Steed of Spring Gardens and pet Shrews!

Supergirl rides the Steed of Spring Gardens (dyed Rose)

Oh-ho! 2014 and another Spring Festival cometh! Spring Festival holds a dear place for me because it was the first event that was in progress when I arrived in Celondim those many years ago. At the time, I was such a noob; I had amassed 7 Spring Leaves for barter and had no idea how one could earn so many. I didn't realize that the quests were so repeatable and I could come back the next day and do them again! Live and learn.

This year's festival has many of the things that were available at previous spring festivals.
Here are a few links to previous Spring Festivals:
2013 spring-festival-goodies,
2013 spring-lussuin-warsteed & spring-festival,
2012 spring-shrews-shrews-shrews,
2012 steed-of-jester-and-others.

The new things for this year's festival include 3 new cosmetic outfits, the new horse and warsteed cosmetic, and pet Shrews! Oh yes, pets are in vogue apparently now, lol! There is one huorn from Fangorn (which I haven't gotten yet because I have been festivalling since Fangorn was released), 6 chicken from Hobnanigan's (hobnanigans-fun), and now 4 shrews from this Spring Festival. 

Shrew Pets: I'm still working on getting all of the shrews. They are random rewards. (1) The Spotted Shrew is a random drop from Flower Patch nodes while doing the Flower Quest, (2) The Plain Shrew is a random reward from the Shrew Quest, (3) The Dusty Shrew is a random reward from the Maze tweens Quest, and (4) The Large Shrew is a random reward from the Enormous Shrew Quest. As you may have read from me before, I am not a fan of random rewards. On the bright side, the rewards are "Tomes" that can be traded, so you can trade/sell/buy Shrew Tomes you want/don't want. 

I would guess that the Spotted Shrew is the easiest to obtain since you have several hundred chances at picking up Flower Patch nodes within the hour long quest, and the other quests are once/9 minutes, once/day, and once/9-min-if-you-win-enormous-quest. I neglected to take a picture of the two shrews I've gotten so far, so Danaish shows off her Spotted Shrew here. He looks very happy that Danaish always carries food on-hand.

Note that the pet can be renamed with the command /cpet rename <name>

Danaish with pet shrew Shrewish

Steed of Spring Gardens: Horse time! The horse costs 40 Spring Leaves. It is very easy to barter with a little time at the Shrew stomping area.
The horse for the 2014 Spring Festival is called the Steed of Spring Gardens. Good name. Here he is. He is a pretty dapple grey pattern.

Steed of the Spring Gardens

Warsteed of Spring Gardens (aka Trellis-weave) - Default: Breaking with tradition of naming the warsteed cosmetic similar to the actual horse, this spring's warsteed cosmetic is called "Trellis-weave". Yes, this is the one that looks like the horse. The one-piece Trellis-weave Caparison is very very easy to barter at only 20 Spring Leaves. Here it is in Default colors.

Trellis-weave warsteed (spring) - Default

Trellis-weave - Crimson, dark chestnut hide, black chestnut hair:
The Trellis-weave dyes very well so take your pick on which color you like. Here is Crimson with a few browns for the horse.

Trellis-weave warsteed - crimson, dark chestnut, black chestnut

Trellis-weave - Sea Blue, dun hide, liver chestnut hair:
Here is another look with lighter colors.

Trellis-weave warsteed - Sea Blue, dun, liver chestnut

Trellis-weave - Rose, light grey hide, steel grey hair:
Ok, I just realized that I didn't exactly go diverse between light and dark colors and kept gravitating to lighter colors, but they do look snazzy. :)

Trellis-weave warsteed - Rose, light grey, steel grey

Trellis-weave - Gold, sorrel hide, seal brown hair:
Oooh. Ok, yes, the Draigoch statue offset the picture nicely, but I do like the gold and sorrel and the seal brown hair which looks very golden! 

Trellis-weave warsteed - Gold, sorrel, seal brown

Spring Festival lasts until June 3rd so there is plenty of time to get any horses you desire and possibly rack up some shrew pets, cosmetics, and other goodies. Have a great time and I'll see you soon! :)

Snow Beast Steed

Supergirl rides the Snow-Beast Steed

Woohoo! We start the year off with a bang in lotro by being offered one of the more unique horses I have seen. The steed of the month for January-2014 is the Snow-Beast Steed! It comes with the 5 Warsteed cosmetic outfit pieces to match the horse: Leggings, Saddle, Halter, Caparison, and Accessory. The other horses of lotro are found at All the Steeds.

This horse is one of a kind... his halter is decked out with fur and horns! He will surely put a fear in the bravest of enemies. Sorry for some of these first shots, the wintry weather was determined to stay rainy and overcast all the time in Falathlorn lately. I was inspired to do something a bit different with this horse post and flew the Snow-Beast Steed out over Forochel. 

Snow-Beast Steed:
The basic horse sports a nice mohawk and furry white outfit and balrog horns. Its hide is a red closest to red roan. with a lighter shade for the tail.

Snow-Beast Steed

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Default:
The warsteed does not disappoint and looks as awesome as you think it might.

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Default

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Gold and Bay:

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Gold and Bay

Here is a great shot of just how intense the horse's look is from the front, horns at the ready!

Snow-Beast Warsteed - headshot

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Sea Blue and Chestnut:

Snow-Beast Warsteed - Sea Blue and Chestnut

Snow-Beast as Draigoch:
Colors here are Sienna and Dark Chestnut

Snow-Beast Steed as Draigoch!

Snow-Beast Steed visits Forochel:
The images here show the Snow-Beast Warsteed in either Evendim Blue and Black hide, or Red with White Hide.

Snow-Beast Warsteed glows under the moonlight of Forchel

Snow-Beast Warsteed gallops across ice and snow

Northern lights rise to match the radiance of the Snow-Beast Steed

Snow-Beast Steed not backing down versus a Mammoth

I hope you have a great new year and I'll see you soon!

Red Painted Skeleton Horse and other painted horses

Supergirl and Red Painted Skeleton Horse prepare to fly to Draigoch.

"You have acquired the Red Painted Skeleton Horse skill."

If you follow this blog, you will know that I have been seeking the Red Painted Skeleton Horse for a long time. 

• It was one of only 8 horses I previously was not riding in the Gallery... All the Steeds

• I had it on my "Achievable" list, but was losing hope after searching for nearly a year... October-2012: my-84-of-93-steeds

• The ability to buy it from the lotro store was one of my Top 11 things I would change when I rule Middle Earth... top-11-things-i-would-change-when-i-rule-Middle-Earth!

Red Painted Skeleton Horse sniffs at the camera during photo-shoot

The Search: And, finally on the 87th lootbox I opened searching for it, it happened. The Red Painted Skeleton Horse had come to me! 

No, I didn't open all the 87 lootboxes at once. I periodically buy a few here and there from the AH over the past year, hoping for this horse. Yes, it was easy to remember how many lootboxes because this horse was the only reason I was acquiring lootboxes. :) Patience. Determination. Perseverance. 

I got the Red Painted Skeleton Horse on June 24, 2013. The lootbox text says that this horse has a chance to drop from any of the lootboxes. Mine came from a level 50 lootbox. 

I *WAS* wearing my Erebrandir's Horseshoe, which now contradicts what I said last week about not getting anything good while wearing it. It may have absolutely no bearing, but now I am even more superstitious about wearing it. (u11-hobbit-presents-30-day-review).

I tended to buy level 50 lootboxes lately because when they didn't give me a horse, they might give something useful to my team of lildanas who are all around level 50, plus the AH price for them tends to be ≈ 4g versus the Riddermark lootboxes that were listed ≈ 40g. (lildanas @ crafting-to-mordor-part-2).

I cheer at finally bringing home the Red Painted Skeleton Horse.

Redemption of the Lost: After acquiring 100 other steeds, the search for this one became something of the "Parable of the Lost Sheep" (wiki: Parable_of_the_Lost_Sheep) where "a shepherd leaves his flock of 99 sheep in order to find the one sheep who is lost."

Comparison to other Skeleton Horses: The Red Painted Skeleton Horse is identical in look to its siblings, the Skeleton Painted Horse (white) and the Green Painted Skeleton Horse. The White one is a very rare drop from the Haunted Barrow during Fall festival. The Green one was sold in the lotro store only.

The Green one and the Red one are both +68% speed and the White one is +62% speed.

White...

Painted Skeleton Horse - a good complement to the Red and Green.

Green...

Green Painted Skeleton Horse - a good complement to the Red and White.

Red... 

Red Painted Skeleton Horse - a good complement to the White and Green.

Draigoch Statue, lil Danas moving day

As of right now, my 7^th most popular post is the story about when I visited Draigoch (Danania does Draigoch), and some of my most searched items include Draigoch (along with danania, lotr humor, riders of rohan, relics, runekeepers, and steeds). My Draigoch story was lots of fun but I wanted a better picture of the statue. Thorin’s Hall neighborhood ceilings are just too low for a statue that large. Now, with the help of the lil danas, I have a better picture! J As usual, do note that the pictures are larger than they appear if you want to zoom in on something.

The lil danas have been talking about moving for ages. (Lil Danas)

The hobbit quads were pushing for the Shire, but I think all the lil danas were mesmerized by the views of Falathlorn, the elven housing community near Duillond. We elves can draw people in. J Danadelion set out to go for a visit.

From talking to the housing vendor, the Angels had narrowed it down to the houses at 8 Haven Way or 5 Waterbank Road. The irony was not lost on the team that the Angels were considering moving to "Heaven" Way. In the end, it comes down to location, location, location. Here is the view from the front deck of Waterbank Road, looking out toward Celondim.

As Delion looked down the hill, seeing the house in the foreground, and Duillond and the bridge between Ered Luin and the Shire in the background, the choice was all but made.

5 Waterbank Road, Cair-e-faras, Falathlorn Homesteads, Arkenstone is now known as the “Home of Angels”.

DanaOnar, Chief Move Coordinator, was in charge of getting the pet cave-claw to the house and making sure it didn’t dig up any neighbors’ flowers. Thankfully, he is a Trained Cave-Claw. It looks like she had her hands full and will be moving items for weeks. I'm not sure whether she intends to use those fireworks in her pack for fun or remodeling (or both).

I gave the Angels a house warming present. Yep, you guessed it… it is a Draigoch statue. Nooo… I am not lucky enough to win one in raid. What I lack in luck, I make up for in patience and tenacity (and coin… as fate would have it, this statue showed up on the AH… and was the most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased… you don’t want to know).

To really appreciate how impressive he is, you have to back away from it. Here is a shot of me standing in the middle of the Falathlorn neighborhood (near the vault person), looking down on it. The house is partially obscured by the pink tree, but clearly, the statue is taller and perhaps bigger than the entire Angels’ kinhouse!

Another really neat thing about the move was learning that I have friends in the neighborhood, which works out well if the Cave-claw gets loose. Beorhir lives next door on one side (Beorhir was the captain in the first picture in the Draigoch story), and Rruin lives on the other side! Just down the street are more friends Belile, Eryngwae, and Rasphant.

Walking around the neighborhood, we saw more people’s houses… people who are new-friends-in-the-making: Lyndrielle, Honeybuns, Lythari, Nymphsong, Faladir, Eliahnna, Gaspard, Zephorlas, Alderwolf, Zemirah, Jesa, Henduluin, Rimmardar, Feani, Fiionna, Anathelle, Dulond, Destriel, Irideth, Latharuth, and Selendir. The other kin houses are owned by the Descendents of the Noldor, the Regiment of Gondor, and Bel’s Club. Good to see the Angels are in good company!

Gratuitous Steed shot:  At day break, I got a new horse called the “Steed of the Horse-lords”, which came with the Mithril edition download from Gamestop. (http://www.gamestop.com/). It is neither fast nor robust with high morale, but it is pretty! I got the download for the steed and the turbine points.

Another enormous housing item is the “Memorial of the Gaunt-Lords” that my friends Carradine and Audred were kind enough to show me. It is obtained as a reward from beating Ost Dunhoth T2 deed (which I am nowhere near completing). The statue is best viewed at night to give it a more ominous look. Mebbe someday I will have such a statue, but for now, I am happy to have a nice home for the statue of Draigoch.

Draigoch, Draigoch spoilers, pictures of Draigoch

(archived from November 3, 2011)

A column about Draigoch, you say? I don't want anyone to be surprised by the title and think I made you see pictures of Draigoch against your will. Don't scroll down this column if you are trying to avoid seeing him. I had been holding out by not posting pictures of Draigoch until more people got to see him, but now that he has been open for visitors for over a month, now is the time. We are all good then? Let's go!

The first thing to know is you don’t just waltz into Draigoch’s lair with no preparation. There is a chain of quests. It is nothing difficult, but you wouldn’t want to be in Raid about to enter and realize that you are magically barred from entry, because you didn’t do the intro quests. If I am recalling correctly, the chain starts at Nar’s Peak with the quest, “There is gold in the hills”. It ends with the deed completion of finding the cave entrance. EDIT: I've been told I am not remembering the start correctly! The into quest begins in Galtrev, and directs you to Nar's Peak! 

 One thing for sure, the cave is a bit dark. The pictures didn’t turn out as well as I hoped so I am adjusting some of them to show you better what "I spy with my elven eye".

INTRO: After you do the Intro quests, you have found Draigoch's lair. Now, you can go in.

Got your friends with you?? Draigoch is awake...


In my group of Riders, we had Nidrod ~ minstrel,   Norinrad ~ guardian,   Omegaseraph ~ hunter,   Taradanag ~ hunter,   Lynrial ~ hunter,   Dainger ~ burglar,   Menelchol ~ LM,   Macmerkin ~ champion,   Byrane ~ champion,   Beorhir ~ captain,   Dandur ~ RK healer, and   myself ~ RK dps. 

Captains don't get scared do they Beorhir? Oh, I'm terrified. That will definitely keep me more alert, and hopefully, more alive. I'm not sure that Draigoch wants us to go in and take his stuff. Bilbo once told me about the time he ended up in Smaug's lair. I wonder if he still has that ring of invisibility...

PHASE 1: The Gauntlet. Ok, now you made it into the lair. Undoubtedly, Draigoch isn’t very happy about his home being invaded by a bunch of upstarts. There are 3 phases. For phase 1, just making it safely through the tunnels to where you can taunt Draigoch has proven to be a battle of will for some wannabes. He is looking to kill you before you start.  The fight actually reminds me a lot of the turtle of Filikul. If you have good leadership and good teamwork, it can be easy. If not, well… it will be a long night and a likely loss.


Oh boy. Mid-way through the gauntlet... Nidrod and I are hiding from Draigoch's view, looking down on him. Nidrod has been here once before... I'll stick close so I don't get lost.

Oh geez. Don't look over here... Draigoch can smell the intruders and is looking for someone to burn to a crisp!

After 2 visits to Draigoch, one with an unsuccessful pug and one with a full 12-person corps of Riders, I am by no means an expert of any sort. I just like to take pictures. Actually, I am not even going to pretend to advise you on the details of the fight; I’ll leave that to the experts.


Here is a shot from the pug I went on. It was one of the first shots I had of just how big Draigoch is. I didn't get the full effect of it though until I enhanced the image and pulled out some of the shadows. Lynrial was teaching others how not to become dragon-food; she is the brunette in front of me with a skull over her head.

Haha. Just sit here quietly... he is way over there looking in the tunnels for victims. I'm just glad to be here and not over there. 

When I saw him launch up and blow fire during the fight, all I could really see was the jet of flames. I stripped the shadows out of this shot to show the ferociousness that is Draigoch. He was none too happy that he hadn't decimated us all. 

Interlude... No one touched Draigoch's loot chest, right? I think he might want to parlay with us... Undoubtedly, he believes that we will be easy to dispatch. The poor thing... he must not know the power of the Riders of Rohan. He soon shall.

Helloooo, Mister Dragonnnn! We are already safely nestled into your lair... Ready to turn around and see what we have brought for you?

Hi there! A big dragon! Now for a profile shot...

Wow! You are a handsome dragon aren't you! Smile for the picture!

Danania: "Would you like to give me some of your treasure, or you want us to take it from you forcefully?"


Draigoch: "Bold words from such a pip of an elf. You want to fly up here and say that again?


Danania: "Soon enough mighty dragon. But I think it is nearly time for game-on."

Danania: Silly dragon. You are grinning now... sure, you burned my cape last time I was here pugging and left me to go home empty handed. This time I've brought a whole team of Riders. Lynrial? Byrane? Menelchol? Norinrad? Dandur? Seraph? Nidrod? Yeah... starting to remember them aren't you. So sly, thinking that only 12 will to be an easy challenge for you. You better bring it, because we will be.

Draigoch: You are all chatter, lil word-smith. You hold no power over me!


Danania: What you say is probably true. As one, I am no great threat. As a team, we will take you out. Besides, look to your left up on the ledge mighty dragon... Lynrial and Byrane, both Bathed in Fire by your blood, stand at the ready. From here on out, your moments are numbered.

PHASE 2: It is on. Our group is preparing for phase 2 assault, the fight against the dragon feet.


I think this is a nice group shot, focused on Menelchol the lore-master in the foreground. From left to right... Taradanag, Omegaseraph, Menelchol, Nidrod, Dainger, Dandur, Norinrad, Macmerkin, Lynrial.   Beorhir and Byrane were just out of shot, and I had the camera. 

Ok! Let's get to work! How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you take down a dragon with 9 million morale? It starts with the first shot. Take out his feet; make him "easier" to hit.

Woohoo! Success! We stepped on his toes enough that he fell over! Let's go get him!

How big is he??? Yeah. He is that big.

Eep! He prefers being stabbed in the belly less than he prefers being stabbed in the foot. Run, before he tramples us all!

PHASE 3: Phase 3 involves being down in the lair, fighting under the great dragon. Don’t get stomped! Don’t get burned to a crisp! Show off your teamwork prowess!

Winning!
With that last round of strikes, Draigoch is gasping for air. He is going down! Run! Run! Do not let him fall on you or it is good night Mini!


To the tunnels... do what you do best! Dainger, hide!   Nidrod, bubble!   Me, time to fly!

Doing the victory stand! Rest now, dragon. If you just lay there, we will stop stabbing you, take a few pieces of loot, and get out of here.

Teamwork! We stand together atop the mighty dragon.

Teamwork! His head is so massive, I couldn't get an adequate shot of the team; so here is the other half of them.

Hehehe. This shot was one of my favorites.

Conclusion:
For beating the dragon, you are awarded lots of goodies!


First, if you beat Draigoch while using the 12 FMs (challenge) and on 12-person (tier 2), you take Draigoch's title "The Red", the deed completions, some Turbine points, and a Worn Symbol of Celebrimbor to make a level 75 2nd Age LI.

Woohoo! Here is most of our team from the night! Left to Right: Dandur, Thetaseraph, Macmerkin, Nidrod, Byrane, Beorhir, Menelchol, me, Norinrad, Lynrial.   Dainger and Taradanag must have been carrying the enormous housing item or something... what?? You don't see the housing item?? It is right behind us. Ok, ok... look up in the next shot! 

Yeah, it is a life-size stuffed dragon! It is hard to get a good shot of it because it is so large! To see it in person, visit the Riders of Rohan kin house near Thorin's Hall!

If you crane your neck just right, you can get a good view of just how large it is. Also, note that it is too big to fit in the Thorin's Hall homestead! The dwarves really must come expand out the top of the cavern to fit our trophies better. Dandur shoved the wings in between the stalactites, but it is a tight fit at best. Still, a beautiful trophy for the Riders of Rohan.


UPDATE 05/16/12: I got a much better shot of the statue of Draigoch at the lil danas house (draigoch-statue-lil-danas-moving-day)

And for the 12, there was nearly enough very good loot so that everyone got something really nice, from Worn symbols for 2nd age level 75 LIs, to special class gear tokens only dropped by Draigoch, to special raid-type gear, to ... what I got, scales for a Wyrmscale cloak. Certainly, it is the nicest thing I own. It is the first time I've considered permanently breaking out of my standard red Supergirl cape in years, and at least for the foreseeable future, I will be Supergirl the Red, at least in cape. Here is a shot of me riding my Cremello Szand steed up on the Hill, everything bright skies and rainbows. It is so lovely, and it even glows in the dark!

(The original posting of this story had the most active comment response of the first ten. saved and cherished @ final-comments)