Gryfflet has been awaiting our return to the culverts beneath Osgiliath ready to hunt down the enemy remnant as requested. He tracks down the strangely happy leader and defeats him, along with a suitable number of his crew and returns above ground to report his success to Mablung. The latter is happy to send us on to the Cross-roads to join Aragorn's Host on their way to Mordor and on our way we meet up with Mithrandir who has been patiently waiting for us on Shadowfax. We get to watch a brief cinematic of the Host's departure before Mithrandir sends us to talk with Pippin, still shaken from his recent experiences. Pausing only to check for stealthy Mûmakil Gryfflet meets up with Angbor and Aragorn at the Cross-roads. The former wants us to help restore the huge statue; the latter wants the trumpeters lurking nearby to announce our progress. Angbor rather confusingly wants us to also tell some of the nearby Orcs about the King's return so, trumpets having sounded, we set out to confront some Orcs which affords us time for more Lore discussion. This accomplished, Angbor refers us to Arandol who is in charge of the statue. He asks Gryfflet to tidy up the detritus from the Orcish vandalism, then replace the original head, taking advantage of our doughty Hobbit's capacious pockets; after that we return to Osgiliath to fetch some clean water and stone to clean and repair the statue. Returning to the Cross-roads, Gryfflet embarks on an orgy of cleaning and is somewhat disconcerted when his efforts prove only too transient but his next task involves accompanying Aragorn and Mithrandir to the Morgul Vale to make sure that the Host is safe from ambush from that particular direction. We burn some noisome flowers and defeat some shades, then Gandalf, showing an astonishing turn of speed, explodes the bridge and we return to the Cross-roads. Angbor sends us down the hill to double-check with Mablung then we meet up with Thurindol, an Ithilien Ranger whom we met previously. He sets up a rendezvous at the baths of Aelin Veren once we have performed a sheaf of tasks for him so we set off, slaughtering Orcs and clearing detritus as we go. We visit the ruined fortress of Bâr Aroth where we deprive the Orcs of their axes, their collections of skulls, and then their lives. We perform a patrol circuit as requested and discover the Variag Jarl and his crew from last session who are on their way home: we arrange a rendezvous near the Field of Cormallen. As we complete our patrol we are overshadowed by something unseen: we report this to Thurindol at the baths and he suspects it to have been a flying Nazgûl. He is more pleased with the rest of our report and arranges to meet us at Henneth Annûn when we have helped his colleagues here at Aelin Veren: they seem to have captured a band of Southrons, but they will have to wait until next session.
"Great, that guy spots me just in time to alert the Troll!"
"Gryfflet is so fast in stealth, it just makes me so happy!"
"Who's the cheerful fellow? It's him!"
"He's not headless yet!"
"I keep seeing the bottom of the Eye of Sauron as a smiley face!"
"I'm going to charge him!"
"It is part of the thing!"
"Now that is an attractive patch of water right there!"
"Now that is a stone of remarkable purity!"
"Gandalf's got buns of steel!"
"Well, that was just rude!"
"Just let it go, guys, let it go!"
Lore discussed this session included the parochial attitudes of the average Hobbit. We speculate briefly on the identity of the Statue at the Cross-roads and what kind of magic the Orcs might have practised.