[Brinniel]

The Barrow-Wight could not sleep. His mind kept racing back to the events of the evening. He had sounded so confident in his speech, but in truth he couldn’t help but worry about the possibility that he could be wrong. What if the hackers weren’t even here? Then everyone would be accusing innocents. This whole situation could turn very messy. The what-ifs continued to flood the Barrow-Wight’s mind until a noise outside the tent caused him to freeze in his thoughts.

“Who’s there?” the Barrow-Wight asked, his voice wavering.

The Barrow-Wight sat up and turned on his flashlight. Large shadows surrounded his tent. No humans could possibly be so large. Were there bears in this part of the woods? Then the zipper of the tent door slowly slid open. The Barrow-Wight shook so hard he dropped his flashlight and the tent was consumed by darkness. The sound of evil laughter erupted into the tent followed by a “Surprise!” and the Barrow-Wight heard no more.

When the Barrow-Wight regained consciousness his head was throbbing. He tried to move only to discover his hands and feet were bound. The sound of shovels freeing dirt could be heard nearby.

“Hey, he’s awake,” said a voice.
“Well then, make sure he doesn’t shout for help,” said another. “We’re almost done here.”

One of the shapes leaned down towards the Barrow-Wight and a face came into view. A furry face. “You know, you’ve been causing us a lot of trouble lately,” it grunted.
“Yeah,” said a third. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
“What do you mean?” asked the Barrow-Wight. “You’re the ones who started all this.”
“Ah, silly B-W. It’s just a website…one that happens to discriminate against our kind. Whoever said that we were the bad guys? All we wanted was for you to step down. But then you to arrange all of this. And now, mobs will be coming after us with pitchforks and torches….just like the old days. So you have left us with no choice; if killing is what it takes to end all this, that’s what we’ll do.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” the Barrow-Wight said.
“Well, we’ll just see about that,” said the closest shape as it gagged the Barrow-Wight. “But I guess you won’t, will you?”
The last thing the Barrow-Wight ever saw was a set of large grinning teeth.

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The Barrow Downers woke to a cool, breezy morning. They ate breakfast as they waited for further instructions. But they did not come.

Finally Nogrod asked, “Where is the Barrow-Wight?”
“I don’t know,” replied Kitanna. “Is he in his tent? Maybe he overslept.”
“Nope,” replied Eomer. “I just checked.”
“Perhaps he just went on a walk,” said Kath.
“Without telling us?” asked Mithalwen.
“Hey guys…was that there yesterday?” Durelin was pointing to a large mound only meters away from the camp.

The nineteen BDers approached the mound. It was covered with fresh dirt.
“Look, there’s a sign over here,” McCaber observed.
It read: Here lies The Barrow-Wight. May he not rest in peace.

“Oh dear,” sighed Sally.
“Why would someone do something like that?” asked The Sixth Wizard.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Rikae commented. “These hackers don’t want to be discovered.”
“Well now that the B-W is dead, what are we going to do?” THE Ka asked.
“The only thing we should do,” Boromir replied. “We must finish what the Barrow-Wight started and find these hackers.”

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The Living:

Nilpaurion Felagund~Ainulindalë Addict
Kitanna~the self-righteous know-it-all
Aganzir~non-anonymous neg-repper
Shastanis Althreduin~chatspeak translator
Nerwen~rabid fangirl
Boromir88~the one upper
Kath~artiste
Rikae~the person who tries to fake knowledge of the books and fails miserably
Durelin~Unreliable RPG Addict
Eomer of the Rohirrim~easily-offended trendy
Nogrod~the wanna-be moderator
The Elf-Warrior~nitpicker
satansaloser2005~a fan of everything but Tolkien
THE Ka~Artful Dodger
Eönwë~conspiracy theorist
The Sixth Wizard~grammar Nazi
Formendacil~Tolkien Canonist
Mithalwen~therapist
McCaber~does it 4 teh lulz

The Dead:

The Barrow-Wight~took up permanent residence in a barrow (mod)

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Day 1 has begun.

Hackers/Wolves stop PMing. Everyone now may discuss.