Choose my Adventure: The Great Barrow

Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!

This week on Choose my Adventure, the Massive Hobbits continued their journey through Bree-land and the Barrow-downs. Your votes last week placed them in the Great Barrow to clear the instance of undead and the evil Sambrog.

What does this week hold for the pint-sized adventurers? Vote on this week's poll, follow along on Gibbi the Hobbit's in-character portrayal and read my impressions of how the game has been going so far, all after the jump.

The next morning was dreary and the rain seemed to never stop. It was the perfect backdrop for what would become a day filled with darkness and death, although thankfully, not for Gibbi.

The Massive Hobbits kinship gathered together for their last morning in the Prancing Pony to set up a plan to further their adventures. The previous evening, when they set off to tell Strider of their success with Tom Bombadil, they were told he checked out of his room and had left in a hurry. Luckily, Gandalf was staying in another room of the inn and told them how to find the ranger. The hobbits also learned of his new name: Aragorn, and something about how he's more than just a simple ranger from the north. Of course this intrigued the group more than anything else, and they agreed that they will aid Aragorn — and Gandalf — in whatever they needed.

After a hearty first breakfast, a few members of the group spent the rest of the morning crafting weapons and armor for their new journey, while other decided they would stay back at the Prancing Pony for a bit longer.

"I have a special treat for you all." Andyna shouted gleefully, not able to keep her secret in for one more second. "I stayed up all night last night to make new armor for us all! I hope you like it!"

Of course the hobbits loved their new armor and were very thankful to Andyna for her craftsmanship and dedication. Kabbage had a similar surprise as he had crafted jewelry for the group. To top it all off, while Gibbi was finishing up one of his prized planks of Ash wood, a postman entered the Three-Farrow Craft Hall to deliver a package to Gibbi. Surprised the postman even knew where to find the traveling hobbit, he cautiously pulled back the hide-wrapped box.

Inside he found a set of the most gorgeous Yew weapons — a spear and a javelin — with a note attached to their wrappings.

"Dearest Gibbi, please accept these weapons as my part in your journey. Regretably, I cannot join you in your adventures, but the stories of your travels have spread to my small village, and I wanted to do my part. I hope you can find use with these, and it will please me to no end that my craftsmanship helped defeat even one of Sauron's minions. Safe travels my friend. Signed, Nuggy."

Well! Wasn't that a pleasant surprise! And to think the stories of Gibbi's travels have been spreading across the land? This excited Gibbi more than anything ever in his short hobbit life. How exciting is it that others know his name! He must do more! He must have more to add to these stories so he will be even more heroic!

But first, second breakfast.

During the meal, a drunken man in the corner of the inn was yelling quite loudly about a great evil in the Barrow-downs. He kept shouting the word "Othrongroth" and pointing to the west. Other patrons were trying to calm him, lest a guard or two were called, but the man persisted. He spoke of a great evil deep in what was known as the oldest and largest of the Edain burial mounds. Gibbi and his kinship had ventured into that exact mound only the day before, so he perked up his ears to listen more closely. It seems there are four great masters of undead who reside in this underground lair, and this poor man and his crew were almost completely wiped out. He also spoke of a great key that had been split in half; one belonging to each great servant of the Witch-king.

"Do you think we should go back into that place, Gibbi?" Binkylo asked.

"I think this is exactly the challenge we've been looking for!" Puckric shouted, practically standing on the table with excitement.

"Yes, I think you're right. We can do this." Gibbi agreed. "If not simply to avenge these fine soldiers, but to show that we can succeed where others have failed!"

So they set off back to the Barrow-downs and into the Great Barrows known as Othrongroth. Their excitement dwindled a bit as soon as they re-entered the darkness of the underground tomb, but they soon had no time for any thoughts than defeat of the undead.

The inn patron was certainly not telling a tale. These undead and giant spiders were some of the toughest foes that the group had encountered. Rounding a corner in the maze of tunnels, they heard some shouts that sounded like orders given to the awaiting armies. Two larger, armored wights stood at the end of the room, seemingly aware of their new guests, and not surprised.

Despite waves and waves of minions summoned by both elite masters, the hobbits were able to defeat both Gaerthel and Gaerdring with minimal effort. Curiously, they also found half of a small key made of bone among the bodies. Another indication that the drunken man was correct.

Further into the tomb maze, they came upon another great Gaunt-lord named Thadur the Ravager who was not quite as easy to take down as the undead twins were. His own waves of minions almost proved to be too much for the group, but they pulled together and were victorious once again. Among the carnage, the other half of that skull key was found by Philodoc, who was quite pleased he made the discovery.

"I've found it! The man was right! This is the key we need!" Philodoc shouted, before realizing his enthusiasm may literally wake the dead, as Gibbi's grandmother used to say.

They were also told of a small forge deeper in the cavern where they could reforge the key and make it as one, to open the chambers to the great overlord Sambrog. Defeating Sambrog would be their ultimate goal, as his death would mean an end to the undead plaguing the Barrow-downs.

With the new key forged, they set off to find Sambrog and put and end to this once and for all. Gibbi was most excited about the looks on the faces at the Prancing Pony, or even back home in the Shire, when he told of his tale. This one might even spread as far as the Trollshaws, with elves speaking his name in adoration!

The key took some effort to turn in the ancient lock, but soon opened the large wooden door. In a dark corner of the room, an undead as none they'd ever seen was resting. he lept to his feet at the sound of the door's creaks, but steadied himself and let out a bellowing laugh.

"Hobbits? I have been sent hobbits?" The gaunt-man laughed even more. "How can I create a mighty army of undead with such... such tiny bodies?"

"We're here for your head, Sambrog!" Cehrah screamed.

This made the creature stop his laughter and take a closer look at the group. "You have made it very far, and I am impressed. But unfortunately for you, this is the end of your journey. I am the lord of this Barrow, and am not intent on being removed. It is time for you to rest.... for eternity! Arise my warriors!"

At this, a great army of wights rose from the crumbled ground. The hobbits fought as they never had before, never losing hope. Gibbi kept that image in his mind of telling the story of Sambrog's death, which inspired him beyond anything else. He must not fall. Not here. Not to such evil. Even the thought of being risen from the dead to fight in Sauron's army was too much for Gibbi to even imagine.

With the conjured undead eliminated, Sambrog faced the hobbits himself. Ultimately, he was no match for the group and fell to his demise. To assure he would not arise again — and of course, for bragging rights — Kabbage severed the creature's head and covered it in a hide sack for the voyage back.

They had defeated the great evil in the Barrow-downs. They had lived, and they were going to be heroes. Gibbi was beyond words to express his joy at that moment. Nothing could top what had just happened. Nothing could possibly being a better end to their day.

Well, except for maybe pie.

Our venture into the Great Barrows was certainly a ton of fun this week. We broke into 2 groups and each did our thing quite easily, with only minimal casualties. With five side quests to be completed inside the Great Barrow, it is highly recommended for all characters in their early-to-mid 20s to give this one a shot. The XP and loot drops are well worth it, including that head of Sambrog himself.

One thing occurred to me this week. We're really kicking this game's butt. With the week-to-week voting, sometimes a few of us in the kinship are just out-leveling the quests quicker than we imagined. In fact, some of us took a run past the Forsaken Inn to Ost Guruth to complete some quests there. They were mostly yellow and orange quests, but no problem with a well-organized kinship such as ours.

So for the next installment, I'm going to challenge us a bit more. Sure, the Great Barrow was a challenge, but I'd like to make sure we can continue with yellow and orange quests when we're playing with the entire group. Then we can always go back and finish up the lower quests when we're on individually. This means Book 2 is in our sights.

Also, this weekend and next weekend I will not have access to my desktop, so there will be no Choose my Adventure for next Wednesday. The following Wednesday we should have had plenty of time to knock out whatever you can throw at us, so let the voting begin!

- Proceed with Book 2. We'll get as far as we can with Book 2 in the Lone-lands, as the level requirement starts to creep into the late 20s and we're mostly in our early/mid 20s.
- Travel northward to Trestlebridge. This includes questing in the North-downs for a change of scenery.
- Retake Weathertop. This includes completing the chain of quests that will allow us to eventually retake Weathertop.%Poll-34040%

I hope you've enjoyed this week's story and I look forward to bringing you the further adventure of the Massive Hobbits in 2 more weeks.