How had this situation degraded so rapidly? Sigeric wondered this as he attempted to salvage what he could of their reputation. "Don't worry, Ha'zi, I will handle this, if it please His Majesty.
"All was well when we departed from Minas Tirith. Ha'zi was involved with the Savage shifter, but he was no traitor. Neither he nor Iver (nor Daugo, for that matter) were privy to her deceit, and any claim otherwise is false. When we eventually arrived to the valley of Udun, we were fairly confident that all was going well, and went ahead without any obstacle. However, before we knew what was happening, Morgoth's defenses were activated, and we were trapped. Miriel and two other infiltrators revealed themselves to be enemies, and battle began when a large force of hostile Maiar and creatures of darkness arrived to the fray. At some point, Iver and Ha'zi were captured, and some outside force made Ha'zi turn against us.
"Things were bleak until the tide was momentarily turned. Tulkas and Eonwe arrived with their own warriors, and we managed to rout the enemy Maiar. Combat between Tulkas and Sauron himself ensued and was over within minutes, forcing Morgoth himself to come out and face the Vala. They began their duel, and everything was pointing to Tulkas' victory. But then... something happened that we cannot quite explain. It would seem that Sauron was somehow able to stab the Champion from behind, killing him.
"While all this was happening, Morgoth's own shifters took advantage of the oportunity and escaped. I am sure that they were as slaves to him, and that they owe him no allegiance. They look out for their own interests only. In fact, we were able to reach some sort of understanding during the heat of battle; they helped us fight our own rogue Destroyer giant, though he was eventually slain by a hitherto unknown foe, who they know only as Aranel. She made quick work of him.
"All was lost. We retreated as best we could, our forces decimated in large part by the giant known as the Leviathan, similar in sheer devastation to the Behemoth. Iver escaped from Morgoth's dungeons, an experience which understandably has left deep scars. And so, our remnants regrouped in Ithilien, where we found the Leviathan's shifter in a sorry state. He was executed, his power passing on to our comrade Marco.
"That is the story of our expedition to Mordor. None of us betrayed the Free Peoples, and all of us have suffered greatly."