Tea is not optional!
Last weekend was a busy lazy one in The Shire. Saturday, we spent the evening being lazy along the Brandywine river bank, since Pycella had invited the Lazy Hobbits Club to help clean up the river. On Sunday, we had another mathom tale tea in Songburrow.
The mathom tale teas are somewhat regular events, happening a little less than annually. They are also proper grand fun, not least for us Grand Order hobbits, since we love mathoms dearly. Apart from eating lots of grand food, we invite other hobbits to show us their favourite old trinkets and objects. They can tell a bit about the object and its history, and we try to unlock their mysteries and appraise their value. And sometimes, we offer to keep the mathoms at Songburrow Hall for study and safekeeping.
What is particularly fun with these teas is the creativity on display among the mathom tale tellers. They often show an in-game object, but then tell us a bit about how they found it and why it is important for them. The tales vary, from the mundane to the fantastic, from everyday objects to possible legendary items from ancient hobbit history. And it is ridiculous good fun chatting about these objects after the tales. In some cases, this leads to new small roleplaying adventures, either for the mathom owner or for larger groups.
Last week we had five tales, by Pennyroyal, Rhubarbra, Wybert, Hermanniadoc and Saelo. To give yer an example of one of the tales, here is the one told by Saelo, about a piece of shoulder armour.
And worry not: We'll have more mathom tale teas in the future!
The tale of Blossom Leafstring's shoulder piece
Description of the item: "Engraved with intricate cuts on the edges and a hibiscus in the middle. By the size of it, it was made for a man child or a hobbit."
There is very little known about the owner of this piece. Although, everything we have - the registry of shirriffs in the Town Hall and the book “Detailed history of the Battle of Greenfields, and songs of heroism to those who defended the land” written by Gubbo Brownfinger, indicates it belonged to a hobbit shirriff called Blossom Leafstring, who lived in the times of Bandobras Took. She was the captain of the west wing during the first assault of goblins during the Battle of Greenfields, where the attack was fiercest and they hit hardest. This happened before the Bullroarer had charged into the battle. According to some records, more than two hundred hobbits had perished, but thanks to their bravery, not a single goblin could pass the lines.
Sadly, miss Blossom also was among the fallen. While retrieving her body, it was noticed that the shoulder part she would always wear was missing. On page 197 of Gubbo Brownfinger's book, the item is describes as follows:
“It was, perhaps, not as protective as most shoulder armours you are used to see. But it was more delicate, had engravings that you would not see on others, and had a big blossom of hibiscus in the middle.”
This description leaves no doubt about the owner of this shoulder piece. It is theorized that goblins had taken it with them when they retreated from the battle. They had little time to loot, but grabbing the most delicate thing on the way would not take long. According to the Rangers outside of our bounds, the goblins retreating towards their mountains were ambushed and nearly all were killed, apart from a few who managed to find a hole to crawl into. All their loot were taken by the Rangers.
This would also explain why the shoulder piece was in the possession of men before a hobbit found it and brought it back to our homeland. Yet, there is no clear record on that matter.