The Great Trollshaws Race

[Fuin Elda]

There was plenty of hustle and bustle of creatures large and small both wild and pets with strange handlers to help cheer them on made their way to the Trollshaws.

many a fine vine was strung with large green leaves to look like little pennants flapping in the wind to make clear the races course for those that would be competing in it.

Racers or their handlers found a raven sitting happily on a nice flat rock with some leaves that had strange pecked marks on them occasionally calling out for racers to come and register- some form of annotation that likely only the raven itself could understand, or perhaps a very friendly dwarf if the dwarf had a mind to learn.

'CRAW CRAW!!!! THE GREAT TROLLSHAWS RACE WILL BE BEGINNING SOON!
Croaked the happy little raven quite pleased with themselves hoping to see many racers entering the race.

Rules of the Race
Any plaza members may participate and you may chose to race as any creature you fancy.
You may not use multiple racers
All posts must have at least 100 characters of RP accompany every post
Please make your rolls known at the bottom of your post in bold Examples: 1 D6 roll or 2 D20 rolls and 1 D6 roll
You may take multiple rolls if you so wish to a maximum of 15.
There are 15 turns per race.
Please make your last rolls by April 29th
GM updates will happen daily IF there is racer activity

D6 Rolls:
1,3,5 - Move forward those amounts
2,4,6 - Move BACKWARDS half those amounts

D20
A spread of -5 to +10 depending on the roll. Some come with light Lore questions - correct answers are not necessary just entertaining answers, and others with RP requirements in order for the movement to count! So please get these rolls in by APRIL 29th - race will end April 30th)

Please feel free to introduce yourself as your racer or as your racer and handler! The first set of rolls will be given out on April 1st.

[Rivvy Elf]

Trolley the Troll

"Hrruuugh," Trolley said, grunting as he carried a parasol. "Raagh hrruugh hooonk."

Today was a wretched day. It looked partly cloudy but any day with sun was a wretched one for Trolley. If not for the parasol then his skin allergies would pick up and he would calcify and turn into stone.

Unfortunately he lost a drinking bet so he had no choice but to participate in this race.

"Oraaagh," he said, "hooonk ooo graaah." It was hard to say Westron so he just stuck to Trollish, the most graceful and eloquent language in Middle Earth. He walked to the black bird and spoke multiple times in this most wonderful language, following whatever instruction the bird said in terms of registering for the race.

[Lady of Shadow]

Naelia with Asmodeus

Naelia didn't travel to a kingdom of the free peoples much, but when she heard of a Trollshaws Race, she thought that it would be a good time to bring her Lava Snake, Asmodeus, along in case they ever entered another Lava Snake Racing competition. "Besides, he's the only one who actually won a race!" the minioness thought to herself. She also had intel from her trusty Orcish helper, Orngor, that his partner in crime, Ormiak, might still be alive and had been spotted in the area, so Naelia thought that this was a good opportunity to check this rumor out. Ormiak had helped to capture Lathana when she was first accused of betraying the Dark Lord, but mysteriously disappeared shortly after. Rumors throughout Mordor began to circulate that Lathana might have killed him in one of her failed escape attempts.

"Okay, Asmodeus, here's your chance to prepare for another race, even if it isn't a Lava Snake Racing competition." the minioness urged the only Lava Snake that was victorious and not unlucky like Smaug, her first Lava Snake, since the former managed to get himself eaten in Shelob's Lair during a training exercise of all things!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Mimi the fieldmouse (tiny participant)

Mimi was a small, little greyfurred mouse you didn’t see easily between all the green of the plants and the brown of the earth. She blended in. She wouldn’t live long, just about two years at the most. But Mimi was not aware of it. She was four weeks old and had just left the nest she had been born in. It was wild land in the hills, with plenty of space and food to be found. Many little holes existed and were easy to access and raise a family. But today Mimi set out in the high grasses and sniffled her way toward a small pool of water to drink a bit. She was thirsty. She heard all sorts of peeps and rustles, anything could be a danger. Her four paws could barely be seen to touch the ground and she shot between the smallest corridor of two rocks. Mimi made sure she was not in the open. Any bird could pick her up and devour her. Something funny was going on and she tripled sideways up the trunk of a tree to a higher elevation and sat on a branch. Giants in all shapes and sizes moved around. What was all of this? This was her first step into the world to find a place of her own.

[Drifa]

Drifa with Dragon

Drifa was in good form, but Dragon, her racing badger, had not raced in over a year and was terribly out of shape, so the creature found it hard to wiggle out of his cage. But the air was full of Spring bird songs, eager for a catch, and the scent of worms and dirt was in the breeze. Bribing Dragon from his crate and back into his pink tutu would not take much while the warm weather persisted and the worms plentiful.
Other racers had arrived, and it looked like an exciting group - a mouse, snake and Troll. Dragon would have no problem if the rolls went his way.

[Silky Gooseness]

The Goose

The goose had come to enter itself. No handler had he, although he supposed that once upon a time there had probably been a farmhouse, and a woman with kind hands and feed, and perhaps even fluffy little siblings. But the war in Rohan had done terrible things to the local infrastructure and the community really wasn’t what it had used to be. Properly, the goose supposed, he belonged to himself, and it was under that assumption that he intended to compete. “Honk,” he commented.

[Romeran]

|
Haldan and Scout

Haldan was not much of a racer, being more interested generally in the hunting rather than racing. But Scout, the wolfhound, on the other hand loved racing and, after a great deal of convincing, which also included a sufficient amount of sulking, Scout had convinced Haldan to bring him to the races. Scout jumped and raced back and forth eagerly as they got close to the start. "Don't wear yourself out before you even begin" Haldan warned, but the eager dog did not care much and continued to bound in circles now around Haldan. Haldan couldn't help but smile. "Well I guess you're pretty happy to be here then" he said, patting the dog on his head and ruffling the fur around his ears.

[Fuin Elda]

The raven croaked happily and wrote down all of the names of every....thing that was racing. It looked like it was going to be quite the interesting race. With everything from a wee mouse to a Troll.

He had to admit he was a bit worried about the Troll but he seemed to be behaving himself thus far. If he didn't he supposed he'd have to see if he could get an elf to deal with them or perhaps a wizard. He'd heard wizards were decent at dealing with Trolls. Though there was one thing that was perhaps even more frightening than the Troll... and that was the goose.

Once everyones name was pecked into the leaves so he could read them he led the way to the starting line and lined everyone up

Trolley
Asmodeus
Mimi
Dragon
The Goose
Scout

He landed on a tree branch where he had laid out coloured leaves so that he could flash the colours (which probably wasn't entirely fair to the dog.) But he explained in common and bird as well as I could to all the participants that he would drop three leaves and on the third one which was green they were to begin racing. Once he was certain everyone understood he hopped along the branch and began knocking the leaves off.


Red.

Yellow....

Green! And the race had begun.

Please feel free to start requesting your Dice Rolls!

Apologies had a bit of an emergency with the convention I run so was delayed. That's mostly handled now for a few days at least!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Mimi the fieldmouse (tiny participant)

Mimi was small enough to remain between the grass shoots that rose above her. There was some kind of race going on between other animals. She recognised a dog, and a geese. The bigger ones would have a starting problem, but she had not. Mimi shot away between the grass, tripled op a branch and jumped down, to continue her route. She shot around a rock, drank at a small pool of water two sips and continued on. She was on the way to the first hurdle, a cross point where her route would switch. What way would she be sent to? She came across a rich flowery field that had different fragrances in the air. She crossed the field and came on the point, where she had to wait to continue.

1 D6 roll and 1 D20 roll

[Rivvy Elf]

Trolley the Troll

Trolley the Troll unfortunately was not good with rules. They usually went in one ear, then got stuck in that ear until it left via rocky earwax several years later. Neither was he good in zoology. That was a class he got a T in during his 8 years in NTIT, the Nurnen Troll Institute of Trollogy, where he majored in Trolling and minored in Physics.

Holding his parasol in one hand he looked at his opponents: a lava snake, a feathered fell beast (goose), a Wolf? (wolfhound), furry otter? (badger), and a tiny disease carrier (mouse).

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure where to run and what type of run this was. He did his best though to maintain a poker face, which was one of the classes he took in NTIT, by the way. He got a T in that too. Whether it was running forward or backpedaling, he wasn't too sure. Regardless, he had to be careful with his parasol. He needed to dodge any sunlight otherwise his skin allergy would kick in and he would turn into a rock.

2 D20 Rolls and 1 D6 Rolls

[Fuin Elda]

The race had started and it looked like it was going to be a good race!

Mimi: d6 - 1, d20 - 13 Your racer manages to find a quick path across a stream how does your racer take advantage of this? (+2). Total +3
Trolley: d6- 3 d20 6 your racer has stubbed their toe in a rock while they were attempting to cross a stream what happens that they end up going the wrong way? (-1) 19 your racer seems to get back on track by following their nose. Apparently it works for more than wizards what smell guides your racer the right way? (+2). Total +4


@Rivvy Elf Trolley: +4 (3/15)
@Aikári Salmarinian Mimi: +3 (2/15)
@Silky Gooseness The Goose: 0 (15)
@Lady of Shadow Asmodeus: 0 (15)
@Drifa Dragon: 0 (15)
@Romeran Scout: 0 (15)

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Mimi the fieldmouse (tiny participant)

Mimi saw a messenger and heard what chances she had. With this information she shot left on the cross point. She went into the underbrush along the path and was out of sight. Earth of sand it never bothered her. She was light of weight and could make good jumps. A fall wouldn’t hurt much. Then she came upon a waterbody, she had to cross. She took the route by walking up the trunk of a tree and follow the branches over the water. Mimi was not strong enough to counter the flow of the stream, so she made a courageous jump to another branch of a tree on the other side. She followed the sturdy branch back the new trunk and went down. She came upon a large rock where Mimi had oversight how the path of the race continued.

1 D6 roll and 1D20 roll

[Drifa]

Drifa with Dragon

Dwarves were not known to harbour pets. The badgers they raced with were lodged at a reputable sanctuary near Mirkwood, run by a family of badger-loving Beorns. Drifa, on one of her many excursions, visited often with Dragon, so the badger always remembered her scent. With the help of a few choice worms, she had gotten the creature out of its crate and to the starting line. It was all up to the Dragon now.

'Why are we always running during the day?' The badger thought as he looked at the competition. He had met a few snakes, most of which were more active at night - and the mouse. The Troll, goose and dog were not creatures he had met often and paid them no mind.
Stifling a yawn, Dragon slowly began to move, hoping he would gallop at some point and lose some winter weight. His tutu was awful tight.

2 D20 Rolls and 1 D6 Rolls

[Romeran]

Haldan and Scout

The strange set of race competitors had thrown off the Wolfhound who instead of starting when the others had, had been gawking at the troll and the lava snake. Quickly he realized the race had begun and Scout launched at his fastest pace to try and catch up. Scout’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as the wolfhound ran excitedly forward. Scout didn’t even care who won, in fact he wasn’t even sure what happened if you won anyway. The wolfhound was simply happy to be out and running.

1 D20 roll and 1 D6 roll.

[Lady of Shadow]

Naelia with Asmodeus

"Okay, Asmodeus, this is it!" Naelia addressed the only Lava Snake that was victorious. She was still a little in shock that her first Lava Snake, Smaug, managed to get himself eaten by a spawn of Shelob during a training mission of all things! His namesake would have roasted those nefarious spiders! Naelia enjoyed this activity since it got her mind off certain stressful situations, like tracking down that nuisance of a half-sister of hers, Lathana, when she managed to escape the PIts yet again! Why couldn't many of the free peoples just accept their fate, rather than trying to escape from it, but since she tried to do the same thing when she was held against her will in Northern Mirkwood by her very own mother (who later paid for that mistake with her life), she could kind of see where some of them were coming from, since if either the Dark Lord or her father wouldn't have hunted her down, the minioness would have burned that kingdom down in order to escape.

Asmodeus, meanwhile, slithered his way to the starting line and was eyeing the mouse as if he would make a tasty morsel. "No, Asmodeus!" his handler warned, causing him to turn back to his task. "You can eat the mouse after you win the race!" Sometimes Naelia could be a bit pushy, but minions weren't known to treat their "pets" like many of the free peoples did, so it was a good thing that Asmodeus was a little more patient than Smaug was, or else the minioness would be on her third Lava Snake by now.

1 D6 roll, and 1 D20 roll, please

[Fuin Elda]

The race had started and it looked like it was going to be a good race!

Mimi: d6 - 4, d20 - 5 Your racer has to think quick to keep out from under foot of the other racers as a bunch run about!(+1). Total -1
Dragon: d6- 4 d20 18 something shiney has caught your racers eye! What did they find? (+1) 1 oh no dragon got waylaid by a wizard asking riddles and can escape until they've stumped the wizard how do they finally escape? (-5). Total -8
Scout: d6- 3 D20 11 oh dear it appears a rabbit has run infront of your racer and distracted them! Do they catch the rabbit or does it manage to escape? (-2). Total +1
Asmodeus: d6- 3, D20 14 your racer hears a elvish voice somewhere talking about selling something and decides they need to get as far away from the elf as possible.... What is it that the elf was trying to sell? (+2) Total +5

@Lady of Shadow Asmodeus: +5 (2/15)
@Rivvy Elf Trolley: +4 (3/15)
@Aikári Salmarinian Mimi: +2 (4/15)
@Romeran Scout: +1 (2/15)
@Silky Gooseness The Goose: 0 (15)
@Drifa Dragon: -8 (3/15)

[Drifa]

Drifa with Dragon

A large human with a flowing beard and a tall black hat who spoke badger- stopped Dragon and riddled with him, keeping him from running the race. He saw the other competitors move away and grew quite dismayed. Finally, with a flash in his head in the shape of a white-faced moon, he figured a way out. He asked the wizard a riddle of his own, stumping him good on the quick. As the tall human puffed and pondered, Dragon grinned and escaped.

I am a he, I am a she
I can taste
Yet, I can not see
Separated into three
am I and
when I am cut,
I do not die.
What am I?

1 D6 roll and 1 D20 roll

[Drifa]

*blinks*
When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No, I won't be afraid, oh, I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Aiks, @Rivvy Elf , @Silky Gooseness, @Romeran , @Lady of Shadow

[Fuin Elda]

Dragon: d6- 5 d20 5 A small song bird tries to show you racer a short cut to help get them going the right way where does the bird lead your badger?(+1) 1 Total +6

@Lady of Shadow Asmodeus: +5 (2/15)
@Rivvy Elf Trolley: +4 (3/15)
@Aikári Salmarinian Mimi: +2 (4/15)
@Romeran Scout: +1 (2/15)
@Silky Gooseness The Goose: 0 (15)
@Drifa Dragon: -2 (5/15)

[Drifa]

Drifa with Dragon

It seemed to Dragon that the riddling Wizard delayed him and set him off course. He could see no other competitor, be it the mouse (particularly hard to see as it was very tiny), the parasol-toting troll, the evil snake he was sure he had raced against before, or the goose and tongue-lagging hound. He had to get back on track. But which way?
As his short legs turned him round and round, tutu twirling as he searched for the right way, a small bird, a thrush, dropped to the ground and stared his way. With its head cocked, it began to sing a simple ee-oh-lay followed by a trill that was very haunting, no doubt, but the twilit surroundings made it pure magic. Dragon was entranced.
As the bird continued to sing, the badger repeatedly heard a different melody - fa-lo-mee - as the bird took to the air and began to flutter from bush to branch ahead of Dragon. Two things went through the creature's mind as he followed the bird. One, the song was enough to make him fall in love with the first badge he saw; two, where there are birds, there are sure to be worms. All thoughts of the race were temporarily out of mind, for the badger did not know where the bird would lead him.

2 D6 rolls? 2 D20 rolls, please.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Mimi the fieldmouse (tiny participant)

In this race it was all about being smart. Not that Mimi did have much brain because of her small size, but she was good to plan out where to go safely. She jumped on the ground and shot from under the bushes to the next poll of grass, where the bigger participants had to move around. Their huge sizes swooped up the view sometimes. But Mimi was used to a large world around and had avoided hunters all her life. It was easy to move over higher altitudes. Some trees did hug each other and she jumped from branch to branch, finding her way alongside the track. There was shallow hole, but still big enough to be a trap for her, and she passed just over it. Maybe it was a burrow for a rabbit or a badger? Anyone she got past it, left her followers behind and made her way to a point she had to decide how to go further.

2 D6 rolls

Sorry for the late response.

[Silky Gooseness]

The Goose

The goose had spotted something tasty. It looked like a piece of bread. The goose loved bread, although it was probably not the healthiest of foods for it, and was in rare supply, what with the goose not having access to an oven, or indeed, yeast and flour. Rare instances of bread were obtained only via intimidation and thus tasted doubly sweet. But this - this looked like an abandoned crust. Was it worth it? Would he be coming off like some sort of desperate scavenging pigeon? Fortunately, the goose had no shame whatsoever, and was sidling up hopefully to the tidbit when he realised the race had begun without him. Honking angrily he flapped in the direction of the other competitors.

1D6 & 1D20, please!