A5S2 Warehouse & Wagons

Harslan's Tomb: Fortunately Weldon did not see the reaction between the glove and tapestry. Kyan tried to convince Weldon to leave the tapestry in the tomb but the hobbit was too excited to bring his treasure to town to prove himself right to all the mockers. "I could hang it in my house and charge people to look at it." Thran tried to warn him about thieves as another reason to leave the tapestry. Which only made Weldon realize he should bring it to the Shire where hobbits would more appreciate the fine artwork.

At least they convinced Weldon to join Thran outside to verify the kidnappers had left. Theo and Kyan would carry the tapestry out. But first they waved the glove in front of the tapestry to see the true hiding place of the Shard. Then Kyan used his Jewelers tools to carefully remove the metal threads within the tapestry thus removing the map to the shard.

Meanwhile, little did they know Thran had to use his elf light magic to distract Weldon who wanted to re-enter the tomb once he'd confirmed the coast was clear outside. At least Weldon was satisfied when the tapestry appeared. And even happier to find his grandson Dusty tending the horses.

July 3rd: They slept in before reporting to the town Reeve. Brandel and the other surviving kidnappers stood before Twyc Greenleaf who was Bree's sheriff and judge. Urian and the other survivors expressed remorse for their actions. Theo saw thru Brandel's false remorse: him more pissed he'd been caught. Private conversations between the heroes and the Reeve solidified the ruling: Brandel behind bars while the others served community service.

It was already noon when they returned to the Prancing Pony Inn to follow up on their search for Thorn. Rymen Butterbur greeted them with a scowl,  "It's bad enough you included young Dusty in your adventuring. Apparently he and my son Oatden want to follow in your footsteps. I haven't seen my son since this morning. Keep an eye out them as you look for your friend."

Patrons had little to offer other than remembering the boys finding that wand. They were more concerned about the lack of work, "I had a good job working for Falcor until he replaced us all months ago with those new guards. Runs his grain shipments despite all the reported road robberies." Which made Kyan suspicious,  "Maybe Thorn was investigating this Falcor."

3pm at the Warehouse: they loitered around the warehouse and became suspicious of the 8 well-armed guards who seemed out of place for a simple grain operation. As Thran looked closer, he recognized their armor was too similar to the Haradrium pirates they had encountered after their shipwreck. 2 wagons were being readied for a trip. "Did the wagons on the beach also have that FM logo painted on the sides?"

And that's when Thran saw the burrow-hole under the fence near the back of the warehouse. Instead of a fox burrowing into a chicken coop, the elf found prints: size 6 shoe prints and size 6 barefoot prints. Young human Oatden and the hobbit kid Dusty? With his spyglass Kyan noticed the rain barrel that had been moved under a warehouse window. "I think the boys snuck in there. They probably found that wand inside and lied about finding it in the street. Maybe they returned to find another magical item." Their best bet was to sneak in after sunset. They watched as 2 wagons with guards left the yard and drove out of Bree. 2 more wagons were brought into the yard to be loaded.

Dusk: Kyan created an oil fire at one corner of the fence as distraction for the elf and Beorning to sneak over the fence near the back. While 3 guards responded to the fire,  others remained on watch.  "Creak!" 2 guards on patrol came to investigate with their lanterns raised high. Thran used their lantern as his magic elf-light source to mesmerize them. Thran and Theo stepped on the barrel to climb thru the window into a wagon bay. Outside the warehouse yard, Kyan watched from the street in case other distractions were needed. 

Theo & Thran found a wagon inside the bay being readied. Theo unhitched the wagon horses and stood watch while Thran listened at a rear door: shuffling and muffled noise. Stepping inside, the elf found the boys tied and gagged. Finally able to speak, Oatden explained, "We thought maybe the wand fell off one on Mr. Falcor's wagons. We snuck in but they caught us. Just like that man they have down in the dungeon."

Thran quietly opened the trapdoor: a ladder led down about 20ft to a large dirt-floor room. He inched down the ladder and spotted 2 men manacled to the far wall. 2 torturers took turns interrogating Thorn,  "Best tell us all you know about the shards. What do you know about Belemir and the Dark Queen?"

Meanwhile, a guard stepped into the bay. And that's when Theo slapped the horses' rumps: they almost ran over the guard who dodged out of the bay. Theo opened the door just as Thran climbed back up, "Get the boys out of here, we're about to have company!"

Theo hefted a barrel over the open trapdoor: he dropped it as soon as one of the torturers came  to investigate the noise. "Crash! Umph!" Theo quickly slid down the ladder to deal with the torturers while Theo re-entered the bay to keep watch. He didn't have long to wait: 2 guards appeared!

Theo had his hands full dealing with the 2 Haradrium torturers and their dirty fighting. At least he was armed and armored versus them in only a leather apron and wielding a hot poker. He soon vanquished them and freed the prisoners. Thorn was bloodied and weak until Theo gave him a slice of cram bread. As for Calanhir: remember the ranger in Minas Thirith who was sent overland to find King Elessar? Yeah, the brother of Calanlas who was found in the ruins of Fornost. Calanhir was near death from months of torture. "Thorn, help the ranger climb out of here. I need to get up there quickly to aid the elf."

Yeah, the non-fighter elf who faced 2 enemy alone! All exchanged arrow shots as Thran hid behind the wagon. Realizing their advantage, the guards closed into melee against the elf. Outmatched, their 4 attacks versus his one, Thran was fading fast despite his one- time use of his healing hands. Luck, that Theo arrived just in the nick of time. Theo fought with a rage as the elf laid bleeding out.

Meanwhile, Kyan saw the bay fight and sprung into action. He busted the gate lock and dealt with 3 guards who just put out the fire. The flare of RingRist blinded one of them. It was a back & forth battle of Kyan and his dog against the 3 seasoned Haradrium warriors. Maybe his dog getting wounded gave Kyan the adrenaline to win the day. He rushed toward the warehouse bay just as 2 more guards appeared (remember the 2 guards mesmerized by the elf- light?).

In the end, the last Haradrium fighter surrendered. He told of Falcor's earlier departure with wagons heading south to meet up with more Haradrium soldiers.

But it was Thorn who told of the full plot,  "I overheard them talk about poisoned grain shipments to Rohan. Started months ago, just before they captured Calanhir.  Bree folk know of Falcor as a cheat and hard businessman, but poisoned grain and his operation digging in the barrow downs for the shard is beyond his known ruthlessness."

While Thran healed the wounded the best he could, they searched the wagons. Kyan tasted and confirmed the grain poisoned. But after dumping one barrel, they found ancient artifacts hidden inside. Under duress, their Haradrium prisoner confessed,  "Falcor delivers the artifacts to the queen. They swap out the wagons; grain delivered to Rohan in exchange for other wagons brought up from the southern coast."

And that's when Rymen Butterbur arrived with other men, "My son told me he was held prisoner here. What's going on?!"

NEXT SESSION: A5S3: Intercept the Wagons