Merry, Son of Saradoc... and sundry.

[menace64]

•Merry, Son of Saradoc
Companion • Hobbit
Strength 4
Vitality 4
Mettle 5
War-bound.
While Théoden is wounded, Merry is valiant.
While Théoden is exhausted, Merry is strength +2, and you may play this card from your discard pile any time you could play a skirmish event.
"Merry could not speak, but wept anew. 'Forgive me, lord,' he said at last, 'if I broke your command, and yet have done no more in your service than to weep at our parting.'"

The Merry we always wanted and never got, Son of Saradoc is fueled by the increasing peril of his adopted king. Combining familiar recursive elements of both and , this version of Merry can pull himself from the discard pile in times of greater danger, and he doesn't show up unarmed:

•Merry's Barrow-blade
Artifact • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Mettle +2
Bearer must be Merry.
Response: If you just played Merry, exert him to play Merry's Barrow-blade from your discard pile.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a battleground, exert Merry to discard a minion skirmishing a war-bound companion. Place Merry's Barrow-blade out of play.
"So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs... but glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago..."

Merry's Barrow-blade works just fine from the discard pile, making it incredibly versatile when paired with oft-disappearing Merrys such as Swordthain, Learned Guide, and Impatient Hobbit (not that you'd ever use IH). Of course, the Barrow-blade is written to synergize specifically with Son of Saradoc, who can play from the discard pile with his Blade in hand, granting him immediate access to a one-shot minion removal strategy, or simply a S+1/M+2 boost.

•Merry's Pack
Possession
Bearer must be an unbound Hobbit.
Skirmish: Exert bearer and discard Merry's Pack to return an unwounded minion to its owner's hand or to play a stealth card from your draw deck or discard pile.
"'With foes ahead, behind us dread, / Beneath the sky shall be our bed, / Until at last our toil be passed, / Our journey done, our errand sped.'"

A quick little card to reflect Merry's clever use of his pack to distract the Nazgul long enough for the hobbits to escape. Good move, Merry!

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I am open to requests for other members of the fellowship.