TOR 2: The Tale of Hugh Weatherborough

It is the year 2965 of the Third Age and the Shadow is returning. Twenty-four years ago, an alliance of Elves, Men, and Dwarves defeated a horde of Orcs and Wild Wolves, under a sky darkened by Giant Bats, inaugurating a new era of prosperity for the Free Peoples. But two decades is a long time for peace to last, and in many dark corners of the earth a shadow is lengthening once again.

Rumours of strange things happening outside the borders of civilised lands are spreading with increasing regularity and, while they are dismissed by most as fireside-tales and children’s stories, they sometimes reach the ears of individuals who recognise the sinister truth they hide.

These are restless warriors, curious scholars and wanderers, always eager to seek what was lost or explore what was forgotten. Ordinary people call them adventurers and, when they prevail, they hail them as heroes. But if they fail, no one will even remember their names.

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Wbweather
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TOR 2: The Tale of Hugh Weatherborough

Post by Wbweather » Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:25 am

If the men of Bree were known for anything it was their hardiness, living simple lives on the edge of the wild. The Weatherboroughs were Breelanders through and through. As long as anyone could remember they had maintained a respected if unexceptionable presence among the citizens of Bree. Hugh had been born the youngest of 5 children, the only boy. His mother had died when he was a toddler. Consequently, he had been raised primarily by his 4 sisters who doted on him and his father who was firm but loving. He had learned to tend the family farm, to hunt and trap, to provide food to feed the family. In time his sisters all married and for a time he had spent his days with his father working the field, slopping the hogs and generally preparing to take his place among the working class of Bree.

His father often told him of the tale about the eccentric hobbit Bilbo and a company of dwarves and a wizard mind you, who once passed through Bree and then returned to the wonderment of all with riches untold from a distant land where they had killed a dragon and fought a war over dwarves gold. That had all occurred the same year he was born.

That tale had stirred his heart. While he never expected to be anything other than the next Farmer Weatherborough, his mind often wandered off into distant lands full of adventure. But year after year, crops needed to be planted, crops needed harvesting, grain needed selling and Hugh grew into his own manhood, solid Bree stock as ever there was.

Then came the day his father passed. Hugh was left alone in the world. Part of him was ready to find himself a wife, settle down and start growing his own batch of kids. Another part of him awoke that questioned if he might not have time for an adventure of his own. Day by day, that part grew stronger. Why shouldn’t he see a bit of the world outside of the 10 miles he had traveled in his life? There was always time for a family, but now that he was free from responsibility to anyone but himself, why not chase his dream for a season.

That is when he made up his mind to seek an opportunity for an adventure like old Bilbo. He started hanging around and talking with the many travelers who made their way through the Prancing Pony, listening to their tales, learning what he could of far off places like Dale, and Erebor and of the Dwarven cities in Blue Mountains.

This is how he met a company of adventurers and was now preparing to embark on what he hoped would prove to be a chapter in his story that he could tell with relish to his children’s children.

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Wbweather
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TOR 2: The Tale of Hugh Weatherborough

Post by Wbweather » Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:15 pm

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