Eduwiges

The company was making final preparations to depart from Bree as the sun rose. Mounts and pack animals were being assembled in the courtyard before the Prancing Pony as Barliman glared from the stairs, Nob hiding behind his leg as if he wished to confirm that the band were actually leaving. The Innkeeper had made clear to Xanderian and Xandilif the night before that if any more damage or upset were caused by the travelers, he would have to put a large surcharge on their already considerable tab.

Shimmering waves of heat rose above the grasses of the Firion Wood. Mosquitos droned around her ears as Asmalinde pressed her body deeper into the crevasse in the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains separating Rohan and Gondor. She was forty days out of Imladris: through Misty Mountains cold and the swamps of the Anduin wetlands. Asmalinde’s journey had been uneventful, at least until today.

I have risen early, slipped into a robe and wandering up to the gleaming Dwarrow Mirror high above Tol Lochul to greet the dawn. Stars are still gleaming in the velvet blue sky as I reach my perch, arrange my implements, and begin to draft this account. 

“What…what by the horde of Ancalagon goes on here!!!” shouted Gareth Steelheart, Captain of the Hounds of Anarion as he stood surveying the wreckage of the upstairs chamber of the Thirsty Seer.

Over Gareth’s shoulder, the barkeep Emery surveyed the room with dismay. “You maniacs...do you know how much this flooring COST ME!!!????'

The screams formed into a guttural voice as a fell spirit rose up out of the tokens and the shards of the blade. "FINALLLLLLYYY!!! It took you WORMS long enough!!!!

Xanderian woke slowly, from dreams of darkness and anxiety. Strange flowing blends of dread and an almost erotic anticipation that left her unsettled in a myriad of ways. As her eyes opened, she heard voices nearby at the map table, and rose up on her elbows in the silken sheets for a better view.

Eduwiges of Faldham rode in through a small side gate on the massive oval wall of Minas Tirith. The detritus of battle engraved on her from helm to boots. Weariness darkened her face like a starless night weighed down by gravity. Normally graceful in her movements she clambered down off of Oenone and staggered as her legs took the weight of her body. Eduwiges stepped forward and wrapped her adrenaline weakened arms around her steed’s neck in love and gratitude.