The Fanatical Swordsman

It all started with ore…

I am afraid that’s how a lot of my stories start. Even in real life.

Not really, I kid.

But seriously, this story did start with ore. You see, this all started on September 20th, when I was getting ready for Isengard with my Captain. Specifically, I had decided that I needed to finish off mastery of Tier 5 and Tier 6 of Prospecting, so I would be ready for all of the Skarn that is coming in Isengard (Skarn is the new Tier of ore, just fyi).

Since I needed a bunch of Tier 5 ore, I decided to go to Eregion to make a large loop prospecting Ancient Silver and Ancient Iron, roughly centered on Echad Eregion.

Then I had the (then) brilliant thought, “Hey I should look and see if there are any deeds that I need to complete in Eregion while I am at it. I might as well kill things as I go.”

Method (to the madness)

So I looked at my own Virtues page on this blog to see which Virtues I wanted. Specifically, ones that will grant Tactical Mitigation in Isengard, for the Moors. Also, since Captains are going to Might as a primary stat instead of Will, I need to replace Wisdom and Idealism; and Valour is somewhat lackluster in the expansion.

I picked out a couple of deeds on Burgzerg and went for it. I popped a deed accelerator, to make things go a bit more quickly. Somewhere between heading north past Redhorn Pass and when I first reached Hollin Ridge, I stopped focusing on getting ore. I was wholly committed to getting every single Virtue I needed for Isengard.

Every time I finished a Slayer deed, I would see that I still had 30 minutes or so left on my accelerator, so I would Swift-travel or something and start killing a fresh batch of innocent creatures (sometimes, not-so-innocent). So much blood…

Then I decided while I was in each location, to see what exploration deeds were available that could give me a pertinent Virtue.

Numbers

Thirty-eight deeds, 920 Turbine Points, and 3 days later, I now have 12 Virtues at rank 10.

“Why not rank 12?” you may ask. The simple answer: I don’t wanna!

The more complex answer: from what I’ve seen in Isengard, there are many deeds I will be completing anyway that grant the Virtues that I want, so I might as well wait and pick them up as I go.

Plus when you look at these, can you imagine trying to stack another 24 deeds on there?

Completed

1. Eregion: Wolf and Warg-slayer
2. Eregion: Dunlending-slayer (Advanced)
3. Eregion: Wolf and Warg-slayer (Advanced)
4. Lone-lands: Bog-lurker Slayer
5. Lone-lands: Bog-lurker Slayer (Advanced)
6. North Downs: Worm-slayer (Advanced)
7. Shire: The Farms of the Shire
8. Shire: The Sights of the Shire
9. Angmar: Bastions of Hope
10. Misty Mountains: Ruins of the Misty Mountains
11. Misty Mountains: Giant-slayer
12. Misty Mountains: Giant-slayer (Advanced)
13. Misty Mountains: Worm-slayer
14. Misty Mountains: Worm-slayer (Advanced)
15. North Downs: The Villages of the Earth-kin
16. Lone Lands: Defences of the Lone-lands
17. Trollshaws: Ruins of the Trollshaws
18. Trollshaws: Wolf-slayer
19. Trollshaws: Wolf-slayer (Advanced)
20. Evendim: Giant-slayer
21. Evendim: Giant-slayer (Advanced)
22. Evendim: Kergrim-slayer
23. Evendim: Kergrim-slayer (Advanced)
24. Moria: The Water-works
25. Moria: Bulwarks of the Enemy
26. Moria: The Silvertine Lodes
27. Angmar: Orc-slayer (Advanced)
28. Angmar: Marching into Shadow (Final)
29. Forochel: Dourhand-slayer
30. Forochel: Dourhand-slayer (Advanced)
31. Moria: Deep-claw Slayer (Advanced)
32. Moria: Eastern Durin’s Way
33. Moria: Globsnaga-slayer (Advanced)
34. Forochel: Worm-slayer (Advanced)
35. Ered Luin (Sarnur): Master of Beasts
36. Ered Luin (Sarnur): Master of Beasts (Advanced)
37. Angmar: Troll-slayer (Advanced)
38. Ered Luin: Scouting the Dourhands

Amusing Anecdotes

There were several things that were humorous, interesting, and that just generally kept me distracted and kept me going while working on these.

The first was Netflix. Psych is one of the best shows ever, is quite funny, and most importantly, available on Instant Watch. One of my all-time favorites.

The second happened around 22 and 23, when grinding Kergrim in Evendim. There was another level 65 guy in my zone complaining that he had been reported for grinding. Apparently, someone in the zone thought we should go “grind mobs your own level,” as he said in /OOC. It later turned out that he hadn’t really been reported, but it would’ve been interesting and sad if he had gotten in trouble for a mechanic that Turbine had put in the game.

The third was while I was grinding 29 and 30, Dourhands in Forochel. A kinmate named Vathea and I got into a very interesting discussion on quantum mechanics, which apparently is a hobby of his. We were busy discussing the neutrinos that reportedly went faster than the speed of light, then we started talking about collapsing wavefunctions, relativity, and the reality of time as a fourth dimension. The latter was started when another kinmate named Warwise chimed in that he didn’t believe that time even existed. He had some very interesting theories, not all of which I agreed with, but they were well-reasoned. Anyway, Vathea and Warwise helped me get through that particularly long deed, as I had run out of deed accelerators and wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy more.

The fourth was when I was grinding the intensely long Troll-slayer in Angmar deed. They are a terrible grind, even with deed accelerators. They are level 50+ mobs that have 9k+ health. Not fun, especially for a Captain. The weirdest thing happened right in the middle of that grind though. I had been killing this one Rare Elite Master troll that had been spawning right where I was grinding, named Shakop. Suddenly, right in the middle of killing another troll, there spawned this HUMONGOUS turtle. He was a little, tiny bit smaller than Nornuan in Filikul. I cannot remember his name, only that it started with a G, he was a Elite Master, had over 27k health, and he did not drop a shard. Oh yeah, and all of the trolls and orcs in the area started attacking him! It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced in Middle-earth, a bunch of trolls and orcs fighting alongside me as I killed this giant turtle. I, of course, then killed my former allies. That, by the way, is the picture at the top of this post.

So all in all, it was a fun few days, and it is getting me quite ready for Isengard. Just not knowing where to find every single mob type will be fun. Seeing the new areas again, except this time not buggy, will also be nice. I may not have a chance to post again until then, so I will see you in Dunland!

P.S. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that in the course of doing all of these deeds, I collected exactly (and I mean to the ingot) as much Tier 5 ore as I needed to get mastery! Weird coincidence. Had kinda forgotten about it actually…