Bestowal Dialogue
The Song of Sweet Lara
"This is far enough for the night. We will continue to the city in the morning. Get a fire started!"
Background
Rathnor has stopped the waggons on the road to Minas Tirith, and will wait for the onset of morning before he drives them the rest of the way to the White City.
Objective 1
The waggons have stopped for the night, and the folk that travel with you prepare to rest.
- Rathnor: 'Good, the soldiers have started a fire. We will take some food and some rest, and when the sun comes up once more we will continue on to the city. This is a pleasant enough place to wait out the evening... much nicer than the lands we have left behind us! It will be good to have a reprieve from the choking fumes of Mordor and the wastes that border that foul land.
- 'But do not be lulled into complacency by the pleasing scenery! Keep an eye on that Easterling. He has caused no trouble thus far, but I do not want him to take advantage of our kindness. His sort are deceptive and untrustworthy, and we must not forget it!'
- Rathnor says, "I will warm my bones by the fire, and have a bite of bread."
- Mithrandir: 'These waggons travel more slowly than they did on the way to the Black Gate! Does Rathnor spare his horses the exertion of a reasonable pace? He does them no favours. Shadowfax is made the better by haste, and revels in the lands passing by at speed!
- 'Bah. These horses could do with some feed, and the evening will be rest enough, but I am impatient to reach Minas Tirith. The scrolls and tomes of the White City will be of use to me, but I need you there if we are to cover them sufficiently.'
- Mithrandir says, "Does no man understand our need for haste?"
- Linadar: 'I don't care what he says for himself. I don't trust him. That Easterling would stick us with a blade without a second thought; how many good men of Gondor have already died at his hands, or at the hands of his fellows?
- 'I will not sleep tonight. I will keep one eye open, and make sure this Ayorzén does not try anything. You should do the same!'
- Linadar says, "Come, lads. But keep an eye out."
Objective 2
- Talk to Ayorzén south-west of the waggons
Ayorzén is looking at the sunset not far from where the waggons have stopped for the night.
- Ayorzén: 'Do these men think I have no ears? I hear what they whisper behind their hands. It bothers me not. I can say the same of them, and much worse! They do not have even a portion of Ayorzén's courage, or his fine features.
- 'They are right to worry. If I wanted them dead, they would not see this sun come up in the morning. Lucky they are to have seen the end of the war. Do they know it is done? I do not fight for Sauron any longer.
- 'Did I say they were cowards, and ugly of face? Dim-witted they are also, to think the war still needs fighting. Join them at their campfire, if you wish. I am content to stay right here, and need neither the warmth of their fire nor their company.'
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "The sun is my companion, and he shines on my home as he does here."
Objective 3
- Sit by the campfire near the waggons
The men have called for you to sit by the fire with them.
- Rathnor says, "Sit and warm yourself by the fire, <name>."
- You sit
Objective 4
- Listen to the conversation by the campfire and remain alert
A brief respite on the way to Minas Tirith will be welcomed by all.
- Linadar says, "I am glad to be leaving Mordor behind us!"
- Belaith says, "Aye, indeed."
- Belaith says, "But we bring some of its refuse with us."
- Linadar says, "You are right, Belaith. That is a pity!"
- Rathnor says, "It was not up to me, lads."
- Rathnor says, "Blame <name>, or Mithrandir, if you want to take the risk!"
- Mithrandir says, "I would advise against it."
- Mithrandir says, "I am in a dark mood already, and do not have time for small-mindedness!"
- Belaith says, "Linadar, tell me something."
- Belaith says, "How fared you in Agarnaith? I think to go there when next I return to Mordor."
- Linadar says, "I... I think you should steer clear of it, Belaith."
- Linadar says, "I found no treasure there. It is perilous, and... and empty."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Ha!"
- Linadar says, "You have something to say, Easterling?"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Ayorzén does not speak to cowards."
- Belaith says, "Calling us craven, are you?"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "I do not need to say it. You say it of yourselves!"
Objective 5
- Talk to Ayorzén by the campfire before the situation worsens
Tensions run high by the side of the road where the waggons to Minas Tirith have stopped for the night, and you should try and defuse the situation, if you can.
- Ayorzén: 'I will not apologize to these cowards, <name>. They are children, playing at war while the sun is in the sky, and called in for bed at sundown.'
Objective 6
- Listen to the conversation by the campfire and remain alert
Tensions run high by the side of the road where the waggons to Minas Tirith have stopped for the night.
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "They know nothing of Sauron! They know nothing!"
- Belaith says, "Your master is dead, Easterling! Sauron is gone!"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "He was no master of mine!"
- Belaith says, "You are a liar."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "You do not know how it was."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "He did not begin with Gondor."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "The Dark Lord did not come to your lands until he had conquered mine."
- Belaith says, "If your people had been stronger, he might not have had the chance!"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Stronger?"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Strong like the walls of your White City?"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "This one has seen Agarnaith. Ask him what he saw."
- Belaith says, "Well, Linadar?"
- Linadar says, "It was horrible. I... do not want to speak of it."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "When next you speak of strength, consider this truth."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "She who made Agarnaith as it is... she came first to my lands."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Her poisons devastated whole cities. They are empty now."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "No one walks the empty streets, for fear of her memory."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "We tried not to say her name, but the children remember."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "'Sweet Lara,' they sing, 'walking in the moonlight...'"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "'Heard a baby crying, flew away at once...'"
- Mithrandir says, "Can this be true?"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Your Wizard knows of her."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "You Men of Gondor do not know the horrors that befell my people."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "Yes, we fought for Sauron. Others of us died by His hand!"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "We did not have a choice."
- Belaith says, "I do not believe that."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "I care not."
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "But if ever you come face to face with Sweet Lara, you may understand."
- 'Belaith says, "Hmmph. Sauron is gone. I fear no lesser phantoms."
Objective 7
- Talk to Linadar by the campfire
Linadar is by the campfire near where the waggons have stopped for the night.
- Linadar: 'I will not repent of my words, <name>, but... I will confess to you that I paid no heed to events beyond the borders of Gondor. That Sauron first conquered the lands to the East was known to me, but I did not consider what that must have meant to the people who lived there. I believed the Easterlings worshipped him as their Dark Lord, and no doubt many of them did, but the words of Ayorzén have planted seeds of doubt in my mind.
- 'I do not like him, and I still do not trust him. But perhaps his people... bah! I do not know, <name>. Would we have succumbed to the domination of Sauron, as did the Easterlings? I did not believe so, but perhaps it is a more difficult question to answer than I thought it was.'
Objective 8
- Talk to Mithrandir south-east of the campfire
Mithrandir is near the fire where the waggons have stopped for the night.
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "'Now the crying's stopped, all quiet again...'"
- Ayorzén the Wily says, "'Sweet Lara walking in the moonlight.'"
- Mithrandir: 'We cannot believe everything that Ayorzén says, <name>, but I detect in his words some elements of truth. That his people pass down legends of the creatures that stalked their lands cannot be questioned, and I know the inspiration for the one he calls "Sweet Lara."
- 'She was called Lhaereth the Stained, a creature of fell reputation. Once she made her home in Mordor, and it seems Agarnaith has not forgotten her, for the touch of her corruption remains. Many were the hurts she perpetrated upon the lands of the Easterlings, and her foul touch was felt even in Gondor.
- 'But that is not a tale to be told in the dark, even by fireside. Lhaereth is gone with her master, though her presence can still be felt in Mordor today.'
- Mithrandir: 'You may as well get some rest while we are stopped, <name>. I hope Rathnor wakes with the sun and we can be off again as soon as possible!'
- Completed:Instance: The Song of Sweet Lara
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![[55.2S, 5.0W]](/wiki/File:North_Ithilien_map.jpg){kind=link}