Fall Festival 2013: Spooky Steed of the Bat

Supergirl rides the Spooky Bat!

Gracious... I bugs me that I have been so busy lately that I have not written in 30 days. I am still convinced though that my extreme schedule has slackened and mebbe November will be a better month. Interestingly, lotro did NOT have a "steed of the month", breaking a trend that had persisted throughout 2013. However, it is Festival time so we still get a steed for October!

Fall festival is perhaps my favorite of all the festivals. The quests are short, concise, interesting, and give decent rewards for the effort. If I get a free moment, I will write about fall festival soon. Do check out the always excellent guide at CSTM. Fall festival guide link is CSTM: lotro-fall-festival-guide-2013/.

I listed all the Fall festival goodies last year at the link, Fall-festival-goodies.
And, I wrote about some of the fun quests at Fall-festivals-end-and-a-new-beginning.
And the previous year 2011 had lots of pictures at Fun-fall-festival-friends.

On to the Horse!

There are two new horse items to obtain during fall festival 2013: the horse called the "Spooky Steed of the Bat" and a warsteed caparison called the "Spooky Caparison of the Bat". Each of the two costs 60 fall festival tokens.

Doing just the Haunted Burrow quests, you will net in the 24-28 range per day so if you have never been to festival, this may take a few days to get both. Or, you could go to other places (read the CSTM guide, link above) and get a few more, or you can do Inn League and/or Ale Association quests for tradeable badges, or you can use Mithril coins to just repeat quests you like more than once per day. Fall festival is really easy to pile up the tokens.

Spooky Steed of the Bat:
Here is the Spooky steed of the Bat. He has the same flame red eyes that the Mahogany Bay does.

Spooky Steed of the Bat

Here is a better view of the Spooky Steed of the Bat's red eyes. I'm gonna get you.... /boo!

Spooky Steed of the Bat has red eyes. Spooooooky....

Spooky WarSteed of the Bat - Default:
Here is the Caparison mentioned above that is for the warsteed. It is just the one piece: the caparison.

Ok, the black hide and hair is a bit spookier than default grey. It is kinda funny that I am just now noticing that the black emblem on the caparison is possibly a bat, hanging upside down. :)
Let's try a few more looks...

Spooky Warsteed of the Bat - Default

Spooky WarSteed of the Bat - Umber and Chestnut:
Ok, I don't do spooky. Lol. How about a fall-ish shade? Here is a matching of nice browns, umber and chestnut.

Spooky Warsteed of the Bat - Umber and Chestnut

Spooky WarSteed of the Bat - Black and Black:
Ok, this one is a closer approximate of the actual horse. It is black with the caparison dyed black as well. It is a sharp look.

Spooky Steed of the Bat - Black and Black

Spooky WarSteed of the Bat - Purple and White:

How about an anti-spooky? This is a more festive set in purple and white.

Spooky Steed of the Bat - Purple and White

Spooky WarSteed of the Bat - Yellow and Bay:
I went with something more vibrant, but still fall-ish, in yellows. I liked the Bay colored hide here so much that I gave in and got that Bay color set for this matching.

Spooky Steed of the Bat - Yellow and Bay

I hope you have a super and safe Fall festival! I shall see you soon. :)

(BTW: The cover picture at the top is Ered Luin blue with Black hide and ... offwhite,steel grey? hair.)

High Warden Danania's Mahogany Bay Horse

With the spring festival and new Wildemore area and update 10 and 11 reviews, this article got put on hold since May 3rd, but I wanted to show off my new pretty horse, The Mahogany Bay Horse! This horse is the reward for achieving Rank 9, High Warden, in the Ettenmoors. I often joked that this horse is a big reason why I go to the Moors.

This is a picture of my Moors tally sheet as it flipped to Rank 9. I feel like I had more deaths than that. The Rating number is mostly irrelevant. It is an indicator of how long since your last defeat (mine ranges from 650 – 1950, and tends to be around 1100 – 1300). As always, I am thankful to my friends and fellow adventurers (Dana's-Ettenmoors-Scrapbook) and to the Creeps who come out to enjoy a pleasant evening of fun! See playful Creeps @ Ettenmoors-75-rk-armor-audacity and Fall-festivals-end-new-beginning.

Here is an early shot of when I was level 75 and Rank 6. That is some fancy purple Moors armor and Steed of the Runekeeper. I believe that I was inside TA (Tol Ascarnen), circa. February, 2012.

Many of my Moors pictures prior to this one looked pretty stupid. In the Moors, you have to wear your active armor, no cosmetics. However, I didn’t realize that I did not have to show ALL of the armor. So, many of the prior ones I had odd looking mismatched, hooded cloak, etc. Then, I guess my mismatch got so bad someone pointed out that I could uncheck the “show armor” boxes so I didn’t have to parade around in my black hat, with purple robe, white boots, and red cloak. Oy. Of course, one might note that I *could* have dyed items so they didn’t clash as badly. Live and learn.

Ok, here is one of the first ones… level 65… hooded cloak… you can’t see my face, but that is me under there. My first visit to the Moors was June-2011.

I like this picture. This is a shot of a Wintersebb Drake; they can be tough as nails and are generally not soloable.

I am back to having fun at Spring festival, then to Wildemore to see how the adventure with an Ice Giant turns out. Someday, I will make it back to the Moors. After all there is another horse to acquire! (See Tharros on “The Free People’s Horse” at All-the-Steeds/ meta-deed-steeds.)

Steed Gallery and my 84 of 93 steeds

I was running across Galtrev recently when I noticed that the steed standing at the stable master was in fact the Steed of the Horse Lords. That was so exciting to me; I had never noticed him before. I had previously assumed it was a reputation steed. You can see the Prized Dunlending Horse in the background. I wonder… was he always there and I had never before noticed the markings? It is interesting how many special horses are out there hanging around the stable masters. J

My most recent horse is the Steed of the Minstrel. What an interesting color and pattern he has! He shines as brightly as the Steed of Bright Days. hehe. Do you like the pretty pink pony? He certainly makes me smile. 

I am so happy that my Steed Gallery (All the Steeds) has come together even better than I expected! ...and very thankful to those who contributed to help make it better. As I write this column, I have photographed all but one: I am missing only the Horse of Many Colors (from the Tower of Orthanc). No one in Arkenstone has that one yet and I haven’t made contact with anyone off world who has it. I believe that there are a few of them in existence, so I am optimistic. Is there a reader out there who has one or knows someone who has one???

So, here I am on my own collection. 84 of 93 steeds… and I am hitting a wall.

It is time to assess what I can and cannot do to achieve the other 9 steeds. I will look at what I think is Doable and what I think is Impossible for me to achieve. Your uberness might have different answers for you, but this is where the kryptonite hits the fan.

My Doable list: 4 steeds

(x) Wild Mountain Goat: Saviour of Lothlorien.

I am so close on this one. The Saviour of Lothlorien Deed is a 4-part meta deed to complete everything in Naladum (3-person), Lumulnar (3-person), Halls of Crafting (6-person), and Dar Narbugud (raid). The toughest sub-deed is 60 total trolls in DN for troll-slayer. There are only 10 trolls in DN. On double-slayer, only two more DN runs will do it for me. So, I can see the goat at the end of the tunnel.

(x) Mahogany Bay: Moors Rank 9.

This one is very doable. I don’t spend that much time in the Moors, but even a slow boat will get there eventually. I am Rank 8 and almost a half. At the rate I progress in the Moors, I am still a ways away. Throw in a major expansion in October, new quests, new deeds, new instances, festivals, other interests… I think I can get to Rank 9 by mebbe next April? Yeah… let’s pencil that one in and reassess later. Glee! That is exciting seeing a potential new obtainable steed on the horizon. Here is a shot of my friend Cherrypop, posing on the black Mahogany Bay horse for me. The best shot from this photo shoot is in the Gallery.

(x) Galadhrim War-horse: Tempest of Dol Guldur.

I know very little about the DG deed. The Tempest of Dol Guldur is a 4-part meta deed to complete everything in the Dungeons (3-person), Warg-pens (3-person), Sword-halls (3-person), and Dol Guldur (raid). I have been to the sword-halls and recently Nimitar took me to the Warg-pens, but missed the other two. Oddly enough, Dungeons and Dol Guldur are the ONLY two instances I have never visited in the game. I seem to have a mental block against the DG area. When I was growing up as a young pup in Celondim, DG was new and at the height of popularity. By the time, I got to DG, it was “very last season”. I did everything there was to solo in Mirkwood, still worked on past raids and Moria instances, and then moved on toward Enedwaith. I have compartmentalized DG “over there”, but hope to one day give it a go. It is doable, right? A steed is involved, so it must be good.

(x) Red Painted Skeleton Horse: Rare Loot-boxes

Hey, this horse is available right now! All I have to do is have a level 75 loot-box, and a key, and extremely good fortune. Yep, more luck based winning. I have opened 11 loot-boxes thusfar, and have found no horses yet. That is a dark path to walk down, buying expensive loot-boxes and expensive keys from the AH in hopes of getting a horse. Not that I haven’t considered it; I just seem to shop when no one is selling.

My Nearly Impossible or Impossible: 5 steeds

(x) Yule Festival Horse: Yule 2008

Well, I cannot roll back time to 2008 (reversing the rotation of the Earth is a movie myth, even Kal-El thought it was hokey while he has doing it in that movie). This horse has not been available in the lotro store yet. I think it is possible it might be someday, but there is nothing I can do to get this one since it is not available in any form.

(x) Festive Azure Horse: 5th Anniversary gift for old-timers

I actually hope that the Festive Azure does not make it to the store. This is the gift the old-timers received for being… old, and for having accounts still active since June-2007. I am fine not having them all (/eyetwitch).

(x) Prized Ost Dunhoth War-steed: In Your Presence (OD)

Breaking down the meta deed… In your presence is a 6-part meta deed: Mysterious relics (solo), Northcotton Farm (3-person), Stoneheight (3-person), Lost Temple (6-person), Sari-suma (6-person), Ost Dunhoth (raid). The first 5 parts, while difficult at times, are doable. The last one, Ost Dunhoth, is more difficult.

What I learned recently though... "Ivar's Champions" is NOT part of the deed required to get the horse! That is a very good thing! It boils OD down to mostly just beating all wings on T2 Challenge. Ok, that isn't the easiest thing ever, but the deed “Ivar’s Champions” requires defeating Ivar and his champions 24 different ways! So, Ivar's deed, if you were really focused and had a dedicated group, you could get through it in a minimum of 24 weeks. But, not doing Ivar's Champions means that this Steed may move to the "Possible" list, because Eventually, I can envision mustering a group to go do OD T2.

(x) Horse of Many Colors: The Armies of Isengard (the Tower of Orthanc).

Here is the latest raid steed. The ToO meta deed is a 6-part deed: Thorn in the Hand (basic completion of the non-raid instances), Fangorn (3-person), Dargnakh (3-person), Pits of Isengard (3-person), Foundry (6-person), Tower of Orthanc (raid).

Ok, Dana. This one is not impossible, but it doesn’t register on my radar either. Fangorn and Dargnakh deeds were glitched when I did them before Great River. I have recently gone back and completed those and still need to beat the Pits of Isengard T2 in its various forms. 

The Tower of Orthanc T2 is mortally tough. As far as I know, Arkenstone hasn’t seen anyone beat Saruman T2 on either non-challenge or challenge, but I’m not sure if anyone has tried in a long time (mebbe I will ask around again). There are certainly people in the world who have beaten T2 non-Challenge, including my three uber writer friends Lothirieth and Ravanel and Wynnie.  Even fewer in the world have beaten T2 Challenge and are eligible for the steed. It will stay in the nearly impossible category, but who knows... mebbe I will be there when Arkenstone has a group clear ToO T2 challenge.

(x) The Free People's Horse: Moors Rank 12.

Yeah, that PvP12 steed is in the impossible/nearly impossible category for me. Looking at my progress as mentioned in the Mahogany Bay Horse above, best case scenario is that I am about 32 months away from The Free People’s Horse. Factor in actually enjoying the other aspects of the game, I can probably double that. So, five years from now, mebbe I can be at the currently unthinkable rank of 12. That is quite the extrapolation, isn’t it? Lol! Everyone has a 5-year plan when gaming, right? Check in with me on this one at the halfway mark in late-2015 and see if I am still on trajectory. For fun, here is a closeup of the Free People's banner, as it flies on the back of Second Marshall Tharros's horse.

Ettenmoors: Dana's scrapbook

What a summer! I have been spending more time the past 2 weeks watching Olympics than actually questing. It is one of the few sporting events I watch and in typical fashion, I do it to excess.

Since Ettenmoors is about to get a facelift and remodel, I looked back through my Moors photo file and pulled some of the better ones. I don’t have much witty commentary today; so as followup to the previous <ettenmoors-75-rk-armor-audacity>, here I bring you… my Moors scrapbook. The picture above is where I am standing on a hill in the north, looking down the Hoardale River toward Tol Ascarnen and STAB (south TA bridge).

This next shot is an older one, where I am in Moria armor, before I got the original level 65 Moors armor. I am riding Minas Ithil and meeting Malendar, Arkenstone’s #1 Moors RK who is riding the black PVP steed, Mahogany Bay. Stout Mini Firawing welcomes me; she knows what is in store and has her lightning blue track shoes laced up.

It did not take long to meet up with and make friends with Tharros, the #2 Arkenstone Moors Hunter. He explains what the Moors flags are for and why he is carrying it on his back.

I am well flanked between Tharros and Malendar as we ride toward TA. The fact that I ride out front is more young exuberance, and definitely not because I was “leading” anything.

Friend an fellow RK Nidrad and I are dressed as twinsies.

Going out as a pocket healer to two excellent hunters is a safe place to be sometimes, as I follow Tharros and Woodstalker into battle. This shot was taken before the Commendation armors, back when all high end armor wasn't dyed Rust color.

Heading to Grothum, hunter Woodstalker senses the horde coming our way. Burg Audrelier throws his stealthy protection over us to help us hide or turn the tide.

Sometimes, full Raid versus Raid is the only way to go when the Creeps dominate the land. The Creep raid had taken TR and The Freep Raid presses the door to try to win it back.

And, sometimes, the Freeps win the day and route all there is to see. (Blue dots on the map are Freep controlled; Red dots are Creep controlled.)

Midnightgirl and I are out to save the day!... or at least rescue the hobbit Alf Earthenway from an untimely demise at the hands of goblins in Grothum.

Guardian Corinthianz and I watch from a higher vantage point near the Lugazug entrance waiting to see if the horde is coming to flank us. Dressed in bright gold, one would think he might attract more attention. That should be a requirement that Guards dress as flashy as possible, lol!

A bonnie Bonie burg might be small and favor riding a goat, but she packs a punch!

Tyrant Barashish cannot hold Tirith Rhaw against an assault of a coordinated small team of Auderelier, Corviss, Ioteleth, Midnightgirl, Lillyn, and myself. Like all the keep bosses, at this pre-Rohan update, a small strike force will take them out unless they have more than minimal Creep support.

Amidst a break in the swarming warg pack, Commander Cherrypop and I both go to rez fallen comrade Azarath.

Deep within the heart of the Creeps at Dar Gazag, I stop for a photo op with the Creep trainers, Dolith and Gavran. It is a bad day for the Creeps when the Freeps are standing in their stronghold.

If you ever wondered what happened to Mordirith’s Crown, the Creeps salvaged it and use it to bolster the horde. Claiming and bringing it back to Ost Ringdyr is celebrated throughout Middle Earth (until they reclaim it).

Like the Crown, the Free People have a symbolic object of victory that they will try to keep protected. Here is a picture of story text associated with each.

In case you think that the Devs don’t have a sense of humor, stop by and visit the “Dummies” in the Moors. You can take out your frustration there versus cursing in open forums. J Kudos Kelsen, Jalessa, and Orion.