Blood Run: A Terror Returns RPG

[Dunwen]

Although this new dwarf lacked Kuric’s belligerence, Sam did not fully trust him. When Erling announced his intent to allow the stranger to join him, he opened his mouth in amazement, then shut it. He had taken Erling’s measure during their time at the Prancing Pony. The Man seemed like a stout fellow with a good head on his shoulders and the hobbit thought it best to present a united front to Groin. He would ask Erling about his decision later, far from either dwarf.

When Groin asked for their names, Erling cut himself off before introducing Sam, suddenly noticing the nearby noises, but unable to identify them. The hobbit, of course, had heard all the racket several moments ago.

“Sam Tunnelly,” he nodded to the stranger, “journeyman smith.”

He turned to Erling. The Man still looked around uncertainly, as if he feared an ambush. “It wasn’t the wind. There are three Men and a child blundering about behind us. Ash is one of them.” He stated the facts in a clear, sure voice.

The two dwarves and the Man looked at him skeptically. Sam shrugged at their obvious disbelief. “I am a hobbit,” he reminded them.

[mormegil]

Kuric, unwilling to share the hobbit's certainty, drew his weapon and postured himself for battle. He eyed the hillside eagerly awaiting what would come. Glancing over at his fellow dwarf he felt comforted and knew that their common dwarven heritage would bind these two closer than any of the other companions.

"Best draw yer own weapon lad," he whispered to Gorin. "I've got a feelin we're in fer a fight"

Prefering a straight attack rather than a sneak attack on his opponent, Kuric began to walk towards the sounds with marked caution, but without fear.

"COME OUT WITH YA THEIVES AND MURDERERS, LET'S HAVE AT IT!" Kuric growled at his presumed agressors.

[Groin Redbeard]

Gorin watched as the three companions studied him from head to toe. The dwarf that he had run into did not look at him threateningly at all; it would be easy to gain his trust, even though he looked an entire lifetime older than himself.

The man amongst them was the first to speak, accepting Gorin’s offer to help them. The man identified himself as being called Erling, and introduced the dwarf beside him as Kuric; however, he failed to mention the hobbit’s name. Erling stopped in mid speech and looked behind himself.

“I thought…” Erling began uncertainly. “I thought I heard something…But I am not sure now. Maybe it was just the wind…”

Gorin had not heard any noise, but the wind did carry a strange smell that the dwarf’s noise picked up. He put his hand on his axe stepped forward to join ranks with his new found comrades.

The hobbit, unlike the rest, was at perfect ease paying no head to Erling’s warning.

“Sam Tunnelly,” he nodded to the stranger, “journeyman smith.”

The hobbit then turned to Erling and told him that three men and a child were behind the noise that Erling heard. Gorin smiled at the hobbits naivety, more likely as not whoever were behind those bushes were the culprits to the livestock killings.

“I am a hobbit,” Sam said confidently. But Gorin paid no head to Sam’s words, and let his mind run wild with the images of the fight that would soon commence. Kuric gave confirmation to Gorin’s thoughts, telling him to draw his weapon, which he did taking his place beside the old dwarf.

"COME OUT WITH YA THEIVES AND MURDERERS, LET'S HAVE AT IT!" Kuric growled at his presumed aggressors. A smile crept across Gorin’s face, but was soon turned into a frown, as four figures came out from behind of bushes and walked up to the as if they were friends.

Gorin, once again, put his axe back into his belt, knowing that there would be no fight. He backed off to let the others talk to the new group. He looked at the kid, who was holding one of the men’s hands; Gorin smiled trying to look friendly, but probably looked more fearsome when he did so.

[Thinlómien]

"COME OUT WITH YA THIEVES AND MURDERERS, LET'S HAVE AT IT!"

"Thieves and murderes?" Lea whispered, "Is he talking to us?"
"I think he is," Ash said with a wry smile, "Let's go."

Orin was very pale and Ash took his hand. "It's just Kuric," he said, but the boy didn't look convinced.

Carefully the three, followed by the ever so silent Grimbeorn, stepped out of the shadows. "It is just us, no panic", Leanora called quietly.

Sam and Erling were there, as well as Kuric and another dwarf. While Sam and Erling's faces were filled with relief when the newcomers came to their plain sight, both the dwarves looked rather aggressive. Orin forgot to be embarrassed of expressing such childishness and clasped his brother's hand tighter. "It's alright," both Lea and Ash whispered to him at the very same moment.

"Ya ought to be more careful, younglings! We could have slaughtered ye right there, thinking you thieves and murderers," Kuric growled, seemingly far more concerned about his pride than the young humans' safety.

The other dwarf was wearing a rather terrifying grin on his face. Forcing a pleasant smile on her face, Lea took a step closer. "And who are you, good sir? A friend of good Kuric, aren't you?"

[Dunwen]

Sam watched in disbelief as Kuric drew his sword and shouted about "thieves and murderers" as Erling looked on. While dwarves and other uncivilized folk might not realize how sharp hobbit ears were, the Man was Bree-born and should know better.

Sure enough, Ash and Miss Lea and their little brother nervously stepped forward, followed by Grimbeorn. Sam looked at the foreign Man thankfully. Although he would have preferred someone with a little hobbit-sense, Grimbeorn at least didn’t speak before he thought, unlike a certain dwarf Sam could name.

And sure enough, that particular dwarf spouted some nonsense about almost slaughtering the Winkles. The lad, Orin, looked downright terrified, although his older brother and sister remained calm enough.

Sam’s easy-going nature usually prevented him from losing his temper, but this last outburst of Kuric’s was the outside of enough. When Lea politely (and bravely) greeted the newcomer, he cleared his throat, getting their attention.

“This fellow gives his name as Gorin Redbrow,“ he told her before the red-haired dwarf could draw breath for a reply, “and as far as I can tell he and Kuric have never set eyes on each other before. He made an offer to help us, which Erling agreed to while you lot were crashing down the hill in the dark.”

He continued, “I did say there was naught to fear, since I heard Ash’s voice clear as anything, but I guess that dwaves haven’t learned how well hobbits hear.” He glared at both dwarves impartially as he finished speaking.

[Groin Redbeard]

Well, Sam was right. They had made downright fools of themselves, mistaking friend for foe. Although it was an honest mistake the two dwarves pride had been hurt.

Gorin’s smile had presently disappeared, now that the child he had been staring at no longer paid any attention to him, and instead clutched the hand of a young man clad only in grey.

Gorin had stepped back as the four new figures came into view. He had not said a word, but one of the figures came up to him.

By the sound of the persons voice Gorin had perceived that this was no boy, but rather a girl! Gorin stood stupefied for a second, but than regained his surely poster and grim attitude. He had never like women very much, mostly because he hated how they made him feel insecure and embarrassed at even the slightest things. All the seclusion in the wild north had made him accustomed to his own company and did not mind the company of his own kind, but this was another matter entirely.

The hobbit Sam replied on Gorin’s behalf, this slightly anode him, but he didn’t utter a word. However, he was enraged at the hobbit’s insult against Kuric, and would have been at him in a second if he hadn’t restrained himself. He shrugged the remark off.

“What the young hobbit says is true. I have only just met your friends, but unlike them you are a girl, are you not? Your guise deceived me for a second, but your voice betrays you.” Gorin faced the group as a whole, wishing to end the subject of his remarks.

“Well then, where will we be head’n now?”

[Thinlómien]

“What the young hobbit says is true. I have only just met your friends, but unlike them you are a girl, are you not? Your guise deceived me for a second, but your voice betrays you.”

Even in the dark Lea could tell that Ash was grinning. She gave him a slight push while not being able to remain completely serious herself. "Guise? Master Gorin, I have not disguised myself. I'm one of the Defenders of Bree and my name is Leanora Winkle." She paused.

"This is my brother Aragorn Winkle", she prsented him, hoping that he was not grinning sillily anymore, "and this our little brother Orin." Ash greeted the dwarf politely while Orin muttered a surly 'hello'. Grimbeorn presented himself as well.

After a silence the dwarf continued: "Well then, where will we be head’n now?"

"To Edin Cengal's place", Erling replied. "Come", he said, looking at all the others, "I'll show the way."

Some stalking quietly as cats, some less so, the party moved through the silent woods.

[Dimturiel]

Once the group was finally reunited-some of them, at least, for not all the Defenders were there- Erling offered to take them to Edin’s farm. At first he had wondered whether that was safe to be done, as the farmer had a very suspicious nature, which surely had increased due to the happenings in Bree. He only hoped he would not set his dogs on them.

Erling walked quickly and confidently. He knew the way quite well. He also was worried and wanted to be away from the dark night as soon as possible. Of course, they were all on the alert for any unusual sounds and there had been nothing so far, but what if something would spring on them, approaching them so silently and stealthily that even those with the keenest hearing would perceive it only too late? But fortunately, nothing like this happened, and presently they reached Edin Cengal’s farm. In front of it, Erling stopped and turned to the others.

“Now listen to me,” he began, looking mostly at Kuric and Gorin. “Master Cengal can be quite unfriendly at times and dislikes it when people trespass on his lands. He also has ferocious dogs. So, unless you do not want them to chase you till you reach the Great Sea, please let me do the talking and say nothing that might upset him. He knows and trusts me, and I will be able to persuade him to trust you also. But please do nothing rash. Do you understand me?”

He hoped very much that their nods meant they had and that they were not going to make matters difficult for him. No sooner had Erling touched the gate that two great dogs appeared, barking madly and trying to jump over the fence to reach the intruders.

“Master Cengal!” Erling cried over the clamour of the dogs. “Master Cengal, can you hear me?”

For some time there came no answer to Erling’s calls and he wondered whether he should not call again, when the door opened and Edin Cengal appeared on the threshold. He held a lamp in one hand and a spade in the other and he looked menacing.

“Who are ye?” he growled. “Get ye gone or I’ll have my dogs chase you all over Middle-earth.”

“Master Cengal,” Erling began, trying to sound undaunted. “We are friends…”

“Friends, eh?” growled the farmer. “Friends at such an hour? Robbers, more likely! Get ye gone, I tell ye, or ye’ll live to regret it.”

“Mater Cengal, me you know.” Erling said then. “I am Erling Headstrong and these are my…my companions. We have been appointed the Defenders of Bree. Now, could you please let us in? It is not safe to hold parley in the night in times like this.”

[Groin Redbeard]

A cold chill ran up Gorin's short spine. The wargs had already killed one of their men and now another is wounded possibly dead. All of a sudden his angry words directed at Kuric, which had seemed justifiable a minute ago, where forgotten. Gorin was genuinly frightened at the thought of those beasts ripping his flesh into pieces, he did not mind dieing in battle against a worthy foe, but not dieing at the whim of an animal.

He looked up at the wounded man named Kun. There was a hint of desperation and fright in his voice when he talked, but Gorin was too shaken to notice this. He took courage in the expressions of his companions, he felt no shame in feeling scared. "Just do your duty and I'll be fine." he told himself.

Gorin's beard waved gently in the breeze as he started to look around for Kuric's tracks again. They wouldn't be going anywhere fast with Kun with them, and going after Kuric would be the deadliest of paths to choose, but Gorin would feel some comfort in knowing the way that his kinsman had gone. It wasn't hard to find, Kuric's heavy build was easy to track.

There was no mistaking where Kuric had headed, through a trail of broken twigs, trampled down brush, and stirred up earth Gorin found Kuric's tracks. Gorin smiled, the tracks were fresh and no more than ten minutes old.

[Thinlómien]

"Wargs attacked us, but I fought them off, and Toby is hurt! Kuric's gone to get him."

"We must follow Kuric then," Ash said hesitantly. "He and Toby are in grave danger."
Lea nodded in agreement, although she knew that would put them in grave danger in turn. She knew Ash knew it too, so she considered it pointless to say it aloud. She gripped Orin's shoulder tightly.

"Parkun. You said you fought those wargs off. May I ask how? You don't look wonded and I don't mean to under-estimate you, but..."

[Groin Redbeard]

Gorin slowly crept back towards the group unnoticed. Lea was holding Orin tightly and was casting a worried look up at Ash. As always, Sam was silent and was thinking to himself, at least it looked that way. Erling was looking at, listening to him speak.

Lea turned her worried face from Ash to Parkun, and asked him how he fought the Wargs off. Gorin nodded his head in silent agreement, Parkun had not struck him as the type to stand up to anything. He looked thin and boysh in the face, not at all what a fighter would look like. There was a bow strung to his back with a quiver, almost filled with arrows, and the dwarf noticed a knife hanging from Parkun's belt. Gorin's face grimaced in disgust. He fought them off? Most likely this Toby that he's talking about fought them while this coward ran, and there was nothing Gorin hated worse than a coward, unless it be a traitor.

[Durelin]

They were all looking at him, waiting for answers: answers which he had to contrive and make seem sincere. Lying was hardly new to him, and Kun was accustomed to putting on an act, especially for authoritative figures, but he could hardly breathe now for reasons beyond the blow to his chest. There was another dwarf, though the “defenders” still seemed to be much fewer in number than before. Another dwarf! If this one was as crazy as the other…

The strange dwarf and the girl seemed skeptical, which both infuriated and frightened him. But there was no way they would not follow him to save their hobbit friend…not this kind of people.

It was hardly convincing, though, his story of “fighting off” the wargs with Toby. Kun did his best not to show any anger as he tried to imagine what was going through Lea’s and the dwarf’s minds. The way the dwarf looked at him…it was with disgust. They thought him a coward. They hated him for wanting to survive. They thought him a coward, but he knew he was smart.

“I…” Kun lowered his head, hiding the anger in his eyes, and making a show of sadness and shame. His fists were clenched, but at least any anger could be assumed to be directed at himself. “I…ran. I did. I abandoned him.”

He began pouring emotion into his voice, and allowed his body to shake with his fear. “I was scared, I…I was never ready to defend anyone, I should never have come. I have only failed the town, failed you…and…and Toby.” He practically sobbed.

“I just hope it is not too late to do something about it. To rectify what I have done.”

Kun paused as his eyes glistened with tears. He had often used tears to get out of trouble. Everyone thought him pathetic, wimpy, girlish anyway, and he was always about using things to his advantage.

“I should have helped him then and there, but…I will help him now, though I need your help.”

His gaze was pleading but contained determination as he looked up at the others and pulled himself to his feet.