"-If we go by that definition, there is only one 'true' dragon left, Smaug. The rest in the north are all cold-drakes and 'lesser' worms, I doubt that they would take kindly to being called such." explained Gandalf. Berwyn walked next to him holding a small cask of strong wine and a large ham.
The two tall men strode down Bagshot Row, followed by quite a few glances and whispers from the resident hobbits. It had been around three weeks since Berwyn first met Gandalf and during that time a few notable events occurred.
First, Berwyn and Gandalf chanced upon Thorin Oakenshield on the road being accosted by two assassins. With their intervention, Thorin escaped unscathed and a bounty written in black speech was discovered on the attackers.
Second, Thorin and Gandalf had a discussion at the Prancing Pony (Berwyn was not included), afterwards both Gandalf and Thorin left for about two weeks.
Third, Berwyn ended up collecting the bounty that was on the heads of the two would-be assassins, covering a much needed ressupply and some new gear, as well as his room and board at the Prancing Pony.
Today, Gandalf finally reappeared and invited Berwyn to join him at a friend's house for tea, which is how they ended up in the Shire. Berwyn guessed which 'friend' Gandalf was alluding to and thought it wise to bring some food and drink.
"Has anyone ever killed a dragon?" Berwyn asked, partially out of genuine curiosity and partly hoping for advice.
"Only three times. There was Glaurung, slain by Turin, though he met a rather unfortunate end soon after. Ancalagon, the mightiest dragon who-" Gandalf stopped and gestured to a circular emerald green door set inside a hill. "This is the place."
Berwyn could hear many rowdy voices inside the smial as he approached the door, and right when Gandalf knocked, a new notification from the system appeared.
[Plot event detected, check in?]
Berwyn accepted the prompt and new words appeared.
[Checked in at An Unexpected Party. Rewards: 2 stat points]
[Quest of Erebor progress: 1%]
Before Berwyn could decide what to do with this new reward, the door opened and a very flustered looking hobbit with curly brown hair appeared.
"Gandalf!" Spluttered Bilbo, slightly red in the face.
"Bilbo!" Replied Gandalf, with much less indignation. "Let me introduce you to my young friend Berwyn."
"At your service!" Berwyn couldn't help but say with a slight bow and a slight smile. He presented the cask of wine and ham to the very worried hobbit as he followed Gandalf inside. Two dwarves appeared to receive the gifts, one with a bomber's hat and twin braids and the other with silver hair and many intricate braids.
"Oh, that'll do nicely! We've almost finished the ale!" Said the one wearing the bomber hat, taking the cask.
"Bofur, Berwyn." introduced Gandalf. Bofur winked at Berwyn before vanishing into the dining room.
The grey haired dwarf took the ham and nodded to Gandalf. "I've put on some chamomile tea, would you like a cup Mr. Gandalf?"
"No thank you Dori, a glass of red wine will do. This is Berwyn, the hunter."
"And what would you like?" Dori asked Berwyn.
"I think I'll take the tea." Replied Berwyn, setting his spear near the doorway. A table had been moved out of the kitchen and into the main hall and many small burly men were covering every inch of it with plates and glasses.
Bilbo was spinning in circles as dwarves entered in and out of the pantry, while Gandalf was attempting to introduce Berwyn to all the dwarves.
"Ori and Nori are Dori's brothers, here we have Bifur and Bombur! There's Dwalin and Balin, another set of brothers. Oin and Gloin, brothers again. Kili and Fili, brothers and the nephews of Thorin." Gandalf paused to take a breath and then grabbed one of the passing dwarves.
"I don't see Thorin, where is he?."
The dwarf he grabbed happened to be Dwalin. "He will come. He's up north in a meeting with our kin."
Dwalin examined Berwyn with a scowl. "This is the hunter? Doesn't look like much, arms as thin as sticks. Almost thought he was an elf when he walked in."
"Now, Berwyn here is quite the hunter. Impeccable aim and quite the survivalist." Gandalf defended Berwyn (who was rather amused instead of offended).
Before Dwalin could say anything else, Dori appeared with a tiny glass of wine and a small mug of tea.
"Thank you Dori. Berwyn, how about you find a seat?" Gandalf asked, stepping between Berwyn and Dwalin.
Berwyn found himself next to Balin and across from Fili and Kili.
"You'll be the hunter then?" Asked the old white-haired dwarf as he produced a contract. The terms of contract were a little different from the one Berwyn was familiar with, but it made sense since his job description was closer to a typical escort mission.
As a hunter he was to escort the dwarves to the lonely mountain in exchange for 50 gold pieces up front, and if the liberation of the mountain is successful he will be free to 'take as much gold as he can carry'. Obviously due to the system, Berwyn was not as much interested in the gold as the journey itself but it was a nice bonus.
Fili, the blond dwarf glanced up and was taken aback by Berwyn's appearance. "How old are you?"
Fili was originally going to ask: "Are you a man or a woman?"
Thankfully, though dwarves were famous for being blunt they had at least a bit of common sense.
While dwarrow and men may be similar in many places, the aesthetic gap between races made certain things difficult, such as differentiating age. Fili in his limited relations with humans had gone by simple rules. No beard and small means child, no beard and large means female, beard and large means male.
Berwyn glanced up from the contract with a raised eyebrow and there was a thump under the table as Balin kicked Fili.
"Ow!" Kili cried. "Who did that?"
"I'm twenty-four." Berwyn answered Fili's question and went back to reading the contact.
"Twenty-four…what's the math on that?" Fili asked Kili.
"That is…thirty-ish?" Replied Kili with a shrug.
"In our years it'd be closer to fifty." Balin corrected Kili.
"When do they grow beards?" Asked Fili.
"Are you part elf?" Asked Kili, receiving another kick from Balin.
"Most humans start growing hair around thirteen and no, I am not part elf." Replied Berwyn as he handed the contract back to Balin.
"Ah, late bloomer." Fili nodded knowingly while nudging Kili, who shoved him back with a glare.
"Well that seems to be in order. We set off tomorrow. Did Gandalf tell you much about the quest?"
"I know what I'm getting into." Berwyn replied, which was partially a lie. Gandalf told Berwyn very little, likely assuming he would catch on at Bilbo's house.
Balin asked Berwyn something else, but the noise of the dwarves drowned him out. Berwyn focused on his system panel instead.
[New title gained: Member of Thorin and Co.]
[Reward: Dwarvish hardiness.]
[Dwarvish hardiness: 5 constitution, fire resistance, poison resistance.]
After almost three weeks of no rewards from the system, two came in one day.
Berwyn randomly decided to throw his two free stat points into his dexterity, changing his character panel to the following:
[Berwyn, age 24]
[Race: Human (Numenorean)]
[STR:11; CON:15; DEX:12; SPR:9]
[Skills: accuracy (I)]
[Special items: none]
[Traits: longevity, fire resistance, poison resistance]
[Title: Member of Thorin and Co.]
Berwyn was drawn back to the present when a pickled egg bounced off the side of his head.
After much singing, drinking, burping, and dancing, a solemn knock at the door announced the arrival of the final guest. Berwyn quickly stood up and managed to maneuver past the dwarves and into the hallway in preparation to catch a fainting hobbit.
"Your handkerchief Mister Baggins." Berwyn handed Bilbo the linen as the company of sixteen rode out of Hobbiton.
"Thank you-" Bilbo sneezed right at that moment, making good use of the cloth.
"H-how did you know that I'd be missing my handkerchief?" Asked Bilbo in a slightly nasally voice.
"Gandalf's got them all in his bags, along with your pipe."
"He-what?" Bilbo looked over at Gandalf who rode opposite to Berwyn.
"You knew I would come?"
"I never doubted you for a second." Replied Gandald with a twinkle in his eye.
Bilbo was both confused and happy. Turning to Berwyn again he asked, "Sorry, I never caught your surname last night?"
"Don't have one, you can just call me Berwyn."
"Don't have one? Is that how things are done where you're from?" asked Bilbo.
"Yep."
"Then how do you-I mean, what if two people have the same name?" Bilbo was bewildered at the concept of not having surnames.
"Never been enough people to run out of names I guess."
Bilbo didn't quite catch on that Berwyn was joking so he quickly explained to the confused hobbit, "I'm pulling your chain. If there is need, I could be called Berwyn Bergenson, after my father."
"I see. So how did you get mixed up in all of this…dragon business?"
"Same as you, I was invited to a dinner party and given a contract."
"I was hardly invited." Grumbled Bilbo. "More like having a dinner party thrust upon me."
"Well." Gandalf chimed in with a small smile. "Your pantry is nice and empty, ready for a long trip away."
"Long-?"
Berwyn watched Bilbo's face sink as he came to the realization he had never actually asked how long this quest would take.
The first night at camp, Berwyn offered to keep watch with Kili and Fili.
Berwyn sat with his back to the fire to maintain his night vision, listening for sounds in the darkness. At some point a shadow crept about the ponies and Berwyn focused on it. Crouching low, the hunter crept up behind the figure where discovered it to be a hobbit sneaking an apple to a pony.
"Can't sleep?" Berwyn asked, and Bilbo jumped slightly, letting the apple fall.
"Oh! Er-yes I was just-"
"Worried?" Berwyn asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." Bilbo admitted, "A little bit…very much so."
"I might be in over my head, I'm not suited to go adventuring and burgling and all that." Perhaps because Berwyn had a gentler appearance than the dwarves, Bilbo found himself letting out a few bottled feelings.
"I haven't known Gandalf for very long, but he seems to be of sound judgment to me." Berwyn said. "He must see something in you."
Bilbo still didn't seem too convinced, so Berwyn tried to give him a boost of confidence.
"I've got a good feeling about you too."
"You do?" Bilbo was shocked, he looked into Berwyn's eyes and found no trace of deceit.
Berwyn had a strong respect for Bilbo, someone who could give up the Arkenstone to stop a war, have mercy on a wretched creature, and carry the ring for sixty years and still give it up willingly.
"Thank you. I'm very flattered."
Distantly, Berwyn heard the howling of orcs. Bilbo straightened up and unconsciously drew closer to Berwyn.
"Are those wolves?" From a young age, Bilbo was quite frightened of wolves. He had never seen them but one of his older relatives used to scare young Bilbo by telling stories of the Fell Winter when wolves crossed the Brandywine river and attacked the shire.
"Orcs." Grunted Thorin, who had woken at the noise.
"You have any experience hunting those?" Thorin said to Berwyn.
"We've had attacks before, but I've never killed one." Berwyn admitted.
"Hm."
Berwyn couldn't tell if that was a noise of acknowledgement or displeasure
"Orcs from the misty mountains ride wargs. Wolf beasts that are twice the size of ordinary wolves and aren't intimidated like normal beasts." Warned Thorin.
"I'll keep that in mind." Berwyn replied. Bilbo didn't say anything, looking far from sleepy.
"Get some rest. I'll look after you." Berwyn reassured him. On that grim note the rest of the night passed peacefully.
Nearly a month into the journey, Berwyn learned quite a few things about travelling with dwarves.
For one thing, despite being often depicted as slovenly or brutish, dwarves could be more fastidious than hobbits when it came to certain things.
Beards and hair care was one of those things, often oiling and combing their beards whenever they rested. Thankfully they did not unbraid their various decorations everyday, but on the days they did, departure could be delayed for up to four hours.
For dwarrow, hair was one of the core tenets of their beauty standards. According to Bofur, Berwyn was quite hideous by dwarrow standards, too slim, no facial or body hair, and not nearly enough nose.
In contrast, Dori, Nori, and Ori were considered the best looking of the group, followed closely by Oin and Gloin. Thorin, who was quite attractive by human standards, had seen his popularity plummet after he shaved his beard in solidarity after the war between dwarves and orcs.
Kili, was unfortunately considered practically deformed to the dwarves and apparently (though he loathed to admit it) old Balin had been quite the heartthrob in his younger days.
The most surprising was Gandalf, who apparently was quite popular among the dwarves, having received offers of marriage in the past.
Another thing Berwyn discovered was that dwarves (a phenomenon perhaps isolated to this specific group) were terrible at rationing. This was endlessly frustrating to Dwalin, a former soldier, who along with Balin had prepared the supplies for this trip.
The main issue was that more than half of the company were 'civilians', more than once Bombur had been given a boot to the backside for preparing sumptuous but wasteful meals. Interestingly, this helped Berwyn quickly prove his worth and raise his status within the company, a steady supply of rabbits, pheasants, and quails helped staunch the hemorrhaging supplies.
This didn't mean Dwalin became friendly to Berwyn, but his jabs went from disparaging to almost playful. As playful as a muscle-bound, hammer-wielding dwarf with a tattooed head could be.
The month wasn't just spending time learning about dwarves and making the unsettling discovery that Gandalf slept with his eyes open. Berwyn also spent time practising with his spear and sword. The original Berwyn had learned a little from his father, but most of his skills were directed towards hunting.
Sparring with the dwarves helped Berwyn have more combat oriented experience, and his immense strength helped raise his impression in the eyes of the dwarves.
He also kept an eye out for any plot-related events.
Bilbo was the first person to discover that Berwyn could be quite tense of rainy days. Berwyn could only shrug this off as being uncomfortable due to the weather, in truth it was because rain heralded two major events in the plot, the trolls and the goblins.
The books and films weren't very exact about dates and timelines so Berwyn could only be extra leery of days following storms. While all of the company got out of these situations mostly unscathed, Berwyn was worried about the butterfly effect.
It all came to head when after one gentle but persistent downpour, the company arrived at a ruined farm.