Right on the money! 


Ohdalf jutted forth his chin and squinted his eyes, while looking over the companions. His mind wondered at things that were unknown, but he spoke, "The Lord Mogdred is not here. Where would you all be a'headin' while trampsing over our realm?"

Esgalwen steadied her eyes on the chambelain. "Ohdalf, you know well that I have spent many days searching these lands for my lost kin. My friends have agreed to help me in my efforts. I hope, with their strength, to push closer to the Necromancer's tower... and beyond, if needed."

The chamberlain lowered his chin, gave a sigh of acceptance and said, "Aye, Esgalwen, I know you have spent many hard months in the wilds looking for companions that are most assuredly lost. Ye take on tasks that are much to grave for a woman to bear, but you are stout of heart of you love your folk." He looked over her shoulder at the others - a strange lot indeed, but vouched for by this woman and the man who had spoke for Mogdred. "I fear you be making a mistake if you decide to press further towards the shadow hill...but I will give leave for you to cross our lands. I will even give you a night under a roof if you wish it."

---

You guys achieved 7+ total successes of between introductions and interactions which is an extraordinary success for the encounter.

  Well that's just incentive to be more disreputable

Grimbeorn nodded, "Aye, we would.  Our thanks to you and your master."

The companions, for the sake of Esgalwen, were given a place in the hall. Several of the benches were turned over and pushed against the wall. The more well off members of the group considered the lodgings meager, but others among them said that this was the custom among the peoples of the wood and the Anduin river valley. In fact, their presence in the hall was considered a place of respect and privilege, as the fire would be going all night and it was closer to the seat of the lord. Abrogast thought they would have been placed in the stable, but sleeping here in the hall he recognized it for the honor that it was. Esgalwen alone was not with them, she was given her old room off of the main hall that she had been given during her stay here in the hall.

The hall was mostly quiet and the Brown Wizard kept his own council as to what had transpired during the day. Before the company had even dropped their packs or settled in it seemed that the bird that was previously flying about the hall was on the shoulder of the wizard and the field mice who lived in the thatch had gathered to take council with the scraggily bearded man in brown.
Other than the animal visitors the companions noted that the hall remained largely empty and uninhabited. The women of the hall gave them something to eat. Presumably the left over's from the previous feats set to a low boil on the ever present fire.
As the sun began to set the quiet of the hall was interrupted by the pounding of small feet and the steady sound of a wooden thump and then a dragging sound. Two children, both boys, rushed to the company calling for Esgalwen.

"Lady E! Lady E!"

The Dunadan knew them as two youths from the village, Acca and Kenway. Both boys had often spoken to her while she was in the hall and had a constant thirst for stories of the south and the 'olden days' as they called them. The two stopped and were in a stunned silence when they spotted a dwarf, an elf, a half man, and the wizard.
"Are these your friends?" asked Acca.

The first question immediately followed up with another from Kenway, "It's a dwarf! Can I touch him?"
The woman from the south could not help herself and a chuckle escaped her, "you will have to ask him for yourself."
Ohdalf appeared from the back of the hall at the sound of children and would have shooed them away if it were not for the third person who had entered the hall with them.

He was tall for a woodman, almost of a height of the Beornings, though clean shaven. His arms were massive and made to look even more so by the shriveled and twisted appearance of his stunted legs. The legs dragged behind the man, while under each arm supported a gnarly branch carved for the purpose of two crutches. His name was Aldwyn Healtman, and he too had once been a prisoner of the tower. Many of the folk of Amon Baulgir taunted and ridiculed the man, though Esgalwen knew him to be kind and a fierce warrior if strapped into his horse.

"They heard you were here lady and could not be contained. I see you have brought your companions that you often spoke of." The man looked the company up and down as if weighing each man in turn.

"May I have a moment of your time?"

Esgalwen nodded to Aldwyn, "of course. Acca, see that one there? His name is Arbogast and he is a Fire-Watcher and knows all kinds of stories."

In moment the two children had forgotten the dwarf had descended upon the Woodman.
Aldwyn dragged himself a ways away from the group to address Esgalwen in private.

"Lady, I am glad that you have returned. M' Lord Mogdred is much a different man when you are in our company."

" When you were here you asked me about the lands around here, and what I knew of them. I have copied a crude map for you, I have little skill in drawing, but thought that it might be some meager use to you. As you know I have not been able to travel widely since I was taken to that cursed pit, but from memory I have added places that folk have lived or places were your kin may have sought out as sanctuary. I can only caution you that not all folk are peaceful, and a lady such as yourself should not travel alone or be too trusting. Now, I must be going Ohdalf does not take kindly to things that he doesn't know about and our talk will not go unnoticed. The shorter it is the better. Fair well Lady."

The crippled man made to leave the hall, the children however would not be so quick to do so. 

Bandy is curious to discover why the men are absent and moves closer to Arbogast as if to listen to his stories. "Hello," he says cheerfully to the boys, "my name is Bandy. It must be fun to have the run of the place while the men are away?" He says the last quietly to prevent Aldwyn from hearing. "Where have they all gone anyway?"

  I'll make a Riddle roll if you require one.

Acca stares wide mouthed at the halfling, " I didnt know you were really real! Lady Esgalwen told me about you, but I thought it was another story like the ones the river folk tell. Do you really haunt boats and fish with your hands?"

Kenway spoke next, "they have gone to war. They always go to war. My father says we own only what we have the strength to hold and fight for. When I grow up I want to go to battle, and have feirce dogs at my command. I'll have a whole hall hung with the pickled heads of stinkers! Or put them on sharpened sticks to scare away my enemies. Maybe both, that way far and wide they will know that a great warrior has his hall."

Arbogast looks, mock-serious, at the two boys.  "Then you will be a greater warrior than I, certainly, for there are things abroad in Mirkwood that chill the stoutest of hearts!  My friend promised you a story, and you shall have one - be still a moment and listen." 

Then he lifts his voice to sing:

I slept one night in an empty hut on the side of a lonely hill. 
I never cared much for empty huts, but the night was dark and chill.
So I lit a small fire and ate my food, and saw that the door was shut
Then I wrapped myself in my blanket by the side of the ancient hut. 

I chanced to wake in the dead of night, still feeling cozy and warm,
When standing near to me I spied a horrible ghostly form! 
It had horns of a most prodigious size and a sting like a monstrous bee
But what on earth was it doing there?  And what did it want with me?

All I saw, you may say, was the shadows at play, or call me an outright liar
But oh!  Had you seen it plain as day with its eyes like coals of fire! 
Then it gave a moan and a horrible groan that curdled my blood with fear
And 'there's only two of us here,' it said.  'There's only two of us here.' 

I kept one eye on the door of the hut and one on the monstrosity. 
I only wanted to dress myself, get out the door and flee!
But I couldn't find where I'd left my boots, so I couldn't get out and clear
And 'there's only two of us here,' it moaned.  'There's only two of us here.' 

I hadn't a thing to defend myself, not even a stick or a stone
And 'there's only two of us here,' it said again with a terrible groan! 
I knew that I ought to make some reply, though I thought my end to be near:
'By my father's beard, when I find my boots there'll only be one of us here!'

Well, I found them at last and got them on, then out of the door I ran
And I covered the path like an arrow loosed to the home of my welcoming clan! 
And I haven't slept in a hut since then, and I tremble and shake with fear
When I think of the horrible thing that moaned 'there's only two of us here!'




I'll make a Song roll in case this turns out to be plot-relevant in some way: 

Also, I'd like to try for a Riddle roll to try to identify any secret messages Esgalwen might be passing to Aldwyn:

The two children stood silently while the song was sung, their wide eyes staring up at the Fire Watcher. The tune was a common one to the Woodman, and it took little concentration to utter it. While he spoke his attention was instead upon Esgalwen and what she was doing. He had noted earlier that every time Mogdred's name was mentioned she grew slightly nervous or agitated. Later she was the one to insist that the companions come here to the hall, against the advice of the Brown Wizard, and call upon Mogdred. Now, here in the hall she had separated herself from the group and spoken to one of Mogdred's men.

Just as the song was finishing Arbogast saw the crippled man pass something to Esgalwen, and they both smiled. The lady from the south seemed more familiar here than she had been with her earlier companions.

"What did the hut look like? Do you sleep with your boots on now?"

"It's a song numbskull, he didn't really sleep in a hut? Did you sleep in a hut?"

"Again, again. Let's hear it again."

"I liked the coal eyes part. Do dwarfs and tiny men sing songs too?"

While Arbogast sings, Bandy blows smoke rings to amuse the boys.

"Yes, yes, he laughs," at the boys' questions, "we tiny men do sings songs. Once we start you can hardly keep us quiet. Here is one that I heard Mr Baggins sing. You know who he is, right?"

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known

As he finishes, Bandy feels that he is on a road that goes ever, ever on. Laughing with these children reminds him of home.

Arbogast rolled an  , so take that into account.

Your fathers and all the men of Amon Bauglir are brave men, and you will be too. My companions and I will lend them aid and destroy a few stinkers as we help Lady E search for her comapnions. Remember though that a true warrior fights because he must, not because he loves battle. A warrior protects his land and his family. A warior loves peace more than war.

The children's attention was immediately drawn to the Hobbit as he began a song of his own.

While his companion began a song of his own Arbogast could just make out the last words of Aldwyn, "...our talk will not go unnoticed, the shorter the better." The woodman attempted to watch out of the corner of his eye while not looking directly at the two. He lost the rest of the conversation when he spotted someone observing them, he couldn't make out who it was but Ohdalf was the only other person he had seen in the hall.

Arbogast was called back to his companions by the exclamation of Bandy and the puzzled look on the children's faces.

"What is a Baggins," asked Acca. 

"Well bless my soul, you haven't heard of the famous Bilbo Baggins. Why he is my kinsman, albeit a distant one, from the Shire. The Shire is beyond the Misty Mountain, and it is the land of the Hobbits. By the way, we do not catch and eat fish with our hands. Where in Middle Earth did you hear that? A few years ago Mr. Baggins in the company of Gandalf the Wizard, and the great Thorin Oakenshield - my friend Rorin can tell you all about him if you like - crossed the mountains and had a great hair-raising adventure. They were kidnapped by goblins and chased by wolves and made prisoners by the elves." At that, Bandy makes an exagerated, angry face at Orophin. He then gives a long and detailed account of the destruction of Lake Town and the death of Smaug calculated to thrill and frighten young boys. "So you see, you may mistake us Hobbits for children, but we are really quite fierce and formidable." 

As Bandobras settles in to his tale, Arbogast makes his excuses and stands up from the long table.  Then, keeping his expression as neutral as he can, he walks to the door, passing close by Esgalwen.  He pretends to be unconcerned, sparing but a quick glance at Aldwyn's map as he walks past. 

He catches up to the crippled man outside the door to the Hall.  "Your pardon, sir," he says, "but might I speak with you a while?  I am the fire-watcher, and a friend of Esgalwen." 

Quote from: tomcat on Sep 17, 2015, 09:55 PM Arbogast rolled an  , so take that into account.

:ooc:Yeah, he's really worked himself up into a paranoid mess over this!  I'm going to make an Awareness roll (based on the fact that it's a sidelong glance and not a close examination) to try and work out what the map is, and a Stealth roll to hide the fact that I'm doing it.  Posterboy, you can oppose the Stealth roll with an Awareness, if you want Esgalwen to see him acting all suspicious! 

Awareness:

Stealth:

Grimbeorn catches some of the exchange between the Hobbit, Woodsman, and the children.  "Hair-raising indeed!  If they only knew what really happened, but it is good that they don't," he thought.  Stretching himself out, the heir of Beorn settled in.  More than once he caught himself thinking of the similarities of this place to his father's hall before sleep took him, not uneasy but neither restful in anticipation of the coming day.