The party headed north along the river bank. The terrain was hard for the horses and they had to be led. Thorin was very confident that he would be able to lead the group to the castle without any problems. After two days travel the ford was reached and crossed. The party camped for the night on the northern bank. Howls could be heard to the north. The party secured the horses and lit two fires.

As the night past the wolf howls got closer and closer. At about 4am Calorn decided that the wolves were too close and woke Tirel. On the ground Thorin came to the same conclusion and woke the others while arming himself. To the east of the camp was the largest collection of the animals. Thorin, Bors and Bravd lined up facing the main body of wolves. Elonil positioned herself on the far side of the horses watching to ensure that no attack was forthcoming from that direction. In the tree above the camp Tireal readied his bow and Calorn started to prepare a spell.

A large wolf started to approach the camp. It stepped into the fire light where it paused preparing to attack. The wolves behind it were barking and snarling to encourage it forward. Calorn cast his prepared sleep spell at the animal. To his delight the spell worked and the wolf collapsed. The party members on the ground considered moving forward to kill the animal but stopped when they realised that they would probably be mobbed by the other wolves. Tireal shot at slumbering wolf but missed terribly. After pausing to reload he fired again this time striking the wolf in the side. The minor injury woke the wolf, it arose staggering slightly. It started to advance towards the party. Two other wolves joined it's advance coming in on opposite flanks.

Calorn managed to knock out one of the flanking wolves while Tireal shot the other through its front leg. The injured wolf limped away from the battle. It was clear that the wolves were about to rush the party. Calorn tried to quickly rush off a spell to knock out the main wolf but he failed. The animal charged the party followed immidiately by another two wolves. The first few seconds of melee were surprisingly non-lethal. Neither Man, Dwarf or Wolf succeeded in injurying their opponent. Also Elven missile fire from above was off target.

Combat soon started to heat up. The Wolves inflicted the first strikes. Bravd was bitten in the leg. He started to bleed slightly, however his grieves had deflected most of the damage. Thorin also took some damage. Again the warriors failed to damage their opponents. Calorn tried to knock out the main wolf. It was attacking Thorin, once again he failed to pacify the enraged animal. Bors took a bite to his thigh and also started to bleed slightly. Bravd fell back slightly after fumbling his attack. Finally one of the warriors got their attack together, Thorin managed to strike the wolf in front of him in the side.

Almost frogotten and alone at the back of the camp Elonil stood facing another group of wolves. These animals lacked a leader, but faced with only one opponent were starting to advance. Elonil decided fire would be the best way to scare them off. She started to fling flaming brands in the direction of the wolves. This approach was very successful. The animals fell back and ceased to advance. The continued to prowl on the edge of the darkness, hiding in the shadows.

Calorn feeling almost drained of magical power reached for his bow and quiver. Tireal in a fine display of archery shot the wolf in front of Bravd through the neck, severing nerves and blood vessels. The animal collapsed suffering from heart failure. Thorin and Bravd both missed the remaining wolves. Calorn firing his bow for the first time in anger shot the main wolf in front of Thorin for decent damage. Bravd got bitten in the chest but in return hit the wolf squarely in the chest. The main wolf fled followed a few seconds later by the other. The party spent the next two hours shout and throwing fire-brands at the wolves to ensure that they did not re-attack. Bors and Bravd's wounds were also bandaged. Then after 3 hours sleep the party arose to head north once more.

The party rode north for four hours. They made good speed in the light woods and arrived in the early afternoon. They left stopped in the woods were they had found the baggage of the last party. Elonil and Tireal made ready to go scout out the castle. At the last minute Calorn decided to join them. The three of them snuck quitely to the edge of the treeline, to get an initial view of the castle. The place had changed much over the Winter months. A new door had been placed built and the walls looked in better shape. Tireal also noticed recent tracks of about 8 humans mingled with orc tracks. The tracks led to and from the castle. He also spotted what looked to be an archer in a tower through the arrow slit. Calorn headed back to the others with s information.

Calorn, Bors and thr Dwarved dicussed the implications of the Orc and Human tracks for a while. Eventually Tireal and Elonil returned. Elonil was soaking wet. She had crawled up the stream leading into the castle. The stream's entrance to courtyard had been blocked with a number of rusty two-handed swords. She seemed keen to back. She reckoned that with one strong person along she would be able to remove one sword and repostion another. The resulting gap would allow her to get inside. This plan was deemed too risky by the others. Instead Tireal and Elonil were sent to scout out the land to the north of the castle. They returned after an hour or so. They had seen no significant tracks leading away for the castle. It was decided that Lord Fardwith with 7 supporters had taken up residence in the castle in colusion with the Orcs. This information had to be brought back to Minas Brethil so the party set out south. They hoped to be on the far side of the ford by nightfall. The river would probably prevent wolf attacks.

After about an hour of riding south Tireal and Bors suddenly started yelling and screaming. They kicked their horses into full gallope and rushed south. As they past the rest of the party they yelled 'Ride it's coming, It's Huge'. The rest of the party also fled south. Calorn could here nothing following him so slowed and looked over his shoulder. At first he could see nothing, but then a mist started to form. Out of the mist rode a Black Knight on a Huge Black Horse. The man was wearing Black Plate and held a massive sword in one hand. The reared then turned to follow Calorn's trail. Calorn his face pail and eyes wide with terror fled south.

The party continued to ride south at full pace. Bors, Tireal and Calorn ever ahead. It was as if the others had not seen the rider. When they reached the tributary the three in front were travelling to fast too stop safely. Their horses stopped but the riders went sailing into the river. Struggling from the impact and fear they tried to stand up. Only to see the Black Knight approaching. As he got nearer he drew forth a morning star. Letting the head drop he started to swing the weapon. Bors, Tireal and Calorn all past out.

They awoke some hours later slumped across horses. Looking up they realised that they were safe. They were slung in the horses of the other party members. The others apparently had never seen the rider. They did not know why the Elves and Bors had fled so swiftly. Their horses had been lost after they fell inthe river. They had been lifted from the river and carried across the ford, then west for about an hour. The party camped for the night. Some members were cold and hungry as most of their possesions had been on their horses. In the morning Tireal was gone...