Crown of Antlers

Calicia and her friends just reached level seventy, and that means it's time to upgrade their gear. That also means that it's time to upgrade their food, which is Calicia's job.

First she had to go to the farming fields and grow large quantities of black barley wheat and bilberries. Her pet cow Sue provided the fertilizer.



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Calicia has been a bit lazy about finishing her slayer deeds before moving on to a new zone. As a result, she left a number of them incomplete (which also means she's sitting on a fair sized amount of LOTRO points). Since she still needs to complete some deeds in the Trollshaws, she's teamed up with Aungar who is currently questing in that area.



It's been amusing watching these two hobbits beating up trolls and giants. They may be tiny, but they are mighty.

(Admittedly Calicia is now a much higher level than what Trollshaws is intended for, but we won't tell Aungar that. We'll let him think he's developed a strong arm and hits the enemies supernaturally hard)

When Calicia was looting the secret chest inside the Haunted Burrow this past Saturday, she was founded the Aged Deed which awards the player with a painted skeleton steed. The amusing thing is that the following day she received the Aged Deed again after looting the secret chest. Unfortunately the Aged Deed is bound to the character that loots it, so she couldn't give it to any of my alts. All she could do was throw the extra deed away.

Here is Calicia's newest pony.



Truth be told, this steed is wasted on me/my characters. If I want them to ride a Halloween themed mount I prefer for them to ride their Steeds of Gloaming Autumn. And as far as using the Skeleton Steed as a regular mount, well...it only has one hundred points of moral, making it the same quality horse/pony as the starter steeds. Calicia has far better ponies which each have either two hundred or two hundred and fifty points of morale.

And so, she trotted around the Party Tree a few times on the skeleton pony, then put it away and whistled for her Gloaming Autumn pony.

Note: The Steed of Gloaming Autumn link is to my old blog at Live Journal, so don't be surprised at the page having a different appearance.

Calicia is having far too much fun exploring the Haunted Burrow in the Shire. Now that she has bartered for the war steed cosmetics, she spent some tokens to get the "Boo" emote, which she is using in the screenshot.

Glorawenn added a Stag Totem to her front yard. Her white stag pet approves.

Here is this year's Summer Festival Steed. I like the fact that the head is mostly uncovered except for a normal looking halter/bridle.



Not only did Glorwenn barter for this steed, she also got all of the corresponding pieces for her future war-steed (except for the huge basket of sunflowers).

Edited to add: Here is Calicia with the pony version of the steed.

Glorawenn and Andranel spent all of yesterday afternoon and the early part of the evening dancing to the music of Shirefest's talented musicians. They were shocked and appalled however when the band Struck By Moonlight was joined on the stage by a strip-teasing dwarf. Thankfully the dwarf at least left his pants on. (This wasn't a troll. The song they were playing was in fact about a dwarf who liked to strip tease, and the song's lyrics including begging the dwarf to leave his pants on. So he was in fact part of the show.)



My elves may have been shocked and appalled by the stripping dwarf, but I thought it was funny, especially when other members of the audience started yelling, "MY EYES! MY EYES!"

This is another unexpected outfit and mount match.



Shoulders : Lesser Shoulder Guards of Dungost (sienna)
Chest: Lesser Breastplate of Dungost (sienna)
Legs: Lesser Leggings of Dungost (sienna)
Feet: Ceremonial Memory of the West Boots (rust)
Hands: Bracers of the Gentle Stag (sienna)
Back: Sturdy Elven Quiver (sienna)

Horse: Steed of the Yield

While browsing the items at the auction house this afternoon, Calicia found a pet cow that another player had posted for sale. Without hesitation, she handed over the required amount of gold and the cow was hers. Calicia is a happy Hobbit lass now.

I primarily write about what my First String Fellowship is doing, but the Second String Fellowship is also questing in Enedwaith right now. My warden Caladwyn is quite fond of her new mount, the Prized Gray Company Steed, which uses the same model as the Steed of the Dusk Watch, and the Prized Esteldin Horse (which is Glorawenn's favorite horse).



To be honest I wish more LOTRO steeds were like the Esteldin/Dusk Watch/Gray Company horse with just a basic saddle, saddle packs, saddle pad, and not much covering the horse's head other than the bridle. I like being able to see the actual horse and not have it entirely covered with garish trappings. The only thing I would change about this particular horse model is I would have the mane hanging down loose rather than in a tight braid.