The Tarnished in LOTR with Elden Ring

Faced with the Brown wizard's enthusiastic invitation, Thorin still wanted to voice his refusal, but Tarnes managed to persuade him otherwise.

"Thorin, how much do you know about Mirkwood?" Tarnes asked.

Thorin thought for a moment and answered: "Not too much, and it's been a long time since I've been here."

Tarnes said: "Then we should get intelligence about Mirkwood from Radagast. I remember you said it was the Elves of Mirkwood who betrayed you Dwarves, right?"

Thorin nodded silently.

Tarnes took the opportunity to persuade: "So you don't want to wander blindly through Mirkwood and stumble into those Elves' territory, do you?"

This time Thorin nodded even faster.

So Tarnes shrugged: "Then let's properly ask Radagast and hopefully get a detailed map of Mirkwood to avoid those Elves you dislike."

Thorin and his Dwarf companions were thus persuaded by Tarnes to come to Beorn's home.

Though Beorn's attitude toward Dwarves wasn't friendly, he still maintained basic courtesy, such as providing abundant delicious meat, fruits, and honey milk.

Bilbo and the Dwarves all ate quite happily. If Beorn hadn't been sitting in the main seat with a stern face watching them, the Dwarves would have wanted to burst into song.

While they were eating, Tarnes found Radagast alone and asked him for intelligence about Mirkwood.

After hearing Tarnes' words, Radagast laughed like an old child, gently placed the little white mouse in his hand on the ground, then stood up and replied: "Of course, of course! Gandalf told me everything. He said you'd definitely ask for a detailed map, so before you arrived, I had my cute, hardworking little rabbits pull me around the entire Mirkwood for a long time, drawing everything that needed to be drawn."

He pulled out a relatively clean piece of paper from his brown robes stained with mud and... dried bird droppings. It had a very detailed map drawn in clear ink, with thoughtful annotations of Radagast's opinions about various locations next to the place names.

While Tarnes examined the map, Radagast explained enthusiastically with a smile: "You can just take the Old Forest Road straight through Mirkwood. No need to complicate things. You might encounter patrolling Wood-elves along the way, and with their help you'll exit Mirkwood faster."

Hearing Radagast's words, Tarnes immediately looked up from the map.

He first glanced at the Dwarves' table and, after confirming they were absorbed in the delicious food Beorn provided and no one was paying attention to their conversation, breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, without minding Radagast's dirty clothes, Tarnes directly pulled him away from the Dwarves' dining table and said quietly: "You absolutely mustn't mention Elves in front of the Dwarves, especially those Elves of Mirkwood. They have irreconcilable conflicts. If Thorin and the others encounter patrolling Elves, I don't know whether they'd attack the Elves as Orcs first or the Elves would capture the Dwarves first."

"Oh, oh." Radagast nodded cluelessly.

Then Tarnes picked up the map again and asked: "So is there a safe route that can avoid those Elves? Could you point it out?"

Radagast nodded without thinking, but his face showed difficulty as he looked at the map.

Tarnes noticed the change in his expression and asked: "There isn't one?"

Now it was Radagast's turn to pull Tarnes to a more secluded corner of the room. Using the sunlight streaming through the window, he held up the map and explained to Tarnes: "There are some, and they can all avoid Elves. But..."

His unwashed, still mud-stained finger pointed out at least three routes on the map for Tarnes.

However, Tarnes didn't show a satisfied expression, but looked thoughtfully at the "giant spider" symbols drawn beside all three routes.

He asked: "Do these symbols mean we might encounter these giant spiders on these three routes?"

Radagast explained: "Yes, when I last met you and Gandalf, I mentioned these evil creatures. Originally their activity range was only in the forest around Dol Guldur, but these past few months, their range has been expanding. Just two months ago, they even began boldly intruding into those Wood-elves' territory, attacking them."

Tarnes was somewhat surprised: "What was the result? Were there casualties among the Elves?"

Radagast shook his head: "No casualties, but all those giant spiders that intruded were killed clean. However, this attack also made the Wood-elves raise their guard. Elves who usually don't leave their territory have begun patrolling extensively throughout Mirkwood, or rather, hunting. They're hunting these giant spiders, so many roads that previously wouldn't have had Elves now have their presence too."

Then he wiped his hand on his clothes and pointed out several more routes: "These are roads that previously wouldn't have Elves, but now I can't guarantee they won't. Moreover, you said the Dwarves in the house have hatred toward Wood-elves. If both sides really meet, I think it might be more troublesome than you imagine."

Tarnes asked puzzledly: "What makes it more troublesome?"

Radagast scratched his hair, which hadn't been washed for who knows how long and was even stuck together, saying: "Those Wood-elves, compared to the Rivendell Elves you know, have more volatile tempers. What you said reminded me. I've heard some rumors about the conflict between the Lonely Mountain Dwarves and that Elven King. Since the Dwarves consider Elves their enemies, the reverse is also true. The Elves surely consider Dwarves their enemies too. I'm afraid when you enter Mirkwood, you might suddenly be shot with cold arrows by hidden Elves. You know Elven archery is very accurate..."

Tarnes' expression immediately became serious: "So those Elves might also be our enemies? Thank you for the warning, Radagast. When entering Mirkwood, I'll pay attention to this and absolutely won't let them harm my friends."

Feeling Tarnes suddenly becoming murderous, Radagast quickly said: "No, no, no! Though Dwarves and Elves don't get along, you don't have any blood feud with the Elves. Those Wood-elves may have explosive tempers, but they're not unreasonable."

Tarnes was silent for a moment, finally sighing heavily: "Ah... if only Gandalf were here. I think he'd definitely know those Wood-elves."

Radagast comforted: "Look on the bright side. Since Gandalf used magic to tell me to prepare for you, maybe he also used magic to notify that Elven King in the forest, asking his Elves to make way when they see you. It's not impossible."

Tarnes could only muster his spirits: "Then I can only hope so."

At this moment, very heavy footsteps came from behind them.

Tarnes and Radagast both turned around, only to see Beorn's large figure.

Tarnes looked up at this shapeshifter, who was two heads taller than himself.

At this moment, Beorn looked at him and Radagast expressionlessly, his thoughts unreadable.

Radagast blinked, using his eyes to ask Beorn what was wrong.

Only then did Beorn speak, looking only at Tarnes: "Your Dwarf friends and that Hobbit have eaten half my food stores, but they show no sign of stopping..."

"Oh, sorry." Tarnes glanced at the large table already piled with empty plates and food scraps, quickly apologizing.

The Dwarves had even taken advantage of Beorn leaving the dining table to jump onto the wide table that was one and a half times their height and began tap dancing.

It was Fili and Kili who started dancing first. Thorin, why aren't you managing them?

Tarnes looked carefully, only to discover Thorin holding a wine cup by an interior support pillar, watching Fili and Kili with slight intoxication and amusement.

Wait, why would Thorin be intoxicated? He never drinks to stay alert, and I remember he was drinking honey milk, wasn't he?

Beorn happened to add: "And my stored mead was also brought to the dining table by the Dwarves when I wasn't paying attention."

Well, now I understand why Thorin is somewhat drunk and why those Dwarves are dancing on the table again.

"Bofur, blow your pipe and bring your good brothers Bifur and Bombur for a tune!" Dwalin drained his cup of what had somehow been replaced with mead and laughed loudly.

Around the dining table, almost everyone was laughing. Even Bernahl, Igon, and Millicent were infected by the Dwarves' lively atmosphere, involuntarily showing smiles.

Only one person was an exception, or rather, one Hobbit.

Bilbo Baggins sat properly at the dining table, feeling like this scene of the Dwarves had happened in his Bag End before.

Especially seeing them so happy they were using roasted pork from their plates or sliced cheese as projectiles to attack each other, taking pleasure in catching each other's food with their mouths, the familiar memory completely returned.

Though the Dwarves caught all the food they threw at each other, causing no waste.

But Bilbo still couldn't smile, because he had really experienced Dwarves wreaking havoc on his food pantry.

When Beorn turned to see this scene, his face was dark as water.

"I think Thorin will pay the appropriate money for this. By the way, do you have enough spare rooms here?" Tarnes first showed a pained expression behind Beorn, then quickly came before him to ask.

Beorn raised an eyebrow and repeated: "Spare rooms?"

Tarnes nodded: "Yes, spare rooms. Look, these Dwarves are all somewhat intoxicated and definitely can't continue traveling today, so do you have places for them to rest?"

Beorn took a deep breath, as if enduring something, and said heavily: "Yes."

Tarnes quickly expressed his gratitude. After Thorin and the others had all collapsed drunk, Beorn picked them up one by one and threw them into his clean stable with hay-covered floors.

Of course, Tarnes, Bilbo, and Bernahl slept in the huge room where they'd eaten during the day, and Beorn brought them equally enormous bedding.

It seemed this shape-shifter was indeed only dissatisfied with the Dwarves' attitude, not being so cold toward Tarnes and the others.

Bilbo was a Hobbit and had been very polite during the meal, so Beorn didn't dislike him either.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that the Dwarves gradually woke from their hangovers.

Under Beorn's gloomy expression, Thorin generously paid for the food and drink they'd consumed the night before, even including lodging fees for staying in the stable.

Of course, Thorin only paid 13 silver coins for the lodging, reasoning that they'd only slept in a stable.

"You get what you pay for. Dwarves only care about this. We won't let those who host us suffer losses, but don't think of taking advantage of us either."

These were Thorin's exact words.

Beorn certainly didn't care how much Thorin paid for lodging. He only cared when the Dwarves would leave.

Radagast had left with his rabbits in the morning, and without the Brown wizard, Beorn was clearly about to lose control of his temper toward the Dwarves.

So Thorin quickly led the Dwarves away from Beorn's wooden house before the sun completely set.

Several days later, inside Mirkwood.

Tarnes' mouth twitched as he looked around at a group of Elves who had emerged from tree canopies or bushes, all with drawn bows aimed at him, ready to shoot at any moment.

Before Radagast left, he had asked him about these Wood-elves' schedules and, after figuring it out, formulated a method to traverse Mirkwood as safely as possible.

But Tarnes felt he shouldn't have let Thorin lead the way, because he'd just noticed that Thorin actually had directionally challenged attributes.

How did Thorin lead the team into Wood-elf territory?

Tarnes had gone to great lengths to avoid those giant spiders and roads where Elves were likely to appear, but during a brief rest, Thorin had volunteered to lead the next part of the journey, and he'd agreed.

Worried that Thorin didn't know the way, he'd thoughtfully copied Radagast's map for Thorin and personally showed him which direction to go.

As a result, Thorin had now led the team straight into the Elves' happy homeland.

Wait, it seemed that when he'd gone to Bilbo's house, he'd mentioned nearly finding the wrong door.

So when they'd originally plunged into the Old Forest, it wasn't just the Huorns' fault, but also Thorin's contribution?

Thinking this, Tarnes' expression under his faceplate became extraordinarily colorful.

Not just Tarnes. Even those emerging Wood-elves were very puzzled.

They communicated with each other in Elvish: "How did these short ones get through our kinsmen's defenses into our territory?"

"Don't know. Do they know a path even we don't know?"

"Stop arguing! What happened here?"

A young male Elf with light golden hair tied up walked out and asked sternly.

"Lord Legolas, we discovered a group of Dwarves who intruded, plus four humans and one Hobbit," the lead Elf captain said very politely to the appearing Elf.

Then he noticed Thorin and the other Dwarves glaring angrily at him, stopped, skillfully nocked an arrow, and threatened with an icy smile in language Thorin and the others could understand: "Don't think I won't kill you, Dwarf. I would be quite happy to."

Thorin said nothing, just raised his head and gripped his Icerind Hatchet tightly.

But a figure blocked Thorin's front. Tarnes stood before Legolas, staring at him, golden light of sacred seals glowing in his palm.

Because of Legolas' tone, Tarnes' tone was also quite unfriendly as he threatened back: "Don't think that just because we're surrounded by you, you can intimidate us. Elf, try making a move against these Dwarves!"

Though Thorin had led them the wrong way, he was still his friend. Tarnes couldn't allow Thorin to be threatened with weapons by others.

As Tarnes stepped in front of Thorin, Bernahl, Millicent, and Igon positioned themselves in other directions, ensuring no Elf could suddenly harm the Dwarves with surprise arrows.

Thorin's tense heart relaxed, and he even provocatively raised his chin to look at Legolas.