White Rider (Part 2)

Highlights: Resolina continues through Gondor and finds time to continue working on her house.

November 9th - 23rd

Moria Monday: This time around we had someone taking over the reigns of Elaelin while she was away. Amethad, Avenger of Oaths Broken is the name I caught as Finnok collected an army of spiders in Skumfil. 90 minutes is what I had for my Slayer and Skill Deed Boost and 90 minutes is what it took to complete our run. In fact, he renamed it to Monday Moria Madness Marathon (and perhaps a few other M words). We made it through Forges, Dark Delving, Grand Stair, Fil Gashan, Forges (again for Trolls), Skumfil (spiders-only), and Halls of Crafting. We were so worn out from the run that we decided to forgo the raids.

Central Gondor Factions: While Western Gondor was a very refreshing experience, Central Gondor had me working too hard. I did manage to kill a couple of the Roving Threats by myself, but nearly all of the warbands were too tough to manage. There are 4 different factions and three of them are pretty difficult to leveling up. Men of Ringló Vale, Men of Dor-en-Ernil, and Men of Lebennin quests will get you just over Acquaintance standing. So instead of having enough quests to level up to Kindred like a normal zone, you now achieve a quarter of the way for each of the reputations. The bounty quests you can complete 3 times and only 3 times. The couple of repeatable quests available are gated behind reputation tiers. As of right now I have not achieved Ally standing for any of the three factions. There aren't any tokens that drop for Pelargir. Instead, you get a small bonus of quests in Eastern Gondor and the chance to turn in items at the task board. Trust me, you will get a ton of Shattered Hatchets. You will make Kindred status as quickly as I did with Dol Amroth. You do not get lotro points for these three factions. The only real reward for obtaining kindred for these factions is a cosmetic pet: Tome of the Aurochs Calf, Tome of the Sand-flies, and Tome of the Stowaway Rat respectively. Pelargir does give lotro points and offers the Steed of the Ship-Kings (which they proudly display in each area).

Central Gondor Zones: Things get a bit more depressing in Central Gondor. Ringló Vale is a forest with a small town being surrounded by shadow, literally and figuratively. The large cloud you saw from The Dead Marshes has come in full force. The locals call it the Dawnless Day. Dor-en-Ernil is being ravaged by a large corsair fleet that landed at the lighthouse with Linhir barely holding its own. Lebennin is in constant political fear as refugees grow restless from worry and strife. Secrets about Pelargir and the unknown plague each little town. A lot of it makes references to the Camp of the Grey Host and Aragorn's identity. It generally gets confusing for me because Aragorn is also known as Isildur's heir (son of Arathorn), aka Elessar (rightful king), aka Thorongil (in Rhovanion), aka Strider (in Eriador), aka Estel (named by Elrond). I will admit that I like this area for it reveals a lot more than the movies. The only part I remember is "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dúnadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor. Here is the sword that was broken and is forged again!" Ok, I got a little sidetracked. Here are the highlights:

As I wandered the forest I heard the voice of an crazed old man shout, "It is the White Wizard, Saruman, here to destroy us!" I realized that the fool must have mistaken me for the enemy since I wore a white outfit and rode on a white horse. I searched for the man but didn't find a trace of him.
You can't really tell it is the Dawnless Day until much later. You go through a forest and pop out the other side during which appears to be nightfall. Don't worry, you have lots of people to remind you about it.
Ethring's stable is in such an unusual place in the middle of town. If you try to travel west, the horse has to make multiple pivots around the town's boundary before dashing toward your destination.
I can't believe I was still running into Jajax after all this time. You still do stuff with him even in Lebennin. You eventually find out there are two of them. His brother fills you in on the details of the fleet.
My zealous companion Fred seemed to be too eager to shoot things. We encountered a giant red spider and I stopped him from taking a shot. It wasn't all bad. I was all-too-happy in seeing him take a firm stand against a corsair raising a club against a defenseless villager.
Both the corsairs and soldiers are terrified of the force following Aragorn through the landscape. I find that hilariously accurate since I'm so used to them by now.

The Five Sisters is a wonderfully complex story that stretches all throughout West, Central, and Eastern Gondor. Not knowing your previous experience, the people always tell the same consistant myth of a story as if you never heard it before. Each time it gets told, you get a little bit more information about what is happening that isn't shown through the epic quests. I personally adore every bit of it.
The river-maiden Roamingstar made statements in broad, vague tones. She once told me "You are not of this land" but never really explained how she came to that conclusion. I'm hoping it was just a reference to my white outfit and nothing more. In the battle with Nerzus, she stated "Swell and flood o'er the Men who bear Isildur's scar" without telling me whether or not that was a sign to get out of the river. I remember what happened at the Fords of Isen!
A woman came rushing over and grabbed my hand before I jumped into the well. I guess the adventures in Moria with the daring dwarves has rubbed off on me.
One thing I really enjoyed was seeing the placements of each of the beacons. If you look carefully, you can actually see the link between each of the bonfires from Minas Tirith to Dol Amroth.
The people of Ost Anglebed really made me feel important as if I was personally their protector. I felt bad leaving that town go.
I made the mistake of showing off one of my kites to the kids. A concerned mother came rushing over to scold me about the dangers of flying kites during a lightning storm. I tried to be a little funny by telling her that's how runekeepers get their hands so sparkly. She didn't buy it.

Note: There is a transition from my old computer resolution to my new one

I can't remember exactly where it was but there must have been a couple of lookouts arguing at the top of the tower. I'm pretty sure I heard one shout "It's Gandalf here to rescue us!" as I approached the gate. The much older sounding gentlemen said, "That's not Gandalf! Gandalf has a staff, not a sword!" The younger one shouted back "Gandalf has both you old coot!" I guess neither one of them realized that Gandalf was also a man.
I'm getting this feeling like there are a lot of issues coming up with the leaders of Gondor. Many of the lords have left to Minas Tirith and those who stayed behind seem to be suffering from madness and perhaps dementia.
The zones get a little blurred around Pelargir. There are a couple more zones in Eastern Gondor that really connect with the events in Central Gondor. Pelargir is the city that divides the two zones.

Housing Update: I added scholar woodcrafting, flower farming pots, tailored rugs, and jewelry-built chandeliers. Even though I still have some of my brother's flower pots, I'll be looking forward to the Spring Festival Farming recipes. Elaelin did supply some weaponsmith leaf-blade decorations to my rooms too. I did use some Ingredient packs but was made aware that the items would be bound to account. Dol Amroth provided a lot more decorations but I still have a long way to go before my houses are ready.

2017-11-24