5. To Duillond
So the group left immediately feeling a little bit safer in the company of Holgar. They were silent as they carefully watched their surroundings. The port of Kheledul drew closer with every step. We halted as Holgar wanted to look further down the road, all seemed clear so far. The headed further till they reached a few large boulders.
A grumbling sound is heard from behind the boulder and a sudden voice bellows "Halt!!". Holgar looked up and shouted back, 'Who is it to bother traders passing by at night? Show yourself!'. Two dwarfs came from behind the boulder, their beards were ill kept, their faces sour and scarred, their armor was full of branches and leaves as if they had been hiding in a bush. They both had a battle axe in hand. They stand still on the hill looking down on the wagon and examine its contents, the same dwarf bellows "you can go no further!, you enter our lands." Holgar shouts, 'If we could come to an agreement - you walk away now and perhaps I will spare your sorry lives this night'. The dourhands tightened the grip on their axes and peer at Holgar " An agreement!? Pah! Longbeard scum! Deliver us that silver ore, and we may let you live!" Pellam raised his buckler and tightened the grip on his sword and stood defensively before Hilfar and Ullfar. Ullfar stood guard near the goat and Hilfar was trying to get the pickaxe loose from his backpack. Holgar draws his sword and shouts back: "It seems you are new around here. Let me teach you something your fellows have learned from our regiment". The Dourhands tightened grip on their battleaxes and storm down the hill, one runs towards Holgar and one towards Pellam screaming fiercely.
Pellam was quick enough to dodge the incoming axe strike and smashed his buckler in the face of the attacker causing him to recoil. The other Dourhand running towards Holgar attempts to throw his full weight at Holgar trying to push him off his feet, a bold move. Holgar steps aside right in time as the dourhand stumbles forward, Holgar gives a fatal blow in the neck with his sword. Pellam charges the remaining Dourhand, but he turns around and flees in the direction of Kheledul "Wait till I get my brethren! You are dead!” Hilfar shouts “Stop him!, Don’t let him get away!”. Holgar grabs for the crossbow on his back loads it quickly and aims carefully. The Dourhand runs as fast as he cans with his short legs. Suddenly a bolt pierces right through his neck. Blood sprays over the floor as the bolt continues to fly. The Dourhand falls forward choking in blood. Ullfar throws his arms in the air and cheers “wonderful, WONDERFULL! such a magnificent shot!”. The group did not linger much longer and quickly went on with their journey, they passed into the elven lands of Falathlorn.
6 Visiting the elves
The company strolled through Falathlorn. The snow was long gone, only grass fields and overhanging trees, some still bear blossom and some were already shedding their leaves in early fall. At the crossroad master Holgar halted “this is where we part ways, you have to take the other road to reach Duillond.” We all bowed to him deeply “thank you lieutenant, we are in your debt”. Holgar bowed in return and marched further down the road. The company stared at the other road and already saw the shape of Duillonds towers in the distant. Hilfar and Ullfar always travelled the same road that Holgar went, but they never had any business with the elves before. Hilfar was quite nervous about it, having no idea how to address the lot of them. At the gates Ullfar halted the goat and let Hilfar and Pellam enter the stairs of the elven town. The sun was falling as they walked on the narrow stairs, Hilfar looked around it was rather quiet, very quiet. Hilfar shouted around “Hello! Helloo! Anyone here!? We come in the name of master Bolin Silverpurse!! Hello-O!!”. They entered a courtyard with a fountain, elves were gathered there. Some were playing music, other were reading or chatting. Hilfar continued to shout around. The elves looked rather agitated by either his presence or the amount of volume his bellowing voice was producing. The presence of the dwarfs in Duillond must have been like a rock thrown in still water. Elves were hushing, and soon a woman approached all dressed in blue. She spoke in a high yet calm voice “Would you be so kind not to raise your voice master dwarf.” Hilfar apologized and explained his presence here. She wished us to follow her. We went to the stables where Ullfar had the wagon untied. She introduced herself as Miridial and all the necessary introductions were exchanged. Hilfar kept pressing on the matter that we wanted the silver ore sold to the unknown buyer. She seemed somewhat reserved, as she said they buyer already arrived. Ullfar and Hilfar were quite surprised, not expecting a woman would take care of such things, more apologies. She wished to see the ore, so the crate was opened with a metal bar. Pure silver ore from the silver deep mines shined in the fading sunlight. She inspected a few nuggets while Hilfar and Ullfar were talking in length about the great quality of the silver. Negotiations were short and fruitful, she liked it and accepted the offer of 970 silvers for the batch. With the deal done, the company relaxed a bit and the tension was out of the air. Hilfar his belly was grumbling again and looked at Miridial, hoping for something to eat. She smiled and offered us food and even a place to rest for the night. Even Ullfar could not say no to that! We followed her to a round pillar encased courtyard where tables were loaded with food! Their mouths dropped, after days of eating only stew, they were looking at a table of meat, wine, cheese they even had a bottle of ale! We drank and ate all we can, we cheered on the alliance of elves and dwarfs that still exists in the west. An evening to remember.
And there our trade route had come to an end, we thanked master Pellam for his services, and may Thorins halls always be open to such a boon companion. Hilfar and Ullfar started on their return journey, which was much faster without the cargo. Back into the cold snow with a full stomach and bit tipsy from the ale and wine the night before. Back in Thorins halls, Master Bolin, whose leg was plastered, smiled widely at the heavy coin purse we delivered to him “I can’t thank you enough, surely this profit was more I could hope for!”. Master Bolin counted the coin and threw a pouch with 425 silver to Ullfar who nodded in return.
((All who participated, thanks again for the RP.))
