OCT. 22ND – 26TH: MOUNTS & MYSTERIES

I spent about 2/3rds of my time with Mounted Combat in the last week, but also spent a little time on foot. I'll spare you excessive on-foot combat screenshots, as the most interesting combat occurs while astride my trusty Heavy War-steed, Pokey.

I also had the pleasure of exploring the Norcrofts, a beautiful stretch of rolling green hills.

If there's one segment of The Lord of the Rings Online™ that feels absolutely like Rohan it's in the Norcrofts, as I discovered taking several screenshots throughout the week.

As I play through Riders of Rohan, my favorite thing is to discover locations that catch me off guard. The above image was exactly one of those moments, and was a discovery led to a touching quest.

I discovered two of my favorite towns in the Norcorfts. Here's the first town, Elthengels:

At Elthengels I participated in a series of quests spun from the displacement of Rohirrim people by marauding White Hand Orcs and Goblins. One of my favorite quests—and in fact the quest responsible for moving me from Elthengels to the next quest area—involved escorting a family traveling by wagon.

The road was dangerous; in fact, a few surprises lay in wait.

With the aid of my mighty War-steed, Pokey, the Troll was defeated in record time.

To my delight, the Troll battle provided two new tips for Mounted Combat. The first: press the 'X' key to toggle your camera into a mode that maintains focus on your combat target; a very useful feature for Mounted Combat. The second: press your auto-run button to press a War-steed to full speed. Using both of these tricks gave me more time to focus on tactics and maneuvering. With more time to focus on tactics and maneuvering, I claimed glorious and efficient victory.

With safe passage provided, I arrived at a nearby Trader's Camp with the wagon-housed family. It was time to say goodbye to the family I'd been aiding in the beautiful hillside town of Elthengels, but that was okay—there were new quests to complete.



It was a long (in-game) night of questing.

I rode into the ugly discovery of homes and farms under a burning siege by White-Hand Orcs.



There was a reckoning of justice, and many Orcs were slain in combat.



After much investigation, I discovered the White-Hand Orc's leader. He was a gnarly fellow wielding a great and deadly axe.



A fierce battle ensued, as it always does. There's no avoiding it with vicious Orc-kind.



With justice delivered and evil defeated, a partial safety returned to the farms and homes of the Norcrofts. But the call of new adventure is always near… I just had no idea of the strange beauty of the next adventure.

It began when I entered a cave.
 
According to the quest given to me there were Orcs to slay here, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the walls. I cautiously explored for some time, until I came across a curious object. A lonely sword stuck in the ground.


Orcs and discarded swords make for a terrible combination, but there were people in danger, and a mystery just around the corner.

Further exploration uncovered what I expected—Orcs. What surprised me, however, was the Orc's dining table.


As the Free People of Middle-earth are known to say: aw, nasty.

Okay, maybe they don't say that, but I certainly did.

Clearly, there were dark machinations at work in these caves. Whatever I found was not going to be friendly, or pretty—or anything less than deadly. Deeper exploration of the lovely glowing flora-filled cave led me to an Uruk-hai leader, who had a few things to say—although I will avoid spoiling the juiciest pieces.

Hmm. Curious!

After defeating the Uruk-hai leader and learning some troubling information, it was time to ride north to Cliving.

The well-fortified town of Cliving was one of the biggest places I've yet explored in Riders of Rohan, and its roads and homes were dripping with lovely and inspired Rohirric art. (Thanks again Turbine Creative Studio!)

I arrived in Cliving during the late hours, when the moonlight gave the city gate waterfalls an otherworld glow.



I found several quests with various motivations—one of them was even about charitable work made less respectable by a greed for social status—but a particular trouble was to become one of my favorite quests.

It started with a missing person, I was told, and so I set off to investigate.

When I discovered the missing person, he was not… shall we say, in good health.



Specifically, he was dead.

What proceeded to unfold was a murder mystery. It was such fun that I refuse to spoil any of it, but I will say this: pay close attention during this quest, because you will have a choice of who to arrest, and you can get it wrong.

I got it right, of course. Pokey claims it was thanks to him, but I think the horse is just getting a big head from defeating all those Warg-riding Goblins and Orcs.



Cliving's Thane (pictured above) was very grateful for my effective service in the murder investigation. I do wonder what he says to a player with should they fail to arrest the correct suspect—but more specifically, I wonder what he rewards.

That's it for this week's adventures! The next installment of The Rohan Report will feature the rebuilding of Hytbold, which I am looking forward to experiencing.

p.s. I have one last screenshot to share with you this week; it's on the dangers of bears possessed by angry spirits.  Let this be a lesson to anyone foolish enough to underestimate a bear, possessed or no.