LOTRO: Hobbit Party

     The early hours of the morning found Eibwen at The Prancy Pony in Bree. There she found the knight in his pretty tabard and she stood next to him until he noticed her, not sure what she was supposed to say or do otherwise, but wanting company just the same. He suggested they find a table and they did, but she soon grew nervous as he started asking her about her background and how she thought the order's gathering had gone. It wasn't long before she declared she needed pie, bid him farewell, and left the Pony.  

     She had not really meant to go find pie, that's just her go to excuse for anytime she is unsure or nervous. After everything Mr. Uptight had said she's a lot more nervous about her background and her lack of proper upbringing. She knows she's saying and doing it all wrong, but doesn't know what the right way is. Her mother would have been able to teach her, if her mother had stuck around. Or her father's father if he'd had visited more often. Eibwen was a bit dismayed when Eclathar decided to follow her. He asked first and not knowing how to tell him she was going to run off and hide, she gave him permission. She also thought he could use an escort, but at the same time wanted to be offended he thought she might need one. But she did, so she decided not to take offense. The quest for pie took them toward The Shire as the sun was rising.

     Along the way they discovered a trouble making man giving some hobbits some trouble. He was telling them they didn't belong in The Shire and that he was going to take their house from them. Eibwen tried to tell him to go away and leave the hobbits alone, but he wouldn't listen to her. She decided to let it go for now, since there was already a bounder on the scene and told the bounder to come get her if the man became more troublesome. She didn't think anything of Eclathar being there to witness this strange little show of strength in herself, and doesn't even realize she really showed any strength. She just really doesn't like people picking on the hobbits, they're so peaceful. She wishes more people could be like hobbits.

     Eclathar had suggested they find The Green Dragon and have their pie there. Eibwen goes to The Shire often and often looks for pie. But she's often been drunk in the past as well and wasn't sure where The Green Dragon was. She knows she's been there several times. When he'd see her stop and look around, he'd ask if she was lost. She'd tell him, "I can get through the maze drunk. I can find a tavern while sober." He polietly cleared his throat to stop her when she kept going past the little side road that would take them to the tavern and so she turned around and pretended it didn't happen.  She'd never admit to being lost.

     Eclathar either had really good luck or really bad luck when he picked the location of their pie quest. The place was crowded with more hobbits in one location than either has seen in the past. They didn't ask what the celebration was for, but there was a hobbit (Laedo) who offered them pie when they said that's what they'd come for. Eibwen never did catch his name.

      Eibwen joined in the fun a bit and when the dancing hobbits stopped dancing and started hopping, she started hopping too. It wasn't long before she wore herself out and had to sit down however. Which is what she was doing when

     Wolfcub found them. He seemed to have been on business however. He greeted them and fled. Maybe it was the hobbit party that made him flee?

   
     Another member of the Order wished to speak to them, but was weary of the hobbit crowd, so Eibwen and Eclathar went outside to meet with her. Eibwen again forgot to ask for names, but decided she should be called Miss Sunrise. On their way to The Shire earlier Eibwen has remarked to Eclathar about how pretty the sunrise was and that she needed a dress in those colors. Seeing Miss Sunrise made Eibwen realize she could put those colors on her armor. In the future when she has worthy armor.

     The party of hobbits seemed to follow our heroes outside and the fireworks started. It was not long before Miss Sunrise, like Wolfcub before her, wanted to flee the scene. She felt the need to return to Bree and so Eibwen and Eclathar followed her, with their new pies.

  

      Once back in Bree and after Miss Sunrise bid them farewell and departed, Eibwen decided to follow Eclathar. She didn't ask for permission however. When he started to walk away, she just followed. He didn't tell her to stop, so she saw no reason to. Night was falling again and a girl needs an escort in these difficult times.

     The pair found themselves back at the Pony. Eclathar offered Eibwen a drink, but she declined and told him she was quitting. He said it didn't have to be ale, so she informed him she was quitting beer and wine too. He mentioned tea, and she asked him if that was a strange elf drink. He said it was milk and herbs, which she found the idea of to be rather odd. She said she was sure that if a spider's squishy goo isn't a proper pie filling ingredient that cow's water probably isn't either.

     Their kinsman Anthamir joined them about this time. Quick introductions were made. but Eclathar was not going to give up until Eibwen had tea. He'd already gone and gotten two cups of it, but when Anthamir arrived Eibwen gave him her cup as to not be rude. Eclathar was not to be derailed from his quest to get Eibwen to try tea however and gave her his cup. Eibwen frowned at the cup for a long period. She'd watched Anthamir drink his and nothing bad seemed to happen, but it was a strange opaque liquid of white substance that came from the inside of an animal. Eclathar took her cup back from her and took a sip to show her it was fine. She tried to distract him and draw his attention to the minstrels behind him so she could fake a drinking sound and just pretend she tried it. Eclathar again was steady in his task and would not look. Eibwen had no choice and had to try the tea. She didn't say so, because it took her a bit to get used to the idea and decide what she thought about it, but she might could get used to drinking it. 

      When Anthamir went to leave he said, "By your leave friends, I will be departing for now." Eibwen thought it sounded nice and formal. Growing up poor, no one she knew spoke like that. Eclathar responded with a farewell followed by the little blessing, "May your blade strike true." Eibwen also liked that and thought she needed to issue a blessing as well, but didn't know any, so after a long day on the road she said the first thing that came to mind, "And may your feet not tire quickly on the road." She was starting to feel a bit proud of herself until Anthamir wished that their shields held as strong as their courage. She knows both her shield and her courage leave much to be desired. 

      Eibwen had heard there was a troll wondering a bog a night in The Shire, so after her friends left her to get some sleep, she got her father's horse and road back out to The Shire to see this danger for herself. She spent some time just watching the troll, until Wolfcub found her. Then she enlisted his help and was emboldened by the company of a trusted friend.

       She was able to manage a little sleep, but the next day found her in a quarry fighting spiders that threatened her pie making friends. Wolfcub must have heard from the hobbits where she was, because he came to her aide as she fought her way out of the quarry.

      The rest of the day was spent in merriment. Eibwen mailed some weeds to her friend, Wolfcub that had gotten caught on her line while fishing. He was there when she did it, but she thought it was funny and the hobbit postmaster didn't mind helping her play the trick on her friend.

LOTRO: The Drunk and Mr. Uptight

Eibwen attended her first kinship meeting, which turned into more of a gathering. Apparently there was pressing business elsewhere that kept many of the council away. Eibwen had been calling it a party and so Khazrax had brought beer and wine. She knew it wasn't a party, but she doesn't know how to handle situations that make her nervous or scared so she'll change the subject to drinking or pie.

Once inside she noticed strange things around the kinship house, like a creepy stone chair, a barrel of oddly moving tentacles, or a strange glowing orb. She started to wonder again if she was in the right place, this time not just because she fears she's not good enough for the group, but also she worries there might be a darker side she's not seeing. She convinced herself these things were in the house to keep them out of the hands of evil people elsewhere. Perhaps the stories behind them would make her feel better, but she didn't ask.

Her friends Wolfcub and Khazrax had traveled with her from Bree-Town to the homesteads where the kinship house was located. Another was there when they arrived. A kind older man with only one eye. The boys took turn playing their instruments and Eibwen does enjoy music. She was at ease and starting to feel like she might belong after all. Maybe Gilgarad wasn't also drunk when he recruited her. She's sure he must have been, she can't see another reason he'd have picked someone like her.

People who entered started to gather around the table where Gilgarad was standing. Eibwen just assumed they were nosy about what maps he was going through or wanted to be near him. Eibwen found Yumshi the Sneak Thief interesting, but was weary of her anyway. She talked much of the number of guards around the house and about the price of the valuables. And later when someone said they'd been away on business Sneak Thief smiled. Eibwen knew it was because business means gold and gold means Sneak Thief has something to take or admire. 

Eibwen was at the refreshment tables serving her friends Khazrax and Wolfcub bread and cheese when she first took notice of Mr. Uptight, Bregalaith. She didn't think he was uptight at first of course, that came later. He as well as Dragomir and Gilgarad started to discuss the greatness of Gondor and how they were all from there. Eibwen only half paid attention to her friends so she could listen in. She started to worry that she was not too from Gondor and if she should have been. She's just a peasant girl from Bree-Town who was engaged once to a poor boy from Archet until bandits killed him.

She'd started to feel better again and had thought about how much Dragomir looked like her grandfather who was also from Gondor and then she told Gilgarad that he reminded her a bit of her father. That comment seemed to upset Sanaria, though Eibwen was unsure why. Sanaria was clinging to Gilgarad so Eibwen thought maybe the other lady was jealous, but then Eclathar entered. Eibwen by this time had started thinking of Bregalaith as Mr. Uptight and have moved to go stand between her boys. Well, first she stood by Yumshi, but was smiled at oddly, so went back to Mr. Uptight, and then moved to her boys. She was there when Eclathar entered and she greeted him and told him how much she loved his tabard. Gilgarad informed her it was the tabard of the order. Eibwen went and found herself one as well.

Sanaria further confused Eibwen over the strange way she reacted at Eibwen's compliment to Gilgarad when Sanaria went over and slapped Eclathar for having been away from her. Eibwen got the impression the two were lovers, but then Sanaria went back to cling to Gil's arm, making Eibwen wonder if Sanaria is Gilgarad's daughter and was thus jealous of another girl that might view him as a father as well. Eibwen has a father and he may be a poor woodcutter, but she doesn't wish to replace him. She let it go as to not make a scene. She'd been making a good one already with the guard that kept snubbing her affections until she finally slapped him herself.

Others arrived and soon the spaces around the table were all full. Eclathar asked for permission to address all and was given said permission. Eibwen gave him her attention, but some of her kin were restless and moved or spoke during his little addressing of the group. Eibwen found it highly distracted. She can't now recall what was said, only that he was nice and she liked his words, but that they'd been a bit scary to her. Something about fighting together and getting ready to fight along side each other.

Then Mr. Uptight wanted to speak. He started to tear into the new members, like Eibwen for their lack of discipline and noble Gondor upbringing. He said they were a disgrace to the order and brought it down. Or something like that. That's how Eibwen heard it anyway. Others all started talking and there was a lot of arguing and bickering over how bad people like Eibwen were and if they should be given a chance or not. Eibwen could only think of that night in Archet and how she was drunk and passed out while it burned. She failed to protect her loved ones and realized then she was not worthy to wear the tabard she'd gone and found. She felt silly standing there in it and simply waited for everyone to be done talking so she could flee. As soon as Gilgarad dismissed them and people started to filter out, Eibwen made her way for the door.

Deranian -who was one of those who'd played music for her before- tried to stop her. He could tell something was wrong, but she didn't want to have to explain how inadequate she was. She'd heard someone else say something about how they had to go take care of a package, so she used the same excuse.

She find water to be calming so she went and found some to sit by. Khazrax tracked her down and came to sit near her. He was wise in not saying much, but just being there for her. He felt better about leaving her when she started fishing a bit. She left him under the guise of needing to go sell some fish, which was true. She did stop by the local shop. But then she went and sat across the river from the kinship house and just stared at it for a bit. It's so grand and big and she's so small. She's not even that great at using her axe and has never really fought anything more than wolves or bandits.

She then decided that maybe she'd go fight a few more bandits and see if that made her feel any better. She's not thinking she'll prove Mr. Uptight wrong, maybe she'll never be that great at anything. But she doesn't have to be a drunk that lets her friends die either.  

LOTRO: Refreshing Swim

As night fell on Bree, Eibwen became worried. She had no escort to keep her safe from the ruffians and others that might want to do here harm. It's at times like these that she notices the great number of hooded figures. Why would they hide their faces if they were not up to no good? Luckily she ran across one of her kin on the streets. She was checking her mail because she was expecting something from him and to send something to him. She pretended not to to notice him and mailed the item anyway. He was very flirtatious and she wasn't sure how to respond to that. Her thoughts would drift back to the love she'd lost in a bandit raid, but her heart is mending mostly and though moving on is not out of the question, Khazrax might move a little fast for Eibwen. But then she decided there's no harm in flirting, and didn't ask him to stop.

Another kin, Wolfcub, ran up to the pair and he pretended to swoon at Eibwen. She knew he was joking and when Khaz asked if Wolf was alright, she informed Khaz that Wolf just liked the hobbit made dress she was wearing. The night before she'd shown it off to Wolf and when she told him she bought it in The Shire, he said that hobbits liked to make dresses that would turn see through when wet. She was almost sure he was joking on that matter, but has vowed to never get her dress wet. Just in case.

Wolf had other matters to attend to and left after a little show of light and magic that secretly impressed Eibwen. Khazrax offered to escort Eibwen the rest of the night. She needed to go to her vault and felt that a guard was a good thing to have on such an endeavor. After the vault visit, he'd asked her where she'd learned to fish -it was fish trophy she'd mailed him- and so she took him to go meet the hobby master in Bree-Town. Then they went to see a woman who knows a thing or two more about fishing than Eibwen does in Staddle.

It wasn't long before Khazrax was casting and reeling right alongside Eibwen and even caught a fish or two of his own worthy of turning into a trophy. People kept swimming through the pond and scaring the fish, so Eibwen decided she might as well just go swimming herself. She took off her probably-see-through-when-wet-hobbit-made dress, laid down her fishing pole, and hopped in. Khazrax asked nicely if he could join her first and she found this to be a welcomed thing to do. It was very polite and impressed her a bit. The pair swam about a bit. The sun has risen by this time and so the water was cold, but not freezing. Eibwen found it refreshing.

After the swim, the pair went over to the oven to dry off, warm up, and cook some breakfast. Eibwen then fell asleep in the grass.  

LOTRO: New Eibwen

I started a new Eibwen over in the Lord of the Rings Online game. This time I started over in Laurelin to be on an rp server. I had gotten back on my first Eibwen on Imlandris and was enjoying some fireworks from some friendly and random people, but then someone named Imnotfat or something like that ran up. And that's fine if you don't care about role playing, but it breaks my rp groove so I went to a server where there are name rules.

Now I just have to remember to take more screen shots, take notes on the names of the people I interact with, and remember how to write my journal entries.

Name: Eibwen

Class: Guardian

Age: somewhere between adult and middle-age

Height: Average

Eyes: Grayish blue

Hair: Light Auburn

Race: Man

Gender: Female

Languages Spoken: Common (and one elf greeting)

Weapons: Prefers a one handed axe

Armor: Heavy

Hobbies: Fishing, pie eating, listening to minstrels.

Basic Characteristics: She has a high desire to defend others, though she is new at the hero thing and is often frightened. She masks her fear by overly talking of pie and pretending to be more drunk than she is. Though she has been known to get drunk and flirt with one of the cats in The Prancing Pony.

Personality Quirk: She is currently afraid of most people in hoods. Also she has wanderlust and will roam aimlessly.

History:

Eibwen's mother is from the Dale-lands. She had a love of adventure and travel and took off when she was young to find both. The journey of the mother took her to Bree where she met Eibwen's father. She would stop when she passed through to see him, and after a few years he was able to talk her into settling down with him. Part of that reason was probably because she'd discovered she was pregnant. So she settled down in Bree-Town and married Eibwen's father. But wanderlust hit the mother again when Eibwen was still just a girl and so she lost her mother to the road. Eibwen was raised in Bree by her father, but favors her mother more in looks.

Eibwen too has discovered a love of of travel, but she returns home often to worry over her father. She masks her love of travel as a quest for pie. She has yet to admit to herself that she may be like her mother. There is still a lot of resentment and sorrow in her heart for being left behind, not only for herself but also for her father. She doesn't wish to also leave her father as her mother has.

Eibwen's start for adventure has not been as grand or as fun. She'd learned to use a weapon and a shield fairly young because her father wanted her to be able to defend herself. She never really thought about using either for more than that until the night Archet burned. Eibwen was there with her best friend and her fiance. Eibwen was at the Mad Badger with her friends getting drunk and had passed out with the city burned. She woke up outside to find her fiance dead and her best friend missing. Bandits had taken her and so Eibwen took up her axe and shield against evil for the first time to try and save her best friend. She did not make it in time. She makes her pain behind jokes of pie and being drunk, but has a renewed sense as a guardian to defend others. She knows that if she'd not been drunk things might have turned out differently in Archet. If she'd had her axe and shield and knew better how to use them, she may have saved her love and her best friend.

She pretends she's carefree, and still gets drunk, but tends to do it in safer places where it doesn't matter. Also she doesn't get drunk nearly as much as she tells people she does. In fact she was sober the day she met Gilgarad, the Knight Commander of The Order of Dol Amroth. He obviously saw something in her that she has yet to see in herself and recruited her to be a knight. Now besides fear of hooded male figures, she also fears letting Gilgarad and the other knights down in some way. She started getting drunk far less often, and attacks more bandits when she sees them, but her quest for pie has not lessened.