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Throg's Lotro Journal 15 May 20007: Cleansing the Lone Lands

Our normally feisty hero is feeling a little bit down in the dumps this morning having suffered no less than four defeats last night. He pretends to laugh it off but I suspect what galls him most is that these defeats happened in full view of his kinsmen.

The great Kinship of Pog Mo Thoin had decided that the time had come for the scourge of evil to be swept from the Lone Lands once and for all (again). A migty fellowship of warriors assembled with Guardian, Hunter, Minstrel, Thief and Throg the Champion. In truth, at only the 23rd level of proficiency Throg was least among this mighty crew all other being at least of the 25th level but what he lacked in skill he made up for in courage.

The forces for darkness are surely licking their wounds this morning for the kin cut through the Lands as a fire reddened blade might cleave butterfat. First they cleansed Saruman's forces (once again) off the summit of Weathertop. Why they persist in retaking it remains a mystery but each time they are dismissed. Then the party wrought mighty vengenace on the elite dwarves who infest the ruins of Thandobel. Throg gathered a fine collection of dwarven axes. Next they put an end to the reign of terror of three mighty spiders in Amon Ros. The fellowship even managed to rescue a great treasure from the goblin infested ruins of Minos Eriol. In truth the statue wasn't much to look at but the Eglain folk were mightily pleased when it was returned to them .

All in all a great night work but the praise that the good folk of The Lands have heaped upon the Kin has done little to salve Throg's wounded pride. Four times he was forced to retreat. Methinks our mighty dwarf needs to learn that despite the strength of his arm and of his amour he is not well skilled in the defensive arts. When the fervour of battle is upon him he exposes himself most dreadfully to the enemies blows. On each occasion that he was forced to withdraw Throg had caught the undivided attention of one or more elite fighters and was beaten down before he could overcome his foe. In future Throg must learn to control his aggression - lending his blade to the combined efforts of his fellows rather than trying to defeat the enemy on his own.

Following these incidents Throg did some testing to determine his ability to tackle elite combatants while acting alone. The dourhand dwarves of Thandobel proved suitable targets. They include elite dwarves of levels from 17 to 23 among their numbers and with care they can be pulled into battle one by one. The results were not impressive. If Throg does not give in to the fervour and tries to play defensively he cannot even overcome a level 17 elite dwarf. Giving in to the fervour and using his skills to their utmost he can overcome a level 17 elite and is about equal to a level 18 elite (the battle could go either way). These results are not impressive. Throg has witnessed Minstrels and Guardians solo elite enemies that are no more than four levels below themselves yet he struggles to overcome an elite enemy five levels below him. Throg is level 23, he has learned all he able to learn from his champion trainers. While his arms and armour do not possess any extraordinary strengths his equipments is mainly up to date and of the yellow level of quality.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Maybe they are drawn to the 'top by the fact a certain ring bearer was sighted there...ah hold up has that happened yet?

Am a little confused on that point now...
mbp said…
Throg has so many unfininshed quests in his journal that he had forgotten all about that epic adventure involving some ring or other. I better prod him into getting started on Book two.

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