The King's Players RPG

[Dimturiel]

Thiliel was gone now and Harrenon was very thankful that Asta’s suggestion of tying her up had been disregarded. Otherwise they would have most likely found themselves in a dungeon soon and all the commotion with their silly play would have been the least of their worries. It was strange, Harrenon mused, how Asta could see danger lurking everywhere but sometimes did not seem to anticipate the consequences of her own actions. Now that he thought better of it, the prospect of joining a rescue mission with the two did not seem too attractive.

He was glad that Coldan had told Thiliel to find a way to explain their absence for now – his and Asta’s, that was. If anyone was to look for Harrenon that evening, then he would be the one in hot water since he would not have a plausible explanation for not being around. But, after all, he had the habit of being inconspicuous until there was need of him and Harrenon doubted very much that anyone would have any need of him that evening. He turned to the two others and looked at them questioningly:

“Well, now that the girl’s gone, what do we do? How do we plan this rescue? I think I should tell you, though, that we should be careful. I’ve spent the morning with Sador, after all. He’s…well, he's a romantic fool, but I have to hand it to him: he does not seem to lack imagination. Such people are not easy to deal with.”

[Pitchwife]

Harrenon's question caught Coldan somewhat unawares, as he hadn't yet given much thought to planning the mission in detail. He wasn't perturbed for long, though. Asta's kiss, fleeting as it had been, had given his self-confidence a huge boost and filled him with a gush of inspiration he had rarely felt poring over The Fall of King Bladorthin. He had not the slightest doubt in their ability to pull this off.

"Doesn't lack imagination, does he? Vell, neither do ve. Ve're ze King's Players, by Aule's hammer! I bet ve can still teach zat lordling a zing or two about imagination. -

Zis is vat ve'll do." He began to tick off the steps of the plan by the fingers of his right hand. "First we follow ze trail of ze carriage by asking people in ze city about it. Ven ve arrive at its destination, ve reconnoitre ze place - stealthily, to be sure - and try to find out vere Aldarion is being held. If ve can't discover zat from ze outside, ve sneak in - ve'll hev to do zat eventually anyway. Once ve hev found him, ve free him - ve'll need suitable tools, of course, in case he's locked up - and leave viz him as quickly and quietly as we can."

Harrenon didn't seem convinced. "Sneak in? I don't expect that to be easy. Don't you think the place will be guarded?"

Coldan bit his lips. "It probably will", he conceded. "Ve'll hev to create a diversion to distract the guards - you know, like ze last battle at ze Morannon vere ze King engaged ze army of Mordor vile Frodo attacked ze Dark Lord at Barad-dûr."

"I know what diversion means", snapped Asta. "What do you have in mind?"

Coldan's brow furrowed in pondering, while his glance wandered aimlessly around the interior of the cart as if looking for an idea; when it alighted on the looming frame of the mechanical dragon, his face suddenly lit up, and he flashed a mischievous grin at Asta.

"Could you spare some of ze stuff you use to make Smaug breathe fire?"

[Galadriel55]

Thiliel was not in the mood for doing more favors for the Players. She could not wait to see the play, but it was because of them that she made her uncle worry. If they wouldn't be at the inn, she wouldn't have done anything wrong. Nor would I be able to meet the real actors, she thought.

But whatever her mood was, customers came first. She carefully listened to the man's request, and nodded when he finished speaking: it was not anything special or hard to do. "I will take a tray to Mistress Celebrindal after I finish serving to everybody inside. If you want, I can give her a message." Thiliel thought for a moment, and then added, "Why, is her ankle worse again?"

[Nerwen]

"Could you spare some of ze stuff you use to make Smaug breathe fire?"

"Coldan, that's a marvellous idea!" Asta beamed. "It would be worth it just to see the looks on their faces!" Despite Harrenon's presence, she very nearly kissed the prompter a second time. "And don't you worry about breaking in," she added, as she quickly selected a number of slender, oddly-shaped picks and wrenches from amongst the large variety of tools hanging on the walls, "I know a thing or two about locks and bolts, I can tell you– Father wasn't just a toymaker. Here, Harry, take this–"

She might have passed Harrenon a live snake, from the way he stared at the long chisel-tipped rod in his hand.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked in a faint voice.

"Why, break the door open– if need be," Asta explained, not very patiently. Really, there were times when Harry seemed positively dense. "You will be careful with it, though, won't you?"

[Thinlómien]

Since she had discovered she had been fooled, Sereth had felt so stupid she had wished she could melt into the walls. Luckily, no one seemed to care - they were more interested in redistributing the roles and then, fighting about the dragon.

Asta stormed out - typical, if you asked Sereth - and was followed by Coldan, then Harrenon and finally Thiliel too. There was nobody but her and Brinn and Rollan in the wagon anymore, and maybe she had succeeded in beoming one with the wall, because the couple started arguing with each other as if she wasn't there. When Brinn started talking about cancelling the play and Seri herself crying for weeks, she couldn't help the tears that rose into her eyes. However, she would hide her grief this time.

One wouldn't have needed to have Sereth's skill in moving quietly to exit the wagon without notice - Brinn and Rollan were hardly concentrating on anything else than screaming at each other. Once she was out, Sereth found the darkest corner of the yard and sat there, crying.

Crying didn't make her feel so good though. She realised she had been agitated enough for a few days, she didn't want it anymore. And since all the adults seemed to be flipping out, maybe she should not go crazy too. Decisively, she wiped the tears and ignoring the fact that her eyes must be red she marched into the inn.

She didn't know what she actually wanted to do, but when she saw Rollan, she knew. She needed to make it better.

Rollan didn't look like he particularily wanted to talk to her or anybody else, though, but as Thiliel was already chatting with him, Sereth felt bold enough to join in.

"Rollan," she interrupted whatever discussion that was going on. "I know how we can solve this mess. We can replace the spider with a dragon, dragons are much scarier anyway."

She gave him a tentative smile.

[Galadriel55]

Sereth didn't look very well. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she cried. But she as smiling.

"Rollan, I know how we can solve this mess. We can replace the spider with a dragon, dragons are much scarier anyway."

"But there was no dragon!" Thiliel objected, "Not in the Seige of Gondor! My uncle told me all about it; he was a solider then, you see. There was a huge ram, the size of... well..." Thiliel searched for an appropriate comparisson, "it would hardly fit in the yard if it was twice as big as it really is. And there were beasts. Fell beasts. The Fell Riders rode them. They were like dragons, but not dragons. They were black. And they didn't breathe fire.

I could ask my uncle to tell us all about it after most people leave - in the late evening. He knows everything about the war." This suggestion jerked Thiliel back to her gloomy situation, which she forgot while speaking with Sereth. There was something special about that girl - she could make Thiliel forget about everything.

Which is why I am in trouble. And it's none of her fault.

[Mnemosyne]

Rollan was relieved, actually, at the inadvertent rescue Sereth had given him. A dragon was a much easier problem to manage than the King's Players crumbling within his wife's--and his--grasp.

"Now, listen, both of you," he said, and he looked at them sharply--not cruelly, but the sort of "sit up and pay attention" look that, somehow, only he could get away with flashing to the audience. "What Brinn never managed to get out before Asta stormed off was that she'd at least think about keeping the dragon, or working it in some other way. I'm not familiar enough with this version of the tale to know how that'd work, but I do know we have to be careful about the 'Frodo' bits because one of our special guests was there."

He looked at Thiliel again. "But we were talking about the Black Land, not the Siege. And you say there were creatures like dragons there? Not, of course, that I'd want you to be more of a bother to your uncle than I'm sure a lass your age already is... but you might have given old Rollan an idea." He eyed her shrewdly. "You don't think folk here would take it badly if we made the siege a little more dramatic, do you?"