Bestowal dialogue
No Other Way
"Up, up, up the stairs, gollum. Gollum. And then... the tunnel, yes... this way, good hobbitses... yes..."
Background
You have led the good master and his protector into the mountains, as you were asked. The Straight Stair and the Winding Stair are behind, and the Tunnel lies ahead.
Objective 1
The nice master is near the top of the Winding Stair, looking out upon the dead city below.
- Frodo: 'Thank you for bring us this far, Sméagol. I know it cannot have been easy for you to come this way again, or to creep so near to the city below, but you have done right by your promise.
- 'Just a little further, you said? I am ready to put these stairs behind us, and then we will need to rest, if we can. I am so very tired, and Sam may not say it, but he must be as well.'
Objective 2
There is one more stair to climb before the hobbitses can put the Winding Stair behind them.
And then?
- Frodo says, "Come on, Sam! We're nearly at the top!"
- Samwise says, "I have had my fill of stairs, Mr. Frodo."
- Frodo says, "Me too, Sam. Me too."
- Samwise says, "What was it Gollum said was at the top of the stairs?"
- Frodo says, "A tunnel, he said."
- Samwise says, "That's right. I don't much care for tunnels."
- Frodo says, "The stairs, the tunnel... and Mordor."
- Samwise says, "Who would have thought we'd make it there, Mr. Frodo?"
- Frodo says, "I think we are almost at the top."
- Samwise says, "I can't believe it! At last!"
- Frodo says, "A tower... there is a tower above the pass."
- Samwise says, "I don't like the look of that at all."
- Samwise says, "Your secret way is guarded after all, Gollum!"
- Samwise says, "I suppose you knew that all along! Leading us into a trap, are you?"
- Frodo says, "He is right, Sam. Every way into Mordor will be watched, in some fashion."
- Frodo says, "Look, we can rest over here, out of the wind."
Objective 3
The nice Master and the other hobbit need to rest.
- Frodo: 'Sam and I need to rest from the climb before we move on to the tunnel you mentioned, Sméagol. I am exhausted, and I do not want us to pass beneath that tower without recovering whatever strength we may.
- 'You should lie down and get some sleep as well, Sméagol. We will all need our rest for whatever lies ahead, I imagine.'
Objective 4
- Lie down and get some sleep as the nice Master requested.
Wait for the hobbitses to become absorbed in their conversation.
- Sleep, precious... yes, for a little while
- Frodo says, "Try and get some sleep, Sméagol."
- Samwise says, "I wonder when we'll find water again?"
- Samwise says, "There isn't any up here, so far as I can tell."
- Samwise says, "Do you think there will be any in Mordor? Orcs must drink, surely."
- Frodo says, "They do, but not the sort of drink we would want."
- Samwise says, "Then filling our bottles is even more important."
- Samwise says, "But I have heard not so much as a drip or a trickle."
- Samwise says, "Faramir said not to drink any water in the Morgul Vale, so it doesn't matter."
- Frodo says, "He said not to drink any water flowing out of Imlad Morgul, not into it."
- Samwise says, "Still, I wouldn't trust it, not unless I was dying of thirst."
- Samwise says, "There's a foul odour about everything, a wicked and stuffy smell."
- Frodo says, "I don't like any of it, but this is the path we must take."
- Samwise says, "That's true. And it's doubly-true that we shouldn't be here right now."
- Samwise says, "Maybe we wouldn't be, if we had known the full extent of the thing before we started!"
- Samwise says, "I suppose it's always that way, isn't it? In the old stories, I mean."
- Frodo says, "You may be right, Sam."
- Samwise says, "I used to think folk in those stories went looking for their adventures."
- Samwise says, "As if their lives were a little dull, and they needed a bit of sport."
- Samwise says, "But that's not the way of it at all, not with the stories that really mattered."
- Samwise says, "Folk in those stories more sort of landed in them, and did the best they could."
- Samwise says, "It could be they had a chance to turn back, or lots of chances, and they didn't."
- Samwise says, "And if they had turned back, well, we wouldn't remember them."
- Samwise says, "We don't want to hear that they came back home and everything was all right, and mostly the same."
- Samwise says, "That's not always the best story to hear, though it might be the best one to be landed in!"
- Samwise says, "What sort of tale have we landed into, I wonder?"
- Frodo says, "I wonder too, but I don't know the answer, Sam."
- Frodo says, "And that's the mark of a real tale, isn't it?"
- Frodo says, "Think of any story of which you're particularly fond."
- Frodo says, "You might know how it'll end, or guess that the ending will be happy or sad."
- Frodo says, "But the people inside the story don't know, and you wouldn't want them to know."
- Samwise says, "That's true, Mr. Frodo."
- Samwise says, "I mean, take Beren."
- Samwise says, "He didn't know he was going to end up with the Silmaril from the Iron Crown, but he did."
- Samwise says, "And that was a much more dangerous adventure than ours, wasn't it?"
- Samwise says, "And eventually the Silmaril came to Eärendil."
- Samwise says, "Oh! Something just occured to me!"
- Samwise says, "You've got some of its light in the glass that Lady Galadriel gave to you!"
- Samwise says, "We're in the same tale as Beren! Don't the great stories ever end?"
- Frodo says, "They don't end as tales, Sam, but the folk in them go when their part is finished."
- Frodo says, "Our part in the tale will end once we've played it, soon or late."
- Samwise says, "And then a good night's rest, and waking up to work in the garden."
- Samwise says, "That's all I'm hoping for, Mr. Frodo."
- Samwise says, "But I wonder if our own tale will ever be put into words, and shared by a fireside?"
- Samwise says, "Will folk ever ask to hear it?"
- Samwise says, "Will they say, "Tell us the one about Frodo and the Ring!""
- Samwise says, ""That is one of my most favourite stories! Frodo was so brave, wasn't he, dad?""
- Samwise says, ""Indeed, my boy. He was the most famous of all the hobbits, and as you know that's really something!""
- Frodo says, "Oh, Sam. Hearing you talk like this makes me think the tale is already written!"
- Frodo says, "But you've forgotten one of the chief characters! Samwise the Stout-hearted!"
- Frodo says, ""I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn't have gotten very far without Sam, would he, dad?""
- Samwise says, "Don't make fun, Mr. Frodo. I was being serious!"
- Frodo says, "So was I, Sam. So was I."
- Frodo says, "But look around us. This will be no one's favourite part, that's for certain!"
- Frodo says, "We should get some rest while we can."
- Samwise says, "That's true, sir. You catch some sleep and I'll stay a-watch."
Objective 5
Wait for the hobbitses to become absorbed in their conversation.
- That should be enough. Yes, precious, time to slip away...
Objective 6
- Sneak to the east, towards the tower, precious
You have business ahead. Leave the hobbitses behind and go to the east, beneath the tower.
Objective 7
Sméagol is here. What does he want? Why is he in my way, gollum, gollum?
- What do you want, precious? Leave me alone!
- Sméagol: 'No, precious, don't go this way! We mustn't hurt the nice Master!
- 'We swore, precious! We swore to serve the nice Master! Do not try to hurt him! Must not, gollum! Gollum!'
Objective 8
The tunnel lies ahead. You need to go there, precious, and make certain all is ready!
- Weak! Do not listen to him, gollum, gollum!
Objective 9
- Talk to Sméagol and tell him this will retrieve the Precious
Sméagol is back. He doesn't have the nerve to get the Precious!
- Sméagol is back, the coward
- Sméagol: 'We shouldn't leave the hotbitses, gollum, gollum! They trusts us, they do, and we swore on the Precious! Nice master trusts Sméagol, yes, he's a friend to us, a good friend!
- 'We swore to serve the Master of the Precious!'
Objective 10
- Sneak east to the tunnel, precious
She will help us get the Precious, yes she will, gollum, gollum!
- Once we have the Precious, we will be the Master!
Objective 11
- Talk to Sméagol outside the tunnel
Sméagol is back, and he wants to keep us from the Precious! Only we know what we must do, gollum!
- Leave us alone, Sméagol! This is the only way, gollum!
- Sméagol: 'Please don't go inside the tunnel, gollum, gollum! We can't bring the hobbitses to Her! She'll eat them, yes, not just the fat one but the Master too, and Sméagol can't do that to them! No, precious, no! Don't go to Her!'
Objective 12
- Enter the tunnel, gollum. gollum!
We have to tell Her what we have brought. She will be so pleased, gollum, gollum!
- She won't want the Precious, though, no indeed, gollum!
Objective 13
- Find Her, precious, and tell Her what we have brought!
We have to find Her, and tell her what we have brought with us!
- Now what was the right way, gollum, gollum?
- 'She is close, yes... close...'
- 'Almost there, precious... almost there, gollum! Gollum!'
- Sméagol says, "You remember... you remember poor Sméagol, yes?"
- Sméagol says, "Not tasty, no... not tasty at all!"
- Sméagol says, "But Sméagol... he brings you tasty foods... yes..."
- Sméagol says, "They are almost here, gollum! Gollum!"
- Sméagol says, "A gift, yes... a gift for you..."
- Sméagol says, "And then... we will be free of our Promise..."
- Sméagol says, "And the Precious... will be ours..."
- Sméagol says, "There is no other way, Sméagol... no... other... way..."
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