A Pleasant Surprise in the North Downs

Dwarves in the North Downs! There was no better sight to cheer my heart than that. I could almost feel myself walking the cobbles of the artisan's quarter in Dale once again....though these Longbeards are  no jewellers or toymakers. They were looking for a map to an ancient holding and rich vein of ore, and to find it quickly before any Dourhands. That was the trick since those mean Shirumund are all over the hills there! We found the map, alright...but it wasn't in proper runes; it was covered with elvish scrawls. The Dwarves asked me to take the map across some nearby water to an Elvish place -Meluinen- and ask about it. I agreed, though I was not comfortable with it. Not being a dwarf is an advantage to getting answers, I suppose. There was one there who was willing to help, and as soon as I had answers I rode out of there, quick.  Elves have a way of looking "into" you that turns my stomach to ice and they seem so far away at the same time, but these were nice enough. The upshot of it was that I had to hunt down one of the Dourhand leaders. It wasn't that difficult a task....Dourhands are rough and a bit dim, truth be told. We found the map, found the vein of ore and the plans to extract it and brought those good Dwarves a bit closer to settling that area truly.