Club Eclair II: Into Moria

[Craiden]

Dear diary,

So we went back the long way to the Golden Wood. Galdhron did most of the talking when we arrived at this tree at its outskirts again, telling the elf named Haldir about our endeavors in the Foundation of Stone and the abduction of Bori. We were told that the Lady indeed had agreed to see us. But not all of us at the same time, each one of us was led by a host of wardens to her, blindfolded, one at a time.

When they took my blindfold off, night had fallen and I stood at the top of some stairs, looking down into a garden. There, by a bird bath, stood a woman clad in a shining white dress. "That must be the Lady of the Wood", I thought as I went down the stairs, at bit uncomfortable, and approached her. I was not afraid, for there was a certain calmness, and hope, in the air. It is hard to describe. I was more nervous, yes, but above all I was curious.

She was very pretty, fair hair and blue eyes and a light shone about her. She actually told me that Magor, this hero elf, told her what happened and put in a good word for us. So maybe he is not that bad after all.



Then she made me look into the bird bath, which in fact was not a bird bath at all, but a magic mirror of sorts, that can show things that happened in the past, or are happening right nopw bit somewhere else, or that may still happen in the future. Strange magics!

And when I looked inside I saw the wizard, Gandalf, standing on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. He was still wearing his hat. And he fought a great beast, a winged, burning shadow, three or four times as tall as him. Durin's Bane! The bridge broke under the monster's weight and they both fell into the Abyss. The battle raged on and they climbed the Endless Stair, where outside, on the top of the Mountain, the beast was slain and lay dead in a crater! We had seen that! And we had seen the broken bridge and the hat at the bottom of the abyss. It all makes sense now, I think. The wizard has slain Durin's Bane! Can it be? But he was slain himself. Or maybe not, at least his body was never found. Nobody knows where he may be, could it be he survived the battle?

The Lady said she was going to send out some sharp-eyed eagles to look for him. There was one sitting right there in her garden nearby. Biggest eagle I've ever seen. I watched it when it took off. The Lady thinks the wizard may yet live, that his task in Middle-earth is not done yet. Don't know what she means by that, but it gave me some hope.

She also said she saw glimpses of my own fate - a shadow beneath the trees, moving without sound. Stalking without mercy. Suddenly, a beast is by my side. But she doesn't know whether it is friend or foe. Hmm. I was confused when I was escorted back. By the wizard and her words, but also because this place reminded my a lot about the dream I once had while I was still a sculptor in Thorin's Hall. In that dream, I had stood at exactly the same spot, and the Lady had talked to me. I had seen Carn Dûm and Mordirith. Strange... And now I can't stop thinking about that shadow, and the beast.

Back at the talan (that is what the elves call the the trees with the platforms) my friends were already waiting for me. We discussed the fate of the wizard, they had seen the same thing. And apparently she mentioned something about their fates as well. Hedge was told something about a ghost city, Sagla didn't want to tell us about hers, all she said was that it was pretty vague. Seems she saw something differetn for all of us. But does that mean that we may get seperated and all go our own ways some time in the future? And how far away is that future?

She didn't say anything about the elves helping to rescue Bori though and in all the excitement I had totally forgotten to ask her. But Haldir now named us friends and allowed us to enter the Golden Wood. The outer sides of it, that is. I think their main city is somewhere tucked away on a hill and behind a tall, impenetrable hedge.

So we went on a beautiful walk. The sun had already gone down as we made our way along a path through massive trees with white bark. Fireflies glowed in the dark and there were butterflies and squirrels, coney and forest pigs, badgers and may different species of birds, sparrows, hawk, robins, you name it. It was very peaceful, insects buzzing and the air fresh and sweet. Ferns and flowers lined the way and covered the glades. It was all so beautiful and Moria seemed so far away. Hedge reminded us though that we can't stay for too long, we have a dwarf to rescue. Ha, as if I needed the reminder.

Our first stop was a hill named Cerin Amroth where we met this hobbit, Frodo Baggins, again. So he also made it to the Golden Wood, as have the others of his group. This fellowship of adventurers on that super secret mission group we had first met in Rivendell, watched them leave and then followed and lost their track in Eregion. We never found out how, or if, they had crossed the Misty Mountains but now it is clear that they also wnt through Moria, before the Iron Garisson moved in there, and safely made it to the Golden Wood, just like we did. All but one, for obviously the wizard was not here.

He was happy to see us, asked how we got here and wanted to everything that happened since we had last seen each other. Also remembered the walk we took near Elrond's house. Of course he was devastated about the loss of Gandalf, but it seems all of them are slowly recovering, for there was not too much mention of him. He also said he enjoys being with the Elves in Lothlorien, where all worries are so far away. There however was some kind of dread about him. Never figured out why, but I always feel a bit uneasy, almost fear, when near him. Hedge felt it too.

Of course, his friend Sam was standing right next to him. He told us thatb the other two hobbits were also nearby. We found one of them in a small garden and he was quite cheerful, laughing and saying they are now not the only ones on the wrong side of the mountains. The other one was supposedly sleeping somewhere. We also soke to Boromir, that man with the horn. He stood near the edge of the forest, all by himself. Didn't seem to like it too much here and was eager to leave and continue on their mission.

We also found Gimli and this elf Logolas high up on a flett with a beautiful view of Caras Galadhon, the capital of the Elves and innermost part of the forest.



Never got to visit that part though, it's all walled off and I think only Elves may enter it. Still looked impressive. Gimli said the trees here remind him of the stone trees in the Second Hall. Said he had also met the Lady and liked her. He didn't seem to be too excited to be so high up the ground. Ha, neither was I! Something was going on between Galdhron and Logolas though, Galdhron staring at him and asking him about his pardon, in an almost hostile manner. Not sure what's up with that, but I hope there isn't too much beef between them.

After speaking with all these folks from the other fellowship, we went on our own patrol to explore the Golden Wood a bit. We gathered some rocks and berries and wood for the elves near that hill, found several more "fletts" and it was mostly peaceful and uneventful. Until we got to the western edge where the the slope of the Misty Mountains reach the forest's border. On that slope, a large host of orcs had gathered, but they for the main part stayed away from the wood. Guess they learned their lesson with all the arrows raining down on them, ha!. They did however from time to time send smaller raiding parties and we joined the defenders of the Golden Wood for one. The orcs were slaughtered without much effort and it felt as if the elves have everything under control here.

A bit further on we got to another nice garden where the young trees didn't look very healthy. And then Hedge all of a sudden started singing to them! Sing to the trees? Come on! Must have been talked into it by one of the Elves. Or maybe he's been in this forest for too long already, even though we've been here only a couple of hours.

We finally got down to the eastern edge of the forest, where a broad river, the Anduin, flows past it. Had a nice picknick there on a rock by the shore as the sun was rising. Across the river was another line of trees. Very different from the ones on this side though, more sinister and dark. It was the bounds of the Mirkwood, and we know that somewhere within that forest Dol Guldur lies, and old fortress where this sorcerer, Gorothul, came from. But that was no place we intend to visit. We have to go back to Kahazad-dûm and rescue Bori.



As we made our way back to Cerin Amroth, the morning sun shone through the trees, rays of golden light on golden leaves and flowers. Deers were strutting through a light fog on the meadows. We saw a few elven couples in gardens or among the bushes. Didn't want to disturb them as it looked they had something romantic going on. We walked around all day, here and there and enjoyed it greatly.



Night had already fallen when I got back to the flett at Cerin Amroth. Gimli and Logolas invited me to join them on a patrol. They seem to get along really well. It was fun to listen to their conversations and we
encountered a couple of careless orcs who had dared to enter the Golden Wood and somehow had made through Lothlorien's line of defence. Gimli and this elf are very capable warriors and we had no problem dealing with them. I remembered how Gimli was by our side in the Misty Mountains when we defeated Skorgrim, or when we chased the Nazgûl in the Trollshaws with Legolas. Very capable warriors indeed. And now they had made their way through Khazad-dûm and were hunting orcs together. "For the Lady of Lorien!", Gimli shouted as he cut them down with his axe and he seemed to take great joy in it. And in the end they quarreled over who had slain more, ha!

When the orcs lay dead, a warden of the Wood came near. He said, in a rather unfriendly manner, that another dwarf had arrived at the border of the Golden Wood and he wished to speak with... me! I had no idea who that could have been. Turns out it was Bosi, who had made the long trip himself to seek the aid of the elves. Him and Gimli seemed to know each other. Bosi said things are not going well for the Iron Garrison, that many good dwarves had fallen to Mazog's forces. The warden then blindfolded both Bosi and me and we were led to meet the Lord Celeborn, Master of the Golden Wood and the Lady's husband. Gimli and Legolas came with us too, I don't know though if they were blindfolded as well. Bosi was not amused by this, said their mistrust is most humiliating. I couldn't agree more.

The meeting itself did not go that well either, at least at first. After the greetings, Bosi asked the Lord if he knew of the troubles of the dwarves within Moria and his answer was that he is not surprised, for all who enter Moria should expect to find trouble there. And something along the lines that it's the dwarves own fault, they had caused their troubles themselves in the first place, blabla.

But before the situation could get out of hand, the Lady, who stood next to her husband, stepped in, asking Bosi what kind of hardships the Iron Garrison is facing. And he told them about all the orcs and the nameless creatures, and that his own son Bori has been captured by Mazog. And that this Mazog has help from a sorcerer named Gorothul who appears to hail from Dol Guldur.



That then got the attention of the Lord Celeborn. He said he knows this sorcerer, but was not aware that he had left Mirkwood. He then offered to send a number of elves to aid the dwarves. I had the feeling that it was not so much to help the dwarves, but more to help the elves themselves. But whatever, Bosi got what he wanted. We were blindfolded again and led out.

I spoke to Gimli after the meeting and he said that, even though he wished to help the dwarves in Moria, he cannot join the Iron Garrison, for he has to stay with this other group, the one with Frodo and Aragorn, and this elf. But he promised to return and help Bosi to reclaim Moria once this other quest is completed. And he asked us to help the Iron Garrison as best we can.

So we all returned to the Chamber of the Crossroads to offer Bosi our continued assistance.

[Tiempko]

Father,

I am back in Moria again as I said I would be.

But I will be leaving here soon. We have learned that the wizard serving Dol Guldur have taken some Dwarf prisoners to Dol Guldur castle. We think that one of them is Bori - the son of Bosi - who is running this here expedition to establish the dwarfs back in Moria. There are those among us who think that is rescue is of most importance, but I do not see it that way. All of the dwarfs what have been taken prisoner deserve our rescue so far as I see it. What is it of being a fisherhobbit's son that makes the rescue of Thane Palidin Took's son so much more important. Does his parents love him less?

However it turns out, the elfs of Lothlorien are planning to launch an attack against Dol Guldur castle. They say that the attack is not to win the war - they are thinking that the war must be won or lost far from here - but to knock the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur Castle back on his heels a bit, or so they say. I remember you saying that iffen I were being bullied or find myself cornered by a goblin and fearing for my life that it does no harm to get the first blow in. That seems to be what the elfs are planning. But they are saying that it will take them a bit to collect their supplies and organize the volunteers, so the attack will not come within the next few days. In the mean time, as I said, we have been sent back into Moria.

The story that the elfs deduced from Mazog . . . oh, I fail to mention. The orc leader Mazog what commands the Moria orcs has been captured. Bosi intends to trade Mazog for Bori - which I hold to be a poor deal on all accounts. In being captured, Mazog has said things suggesting that the Wizard serving Dol Guldur - before he left with his prisoners - left behind a gift that aims to make Moria unfit even for orcs. It's a set of summoning stones set in the deepest parts of Moria where they can summon great villainy that will conquer the mines. They are of such a powerful and vile nature that not even the Orcs can stand up to him. Indeed, Erikin and Thalachon may have seen one of these summonings when they went to rescue Magor.

Well, we ventured into a place called the Hall of Mirrors where some of these summoning stones had been placed. This is a maze of tunnels, so we have had to split up into small hunting parties to explore to the roots of each passage. The cave, at the bottom of which these summoning stones were kept, has been made the home of a pack of particularly vicious wolves. It was a bear to fight our way past them to the top of the shaft that went down into the heart of the mountain. The dwarfs have set mirrors along this path specifically to send sunlight down into the darkest darks of the cave and, from there, into Moria itself. So, we aligned the mirrors to send the shafts of light into cave and worked our way until we reached the end. That end was something of a station that stored light - magically, perhaps - and sent it out all through Moria.

Sagla, Erikin, and Galdhron made up one group. Hedgerow and Thorcundo tried to go by themselfs without a third person, but that did not work out too well for them. When they retreated, exhausted, Bohimli agreed to go with them and the three worked their way down to the relic and even cleared the focusing lens that the mirrors sent the light to. I went with Roy and Thorfaniel. We did quite well - and never had to retreat.

There's still caves to explore and relics to destroy, so we will be going back. Right now we are resting in the Peaceful Path trying to get some warmth back into our bodies before we make another journey. The tunnels that allow sunlight into Moria are at the top of the mountain - where it is very cold. Very cold, indeed.

It really was dangerous work to start - we struggled against the wolfs and the batfolks. But, now, we have our strategies all worked out and things are gong pretty well. I am thinking that we will get these caves cleaned out in just another week or so and then we can go and clear another set of relics out of a place called the Water Wheels.

I hope all is well back home.

Love,

Alphred Troute


I think everybody managed to actually get the relics they needed to advance to Book VIII, Chapter 4. But, if not, there will be another chance this weekend. We are returning to the instances. At the very least, there are slayer deeds to advance. The instances did, indeed, seem quite difficult to start but, by now, we have them worked out and we have gotten three or four groups through to the very end, defeating the final leader. This is another thing we will aim at this weekend - getting those who have not yet been successful in the final battle in with a strong enough group to get that victory.

[Tiempko]

Father:

I am writing to you from the Twenty-First Hall. I have come here for a couple of days of rest and relaxation before we head out for another set of battles.

I lost count of the number of summoning relics we found in the dwarfen Hall of Mirrors. Eight or nine, I would wager. We will likely return to the caves at some times for the summoning relics had brought forth whole squadrons of batfolk and they still dominate the halls and caves. But the fear of a greater evil as would be brought into Moria by the summoning stones is reduced. I am thinking that the wizard of Dol Guldur thought we could not have reached them in such a remote place. And, it is true, it were some difficult battles with some groups finding it near to impossible to progress past some of the creatures we needed to deal with on the way to the relics. But, we persevered and got through the challenges.

There's another set of relics created in another remote area that may be difficult for us to reach. This is in the Water Wheels. It's an area built much like a clock, with water falling down through an intricate set of wheels running gears that do all sorts of work about Moria, such as pushing air through the caverns and rooms and running billows and hammers. The dwarfs have tried to clear them, but they have found the creatures that have moved into the complex too much to deal with. Which means, of course, they are sending us. Though the goal is not to clear the wheels of monsters - though that would be a bonus. The goal is to get to these relics that aim to summon powerful evils that will make Moria unsafe for orc or dwarf.

I've been talking to the dwarfs here and they have given me some unwelcome news. It seems that the gears and levers are set up in such a way that no one person can reach the bottom. There are places at which one of us must remain at a lever and open a gate while two others go through, meaning that the party will have to be split up for a time with one person being unable to call upon aid if trouble comes and unable to help the other two if they should have a difficult encounter. I will need to warn the others so that they do not get stopped as they struggle to reach the relics. Those relics are likely at the deepest dark of the water wheels - at the very bottom where the power of the wheels is at their greatest. So they will almost certainly have to make it through this area.

Indeed, I must cut this message a bit short as I truly should send a note to the Rotting Cellar to warn the folks of this puzzle. There are some who have already reached the Rotting Cellar and they will be making the first forays into the Water Works before I even get there. As a matter of fact, I think they will be making their first trips today. I do wish them well. I fear the trip may be difficult and frustrating - much like the Hall of Mirrors was for some folks. The villains here have certainly gotten more challenging the deeper we have gone into Moria, and I think we may need to spend some time in training to deal with the last of them.

So, I will leave you for now and promise to write a longer letter later.

Love,

Alphred Troute

[Craiden]

Dear diary,

We had a great success. We captured Mazog, right out of Durin's old throne room, which he had now made his own! Let me explain how it all happened.

First, we returned from the Golden Wood to Bosi. He was disappointed that Gimli did not come along, but he agreed that he probably has a good reason for it. He also told us the elves Celeborn had sent have arrived, but they and the dwarves are not really getting along that well. These elves are constantly blaming the dwarves for all their troubles. They had made a small camp in a cavern system called Buzun-ghar, a newly excavated passage near the garden. There was some kind of corruption in there, something evil that lives at the bottom of the cave. The elves wanted to seal the tunnel off again, but we went and investiagted.

The cave was full of moss and strange plants and ferns that grow in the dark. Turned out this evil was just a weird kind of rock. When we placed a beryl nearby (which was given to us by the elves and was meant to drive the evil away), this rock all of a sudden stirred and rose up. We shattered it but, by Durin, the wonders and mysteries of Moria never cease to amaze me. The elf (who did not come with us by the way) said it was a "Caerog", an ancient earth demon, and the reason for the corruption. Orvar, who was working together with the elves at the entrance to that cave, was happy that we showed the elves that there was not really a big threat and the cave didn't need to be sealed.

We were then told that Broin wanted to see us. He seems to have not yet fully recovered from from his abduction by the monster from the pool outside. To help him to forget his troubles and slowly get back to his old self, his father Brogur gives him various easy tasks, such as looking for old mining records. Broin was quite upset about this, asking why we were waisting so much time with such mundane things while his cousin is still in the hands of the orcs. He has a point there. We then all split up, looking for these records for him in various places.

I found some in the Chamber of Wisdom and was the first one to return. Broin looked at the records at first without much interest. I had read them too, they apparently were orders given to a quite famous stonecutter of the old glory days named Melkof Stonecarver. He was commissioned to do some work on the rear wall of Rushdurinol "during night time", to complete "Zurr-turkh". Didn't mean much to me, but when Broin looked at them, his eyes widened. "Do you know what this means? These are not simple mining records! This paper may hold the key to rescuing my cousin Bori!" He laughed with delight. It was the first time I heard him laughing since I first met him outside the gates of Moria.

Turns out Rushdurinol was the old name for the throne room of Durin, where Mazog now resides, and Zurr-turkh is a secret passage behind the hall. Broin thinks this secret passage was originally created for the king to escape in times of danger. If so, it might be used to sneak into the throne room, and thus to Mazog. Sneak in from the back! That tunnel seems to lead from Buzun-ghar, the same place where we had found that weird living rock or whatever it was.

So he sent me over to speak with Orvar. Wouldn't come with me, because... well, he said he had other things to attend to. But he avoided looking at me when he said that and I think he was ashamed... Ashamed for being afraid to leave the safety of the Peaceful Path. I won't blame him for that.

I was thinking we should wait for the others to show up, and told him so. But he kind of urged me on. Every moment wasted is a moment Bori suffers, or something like that. So I rushed ahead and spoke to Orvar.

He was sceptical at first, saying the existance of a secret tunnel leading into the throne room seems unlikely to him. But after I told him about the map and Broin's idea, he wanted to leave right away. Hedge and the others were still nowhere to be seen, and I told him too that it might be better to wait for their return, but he insisted. I don't know, some of these dwarves... are a bit overeager, always rushing ahead without thinking. There was no stopping him, so I joined him, thinking ok, we can at least investigate if such a tunnel does exist and if we find it, we can still wait for the others before we enter. Couldn't hurt to get a bit of information, right?

So Orvar and I made our way through that flowery cave again. There were a couple of fungus-orcs scattered about, but nothing we couldn't handle. Orvar looked like a capable warrior actually. Near the place where we had found that rock-thing, we did indeed find the entrance to a tunnel. There was no way Orvar would turn back now. He got all excited and rushed right in. I relucantly followed, wondering if this was a good idea.

The tunnel led into a big moist cavern into which several waterfalls flowed on all sides. There were a couple of lizard, but apart from them, the passage was empty. No orcs.

And then we found a doorway leading right into Rushdurinol! So the map did tell the truth then! We could smell some fires burning and the stench of nearby orcs, but none of them had seen us yet. Turns out there were in fact only a handful. There was a very small camp, which we quietly cleaned out, but Bori was nowhere to be seen. That was most disappointing. Then Orvar had the glorious idea of confronting and asking Mazog himself! Pheew, well... Again, he could not be argued with, and he straight out ran up the ramp leading towards the throne, where Mazog was standing! Just the two of us, crazy!

Mazog himself only had two guards by his side though and was clearly not happy to see us. "How did these maggots come before me? Were the front gates not guarded?", he wanted to know and, totally enraged, slew one of his guards right on the spot. Ha, one opponent less!

The other one got quite nervous and wanted to prove himself, so he said he will kill us for him and a fight broke out. But the guard was no problem and we defeated him quite easily. Then Orvar demanded to know where Mazog has imprisoned the dwarves, to which he answered that he doesn't imprison dwarves, he slays them. Oh no! And then he set about to attack us!

I don't know if Orvar and I could could have stood against him, I would guess not, he is the king of the orcs after all. But then I heard a voice behind me, Broin's voice! He had arrived with two elven archers and commanded Mazog to surrender and if he doesn't, the archers would pierce his heart with their arrows. Ha! Mazog even slumped down a bit.

Broin later told me that after I had left, he got to thinking and decided he can no longer lie around idly and in self-pity while others take the fight, his fight, to the enemy. So he rose and hurried after me, convinced the elves to follow him (they told me it was a quite a rousing speech) and then they arrived just at the right time. Hey, glad to have you back, Broin!

Broin then wanted to know where Bori is held, to which Mazog conceded that he slew one of his captives and handed the other two over to Gorothul, this sorcerer. And that Bori would be half-way to Dol Guldur by now.



We were shocked to hear that and Broin said he should slay him right away for all the suffering he had brought to the dwarves. But then he had another idea... He will keep him as a prisoner, bring him before the gates of Dol Guldur and try to exchange him for his cousin. When he said that, a bit of an argument broke out, as Orvar did not approve of this plan. He argued that Mazog has to be slain, for he is repsonsible for the deaths of many a fine dwarf and he should not be shown mercy. Even the elves said he cannot be permitted to live, because even more elves and dwarves may suffer.



But Broin had made up his mind, said he cannot leave Bori to die in torment within the dungeaons of Dol Guldur, and I had to agree with him. And then Broin swore an oath, that Mazog will die to his very own axe once the prisoners are rescued.

We shackled Mazog's wrists and brought him out of Rushdurinol. Which proved to be not too easy, as more and more orcs showed up and we had to fight our way out. Mazog himself spurred them on, shouting "Kill them all, you miserable maggots!", maybe not the best form of encouragement. One group had even brought a troll, but Orvar and the two elves were very able fighters and Broin himself fought like a mad dwarf.

We finally made it out and barred the entrance to the secret passage. Broin told Mazog that he will never rule Khazad-dûm again, but he didn't seem to be too depressed about it. Said he has no desire to rule here anymore anyways. His ally, the sorcerer, is drawing forth the great terrors of the depths, and Moria will be overrun soon.



There was a brief moment of tumult when he managed to break free of his chains, but it didn't take long to overwhelm him again. Broin promised to use stronger shackles in the future.

Nobody knows whether his words were just a lie, but it seems he genuinely meant it. Mazog is afraid of something, and he himself does not want to stay in Moria any longer. And what he said stirred up quite an interest among the elves in the Golden Wood, as we learned later.

[Tiempko]

To: Daffodilia Wildfeet
Chief, Bounders of the Shire - Addernotch Station

Sir!

I am sorry that I have not given you a report in quite so many days.

I was quite surprised and discovered I had not sent a report since Erikin had captured Moria, with some help from the local orcs. Well, Broin is holding Mazog as a prisoner in hopes of exchanging him for Bori - Bosi's son.

Now, I am all opposed to this exchange of prisoners. Not withstanding the fact that it would be a wonder to get Bori back, I can't ignore the fact that there are many dwarfs with sons and fathers and husbands and friends who may suffer a like fate to Mazog. What right is there for Bosi to have his son in a way that costs other dwarfs their children?

But, I was not listened to on this matter.

Still, there is a point of bother. To make the exchange we must go to Dol Guldur. To go to Dol Guldur we will need to cross Mirkwood - what some of us call Mirkywoods. To get into Mirkwood we need the help of the elfs of Lothlorien.

Now, they have promised to help us, but they are elfs. This means that they are taking their own good time to plot and plan and organize supplies and consider strategies and debate and discuss and the like. There's no telling when they will be ready. Meanwhile, we have been told to cool our pies until we get a proper summons.

That is not to say we have nothing to do. Mazog let it be known that, before leaving, the Wizard of Dol Guldur had place special summoning stones about some of the deeper parts of Moria to summon great and powerful beasts that would make Moria their own. Even the orcs are to either be driven out or eaten by these great beasts.

While we were waiting for the elfs to prepare their Mirkwood expectition, we were charged with returning to Moria and finding these relics.

Well, we have been doing a good job of it.

In one part of Moria, the dwarfs have set up a huge array of mirrors going down this hallway and that. They deliver sunlight into the dark of Moria by bouncing it off of one mirror and then another - down this hallway and that deep shaft - ultimately getting to the mirrors we have found all about Moria to provide light inside. Moria must be quite the place when properly lit.

But these caves have been the home of the batfolk - whom are an ancient evil that has allied itself against both orcs and free folk. They are no friends of the orcs, to be certain. We found a batfolk cave not long after we came to Moria and, in them, the batfolk had captured a half dozen fungus orcs and put them away in cages. They belong to a deeper and darker evil than the orcs and consider the orcs beneath them, I think. Though, on the snowy mountainside above Moria, orcs and batfolk appear side by side.

Anyways, we went in and about and tried to exterminate the batfolks and align the mirrors to bring light to Moria. Indeed, the relics the wizard of Dol Guldur had planted seemed to be doing their job - summoning more of these batfolk to make Moria their home. The passages were filled with them and some were fiercely capable at battling.

We destroyed, I would guess, about 8 of these relics hidden in and about the halls of mirrors. When we went to another Dwarven wonder of construction - the wheelhouses in the Water Works.

These were a marvel of dwarf engineering as well. I have written before about how the dwarfs turn the power of a waterwheel to bellow their forges, pound their metals, saw woods, wash clothes, blow fresh air and pump clean water to all parts of the Moria.

Now, these water wheels were full of salamanders and lizards and such. But the worst of it is that the summoning relics were bringing forth the rock creatures the likes of which we had seen below the garden. But these are much more powerful. Truth be told, they were too powerful for us. The best I can say is that we destroyed the relics that will be prevent the summoning of more of them, but there are a number that are already summoned and residing in the wheel houses.

I am thinking we are going to need the dwarfs and elfs to allow us to take more than three folks into a wheel house. They allow us only three folks on a patrol.

Now, I am at the Shadowed Refuge readying to go out and discover a new set of relics placed down there. It is to be expected that there would be relics amongs the nameless and world eaters. This time we are getting help. The elfs are summoning one elf each to accompany two of us to make up a group of three. Each group of three - one elf and two Eclairians - will go after its own relic.

So, now you are caught up as to where we are now.

There is debate and dispute about what we will do next. There are those who say that what is left of Moria is not for us to deal with and that we should return to Lothlorien and prepare for the expedition into Mirkwood. I am saying that we should do what we can in Moria before going to Lothlorien, even though I must admit that creatures have been a great challenge to us. However, I am but a hobbit and not often listened to.

Either way, from what I hear say among the elfs, it will still be a good while until the elfs are ready for Mirkwood. We should be doing something in that time.

I will let you know what we decide. I promise.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow




There are Updates.

The quests from Book VIII Chapter 4 to Book VIII Chapter 6 require a great deal of travelling and very little substance. Therefore, folks are being expected to complete this part of the story on their own time.

April 25-27, folks should be on Book VIII Chapter 6 in the Shadowed Refuge. We will pair up and each of us go after a relic.

When done, we have a decision to make.

Option 1: We stay in Moria and continue to work on some of the tasks remaining to us. Specifically, we battle the Watcher in the Vile Maw, enter the Hall of Crafting, and try the raid at Dar Narbugud at Level 55. I have good reason to believe that the first and last will be exceedingly challenging - and the Hall of Crafting could be as well.

Option 2: We leave Moria and return to the elfs of Lothlorien. There, we work on Lothlorien quests and deeds at Level 55. This is mostly landscape stuff (there is one fellowship instance) and should be doable by us. Then, when we get Lothlorien finished, raise the level cap to 58 and train up doing the aforementioned instances. After all, we have deeds to work on as well. So, that's Hall of Mirrors, Water Wheels, Vile Maw, Hall of Crafting, and Dar Nabugud as we go from Level 55 to 58.

What's your vote?

[Swanee]

While I am all for a good challenge, I'm not sure throwing ourselves at the Watcher and DN qualifies. From our recent experience, I don't expect us to be successful in either case. If the purpose is purely to roleplay our current "lack of ability" to defeat these monsters then we need to fluff that story up a bit. Otherwise its 2 long walks followed by 2 severe beat downs. Then again, we might surprise ourselves. The Turtle is a lvl 60 raid and we've got that one figured out. Its been some time since I did either DN or Vile Maw, but I vote we pick to do one. Make the walk, give a good showing, and let the results dictate the path forward. Following a possible disaster there, we could use "special training (lvl58)" by the elves to prepare for the remaining challenges. The Hall of crafting is a lvl58 full fellowship instance, so I'd also like to take a swing at that before head to the woods to improve our training.

Thalachon

[ertr]

I vote for going to Lothlorien directly.

We would probably have a decent chance with Halls of Crafting. I expect it to be of about the same difficulty as Mirror Halls or Water Wheels (except scaled up for 6 rather than 3). So if we give Halls of Crafting a try before going to Lothlorien I am not going to complain.

Vile Maw and Dar Nargubud on the other hand will likely result in us getting curb-stomped so hard it isn't even funny. They are level 60 instances, unlike the 3- and 6-man instances who have been level 58, and they were all beefed up for the release of Moria on the Legendary Servers. I actually expect the 12-man raids to be a proper challenge for us with a full raid at level 60, as they should be.
We can try them at level 58, but I really think we would be better off to wait until level 60.

The last two bosses in Dar Narbugug are level 63, which makes them purple to level 55 characters. Hence most of our attacks will get deflected. They also have over 3 million in morale, In combination this means that even if they just stood still like dummies and let us hack away at them it would take a good long while to kill them, Add in actual fight mechanics and it gets even worse.
Like the turtle, except with more deflects and trickier mechanics. (Btw, lotro-wiki was recently updated with current stats for several of the Moria bosses)

We could make a quick visit to Vile Maw and Dar Nargubud just to get a feeling of what we are up against, but really it would be a waste of time and repair money, and going there only to retreat at once would be hard to fit into the story.


I would actually recommend we raise the level cap to 58 before we start working on Lothlorien quests rather than afterwards. That way we can use the XP from those quests to level, rather than have to rely on grinding repeatables and doing dungeons to finish deeds. The majority of quests in Lothlorien are of the flower-picking type, so they would not pose much of a challenge anyway.
Then we can use repeatables and deed-grinding for leveling to 60 when it becomes time for that.

Running content a level-5 as we usually do is not goal, but a means. A means to get a proper challenge in most content and thus make the runs fun. After the various balance patches from SSG lately, as well as the ajustments to content that were done when it hit the Legendary Servers, I think we should consider doing content at level minus 3, or minus 2 in the future. Perhaps even on-level.

[Tiempko]

Sir!

I am writing to inform you that we are returning to the elfs of Lothlorien.

We are finding ourselves in something of a pickle here. We have a path ahead of us that takes us even further east and away from the Shire into a dark and gloomy place called Mirkwood - filled with orcs and spiders and rot. We must pass through Lothlorien to get to Dol Guldur Castle where Broin intends to exchange his orc prisoner Mazog for his cousin Bori and the other dwarf what was captured. At least, I hope the other dwarf is included. Funny, nobody even seems to mention his name.

Anyways, we can't leave for Dol Guldur castle until the villainy in Moria is tamed well enough to make it safe for us to leave. And that is turning into a bit of a problem.

We did have a bit of a success. The wizard of Dol Guldur left some summoning stones in Moria what were supposed to invite some great evil to claim Moria as their own before he left to take Bori to Dol Guldur. We found the summoning stones and destroyed them. There were near to two dozen of them, clustered in three different location, and guarded by some very strong villainy. The villains weren't strong enough to keep us from the relics, and we got them all destroyed.

But, there are powers already in Moria that we haven't been able to best. There's a vile creature called The Watcher in a flooded underground chamber. This is the same creature we met at the enterance to Moria, and the same one what kept Broin until we managed his rescue. We just got done finished talking with the elfs about this Watcher and it is quite apparent that there's naught we can do to defeat it. We need special trainings in Watcher battling before we go after him.

Plus, iffen you recall, we failed to slay the creature in the Dark Delving and left it up to the Dwarfs to restore the glowy rune stones to keep him back and inside the darkness. Plus, as we destroyed relics in the Water Wheels, some rock creatures what were summoned were living in the lower depths and also proved to be beyond our depths. They have also infested an area called Dar Narbugud, which the elfs tell us is likely beyond our abilities as well - and the Hall of Crafting.

The elf lass what organized our expeditions to destroy the last of the relics told us to go visit with Haldir in the elf lands, and we all huddled and conversed and decided it was likely a good idea. We need to be learning form the elfs anything they can teach us that will allow us to learn how best to battle the creatures that remain.

It is our hope that the elfs can teach us how to battle these beasts of a far gone age and that we can tame Moria . . . except for the elfs . . . there are just too many elfs and two seem to show up for every one we slay. But orc battling isn't near as bothersome as battling wrong ceatures and namelss abyssmal creatures and Watcher. Iffen we get the ancient evil creatures removed we can leave the dwarfs to battle the orcs.

I packed up and I left right away. I was fully provisioned as I had just recently passed through the 21st Hall and I made sure that I was properly provisioned. Not that I knew that I was returning to Lothlorien.

On the bright side, I am outside again. I am laying in a huge canvas tent that the elfs use just outside of the bounds of Lothlorien. I have seen Galdhron here already . . . met him in the woods as I was travelling among the elfs. Others will be coming, then we will go visit with Haldir. We will be in discussions as to what they can do to help us to prepare for the battles that remain.

When we think we are ready to give the ancient evils that remain a proper battling, we will return to Moria, finish up our jobs there, than help Broin deliver Mazog to Dol Guldur.

I hope I don't need to remind again that I am totally opposed to returning Mazog to Dol Guldur, but Broin will not hear objections.

I will write again soon.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow



Level cap has been raised to 56.

May 2-4 we will muster at Echad Andestel in Lothlorien. We will report to Haldir. Then, we will march back to Cerin Amroth where I have it on good authority that Frodo and the others (except Gandalf) are still resting and recovering. On the way, we will try to visit some of the elf tree houses to complete the elf tree house deed.

We seem to be missing much in the way of vector quests but I have a few quests left undone in this area that we can work on.

One of the things that folks will need to work on is elf reputation. That will be needed for us to enter Caras Galadhon when the time comes. Elsewise, they will not let you into the city. That needs some attention.

[Tiempko]

Father:

I am writing to tell you that it may be best iffen you sent your posts to a new address. Soon, I will be living amongst the elfs. Actually, I have been living amongst the elfs for a while now, but we have been confined to the edges of their lands where we have been engaged in patrols to help defend the area from the orcs. Apparently, our efforts have earned us some favor among the elfs, and they are going to be sending us an invitation to enter their fair city of Caras Galadhon.

We are expected, I believe, to consider it an honour that they let us in. Few people earn admission and, apparently, we have done enough good for them that they are willing to make an exception in our case.

Now, we have one more patrol to make among the northern lands of Lothlorien. But, we have been assured that when we return to the treehouse we have been using as our base we will have the hand-written invitations that will allow us to enter the city. I believe that our plan is to go right off and then to spend the day in fitful rest before we discover what the elfs want from us.

There is certainly something we want from them. The fiercest creatures in Moria are in its darkest depths. We will need to battle them to leave Moria safely in dwarfen hands and not as a base of goblins or orcs. But we have tried battling them. They are magical and mystical creatures that we are hoping the elfs of Lothlorien understand enough to give us an advantage in battling them. Failing that, they could send us help, but help seems to disappear the moment the situation gets dire and we end up battling by ourselfs anyways. It would at best to at least be trained in the best ways to handle that villainy before we go back.

And go back we will. We have helped the dwarfs of Moria so far in their attempts to retake their home. We will not leave those who are attempting this task at the mercy of the more stronger villains what occupies its deepest depths.

Perhaps once we can get into their main elf city we can talk to somebody who will either give us help against the villains or knowledge on the way to fight them

In the mean time, our lifes have been quite settled. Our daily chore is attacking a dwarfs in the lands that bound Lothlorien, and walking around picking berries and collecting colored sands that the elfs use in their dyes. Walking among the trees, flowers, and chirping birds again is a wonder. If only there was a fishing place nearby rather than half way across the region in the direction of the haunted forest called Mirkwood.

That is all that I have to report to you for now, father. Just mostly for you to be sending your posts to the elfen city I mentioned. It may take the posts a while to reach me. All letters and packages must travel through Moria to Lothlorien.

There's naught to worry about for the moment. We're mostly doing patrols as we wait for the elfs. Elfs like to take their good time with things. I have no idea how long it will take them to decide to give us some kind of useful help.

I hope you and the girls are well and will be writing again soon.

Love,
Alphred Troute


The first thing to note is that - starting in mid August - I will not be able to participate on Mondays. I have a class scheduled for Monday evenings that I must attend. Therefore, the sessions should move somewhere elsewhen in the week. Tuesday or Thursday will be best. I would like some feedback on what days those who adventure on Monday absolutely cannot switch to. It seemed first that Thursday would be better for more folks, but less than ideal for some. Let me know what your options are if you are accustomed to being in the Monday group.

Furthermore, folks will need "Friend" status with the elfs to enter the city.

I do not know what to expect when we get to the city. I guess that we will be playing as we are lost uncertain, as travellers would be in these circumstances, and make up things as we go along.

I do know of a set of quests that involve timed races from one treehouse to another in the city. I think it will be fun to spend a day or so on the races.

Furthermore, the city provides access to a level 60 fellowship instance much like the Battle of Aughaire battles we had in Angmar. In these battles, we need to both defend our home bases while sending groups out to conquer enemy forts. This is a level 60 instance and I do not know how well we can do at Level 56. I am thinking that we might use these instances as our "training" that we have been asking for. After all, there is a deed associated with this instance that requires going to the instance 10 times. So it will provide plenty of opportunity to gain the experience we need for Level 58. And, with some luck, at level 58 we can actually win.

I will let you know once we see what this is like.

[Craiden]

Dear diary,

Last time I wrote something was when we got Mazog. Lots of things have happened since then. Galdhron went back to Lothlorien. He spoke with Haldir and the Lord Celeborn. The Lord mentiond how important the friendship between dwarves and elves is going to be in the days ahead. Didn't like it that Broin decided to spare Mazog's life. And he also spoke about a dark cloud over Dol Guldur, it's power growing. The elves may cross the river and enter Mirkwood soon, to launch an attack before the enemy grows too strong. They are preparing for war, but it may take a while. We hope that this will distract the enemy enough for us to safely bring Mazog to Dol Guldur. But I have no idea when the elves will be ready and we can get going.

He also met an elven scholar named Issuriel. She was most interested in what Mazog said after his capture. That he doesn't want to rule Moria any longer, even seemed afaid to remain there. This means that the evil the sorcerer tries to summon must be truly terrifying. When Galdhron came back he said he was tasked to find out what this evil could be and either prevent it from being summoned or fight it and send it back into the deep shadows. A daunting task, and we had no idea where to start looking.

The elves the Lord had sent to aid the Iron Garrison think this Gorothul may have marked some locations by placing beacons in the deep places to draw forth the evil. They didn't know the sorcerer was in Moria and they have no clue how long he had been there, so he may have had enough time to accomplish whatever his goals were.

Luckily, the dwarves had not been idle either. They heard about the new threat to their expedition. One of them, Orvar, may have found such a beacon, near where the rock-thing was, close to the secret tunnel. Said it was a weirdly glowing orb, covered in runes. He had a strange feeling that it was calling somebody, something... and then he smashed it into 1,000 pieces with his axe, ha!

After that, a great search began all across Moria. Scout reports came in and two sounded promising. One orb had been seen in the Mirror-halls of Lumul-nar, where an intricate array of giant, rotatable mirrors once sent light from the outside into the deep reaches of Khazad-dûm. Some dwarves went inside, but had to retreat, saying the place was swarming with bat-people. Broin asked us to investigate, find out if there is indeed such a relic and if so, destroy it.

The entrance was high up in the mountains, near it's peak, in swirling snow, and near where the crushed and still smoking remains of Durin's Bane lay. Once we got in, a shaft led down, where we had to jump from one small ledge to the next to get to the Bottom. There, we were surprised by a pack of wargs. They must have fallen down the shaft and got trapped here, with no way to get back up. Well, there was a ladder, but wargs can't clim ladders. They must also have been completely starved, for they viciously attacked us once they had picked up our scent. They proved quite a handful and it took all our skills to subdue them.

They way ahead was completely dark. Now, these mirrors can be turned and aligned in such a way that one reflects the light from the preceding one, and onto another one, and then another one and so forth, so that a beam of light is sent further and further down, until, as we later learned, it shines onto a huge lens made of glass which then illuminates the cavern below and from there distributed to other parts, like the big mirror at Jazargund for example. Some of the mirrors had been turned so they they didn't align anymore, like the one we found at the bottom of the shaft. When we turned it, a light shone down a corridor and then down another long decent made of wood. As we got to the bottom of that, there was another mirror we had to turn to light up another big cavern.

Here the light from above was not properly reflected anymore. At first we wondered who may have turned around the mirrors, but then it became clear that the merrevail we've seen must be responsible for it. There were many of them, in all forms and shapes, and they fiercely defended their roost. Most dangerous were those females with the pale skin and skimpy red dress, strutting around on long legs. We had to kill them really fast, otherwise they would get totally enraged and their fangs would prove a serious threat, even to us seasoned warriors.

We went up and down, and round and round, looking to bring the light further down. There seemed to be some sort of net covering a hole, and it was impossible to cut through it. We figured we had to turn the mirrors in such a way that a beam of light would burn right through it, but it was not easy and somehow we couldn't figure out what to do.



Then Sagla went all the way up again and found one last mirror we had missed before. When she turned it, the cave magically lit up and a ray of light fell on the net and it melted away.

And now? We had not found the relic yet, so it must be somewere further down, but there was apparently no other way down and so we jumped right into the hole. We were immediately swarmed by a whole flock of angry merrevail, but managed to repel their onslaught. Then we walked down a narrow tunnel, enforced with steel beams, the light leading the way.



Past that, we found ourselves on a big wooden scaffold attached to the ceiling of an enourmous cave. Deep down we could see what looked like the Fanged Pit, a place we had visited before, near Jazargund and full of merrevail. We had to tread very carefully here across the wooden ramps, for one misstep would mean you fall to your death.



And there, on the biggest platform right at the bottom, we found the relic, or beacon, that Gorothul or one of his minions had placed. It was a glowing orb placed on a metal stand, pulsating with a strange energy. I didn't hear any calling, but it looked evil enough and we destroyed it.



We were done, but next to the orb was another net placed over a hole, between one large lens and another, even bigger one, below. On the lower lens, several merrevail, including what looked like a leader of sorts, had gathered. The net, and the merrevail, prevented the beam from reaching the lens, and therefore from spreading light across the entire cavern below. And from there, sending it further along.



We figured that we again had to align the mirrors in a certain way that the net gets burned. But those mirrors were spread all ober the scaffold and it proved to be a highly complex puzzle. We ran back and forth, even split up, randomly turned one mirror here and another one there, watched contently as they reflected some light somewhere else, but somehow we just couldn't get it right. So we left.

But we came back another day, and this time Hedge was with us. He has these clerking superpowers, you know. He scanned the scaffold, the lens and the net, and the locations and alignments of the mirrors with his keen eyes and then started to walk. "We leave this one alone", he said. "We turn this one", and then "We turn this one last" and so on. And then, just like some magics, a beam fell down on the net and burned it away.

We jumped down onto the lens, which was very slippery, you could hardly walk on it. The merrevail perched there were not happy. I think they knew that their whole cave beneath would be lit up if we gain control over this device. So a fierce fight broke out, where their leader bat sometimes retreated a bit higher into the air where we couldn't reach her and let he many minions do the dirty work. But in the end we defeated them all. Liatri did a lot of work with her deadly traps again.

Oh, yes, I never mentioned that Liatri was back! I don't know how she found us, or even remember when I last saw her. But I do remember very well how she brought down the Balrog in Angmar. Such a small girl, but such a deadly fighter. Almost as good as Wilbus was. I miss Wilbus too, and have no idea what happened to him. Maybe he was ambushed and eaten by an enemy. A terrible thought... no, he is probably fine and off to some other adventures. As is Aearthor, the ship captain and the leader of our group for such a long time. He said he was going to go back to his family in Gondor, as there seem to be a lot of problems there. But anyways, I was very happy to see Liatri again!

[Tiempko]

Father:

In all of my travels so far I have naught seen anything like that of the elf city of Caras Galadhon. The elfs live high in the branches of some truly massive trees, on tree houses of the finest construction - more finely wrought than anything that can be imagined. There is naught anything in the Shire to compare. I could suggest perhaps taking the Post building and putting it in the upper branches of a tall tree, and then making it 10 times as wide across from one side to another and removing the walls and roof. Of course, you would have to imagine a tree large enough to hold such a structure, and they exist here apleanty.

It was most strange coming into the city. Once we reached the center of town, it was every Eclairian for himself or herself. It was much like being young in Michel Delving and, with the chores done, you'd give us permission to go play and there was no part of Little Delving that would be safe from us. Though, again, all of Little Delving could fit in the branches of one of these trees. Even Michel Delving would fit in a corner of this place.

I know that you don't approve of cities, father, but there is naught like an Elven city.

Here, we can see some of the preparations that the elfs are going through to prepare for their assault into Mirkwood. But elfs do take their time. We've been carrying arrows and other supplies hither and yon for the elfs. Seems whenever somebody sees a hobbit they think that they have found a perfect worker to carry any and all posts and deliveries they can conceive of.

We have spent a fair time here relaxing. There are no great villains to battle. We patrolled a hillside near to Lothlorien where orcs have set up a camp, but they were naught expecting an army of Eclairians to show up and were ill prepared for us. We swept the hillside clear. There's a cave back into Moria back there that was guarded by a most monstrous troll and an orc keeper. They retreated into the caves and closed the door behind them so that we could not follow them into their lair. Of course, the instant we leave the mountain side and return to the elfs, the orcs and goblins flood out of that cave and occupy their forts and camps again. But they are naught strong enough to make a serious attack.

I do worry as to whether it will remain, however. I have suspicions that the orcs are simply laying the preparations for something larger and more grand. I have not spoken my worries to any here as I have naught but a feeling. I would hate to be wrong. Besides, I fear they will cancel the expedition to Mirkwood iffen they felt they needed to protect their flank in its stead.

You can rest comfortable that we are facing no serious threats at the moment. It is a rare time of relaxation and enjoyment. The only problem here is that there is no good farmland. The trees overgrow everything and cast too much shade for crops to grow. But the fishing is fine, except where the orcs have fowled the stream.

I will write to you when things change and we return to danger. For the moment, though, it is eat, sleep, eat and sleep, sleep, and then eat - and not necessarily in that order.

Alphred Troute

[Craiden]

Dear diary,

After we found and destroyed that relic in the Mirror-halls, Bosi wanted to see us. He is still located in the Chamber of the Cossroads. He told us that another relic had been spotted in the Water-works, in a great machine. But his scouts couldn't get close to it, for some doors were locked, there were levers and wheels which route the flow of the water and canals and they couldn't figure out how the whole system works.

This machine was also overrun with dangerous lizards and worms, and, at the very bottom, something big was lurking.

So we went in. It was quite the impressive construction, bringing in water from the top of the mountain, then channeling it in a variety of waterways to turn and spin giant wheels. These wheels in the end lifted and dropped giant plungers, the purpose of that is unknown. Maybe they were once used to crush hard rock thought to contain mithril. It really felt like we were ants in some kind of gigantic machinery. Yes, there also were lots of lizards and the occasional rock-worm, but we thinned them out without too much effort.

A bigger problem was that we sometimes couldn't get any further without figuring out which lever to pull or which wheel to turn to open grates blocking our way or to extend bridges over which we could then walk to the next part. There was one grate which wouldn't stay open long enough, so one of us had to stay at the lever while the others went into the passage behind it, jumped down a hole and then pulled another lever to exend a bridge over which the one who had stayed behind could then join the rest of the group again. It was all pretty complex and took us quite a while to figure things out, and I still don't think we opened every side room yet.



But after a while we finally arrived at some sort of central platform, right in the middle of this vertical machine, and in the only accessible tunnel one of those rock-things was sitting. Not sitting, actually it was standing. So it was "awake" and probaly aware of our presence. We had tried every lever and every wheel and this seemed to be the only passage we could take to get further down and to the relic, so we decided to fight it. It was tough, but not indestructible. Then we went down a wooden descent and there it was, another relic. The mighty elf Talachon studied it intently before he smashed into a thousand pieces.



Beyond the relic was another large room, the bottom of the machine with the plungers hanging from the ceiling. And in this room sat another rock-thing, a "Caerog" as we had learned. Maybe the same we had seen before, for the disturbing tale about the earth-demon is that it might be the same creature evrywhere, just split up in who knows how many pieces. At least that's how I understood it.

Anyways, this one was more of a greenish color, probably from the moss gathered on its surface in this damp place. As we entered the chamber, it stirred and then rose to its full height. It was much, much bigger than the others we had seen before. Could this be the main part of all its parts?



And then the plungers, which were attached to the turning wheels above by massive rods, all of a sudden started to move, came crashing down, rose up, then crashed down again. Maybe the creature can be lured under one of the plungers, smashing it into a thousand pebbles, but the same fate could easily befall one of us. The whole situation looked extremely dangerous and we decided to leave for now. Who knows, the creature might get careless and will step under one of them plungers anyways. Problem solved, right? We had destroyed the relic, that was what we had come for. Mission accomplished. But we are thinking to maybe come back at a later time and check if the Caerog is still there. And if it is, try to remove it to help the Iron Garrison with this menace so they can properly set these great wheels in motion again for whatever they are needed.

When we got back to the Rotting Cellar, a dwarf introduced himself to us. His name is Burnheart. He looked a bit different from the rest of the dwarves, slightly taller and slimmer, and walking with a more upright, proud posture. Said he was a stout-axe, never heard of them. He told us he's from Mordor, where his folk are enslaved by those following and serving the Eye, and made to work in the dungeons. He had escaped a few months ago and been wandering around, until he met someone who told him the dwarves who entered Khazad-dûm would surely appreciate a helpful hand. Nice fella, calls me brother. We told him about Bori and that we try to get him back and I think he may join our group.

Broin then sent us to the Heart of Fire where Stothkell had ordered his mastersmith to craft a set of new, stronger shackles for Mazog. He promised that the orc-chieftain will not be able to break free of these as he did while he was escorted out of Durin's throne room. The problem however is that the elves will not allow him to pass through the Golden Wood. Which would of course be the fasted route to Dol Guldur. Lord Celeborn himself has refused it. Broin has no other choice as to accept a lenghty detour and he is quite upset about it. "This delay is intolerable", he fumed. But still, what can he do.

We let Lenglammel, the Elves' representative know. She understands Broin's concerns and apologized, but confirmed again that bringing Mazog to the Golden Wood is not an option. His presence will taint the sacred forest or whatever. She also told us about another relic that had Magor found, this elven warrior. Found it in exactly the same spot where Galdhron and I had thwarted the Rogmyls' attempt to summon this weird stone-tree thing that came out of the portal. He had kept a close eye on that location and observed a couple of Rogmyl carrying a relic into the cave. They became aware of his presence and he had to retreat.

Hedge and I went in to investiagte and found him right at the entrance. He told us the Lady of the Golden Wood had given him an Elf-stone, radiating light, as we went in deeper. The only foe we encountered before we reached the inner chamber was another one of those rock-things, but we smashed it quite easily.

When we got to the room with the portal, we saw another pedestal with a glowing orb on it, and rays of purple light shining onto it from several directions. At the end of those rays sat four more of these earth-demons.



Magor again repeated the tale, saying that it was just one, split into different pieces. He got closer to the pedestal to examine it and we could see that a beam of light shone forth from it onto the portal. He was alarmed that the rock-things magnify the power of the beacon to faclitate the return of that rock-tree thing with the big swords.

We immediately set to destroy the relic, but alas, it was too late! Thunder rolled through the cave and purple lightning struck as a hole opened up in the ground and the monster clawed its way out of it! "Ai, Gwathnor is returned!", the elf wailed. Then he found his courage and raised the stone over his head: "May the light of the Elves overcome you!"



The beast collapsed, it's strength gone, but this was not the end of it. The elf started to engage the rock-things. He said Gwathnor can only be overcome if we were to shatter the rocks. But as we destroyed the first one, that stone-tree rose again. Magor held the elf-stone high in the air again and its light fell onto the beast, and it crumbled to the ground again, like a puppet whose strings were cut. We destroyed the other rock-things, and every time the Gwathnor thing stood up again and every time he looked different. Once he was all red and flames flickered around him, then he was veiled in purple shadows.

In the end he fell and all four rocks were shattered. The elf had actually proven himself to be an awesome and fearless fighter. He had totally redeemed himself that day. He however said that, even though we were victorious, it will not be a lasting victory. To truely destroy Gwathnor is far beyond our abilities and sooner or later he will find a way into our world again. Maybe Gandalf, he wizard, could destoy him, but he is not with us anymore... Or maybe the Lady, I totally think it was her light that saved us. Without its power, I think we would not have stood a chance and surely perished.

So we, and Orvar, found and destroyed four of the sorcerer's relics in the end. I don't know if these were all there are, there may be more. And neither do the elves sent by the Lord Celeborn. But we were asked to go to the Golden Wood again, to speak with Haldir. We were to let him know that Mazog will be brought to Mirkwood, bypassing Lothlorien, and to get some information on the preparations of the elves.

We discussed what to do. Some of us were unhappy to leave behind unfinished business in Moria, such as that abomination in the shadowy place, or the rock-thing at the bottom of the machine. There is also that monster from the dark pool outside. We know where its lair is. We went inside for a quick look and found that it is way beyond our powers. We might be able to kill it with more experience or better equipment though.

But in the end it was agreed that we should follow our directions and not delay our trip back to the Golden Wood. The Iron Garrison will be fine, those monsters are tucked away in hard-to-reach places and unlikely to get out. Saving Bori from the clutches of that evil sorcerer is our highest priority now, as it should be. So we left for Lothlorien in the morning, where we are right now, inside the elven city they call Caras Galadhon.

[Tiempko]

To: Daffodilia Wildfeet
Chief, Bounders of the Shire - Addernotch Station

Sir!

We are finally getting the training we have been asking for. Soon, we will be returning to Moria to deliver the final blow to the villainy that inhabits the deepest darks. Then, we can go and try to rescue Broin, assuming that Broin is still about to be rescued.

I do have to admit that I have not felt all that guilty as I have finally enjoyed some time outside among civilized folks. We have been living in the tree houses enjoying living in relative safety and comforts. I've been practicing my flet running - contests they have here for folks to run from one treehouse to another in record time. I had to spend a good amount of time mapping and plotting the ladders and ramps and routes by which one can travel from one place to another among the trees. Gad, there was one poor elf, high up a tree, who lost control of a manuscript she had written with pages scattered all over the place. From where I stood high atop a flet I could look down and see scattered pages blown here and there. But I was able to get all of them, I think, and return them to her.

All the while, this is much like life in the Shire . . . delivering war supplies instead of pies and with flet running much like running the post.

That's not to say that all has been pleasure and relaxing. Like I said, the elfs have been starting our training. There's a particularly dangerous band of orcs on the hillside northwest of here and, as a part of our training, the elfs have been sending us out after these orcs. They are particularly strong and mean. The first time we went out to try to battle them, they defeated us and drove us back off of the hillside. But, that is what trainings were for.

I wasn't there when folks first defeated the orcs. Gad, it was the second squad that won that battle and I almost never go out with the second squad. Bounder Alphred is usually there but - apparently - he got to feeling poorly and gave up his position to Burnheart. It was a good thing, too. This Mordor dwarf . . . well, I am hearing good things about him. He took the squad up and through the orc camps like a hot knife through soft butter, or so I am being told. Fraori was with them. I think Thalachon, Thorcundo, Medloth, Bohunc, and Liatri were there as well . . . though I cannot say for certain. Like I said, I wasn't there, so I had no chance to see for myself.

When Alphred next went on a battle to make up for the one he missed . . . that did not go well. They kept getting lost, not knowing where to find the camps and such or where to launch their attacks. There's a deadline that the elf gives folks for clearing the camps. The idea is that it takes a certain amount of time to call back to their headquarters for reinforcements and about 45 minutes until the reinforcements arrive, and so the squad is to have defeated the orcs and retreated back to Lothlorien before the 45 minutes are done. Well, as I heard, they had only 7 minutes left and one more enemy camp to destroy. Just as they started the assault, a horn blew announcing an orc attack on one of the gates. Alphred charged off back to the elf defenses and the rest followed - Sagla, Erikin, Ghaldron, Roy. The orcs followed, too, and so there was two sets of orcs at the gate. But the Eclairians won and there was naught left to do but destroy the last idol. Yet, time was running out. There was only a couple of minutes left by the time the Eclairians had returned to the orc camp. But, they were able to get the idol destroyed in the seconds that remained.

The elfs are going to finish up our trainings in Moria. We are each getting letters that we are supposed to report to trainers in the Foundations of Stone. It is my guessing that each trainer is going to want each of us to be doing something different, so we may split up for a bit as we get our trainings finished. But when we get back together we will be best able to defeat the last villainy in Moria.

There will be more entertainments and relaxings before we go, though. There are rumours . . . I do not know if it is true, but there are rumours . . . that we are going to the vinyards to spend the day helping with regular farm chores and such and preparing for a feast. The elfs are giving a feast in our honour? I am going to be so disappointed if I find that this is mere rumor and a false rumor at that.

But I see a return to Moria and the continuations of our training on the near horizon. Back into the unending dark. No more sunshine and butterflies and deers and coneys and birds. Though, to be honest, from what the elfs say, this is as much true of Mirkwood as of Moria.

I will keep you advised. I hope that when we return to Moria we can deal with these beasts and the dwarfs will be safe. And let them hope that the thousands of orcs off battling the South never have cause to return.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow


We are trying to get the banner count in Lothlorien up to 600. So, iffen you can contribute with a running of Lothlorien Preparations to deliver the supplies to the tree houses, that would be grand.

Hedgerow has mapped the flet runs so, iffen anybody wants a guide to flet running, flag down Hedgerow when he is about and he can help. He can also help to find missing pages that were blown on and about the city.

The next couple of weeks will be devoted to finishing Lothlorien except for the Battle instance and deeds. We will have another Battle of Lothlorien next time and then muster for a walk to the Vinyards. The following week will be devoted to preparing a feast at the Vinyards. There may be a third week to patrol along the river or accomplish some other ends that I am not prepared for. Then, the Lothlorien region should be finished except the battle.

Then we return to Moria to finish off that region. This will be our last trip back. While there, we will tie up all loose ends. If there is anything in Moria you have left undone that you would like to have done, this will be the time.

We will start with the Hall of Mirrors and Hall of Wheels again while folks individually advance their class quests.

If you are a Hunter, Lore Master, or Captain, then you will need to be ready sooner than others as we will travel through those instances (Grand Stairs, Forges, Fil Gashan) next. If anybody wants to complete their slayer deeds, we will arrange some time. We will likely go through the Grand Stairs twice - first in quest mode, and a second time in challenge mode. The rest of them I hope to try in challenge mode as the challenge mode and quest mode do not conflict.

At this point, for story purposes, I am tempted to work on the Hall of Crafting as it is in the same area - even though this means putting off finishing the other class quests for a couple of weeks. At least finish it once so that we can deal with future runs in terms of "telling a story".

Then we continue with the class quests. Burglars and rune keepers are next at the 16th Hall. Minstrels and Champions finish their class quests in Skumfil, and Wardens and Guardians go last in the Dark Delvings.

Note that we did not finish the Dark Delvings as we could not kill the final beast, so we will likely take this opportunity to finish Dark Delvings as we have finished up the other instances.

Having done the Hall of Crafting earlier, we should now be able to go into the Dar Narbugud raid - as it is right next door. If this proves too difficult at Level 58, we may raise the level cap to 60 and keep trying. Since Dar Narbugud was toughened for the Legendary Servers, I am thinking that this may be necessary. In fact, I think it is likely.

We will end up by returning to the Water Works to battle the Watcher (and perhaps a few turtle hunts thrown in for good measure.)

This will be the last villain of Moria. Once it is finished, we will muster at the Vinyards again and prepare to take the boats into Mirkwood.

[Tiempko]

To: Daffodilia Wildfeet
Chief, Bounders of the Shire - Addernotch Station


Sir!

We are heading back into Moria shortly to deal with the last of the villains.

The elfs have been training us in battles and they are actually completing our trainings back in Moria. I have a letter of introduction that I need to present to a man-folk named of Pada who is waiting for me at the Shadowed Refuge. He said that he is going to help me to prepare to battle the worst of the villainy that still sits in Moria.

The elfs have been giving us our preliminary trainings battling orcs north of Lothlorien. We have been using new tactics and such. Our first training sessions went poorly, as could be expected, and we were scarce able to do anything of significant against the orcs. It is much different now. When we go out on our orc raids we can usually cut through them now in just minutes.

Burnheart has been quite a benefit. Burnheart is an odd dwarf. He said he was held as a slave down in Mordor and tells horrible stories of what life was like there. Somehow he got away. He was looking for something useful to do once he got into the outside world and when he heard about us he said that this sounded like a useful way to be spending his efforts. Burnheart is one of them rock wizards. Anyway, it was him who picked up the elf lessons faster than anybody and got the rest of us organized and coordinated.

Sagla . . . as usual . . . was great at leading battles as well. She displayed her usual competence and straightforwardness in getting things done. There's no nonsense from her. You got a job to do. You show up. You slay the orcs. You go home. It's not much different from weeding a garden.

Well, we've gotten so good at it that once we identify an orcan encampment and the elfs set up their battle lines it takes us less than 20 minutes to rush in and clean out the orcs - when things go well. Things don't always go well. We are still learning.

It's quite useful having a bearfolk with us. You should see Medloth as she charges into a tribe of orcs guarding their camp. They come at her with their axes and swords and arrows and all you see is a cloud of dust with an occasional claw sticking out until there is naught but remains but a pile of orcs. Then we go about destroying the rest of the camp leaving nothing standing, and moving onto the next. Thorcundo does as well when it comes to rounding up the orcs . . . he just doesn't raise as big a cloud of dust.

Boermmy is near to competing with Thorcundo, even though he is but a bit of a hobbit. I think that a part of Boermmy's advantage is that orcs don't expect such a package of a person to be such a trouble. They fail to put their best efforts into the fight thinking that they will easily push him aside and serve him up as an appetizer before dinner. Only, they find themselves battling a wolverine of a hobbit and do not realize just how much trouble they have found until it is too late.

Well, actually, we have all gotten letters of introduction telling us to meet up with certain folks in Moria who will be completing our trainings. All except Medloth, at least. Medloth is feeling a bit left out, I think. She keeps checking the post when the post is announced looking for a letter, and appears quite sad when last of the letters gets handed out and she's gotten no response. She asks the elfs about here but they all say that they know nothing about what is happening with the trainings. So, we don't know who to ask. Mayhaps the elfs are still wondering what to do with a bearfolk. I'm thinking they may have sent a post back to the bearfolk homeland asking for advice. It might take a while before they hear back.

Oh, and Thorfaniel is back. I don't know iffen I mentioned it. She vanished for a bit all of the sudden. As I heard it, she was out adventuring and she had a bit of a training accident. I think Alphred knows what happens but Alphred has never been friendly towards me, and isn't about to offer any information. She looks well, and it is good to have her back. We've been catching her up on things she missed during her short absence. I think she's all set now.

'Course, Erikin is still focused directly on rescuing Bori. He was discomfited by the thought of us having a feast and a picnic while Bori was off being tortured or maybe dead. I watch him as we prepare for the feast, and he has his eyes fixed on Dol Guldur. He was up on one of them elf tree houses trying to see what he could see off to the east while the rest of us were fetching spring water, lighting the lamps, getting meat for the spit, and preparing the wine.

We'll get to Bori as soon as we can. And it won't hurt us at all to have the trainings that the elfs promised us as we go on Bori's rescue. I have a feeling that them Dol Guldurians are not going to be keen to just hand him over.

We'll be here for a bit longer for the feast. Then, I have a long walk ahead of me.

I'll let you know how things go.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow


Go ahead and work on the final Lothlorien quests. We should be finishing up the region.

This weekend, we will likely go on a patrol around Lothlorien - patroling up the river, visiting the meditation circles, and the like. One last walk around Lothlorien as we say our farewells to the trees and shrews and boars and butterflies. This will likely be our last questing day in the Lothlorien region. Anything that is left undone, folks can be expected to finish on their own as we return to Moria and deal with the meanies.

We're starting a long stretch of group instances. Hall of Mirrors, Hall of Wheels, Grand Stairs, Forges, Fil Gashan, Hall of Crafting, 16th Hall, Skumfil, Dark Delvings, Dar Narbugud, and The Watcher. These are all instances with instance deeds. Again, this is our last sweep through Moria. When we are finished here we should have done everything there is to do in Moria. Iffen you have anything you have left undone, this will be the chance to finish them.

I am currently fully expecting the level cap to go up to 60 between Dark Delvings and Dar Narbugud.

Then, when we are all done, we will be mustering at the Vinyards, loading the boats, and heading off to Mirkwood.

We will throw in some turtle hunts and Battes of Lorien in the mix so that folks can finish the deeds and quests associated with them. Most of us are getting near to what we need to get two First Age Level 60 items when the time comes.

[Tiempko]

Father:

I figured that I had best send you a note.

Little has changed here out in Lothlorien. We are still living amongst the elfs, which means that we are enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and trees and flowers. It is a nice place. They are even having a feast for us. Of course, just as you taught me, you shouldn't go to a gathering and just expect others to wait on you hand and foot. There's work to do and a good guest offers to give the host a helping hand as required. And so we have helped with the hunting and lighting the torches and other chores.

Now, it hasn't been naught but pleasure and relaxing. We came to the elfs asking iffen they would either help us send some elfs with us who can help us to handle some of the biggest villainy remaining in Moria. We want to make sure the dwarfs we leave behind are safe before we head to Dol Guldur to try to rescue Bori . . . assuming he is still about to be rescued. They decided on training us. We've been helping them battle against the dwarfs north of here who have turned out to be particularly vicious. Though we've learned how to deal with them.

On our most recent training there was only four of us - me, Burnheart, Liatri, and Jaytull. Plus, the elfs decided to test us with a challenge. IThere are some particularly vicious enemies found among the orcs from time to time and, while we were working on conquering the orc tribes, we were told to also find and slay one of these villains. I originally thought that the elfs wanted us to fight TWO large villains while we battled the orcs, but they specified that it was good enough for them if we took out one or the other. So, Burnheart found one of the big trolls at one of the orc camps and we drew him into a trap. So, the elfs gave us credit for winning their challenge.

Because there were only four of us, we had to take care in our battles not to get ourselfs slayed. One of the strategies we used was to attack the orcs and then to retreat. The orcs, being rather witless when it came to such things, would chase after us. This allowed us to lead them into a trap where the elfs who were guarding the passes would then battle the orcs. There was one time when the orcs followed us into a trap, and then we got a notice that the orcs had launched their own attack at a different pass and they needed our help. So, off we ran to the other pass. As it turned out, the orcs followed us - as did the elfs who were guarding that pass. We had lots of help in our battle and, as would be expected, it went our way.

There is another challenge that they have given us, which is to fight the battle without the aid of one of their elfs - I am guessing, to make it the case that we can battle alone as we will have to do in Moria. We've learned on this last training that it only takes four of us to win a battle against the orcs. This means that if there are at least five of us we can leave one person to stand guard to make sure the orcs don't make it to the elfs - at least not to the elfs that we were told are not to be involved. Instead, this one person can round up the attackers and have them chase to a different gate where the elfs can help without ruining the challenge.

Unfortunately, the elfs are not allowing us to take on two challenges at once. This means that an Eclairian is going to have to participate in four (4) trainings in order to successfully complete all of the challenges. We will see what we can do in the weeks ahead.

Well, it does get exciting, and it is more inviting than a patrol about the woods. Though a walk about the woods is nice. One group of us went along a patrol by the river bank about a week ago. One of the things they discovered was a couple pairs of orcs that landed to do mischief that they had to deal with. But, by and large they said that it was nice to have a pleasant walk through the woods. Them orcs, I am certain, were not expecting near to a dozen Eclairians to stumble upon their landing site - and there were not enough of them to put up a real battle. The orcs were sent scampering back to their side of the river with orders to go and never come back.

Well, I hope you can tell that things are going well for us here. We will spend a couple of more weeks in battle practice here, then return to Moria. More trainings are being arranged for us in Moria. Then, we will take on the last of the great challenges in the mines before heading off to rescue Bori.

The next time I write to you will likely be as we prepare to return to Moria for the second half of our training.

Stay well and stay safe.

Love,
Alphred Troute



The challenges are open. Four of us tried the first challenge on Thursday and managed to win. Though, with only four of us, we had to use some peculiar tactics - mostly involved drawing the orcs back down the hill where the elfs can help in the fight.

As mentioned above, an aventurer can only take one of the challenges at a time. This will mean multiple trips in order to get all of them done.

Oh, and you don't get credit for a challenge until you win and turn in the final quest for the instance. This brings up a question of whether it would be possible to complete a challenge if you go a second time without the quest in the same day. I suspect one will NOT get credit, but this is something to test out on Saturday.

We will be trying to schedule battles for our regular sessions at 9:00 AM Saturday and 8:30 PM Monday. We are also trying to fit in two additional gatherings at 10:00 Sunday and 8:30 PM on Thursday. If anybody else wants to nominate a time convenient for them, please let me know. I can bring along at least one more assistant now that I am locked in my home - and we will only need two more in order to get at least enough people to win the fight.

A couple more weeks here finishing up these battles and it will be off to the Hall of Mirrors.

NOTE: There is a solo version of the Hall of Mirrors for completionists who want to finish their slayer deeds. The same is true of the Hall of Water Wheels.

[Tiempko]

Father:

Our trainings among the elfs before we head back into Moria are coming to an end.

The elfs are giving us a final test what they call the "Legendary Sentinel's Challenge". It's a task we need to perform as we fight the orcs to show that we can handle multiple challenges at once. In this challenge, we are assigned to attack an orcan camp. But it is not enough to just attack the camp and win. We're instructed to find at least two enemy legendary battlers - the cream of the Orcan crop as it were. While we're doing this, we're charged with maintaining defenses so that our home camps do not get assaulted as we certainly can have the orcs getting around us. And we have to destroy four enemy camps what is the standard goal of these attacks. And all of this must be done in 30 minutes or less.

Burnheart and Liatri have already completed their Legendary Sentinel's Challenge. Over the course of the next week or so more of us will try. When enough of us have passed the challenge, we will then be certified as ready to return to Moria for even more trainings. I'm supposed to meet a manfolk waiting for me at the Sacred Refuge in the deepest dark of Moria. Each of us has been assigned to a separate tutor . . . or, lots of different tutors. The bowhobbit Liatri and bowdwarf Bohunc are to meet with the person. And Erikin and Thalachon are to meet with the same person a well. I know that nobody but me will be meeting with the manfolk they are sending me to. Though it won't happen until after I finish the Legendary Sentinel's Challenge.

I am expecting things to go well. We are truly learning how to work together. The first thing we do is set up our defenses and wait for the first Orcan attack. Once the Orcs have spent their strength, I grab a magical banner what the elfs make that allow us to counter magic what the orcs or using. The orcs build these devices that give them added power in each camp. We charge up to the camp. Because I have to keep my magical banner safe, I stand back. Somebody tough such as Medloth or Boermmy or Thorcundo charge into the camp to start messing up the orcs camped there. Once the orcs are focused on their attacker they lose track of what is going on about them - which is the rest of us charging in to add our weight to the fight. I wait a bit before charging in myself.

Once all of the orcs are taken care of, I use the magical banner that the elfs gave me to weaken the magic of the idol, and then we can destroy it.

With our camp raid a success, we then return to where the elfs are holding the line and wait for their next attack. But not all of us. We'll send Bohunc or Liatri out to hunt for any enemy Captains what we need to slay. If they find one of them Captains they bravely fire at the creature from afar. The villain will chase them and, hopefully, chase them to where we are holding the line against the next Orc attack.

Once the next Orc attack is launched and spent, we grab another of these magical banners and make an assault on another Orcan camp. We need to charge in and defeat it and return to the Elfen lines before the Orcs can muster another attack. Sometimes, we are too slow and that can cause us to fail the challenge. It's important not to get lost.

We complete this twice more . . . waiting at the Elf line for the orcs to attack and, when the attack is spent, we charge off to attack another Orc camp and destroy another of their magical idols.

Once we have destroyed four of those idols, we consider our raid to have been a success and we leave. The orcs by that time are so weakened the elfs can hold their line without our further help.

You don't need to worry about me, father. As you heard, I stand outside the battling until others have engaged the orcs and then charge in to do what I can while protecting the magical banner. I'm at little risk. Though things could turn against us all of the sudden, such as when two different groups of orcs discover us at the same time and we are battling twice as many orcs plus one or two of the enemy Captains. But that usually doesn't happen.

As I said, I expect to be passing my tests this week, as will some of the other Eclairians. I do not know how long we will stay here to get folks past their tests. But when enough of us have passed that the elfs trust we can battle the remaining villainy in Moria we will be going back.

I'll let you know how things go.

Love,
Alphred Troute


We'll spend this week working on the Battle of Lorien deeds. It will be a matter of discussion as to whether we continue for another week. Some people report that the challenges only last for two weeks, so these challenges might be gone shortly anyway. Folks are advised to pick up their next challenge as soon as you are able so that you will at least have it in your list when the challenges vanish. I have been checking it daily and so far the challenges are still available.

[Tiempko]

To: Daffodilia Wildfeet
Chief, Bounders of the Shire: Addernotch Station


Sir!

I am writing to tell you that we will soon be entering Moria to help the dwarfs get a more solid foothold inside the mountain. The elfs have been training us here in Lothlorien and they have recently been subjecting us to tests to see iffen we are ready to conduct the second half of our testing.

There's a set of four tests that we have to pass, with the fourth test being the hardest test to pass. Burnheart, a dwarfen rock-wizard from far to the south, was the first to pass all four tests. Bounder Liatri was second. But after they passed, we started having all sorts of difficulties. Yesterday, two groups went out to try their tests. Those who were working on the earlier tests all completed their shares, but the groups were not able to pass the final test. They were left undone.

Well, today, things went much better.

I took my final test with Sagla, Roy, Medloth, Jaytull, and Liatri. Of course, you know Liatri on account of her being a Bounder and of Roy, since he is a Shire dwarf from Waymeet. I dunno iffen you ever met Jaytull, but he's a Shire hobbit as well, though he never enlisted in the Bounders. Medloth is a bear-folk and Sagla is from Bree. Them two are our main battlers. It were their job to charge into the orcan camps and gather all of the orcs attention. Jaytull carried the magiced banner that allowed us to destroy the special statues the orcs had what gave them extra power. Liatri's job was to rush out and try to find the most powerful villains she could find so as we could destroy them and deprive the enemy of their strengths.

Liatri did an excellent job of finding them villains. She'd shoot at them and then run as fast as her hobbity feet could run, and the villains would chase her - not realizing that she was leading them into a trap. She led them straight to us and, when we sprang our attack, they had no hope of surviving.

The orcs were even cooperative in our battles.

We took out the enemy camps on the east side of the battling field and only had the western side left. I had this horrible vision of battling orcs on the far eastern pass and then needing to cross the whole field of battle to destroy the orc camp on the far west side. So, I shouted out to the dwarfs, "I SURE HOPE THEY DON'T ATTACK THE WEST GATE. IT IS SCARCELY DEFENDED." Less than a moment later we got the signal that the west gate was under attack. Well, we charged over there to give the orcs a whatfor. Since we were already on the west side, Jaytull grabbed one of the magiced banners and we went out charging the nearest orc camp. We had it destroyed in short order and then returned to the defenses before the next Orc wave attacked.

Now, one of these tests the orcs were giving us required that we win the fight before a timer rand out. I remarked that we were ahead of schedule and we had little to worry about. Then Medloth suggested that we shouldn't speak so loudly on account of the orcs might hear us and hold off their attack. I considered his words and then shouted, "I HOPE THE ORCS DON'T ATTACK TOO SOON; WE ARE SCARCE READY FOR THEM". Just a moment later we got word of a hastily organized Orcan assault and we rushed to meet it.

There as only one Orcan stronghold left at this point. Jaytull brought a banner and we headed off. And we destroyed the camp and not only won our victory, but won a challenge as well.

We are thinking that with just a couple more outings we will have enough of us passed the tests to go into Moria and finish our trainings.

I then got a surprise when Sagla said that, after our next round of tests, we should head over to the Vinyards for a Farewell to Lothlorien feast. Sagla tends to be one of them no-nonsense folks what get impatient with anybody who don't keep their mind stricktly on the duties at had, so I was not expecting her to recommend an after-test feast. But it sounded like such a grand idea that I instantly agreed. After our next set of Lothlorien tests, we're going to have a feast.

Then, we will be back to the dark of Moria.

Now, I need to remember to tell them that I am thinking that the original plans were out of order. I had been suggesting we return first to the Hall of Mirrors and Hall of Water Wheels before we complete our training. But, as we are getting ready to return, I am thinking that, mayhaps, we should complete our trainings right off. As long as Bohunc and Liatri are ready upon our return to Moria, we can straight out start with helping them complete their trainings. The last step in the trainings involves working with groups so it's something we Eclairians tend to do together.

Then, after all of our training is done, we can go forth into the deepest darks of Moria and bring about the ends of the villainy hiding there.

There's no way we will be able to drive all of the enemy out of Moria. There are just too many of them and they are buried far too deep. But we can hope to give the dwarfs some breathing room before we head off to rescue Bori at Dol Guldur.

Well, now you know where we are going. I will write to you again when the second half of our trainings is done and we are ready to deal with the chief villains of Moria.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow


I changed my mind.

I have changed it away from thinking we should do some of the Lothlorien instances before and in the middle of the class trainings. My new mind is telling me to just go ahead with the trainings we are supposed to get done, and then deal with the Lothlorien villains in their proper order.

What this means is:

July 11-13: The last formal Battle of Lorien training exercises followed by a Farewell to Lothlorien Feast.

July 18-20: Back in Moria - go through the Grand Stairs to help the hunters (Liatri, Bohunc) complete their classy quests.

July 25-27: Help the lore masters (Galdhron, Thorfaniel) complete their class quests in The Forges.

August 1-3: Help Sagla complete her class quest in Fil Gashan

August 8-10: Help Twostep (if she shows up), Fraori, Roy, and Burnheart complete their class quest in the 16th Hall and complete the challenge (which we haven't done yet).

August 15-17: Help Erikin, Thalachon, and Bohimmli complete their class quests on the right side of Skumfil, and help Hedgerow and Jaytull complete their class quests on the left side, and complete the challenge.

August 22-24: Helm Boermmy, Thorcundo, and Alphred complete their class quests in the Dark Delvings. We never finished the Dark Delvings, so we will stay there for a bit and get that instance finished (so that we can qualify for the black goat).

September - November; go through the Lothlorien instances in Moria; Hall of Mirrors, Hall of Water Wheels, Hall of Crafting, and Dar Narbugud.

December: Defeat the Watcher.

January: Head off to Mirkwood.

[Tiempko]

The Battle of Lorien challenges banner is dead.

*Mourns the fate of the Battle of Lorien challenges banner*

Which means, this is definitely our last week of challenges.

We are going to try to make sure that somebody keeps each challenge so that we can share them in the future. Hedgerow has IV. Alphred has I. This should be a matter of not sending anybody in unless somebody with a given challenge remains outside who can share it. (Though, to be honest, we are not certain that the challenge quests can be shared. There is a "share" option but some technicality seems to always be getting in the way - player not qualified and the like.)

Battles will be:

Thursday (today) at 8:30 PM
Saturday at 9:00 AM followed by a farewell picnic
Sunday at 10:00 AM
Monday at 8:30 PM followed by a farewell picnic

By the by, we are going to be continuing with the "Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Thursday" routine and, in mid-August, I will have to drop out of the Monday group as I will be in class. But others can continue as you please.)


ADDED NOTE

The following week we will be at the Grand Stairs to help Hunters to complete their class deeds.

Hunters, be ready. (Lore Masters and Captains after that.)
Any who have not done the instance quests - you should get yourselfs the quests before we enter as well.

The Grand Stairs has two modes - quest mode and challenge mode. The two are not compatible owing to the fact that one has to slay the bosses in quest mode and leave them unslayed in challenge mode. Make note of what you need to finish up so that we can do what we can for you.

[Debris]

I think the criteria for being able to share a Sentinel Challenge (I, II, II or Legendary) is that:

- a sharer person has the quest who didn't run the instance since they got it (b/c it either completes or goes into a retry mode that cannot now be re-obtained)

- the person wanting the quest is eligible for it, mainly meaning they have the minimum Battle of Lorien victories to normally be able to take the quest if it were available

- the person wanting the quest has not already completed it

So, anyone functioning as a "storer" of the quest must not run any Battle instance at all while functioning as such, else they lose the quest to share by either completing it or having it necessitate a retry (which can no longer be refreshed from the NPC).

Whichever "storers" are needed need to login, share their quest with the eligible person (who has not yet completed it), but do not join the group or enter the instance at all unless they no longer need to share with anyone else. But I would play it safe and stay out in case the person who is trying to complete it somehow fails or d/c's and necessitates yet another sharing of it.

That's my .02

[Tiempko]

The evidence suggests that the challenges cannot be shared unless the banner sits at 600/600. It currently sits at 35/600.

Thorfanial had (1) 7 victories under her belt, (2) never had or completed the Legendary challenge, (3) did not have any Challenge active and (4) had not had any challenges active since the previous day when she turned in her last challenge. Yet, Hedgerow could not share Challenge IV with her.

So, if you did not get to a challenge before the banner reset, you are . . . well . . . out of luck, it seems. Until the banner reaches 600 again.

I expect that we can get the banner back up to 600/600 before we leave Moria. If you keep a Lothlorien milestone set (or a 21st Hall milestone which has a fast goat to the Lothlorien city), and fit a supply run in from time to time when you get a chance, we may open up another 2-week window for those who didn't make it through the first 2-week window.

NOTE: The banner count is only relevant to the Challenge quests, not the deed. The deed that is filled on obtaining 10 victories can be filled regardless of what the banner count says.


In other news:

(1) Hunters need to be ready by July 18-20 for their class deeds.

(2) After we get our class trainings done (in about 6 to 8 weeks) we will be going through the four Lothlorien instances. Anybody who might be bored by our regular routines but who wants to help in the large challenging battles - we will likely have need for reinforcements starting about September 15 or so. Level 58 to start - though we may raise that to 60 if we encounter significant problems.

[Tiempko]

To: Daffodilia Wildfeet
Chief, Bounders of the Shire - Addernotch Station


Sir!

The elfs are kicking us out of Lothlorien and sending us back into Moria.

Well, it's not as if they are booting us out of these lands . . . but they're not exactly making us feel welcome either. Kinda like dinner guests who have overstayed their welcome, you don't exactly boot them out the front door. But, as they say, hand them their hat and hope that they can take the hint.

We were training against the orcs that have been pushing against the bounds of Lothlorien, and the elfs have been challenging us in our battles against said orcs. But, all of a sudden, they quit giving us challenges. Indeed, they pretty much quit talking to us at all. Not so much as to be rude, but enough so as to ask, "Are you still here?"

Well, most of us have gotten instructions to report to somebody or other in Moria. I am supposed to report to somebody - apparently a man-folk - in the Shadowed Refuge in Moria by the name of Pada. He's to give me my final instructions.

Our hunter folks - Liatri the hobbit hunter and Bohunc the dwarf hunter - were told to report to Armheald in the Redhorn Lodes. That a place where the White Hand orcs and the Moria orcs seem to be battling each other a lot. Anyways, I do not know what Harmheald has planned, but we have been informed that as a final step in the hunter's learning they will be sent into the Grand Stairs for a list final mission that will be the ultimate test of their new skills.

Of course, they will be needing help. We have battled in the Grand Stairs before. It is a special passage among the various levels of Moria - which goes further up and down than it does side to side, being build around a mine and such. It is filled with orcs. The dwarfs have a special draw bridge built to keep the orcs and goblins on their one side and us on the other, but the orc side is filled full of orcs and their allies - including packs of wargs and tons of trolls.

Well, apparently the hunter challenge involves battling them again. So, we all agreed that we will meet at the entrance to the Grand Stairs in a few days and that is where I am off to be at. I still have a little bit of time left, but I am going to have to give myself some time to make the final leg of the trip.

I am currently back at the 21st Hall here in Moria. While I have been here, I have visited their special library. I learned that a dwarf here - an Iron Garrison vendor by the name of Thorth Splintershield here at the 21st Hall - had some particularly instructive books at his disposal. I acquired one - called "The Verses of the North" - what is a record of some of the musical traditions of the Lossoth of Forochel, detailing the songs they sing as they enter battle. Battle songs are, of course, what I do. It is a part of tending to the will and spirit and morale of them what go into battle. With the right song in their heart, a battler can perform feats of unusual skill and bravery. I may not be much of a battler, but I can aid those who are. Of course, you know this - this is just what we minstrels do to aid the groups we are with.

Anyway, the book was quite useful and I have already started to practice some of the musics that it taught me.

They have other books here . . . The Book of Nature for Lore Masters and the Story of Wind and Rain for rock wizards, for example. I leafed through these books but they were definitely written for folks who had studied things I had not. I could not begin to grasp the significance of much what was contained within. But, then, I can't grasp how waving around a tree branch or a rock with some runes carved into them can call forth the powers of flame and lightning that these other folks are able to wield. The worst I can do is just yell at folks.

And try to lift the spirits of those who are fighting with us.

Anyways, I am expecting it will take us a couple of months to get everybody trained up. After we have helped Liatri and Bohunc finish up their final lessons, we are heading to the Crossroads of Ash to help Galdhron, Thorfaniel, and Sagla with the final tests that their trainers have provided for them. Then off to the 16th Hall where I hear Two-step will join us and where Hroik, Burnheart, and Faori will undergo their final challenge. I am putting off postoning my discussion with Pada until then as then, at lest, we will be in the neighborhood. I figure I will have time enough to talk to him before it is my turn to be trained in Skumfil. Wandrin and Jaytull will also take their lessons there.

Well, that's it. We are off to our final training. Then we will tackle the final villains of Moria. And, once we can trust that we can leave the dwarfs and they won't be eaten - at least in the near term - we will be off to rescue Bori.

Take care of yourself and the Shire.

Bounder Hedgerow Shrewburrow.



Just a reminder: The order for the next few weeks are (1) Grand Stairs for hunters, (2) The Forges of Khazad-dum for Lore Masters, (3) Fil-gashan for Captains, (4) Sixteenth Hall for Burglars and Rune Keeprs, (5) Skumfil for Champions and Minstrels, and (6) Dark Delvings for Guardians and Wardens.

Some folks joined us after we went through these for the quests. Iffen you have not done the quests yet, then it would be best to get the quests before we go in. We will send groups through in quest mode so that you can advance these quest sets. But this will be our last official time through these instances. We leave them behind us after this.

After you finish your Class Quests, I think you will have 43 class quest points available. At least, Hedgerow at 43. Alphred will have 42.

Some folks may be short of this - and it will typically be because of missing Promotion Points from Epic Battles. Iffen it concerns you, I am thinking of putting some effort on epic battles - particularly after the level cap goes up to 60 and we qualify for the new and improved Level 60 epic battles jewelry. Just something to keep in mind. The Marks will come in handy as well, particularly since when we get to Level 60 and equip our new legendary items we will need to purchase a Scroll of the Delving, approximately 25 Scrolls of Empowerment, 3 Star-lit crystals, and a title for each item.

[Tiempko]

Father,

I have some extra time today to write you a letter. I do not know what is going on, but the dwarfs here at the 21st Hall are prohibiting any passage through the halls of Moria.

I am supposed to be meeting the other Eclairians at the Grand Stairs so as to help Liatri with the last part of her hunter training. I am all packed up and ready to go. However, the dwarfs have insisted that I stay put. They say that the passageways are unsafe.

I am certain that it has nothing to do with orcs and such. We have largely cleared the passages between here and the Grand Stairs of orcs. Though huge tribes still live in the deeper darks of Moria, they seldom come to the surface. Besides of which the dwarfs are not asking me to keep my equipment handy and prepare for combat. All they tell me is, "We will keep you updated. If possible we intend to reopen these passages this weekend, but we will announce when they reopen." I know that it will do me no good to pester the dwarfs for more information. When they get into this type of mood they tend to have their attention focused single-mindedly on the problem and care not to be pestered by nosy little hobbits.

And, so, here I sit.

Waiting.

I do not know where the other Eclairians are at - they are not here in the 21st Hall with me. Many are probably already at the Grand Stairs. Bohunc was scheduled to enter for his final training yesterday. He usually travels with Sagla and Erikin. And Hedgerow and Roy can usually be found with Sagla and Erikin - as is also true of Galdhron. Mayhaps a couple of others are there as well. Anyway, it's a quality group and, in all likelihood, they have already finished Bohunc's training. I, on the other hand, am likely to meet up with Medloth, Fraori, Thalachon (perhaps), and . . . of course . . . Liatri. Burnheart and Wandrin could likely be anywhere as they tend to wander around a bit freely, sometimes with us, and sometimes with the other squad. As does Thorcundo and Thorfaniel.

Well, either way, the dwarfs are not suggesting that there is anything nefarious about. But I do know that they haven't shut down the passages for routine maintenance. Indeed, they do that almost weekly. We are given a good amount of warning and the passages remain closed for only a few hours as they patch up the ceiling to keep rocks from dropping on our heads and such. This is something different - something unexpected and, I am quite certain, something unwelcome.

I am fearing what will happen iffen I can't get to the Grand Stairs in time - iffen none of us can get to the Grand Stairs on time. I am fairly certain that if the earlier squad had completed Bohunc's training as expected that Bohunc went off to talk to his trainer and the others likely started on their way to the Crossroads of Ash where we intend to help Galdhron and Thorfaniel complete their training. This means that even if Liatri manages to reach the Grand Stairs with whatever is going on, she may find herself alone.

At this point, I am expecting that I will get the go-ahead to head on down to the Grand Stairs in time to reach there before Liatri's training is to start. But, as you say, while we hope for the best we should not plan for it. I think we can likely fit Liatri's training in at some time and still allow me an opportunity to reach the Crossroads of Ash before the time for the Lore Masters' trainings.

Well, I really have little more to add at this point. Whereas there is little to do, there is little to write about. I sit, I read, I eat, and I wait . . . and I wait . . . and I wait.

Iffen I think of anything more to add I will send another post.

Love,
Alphred Troute

[Tiempko]

As you can tell, the Club Eclair pigeons have caught some sort of bird flu and aren't flying. ((The Club Eclair channel - like all other channels - are not working)).

Still, if you log in you can easily see if any Eclairians are logged in by searching in the Social panel for Level 58 folk. And "/tell <name> " still works. As does "say", so folks standing near enough each other can still talk to each other.

Using this method, four of us managed to find each other and make a trip through the Grand Stairs. Unfortunately, Liatri wasn't one of them. She tried . . . she was there for a little bit . . . but not the bit that involved completing the Hunter's quest.

We will try again with Liatri on Thursday at 8:30 PM. And, failing that, perhaps Saturday at 9:00 AM after going through the Forges for Galdhron. And, failing that, perhaps Sunday at 10:00 AM.

Well, we'll get it done.

Meanwhile, the next meeting is at the Crossroads of Ash to enter the Forges and help Galdhron and Thorfaniel complete their training.

[Craiden]

Dear diary,

It's been a while again. To sum up my last entry - After we destroyed all the known relics the Sorcerer from Dol Guldur left behind in Moria we were sent back to Lothlorien, to report on our progress and to let the Elves know that Mazog will be brought to Mirkwood via secret paths bypassing the Golden Wood, as was their Lord's wish.

So we went back to speak with Haldir, the Guardian of the Golden Wood. He told us the Elves were making the necessary preparations to cross the river and bring the battle to the enemy's front gate in Dol Guldur, but it will take time. Bringing Mazog to the edge of Mirkwood will also take some time.

We needed to gain more trust with the Elves to be allowed to enter their city, Caras Galadhon, so for a few days we again patrolled the outer parts of the Golden Wood to see what we could do for the Elves. We walked around quite a bit and discovered and climbed several more of their "flets".

We eventually arrived at one called Talan Fanuidhol, a tree at the western edge of the forest. There we learned that the orcs are amassing an army in the foothills of the Misty Mountains. These foothills border the Golden Wood right here, and up in the hills the orcs coming out of Moria have established a number of camps and are felling trees to construct catapults and other siege-weapons. They have also brought a lot of weapon-crates and provisions out of Moria. They were clearly preparing for a full-blown assault on the Golden Wood.

We went on several patrols into these foothills, destroying the crates, burning piles of wood, defeating orcs, their scouts, their smiths and several of the leaders we found in the various camps. These camps all had funny names, such as Drumaudhûl or Bolg Maufulug. It was also strange how the light changes once you leave the Golden Wood. The soft, yellow glow inside the forest suddenly gives way to a harsh, clear air. What was sort of hazy and cozy inside the woods, was suddenly all cold and sharp. Very peculiar. Hedge noticed it too I think when he said "I don't think we are in elf-land anymore".





We found a lot of orcs up in the hills, they were everywhere, a lot of messengers running between the camps. The camps themselves were rather small, a fire in the middle, some tents, supply-crates, but there were many, maybe more than a dozen, spread out all over the hills. Some of them were crudely fortified with palisades of sharpened logs. Most of the trees had been cut down by the orcs and the hills were dotted with large boulders, which must have rolled down from the mountains above at some point.



A very big group of us had assembled for these excursions, there were Hedge and Hroik of course, and Sagla, Thorcundo and Galdhron, Talachon, Boermmy, Bohunc and Burnheart. With such a big group of experienced battlers, we cut through the orc camps with ease, destroying their weapons and supply crates, burning the wood piles, and killing as many orcs as we could. It was an actual massacre and I don't think the orcs ever saw that coming.



They were not to be deterred though. A few days later, when we went up the hills again, they had regrouped and rebuilt the camps, their numbers as big as before. We thoroughly razed all their camps again and made sure to leave nothing of value behind.

I found their forces to be rather weak. Sure, they were numerous, but they do not seem to be a real threat to the Elves, more a nuisance. If they'd ever decide to attack the Golden Wood from here, they would all get slaughtered by the Elves. Maybe their presence here is just a ruse, a diversion to draw the Elves' attention to this side of the wood and away from where the real danger may come from. Which would be Mirkwood, the forest on the other side of the river where we will hopefully go sooner than later to find Bori. I wonder if some Elves have already infiltrated that forest to scout out the enemy.

At the very top, where the hills end and the mountains begin, we found the entrance of a cave, probably leading into one of the many side-tunnels of Moria. We guessed this is where they are all pouring out from. In front of it stood a very large, armoured troll and its handler. We took on and defeated the troll, the handler then running back inside the cave. Maybe we should have followed him, but decided against it for now. We didn't know what to expect in there, it was getting late and we had quite a long walk ahead of us to get back to the Golden Wood before sunset. But in hindsight we maybe should have collapsed and sealed off the tunnel.

And while walking back, we found even more orc camps to destroy and had a beautiful view of the Golden Wood below.



A few days later, we finally went to Caras Galadhon, the fabled city of the elves. But I will create another diary entry for the city soon.

[Tiempko]

Father:

The last time I wrote to you the dwarfs had us confined to our rooms while they worked on things in Moria. At the time, I thought they were doing some repairs or some such. But I don't think that was right. I've seen no signs of repairs or tools or such.

Judging from some things that I heard the dwarfs saying, I think they found some long hidden vaults deep in Moria. It wouldn't be the first forgotten or lost treasuries that the dwarfs have come upon. The problem is, these vaults, being deep in Moria, would have been at risk of being captured by the orcs. So, I think the dwarfs locked us in our rooms while they secretly moved their treasures from places nearer the orcs to someplace safe - perhaps out of Moria entirely and off to the Erid Luin or some such. They just didn't want us seeing them as they moved their treasure about - probably out of a fear of what folks might start thinking iffen they caught an eye full of gold and gems and the like.

Whatever it was, they had us locked up for about five days.

But, we are out now, and off to getting our trainings done.

The first two folks we helped was Liatri and Bohunc. Their trainer sent them on a special task in the Grand Stairs. Now, Bohunc's training went well . . . it wasn't even much of a challenge to slay the orc that they sent Bohunc after.

We had trouble with Liatri.

It weren't Liatri's fault. We entered the Grand Stairs . . . and then the dwarfs would force us out again before we had a chance to finish. Twice we got started, and twice we weren't able to get done. I wasn't with them at the time. It was Roy, Alphred, Jaytull, and Medloth that went with them. I think Bohunc went with them as well, even though he had already completed his own challenge. The third time was the charm, though. Liatri found the orc she was tracking. We couldn't reach the snipers as they were high on a platform we couldn't climb to. But Liatri and Bohunc could reach them with their bows and they eliminated the threat.

After finishing with that training it was Galdhron's and Thorfaniel's turn in the Forges. Apparently, some fire creatures had moved into the forges and they sent Galdhron and Thorfaniel down to flush them out. We had fought the orcs in the Forges before and was able to get through the battle without a great deal of difficulty - but it took some learning. Unfortunately, I fear we may have forgotten all that we knew. We struggled greatly against the menaces. It were bothersome enough that we had to do some maneuvering to deal with the orcan strongholds. At first, we attacked in two different groups - one having four folks and another having five. But we found ourselfs understaffed. So, we sent Jaytull and Thorfaniel over to help the group that Sagla and Galdhron were leading. Then, once they were done, Sagla and Jaytull and Thorfaniel came back to us. By shifting our forces back and forth we were able to get through.

Sagla's training was the last of it. Gad - Sagla was sent into Fil Gashan to slay near to 50 orcs or so in the camp. They just kept coming in wave after wave after wave. But she kept us together and kept us from being worn down until all of the orcs were slayed.

Next, we are heading half way across Moria to help the Twostep and the rock wizards Fraori, Roy, and Burnheart to complete their trainings. Now, I hadn't seen Twostep in a good long while. There have been stories that she's been working on some project in the area but, whatever it is, it did not concern us. Mayhaps it concerned that large pile of treasure I mentioned that the dwarfs were moving out of Moria. Anyways, that is where we are going to be for the next couple of weeks. The Dwarfs have told us that there is something special we could do to make sure that the villains are driven out for good. We have to defeat the creature at the bottom of the pit without killing its bug helpers. Iffen the bug helpers survive the battle, then they eat the body and iffen the body is devowered in this way then it cannot come back.

I know that I have mentioned this before but, with all of our moving about, you may be worrying that your messages will not reach me. The dwarfs at the 21st Hall still know where to find me, so it is best that you send your posts there and the dwarfs will deliver it proper to me.

I hope things are fine in the Shire. I will write again when I can.

Love,
Alphred Troute