Beasts & Critters

Commonplace throughout Middle-earth, Beasts and Critters may be as earthly and mundane as boars and bears, but they come in wide variety. Critters are non-combatant animals like foxes and squirrels, but do not mistake wild country hinds and bucks for helpless deer. The Antlered King of the Misty Mountains, for certain, would be impossible to mistake for a docile buck.

Beasts come in virtually every size and rank, from the swarming shrews of Shire farmlands to the Nemesis-category mammoth called Torahammas, enslaved by the Gauredain of Forochel. Some Beasts, like lynx and aurochs, aren’t immediately aggressive, but will defend themselves against adventurers who get too close for too long. Other Beasts attack on sight, either out of simple predatory instinct or, like Wargs, in service to Shadow.

A symbol of the might of beasts and the malice of the Gauredain, the fabled War-mammoth called Torahammas is a blessedly rare sight in Forochel.

Evil Men & Evil Dwarves

The hearts of Men and Dwarves are susceptible to corruption and vice just as iron is malleable to hammer and anvil. Some are driven to evil by hate and scorn, as the Hillmen tribes were spurred to wickedness by the envoys of Angmar. Some are lured to evil by greed and envy, like the Dourhand family of Dwarves was convinced to betray their kin by the promise of wealth.

Indeed, some combination of greed and revenge seems to poison the hearts of most Evil Men and Dwarves. Thus, look for their kind where there is treasure to be found, from the ruins and roads of Bree-land to the jeweled mines of Forochel, where they can prey upon travelers or rob the earth itself. The profane priests and warlords of the Angmarim are exemplars of Evil Men, while the turncoat Dourhands represent the worst of Dwarves. Be they leaders of brigands or armies, there are high-ranking officers in nearly every wicked hierarchy.

Evil Men and Dwarves battle with many of the same weapons that heroic characters do. Fortunately, they are susceptible to virtually every kind of weapon and skill at your disposal. However, to fight these folk is to confront the vulnerability of your own kind.