Escella had seen Lord Darfin many times around Daggerford but had only spoken to him on one occasion. Being a minor nobleman of the region, her father had often attended court functions under Duke Paewyn Daggerford (the current Duke's father) and had often taken her along as a child. On one such event, Escella (who had grown bored with the political chatter of the adults) was playing a mock sword-fight with a noble boy and had rounded a pillar in the great hall and had bumped into the elf-lord who was standing there speaking with his nephew, Kelson (later to become her patron).
She had dropped the meat-skewer that was her mock-sword, and the elf had scooped it up and handed it back to her, showing her a superior grip while smiling kindly. She had utterly forgotten this event until just this moment when Lord Darfin corrected himself saying, "Then I was wrong. We have met, Escella. My nephew Kelson, speaks highly of you."
As they got down to business, he said, "We have been outnumbered, of course, as Floshin Manor does not keep its own militia - just a few guards, and friends that stay here when they are not elsewhere. This has made it difficult for us to do much more than defend the place, while the orcs grow in number. We have been able to determine that they follow a leader they call the 'Pale Chief'. I have seen him; he is very pale for an orc."