Walking the Books by Valgo of the Harfoots

[Drauglin]

Being the kind of player I am (borderline obsessive explorer), I wondered: "Can one literally trace the path taken by Frodo & Co. in the opening chapters of Fellowship of the Ring"? At least, the portion thereof that involves travel within the Shire? It's possible, if you make certain allowances. Here's a brief summary of what I found during my travels:

Part I -- Leaving The Shire
---------------------------

I begin as Frodo began, at Bag End's front door. Lobelia and Lotho are here, and giving me the eye, so I decide to move quickly "around the corner to the west side of Bag End". This is easily enough done, but then we need to proceed "down the garden path", jumping a hedge and crossing fields to reach the lane at the base of the western side of the Hill.

Okay, let's acknowledge at once that the map is not drawn to scale here. Heck, the _world_ is not drawn to scale, we're wearing seven-league-boots as it is, so we can't be too literal. But let's give it a whirl and see what happens. Now, if I proceed West-Sou'West, I pass quickly through Appledores, a rather nice orchard, and I actually _can_ jump the stone wall on the far side, and then...

EAAAAAAAAHHHHGGHH -- SPLOOSH!

That's a heck of a drop there, almost straight into the Rushock Bog! If one is a little more careful and heads Sou-Sou-West, one comes to the western reach of the Water, running into the Bog. There's supposed to be "a narrow plank-bridge" here, and there _is_ a sort of low ford with white water rapids, so let's be generous and say that the plank bridge washed away in a storm and then some trees fell over, etc.

Crossing the Water, we proceed onward, west and south, fighting off a few disgruntled wolves. And no wonder: our path takes us almost straight into the Wolf Den. Let's assume Frodo knew about this and skirted it to the south. This brings us to a lane at last, the road from Needlehole out of the Bog, heading due south.

Following this, we eventually cross "the Great Road from the Brandywine Bridge" at Waymeet, and following the directions ("bending southeastwards, they made for the Green Hill Country"), we cut left around the horse paddock and up the hillside between farms. After a bit we find ourselves in Tookish Tuckborough (or is that Tuckish Tookland? It's not quite clear...).

Scrambling up the hillside by Belco Brockhouse's farm, we cross the road that leads south to the the Great Smials, and press onward through the farm and the orchards beyond, following the ridge, for we should even now still be able to see "the lamps in Hobbiton far off twinkling in the gentle valley of the Water." Continuing on, we pass behind the Methel-stage, and then run smack into Tom Cotton's farm. Going left is no good, that forces us onto the road, which Frodo would have avoided. To the right we veer a little too far south trying to get around the hill behind the farm. Climbing the hill, we are at last able to put "Bywater beside its gray pool" behind us as well.

Here let's assume Frodo went south, up the ridge, because he wanted a last look at the Shire he knew so well. That leads us over the hilltop and down the far side, into Green Hill Country, and... WHOAH!!! Almost went right over _another_ precipice here. Let's be a little more careful about this, shall we? Don't want that dratted Ring winding up at the bottom of another river, eh?

So, following the ridge down to ground level again, we finally hit upon "the road to Woodhall and Stock, and the Bucklebury Ferry" (well, two out of three, you have to hike a bit to reach the Ferry, even in the book). And I must not be living right because I'm immediately set upon by a Brigand Knave. Luckily his l33t level 8 br1g&nd skilz are no match for my dumpy little 11 Hunter Hobbit, and the quick battle earns me some coin and a pint of ale. Almost makes up for having to miss out on the Golden Perch at Stock, eh, Pippin? Ahem. Nevermind.

Twelve paces later, another Brigand Knave waylays me. And twelve more, another. I begin to sense a pattern here. A quick climb of a nearby hill shows Old Odo's Leaf-Farm is overrun with them. Other adventurers seem to have matters in hand, however, so I press onward.

Along the Woodhall road, getting close to Wellbridge, I realize that this is where Frodo first encountered the Black Rider and later the Elves. There is even a largish tree close to the road with massive roots that could serve as the place where Frodo's company hid from the Rider. You have to use your imagination, however, for it's quite healthy, not at all the rotted tree from the book. But heck, it's all digital polygons anyway, and imagination's easy to come by. Also (as Ivorwen notes in a reply below) it turns out there _is_ an Elf camp just over the rise behind this tree. There's only one Elf, and he's mainly there to offer a step in the Warg quest, but perhaps we can think of him as the guy they left behind to clean up after the party.

Crossing the road, we pause for a rest beside a pleasant waterfall, and then a few paces farther along the road (several miles in the book, see what I mean about the scale?) we come to Woodhall itself. A little farther still, we come to the point where Frodo's party scrambled down the bank to get away from the Black Rider, and crossed what must have been the Stockbrook to plunge into the forests of the Marish. And I'll be darned if I can _find_ the spot: everything's built-up farmland on the far side. Must have been some bumper crops during the War years, I guess.

Let's say for the sake of argument that Frodo's party forded the brook just below the falls, and passed along the base of the ridge. This takes us past a few farmhouses and then out into the wilds of the Marish itself, coming at last to a pond with a tree on an island in its center, and beyond that the lower bend of the Brandywine River.

Realizing like Frodo did that we've headed too far south, we turn north, and strike the lane running in the same direction. On the left hand of the road is a fenced pasture, and beyond that is Farmer Maggot's farmstead. Here Frodo and company got a cart-lift, so we'll pass quickly along the road, coming at last to the Bucklebury Ferry, where they encountered Merry, and where they saw the Black Rider for the final time in the Shire.

Swimming across the Brandywine, since the Ferry is currently closed (not to mention being parked on the wrong side of the water!), we finally leave the Shire proper and venture into Bree-land, with the Brandy Hall directly ahead, through the hedge-gate and up the hill.

So there you have it: one can find a path out of the Shire that more or less approximates the path taken in the book, though one has to stretch and squeeze a bit and make allowances. There's nothing wrong with that; this is an MMORPG, after all, not just a 3D version of the book, and there's plenty to see and do along the way. Would have been nice to run into at least an Elf or two south of Woodhall, though.

Once I've run out of quests in the Shire, I'll move onto Bree, and then maybe write the next chapter of this travelogue. For now, I'll cross back over the river and scurry on up the road to Stock, to find out if the Golden Perch really lives up to its reputation.

-- Valgo of the Harfoots, the Wary, Level 11 Hunter on Arkenstone

[Drauglin]

Part II -- Buckland to the Prancing Pony
----------------------------------------

At long last, I've completed most of the major quests in the Shire, revealed all the areas of the Shire map, found all of the landmarks, and got my Hobbit Hunter up to level 15, so I'm ready to face the wilds beyond the Shire bounds, or so I hope. I even managed to pick up the title "Shire Brewmaster" along the way without realizing it. (What _was_ in those mugs up at the Golden Perch, anyway?)

I swing back to Michel Delving one last time to gear up. Here I pick up my SoW skill (sorry, "Find the Path" skill I mean), sell off some accumulated mathoms, and learn how to play the lute -- well, at least how to make notes emerge from the thing. And while I'm shopping I'm suddenly hit by sticker-shock: it seems like the second level of _everything_ -- skills, traits, etc. -- all cost 20-23 silver where the first level only cost 1 to 3. So just as I'm starting to accumulate a fair bit of coin, it all vanishes again. Sigh. The Black Riders must have the Shire-folk on edge, I suppose, so they're comforting themselves by cranking up prices.

Equipped and ready, we retrace our steps to the Bucklebury Ferry, and pick up the journey on the far side of the Brandywine below the gate to Buck Hill. In passing we learn from the Ferry's guard that because the Black Riders were seen tampering with the Ferry, it has been shut down to all passengers until a full investigation has been conducted. Bureaucracy, tell me about it. All the same, the talk of Black Riders makes the current night-time air feel a little darker and closer, so I head on up the hill to the hedge-gate.

And get a couple of minor shocks: when I pull up the automap it has switched to the Bree-land area, which is almost completely empty, save for the area around Archet for some reason. I'd gotten so used to the fully-explored Shire map that the change is startling. Another change is that the amount of OOC/LFF/Advice chat goes up by threefold or more. This has effect of making it seem like I'm leaving the relative "quiet" of the Green Hill Zone (err, sorry, the Shire) for a larger, busier world. I am finding that I'm having to use /ignore a bit more, so there are pluses and minuses to this.

Anyway, on with the walk: putting Buck Hill and Brandy Hall on our left, as Frodo did, we proceed south around the base of the Hill/Hall. From here it's not clear which way to go, as Crickhollow does not show on the automap. In the book, Frodo goes north on the main Buckland road, and finds Crickhollow a distance up a lane on the right. As it happens, that's where we find Crickhollow, but it's a little hard to tell as the road around Brandy Hill curves all the way around it with no indication that it's become the north-south road. We practically stumble across Crickhollow by simply taking a right turn at the first intersection. It's the first house on the left. Heck, it's the _only_ house on the left, and it's just about the only hobbit-hole of any size close to hand. However, to be fair this does fit the book actually: Frodo chose Crickhollow because it was "in an out of the way corner of the country, with no other houses close by".

From Crickhollow, Frodo's party set off to the Gate to the Old Forest. In the book this is an hour's pony-ride, more or less. Here, it's just steps away, at the south end of the road. It's rather easier to find than the book would have one believe, but perhaps it's become something of a tourist attraction. That would explain why the gate is left conveniently unlocked and standing open.

Through the Gate and beyond, there is the hollow at the edge of the Old Forest, and a convenient path leading eastward into the Forest itself. And just ten steps along this path, the light changes, the ambiance darkens, and fog rolls in, cutting line of sight from a mile or two down to maybe a hundred yards. Very creepy, and very effective.

A short distance along the path we find the Bonfire Glade, as we should. On the "far side of the glade" as the book describes it, the path continues uphill. And here we encounter at last the first mobs of the evil Old Forest. Gosh. Oak-Roots and Gloom-Wings, which happily are blue and light blue to my Hunter. These are short work for level 15, and the Roots can simply be dodged altogether. One could wish for something a little more challenging, in keeping with the stories about the place. On the other hand, this isn't Mirkwood, and the hobbits did get through here without major challenges.

A word to the wise, though: always remember that when you equip the Clarinet or Lute, it goes into your Bow slot. If you're in the middle of a fight and wondering why suddenly none of your ranged attacks are available, this might be a good thing to check. It's also a good thing I was fighting nothing more dangerous than bats at the time, given how long it took me to realize this.

Continuing eastward and uphill, stopping only to pick the occasional mushroom -- because hobbits are so fond of them -- we come to the top of Bald Hill. Here we collect some tree-sap from a handy maple and consider our options. In many ways, this is like the Bald Hill of the book: the land falls away sharply to the south and east, and it stands like an island in mist. We can't see the Downs from here, but perhaps the day is too overcast.

From here, Frodo's party followed the path north from the hill-top and then when that appeared to be heading east and south, they struck off from it northward, eventually being forced back east and south anyway toward the Withywindle valley. Here we don't have much of a choice: there _isn't_ a path on the northern face of the hill, and the path we came in on runs to the south of the hill. On the northern side, impassable forest blocks us on all sides except the southeast. So southeast we go.

After a short hike through the forest, we come to an open clearing leading up to a rise in the ground. There are paths leading up the hill to the left, downward straight ahead, and off through the trees to the right. The natural tendency here might be to go forward or uphill, but we need to assume that Frodo's company got turned around in the fog and went the wrong way, to the right. A short distance away, we're scrambing down a bank towards the Withywindle itself. And there's Old Man Willow before us, sapping us with a Drowsiness curse as we approach, a nice touch.

This is where Tom Bombadil came to the hobbits' rescue, and led them back eastward toward his home. Heading back east, up the hill again and coming back to the clearing, our path now leads straight up the hill.

Here we come to a stop, for it appears that from the top of the hill there are two glowing eyes peering at us out of the fog. A little closer and we realize it's a trick of the light (or the fog shader, in this case), They're the porch-lights of a house. It's Tom Bombadil's house, as a matter of fact, and he's capering around on the lawn before it. He has no quests to offer us, just a rhyme or two and a little Hope. Goldberry is waiting, but somewhere else it appears, so we're free to wander about the house and gently lose our fears. (Sorry, Bombadilspeak can be as difficult to shake as a Ring-Wraith.)

Leaving the house, we now look for a path that winds away from behind the house and up toward "the north end of the hill brow under which it sheltered," as the book describes it. There _is_ a path leading north from the left side of the house, so we'll try it. It bends eastward, leading us to the Old Barrows Road and the northern end of the Barrow-Downs itself. We encounter nothing more dangerous along the way than an Outcast Wolf. And as I walk along, I find that like the hobbits in the book I'm starting to miss the general sunshine and green hills of the Shire. The continual overcast and fog in the Forest and Downs is depressing by comparison.

Passing a couple of small stone circles, we reach a rise where the Barrow-Downs proper is visible for the first time: stone circles, Barrow-Wights, and all. According to the book, we go downhill to the valley below this rise, and then left, heading for the north exit from the Downs. Following these directions literally leads to a dead-end with a Barrow-Wight on guard, so that's not the way to go. A little exploring shows that there _is_ a northward path -- the Northern Barrows Pass -- but it's found to the right and around a corner atop the next rise. Okay, anybody could lose their sense of direction in this place, so we won't complain. The Northern Barrows Pass leads us out of the Downs to the Southern Bree-Fields, and the East-West Road itself.

Bang. Just like that, we're through the Downs and out. See what happens if you just follow directions? There's a whole chapter of the book that would never have happened.

It seems appropriate to leave the Downs with Tom's parting words:

"Tom's country ends here, he will not pass the borders.
Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting!"

Turning onto the East-West Road, a short walk brings us within sight of Bree itself. We cross an unfamiliar river (it's not the Brandywine and it doesn't appear on the book's maps), and just beyond that we cross the Greenway, the northern extension of which is a disused old path, as it should be. A short jog further on, and we come to Bree-town's hedge gate. Apparently Harry is still minding the gate; I guess no one in Bree has connected him with the Black Riders and their allies yet.

Bree is a big town, and there are no signposts, but it's not difficult to reach the Prancing Pony Inn. Straight ahead, up the hill and through the archway, we come to the entrance of the Inn at the very top of the hill. Inside the common room is Barliman Butterbur, and several dozen guests, both live and NPC.

Unexpectedly, Strider is not to be found in the common room. After a brief chat with Barliman, we are directed "left down the hall out of the common room, until you can only bear right. Strider's room is to the right of the stairs at the end of the hall." It's a little disappointing not being to "find" Strider lurking amongst the crowds in the smoke-filled common room, but perhaps he's had a long day and wants to put his feet up for a while.

Barliman's instructions for finding Strider are somewhat cryptic, and the path we are to take is a bit of a maze. First we have to _find_ the hall he mentions, which being to the immediate right of the door we came in by can pass completely unnoticed. That and the fact that from the outside of the Inn, there is perhaps twelve feet between the front door and the side door at the end of this hall, but inside the Inn the hall extends, Escher-like, for a good sixty feet. ("Really, officer, I only had the one ale. I can find my way to my room just fine. This hall is too long, that's all.")

After taking every possible wrong turning, including every end room at a turning in the corridor, we come at last to the door at the right at the top of the stairs. Phew. Strider's room at last. We try to open the door, and we see the warning "You do not have the corresponding quest." Whoops, the instructions _did_ say "to the right of the stairs". They just didn't note that this means the _bottom_ of the stairs, not the top as one might expect. I'll bet Strider wonders why he doesn't get his mail on a regular basis.

Okay, having passed the intelligence test of the Ancients, we finally discover Strider's room. And walk in on the biggest block party in years. The tiny room is packed with adventurers. Aragorn/Strider's fame has softened him somewhat, it seems. He's certainly putting up well with all the close company.

Pressing through the crowd, we manage to get in a few words, and he gives us the Chapter I quest, involving Amdir and the Blackwolds. Not a word about the Black Riders, the Ring, or anything along those lines. A little disappointing, but then again, this is only the Angmar release of the game. Gondor and Mordor and Mount Doom lie in the future.

So to sum up, we can follow Frodo's trail through Buckland, the Old Forest, the Barrow-Downs, and along the road to Bree with decent accuracy, though the usual issues with scale. It would have been nice to "notice" Strider creeping through the bushes observing us along the road to Bree. Having a few more enemies along the path through the Old Forest and the Downs would have made it much less of a cake-walk. On the plus side, this is the first visual rendering of the books that I've seen that even _mentions_ Tom Bombadil, much less includes him as an NPC.

At this point, I'm torn between retracing my steps and working through some of the quests along the way from the Shire to Bree, or pressing onward and seeing if I can reach Weathertop without being eaten by a grue or stabbed by One of the Nine.

Or I could just wander back down to the common room and try the Prancing Pony's local draft -- it's been a long day's hike, after all.

-- Valgo, Protector of the Shire, Level 15 Hunter on Arkenstone

[Drauglin]

Part III -- Bree to Weathertop
------------------------------

Having done a few quests in and around Bree, involving many trips back into the Barrow-Downs, and northward as far as Trestlebridge, I've gotten my Hobbit Hunter up to level 17 and a half. And I can feel the grind beginning to set in: gaining levels is not nearly as quick as it was before. In a way this feels like the encroaching siren-song of the Ring itself: "One more level... one more level... you know you want it..." Ahem. I shall resist. Really.

Trusting that my swift bow and ready sword will be sufficient to protect me, I decide to set out Eastward toward Weathertop. Here we need to diverge from the storyline of the game, and assume that the Black Riders have attacked, the stables have been robbed, and that we've had one too many ales and "fallen through the table" in the Pony's common room, so it's high time we got out of Dodge -- er, Bree.

We start off from the front steps of the Prancing Pony, as in the book, since Strider has decided we should leave Bree openly "by the main road". Reading a little further along indicates that our path should lead us through the South Gate. And as it happens, there's an informal jam-session going on in the square in front of the Pony to send us on our way. The player music feature is kind of cool, and it doesn't even require much skill, just a game willingness to tootle and strum along with something approaching rhythm, never mind the melody if any.

Tossing the players a coin, we head south through the Market Gate, past the fountain, then through the Trader's Gate, past the Town Hall, through the Woodsmen's Gate, and finally to the South Gate. All told, this makes a nice tour of more than half of Bree-town, but at the end of it you have to wonder if anyone's _dog_ doesn't know which way our party is headed.

As we approach the South Gate, there's no sign of the last, ill-kept house in the village from which "the southerner" peered out at the party, and at which Bill Ferny was standing by the hedge for Sam to chuck an apple at. Perhaps both of them moved out of town after the incident and the place was torn down and rebuilt? (Correction: as Kunou points out below, Bill Ferny's house _is_ there, just north of the stables by the South Gate. One can also claim it's the last free-standing _house_ in the village. However, it's far enough from the South Gate to not count as the last _structure_ in Bree, which is how I was reading Tolkein's description. Live and learn, I guess!)

We proceed on foot along the road, passing through Andrath, and then through Chetwood south of Staddle. Okay, hands up: how many read that as "Straddle" at first? It surprised the heck out of me when I looked at it on the map and realized I'd seen a letter that wasn't there. Many of Tolkien's place-names have the same feeling: names that the inhabitants chose for their own reasons, leaving them subtly "off" when one reads them with a modern eye. It adds to the verisimilitude, though it can be embarrassing when it hits you that you simply haven't been paying sufficient attention.

The book says we should be able to see some of the outlying houses of Staddle, and smoke rising from Archet. They are not visible yet, but as we follow the road it does bend Eastwards as expected, and eventually just North of the Yellow Tree we find some outlying Staddle houses. Here the road begins bending Southward to avoid the Midgewater Marshes. There's no sign of the "narrow track" leading North that Strider led the party along, so we arbitrarily begin heading North at this point, skirting Staddle to the East and following the line of hilltops at the edge of the Marshes.

We come to a waterfall and small lake, and here the ground slopes down to the level of the Marshes, so this seems like a reasonable point to begin striking Eastwards through the Marsh itself. We pass through Woodsedge Ruins, encountering nothing much more threatening than spiders, frogs, and the onomatopoeically-named Neeker-Breekers, which look like crab having a nightmare about being a fly, but these are level 9 greens, easily swatted.

Somewhere along here is where Frodo saw the flashes of light in the eastern sky, marking the battle between Gandalf and the Nazgul. There's no indication of it here, and Weathertop itself is not yet visible, but if we assume we're following in Frodo's footsteps that's not too surprising.

Crossing to the far side of the Marshes we come to where the land rises up again, but here we unexpectedly face a wall of impassable cliffs. They continue Northward, but heading in that direction leads us back into Chetwood, with no apparent way East, so we turn South a ways and come to where the cliffs turn Eastwards. Following the cliffs, we come to the Midgewater Pass which allows access to the uplands, and incidentally proceeds Northeast, in roughly the direction of the "stream that wandered down from the hills to lose itself in the stagnant marshland" mentioned in the book. There's no stream, but one could allow that the weather's been hot and fair and the stream has dried up.

Here the mobs are a little tougher, Howling Yellowfangs, but not a real threat. Farther along the Pass are stoneworks, walls and bridges, that could be the "green-grown walls and d**es" mentioned in the book. A short distance ahead we come to the Weatherway, which leads up into the Weather Hills. We want to be following a road southward, towards Weathertop, but there's no sign of it as yet, so we follow the Weatherway Southeast, up over the rampart of the hill below a square ruined tower.

Here we encounter a large pack of Howling Yellowfangs, too large to take on solo, blocking the path forward. Skirting these to the south we come to a small river; perhaps this is the actual "stream that wandered down from the hills" mentioned in the book? In any case, near the river is a ridge heading Northeast, which allows us to climb and descend a small hill, circling around the wolf-pack. Farther along the river we come to a circular ruin, and need to skirt this upward to the left, then around and down to the right, coming back to the river again.

As we descend to the river, looking upward to the Southeast, we can see in the distance a tall hill surmounted by ancient broken stonework. This is Weathertop, as it happens, but we have a short distance to go yet to reach it.

Fording the river, we climb the hill on the far side, then follow the valley as it turns left and then upward. On the far side of a hill we come at last to a semi-paved road heading North to South, which appears to be the road heading Southward along the Weather Hills as described in the book. Following this road Southward brings us past a ruined fortress wall, over a small pass, and down into the "sheltered hollow", "a bowl-shaped dell with grassy sides", on the Western verge of Weathertop itself.

Here the party left Sam and Pippin with the pony and luggage, and proceeded up the hill. After a long, and at times dizzying, climb we reach the top. (Hint: at the only fork in the road, take the right-hand path that leads upward.) At the top, in the center of "a wide ring of ancient stonework" we find a cairn of stones, surrounded by a patch of burned and blackened turf. Here also we find a stone marked with Gandalf's "G" rune and three scratches, indicating Gandalf passed here on October the 3rd.

My 17 Hobbit does not want to linger long here; the Sharp-Eyed Lookouts and Scouts are in the 19's and 20's and these feather-brains could make a real nuisance of themselves, so we head back down the path to the dell, pausing for a moment near the top of the hill to look back along the path through the Weather Hills to the forests of Chetwood and Bree in the distance. We've come a long way from the Shire, at no small peril to life and limb, but the view from up here is worth it.

Reaching the dell at last, we sit down by the campfire with Candaith, who makes a decent Strider-surrogate, and take stock.

(pointed out by Canaris) The small hollow where Candaith is camping is NOT the dell where the Strider and the Hobbits camped, and where Frodo was stabbed by the Ringwraith.

That dell is up the hill to the south of Candaith. You can recognize it by the store of firewood the Rangers left there in a small hollow off of the main dell.(nice touch, Turbine).

The path out of Bree was clear enough, but the Northern path was missing. The Marshes were easily crossed, but the walls beyond made finding the right path through to the Weather Hills somewhat difficult. (Full disclosure: I actually had to wander around southwards and east for a while until I found Weathertop, then backtrack to find the correct path through the Hills.) Also, we had to press on some distance into the Weather Hills to find the North-South path to Weathertop, where we should have been able to parallel the Hills southwards and find Weatherhill at their Southern end.

Once we reach Weathertop, the path to the top is easily located, though Weathertop itself seems somewhat smaller in person than the book would have it: I was expecting a wide shield mountain at least three times as broad. Still, we have to assume a smaller scale in the game; perhaps it fits with the overall "compression ratio" of Eriador here.

So there's the segment of the path from Bree-town to Weathertop. It's definitely getting to be tougher going, and I may need to head back West and level up a bit more before pressing onward to Rivendell. Or I can chance it and hope to run across a friendly Elf along the way. For now, I'm happy enough to leave my Hobbit sitting by the campfire, dreaming of elevenses back home in the Shire.

-- Valgo, Watcher of Roads, Level 17 Hunter (going on 18) on Arkenstone

[Drauglin]

Part IV -- Weathertop to the Ford of Rivendell
--------------------------------------------

Strider: "I don't know if the Road has ever been measured in miles beyond the Forsaken Inn, a day's journey east of Bree. ... But I know how long it would take me on my own feet, with fair weather and no ill fortune: twelve days from here to the Ford of Bruinen, where the Road crosses the Loudwater that runs out of Rivendell."


So we come down to the last stretch of the journey, and the most dangerous, much as it is in the book: the Black Riders have attacked, Frodo has been injured, and Strider and the other hobbits need to get him to Rivendell as swiftly as possible. Given that we'll be wandering into higher-level territory, it will need to be a swift run, with little time for side-trips and sightseeing. But as in the book, this is where the tension picks up, so it should make it interesting.

We begin at the Candaith's camp in the dell at the base of Weathertop, where Strider spent the evening telling the hobbits the tale of Beren and Tinuviel. One thing left out of the last part of this travelogue was Strider and Frodo seeing the Black Riders from the top of the mountain. So before we press on, a quick run back up to the summit is in order.

This time we take the "shortcut". From Candaith's camp, head south rather than east, following the ridgeline up onto the western face of Weathertop. Left of the stone monolith there is a path leading up the hill. It narrows, then turns southward in an almost direct climb to the top -- and I do mean _climb_, the path is darn near vertical here. Taking out a couple of Sharp-Eye Lookouts, we can cross to the south side of Weathertop. From here we can observe most of the length of the East-West Road at the base of the hill, and would be able to see any Riders passing along the road below.

We head back down, pack up camp, and set out. From Candaith's camp, we head north, fighting the occasional Orc and maddened crow. We pass through a sheltered dell with a waterfall and empty campsite, and then climb the hill beyond and -- whoah, instant vertigo! We're looking at a huge drop here. I have occasionally "body-surfed" down longer inclines with nothing more than a little falling-damage, but I would not want to try this drop without a parachute. Working left from here we find a gentler slope where we can switch-back down the mountainside more safely.

We cross into Annunlos, and come to the East-West Road, a few "miles" so to speak east of the Forsaken Inn. Quickly checking the road for Black Riders we scramble across to the other side... and almost run off _another_ precipice, though this one is almost jumpable. We risk following the Road eastward and uphill, coming to a signpost and a gentler slope we can use to get off the Road to the south.

At this point the path taken in the book is not clearly defined: Strider and the hobbits are heading generally south of the Road and eastward towards the river Hoarwell. Assuming that they would want to travel as far off the road as possible, we journey south to the base of the mountains, then turn left to follow the valley eastwards. Entering Nain Enidh in the Lone-Lands, we continue to follow the valley. Angling north-east to avoid the ruins and taking down the random half-orc that crosses our path, we parallel the Road heading eastward, on a rise of hill that allows us to observe traffic on the Road, much as Strider did while debating when to return to it.

Now things start to get dicey: we're only halfway through the Lone-Lands and here we begin to encounter some significant enemies: Dreadful Tarkrips and Skittering Ruin-Webs. The latter are red and violet to my 18 Hunter, so for safety's sake I decide to move out onto the Road itself. This is somewhat in keeping with the book, as Strider mentions that they must return to the Road eventually in order to cross the Last Bridge across the Hoarwell.

I press on, and the journey through the Lone-Lands begins to feel like one of those adventure journals: "Day 23... Supplies running low, only halfway through Talath Gaun, and Gore-Crows are red to me now... feeling very small, even for a Hobbit... this may be my last entry... oh NO, they're coming THIS WAYyyyaurgghh(gurgle,gurgle)gh ghgh~~~~~~~" Ahem. It wasn't that bad. Mostly I had to dodge a crow here or there.

At last I reach the Last Bridge, without incident. Here, Strider found the Beryl token that was left by Glorfindel "in the mud in the middle of the Bridge". I make a quick search of the Bridge, but the street-sweepers must have been through here: there isn't a speck of mud anywhere, much less any gems.

At the other end of the Bridge I pause to assess the lands beyond, and things don't look promising. The first mob sighted in the Trollshaws is a Moor-Fly. Level 33. Ultraviolet. Come on, they're not trying hard enough. If they wanted to, they could _really_ make me feel pathetically insignificant. At this point, Strider and the hobbits would want to find a pathway off the Road to stay out of sight of the Black Riders. At this moment, it's beginning to feel like Black Riders would be the least of my worries; venturing off the beaten path here would be suicidal. I press on, deciding to stick to the Road to avoid becoming mob-chow and try to make it the rest of the way in one mad dash.

Just to keep track of Frodo and company, their party did venture northwards of the Road about a mile east from the Bridge, then after wandering up into the hills they realized they had gone too far north and needed to head south to the Road again. They saw "ancient walls of stone and the ruins of towers", the works of Men who "fell under the shadow of Angmar". (Nice foreshadowing for the game, actually, if they managed to work that in.)

Following the Road, we pass on into the Trollshaws, for the moment unmolested by its bears, wolves, and insects. The tone of the landscape has changed as well: it's late autumn here, and the trees are bright orange. As I make my way along the meandering road, night has fallen, and in the eastern sky I can see the the Swordsman of the Sky, Menelvagor with his shining belt. (Otherwise known to us by its RL name, Orion.)

Now the way becomes narrower, the cliffs higher. I pass through a gap inhabited by what look like giant beefalos: Snow-Mantle Mavericks and Cows. They look decidedly tetchy, so I give them a lot of elbow room. Apparently I'm not sufficiently interesting, so they leave me be as well.

A side note: as Frodo's party headed southward to the Road again, they passed the spot where Bilbo emerged from the troll-cave and found the trolls themselves, where they'd been turned to frozen stone statues. Southward of that point on the Road itself, they came across a stone with dwarf-runes on it, marking where the troll's gold was buried. As I make my way along the road, I see no sign of either stone or treasure, but I do encounter trolls, very live ones, in fact.

Passing through Bruinen Gorges, I find a troll patrolling up and down the Road itself, and he's heading straight for me. Waiting until he turns about and heads back, I skirt quickly around him, thankfully finding the road beyond empty. Quickly I invest effort in getting some distance. Then farther along I find another troll approaching me. This time I am able to get off the road and find a safe spot, then stand there picking a Tater and trying to look harmless and unimportant while I wait for him to pass.

I meet no further trolls on the road, but the valley is narrowing, and the mobs are closer to the road here. For the moment, sticking to the Road seems safe enough, yet it's a little uncomfortable wandering along, knowing that if anything around here so much as _sniffs_ in my direction I'm road-kill.

Somewhere along here is where Frodo's party met up with the Elf Glorfindel, and Frodo was given the Elf's horse to ride. A few horses have passed this way as I've travelled, and I've been tempted to try to thumb a ride myself.

I scurry on, following the Road as it turns to the north, then east again. Looking ahead into the starry night sky I suddenly feel like I'm walking into storm clouds: from the horizon upwards to halfway to zenith there is nothing at all, a wall of blackness. I realize I'm heading towards a mountain range hidden in the shadow of the night. A short distance farther the road descends in a long wide slope, as described in the book, and I come at last to the relative safety of the Ford of Bruinen.

Crossing the sand-bars of the Ford, I reach the far side and look back, to the slope of the western Road where Frodo would have faced the Nine Riders for the final time before they were swept away by Elrond's "plumed cavalry of waves... amid the waves white riders upon white horses with frothing manes". There's no sign of such waves here, but just as thankfully there is no need of them. Neither Riders nor trolls, nor bears are pursuing me, and in a short while it is daylight again and I can take in the falls to my right, the mountain range behind me, and the grassy knolls on the far side. It's almost like coming back to the Shire again, save that twenty paces in any direction is something that can hand me my head.

From this point, Frodo was carried unconscious to Rivendell, so there's no further guide as to how to proceed. Which is just as well, for the path ahead is a narrow cliff path blocked by critters 38 and upward, with little to no room to maneuver around them. I make an attempt, and only by making a death-defying leap from the cliffs can I escape from an aggressive bear that would have pounded me into peanut butter. It's a pity, because I'd hoped to be able to at least visit Rivendell, even if there were no quests I could do there. I may simply have to wait until I'm in a Fellowship that's going there, or have gained enough levels so I can get there myself.

At the very least, I was able to complete the journey described in the book, from the Shire all the way up to the Ford of Rivendell. I would have liked it a little better if the trip to Rivendell was doable by 15-18's, with side valleys and regions off the main Road that ramp up into the 40's. But on the other hand, this makes Rivendell a nice reward for having taken the time to level up. And once I've explored a few of the "Chapter" quests in the game, I'll have a better understanding of the difficulty ranking of the various zones.

One last thought, for those who've been kind enough to read this far: thanks for your indulgence and your comments. It's been fun writing these travelogues, and I wouldn't mind doing more of them. If anyone has a suggestion of a route that would be fun to explore and describe, I'd be game to give it a shot. For now, thanks again, and remember "all who wander are not lost". Though some of us do need to ask directions. :-)

-- Valgo, Watcher of Roads, Level 18 Hunter on Arkenstone