2948: Concerning dragons

[Vladim]

OOC

Original content by Vladim, Diofant, Old Overholt, Ghorin

Please use this thread to discuss in-character the carvings in Mountain-Hall. This thread is mainly held for role-playing purposes, so dice will not be too useful here. Just use it as a forum for free-form role-playing and creative writing.

[Vladim]

"He is Fram, son of Frumgar." Gramtyng flipped the image around in his hands, frowning. "He is... a very significant figure in our lore - the fourth king of our people, the slayer of the great Cold-drake, Scatha. He is also somewhat of a... Controversial figure." The bard looked at Nori and Fundor with a kind of helplessness that didnt often visit his features. "He was certainly a dragonslayer and a great king, but..."

[Vladim]

Having intruded in the conversation, Idunn found that it was difficult to discern where it was headed at. As Gramtyng explained who the man was, the huntress looked first at him, then at the dwarves, and quickly grew frustrated at the silence that followed the rider’s mysterious words.

It was true that any good story-teller knew how to combine silence and words, always seeking to keep his audience hanging from his lips, eager to hear more, but Idunn did not cope well with such devices. Forthright as she was, she was accustomed to plain and direct speech, and did not have the patience for this kind of storytelling.

’Well?’ she asked, finally cracking, unable to bear the silence any more, and her tone easily betrayed her impatience and annoyance at being made to wait.

’Clearly you lot know something I don’t, so you better explain yourselves, otherwise there is little point to this discussion!’

[Vladim]

Fundor was lost in his thoughts when he heard Gramtyng and Idunn words. He looks up and see that Gramtyng is holding his notes in his hand and looking at him and Nori. Fundor puts down the wood piece he was cutting to make a coarse flute and whispers and takes his own notes from the Horn. "Dragons, the source of so many ills for my People."

Fundor shows a drawing depicting a dragon "His name's Raenar. The dwarven runes on the Horn were mostly speaking of him and his kin and of their misdeeds on our cities in Grey Mountains. Raenar was a calamity for us, he killed our King Dain the 1st and his son Fror. And finally my people decided to left the Grey Mountains. Dark days ! "

Fundor turns to Nori "Erebor was one of the destinations for our people leaving the Grey Mountains."

Fundor is silent for few seconds before resuming "That happened a long time ago, and from what we saw on the Horn, I understand that other Peoples have suffured from the dragons and have fight them. Dwarves, Woodmen of Grey Mountains and in fact, Gramtyng, also your own people : finally we have more in common than I thought."

[Vladim]

"Hm?" Gramtyng's somewhat less than happy thoughts were broken by Fundor's explanation: "No, no..." He waved his hand. "I meant THIS foul thing, not the one on your scroll, Fundor. This thing is named Scatha... I dont know much about it, but I do know he gave our ancestors a lot of problems while we lived... Somewhere here. I dont know where. The issue with Fram, Idunn, is that while he slew Scatha - be it by mundane greed or magical curse cast by the dragon's hoard - Fram refused to share what he earned in combat with the dragon." The bard sighed, somewhat annoyed that nobody could understand why he felt awkward explaining this in the presence of the two dwarves. Turning to Idunn, he gave her a dark look: "He denied their claims that there was some of Scatha's hoard that was theirs, and instead gave them a necklace of Scatha's teeth, saying it was the most valuable thing he found. The dwarves slew him, seeing it as an insult, and took whatever they wanted of Fram's. And THAT is why I was hesitant to talk about it. Its a delicate topic."

[Vladim]

Fundor is surprised at the horseman reaction but after listening to his words, he better understands.

"I don't know that much about dragons, Gramtyng. In the Blue Mountains, dragons have never been a threat for my city and thus they aren't as present in our memories than in the dwarven peoples of Wild Lands. Now I believe that both our ancestors have been cursed by the evil of Scatha and that was the reason for this sad issue. That was the same evil that cursed our King Thorin Oakenshield : he lost himself and refused to share Smaug's hoard with other peoples after its death. That killed him." Fundor sighs deeply Scatha's story happened a very long time ago and both our peoples have moved from this region. We should be able to talk about that without anger. I'll do. "

[Vladim]

Nori nods in agreement with his cousin's assurances regarding personal feelings on the topic. He gives Gramtyng a long stare, one of seriousness, but reassurance - silently telling the man this was a topic that would not interfere with their task nor their friendship. Shortly thereafter, he must feel the message has been conveyed as he raises right hand, pointer finger extended upwards to the heavens and wagging briefly. "I was going to bring this up later, but now seems as good as any..." he murmurs before quickly jaunting over to his gear.

Rustling through his backpack, Nori is quick to produce the hammer he received from Merovech with the dwaren runes. Bringing it back to the group, the hammer held in both hands as if on display, Nori focuses primarily on Fundor as he states, "It seemed odd to me that the peoples of this land would have a number of our wears. It seemed appropriate to compare the two to see if possibly there were any connections." Nori shrugs his shoulders as he makes his recommendation. "It may simply be coincidence," he starts to say before looking to Idunn and Gramtyng. "But I thought it worth a look... and perhaps my more learned cousin could shed more light on this than I could."

[Vladim]

Fundor turns to Nori with a friendly look when he feels his support on what he said. But then Fundor looks with high interest on the Nori's hammer that he's bringing out of his backpack.
"these mountains have housed the homes and mines of our ancestors for many centuries. If we were higher and had piercing eyes, we might be able to see Fanuidhol far in the south, one of the three peaks above Moria. "

(Fundor has a look at Harfast)

"No wonder that remains of our ancestors are now in Idunn's People hands !"

Then Fundor gets close to Nori and starts looking at the runes on the hammer, trying to decipher them...

[Vladim]

Idunn listened to Gramtyng and the dwarves’ stories with interest. She never knew much about the history of these lands, her lands, apart from the tales and legends of the Woodmen, that only went back few centuries. Whatever had come before was shrouded in mystery. Hartfast always spoke of the dwarves that once lived in the mountains with respect and admiration. Sometimes there was conflict – the tale of the great tower of Mountain-Hall, the Burg as they called it, attested to that. But never war. Gramtyng’s story was curious indeed, for it contradicted so much of what Hartfast had said to her.

As the dwarves examined the hammer closely, Idunn approached Gramtyng with a question. ’According to your story…’ she started, timidly, ’your folk, the horse-riders, they once lived in this valley, many centuries ago. Do you think that your folk and mine are related somehow? Are our ancestors the same?’

 

Private for Diofant & Ghorin

I spoke to Diofant about the hammer and he has some ideas, so he is happy to provide some information if you succeed at the following skill checks.

First, a Lore check (TN 14) to give you more information about the hammer. Your character already knows that it was made in Moria.

If that succeeds, then you should also make a Riddle check (TN 14) to try to understand how the hammer came to be in the Beornings’ possession.

Edit: Information revealed (thanks to Diofant for writing this):

This hammer does not have much in the way of decorations, but is very clearly marked, sparcely, with the runes of Khazad-Dum. Merovech claimed that his father (Hakon the Wild) had retrieved the hammer from a ruin that 'lay in the north'. Ruins that lay north of Stonyford are relatively few - at least, those immediately apparent. There is the Beinharn, the Hall of Beautiful Stone, now abandoned - perhaps a few other outposts of the elves somewhere in Mirkwood, and of course Greydelve. It is possible that the hammer had been looted from someone who'd fled Moria and was taken to a place the orcs infested, before being killed by Hakon. While simple in design, the craftsmanship of the hammer had been very refined - for a tool meant to forge steel, it was almost unthinkable. Even with the years of use it likely saw with the Beornings, it didnt seem like it was dented anywhere, though there were certainly other things that marred its surface. Perhaps if it was cleaned thoroughly, more could be revealed.

[Vladim]

During several minutes, Fundor has a close look at the hammer, studying the runes and dwarves patterns carved on it. The task is uneasy as Fundor quickly find out and he turns to Nori : "The metal isn't in perfect condition and would need a good cleaning in order to better see and decrypt the runes. I'm not very talented in such task but maybe you would do a good job on that ?"

"Now i can still decipher some points. Unless i'm wrong, this hammer was built by the blacksmiths of the Moria, and probably not for smithing use, it's too nicely built for such a craft work. But how it came into Beornings hands, I'm not able to tell the exact truth. Some say that Merovech's father found it in an dwarven ruin in the north of Stonyford but which one, Beinharn, Greydelve or another old dwarven place ? and how it came there ? I don't know.

[Vladim]

"Its possible." Thoughtfully nodded Gramtyng. "See, thats part of the reason I was sent here - or..." He paused. "More or less anyway. I was told to collect old lore in order to be allowed to return - of course, I have no wish to return for now, seeing as how this place holds much more inspiration for my songs. There's also other things in these lands that I want to find... Like ancient stories and lore of the people here. And that horse... Which may be just a myth. Or maybe not." The Rohirrim chuckled, scratching the back of his head. Hearing what Fundor was talking about he half-turned: "We could ask Merovech's father, then? Maybe at least a rough location to get started." He smiled. "I'm glad neither of you treat this as a grudge, and as only a piece of history... My guess is the same - the dragon-sickness curse took ahold of them."

[Vladim]

"i'd be interested to learn more. If Merovech knows something, i'll be glad to meet him."

[Vladim]

’I wonder how many centuries ago it was,’ Idunn mused, ’that your folk and mine were of the same line. You remember the song that Gerold sang? Once, my folk kept and bred horses too, like yours, long before they turned to the raising of hunting-dogs. I wonder what happened to make our peoples so different.’

She crossed her arms, pausing to ponder these questions, before speaking to Gramtyng again. ’We should ask Radagast. He has helped the Woodmen of Rhosgobel ever since they settled there. He has lived for centuries, and he knows many things.’

Then, turning to Fundor, she spoke about her cousin, Merovech: ’You will not find him in Stonyford. His wife rules the village, but he roams the lands of his folk, ensuring that they are kept safe. His father – my uncle – Hakon the wild, he is an old man now, but I have not seen him in years. He dwells in Rhosgobel, or somewhere near it, last I heard. We can seek him out.’

Then, she looked around, making sure that Hartfast and his sons were out of earshot, before adding: ’Whatever you do, be careful when you speak to Hartfast about the Horn’s history. He means well, and he values dwarves as friends, but he knows nothing about old history. As Gramtyng said, this is a delicate matter. Speak softly if you wish to share what you have learned.’

[OOC: Unless anyone wants to bring up something else, I think there's not much left to add to this thread. You can, however, keep interacting if you want to.]

[Vladim]

"I thank you, Idunn, for those information and advices. I'd be interested in meeting with Hakon the wild when we're at Rosghobel. But I will not tell him about the Horn. I gave my word for that. Still we can ask questions about the old past, the dragons, and the Hammer, I believe, if Nori agrees of course."

[Vladim]

Chuckling briefly, Nori shakes his head before telling his cousin, "You'll get no objection from me." His eyes then turn to Idunn, giving the Woodswoman a reassuring bow of the head - his eyes never leaving her face in the process. "Mum is the word." The rust-haired dwarf them touches the right side of his nose with his right pointer finger before giving the woman a wink.