Locked out

Smial Rise - At the Smials(#27941Rto)

The road winds up the side of Bree Hill, going past many hobbit smials on the way to the hilltop. The view from here is lovely, looking out over the city of Bree and the lands beyond to the west. On a clear day, one can see the Blue Mountains far, far to the west.

Obvious exits:

South leads to Above the Prancing Pony.

Overhill Smial leads to Overhill Smial - Entrance Hall.

Leafturner Smial leads to Leafturner Smial - Living Room.

Up leads to Near the Top of Bree Hill.

Broad Way leads to Broad Way - North Bree.

================================== Bree Time ==================================

Real time: Tue Dec 23 00:31:25 2008

Bree time: Late Morning <11> on Trewsday of Autumn - October 4,1445

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon

Breelands Weather

The late morning autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The murky sky is overcast and dreary.

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It is midmorning - round about time for elevenses - and a chilly one, too. The wind whips up little flurries of autumn leaves, and the sky overhead is grey - at least it\'s dry, though.

The smial belonging to disgraced Mayor Torebras Bywater has seen much activity of late, with carts drawing up and rolling away. Now young Brandebras Bywater stands outside it, hopping from foot to foot and shivering as he tries to fit a large key into the lock.

[Conall(#26314)] Standing next to his door and raking the leaves into piles stands a bundled little hobbit. Round and fat and in wool the hobbit would be impossible to identify, except that he is wearing bright green and yellow clothing, which seems to be the local middle-aged hobbit bartender, Conall\'s, favorite colors. He looks up and smiles at seeing the young one hopping.

\"Ah is that young Bywater standing there. Tell me what are ye doin\' on a day like teday? And with it bein\' almost time fer elevenses?\" A soft chuckle rises as from the bundle a black wood pipe appears and soon it is filled, lit, and already being puffed on by the hobbit.

\"I\'m,\" huff, \"trying to get in,\" Brandebras explains, pushing and twisting to no effect. \"Bother, I think I must have brought the wrong key.\" He looks up, and manages a cheery, \"Hello there, Mister Leafturner,\" despite his predicament.

[Conall(#26314)] \"Well then,\" a long pull is taken from his pipe, \"If Master Torebras is not in, come on in. I have enough for te both o\' us. Plus its warmer.\" He walks over to his door and opens it and gestures for Brandebras to enter.

Brandebras looks up eagerly. \"It /is/ very cold in that wind,\" he agrees. \"And it\'s a long walk back to Staddle ... I\'d love to come in, thank you.\" He beams at the older hobbit and with no more ado he trots through the door that Conall has held open. Only then does he add, \"Oh, didn\'t you know? Torebras is gone.\"

[Conall(#26314)] Conall follows inside, \"Gone, what do you mean gone?\" Obviously he seems distressed at this and pulls on his pipe a little too often.

---

You enter the Bushroot Smial.

Leafturner Smial - Living Room(#14448Rn)

The Leafturner smial is one in a series of smaller dwellings on Bree hill. Its construction shares a similiar floor plan to a number of the less opulant holes. While the delved domicile is small, it is nonetheless comfortable as a hobbit home. Its walls, doors, and windows are customiarily round and most of the hole is laid out as rooms connected to rooms instead of with hallways. The front door opens directly into a sitting room. Its decor is opulant the walls have many paintings and framed maps of far off land and a fresh arragement of flowers sit on an table that has a fine linen tablecloth. Also on the table are four fine wooden pipes and next to them are pouchs of pipeweed that are labeled: Breeleaf, Old Toby, and Leafturner Blend.

Past two overstuffed chairs a round doorway leads into the next most important room in a hobbit\'s home: the well attended kitchen. The two rooms share a common fireplace with a wide hearth and large chimney. At meal times and in the winter, the fireplace casts a bright cheerful glow into both rooms, and almost enough heat to reach the few rooms beyond.

Past the kitchen, there are a few bedrooms and a bath, all of which seem to have been recently painted, stained, or some kind of decoration has been placed.

[Conall(#26314)] A roaring fire crackles in the hearth and a massive pot hangs above it, the air is filled with the aroma of mushroom and herbs. The fire place glows and warms the sitting room. Pegs next to the door are bare as if inviting guests to come.

Inside, Brandebras breaths a sigh of relief and stops hopping from foot to foot as he heads straight toward the fire. \"/Much/ warmer in here,\" he declares. \"Definitely.\" Only then does he answer the question. \"Torebras went away, just after ... well, the election.\" His young face creases in a puzzled frown as he recalls that strange happening. \"He arranged for his things to be packed up and sent on. The removal men made an awful mess - knocked over furniture and all sorts.\" He rolls his eyes.

[Conall(#26314)] Conall takes off his two wool scarfs and his bright green wool coat and yellow hood and hangs them on his pegs. He smiles at Brandebras, sighs, and wipes a small tear from his eyes, whether the cold or the loss of a good friend and neighbor is the cause, he does not say. He walks up to the put and looks inside, \"Ah...ye know I never believed me cousin when she said mushrooms are good in a cream soup, but she\'s right, as she always is.\" He heads into the kitchen which shares the hearth and sound of bowls and plates being gathered can be heard.

Brandebras, still in all his outdoor gear, looks mournful too, but that changes at the mention of mushrooms. His young face brightens instantly. \"Mushrooms are good in anything,\" he declares. \"But most of all, they\'re good in hobbits.\" He winks before trotting back out to the pegs to hang up his coat and muffler.

[Conall(#26314)] From the kitchen the hobbit arrives with a table which he places close to the fire and collects two chairs which he sets on either side. He then takes a cloth and spreads it over the table, and places a soft butter and a yellow cream on top of that. He returns to the kitchen and returns with a tray with two steaming bowls of Cream of Mushroom soup, two plates with piles of steaming, buttered vegetables, a hunk of good warm bread, and two mugs of hot cider (laced with some type of apple brandy). He places it on the table and sets the table and then gestures for Brandebras to sit.

\"Forgive me, I do not mean te be rude, but are ye of age fer yer inheritence then, if he\'s left?\" Conall sits down himself and begins to butter a hunk of bread.

Brandebras, faced with this query, turns bright red. \"I .. ah, that is .. I don\'t know what he-\" he mumbles as he sits down, then pulls himself together and adds, still sounding rather horrified, \"He\'s not /dead/.\" He reaches out for his own chunk of bread. \"He just asked me to look after the smial for him, that\'s all.\" He looks longingly toward the soup, though politeness dictates he wait for his host\'s go-ahead.

[Conall(#26314)] Conall dips his buttered bread into the soup and takes a bite, and then picks up a spoon and ladles some in his mouth. \"Is it not customary in yer family that if the possesser of a house or things should leave and go on his way, that he leave all he has left to his heir? Ah, maybe that is only me own family...well atleast my mother\'s side, she comes from te Shire.\" He smiles suddenly realizing how good the soup is and begins to eat it heartily, pausing every now and then to each a vegetable or two, or to taste his spiked cider.

Brandebras listens in silence, for he is preoccupied with the matter of soup. The first mouthful must have been a little too hot, for he blows on the ladle before taking another. Eventually he leaves off munching to answer indistinctly, \"No-one in our family ever has. Gone away, that is.\" His bright brown eyes fix on his fellow hobbit. \"From the Shire, you said? Is it a story?\" He looks quite eager, though the big bite of bread he\'s taken prevents him from pressing the matter further.

[Conall(#26314)] \"A story, lets see. Bein\' from te shire there are not many stories, but me mother worked on a farm, that contained a vineyard, which me father owned. They met when he was inspecting a new splicing of Old Toby and Longbottom Leaf, it failed miserably, bad taste. They fell in love and married only a year later. Me mother\'s family was happy that she married such a wealthy hobbit, but te neighbors said a bad end would come of it, her marryin\' one o\' those outsiders, and me father a Breefolk te boot. However, when I was younger, around yer age I think, I lived for months in te Shire. And oh, the stories and rumors I heard from te tavern. Ol\' Gaffer and \'is son Sam used te tell about Mister Baggins. So when I had a chance meself, I would listen in when Mister Bilbo told his stories of dragons and spiders. Funny thing is, I spoke with a dwarf who knew of Bilbo, turns out te stories about te dragons, orcs, trolls, spiders, and elves were all true.\" Conall finishes his soup and begins to eat his vegetables, and he then buttered another hunk of bread, as he finished his first, and then begins to spread the yellow cream on top.

Brandebras listens and munches as Conall speaks of pipeweed and romance, giving the occasional nod or smile when he feels it\'s needed. At the mention of Bilbo\'s tales, however, his mouth pops open and a piece of bread falls out. Red-cheeked, he picks it up as quick as he can. \"But there\'s no such thing as dragons!\" he protests, when at last he\'s finished chewing. \"Everyone knows that. The dwarf must have been making that bit up.\"

[Conall(#26314)] \"Dragons are more real that ye think me boy. Sit in te Pony and hear te tales that I have heard.\" Conall smiles as he finishes his mug and stands up to get the bowl of cider he\'s left in the kitchen. \"Dragons and orcs, yes yes. All real, more than we think. And wargs. However, I don\'t think the lands of Mordor will ever march this way. It is such a long way off, and we are simple and innocent folk, no harm will ever come te Bree I think from anyone.\"

Brandebras is indeed simple and innocent, for he does not react at all to the name of Mordor. Clearly the storytellers he\'s met in the past have spared his innocence. He lifts his mug of cider now, and drinks. \"This is good.\" He hesitates, then adds, \"I always thought no harm would ome to Bree when Torebras looked after it. But now ...\" His words trail off.

[Conall(#26314)] Returning with a bowl of hot spiked cider he places it on the table and ladels some into his mug, \"He was a fine mayor, and now we have a bigfolk as one. Ach it isn\'t right, I agree. Men they think they know better because their taller, forgetting that we have better hearing, seeing, and we\'re wiser, and not just because we live longer than they do. However, Bree has survived long before him and we\'ll survive long without him. Though I think we\'d be better of with him. And knowing Torebras, he\'ll return in a few years and make another go at mayor, and he\'ll win. He\'s as stubborn as Thorin.\" Conall smiles as he finishes his vegetables, \"Finish yer vegetables, and I\'ll get out some fine cakes in a chocolate shell. I really have te start writing down me mother\'s recipes...she has so many.\"

Brandebras sighs and nods. \"I still don\'t understand what happened. Torebras would never cheat - I mean, he must have - that is.\" Despondent, he turns to spear a vegetable on his fork, brightening somewhat at the mention of cakes. \"You\'re such a good cook, Mister Leafturner!\" he exclaims earnestly.

[Conall(#26314)] \"Well when you live with my mother for 33 years, live with her mother for 1, and work at the Prancing Pony for 10, you start to become a rather good cook yerself.\" Conall laughs at this and chuckles a deep fruity laugh.

Brandebras\' brow furrows. \"Well, I live with Ma - or did, when I wasn\'t up here visiting Torebras. But it\'s my sisters are the good cooks. I just help with the eating.\" At that last, his face smooths out.

[Conall(#26314)] Conall stands and walks into the kitchen and returns with two big slices of what appears to have been a 2 layer cake that was cut up into slices and then covered with melted chocolate and then let cooled so the chocolate created a hard shell. \"Seems this is much easier to make in autumn and winter because the chocolate can set quicker in my cooling room, which is basically my hobby study with the windows open.\" Conall chuckles and places one of the slicer in front of Brandebras and the other in front of him, which he lays on his side and uses his hands to pick up and take a nice big bite out of. \"Mmm...the vanilla cake with cinnamon filling was a perfect choice.\"

Brandebras eyes the cake in front of him. \"Oh my!\" is all he says before tucking in. By the time he\'s finished, face, fingers and even waistcoat are sticky with chocolate. \"That really was good.\" He beams happily. \"Thank you very much, Mister Leafturner. I suppose,\" and he does sound a little reluctant, \"I\'d better run back to Staddle for the right key. If anyone calls, can you tell them I\'ll be back at teatime? Thank you very much.\" Standing, he bows politely to his fellow hobbit then lifts his coat and muffler, ready to go on his way.

[Conall(#26314)] \"Have a good day, and yes I will tell them. Ado.\" He sees the hobbit to the door.