Fellowship of the Dice

"Yes," says Halleth, "that might well help. Though we didn't even know before that we needed to look for such things."

Halleth calls out to the camp, rousing those there, and soon the fellowship as a whole are inside the barrow once more. This time a search is made of Arphan's grandfather, and lo and behold there is the symbol, on a ring on the man's right hand. It bears the same mark and design as the brooch that Hartley is holding on to. You gingerly take it from the dead man's boney finger, half expecting some sort of 'thing' to happen, but nothing does. You now bear two items, each with the design and house symbol of the line. The third left to be found.

It is not here, a complete search of the rest of the barrow confirms this. You also did not find it or anything like the amulet that Arphan's restless spirit had in the vision back in the keep. You were not looking for it but still you searched the keep well.

It isn't until Nimroyn speaks that more becomes clear. "My friends. I have been giving this some thought since Halleth and Hartley's encounter with the Fëa of the Dunedain. These things were not with Arphan when he died, and we have not found him or signs of his body in either places, or does the image of his spirit that we encountered make sense to me in the context of these places. No. I think it is clear, Arphan's final peace can only be found when you find the resting place of his body. Wound not he have the amulet on his person? Did he not ride to Carn Dum with his father, and did he not go missing there? I have read many signs before, but these seem clear enough to me. If you would seek an end to all of this, you must seek that terrible place. Though I warn against it, and say it is folly to try."

Without hesitation, Halleth says, "Than I will go Carn Dum. I will not ask anyone else to go with me to that evil place, though I would be honored if any of you choose to join me on that journey. But I cannot leave one of the line of Cardolan, the house I have so long served, remain tortured as Arphan is. I pray I may find him alive and rescue him, but if he is dead, I want to at least see that his soul rests in peace."

At the name of Carn Dum, Hartley's bood runs cold. He had often heard stories of how Aravule had lost all to that place. It had lead them all on a search for cursed gold and all the troubles they had encountered down south in Tharbad and the White mountains. Why would Halleth willingly go back to that cursed place. Even as his fears overwhelmed him, a seed of resolve took root in his soul.

He found himself thinking to himself, "Hartley Sandheaver, you would not abandon your friends now would you? Would you let them walk into such a place, even if it meant certain death, while you headed back home to safety? How would you live with yourself after that?"

"I wish there were some other way, I truly do, but if Halleth and Telurin will go, I will go with them, even to Carn Dum."

"Carn Dum!? I know it only from books. Was not the evil defeated long, long ago?"

Hugo knows the tales well enough. It was such readings that stirred his heart to leave the Shire. Seeing his companions hesitation concerns him, but there is a bit of excitement to see yet another place only known to him from the written page!

Telurin says nothing for a long time. He wonders if he and Nimronyn ought not to return to Rivendell. Had he not enough of fruitless endeavors on behalf of the failed lines of Men? Had he not given enough blood and sweat on behalf of Aravule? And though it was his father whose tomb they had visited, the Elf could not help but feel it was Aravule himself, back from the dead, to haunt his every step.

In fact, these things made him begin to wonder the wisdom he had in ever leaving Thranduil's Halls, and the realm of his home. What was he doing here in the far north, inhabited only by ruins and the ghosts of men?

While these thoughts fill his mind, the Elf fingers the chain on his neck, his hand soon finding the lamp hanging by the last loops. Suddenly he remembered why he had come, why Ormal the Lampwright had sent him to the forges and craftsmen of Rivendell, and why in the end their long journey South had not been fruitless, for even Saruman the wise, one of the greatest craftmen of Middle Earth, had taken him in as a tutor, even for a short time.

And with such a gift as he'd been given, it would be a waste to not use it. After long delay he finally speaks up, a smile on his face,

"Why else to have a magic light, if not to shine it in dark places? To Carn Dum; though now for far better reasons than the first."

Halleth runs to Hugo and says, "The Witch King of Angmar was defeated--but those evils that dwell in Carn Dum were never driven out. The victory of the free peoples only means that they ceased to be an active threat to us. Any trip there is fraught with danger. The last time I was there, we were attacked by undead and most of our party destroyed. If you do not wish to make the journey, no one will think you a coward and many would count you wise."

Nimroyn shakes her head, "I will not go to such a place. There is nothing there for elves. Your friend is dead, his spirit is under the sway of the Shadow now. This is all a trap. I say yo you Halleth of the Dunedain, do not walk willingly to your Doom!" She looks at Perrie and Hugo and Hartley, "Come with me, I will take you gentle folk to Rivendell and there you shall be safe."

Telurin replies, "Thank you for offering this, to give all a real choice to return. No, there is nothing there for elves, nor men, and of halflings it is a place of but children's tales. But if our small deed brings fear to the Shadow, it will shrink back, and lessen its grip on these lands. Perhaps then the burden of the vigil of the Dunedain shall be a little lighter, and the hidden threats upon Imladris and the Shire all the weaker."

Halleth shakes his head at Nimronyn's words. "Maybe I'm walking to my doom, but I have a duty to the House of Cordolan to do--and I'll do it, even if it kills me. Aside from that, we are following a clue Gandalf gave to Hartley--and I've never heard of Gandalf do anything that wasn't meant to help folk. Heading to Carn Dum may not be the wise thing, but it is something I must do if I am to live with myself and keep my sense of honor."