During our respite at the camp, I set to piecing together the puzzle of the ancient letters I had found. I believed the letters to be dwarven in make; after much study I came to the conclusion that they had originated from the dwarf fortress to the north, Helegrod. The reason why the man held such objects was still a mystery, but one I fear we may never understand properly. His motives may have been gold or treasure, but who can tell now?
Some of the Chosen had set to scouting the surrounding area of the camp; when they returned I explained to them my findings. Helegrod was on the route of our patrol and these letters gave us further reason to explore. Had the ruins been disturbed? Was there any who inhabited the old halls?
We prepared to leave on patrol once more but to our dismay, our leaders, Lord Khalis and Lady Elisbeth had not returned. We waited for a time, but they did not appear. I then began to fear for them. I did not doubt their skills in battle, but the mountain could be a treacherous place. What if the snow or ice had trapped them?
I reasoned that they might have set off to scout the path ahead to the north; it was therefore my thinking, along with the other warders, that we should head north as well, searching for tracks and signs of our leaders. While heading in this direction, we would scout out the old dwarven ruins for any sign of inhabitation.
We set out, but found no signs of our leaders on our way north. however once we drew closer to the outskirts of Helegrod, we noticed that it was indeed, not empty.
Men folk, the Corcur I believe they may call themselves, stood on stone terraces guarding the path up to the keep.
I ordered Osilivren and Galrandir to sneak ahead and scout out their camp for us.
The proved themselves well, describing the numbers of the Corcur in great detail. concern was expressed at the numbers in the camp. Rilynlyl suggested several inventive plans to deal with this, including false avalanches and disguise;
however in the end it was decided that the element of surprise and our skills as a warband together would be sufficient for the task.
And so I ordered Osilivren to take the lead, he being suitably armoured and knowing the layout of the camp. Galrandir was asked to cover us with his bow and to stop any enemy who would seek to alert other groups within the camp from doing so. Rilynlyl followed behind me, as with his expertise with the blade I hoped he could protect us should any ambush come to pass.
We proceeded into the camp in this fashion and although faced with a large number of enemy, we found them poorly prepared and even more poorly organised; they were no match for a group of well trained warders with stealth and surprise on their side.
We reached the entrance of the old dwarf keep. I found the carved entrance way fascinating, though sorrowful, too. It told the story of the keep, the dragon Thorog, the death of Durin V and the sorrow that his people felt that so great that they left this place and never returned.
We entered the entrance of the keep. Partly, it was my intention to scout the entrance to the ruins and assess the nature of who or what could be present in such a place; however in truth I was also curious as to see what this place looked like inside. Blame the curiosity of an elf who has spent one too many years delving into ancient ruins.
And so I lead my group of warriors inside. We soon found ourselves in a dark, webbed tunnel, infested with spiders of horrific size. This however, was not the most interesting revelation...Angmarim were there, controlling the spiders, of all things!
This is what we were looking for, what we hoped not to find.
We ventured further in, destroying many spiders and their twisted masters. The battle was tough, however, even for trained warriors. We were simply too few in number and so I decided it would be best that we retreat. We had accomplished our scouting and should Lord Khalis and Lady Elisbeth wish it, we may return in the future to further examine these ruins.
We returned to the camp we had been staying in previously to rest and discuss our next move.
