The Golden Perch Inn

[mormegil]

With one great heave, Kuric threw the doors open. It was obvious that they had been opened recently as not nearly as much dust flew about as should have. "They're down here, that's fer sure lad."

Kuric began running into the cellar and looked back at Tollers who was waiting hesitatingly at the entrance. He could tell that Tollers was indeed frightened of entering the cellar without a search party.

"No sense in waiting lad, there in trouble down there and we can help them. I don't suppose ye have a weapon, best get one quick, whatever will work, it may be helpful in a pinch"

[Folwren]

The five children sat huddled in a dark corridor not far from the cellar door. It had been impossible for them to see, though, how near they actually were to the opening. But when the door was thrown back, it echoed with a strange, muffled sort of thump down through the earth and Lil lifted her sleepy head and blinked her heavy eyelids.

“Daisy,” Lil whispered. She reached out with her hands, but with the muddled mass of curls and bent over bodies, she could not tell which was her oldest sister. “Tom? Daisy?”

Finally, one of the sleeping hobbits moved and Lil saw the faintest outline of a shadow sit up. “What is it, Lil?” Daisy asked without whispering.

“I thought I heard something.”

There was a tense silence while Daisy and Lil and whoever else happened to be awake sat still and listened until their ears popped. “It was nothing. You’re imagining something. Or you dreamt it.”

But just as she finished saying this, there was another noise, made by someone other than one of the five children. There were voices down the way, muffled a bit, but the words were clear enough. The children did not recognize either voice.

“Come quietly, lad,” said a deep, rough voice, probably not belonging to a hobbit.

“What about a light?” replied the first voice’s companion.

“No time. We’ve got to find them.”

“They’re looking for us!” Lil cried, leaping to her feet. “We’re here, we’re here!” she yelled, cupping her hands in their direction. “Come find us!”

[Tevildo]

"Down here!" Tollers barked back at Kuric as the two rescuers hurried down the dark corridor and pushed their way into the small room where the children were huddled together. Tom and Daisy were the first ones to leap to their feet and come barrelling over to where Tollers was standing.

"Are you alright? No one hurt or anything?" the anxious hobbit queried the children as his eyes flitted across the group. The server at the Inn was a familiar figure to them. Daisy nodded and quickly replied, assuring Tollers that, except for a bump or two, none of the children had been hurt.

All faces turned towards the entry where Kuric was just emerging inside the small room. This face was not so familiar, but they could all see that their other rescuer was a dwarf. There was an awkward silence. The hobbit could not clearly see the children's faces, but he was beginning to have some suspicions as to what had happened in the Inn. "Come on now," he tried to reassure them. "We're not so far from the cellar entrance. Just take hands and follow me. With Tollers at the front, the five little ones in the middle, and Kuric at the rear, the hobbit led the wat back to the cellar door and helped them back up into the Inn courtyard.

[mormegil]

Relief spread over Kuric upon discovering that the children were okay. "I'm glad yer all right," Kuric muttered. Kuric was surprised that Tollers was taking charge at this moment. Apparently he didn't feel that there was any sort of abduction. Kuric, who was more used to the wild and its ways, was somewhat skeptical that everything was truly okay but decided to trust Tollers on this.

While walking through the cellar, his curiosity couldn't take it anymore and not considering the mental state of the children he blurted out, "So how did you lot get down here? Were ya kidnapped? I would suspect as much considering we've got some thieving ruffians about."

[Forest Elf]

Gable looked around. She closed her eyes for a quick second and then leapt over one of the wolves. She quickly ran down the road, knowing that she wouldn’t have much chance out running them. She quickly turned off to the side of the road. She climbed one of the trees and just managed to get on a tree branch barely above the wolves snapping jaws.

She sighed in relief, but knew that she wouldn’t be able to get down for awhile. She looked up at the sky, wondering what would happen next. Then she leaned against the tree looking down at the wolves. They had the tree circled. They were just waiting to see what Gable would do next. She wasn’t too far from the Inn either, but she was too far to be heard unless she screamed loudly, but it would still sound distant. She sighed, there wasn’t much she could do here but sit and wait.

Then she got an idea. She took a branch from off of the tree and threw it into the tall grass several feet away from the tree. Three of the four wolves went off to investigate. Gable quickly balanced herself on the branch, walked to the end of it and jumped. She began to run, being chased by only one of the wolves. The other three took a moment to catch onto what had just happened, but then joined in the chase.

Gable knew that in seconds she would be at the Inn…maybe a little over a minute or two, and knew that she was in hearing range. She looked behind her. The wolves were still chasing after her. She smiled knowing that she’d be able to get help now. She put her arms up into the air and turned a little off of the side of the road. Her hands grabbed onto a tree branch and she swung herself up onto it. Then she caught her breath again and shouted, “Somebody! Help! The wolves are back!” Then she threw small, dead branches down at them until she ran out of things to throw down.

[sallkid]

Hop Deepdelver carefully negotiated the street, constantly on the lookout for pursuers. He shifted his weight under the sack of purloined game birds he was carrying, and silently cursed all gameskeepers everywhere.
He had long been considered an odd hobbit amongst his family and aquaintances, who had always found him a bit tookish, holding council with strange sorts and conversing openly with Rangers and the few Dwarves that passed through the villiage. Occassionally he would come home spewing wildly exagerrated stories involving life and death encounters with wild wolves or bandit chiefs. In fact his long sojourns tended to have a different objective, poaching.

He had learned well from the strange Ranger folk he associated with, learned the ways of woodlore and put them to his own purposes. Until tonight he had remained uncaught, untill tonight when he had been forced to make his escape through gorse bushes and mud.

He came finally to an inn, the Golden Perch, knowing no-one in this town would recognise him he determined to sell his game and make reservations for the night.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Lily and Ruby came up the lane in their little two hobbit cart, their baskets sitting beside them, eating a loaf of bread that their mother made for the journey to Buckland. Ruby said to her older sister Lily, 'Why do we have to stop tonight?' (Since she wanted to see her cousins promptly, and was looking forward to see her family, of which their Mother, Estella had ten brothers and sisters.) and Lily promptly replied 'Because it is getting late'. Lily went to the Inn often since she started going to her Relatives holes to deliver some of her Father and Mothers fine food and gifts which she had been doing since her family moved(with her older sisters of course), which her Mother is and was a Brandybuck so they lived in Buckland until their Father 'Tom' Tunneldweller got a hole of their own that was big enough for the family.

This would be the first time Ruby went with her, Ruby was excited, and she said that her doll 'Esmeralda' was excited too, Ruby looked at her ribboned hair through her looking glass and smiled. Ruby always wore ribbons in her hair and very fancy and colorful dresses. She was excited to go to their relatives holes especially because her cousins were there.

Daisy neighed almost as a sign of relief when they pulled up at The Golden Perch for they had been going for quite a long time. Lily got off the cart and said to Ruby 'Stay here', and went around to the stables, to find someone to house the lasses, the cart, and Daisy their pony.