Elf Introduction: Story-based Quest Guide
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| Instance: The Refuge of Edhelion | [-] |
Your story begins long ago, at least in terms of how the other races view time. The Refuge of Edhelion was reknowned as a place of splendour and quiet beauty -- A rival to Imladris, the home of Lord Elrond, some would say. Its keeper was Talagan Silvertongue, a wise and ancient being by even elven standards. Departing from your homeland, you visited the refuge to partake of its beauty for respite and reflection. Then came the attack.
The Refuge of Edhelion was more than a place of comfort. It was also a vault of many ancient and powerful relics from earlier ages. Such a collection surely drew the jealousy of a great many greedy and wicked hearts. Your kindred should have seen it coming. A clan of dwarves, calling themselves Dourhands, stormed the Refuge with plans to claim the relics stored there. This was typical for them. Since the earliest ages, the dwarves' coveting nature has always been a bane upon the peace of Middle Earth.
However, this time, the dwarves brought with them a small army of goblins to fill out their ranks. This treachery was more unforgivable than any trespass before, especially since it was thought that dwarves and goblins shared a brutal enmity of each other. Was their greed so great that they would ally with such evil creatures so freely?
In the initial attack, the dwarves broke through the walls into the Refuge with the element of surprise. Then, the elves rallied and pushed them back, but it seemed only a matter of time before the the dwarves and goblins overwhelmed the elves with sheer numbers. Many elves already lay dead which would have spent countless years more walking under the stars and upon the green grass of Middle Earth. To look upon the death and destruction already wrought filled your heart with sorrow.
You had not spent your time idly while all this was occuring, however. At the behest of Talagan, master of the Refuge, you hid the Relics of Edhelion away, one and all, where they might not be stolen in the conflict. If the Refuge were taken, however, it might only be a matter of time before they were found.
You then found Talagan again, who thanked you for your efforts and appraised you of the latest news: It seemed Skorgrím Dourhand, lord of the Dourhand dwarves himself, was coming to the refuge from the east with another war party. Even worse, Skorgrím had a great snow-troll with him who seemed to do his bidding. The dwarves evil nature seemed to sink lower and lower.
Talagan then asked you to take up arms in the defense of Edhelion, noting that Skorgrím and his troupe would be upon the refuge shortly. Motioning towards a fallen elf, a gentle soul whom you knew as Haerandir, Talagan bid you to take his weapons, noting that he would have wanted you to have them.
Suddenly, a horn in the distance trumpeted a bright, clear call. This was no dwarf or goblin-horn -- it was the horn of an elf! Talagan's eyes lit up with hope. He knew it to be the horn of Lord Elrond of Imladris. He had come to Edhelion's aid, answering a summons Talagan had sent many months ago.
Talagan then bid you to go to the courtyard of Edhelion to help Dorongúr Whitethorn and the other survivors defend the refuge. He warned you to be careful, for there were surely stragglers still inside the refuge from the earlier attack. He told you that an elf named Edhelben would direct you there.
You found Edhelben just as he delivered a telling blow to a vile goblin. Many other such creatures already lay dying about him. As he opened the gate that lay between the two of you, a great sound came from the east gate. Skorgrím's forces had arrived, and the snow-troll was beating upon the gate, wrought beatifully from elven-steel, with a massive club. Edhelben warned that the gate would not last long, and advised you to hurry to the courtyard. He directed you to the proper gate and opened it for you, warning you that there were likely some surviving invaders between you and the courtyard.
There were. You found several goblins that were looting the elves that had fallen, defiling them with their corrupted hands. Ironically, they were also looting the dead Dourhands. You also found a Dourhand kicking a fallen goblin, wishing that Skorgrím had not recruited them. It was plain that there was some strife yet between the two races! You came upon them all like a wrathful storm, showing them the full extent of the anger of the elves.
At last you arrived at the courtyard, making short work of a goblin who was trying feebly to open the gate. You were met by Dorongúr Whitethorn, who gladly opened the gate for you, bidding you to hurry in. He told you that the elves in the courtyard had suffered greatly, and asked what news you brought. His face fell when you told him of the snow-troll, and he noted that the worst was probably yet to come. He hoped that Elrond would arrive in time.
Just then, a guard shouted that the enemy had broken through. Rushing to the gate with Dorongúr, you braced yourself for the worst. How could you possibly stand up to a troll, let alone the rest of the forces to come.
The troll came alone. With a few swings of its mighty club, it shatted the gate entirely. The force of the impact stunned you and the other elves. It seemed the end had come.
Just then came a bright, clear voice calling an elvish battle-cry.
"An Elbereth! Edhellen crist!"
An elf, who could only be Lord Elrond himself, lept into battle with the troll alone. His blade flashed with an eerie blue light, and struck the troll down with a single, mighty blow.
With not a moment to lose, Elrond told Dorongúr to follow him, for Talagan was in danger. Dorongúr bid you to come as well.
Rushing back to the building where you hid the relics, you found that the bridge at the top of the stairs had fallen. Across it, a wicked and powerful looking dwarf who could only be Skorgrím Dourhand had Talagan cornered with two of his underlings. Elrond called out to Talagan, but he did not answer.
"Come now, stand aside, Elf," Skorgrím ordered. "The relics are mine!" His deep voice was laced with evil and vice.
"Never!" cried Talagan, who raised his staff which began to pulse with violet light.
Elrond and Dorongúr started foward, calling for Talagan to stop. At the same time, Skorgrím called for his two minions to stop the Master of the Refuge, but it was too late.
Talagan's staff erupted in a blast of force, shattering in the elf's hands. A great rumbling shook the ground as the entire building, the hiding place of the relics, crumbled and fell upon Talagan and the dwarves, crushing them instantly, one and all.
After a moment of shock, Elrond bowed his head and said, "Be at peace, Talagan Silvertongue."
Elrond wished that he had come earlier, but then asked of the relics, not knowing their fate. Dorongúr mentioned that you were the last with them, and you told Elrond where they had been hidden.
Elrond was glad, for it meant that Talagan's sacrifice was not in vain. The death of Skorgrim and the burying of the relics in the ruin would surely keep them safe, if only for a time. However, it was far too much to think of rebuilding Edhelion, for many elves had been slain, and there were not enough to remain.
Yet Elrond felt cryptically that you might return some day. He was right.
| Intro: Elrond's Premonition | [-] |
Time passed, and kingdoms of Men rose and fell, when at last, 600 years later, you were summoned to Imladris by Lord Elrond. He had had a strange premonition regarding the ruins of Edhelion and its new neighbor of Thorin's Hall, which was currently under the stewardship of the accursed Dourhand dwarves. Elrond felt that some great evil was to be commited there shortly, and therefore asked you to accompany an expedition led by his sons, Elladan and Elrohir, as well as Dorongúr Whitethorn, whom you had not seen in many centuries. The expedition had already left, so you followed immediately and traveled with haste to catch up to them.
| Intro: Meditating on the Past | [-] |
Upon arriving outside the ruins, you found the expedition and met with Dorongúr. Dorongúr greeted you warmly, and told you about Master Elrond's concerns for Edhelion, as he feared some evil was about to be committed there. He told he wanted your help in trying to discover what the evil was, but that you must ready yourself first.
Dorongúr felt that before the mystery of Elron's premonitions could be solved, it would be wise to reflect on the events of the past, and asked you to speak with the elves at Edhelion, hoping you would glean some wisdom and training from them. You did as were asked, gaining subtle, yet deep understanding from the experience, and returned to Dorongúr when you were done.
| Intro: Scouting the Ruins | [-] |
Dorongúr expressed joy that you had readied yourself with further training, stating you would have need of it, for the road ahead which was filled with many challenges. He advised you to find and aid Elladan, one of the sons of Elrond who was at Edhelion at the behest of this father investigating the dark omen that had plagued his dream.
You made your way about the ruins, where you found Elladan standing guard near the gate nearby.
| Intro: The Halls of Edhelion | [-] |
Elladan told you that he had slain a number of goblins at the nearby pool, but he hadn't had the time to search them to see what they were up to, and that he needed to stand guard to make sure the little brutes that had fled did not return. On his request, you approached the pool to find goblin remains lying littered about the slug-infested area.
Maneuvering through the vile slugs, you searched the goblin remains one-by-one as you made your way about the pool. Upon each body, you found a pickaxe suitable for mining. Strangely, each one was fairly new and seemed to be of dwarf-make. To find them so universally equipped could only mean one thing: The dwarves were conspiring with the goblins again. Could there be no end to their depravity?
| Intro: The Longbeards | [-] |
You made your way back to Elladan, who listened grimly to your news. Surprisingly, he suggested that you take the news to the dwarves themselves at Frerin's Court near Thorin's Hall, asking again you slay any goblins along the path and search them for any clues.
Elladan more carefully explained that a company of Longbeard dwarves, whom he insisted were different from the Dourhands which felled Edhelion and its master, had come recently from the lands of Erebor far to the east. Their leader, it seemed, was named Dwalin, and he was a friend of Elrond's when they met some years ago when Dwalin had visited Imladris with the former master of Thorin's hall: Thorin Oakenshield himself, during the Quest of Erebor. You remembered hearing something of it. It had ended in the bloody Battle of Five Armies at the foot of the Lonely Mountain in the land of Dale. It always seemed to end in war.
You then set out on your way to the place the dwarves called Frerin's Court, finding the passage outside Edhelion still rife with goblins. You slew each one you encountered, discovering once again dwarven pickaxes in their possession. These you collected and gathered together with the ones you had previously collected to give to Dwalin, and continued on towards Frerin's Court.
There you met at last with Dwalin, the Longbeard's leader. He had a warm, friendly manner about him that you found wholly surprising. Perhaps there was such a difference between the Longbeards and the Dourhands after all. You remained cautious, but told him your tale. He was not surprised, and asked you if you knew of the fall of the Elf refuge. When you told him you were there, he admitted that you knew more about it than he, but he told you something of what had happened to the Dourhands since then.
Without their leader, the Dourhands were thrown into disarray. Known among all the dwarven clans as an honorless, untrustworthy lot, they became submissive, but nevertheless unreliable and good-for-nothing. Some years later, when the company of thirteen Longbeard dwarves left for the quest of Erebor, they were forced to grant stewardship of Thorin's Hall to the Dourhands, for once the Lonely Mountain was reclaimed, they sent a call for every able-bodied Longbeard from Thorin's Hall to help rebuild the Kingdom Under the Mountain. This was complicated by the fact that Thorin himself had died in the final Battle of Five Armies.
| Intro: Goblin Prowlers | [-] |
Dwalin then told you that he and the Longbeards with him had just returned from Erebor to see Thorin's Hall in such a sorry shape from the Dourhand's care. Further, it seems that one of his guards had been poisoned, though he had no proof that it was the Dourhands doing, and that some of the Dourhands had been seen speaking with a sinister-looking red robed man. Dwalin asked you to help him find evidence of the Dourhands' misdeeds so that he could expel them from Thorin's Hall once and for all. If Dwalin was telling the truth, and he seemed an honorable sort, you figured that it would help avert whatever catastrophe it was that Elrond had foreseen, so you agreed.
On Dwalin's advice, you went into the western hills to find any goblins which might be prowling about. It did not take long to find one, and upon slaying it, you saw it was equipped with a dwarf-make sword. Upon bringing to sword back to Dwalin, he muttered in disgust. The sword was Longbeard in design, and he swore that the only way the goblin could have gotten it was if the Dourhands had given it to the goblin from the armories of Thorin's Hall.
| Intro: Goblins in the Crags | [-] |
Dwalin told you that there was one more thing to investigate. He had received word from the elves that Elrond's other son, Elrohir, had gone into the mountains to the northwest in search of any more proof of the Dourhand's treachery, investigating a place called the Mirkstone tunnels. Dwalin asked you to find Elrohir yourself and see what he had learned.
The climb up the mountains was strangely quite and uneventful, yet you were on guard. At last you reached the Mirkstone tunnels, where you found them crawling with more goblins.
Making your way through the tunnels, you came at last upon Elrohir. Around him were a pile of slain goblins, each had met their end at the blade of his mighty two-handed sword. Elrohir told you that he had found clear evidence of the Dourhands conspiring with the goblins, but worse still, he found a letter written by a man named Marrec. It seemed that Marrec had extended an offer to the Dourhands in exchange for their loyalty: The restoration of their leader, Skorgrím! Such a thing was not truly possible you knew, but you thought of tales of dark sorceries in which a corpse could be animated by a fell spirit of Morgoth. Such a vile act could not be allowed to take place!
Elrohir told you to return to Dwalin with the message that he and the elves must stand as one to stop this act and drive the Dourhands once and for all from Thorin's Hall. He said he knew of a Tomb, and that he would go ahead there to see what he might do while the dwarves and elves mustered their forces. You left at once to Dwalin. The dwarf took your news grimly. He said he would muster his forces at once to work with the elves, but also said that he couldn't just wait around while he knew Elrohir to be in that place alone. He feared for the son of Elrond's safety, and asked you to accompany him to the tomb. You readily agreed.
| Instance: Skorgrím's Tomb | [-] |
Upon arriving at the tomb, you paused, sensing something amiss. Dwalin noticed it too. A chill hung in the air, unnaturual and dark. Some great power had cast its shadow upon the place, filling the air with evil. Still, there seemed little time to waste, so together, you and Dwalin entered the tomb. There you met Gormr Dourhand, the current de-facto leader of the Dourhands in Skorgrím's absence. Dwalin tried using reason on the Dourhand, but such was his madness and evil that he ignored it completely, gleefully ambushing you time and time again with goblins and traps as you continued further and further into the tomb. At last you came to a locked gate, with Gormr on the other side. There seemed no way to proceed. Dwalin, however, knew just where to hurt Gormr: his pride.
"Gormr, you are no dwarf!" Dwalin taunted. "Hiding behind goblins and traps... You are a base coward!"
Gormr's face twisted in rage. "A coward? How dare you! I will show you the might of the Dourhands!" Turning to his subordinate, he ordered, "Open the gate!"
"But Lord Gormr, Marrec said to let no one pass...." the lesser Dourhand protested.
Gormr was positively livid. "I am in command here, not Marrec! Do as I say! Open the gate!"
"As you command...." reluctantly squeaked the other, as he operated the gate lever.
Gormr proved a worthy opponent, but between you and Dwalin, his might failed him. To the last, he remained madly loyal to Skorgrím, uttering with his final breath: "I give my life... For Skorgrím!"
Dwalin took a moment to rest then, warning that whatever lay ahead was a dark and powerful foe. Gormr had revealed earlier that they had taken an elf prisoner, and who else could it be but Elrohir? If an elf such as he could be bested, it would be a terrible foe indeed. Gormr had then said that the revived Skorgrím would take the elf's life. Clearly time was of the essence.
One final door blocked your path, crafted of sturdy oak and barred from the other side. You wondered how long it would take to break it down, and whether it would be enough time to save Elrohir, when Dwalin warned you to stand back, hefting his axe. With one mighty blow, the door lay splintered and shattered in a cloud of dust. There was no time to admire Dwalin's handywork however. You pressed on, dodging errant bolts of lightning that came from nowhere.
At last you approached the final stair. Climbing it, you found a horrid sight.
A creature like a man, ancient, dessicated, and withered, stood next to the figure of a dwarf you recognized as Skorgrím Dourhand! His eyes however, glowed with a pale, evil light. This was not the same Skorgrím who had died 600 years ago. It was something much, much worse. Another man, this one much more normal in appearance but just as evil and clad in robes stood nearby with a goblin. Elrohir was chained to a pillar off to the side.
"Fools! You have failed!" cackled the ancient, withered man. "Skorgrím returns!"
"Do not be too quick to rejoice, evil one!" countered Dwalin bravely. "Even now we drive the Dourhands out of the Blue Mountains!"
"Fool, your "victory" today matters not!" returned the dessicated creature. "We accomplished what we set out to do. Our business here is complete!" Taking Skorgrím by the shoulder, he began to lead him up out another passage. The risen dwarf wobbled unsteadily, but followed.
"I return to the north with my charge," pronounced the creature. "Marrec will deal with you and the Elf!"
"With great pleasure, my lord." obeyed the robed man, and he drew his blade to attack with the aid of the goblin. You cut them both down, but it was too late to stop the creature and Skorgrím. A portcullis had slammed shut, preventing pursuit.
Dwalin asked you to untie Elrohir while he kept a look out. As you did so, Elrohir told you a little about the creature. Its name was, "Ivar the Blood-hand" and it seemed it was a type ofbeing that did great evil long ago. They were thought to be exterminated, but clearly that was not the case.
As you left the tomb with Dwalin and Elrohir, the dwarf insisted that it was a victory: The Dourhands were driven from Thorin's Hall, and everyone would know that they were dwarves of no account. He also promised that the ruins of Edhelion would be sealed off, not to be disturbed by the honorable Longbeards. Still, the restoration of Skorgrím weighed heavily upon your heart. Talagan had given his life to end the evil dwarf's mischief, and now he was returned in a form more evil and more powerful than ever before.
Since then, you felt it your duty to stay in the area. Though Dwalin welcomed you to stay at Thorin's Hall, calling you Dwarf-friend, you decided instead to abide in the nearby fairly new elf refuge of Duillond and its nearby cousin of Celondim. Frankly, neither were much compared to Edhelion, but they were home, for a while. Two short years passed quietly before the shadow of Skorgrím loomed once more over Ered Luin.