The Watchtower (Anyone can play!)

[GathersIngredients]

Okay... I guess then it would make most sense to enter the cave. If there's a dragon inside, offer him the child's sketch.
No worries, Dillon and Hendricks, it's the nice kind of dragon, he won't harm you. Courage, friends!

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And thanks a lot, Dave, now I understand a great deal more about this 'level'.

[WearsHats]

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Anyone else? Other actions, ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

Anyone else still interested in playing?

[Davecom3]

I'd have just suggested the same thing as Gathers.

[WearsHats]

Dillon looked regretful. "Sorry, kids. I don't see your friend anywhere from here, and we have to check out what's in that cave."

Paul looked upset and disappointed. "Why? What do you think is there?" Peter asked.

"We think there may be a dragon." Dillon braced himself at the thought.

The boys gasped. "A dragon?" Paul asked, wide-eyed.

"Maybe it got Mary!" Peter added, looking panicked.

"We think it might be a friendly dragon," Dillon ventured, still not sure of this himself. "But we'll check it out. Best you boys stay out here, just in case."

Dillon and Hendricks headed for the cave, leaving the boys behind. Dillon reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out one of his juggling torches to light the way. As they approached, it became clearer that the cloud at the cave entrance was not fog, but rather a puff of smoke.

The pair moved cautiously in. The cave widened considerably as it went (though the entrance was fairly wide already). Off to the side, Hendricks spotted a small cache of trinkets, toys, and odds and ends. There were drawings on the wall behind it. Protected from the elements, these were less faded, and it was clear that they were pictures of a child playing with a dragon. They were signed "Jackie."

In the back of the cave, they found the dragon. They almost missed it, despite its vast size. It seemed... faded, somehow. Its colors were drab, and it almost seemed like it might be slightly translucent. It was hard to tell by the dim torchlight, especially since it blended in so well with the cave walls.

Hendricks and Dillon had both frozen when the thief had spotted the dragon, but both breathed a sigh of relief as they realized it was deeply asleep. An occasional puff of smoke came from its nose as it snored. But somehow, even in sleep, it seemed sad.

[Davecom3]

You might want to let those boys come see the dragon. It might cheer the dragon up a bit, and maybe the dragon could help find Mary from the air.

Or if that doesn't work, at least it increases the chances it won't eat you.

[RidcullyJack]

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Anyone else? Other actions, ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

Anyone else still interested in playing?

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Definitely still interested, but being sporadically overwhelmed with my new job, might not always be around to contribute.

[GathersIngredients]

Carefully wake the dragon, ask it if it knows something about Mary, offer him the sketch.

And yeah, maybe the boys want to play with him, but first make sure it would be safe.

[WearsHats]

Dillon slowly, cautiously, nervously approached the dragon. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Hendricks, resigned, stayed well back.

Dillon put out a hand. It wasn't just the dragon's color which had faded. It seemed almost intangible. Except not quite. It was there, and yet not there. Solid, but lacking in reality, somehow.

"Uhm, Mister Dragon?" Dillon asked hesitantly.

Slowly, weary and bleary, the dragon opened an eye. It looked at Dillon with curiosity, but did not seem entirely interested in him. Hendricks relaxed by a tiny fraction. They looked at the dragon, wondering what to do.

"COOL!! There is a dragon here!!"

Hendricks whirled around to find the boys had followed them into the cave. "What are you doing??! That's a DRAGON!!"

The dragon perked up, raising its head.

"Yeah! I know!" Peter said, excited.

"Isn't it awesome??" Paul added.

The dragon was definitely interested now, and it seemed to be regaining its color and solidity. Dillon started to back away but it turned its head, fixing him with its gaze. He froze. It stretched its long neck in his direction and sniffed at his pocket. Hand shaking, he pulled out Jeff's egg. The dragon touched its nose to the egg. The egg started to shake, then cracked open. A small silvery dragon hatched out of it.

The newborn dragon took a tentative, shaky step out of the egg and flopped over. It tumbled off Dillon's arm and started to fall. Dillon, without thinking, used his juggler's reflexes to catch it. It looked at him, eyes sparkling. It cheeped at him. Somehow, he understood. "Your name is Lockheed!" he said in wonder.

Lockheed cheeped again, then flapped his wings. It took him a few tries, but he managed an unsteady, jerking flight before Dillon's amazed eyes before settling, tired but happy, on his shoulder. Dillon fished some trail rations out of his bag and offered a bit to Lockheed. The little dragon grabbed a mouthful, swallowed it whole, and cheeped happily. After a moment, with a little more thought and grace, it grabbed another piece in its foreclaws, and began to nibble on it.

The boys, meanwhile, had approached Puff, who was visibly recovering under their attentions. Dillon, with new understanding, stepped back and let them bond. Even Hendricks relaxed and warmed up to the idea, as the boys and their dragon began to play.

"We have got to show him to Mary!" Paul exclaimed.

Peter looked like he'd been slapped. "MARY! How could I forget?? We have to find her!"

"Maybe Puff can help!" Paul suggested.

Puff nodded, then crouched down.

The boys climbed on to his back. Dillon, after a moment, followed. Hendricks balked, but loyalty won out over fear. He, too, climbed onto the dragon's back.

Puff walked out of the cave. His skin, which had been a faded, dull grey was now a vibrant pastel green. It glittered in the sunlight. He stretched his wings, crouched back, and, with a mighty leap, took to the air.

But even from up high, they couldn't spot her. The foliage was just too thick.

"We need a way to call her," Peter said.

"If I had a bell..." Paul mused.

Dillon reached into his Bag of Tricks and pulled out the crier's bell he carried to announce shows in villages.

The boy rang the bell as they flew all over the land.

"Down there!" Hendricks called. His sharp eyes had spotted a girl coming out from between the trees below, looking up at the sound of the bell.

Puff landed and the humans slid off his back. The boys rushed forward and hugged their friend. "Mary! We couldn't find you!"

Mary wiped a tear from her eye. "I ran off because you were so mean, but then I got lost. There are no paths here. I couldn't see through the trees to get my bearings."

Peter hugged her again. "Oh, Mary, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be mean. It's just that all your riddles are the same..."

"Yeah," Paul said, "the answer is always 'blowing in the wind.' That doesn't even make sense!"

Mary stomped her foot. "That's not what it means!"

Puff interrupted, putting his huge snout in the middle of the kids. They'd been so excited by the reunion and the brewing argument that they'd nearly forgotten him. Explanations ensued. Mary was just as enchanted by the dragon as the boys.

The kids frolicked happily with the dragon. After a few minutes, though, they remembered the adults.

"Thank you!" Peter said enthusiastically. "We'd never have found her if not for you."

Paul reached into his pocket. "Here, take this. We found it a while back. I've been carrying it around for ages, but I think you should have it." He handed Dillon a small multicolored egg.

"Is there anything else we can do for you?" Mary asked.

"Well, if you know of a way out of here, we need to be moving on..."

"I don't suppose you'd be leaving on a jet plane..." Mary ventured.

"A what?" Dillon asked, bemused.

"Never mind."

Puff walked up, nosed Dillon gently, and crouched down. The invitation was clear. The humans climbed back aboard, and he took off. They flew into the sky marveling at the view of the lush tropical island, glittering ocean, and clear open sky.

He took them back to his cave. In a dark recess at the back of the cave, a portal now stood open. Dillon, Hendricks, Lockheed, the kids, and Puff said their goodbyes. Dillon and Hendricks stepped through the portal. Lockheed fluttered around Puff's head, cheeped at him, then dove through the portal.

Dillon and Hendricks found themselves facing a familiar scene. There was a mountain range before them. It was clear from what trees they could see that it was autumn. All around, leaves fell and fluttered in the air. In the distance, beyond the mountains, traces of smoke and fire indicated a volcano.

Even so, it was clear that this was a new place. They weren't on an island, the presumed volcano over the horizon was clearly active, the mountains were higher and more forbidding. Behind them lay the ruins of an ancient city.

Ahead of them, on the path towards a mountain pass, a strange thing floated in the wind. It was an oblong grey shape. An ovoid. It looked almost like a huge sausage, though obviously it was much lighter than that. Like an empty inflated sausage skin somehow hovering in the air. Or perhaps, given the fins on the back, like an overstuffed fish. Except that it had both horizontal and vertical tail fins. Whatever it was, it bobbed and drifted in the wind, but some kind of windmill-like structures on the back spun to move it where it wanted to go. It floated perpendicular to the path, so that the broad side faced the bemused travelers.

Much of the side was taken up with a large rectangle of tiny colored lights. Somehow, the lights changed colors to make different patterns and pictures. When Dillon and Hendricks started to walk down the path, the lights changed to show a blinking red hand, palm out, in the universal "HALT!" position. It then changed to a picture of a walking stick figure. A red circle with a slash through it blinked on and off over the stick figure.

The message was clear enough. The thing, whatever it was, did not want them to walk that way. They stopped. But if not that way, then what?

It was then that they saw the boy wandering towards them from the distant horizon. He seemed to be looking for someone. That felt very familiar.

The boy's dog got to them first. It was a small border collie. It barked a few times, though not maliciously or aggressively, then ran and bounced circles around them. Lockheed craned his neck to follow, cheeping back every time the dog yipped.

"Strider! Come back! Down! Quiet!" The boy's calls eventually got the dog's attention, and he trotted back to his master... who, seen closer, was not a boy but rather some kind of halfling. "Hi there!" he said. "Sorry about Strider. He gets excited when he sees someone new. Which has been a while. We've been wandering a long time together, and we haven't seen anyone else in ages. Well, okay, it's only been a few weeks. Since we've seen someone else, that is. It's years that we've been wandering together. Just about a decade, I think, come to that. And we've met a lot of people over that time. But never the one person I've been looking for. We've been looking everywhere. Through forests and hills and mountains and cities and towns. We've gone so far we've almost looped back to the beginning. I met her down that way, on the other side of those mountains. Ah, she was so beautiful. Her hair was..."

"Hi, I'm Dillon," the jester said, "and this here is Hendricks." He didn't generally like to interrupt people, but it was becoming clear that if he didn't the halfling would just continue to ramble on from one topic to another."

"Oh, yes. Hi. I'm Hambut Sandybanks."

"... Hambut?" Hendricks asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hambut sighed. "It's an old family name. Thank you for not adding an extra T."

Hendricks nodded.

"The girl I'm looking for is Lara Boggy-Hillocks. Like I said, I've been looking for her for a decade now. You haven't seen her by any chance?"

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I am wholly underprepared for this level. So if you have ideas of what to try, please provide as much background as you can.

And, in general, if you have ideas, give them a try. You'd never have gotten Lockheed if not for Jack's suggestion that maybe that was a dragon's egg.

Also: There are several theories about this song. I've researched a few. None of them make sense, as far as I can tell. As you may have noticed, I've decided to just ignore them all.

[GathersIngredients]

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That was beautiful. With Puff becoming happier and more real again and the boys having fun with him and finding Mary and they all getting along again after some fight...
And a cute little Dragon hatching from one of our eggs, too! I would have thought it might have wanted to stay with Puff, but a new companion is even better! I guess I have to read up about him a little, though, I didn't know the name at all.
I kind of pictured Puff to look like Fuchur, but him being light green is even prettier!

The new level got me somewhat stumped, though. A hobbit, a dog named STRIDER , a volcano in the background, a beautiful girl to find... And what's with the blimp in the sky? Is that supposed to be some modern version of Sauron?

Well, I guess we could ask Hambut where we are, and where he has seen Lara last (as in did she live on the other side of the mountains or was she just visiting there. If she LIVES there, it might be a good idea to try and search for her THERE instead of on this side of the mountains) .
Also, have some kind of rest and meal by the way side, that's always good with hobbits.
When you start walking again, you can maybe sing 'The road goes ever on an on' to keep your spirits up (and Hambut from talking incessantly )

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*provides lyrics and sheet music*

If you happen to come across a ring, either stay the heck away from it, or take it to the volcano and cast it into the fires inside.

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no background on this, as everyone who has seen/read LOTR knows that hobbits love to eat all day long, and that the one ring means trouble.

[WearsHats]

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That was beautiful. With Puff becoming happier and more real again and the boys having fun with him and finding Mary and they all getting along again after some fight...
And a cute little Dragon hatching from one of our eggs, too! I would have thought it might have wanted to stay with Puff, but a new companion is even better! I guess I have to read up about him a little, though, I didn't know the name at all.
I kind of pictured Puff to look like Fuchur, but him being light green is even prettier!

Thank you.

You don't have to read about Lockheed. All that's relevant is that Lockheed is the name of an airplane manufacturing company (remember, he hatched out of Jefferson Airplane's egg) and that, in the comic books, there's a small dragon who is the companion of one of the X-Men. He's named after the airplane.

Puff is green because of Pete's Dragon, who is not Puff but always reminded me of him.

The new level got me somewhat stumped, though. A hobbit, a dog named STRIDER , a volcano in the background, a beautiful girl to find... And what's with the blimp in the sky? Is that supposed to be some modern version of Sauron?

Well, as you know, the levels are based on songs. (Generally classic rock.) But you've recognized the setting, so that's good. Also, I don't want to spoil anything, but remember Jeff.

Thing is...

I had a bad experience with LOTR. We had to read a chapter or two in 3rd or 4th grade, and at that age I just wasn't ready for it. It was a long uphill slog for me. Though I've enjoyed many Fantasy works since then, including the Sword of Shannara (which is very much based off LOTR, I'm told), I never got around to giving the series a second chance. I'm planning to. (And I don't want to watch the films until I've read the books.) So I know very little, and I'm trying not to get too many spoilers. This should be interesting...

[RidcullyJack]

Awww, that was a lovely end to the level.

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I'm pleased that Lockheed came about because I speculated about the egg.

I guess that's an L.E.D. Zepplin up in the sky, but I'm not sure what to make of the pun.

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I'm not a Led Zeppelin fan, so can someone point me at the song we're "in"?

So, Dillon & Hendricks: It's probably not 'politically correct' to encourage smoking tobacco, but many respectable hobbits enjoy smoking their pipes, and would most probably be fascinated by lighting their pipe with the flame of a tiny dragon (if Lockheed could be encouraged to oblige). Dillon could offer to light Hambut's pipe with Lockheed's help.

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Sorry if that's an overly weird suggestion!

[Davecom3]

Stay the hell away from any rings here! You can't escape its hold on you without you at least giving it the finger.

[GathersIngredients]

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I'm not sure I even know the artist (I usually am somewhat good at remembering melodies and lyrics, but hardly ever titles and if I know the artist/band, then that's a special honor. Silly, how my brain is working that way. ) and I can't watch music videos right now to find out, but auntie google gave me a song list: here
And alone from the titles, I think that maybe
"Ten Years Gone" - the hobbit mentioned that he has been wandering for a decade or
"Over The Hills And Far Away" - hobbit usually live in burrows inside of hills, and Bilbo - and later Frodo - left those hills far behind him for their respective journeys - might fit the bill.

I read the lyrics and still have absolutely NO idea how these are supposed to help us, though, and what, if anything that has to do with the LOTR theme. *stumped is*

[WearsHats]

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Awww, that was a lovely end to the level.

Thank you.

I guess that's an L.E.D. Zepplin up in the sky,

It is! I was hoping someone would figure that out.

but I'm not sure what to make of the pun.

Aww. C'mon. You gotta give me that one.

I'm not a Led Zeppelin fan, so can someone point me at the song we're "in"?

Apparently none of you are. That's unexpected.

]Sorry if that's an overly weird suggestion!

Never too weird for me.

I probably shouldn't have said that...

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I'm not sure I even know the artist (I usually am somewhat good at remembering melodies and lyrics, but hardly ever titles and if I know the artist/band, then that's a special honor. Silly, how my brain is working that way. ) and I can't watch music videos right now to find out, but auntie google gave me a song list: here
And alone from the titles, I think that maybe
"Ten Years Gone" - the hobbit mentioned that he has been wandering for a decade or
"Over The Hills And Far Away" - hobbit usually live in burrows inside of hills, and Bilbo - and later Frodo - left those hills far behind him for their respective journeys - might fit the bill.

I read the lyrics and still have absolutely NO idea how these are supposed to help us, though, and what, if anything that has to do with the LOTR theme. *stumped is*

You'd have better luck searching for, say, "Led Zeppelin Lord of the Rings." That would, at least, narrow things down considerably, though several of their songs have direct LOTR references. (Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is not one of them, whatever a few confused people may say. Rather, that one is about Robert Plant's dog, a border collie named Strider. Plant was a big LOTR fan. So, yeah. You laughed about there being "a dog named Strider." There's no way you could have known, but Googling that exact phrase would have given you the name of the band.)

I should tell you, though, that you've already been given most (though admittedly not all) of the information in the lyrics.

Which is a bit of a problem, as this level is rather open-ended, you guys don't seem to have many ideas of what to do, and I'm too tired to do any proper writing or plotting.

[Davecom3]

Okay, so the song is "Ramble On". I guess they'd better do a bit of birdwatching.

[RidcullyJack]

Hendricks, Dillon, clues suggest that we might need to help Hambut find a bluebird. It's a long shot, but interesting things seem to hatch from the eggs you've been acquiring...

[Patdragon]

This level seems almost like a copy of the last level......

So I suggest asking the Hobbit if there is a train nearby.

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the band Train did did a cover of the song

[WearsHats]

"No," Dillon replied, "we haven't seen her. Where does she live? Where did you see her last?"

"I don't know where she lives. I saw her last over those mountains, in Mordor. We met, fell in love (or at least I did), and shared a few meals. Well, more than a few meals. That takes up time, but it's a great way to..."

Hendricks cleared his throat pointedly.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. Well, she was kidnapped from me not long after we met by some strange twisted creature that lives there. I searched all over, but, like I said, I haven't been able to find her."

Dillon nodded. At the mention of meals (with a reminder from the nice goblins), he pulled out some rations and the party sat down to eat. The three non-humanoids got to partake in some scraps, but with Hambut's appetite, there was surprisingly little to spare. Fortunately, the doormouse only took a few nibbles before falling back asleep.

After eating, Dillon offered to have Lockheed light Hambut's pipe. Hambut, at first wide-eyed, accepted. Dillon hadn't even been sure that Lockheed could breathe fire, but the little dragon readily obliged with a small tongue of flame. He also sniffed around Hambut's clothing and cheeped. Hambut, agog, didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed charmed and fascinated.

"Have you seen any rings around?" Dillon asked, as the halfling puffed away.

"Rings? No, can't say that I have. The likes of me wouldn't have much to do with a Ringbearer."

"That's good, then. Some friends of ours told us to avoid rings around here, if possible."

"Sage advice," Hambut agreed. He seemed less inclined to ramble now that his mouth was occupied with the pipe.

"How about birds?"

"Birds?" he asked, bemused. "I suppose I've come across more than a few in my travels..."

All three looked around, but the trees were almost bare. The birds had clearly migrated away. Up in the sky, all they could see was the strange oblong shape. It hung there, although perhaps drifting closer to them. The lights on its side were now silently forming letters. "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls..." It didn't seem to mean anything, nor did it seem to be directed at anyone in particular. Perhaps just a way to keep itself occupied?

"Our friends also told us to look out for bluebirds."

"Bluebirds? Why, that was my nickname for Lara. She had a lovely cloak. A rich, dark blue it was, edged with white, like the wings of a bluebird..." He closed his eyes, lost in the memory. Lockheed continued to nose around his gear, cheeping from time to time.

Dillon let him have a moment to reminisce before asking the next question. "What about a train?"

"Train? I've trained Strider..." The dog perked his head up at the sound of his name, but seemed to realize he wasn't being addressed.

"I don't think that's what they meant. But I'm not sure, either. Maybe part of her dress?"

"No, she wasn't wearing a dress. Not very practical clothing for tromping around Mordor."

"I don't know, then." Dillon shook his head. "Sometimes, I just don't understand what they're talking about."

"Well, it's nice of them to try to help. Reminds me of some friends I met many years ago -- Hey!" He broke off abruptly as Lockheed snatched something out of his coat pocket. "Give that back!" he demanded, frantically. "That handkerchief is all I have of Lara's!"

[RidcullyJack]

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Yay for Lockheed. While everyone in a party should be useful in some way, it's useful to have a flying Zippo. I've been having a bad couple of days, so this was a nice update to come and read.

Could you ask what Strider has been trained to do? It's too much to hope that he can track scents, but we do have something of Lara's.

[GathersIngredients]

Ask about the creature(s) that kidnapped Lara. Anything might help us find her.

Also, if Strider can't follow Lara's scent, maybe Lockheed can? He did find her stuff in the first place.

[Davecom3]

Given we're dealing with Led Zeppelin songs, perhaps we better be sure that Bluebird isn't buying a stairway to heaven.

[WearsHats]

"Say," Dillon asked, "could Strider track Lara's scent?"

"Huh. You know, maybe he could. I met him long after I lost her, so I never tried. But I don't know how he'd do that from here. I haven't found a trace of her since that creature grabbed her."

"What can you tell us about the creature?"

"Not much. It was skinny and twisted, a little smaller than me. It ran off with her before I got a good look."

"And... our friends want to know if maybe she's buying a stairway to Heaven."

"... I have no idea what that means."

"Me either."

"How would you even do that? And how would we know if she was? And where would she get the money? Who would she pay? Wouldn't that be really dangerous?"

The questions kept coming, but Dillon, as bemused as the halfling, didn't interrupt.

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Gathers, the song has been identified as Ramble On. You know more about the creature than Hambut does at this point.

Dave, Stairway to Heaven was already referenced a couple of levels ago.

[Zigit]

Are there any stairs down? Or any subterranean features where someone could hide? I any case, moving on would probably be your best bet, possibly singing as you go...

[GathersIngredients]

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Thanks for the lyrics. And granted, I know probably more about Gollum than he does, but prior to knowing the lyrics, I had no means to tell whether or not my suspicion that it MIGHT be Gollum was correct, than ask him a little more about the creature to confirm or dispel my theory.

Well, then let's have Strider and Lockheed get a good whiff from Lara's handkerchief and have them follow anything they might pick up.

It IS quite possible that you won't be able to see that creature, or Lara, as the case may be, because (depending on when in the time line we are) they might have a ring that - among other features - can turn the wearer invisible. But it only works for one person, so you might be able to find at least one of them, if they are still in the same place.
In any case: STAY AWAY from the ring, if it's there. It belongs to someone very dangerous and they want it back. Sorry for repeating myself, but it's that important.

[WearsHats]

"Oh, hey. There's a new goblin."

Hambut looked around, panicked. "Goblin? Where? Where??"

Dillon looked up, chagrined. "Sorry, Hambut. This magic mirror I've been using lets me get advice and suggestions from another world. I've been getting help from this group of goblins."

"Goblins?" Hambut looked skeptical.

"Yeah. I was surprised, too. But they've been very helpful. And there seems to be at least one human in the mix. But they can be awfully strange sometimes. Speaking of which, the new one seems to have a spring instead of legs. I'm not sure how that works..."

Hambut pondered this, then seemed to regret having done so.

"She wants to know if there are stairs down. I guess if you had a spring instead of legs, you'd be pretty conscious of things like stairs. But no, I don't see any stairs around here. Hambut, do you know of any way to get underground?"

"Not around here. But there are caves in the mountains of Mordor. And there are dwarf mines, but those are pretty far away."

"Yeah, she says we should probably move on. But I'm not sure to where... Well, for now I can move on to the other goblin. She wants us to see if our pets here can sniff out Lara's trail." He got the handkerchief from Lockheed, then gave both the dragon and the dog a good whiff of it. Both sniffed around, but there was apparently no sign that Lara had been through the spot where they were.

"I'm not surprised, really," Hambut said, although he still seemed disappointed. "I haven't found a trace of her outside Mordor."