HOBLING HOLES FOUND IN ABEVORN HILLBANKS

Guswink Foldorol's sketch of a hobbit hole

More than a century after halflings were thought to have left Aveborn the discovery of what might be hobling homes raises doubts over whether they ever really went.

The finding by Guswink Foldorol (30), a traveller, has not yet been independently verified, however he claims to have stumbled upon signs of Hobbit dwellings in a little walked hillside in the northern Wilder Hills, just south of the River Regus. He has provided the Herald with sketches of the habitations.

BRAVE AND HARDY SOULS

Most scholars believe hoblings, also known as halflings, furfoots or kinnder, to have fled during the Dark Lord's incursion, giving lie to the previously popular notion that the diminutive race are brave and hardy souls in the face of adversity. A few dissenting voices claim the hoblings were wiped out by the Foul One's minions in response to the countless stories that have great evil defeated by individuals no taller than four foot six.

What's for sure is that no one has admitted to any dealings with them in the intervening years. This discovery suggests some hoblings might actually have just gone (further) underground, rather than fleeing or dying.

OUTSIDERS

Royal City's University of Thaumaturgical Science has been approached to further investigate the claimed finding and verify whether these are indeed hobling holes and whether they are currently occupied. Although hoblings are not considered a hostile species, they are inclined to remain within their own communities. The only outsiders they freely welcome are wizards, a quirk that baffles the rest of us.

Godiva Shrieve