The harmony of Middle-Earth is already building upon discord; what is one more abyssal rift to deal with?

Not that anyone notices it, or that it stays open for long.  That's what Music does to discord - it builds it up as a leading tone to greater harmony.

When Gord falls or steps through, he's on a flat hilltop, with a wide ring of ancient stonework now crumbling and overgrown with grass.  But in the center, there's a new cairn of broken stones, blackened as with fire, and the grass around it also scorched.

If he looks around, there're a lot of other shorter hills round about, with a narrow ribbon of Road running across, skirting the hill he's on to one side.  Far off, there are mountains.

It's evening, or maybe morning - the sun is near the horizon, on the side opposite the mountains.

(And the rift has already closed behind him.)

Gord spends several turns turning around and rapidly scanning for danger, but nothing immediately attacks him.

That didn't feel like a teleport or plane shift, so maybe it really was one of those Abyssal tears, he's never seen one up close. And the 'ancient ring of stones' setup is obviously suspicious. But this place doesn't look like anything he's heard about the Abyss, either; in fact it looks suspiciously wholesome.

Maybe he is in the Abyss and it's all an illusion. But they say the Abyss touches on all worlds and planes, so maybe he just ended up - elsewhere? He certainly doesn't recognize anything he sees. And this is either much farther south than he was, or it's locally summer.

Are there any people he can see in the distance anywhere? Settlements or signs of habitation? A sign conveniently saying where the road goes? Recognizable writing on any of the local stonework?

If he looks closely at the stonework, there're things that could be writing - but worn too much over the years; they're probably not in any alphabet he knows, but he can't even be totally sure.

No one's moving on the Road.  He can't see any farmed fields, except maybe on the other side of the marshes to the sunward - it's too far to tell there.

But he can see some people in a hollow on one flank of the hill - what might be one man and three halflings, with a pony.

Have they seen him? Does he have a way to approach them stealthily without being seen? What are they doing, can he hear anything from over here? 

(These questions are instinctive; he doesn't need to decide to hide from and/or spy on a party of strangers in the wilds, it's simply always one of the options to take.)

It doesn't look like they've seen him yet, but they might soon - the man and two of the halflings (there were three of them?  No, now he can see four) are just starting to climb up.  He'll be really visible if he stays here pretty soon, or if he starts climbing down toward them, unless he wants to hide behind the stonework.

That means he has to reveal himself right away, if he wants to present himself as a peaceful stranger. 

Or he can hide behind a remote bit stonework and eavesdrop, in a place where he can hope to sneak away later, but if they're competent they'll sweep the hilltop and probably find him. And then he could still burn spells to get away without a fight, probably, but he'd be disadvantaged at diplomacy.

He needs to learn where he is, possibly on a scale of 'plane, planet and continent', and he's unlikely to overhear it by accident. Diplomacy it is, then.

He stands where they can clearly see him as they come up.

To non-magical senses, Gord looks like a tall, well-muscled Man. He is wearing chainmail leggings and sturdy boots but no shirt, gloves, or headgear. There are many bags, pouches and implements hanging from all around his belt, and he is holding a two-handed greatsword in one hand. (He holds it in an open and friendly manner, as coded between northern Avistani adventurers; it has no obvious sheath or baldric to be carried on.)

To magical senses, some of his equipment would stand out, but nothing terribly inappropriate for a reasonably leveled martial adventurer, and no spells one wouldn't want to approach when hung on a stranger.

Frodo is momentarily excited when someone stands up at the top of Weathertop - but a moment later, he sees he isn't Gandalf.  In fact, he's a Big Person, but he isn't dressed like any sort of Big Person than Frodo's ever seen before.

He's more cautious now after Bree, but - Bilbo did describe meeting strange people on the Road, even though he didn't mention anyone like this Big Person.  He still raises his hand in greeting and says in the Common Speech "Hello!"

(He and the other Halfling are wearing what were good clothes originally, though with a lot of stains that might've come from the nearby marsh.  No shoes.)

The Man, who looks like he's been adventuring for a while (in these clothes, too) nods in greeting.  If Gord doesn't respond to the Westron, he'll follow up after a moment with a "Greetings!" in Sindarin.

He's wearing muddy high leather boots, with a travel-stained green cloak that he has drawn close enough to hide any items carried under it.  

He casts *Comprehend Languages* in time to catch the Sindarin.

(It's normal to prepare Comprehend Languages when crossing the Wound alone, there's no knowing who you might meet. It's not worth it to prepare Share Language; that's what free slots are for, once you've established good intent.)

For now he'll repeat the man's greetings back to him (phonetically, and with a bad accent) and add his greetings in Taldane and Hallit. If they don't understand either of those, he'll mime that he can understand them but can't speak to them right now. Who knows, maybe one of them also has a Comprehend Languages, or something fancier. 

(This is a common thing to mime in places where foreign adventurers are common, and may be harder to get across to people unused to the idea of one-way language spells.)

...Why aren't the halflings wearing any shoes? Is this a weird slavery thing? They look well-fed and uninjured, but Gord mentally settles into a more wary ready stance.

Strider frowns momentarily with curiosity at the ?two? languages he doesn't recognize.  This stranger must have traveled very long distances to speak languages he hasn't even heard before.    

But - good, the stranger speaks Sindarin.  That means he's probably an educated man, or he's spent some time with the Elves, and not serving Sauron.  "What brings you here, in these troubled times?" he asks, still in Sindarin.

"And what is your name?" Frodo asks, also in Sindarin.

(He's about to add that he's "Frodo Underhill," but then thinks better of it.  That barely worked at Bree, and their enemies might have heard that name from Bree by now.)

Gesturing time! "Name", point to self, "Gord". Point at ears, nod, point at mouth, shrug. Mime praying (folded hands, closed eyes), sun moves a *little*, point at mouth, nod. Will they wait for him to prepare a spell to talk to them?

He both can't and doesn't want to explain "what brought him here", yet, but he takes note of the "troubled times". (It doesn't particularly occur to Gord that people might habitually say "in these troubled times" even in times and places that are not as troubled as living on the Worldwound border.)

Oh, he doesn't know Sindarin well, so he can understand a lot of what he hears but can't put the words together just yet.  Strider, remembering his own studies of Quenya and Adunaic and a bit of Taliska in his youth, knows that feeling well. 

"Strider," he says, pointing to himself.

Oh, they're doing introductions?  (He doesn't speak any Sindarin.)

"Merry.  I don't suppose you've seen Gandalf here?  We're hoping to find him."

"Not seen Gandalf." True, as he hasn't seen anyone. (His facility with spoken Westron, as with Sindarin, is pretty atrocious but he can repeat the words he hears in the right combination, if not necessarily the right order.)

If they want to tell him about themselves first, Gord's happy to oblige! "What brings you here?" he mimics, in Sindarin.

Oh, he's heard some Westron too?  That makes sense.

"We're heading east from the Shire," Frodo says, truthfully enough.  "We wanted to see if Gandalf had been here."

"We're going to Rivendell."  It's obvious enough, once you're headed east from Bree.  "I need to speak with Elrond - we all do.  And you?"

Apologetic shrug. He doesn't have the words to tell them the truth even if he wanted to, which he isn't sure he does yet, because "I've come from the Abyss" probably sounds bad.

He'll mime about praying again, and if no-one stops him, he's going to sit down in an out-of-the-way corner and meditate on his sword for fifteen minutes. Can he get across that they shouldn't interrupt him for a little while? They must have seen a cleric praying before, right?

... No they haven't, actually.

But one of them has seen an Elf lost in osanwe, which is enough of the same thing for him to shake his head and whisper to the hobbits not to bother him.

Merry, bored, starts picking up some of the fire-blackened stones and finds one with some scratches on it: 

|” |||

"Huh, I wonder what left these."

Strider is instantly over peering at it.  "That might be a G-rune with thin branches..." he says thoughtfully.  "Which could be a sign left by Gandalf - though one cannot be sure.  The scratches are fine, and they certainly look fresh.  But they could be different - Rangers use runes, and who knows what our new companion here might have done."