[Nevtalathiel]

*****DALE - Girion*****

Girion sighed as he spotted an indignant looking dwarf approaching him, it appeared his fun for the day was over. Carefully he placed the pan he was holding on the ground. No doubt he was about to be berated about the wake up call. Fearing he had blundered and let his father down, he bowed to the dwarf.

"King Stonehelm wishes to know how long it will take to aquire boats, and who we will be aquiring them from." The dwarf said gruffly, and Girion repeated his sigh, he suddenly wished he had studied a lot more of the history of his country and its outposts when the lessons had been on offer.

"There is a small colony of Dale men who live a little up-river from here. Originally, it was merely a small military base; an outpost to help us guard our borders and warn of possible dangers to our lands. During the War of the Ring, the stronghold was overrun by orcs, and though we believe they held out for several weeks, but as far as we can tell, all the men were lost and the camp was razed to the ground.

"As soon as the threat was defeated and the world became safe again, my father's thoughts turned once again to the outposts guarding his kingdom, the majority of which had thankfully remained untouched by the forces of Sauron. He decided to rebuild this outpost, though others were abandonned. Most have become trading posts, despite the fact that there has been little time for trade to be built up since. This one is the same; a small garrison of soldiers have be posted here to help rebuild it, and there have been certain priveledges extended to those willing to populate the next towns.

"The people should be friendly, if a little removed from the rest of my people and procuring a boat should not be too hard."