Guinoriel versus Gollum, Round 1

One day, while Guinoriel is traversing the dense flora that is Echad Candelleth in The Trollshaws, she comes across a fellow elf who asks a small deed of her. This elf had apparently felled a white hart in days past, yet it was dark, and he lost his hunt. So he asks Guinoriel to go to where he shot it down, and retrieve his arrows. (Why he couldn't do it himself, who would know exactly where to find it, is beyond me.) Guinoriel doesn't really want to, but she needs to get into good graces with elf-kind, so she goes about on the hunt for the elf's arrows.

She finds the white beast, all right. Except it's not very white anymore. In fact, it's been quite...taken apart... by some unknown creature. Disgusted yet curious, Guinoriel follows tracks of the offender, which leads her past remains of fishes that have been picked to the bone. The trail eventually takes her to a little cottage inhabited by a small family. They confide that at night, they get tormented by some beast/creature, who takes their food and nearly snatches their young one! They enlist Guinoriel's help to set up a trap for the creature, after which they can finally capture it and dispose of it however they see fit. So, she gathers a bundle of fish and lays it below a window of the house, and waits for the cover of nightfall. The moment finally arrives when...

The creature sneaks to the house...

It takes the bait...

So Guinoriel runs after him to capture him! But he's too fast and too sneaky, and he eludes her grasp by climbing up a cliff face.

The menace gets away, but Guinoriel gets the sense that the battle isn't quite over. He now knows she exists, and she refuses to let a fight go unfinished. For good or for evil, Gollum now plays a part in Guinoriel's story. Only time will tell when these foes will reunite. One question lurks in Guinoriel's mind: was she the hunter, or was she the hunted? She will continue on to Rivendell. Hopefully, there she can get the answer she seeks.

Current level: 45