Entry taken from the storyline, written by Killandra Graymare, daughter of Donhelm Greymare
Killandra woke to the sound of a ranger playing soft pipe music and rubbed her back; it was sore after sleeping within one of their tents. She just hadnt noticed all the small stones hidden beneath the bedroll. Grimacing in discomfort she wandered out to find other members of the warband already gathering by one of the fires. Khalis and Irulian speaking together in soft tones. They looked up at her approach; she could see Lord Khalis' patience ebb from his eyes as soon as he saw her. Admittedly she couldnt deny she had probably gone too far last night with her sharp tongue and provocative words, but she did wonder why most of the warband shied away from the idea that their precious leader could be dead. Instead they had clung with desperate hope to the words on a stained scrap of parchment Irulian had found on one of the Angmarim sorcerers, believing it to inidicate something Elisbeth had chosen to follow. Doh!
Nevertheless, when the warband gathered in force and had decided to split into two groups, one to head east following the trail suggested by the parchment's words, the other to return to Imladris to consult with Lord Elrond, Killandra had offered to go with the latter. They needed a good hunter to show them the secret pathways that could speed a journey. She was not sorry to be returning to the Warbands home...peace for a few hours. As Irulian consulted in painstaking detail with Lord Elrond, Killandra ambled round the library, marvelling at all the scrolls gathered upon the shelves. Why would anyone waste so much time indoors reading all of these, she thought to herself.... "Killandra!" Irulian's soft voice broke through her revelry and she turned to see what news the serious elf had for her. "Lord Elrond has examined this parchment and whilst little more can be understood from it, he can add that the artefact the Angmarims have recovered from Annuminas is a weapon...one which must not fall into enemy hands. Or should that have happened already, one which must be retrieved. Can you take this message back to the rest of the warband Killandra?"
Killandra nodded her assent and with few words of farewell quickly made her way from Imladris once more. Tracking the warbands movements from Tinnudir was not difficult, for the Rangers at the pass to the Fields of Fornost spoke of the warband continuing east, and in truth the warband left enough tracks for a herd of trolls. Killandra made a mental note to teach them all about minimising the trails they left behind them.
When their paths crossed once more the warband were heading towards Esteldin to resupply before continuing further eastwards towards Angmar. It was whilst collecting some supplies from a nearby farm that Killandra noticed a young woman skulking about - wearing the badge of the warband ! Thief was Killandra's first ungenerous thought. Turned out to not be far off the mark however. Killandra challenged the woman and in a strange way quickly grew to like her. As they bantered, Killandra found she enjoyed the womans straight talking and she had none of the airs and graces of the elves in their party. Something which became very evident when Bishrodir and Eireden found them, wondering if Killandra too had gotten lost.
Ellawan, the young woman, rapidly agreed to join them when she learnt Elisbeth was missing, mumbling something about Elisbeth being her protector so it wasn't in her interests for Elisbeth to be dead or missing. It would seem there was much about Ellawan to be learnt...
Riding back to Esteldin Killandra watched Ellawan curiously and noticed how defensive she could be. But when it came to fighting she could not fault the lass' bravery. The warband agreed to ride into the furthest camps of the Angmarims, to search for any evidence of the party that had left Annuminas with the artefact, and for any signs of Elisbeth who they now believed was chasing this same item. Ellawan rode with them, depsite her lack of experience, and showed courage in front of her companions. Killandra secretly thought Elisbeth was either dead or off relaxing somewhere pretty without a care in the world, but the rest of the warband seemed to believe this was the most likely path here in the hills.
Perhaps they were right, but as they searched Angmarim tent after tent Killandra had almost given up trying when suddenly Ellawan became animated and waved a tightly rolled, heavily bloodstained, scroll above her head. Khalis ordered them all to quickly retreat away from the camps so that they could examine the scroll closely. Breathing heavily, hidden by an outcrop of rock, they finally stopped and Ellawan read from the scroll. The jist of it was of a group of Angmarims that had not long since passed through this same area to resupply on their journey into Angmar. That in itself was unusual...normally Angmarims were heading out from it. The scroll seemed to mention the party passing by had something on them they wished to return to Angmar and that they suspected they were being followed. Killandra wondered at it all...it could be nothing or it could be important. Khalis and Bishrodir seemed to think the latter. Possibly that it might even be Elisbeth who was following! Killandra feared this might be deluded hope rather than anything concrete. But the consensus at the end of the day was to make camp in their secluded spot and carry on the journey on the morrow, hoping more of the warband might have caught up with them once more so that they would be able to proceed into Angmar with greater numbers.
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