alt="Guide to the North Downs"
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NORTH DOWNS DUNGEONS AND
INSTANCES
These are the spaces outside of the main region map but
directly connected to it. This does not include instances that are part
of the epic books or other quest chains.
DUNGEONS
These are smaller, public instanced spaces that can be entered
by anyone at anytime, with or without associated quests. North Downs
has a couple of dungeons.
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Location: Taur Gonwaith, 16.6S, 42.1W
Level Range: 32
Description: A massive cavern tucked away in the wooded
hills of Taur Gonwaith, home to many trolls and hillmen. There are very
few associated quests with this place.
Mobs: Trolls, Hillmen
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Location: Nan Amlug East, 7.9S, 33.3W
Level Range: 65
Description: A piece of Volume III Book 1 that remains
open after being explored, Tham Umdur is a cool underground city
populated by high-level baddies
Mobs: Hillmen, Angmarim
INSTANCES
These are private encounters joined via the Instance Join
panel. Currently, there is one instance in the North Downs, and it is a
doozy.
alt="Fornost" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/95131">
Get used to these sights. You'll be seeing them for a while.
Level Range: 38 - 40
Size: Fellowship
Description: The ancient seat of the Arthedain kingdom,
which fell at the hands of the Witch-King of Angmar and signaled the
end of Arnor, now gone to ruin and taken over by orcs and worse.
Quests for Fornost are available from the Free People's
Camp and random loot drops in Dol Dinen (specifically, the collar that
drops from some of the wargs there).
Tips
& Tricks
After you've drilled your way through the Great Barrows
for the hundredth time and want to take on a big group instance,
Fornost is the place to go. This is a long instance (plan for several
hours) and requires skill, patience and teamwork. Tackling this
instance on-level will prove very challenging, and players will want to
bring their A-game.
Aside from straight-up fighting, players will have to
kill sub-bosses and navigate a series of obstacles to reach the end
boss of this instance - Remmenaeg. The
dooryard of Fornost (and, verily, every other square inch of
the place) is filled with elite orcs, goblins, trolls, ghosts and other
nasties - lots of them - and many winding, convoluted paths with no
proper map to guide you along the way.
Entering Fornost will land you in the dooryard, and
fighting through the dooryard, up the stairs on the left and down the
other side, will get you into the gauntlet. Keen eyes will notice a
quest ring on the radar, and will find the crone Sara Oakheart held
prisoner in one of the pens. The old broad sure gets around... Anyway,
she wants out, and, as per usual, will aggro everything in the area.
The first boss is Megoriath, in a building past the blue
and green darkwaters floating above the marshy area just through the
gauntlet. The water in this building, and in the marshy
area before it, has a silence effect, so Minstrels will want to stay
out of the water while fighting him. The fight is not terribly
difficult - watch for the knockbacks, keep the healers out of frontal
area-effect attacks and out of the water, and everyone should be fine.
The first obstacle is Warchief Burzghash. Approaching
him will activate the goblins lining the passageway, 2 at a time, plus
archers attacking from the stairs. Take them out as they activate, then
kill the Warchief to open the gateway.
After fighting your way through an army of trolls, the
second obstacle is the pair of guards at the entrance to Barad Harn.
They're not too terrible - not moreso than other trolls of a similar
level, at least. Kill them and go inside.
Once inside Barad Harn, look for levers. These are
well-guarded, so be prepared for a fight at each one. There are 3
levers in total, and throwing all of them opens a door to the south
room, where lurks Zhurmat, an Elite Master goblin, and 4 of his pals.
When you fight him, he will summon even more goblins to his side. The
room will get pretty full, so be prepared for a fight here.
Follow the hallways past the trolls and goblins until
you get to Rhavameldir, another spirit similar to Megoriath. During
this fight, he will activate the frozen trolls and call forth some
goblin allies. Kill him quick and he will call only a few of them, but
take your time and he will call more. The longer the fight takes, the
more trolls you will have to fight.
Once you kill Rhavameldir, head out to the left. It's a
bit of a haul to the next door, down winding, narrow passages. You will
see a door to the West Gate that is locked - skip that one for now and
head to the one around the corner, Barad Narthan.
Wind your way upstairs through the orcs and goblins
until you come to a big door. There is a room with orcs and goblins and
a torch on the floor. Kill the orcs and goblins, set the idol at the
back of the room on fire (pick up a torch and approach it), then kill
the rest of the orcs around the outside of the room. Go up the stairs
and face Brogadan, another armored spirit. The edges of the room will
catch fire during the fight - try not to get knocked back into the
flames. Fighting in the middle of the room with your back to a pillar
should do the trick. Brogadan drops the key to the West Gate. Hang on
to that for later.
Head outside again and follow the rope bridges and
walkways to Minas Erain, the tall, solid tower at the back. Lots of
spirits and barghests stand in your way - plow through them and take no
prisoners. There is another sub-boss fight just before the door to
Minas Erain, an oathbreaker named Riamul, but he's nothing special.
When inside Minas Erain, go left and down if you have
the quest that starts with the collar found on wargs in Dol Dinen.
There is a chambered room filled with wargs downstairs - placing a
quest item in the bowl in the middle room starts the fight with
Krithmog. Again, nothing particularly noteworthy about this fight
except that Krithmog is tough and has adds.
As you go up the stairs, you will come to a number of
closed doors. These doors have bats behind them, which fall from the
ceiling when the doors are opened. They're not particularly tough, just
annoying.
Eventually you will reach the room of Einiora, an
Angmarim priestess with three big barghest pets. The pets will attack
first, and only one of them can take damage at a time. When all three
of these beasts are downed, Einiora will enter the fight and bring some
more Angmarim to assist. These ones aren't that tough. Take them all
out, get the Brazier Flint for the final fight and carry on out the
door at the back of the room, where you will meet Remmenaeg.
Remmenaeg is a spooky-looking armoured spirit and the
fight is difficult. The person who got the Brazier Flint from Einiora
will need to light the three braziers while everyone else fights
Remmenaeg and the adds that spawn in when the braziers are lit. The
braziers need to be lit quickly to remove Remmenaeg's massive
self-healing buff, and when all three are lit, hit him with everything.
After you kill him, you can leave the tower and head out the West Gate,
which will take you out (after killing a few more groups of orcs) near
the entrance.
(A
quick thanks and shout-out to Lengrit for his
patience and assistance!)
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