The Golden Perch Inn

[Child of the 7th Age]

Tom sprinted to the head of the line and bumped Daisy to the side so he could be the first to reach the doorway. In an instant he had inserted the key in the lock and pushed back the door, beckoning the rest to follow. The others trooped in behind him and began scouring the chamber from top to bottom, opening drawers and inspecting under the bed. It did not take long for Tom to find what he was searching for. There, sitting on the nightstand in full view of them all, was an intricately woven torque with narrow twisted bands crafted of bright gold. Right next to it, Tom saw a ring of gold with three bold stones in a straight row.

Tom reached down and picked up the ring, carefully inspecting the jeweled piece while cradling it in his hands. The stones caught the sunshine that poured in through the window, flashing bright in their glory: a ruby glowing red; an emerald green as a sward of grass following an afternoon rain; and, in the middle, brightest of all, a generous sized diamond that gleemed and sparkled like a brook of running water. The piece was so beautiful that it took away Tom's breath, and he was not a hobbit lad who was easily impressed. The others ran over to where their brother was standing and crowded in to see what he had found.

"Treasure, it's treasure for sure," Tom exclaimed with excitement holding out the ring. "Probably stolen from a dragon or taken from an Elf lord in battle. This dwarf is too greedy....to steal both a necklace and a ring! We'll have better manners than him. Let's leave the gold necklace here but rescue this poor ring." He slipped it inside his vest pocket.

One of the younger children ran to the door and began to open it to go out into the hall, but Tom sprinted over and yanked the offender back. "No! Too dangerous!Someone might see us. We have to escape without anybody noticing and find a place to hide our treasure." Tom thought for a moment and then pointed directly at the window. "We can climb through to the outside here. There's a path through the garden with lots of bushes so no one can see. It leads to the other side of the Perch, straight to the trap door with steps down into the cellar. That's a perfect place to hide treasure." He glanced around at the others, "Come on. Hurry! We don't want to get caught here."

[Folwren]

Lil stood transfixed by the table. She was so short by it, that her eyes barely came above it. She stood on tiptoe to hook her chin over the top, so that she could look at the torque more easily. Her brother took the ring, but that was small and insignificant to her. She heard as though in a distance her brother advise against leaving by the door. She understood his plan to escape by window, but she made no movement.

Slowly, her fingers reached out and closed around the heavy, gold piece and she drew it back to herself and stared at it.

“Come on. Hurry!” came Tom’s pressuring voice. “We don’t want to get caught in here!”

Lil, smiling a small, delighted smile, and holding the torque in both hands, turned slowly to obey. But then the sound of heavy clumping boots could be heard in the hall outside. Her head jerked upwards in alarm, the smile was dashed off of her face. She stuffed the torque into her apron pocket and darted towards the window. In a moment, she was out, and the next moment, Tom was out after her.

[Newsman]

Horse and rider entered into the courtyard of The Golden Perch Inn after a hard day's ride. The rider's face was obscured by the hood of his dark travelling cloak, yet he deftly swung from the back of his horse, and handed the reins off to the boy who came from the stables, along with a silver coin for the trouble. He took a quick glance around before entering into the Inn.

Vehil slipped silently to a table without drawing to much attention to himself. The less attention he got at the moment the better. He was a tall, fair-skinned elf with the dark-brown hair characteristic of his family. He hailed from Lothlorien, the golden wood. He ordered a drink from a passing Hobbit, who squeaked out a reply. Vehil began to nervously thumb the long knife that hung from his side. A drink was what he needed to calm his nerves, and let him think clearly.

Where am I gonna begin? he thought. He glanced around for a sign, anything that would show him where to begin. The hobbit put the ale in front of him, and Vehil stared into its contents. Better just wait here and see what happens."

[mormegil]

Kuric carefully inspected himself in the polished metal mounted to the wall, only then did he realize how long it had been since he had taken a proper bath. After carefully weighing all option Kuric decided it best to give his face a good cleaning, at least that way it would be some time before he would need a bath. Dipping both hands in the basin of water he began to forcefully rub his wet hands all over his face in an attempt to clean himself. Having taken no real thought on the matter of properly cleaning himself, Kuric merely smeared the built up dirt and grime about his face, due, in no small part, to the fact that his hands were filthier than his face, though it did help to calm down the infuriated dwarf to a small degree.

Realizing how infuriated he was, Kuric decided it best to properly calm down before heading off for his much needed nap. He placed his wet hands on the counter and leaned into it, helping take some of the weight of his body and gear off his feet. Taking some deep breaths while closing his eyes, though one could hardly tell that his eyes were closed at all as they were seldom seen covered by shadow and a thick brow, brought some much needed calm to him and he finally felt ready to go back to his room.

With a slower and less determined stride than when he made his way down the hall, Kuric made his way back the other way to his room. Despite not being as angry, Kuric’s weight combined with his heavy boots caused the floor boards to creak and groan whenever he walked. Stealth had never been a part of any tactics Kuric employed and would never be able to be part of it, particularly as Kuric had an uncouth habit, owing to his much time spent alone, muttering to himself while he walked. Nothing really important was ever said, mainly gibberish, curses, and maledictions on his current plight, no matter what situation he found himself.

Entering his room, Kuric immediately went and sat himself down on his bed and slowly began to remove his heavy boots. It had been more than a fortnight since their last removal and a rather pungent odor accompanied upon completion of this task. Sniffing the air Kuric mumbled while chuckling to himself, ‘perhaps I should have washed them up too’. Setting the boots aside, Kuric stood and began arranging the bed coverings to his liking. When Kuric began removing his spiked glove to place on the desk where he had placed his ring and necklace that is when he noticed it. Few things could upset Kuric as rapidly and as much as theft. His ring had gone missing, not only his ring but his prized ring at that, though he spoke of such treasures to few, this was a special gift to him from his Uncle Dain, while it wasn’t technically true that King Dain was Kuric’s uncle, Kuric saw little harm in embeleshing the truth just a bit in his favor. Such treasures that are bestowed by a king, such as this ring, were worth more than a small fortune. The wealth of the ring didn’t matter to Kuric as much as the simple fact that it was stolen from him and also owing to the fact of the honor it was to receive such a gift. He had received it for distinguished service to King Dain. Stories abound of dragons’ greed and there hate of theft of their goods, and while these accounts are mainly true, Kuric’s abhorrence of theft from his property rivaled that of the most odious dragon.

He, in an instant, felt his body get hot and lost all rational thought. Quickly grabbing his mace, he sprinted down the hallway heading towards the commons area. In his rush, his mace was flailing wildly, hitting the wall in the hallway, causing many scratches and dents. When he arrived at the entrance to the commons area he let out a terrible yell and smacked the corner of the wall with his mace forcefully splintering the wood and causing a sizeable piece of the corner to break off. With narrowed eyes and a furious scowl, Kuric yelled again, only this time words came out.

“TOLLERS! TOLLERS! Ya said that ye were up fer adventure, grab a weapon lad, we 'ave some thieves and ruffians to hunt!”

With that he sprinted down the stairs directly towards Dick the inn keeper. Few men in Middle-earth could stop Kuric mad and in a dead sprint and even fewer would try. Upon reaching Dick, Kuric yelled again this time with more vehemence and anger. Spittle flying from his mouth and coating his beard he blared.

“What kind of ----- establishment are ya running here? They took me ring, they did and I’m finding ‘em, or it’ll be yer head I take next!”

[Newsman]

A yell drove Vehil to his feet hands braced, ready to draw his knives at a split second. A dwarf came running from the hallway, and grabbed the innkeeper. Vehil sprang upward and attempted to get in the way of the angry dwarf, yet the flailing mace drove him back.

"Hey I dont know whats going on, but im sure killing the innkeeper isnt going to help." Vehil slowly advanced toward the angry dwarf. "Just take it easy. I can help you find whoever took this ring of yours."

[MaskedNicci]

"Well, if you insist." She replied, watching the flummoxed innkeeper scuttle away once more. When he returned with a mug, which he offered her, then his mind switched as fast as a bumblebee on the first day when the flowers begin blooming again, and he was gone. In spite of herself, she had to give the slightest of smiles. It was a small flicker of amusement, then it vanished as quickly as it had come, and her previous look of seriousness and suspicion returned dutifully.

Alassë turned to the one who had offered her his handkerchief, and realized it was probably polite to start some conversation, as he looked a little concerned about what to do. Society rules... Her mind reeled with the possibility of herself creating smalltalk as though she trusted him. But then again, how could she convince him she was being caught in this web of deceit, without him realizing she was on to the collaboration possibly betwixt him and the bustling innkeeper?

In an attempt to appear friendly, she opened her mouth to offer some starting question to the topic of the weather, when a loud clatter interrupted her. The furious dwarf started causing a great commotion, howling about some stolen object of his. Another flicker of amusement shone in her piercing eyes. Then, she turned to good sir handkerchief-on-hand, and muttered in an almost good-natured fashion, "I can't really blame him. Looks like he's having a rough day."

Watching him curiously for a moment, she realized the alleged next step in conversation would be introduction, given the circumstances. Alassë gave a firm nod in his direction, and said, "My name is Alassë, good sir. My memory does not often fail me, but I don't believe we had the chance to be properly introduced."

[Folwren]

Dick did not possibly think that his bad day could get any worse. But he had not even returned with the man’s ale yet when a new disturbance showed up. It seemed all hell broke loose in an instant when that unreasonable, probably insane, dwarf came back into the common room, shouting at the top of his lungs as though he had lost his mind. Dick gave him an unforgiving glare, thinking to himself that he probably didn’t have any mind to loose - it was gone already. The shout had so surprised him that he had very nearly spilled this second mug of ale.

But now the dwarf came steaming towards him at full run, and the words that he bellowed right in his face did so upset poor Dick that he sloshed half of the contents of the ale onto himself. He gaped in horror at the dwarf’s furious and filthy face. The words sounded gibberish. No one ever stole anything in the Shire (except mushrooms) and it seemed even more ridiculous that he should blame it on him and his establishment.

A newly arrived elf thought so, too, apparently and stepped in with a quiet word, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure killing the innkeeper won’t help. Just take it easy. I can help you find whoever took this ring of yours.”

Dick looked from the elf to the dwarf and back again. And then he felt the wet on his shirt and looking down, he saw the partially emptied mug in his hand, and the remaining ale swaying back and forth wildly in the mug. His patience snapped and his good temper was thrown to the wind.

“Why you great, blundering, big footed, filthy faced ox!” Dick shouted back at Kuric, trying to bellow like the dwarf, but probably squeaking more like a rabbit. “Look what you’ve done!” He lifted the ale, succeeding to spill more. “It’s you that’s thieving from me, making me spill all my finest ale! Don’t come threatening to take my head - I’ll throw you out! I’ll have you arrested and locked up!”

The brief flash of rare fire faded and went out nearly as quickly as it had come. Dick realized that for the dwarf to have lost a ring was indeed a very bad thing to have happen. The ale was probably a small loss compared to such a thing, but it was a pity for him to have spoiled one of his nicest vests.

“You lost a ring, hey?” he said in a more controlled tone. “Well, don’t come yelling my head off, it wasn’t me who took it. It’s probably some prank. It’ll be returned. Just calm down and don’t kill anyone.”