[Groin Redbeard]

Gorin had the fire going nicely and by now everyone was gathered around it to warm themselves. As Gorin sat comfortably on ground, his mind began to wonder from the present situation. The flames from the fire began to form shapes, in his mind, of great dwarven halls deep under the mountains. He could hear the smote of the hammer on the anvil, the plucking of harp strings, and the joyous laughter of dwarves feasting. The illusion was short lived, and Gorin awoke from his dream when Sam bumped him.

The dwarf’s mood was suddenly a sour one. Then he remembered why he had lit the fire in the first place.

"Where is Kuric with those torches? Probably asleep somewhere." he said turning around to see if the old dwarf was sleeping.

"Kuric?" he said in a raised voice, "Where has he got to?"

He walked to the border of the fires light to see if he could see or even hear the old dwarf; nothing.

"Kuric!" this time Gorin's voice was loud and clear.

Even though Gorin was worried, he just put it out of his mind telling himself that Kuric went to do his business and would be back soon, but this meant he had to chop torch wood. He was done in a short amount of time, and brought back four large bludgeons of wood. The ends were placed in the fire.

Gorin had seated himself back beside Sam and waited for Kuric to come back, but several minutes passed by before they heard it.

The nighttime stillness was broken by Kuric's deep dwarf yell, "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!" Gorin jumped up from where he was sitting.

"He's in trouble! Quickly we must... Gah!" and he fell to the ground screaming. Gorin had not noticed in his hastiness that he had put his left boot in the middle of the fire when he jumped up. He fell to the ground sputtering and slapping at his boot with his hands. When his boot was extinguished he grabbed one of the torches from the fire and tried to run off after Kuric, but someone grabbed him.

"Let me go, I he needs us! Let me go lad!"

"Hush, Gorin," came Ash's voice, "Let's not get separated for a second time tonight. We are coming."

Although Ash was young he was incredibly strong, using one arm to grab the dwarf's shoulders and his other arm to stop Gorin from hitting him. However, Gorin calmed down before he could do any harm to Ash. With their weapons in one hand and blazing torches in the other the defenders started off, this time in search of a dwarf.