Guide to the Lone Lands
by Reillan
We have devided this guide into 3 parts:
This guide is intended for both Solo and Full-group questing. All text intended for solo players is the standard black color, while full-group content is in red. Additionally, solo missions that are preceeded in a chain by fellowship content are listed in red. Finally, some quests marked as fellowship quests can be done single-player, and I have left these in black. I have personally done these quests on 3 completely different class types, and thus believe they can be done solo by all classes.
Phase 4: The Rest of Nature's Creatures, Next to the Potatoes
Now you'll be making way for Wargs and Birds, with a few more goblin quests for good measure. Make sure you have all of the following:
- A Clear Message (Lieva Dourlily)
- Fluffing the Pillows (Arinora)
- Hunters Become Prey (Gadaric Munce)
- Enfeebling the Foe (Old Mugwort)
If you're level 20 already, take Raising the Wargs' Ire from Old Mugwort, too.
Head east across the broken bridge, past the ruins and human camp to the north of the road, and then north into that valley. This area is rich with wargs and goblins, but don't kill the goblins yet unless you get aggro. Kill wargs as you travel north, making sure to get enough to finish Hunters Become Prey (you won't be coming back this way). Keep going until you reach some organized goblin camps. This is where Enfeebling the Foe occurs - kill goblins and use the barrels to plant your poisons. Clear all the camps, then run back and talk to Pengail. Defend him along the way. Note: Solo players, even if you clear everything in front of Pengail, you are unlikely to be able to deal with the adds. If you don't clear ahead of him, there will be absolutely no chance solo, and it's even difficult with a small group. If you manage to poison all the barrels and haven't finished A Clear Message, don't worry. Head southwest over the hill rather than due south. Along the way, kill goblins to finish A Clear Message, and kill birds to finish Fluffing the Pillows.
Run back to the Forsaken Inn. Pick up the Better Blankets quest from Arinora.
Phase 5: Infestation in Five Parts
Before leaving the Forsaken Inn, make sure you have:
- Better Blankets (Arinora)
- Raising the Wargs' Ire (Old Mugwort, if it's available)
- Earned Trust (Hunulf Munce)
- An Offering of Peace (Frederic the Eldar in OG)
- An Honourless People (Daegwalt in OG)
- Half-breed Thieves (Gestr Quicksilver in OG)
- Dour Dwarves (Refr Quicksilver in OG)
- A Plague of Spiders (Tortwil in OG)
- Venom of the Ruin-stalkers (Stanric in OG)
- Man-slayers (Frideric the Eldar)
Take a horse ride from the Forsaken Inn to Ost Guruth, but be prepared to jump off along the way. Approximately halfway between the two, just at the point where you start seeing Rich Iron nodes, there is a final hill in the road before it opens out onto a slowly sloping-down valley the rest of the way to the Trollshaws. This hill also marks the location of Lynx country and the fortress of Naerost. Jump off here (unless you need to return to OG to pick up all these quests).
Go south and kill Lynx along the way. Keep heading south until you come up to Thandobel. Watch out *very* closely that you do not go past the wall or aggro any dwarves here, as they are Elite mobs. You can grab one of the Dwarf banners outside the wall.
Head north past the road and keep keep killing Lynx to finish Better Blankets and An Offering of Peace. Don't cross the final hill into the half-orc camp, but head east until you reach the eastern end of the camp. Here you'll find a small raised platform with two levels, and stairs leading up to it on either side. This is, in my opinion, the easiest place to farm what you need for Half-breed Thieves, as they spawn in all the corners in this region (including the odd outcropping of building a few meters north). Kill any Half-Orcs who you encounter while you're picking up items, and you should be able to get the necklace for An Honourless People on one of the first few kills.
Head east out of here until you come to the spider area called Amon Ros. You may not need to enter, but farm the region just south of Amon Ros and east toward OG for spiders and Tarkrip Orcs to finish your Plague and Venom quests and Man-slayers.
Return to Ost Guruth. Turn in all these quests (not Ost Guruth to Trestlebridge) and take the followups (you should get tier-2 of your Tales of the Lonely Road). Head to the northern part of OG and talk to Hana and enter the tower to talk to Radagast. You can also turn in Loremaster in Brown here. Take any quests they offer.
Phase 6: Around the Lone-Lands in 80 Minutes
Maybe not. We'll see.
Make sure you have the following quests from Ost Guruth:
- Noisome Neighbours (Hana the Young - obtained by turning in Hana's Dream quest taken from Frideric the Eldar)
- Vol. I, Book 2, Chapter 1: The Red Swamp (Radagast the Brown)
- A Righteous Theft (Gestr Quicksilver)
- A Plague Upon Us (Stanric)
- Iron-Jaws (Frideric the Eldar)
- An Offering of Peace, Part II (Frderic the Eldar)
- Profound Losses (Tortwil)
Throughout this next part, kill wargs along the way until you complete your 3 Warg quests.
Leave West out of OG and enter Amon Ros. Destroy spider egg-sacs for Profound Losses. Leave west out of here and stay outside of Naerost until you reach the western edge of it, then hug the line of hills as you go north. On the western side of Naerost, there's a small opening in the fence line where two orcs guard two boxes. Kill these orcs and take their boxes. Head back out of the fence and go north to the next opening. Kill the two orcs on the left, then the two orcs on the right. Take the box close to the fence and *go back out*. This is the mistake I made many times before discovering this secret - you can keep getting the same boxes over and over, provided you at least pick up 3 boxes (they have the potential not to respawn unless you get 3 or more). So go back to the first opening and camp it. Chances are, orcs and boxes will already be back. Kill them, go back to the north opening. Repeat until you have 8 boxes. You may not have enough orc kills, but you can kill half-orcs to finish it up as you head south back out of here toward the road.
Once on the road, head back east until you are back in line with Ost Guruth, and head south into Ost Cyrn. Enter and look around for a body to burn and a barrel to poison (try to avoid combat until you find one). Leave to the east, and head up the hills to the Tornstones and turn in An Offering of Peace, Part II. If you're grouped, pick up Pursued by the Past.
Head north and drop down into Haragmar. Kill Nerbyg as they get in your way, but don't go out of your way hunting them (you'll be back soon). Stop at the nests for 1.2.1 until you finish that, and run back up the hill west into Ost Guruth.
Phase 7: A few last threads
Turn in everything (except Ost Guruth to Trestlebridge) and pick up the following:
- Vol. I, Book 2, Chapter 2: The Bloated Dead (Radagast the Brown)
- To Agamaur (Frideric the Eldar)
- Terror in the Sky (Stanric)
Run back east into Haragmar, killing the dead this time. Kill Nerbyg again as they get in your way. Hug the left wall and turn north when it opens up. Run into Aragmaur and turn in that quest, then run back out. Kill Nerbyg until you're finished, and kill dead as they're available. Head up the hill to the southeast for more dead (don't go up the gentle slope due east, as those are together with some elites, and there aren't a lot available. Rather, on the hill south of that, the northern-half of the hill is full of dead, too, and they're a lot easier to single out and take out). Head south down this hill and kill birds wherever you see them until you're finished with the bird quest (there are more just south of the road). Run back down the road to Ost Guruth and turn in your two quests.
Return to the Forsaken Inn and turn in Raising the Wargs' Ire. You can take the followup and do it if you want, halfway between Forsaken Inn and Ost Guruth, but be prepared to use *every* skill in your bag of tricks and still possibly die (it's a fellowship mission that I've put in the group section below).
You're now done with Solo content for a few levels. That's right, the rest of the solo content is way above your level, and so it would be at your best interests to leave the Lone Lands for a while and come back later. Fortunately, there is swift travel from Bree to Ost Guruth, so you can return quickly. Talk to Frideric and turn in the Ost Guruth to Trestlebridge quest Unless you're in a group.
Phase 8: Back to Ost Guruth
recommended level: 27
You'll probably not still be bound here, so swift travel to Ost Guruth from South Bree. Head into town if you need to and make sure you have all of the following:
- The Stone-speaker (Frideric the Eldar)
- Well-Prepared (Stanric)
- Pursued by the Past (Kekkonen, you should already have it, he's at the Tornstones)
- Vol. I, Book 2, Chapter 4: The Stone-speaker (Radagast the Brown)
Bind yourself to Ost Guruth and head east along the road. As you near the bridge into the Trollshaws, you'll see boar roaming to the south of the road. Kill them for the Well-Prepared quest. Head back to the West and head south, and you'll come to a raised area that slopes dramatically down into Harloeg. Make sure to stay on the slope. If you're solo, head slightly west but mostly due-south and when you come to the southern wall of the area, you'll see a raised landmass with a ramp up on the right side Group players can head south and west instead to go into the troll area and kill trolls for Pursued by the Past, and then come to this spot. This platform is called Ost Haer. Here you'll find Emelin and Aric the Stone-speaker. Talk to Aric to turn in The Stone Speaker and Chapter 4, and receive Chapter 5. You'll fight a couple of ghosts in the process and then receive Chapter 6, In the Gaunt-lord's Grasp. Head out to the west and into Nindor. You'll get an exploration deed. If you hug the south wall along the way, you'll quickly come to a place where you have to climb a set of steps up to a round platform. Kill Brudhraw and head back to Ost Haer. Talk to Emelin to pick up Chapter 7. Also pick up:
- The Shattered Past (Aric the Stone-Speaker)
- Fell Spirits (Emelin)
Head back to Ost Guruth (groups can turn in Pursued by the Past along the way and pick up A Brokered Peace).
Phase 9: Nothing else to do...
Take the following quests:
- Clean Water (Stanric)
- Oatmeal Problems (Hana the Young)
- Foreword to Vol. I, Book 3: Fires in the North
Now you're stuck with a fairly lengthy bit of travel. You can head out east and do Clean Water, which is at the bridge between Trollshaws and Lone Lands. I usually head out here and do this quest, then head further on east to get the Thorenhad travel location. Then ride back (or map back, if you like) to Ost Guruth, turn in that quest, and ride to the Forsaken Inn. Get the continuation of Oatmeal Problems. To turn that quest in, you'll have to go to Oatbarton (which is another guide).
By the way, if you do none of the group content, you won't finish Tales of the Lonely Road until you do turn in Oatmeal Problems in Oatbarton. That quest is #45.
We have devided this guide into 3 parts:
