Bree (Some years before the War of the Ring)

[Gilthalion]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hobbitus Emeritus
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A Grey Morning

Introductions had been made all around but soon the men and the hobbit grew weary once again and turned in for the night. The elves talked softly for some time before themselves taking rest in their dreamy waking elvish way.

The sun rose the next day, pale and watery behind a low cover of clouds. The Downs were shrouded in mist, as if expecting the travelers, and as if the haunted lands had prepared a gloomy reception especially for them.

After a hurried breakfast, Tom Ferney called to the party from a gap in the grey hedge.

&quot;The biggest mounds are probably the best,&quot; said Tom. &quot;And they are in the center of the Downs. It will take much of the morning to reach them, but the best pickings will likely be dug up there. Let's get going!&quot;

Leaving Andy to see to cleaning up breakfast, tidying the camp, and keeping all but Ferny's pack horse, the party followed behind Ferny and his animal deep into the heart of the mist shrouded Barrow-Downs, to where the greatest treasures --and dangers-- were said to lie.

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