After meeting with the king, the fellowship spent some time in Minas Tirith before deciding to move on. They rested and enjoyed the down time before having to journey to Cirith Ungol.

Hallamir spent his days reading while Jesoc visited a few astrologers hoping to get an indication of what his future held. Arbun spent his time enjoying the food and drink while Kifak mainly just enjoyed the drink.

Kifak visited a saddlery and had them craft a beautiful leather eye patch designed with slits to also allow perfect vision.

The fellowship also asked the about whether their horses could be retrieved from where they left them. It was agreed that they would be recovered for a cost of 200 gold pieces.

After three days the king summoned them again. The king informed them of a worrying story of a monastery that hadn’t been heard from in weeks. The king shared that the royal seer also frequented the monastery before his betrayal, so the king asked if they would investigate what had happened to the monastery.

The king shared that the Monastery of Ebon Dome was only a few hours away at the base of Emyn Arnen – a mountain to the south-east of Minas Tirith.

The king then shared a secret he kept most dear, three sacred artifacts had also gone missing after the royal seer’s betrayal. The king shared the following items had gone missing:

• Anduril – Flame of the West, Aragorn’s sword forged from the shards of Narsil
• Angrist – The knife that pried a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth.
• The ring of Barahir – While the Ring of Barahir was not known to contain any magic or power, it is notable as one of the oldest crafted objects in Middle-earth, older than even the Palantirs.

The king offered an additional 5,000 gold pieces to undertake the quest and an additional 5,000 gold pieces for each artifact they returned. The fellowship graciously accepted and returned to rest for one more night before heading out the next morning.

Jesoc, always the cautious one, used his divine sense on the king to ensure he wasn’t a Hollowed One. Jesoc was satisfied and shared his findings with the group.

The fellowship left early the next morning and discovered the monastery after a couple of hours. As they walked up to the monastery they could see it was in a state of disrepair. The party cautiously approached and found some empty stables with three dead horses. On closer examination, they could see the horses were killed with a sword, the that the corpses had recently been bitten by rats.

The fellowship continued on and as they crossed a causeway above the courtyard, they could see movement below. Jesoc smartly used Mage Hand to lift a bush and a whole pack of rats scurried away.

The party continued to explore and came upon and another room that was full of garbage and rubble. Jesoc did find a set of double doors to the west that was in good condition and went to fling the doors open.

Jesoc was treated to an odd sight. There was a huge rat skull on the altar, with a Rat King and Rat Prince to either side. There was a company of rats kneeling and praying to the skull. Furious that they were interrupted, the Rat King ordered them to attack!

The Rat King and Rat Prince were worthy adversaries with the Rat King dealing vicious damage on Jesoc with his tail whip. Kifak stepped forward and confidently proclaimed:

“Somebody here call for an exterminator?!”

With that Kifak cast Spirit Guardians and to everyone’s surprise all the mini-Dwarf guardians were all sporting bedazzled eye-patches like Kifak!

The party quickly dealt with the rats through a combination of webs and fire.

The rat disciples were dealt with easily with the Rat King and Rat Prince putting up a good fight. The fellowship noticed that during the battle all the rats started chanting:

“Sneel, Sneel, Sneel”

Unfortunately, those were the last words the rats uttered and the party never did find out the purpose of the chant.

The party continued on and found a door with a hand for a door handle. The door did not speak, but kept on gesturing the shake someone’s hand. A variety of actions were attempted:

• hand shaking
• twisting
• pulling
• offering coins

Nothing had any effect until Jesoc cut his hand and offered a handshake. After this was done, the door slowly opened.

The fellowship then came to a room that appeared to be a dining room and saw two hooded figures seated. The figures bade them to come forward and greeted them:

• “Welcome to Ebon Dome as brothers”
• “We smell that you have been to Grimhollow Delve”
• “Do you know of the ritual that the traitors of Grimhollow Delve use?”
• “The ritual pauses bloodlust or pauses it until blood is tasted again”
• “Did Borin Ironvein tell you what happens if the uncursed take the ritual?
• “Once the curse is passed on, you are cursed. It is just awaiting an invitation.”
• “They have betrayed our mistresses gift!”

The fellowship soon determined that these were human vampires that also escaped from the same fortress as the Dwarves of Grimhollow Delve. But unlike the Dwarves, they have not returned the gift.

The vampire wardens shared that Lord Frath could be found in the eastern most room if they wished to parley with him. The fellowship took their leave and made their way to see Lord Frath.

The fellowship were greeted by Lord Frath and asked him about what happened to the monastery. Lord Frath explained that they did not cause the state of the monastery but merely found it like this and intend to make it their home.

The fellowship then asked about the three items that the king mentioned. Lord Frath mentioned that he had discovered the sword and would be willing to trade for it. Lord Frath mentioned not he did not know where the other two items were.

After some haggling over Cinnamon buns, a deal was eventually stuck with the party offering a Barrow Wight Crown and a Black Ring taken from Agarwaen.

Lord Frath agreed and was most delighted with the Black Ring. In front of their eyes, he put on the ring and transformed into an Orc and back again!

The fellowship was shaken, but graciously accepted Anduril. Lord Frath also provided them with an extensive map of Cirith Ungol that he found with the sword.

The fellowship took their leave and returned to Minas Tirith. They returned to see the king and give Anduril to its rightful owner. The king was pleased and gave them each 5,000 gold pieces.

Before they left they asked about whether there were any experts on vampires in Minas Tirith. The king said that the town of Edhellond was the only location he know of that had that expertise. The fellowship took their leave and planned to leave for Cirith Ungol in the morning.

Before they retired, they tried a variety of things to see if they were undead or cursed. Both attempts were unsuccessful. If the vampires were telling the truth, the curse was waiting for something.

They all slept poorly.