((Please keep in mind that this story shall depict dark themes and details, this will be the only warning throughout this part, if you are not capable of reading such things please look elsewhere at the more upbeat posts))
A lone hobbit wandered the streets of Bree one night, headed home after many long meetings, drinking at the Inn and listening to the whispers of her associates. She weaved her way through the familiar streets, passing over some of the smaller fences and under various archways until she reached her modest home, upon entering she noted an unfamiliar scent... odd, like rotting meat and lilacs, her hand flew to her side but was smacked away with her into the nearby wall, the next thing she knew whoever had attacked her started to beat her in the face and chest until she could no longer see, the metallic taste of iron in her mouth her last sensation before darkness came to swallow her up.
Some time later an associate assigned to watching over her saw a shadow leaving her home, someone clearly taller than the lass, he hid himself until the figure was down the street, trying to identify what had happened and why his shadow was so oddly shaped until a sharp crack felled him, leaving him too in darkness.
The next day many of the associates of the Hobbit lass noted her absence, and the injured agent came some time later in the day to report, it was some hours before they found her... Her body strung up and gutted in the scholar's stair market, ravens already picking at her body, her own ornate dagger pushed through her neck. Her employer was promptly notified, who had his contacts cut her down and body wrapped and prepared for burning upon a pyre, as asked of her employer some years ago.
The notable Lord "Thorn" was seen with a large deployment of his mercenary guard prowling the countryside of Bree, shadowy agents wearing the silver insignia of the House of Willows seen on occasion searching the town itself and questioning all known contacts of the late Kittaren.
(Stay tuned for part 2)
