~Linhalaith's The Lord of the Rings Online Picture Diary~
The Lord of the Rings Online is a well-established MMORPG set in Middle-earth, the richly detailed European fantasy world immortalised in J.R.R. Tolkien's literary works. I decided to make an SSLP in it.
What you're about to read is the picture diary of Linhalaith, a kind and courageous Elvish warrior with a camera and a very full scrapbook. I aim to cover everything from the tutorial lands of Thorin's Gate, to the unknown place where I'll probably get bored of The Lord of the Rings Online in a few months.
Chapter 2: A Lovely Camping Trip in Ered Luin
The verdant highlands of Ered Luin were as verdand and highlandy as ever they had been. Yonder rode Linhalaith, the avowed Guardian of the Free People, on a quest of great import.
Dwarves of the Dourhand clan were mustering somewhere or other, gathering their strength or what-have-you to do something or other. Linhalaith had fought them before, and hoped now to get in the way if the clan was indeed planning some terrible, as-yet-unspecified evil.
Linhalaith spent a couple of days in Celondim, where she'd lived for a few decades working as a shipwright. Nothing much happened there, but she was able to catch up with her two good friends.
"I'm glad their names are hovering above their heads. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tell these two apart with a magnifying glass..." --Linhalaith
The brothers bade Linhalaith travel to Gondamon, a citadel of Dwarves in the middle of the wilderness. Linhalaith made her way there, killing about three bears for every metre she walked.
Endless bear-related violence. Doesn't it remind you of Skyrim?
Linhalaith came at last to Gondamon, which she found to be an awe-inspiring sight. It rose like a castle of stone from the hillside, and indeed by some definition it probably was a castle.
The differences were clear between Gondamon and such Elvish towns as Duillond or Celondim. The walls and courtyards were of grey, square-hewn stone, decorated with deep etchings; Elvish stonework, by contrast, was more rounded and cream-coloured. Yet there were similarities too, Linhalaith noticed. Gondamon and Duillond alike stood on hills, reaching with pointed spires to the clouds, and both towns were layered with walkways and stairs.
Anyway, this is the only good picture I got of Gondamon:
Walking among the people of Gondamon, Linhalaith was surprised to hear of a blanket shortage. The city was mustering for a possible Dourhand attack, but a small administrative cock-up had forced the guards to sleep two to a sleeping bag. With a start, Linhalaith remembered the two hundred bear pelts in her handbag...
Dorri, fetch-quest-monger for Gondamon, was grateful to take receipt of the pelts, and he paid Linhalaith in rabbit's tails. She left, somewhat satisfied, to have a look at the market.
Maybe I do have a second good picture of Gondamon...
Linhalaith traded the soft pom-pom tails for some ingredients - flour, butter, eggs, a pork chop, some onions, leeks, cabbage and potatoes. You couldn't fend off the Forces of Darkness on an empty stomach, now, could you? She wandered off, licking her lips, to see if there was an oven in town she could borrow.
There wasn't, so the poor thing had to ride her long-suffering horse all the way south to Celondim, where she found a free oven on the town Crafting Terrace and set to work.
"I cannot help but notice," the eager chef said to nobody in particular, "that one or two details have been ignored. Buying flour, to start with - I was a happy woman had it been so easy. No, I had to hoof it over to Falathorn, borrow a patch of farmland and grow a crop of Spring Barley™ myself!"
"Not only the barley, but the onions as well. And for that matter, do you believe a level 9 character can craft herself a whole pie without prior training? Oh, no, I had to spend three weeks baking Hard Biscuits™ for practice first."
...Ahem. Insofar as the lore was concerned, Linhalaith was a capable cook. Since youth had she cooked or helped out in the kitchen, and by now was well-versed in the arts of stew and omelette.
"Amarth faeg! Well, wouldn't THAT be nice?" scoffed Linhalaith. "Alas, I am forced to start from scratch, as does any character in a Massive Online Multiple Player Rolling Game."
Eventually, Linhalaith made camp on the edge of town.
"Fancy a Hard Biscuit™, anyone?" --Linhalaith
With heavy heart that night did the wandering daughter of Lothlorien update her to-do list. "Let's see... Deliver five bear pelts to Dorri, yes. Thwart the wicked Dourhand clan, no. Rescue Avorthal..." Linhalaith's brow furrowed. "But who is Avorthal? Did I miss something?"
"Well, it can wait for a few weeks, surely!" Linhalaith shoved the well-worn notebook back in her pocket and lay herself comfortably on the grass. The road ahead would be hard, she knew, but well worth it in the end. When dawn broke, she would ride for the Shire, and there gather as many pie recipes as she possibly could.