Golden Summer

Early in Lennidhren’s career and character development, I determined that gold must be her color. From the orangeish-gold Frayed Elven Robes that she started out with as a level 1 lore-master to the Elegant Dress dyed gold that she now wears, it suits her well and goes nicely with her almost-golden shade of hair. But her attachment to the color is not driven by vanity, as a matter of fact: She is, after all, an Elf of Lorien – the Golden Wood. So she surrounds herself with the color that reminds her most of home.

And that is why, having just this morning passed her driving riding test at Hengstacer’s Farm and been granted the right to buy a horse of her own, she CANNOT WAIT to acquire the latest model, the Pale Golden Summer Steed.

Someone was riding this horse of that breed at the Taste of Hobbiton race today, and Lennidhren was quite impressed. So now she’s been fishing all over Middle-earth to save up tokens for her horse, and all that’s left to do is to win the tricky little race and pick up a token for the horse. So far I’ve tried once at each race course and managed to fall in the mud every time. Argh. I did manage to complete the race on Linett in the Spring festival, so I know I can do it…just hope it doesn’t take too many more tries!

Because Linett is going to need that horse too. And it may not stop there. Vanita and Alduine know how to ride a horse too…

But once that goal is out of the way, there are so many other lovely things to collect from this festival! Linett has been eying the hammock and wicker chair, and most of all, the new cosmetics! The dress and tunic are both just gorgeous. Wonder how they would look dyed gold for Lennidhren?

Ales and Tales in the Woods

This week’s Ales and Tales found us wandering out into the Old Forest, fighting back spiders and wolves and cutting down maladjusted trees, till we reached the relative safety of Goldberry’s Spring. A beautiful and idyllic spot, though all that foliage really took its toll on the video cards! The game crashed once on me after a very laggy first half hour or so; once I got back in, I gave up and turned down the graphics settings a little. So these aren’t quite as high-quality as I like them to be, but it was a beautiful spot nonetheless. To demonstrate, here’s a lovely shot of our reflections in the pool, taken while I was still daring the highest graphics settings:

Chetwood Mac and Mega Vagabond

Last night Landroval enjoyed another great tribute concert, as an oddly familiar-looking band calling itself Chetwood Mac appeared on the Methel-stage in Bywater, with another oddly familiar group opening for them under the name of Mega Vagabond. Though I must confess that my familiarity with the originals extended only far enough to Google the names of the bands being thus tributed, and not so far as to have heard any of the music before, the Middle-earth versions of both bands sounded great! Despite some trouble with overzealous fans throwing down colored circles and fireworks and such that may’ve been meant just to add to the fun but were problematic for some attendees as well as for the process of recording the show, it still was a very enjoyable concert.

So without further ado, and with minimal comment – pictures!

Like the Gods

Following various links today I ended up at a site dedicated to the Elvish languages, which not only has information for learning them but (what caught my attention most) several poems and things in Quenya or Sindarin. And guess what someone there has translated to Sindarin?

Sappho.

Ales and Tales Under the Stars…and Sun

Last night it was back to Ost Barandor again for more festivities, this time for Ales and Tales!

We gathered first at Adso’s Camp, taking advantage of a nice campfire while one of Adso’s Watchers kept wandering by and baring his soul to us. It’s a good thing we were not brigands, because it turns out he’s not much of a fighter and would just as soon go back to hawking his wares in Bree…

Then, it was over the hills and through the river to that popular star-gazing spot, Ost Barandor!

Rain and Song at Summer’s Gates

It’s not quite time yet for LOTRO’s Summer Festival (at least I don’t think it is. When does that start again? I have alts who need dancing lessons….), but Landroval players celebrated the beginning of Summer with a festival of their own last night at the Elven festival of Tarin Austa, or the Gates of Summer. Mar Vanwa Tyalieva hosted this event, quite unique among those I’ve attended in LOTRO. Like MVT’s spring event, Nost-na-Lothion, Tarin Austa was planned according to notes from the Book of Lost Tales on Elven customs. I love what Fionnuala and MVT have been doing with their interpretations of these Elven festivals! They’ve produced some highly creative and enjoyable player-run events, and Tarin Austa was no exception. Much more than just another concert of in-game music (although I’m sure you can tell from my blog that I think such concerts are wonderful), this was a celebration of summer’s return and the rising sun that made for a wonderful immersive experience in Tolkien’s world. It began as the revelers gathered at midnight at the Buckland Gate….

Music! Some of it actually LOTR related!

It’s surprising what can be discovered in the deep, dark recesses of my computer. Today I came across a program I used to play with quite a bit in college: Noteworthy Composer, only mine’s pretty far from the current edition shown at the link. And so, in the spirit of “Oh my goodness I can’t believe I did this…” I have unearthed a few of the midis I made with the program back in bygone days, for to share with you all. Please just bear in mind that I was young and some of these are rather lacking in polish. But I still liked a few of them, even years later, enough to share.

Ales and Tales in the Library

Alditha, the Librarian of Randirim Hall, graciously hosted this week’s Ales and Tales in a cozy library full of the most fascinating texts!

Late for Weatherstock

I got to Weatherstock late, with only about three bands left to play, but I have a good excuse…

My niece was born at 4:30 Saturday! Spent a few hours at the hospital welcoming her, then an hour and a half or so on the drive back to my home, so I was quite late to the party, but better to miss the first half of Weatherstock than miss holding my newborn niece.

Anyway, arriving to find a festival like Weatherstock in full swing is a bit overwhelming, so I’m afraid I will not manage a very coherent or at least a very thorough report on it, but I did manage to get some pictures. Mostly on the lowest graphics settings, though – my computer crashes often enough when I overdo the screenshots, and I wanted to take no chances on having to restart the game in the middle of a band’s performance!

Busy Day

Arethryth has been keeping busy in the Lone Lands today, hunting down some Wargs with her Wardenly flair:

And continuing with the stargazing:

And here’s a lovely reflection of the moon in the river:

Besides Arethryth, Trumpkin the dwarf got to come out of hibernation a little…from level 12 all the way to 17!…mainly so he could craft things for the others, but then I ended up leveling him whilst collecting crafting materials, so that was nice and efficient. Here he is in his new bronze armour set, of his own making:

View more LOTRO screenshots on WeGame.

It kind of clashes with his beard, I’m afraid.