More low level quest clean up in the Shire over the last two nights. It’s like a sickness, I can’t leave quests uncompleted. And, in LotRO, the quests are as much about reward as story. Each step of the way gives you another mini-chapter. Plus, running around the Shire at night is…magical.

Michel Delving At Night

The oft-reviled escort quest are the ones I’m enjoying the most. You see, with many encounters, you can control when you engage an enemy, how many, etc. But on an escort quest, your charge will blindly rush forward, forcing you to fight on the fly. No downtime to regen power or wait for that uber skill to finish cooling down. No hanging back and observing pathing to pull the mob solo away from its allies. It takes me way out of my comfort zone. and gets my adrenaline pumping. In other words, good times!

And, since this is LotRO, there are some intersting stories attached to your escort quests. My favorite starts with a spider nest in the hills of Bindbole Woods. A subquest is required to break through the wall of webs that blocks your way. Once inside, you discover a sentient tree that has been trapped by the spiders. With your help, it wants to escape. So the tree uproots itself and starts walking out.

Walking. A Tree. By Itself.

This is what I love about this game. I tried for a screenshot of this event. I hope it conveys the crazy way it ambles on the tips of its roots.

Walking tree on the move.

My little hobbit minstrel wasn’t even as big as one of the root/feet. But together we cut through the malevolent spiders out into safety. The reward for the quest? I don’t even remember and I don’t really care. The adventure itself was worth the effort. And that’s what quests should be about.

Tonight, Clauso and I are going to jump into the Epic Quest line. I’ll try to grab screenshots, but flipping into 1st person and hiding the UI to take the screenies, makes it hard to survive the encounter. Then again, Clauso’s not happy if we’re not flying by the seat of our pants.