Fall Festival’s end & a new Beginning

Aahh. It’s nice to feel the cool fall air this time of year. I took a spin out past the moon and back to the Shire just in time for Fall festival to be into full festivities.

I had an interesting dilemma at Fall festival this year. Since there were no new quests or adventures, I spent little time at the festival. The thing is that the lildanas and I hardly left the festival the past two years. We would try for the Painted Skeleton Horse every day, and fail every day.

In celebrating so much last year, we amassed so many tokens that we didn’t even need to show up this year and could have taken home all the goodies. We tried and failed to get the horse for about a week this year, then shut it down and prepared for Rohan instead. In fact, a nice low-key festival was exactly what we needed. We did get to meet a few people at festival though and took home all the things. Here are some of the pictures of our time at festival.

If you are still at festival, here is a list of all the things that can be bartered; pictures are in this post down below. (fall-festival-goodies)

We had lots of pictures from Fall festival 2011 also @ (fun-fall-festival-friends!).

Some people I saw at Fall Festival

We remembered the Haunted Burrow so well from last year, we could run through it with our eyes closed. Danaszar gives a tour of the Haunted Burrow to new friend Shouriel.

Nidia discusses fall activities with Danaszar and schemes to play a trick on me.

Aaahhh! Bucket-headed Nidia gives me a good fright.

Haljesor dresses up for Halloween… or mebbe that is his regular attire. You can guess the inspiration for the outfit, yes?

I change into my Batgirl outfit that I wore last year, and mount my Painted Skeleton Horse (this is one of the very few places I let the store trump more grind since I don’t like random fail... I did buy the Steed last year).

Arkandon practices his “BOO” though I am impervious to it. Nerves of steel…

Cherryful shows that she is indeed the pinkest captain in the land.

The famous Mysterixox (http://mysterixox.wordpress.com/) dresses to match the Green Painted Skeleton Horse.

Asciel is ready to party. Fall festival at the Shire? Galtrev? It doesn’t matter; the party moves with her Hoopty-hoopty-hoop.

Audrelier rides the world-renown Eriador Horse, ready to scare hobbits at the Haunted Burrow.

Images from the Haunted Burrow

One new thing for me at this Fall festival was the addition of an Ale Association quest. Since this past Summer festival was my first time spent with them, this was my first view of the AA interacting with the Haunted Burrow. I spent some time playing tricks on the silly hobbits in the Burrow for the AA; then I went back to console them as part of the normal quest set. Here is one of the “ghosts” I sent after a scared hobbit.

Danaszar wonders who the man in the portrait might be? Do you know who he is? He must be someone famous since he is a picture of a human in a hobbit house.

Danadalyn plays the “potion game”. It is kinda funny; I never bothered to read the clues to tell me which potion to take to keep us safe. I read the clues now and they seem obvious and easy to solve, but in the moment, I just pick up a bottle and swig it… mebbe good, mebbe bad. The order of drinks is… White, Blue, Orange, Blue.

Goodies from the Festival

I mentioned the barter prices for the goodies in a previous post. Here are some pictures of them.

Here is the Beer Stein. Ok, the beer stein is in my right hand, and my other drink is in my left hand. Two fisted FTW.

I explain Newton’s laws of motion as it applies to my Basket of Apples. The centripetal force due to the rotational rate at which I twirl my basket is greater than the force of gravity applied to the apples.

Danaish practices as a hand model, showing off the lovely Fall Gourd she got at festival.

The next item up is a giant Pretzel… because everyone needs one of those.

Danaszar takes some items back to the Home of Angels. Here is the Autumnal Apple Tree she planted out front. For a tree, it is one of my favorites (we also like the Yule-tree). If you watch the tree, you will see the leaves fall from the tree.

We don't favor mounting dead animals on the wall. I am told that the ones from festival are made of faux fur and discarded feathers though. The crabans do look real. Here is a Craban perched on Stein.

And, here is a Craban drinking from Stein.

This one is a Lathbear with Stein. So strange; I don’t recall ever seeing a Lathbear before. I had to google “Lathbear” and one of the answers I saw is that a Lathbear comes from the Rohan region. I foresee Lathbears in my future. It is kinda ugly… nothing like a Pooh bear (my favorite bear).

She managed to get a picture of the Table with Sausage and Pretzels before the hobbit quadruplets tested whether or not the food was wax or edible. I didn’t get the answer… wax or not, there was a reason I sent Danaszar to deliver the item versus letting Chief Move Coordinator DanaOnar handle the table.

The farmers got Black Mushroom Pots from the festival. One of the quests from Summer festival is to “plant seed” there on the Hill; it is a quest only for farmers. This item is the fruit of the effort, gathered in the Fall festival.

Clothes from Festival

In preparation of Rohan, the five lildana crafting team took the opportunity to advance from level 21 to level 25, which allowed them all to get new gear and more importantly… new Crafting Tools. With their new excellence, they got new clothes.

Danaclaus made a rare decision to ask for one of the clothing pieces. Here is the Harvest-Brew Cloak dyed Ered Luin blue. The hooded cloak is identical except… it has a hood.

Danaszar took the Harvest-Brew short-sleeved Tunic & Trousers and dyed it gold. It is matched with the Harvest-Brew Circlet (I really like that one) and a shoulder piece called the Worn Ranger’s Wrap (probably from Isengard, also dyed gold, I can go look it up if someone really needs to know).

Danadelion took the Harvest-Brew Dress and dyed it red. The long lines of the gown really elongate her already long waist. She matched it with an Elegant Festival Cap (which came from the Yule festival, dyed red). The elegance is a stark change to her normal wild-haired self.

Danadalyn liked the Harvest-Brew long-sleeved Tunic & Trousers, dyed Dark Green, which seemed to match the Harvest-Brew Hat quite well.

Danaish, not to be left out of the chance for new clothes, choose a new bold red top. It is a simple drop item, the Westernesse Jacket of Fate (probably from the Dunland area).

Waiting…

And, we wait. Not much longer, and then it will be time to ride to Rohan. Here are a few of my final shots before mounting up.

Here is a picture in which I join the ranks as a Malledhrim soldier. Sorry boys, olive green is not my color. I will just “blend in”. Can you tell which soldier I am?

Nimitar, HalJordan and I join up to win in the Forsaken Inn. The Forsaken Inn is one of those “special” places where you are forced to have three specific-ish types of characters to be able to finish the challenge and certain deeds.

I went back in the Inn again and again and again by myself (etc) to try to solve all 83 riddles for the Riddle Deed. (inn-riddles) I am so close, but it will have to wait until another time. At 78 riddles done, I am sick of seeing the Inn. Umin mocks me with an “Excellent Work!” comment as I yell a challenge at the door after the several hundredth riddle.

With the help of Nimitarion, Sailanarmo, Byrane, Pengladia, and Golechi, the Lost Temple Challenge was finally won. That is a crazy instance for a level 65 and it is tougher to win the challenge than most level 75s. Yay team! Ferndur the Virulent throws more disease my way, but our plan is sound and shall win the day! I was last seen in Lost Temple failing to beat the Challenge @ steeds-deeds-and-aegthil.

Not often do I get “up-close-and-personal” with creeps in the Moors. You may remember the surreal moment when I “met” Baglun and Ijust (ettenmoors-75-rk-armor-audacity). Here was another. This next shot came from Mathilanakh, through the eyes of the stalker. I was minding my own business, thinning the goblin population in Grothum. A lightning bolt just split one wide open. Little do I realize, I am being watched… O.o The “hidden” image in the middle of the screen is my predator. What a surreal creepy image knowing that I am being hunted. lol!

Fortunately for me, Mathilanakh did not want to kill me at this time. I pulled out my dowsing stone and tried to pacify her wargy urges to bite me. Geez, look at those teeth. Nice doggy… No bitey... Please I hope I have a wargy-treat in my bag…

Time to fly. When next I write, I will be flying toward Rohan! Woohoo!

Thorog, the Helegrod Dragon

When I was younger, I remember reading about Helegrod. It offered a sense of foreboding… a 24 person Raid? A huge dragon? Some tough thug drummers at the beginning, and a miniboss prior to Thorog’s entrance, and a dragon that has 346k morale!? It seemed inconceivable to my young self that had seen few dragons at the time, and had never seen anything remotely close.

Getting to see him has been on my list since then. I have been patient. Waiting. Watching. Waiting for the right time to take a group to see him.

Helegrod has now been separated into 4 wings: the Giant wing, the Drake wing, the Spider wing, and finally… the Dragon wing. You cannot enter the Dragon wing until you have beaten the other three wings at least once. Thankfully, it isn’t on a raid lock; you only have to beat the wings once, and you are eligible from then on.

I proceeded on. Onward through Moria, through Lorien and Mirkwood, toward Enedwaith, Dunland, and the Great River. I was even on one of the very early teams to take out another dragon, the always pleasant Draigoch. (draigoch-draigoch-spoilers-pictures-of-draigoch) Then, I returned to defeat Draigoch again with only 6 people. That was a special day for me as it was no contest; a win in one try with just 6 of us.

Still… Thorog stood steadfast, and I remained patient.

My friend Lartessa knew my desire, assembled an assault team, and took us through the first three wings back in April, 2012. (Happy-5th-anniversary-lotro) However, we were not ready for Thorog at that time on that night.

Patience. Waiting for the day I could return.

I completed every deed in Eregion. Now only Thorog stood between me and the Meta deed Steed, the Dunedain War-horse, and the title Saviour of Eregion. The wave presses toward the confrontation.

Thankfully, the ride to Rohan was delayed! The rangers were unprepared to ride in September, so we were instructed to get our affairs in order for an October journey. For me, that meant deeding, tying up loose ends… dare I say it… defeat Thorog or die trying.

I made a plan with my friends in the Riders of Rohan to target Thorog. The date was set but too few had the experience of conquering the three pre-cursor wings. We would need an extended plan.

I visited Alti Spiderbane of Archet; he has a blood debt against Zaudra, the master spider of Helegrod.

I leave Alti, with his final words weighing heavy on my chest. “End her, Danania.” He had suffered losses at her devastation. I hope not to fail him en route to my goal.

A few of us grouped with the kinships Ministry and Warriors of the West to advance as many people through the wings as possible. Storvagun the Giant was toppled. The Drakes were dissected.

Even, Zaudru the Spider fell, much to the pleasure of Alti Spiderbane. A word of caution when entering Zaudru’s lair… she can poison-one-shot even the toughest foe. The 5-person team of Halj, Mysticle, Nidrod, Reza, and I learned the hard way that hers is no ordinary poison. A hunter with group poison removal is a safer way to beat her. 

Now, the culmination, enter the dragon. I am giddy with anticipation. Here is the last shot as we have passed the trolls and drummers blocking the entrance, and enter his domain. The snow was heavy on the ground and the sky was grey, foreboding.

Drugoth the wight is an appetizer. He tells us how we shall soon be dragon food. THEN, it is dragon time.

Actually, the Thorog fight can be fairly easy. Words of caution: let the tank do his thing and if you are not the tank don’t get agro. More importantly, Thorog has a fear that will kill you. One of the fears has a 10s countdown and if not removed, it will kill you and explode and kill those around you. It needs to be potioned away and you need a bit of luck to not get feared again while on CD (or a Captain who is ready to bolster away your fear). During one of the runs, I did get instantly killed but realized what was happening and ran away and died alone so I did not take out the group.

Thorog looks almost peaceful sitting up there on his perch.

Are we ready team? Sic em Daweirdo!

I did get a few good shots during the fight. Here, Thorog is about to let it be known that not just anyone can enter his realm and walk away to tell the tale.

Thorog is not happy and is throwing fear and death. You can see my friend Mysticle to the far left with the eye over her head. I am thinking this might have been when she got hit with Thorog’s Fear (mentioned above) and is marked for death.

Here, Daweirdo tanks Thorog. I am glad to be over here… and not over there under the big dragon.

In the end, the battle was won! Defeating Thorog has its own special title, De-animator of Thorog.

Five deed sets make up the Saviour of Eriador: Barad Gularan, Urugarth, Carn Dum, defeating the Rift balrog, and defeating Thorog. More importantly (to me), I received the beautiful meta deed steed, the Dunedain Warhorse! He is one of my favorites.

It was such an adventure, I went twice to get more people completed on their journey.

Special thanks to the two groups with whom I went and the many I got to group with along the way.

Group 1: Tahnee, Byrane, Eroric, Blodin, Maethindol, Mysticle, Thyshadow, Nimitar

Group 2: Hal Jordan, Lapis, Daweirdo, Nidrod, Mysticle, Ainurian, Nimitar

For those really into quests, there are several quests (all level 50) scattered around that are aimed at Helegrod. They come from

• Elrond (Elrond’s Library),
• Sigrun (Misty Mountains near the Helegrod entrance),
• Gonediad (Rivendell Spire),
• Elladan and Elrohir (Bruinen Gorge),
• Arifael (Giant Valley), and of course,
• Alti Spiderbane (Archet).

Here are two of the quest items I thought were interesting that I found along the way. The Ancient Explorer’s Pack is as good as the best explorer tools available (minus the Tailor portion, and will soon be outdone in Rohan). I have used these tools for over a year (when I first ventured to Helegrod); I like them because they are unique and good. I have a separate tool for Tailoring, yeah, I know I could just get the dropped one-time recipe, and a Metalsmith, with a Scholar’s help for the scrolls, and with very good luck have a combo tool made. But, my tools are mine and I like them. (It only takes one more slot in my bag so shush. hehe)

The gem-encrusted scale is surprisingly good for a level 50 item, and compares well versus the scholar crafted pocket item for level 75. Granted, I have a better Great River pocket item, I have never used this Scale and I’m sure it will get tossed but for what it is, I was surprised.