The evening was growing dark quickly, as Gaildrin was wandering stealthily through the uninhabited ruins of Eregion. He had discovered that some strange men from the east had been prowling these lands, and intended to find what business would bring such men so far into Eriador. With this news, he had also found that some Dunlendings had been migrating to the same region, which made the situation all the more suspicious.
Not to long into the darkness of night, Gaildrin soon heard a small party moving through the plains. He followed at a distance, not quite certain who to expect. In the dark, he made out four figures, to small to be bulky Easterlings, or Dunlending men. He decided to pursue. He moved furtively through the clump of trees that the unknown company was walking past, and eventually, they stopped in front of a cave. The figures spoke to each other, but with the distance that Gaildrin was from them, he could not clearly hear their voices without giving himself away. Soon they chose to enter the cave, being concealed further in the intense darkness of the underground cavern.
Gaildrin decided that the best action to take was to wait for them to exit, not seeing any other exit they could take, and not knowing what dangers may dwell within the stone walls. Despite his reasoning, Gaildrin soon became impatient, and decided to finally follow the party beneath the earth. After being immersed in darkness, Gaildrin heard voices echoing through the cave, and readied his sword for anything that may come. He saw a light down a tunnel, and followed it carefully. Upon approaching a bright cavern, Gaildrin heard that some of the voices sounded familiar, and decided to risk a glance around the corner. Peering around the edge, He saw that he was in fact following a small party of women. Even more surprising, he realized that most of these women, he had already been acquainted with.
After realizing the identities of the mysterious party members, he revealed himself, and was met at arrow point, Sybri, who was guarding Frithswith, Fairlain, and Rannie, who were tending to a very battered, and bruised Cynaede, lowered her bow. After Sybri explained what was going on, Gaildrin went to see if he could help Cynraede in anyway, understanding that the rest of his questions could wait. Cynraede appeared to be unconscious, and Frithswith was tending to his wounds as best she could. When the group decided that Cynraede had to be brought out of the cave as soon as possible, Gaildrin hoisted the injured man into a rather uncomfortable position on his back, and began the hike back outside
Being met by a dim morning sunshine, The six exited the cave. Sybri and Fairlain had bows drawn, and arrows notched, ready to dispatch any hostile's that hindered their progress. They decided to set a course for Gwingris, which was inhabited by a few elves that may be able to heal the wounded hunter's wounds. Moving quickly through the trees, Sybri, and Fairlain made quick work of a few half-orc guarsmen that were posted throughout the forest near the entrance of the cave, followed by Frithswith and Gaildrin, hobbling behind, burdened by Cynraede. Arriving at Gwingris, Sybri started a fire, while Fairlain and Frithswith went to find aid for Cynraede. The tortured hunter sat and stared at the fire, mumbling only what sounded like "the black smoke" over and over...
