IC: Chapter I - Leiknir Manor

Caranthiel and Vidar start talking about all the things they've seen and learned here, and you both come to the conclusion that what you've seen and fought can only be what is known to the Free Folk as a "secret shadow".

They are fairly high-ranking servants of the Shadow. Said to be creations of Morgoth, himself. They are generally deployed as messengers - carrying VERY important messages only - or, also as spies as they are intelligent as such creatures go anyway, stealthy, and patient. It is said that in past Ages such creatures had the ability to take on the appearance of Man. But such strong and dark magicks have since passed from the world.

They are known to travel with more mundane, great bats - not unlike the couple you fought here with it. They've been spoke of primarily as residing in places of darkness, like Mirkwood, or refuges of the Shadow, so it's perhaps a bit odd to find one just out here in the Wastes.

Based on the signs which Astrid found that it has been here for some time, it's hard to think it was on a mission as a messenger - due to the fact that it has been in one place for so long.

Despite his wasted state and filthy and tattered clothes, Astrid thinks she's able to say with some certainty that he is definitely a Northman. Maybe a Barding settler trying to reclaim the Waste, or based on his clothes more likely of a more northern tribe. From a people of the eastern Grey Mountains, or people returning to the Withered Heath, perhaps?

Astrid goes through his clothes as much as she can without producing groans of discomfort from the man, and there just doesn't seem to be much to find. His woolen, knit shirt and trousers and hide vest may have once been nice. But they are now tattered and caked in... filth. From the smell as it's disturbed, it's likely a mix of dirt, blood, vomit, and excrement. Whatever personal belongings he may have had, even his shoes, appear to be long gone. With the care of the strangers though, he does seem to be maintaining.