Lord Ederial, Chief Recorder to the Court of King Arvegil II

Let the record's show that on the twenty-fifth day of the 1671 year of the Third Age, the Second Army of Fornost under the command of his most Royal Majesty King Arvegil the Second is stood to at its new found redoubt at the Western Reaches of Cripplewood Marsh. We have established a foothold on the Eastern Bank of the River Mitheithel using two longboats carried overland across the wastes from Lake Nenuial and thirty rafts built on the river's Western shore. Nine thousand men are encamped here ready for battle, each sworn to avenge the abduction of the princess Alquawen, betrothed to our most beloved King. We are far from home, deep into the territories of the Rhudaur, occupied by our twin enemies the murderous despot Brogha, who sits ont he throne of Cameth Brin and his neighbour, the Witch King of Angmar, whose sinister hand can be sensed in the abduction.

Many rumours have been heard of a second army of orcs to the North of Cameth Brin, and no man amongst the host relishes the prospect of a winter seige, especially against the fortress capital of Rhudaur. So as the news of the rescue of the betrothed princess reached the frozen bivouacs of the encamped army, a great cheer went up and the men rushed forwards to catch a glimpse of the rescue party. Our noble King stood amongst his men, awaiting the rescuers at the camp entrance, and it was plain for all to see that as their leader introduced himself as Athmud the Second, true king of Rhudaur, this was to be as a meeting of brothers long separated. The King announced that there was to be a feast of celebration, but reminded all men that we stood as an army in an enemy land, and that we must not let our vigilance fail us.

The story of the rescue of Princess Alquawen was presented to the court of Arvegil by the Lady Fiorla and is recorded elsewhere. The King listened carefully interupting rarely for the sake of clarification. After the story was told, the King in turn was able to fill in some of the unkown areas, for he revealed to the assembled court and his noble kinsman the Palantir of Amun Sul, carried with the host and used to reveal the dispositions of our enemies. The mythical stone held every eye in the room entranced, saving only those of our King and his royal neighbour. By this strength of will we all knew for truth, that which our king had known at their first meeting, this man Athmund was trully of the royal line of kings, and a master of the great stone that is held in safe-keeping by our noble King.

After a short interlude, the refreshed heroes were presented to his Majesty the King and his court, whereupon the King formally made his thanks and the Lady Alquawen presented two gifts to show her gratitude, the first to reward the unstinting courage, grace and dignity of the Rhudaur King, and the second to extend the hand of eternal friendship from her family to that of her kinsman. The first gift was taken from what was to be her dowry to our King, but by his great grace he waived all rights to it. And so King Athmund was gifted the great war maul known as Uruk Mahl or Kinslayer, taken as a talisman from the Giant Veerash slain by the hand of Lord Summerfield of Caras Fornen. The second gift, that of friendship, was the quiver known as Goldeneye, from which arrows drawn are imbued with a magical potency. A gift was given in turn by the King Athmund, the double crossed swords, borne by Lady Alquawen's captors and taken from them in single combat by his noble hand.

After the presentations were made, a feast followed the king appologised for the sparse tabe but we were all reminded that this was a battlefield and all must make sacrifices. After the meal, toasts were made and the poet laureate entertained us with what she assured us was a work in progress, but that surely promises to be an epic piece. The inner court then repaired to the King's chambers and preparations were made for war.

We are assured that now that the Lady Alquawen is rescued our goal has changed - the goblin horde that had been encamped to the east of Cameth Brin has been paid of an sent back to the Misty Mountains. Meanwhile the supplies that Cameth Brin has been providing to the Orc encampment of the West Gate Army of Angband have been stopped, and it is assumed that the upstart Brogha has entreated the army to return to its garrison quarters. It appears however, that the Orc army has demured and has moved South on Cameth Brin where it is now deployed on the field of battle. Our King informs us that in supplying his mercenary armies so completely, Brogha had hoped that in removing those supply lines his dangerous allies would fall back unsupllied. What he had not counted on was that the orc army had been both stock-piling the supplies from Cameth Brin and resupplying from Angband.

The King's plan is to send an expeditionary force to the north around the West Gate Army's right flank and capture or destroy the supply dump at Frost Reach, twenty miles north of Cameth Brin. To this end he has proposed to send the 4th and 7th Lancers and the Royal Pioneers up the Mitheithel for thirty miles and then have them stand by whilst scouts observe Frost Reach. Meanwhile a small group of fearless men will approach the outpost, disable its defences and signal the way is clear with a significant fire. For this task, King Athmund unhesitatingly stepped forwards.

Toreg

Once you had left me in that loft I knew that I could not wait, I am a soldier and would rather die with a sword in my hand than hide like a wretch. I determined to return to Cameth Brin, though this time not as a courtier but as a soldier - I still have friends in the fortress who are less than loyal to the murderous Brogha, I would seek them out and see what I could do.

Entrance was easy, I have been through the Funitir a thousand times - I know the routines and the passwords, and within a few hours I was being led down through that maze of deadly traps and into the enemey's lair. My entrance was made easier by all of the disturbance, that your exploits in the dungeons had stired up. It seems that your presence had been discovered - and Brogha was furiously demanding to know how the Funitiri guards had missed your entrance. Furthermore it seems that General Malkur had taken advantage of the confusion and escaped his confines.

Quickly it was established that you must have entered through one of the secret ways, and Brogha wasted little time in dispatching a significant force to await your emergence through Brok's caves. The remainder of the garisson was set to full alert for now a reprisal from the orc armies could be expected. Knowing that there was rumoured to be a second more secret exit from the fortress, I guessed that the king would send a much smaller force (maybe protecting it's secrecy) to investigate the area of it's emergence. I arranged to be in that force along with my most trusted friends, furthermore I was also able to ensure that the remainder of the force was made up of soldiers of lower moral fiber.

Sure enough duty Seargeant Finlan was instructed to take a score of cavalry up to the area near Skull Tor and perform searching sweeps "to keep an eye out for orc scouts", I joined with them. By nightfall, you were spotted and we engaged you once you had moved onto the open steppe. I and my three brave comrades attempted to disrupt the cavalry charge and the sixteen remaining warriors were soon routed.

So here we are, under the stars, not four miles from Cameth Brin to the south and the Westgate Army to the northeast, I take it that we should head west and seek out the expeditionary army and our kingly neighbour?