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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mirth" data-source="post: 1347027" data-attributes="member: 5242">OOC: You got it, chief."Got yer drinks then?" Artos says as the men settle in. "Good. Let's begin at the beginning." The white-haired giant leans his axe against the wall and takes a seat, his large hand grasping the tankard in front of him as if it were a hobbit's teacup. After taking a long draft, Artos looks each man in the face and in hushed tones begins his tale, "I, like you, am not from around these parts. But I've lived here long enough to know that these folk are practical and dependable. If they are given to any flights of fancy or superstition, it is that they believe they are under the protection of the Sleeping King, whose spirit is supposedly buried in a forgotten hall somewhere in the woods north of here. Considering that this area has been free of orcs and their ilk, even though they are in the shadow of the Misty Mountains and so close to the haunt of Angmar, then there may be some truth to the old tales after all. It is a safe town... remarkably so.""That is, until recently," at this point Artos' face takes a grim turn and he takes another long pull of his ale before continuing. "My good friend, Beroth, was the first to go. About a month ago now, he went on a trapping foray and didn't return. I went looking for him at all of the old sites and finally found his body up in the northern Drebiwyd forest. He had been... savaged. By what, I don't know. Perhaps an animal, but the markings were unlike any I had seen before." The giant shakes his head at the memory. "Regardless, it was quite the beast that took him down. It had to have been, for Beroth was one of the most experienced woodsman I've ever known.""A week later was when Aski," Artos pauses for a moment and looks across the room before continuing, "came back from the woods one night, wide-eyed and shaken with fright, screaming about flashing lights moving on their own and the pale figure of a ghost. Some dismissed the tale, trying to explain it away, even as fear began to spread through the town with each new retelling from Aski. Although he has stretched it a bit since, the essence of his story still has the ring of truth about it. Having seen Beroth's body and heard Aski's tale myself, I have every reason to believe that something unnatural is afoot.""Despite my beliefs, however, I haven't been able to turn up anything of note," the big man sighs, "and that's not for lack of looking. The Thegn has been slow to take action in this matter and that may have cost us again. Last week, two young shepherds simply disappeared without a trace, or at least none that I could find. Now those who doubted Aski's tale have been seized by panic as well and the town is reaching its wit's end. Of course, now you have arrived. Will you help me? Help us?"Artos finishes his telling and sits back, waiting for you to speak.</blockquote>

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