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As they neared the river, however, it seemed their path was not to be as smooth as Naic had hoped. The first sign that something unusual was afoot was a darkness that seemed like a cloud on the far side of the river. A cloud it seemed, but low to the ground, and moving at a pace too swift for wind.

"What do you think that is?" queried Dwaelf, pointing to his left as they rode parallel to, but not beside, the mighty force. "Some freak of the weather? Or has Sauron found some new way to befoul the earth?"

A real chill went up Gáriands spine. "That's not a cloud.." he said, scouting the areas around him. "It could be stormcrows, or other of Saurons flying menaces. But it doesn't really look like that.. It looks like, well, a swarm of something!" Griand looked towards to others as they were halting. "What do you think, find out or check that later?"

"Whatever it is, it has seen us and our position along the River," Naic said staring intently. "It has far better eyes than I, but I can guess that we could lose it in the mountain pass."

As Naic considered the thought he knew that the cloud was not the concern here at all.

"We must be cautious, the Misty Mountains' inhabitants know we are coming now."

As the companions reached the Old Forest Road and turned towards the river, the darkness on the far bank became clearer. Foulness besmattered the far back, and a low, dark mist hovered above it. The earth was trampled, as though a small army had passed, and even from the far shore they could see that vegetation had been wantonly destroyed, small trees and bushes hewn down and left where they had fallen. A palpable sense of anger and despair still hung in the air, darkening the light of day before the evening was fully upon them.

An unspeakable stench hung in the air, and a cloud of bloated flies hovered above a larger area which looked as though it had been used for refuse and worse things.

"What manner of force has passed through here?" demanded Dwaelf. "This land was always fair and unspoilt and now it looks like the habitation of orcs or goblins!"

"I can't tell you what, but I am darn sure it wasn't orcs or goblins. They leave another stench.." Gáriand said as he sniffed the air. "This smells more like... death. Pure death.."

As they rode along the river, they looked around and saw that flowers were colourless and bowing for the stench. It was with a heavy heart that they took the turn away from the river and started the ascending of the Misty Mountains. Knowing that they would probably meet even worse foes up in the treacherous peaks, but together they would stand and together they would come down on the other side. No matter what the meet, nothing were a match for the Rangers of Thintaur!

As they rode higher, the daylight lasted an hour or two longer. But the inevitably night was creeping in, so they started to look out for a place to make camp for the night. And not longer after, they found a spot close to a river. The forest grove would give them a somewhat cover from the wind, and the river would probably provide them with fish. So, as the two others were setting up camp, Gáriand went to the river to catch the dinner.

Naic was on his back looking at the stars while Baleti grazed in the nearby grass. Into the forest and back out again he thought. The time spent away was almost too much for him away in Gondor. The feeling of getting further away again seemed like a funny thing to him. He smiled as he considered the fact that once upon a time this would have been an entire convoy going to Rivendell. The kinship had always rallied to help anyone in trouble. But, now they had scattered. That would have to be a separate quest unto itself, finding the others was his next goal.

Kali as she had nicknamed herself had been returning to ThinTaur from a brief journey to Rohan. She had not necessarily any reason for her brief adjourn other than the fact sometimes staying in one place for so long made her legs ache. She loved her home and all of her companions within it but did find that the lack of stimulation in their relaxed abode (despite frequent tangles with orcs and goblins) left her wishing for adventure. In these times, she and her cream mount Tamm would find a destination and up and leave, even just to visit and bring back needed supplies to the stronghold in Mirkwood.

Her returning had been from one such occasion when she had happened upon a scent so strong she would have blamed her horse Tamm had she not know all he had eaten was hay and grass in the last few days. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and nearly shivered at the rotten scent of death and decay. She had reigned Tamm in with one hand and directed him higher, even if it diverted their path temporarily she was aware that the higher ground would give the added breeze to dissipate the heavy odour. Not caring to ponder as to the reason for the scent on such an empty stomach she decided to leave her inquiry until morning.

Walking amongst the dappled moonlight she saw ahead what looked like a smouldering fire near the riverside. A whiff of cooked fish overpowered her senses and her stomach growled impatiently. She could see two horses with her keen eyesight, one larger than the other. As she approached the small makeshift camp she spotted a marking on the brow of the smaller horse. Could it be?

Riding closer and dismounting she walked closer to the fire. A man lay spread eagled on his back and guessing from who it was, probably already knew someone approached them.
"Well, well. Rangers of ThinTaur", she smiled heartily, always surprised by her feelings of joy when reunited with friends.

"So uuuuhh... is there any fish?". She laughed easily.

"For you, Jess, always," laughed Dwaelf, unaware that his fellow ranger had yet again changed her name. "But watch out for the bones. Naic nearly choked on one a moment ago."
He beckoned her to take a seat at the fireside and handed her a fish, still steaming. "Eat all you like," he continued. "Gáriand can always catch some more - he seems to like fishing."
As the girl lowered herself to the ground and took the fish, he gestured towards the despoiled land beneath them. "Any idea what's been going on here?" he asked. "Or have you only just reached here in answer to the call?"

(OOC: Hey! lol! My rp character always been Kali! Sooooo NER! lol ).

Kali looked over to a very still Naic laying flat on his back and raised a brow, "Uhh... so did anyone manage to pull the fish bone out of his throat or did we just leave him to work it out himself?". She sat down accepting a peice of fish and looked it over meticulously for bones before gobbling half of it in a few mouthfuls with a rather unelf-like display of slobbishness.

"I was coming from Rohan" she explained between bites, "I'm not sure what is going on, but I can tell you something smelt funny back there". She scrunched up her face at the memory. "I didn't see or hear the call either. I just managed to escape the smell by journeying higher upwind of it and happened to come across you all. I am pleased that I did".

Soon a myriad of white bones were collected daintily in a pile at her feet, each picked clean of any edible flesh. After a few mouthfuls of slightly brackish water at the river she wiped her face clean and reseated herself by the fire. "Is Gariand still fishing?" she inquired wondering where the cheerful lad was for she could see his horse munching on grass by a tree nearby.

Having heard a new, soft voice on top of Naics coughing and Dwealfs laughing had made Gáriand curious. He did recognize it, but couldn't place it. Not till he saw the long black hair of Kali as he snuck up on the camp with his catch did he realize that their fire had brought yet another Ranger into their party.

"Is Gariand still fishing?" Kali inquired, as he came strolling behind her as silent as he could. Dwaelf started to laugh as he saw Gáriand holding a small fish ready to slap Kali across her face, but before he could finish the rather unsuspected greeting his mouth was filled with cold, wet fish as he laid on the grass with the earlier pray on top of the former predator.

"Ok, ok. You've still got it and I'm still a prankster!" Gáriand laughed as he spit out the fish. "But you only got me because Dwaelf couldn't keep shut!" As they both got up the hugged and sat down. Gáriand found a steel-bowl and filled it with water, before he set it down to boil on top of the fire. "Seeing as you came from the same way as us, did you notice anything fishy down in the alley?" Gáriand asked, looking a little worried.