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-----Looking at Sol, he commences to tell his tale. "I am Alber of the Kiger family. I live here with my wife, my son, Jamison, Jamison’s mother-in-law, and Jamison’s son and two daughters." He then points to the house off in the distance. "That is where Arian Lun and his two sons and two daughters live."
-----With a pained expression, Alber says, "Three weeks hence, my little granddaughter, Mancie, and Arian’s daughter, Rumna, did not come home. A patrol from Sir Hampton came by and has since returned twice but they have found nothing. The night before last, my son and Arian, spoke heated about the useless patrols from the castle. They then began to talk of how the two young children could not have wandered far. Arian left his two sons and his other daughter here. They then headed that way through the woods after some of the grandchildren talked about a secret hiding place." The old hobbit points in a northern direction toward the trees.
-----"Please, my most kind young people," Alber says to the party, "I am old and have seen the best of my days. It is all I can do now to look after my own young ones."
-----Glancing back at the house and lowering his voice, he says in a pleading tone, "I now fear the worst has happened. I would give anything to be able to go forth and find out what has happened to Arian, Rumna, my Jamison and our little Mancie. Alas, I am no longer able. I would be so very much in your service, if you could find them for me, and with Mother Yondalla’s grace, perhaps they still live."
-----"We'll do everything we can to find yer friend's and family’s children." Sol offers sincerely. He begins to shift on his feet, usually a sign of discomfort, and adds, "I don't know if this makes any difference, but we haven't been sent from Sir Hampton, but rather are acting on Lord Lambert's authority."
-----"Lord Lambert?" old Alber asks, "you have been sent all the way from Hearthorn?" Lifting his eyebrows, he says, "I didn’t realize that word of us reached that far."
-----"Yer families’ tragedy is not the only ill-happening to occur of late. We're here t'try and put a stop to them all. Yours, though, is one we'd like to address now." Sol replies, whilst remounting his stallion. Once resettled in his saddle, the warrior says, "Thank ye for ye time, Alber. We had best begin our day's work, an' it looks like we'll be headin' north." Quickly looking around at the group he asks, "Did anyone want t'know anything else, or can we go?"
-----Sarah looks off into the northern forest. "Nothing more I wanna know. Let's head north," she says, thinking longingly of her missing wand and how she'll have to go back to Proat and track it down after the adventure is over.
-----Seth speaks up, "This hiding place of the childrens’, it may have become the hiding place of those we seek. Maybe one of the remaining children would consent to acting as a guide?"
-----Raven says, "Or maybe one of the children could give us directions to the hiding place."
-----Alber nods and calls for one of the children by the name of Anson. Within a few moments, an old white-haired female hobbit appears escorting a young preteen boy who could be human, elven or a mixture of both races. The boy stands nearly twice as tall as the two halflings with a shy, uncertain look on his face. His brown hair hangs in his eyes as he glances at all the people standing before him.
-----"This is Anson, Arian’s son," Alber says to the party. Turning to the boy, he says, "These people are from Hearthorn. They are here to help. They would like to know where the hiding place that Rumna has talked about is. Can you tell them?"
-----The boy nods stiffly and then turns halfway facing the adventurers. Trying not to meet their eyes, Anson’s voice is barely above a whisper as he says, "Head ‘hat way through them trees." The lad points toward the tree line to the north. "Fore ya go too fer in the woods, turn to’ard the settin’ sun and ya comes to a big field o’ high sticker bushes. Some o’ ‘em ya kin crawl unders. Keep headin’ toward the middl’ o’ the field and ya’ll see a hole in the ground wit’ some steppin’ stones."
-----Sarah turns, as she always does in these situations, to Raven. "You can find that, right?" She asks him.
-----Raven nods, "I should be able to find it."
-----"Thank ye, friend. That's what we needed. Good day to ye all. All right then, let's get under way." Sol begins to turn his horse northward.
-----Seth turns his horse and follows the others, a bit concerned that he may have to crawl through undergrowth.
-----Raven says, "How long would it take you to walk to this place?" Raven leans forward in his saddle, "I also need something that would tell me when to head towards the setting sun. Like a path, odd tree, a marker or whatever. You know what I mean? The clearer you are, the sooner we'll kind yer kin."
-----The boy shrugs at Raven’s first question. At Alber’s urging, the boy tells Raven, "Through them woods there be a valley. Go ‘round this side o’ it." The boy makes a motion indicating the western side. "From there head ‘hat way till ya run inta them bushes."
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