The party decided to take a long rest before continuing to the Forest Gate in western Mirkwood as Aenwyn shared that it would be a hard day’s travel to the gate. The party set up watches for the evening and Jesoc and Arbun took the first watch. Halfway through the first watch a cold wind starting to blow and it started to snow. Hallamir and Kifak took the second watch and found that the wind and snow intensified during their watch. By the time morning had come, there was a solid blanket of a half foot of snow on the ground.

Jesoc awoke feeling tired and unrested. His night was filled with dreams of being pursued and chased. From behind every tree or building, he felt he was being watched.

The snow troubled Aenwyn greatly and she shared that she had never seen snow in the part of the land. The party urgently headed off and they undertook the hard day of travelling without any horses to assist them. They reached the Forest Gate in the early evening and decided to take a long rest before entering Mirkwood. Aenwyn shared that it would be two days travel to get to the Wood Elves Hall and that it would be wise to only spent a short rest while within Mirkwood. Aenwyn also warned the party to stay on the path and not fall into the Enchanted River lest be placed into a deep sleep. The party agreed and rested before their journey into Mirkwood.

The party awoke shortly after the sun had risen in the cold, early morning. Thankfully, Jesoc had a restful sleep and was feeling more refreshed.

The fellowship ventured into Mirkwood and stayed on the path. After a few hours they came upon a grisly scene – a dead giant spider beside the path. The giant spider appeared to have been mauled and looked to be here for awhile as it was covered in snow. Aenwyn shared that she has never seen this before and urged them to reach the Wood Elves Hall as soon as possible.

The party continued on and after a couple of hours they came upon five more dead Giant Spiders on the path in front of them. Arbun shot a couple of arrows in the carcasses to make sure they were dead. Once they were sure the Giant Spiders were dead they cautiously moved ahead on the path between the Giant Spiders.

Once they were in the middle of the five Giant Spider corpses, the corpses exploded from within and five Horror Fit Hunters screeched and surged forward covered in blood to attack. The party readied them selves and attacked. The party was able to defeat all of Horror Fit Hunters after fending off their bite attacks.

After the battle was over the party asked Aenwyn if she had ever seen these creatures before and she mentioned that she had never seen them and was as shocked and horrified as all the party members.

Kifak mused out loud: “I wonder how big those creatures get if these were the babies?”

The party continued on and found another dead Giant Spider on the path. They closely investigated the spider and confirmed it was indeed dead but still intact. The party decided to chop up the spider to ensure that another Horror Fit Hunter didn’t emerge. The party chopped up the Giant Spider and to their horror they saw something writhing in the carcass.

The party continued on into the late evening and Aenwyn recommended they stop here for a short rest. The short rest passed without incident and Aenwyn roused them to continue before the sun came up. Aenwyn mentioned that the bridge over the Enchanted River is just a couple of hours away and they should reach it in the early morning.

The party came upon the bridge a few hours later and found that it had been destroyed. Upon investigation they party learned that the bridge had been destroyed on purpose. After seeing that they could not jump across the river, they decided to tie a rope to an arrow and shoot it into the tree across the river. Arbun was able to expertly hit the tree solidly and the party tied the rope to the bridge on their side and prepared to climb across.

Arbun went first as he was the lightest and was able to zip line across. The tree bent a little with the halfling’s weight, but Arbun made his way across. As Arbun landed, four Winter wolves snarled and came out from beneath the bridge. Arbun quickly turned the closest Winter Wolf to defend him as the rest of the party made their way across using the zip line. Jesoc crossed next – the tree bent more but he was able to land on the other side. Kifak went next and the tree bent a bit more but Kifak was able to get on the other side of the river as well. Finally, Hallamir slid down the zip line and just when he crossed the river the rope snapped! Hallamir fell on the bank of the Enchanted River but he was able to catch himself before he slid down into the river. Hallamir climbed up and everyone engaged in the battle.

Four more Winter Wolves came out from the other side of the bridge once they heard the sounds of the battle. Hallamir smartly casted spike growth to hamper the wolve’s attack. Arbun’s turned wolf continued to battle with the party against the other seven Winter Wolves. The party was slowly turning the tide of the battle and slaying the Winter Wolves. A slender wolf moved forward and howled at Arbun’s turned wolf. The party moved forward and slayed the howling wolf. Arbun’s turned wolf was enraged as he saw his mate killed in front of his very eyes. All of the Winter Wolves then attacked the party but the wolves could not overcome the spike growth and the valour of the party. Eventually the Winter Wolves were destroyed and the party managed to get Aenwyn across the river as well. The party salvaged a few wolf pelts and moved on.

The fellowship continued on and made their way to the Wood Elves Hall. During their passage through Mirkwood the snow on the ground increased as they continued east. They finally came the gates of the Wood Elves Hall and Aenwyn was dismayed when she saw the doors wide open and snow blown in the gaping entrance.

Aenwyn rushed forward and the party followed. They found that the Wood Elves realm had been destroyed. There was snow and ice throughout the rooms with dead wood elf warriors frozen in the snow with black arrows in their bodies. Aenwyn led the party to the throne room. They first passed the wood storage rooms and found that the wood storage had been exhausted.

Finally, they came to the throne room and saw the King dead on the thrown with a arrow in his heart and the crown fallen in the snow beside the throne. The floor of the throne room was covered in snow and dozen of slain elf warriors. The party rushed forward to the throne.

Aenwyn knelt down and sobbed. Kifak leaned down and picked up the crown and handed it respectfully to Aenwyn. The party was dejected that their journey had gone for naught. Hallamir knelt down and discovered a compartment in one leg of the throne. Hallamir was able to pry it open and discovered a note and a velvet bag with a spherical object inside.

Hallamir read the note:

Hallamir translated the note for the others:

“Dear Aenwyn, I hope you find this note and this Palantir. Please take the Palantir to the King in Minas Tirith and seek out the line of Dain in the Grey Mountains. Do not use the Palantir, I peered into the Palantir and unwittingly brought our doom. Beware the Curuni eight. But also in doing that I saw a Palantir in Nor Dumm in the Grey Mountains. Time is short do to them before the dark one does”

Kifak gathered the velvet bag and confirmed it was a palantir. Kifak placed the palantir into the Bag of Holding.

The party agreed that the next steps would be to journey to Nor Dumm and then return to Lake Town and Erebor on the way back. Aenwyn informed the party she would not be joining them and would instead stay behind and seek out her kinsman to rebuild the Wood Elves realm.

The fellowship wished her well and asked if they could help her in any way. Aenwyn declined as she couldn’t think of anything that would help. The fellowship rested one last time before heading to the Grey Mountains. Before they departed, Jesoc summoned a Dire Wolf steed for Arbun to ride.

Kifak also sent a message to Erebor to find out if they were ok or had also been affected by what was inflicted on Mirkwood. Kifak received a short reply “All is well here.”

They took their leave of Aenwyn and stepped out of the Wood Elves Hall. The walked east and soon came out of Mirkwood and saw Lake town below them and the Lonely Mountain to the north.

Further north they saw the majestic Grey Mountains with a large white winged creature swooping over the snow-capped peaks.