IC Story Thread: Ch.1,Ad.1 - A Sensitive Matter

The lady's expression and demeanor changes slightly, as though a weight has been lifted from her - or at least that it's weight has been decreased.

She clasps her hands before her in a grateful gesture, "Thank you, for your willingness. And I am gladdened that you see the truth of my words... Commander Andireg had told me you were good people, only true heroes could have done what you did, returning my children to safety.

And I fear these final steps may exceed my ability to see them through alone.", her eyes flick back and forth across the ground now, as she searches her mind for where to begin.

"So, I believe, there is only one possible path forward now...

I had been working for years with a person who calls themself Astalor the Collector. They claimed to be a dealer in antiquities, and indeed I had purchased tomes from them over the years to aid me in my research. Well...

To make a long story short, I believe this Collector has either come to work for the Shadow after some years, or perhaps they always have...

Astalor is behind the abduction of my children, he had sent an agent to me, demanding... well, the part of 'the puzzle' which I possess. He has asked for it casually, before, indirectly, in an 'academic colleagues'-fashion, and I always of course denied him. And so it seems he was driven to extreme action.

He... must have pieced together what I was doing, or been told... and knew he could complete the necessary steps, if only he knew what I knew. And so it was to be the life of two of my children, for the fate of the Free Peoples.", a tear gathers and falls from her eye.

"I turned his agent away... Am I a horrible mother for having chosen the Free Peoples?"

The question is spoken softly and distant, as her eyes gaze into the center of the earth, and really it seems to be posed to herself.

She sobs once nearly buckling at the waist, but then gathers herself and takes a deep breath, clears her throat and continues, a terrible and barely concealed wrath behind her words, "At the very least, we must stop Astalor... For I don't believe he will cease in trying to get the information he wants.

And further, if he wants what I know, so desperately, then he must know that he has his own last piece. Or whomever HIS master is must have it...

He had claimed not to have the most recent records I needed, but perhaps he lied...

Anyway, he is our next step.

I have agents of my own, and I have never known where he resides, we always met publicly to talk and transact. And after he confronted me for the lives of my children, I set my own agents to work, finding out where he lives.

I don't know if or when to expect word. I received their last communication just a couple days ago, and they're search has brought them to Gondor of all places...

But, so, for now, we wait, - we give my agents a bit more time, we rest, recuperate, and prepare... to find Astalor, and whatever it is he knows."

There is a grave seriousness that has drawn her face, lovely in it's middle-agedness, into something hollow-looking and forbidding.

"They were about to embark on a ship to Pelargir, from Umbar. Digging up and following a paper trail is tedious and time consuming and requires the manipulation of bureaucracy. But I don't know how else to locate Astalor.

I don't know what their next move was to be, other than continuing to follow the paper trail, and inquiring after 'witnesses'. They may have already moved on from Pelargir by now. It is the biggest port city in... anywhere, save Umbar, that I know of. It could just be a pass through.

To try to catch up to my agents would be folly.

They are good at what they do. And they are in the middle of their process.

I trust them, and I fear we have nothing to do but wait. If they don't check in this or each following week, then we can begin to take other actions.

Unless you have some other proposal to find him faster?"

Lady Blackridge is happy to go into some more detail on the Palantirii but at a later time and place, as she wants to return to the dinner before too long, and also she says her own knowledge is limited by the fog of history.

She tells you that neither her husband, nor even the King Steward know of her role in this war against the Shadow, and that it is a secret kept to, both, protect them, and to guard against too many eyes and ears being aware of what's going on, and so hopefully to prevent there from being too many points of failure.

The rest of the evening is spent eating good food and making pleasantries, as well as making some basic arrangements for an "honoring ceremony", in which Gondor wants to formally acknowledge your deeds.

It doesn't have to be a public ceremony if you don't wish it to be. However the Steward's Regent tells you all that you will each be receiving the title of "Homeguard of Gondor" (a title of low nobility), which is accompanied by a holding in Minas Tirith. Either a small dwelling on the lowest tier of Minas Tirith, or a small tract of land in Pelennor Fields.

Furthermore, you are each to be presented with armaments or other gear from the armory of Gondor, worth up to 100 silvers.

In the following days, you learn the below information about palantiri and Kin-Strife War:

1. What is a Palantir? (Research) The palantíri were enchanted seeing stones, created by an ancient king of the elves - real magical relics from Ages Long Past. Before there were Men, and the world was young. Seven were given to the Men of Numenor, after the Fall of Numenor to the Shadow. The stones could be used to communicate with one another over any distance that separated them, and could also be used to see across the face of the world - like a telescope that wasn't hindered by the horizon. Only people of great will or power could use the Stones. Generally, no one knows about the existence of palantiri, other than perhaps as something fabled in myth or legend, outside of Kings and their closest advisors.

2. How did the Palantir in Osgiliath disappear? (The Lady) The Osgiliath Stone fell into the waters of the River Anduin when the newly formed Corsairs of Umbar attacked Osgiliath (which at the time, was the capital), during the Kinstrife War. The Stone sat at the top of a great tower called the Dome of Stars. The building was set aflame in the Corsair's attack, and the destruction of it's timbers caused the tower to collapse. The Dome itself, where the Stone was housed, toppled into the river, and the Stone went in with it.

3. What attempts have previously been made to recover it?
(The Lady) There was an initial attempt to dredge the waters of the Anduin, in the immediate aftermath of the war. However only the rubble from the tower, and the Dome of Stars, was found. The Stone was basically then assumed to be destroyed or lost to Man, and basically forgotten for a thousand years, until the predecessors of Lady Black ridge started looking for it again.

4. Who were the main leaders in the Kin-Stife War? (the Lady) The Kin-strife was a civil war of succession, 1500 years ago, waged because an ancient King of Gondor married a woman from Rohan, and some Gondorians would not accept their son as King. This son and King was named Eldacar. He was challenged for his right to rule by his second cousin named Castamir - the Captain of Ships in Umbar (for at the time, Umbar was a part of Gondor). At this time Osgiliath was the capital of Gondor, however after the Kin-strife and the sack of Osgiliath, the capital was moved to Minas Tirith. Eldacar was able to retain the throne, but Gondor lost Umbar and it's lands to the south, and the Corsairs of Umbar formed under Castamir, and would plague Gondor until this very day.

In your research, you learn of a vault which sat beneath the Shrine to the Valar, in Osgiliath. This vault was described as having a legendarium that contained an accounting of the deeds and powers of Morgoth (along with the other Valar), as they were known at the end of the First Age, which was when Morgoth was banished from Arda.

You all would know, Osgiliath is nothing more than an abandoned ruin of a city now. And has been for almost 500 years, when it was overrun and sacked by orcs and abandoned by Gondor (along with Ithilien, the principality of Gondor east of the Anduin River, adjacent to Mordor).

The portion of the city that is on this, the Minas Tirith, side of the river is considered relatively safe. Gondorian guardsmen (and Duinhir would know; Rangers) patrol the outskirts of the ruin on this side.

But the far side of the river is known to be frequented by goblins and orcs... and potentially worse...