Storytelling: Book 3, Chapter 1 - Ranger of the Fields

Halbarad and I discussed the news of Estelding, the North Downs, and the world beyond through the night. Angmar, to the east, was beginning to grow in power, but Halbarad had heard there were orc tribes moving throughout the many fronts of the North Downs. The falled capital of Arnor, Fornost, was a crucial holding point for the battles raging throughout the North Downs. Halbarad asked me to meet with Mincham, an Esteldin Ranger, camped to the south of Fornost.

I left Esteldin just before sunrise. The farms I passed were seemed more empty than ever. It was a horrible thought that the Free Peoples could not protect the farms, which provided food and warmth to all. It was a worse thought that the farms of the North Downs foreshadowed Bree-land's fate.

I got to Mincham's camp just as the sun was waking. The Ranger's camp was breaking their fast with their fire already well stoked for the coming morning. Mincham told me that he believed Fornost was now occupied by the forces of Angmar. I knew of the spectres and shades that haunted the fields of Fornost, as I had combated them many a nights. It was in my quests to redeem the lost Men that I had first met Mincham and members of his small outpost.

The Ranger asked that I scout Fornost because he was unsure whether a small company had holed up in the old city, or whether a entire tribal army of Angmar had occupied it as a staging ground to start pushing south to Bree.