Read part 3 here.
Hilfar sighed as he was rocking back and forth the little hobbit chair. They were back in Oatbarton, stuck in this small town where they were rather unwanted. In the local Oatbarton tavern both Hilfar and Ullfar were sitting at a table bored and grumpy. It has been three days now since they returned from Ost Forod. Their journey did not turn out the way they wanted, and learned a few good lessons before starting such a journey again. At Ost Forod, Hilfar delivered the order and got a proper payment for it by the supplier Farald. He even found a fellow dwarrow named Dibri who took the polished gemstones he was waiting for. Everyone seemed miserable in that old ruin, the silence was uneasy and the people acted as if some ill fate was about to fall upon that place. This leader of men called Basil started to talk about a threat of brigands. Hilfar and Ullfar wanted none of it, these problems are not theirs and should not poke their nose in it any longer. And so their stay was a short one, as they managed to return quickly by the aid of some rangers.
When they reached Oatbarton they were halted by one of the bounders. He denied entry to their village, but then the captain walked up to them. He gave them a stern look and reached inside his vest, a letter was given to them without speaking a word. Ullfar opened the letter and hummed as he let Hilfar read it as well:
Master Hilfar
It is with a worried heart I write back to you. You mentioning this hoard of wretched creatures is all new to me but I can not agree more that your return will be life threatening. At once I will muster a group of dwarrow if not the entire army of Durin's Folk to safely return you and your company back to Thorins hall!
Please send word a few days before you wish to return and this goblin hoard will meet a wall of steel, beard and the blood of their comrades!
I Personally will be in the ranks and I will see to it their leader sits headless atop a throne of dead runts.
Mahal Shield you on the rest of your travels
- Azaghalbad Thogen son of Thagon, son of Thag of the Iron hills.
Hilfar showed the letter to the bounder captain and started to bargain with him. He spoke like a salesman “This surely will benefit us both! Let me send word to our Warlord and he will deal with the goblin menace, in return you offer us shelter while we wait for them, what do you say?” The bounder captain sighed and agreed to let them in. The southern border was well protected by the halflings. And now they sat in that tavern for days doing dice games, telling tales of older days and eat, eat and eat. The other tavern dwellers slowly adjusted their attitude when they found out they were not so bad company after all.
But that evening, when the sun had fallen there was some commotion in the village. Hilfar and Ullfar rushed outside and they heard it now too. From the south were awful screams of what must have been hundreds of goblins. Hilfar shivered as he can still remember the last encounter with them, which they survived by an inch. They looked to the narrow passage at the south together with the rest of the village. Suddenly there were more screams heard but different this time, far more loud and thundering voices. Hilfar and Ullfar jumped up and almost cheered “ They have come! They have come!!” Hilfar gave a random Halfling woman a bearded hug. Ullfar quickly got the poney and Hilfar packed what little supplies he had left. Both dwarfs left without looking back, leaving the southern end of town. The bounder yelled after them “Come back! You will get yourselves killed!”.
It was night and some rainclouds passed here and there. With their weapons drawn they marched to all the commotion. When they got close to the narrow passage the screams and sound of clinging of blades got louder. The entered the narrow passage where Hilfars fire-oils had exploded a week ago. They saw a large amount of creatures running towards them. They made themselves ready to fight and mustered their courage. They had no need of it, the goblins ran past them in random directions, they were horrified, blind panic. As they hurried through the passage they entered the green fields, they climbed on a hill and overlooked down on the battleground and forgot to breath a moment. The green fields had turned into the red fields. Bodies of goblins lay scattered in the grass, some were missing limbs or a head. They saw familiar faces, Odsi was sticking goblin heads on spikes, some dwarrows were cleaning their armor and weapons of blood and other gore. But when they looked more close they saw a dwarrow lying still surrounded by a few of his kin.
They rushed down and it appeared to be the respected Zabad Hroskold. Thogen mustered his men and pressed on to clear whatever remained of the scattered goblins tribes. Hilfar and Ullfar aided Kveltrild to get the wounded Zabad back to the halls.
After long discussions, Hilfar and Ullfar agreed on one thing, a change of plan is needed, the troubles in the west had grown beyond proportion. It is not easy being a merchant these days, evil turns up when you least expect it on paths that were once deemed safe. But help came from the men of the north and the strong arm of the longbeards when their need was dire. What path will these two traders decide to take now? They cant just give up, or.. ?
No.
((I want to thank all RPers that had their part in the story))
