Egfor stares at Copperspire across the bar at The Huntsman and The Stag, "So, you are telling me, the elf older than dirt… hasn't the slightest clue of what this does."
Copper chirps, "Nope!"
Egfor sighs, "And you want me… to store it?!"
Copper nods and takes a swig of ale, "Yes. It isn't a pocket sized artifact."
Egfor grumbles under his breath, "Knowing my luck, it's evil."
Copper astutely shakes his head, "I would never let a mortal hold an evil artifact for me. It was brought from the Blue Mountains, I do not entrust the vault in Bree with it."
Egfor pinches the bridge of his nose and leans on the bar, "But you entrust a poor, lowly farmer. How can you know it isn't evil?"
Copper shrugs nonchalantly, "Doesn't feel it. I'd know. I need to get some scholars together. Arrygg and whoever else she may know. Can feel if it's evil yourself."
Egfor stares in an unimpressed manner at the elf. He steps around the bar towards the strange stone pedestal Copper brought to him.
Egfor walked around, studying it. He saw no sign of writing or glyphs on it. On the pedestal was some form of crystals, quartz perhaps. However, they glowed with a strange pale blue-white pulsating light. Egfor's keen ears could hear a tiny thrum coming from the crystals. With a childish curiosity, he reached out to touch it.
The moment Egfor touched it, he froze and stiffened as if he got struck by lightning. He went ashen pale and his eyes rolled back. He saw a flurry of images and memories that were not his of places he could not discern. They were moving too fast and blurred for him to make out. He heard a voice speaking in a language he had never heard of before, but he could make a guess that it was the secret language of the dwarves that other races aren't supposed to hear. The voice gasped and halted, as if someone had caught an eavesdropper. A loud, piercing voice in Westron boomed out, "You should not be here!"
Egfor suddenly crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Strangely, some dwarves all around Bree-land also fainted and collapsed at the same time, causing mass panic amongst the dwarves.
Copper stares at where Egfor lay, slack jawed, "That never happened when I touched it… Ah, Dem will come soon enough." The elf sighed and picked up his pint again, a brow furrowed as he waits for Dem to appear, pulled by the ring's power. He had only hoped Dem hadn't met the same fate as Egfor. The mystery grew.
