(Late day 45) Party camped for night on side of road. During Lars' watch another party past along the road. There was no interaction between the two groups. In the morning the group continued west. About Mid-morning they reached a stream. On the east bank a track led north, on the west bank across a small bridge a path led south. Also on the eastern bank were the ruins of a watch tower. Elonil scouted out the tower but found nothing of interest. The group wandered round the tower while deciding what to do. It was decided to head north for a few hours to see what lay on the track. After travelling north for two hours nothing was found. The group headed back to the main road. They camped in the tower for the night.

It rained heavily during the night. During their watch Tireal and Thorin noticed a horse man approaching the tower from the south. He spoke briefly with Thorin questioning him. Then the horseman headed north. In the morning Bors was angry to learn that Thorin had asked so few questions. Bors indicated that he would have preferred it if Thorin had attacked the man so that he could be put to question. While Bors was aguring with Thorin the rest of the group noticed the self same horseman approaching from the south. He appeared to have urgent business as he was travelling at speed. Bors attempt to slow his passage by blocking the bridge. The man ignored Bors' questions and continued south.

Bors was curious about Calorn's sleep spell, he wished to know whether the victim would know if they had been attacked if they managed to resist the spell. Calorn was unsure so decided to test the spell. He cast it on Bors and Elonil who both promptly collapsed. Bravd took great offence at this and started arguing with Calorn. Calorn did his best to ignore Bravd and continued the testing process. Thorin had woken Bors and Elonil so Calorn cast his spell on Elonil again. This time she managed to resist it. She grew very angry and moved to draw a weapon. Calorn managed to learn that she had felt the attack only because it was expected. Calorn and Bors were satisfied with the test but inter party relations were at a low. It was reasoned that something must lie on the north track. The party decided to head back north to find where the track led.

As the group headed north the quality of the track continually improved. That night the group camped in the edge of the forest. During first watch Calorn heard two horse men heading south. He nudged Tireal then started preparing a Sleep Spell. On casting the spell one of the men collapsed off his horse. The other realising he was being attacked turned and pulled a crossbow. Tireal tried to shoot him with an arrow but missed. The man demanded to know what was going on. The party left the forest claiming it was all a misunderstanding. Calorn still in a tree tried a second time to knock out the horseman. Again he failed, his time confusing himself terribly in the process. The horseman calmed down a little when he realised that his friend had not been shoot but had just fallen off his horse. The two men warily continued south. Bors's lectured the party on their incompetence, particularly Bravd who had kept mentioning Elves when the horseman was not ment to know that Calorn was hiding. Thankfully the rest of the night past without incident.

In the morning the group continued north. They quickly reached a settlement. To their humiliation they realised that it was Minas Brethil. After several days on a spying mission they had walked a big circle returning to their starting point. They had also been attacking the messengers on their side in the conflict. Elonil still seemed determined to enter the town to purchase food. She did not seem to understand that showing up again without any information would probably get them killed for being totally stupid. Eventually Bors and Calorn persuaded her not to enter the town. The company quickly and sheepishly headed back south. The next day they were again nearing the junction.

Elonil and Tireal went ahead to scout. They found the junction held by a large force of men under an unfamiliar banner. They managed to return to the group without being spotted. It was decided to march straight back to Minas Brethil to report the turn of events. After a long march the party reached Minas Brethil. Bors' went to the tower to report in while everybody else shopped for supplies. Tireal failed to find somebody who could put his Troll teeth on a string. Bors' returned after about 30 minutes. He suggested that the group should buy horses and head out immediately. He mentioned that we had an important mission and that he would explain along the way. Bravd loading insisted on knowing what was going on and refused to keep quite and just do what he was told. He had to have the situation explain to him. In Sindarin for a measure of security, it was explained that we had been given a mission involving travel far to the south but with a deadline of a week. Horse would be needed to cover the required distances. Bravd grumbled greatly about the expense and money had to be pooled to buy a horse for Thorin.

On their new horses the group headed south. Bors' explained that they had to travel to the south to learn where Lord Fardwith's forces were located. He also told us the men at the junction carried the banner of Lord Fardwith so we would have to circle round. Once the group were getting within a couple of miles of the junction the forded the stream and headed south-west through the hills. This allowed the to circle around the junction without being spotted. After they crossed the east-west road they camped in the forest, exhausted after marching through the night.

In the morning they headed east to the southern track. It was in very bad condition, broken up and muddy. Met two men on the road. The questioned the party about why they were in this part of the world. Once satisfied they indicated that a village Anduran was only a few hours to the south. The party continued south reaching Anduran in the afternoon. The village looked like it was designed to hold 100 souls. However it was teeming with people, mostly soldiers. Elonil and Bors entered the village to see what they could learn. After a half hour they returned. They reported that there will about 300-400 soldiers in the town. Many of the soldiers appeared to be slaves. There were also rumours that Lord Fardwith would soon be arriving in the town from the south.

The company skirted around the village and continued south along the track. The road followed the Bruinen south. They met a messenger Armen on the road. He questioned the party presence on the road and insisted that they report in at the next village. Calorn tried to knock him out but again failed. He did not notice the attack and continued talking. He mentioned that the road would begin to turn west and that the next village on it was called Duin. The party reached the village at noon the next day. They headed in to report their usual story of being travellers heading west to the headman in the village. It was a tiny settlement with only 20 inhabitants and about the same number of soldiers. He directed us to Tarfalan a large town further to the west.

Continuing west the group past a small path heading south but ignored it. With the days passing quickly they hurried their horses. They planned to check out Tarfal and from there find a way back to Minas Brethil. Along the road they past a lightly guarded tower. The next morning the group came in sight of Tarfalan. It was quite a large town surrounded by a wooden stockade and with three gates. After being questioned by the guard at the gate the party entered the town. The town contained hundreds of soldiers. Again many of them appeared to be slaves. Everybody in the town moved with obvious purpose. The place was clearly professionally run.

They party headed for a tavern for hot food and the promise of gossiping soldiers. Not many people were in the tavern and their conversation was of no interest to the group. The party did a quick scout by riding through the town. Many many slaves were evident. On the main street they passed a luxurious guarded house. Above the house flew an ornate version of Lord Fardwith's banner. The party guessed that this was the residence of Lord Fardwith. The party reckoning that Haltrat would be very pleased to learn of Fardwith's location, so decided to immediately head back to Minas Brethil. They left by the north gate and followed the road heading north. This would give them a chance to investigate another road and would be more explainable then retracing their steps.

On the north road the party travelled quickly. Once again they encountered a messenger and once again Calorn failed to knock him out. However this time Calorn managed to fall off his horse in the process. He claimed that the person being on horseback made the process less likely to succeed. That night the party camped at a track leading to the west. They hoped that this would increase the likelihood of capturing a messenger. Unfortunately nobody passed them during the night. The road turned north-east the next day. This suited the party perfectly. Late that afternoon they passed some ruins, but ignored them due to the need for speed.

The party rode into the night anxious to reach the east-west road. About 2 hours after dark the Elves noticed a bonfire up ahead. It was the guard post on the east-west road. The head of the camp informed the group that they would have to pay a toll of 1 gp each. When it was pointed out that this was a ridiculous figure he countered by saying that guarding the road was dangerous. The group would have to pay for the protection they received. Bors collected money off the party and handed the man about 10sp. Tireal also threw him a skin of wine. The wine seemed to go down better then the money, he demanded more coin. Bors handed over about the same again and Calorn bitterly tossed him a skin of brandy. The brandy pleased the man greatly, and he let the party go. However for ease of cover story the party had claimed to be heading west. So instead of east the party had to journey west. They travelled for about half an hour then camped for the night.

During the night Calorn tried to knock out another messenger. The man briefly slumped in his saddle but seemed to recover and continued on without falling. In the morning the party headed north then east, then south back to the road. This way they avoided the guards at the road junction. After travelling for only 3 hours the recognised the road as been close to the watch-tower. They headed north then north-east to avoid the men camped at the tower. On reaching the stream they watered there exhausted horses. They were unsure whether they should camp for the night or press on for Minas Brethil in the darkness. It was decided to travel on, it was the sixth day of the mission and it would be good to get back early. So the party pressed on.

As the party travelled north darkness set in. Suddenly out of the forest to the right of the group arrows flew towards the group. One sailed harmlessly by the other hit Elonil in the lower back. She did not seem to be badly hurt. All the party booted their horses to try and out ride the ambush. Unfortunately some party members did not know how to ride very well. Bravd immediately toppled off his horse because of the jar when it started to gallop. Elonil and Bors were both very slow in getting away. On the other hand the Elves made a real break for it, putting a good distance between themslves and the attack. Riders appeared from the woods giving chase. Elonil recovered from the arrow shot and getting her horse properly under control started to get away. Bors' lack of riding skill became quite evident and the ambushers quickly drew level with him. They drew swords but only managed to score glancing blows on him. In a last attempt to get away Bors spurred his horse but misjudging his timing tumbled from the beast. Luckily he did not harm his broken shoulder on contact with the ground. He even managed to roll towards the shelter of the forest. The four party members still on horseback outpaced the attackers and disappeared into the darkness.