Bestowal Dialogue
'The interior of the keep of Emax Dûl is a confusing maze of stairs and hallways, but I have not forgotten its layout. How could those passages leave my memory? During the years of my captivity I would be punished if the food I brought from the kitchen to the chambers of the lords and ladies grew cold while finding my way. I can navigate the maze for you, and bring you directly to the inner sanctum of whoever now rules in Emax Dûl.
'This is why I have come with you, my friend. I knew it not when we departed Sul Madásh, but I know it now. This certainty gives me the courage to return to that place. Worry not for me, <name>.
'I will be fine, and you will learn whatever it is that Inkanûsh believes Ordâkh is hiding within the keep.'
Background
Têrkar's Travellers are willing to help you gain access to the inner keep of the guarded city of Emax Dûl, but the plan is not without its dangers.
Objective 1
Satagêra is in north-east Ahâba.
- Ulishár: 'This is why I have come with you, my friend. I knew it not when we departed Sul Madásh, but I know it now. This certainty gives me the courage to return to that place. Worry not for me.
- 'I will be fine, and you will learn whatever it is that Inkanûsh believes Ordâkh is hiding within the keep.'
- Satagêra: 'It will take me some time to revise the play to include you and Ulishár, <name>. If I can do this in such a short time perhaps this will be my greatest masterpiece, after all... despite the lies of Ordâkh contained within!
- 'I jest, but as we travelled from Zajâna with Inkanûsh he spoke of the terrible ancient creatures he opposes. If your mission proves instrumental in defeating these villains, these Thardúth, the play I now write must be considered my masterpiece, in truth! For it also to undermine the goals of those who sent my husband and my friends to their deaths in war... I admit that sweetens the sweet-cake.
- 'While I work to include you and Ulishár in the play, you can help me by aiding Atâlsi. She is arranging some of the things we will need for the play. I already intended it to be full of spectacle, but now it is doubly-important the attention of the Ordâkhai be held while you and the Kinta slip away. If Atâlsi proves stubborn, tell her that your life and Ulishár's life might depend upon the size of the creature....'
Objective 2
Atâlsi is outside the western entrance of Ahâba.
- Satagêra: 'If Atâlsi proves stubborn, tell her that your life and Ulishár's life might depend upon the size of the creature....'
- Atâlsi: 'We need a Mûmak. Don't ask.'
- You tell Atâlsi that Satagêra has requested you help her attain the things that will be needed for the performance, and the playwright is hoping for as large a spectacle as possible.
- 'I admit I am not surprised. It is most easy for Satagêra to write these things into her plays, but who must then arrange for them to be found? Atâlsi and Mashkânu, most of the time!
- 'I have already attained a pass from the Ordâkhai allowing us to use one of their mûmakil for our purpose. I will give you the pass and you can show it to Shâdugan Gânda, the mûmak-keeper. Find him at the Scardelve, south of Ahâba. I would have selected a small one, but knowing Satagêra she will want the biggest we can get!'
- Atâlsi hands you a pass with a wax seal to give the mûmak-keeper
Objective 3
 Pass Sealed With Wax
Shâdugan Gânda, the keeper of the mûmakil, is at the Scardelve, south of Ahâba.
- Atâlsi: 'I gave you the pass already. Show it to Shâdugan Gânda, the mûmak-keeper at the Scardelve, south of Ahâba.'
- Shâdugan Gânda: 'What do you want? Speak quickly or I will summon the guards.'
- You hand Shâdugan Gânda the pass and he breaks the wax seal upon it. Sweat breaks out upon his brow as he reads the contents. At last he looks up, a relieved smile upon his face.
- 'I saw many of these notices at the start of the year, stranger. So many of my mûmakil were outfit with harness and armour and sent north to the war. Only the smallest were deemed unfit for battle; they were left behind to haul stone and timber. I am glad the mûmak you seek will not be asked to fight!
- 'Point out which of my creatures you would like to join these travelling players for their performance before the Lords of Emax Dûl.'
Objective 4
You have only known Têrkar's Travellers for a short time, but you are reasonably certain they would want you to point at the largest of the mûmakil.
- Shâdugan Gânda: 'I am glad the mûmak you seek will not be asked to fight! Point out which of my creatures you would like to join these travelling players for their performance before the Lords of Emax Dûl.'
- No... not big enough!
- Shâdugan Gânda gives you a grim smile
Objective 5
Shâdugan Gânda, the keeper of the mûmakil, is at the Scardelve, south of Ahâba.
- Shâdugan Gânda: 'I will see what I can do. You have chosen one of the more obstinate creatures of this herd!
- 'But your travelling players will have a mûmak when they need one. I hope their performance will show to the Lords of Emax Dûl the value of raising mûmakil even in time of peace, and the quality of their minders!'
Objective 6
Satagêra is in north-east Ahâba.
- Shâdugan Gânda: 'Your travelling players will have a mûmak when they need one. I hope their performance will show to the Lords of Emax Dûl the value of raising mûmakil even in time of peace, and the quality of their minders!'
- Satagêra: 'The writing goes slowly, but I have incorporated both you and Ulishár into an early scene. After the two of you have been seen by the audience, it will then be your task to slip away and search the keep while we hold their attention upon us. The mûmak I asked Atâlsi to get for us should prove useful!
- 'Here, <name>. Your part is labelled "Hero of Gondor," and Ulishár will be "Northern Elf." Read this portion of the script and commit it to your memory. I have already shown it to Ulishár. He insists he will have no trouble with his own part, and yours should be easy enough. The difficult task will begin after the two of you slip away, of course.'
- Satagêra hands you some fresh pages of her script
Objective 7
Satagêra has given you some fresh pages of her script to read.
- Satagêra: 'Read the portion of the script I gave to you and commit it to your memory. I have already shown it to Ulishár. He insists he will have no trouble with his own part, and yours should be easy enough. The difficult task will begin after the two of you slip away, of course.'
Objective 8
Satagêra is in north-east Ahâba, waiting for your response to her script.
- Satagêra: 'I hope you suffer not from the fright of being on stage, <name>. I understand you have faced some terrible foes and engaged in many a difficult battle... but the act of performing before an audience can be daunting in its own right. Mashkânu may give you some advice; he has done both.
- 'But that reminds me. Inkanûsh wanted to speak to you before the performance. I last saw him to the south-east.'
Objective 9
Inkanûsh has gone to south-east Ahâba to think about the plan.
- Satagêra: 'Inkanûsh wanted to speak to you before the performance. I last saw him in south-east Ahâba.'
- Inkanûsh: Inkanûsh stands here.
- Inkanûsh stands in south-east Ahâba, deep in thought
Objective 10
Inkanûsh stands in south-east Ahâba, deep in thought.
- Inkanûsh: 'Yes, I am worried. This plan will get you inside the keep of Emax Dûl, but its true success depends upon something else: whether the attention of the Ordâkhai and of the Thardúth are sufficiently held by the performance. You and Ulishár need time to search the inner sanctum for the plans of the Thardúth and the Ordâkhai.
- 'But secrecy is our ally, <name>, and lends us the advantage. The Thardúth that departed Damudûr and accompanied the Ordâkhai to Emax Dûl will expect no such intrusion. Glorfindel and I cannot join you, for our presence would risk drawing their attention. If they remain unalerted, I believe we can learn where next the Thardúth intend to send their Utûgi. I suspect they will desire to destroy Gondor and the kingdoms of the north... but there is another possibility.
- 'The Hûl of Ordâkh and his sons fell during the War of the Ring, but no empire can remain leaderless. If a new Hûl has come to power in the south, he or she may have much to fear from these newly-awakened creatures of evil. They served Morgoth. They will serve no other, and certainly not a Hûl of Ordâkh.
- 'This is the sort of thing I need you and Ulishár to learn.'
Objective 11
Mashkânu is in south-east Ahâba.
- Inkanûsh: 'The Hûl of Ordâkh and his sons fell during the War of the Ring, but no empire can remain leaderless. If a new Hûl has come to power in the south, he or she may have much to fear from these newly-awakened creatures of evil. They served Morgoth. They will serve no other, and certainly not a Hûl of Ordâkh.
- 'This is the sort of thing I need you and Ulishár to learn.'
- Mashkânu: 'Satagêra wanted me to give you some advice about performing before an audience? Such a thing is difficult to learn in a single lesson! You must demonstrate confidence, <name>. An audience can tell if you believe what you are showing to them.'
- Mashkânu laughs humourlessly.
- 'With this particular play that may be difficult for all of us. The lords and ladies of Emax Dûl want us to convince their people that the victory of Ordâkh is near at hand... but any of us who were there know otherwise. Some of us may still be there, lost in the north, like Urûnam or my beloved Khazín! And others of my friends are known to be slain, cut down in the forest like Têrkar, or trampled before the great city like Zurûsh.
- 'Had we not a purpose to accomplish here, I might have taken advantage of this moment to slay at least one of these lords of Emax Dûl, <name>. For months I blamed the Wizard "Mithrandir," who is Inkanûsh, for the death of my friends and my family... but it was Ordâkh and Barkhûsh who sent us to that war. Barkhûsh is gone, but Ordâkh remains. If you can learn something that will hurt them, I will not rue the staying of my hand.'
Objective 12
Ulishár is in south-east Ahâba.
- Mashkânu: Mashkânu crosses his arms.
- 'The nobles who reside within Emax Dûl know the play they have asked Satagêra to write is full of falsehoods, just as we do. Which of us will first admit it? That is the game, <name>.'
- Ulishár: 'I have been remembering the time of my captivity, <name>. For two years I laboured in the mines, but as my health worsened the overseers came to realize I could not survive much longer beneath the earth. In the early days they delighted to send a Kinta belowground, but as my speed suffered they decided my slow toil was not worth the jest. They sent me to Emax Dûl to serve the nobles who dwelt there, lords and ladies unaccustomed to wielding weapons; there was no call for them to march north with the Hûl when the Black Serpent departed for the war Barkhûsh commanded.
- 'The work was lighter than in the mines, but my health remained poor, and the punishments I endured were just as severe. Had I not encountered Têrkar that night, I am certain I would have died within the keep of Emax Dûl.
- 'And now I return. If we learn something to undermine the plans of Ordâkh and the Thardúth who slew my brother, it will be worth it. This will truly be Satagêra's masterpiece, <name>.'
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