Wonderful. He can't even cast a mage-light there, not from this distance. Are there any spots of light visible? Fires, artifacts...? 

There are lightstones in some houses, and a couple people are going around the outsides of the city with a torch.

Then Leareth will skim in closer and follow the torches, looking for signs of damage to the city, before trying to scry inside the Palace itself looking for people. 

There's a lot of damage to the city; looks like maybe Melkor and his spider buddy smashed through here either on their way to the Trees or their way out. The Palace is hard to find because it is in a lot of pieces.

That isn’t good. :Maitimo?: He shares the image as he reaches the workshop. :Where might people have gone, if they - survived...:

...out of the city, maybe? Eru. I should go back.

:Maybe. Worth taking time to consider and decide - and prepare for it, if you do go back. I would rather we can find someone to safely contact and organize the survivors to Gate out: He keeps panning around the city. Do the houses with lightstones have people in them?

Yep, there are people huddled around some of these lightstones.

Leareth sits down on the ground just outside Fëanàro's workshop, close enough to draw on the Silmarils. He goes in close enough to show Maitimo faces, then to the next light-source, and the next, however long it takes to explore everything left of the city. 

The city is in significant part intact; it appears that its attackers barrelled in straight for the palace and then straight out, leaving a wide trail of rubble but also plenty of buildings standing. There are people still living in some of those buildings, though not many of them. 

Maitimo picks some who'd be good people to ask what's been going on.

Leareth drops the spell, spends a minute resting, then thinks. 

:If we wish to establish contact immediately: he offers, :my preferred plan would be to select a remote place some miles away from the city, within osanwë range, with natural cover and not remarkable in any way. I can do a scrying variant for magic alone; it is more tiring, but since I assume there should be no magical artifacts in the wilderness, it would allow us to detect any Maiar rather than land on top of them. I cannot rule out that a Gate is detectable to Maiar, or to Melkor if he is on the continent. So I would suggest we go in as briefly as possible, under illusion, and Gate out if I sense anything coming. Hopefully that will be enough to obtain a report. What do you think?: 

Nod. Can we do it from somewhere other than here? For an extra layer of indirection, in case something can follow the Gate back...

:That is a good idea, but if we do it indirectly in both directions, that is four Gates. Either I will be thoroughly exhausted again by our return or I will need more than jewelry to draw on. Huan would do, but Huan is not here, and the only other option is the Silmarils, which - I am not very comfortable suggesting we remove from these caves: He's not sure what to do from there. 

Yeah. Sigh. All right. Two gates. 

:The bearing of the link between two Gates should not be detectable from outside: Leareth points out. :Since it routes through the Void, which is another plane where space and distance behave differently. The magic of each threshold is very 'loud', but – this side is underground. Enough rock in the way will conceal magic, and I can add some additional shields around us, which is a good idea anyway and will not make it any harder to Gate out since we are not going through the intervening space at all. Someone would have to physically follow us through the Gate, or look through and recognize our location, in order to find us here. I think that is unlikely if we take the other precautions and stay on our guard – and you need to be quick, once we arrive: 

Understood. I think I can do it in a few minutes, and if you notice anything we'll leave before that.

:All right: Leareth hesitates. :How much are you going to explain to your father first?: 

I'll tell him the plan. Telling Fëanáro things in such a way that he doesn't interfere with them is usually not hard at all. He'll be worried, of course - his wife is there, his father is there - but he probably won't want to modify the plan.

Leareth will grab something to eat while he’s doing that, casting shielding on the walls as he walks, then draw on the Silmarils for as much energy as he can hold before he starts scrying around for a good empty area to land.

He updates his father on the situation.

The darkness makes it hard to see any terrain but Leareth at least finds an area clear of magic or any lights hinting at habitation. :Ready?:

Yes.

Gate, and through, and he takes it down and shields and illusions them and flings out a net of wards to warn him of anything approaching. 

What happened?

Maitimo? Melkor killed the Trees. Are you all right? You all made it there safely?