“The Tale of Trollshaws Squirrel or the Smell of Roast Mutton” (Saturday 21st January 2023)

“The Tale of Trollshaws Squirrel or the Smell of Roast Mutton”

21st January 2023

8pm GMT (15.00 /servertime)

A RP-lite storytelling event for Squirrel Appreciation Day

“There were black squirrels in the wood. As Bilbo’s sharp inquisitive eyes got used to seeing things he could catch glimpses of them whisking off the path and scuttling behind tree-trunks.”

-- JRR Tolkien, “The Hobbit”, Chapter VIII: Flies and Spiders

From Black Squirrels of Mirkwood, to a ghost in Adelard Took’s library in the Great Smials, whilst in Eastfold there is a house full of them! Working for George the Rooster, you may find a Grey Squirrel in Nen Harn with huge plans for the future… whatever you think of them, squirrels are part of Middle-earth.

To celebrate this humble forest dweller, a short play, “The Tale of Trollshaws Squirrel or the Smell of Roast Mutton”, will be performed in the Falathlorn Homesteads. If there is time at the end, I may also perform one of the Winter Tales I wrote, “The Lady of the Cold”, which also stars a squirrel.

As usual with my events, this should be considered RP-Lite. RP is welcome, but please note there will be players who don’t usually RP attending and won’t be expected to RP at this event.

🌰 EVENT DETAILS

• LOTRO Server: Laurelin.
• Date: Saturday 21st January 2023.
• Time: 8pm GMT or 15.00 /servertime.
  
• Location: Meet and wait at 7 Haven Way, Nan-e-Faer, Falathlorn Homesteads.
  
• Heimdalli (an alt on my second account) will summon those needing travel to just outside the Falathlorn Homesteads. She will then take you to the event space.
  
• Enquiries: Ranatuor.

Background

This play, like a lot of my storytelling, is based on something from the real world, The 21st January is recognised as “Squirrel Appreciation Day” and so I decided to do a little something for our little nut-loving friend in the forest. Nearby where I live in real life is one of the last refuges of Red Squirrels in Northern England and I definitely consider our reds a national treasure!

Feel free to show off your pet squirrels if you have them!

You can find out more about LOTRO squirrels in my 2023 updated blog, "Appreciating the Squirrels in LOTRO" and also about Tolkien lore squirrels in other adaptions in the following new blog post,  "The Númenórean and the squirrel: adapting lore from J.R.R. Tolkien’s works". I've also tweeted a Squirrel Appreciation Day thread 🧵 here.