Coron came striding down the mountainside towards the home of Libbo
the hobbit, his battle spikes were extended and his eyes were red
(literally red, the entire eye, a glowing red signifying anger and or
fear). He burst through the door and bellowed,
"Libbo!! Where are you??? Go get Mulna!!! We must convene a Council of the
Mountain!!!!!" with these words he nearly made Libbo (already excitable by
Mountain hobbit standards) faint. For the council, made up of the wisest on
the Mountain and the Council of Elemental Wizards, who lead the Order, was
only convened in the most dire of straits. Libbo came rushing out
"What??? What happened?" he asked frantically.
"Hurry, just get Mulna, the Wizards probably already know!!"
"What?????"
"Just get Mulna, time is of the essence, boy!!!!"
"Okay" said Libbo, frightened and angered "but you better tell us what this
is about, and it better be worth it!!!" At that moment there was a knock at
the door and Libbo, who was already rushing down the stairs bellowed back
"Get that, it's probably the wizards!" The record-breaking Coron (he's off
the cliffs and a Bor) walked to the door, opened it and greeted the five
imposing figures of the Wizards Council. Now the Wizards require a little
bit of explanation. They each have a certain elemental (pertaining to
nature and the elements) powers. The Council is headed by the wisest of
them all and the council members are the bravest, the strongest (physical),
the most intelligent, and the most powerful (magically). Each of them were
at least eight-feet tall and they dress in multicolored robes denoting
their powers. In the lead of this group was the chief of the council
Gandalf of Shadows, the wisest of the Order of Elemental wizards, and
dressed in robes of pure shadow; behind him were Skynar of the Skies, the
bravest, in robes of white cloud; Ocia of the Sea, most intelligent, and in
robes of oceanic blue and green, who was also Skynar's wife; Fiera of
Flames, who was the most powerful, in robes of flickering, fiery, red and
orange; and last was her husband, Erthan of the Earth, the strongest, in
robes with all the colors of nature.
"Where is the scum?????" roared Erthan "Where is the foul corruption of
nature that stole the Dark from those who swore to guard it?????"
"We don't know" said Coron, ever calm in the face of beings who could kill
him without exertion.
"You don't know?!!!!!" roared Erthan, as a pillar of rock and a tree wound
together burst out of the ground and into his hand, he raised it "I'll."
"STOP!!!!!" roared the terrible voice of Gandalf, "It is not the fault of the Bors" he continued, a little quieter, "We all knew that eventually a Wraith might escape." "We did?" asked Coron incredulously "I thought that Prison thing you wizards made was impossible to escape from?" "We'll explain later, but now let's get everyone together." while Coron attempted to conceal his shock the wizards entered Libbo's Hobbit-hole. As they walked in Libbo and the old Mole, Mulna came up the stairs from the Mole tunnels. Mulna immediately walked up to Gandalf and asked; "So, my friend, what has happened, has the Mountain's secret been discovered, the Dark been stolen, or a Xan escaped?" "All of the above." sighed Gandalf wearily. Libbo promptly fainted, while Mulna's eyes merely widened (one of the few human expressions she could emulate). "Ocia," said Gandalf "Could you please rouse him? You know more of the healing arts than I do." While Ocia knelt beside Libbo, Erthan opened his mouth and started to complain about Libbo, who was highly irritating. "I hate excitable Hobbits, and he's even worse than that guy Belba or whatever from the old hobbit world before his adventure."[1] Then, startling Erthan, an old Hobbit walked in and glared at him. "Show proper respect for the ancients. Especially Bilbo. Next time I hear you speak ill of my ancestors or descendants, I'll give you a thrashing you'll never forget. Now, control yourself." commanded the imposing Hobbit member of the Council. Cutting off any enraged protestations from the second most hot-headed council member, Ocia smiled at the Hobbit and said; "Don't worry Dabon, there's nothing wrong with your son except for too much wine and excitement" " And don't forget an over-inflated ego!" laughed Fiera and Erthan in unison (Erthan had decided to stop acting like a bratty kid), reminding everyone again of how alike they were. Dabon laughed with them and Coron opened his mouth. "Now that we're all here I believe we should head to the council chamber. It's a long journey." Mulna laughed "Nope, no long journeys for this Council. I think it's time to try out one of my new inventions. Follow me." She walked outside, changed to her tunneling form and dove into the earth. A second later a huge, armor plated, black, clawed, treaded, machine came rumbling out. "Hop on board the new Automatic All Purpose Mine Cart (AAPMC)." She said. They all climbed in and then the AAPMC accelerated up the Mountain. After a short ride (during which Mulna convinced Coron to buy 20 AAPMC's) they arrived at the cliffs at the top. "This thing's pretty cool," said Mulna " but it does tear up rock a bit, so no defiling holy ground. From here on, we climb" everyone scrambled out and she dove the craft back underground. When she returned she formed claws and other aids to climbing and started up, after her came Coron, the wizards used their powers to levitate themselves, and Dabon stubbornly struggled upward using Hobbit made climbing tools. Finally when the wizards helped Dabon they arrived at a wide ledge and there in front of them stood; the entrance to the Council chamber. They stood before massive doors that would have dwarfed anything in our world (to put them in perspective you could have sailed 50 Nimitz class aircraft carriers through with room to spare and had the equivalent of 50 stories of clearance left above) however, standing in front of it were 2 massive stone soldiers with naked stone blades. The Council advanced to a carved stone at the feet of the soldiers. The Hobbit, Bor, and Mole produced crystals from somewhere and slotted them into spaces in the carving the Emerald of the Hobbits, the Earthstone of the Moles, and the Crystal of the Guardians, the Bor's stone. When all 3 were inserted the carving began to glow. Then the wizards summoned their staffs, pure shadow appeared in Gandalf's hand, a pillar of fire erupted in Fiera's, the aforementioned stone and tree combo burst from the ground to Erthan, and a tornado of wind and water set down between Skynar and Ocia. They each took their staffs and shot bursts of Elemental power into the pentagonal carving around which the crystals of the 3 races were arrayed. Then, an awe-inspiring, glowing light spread from the carving and illuminated the whole mountain as a glowing beacon in the now dim seeming world. When they could see again through their light dazzled eyes, there before them stood the 2 warriors, about the size of the wizards now. They bowed and stepped aside: "Enter the Chamber of the Council of the Mountain with the blessing of the Amr Guard!" they said in unison. 8/10 of the Council of the Mountain strode through the cavernous doorway.
They entered the Council Chamber and stared down the cliff. For the billionth time Gandalf wondered: Why did they call it the Council Chamber? All it is, is a minor indentation into the cliff wall with stairs down to the lake and island at the bottom of the crater. They stared down at the home of the Amr, thought to be extinct by all but the inhabitants of the Mountain and the wizards, who have guarded them for centuries. Now the Amr require a little description here because they were supposedly extinct even then. They are the strongest race imaginable, they have the magical ability to do anything and they are the only race never to perform an evil act. They look vaguely like elves, but don't have pointy ears, and their voices are highly melodic (even in normal speech) and beautiful. Now back to my tale. They stood there wonderingly and then the Hobbit and Mole got a rude shock. They glanced up at Coron, but he was changed. He was no longer a rude, ugly, fearsome Bor, he was now an Amr. "Oh, didn't I mention?" he said "The Bors were one of the Paths of the Amr. When the Mountain was formed, we became Bors and went to the cliffs to guard our people. I thought that you already knew that." And he became a Bor again. "I'm more comfortable in this body." "Greetings, Guardians and Mages. Welcome to the Mountain. I am the Qos of the Cisoq" they nodded to him, and he purpled with rage "Show me the respect I deserve!!! I am the true leader of the Amr!!! Ruler of all but the Warriors!" "Shut. Up." everyone said, pretty much simultaneously "I, am the Captain of the Warriors." said the second Amr, "My name is Xankill, good to see you again Gandalf." He continued, as he gave him a hug. "By the way, don't go by the house, Dad still says you should have become a Warrior, and I know you don't want to listen to him talk about how Magery is so stupid, I think that blow to the head permanently damaged his brain." Gandalf laughed "You can say that again, but I didn't come for a visit. You do already know why I came, right?" "Yes," said the Cisoq "The problem is that you and these 2 pathetic, miserable, mortal, weaklings let the Dark be stolen!!!" Instantly the 3 race's representatives flew at him. Mulna chained his arms together, Coron put a claw to his throat, and Dabon, ever direct, kicked him in a highly sensitive area (yes even on a Amr). Needless to say this shut him up (temporarily at least) and allowed Xankill and Gandalf to talk. They, after descending to the island, explained how in ancient times a renegade Mage went to the Order, learned some magic, and then left and corrupted the teachings of the order to form evil monstrosities called Wraiths. They also explained that this mage did this because he was not an Amr. He was a young Elf, who was orphaned by a shipwreck, corrupted by one of the demons that then roamed this world, and adopted by a family of Amr who didn't know what had happened to him until too late. That family was Erthan's. Fortunately though, while the demon could control him, he could fight back. And when he left and the Amr erected the Mountain, he was able to make the demon forget about it. Until now. Now a Wraith has escaped from where we had imprisoned them, stolen the Dark and is probably now, at this very moment taking it to free his master. "So, what're we going to do about it?" asked Coron "I mean how strong is a Wraith?" "Well, a Xan is nearly invincible, but after using all that energy escaping, this one is probably much weakened, unless of course it discovered how to feed off the Dark, in which case it's incredibly strong." stated Xankill "And," said Ocia "You seem to be forgetting that while a single evil being can move the Dark without harm, it takes at least 5 good people to move or even touch it without being corrupted. And even then there's still a danger." "Yes ," said Gandalf thoughtfully "Ocia, am I right is saying that 5 wizards, a Bor, a Hobbit, a Mole, and two Warriors could move the Dark with the utmost ease?" "I volunteer!" exclaimed Xankill "We defeated them once and we can do it again! I'll get one of my men too." Fiera and Erthan grinned "Let's kick some evil butt!!!!!!" Gandalf frowned "Act like wizards, not kids." "We're in" said Skynar speaking for both himself and Ocia. "Hurry up!!" called Coron from halfway up the Mountain "That Wraith isn't gonna wait for us!" "Excuse me," said Mulna calmly "I need to pick up some supplies" and she plunged underground "Wait for me, you old rat!" Dabon bellowed jokingly, as he plunged into the hole she left. Skynar blew himself and Ocia out and Erthan made a pillar of rock burst out of the ground to carry himself and Fiera to the top of the Mountain. Gandalf simply melted into the shadows and Xankill grew wings, leaving the still writhing in agony Cisoq on the ground. "Oh, and Gandalf?" said Ocia as they set off "The answer to your question is yes"
They closed rapidly on the Wraith in the AAPMC, and shortly before the wizards knew that it would be able to hear them they stopped and got ready to sneak up on it. "All right," said Gandalf, "I'll get ahead of it, and Dabon'll come up behind it, Mulna, you dig a tunnel for you and the others. Okay?" After he received all of their affirmatives he faded to shadow and Dabon crept off after him. They approached close enough to see it and got the shock of their lives, it had obviously been feeding on the Dark, for now it was a large, hulking, armored monstrosity, instead of the small, pitiful, monkey like thing it had been when it had stolen the Dark. Gandalf closed his eyes and communicated with the other wizards. As he stood there he knew that they were surrounding the Wraith underground. He informed Dabon of his plan and went ahead of it.
"ATTACK!" he bellowed. Around the Wraith there erupted a frightening, fearsome group there was a Bor in combat mode; a huge, armored Mole warrior, armed with non-lethal (against non-Wraiths) yet painful weapons; a monstrous firestorm; a humanoid form made of lava; a tornado; and a waterspout. These fearsome apparitions advanced and the Wraith tried to flee forward, but there stood a wall of shadow so impenetrable and horrifying it scared even this creature of the dark. Then it tried to flee behind, but there stood a glowering warrior with a bow of light. So the Wraith stood in the center and roared it's challenge to the night, and all that heard shivered, save for the 8 mighty warriors. Then the Wraith glanced around itself, and seemed to reconsider. It laughed, a laugh even more terrible than its battle cry. Then it leapt into the air, and smashed back into the ground. Then, in the sky, now illuminated by blazing swords of fire clenched in their hands, flapped two huge, winged, Warriors. They laughed. "Hello, Queen of the Xan" said the older looking of the two, are you ready to go the way of your husband?" the other Warrior laughed with him "After you there will only be one of you scum left. And eventually we'll end up destroying it too! All the Xan, killed by two Amr." They laughed together as the monstrous beast let forth a cry of pure animal hatred, and summoned a blade of darkness that seemed to swallow the light and swung at the older warrior. He laughed once again and blocked the blow as if it were the twitch of a fly. It tried again, and again, but every blow was blocked by Xankill or his father (for that's who the older warrior was). Then, the Xan stopped and dissolved its blade. It reached inside itself and pulled out. a black book. It hurled the book at Xankill, who almost laughed, but then realized what it was. "Down!!!!" he bellowed to his father as he dove to the ground "It's using the Dark as a weapon!" He exclaimed to the others. It came hurtling at them again. Xankill dove out of the way. "Everyone on the count of three grab it and run back to the AAPMC. Then get out of here. 1.2...3!" they all grabbed the book at once and fled. They got to the AAPMC and raced away. Then they realized that Xankill was no longer with them. They glanced back. There stood Xankill, as large as the Xan now in armor of pure light. "GO!" he roared. He summoned a sword of light so bright it blinded all. Seconds later they heard a horrifying, spine-tingling, world cracking, cry of pain and rage. The light died, the AAPMC stopped, and they sat motionless. ----------------------- [1] Any references to J.R.R. Tolkein's Middle-Earth are merely to provide backstory on the Hobbits, the only characters not of my own creation.
"STOP!!!!!" roared the terrible voice of Gandalf, "It is not the fault of the Bors" he continued, a little quieter, "We all knew that eventually a Wraith might escape." "We did?" asked Coron incredulously "I thought that Prison thing you wizards made was impossible to escape from?" "We'll explain later, but now let's get everyone together." while Coron attempted to conceal his shock the wizards entered Libbo's Hobbit-hole. As they walked in Libbo and the old Mole, Mulna came up the stairs from the Mole tunnels. Mulna immediately walked up to Gandalf and asked; "So, my friend, what has happened, has the Mountain's secret been discovered, the Dark been stolen, or a Xan escaped?" "All of the above." sighed Gandalf wearily. Libbo promptly fainted, while Mulna's eyes merely widened (one of the few human expressions she could emulate). "Ocia," said Gandalf "Could you please rouse him? You know more of the healing arts than I do." While Ocia knelt beside Libbo, Erthan opened his mouth and started to complain about Libbo, who was highly irritating. "I hate excitable Hobbits, and he's even worse than that guy Belba or whatever from the old hobbit world before his adventure."[1] Then, startling Erthan, an old Hobbit walked in and glared at him. "Show proper respect for the ancients. Especially Bilbo. Next time I hear you speak ill of my ancestors or descendants, I'll give you a thrashing you'll never forget. Now, control yourself." commanded the imposing Hobbit member of the Council. Cutting off any enraged protestations from the second most hot-headed council member, Ocia smiled at the Hobbit and said; "Don't worry Dabon, there's nothing wrong with your son except for too much wine and excitement" " And don't forget an over-inflated ego!" laughed Fiera and Erthan in unison (Erthan had decided to stop acting like a bratty kid), reminding everyone again of how alike they were. Dabon laughed with them and Coron opened his mouth. "Now that we're all here I believe we should head to the council chamber. It's a long journey." Mulna laughed "Nope, no long journeys for this Council. I think it's time to try out one of my new inventions. Follow me." She walked outside, changed to her tunneling form and dove into the earth. A second later a huge, armor plated, black, clawed, treaded, machine came rumbling out. "Hop on board the new Automatic All Purpose Mine Cart (AAPMC)." She said. They all climbed in and then the AAPMC accelerated up the Mountain. After a short ride (during which Mulna convinced Coron to buy 20 AAPMC's) they arrived at the cliffs at the top. "This thing's pretty cool," said Mulna " but it does tear up rock a bit, so no defiling holy ground. From here on, we climb" everyone scrambled out and she dove the craft back underground. When she returned she formed claws and other aids to climbing and started up, after her came Coron, the wizards used their powers to levitate themselves, and Dabon stubbornly struggled upward using Hobbit made climbing tools. Finally when the wizards helped Dabon they arrived at a wide ledge and there in front of them stood; the entrance to the Council chamber. They stood before massive doors that would have dwarfed anything in our world (to put them in perspective you could have sailed 50 Nimitz class aircraft carriers through with room to spare and had the equivalent of 50 stories of clearance left above) however, standing in front of it were 2 massive stone soldiers with naked stone blades. The Council advanced to a carved stone at the feet of the soldiers. The Hobbit, Bor, and Mole produced crystals from somewhere and slotted them into spaces in the carving the Emerald of the Hobbits, the Earthstone of the Moles, and the Crystal of the Guardians, the Bor's stone. When all 3 were inserted the carving began to glow. Then the wizards summoned their staffs, pure shadow appeared in Gandalf's hand, a pillar of fire erupted in Fiera's, the aforementioned stone and tree combo burst from the ground to Erthan, and a tornado of wind and water set down between Skynar and Ocia. They each took their staffs and shot bursts of Elemental power into the pentagonal carving around which the crystals of the 3 races were arrayed. Then, an awe-inspiring, glowing light spread from the carving and illuminated the whole mountain as a glowing beacon in the now dim seeming world. When they could see again through their light dazzled eyes, there before them stood the 2 warriors, about the size of the wizards now. They bowed and stepped aside: "Enter the Chamber of the Council of the Mountain with the blessing of the Amr Guard!" they said in unison. 8/10 of the Council of the Mountain strode through the cavernous doorway.
They entered the Council Chamber and stared down the cliff. For the billionth time Gandalf wondered: Why did they call it the Council Chamber? All it is, is a minor indentation into the cliff wall with stairs down to the lake and island at the bottom of the crater. They stared down at the home of the Amr, thought to be extinct by all but the inhabitants of the Mountain and the wizards, who have guarded them for centuries. Now the Amr require a little description here because they were supposedly extinct even then. They are the strongest race imaginable, they have the magical ability to do anything and they are the only race never to perform an evil act. They look vaguely like elves, but don't have pointy ears, and their voices are highly melodic (even in normal speech) and beautiful. Now back to my tale. They stood there wonderingly and then the Hobbit and Mole got a rude shock. They glanced up at Coron, but he was changed. He was no longer a rude, ugly, fearsome Bor, he was now an Amr. "Oh, didn't I mention?" he said "The Bors were one of the Paths of the Amr. When the Mountain was formed, we became Bors and went to the cliffs to guard our people. I thought that you already knew that." And he became a Bor again. "I'm more comfortable in this body." "Greetings, Guardians and Mages. Welcome to the Mountain. I am the Qos of the Cisoq" they nodded to him, and he purpled with rage "Show me the respect I deserve!!! I am the true leader of the Amr!!! Ruler of all but the Warriors!" "Shut. Up." everyone said, pretty much simultaneously "I, am the Captain of the Warriors." said the second Amr, "My name is Xankill, good to see you again Gandalf." He continued, as he gave him a hug. "By the way, don't go by the house, Dad still says you should have become a Warrior, and I know you don't want to listen to him talk about how Magery is so stupid, I think that blow to the head permanently damaged his brain." Gandalf laughed "You can say that again, but I didn't come for a visit. You do already know why I came, right?" "Yes," said the Cisoq "The problem is that you and these 2 pathetic, miserable, mortal, weaklings let the Dark be stolen!!!" Instantly the 3 race's representatives flew at him. Mulna chained his arms together, Coron put a claw to his throat, and Dabon, ever direct, kicked him in a highly sensitive area (yes even on a Amr). Needless to say this shut him up (temporarily at least) and allowed Xankill and Gandalf to talk. They, after descending to the island, explained how in ancient times a renegade Mage went to the Order, learned some magic, and then left and corrupted the teachings of the order to form evil monstrosities called Wraiths. They also explained that this mage did this because he was not an Amr. He was a young Elf, who was orphaned by a shipwreck, corrupted by one of the demons that then roamed this world, and adopted by a family of Amr who didn't know what had happened to him until too late. That family was Erthan's. Fortunately though, while the demon could control him, he could fight back. And when he left and the Amr erected the Mountain, he was able to make the demon forget about it. Until now. Now a Wraith has escaped from where we had imprisoned them, stolen the Dark and is probably now, at this very moment taking it to free his master. "So, what're we going to do about it?" asked Coron "I mean how strong is a Wraith?" "Well, a Xan is nearly invincible, but after using all that energy escaping, this one is probably much weakened, unless of course it discovered how to feed off the Dark, in which case it's incredibly strong." stated Xankill "And," said Ocia "You seem to be forgetting that while a single evil being can move the Dark without harm, it takes at least 5 good people to move or even touch it without being corrupted. And even then there's still a danger." "Yes ," said Gandalf thoughtfully "Ocia, am I right is saying that 5 wizards, a Bor, a Hobbit, a Mole, and two Warriors could move the Dark with the utmost ease?" "I volunteer!" exclaimed Xankill "We defeated them once and we can do it again! I'll get one of my men too." Fiera and Erthan grinned "Let's kick some evil butt!!!!!!" Gandalf frowned "Act like wizards, not kids." "We're in" said Skynar speaking for both himself and Ocia. "Hurry up!!" called Coron from halfway up the Mountain "That Wraith isn't gonna wait for us!" "Excuse me," said Mulna calmly "I need to pick up some supplies" and she plunged underground "Wait for me, you old rat!" Dabon bellowed jokingly, as he plunged into the hole she left. Skynar blew himself and Ocia out and Erthan made a pillar of rock burst out of the ground to carry himself and Fiera to the top of the Mountain. Gandalf simply melted into the shadows and Xankill grew wings, leaving the still writhing in agony Cisoq on the ground. "Oh, and Gandalf?" said Ocia as they set off "The answer to your question is yes"
They closed rapidly on the Wraith in the AAPMC, and shortly before the wizards knew that it would be able to hear them they stopped and got ready to sneak up on it. "All right," said Gandalf, "I'll get ahead of it, and Dabon'll come up behind it, Mulna, you dig a tunnel for you and the others. Okay?" After he received all of their affirmatives he faded to shadow and Dabon crept off after him. They approached close enough to see it and got the shock of their lives, it had obviously been feeding on the Dark, for now it was a large, hulking, armored monstrosity, instead of the small, pitiful, monkey like thing it had been when it had stolen the Dark. Gandalf closed his eyes and communicated with the other wizards. As he stood there he knew that they were surrounding the Wraith underground. He informed Dabon of his plan and went ahead of it.
"ATTACK!" he bellowed. Around the Wraith there erupted a frightening, fearsome group there was a Bor in combat mode; a huge, armored Mole warrior, armed with non-lethal (against non-Wraiths) yet painful weapons; a monstrous firestorm; a humanoid form made of lava; a tornado; and a waterspout. These fearsome apparitions advanced and the Wraith tried to flee forward, but there stood a wall of shadow so impenetrable and horrifying it scared even this creature of the dark. Then it tried to flee behind, but there stood a glowering warrior with a bow of light. So the Wraith stood in the center and roared it's challenge to the night, and all that heard shivered, save for the 8 mighty warriors. Then the Wraith glanced around itself, and seemed to reconsider. It laughed, a laugh even more terrible than its battle cry. Then it leapt into the air, and smashed back into the ground. Then, in the sky, now illuminated by blazing swords of fire clenched in their hands, flapped two huge, winged, Warriors. They laughed. "Hello, Queen of the Xan" said the older looking of the two, are you ready to go the way of your husband?" the other Warrior laughed with him "After you there will only be one of you scum left. And eventually we'll end up destroying it too! All the Xan, killed by two Amr." They laughed together as the monstrous beast let forth a cry of pure animal hatred, and summoned a blade of darkness that seemed to swallow the light and swung at the older warrior. He laughed once again and blocked the blow as if it were the twitch of a fly. It tried again, and again, but every blow was blocked by Xankill or his father (for that's who the older warrior was). Then, the Xan stopped and dissolved its blade. It reached inside itself and pulled out. a black book. It hurled the book at Xankill, who almost laughed, but then realized what it was. "Down!!!!" he bellowed to his father as he dove to the ground "It's using the Dark as a weapon!" He exclaimed to the others. It came hurtling at them again. Xankill dove out of the way. "Everyone on the count of three grab it and run back to the AAPMC. Then get out of here. 1.2...3!" they all grabbed the book at once and fled. They got to the AAPMC and raced away. Then they realized that Xankill was no longer with them. They glanced back. There stood Xankill, as large as the Xan now in armor of pure light. "GO!" he roared. He summoned a sword of light so bright it blinded all. Seconds later they heard a horrifying, spine-tingling, world cracking, cry of pain and rage. The light died, the AAPMC stopped, and they sat motionless. ----------------------- [1] Any references to J.R.R. Tolkein's Middle-Earth are merely to provide backstory on the Hobbits, the only characters not of my own creation.