I'm getting a definite 'vicinity of the Shire' theme so... is the password STRIDER?
I also have a very odd notion about 1, which is that it might be connected to Scyld (~= Shield, which Eowyn could definitely have done with) Sheafing, Beowulf's mythic sea king who Tolkien I believe wrote about/intended to write about in The Lost Road.
hS
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