Of Vandre, Redemption, and Lingering Consternation
In the year following the battle of Chainbraidd Bridge, much of Vandre's time and labor are spent fixing the bridge and dredging the river. He makes one of the old quarters on the bridge his new home, close to the focus of his work.
A single one of Beren's large beasts was found to have barely survived the assault - one of the smaller and younger ones. Thanks to no small amount of help from Eschelon it recovered and grew strong. Nicknaming him Li'l Foznuc, Vandre domesticated the beast and it becomes a sort of beloved mascot of the bridge. Vandre is frequently seen playing with the animal, occasionally riding it, and it aids his effort to pull any resources of value out of the river. To an extent, Li'l Foznuc keeps him grounded and connected to nature in a way that Vandre hasn't felt since he left his woodsman days and settled down in civilization. In times of quiet contemplation, he admits that his choice of setting up residence on the bridge was in many ways born of a desire to live far outside of town. He feels a strong desire to give up his past wandering ways and settle down. And yet Vandre wonders if would ever truly feel comfortable living in a lively and bustling town.
In any event, Vandre is determined to make the bridge his new home. Taking the 10 or so mercenaries who survived the battle, Vandre set himself up as the leader of a guard force of the bridge. Some of the townsfolk are a little leery of yet another set of troops taking control of the bridge. But even they begrudgingly acknowledge that if no one from the town does so, then there's nothing to stop the Easterlings - or someone worse - taking up residence in the bridge again. Vandre's mercenaries are some of the few highly-trained warriors available for the task. The Smiling Hawks are brought up as an option. But they do have a reputation for defection that doesn't sit well with some. And given the desire of many of their ranks to just settle down, the Smiling Hawks rejected as bridge guards.
Vandre finds he has many avenues of support in the town: his reputation as one of the party who saved the town, respected town leader and good friend Hagen Brandywood, his business partner and beloved bartender Bravitt Bitterchin, and the few surviving blacksmiths who Vandre had earlier befriended and patronized. Vandre soon finds himself and his mercenaries as guardians of the bridge. Speaking of Bitterchin... the Dwarf owes Vandre 6 gold and Vandre makes sure he doesn't forget it. The money is paid back over the course of the first half of the year and is funneled into the guard force in to pay for their service. Later in the year, a bridge tax is implemented - much smaller than the crippling fees enforced by the Easterlings, but enough to support a bridge guard.
The town of Summershaw lost many of its most able-bodied men in the battle of Chainbraidd Bridge. Perhaps no industry was hit harder than the once-vibrant Smiths' Quarter. With strong arms and more experience handling weapons and armor than most other town commoners, they formed much of the front lines of the bridge defense. Many of the men Vandre had begun to call friend had fallen. Rebuilding the town would require far more than the remaining smiths could handle. Vandre had an idea where they could find more.
Vandre was born in the city Dale and it was in that city where he spent much of his youth. It was the city where his parents ran their trading company. And although he was loath to remember those days of commerce, it was also a city where he had many family contacts. But most relevantly, the city of Dale was home to perhaps the finest blacksmiths in Middle Earth. Enticing some of them to come to Summershaw was straightforward. The wars to the east were in the past and smithing in Dale, while once was a business with plentiful work now saw much competition. Vandre wrote of the promise of comfort and potential riches: Rebuilding a town, a populace that needs to be better armed. A few Dwarven master smiths came as well, attracted by hints Vandre dropped that he was looking to commission a truly legendary piece of work. It didn't hurt, of course, that word had spread of Bitterchin's Brewery offing them a taste of home not found many places outside the mountains.
And work the smiths did. From the best among them Vandre hired one Dwarf in particular to craft a uniquely styled set of armor for his guardsmen. The Dwarf was invited to join the guards in the tower as both the bridge's official weaponsmith and its engineer. Most of the basement level of one tower was converted to the Dwarfs own personal workshop. Skillful as the Dwarf was, in Vandre's mind it was his ambition and desire to be known as a true master of his craft that set him apart from the others. Vandre commissioned the Dwarf to forge a truly masterwork suit of armor for Vandre's personal use. Should this suit of armor prove worthy, Vandre would afford the Dwarf an opportunity to craft a Masterpiece that would be recognized throughout the land.
Now guarding a bridge, in truth, is a mostly uneventful job. Vandre had much time on his hands. But time, as it turned out, was not Vandre's ally. As the year wound on, Vandre could feel himself falling further under the sway of The Scale. Vandre was no fool. And despite what some may have thought, he was neither blind to its grasp nor naive enough to believe that he was immune to its influence. He was convinced, however, that any other man would likely succumb far more quickly than he. He also knew the effects of The Scale on those around him. Its magic caused others to covet whatever its bearer possessed. The bearer of The Scale would become the target of the greed and desires of others.
Elasha would stop by from time to time. Vandre had order a supply of barkbeer from Meagre Mike and kept a keg of in the bridge stores for such occasions. He never told her of The Scale, but being an Elf, she could sense that something weighed on his soul. She frequently suggested that he should leave the bridge and return to wandering the land. She may have guessed that being tied down to one place, instead of wandering free, was what was changing him and for the worse. One time, she even offered to give him a vacation. Go into the Wood, she said. Almost all of her soldiers survived the bridge assault while many of those from Summershaw died. Her people and those east of the river owed much to Summershaw for its sacrifices. Let the Elves watch the bridge for a while Vandre communed with nature - they'd do it for free.
For Free. Vandre knew nothing is truly done for free. She was trying to take the bridge away from him. Take something for herself that belonged to him. So very unlike her. It was The Scale. He asked her: Why did she want the bridge? She talked so much about him, but what were her goals? He tried to seem merely as concerned for her as she was for him, but the conversation somehow morphed to an interrogation. She came by less frequently after that. Vandre knew it was for the better. The more she was around, the more The Scale would affect her.
Having become involved with the collection of bridge taxes and funding the Bridge Guard, his relationship with Hagen Brandywood has only grown - both personally and professionally. The two have had many a late-night drinking session and Vandre attended his niece's wedding. Vandre's Bridge Engineer has designed an apparatus that allows them to safely harvest the Blue Kingsfoil Moss under the bridge, and Vandre supplies the moss to Hagen's nephew Chandler.
And so Vandre spent the year. Rebuilding the bridge. Raising Li'l Foznuc. Leading the bridge guard. And in his spare time, talking and drinking with the members of the village who have become his friends – Hagen Brandywood, the smiths, and other regulars over at Bitterchin's. He enjoys having a home and only leaves the vicinity of Summershaw when pressing business matters require him elsewhere, usually meaning heading up to Smaug's Lair. Of course, the annual delivery of beans to Anghor during the Feast of Lanterns is one of the more important and profitable of such business matters. And so Vandre finds himself heading up through the mountains almost a full year after the Battle of Chainbraidd bridge....
Return to Anghor Thom
Through the empathy and care he has shown to the people of Summershaw, and the establishment of the Bridge guard during his fellowship phase, Vandre's has developed thusly: +1 Wisdom.
Because of his growing suspicion of the free peoples, and spending too much time around enchanted things, Vandre now has +1 Darkness Points.
