was was pretty sure she was right about Moriel hiding in that Dark Corner but she was clearly wrong about the pink trike. She had to be it should have been easy to see the blasted pink trike in the corner it wasn't that dark after. Perhaps it was the Sequined Bumflap Onesie that she'd stolen, after all it would be hard to see it if she was sitting on her bottom. So Umoya sat waiting patiently to see if Moriel was wearing the Onsie of Doom.

[The Good Hunter]

Like the slippery, slimy eel that he was, Fleeg dodged the incoming giant centipede. He did so with the grace of a, well, a centipede. He bit the head off as it came near, his terrifying teeth snapping shut. Only to open again two seconds later when the decapitated bug head bit the inside of his cheek. He screamed and howled and kicked Reg’s shin as hard as his goblin feet would allow him.

By the time they returned to the playing field, Fleeg was met with disappointment. Elenhir was gone, citing some complaint about the uniforms not being the shade of pink he preferred they were just brown but okay whatever), leaving Fleeg short a player. Thank the ashclouds though! Krumhûr walked by and offered his services. Fleeg lost one acerbic player and gained a new one! Excellent. Gwai was still there, saying something about the whole thing being a dream but Fleeg didn’t have time for emotional and mental breakdowns to pay attention. He had a game to win!

During his time stuck in The Halls of Injustice, Fleeg had time to reflect on the things mostly important to him. It was during that that Fleeg realized he’d never, ever, given Reg a wet willy. Was it childish? Yes. Was it lowbrow? Yes. Was it above Fleeg’s sensibilities? Nope! He stuck his finger in his mouth, lathered it up with spit and snot, jumped up, and jammed his finger as hard as he could in Reg’s ear. “Hahaha! Sucker!” He dashed off to the playing field before his orcy CHAOs brO had a chance to retaliate.

Who would Reg field as a team? If Fleeg played his cards right, nobody. He’d egg the cactus for brains oaf into playing by himself. Okay, him and that Cat-O'-Nine-Tails because Fleeg really wanted to see what that cat looked like running around, but that wad it! Fleeg knew it was important to win the game, and to get Reg to find that bottle of Cannibal Sand.

[Taethowen]

Her previous guess having led to a dead-end, she wandered out of the Halls of Injustice and back out to the streets. There were lots of Rohirric names being dropped around Mordor these days, and this time she suspected Gwai was the one she was after. She caught sight of the woman in The Shadows a short while later, and wondered if the glint of gold was from Gwai's hair or whether she'd somehow found the One Ring. That would definitely explain why she was skulking around Mordor.

[Lady of Shadow]

"I must be cursed." Naelia thought to herself, since while exploring the Morannon, she ran into her Ladyship once again. "Darn these giant spiders!" the minioness cursed, although it was obvious that Shelob wasn't actually a spider, she just took on the form of one, perhaps to fool potential prey, though she wasn't going to fool Naelia a second time. "How did I do this the last time around?"

If she could remember correctly, the last time she was tracking the Hobbit, Dwim, but her Ladyship seemed more focused on the Halfling that she didn't seem to be bothered by the minioness herself, at least not at first. This time, she had wandered towards her new lair on her own, so she would at first try the same strategy, slowly backing away the way she had come until hopefully, someone else would come along to distract her long enough to lose interest. Naelia knew this would seem to those that didn't know her well enough like cowardice, but the minioness liked to think of it as saving her own skin, since even some Orcs (including her own trusted helper, an Orc by the name of Orngor), didn't like to encounter her Ladyship, since anyone who happened to come upon her lair was fair game.

After a few minutes of applying her former strategy, Naelia noticed that nobody else was coming towards the Morannon in the foreseeable future (perhaps they also stumbled upon Shelob). She thought that she would try a trick used by Halflings like Dwim when all else failed; throwing stones. "Like I would stoop so low!" the minioness thought to herself, but since her very survival depended on it, she thought that she would give it a try.

Picking up the nearest bunch of small stones (which she had to travel a ways to find), Naelia tossed it where her Ladyship continued to advance towards her, getting her between some of her eyes a couple of times, which caused her to screech and back away, not deterred at first, but as the minioness continued with this activity finally decided that this particular prey was craftier than she hoped and finally let Naelia be, but would not be so idle to the next hapless victim that happened to wander into her new expanded territory (it was almost as if she were trying to claim the whole kingdom as her territory, or at least it was beginning to seem this way to the minioness and many others that resided in the Land of Shadow).

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The item HAS been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@Lady of Shadow, you may now hunt again!

[The Good Hunter]

Gwai had gone to get some gin. Why she had decided to do this right before the start of the game wad anyone's guess. Fleeg, partial to the liquor, had given his reluctant blessing, provided that she provide him with a bottle as well. She seemed very eager to agree, too eager. She wasn’t coming back was she? Was she even going to get booze before she frolicked her way back to Rohan? That might be the worst of it, not that she was abandoning him right at the moment of his need, but that she was lying about getting alcohol. The nerve! Fleeg was even sure Reg would agree with him, and Reg would argue over the color the moon. At least he still had Krumhûr, right? Right? Where had he…? Well this was disappointing. Fleeg could feel his plot collapsing around him. Had he been too elaborate and convoluted in his plan? No. No, it was they how were wrong! Fleeg shook his fist to the heavens and let loose a stream of goblinoid curses fit to peel paint off a wall.

All was not lost. No. Fleeg would never give in so easily. If he were the kind of goblin to give up so easily, his corpse would be hanging from the walls of The Morannon with a massive Reg bequeathed wedgie. No. This was barely a minor set back. His team abandoned him before the big game? Fine, he didn’t need those losers anyway. He'd kick Reg’s ass in kickball all by himself.

It was going to be two on one, Fleeg versus his ChAOs bRO and the Cat-O'-Nine-Tails, who had shown up, smack Reg with one of the tails and began gnawing on the Hoppit head. Fleeg, for once, was too stunned by the weirdness to respond or even laugh. This game was going to be weird as fred.

[Lady of Shadow]

"That's another location I'm going to have to steer clear of, at least for the moment." Naelia thought to herself, now heading towards the Halls of Injustice, tracking down a new lead. As she was doing so, she noticed someone else heading towards the location she just got free of. "Where were you a couple of minutes ago?" the minioness thought to herself, as she shook her head at the new arrival, not sure if they saw her, since they had no idea what they were in for. "Their loss." Naelia thought to herself as she continued to track Taethowen in an attempt to see what they were up to.

En route to the next possible hiding spot of Mordor's newest thief, the minioness came across One Rotting Leg O' Las of all things. "What is this doing here?" Naelia wondered, making a note that the thief in question must have abandoned it in a haste. Perhaps one of the other hunters were closing in, and they had no time to find a more suitable hiding spot.

[Taethowen]

It seemed the glint of gold she'd caught sight of earlier was indeed Gwai's hair, and not the One Ring. What was surprising now, though, as she tracked the Rohir's path, was that Gwai seemed to have actually stolen a Cat O' Nine Tails and was now headed straight for The Morannon. Was she heading back to Rohan? What use would she have for a Cat O' Nine Tails there? Curious indeed...

[Zôrzimril]

In the shadow of The Morannon, the most epic of sporting events is about to take place! No, not the annual Troll Wrestling Championships! This is even better! A soccer game featuring - you guessed it - Mordor’s finest, the chAoS BRoS!!

In the midst of narrating this scene to himself, Reg suddenly flinched and scowled. It kind of felt like someone had lightly tapped his shin a moment ago. He looked down and saw a snarling, angry piece of dung with horrifying teeth and an even more horrifying smug face. It was Fleeg! The little turd waffle was trying to hurt him AND to get to Reg’s precious ear worms too, by the look of it!

“You leave my ear worms alone! They never done nothin to you and they didn’ ask to be part of this!” he growled, seizing Fleeg by the neck and tossing him bodily across the field. The goblin landed near the Cat O’ Nine Tails.

The Cat had just shown up on the field for some reason. Reg wasn’t too sure about that guy. He brushed aside one of the many tails (he didn't know exactly how many there were, only that there were a lot) when it smacked him in the face. The Cat didn’t seem to know the rules of soccer (neither did Reg, but he wasn’t about to admit that). Oh well. It was better to have an ally when facing stupid poopy Fleeg. They outnumbered the sly goblin! Thank accursed Melkor that Fleeg hadn’t managed to bring Moriel to the field!

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The item has NOT been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@San, @WRONG LEVER KRONK!, and @King Bull Sparra, within The Morannon you have stumbled upon Shelob's Lair! Herself is branching (webbing?) out! Shelob has decided to expand her territory, and you have stumbled upon her. You must RP your escape before hunting again.


Edit: so I messed up again. In the previous update, I should have said that the hiding place HAD been found. So the list of locations from which the correct choice should have been made is: Dhâd Burz, That Dark Corner, The Halls of Injustice, and The Shadows. Based on this update you can eliminate The Halls of Injustice.

You all still have to respond to the Morannon prompt though because I still resent the fact that no one tripped a trap a couple rounds ago and I make the rules here.

[Fuin Elda]

Now I'm horribly confused... So is the Morannon still in that list too then or has it been eliminated as well officially?

Everything was so horrifically confusing... For now though she'd was happy that she had managed to avoid Shelob as she looked at the poor saps that had been trapped by her. SkekSil was up to no good there yes that was Umoyas position on the matter, she just wanted to feed her pet spider. For now though she was happy to be seeing if Moriel Was hiding in That Dark Corner with the One Ring.

[The Good Hunter]

Fleeg was just about to get the game underway when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Was that? Oh. Oh no. This was not what he planned for! Fleeg panicked. Fleeg was Panic! For half a second only, the green goblinoid figure morphed into a blueish hued imp with knife like horns, a devilish tail, and tiny wings. His eyes bugged, becoming comically large before he reverted back to his goblin self. Shelob?! What in the? Huh? This was unexpected. Fleeg had to think fast. What did he have around him? A hoppit head. He pursed his lips and tapped his cheek as he thought. The giant spider was coming straight for him! He kicked the hoppit head. If Fleeg ever had children, he would tell them of that day, the day he kicked something at the largest spider he’d ever seen and lived. How did he live? Well after he kicked the head in the direction of the Brobdingnagian spider, he ran to where Reg was standing, slack jawed and drooling (seriously BrO, close your maw). Reg was dumb and probably moulding from the inside out, but he was also large and easy for a small goblin like Fleeg to hide behind. He was too focused on the eight legs and the dozen eyes to notice the green blur surely. Fleeg could reasonably blame him for the hoppit head assault too. Very bRo, much ChAoTiC.

[Taethowen]

Well if there was any time for her to stumble across Shelob, at least it wasn't while she was the only prey in sight. Spiders didn't scare her, really, but there was something about a spider that was larger than you and been known to consume pretty much anything that caught her attention.

The downside with the Morannon--why had Shelob descended from Cirith Ungol, anyway?--was that it was a big open plain. So there weren't many places to hide. Her best chance would be that Shelob noticed the others before she noticed her, and she could make a run for it.

And just her luck, it seemed that the spider was heading straight for the goblins, and she took the opportunity to get out of there. But not too fast, because then she'd draw attention to herself.

[Lady of Shadow]

"I was wondering why it was taking so long to run into a trap." Naelia thought to herself as she heard the results of the latest hunt. Shaking off this "mistake" by what some might call a "technicality", she decided to get on with tracking down Mordor's latest thief.

Now, the minioness found herself searching through Dhad Burz making sure she didn't go anywhere close to where her half-sister, Lathana, was imprisoned, or else that nuisance of a sibling (or half sibling, in this case) might think that Naelia had a change of heart and was trying to spring her. "Like that'll ever happen." the minioness thought to herself as she continued to search the possible hiding spot for clues to the thief's identity and to track down what they tried to take without permission.

This is where she came across the One Ring, lying near a corner on the floor. "DId someone really think they could make off with the big boss's chief weapon?" Naelia thought to herself, shaking her head on what must go through the mind of some people, and just so happened to catch a glimpse of the kind of person that would attempt to do such a thing: none other than Krumhur himself!

[Zôrzimril]

In a wild turn of events, the soccer game was put on hold by the arrival of Shelob. “Oi!” Reg yelled, panicking a little as the great spider bore down on them. “I told you, they don’ make bumflap onesies for spiders, sequins or no!” This made absolutely no difference in Shelob’s trajectory. Fleeg, thinking faster than Reg (as usual) kicked the severed hoppit head at her. Reg’s eyes bulged with surprise, and he spun around to face his chAoS bRo, who was hiding behind him.

“Not so fast, ya foul moldy worm!” He picked up the discarded carcass of the beheaded centipede and slapped Fleeg with it before raising it high for Shelob to see. “Alright, you! You wan' this? Go and get it!!” He threw the headless centipede body as hard as he could and ran.

[Moriel]

DING DING DING!

The thief has been caught!! @CHAOS has successfully apprehended that sneaky thief Moriel in her hiding place in That Dark Corner, where she had made off with The One Ring. You are now a Minion Second Rank Hunter! You may choose to specialize in Thieves, Places, or Items, and will be able to guess two possible Thieves, Places, or Items, according to which specialization you choose, in each post.

As always in Mordor, thievery is rife, and it's time to set out after one again... a new culprit is abroad, the traps have been reset, Thief Hunt Round Nine, commence!

[Taethowen]

Once more, she was cheated out of the opportunity to find the thief, having escaped from the Morannon to find that she'd been given completely wrong information to start with. Now, though, she was on the trail of a rather rambunctious wizard who apparently went by the name of Ducky (which she thought was a rather odd pseudonym for one of the Istari, but she hadn't really studied their naming conventions). He'd apparently stolen a Lava Snake from a stall at the Black Market, and the owner was irate enough that they wanted the snake back.

[Fuin Elda]

Umoya let out a yip of a cheer that honestly was very un-minion like at winning another round of the thief hunt. Surely Sauron would reward her for finding the one ring. And it was apparently so... though it was strange. Needless tos ay it was time to search for the next thief this time though she had her eye on Lailorn and Blinky. Not for any particularly special reason other than honestly people had not been paying a lot of attention to either one of them up until this point. Of course she wasn't entirely sure what they'd steal, maybe between the two of them they'd managed to heist Grond from The Towers of No Return. After all they had all sorts of weird things in that tower and people tended to wander around and exchange weapons in there from what she had heard.

(Now I can confuse myself like Frost confused me )

[Moriel]

The thief has NOT been found!
The item HAS been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@WRONG LEVER KRONK!, within the Black Market you have stumbled upon a Variety of Snakes! Here the thief has left a variety of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes to attack whoever enters. If you are unlucky enough to cross these snakes, you are bitten and must RP your way out of the situation before hunting again.

[Lady of Shadow]

Now Naelia heard rumors that someone tried to make off with Grond of all things! "Good luck on that one!" the minioness thought to herself, since the weapon was huge! Rumor had it that it may have been left over from the First Age when the Dark Power in charge was none other than Morgoth himself, who was the present Dark Lord's master. "Now who in their right mind would try to make off with that?! Naelia wondered, as she continued to search for clues as to who might be responsible for such a feat.

In her travels from the Pits beneath the Dark Tower of Barad-dur, the minioness found herself in That Dark Corner for some reason. "Trying to make yourself disappear, I wager." Naelia thought to herself as she began to sweep the area of anyone suspicious. While she was almost on the verge of giving up and going to another area that looked suspicious, she could have sworn she saw Uruva attempting to sneak around the nearest corner, as if she were trying to hide something... something BIG, since the minioness thought that she heard her grunt a couple of times in the process.

[Fuin Elda]

Hmmm it seemed she might have been right about Grond. So that was a start, but she was wrong on the who and the where.... Who else could possibly be thick as thieves? A fantastically on the nose question considering shew as looking for a thief. When it struck her. Sil and Tzu. Yes those two use to be thicker than theives. They were one step from organized crime even. But where would they hide? Grobby's Cupboard. Yes that would be the last place anyone would look for them especially if they had Grond.

[The Good Hunter]

Shelob situation handled, it was time to get back to the game. But there was one problem Fleeg could see. Just one problem. It was, however, a rather large single problem: they had no more hoppit head to use as a ball. Shelob had munched on the head as greedily as a… a giant spider…

“What do we do now?” Fleeg asked his ChAoS bRo, knowing he’d get an unhelpful answer but wanting to make sure Reg felt included. He’d likely come up with some idea like finding that Jorgy characters and using his head. It wasn’t a bad idea in theory, but that guy gave Fleeg the whillies. He wasn’t natural. If Reg wanted to hunt down the “definitely a Hobbit not a Lava Snake” then he was welcomed to it. Not Fleeg. No sir. Fleeg would rather slather honey all over himself and open up his murder hornet apiary. That seemed less dangerous.

Fleeg had a different hoppit in mind, one not some Dwim-merlaik in disguise. Just where to find him though. He normally hung out in On the Rocks throwing mugs of beer at passersby but Fleeg was still banned. Reg was too, but for an entirely different incident, something about stealing Írimë’s bubble bath mixture. Reg didn’t elaborate and Fleeg wasn’t going to ask.

[Taethowen]

She swore under breath as she stepped into the Black Market and promptly stumbled across a whole bunch of snakes. Fortunately, since they were strewn across the streets, she managed to avoid being bitten, but it was aggravating to have to dodge them all and work her way out of the market. At least she only stepped on one snake, and it was non-venomous.

Finally, she headed out of the market and left all the ridiculous snakes behind, and went to see where she might hunt down the actual thief...

[Zôrzimril]

Well, as their hoppit head had been good and crunched up by Shelob, it looked like their grand plans for a soccer game would be called off. “Eh,” Reg said, shrugging. But then Fleeg wanted his input (which had never happened before...) on what to do now. He narrowed his eyes. “Not sure if friend asking for help... or trap,” he grumbled. This was the problem with Fleeg. He was nothing if not a treacherous little cHaoS weasel!

“Well, if we want to play soccer we could just find a big Pearl and kick that around,” he suggested. Honestly, where would one come across a pearl in these lands? And why would Fleeg do anything but pawn it to the highest bidder if he did find one? But poor Reg only had so many ideas swimming in his little brain. “Or we could play that game where we fling a Lava Snake at each other.” That was an old childhood favorite of Reg’s! “Or maybe there’s some spare heads down at Dhâd Bûrz. Their bodies probably ain’t using em!” He beamed at his own brilliance.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The item HAS been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@WRONG LEVER KRONK!, you may now hunt again!

@CHAOS, within Grobby's Cupboard you have stumbled upon Shelob's Lair! Herself is branching (webbing?) out! Shelob has decided to expand her territory, and you have stumbled upon her. You must RP your escape before hunting again.

@Ignis Gehennalis, within On the Rocks you have stumbled upon The Heart of Orodruin! You immediately pass through a portal into the very heart of Mount Doom where you suffer a fiery death, and cannot play for the remainder of this round (until the thief has been found and we start again)! You are free however to describe your torment or/and death and haunting of other players.

[Fuin Elda]

"Bloody hell" She looked inside the cupboard and it was much larger than she expected a cupboard to be, especially with how small the door was... It was like it was much larger on the inside than it should be. She stepped into it to try to find if she can find Grond in there, or either of Sil or Tzu. Instead she found herself staring at a very very large spider looking right at her.

"BLOODY HELL IT"S A SPIDER." With that she turned and bolted towards the tiny door opening which was a heck of a long way away from where she was. She suddenly had a brilliant idea. "GROBBY it's BROOM BROOM TIME!!!!: She yelled, knowing very well that Grobby prefered to keep things fairly clean at least generally that's what he did on the Rocks. That however did not work, as Grobby was not there. He was probably cleaning up after some drunken elf at the pub. Instead she began looking through the things in the cupboard eventually finding a strange rock that sparked when she struck it.

She struck it several times on walls that shouldn't exist inside a cupboard as she ran until finally some of the sparks landed on one of the webs and caught it fire causing Shelob to stop and run the other way away from the flames that licked across the cupboard between Umoya and herself as the entire cupboard went up in flames.

As should all things plagued with spiders. With that she burst out of the cupboard door and slammed it shut so that Shelob would hopefully burn with the cupboard and everything in it. She really must get Grobby a new cupboard. But where does one find a cupboard that is much larger on the inside than the outside. Perhaps if she was lucky it would simply...regenerate? With that she backed away and hoped nobody would notice that the cupboard was currently on fire.

[The Good Hunter]

Everything was going great. That’s how Fleeg should have known something bad was about to happen to him. He was just about to kick Reg for suggesting they use a giant pearl as a soccer ball when it happened. Remember Fleeg's ability to move through time and space in just a few sentences or phrases? Well, that’s what happened. The goblin went to kick and as soon as his leg left the ground the earth opened up around him and suddenly he was surrounded by fire and lava. He screamed. He screamed as loud and as goat-like as he could before Ignis Gehennalis overtook him. “Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg!”

Then it was all over.

Or.

Was it?

Fleeg stood exactly where he had before fiery oblivion swallowed him. Was that a dream? What? No. His figure wasn’t the same kind of green. He could see through himself. He screamed. No one seemed to hear him though, at least no one reacted to his goat impersonation.

Great. He was dead. Well shire.

There was only one thing to do now. Haunt Reg.

He crapt up behind his ChA0s br0 and began to sing

There is a curse
Upon my every waking breath
And I cannot escape the darkness
It feels like every step
Is gonna be my last
And I cannot escape the darkness*

(OOC: Lyrics taken from “I Cannot Escape the Darkness” by Those Poor Bastards)

[Taethowen]

Wandering out of the market, she startled again when she caught sight of another snake slithering away Beneath a Rock. She swore, jumping back, and then realized that it wasn't one of the snakes from the market, but just a plain ol' Lava Snake. With a sigh, she shook her head and skirted around the rock to head up the street. She'd heard something about Sil being the thief this time around, but first she had to find them...

[Zôrzimril]

Reg stood there, mouth hanging open and a look of deep concern on his hairy face. For Fleeg, his best chAos BrO, had vanished! Poof!

“Fleeg?” he called. No one answered. The Cat O Nine Tails was playing with a Lava Snake and not paying him any attention. “Was it something I said? We don’t have to play soccer with a big Pearl!!” Reg yelled, hoping maybe Fleeg would hear this and come back. On second thought, maybe Fleeg was just hiding Beneath a Rock, waiting to ambush Reg when he least expected it.

Reg ambled over to investigate. But then a wispy voice, like the wind if it could wheeze like an old goblin, began singing. Reg froze. “That’s weird. It’s like somethin' out o that twilighty show about that zone.” All the hairs on him stood on end, the result being that he looked like a big porcupine. “Get away from me, wind!” He yelled, waving his arms frantically to chase away this singing wind. “Nobody wants to hear you sing!!” When the little voice did not relent, Reg decided it was time to outrun it. And so he sprinted off into the sunset.

[The Good Hunter]

Having haunted his old ChaOs HerManO enough to keep the hairy oaf spinning at shadows for at least another hour, Fleeg decided it was time to bother someone else, just to see how much chaos he could actually cause. Would it be more or less than when he was a live? Only one way to find out! He rummaged and crapt around the pub, mixing drinks with his semi corporeal nature and spilling them all over the floor in his attempt to drink them. All of the sudden he heard a scream and clatter and a scrambling of feet. A human burst out of the kitchen followed by a gout of flame that reached up the ceiling. Well now things got interesting! Fleeg decided he would follow this human around for a bit and see what sort of chAOs he could create with her, or at her. He meandered through the burning kitchen (Írimë was going to hire Winddancer to kill a lot of people over this) and found some bundles of spiderweb hanging around the cupboards. Hmmmmm, Shelob? Here? That spider wench was crazy busy and in the weirdest of places. An idea came into his devious and ChaOtIC goblin mind. He bundled up the spider web and raced back out, following her out of the bar. Ever so delicately he draped the cobweb over her shoulders.

“Hey,” he whispered in his ghostly form, “you missed one.”

[Lady of Shadow]

Not finding anything suspicious in the last place she checked, Naelia now found herself under A Cloud of Ash which wasn't surprising in the Land of Shadow, since it did contain an active volcano! Mordor's latest thief must have been thinking along the same lines after attempting to make off with Grond of all things!

The minioness was still certain that the person responsible was none other than Uruva, since she did seem a bit out of breath when Naelia was tracking her through the last location. "Was that just a ruse to throw me off the trail?" the minioness thought to herself as she continued to track the latest thief through her native homeland. While she was doing so, she still wondered how Mordor's latest thief could pull off such a heist in the first place, since the item in question took a bunch of minions (and large beasts that Naelia still couldn't identify) to even move it.

[Moriel]

The thief HAS been found!
The item HAS been found!
The hiding place has NOT been found!

@CHAOS, you may now hunt again!

[Dwim]

Dwim was still at the Black Market. Most things for sale there were originally stolen, so it was usually a good place to stalk around. Not that it had lead to much so far. He still hadn't found a Lava Snake vendor, or one that was willing to speak to him anyway. Maybe he just needed to change his tactics a bit, to sound like he meant business.

"Paying up to 100 gold coins for Lava Snakes!" he yelled out. "I'm eager, and ready to overpay!"

Soon a few strange people started appearing from out of The Shadows. One of them was hissing something that sounded like "Sil..." Dwim assumed that was her name. Little did he know she was trying to say "silly halfling..." except that half her tongue was missing so she just couldn't get the syllables out. Nevertheless, the hobbit suspected someone was about to offer him a lava snake or two.

[Fuin Elda]

Umoya for her part spun around as the cobwebs landed on her from outside the cuboard that was bilging black smoke. Looking for Shelob having heard the faintest whisper of a voic and she narrowed her eyes. "Right. So I wonder if Sauron out a bit of his spirit in this cobweb..." It's the only thing she could use to account for the spider webs, after all she didn't overly believe in ghosts and what other reason would there be for her to hear a voice?
None that's right.

She pulled the webs off of her self tucked them in a bag and then went after Sil and Uruva who had possibly made off with Grond to Barad-Dur a good place to leave the creepy talking cobwebs too just incase.