Forward to Journies, Again

Today I take a look at two journies that are in similar situations. In Green Lanterns #7 we see Jessica and Simon at the beginning of their time as Green Lanterns. They are new superheroes, and they haven’t even told Simon’s Mom that he’s a superhero. But even as they use their powers to bake cookies in this issue, I feel that I need to get my Warden in LOTRO out of her mundane existence. She’s been hanging out in the starting areas locked in at level 9 for too long. I need to set her back on the path to helping defeat evil in Mordor…hell, and I need to get her outta the three areas I keep running around in.


 

Baking is Superhero Business

Green Lanterns #7
With a title like Family Matters: Kitchen Nightmares, Sam Humphries and Ronan Cliquet already give me a feeling for our heroes as I expect there to be some fireworks of the more ‘uncomfortable’ kind. Trials that probably have something to do with cooking appear to be the focus of this issue. Sure enough, Simon has to bake the annual Halloween cookies and 1) he’s never done it before; 2) his mother has exacting standards, and 3) Simon has been a screwup for most of his life. She also doesn’t know that he’s a Green Lantern…doesn’t know until this issue, that is.

But that family situation makes this story feel real. I could easily see the scenario depicted and Jessica’s helping hand pushing Simon into making his mother proud. The situation at the end of the issue, though, I was not really expecting…who are the Dominators?


 

Back to the Shire

I finally made it back into Lord of the Rings Online today, and I realize it has been quite a while. I really have to be careful with things like that since I am currently playing a Warden. This class is one of the more complicated classes in the game, but since I’m only level 9, it’s not too bad yet.

I pretty much locked myself into level 9 for the past 10 or so gaming sessions since I wanted to run around in the Shire and Ered Luin before I outleveld the zones. I also wanted to rank up my Virtues before getting to more difficult stuff.

Getting back to things today, I saw that, for the time being, I had run out of quests for the area I was in. I was hanging out by Thrasi’s Lodge in Ered Luin when I jumped into the world and only had a couple of quests to finish off before I ran outta rings to chase. Now the decision was…do I wander around the area trying to find more quests or do I finally get back to making progress in the game.

As I mentioned, I had spent the past ten or so gaming sessions in these low-level areas, and I think that might have been why I had put the game on the shelf for a bit…I wanted more of a challenge.

So, I decided to ‘hearth’ back to Michel Delving and The Shire to finish off the few quests I had there before getting back to Bree.

One thing I will say about my game session today…I was happy to remember the few low-level gambits I had as a Warden. Since I’m only level 9, there isn’t too much to remember yet, but I’m glad I recalled what I had to do.

In any case, I think I’ll try to finish off what I have in the Shire tomorrow and see about getting back to Bree and the Epic Story.


 

It’s a Wrap

LOTRO is a lot of fun though I am really going over content that I’ve seen before. I never seem to get out of these few starting areas of Bree, The Shire, and Ered Luin. This time I even purchased a Tortoise Stone to keep my levels low so I can have a bit of a challenge fighting these lower-level creatures and bad guys. It’s been fun, but I am getting wanderlust, and since I am jumping back into the game for the first time in a while, I figure it’s time to move on.

I kinda feel a bit like the Lanterns in the story today in that they are still beginners with their Green Lantern powers. So new that their close family members did not even know they were superheroes. Well, I’m not a superhero, and Torreybel, my Warden, is not a baker, but she still has a lot to learn as I get back to the Shire and back to the story that makes Lord of the Rings so compelling.


Ramble 2020.01.40 | Forward to Journies, Again