THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE ※ RIVENDELL ※ LOG 2

[wildermods]

THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE
OOC POST
The group is told to take a week of rest in the Last Homely House as the injured and sick among them heal. The Elves promise them that at the end of that week, there will be a great Council, with representatives of several peoples in attendance.

Until then, they can wander the peaceful halls of Rivendell, which are filled with travelers from all over the Wilderlands who are making a rest stop while they travel through the lands of Middle-Earth.

The most notable part of Rivendell is the Hall of Fire, a great feast hall where people can eat, drink, and be merry. This is the great social hall of Rivendell, where the Elves and their visitors share news of lands far beyond, tell stories, or perform music. The music here almost sounds divine, especially when the Elves sing and play, but they're just as eager to hear songs from other lands, so if any of the squad decide to share, they'll be glad to listen.

Some of the hall's guests are a touch more lively than the others, like a party of dwarves staying at Rivendell. Their stories are a mite more adventurous and if you get in their good graces, they might be willing to share some of the beer they brought with them. Listening to their stories or their talk about their craftmanship is a way to get into their good graces.

The Elves love learning, so there are libraries the group is allowed to browse, though they mostly only contain tales of Middle-Earth (for now), though the Elves seem to be collecting what books about other lands they can. These libraries often have viewing stations with telescopes pointing at the sky. The Elves have been almost delighted by the changing skies, enjoying the challenge of trying to understand how the sky has been knitting itself together with the addition of new worlds.

There are also beautiful balconies here, overlooking the gorge and the waters below, and terraced gardens filled with flowers, bushes, and flowering trees. Their rooms are open to the outdoors and have beds that seem grown into the shape of bed-frames instead of carved. The bathrooms actually have running water. The Elves have figured out how to direct the clean running waters of the gorge in primitive indoor plumbing. Water for hot baths has to be heated first in brass cauldrons over coal braziers before getting dumped into the bath.

It's time for the squad to rest, eat, and regroup. If a great Council is going to be called involving them, it might be a good idea to make sure they go into it as a united front, lest decisions about their fate be made for them.

---

NOTES
✦ Joint log: Since this camp period won't be particularly long, everything will take place in a joint log. Players can post starters with prompts for others and tag into other players' prompts.

✦ Post in actionspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace.

✦ Cursed Weapons/Powers: So they know about how they'll be treated: those with cursed weapons and dark powers will be tolerated by the Elves after entry. While they'll get the same general treatment, the Elves around them may at times seem uncomfortable. Those with cursed weapons will only be distrusted a little, as the weapons themselves will seem more suspicious than their bearers. Those with dark powers or some kind of dark nature (such as being a vampire, Necromancer mage, werewolf, etc.) will be treated with the greatest distrust.

✦ Fairy Swaps: The Elves may be slightly alarmed by the Brugh fairy swaps but get over it easily. However, if the character swapped in is one of the "dark" characters, the swap might be extra cause for alarm. (A potential prompt idea).

✦ Npcing: There will be two npc threads. The "Random Encounters" thread is for characters to have a totally random encounter with an npc. These npcs will be fellow travelers from lands beyond. While they can't give much information about the group's status as Chosen Ones (that will happen during the Council) they can provide info about events in the Wilderlands beyond that may come to affect the squad in their travels. The "Specific Requests" thread will be for more specific issues your character might want to discuss with the Elves. While they'll push any Chosen Ones discussion off to the Council, they're willing to discuss issues with the characters, like if they have questions about having received magic, about being bound to their weapons, etc. The Rivendell Elves have heard a lot of gossip from all over and can potentially provide info based on things they've heard.

✦ Clothes: The group will not yet be fully equipped for their travels (that will happen upon leaving) but everyone will at least be given new clothes since theirs are dirty and sometimes torn. Characters without appropriate travel footwear will also be given light and sturdy boots that will somehow be in their size without their size being asked. They'll also be given basic toiletries like scissors that can be used to cut hair and beards. There are no razors, however, because the Elves don't need to shave so they don't keep them on hand.

Comments

2

[wherenoonegoes]

I have to know. What exactly is up with the wine-drinking bullfrog?

[Hiccup asks with a smile. It's nice to see Dixon having fun after the difficulty he had with the trip here. Toothless is nearby, upending and shaking his food basket to dislodge a fish that's stuck on the fibers.]

[awfulcer]

The bullfrog is the voice of God, [Dixon says, citing an incredibly common misinterpretation of the lyrics.] Ain't just Vikings get to have religion.

[He reaches over and pats Hiccup on the shoulder.] Come on, you Vikings got songs too, right? These midgets'll learn anything.

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup decides not to bring up the fact that Dixon really shouldn't be calling the dwarves midgets. They haven't said anything about it themselves, which means they don't know what it means, or aren't offended by it. Or, at least, not as offended as the one he'd called a dark elf, who'd thankfully been just patient enough to let Hiccup explain himself.]

I'll try. Bear with me, I'm not much of a singer.

[As he starts to sing, it's clear he wasn't being modest. It's not the worst, but he has a slightly nasal voice and very little range.]

♪We could be safe at hearth and home
Around a fire with loved ones near
Instead we brave the cold dark wave
The salty kiss of a Hero's grave

Looking for a land we saw...
Once before... long ago...
HO!

We could take the easy way
Stay at home with loved ones dear
But here we are on rocking waves
Sails spread out like dragons' wings...
Lost out in a hurricane...

Looking for a land we saw..
Once before... long ago..
HO!

Glory comes not to the weak
A treasure land shines out so strong
We see it clear from far away
O Great and Brave and Mighty Thor
I hope that that was land I saw

Once before... long ago..
HO!♪

[awfulcer]

Neither am I. [Dixon doesn't even realize that 'sounds kind of nice singing' is one of his very few natural talents. He ushers Hiccup over to the table and hands out bread rolls to the many dwarves and elves looking to add some food to their stomachs after about three beers. And they settle in to listen.

What Hiccup lacks in musicality, the enthusiasm of the group compensates for. They let the unknown lyrics wash over them, but by the last "one before, long ago, ho!" the table is a cacophony of exuberant voices. One of the dwarves even wipes away a tear.

Dixon gestures for Hiccup to sit down next to him as the dwarves start to debate which mining song to sing next, one that is both iconic and entertaining enough for a table of buzzed elves and humans.]

That song was depressing as hell. [He says that with a grin, clearly not a diss.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Eh, Viking songs. [Hiccup shrugs, the "what are you gonna do" left implied.] It's a thing. Our drinking songs are a little lighter, but I've never been much of a drinker.

I know a happier one, the one my Dad used to propose to my mom? But it's not really associated with happy memories for me right now.

[That was understating things quite a bit. He'd seen his parents reunite to that song. Then, because of his own mistakes, saw them split apart again less than half an hour later. This time by death. All because of his own mistakes.]

[awfulcer]

We can change that.

[Even with Hiccup saying he's not a drinker, Dixon hails the elf serving the round to send a beer to both him and to Hiccup. He eagerly takes a swig from his.]

Family troubles? [Dixon doesn't have any personal experience with that particular flavor. There have been troubles in his family, but never really between his parents.] It's alright, lots of people have bad relationships with their parents.

[Dixon feels a lot of sadness for those people. Without his parents he would have crumbled long ago.]

[wherenoonegoes]

No, that's not really it. [He and his father may have had their issues, but they'd been dealing with them. Toothless, sensing the mood, shoves his head under Hiccup's hand as a comforting gesture. He warbles slightly, and Hiccup gives his friend a melancholy smile.]

I told you about how I nearly got Berk destroyed. What I didn't tell you was that my dad died that day, protecting me. He sang that song to mom less than half an hour before everything went to Hel.

[awfulcer]

Shit.

[Dixon takes a sharp breath, and when he takes another drink from his mug of beer there’s a kind of urgency to it. It’s like a cloud has come over this corner of the table, as the others continue merrily on with an elvish song about birds.]

I’m sorry, that’s... [He gives Hiccup a half-pat, half-grip on the shoulder. Some kind of physical affirmation of support. He’s never been so great at any form of it, really. Maybe between him and Toothless they’ll have Hiccup completely covered. ] That’s really hard.

You said that whole thing was recent?

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup doesn't really expect a lot of emotional support from Dixon, to be honest. Not as a slight against him, as most people Hiccup knew were terrible at it. It's enough to know the older man is at least trying. He nods at Dixon's question.]

Work keeps my mind off of it. [Hiccup takes a sip of his drink. It was more obvious in retrospect, but he'd taken on much more than his fair share of the work getting them here.] It also helps knowing it's how he would've wanted to go. Maybe not then and there, there was still so much he had to do, but he basically guaranteed himself a spot in Valhalla.

[awfulcer]

[He nods back.]

My Chief offed himself a few weeks back. Same thing, I guess, I mean, going out the way he wanted. [It's recent enough that even talking about it makes Dixon's face go taut with the attempt to stave off tears. He takes another swig of beer as he steadies his nerves.]

Anyway, you're holding up better than anyone could expect, it sounds like. If work's keeping you busy then you've got a lot of work to do anyway, you know? We ain't got a shortage of work here.

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup winces at the mention of what happened to Dixon's chief.] And I basically used him against you. Great. Good going Hiccup.

He sips at his own beer, and scratches Toothless's earflaps.]

What was he like, anyways? I basically know nothing about what your home is like.

[awfulcer]

It worked, though, didn't it? [Dixon says that more to himself than to Hiccup, and he takes a morose sip from his beer.]

I'm pretty sure most of what I know about your place is from...I don't know. Credit card commercials. Capital One. [Didn't they have a Viking one? He takes a breath.]

He was a good man. Taught us all how to act right, gave us someone we wanted to be. Chief of- [Dixon almost says 'police' but he isn't ready to admit that whole story, that he was police and fucked it up in a way Chief Willoughby never would have approved of and got fired.] -he was basically the guy who took care of the whole town. All of us. [Except the black people, you know.]

Probably like your dad.

[wherenoonegoes]

Dad was a great chief. Maybe not always a great parent, although we'd mostly managed to work that out between us in the last few years, but definitely a great chief. Brave, selfless, stubborn to a fault when he thought he was right. Which, a lot of times he was. The few times I saw him be outright blatantly wrong about something it was usually because the right answer was so completely contrary to everything he knew that he couldn't even conceive of it.

[And when he was wrong, it usually took something very very big to convince him otherwise. One of the things he and Hiccup had in common.]

[awfulcer]

[Dixon follows along, absorbing less the individual traits Hiccup's naming than the clear admiration and love Hiccup had for his father. Sometimes it's good to just let people talk it out. Dixon doesn't really talk out grief, and as Hiccup's description reminds him of both Chief and of his own deceased father, he feels his throat getting tight. He loosens it back up with another sip of beer.

A sip, not a swig, because he's polite when someone's talking about a dead parent. You don't fucking chug.]

You're right. He sounds like a great guy. [He pauses. His own eyes have remained teary.] Probably where you get your good qualities from.