"I hope you have a better plan for Angband," she says, following.

"I'd hope so too... I think - especially with Sauron's body disrupted - we can take the form of some of his servants and slip in through the front. Once within... The throne room is the locus of Morgoth's power, and so any spell cast there will be mighty indeed throughout all of Angband, but getting a spell off would need time and most likely a distraction. Other places are possible - but we have a good chance of getting caught, or not catching the entire fortress."

'That Luthien dances in front of Morgoth, sending the entire fortress into a slumber, is extremely scripted,' she sends her wife privately. 'Especially with the simulacrum programmed as it is, and Sauron's body disrupted, it's likely to go nearly exactly as it usually does. Which means safely, for us.'

"Sounds workable. I think we can use the werewolves pelts to help the disguise."

She nods. "That'll help even against Morgoth's more perceptive servants..." She waves to Huan, then - on to sort through likely werewolves?

As distasteful a task as it is, yes.

She and Huan can handle much of it.

That would be helpful.

Small kiss.

And she goes to sort through the werewolves for ones who look to be loners. Smaller, lankier. Less likely to have anyone who knows them, more likely to be employed as scouts. She picks out four wolves in total, skinning them cleanly with a soft song.

That will do for a basis. She'll work on the disguises as they get closer.

(Huan's a bit grouchy about pretending to be a werewolf, but they'll put up with it with some coaxing.)

She rubs Huan's ears, and sets to helping Luthien with the disguises over their trek north. As last time, it's a long way across the wastes - but orcs only see them from a distance, and the wolf-forms seem to work.

There's been enough excitement for a little while.

Yeah. The travel north gives them some breathing time, at least.

Still, there's more excitement to come.

By the time they get to Angband, they'll be prepared for it.

The land before Angband is a desolate, scarred wasteland, mixed ash and dry, cracked earth. The rain that falls here is sparse and acidic, the few rivers toxic, and sunlight is rare and weak. The gates are enormous, guarded by an enormous wolf and several smaller deputies - but Mygwainor doesn't think it'll harm them to take one of the nearby side entrances (again), so long as they keep to the script in other ways.

No reason to poke that particular dog just yet.

Yeah.

In through a side entrance, and - where does Luthien want to go from here?

Best that she and Mygwainor at least head right for the throne room.

She agrees - though she's not sure where it's smartest to put Finrod.

If he can be stealthy, he could look for the prisoners?

"I can do that," he says, "And it sounds like the best place for me, honestly."

"All right. Once the guards fall asleep, start work on getting people out."

He nods. "Got it."

Time to split up, then?

Seems like it.