I am startled awake as a scream rends the air. I am immediately on my feet with my staff drawn as I assess my surroundings.
Who's on watch…morning…Needyfishies…not her scream though…man's scream…?
I see the source of the screaming, well more like panicked yelling, and curse inwardly. Erothar is pinned to the ground by a massive warg while Needyfishies is hastily strumming her lute.
"Get it off me!" Erothar is yelling loudly.
Baronlief wakes as I do and we throw ourselves into the fray. Four more wargs join the first and begin to attack us. I summon Espresso quickly and he joins into the fight as well, slashing and biting as much as possible. I attack the warg on Erothar and use my new skill. Lightning arcs down, lighting up the area as it cracks against the animals' sides. I see their health bars go down, but only barely. My attack pretty much just made me a target as all five now begin to attack me.
I unleash all I have against the wargs. Fire, lightning, cracked earth, taunts, and stuns fly from my staff as quickly as I can use them. I watch as my morale bar quickly dips down. It fills back to full as Needyfishies heals me with a few chords. I back off and manage to start healing the others as needed as well. Baronlief is dealing sword thrusts left and right almost to the point that he looks like a whirlwind of blades. Erothar is keeping two beasts back with his shield as he switches to a close-ranged stance to allow him better hand-to-hand combat. I try to help everyone and use my lightning skill once more. Two wargs fall dead, but three more join in. I jump in next to Erothar and start to use my staff as a bludgeon. I strike wargs left and right and sometimes a bolt will strike them as well. More fire rains down and I pull lightning as often as I can. I quickly drink an athelas potion to heal myself and everyone else does the same before getting back into the fight. Three more wargs fall and we are down to three left.
"We can do this!" I yell as I engage the center warg with a taunt and ignite its fur on fire. I feel the durability of my staff deplete further as the warg slashes it with its claws. More lightning hits the beasts while Erothar and Baronlief join me on either side as they deal as much damage as they can. All but one of the wargs fall and the last one faces us off. I stun it quickly which allows everyone to take a breather to drink another potion. The stun fades and the beast lunges towards me. I raise my staff to deflect and bring it down at the same time. A stinging vibration flows down the wood as I make contact with the head of the warg. I let go of the weapon just as it shatters into a thousand little splinters, its durability hitting zero. Baronlief jumps in front of me and finishes off the beast with a few sword thrusts and slices. I look down at my empty hands in disbelief. I had never compromised a weapon's durability before, and definitely not broken one. I watch as it fades from my inventory and weapon slot as if it had never existed.
"It's…it's…gone!" I stammer out, not believing that my hands are empty.
"I guess weapons disappear now once they reach zero durability." Baronlief says.
"What's the big deal? Don't you have a spare staff in one of your bags Taurieth?" Needyfishies says as she examines her lute.
I check my bags but there is no staff there. All I have is a sword I had looted before the instance to give to Sarung since it was of possible use to him.
"All I have is a one-handed sword, which I can't use." I say quietly.
"Then there is nothing we can do but get you to a town where you can get a new staff." Erothar says.
"I will be of no help until then." I say as we gather up our things. "All of my skills require me to have a staff."
"That sucks." Baronlief replies.
"Same happens when you lose a sword or your shield."
"Yes, but I try to have a back-up just in case."
I have no reply to that.
We hastily leave the area so we will not be attacked by the same beasts a second time once they respawn. The sun breaks over the horizon giving us our second day in the game. I can't help but think about Sarung as we walk.
Where is he? Near, far, halfway across Middle Earth? Is he facing the same challenges we are? Does he have players with him that he can trust? Has he died and been kicked back to level one in a forced restart? How will I find him again with no IMs or tracker? I could try to send him a message via a letter. He should be able to get that quickly. I'll have to locate a mailbox, possibly in the first town we come to.
True to my thoughts, we come upon a road with a signpost pointing to a city a few miles away. Icons on the sign say there is a stable, mailbox,, and crafting stations there. The mailbox is what draws my attention, as do the stables. A horse will make things much easier than walking or running everywhere. We follow the road and meet up with a few other players as we come nearer the town. Guards at the gate let us through without a second glance and we behold the town.
The gathering of buildings is not very large, but it has the essentials we need except for the vault. I immediately go to the mailbox and try to send a letter to Sarung:
Sarung,
I'm safe at the moment. After the Instance I was teleported to some grasslands area. I'm currently in a town called Anduin, no clue where that is in relation to a major city or landmark. I'm with three other players and I will do my best to find you.
Waiting to hear from you,
Taurieth
I go to send the letter, but there is a new box that must be filled in…destination. Someone taps me on the shoulder.
"All letters now go to a set destination instead of to wherever the player is located. You must check that mailbox or have a permanent address where mail can be delivered." A short dwarf barks out to me as he sends his own letter. "If you need to send the letter to a different location after it arrived, you can send a letter to the postmaster at the destination to forward the letter to a different location. It works, but is one hell of a headache."
"I can imagine." I reply, perplexed.
Where should I send it? We were near Ost Guruth before the instance, but he could be anywhere now. I'll send it to Bree. He's bound to go there at some point if he is searching for me.
I set the destination as The Auction Hall in Bree and send the letter after paying the small sending fee. The fee makes me check my purse to see how much money I currently have, and I am happy to see that I have amassed 25 gold 632 silver 394 copper. That can go for a ways unless I start to spend it on trivial things. Money is one commodity that can be easy to come by if you know where to look for it. Most quests grant a little money for completion but the best way is to sell task items to brokers or to sell materials to players who need them.
I leave the mailbox and find Erothar, Baronlief and Needyfishies talking together near the stables.
"We should take rides to the next town." Needyfishies says.
"There is everything we need right here though." Baronlief replies.
"We could stay here for a bit and then decide what we want to do." Erothar adds, "Plus that gives Taurieth the time she would need."
"Time I would need for what?" I say as I join them.
"We are deciding what we want to do next." Erothar tells me. "Either we stay here and recuperate, which gives you time to see about a new staff, or we take horses to the next area possibly."
"Where would the next area be?" I ask eager to know my location.
"We were north and east of the Mines of Moria in the Gladden Fields." Baronlief says. "So we can head towards Lothlorien or Mirkwood. Both of those places have a vault, and are the nearest to us.
I whistle at that. We are in Rohovanion, which is several days hard riding across the mountains to get to Rivendell, which was about three days away from where I was with Sarung in the Lone Lands. Even if Sarung did know where I was, it would take him almost two weeks to get here, hopefully the mail traveled faster than a player on a horse.
"What is in the next town?" I ask.
"Who cares?" Needyfishies replies. "It's a different town and a different area."
"I care." I reply sharply. "I am looking for a really good friend of mine and I want to give him at least a chance of finding me."
"What…you lose your boyfriend?" She says with a teasing voice.
"As a matter of fact he is my boyfriend in real life and he just started playing LOTRO with me." I retort.
Needyfishies raises her hands up in mock surrender.
"Well excuse me for asking. We can't all have people out there to worry about and he doesn't matter anymore. You have no chance of finding him until the game is over. I say just forget about him and move on with the game."
My hand moves faster than thought as I strike Needyfishies across the face.
"HE MATTERS TO ME!" I yell. "I WILL NOT LEAVE HIM!"
She hits the ground hard and I tower over her prostrate form.
Erothar places a hand on my shoulder before I can strike again, and I jerk at his touch. Everyone in the square is looking at me, whispering about my outbreak. I shrug off his hand and walk towards the crafting area.
"If you want to go on to the next town then go. Do whatever you like but I am staying here." I say over my shoulder.
I don't look back to see what the three of them decide to do. I stand and stare at the scholar's study and forge but leave before making anything. Erothar catches up to me a while later as I stare out towards the open area.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I lost my head." I say without looking at him.
"Apology accepted, though you don't have to apologize to me."
"Where is Needyfishies?"
"She took a ride to the next town."
"And Baronlief?"
"He's staying here. He's also checking the rates for a place to stay here in town. You are welcome to join us if you wish."
I assess my options.
"If there is room for me I wouldn't reject your offer, if the rate is good. Else I will just camp outside the town. It should be fairly safe there."
Erothar nods but remains standing next to me.
"You will find him again, Taurieth. Moreover, if there is anything I can do to help you search I will. Just tell me what you need."
"Why would you be willing to help me? I haven't done anything that would merit you helping me." I say as I turn and look at him in disbelief.
"If this game is going to go how I think it will, people will need to work together to be able to beat the quests to finish the game. You seem to be a strong player and I think we could possibly work well together. That is, if you want my help."
"I'm not as strong a player as you would think, but, yes, I do think we could work well together. I look forwards to fighting with you, at least until we find Sarung. Even then I think you two could possibly get along alright and we could all work as a team."
Erothar gives me a large smile that seems to light up his being.
"Good. Let's see if Baronlief has managed to secure us lodgings for the night."
We find Baronlief standing in the main square. The inn would cost us much more than it is worth, but he found a place willing to let us sleep in the stables for the night free of charge. We make beds out of the straw strewn on the floor, but it is better than sleeping out in the open as we are safe from creatures and attack. Sleep finds me quickly and I surrender to its welcome embrace.