Quest Guide — Homer's LOTR

Bill Ferny's Ring

Bill Ferny, a shifty resident of Bree, claims an underling ran into a nearby cave with his ring. He asks you to retrieve it. A straightforward early quest that uncovers a darker conspiracy.

How to start: Speak to Bill Ferny in Bree.

Steps:

1. Accept Ferny's request.
2. Enter Bree Cave and recover the Ring of Sharkey from the bandits (or a container).
3. Return to Ferny. The ring's inscription reads "Servant of Sharkey" — suspicious.
4. At Ferny's house you will face an ambush. Two choices after:
   • Give Ferny back his letter (Sharkey's Orders) — 500 XP + 200 gp.
   • Keep the letter — 500 XP, no gold, but you retain an evidence item.

Journal entries:

1. You agreed to help Ferny recover his ring from a bandit who fled into a nearby cave.
2. You delivered the ring. The inscription "Servant of Sharkey" gives you pause.
3. An ambush awaited at Ferny's house. You kept the letter about Sharkey.
4. An ambush awaited at Ferny's house. You gave Ferny his letter back.

Ferny's Return

A prequel to Bill Ferny's Ring. Bill Ferny has been seen skulking around his old house — but Ferny himself has been standing in the market all the while. Someone is wearing Ferny's name, and the Bree watch is stretched too thin to find out who.

How to start: Ask any Guardian of Bree (the town guards) if anything strange is going on in town.

Steps:

1. Accept the guard's request. The impostor takes up residence in Bill Ferny's house.
2. Confront the "Bill Ferny" squatting there and call his bluff. He is one of Sharkey's ruffians, and he offers a choice:
   • Take his bribe — 75 gp from Ferny's own stash, and he slips out of Bree; or
   • Refuse and fight — he turns hostile.
3. Report back to any Guardian of Bree for the payout — the report line differs by outcome, but both complete the quest.

Prequel bonus: completing this quest permanently unlocks a grateful greeting from Bill Ferny and a half-again payout on the Ferny's Ring turn-in (+100 gp on either ending). The favour sticks across relogs and reboots.

The Miller's Son

The Miller of Bree has lost his son — the boy was delivering an ale shipment to Tharbad along the South Greenway Road. He asks you to find out what happened.

How to start: Speak to Han the Bree Miller in Bree.

Steps:

1. Accept the Miller's request.
2. Travel south along the Greenway. You will find what happened to his son.
3. Return and deliver the grim news to the Miller — 450 XP.

Journal entries:

1. You agreed to find the Miller's son and the missing ale shipment headed for Tharbad.
2. You delivered the sad news. The Miller grieves; his wife and his ale are small comfort.

The Miller's Other Son

A sequel to The Miller's Son — offered only after that quest is complete. Han's other son, Dob, took his brother's death hard and fell in with a "trading crowd" on the road to Tharbad. The traders turned out to be cultists of the Red Eye, and their leader — a man they call the Voice — keeps the boy close.

How to start: Speak to Han the Bree Miller in Bree after completing The Miller's Son.

Steps:

1. Accept Han's plea.
2. (Optional) Talk to Tolly the Peddler at Tharbad Bridge — a coin (10 gp) or a kind word buys directions to the cult camp.
3. Confront the Voice of the Red Eye in Tharbad (East). Three resolutions:
   • Persuade (DC 18, one attempt per character, ever): he releases Dob peacefully. On a failed roll he attacks;
   • Fight — he turns hostile; his death frees the boy (and advances all party members in the area);
   • Walk away — leave Dob to the cult. You can still change your mind and fight him later.
4. Report back to Han — outcome-specific lines. Freed endings pay 500 gp + 500 XP + a Magic Bag ("Dob's trading pack"); the sad truth pays 200 XP.

Feeding Tharbad

The Temple of Ilúvatar in Tharbad is struggling to feed hungry refugees at the bridge. They ask you to purchase venison from a local store and hand it out to 20 refugees at the bridge.

How to start: Speak to the Temple of Ilúvatar cleric in Tharbad.

Steps:

1. Agree to help.
2. Buy venison from the general store.
3. Travel to Tharbad Bridge and feed 20 refugees.
4. Return to the cleric — 500 XP and the Book of the Cora awarded.

Journal entries:

1. You agreed to help the Temple feed hungry refugees at Tharbad Bridge — buy venison and feed 20 people.
2. The refugees will not go hungry tonight. You gave selflessly for a noble cause.

Glorfindel's Curative

Glorfindel of Rivendell asks you to gather the ingredients for a curative: Athelas from the foothills of the Misty Mountains, a graveside token from the Statue of Arathorn headstone in the Barrow Downs, and drake essence from the Caves of the Carrock.

How to start: Speak to Glorfindel in Rivendell.

Steps:

1. Accept the task.
2. Gather the three ingredients across the Misty-Mountain foothills, the Barrow Downs, and the Caves of the Carrock.
3. Return to Glorfindel for 1,700 XP and the Bracers of Glorfindel.

Full write-up: Glorfindel's Curative.

The Twentieth Plot of Mazarbul

A hidden codicil to the Book of Mazarbul names twenty burial plots whose seal-fires keep the dead of Moria at rest. Nineteen were lit before the colony fell — the twentieth never was, and what lies beneath it does not lie still. Frár, a restless dwarf-shade among the toppled record-stones, asks you to finish his colony's last labor: light the three crypt-seal braziers (one in the Chamber of Records, two in Balin's Tomb), then destroy the wraith that rises to smother the third flame.

How to start: Speak to Frár the Restless in the Chamber of Records; level 18+ required, once per character (one-off — the seal, once set, holds).

Steps:

1. Accept Frár's charge — the journal opens and the seal-braziers will take your flame.
2. Use each of the three Crypt-Seal Braziers once (per-character, persistent — floaty text counts "N of 3"; each lighting also grants a short ward against grave-chill, Negative resist 5/- for 5 minutes).
3. The third brazier raises the Wraith of the Twentieth Plot (CR 21). Destroy it — the killing blow's party credits every party member in the area who is at the wraith stage. If the wraith is slain while you are absent (or you fall and return), stir any brazier's flame to re-summon it, so the fight can always be re-staged.
4. Return to Frár: 1200 gp, 2000 XP and the Seal of the Twentieth. The quest closes for good.

Elrond's Request

Elrond of Rivendell charges you with two tasks: break the Uruk-hai siege of the Troll Halls and retrieve the Helm of Azog the Warlord, then venture into Moria and find evidence of Balin's Expedition (the Dwarf Head). This is the module's main mid-game quest chain.

How to start: Speak to Elrond in Rivendell and accept both tasks.

Steps:

1. Kill Azog the Warlord (CR 14) in the Angmar Mountain area and loot the Helm of the Warlord.
2. Push into Balin's Tomb in Moria and retrieve the Dwarf Head (evidence of Balin's expedition).
3. Return to Elrond with both items in your party's inventory.
4. Agree to accept your reward — both items are consumed, and you gain 2,000 XP and Elrond's Writ.

Journal entries:

1. Elrond has given you two tasks: break the Uruk-hai siege of the Trollshaws and bring the Helm of Azog; venture into Moria and find sign of Balin's Expedition.
2. Both tasks are complete. You now have a new place to call home.

Ruin of Annuminas

An old woman in Bree tells you to seek out the Ruins of Annuminas, an ancient Dúnedain realm to the north. This is the first stage of a two-part arc: kill Azagoth in the ruins, bring his head back to Hanee for 5,000 XP (she doesn't take it — she gleefully points you to the wizards in Gondor), then deliver the head to the Gondor Scribe in the Tower of the High Wizard for a further 10,000 XP.

How to start: Speak to Hanee the Loon in Bree.

Steps:

1. Hear Hanee out and head north to the Ruins of Annuminas.
2. Find and kill Azagoth (CR 37) and loot Azagoth's Head.
3. Return to Hanee with the head still in hand for 5,000 XP — then carry it on to The Well of Souls.

The Well of Souls

The Gondor Scribe asks you to face Azagoth, who threatens to open the Well of Souls — kill Azagoth in the Ruins of Annuminas (not Moria!) and bring back his head to prove the deed is done. This is the second stage of the Ruin of Annuminas arc.

How to play:

1. Hanee the Loon in Bree points you north to the Ruins of Annuminas.
2. Find and kill Azagoth (CR 37) in the Ruins of Annuminas and loot Azagoth's Head.
3. Return to Hanee for an intermediate 5,000 XP; she keeps you holding the head and points you to the Gondor wizards.
4. Take the head to the Gondor Scribe in the Tower of the High Wizard: Ground Floor — she consumes the head and awards 10,000 XP and the Annuminas Key.
5. Alternate start: talk to the scribe without the head and she offers the quest directly (with the key up front), then kill Azagoth and return for the turn-in.

Journal entries:

1. You agreed to face Azagoth and stop his entry into the Well of Souls. May fate guide your steps.
2. Azagoth is dead and the Well of Souls is safe. Time for a drink at the Prancing Pony.

Gloison's Heirloom

Glóin asks you to recover his kinsman Gloisin's family heirloom — a coat of arms stolen by the brigand Gerrey Halliams, who fled to the Ruins of Dale.

How to start: Speak to Gloin in Erebor and accept the task.

Steps:

1. Accept the task from Gloin.
2. Travel to the Ruins of Dale and kill Gerrey Halliams (CR 17). He carries Gloison's Coat of Arms as droppable loot.
3. Return to Gloin holding the heirloom — the turn-in only appears while you have it. He takes it and pays 5,000 XP + 15,000 gp.

Paths of the Dead

Aragorn summons you to walk the Paths of the Dead: rouse the Oathbreakers under the mountain, hold to the oath sworn of old, and turn the tide against the Witch-king. A full five-stage quest chain and the module's marquee reward — a copy of Andúril.

How to start: Speak to Aragorn at the gates of Minas Tirith.

Steps:

1. Accept Aragorn's charge.
2. Seek the King of the Dead in the Dimholt / Dunharrow.
3. Fight through the Oathbreaker trials.
4. Claim the reward — Andúril, Flame of the West.
5. The chain completes back at Dunharrow.

Full write-up: Paths of the Dead.

The Forbidden Realms

The Forbidden Realms Key has been stealable from Summanus for as long as anyone can remember, and until now it opened precisely nothing. It opens something now. It is a black thing of Númenórean make, heavier than its size wants to be, and the seven marks cut along its ward are not house-wards or chest-wards — they are grave-wards, the sort the old kings cut into a door they did not intend anyone to open again.

Somewhere in the drowned country there is a stone that answers it: a slab of grey stone set into the hillside of Noirinan, with no handle, no hinge and no keyhole, and the same seven marks on its face. Put the key to it and the seal gives way onto the Tombs of the Lost Souls — a barrow that is not a ruin but a court, laid out for the dead the way a hall is laid out for the living. Its lords have not gone quiet. The Weathertop King, his Queen and their Archer still hold their places, and they were sealed in for a reason.

How to start: Get the Forbidden Realms Key — pickpocket it from Summanus, loot it, or take it in trade. Any route works; the journal opens the moment it is in your pack. If you stole it long ago and still carry it, it will catch up with you the next time you log in.

Steps:

1. Come by the key. The journal opens with what the seven marks mean.
2. Find the seal in Noirinan and use it while carrying the key. Without the key the stone simply describes itself to you and stays shut.
3. Take the barrow-court. Three end-game undead, all of them the sort of fight you bring a party to. Bring one.
4. Get out. The gate stands on the tomb side as well and does not ask for the key on the way back, so losing it in there does not entomb you.

The court re-forms once the tomb has been cleared and left empty, so the fight is repeatable — but the journal completes once, the first time one character has all three down. Party members who are in the tomb when a court member falls all get the credit.

The Last Drop at Frogmorton Inn

The last cask of Frogmorton's famous harvest ale — the Floating Log's own autumn brew, carted over from Frogmorton before the brewer died — sits in Rigrin's cellar, and five patrons each claim the final drop. Rigrin judges the matter by the custom of the cask, an old rule that turns with the month, and he'll pay a neutral party to hear the claimants out and name the rightful drinker. No combat; pure Shire-tone dialogue.

How to start: Ask Rigrin at the Whitfurrow Inn (one area over from Frogmorton) what the common-room row is about.

Steps:

1. Rigrin states this month's custom of the cask (e.g. "the coin that bought the barrel drains it") — twelve rules cycling through the year.
2. Chat with the five claimants in the common room — Marigold Bunce (brewed it), Poppy Thistlewool (paid for it), Hob Broadbelt (tapped it and drank first), Ned Puddifoot (hauled it from Frogmorton), Daisy Goodbody (won it at darts) — and work out who the rule points at.
3. Give Rigrin your answer. One judgment per day: a right call pays 25 gp plus a Frogmorton Pint; a wrong call gets you gently laughed out of the room — either way the matter is settled until tomorrow.

The Frogmorton Pint is a single-use drink: 4 hp back and a short, purely cosmetic drunken stagger. It cannot hurt you or anyone else.

Hobbit Post

Posco Whitfoot has founded the Hobbit Post and needs an honest pair of legs: one sealed parcel per real day, delivered somewhere in the Shire for pay. The addressee rotates with the calendar day across five recipients — Daddy Twofoot (Hobbiton), Old Noakes (Bywater), the Keeper of the Green Dragon (Green Dragon Inn, door off Hobbiton), and Salvia Brockhouse and Milo Burrows (both in the Whitfurrow Inn common room). Pure low-pressure Shire flavour; no combat.

How to start: Talk to Posco Whitfoot in Hobbiton and take today's parcel.

Steps:

1. Posco reads you the address off the label (it rotates daily). Forgot where it's bound? Ask him again — he'll re-read the label, or write a fresh one.
2. Carry the parcel to the named recipient and talk to them. The Shire judges its post by the freshness of the seal: land it within 5 real minutes of accepting and the fee rises from 60 gp to 100 gp.
3. Rarely (8%) Posco's label is wrong: the named recipient refuses the parcel and points you at its true owner (another of the five), who pays 60 gp extra plus a small bonus item for untangling the post.
4. Payment on delivery closes the day; the post-bag reopens at UTC midnight (Posco quotes the exact time remaining).

The parcel itself is plot-flagged and cursed — it can't be sold, dropped or traded, and re-accepting from Posco replaces any parcel you're already carrying, so they can never pile up.

Spider Silk Harvest

The great spiders choke Thranduil's wood, but their silk is stronger than steel wire and his weavers prize it. Once per real day the Elvenking pays a flat bounty for six bolts of spider silk cut from the spiders of Mirkwood. The silk comes from the wood's named horrors — Giant Spider, Spider-Queen, Lava Climber, Death Weeper, Black Spear Spider and Sword Spider — which fill the encounters of every outdoor Mirkwood area (West, North, East, Central, Central East and Central South). The common base-game spiders and ettercaps mixed into the same encounters spin nothing worth carding.

How to start: Speak to Thranduil on his throne in Thranduil's Hall and accept the day's harvest (he turns away hunters below level 12).

Steps:

1. Accept the harvest from Thranduil — the journal opens and the day's hunt goes live.
2. Kill the named spiders anywhere beneath Mirkwood's boughs. Each qualifying kill has a 75% chance to cut a Bolt of Spider Silk straight into your pack (kills by your summons and companions credit you, same rule as the bestiary). Drops stop at six bolts carried — silk cannot be hoarded past a day's need.
3. Return to Thranduil with six bolts and turn them in: 300 gp + 600 XP, bolts consumed, day closed.
4. The bounty reopens at UTC midnight; until then Thranduil quotes the exact time remaining.

Bolts drop only while your own hunt is active (accepted today, not yet paid), so a party member without the quest gets nothing and there is no stockpiling across days. Spare bolts are worth a few coppers as vendor trash at most.

The Riddle Game

Something pale and whispering squats at the water's edge in the cave beneath Bree-hill, and it wants to play the old game: seven riddles, asked in the classic Hobbit style and answered by picking one of four answers. Guess five or more of the seven rightly and it grudgingly surrenders a present from its little hoard; guess fewer and you get nothing but wet chuckling. It plays once per real week per character, win or lose — the riddles "must ripen".

How to start: Enter Bree Cave and speak to the Whispering Wretch; accept the challenge. Open to all levels.

Steps:

1. Accept the game — the journal opens and the wretch asks riddle one of seven.
2. Answer each riddle from the four choices. The wretch heckles you between riddles either way; the running score is kept for you.
3. After the seventh answer the game resolves on the spot: 5+ right pays 100–300 gp, 250 XP and one random minor treasure (a lesser ring, a gem or a potent potion); fewer pays nothing.
4. The game reopens when the calendar week turns (Monday 00:00 UTC); until then the wretch quotes the exact time remaining.

The riddle set changes weekly — everyone on the server gets the same seven riddles in a given week, drawn from a larger bank, and the answer order shuffles per riddle. Walking away (or relogging) mid-game forfeits nothing: the week is only spent when the seventh answer lands, and the wretch will restart the same week's game from riddle one.

Concerning Hobbits

Odo Proudfoot, keeper of the Hobbiton family-books, is forever settling a dispute at the Ivy Bush over who is cousin to whom. He puts five questions of Shire lineage to you — Bagginses, Boffins, Tooks, Brandybucks and all — answered by picking one of four choices. Answer four or more of the five rightly and he counts you a friend of the family-books and pays you from the family stores; fewer and you go home to study. He puts the questions once per day per character, win or lose.

How to start: Find Odo Proudfoot in Hobbiton and take up his challenge. Aimed at level 5+.

Steps:

1. Accept the challenge — the journal opens and Odo asks question one of five.
2. Answer each question from the four choices. Odo confirms or corrects you between questions; the running score is kept for you.
3. After the fifth answer the game resolves on the spot: 4+ right pays 40–100 gp, 100 XP and a keepsake (a pouch of pipe-weed, upgraded to a Greater Ring of Scholars on a perfect 5/5); fewer pays nothing.
4. The dispute reopens at the turn of the day (00:00 UTC); until then Odo quotes the time remaining.

The correct answer rotates by season. The set of five questions and the order of their answers are seeded from the in-game calendar season, so the whole server shares one seasonal dispute and the winning choice moves each season — you can't just memorise “always pick the second one.” Walking away (or relogging) mid-game forfeits nothing: the day is only spent when the fifth answer lands.

Pass the Pass

Baldor runs a mule-train over the High Pass and pays swords to see it safely across to the eastern waystation. You choose the risk yourself at dialogue, and the pay scales with it: Easy (a goblin rabble), Normal (goblin soldiers led by a brute), or Hard, where a Stone-Giant of the High Pass (CR 25) comes down off the crags to smash the caravan. One escort per real calendar day.

This is a bounded escort — there is no walking companion to babysit. When you accept, a difficulty-scaled ambush spawns mid-pass in the first Misty Mountains area and the journal opens; you fight your way east and report to Wilrun at the waystation for your pay. Reaching the far side is the whole objective, and the ambush is the danger rather than a hard fail-state.

How to start: Talk to Baldor the Caravan-Master at the western foot of the pass (Foothills of the Misty Mountains) and pick your difficulty.

Steps:

1. Accept from Baldor and choose Easy, Normal or Hard. The journal opens and the ambush spawns ahead of you on the pass.
2. Cross the Misty Mountains eastward, fighting through the warband (and the Stone-Giant on Hard).
3. Talk to Wilrun the Quartermaster at the eastern waystation to close the run and collect your pay.
4. Payment closes the day; Baldor's hire reopens at UTC midnight (he quotes the exact time remaining).

Sowing Discord in Bree

Ferny has paper that needs delivering: three forged letters — poison-pen accusations in fine respectable handwriting, none of it his — to be planted under three different tables in the Prancing Pony. The catch is the same one every dirty job in Bree has: no eye may mark your hand. Each letter must be slipped into place while you move in stealth mode; come at a table openly and the plant simply fails (nothing is lost — step into shadow and try again). Naturally, Good-aligned characters never hear the offer at all.

How to start: Speak to Bill Ferny in Bree at total level 15+ with a non-Good alignment. He whispers the job when he has nothing else pending with you.

Steps:

1. Take the three Forged Letters (plot items — they can't be dropped or sold).
2. In the Prancing Pony, enter stealth mode and use a table to tuck a letter under it. Three different tables — a table already holding your letter refuses a second.
3. The moment the third letter lands, the letters start working. About twenty seconds later the Sheriff of Bree (CR 16) storms in with a Guardian of Bree at his heel, right at the last table you touched — and they come for you, and only you. Fight or run; the quest doesn't care which, and the rest of the taproom stays out of it.
4. Return to Ferny for 500–800 gp and 500 XP. The first completion ever also pays the Morgul-Weave Cloak; repeats are gold and XP only.

The job resets on a rolling 24-hour cooldown from each payout — Ferny quotes the exact time remaining if you come back early. Progress is carried entirely by the letters and the server's records, so relogging (or a server reboot) mid-job loses nothing.

Beorn's Garden

A warg pack has been raiding the bee-meadows below the Carrock, and Grimbeorn has hives to mend and no hands to spare. The day's work has two halves that feed each other: harvest the three great honey hives (hollow stumps — one in Beorn's garden, one on each Carrock height) and skin six warg pelts from the raiders. There are no wargs standing about waiting to be farmed — cracking a hive open is what calls the pack in: each harvest spawns two Garden-Raiding Wargs (CR 6) right at the stump.

How to start: Speak to Grimbeorn the Old at the homestead; level 12+ required, once per real day per character.

Steps:

1. Accept the garden work — the journal opens and the hives become harvestable for you.
2. Use each of the three Honey Hives once (per-hive, per-day — floaty text counts "N of 3"). Each harvest spawns a warg pack at the hive.
3. Kill wargs while the quest is active; the killing blow's party owner skins a pelt per warg ("N of 6"). Short on pelts with all hives drawn? Rattle any emptied hive to call another pack — the day can always be finished (spawns are capped per area so hives can't be clicked into a flood).
4. Return to Grimbeorn with 6 pelts and 3 combs drawn: he takes the pelts and pays 250–450 gp, 700 XP and honeycomb from Beorn's stores (always one comb; sometimes a second, or a Cure Serious Wounds potion instead of the second comb).
5. The day resets at UTC midnight; until then Grimbeorn quotes the exact time remaining.

Kallrist Tiger Hunt

A potion merchant named Sald on Kallrist Island will pay 200 gold for every Kallrist Tiger Heart you bring him. The tigers (CR 6) roam the island's shore and interior areas. This is a repeatable delivery quest — there is no fixed completion state.

How to start: Speak to Sald on Kallrist Island and accept the hunt.

Steps:

1. Hunt Kallrist Tigers across the island's nine areas. Each drops a Kallrist Tiger Heart.
2. Return to Sald with hearts in your inventory — he inspects each one, takes it, and pays 200 gp.
3. Repeat as desired — the open-ended journal entry stays in the log.

The Unbroken Shield — Fighter line I

The first, early chunk of the Fighter class line. Hallas the Shieldwarden, a grey veteran of Gondor's Guard who keeps a corner of the Prancing Pony, offers any fighter the old oath of the Unbroken Shield — to hold the line when it would break, and to stand for those who cannot. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: swear the oath at level 1, take up a fallen captain's broken blade at level 8, and bring it back to be reforged whole at level 15. (The heroic finale — the Aeglos Reborn spear and the Osgiliath wave-defence — is later-tier content, not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Hallas the Shieldwarden in the Prancing Pony as a character with at least one Fighter level, and swear the oath.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Swear the oath — the journal opens and you receive the Warden's Buckler (+1 AC, Fighter-only). Hallas sends you off to grow to level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Hallas entrusts you with the Notched Captain's Shard to bear until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the shard back; his smith reforges it into the Warden's Reforged Blade (longsword +2, Fighter-only) and the quest closes. The line's later, harder oaths are foreshadowed for a future chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Long Shadow — Rogue line I

The first, early chunk of the Rogue class line. Fenn the Shade, a hooded Bree-lander who watches the Prancing Pony's doorways, runs the Long Shadow — a quiet net of thieves and watchers who count the Enemy's spies so honest folk need not. He offers any rogue a place in the net. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: swear into the net at level 1, take up a cipher-token to carry unseen at level 8, and bring it home to be worked into a blade at level 15. (The capstone — Shelob's lair, Cirith Ungol and the twin blades — is later-tier content, not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Fenn the Shade in the Prancing Pony as a character with at least one Rogue level, and swear into the net.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Swear into the net — the journal opens and you receive the Shadowmantle (cloak +1 AC, Rogue-only). Fenn sends you off to grow to level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Fenn entrusts you with the Long Shadow Cipher-Token to carry unseen until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the token back; his fence works its hidden steel core into the Nightthorn (short sword +2, Rogue-only) and the quest closes. The line's longer shadows are foreshadowed for a future chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Colour of Power — Wizard line I

The first, early chunk of the Wizard class line. Findegil the Grey, a grey-robed loremaster who keeps a quiet study by the hearth of Bag End, teaches the deep lore few trouble to learn truly — the Colour of Power, by which the Istari came to wear their hues. He offers any wizard the study. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: take up the study at level 1, receive the Loremaster's Tome to carry and study abroad at level 8, and bring it home to be bound into a staff at level 15. (The actual choice of Colour — White, Brown or the Many Colours — and its caster-level capstone is endgame content, foreshadowed here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Findegil the Grey in Bag End as a character with at least one Wizard level, and take up the study.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Take up the study — the journal opens and you receive the Apprentice's Amulet (+1 INT, Wizard-only). Findegil sends you off to grow to level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Findegil entrusts you with the Loremaster's Tome of the Grey Study to carry and study until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the tome back; he binds its lore into the Staff of the Grey Study (+2 / +1 INT quarterstaff, Wizard-only) and the quest closes. The choice of Colour is foreshadowed for the endgame chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Flame of Anor — Cleric line I

The first, early chunk of the Cleric class line. Aldamir, Keeper of the Flame, tends the Secret Fire in the Temple of Illuvatar — the Flame of Anor, a splinter of the sacred fire the faithful set against the Shadow. He offers any cleric its tending. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: take up the tending at level 1, receive the Reliquary of the Kindled Ember to keep and carry abroad at level 8, and bring it home to be kindled into a mace at level 15. (The greater consecrations — the aura of Narya and gifts beyond it — are later content, foreshadowed here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Aldamir, Keeper of the Flame in the Temple of Illuvatar as a character with at least one Cleric level, and take up the tending.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Take up the tending — the journal opens and you receive the Acolyte's Censer-Amulet (+1 WIS, Cleric-only). Aldamir sends you off to grow to level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Aldamir entrusts you with the Reliquary of the Kindled Ember to keep and carry until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the reliquary back; he kindles its ember into the Mace of the Kindled Flame (+2 / +1 WIS light mace, Cleric-only) and the quest closes. The greater consecrations are foreshadowed for a later chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Uncrowned Path — Ranger line I

The first, early chunk of the Ranger class line. Halbarad keeps a lonely watch at the Ranger Waystation for what is left of the Grey Company — the Rangers of the North, who guard the free lands unthanked while the world sleeps easy. He offers any ranger the grey vigil. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: take up the vigil at level 1, receive the Star of the Dunedain to carry hidden into the wild at level 8, and bring it back to be worked into a bow at level 15. (The greater deeds down that road — the Elendilmir, the Grey Company mustered and riding, and the crown at the end of it — are later content, foreshadowed here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Halbarad, Warden of the Grey Company at the Ranger Waystation as a character with at least one Ranger level, and take up the vigil.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Take up the grey vigil — the journal opens and you receive the Brooch of the Grey Watch (+1 DEX, Ranger-only). Halbarad sends you off to walk the road to level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Halbarad entrusts you with the Star of the Dunedain, a warden's token to carry hidden until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the star back; he has it worked into the Bow of the Uncrowned (+2 / +1 DEX longbow, Ranger-only) and the quest closes. The greater deeds of the road are foreshadowed for a later chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Breathing of the World — Druid line I

The first, early chunk of the Druid class line. Naldor the Green is an old Woodman of the vales of Anduin and a pupil of Radagast, and keeps the trees about Rhosgobel. He says the world breathes — leaf and root and beast, all turning slowly together — and that most folk never hear a note of it. He offers any druid the Green Listening, the old Woodman craft of hearing it. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by level: take up the Listening at level 1, receive the Seed of the Elder Wood to carry into the wild at level 8, and bring it back to be grown into a staff at level 15. (The greater wakings down that road — the Entmoot roused, the Old Forest set walking, the wild wroth against those who burn it — are later content, foreshadowed here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Naldor the Green at Rhosgobel as a character with at least one Druid level, and take up the Green Listening.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (level 1): Take up the Green Listening — the journal opens and you receive the Amulet of the Green Listening (+1 WIS, Druid-only). Naldor sends you off into the wild lands until level 8.
2. Node 2 (level 8): Return; Naldor entrusts you with the Seed of the Elder Wood, off a tree older than the Shire, to carry and listen with until level 15.
3. Node 3 (level 15): Bring the seed back; he grows it — not carves, grows — into the Staff of the Breathing World (+2 / +1 WIS quarterstaff, Druid-only) and the quest closes. The greater wakings of the wild are foreshadowed for a later chunk.

One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

Oathsworn to the West — Paladin line I

The first, early chunk of the Paladin class line. Hallas the Oathkeeper is an old knight of the Citadel who has outlived most of the men he swore beside, and who still watches an eastern sky that has shown him nothing for years. He will take the oath of the West from any paladin who comes to it — not for Gondor's sake, he says, but so that there is one more person in the world who has said the thing out loud in front of a witness. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by Paladin level: swear the oath at level 1, have it set down and sealed at level 8, and bring the seal back unbroken at level 15. (The greater charges down that road — the ride to the Pelennor, the breaking of the Black Gate, the ending of the Witch-king — are later content, foreshadowed here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Speak to Hallas the Oathkeeper in the Keep of Minas Tirith as a character with at least one Paladin level, and swear the oath.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (Paladin 1): Swear the oath out loud on the wall — the journal opens and you receive the Token of the White Tree (+1 CHA, Paladin-only). Hallas sends you off to get some of the world on you until Paladin 8.
2. Node 2 (Paladin 8): Return; Hallas sets the oath down in ink, seals it with the White Tree, and gives you the Sealed Oath of Fealty to carry unopened until Paladin 15.
3. Node 3 (Paladin 15): Bring the seal back whole; he has it closed into the pommel of the Sword of the Oathsworn (+2 / +1 CHA long sword, Paladin-only) and the quest closes. The greater charges of the West are foreshadowed for a later chunk.

The level gates count Paladin levels only, not your total character level. One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

The Empty Hand — Monk line I

The first, early chunk of the Monk class line. Orovan the Windless keeps the bare summit of Emyn Arnen, above the last of the trees, where the wind comes off Anduin and there is nothing at all to hold on to. He came west out of the far East a long time ago and simply stopped walking there. He teaches exactly one thing, and only to those already on that road: that a hand which is holding something cannot be used for anything else. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by Monk level: be taken as a student at level 1, receive the stone at level 8, and bring it back at level 15. (The greater disciplines down that road — the unbreathing form, the still point, the open palm that stops a blade — are later content, named here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Climb to Emyn Arnen: Peak as a character with at least one Monk level and speak to Orovan the Windless.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (Monk 1): Set down everything you are carrying — the journal opens and you receive the Cord of the Empty Hand (+1 WIS, Monk-only). Orovan sends you back down the mountain until Monk 8.
2. Node 2 (Monk 8): Return; Orovan gives you the Unspoken Stone, a grey river pebble with nothing written on it, to carry until you stop noticing that you are carrying it — and to bring back up at Monk 15.
3. Node 3 (Monk 15): Hold the stone out without remarking on it; he sets it flush into the haft of the Kama of the Windless Peak (+2 / +1 WIS kama, Monk-only) and the quest closes. The greater disciplines are named for a later chunk.

Every reward on this line is monk-legal — an amulet and a kama — so nothing here will cost you your monk AC bonus or your flurry of blows. The level gates count Monk levels only, not your total character level. One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can't be farmed.

Tales That Live Forever — Bard line I

The first, early chunk of the Bard class line. Lindir keeps the upper halls of Rivendell, where the singing never entirely stops, and has been listening to the same conversation for several hundred years without being bored by it yet. He teaches exactly one thing, free of charge: a song that is only ever sung by the one who made it dies with them — your whole job is to hand it on in a state fit to be handed on again. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by Bard level: be taken as a student at level 1, be given the Lay at level 8, and bring back its missing line at level 15. (The longer roads down that path — the naming-songs, the lament that stops a fight, the making of a true name — are later content, named here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Go up into the Rivendell Upper Halls as a character with at least one Bard level and speak to Lindir of the Hall of Fire.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (Bard 1): Learn the opening phrase of the Lay of the Second Spring — eleven times, stopped each time — and the journal opens. Lindir sets the Chorister’s Torc (+1 CHA, Bard-only) about your neck, with that same phrase cut into it, and sends you out to let the world happen to you until Bard 8.
2. Node 2 (Bard 8): Return; Lindir hands you The Unfinished Lay, a leaf of vellum that breaks off in the middle of a line and has done for six hundred years. Carry it — don’t write on it, don’t show it to anybody clever — and bring it back at Bard 15.
3. Node 3 (Bard 15): Say the missing line. Lindir takes the finished Lay down to the smithy of Rivendell, and what comes back up is the Rapier of the Deathless Song (+2 / +1 CHA, Bard-only), with the verse and your own ending cut along the blade. The quest closes; the longer roads are named for a later chunk.

Both rewards sit inside Bard proficiency, so nothing on this line ships unusable. The level gates count Bard levels only, not your total character level. One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can’t be farmed.

Blood of Elder Days — Sorcerer line I

The first, early chunk of the Sorcerer class line. Erendis keeps a fire nobody laid among the drowned masonry of Annuminas, where the old Numenorean capital is going quietly back into the lake. She is not a teacher of spells and says so plainly — nobody taught her either, which is the whole difficulty of your sort. What she offers is the one piece of it that hands on: stop fighting the blood that woke in you without asking. The arc is a one-off, three-node progression gated by Sorcerer level: be named at level 1, take the shard at level 8, and say what it cost you at level 15. (The longer roads down that path — the speech that dragons answer to, the sceptre that drowned with Armenelos, the unbinding — are later content, named here but not part of this early line.)

How to start: Travel to the Ruins of Annuminas as a character with at least one Sorcerer level and speak to Erendis of the Drowned House.

Steps:

1. Node 1 (Sorcerer 1): Let her name what woke in you — she puts a hand on your breastbone and says it out loud in Adunaic, which she insists is not a sentence and not a gift but a fact, like your height. The journal opens and she works the Signet of the Drowned House (+1 CHA, Sorcerer-only) off her own hand into yours. Not an heirloom; she keeps a box of them. It only means somebody knew and did not run. Come back at Sorcerer 8.
2. Node 2 (Sorcerer 8): Return; Erendis gives you the Shard of Sea-Glass, a worn scrap off a window in Armenelos that has never once done anything — which is the point of it. It is not a charm, it is a bill that has not been presented. Carry it, don’t stare at it, and bring it back at Sorcerer 15.
3. Node 3 (Sorcerer 15): Say the price out loud, in the words you would use while still angry about it — she has no use for the tidied version. She sets the shard into the head of a black lebethron staff she has evidently had ready for some time, and the Staff of Elder Days (+2 / +1 CHA quarterstaff, Sorcerer-only) is yours. The quest closes; the longer roads are named for a later chunk.

Both rewards sit inside Sorcerer proficiency, so nothing on this line ships unusable. The level gates count Sorcerer levels only, not your total character level. One-off per character — the stages only ever move forward, so the rewards can’t be farmed.

Prestige-Order Hub (Halmir the Grey)

An old man in a grey cloak keeps the rolls of the twelve old orders — the prestige classes, framed in-fiction as surviving disciplines of the elder days (Harper Scouts, Knights of Westernesse, Pale Masters, Shadowdancers, Arcane Archers, Red Dragon Disciples, Assassins, Weapon Masters, Blackguards, Divine Champions, Dwarven Defenders, Shifters). Ask him "Which of the old orders would hear my name as I stand?" and he lists every order your character currently qualifies for. Each qualifying order also gets its own dialogue branch with an evocative pitch — and, for all twelve, an initiation trial you can take on the spot.

How it works:

1. Order lines appear only when you meet that order's minimum character level (Harper Scout / Knight of Westernesse 6+, Pale Master / Shadowdancer 11+, Arcane Archer / Red Dragon Disciple 12+, Assassin / Weapon Master 13+, Blackguard / Divine Champion / Dwarven Defender 14+, Shifter 16+). The Dwarven Defenders additionally require a dwarf.
2. Halmir's summary line lists all currently qualifying orders; below level 6 it says none would hear your name yet.
3. Each order's trial additionally requires at least one level in that prestige class — Halmir points the unqualified toward the discipline rather than the roll.
4. The hub itself has no journal entry and no reward; the twelve trials below carry those.

The Cipher in the Inn (Harper Scout initiation)

The first of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Harper Scouts: if you already walk their roads, he sends you to a friend who keeps the corner table at the Prancing Pony in Bree — Della Heathertoes, a traveller in a fern-green cloak. She tests you with a line of old road-cant, each word written tail-first: DAOR TSEW EHT SEHCTAW YERG EHT. A learned character (Lore rank 8+) reads it at a glance; anyone else gets her hint and picks the true reading from three (wrong picks loop back to the hint — wordier, never a dead end). Read it true and she trusts you with the counter-word; carry it back to Halmir and he enters your name on the rolls, with the pin to prove it. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Harper Scouts, accept the errand.
2. Sit with Della at the Prancing Pony; solve the cipher via the Lore shortcut or the hint path.
3. Return to Halmir and say the word — the XP and the pin are yours, and the quest closes.

The Banner of the West (Knight of Westernesse initiation)

The second of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Knights of Westernesse: if you already ride in their line, he sends you to Wart, the Gate Captain at the Gates of Minas Tirith. The captain sets a command exercise: no standard of the City moves without spears around it, so muster three of his gate-watch guardsmen to the banner-detail — speak to the Gondorian Guardsmen along the Gates and name it to them plain. With three mustered, the captain releases the standard; ride out to the old banner-stone by the Rammas on the Pelennor Fields and set the banner in the stone with your own hand, then carry word back to Halmir for the knighthood. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Knights of Westernesse, accept the proving.
2. Report to the Gate Captain at the Gates of Minas Tirith.
3. Rally three gate-watch guardsmen (each post counts once, and the tally sticks).
4. Return to the captain for the standard.
5. Use the Banner-Stone of the Rammas on the Pelennor.
6. Return to Halmir — the XP and the shield are yours, and the quest closes.

The Twenty-First Tomb (Pale Master initiation)

The third of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Pale Masters: if you already read the pale page, he sets the rite — beneath the Bree Crypt's lower level the old families sleep under carved names, but one sarcophagus bears none: the twenty-first tomb. Open it with your own hands, take a measure of the pale grave-dust within (plot + cursed — it can't be dropped, sold, or handed off), and carry it back to Halmir unspilled for the induction. One-off per character; if the dust is somehow lost, opening the tomb again re-gives it.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Pale Masters, accept the errand.
2. Open the unmarked sarcophagus in the Bree Crypt Lower Level and take the dust.
3. Return to Halmir with the dust — the XP and the talisman are yours, and the quest closes.

The Unlit Deep (Shadowdancer initiation)

The fourth of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Shadowdancers: if you already walk where light does not follow, he names the trial — deep in Moria, beside Balin's tomb, stands the Deep Well no plumb-line ever fathomed. Stand at its lip bearing no light at all — no torch, no glowing (light-property) gear, no active Light or Continual Flame — and the deep leaves the Skein of the Unlit Deep in your hand (plot + cursed — it can't be dropped, sold, or handed off). Come to the well carrying light and the trial fails that attempt: a flavor message, nothing granted, retry as soon as you've doused it. Carry the skein back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character; if the skein is somehow lost, standing at the well unlit again re-gives it.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Shadowdancers, accept the trial.
2. Use the Deep Well beside Balin's tomb with no light source at all — every equipped item and active spell effect is checked. Darkvision and ultravision shed no light and don't count.
3. Return to Halmir with the skein — the XP and the boots are yours, and the quest closes.

The Warden's Mark (Arcane Archer initiation)

The fifth of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Arcane Archers: if you have already bent the bow to the art, he names the trial — on the proving ground of Rivendell stands the oldest target the wardens ever set, and deep in its gold ring a grey-fletched shaft loosed by a warden of the Galadhrim in an elder year. Draw it. The mark yields the shaft only to a hand that comes as an archer comes — a longbow or shortbow equipped and arrows in the quiver; come any other way and the trial fails that attempt (a flavor message, nothing granted, retry as soon as you've strung the bow). Crossbows and slings don't count. The shaft (plot + cursed) goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character; if the shaft is somehow lost, drawing at the mark again re-gives it.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Arcane Archers, accept the trial.
2. Use the old Archery Target on Rivendell's training ground with a longbow or shortbow equipped and arrows in the quiver slot.
3. Return to Halmir with the shaft — the XP and the bracers are yours, and the quest closes.

The Old Wyrm's Fire (Red Dragon Disciple initiation)

The sixth of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Red Dragon Disciples: if the wyrm's fire is already awake in your veins, he names the trial — in the great hall of the Lonely Mountain stands the Forge of Durin, and under its banked coals an ember of the old wyrm's fire — the fire that ruined Dale — still glows. Rake it out bare-handed. The coals yield the ember only to an unwarded hand — using the forge with any elemental ward active (Endure Elements, Resist Elements, Protection from Elements, Energy Buffer, or Elemental Shield) fails the attempt with a flavor message; let the ward lapse or dispel it and try again ("the blood must feel the flame"). Item-borne permanent fire resistance doesn't count against you. The ember (plot + cursed) goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Red Dragon Disciples, accept the trial.
2. Use the Forge of Durin in the Lonely Mountain's main hall with no elemental-ward spell active.
3. Return to Halmir with the ember — the XP and the amulet are yours, and the quest closes.

The Quiet Knives (Assassin initiation)

The seventh of the twelve prestige-order trials, and the only one that is not won in the open. Ask Halmir of the Assassins: if the knives already know your hand, he names the trial — and it is not a killing. A sealed writ waits at one of the order's dead drops: the old wine barrel standing against the houses of Bree. Lift it as the quiet knives would — open the barrel while in stealth mode; opening it out of stealth fails the attempt with a flavor message ("a dead drop yields nothing to a hand any eye could mark"); slip into shadow and reach again. No skill roll is made — the toggled mode is the whole test. The writ (plot + cursed, and it must come back sealed) goes to Halmir for the induction, where the name inside turns out to be your own. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Assassins, accept the trial.
2. Open the old wine barrel in Bree while in stealth mode.
3. Return to Halmir with the writ — the XP and the gloves are yours, and the quest closes.

The Sworn Blade (Weapon Master initiation)

The eighth of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Weapon Masters: if your hand is already sworn to its weapon, he names the proving. Below the white walls of Minas Tirith the Guard keeps its training row — scarred practice posts that have taken the cuts of every swordmaster Gondor ever raised. Strike the first post with the weapon your soul is sworn to — a main-hand weapon whose Weapon of Choice feat you actually have. Bare hands or a borrowed blade fail the attempt with a flavor message ("this is not the weapon your soul is sworn to"); draw the chosen blade and strike again. Any melee weapon with a Weapon of Choice feat qualifies; ranged weapons don't. The cut frees the Notch of the Proven Blade (plot + cursed), which goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Weapon Masters, accept the trial.
2. Use the first practice post in Minas Tirith with your Weapon of Choice equipped in the main hand.
3. Return to Halmir with the notch — the XP and the buckle are yours, and the quest closes.

The Shield of Others (Divine Champion initiation)

The ninth of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Divine Champions: if your sword is already vowed before the White Tree, he names the vigil. In the temple of Minas Tirith stands the Altar of the Istari, its stone polished by the hands of the faithful. Use the altar with a shield borne on your off-hand arm — small, large, or tower — because the champion's vow is not to strike harder but to stand between. A bare arm, or anything but a shield in the off-hand (a second blade, a torch), fails the attempt with a flavor message ("a thing that takes, not a thing that stands between"); take up a shield and keep the vigil again. The kept vigil kindles the Oath-Light of the West (plot + cursed), which goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Divine Champions, accept the vigil.
2. Use the Altar of the Istari in the Minas Tirith temple with a shield equipped in the off-hand.
3. Return to Halmir with the oath-light — the XP and the mantle are yours, and the quest closes.

The Unbroken Stone (Dwarven Defender initiation)

The tenth of the twelve prestige-order trials, and the only one closed to all but Durin's folk. Ask Halmir of the Dwarven Defenders: if you have already taken the Defender's stand, he names the trial. In Balin's Tomb in Moria lies Balin son of Fundin under a stone that was not broken. Use the headstone while wearing heavy armor — base AC 6 or better: splint, banded, half-plate, or full plate — because Balin's guard stood there in the war-weight of Khazad, and stone knows stone. Come in leathers, robes, or light mail and the stone will not know you ("come clad as they came, and stand again"); enhancement bonuses on light armor can't fake it, since the stone reads the armor's base AC. The kept stand earns the Shard of the Unbroken Stone (plot + cursed), which goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Dwarven Defenders, accept the stand.
2. Use Balin's headstone in Balin's Tomb wearing heavy armor.
3. Return to Halmir with the shard — the XP and the warhelm are yours, and the quest closes.

The Second Skin (Shifter initiation)

The eleventh of the twelve prestige-order trials. Ask Halmir of the Shifters: if you have already worn another shape, he names the trial. At Beorn's steading in the shadow of the Carrock lies a still pool where the master of the house drinks on four legs as often as two. Use the pool while wild-shaped or polymorphed — any shape but your own: shifter shapes, druid wild shape, and polymorph spells all qualify. Look in wearing the face you were born with and the pool shows you nothing but yourself ("come wearing another skin, and look again"). The kept trial earns the Tuft of the First Skin (plot + cursed), which goes back to Halmir for the induction. One-off per character.

The reward is an amulet on purpose — neck-slot properties ride through most polymorph shapes, so it stays live in the forms a Shifter actually fights in.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Shifters, accept the trial.
2. Use the still pool at Beorn's steading while shape-shifted.
3. Return to Halmir with the tuft — the XP and the charm are yours, and the quest closes.

The Fall (Blackguard initiation)

The twelfth and last of the prestige-order trials, and the only one whose signature is a permanent alignment shift — the fall itself. Ask Halmir of the Blackguards: if you have already broken a bright oath for a darker one, he tells you how the fall is written. In the Keep of Barad-Dûr, the Dark Tower itself, the instruments of cruelty still stand. Lay your hand on the torture-rack and swear the Black Oath — but come to it bleeding: the oath takes blood freely given or nothing at all (you simply have to be below full health; the Dark Tower is thick with foes, so an aspirant reaches the rack wounded as a matter of course). Carry the Brand of the Fall (plot + cursed) back to Halmir for the induction.

Steps:

1. Speak to Halmir, choose the Blackguards, accept the rite.
2. Use the torture-rack in the Keep of Barad-Dûr while wounded.
3. Return to Halmir with the brand — the XP and the sigil are yours, and the quest closes.

Server Info Journals

Several journal categories carry server reference information and are handed to you automatically when you log in — no quest-giver needed. Eight are delivered:

If you ever want to re-read one, they stay in the Completed section of your journal permanently.

The Path of Meaning

A strange music echoes across Middle-earth. Seven legendary figures are scattered through the world, each with their own challenge. Meet all seven, then seek Akira the Don in the Hall of Legends inside the Well of Eru.

The seven guides (500 XP each on unlock): The Path of Meaning journal entries:

1. A strange music whispers across Middle-earth. Seven legends are scattered across the world. Find them, prove yourself, and the Hall of Legends will open to you.
2. One legend recognises you. Six remain.
3. Two legends. Five remain.
4. Three legends. Four remain.
5. Four legends. The music grows clearer.
6. Five legends gathered. Two voices still hidden.
7. Six legends. One voice remains.
8. All seven. Akira the Don awaits in the Hall of Legends — find the Wayshrine in the Well of Eru.
9. (Finale) Akira the Don passed you the mixtape. The path of meaning is walked, but the journey never ends.