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!

Steed of the Burglar, and cheating in the Moors

As we wait (and wait, mebbe today even...) for Summer festival, here is one of the newer Steeds… the Steed of the Burglar.

He looks fancy in the daytime and super sleek in the night. He also gives me a good segue into mentioning the Steeds’ pages that are right here on danania.net. The page link will always be right in the header for your convenience to find pictures of the Steed of the Burglar, or any other steed in the game. Go check it out. J

All the Steeds

With 15 days until the Riders of Rohan, and a festival wedged in there (presumably), it is time to say goodbye to the Moors for a while.

Here are a few parting images…

As contrast to a shot from a couple of weeks ago from the north, here is a view from the South, looking up the Hoardale River. Hoarhallow village is the only structure seen and is just off my right shoulder as I ride the Prized Isengard Great-horse. The Moors looks peaceful from here.

Memendil and I sit atop Steeds of Minas Ithil, reflecting on what has gone before and what is yet to come.

Chieftain Taun is one of the most elusive NPCs of the Moors. He is a chieftain in Dargazag and is only at his post if the Creeps have all of the Keeps. When that happens, the closest Freep revive circle is Glan Vraig. Dargazag is the Creep stronghold, so it is better watched and is not a very popular “first” target for the Free People and makes Taun especially hard to ever find. While in were-form, I took a picture proving that Taun does exist. (Correction: Friend Lyn tells me that Taun is at his post when the Creeps have TR, not "all the Keeps".)

Oh yes… I did say that I was going to teach you how to cheat in the Moors. Here is how. It is called Multi-box. Link six computers/logins together, create six Blackarrows, have them all act simultaneously. Because six arrows do more damage than one arrow…

I make a point to not be rude or say negative things about other people, but when most everyone, both Creeps and Freeps, agrees on something… a spade is a spade, even though Turbine has its head in the sand and has not implemented a policy. I consider it one of the worst infractions, worse than Gold buying (which is really stupid), and am glad to see unity against it. Unfortunately, multi-boxing is so disruptive, the only chatter in the zone is “where is the multi-boxer so that he might be killed?” and most activity starts to circle around "one" entity. If I were in charge, new policy would be in place and it would be forever banned in PvP zones.

Until another day, I say goodbye to the dormant Rangers: Gelbes and Uirnen. (In theory, when the Freeps are grossly outnumbered, a “ranger quest” should be available to take control of the ranger and try to help even the odds. Having only seen it work once, a long time ago, I think that it is in fact broken at this time.) May Summer Festival come soon.