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“Damming the Flow”
A design doc for “The Lord of The Rings Online”
Revision 1.0
© 2008 Justin Pappas.
Revision History
Background…………………………1
High Concept……………………….2
Monsters …………………………...2
Trash Encounters…………………...3
Interactives…………………………3
Risk vs. Reward …………………..4
Walkthrough ………………………4
PART 1, “The Banks of the Isen”….5
PART 2 “The Training Arena”…….5
PART 3, “The Dunlender Tunnels”..7
Art Requests ………………………11
Background
This 60 minute instance is designed to be played by a small fellowship containing a burglar. This instance is the first in the “Defending the Riddermark” line, each requiring the skills of a particular class. Players discover tunnels leading from Isengard, set up as a staging area for a Dunlender attack on Edoras. The tunnels are uncovered after players investigate the source of a poison flowing down the Isen and into the water supplies of the people of Westfold. As players explore the tunnels they uncover Saruman’s plans to dig tunnels under all of Rohan for quick and unseen movement of his spies. Players smoke the Dunlenders out of the tunnels and enlist the help of the Rohirrim to finish off the fleeing warriors. Burglars are the stars of this mission and must sneak ahead of the rest of their fellowship to extinguish torches allowing the rest of the fellow to sneak by guards in the darkness.
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-Support columns.
There are support columns that hold up the ceilings of the tunnels leading away from the central structure. Once players have collected saws from the tower in the staging area they can destroy the support columns, sealing off side tunnels that Dunlenders could use to escape the smoke.
-Material piles
These are piles of wood left behind intended to be used to build supports and walls for the tunnels. On the way out of the tunnels players need to set fire to five of these material piles.
-Horn of the Rohirrim
When players reach the top of the tower at the center of the staging area they need to use their “Horn of the Rohirrim” to summon the riders, and begin the timer that counts down the minutes till the rider’s arrival.
-Gong alarms
There are gong alarms throughout the tunnels. Players can shoot these with ranged weapons causing patrolling groups to run to the gongs. If players are seen by patrolling groups they will sound the gong and summon an Uruk Overseer.
-Torches
Torches burn across the halls from gong alarms. When the gong alarms have been activated, burglars need to sneak in behind the gathered guards to extinguish the torches so the rest of the fellowship can pass.
-Players can choose to fight the patrollers out in the open in which case they will fight three enemies (two Dunlend warriors and one Dunlend Worker) with the chance of them sounding the alarm and summoning an Uruk Overseer. OR they can send in the burglar to extinguish the torches, which will make the fight easier, but if the burglar is caught, there is no way it will survive against the three Dunlenders and the Uruk, and the fellowship will loose their burglar. The fellowship will need to return to the start of the instance to help the defeated burg pass through the Warg scouts.
To make this instance available players will need to have completed a quest line given by king Théoden, thereby earning his trust, free reign over his lands, and his “Horn of the Rohirrim” which allows you to summon Rider’s of Rohan in times of great need. The horn can only be used at specific hotspots throughout the Riddermark. King Théoden leads the players to Westfold with his final words,
Théoden: “Rise now, warriors and defenders of the mark. Take thee this Horn of the Rohirrim and ride now to Westfold. Assist the folk there, for they have seen much hardship. We have been far too dilatory in sending help after the attack from Isengard and forces of the white hand now move freely across our lands, but there is still hope that we may stem this tide if we act quickly. Go now, make haste to Westfold!”
Once at the smoking, ruined town of Westfold the player finds that many of the people there have fallen deathly ill, not from wounds or burns but from some unknown sickness. If the player talks to a women collecting water from a tributary of the Isen then they get the quest that leads them into the instance.
Bucket Women: “I simply collect water from the river and bring it to the tavern. I have been staring into this water long enough to know that it isn’t for drinking, but the tavern keep pays me no mind. Now they’re all sick and I am well. Collecting rain water is hard work, but it has kept me healthy. We haven’t had rain in so long that soon I too will have to turn to the waters of the river. Perhaps you and your fellows could make your way upstream along the banks of the Isen to find out where this new “poison” is coming from? I am sure the tavern keep will count you among his friends if you can cure the waters of the Isen and his friends get an adjusted price at his table!”
Quest: Damming the flow
Objective: Find the source of the poison
Players now can follow the river upstream eventually coming to a narrow pass that the river cuts through; by entering this pass the players enter the instance.
PART 1, “The Banks of the Isen”
Players are met with a clear view of the plains of Rohan, if they wander too far out of the instance boundary there is a message instructing them to stay close to the river bank. As the players progress north they can start to see streaks of brown and red in the water. Here players are attacked by roving Warg Scouts, which are easy to defeat in a group, difficult to defeat solo. Far to the north players need to cut through another narrow pass.
PART 2 “The Training Arena”
After coming through the pass, the players find themselves in a large depression of land, at the center is a large circular structure, built right into the banks of the river. Players enter the structure to find that it is an arena where two Uruk Overseers are training Dunlenders to fight. Approaching the locked gate triggers the drama.
Uruk Overseer 1: One of you scabs come down here!
A Dunlender enters the arena with no weapon.
Uruk Overseer 1: Come at me, worm.
Dunlender: But, sir…I have no blade.
Uruk Overseer 1: Are you afraid, whelp? Come at me, or by Sharku I will make a stool of your bones.
The Dunlender approaches the Uruk tentatively. The Uruk violently smites the Dunlender with his cleaver. The other Uruk laughs heartily.
Uruk Overseer 1: And the lesson learned?
Uruk Overseer 2: Never approach a fighting Uruk Hai without a weapon!
The two Uruks pridefully guffaw.
Uruk Overseer 1: Get this dullard out of my site.
Two Dunlenders collect the body and drag it to the rivers edge and throw it in. The gate to the arena opens.
Players can now enter the arena. Upon entering they are attacked by two waves of Dunlenders (see “trash encounters” section) and the Uruks run inside to get the Uruk Fight Master.
Boss Type: Uruk
Encounter Type: Boss Battle
The Uruk Fightmaster is the arena’s lead trainer. He comes out of the tunnels with the two Uruk Overseers after the Dunlender waves are defeated.
Uruk Fightmaster: What’s this? Some nasty little piglets come to seek my training? Show em’ what I’ve taught yah, boys!
The two Uruk Overseers rush the fellowship while the Uruk Fightmaster range attacks. When the two Uruk Overseers fall the fightmaster jumps in the ring and draws a cruel looking cleaver.
Uruk Fightmaster: A handful of worthy students it seems, but I’d rather have your soft skins for the curing barrel!
As the Uruk fight leader dies he runs to the river, where a pile of corpses from the arena choke its flow.
Uruk Fightmaster: Let my blood, too, poison the waters of your pretty river.
The Uruk falls onto the pile of bodies and the pile begins to flash. Players can now select the pile which updates the quest.
New Objective: Find out where all these Dunlenders are coming from.
Players can now enter the tunnels north of the arena, when they do the objective updates again.
New Objective: Explore the depths of the Dunlender tunnels.
Find evidence of what the Dunlenders are up to.
PART 3, “The Dunlender Tunnels”
Upon entering the tunnels players can see that they are in a large rickety network of underground wooden walkways. There are many blocked off tunnels that disappear into the darkness under the Riddermark and suggest that this place is larger than what is immediately seen. Players make their way through the tunnels by using ranged weapons to ring gongs, then sending in burglars to sneak behind distracted mobs and extinguish torches. Halfway through the tunnels there is a map on a wall that details plans to dig tunnels that go everywhere under the plains of Rohan, with one big tunnel leading right to Edoras.
Finding this map completes the secondary objective of “Find evidence of what the Dunlenders are up to.”
As players continue deeper into the tunnels they get to a large room where they can enter a tower.
Entering this room causes the quest objective, “Explore the depths of the Dunlender tunnels.” to update.
New Objective: Climb the tower and call for the aide of the Rohirrim.
Destroy tributary tunnel supports.
Burn material piles
Smoke out the Dunlenders.
Now the player can climb the tower, which rises up and out of the ground. From the top players can see much of the mark and almost make out the distant spires of Orthanc. Here players can sound their “Horn of the Rohirrim” and a timer begins counting down the ten minutes until the Rohirrim’s arrival. This completes the objective “Climb the tower and call for the aid of the Rohirrim”
Players now must make their way back down the tower, opening chests and obtaining saws from within. When players exit the tower the Dunlend Warlord is waiting for them.
Boss Type: Dunlender
Encounter Type: Boss Battle
The warlord has sword and shield at the ready and seems to have been waiting for you. His face is painted bright with war paint and his eyes are grim, remembering the history of his people.
Dunlend Warlord: SO! You have come on behalf of the straw heads? Wandering our halls as if they are your own? Helm Hammerhand will turn somersaults in his grave when he sees Dunland retake the plains as our rightful homes once more.
Dunlend workers emerge from the darkness and take hold of the fellowship, (root) two Dunlenders per fellow member. The burglar is left to fight the warlord alone.
Dunlend Warlord: You, thief! You sneaking rat! You were instrumental in allowing some of my best men to be killed! Taking them in the dark like a coward and a cheat! Here I can see you quite clearly and here you will fall, rat!
Here the burglar has to fight the Dunlend warlord on his own or he can attack the Dunlend workers. If two of the Dunlend workers holding a member of the fellow fall, then that member is released.
Once the warlord falls, players need to make their way to the exit in time to meet the Riders. But along the way they need to seal tunnels by using the saws on the tunnel supports, or they will be over run by Dunlenders before they exit. Players will also need to light “Material Piles” on fire to smoke the remaining Dunlenders out of the tunnels.
If players do not make it to the exit in time to meet the Rohirrim, then they are overrun by Dunlenders and blocked from exiting the tunnels.
When players exit the tunnels in time they are met by a line of waiting Rohirrim. As Dunlenders and Uruks begin pouring out of the tunnels, hacking and coughing, the lead guard of the Rohirrim (Eomer?) tells you to get behind the line and dispatch any enemies that break through.
The players get behind the line of Rohirrim and can hear the slaughter of the escaping Dunlenders. A few Dunlenders and Uruks break through the line. These escaped enemies are weakened by the smoke and by the Rohirrim and can be “one shotted”. Allowing these enemies to be “one shotted” will add an increased sense of victory in slaughter to this moment.
Once the battle has subsided and the last enemy is killed the Rohirrim gather around you and your fellows. The captain of the Rohirrim addresses you.
Captain: Thank you travellers! I was not sure what we were riding into but we came at the horn call. How came you to this place? I’m sorry you must be tired, hop on, and you can spin your tale as we ride back to Westfold.
Players must talk to the captain again to leave the instance and fast travel to Westfold.
