Bestowal Dialogue
The Snatcher
"Úbil the Snatcher.... My father, Beorn, told me of that creature in my youth. He thought it a gangrel-beast that crawled from some dark cleft in the night. For many years, it crept unseen into the villages of the Woodmen and stole away their children to sate its hunger, but when it could hide no longer the creature fled the Vales of Anduin... never to return."
Background
When Atta was a boy, the creature known as the Snatcher returned to the Vales of Anduin and once again sought to prey on the weak and helpless.
Objective 1
Atta has offered to tell you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta.
- Atta: 'It was very long ago, <name>.
- 'The Snatcher had vanished for hundreds of years, and my people had abandoned their vigil. I was a boy then... only days past the start of my eighth year. My sister, Amelina, was nigh to her fourth, but her birth had taken our mother. If only it had ended there...
- 'One night, I awoke to a great clattering. The shutters were open, and Amelina was gone. Muddied footprint had been left in Amelina's bed, but no sign of her remained. After that day, my father rarely spoke. In the mornings, he rose with the sun to search for Amelina, and when darkness fell, he would stand watch at the gates of Hultvís.
- 'And so it continued. Until one night not one month later.'
Objective 2
- Listen to Atta and follow along with his tale
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should listen to Atta as he tells his tale.
- Atta says, "A scream woke all of Hultvís. Úbil the Snatcher had returned."
- Atta says, "Through my window, I saw the light of countless torches. Even women still in their bedgowns carried them."
- Atta says, "Another child had been snatched. Úbil's wickedness could not go unanswered again."
- Atta says, "Fearful of the light, the Snatcher screeched and sputtered as my people drove it out of Hultvís."
- Atta says, "But the Snatcher had claimed another life as it fled. Father was dead."
- Atta says, "When I learned what had happened, I ran to my father's side."
- Atta says, "His throat had been torn open... gnawed by the wicked jaws of the Snatcher."
- Atta says, "I embraced him and wept."
Objective 3
- Talk to Atta
- Listen to Atta
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta before allowing him to continue his tale.
- Atta: 'I did not understand. The Snatcher had fled in plain sight, and none in Hultvís pursued it. My father was dead. And for what?
- 'Sorrow turned to anger, and I ran to the home where my family had once lived. I tore through father's belongings with tears in my eyes, but it was not long before I found his dagger. If revenge was to be taken, I thought it would have to be by my own hand.'
- Atta says, "With father's dagger in my hand, I crept out of Hultvís into the woods."
- Atta says, "No one saw me leave."
Objective 4
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta.
- Atta: 'I wandered for what seemed like hours. I should have given up. but I didn't.
- 'My thoughts turned to my family I no longer had. I remembered that my father had allowed me to accompany him on a hunt not long before Amelina was taken. A hart was grazing in the lowlands, unaware that father's eyes were upon him. Father drew his bow, and though the creature must have sensed its peril, the arrow was loosed. The hart darted, but father's arrow had flown true. It pierced the hart's hind leg. and the beast stumbled. The hart fled as fast as its hooves could bear it, but father carefully followed it uneven, bloodied tracks.
- 'By the time we came upon it, the hart had collapsed in pain. Father slew it that its suffering might be ended, but as my thoughts returned to that dreary night, I felt no such duty.'
Objective 5
- Listen to Atta and follow along with his tale
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should listen to Atta as he tells his tale.
- Atta says, "In the pouring rain, I found the Snatcher's mud-slicked footprints."
- Atta says, "With as much haste as I could muster, I followed them westward towards the cliffs overlooking the Anduin."
- Atta says, "At the woods' edge, I found Úbil the Snatcher."
- Atta says, "In tales of old, it was said that Úbil had thin, black hair and often wore clothing it had stolen from the hól-budlan."
- Atta says, "The pallid creature I saw before me bore little resemblance to the Úbil of old, but I knew it could be no other."
- Atta says, "I trembled in the cold rain, but there was no turning back. Father had to be avenged!"
Objective 6
- Talk to Atta
- Listen to Atta
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta.
- Atta: 'What would father have thought of me? What a fool I had been!
- 'I was no practiced warrior... no hunter of beasts. I was a boy swinging a dagger in the rain!
- 'The Snatcher twisted and slithered away from me like some sort of demon-serpent. It cackled and sputtered at me, and with a single lunge, it wrested the dagger from my hand. A cruel delight gleamed in the Snatcher's eyes as it flung father's dagger into the Anduin, but there was no time to mourn its loss.
- 'The Snatcher bared its teeth with a dreadful, rotten grin.'
- Atta says, "I did not wait for Úbil to strike again. I ran as fast as I could."
- Atta says, "Úbil the Snatcher chased me into the darkness."
Objective 7
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta.
- Atta: 'I ran and I ran and I ran. I darted behind bushes, leapt over fallen trunks and branches, and cast down anything that might slow the Snatcher's pursuit.
- 'My throat was raw and my legs burned, but it did not matter. I knew if I gave in, if I dared to grow weary, the Snatcher would kill me. But what if it did? Would I see Amelina again? And what of mother and father? What would one more moment of pain in my life be worth?
- 'The Snatcher suddenly stopped. For a moment, it stood still as if transfixed by an unseen spirit, but it began to speak. What a horrible voice it had! It choked between it words, but it seemed to be speaking to someone.
- 'As I watched it carry on in heated conversation, my breath returned to me. I began to hope that it had forgotten its pursuit.'
Objective 8
- Listen to Atta and follow along with his tale
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should listen to Atta as he tells his tale.
- Atta says, "As if in answer, the Snatcher caught sight of my gaze."
- Atta says, "It flew into a frenzy, shrieking and thrashing madly at whatever unseen spirit stood before it."
- Atta says, "Úbil scrambled toward me with a hunger in its eyes."
- Atta says, "Without a thought, I turned and ran."
- Atta says, "My legs gave out beneath me as I ran. It was over, I thought. I shut my eyes."
- Atta says, "With my eyes shut, I felt the Snatcher's breath upon me."
- Atta says, "The Snatcher wrapped its fingers around my neck, but all of a sudden, I heard a great roar!"
- Atta says, "It was Beorn! Fearing the skin-changer's wrath, the Snatcher loosed its grip and fled cursing into the woods."
Objective 9
Atta is telling you his tale of Úbil the Snatcher.
You should talk to Atta.
- Atta: 'I thought I was dead.
- 'When I opened my eyes, I saw the skin-changer, Beorn, standing above me. It was a trick of the mind, some dying fantasy, I thought. But it wasn't.
- 'Beorn lifted me from the ground and held me in his arms. He tore some cloth from his own breast, wrapped me in it, and he delivered me to Hultvís.
- 'Without a word, Beorn left. I never saw him again.'
Completed
- Atta says, "That is all there is to tell."
- Atta: Atta falls silent.
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