Session 12 Recap

The party climbed down the foothills and found that the weather had changed for the colder. They could see their breath and the ground was covered in snow. Although difficult, the party was able to forage for food and firewood for their travels and camps. The fellowship decided to cut through Mirkwood to make their travel to Maethelburg only two days.

The journey to the edges of Mirkwood was uneventful with Hallamir being especially skilled in travelling in a forest. Soon the fellowship came upon the ruins of a town that appeared decades or hundreds of years old. All the building were in ruin. The party decided to make their way through the ruins as opposed to going around the ruins. The fellowship heard multiple sounds ahead of them. They continued ahead as quietly as they could but unfortunately Jesoc tripped and made a quite a clamour.

Suddenly, the attention of 10 Ravager Werewolves were turned on the party and they moved forward to attack. The battle was pitched, but the fellowship was more than equal to the challenge. Hallamir once again smartly cast Spike Growth which the Werewolves unsuspectedly rushed into. Arbun also cleanly cleaved a werewolve’s head clean off earning the respect and admiration of all the fellowship.

The fellowship gathered themselves and searched the ruins. They soon discovered that the werewolves appeared to have made these ruins their home with bones of small animals and leaves and brush arranged in the buildings for comfort. The fellowship examined the ruins and found the following name engraved on multiple buildings.

“Torech-en-gwath”

Hallamir was able to translate this to mean “Lair of Shadow”. Arbun spotted a graveyard ahead beyond the town and the party went to investigate.

The fellowship soon found that the graveyard was ancient and most of the headstones were written in Quenya but were unreadable. They quickly spotted one grave that was open and surrounded by eight corpses. The corpses appeared to have been there for a long time and that they seemed to be  casting a ritual with candles, chalk outines, and empty vials surrounding the open grave. Upon closer inspection, the party was able to determine that something appeared to have clawed out of the grave.

On the headstone was the following inscription:

Arbun moved forward to translate the text by touching the headstone. Arbun was able to understand that it translated to “Thuringwethil”. Before Arbun could inform his compatriots, a voice spoke to him in his mind:

“I am, who cast

a shadow o’er the face aghast

of the sallow moon in the doomed land

of shivering Beleriand.”

Arbun shared the translation and the verse he had heard with the party and he could see the shock and terror in Hallamir’s eyes.

Hallamir informed the party was he knew of the legend of Thuringwethil.

The origins of Thuringwethil are untold. Her ability to change form suggests that she may have been an Ainu In the form of a vampire, she had at least two great, dark fingered wings with a ghostly appearance^[ and an iron claw at the end of each joint.

Sometime before the Quest for the Silmaril, Thuringwethil became the messenger of Sauron at Tol-in-Gaurhoth, formerly Tol Sirion, often flying to Angband in the curséd^[ form of a great bat to bear messages to Sauron’s own master, Morgoth. She was slain by Huan in Tol-in-Gaurhoth during the Quest for the Silmaril, along with Draugluin, when Sauron sent out his army one-by-one.”

The fellowship was unnerved and quickly searched the corpses but found nothing of note as they seemed to be there for months or even years. The corpses were desiccated and their robes had dissolved into tatters and their pockets contained nothing.

Hallamir informed the fellowship that they would be able to leave Mirkwood in another hour or two and they quickly made their way to exit Mirkwood. They came outside Mirkwood in early evening and travelled away from Mirkwood and set up camp. Kifak was able to find food and firewood for the camp for the evening.      

Kifak and Jesoc took first watch and they soon heard the sound of animals off in the distance. Kifak went to investigate and saw five horses off in the distance grazing on grass they uncovered. Kifak took off his armor to quietly approach the horses and found that they were their horses they left in Maethelburg – even Fretr the mule was there.

• Kifak – Ásjá (Protection)
• Jesoc – Áræði (Courage)
• Hallamir – Megin (Strength)
• Arbun – Frœði (Knowledge)
• Fretr (Fart)

Kifak was able to gain the mount’s trust and ushered them back to their camp. Kifak and Jesoc noticed that the horses each had a saddle and that Fretr had a saddle and two saddle bags.

Kifak and Jesoc searched Fretr’s saddlebags and although the saddlebags both appeared empty, the following items were retrieved when the right saddlebag was reached into.

• Bag of beans
• 4 jars of Keoghtom’s ointment
• Two portable holes
• Two Robes of useful items
• Four sending stones

Kifak and Jesoc traded their watch to Arbun and Hallamir and went to sleep. The rest of the watch passed without incident, although the howling of wolves could be heard in the distance.

The fellowship set off in the morning with their horses hopeful that they would be able to reach Maethelburg by early afternoon. In the late morning the fellowship could see smoke rising from the direction of Mathelburg. They increased their pace to reach Maethelburg as quickly as possible.

When they approached Maethelburg they could see the town had come under siege and was destroyed. There were no guards on duty and the gates were ajar. Multiple spots in the outer fence were burnt and broken through.

The fellowship approach cautiously and saw that all of the dwellings appeared to have been burnt and destroyed. To their horror, the fellowship saw what was generating the smoke. Piles of burnt bodies smouldering. Upon closer inspection the party saw that the bodies seemed to be those of women, children, and small animals. The bodies of men and warriors were missing.

The fellowship increased their pace to reach the upper level of Maethelburg and saw as they approached that all the guards had been killed and placed on pikes surrounding the upper level. The party rushed forward and their location was again given away by their noisy approach.

They were soon rushed by an Oni and a pack of Ice Trolls. The Oni ordered to Ice Trolls to attack and to kill them all. This time Kifak rushed forward to attack and cast Spirit Guardians in the midst of the Ice Trolls. The rest of the fellowship focused first on the Oni and were able to defeat the Oni leaving behind a purple mist and his mask falling to the ground. The Spirit Guardians relentlessly attacked the Ice Trolls and when the Oni was defeated it was only a matter of time until the Ice Trolls were all defeated.

Once the Oni and Ice Trolls were defeated, Kifak reached down and picked up the Oni mask that was left behind when he was defeated. When he looked up he saw the mayor up on a pike in the center of the square. Kifak stepped forward and spit on the mayor.

With all the enemies dispatched the fellowship decided to take a long rest.

In the morning the fellowship lowered the mayor and Kifak cast Speak with the Dead. Kifak asked the mayor what happened to Maethelburg.

The mayor informed the fellowship that Nixe and her horde destroyed the town as retribution for the mayor sending Aenwyn to the Goblins with the fellowship. The mayor informed the fellowship that he was ordered by Nixe to torture Aenwyn for information as Nixe believed Aenwyn has a Palantir in her possession. Although the mayor would betray the fellowship, he could not bring himself to torture Aenwyn.

The fellowship then thought of the other two questions they wanted to ask the mayor.