The Gathering-In, or The Quest of the 24 Messengers.

[Cimmerian]

"Friend Dinodas," boomed Barocas Headstrong, gesturing widely across the horizon, "Let us go to this little settlement known as Bree, for there are great many taverns there to help us through with this journey." He winked.

Dinodas looked at the large hobbit with some discomfort, but the jolly smile on his generous face made the young hobbit laugh, "And what after that, or are we to drink our way through this mission?"

"Nay! Young Dino, nay I say," boomed the larger hobbit, "we shall traverse to lands I have only heard of from the tales of strange big folk and the dwarf people. We will go to the lands where the qround is white and hard and the cold air bites like the sharp teeth of a warg."

Dinodas gulped hard and wondered if his companion had one too many that early in the day to be considering that hobbit folk would ever be found in such unfriendly places, but something in the sour-breathed tone of Barocas convinced the youngster and he put his arm around the older hobbit's generous girth as they headed off toward Bree.