Bestowal dialogue
'Masters Peregrin and Meriadoc have been asking after you once again, <name>. You would do well the hasten to Bâr Thorenion, for they were grave of countenance.'
Background
Merry and Pippin have been pondering the revelations of their last foray into Mordor, and come to some conclusions.
Objective 1
You should talk to Pippin and Merry in Bâr Thorenion to learn what serious matters they have been discussing.
- Pippin: 'Do you remember what those squinty fellows said? The ones we caught talking to each other in Mordor? They wanted to sell news, and that news, as best as Merry and I can tell, had to do with a Wizard and the halfling lands. Gandalf and the Shire, we asked ourselves? Well, if it was not the Shire, then we're both dwarves. But Gandalf? That part just didn't feel right.
- 'And then we tried to think of any other Wizards, and the first that came to mind was the snake, Saruman. And then it all began to fall suspiciously into place. Did we not see fellows just such as those three among Saruman's rabble? I think we did.
- 'Well and that brings us to the favour we hoped to ask you. Someone has got to go back there and see what the old, white sweet-talker is up to. And poke around and see if there is anything to explain any more of what those three were talking abount.'
Objective 2
You should talk to Pippin and Merry in Bâr Thorenion to learn what serious matters they have been discussing.
- Merry: 'If you remember, the Ents are supposed to have kept watch on him up in his tower, where he is prisoner of sorts. Perhaps you will see some of our Ent-friends when you are there. If you do, give them our regards and find out how they are doing for us. At this rate, it feels that it may be a long while before we might see them again.'
Objective 3
Pippin and Merry have asked you to visit Flooded Isengard and look in after Saruman, the Ents, and anything that will reveal what the three half-orcs were talking about
- Quickbeam: 'Why if it isn't our little friend the <race>. What has brought you all the way back here, I wonder? For the last I heard of it, you and many others had gone east, far east, to deal with matters quite out of the soil of Ents.
- 'Perhaps it is some message you bear to Treebeard? Or to question that Wizard. Or... former Wizard? I am not quite sure what he is now, or how to name hm. Well, as it happens you will find both of them up ahead, for Treebeard and several other Ents have just been gathered to watch him. They have only been there several days, and might be gone in several more, so you are lucky to catch them.'
Objective 4
You have found Quickbeam in the waters of Flooded Isengard, who has told you that Treebeard and several other Ents are gathered up ahead on the western side of Orthanc, discussing Saruman.
- Treebeard: 'Hm, hoom! Here is <name> again. Remarkable that you should show up just as we were discussing all the events that led to this.'
- Treebeard indicates the flooded waste around them.
- 'And what, really, should be done with Saruman. Oh, yes, I know, hm, hm, Mithrandir bade us keep him up there. And now that we have settled in, we are not in any mood to be hasty, hoom! But still the question remains, for how long? And by whose reckoning? A <race>'s such as yours? That is a while, I suppose. It all, even the Elves', seems hasty to we Ents, and so we find it exceedingly difficult to judge, Hm, hm! And yet, all the same, I cannot help but feel it has been long enough and that we should release him.
- 'But come, I am being inhospitable. Tell me, what has brought you to us here today, hm?'
- You tell Treebeard the riddle of what you overheard in Morder.
- 'Saruman? It might very well be Saruman, hoom hom! He is hiding somewhere within his rock just now, but will be out upon that high place there very soon, I believe. Why don't you look around for anything else to explain this little mystery, until he is out, and then we shall see what we shall see.
Objective 5
Treebeard suggested that you search for other clues around Flooded Isengard, while you wait for Saruman to emerge from Orthanc.
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 9 August 3017
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 22 September 3017
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 14 May 3018
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 5 July 3018
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 11 July 3018
- Hornblower Pipe-weed, packaged 1 March 3019
Objective 5
You discovered many more barrels of pipe-weed than Merry and Pippin had found, and packaged over the course of nearly two years, as well. You should return to Treebeard where he stands before the west face of Orthanc in Flooded Isengard.
- Treebeard: 'The <name> returns, and so soon! Hm, hm, but not too late, either, I think, for there is Saruman up high upon his tower. You have come all this way. Why not you go and see what he has to say? We may hope he may answer your riddle, and if he does not, perhaps you can help us decide the question of whether we have kept him locked in there too long.'
Objective 6
You should approach Orthanc from where the Ents stand on the western side of Flooded Isengard and see if Saruman will speak with you.
- (A VOICE COMES FROM ABOVE)
- "A VISITOR? OR A RUSE? WILL YOU LISTEN TO MY PLEA WITH A FAIR AND OPEN HEART, TRULY?"
Objective 7
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
Saruman has asked you to listen to his plea.
- you listen
- Saruman says: "FREE ME FROM THIS PRISON AND I WILL MAKE AMENDS TO FANGORN AND ROHAN. I SHALL HEAL, REGROW, AND REPAIR THE WRONGS DONE IN MY NAME."
Objective 8
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
Saruman has said that if you free him, he will heal, regrow, and make reparations for the wrongs done in his name. You should look around to consider the weight of his words.
- you look around
- What Isengard was and the waste it has become swiftly dispel Saruman's lie
Objective 9
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
You should listen once more to Saruman's plea.
- you listen
- Saruman says: "MORDOR IS UNTHRONED, YES? WHO BETTER THAN I KNOWS HOW TO CLEANSE IT OF THE SHADOW AND CORRUPTION GATHERED THERE?"
Objective 10
- Consider dethroned Mordor
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
Saruman has suggested that he could aid in the subjugation and cleansing of Mordor, still covered in the corruptions, lieutenants, and shadow of Sauron as it is. You should consider the dethroned land and what Saruman might do there.
- Throne vision: Saruman wishes only to seize power and rule of Mordor for his own
Objective 11
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
You should listen one last time to Saruman's plea.
- you listen
- Saruman says: "MY VAST WISDOM HAS OTHER USES. I MIGHT TEACH IT, BRINGING WISDOM AND PROSPERITY TO THE FREE PEOPLES"
Objective 12
- Consider the Free Peoples
Saruman stands high upon his tower on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
Saruman has suggested that he could employ his vast wisdom to bring prosperity to the Free Peoples. You should consider how this possibility might turn out.
- Hobbit-hole vision: You shudder at the vision of toiling hobbits, whose lives need little improvement, only to be left alone in peace
Objective 13
Treebeard and another Ent stand before Orthanc on the western side of Flooded Isengard.
You have heard Saruman's three pleas and seen through each ploy. Now you should return to Treebeard and see what he has to say.
- Saruman says: "FOOL! I WILL KEEP TO MY TOWER THEN AND THE REST OF YOU MAY ROT!"
- Treebeard: Hrum , brum, hroom! You have not had such a courteous converstation with old Saruman after all, have you?
- 'You tell Treebeard what Saruman said and what you judge he meant by it. Tho old Ent's eyes grow sad.
- Yes, hrm. Well, hm. Perhaps letting him go just now would not be a hasty thing, after all. I feel sorry for him at times, for I do not like to cage any creature of any temperament in stone as he is caged. And yet you have shown us that he is unbroken and might still try to do much harm if he were freed.
- 'No, hm. I shall not release him. Not just yet, at ay rate.
- 'I am delighted that you have paid us this visit all the same, <name>, and you must send my regards to the halflings Pippin and Merry, and remind them that they are always welcome in my woods!'
Objective 14
- Return to Pippin and Merry
You should return to Pippin and Merry in Bâr Thorenion with word of all that you have seen and heard.
- Pippin: 'Why, if it isn't <name>! Have you been to Isengard? And you are back already? You must tell us what you saw.'
- As you tell it, the two hobbits' eyes go wide in amazement.
- 'Slippery old snake, Saruman is,' Pippin says at last. 'But I'll tell you what I do not like; it is that bit about helping the Free Peoples. Something about it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
- "And then there is the matter of those pipe-weed barrels. There were many more than the two we found, somewhere, I suppose. It was very clever of you to take note of the dates stamped on them. We must think about that, Merry. It is quite a lot of time between early summer of two years ago and the first of this very March. What's he up to, do you suppose?'
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