Rinca's Valley

The Knights arrived at the valley weary, but with spirited minds. Riches lay ahead of them, waiting to be taken, and the men knew it.

The valley was thickly packed with trees. The heart of the valley was a dark cove of very old trees, and there only led only one small path, so small that the knights must advance in a single column. Yet, there were lamps lit to guide the way - obviously by Rinca.

Colm surveys the valley and his eyes set upon the inner ring of trees. He mutters to himself,

"I hate trees dammit."

He turns to Sir Geoff and says,

"You twenty will be building a camp we don't know how long we will be here and I would prefer to be safe 24/7. You know the rules, fortify it all to hell, use the tents in your rucks clear some of these smaller trees for palisades."

"Hooah, Grandmaster."

He then turns to Sir Hugo,

"You along with 30 men will be accompanying me into the Woods."

"Make sure the men in the rear are watching to our rear and everyone is not simply looking straight ahead. If we are ambushed I will have that mans head on a platter."

The Harlequin strides off into the woods his men, ever vigilant, close behind.

The Harlequin Looks pointedly at a few of his squad leaders. Two squads (20 men) remained outside and pulled out their rations. The other ten men accompanied the Harlequin into the house and sat down at the table.

They sit and wait to eat as it is the hosts right and duty to eat of the food first.

The Harlequin sits with the old man and eats of his bread and salt thereby completing the ancient right of host and guest and placing himself under the protection of the elderly fellow,

"Tell me little grandfather what precisely you are talking about as well as who you are?"

The Harlequin stands. He bows to the older man and says,

"Little grandfather I fear not. We are the Ebony Gauntlets. If it was the Radiant cross you wanted her and not us we will gladly depart immediately with apologies all around. We are the greatest noldor haters in all of the realm however.

The old man raised his eyebrows, smiling still, and then continued:

"But that is a good thing! Those Radiant Cross always had a problem with my hate towards noldor. They stripped me of everything I had, they should've just killed me.. but now I am here, still alive... and I have some of their secrets regarding blacksmithing. I can create wonderous weapons and armour."

Then the two began talking about the reasons for the old man's hate, about the weapons and armour he had crafted, and the more he spoke the more unbelievable it sounded like.

"...But it is all true, lads, it is all true."

Rinca finally ended his story, and the food and drink was now mostly consumed too.

"Now... we both hate the noldor. I would gladly help you to.. deal with them." An evil grimace rose to his face for a very short time, but he quickly put a smile on his face again.

"These items are of the finest quality... I could show some of them to you and perhaps to your most trusted knights."

The Harlequin rises with an intrigued look upon his face,

"Of course little grandfather you and your tales intrigue me."

He turns to his men,

"Sir Hugo, Sir Geoff!", he barks out.

"You shall accompany me to see something this fine gentleman has produced."

The Harlequin turns back to Rinca and moves towards him, flanked by his men.

The man grins, and says:

"Please don't call me a little grandfather, sir Knight, I can still fight."

He leads the two men downstairs to the chambers. He leads them through several passages and halls, but the knights don't seem to remember any of those places when they think of them. It was like they were walking two roads at a same time, which made the men feel sick and confused.

Finally they arrived at a door, which Rinca opened with a rusty key. The room inside it was large, filled with forges, materials, weapons and armour. Rinca leads them to the closest set of armour and weapons, describing them:

Rinca put gauntlets on before doing anything, stating it would be for hygienity reasons.
"These are my latest innovations... first, you see this full platemail.. I have discovered a strange metal which can only be found in the mines here. This platemail hides many surprises, and it can take enormous hits. It will even negate blunts. Same goes for the helmet, gloves and boots. The shield here - it's the finest in the world. A full metal shield, which is still very light. And this weapon..." He takes a large, perfect-looking morningstar which was placed next to the armour. "This beauty here is the very best morningstar ever made. It's spikes will pierce all helmets, all armour, and it will kill everyone with a single blow.."

The man grinned. The grin was again very evil, but for only a short while.

"I... hmm.. hope that you would use them to kill those pesky noldor. Do you have any questions regarding these items? They are still all unfinished, I only need to do one finishing touch to make them totally perfect, I presume they should be ready tomorrow.."

OOC: Little grandfather is a term of respect for the elderly.

The Harlequin stares around for a moment before snapping his attention back to the old man,

"The real question is, Rinca, what do you want for all of this. And why are you showing it to us?"

OOC: I didn't know that

Rinca looks dumbfounded.

"Why would I want to help you? Dear knight, I wish to help you! I don't have much time left in this world.. I feel that i must do one last good deed before I die."

But then he turns his attention to the exquisite armour and weapons.

"These will be ready tomorrow. I think that you should leave now - tomorrow morning, sir knights, tomorrow morning."

Okay, Little Grandfather.

The Harlequin turns and leaves with his men. They reach their fortified camp and the Harlequin thinks long and hard about who and what this strange old man was.

The Guards call to the Harlequin and he exits his tent fully armed and armored. He along with four other men carry food. They open the gates and exit rather than letting rinca in. They bring food and a small trestle table and they all sit down to eat.

"Hello little Grandfather."

The Harlequin grins though it is more of a grimace.

"You put them on little grandfather."

His men place their hands on the hilts of their weapons ready to enforce their gm's request.

The Harlequin draws his bastard sword and strikes him in his shoulder. The blow would strike him in two and the Harlequin's blade is made of the finest mettenheim steel.

The Harlequin looks deeply at the old man,

"What are you not telling my men and I little grandfather......."

"Speak the truth to me now."

"Rather little grandfather I would like to know more about you."

What is your game, your angle here?"