I needed an ale after reading Captain Dynnys' letter replying to my last suggestion:
Captain Hadhranel Swift,
In reply to your suggestion regarding investigating the wagons exiting Fornost with the aforementioned bones;
I sent a small party with orders to scout the area. I chose the Bounder, Sharleyan and her occassional hunting partner, Ithaldil Larkspur to lead the party there. We needed more information regarding those bones. The remaining members of the scouting trip were two known to me; The elf, Tartharean and two human fighters, Theodana and a third champion I was not personally familiar with, but who was recommended as a stout fighter, Cweneo.
The summary of their 'scouting mission' is as follows, in the words of Bounder Sharleyan.
"Larkspur led the way, the rest of the lasses following with Tart promising to help Dana and Cweneo stay in cover. I covered our backtrack. We got within spitting distance of the orc sentries outside the gates without mishap and found a nice little hill whose ridgeline we were able to use as cover while we observed.
Right away, we could see that something was going on at the very gate. There were a dozen or more orcs shouting and whooping, all upset. Seems a wagon had been on it's way out and one of the wargs had taken an inordinate interest in the horses pulling it. We could see the corpse of one of the horse to one side, throat torn out and by it, the corpse of the warg who'd been hungry, riddled with orc arrows. Another horse had just been brought up from somewhere in the orc camp and they were fixing it into it's harness as we watched.
Sure enough, there was an iron box in the bed of the wagon and whew, couldn't you just feel the stink of something nasty about it make the short hairs on the back of your neck stand up! We huddled together and got to discussing the situation. Cweneo was all for taking the box, right then and there and to my surprise, Dana, Larkspur and Tart were all for it. Now I wasn't all to sure that was what Captain Dynnys had had in mind when she said 'get more information', but the rest of the lasses were set on the idea and already unlimbering their weapons.
Who am I to argue? Larkspur and I split up, each of us moving to opposite ends of the ridge while Tart started working her way through the brush, Dana and Cweneo following her path like ticks on a boar. One of the orc sentries might have heard something, he started ambling that way, unlimbering his bow. Larkspur wasn't having any of that and from her vantage point, took aim and shot it right through the base of the throat. It might have gurgled a bit, but over the racket from the orc's at the gate, nobody heard it.
Tart got as close as she dared and turned to give us the nod. With that, Larkspur and I started firing, arching our shots up and over the main crowd to take out the orc's furthest inside the gate before they could run for help. Dana shouldered her way to the front, set her shield and burst into a charge, the other two right behind, flanking her.
Now orc's being orc's, they went ahead and turned to look into the gate when the first couple of their buddies were feathered and so they didn't see Dana and her friends until it was too late. Dana let loose with one of those Gondor war cries and hit them like a charging warhorse.
Tart and Cweneo, well, they each had two swords and by Bullroarer's hairy toes, wasn't that a sight to see as they started shredding orc's like my aunt Tilda used to chop lettuce! Dana was knocking down orc's left and right with her shield, stabbing the one's in front of her while the other two made short work of the rest in the way.
It wasn't long at all before they were at the wagon and Dana hopped into the drivers seat, snatching up the reins and cracking them as she bellowed at the horses to get moving. The horses, already near terrified by the commotion, were only to happy to get up and away from the mess they were in. Tart and Cweneo hopped in the back of the wagon and started shooting their own bows at the orc's who were scrambling to stop them.
Larkspur and I kept up cover fire and it wasn't long before the orc's retreated and tried to get their own archers to move up. A horn was blowing inside the gate and we could hear a roar as the rest of the orcs within hearing distance got riled up. Figuring we didn't have long, Larkspur and I took off after the wagon and kept an eye on our backtrail.
Cweneo had the idea to drive the wagon off the road into an area with a lot of rock and gravel which made it harder to see the wheel tracks. Larkspur and I signalled them to keep going and fell back so we could keep up harassing fire on the orc's who were trying to track us. As the wagon veered off, we kept firing and moving at an angle away from it's path, drawing the orc's after us.
Dana kept moving and before long, the wagon was out of sight and well on it's way toward Esteldin. Larkspur and I, well, this is what we do for a living. By nightfall, the orc's were keeping well back, formed up into a turtle with their shields raised and trying to pursue us without exposing themselves.
We scouted a bit into the night and when we saw warg riders coming down the road out of Fornost, we decided that we'd best get back to the wagon and hurry things up a bit. We caught up to it near the bridge in Annundir. Cweneo, one of those horseriders out of Rohan, I think, had stopped to rest and water the horses.
She and Tart were whispering in the horse's ears and making a big fuss over them. Whatever they were doing, it sure made a difference. I think the box in the wagon behind was playing it's own part in making them want to move away whatever it was putting out, because all Dana had to do was point them where she wanted to go and they kept trying to get away from it.
Sure enough, we were barely into Kingsfell proper when we were challenged by some of Captain Dynnys' troops stationed to keep an eye on that approach. We got a fresh change of horses for the team pulling the wagon from them and by daybreak, were wheeling our way into Esteldin.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharleyan Applebottom."
Postscript:
Again, Captain Swift, I'm sure this is not what you had in mind when you asked for more information, but it is what it is and we have secured the box until someone with more knowledge in countering the dark arts is able to come examine it.
Meanwhile, I have reinforced all my patrols and we have had several skirmishes with orcs out of the Fornost area as they seek to find our prize. I am preparing the main body of troops, as I expect a probe in force by the enemy at any time.
Respectully,
Captain Cathnel Dynnys.
