Raining Perlinos

The lildanas tease me about my lack of winning in the lotro lotteries. It is hardly worth it for me to enter most days. In fact, my claim to lottery fame before this year was that my best lotto win was a “lump of coal” during the Yule festival. Then, Danadelion won a Steed of the Champion earlier this year (happy-5th-anniversary-lotro).

My luck struck in spades over the first weekend of September though. My friend Macmerkin, who knew that my Gallery (All the Steeds) lacked the Perlino horse, sent me a message telling me to enter the lottery. Halfheartedly, I did so, knowing how lotteries end for me. Then, the horses started coming in.

Danaish won one.

  

Then, I got one.

Then, Danadelion.

And, by the end of the night, Danaszar made it a quartet of horses!

Unbelievable! Even more awesome, my friend Memyr sent a message from PAX… he had gotten me a Perlino horse code as well! He let me pass that one on to share the joy with others, but I am going to nickname my new horse the PerlinoMem in thanks for such a generous gift! The Perlino is now happily in the Gallery. :)


I was told that quite a few people received Perlinos that weekend, but these are mine and I like them. :) 

Summerdays Horse, and Defeat of Chieftain Taun

Summerdays Horse

Summer Festival is here! Finally!

Read the CSTM guide. Go. Do. Enjoy. I will talk more about it soon. For now, here is a pretty picture of my new pretty horse. He is already in the Horse Gallery; go see some of the rest… All the Steeds

I have an exciting tale to bring you. One I have been waiting FOREVER to write.

Defeat of Chieftain Taun

(last mentioned in steed-of-burglar-and-cheating-in-moors)

It was the 22nd of August and the horde had overrun the Ettenmoors. I had joined forces with the Free People in hopes of holding back defeat a while longer. As I approached the Lumber Camp, there were twelve Free People, mostly defeated, and I saw the horde as thick as night. In reality, their numbers were nearly double ours in the area. I saw no creeps fall before I was cut down and had to retreat.

Whispers came that there were spies in our midst. Apparently, there had been “lurkers” following the movement of the freep raid and reporting on strength and position. The raid leader gathered our forces. The creeps had every single position in Ettenmoors… where should we go? What should we do?

I sent a message to raid leader HeartofFire that the creeps would never expect us to attack the main stronghold of Dargazag and claim victory over our Gift of the Carrock while they had every keep and outpost. I did advise HeartofFire that my military strategy was lined with an ulterior motive. I had a personal vendetta and deed that I was hunting the elusive Chieftain Taun and I knew that he was comfortably protected deep within Dargazag at that moment. A friend had told me not 15 minutes prior that though there were a half dozen friends here tonight, the Creeps were a wall of enemy and we would be cut down before we made it anywhere near Chieftain Taun.

No words came in reply to my request, but I suspected (no, I hoped very much) that we might make an attempt, even though success was slim. Third Marshall Ballblitz took the rest of the team on a circuitous path south and west. Patient. Waiting. Going in circles. Sloughing off spies. Crossing further into enemy territory quickly and waiting. We were alone. The calls came out from the spies, “Where had the raid gone?” The queries were met with silence or misdirection. The known leader HeartofFire was being watched; so he waited at Ost Ryngdyr, watching across the battlefield as our team approached the enemy stronghold.

We struck quickly from our secret position and moved rapidly through Dargazag. Every orc and troll in the place wanted to make our entry more difficult, but we were committed and could not turn back. Surprised, Taun met our team at the final hall.

As the creeps were alerted to our presence, our team of Macmerkin, Nidh, Ballblitz, Memyr, Lillyn, Dischord, Jaremir, Vickson, Chiefbigbow, Kitarald, Ozman, Ironhands, and myself defeated the notoriously elusive Cheiftain Taun!

With spiders and dogs working around the corner, Tyrant Durgrat also fell, then a hard fought run back across the Ettemoors brought glory to the Free People! (…at least for the moment.)

For our effort, seven of us that had never met all the Chieftains before (me), shall now be known as “Conqueror of Dargazag”. Yay team! Yay deeds!

Happy 5th Anniversary, lotro!

Happy 5^th Anniversary to lotro!

And Thank you all for visiting Danania.net! Last Friday, the site saw its 10,000th visitor, which is absolutely amazing to me as the site is right at 2 months old. Thank you! спасибо! 谢谢 Danke! Salamat! Bedankt! Merci! Thanks, eh?! (...to my Canadian friends).

There is so much excitement in Middle Earth and the Anniversary party is in full swing! It is such a hit that the party's end has been extended from April 30 to May 9.

I have been having a great time and I hope you are also! Often, when festivals start, I rarely leave to do anything else. This time my friend Lartessa set up a Helegrod run and I couldn’t pass that up (still need to kill Thorog, but at least now I am eligible to open the Dragon Wing when the opportunity presents itself), and Nimitar organized a visit to Ost Dunhoth and I had never had the opportunity to see much of that and we totally ran the tables (I got some good pictures for another post).

However, today’s post is about the Anniversary party.  Since the previous horse post went over so well, we will have more horses today. J

First of all, when planning to maximize fun, I always visit party planner Goldenstar at  casualstrolltomordor.com  . I would say I just visit for the highlights, but in reality I study and absorb everything she posts like I am preparing for the medical boards.

One of the best things about the Anniversary festival is obviously the fireworks. Middle Earth has had fireworks before but nothing on the scale of what came with the Anniversary party.

Here is a shot of me visiting the Methel stage in the Shire. The funny thing is, it seems like I’ve seen that stage before when I quested through the Shire as a much younger elf, but that has been so long ago...

I wanted to ask my friend Gandalf about it, but he seemed preoccupied, like his mind was elsewhere. He muttered something about hidden hobbits, but it was drowned out by the blasts and flash of fireworks around us. So we just stood and enjoyed the festivities.

One of the Anniversary quests, Firework Explorer, takes you on a tour to launch fireworks and bring festivities to other parts of Middle Earth, which earns the title “Firecracker”. The most far-reaching place is Elrond’s house in Rivendell. That is an easy leap for a Supergirl but was no small task for the lil danas. Fortunately, there are kind hunters and captains around to help out. Memyr delivered all the lil danas safely to aid in the spreading of party cheer.

OMG! Memyr, why are you on one knee in front of Danaszar?? <blush, omgomgomg> 

Whew, just lost a contact lens?

When Danadelion saw Rivendell for the first time, it brought back memories of just how lovely it is. Imagine fighting through the Trollshaws, hurriedly crossing the Ford of Bruinen, arriving at Rivendell, and finally seeing this breathtaking sight?

We had a great time at the beer brawl! There are three versions: Beginner (1 token), Intermediate (2 tokens), Expert (3 tokens). As long as there aren’t 50 people in the arena and you aren’t being targeted specifically to fail for some reason, the Expert version is totally achievable, gives the most tokens, and leads toward a deed which awards the title “Battered, Bruised and Contused” for 25 expert wins. For hitting others 200 times in brawls, you can earn the title “Clubber”.

When you win on Expert, you glow for 3 minutes in the glory of your victory. Danadalyn wears her glow proudly.

When you launch 50 fireworks of one color, you get an Anniversary token. When you launch 50 fireworks of all 6 colors, you earn the title of “Master Blaster”. DanaClaus was having good fun whacking people around and working toward the Master Blaster title. The interim between brawls is a good time to launch fireworks.

Macswife was one of the first people I met who had the /toast emote from the Lost Invitations quest. Ok, so it isn’t the most flattering picture. Lol. It is funny and the emote is a good one.

Even the lil dana hobbits get into the act. Danaarodel, the “keeper of dana outfits”, dressed up in a green imp outfit complete with oversized flower from the spring festival and did a lil toast-ing herself.

Danaish was the first lil dana to get a steed from the Lost Invitations. Here she is riding the “Steed of the Dusk Watch” (aka Warden’s steed). It has very nice leather-embossed tack.

It took a bit, but I also got the Lossoth steed from the Lost Invitations. The picture isn’t the best; I was mostly asleep when I took it and it was a black horse in the dead of night (Note: If you are awake, wait til daylight to take better pictures.)

Definitely, one of the best things about festival time is that it brings people together, some of whom you otherwise don’t see often. Here is a shot of my friend Jastirria who I had not seen in ages. When I was a level 48 noob, Jas was the one who pointed out that I had to go get a Legendary Item (even though I had no idea what it was or where to get one) and came and picked me up out of Forochel and drop kicked me into the Gates of Moria. Some people and events you never forget. Thanks Jas.

Danadelion actually won a Steed of the Champion in the champion’s lottery! This steed is the first and only steed we have ever won in the lottery. Of course, I went and bought one for myself, but I’m not catty and will let Delion have her moment in the sun. Like the rest, it is a beautiful horse. :)

In the “can’t have too many steeds category”, we all went and got our Anniversary steeds. The new one is the Fireworks steeds. It actually does randomly shoot fireworks out the saddle pack.

The 2011 Anniversary steed is the white garbed one.  For fun, I scrolled back 9000 pictures  and pulled last year's picture out of archive to show the steed. That day, for that picture, I tried on the 2011 Anniversary clothing that I had borrowed from my friend Sparowen. (Yes, I probably should have taken off the red gloves…)

Alas, time to go to sleep and dream. May your festival spark and pop and your dreams be pony-filled.