Forced Labor

So Squid and I finally managed to push a little bit farther in the epic line, and wouldn't you know it, those stupid Dunlendings, who we'd helped and helped and helped, they sold us out to Saruman. Now we're prisoners, forced to work in his dungeons. Squid had the worst of it, as I think I was too busy being a photographer to actually help her with her tasks. She manages to carry a barrel full of weapons magnificently though. Sashays like a boss. Her taskmaster is staring like a creeper over the top of the barrel. Try as we might, we couldn't get rid of him. Kept stalking her. Course, she is gorgeous. I only wish it wasn't so dark underneath Orthanc, because it makes for dim, hard to see pictures.

And she has some awesome moves. Like this one, to the left, where she douses a rat in holy light. We actually had a quest called "Kill Ten Rats." I don't know if that was just lazy story-writing on the part of the devs, or pure genius. Also, my eagle, can't remember his name, looks fantastic in this picture. All swoopy. Ahem. Even though we were prisoners, our wardens were kind enough to let us keep our weaponry. And our nanimals. What kind of prison is slavery in Orthanc, anyways? Other than the hard labor and disgusting living conditions, it wasn't that bad.

So a short post, because I am out of sudafed.

SHFT: Super Rare

Short post today, just wanted to brag.

So today, I was exploring a random hole in the ground and came across someone odd. Mr. Tim. No, Squid, not Mr. Timn. Just Tim. He wasn't hard to kill, and he dropped a spiffy hat.

And the best part?  Apparently he's super rare and killing him is the only way to get that hat. Now I feel special, cause Indy has a pointy hat.

This almost makes up for me deleting my spectre boots.

Dunedain Outfittery and the Prince of Rohan

Let me start out by saying I am really enjoying what Turbine is doing with their new book content. Either they've got some new tech or they're showing off some new trick, but either way, some of the things I've seen in the Rise of Isengard expac and the new update 5, which just launched today, are making me bouncy happy.

Preparing for battle

Mounted npc's? Yes please. Now, when do we get mounted combat? Would that even be possible, Turbine? Also, looks like they are getting more comfortable with putting lots of npcs in one spot - some of the epic solo chapters are, well, epic. Between Wulf's Cleft and this new chapter, the Prince of Rohan, I am finding the story to be much more immersive, and superbly written. I suppose with the launch of SW:TOR looming on the horizon, it makes sense for any mmo other than WoW, and maybe even that one too, to throw everything they have at their player base in an attempt to retain subscribers. I have come to the sad decision to cut off my lotro subscription in the coming months, but that is the beauty of the game being free to play, I suppose. I can keep playing, and only pay for what I want. How a la carte of Turbine.





I haven't finished the new book in Volume III yet, but I'm loving what I have seen so far. Especially the fact that Indy finally has Dunedain clothing. I have wanted that since she first stumbled into Esteldin, over three years ago.Back then, the rangers were cool. And now, Indy is about 20% cooler. I'm just wondering how it will hold dye. My wardrobe is drooling, waiting for both sets to be put in it. That is, assuming I can afford the extra wardrobe space. I might just pick certain pieces for everyone else, and reserve the complete set for Indy. She gets all the shiny things. Boot knife!!! It's only fair, you know. Okay, now I'm just rambling. I'll stop.

I can't wait to get into some of the new Isengard instances. It will probably be a while, and Indy is kind of behind on her gear, but I'll catch up eventually. It just might take me a while.

Since Squid hasn't made much of an appearance lately, here she is in her sultry new duds, beating an old goat about the brainpan with a stick.

I miss my free time.

Happy Autumn!

Squid and I have been slowly enjoying bits of the new Lotro expansion, Rise of Isengard. To celebrate Autumn and it's none-too-early arrival, Squid came up with a rather festive outfit and attempted to share her happiness with a new-found, errr, friend at the Dunlending city of Galtrev. It didn't go so well.

Squid and her new half-orc friend-thing.

More posts on the loremaster's adventures through Isengard to come!

 .... not that any of you out there in the great big Interwebs actually reads this.

Squid and her Loblolly

Squid the Loremaster and her Lurker, Loblolly. Both of them are being especially awesome.

Squid, the awesome

Squid taking on the orcs of Dol Guldur.

A Day with the Loremasters: Horse Envy and Menial Labor

So Squid and I began work on Volume III the other day, and it didn't exactly begin as epicly as the other volumes had. It was all menial labor - as in the screenie to the right, where I am toting pumpkins for Butterbur. Silly innkeeper can tote his own pumpkins for all I care. We were also required to tote various other produce, but I didn't feel the need to record each and every step of the way, as soon after I finished playing carry-all, I met up with sis in the common room of the Pony for a pint before we headed out.
Silly elf was finding Barliman's benches way too comfortable and refused to move for a while. I felt the need to scold her while she took an inordinately long afk. I took this time to notice, as if for the first time, the messy state of the Pony. You'd think that all that time I spent carrying vegetables that the proprietor could at least wipe down a table or right a stool or something. Anything. But no, it's all a mess, and it's been a mess, and it will always be a mess, and all Butterbur will do is stand there saying "So much to do!". You're telling me. Go do some of it, you lazy innkeeper bum.



After Squid finally decided to move, we set off for the northern edge of Bree, where we had to fight off a ruffian who had been insulting Squid's sabercat, Ronon. Ronon took great joy in beating the tar out of this ruffian, as did Squid. Except she called down fire and lightning, like Taborlin the Great (sorry, had to put that in there) and he ran off squealing, much like a little piglet. Excuse my big head in this screenie, but I was awestruck by how awesome Lightning Storm looks when seen from the third person. I usually don't get that sort of view.

Then, Squid decided she needed to show off her newest horse, the Steed of Night. She managed to acquire it the day before it left the Lotro Store (forever?) and made no attempt at hiding the fact that she had a horse I did not. I have to admit, it's a nice looking horse, moreso when I don't have one myself. Le sigh.

One day I will have the most amazing horse in the game. I just need to decide which horse that is first.

Glasswork and Hired Help

 Today I made a good deal of progress on the Masterwork, mostly in those four-way arches that will eventually line both sides of the cathedral interior. Notice that some of my dirt scaffolding is still in place. I removed as much of the redundant/unnecessary scaffolding as I could, but some of it I forsee myself needing again in the future, so I left it there.

I also finished up a bunch of framework for the windows, and with Squid's help, got them all even ("three singles and a double!") Then I gave her a bunch of glass and she filled in all the windows I had framed up for me.

I am excited to see what it looks like when the details on the outside - the flying buttresses and such - are finished as well. I hope they will dress up the outside, because right now those walls are a bit too smooth. I will have to post pictures of those archways on the interior once I get them all finished. Also notice that doorway smack in the middle of the wall. That, in all likelihood, will not be in the final version, but with the walls up, I needed something to let me in and out between my storage chests and the construction easily. Why I couldn't just put the chests in the middle of the cathedral I don't know.

In honor of all my talk of flying buttresses, I give you the only movie reference I know of related to classical architecture.

The Yule Fest

I know this is late, the Yule Fest is over. But I found these in my screenie file, and didn't want to just delete them. Instead of your normal Yulefestery, this year Turbine gave us a whole new area with Frostbluff. It had several activites, like an eating contest, a very fun little theater instance, and a snowball fight. There were others, I just can't remember them at this point in time. Oh, and one of the cool things about this festival is it was the first time in the game you are asked to make a moral decision based on what you have learned through the story. Once you have made your choice, that's it. No going back. Also, this is the last time I will mention that moral dilemma. It was a bit traumatic to make. Not that anyone cares, and several people thought that the new Frostbluff area this year wasn't that great, but I thought it was pretty cool, so I will share a few screenies I took with you, the theoretical reader (because we all know you don't exist. I'm writing to the vast emptiness of the internet here, and there is no one out there).

 Here we have a view of the snowball fight, and me and Squid's lovely blue outfits. Also a view of some poor sucker who bought that $25 horse.

As a Loremaster, Thyrra has lots of animal friends, but not all of them are .... 'pets.' Edinburgh the fox, for instance, never listens to anything Thyrra says and will get up on the table and eat pie, regardless of her protests. Or, lack of protests, in this shot. I guess she's resigned herself to fate.

Here is Squid on her Hobbit Pan, who is sitting on her pony.... and isn't she just the cutest hobbit you will ever see? Squee! I want to hold it!

 I found out how to get onto the roof of one of the houses, and Indy had some fun dancing around on the chimney for a few minutes until someone shot fireworks at her.

And finally, a shot of Indy and Squid at sunset in Frostbluff, on our new Glittering Yule Steeds, this year's addition to the festival horses.

Now just to wait and see what they do new for Springfest this year.

Leaving Moria

So, the other night, Squid and I finally left Moria (I know, I have been slacking severely in my Lore-master chronicles and I can't recall if I even mentioned us going IN to Moria in the first place, but whatever, we left it). She had been refusing to leave Moria until the epic line prompted us to, because, in her words, "Once I leave Moria, I'm not going back." After running all the way east to First Hall, we stood for what seemed like ages at the doorway, just staring out into the last bit of darkness. Squid claimed she was afk, but our burglar buddy, Licentious, suggested that maybe she had Stockholm Syndrome and that perhaps Moria had been so bad to her that she couldn't tear herself away from it. She huffed and puffed at this and claimed that she could leave anytime she wanted to, thankyouverymuch.

So we left. The sunlight outside was bright and stark after the long dark of Moria. The elves of Lorien, of course, were snobby and wouldn't let us in. So we had to run back and forth, carrying arrows and clearing the orc muck out of the Nimrodel before they would let us pass. They are very protective of their realm, and even shot Squid for trying to enter Lorien before they said she could. Heck, they even stuck a couple arrows in me for getting too close to their borders while trying to clear out orc muck.

Finally, we had done enough menial demeaning work to satisfy the elves, and they let us into Lorien. As we rode our horses down the pathway, with twilight just coming on and the last bit of sunlight fading away into blue duskiness, Squid couldn't help but exclaim how beautiful everything was. I had to agree with her. Lorien has always been one of my favorite places. We ran around performing more tasks for the elves, helping them keep the forest alive and well, like in this screenshot, where we are singing to the sick trees. Apparently, in Lorien, that helps.

Eventually we had done most of the quests that didn't involve a lot of killing and resorted to outlandish acts, simply to see how far we could push the boundaries. One of the defining marks of Lorien architechture is the construction of Talan, or great platforms high up in the boughs of the Mallorn trees of Lorien. There is a deed to discover all of them, and in the process of climbing up all of them, we discovered that the huge branches can be walked out onto.

This of course led to all sorts of shenanigans, which, inevitably, led to misadventure. The problem with jumping around in branches high up in trees is that you will most likely fall out, and it is a lonnnnnggggg way down. And when you fall a long way, you will die. Which we did, more than once. It was loads of fun though, and in the end, as the sun came back up over Lorien, we called it a night and went our
separate ways, leaving the rest of Middle-earth for another day.

Perhaps eventually we will make our way further east towards Mirkwood, or even south into the wilds of Enedwaith, but for now I am content to sit and relax in the eaves of the Golden Wood.

Death to Narmeleth!!!

So Squid and I finally finished Volume 1 of the epic story in lotro. Thank heaven. Finally. I think she was ready to strangle the elf-woman by the time we were done. But, all that matters, besides strangling, is that we finished, and that we have these lovely white horses to show for it.

Oh, and matching cloaks, but it was night-time in Rivendell when we finished, so the pic didn't turn out quite as well for that one.

The story really is nice though, and if you pay attention to it (unlike sis, who just accepted and moved on without reading) it pays some interesting tributes to some lesser known Tolkien lore every now and again.

The Questing Geese Jugglers

Several months back, Squid and I created our own kinship for our alts, mostly as an experiment to see if we could use it for storage once we were eligible to buy a kin house (five months later! Aghhhhh!). After a while we forgot about the kin house though, until one day, while I was on my (then) measly level 6 champion, that I and a friend put down a wager to see who could reach level forty the fastest. I suggested a rather large sum of in-game gold (for my budget, anyways) as the prize, with certain variables for the winner's stats upon reaching forty. If everything went as planned, there was the possibility that the loser would have to pay up 15 gold. I would never have proposed this ridiculous amount of money unless I was sure I could win, which I was, seeing as how I currently am unemployed and have unlimited free time, while my opponent has a job and a farm to take care of. I felt pretty darn sure of myself.

Everything was going hunky dory, until I realized one day that no matter how hard I thought I was pushing to level, every night my opponent would manage to gain the same amount of levels or more in half the time. This was probably due in part to the difference in our classes, and that I was a heavy armor melee class, with practically no heals, and he was a light armor tactical class that could send out either massive heals or dps as needed. Finally I began to panic and realized that he was probably just toying with me, and if he so chose, he could blow me and this contest out of the water. So that weekend, I sat and stupidly played for over twenty hours straight. I made it to 40, pushing harder on some quests than I should have, and dying many more times than I could count, but I made it. Granted, I pushed so hard that I didn't have much time to level virtues, the variable factor in our wager, so I didn't come out on top with as much as I could have, but still, I came out with about 8 gold. I also came out with a strained wrist and had to wear a brace for four days. It still twinges, even now.

The prize money, combined with what I already had scattered about my other characters, finally gave me enough to purchase our Kinship house. So if you're ever in the Thorin's Hall homesteads on Gladden, feel free to stop by 5 Roaring Road, Tonbry. There's free ale, if that makes any difference.

Squid and I have yet to truly celebrate our new house (we have fireworks saved in our bags to shoot off) but I know in the future it's going to get a lot of use, provided we can remember to pay the monthly upkeep.

As silly as the contest was, we have decided to one day do it again, but on a different server where we have no backup money from other characters to fall on if need be. THAT should be interesting.

Ales and Tales at Goldberry's Spring

Last night, I decided to go to an Ales and Tales meeting on the Landroval server. Since sis called and wanted to play together just in time for us to make it, we each rolled new hobbits on Landroval (I have a warden named Elimiera and she has a burglar named Pangiruk, a tribute I suppose to her Gladden characters) and ran as fast as we could towards Goldberry's Spring, the location for this week's meeting.

I was expecting maybe a dozen people to be gathered under the trees, but no, there were probably fifty or more people standing around in the clearing. Some were dancing, many were drinking, and all were having a good time. On the large rock under the tree, a band stood and performed, and that rock became the speaking platform for each performer as the night wore on. Some recited poetry, some sang, some played music. One elf even told a lovely story of the old days and the Two Trees.

All in all it a was a fantastic time to be had and I am looking forward to next week's meeting at the Plough and Stars Inn! I might even work up my hobbit courage and recite a poem of my own!

The Spring Festival....day.... something....

Yes, I'm a slacker. So here, to make up for my slackiness, and because I have forgotten to take pictures of any of the other activities I've been meaning to write about - yes, I have a list - here is a short post to appease the clamoring throngs of people out there demanding my return to my blogging duties. There are so many of you I seriously have trouble sleeping at night. Seriously.

Another of the activities available to patrons of the Spring festival is the Pie-eating contest. Here we see Squid doing something to that poor hobbit courageously eating pie. If she manages to eat the appropriate number of pies in the allotted time limit and doesn't get indigestion (which is entirely possible, considering the rash of rancid pies all across the Shire) then she is awarded the "Pie-eating champion" title and gets to revel in her gluttonous greatness, which I find ironically appropriate given the season of lent and whatnot.

This quest can only be done once, unlike many of the other festival activities, and it is available during all four seasonal festivals. The quest-giver is that cheery looking hobbit at the back of the table, who can be found at the festival grounds in Bree.

So, it's a drinking game? (The Spring Festival, day two)

Yes, Legolas.

 It is.


















Today's post on the Spring festival will highlight one of my favorite things to do in the game - participate in the activities of the Inn League. The Inn League is one of the many reputation factions within the game, but what sets it apart from the others is that reputation with them can only be gained during the seasonal festivals, making it one of the more difficult things to work on. The hobbits of the Shire love their beers and ales, and take great delight in celebrating them.

The basic and most common way to gain reputation with the Inn League is by performing the Shire Pub Crawl (not the official name, ^.^). Today I was lucky enough to run the crawl with Squid, who performed excellently and made it through the entire run. The quest starts at the party tree in Hobbiton, where you are required to drink six tankards in about a minute. Sis managed to pass this portion of the quest, while I was too busy taking pictures and failed.

Next participants have to run all the way from the party tree to Brockenborings, north and east of Hobbiton, to the Plough and Stars inn. There, the formula is repeated and you must drink six tankards of ale before the time limit expires. This time the Inn League is a bit generous and gives you about five and a half minutes to get from the Party Tree to the Plough and Stars and drink your drinks.  This time sis opted to perform an impressive balancing act and stand on the edge of the table while she downed her frothy mugs of beer. The Inn League officiant, that hobbit lady sitting beneath Squid, apparently didn't mind that sis was standing practically in her lap.

Next it was off to the Golden Perch in Stock, right on the banks of the Brandywine River and at the far eastern reaches of the Shire. Thankfully Squid avoided any shennanigans this time and stood firmly on the ground while the hobbit patrons did their best to ignore the fact that an elf-lady was rapidly downing all their best beer. Like a trooper, sis finished this round as well, and with a swift call to our mounts we rode off to the next destination, the Floating Log in Frogmorton.

To me, getting to Frogmorton and downing the beer in time was always the hardest step in the quest, because for this leg they only give you about three minutes to finish. By now any participants should be beginning to feel the effects of the ale, and things in game will start to appear a bit fuzzy. The first time I attempted the quest I was having such trouble seeing (I stupidly ran the quest at night in the rain, which makes it doubly hard to see) and stood outside the entrance to the Inn until my time ran out because I couldn't see through my drunken haze enough to actually find the door. Squid ran inside though and completed her grim task while I waited outside to lead the way to the next stop. Why? I suppose I was acting as a sort of designated driver, so that sis not only found her way but avoided running any poor hobbits over on her horse.

Next, it was a quick trip west to the Green Dragon in Bywater, probably the most famous of inns in the Shire. This is by far the largest and most prosperous of the Shire inns, built on the edge of the Water, just down the road from Hobbiton. It is also the site of one of  Merry and Pippin's memorable songs from the Lord of the Rings films:

After leaving the Green Dragon, we headed off to the Ivy Bush Inn, where sis bravely ploughed on, although her screen probably looked something like this by this point:

I applaud her tremendously for continuing on. By now if you stand still the screen will slowly sway back and forth and everything is at least in doubles, if not triples. It's hard to click on the beers to 'drink' them, so finishing this last stage is always a challenge. Her last stop was the Bird and Baby Inn in Michel Delving, the capitol of sorts for the Shire. After downing her last six beers, she completed the quest with a horrifically silly grin on her face, and collapsed, where I'm pretty sure she is lying still, soundly sleeping off the effects of all those beers in the basement of the Bird and Baby. Here's hoping she doesn't have too much of a hangover.

A Brief Moment in Angmar

Tonight Squid and I ( yay Squid!!!)  ran around in Angmar a little more, thankfully acquiring the rest of our Fem set of armor, which for our level (still a wonderful 42!) is one of the nicest sets in the game. Getting it, however, was no easy thing,  as the chief of the Trev Somethingorother had us doing all sorts of measly chores for him. More than once we put ourselves in mortal danger, battling orcs and giant hillbeasts. He even had us run up to the top of some giant rock pile to gather some sacred rock. The Stone of Clucath. Why on earth are people in this game always misplacing their sacred rocks and aurochs skulls and whatnot? Seems like every week or so someone asks us to go retrieve their thing they lost or forgot or whatever, that is somehow vitally important to the pride/luck/prosperity/sheep shearing rates of the village. Sis had a little Peter Pan moment on top of the pile of rocks, right before she picked up Crannog's OhSoImportantRock.

But it wasn't all bravery and heroics. We also spent a good portion of the night running in terror from wargs and Angmarim baddies twice our size. Now that we have the set though, the choice ahead of us is whether to continue in Angmar for a bit or go ahead and move south to Eregion in preparation for acquiring our first legendary weapons.

Oh hai. Here is my clawz. Do you likez tehm?


I also take great pleasure in tormenting sis with my horrendous outfit choices.  I think she was checking her wristwatch here to see how long I could manage to dance around and manage to look like an idiot. Although, at that point in the game, her outfit wasn't much better than mine. We both have very, erm, interesting hats.
Ooh! Also take a gander at our shiny new staffs! (staves?)  Sis says they look like giant wooden lollipops, but I think they are cool. Better than the plain wooden sticks we had before.

Finally, we decided to move on, and frankly I was getting a bit tired from all that dancing. Sis also discovered the /mood emotes, which change the character's facial expressions. I love the /moods and use them frequently for no apparent reason.
This pic doesn't really showcase how outlandish and strange the expressions can be sometimes, but I saw this pic and thought it was hilarious.





In the end, we completed all of Crannog's silly chores, and got our final piece of Fem armor. I was greatly dissapointed to find that the Light set (which we as Lore-masters are forced to wear) doesn't look quite as impressive as the Medium or Heavy sets - of which, sadly, I do not have pictures. I do have pictures of the Light Fem set, which Squid was ecstatic to learn made a wonderful glowy whoosh whenever she put it on. I guess the robe isn't that bad. I'm just tired of robes. I miss having at least a nice thick leather breastplate and some leather greaves. Instead, I get coats and dresses. Why? Cause I'm a Lore-master, and we are too.... something, I'm not sure.... for medium armor. Boo.

 Also, in completely unrelatedness, I realized today that lotro sometimes does mirror real life. Squid is taller than me.  Only barely, but still.

Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Last night, while Squid and I were questing, we hit 42. That is a grand number.

Anyways.

We did lots of questing in Angmar last night - and got several quests finished. We each got a nice 3-piece set of jewelry, our first two pieces of Fem armor, and we, as I mentioned before, reached 42. I would like to slow down and enjoy this level a bit, but we quested so much that we're both about half way through it and almost to 43 now. Oh well. Squid managed somehow to level up before I did, and she took lots of pleasure in holding it over my head. I don't know when but at some point she managed to get about two or three ticks (ticks being the unofficial measuring device in the leveling meter by which players can give an estimate of how close they are to finishing X level) ahead of me. She claims it is due to her habit of killing everything in sight, which is different from my habit of killing only those things which I need for quests or monsters that are in the way of what I need for a quest. She's probably right.

Angmar is a pretty dreary place - Squid called it emo - but I like it. The greyness can be calming. Even when you are running for your life from elite rare nemesis with ten times your hp, the whole place has a  sort of surreal atmosphere. Like this tree, in the middle of a pond. Everything is grey and ashy, and while I wouldn't drink the water, something about this picture relaxes me a bit.

Angmar also holds some rather strange characters. Take this guy for example: his name is Tasgall and he can be found standing under the aforementioned tree. Turning in a quest to him is what finally kicked me over the bar to 42, but after I had leveled I noticed something odd about his beard. Eww. Is that a growth? Not sure. You can't really tell from this picture, but he also is sporting a rather, erm, interesting color combination in the wardrobe department. While the Trev Gallorg of Angmar may live in skin teepes and speak with Scottish accents, they have all the color sense of a jaybird. Hooray. We also ran a quest with him and the very first thing he told us was not to let the rain break our concentration. Odd. Squid hammed it up though and kept responding to everything he or I said with "Huh?"

Apparently these people aren't happy with just wearing the outlandish colors themselves - they want everyone else to wear them too. Take a look at the spiffy knickers they gave us for killing some wargs or somesuch:

Oh my. Aren't we lovely.

Squid also saw her first three boxer last night. A three boxer is someone who plays the game on three different characters at the same time - which consequently requires three computers and three accounts. Someone must really love the game. This one in particular was easy to spot because when else do you see three Hobbit minstrels, all exactly the same level, wearing exactly the same clothing, and doing exactly the same thing? I'm pretty sure this is the same guy who three boxes on the moors alot - he has a set of spiders that spell certain doom for lone adventurers.

All in all, it was a grand night of adventuring, and once again, I cannot help but state how much I love running with Squid. ^.^ The loremasters are fun - and we are moving on up in the game, sure to become a formiddable force and glorious asset to the KotFP.