I don't own Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls, or the basic ideas and rules of the version of Pathfinders/D&D used (weird copyright laws). If I did, I'd be rich. And I promise you, I'm not rich. I do own the idea of the story and the idea of the (original)characters.
Frodo looked over his shoulder and contemplated the long journey that was behind him and the rest of the Fellowship. They had assumed, like the rest of Middle Earth, that this region was impassable and dangerous to traverse. Yet, they had been proven wrong. The seven—Gandalf had promised to meet them later on—members of the Fellowship were now safely past the mountains east of Mordor and in unmapped territory. As the group relaxed in the cool forest, they couldn't help but notice how similar to Middle Earth, their Middle Earth, this place was.
"If we want to have a chance of finding shelter before sundown, we should continue our journey," Aragorn said as he strode ahead of the group to scope the terrain. The forest was quiet and full of old trees. A breeze ruffled the leaves. That was the only noise other than the Fellowship's footfalls. The trek carried on like that until the noon sun was in the sky. At that point, the group found what looked like a road. The realization fell on them; Merry was the first to speak.
"You don't think..." he paused and took a couple of quick glances over his shoulder, "... that people live here, do ya?"
Almost as if on cue, unknown voices and footsteps could be heard coming toward them. The Fellowship quickly jumped into some greenery along the path. Soon after that, a rugged group of two walked by with their weapons drawn.
"I swore I heard someone talking," a figure in a white hooded robe said. Lowering their bow, they removed their hood and revealed a slender, tanned face with leaf green eyes, long chestnut hair and pointed ears. The Fellowship quietly noted that there were elves in this land, as strange as they looked. This one stood easily taller than Aragorn and looked like a strong wind might blow him over.
"See Eruadan," a young-looking human with a raven on her shoulder laughed, "I told you all that magic was going to your head." The elf scoffed in response. Three more figures joined them, still poised for battle. It was a second elf, a dwarf and something that looked like an orc.
"No, whatever they were, they're still here," the second elf said as she put her long sword away, unsheathed an intricately carved dagger, and moved toward the bushes that hid the Fellowship.
"You do remember what Aliella said, right? Maybe they aren't bad," the dwarf said as she tried to coax the elf back to the path.
"She said something about bushes and ducks, Alayna, after spending three hours at the pub," the female elf said, ignoring the dwarf. She reached into one of the bushes. A yelp sounded as the female elf grasped some cloth and pulled its owner to her eye level. She held Frodo by the collar of his cloak.
"You unhand Mister Frodo!" Sam yelled as he jumped out from his hiding place. The orc-looking person quickly turned his great sword on Sam. Everyone froze. The human was first to speak.
"Throm. Iellassë. There's no need to harm innocent halflings," she admonished them, then turned to talk to Sam and Frodo. "Where's the rest of your group?" she asked. The two paused for a second.
"They're hidden..." Frodo said after the elf set him down, "We don't mean any harm. We're just exploring this land."
"How many of you are there?" the woman asked.
This time Sam spoke up, "There's seven of us." The group looked around.
"Well, where are they?" Without a word, the rest of the Fellowship joined the two hobbits on the path. The woman's eyes lit up when she saw the others.
"Wait, are you adventurers too?" she asked excitedly. "From where do you hail?"
"You see, miss, we aren't exactly adventurers..." Pippin began.
"And we certainly aren't going to tell more to a group that held us at swordpoint!" Gimli said indignantly.
The woman sighed, "Well, I can guess that you aren't from here or Tamriel," the woman thought for a second, "meaning you need a guide. I'm Fish, by the way."
Aragorn regarded her carefully. "Aragorn. Of Gondor."
Fish smiled. "All I can say is that no one comes down here without adventure on their mind. If you and your party want to join us on our quest, you can." The Fellowship looked at each other. Despite his earlier situation, Frodo nodded.
"We will travel with you," Aragorn said as he joined the band of adventurers.
"Wait a second," scoffed the female elf, "you're going to join us without knowing who we are or where we're going?"
"Iellassë..." the dwarf, Alayna, started to say.
"No," Iellassë continued, "we could be bandits—assassins even—who could be headed to some criminal base. And you're just going to trust us?"
"If you were going to do that, you wouldn't have just told us," Legolas stated. "Thus, I side with Aragorn and Frodo."
The she-elf looked bewildered. "On second thought, maybe you should come along, because I don't think you'd make it very long without us..."
"So it's settled!" Fish hopped in, "We'll take you to the cave, you'll help us get what we need, and we'll take you back to Sandpoint where you can figure out what you're going to do next!" The Fellowship nodded in response. The two groups gathered on the path and began the trip, with the adventurers leading the way.
"Where're we off to?" Pippin asked after a long time of silent walking. The orc-looking thing quickly shushed him.
"Throm, I don't think we have to worry about goblins in this region; I mean, even Iellassë's let her guard down!" Alayna grinned as she poked at the elf. Iellassë rolled her eyes.
"To answer your question, Pippin," Iellassë started, "We're heading to a cave in the northern mountains. Fish thinks it has a relic we're looking for."
Pippin smiled. "Sounds interesting."
Eruadan was next to speak. "It should be pretty simple, especially since we have extra hands. You said you all were trained in combat?"
"Either trained or have experienced it before," Frodo said.
"Experienced and trained aren't the same," Throm said from the back. Fish was quick to silence him.
"None of us were technically trained. And look at us now!"
"How far of a walk is it from here?" Aragorn asked.
"We'll reach it before nightfall. We'll set up camp at the mouth of the cave," Iellassë said as the group fell back into silence. Iellassë's answer had been correct. They reached the cave as the sun was setting, which gave them enough time to eat dinner and find a good place to sleep. As the bedrolls were laid out, Gimli volunteered for first watch. The response he received surprised him.
"Watch?" Alayna asked. "No, we don't need a watch." The Fellowship couldn't hide their surprise.
"No watch? How do you know nothing's going to get you?" Sam seemed to be the most surprised.
"I have an alarm spell," Fish explained. "Anything that's not us or our stuff entering this area will trigger a reaction. I just recommend sleeping with a weapon ready." And with that, everyone settled down for the night.
Even with all of the "precautions", Aragorn couldn't sleep. The other twelve had been out like lights; but he was hearing things. When the moon was almost halfway through the sky, his suspicions were confirmed. He heard voices. Aragorn nudged Legolas; the latter promptly sat up and looked at Aragorn questioningly.
"Something's out there," Aragorn whispered as he motioned to some brush rustling in the distance
And that's when the goblins attacked.
A major thank you to Falling Thunderbolt for being my editor/beta reader for this story!