September 30th
Crickhollow and the Inn at Bree are raided in the early hours.
Frodo leaves Bree.
Gandalf comes to Crickhollow, and reaches Bree at night.
Last night/this morning Crickhollow and Bree were raided by Black Riders. We all know about the Bree raid, and the Prancing Pony, but for everyone who hasn’t read the books, the raid on Crickhollow will be new news. In fact, the entire Crickhollow storyline would be news. Before Frodo left Hobbiton, he sold Bag End to the Sackville-Baggins. The reason? He needed to sell the idea that he was going to return to Buckland, where his mother was from, and remain there. It was a shock to most any Hobbit who heard it, but Frodo was a little odd like his uncle, so it worked. In truth, we know that Frodo had this incredible journey to go on, this move allowed him to leave unnoticed by watchful eyes.
So it was, that Fredegar “Fatty” Bolger was residing in Crickhollow pretending, as best as he could, to be Frodo. Certainly, Fatty expected danger to be on Frodo’s road, but he hadn’t expected an attack on Crickhollow. Black Riders appeared out of the darkness and he had just gotten away in the nick of time. He alerted the town of intruders and many Hobbits sprang into action with torches and farm tools to use for defense. The Black Riders, knowing that Baggins no longer resided here, decided to ride off and join the others, their mission needed to remain a secret.
Black Riders also attacked Bree and the Prancing Pony. They also opened the stables freeing any horse or pony that resided their, all except one. The night before, a grim figure presenting himself as Strider helped the Hobbits hide from the Black Riders. Gandalf was just a few steps behind the Hobbits, he arranged for Strider, or Aragorn as we come to learn, to meet himself and the Hobbits at Bree. Aragorn, knowing that Gandalf’s absence was not a good sign, took the Hobbits under his protection. They left this morning to head to Rivendell, through the wild.
We must give a shout out to Bill the Pony, the only remaining steed in Bree, who joins the Hobbits on their journey and proves to be a stout companion.
Thank you for your time and remember, the old that is strong does not wither.
– The Wandering One
Of Blades and Kings 