[Farael]

The situation was worst than what it had looked like. Just when Osmod was hoping to get across the river quickly, they found yet another difficulty. The rafts were waiting for them, albeit on the wrong side of the river. He nodded his head when Fion suggested they went looking through the boat-houses for anything that could help them cross the river. Osmod added that they should also look for any supplies that may be useful on the road to Edoras. The group stayed together for a moment, still hesitant to part ways even if for a moment. Then, still lost in their thoughts, each of them went searching through the houses.

Osmod chose an old house that stood by the river. It was small; probably nothing more than a storage room, but maybe there was something useful in there. Unlike most of the other houses, the door was shut. Rather than a lock, it had a length of rope tied in a complicated knot. He looked to the skies, his hopes failing. Instead, he saw a tree, with a pulley secured on its trunk. The tree was strong and the pulley was big, as if made for heavy work, yet there were no tall structures around. Nothing he could see would need such a big pulley. Until then, he had not considered how the rafts were manned. He looked at the rope, the door that was still closed and then at the pulley. He turned around and made his way back to where Sythric was waiting. “Pray tell, my friend, you have been here before, have you not? You said something about ropes to get the rafts across. Did you also say something about pulleys? There is a strong one on the tree over there, and I’m starting to think it may be meant for the rafts.” Osmod looked over the old man’s shoulder and on to the rafts on the other shore ” If we could get one rope across, with the help of the pulley, we may be able to pull the raft back to our side of the river. I wonder where we can find such a long rope…” His voice trailed off, as he remembered the closed storage room and wondered what laid on the inside.