The Golden Perch Inn

[MaskedNicci]

The innkeeper continued sputtering his apologies, rushing off and fetching a towel to aid in her half-hearted clean up. He asked if he could offer her anything, looking dazed.

Alassë tried to refrain from any harsh insults she could throw at the innkeeper, deciding that to try and appear friendly would be the easiest way to find out more of this strange coincidence. Perhaps the innkeeper and the man were in a secret society, and they were going to tactfully interrogate her and find out if she was an enemy figure. Trying to offer a smile through clenched teeth, she murmured. "Oh, it's quite alright. I don't melt, good sir. Just something to drink would be nice. What would be even better, would be if I didn't take it all over. Keeping it in a cup would be just grand."

Mentally rebuking herself for a failing in her attempted guise of behaviour, Alassë gave out a tight-lipped sort of sound to resemble a laugh. "No harm done." She said, looking sideways at the stranger she had been inspecting upon entry, and she held up his handkerchief. "May I make arrangements for this to be cleaned, before I return it?"

[Forest Elf]

Gable sighed; she wasn’t even going to of had a piece of pie. Sometimes cook got on her nerves. When would cook learn to stop making assumptions? Doesn’t cook know by now that I don’t take baked goods, just a plain apple or a slice of older bread when I'm hungry before meals? Gable wondered to herself as she watched a leaf floating on the breeze out the window. She sat down at an empty table and closed her eyes. She put her hands on top of each other and laid her forehead down on them. She needed to think things through, though why she did though, she didn’t know.

Whose locket is that? Why are the wolves attacking? It doesn’t make sense…why would wolves attack the Inn? Why did they come and attack in the first place? What if Tollers was right and there is a hole in the Hedge? Or what if something is driving them mad enough to make them this desperate? Does it have something to do with the pony’s owner’s disappearance? Or does it have to do with one of the customers here? at the Inn?

Gable sighed…so many questions that couldn’t be answered. If she kept this up she would be getting a headache. Maybe I should take another look around the area where I found the pony…there has to be some sign of the owner, or tracks that I missed since it was dark and I can see better now that its light out. Then she began troubling herself with the question of, Should I bring someone along to help or not?

[Finduilas]

Elorn felt like laughing when the clearly ruffled Elf offered to have his handkerchief cleaned. He refrained from doing so, knowing that it probably wouldn’t improve her present state of mind.

“No thanks, ma’am. It won’t be necessary,” he replied as he took it back.

Once he had wrung out his handkerchief and returned in to his pocket, he stood, wondering what he should do. The Elf didn’t seem in the mood to talk, but he didn’t feel it would be very nice of him to leave her, seeing as she was still soaked, and in bad humor. Elorn sincerely wished that either the Elf or the landlord would help him out of this awkward situation.

[ElentariGreenleaf]

Lynaata sat on a low wall just outside a town of which she did not know the name. By the look of the place, he was a hobbit's town. Lyn wasn't entirely sure why she was sitting on that wall. She was desperate to buy more supplies, but at the same time she was nervous. Hobbits were such lovely folk, and she felt incredibly conscious of her tatty appearance. What would people think of her? Her boots were too large, and her dress was faded, and that was how she had looked before she left Bree. Now her boots and the skirt of her dress were caked with mud from her time travelling. Her hair was full of knots and the odd burr, as she had often hidden in the bushes on the road side if ever a horse rode past from the direction of Bree. Rowan had been offered a large dowry to take her for his bride, and she doubted he'd let that opportunity pass him by easily. The Inn Rowan had inherited verged on the edge of debt, as it was not in the best location on the outskirts of Bree and the Prancing Pony attracted most of the business in the town.

In the end Lyn's stomach won. She was hungry, as her remaining food was either stale or mouldy. She took out a coin purse and counted out her gold. She had stolen as much as she could from Rowan, but he only kept a small amount out of his locked moneybox for day to day business in the Inn. She had enough for now, but eventually she would need to find work, or learn to hunt. The idea sickened her.

As she wandered through the town, Lyn admired the Hobbit architecture. It was odd to her seeing doors in the sides of hills or the odd chimney poking out of the ground. She had never been to such a place as this before. The Hobbits were no bigger than human children, and if they had their backs to her, Lyn could quite easily mistake them for so.

Eventually Lyn found what she had been looking for - before her stood an Inn. The sign read "The Golden Perch Inn". Lyn smiled to herself, glad she had found an Inn here that was designed to accommodate humans as well as Hobbits. She stepped through the round door, ducking as the door was still more Hobbit sized than human. The Inn instantly struck her as a welcoming, homely place. Well, what she imagined other people to consider homely, as she hoped it was nothing like her home. She went to the counter and ordered a beer, handing over some of Rowan's gold with a large smile. He would feel the sting of the amount of gold Lyn took being stolen, that was for certain. Lyn hoped Rowan slipped into debt and his Inn closed. He deserved everything bad that would happen to him.

As Lyn went to find a table to sit at, she noticed a beautiful woman mopping her elegant dress with a handkerchief. Lyn studied the woman for a moment. She had never seen a woman with such grace before. When the woman had finished her attempt at drying her dress she brushed her long hair behind back from her face, revealing a pointed, very much elven ear. An elf! Lyn had never seen an elf before. For a moment she stood staring at the elf, until she noticed people had begun giving her funny looks.

Lyn found a table near window, from which she could both admire the town and study the elf. She felt almost happy while she sat there. She could tell things were taking a turn for the better for her.

[Folwren]

“No, I'm guess it's good that you don't melt...A drink,” Dick repeated. “By all means. Yes, I’ll keep it off you. Yes, in the cup would be marvelous. A drink...a drink at once,” and still muttering, he pattered off once more behind the counter. He drew for the elf the finest brew they had, and then, placing it momentarily on the counter, darted back into the kitchen.

“Cela, dear,” he said, panting and out of breath, “do you mind serving something nice? Pie! Is it fresh? Will you put a large slice on a plate? And start some tea. Be quick, now!” And he went out again as quick as a humming bird. He picked up the mug and started on his way back across the room. He slowed to a careful walk as he approached the elf and the man and set it gently on the table before her.

“There you are, ma’am,” he said. “Again, I’m very sorry. Is there anything else I can offer? I’m having the cook get you some tea and a slice of her fresh pie. I hope that will amend matters some. Oh, sir!” he cried out suddenly. “I forgot to get you another mug full. I’m so sorry, I’ll be right back.” And so saying, he was off once more.

[Tevildo]

Daisy held her breath as her brother inserted the key in the lock, slowly turned it, and pushed the door open. The children trooped into the room, with Lil leading the way. After that, they began to rummage through the satchels and drawers, inspecting the belongings of the occupants. "Some of the big folk!" whispered Tom triumphantly as he drew out two pairs of oversize heavy boots from the closet and tried them on one at a time.

Daisy sat miserably in the corner and refused to join her siblings in the general pillaging, squirming uncomfortably while glaring at her brother. Tom was always going off on some madcap scheme, but this did not feel like a prank. It felt downright uncomfortable. Daisy kept hearing echoes of her mother in her ear. saying how disappointed she was that her children were acting just like young ruffians. The young lass wished she was anywhere but here. She even considred running out the door and back down the corridor and then going to the room to speak with her mother. But the others would never forgive her. And, as much as she wanted to do what was right, she did not want to face the disapproval of her brother. He would never forgive her if she ratted on him.

The children were sitting cross legged in the middle of the room and were inspecting the trinkets that they had managed to pilfer. Despite Tom's assurance that they would turn up many treasures and jewels, their pickings looked extremely thin. There were several farm implements tossed in the middle of the circle, along with a few vest coats and a somewhat withered looking apple. Several of the younger ones were grumbling to Tom about not finding any candy or goodies.

Daisy stood up and went over to the door, pushing it slightly ajar. She squinted through the crack and surveyed the hall from one end to another. She saw one of the dwarves stamp through the corridor carrying an interesting assortment of weapons plus an oversized satchel. He stopped in front of one room and disappeared inside, closing the door firmly behind him. An interesting thought flashed across the girl's mind: where there were dwarves, there was always treasure. Daisy had always been told that it wasn't right to steal candies or pennies. But no one had ever mentioned anything about treasure: coats of armor, axes, swords, or sparkling piles of jewels and gold. In the stories ma told, there were always little boys and girls who made off with such marvelous things, and nobody scolded them when they returned home. She expected that removing things from a dwarf's bedroom wasn't too different than taking them from a dragon's lair. Squinting intently down the hall, she saw the door open again and the dwarf leave, bearing only a large mace in his hand.

Turning to the others, she proudly exclaimed, "You ninnies. If you want real treasure, you can't go into the room of some old farmer. You'll just get junk. You must find a warrior and treasure hunter. And I happen to know where there is one." She motioned for them to join her at the doorway. "You see right there...that room. I just saw a dwarf go inside and then leave. He was carrying weapons and a big bag, probably filled with gold and jewels that he stole from some dragon. I think most of it is still in the room. Let's go there and hunt for treasure." Daisy snatched up the key where Tom had laid it down on the table and indicated that the others should follow her. The children slipped out into the hallway. They left the room behind them a horrible mess, with nothing missing but things strewed everywhere across the bed and floor.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Tom sprinted to the head of the line and bumped Daisy to the side so he could be the first to reach the doorway. In an instant he had inserted the key in the lock and pushed back the door, beckoning the rest to follow. The others trooped in behind him and began scouring the chamber from top to bottom, opening drawers and inspecting under the bed. It did not take long for Tom to find what he was searching for. There, sitting on the nightstand in full view of them all, was an intricately woven torque with narrow twisted bands crafted of bright gold. Right next to it, Tom saw a ring of gold with three bold stones in a straight row.

Tom reached down and picked up the ring, carefully inspecting the jeweled piece while cradling it in his hands. The stones caught the sunshine that poured in through the window, flashing bright in their glory: a ruby glowing red; an emerald green as a sward of grass following an afternoon rain; and, in the middle, brightest of all, a generous sized diamond that gleemed and sparkled like a brook of running water. The piece was so beautiful that it took away Tom's breath, and he was not a hobbit lad who was easily impressed. The others ran over to where their brother was standing and crowded in to see what he had found.

"Treasure, it's treasure for sure," Tom exclaimed with excitement holding out the ring. "Probably stolen from a dragon or taken from an Elf lord in battle. This dwarf is too greedy....to steal both a necklace and a ring! We'll have better manners than him. Let's leave the gold necklace here but rescue this poor ring." He slipped it inside his vest pocket.

One of the younger children ran to the door and began to open it to go out into the hall, but Tom sprinted over and yanked the offender back. "No! Too dangerous!Someone might see us. We have to escape without anybody noticing and find a place to hide our treasure." Tom thought for a moment and then pointed directly at the window. "We can climb through to the outside here. There's a path through the garden with lots of bushes so no one can see. It leads to the other side of the Perch, straight to the trap door with steps down into the cellar. That's a perfect place to hide treasure." He glanced around at the others, "Come on. Hurry! We don't want to get caught here."