[Mithadan]

Gravlox returned to his troops bearing various cuts and chops of grilled Fatblob. The Uruks and Wargs set upon the feast hungrily washing their not so dainty bites down with liberal slugs of Orc Draught. Soon, most were collapsed on the ground in a stupor. But Gravlox had eaten little and more often than not, his eyes strayed to the east to look at the golden trees and billboards of Topfloorien.
One of his soldiers approached him with concern. "Is there something wrong, Captain?" said Buzzcut, wiping his greasy hands on his red shirt. "Is it that lying fox? Shall we hunt it down for you?"

Gravlox sighed. "No, Buzzcut," he replied. "The fox didn't lie. The Elves, I...we missed them. I found their tracks. They are in Topfloorien."

"Well, that's that," said Buzzcut. "We can't attack Topfloorien. We'd need at least three or four more Uruks."

"No, we cannot attack Topfloorien. But..." the Captain said, the beginnings of a plan falling into place. "Maybe we can do something." He stretched lazily and plucked a beetle out of the air. It crunched noisily as he popped it into his mouth. "We will cross the river, you, I and three others. The rest will make camp in the pass. Maybe they'll intercept some other careless travellers. But we will...scout out the area. Maybe there is something we can do..."