Apprentice of the lore

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Ladriell, Cenlieg's apprentice, has been riding through Forochel for two days already. Her master sent poor gal to search for their fellowship to the west, where Cenlieg's raven has headed before he got stuck in wargs' den. Luckily, Ladriell found them just before the sun set, as they settled in Pynti-peldot for the night. The fellowship has entered heavy snow storm the day before, so their advance has been slow and painful.

Her friends welcomed her, but she knew there's more danger that she must face alone - master Cenlieg is a wise, but old lore-master. Hence he stayed in Kauppa-kohta, waiting for his apprentice, whom he considered dear as own daughter. She ate fine deer with their fellows and set off for a journey back, to accompany Cenlieg. No night is dark enough for Ladriell to ride through, if her dear teacher's life is endangered!

It's really hard to compete with Hymne's matching outfit for the Steed of the Lore-master - her color match is unbeatable! I also bought the mount last week when it came out (it will be available in store until August 16th) and started building an outfit around it - but damn, the blanket color is really hard to achieve with dyes. However, I love the other details - maps and scrolls are just perfect for my Eriador Cartographile :)

After a while I surrendered trying to get a perfect match and started composing something which I simply liked both matched to the horse and alone. In the end I settled for this robe, as its small details match other small details of the horse - the sleeves, the sienna patches... and thanks to metallic details, it adds a little fierceness to the whole composition (as the steed itself is very feminine and gentle).  Although some people call this robe a bath gown :), I really like it and the patterns on it.

I've always considered Forochel one of the most beautiful areas in LOTRO, but I don't think I've ever appreciated the sunset and dusk there. Today, while taking screenshots of the outfit, I managed to catch a glimpse of the wonderful lilac shadows on the land, and I felt like in paradise. I hope that it helped to underline the outfit's color scheme and derive attention away from the not-so-matching color of the robe and the horse :)

Please let me know what do you think about the outfit in comments, or simply rate below the post's title :)

Chest: Ceremonial Wandering Bard's Robe, navy dye (Skirmish cosmetics vendor - Rift light)
Head: Hat of the Learned Master, sienna dye (Ettenmoors Lore-master trader; shares similar appearance with Stone-reader's Hat)
Shoulders: Ceremonial Shoulders of the North Star, Evendim blue dye (Skirmish cosmetics vendor - Rift heavy)
Hands: Traveller's Road-worn Bracers, sienna dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Embroidered Shoes of the Dunland Healer, sienna dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Map-maker's Travel Pack, umber dye (Skirmish vendor; also available from Store)

Mount: Steed of the Lore-master (Store)

A tale of acorns and nuts

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

When Accornia and her fellow pony Nuts set off for their journey, it seemed that despite his name, Nuts was actually the sane part of the duo. "You're totally nuts," he told to his young mistress (he could, because she had a rare gift of understanding the animals). "We can't go to Forochel! Not alone! I know I've been born there, but when your uncle brought me to Hobbiton, we had traveled with a lot of other hobbits and dwarves!"

Accornia stayed firm. "I am a guardian, I will protect you. You worry too much, Nuts!" she smiled. That almost drew Nuts totally nuts: "I'm not going anywhere! The monsters roaming all the way through Evendim and Forochel are dangerous, they would surely eat us in a bite!" But all his reasoning was useless. Accornia stood with her arms akimbo and uttered: "Ok, I'm going alone then!"

Of course, Nuts couldn't let her go. They were equally old, sixteen, but while a pony is already experienced and wise at that age, a hobbit is still just a kid. So they traveled together through Shire first, passed Oatbarton, Dwalling and dangers of Men Erain, until they finally entered Forochel. They hadn't met a single evil beast, except for one angry squirrel enraged by their presence. "What a relief," Nuts thought just before they met his family and Accornia's distant relatives. "We haven't been devoured after all!"

I don't think I have ever considered using crafted medium armour from the Lossoth before, because of the dull undyable navy parts. Exactly the same parts I now knew I gotta use to match the Steed of the Forochel! I think it's pretty difficult to build a matching outfit around, because its fur is deep black on the bottom and blueish-grey under the blanket. On top of that, the blanket itself is rust and Evendim blue... hardcore combination, for everyone besides the Lossoth themselves :)

This outfit is not aiming to be pretty, but rather promotes usability and tries to fit the environment. I'm happy I won the Forochel pony on a hobbit, because hobbit girls are the best models for fluffy Forochel cloaks, which make them look totally adorable. And when I was going through the screenshots I took and saw the topmost one, I immediately had the story of acorns and nuts in my mind :))

Please let me know what do you think about the outfit in comments, or simly rate below the post's title :)

Chest: Burnished Dunlending Chestpiece, black dye (Dunland quest)
Shoulders: Leijona Shoulder Guards, black dye (T5 crafted)
Hands: Leijona Gloves, black dye (T5 crafted)
Feet: Leijona Gloves, black dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Cloak of Mammutti, navy dye (Lossoth reputation barter)

Mount: Steed of Forochel (Anniversary event)

Emotes:
./mountrearup
./hail

Note: The night/late watches screenshots were brightened and saturated to achieve the same colour palette as the daylight screenshots.

Guest: Brrokk of Snowbourn

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Brrokk often goes prospecting in the Ice-Bay of Forochel or the Misty Mountains. While in those cold places, he sometimes sees other people acting very strangely. Running about in the snow in thin, insubstantial garments! They invite hypothermia and they won't be so merry when the pointed tips of their ears freeze! Brrokk believes in keeping warm, and here is how he does it.

Chest: Snow-dusted Travelling Robe, umber dye (Yule festival)
Shoulders: Snow-dusted Travelling Shoulders, umber dye (Yule festival)
Hands: Scaled Gloves of Fate, white dye (World drop; many vendor sold gloves are good replacement)
Feet: Boots of the Seven Fathers, default dye (World drop; Brrokk says: "Other boots would do, as long as they grip well on ice.")
Back: Ceremonial Cloak of Ajokoira, default dye (T5 crafted)
Beard: black

Wish: Matching outfit for the Steed of the Rune-keeper

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

I was very honoured when Ketani, a Casual Stroll to Mordor's contributor asked me for an advice with outfitting. I know that she is a person with very good fashion taste herself (one of her Yule outfits also placed high in our Yule Outfit Contest 2011). She won a Steed of the Rune-keeper for her lovely elven lady Prolixity. Although she usually has outfits which match her mounts very well, this time she was struggling to find the right combination. She sent me her temporary horse-matching outfit, where she went for complimentary white (which can never spoil anything :).

This was already a decent outfit in my opinion, but Ketani was far from satisfied with coordination of the outfit with the horse. She also sent me a few pictures of other horse-matching outfits she wore, and I realized they were really much more superior to this one. She was also looking for the outfit to be usable in battle situations (not only while showing off the pretty mount :) and wanted the back of the outfit to be interesting. Well, character's back is what we generally see the most ingame :) However, cloak wouldn't work because of heavy luggage the horse is carrying. Ketani also mentioned she's not looking for an exact match to the mount's colour scheme, because that would be most probably impossible, so we were considering complimentary shades most of the time. I sent her first two designs:

    

I used the Sage's Pack because it was fitting for a rune-keeper, interesting and not "too long" as a cloak would be. With the robe, I was hoping to reach a complimentary shade to the horse, but as I don't have this steed myself, I could compare only to screenshots. Ketani tried these two out and unfortunately, the colours were quite far from matching. However, Ketani liked the idea of using a robe and found the wonderful Great Hoary Aurochs Robe:

We discussed the colour scheme a bit in e-mails and Ketani mentioned she is willing to try out any colour except for yellow and turquoise. Despite avoiding turquoise, she mentioned she likes sea blue. As she mentioned it, it clicked to me, tried this dye on the robe and thought it really worked well! So I sent Ket a modification of her design and also different robe stylized in a similar way (but this was more colourful and striking):

    

Ketani tried the third design (aurochs robe in sea blue) and found out the colours worked really well with the horse! From this design, she changed bracers I used for fingerless gloves and the final version of the outfit was born :)

This outfit consists of:
Chest: Great Hoary Aurochs Robe, sea blue dye (T5 crafted)
Head: (Lesser) Arrow of the West Helmet, umber dye (Ost Dunhoth hunter level 65 set)
Shoulders: Fated Westfold Campaign Shoulders Pads, umber dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Fingerless Gloves, umber dye (Yule festival)
Feet: Strong Westfold Battle Boots, sea blue dye (T7 crafted)
Back: Sage's Pack, white dye (Store)

Ketani also built a version of this outfit to wear in town when she feels like wearing a cloak. In this modification, it becomes a beautiful feminine winter outfit.

In this version, Ket used circlet Hat of the Ancient Tongue (part of Mirkwood rune-keeper set), Warm Winter Cloak (Yule festival reward) and dyed the items purple.


And now, a final view of the outfit on the beautiful, yet unmatchable horse :))

Please let us know what do you think of the result! :)

Winners of the Yule Outfit Contest 2011!

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

I am pleased to announce that Hymne, Devonna and me have finished judging this year's Yule Outfit Contest entries and have chosen the winners! :)

(If you're interested only in the winners, please scroll down for details on 1st, 2nd and 3rd place!)

As an opener, let me show you a submission we chosen to award honorary mention of the contest. We have received a submission from a whole kinship, the Lonely Mountain Band of Laurelin, who organized their Yule party wearing wonderful winter costumes. They are absolutely adorable and I'm a little jealous of all the fun these wonderful bunch has had :) We couldn't consider them as ordinary entry competing for the prizes, but they deserve a lot of your attention for their creativity!

Judging the entries was incredibly hard, but also fun job. We received over 150 submissions, most of them very beautiful. Each of us, the outfit bloggers, chose 3 of our favourite outfits to be rated by all of us in the grand finale of TOP 9 entries. These were rated by awarding 1 to 5 points in each category based on following criteria:

• Representative of the Yule or Winter theme and spirit
• Originality of the overall design
• Integration of the various pieces used
• Blending of dye colours
• Overall impression

So each outfit could obtain maximum of 75 points from Hymne, Devonna and myself. The TOP 3 which gained the highest score are our winners.

The only sad point of this contest, at least for me, was having to disqualify entries which did not follow contest rules (most often the screenshot resolution was much less than 1024x768). Two of the entries which would otherwise end up in the TOP 9 had to be disqualified because of this. So people, pretty please, next time we organize a contest, read the rules carefully! :))

And now to the merriest news - these are the 3 winners of our contest! :)

1st prize: 1550 TP code (sponsored by the outfit blogs) goes to Vindrayeth of Snowbourn! His very original and well matched outfit amazed us!

His outfit consists of:

Chest: Hauberk of Rhûn, sea blue dye (Store)
Head: Ceremonial Mammutti Helm, sea blue dye (T5 crafted)
Shoulders: Yule Scarf, white dye (Yule festival)
Hands: Oven Mitts, white dye (Skirmish barter - Rift cosmetics)
Feet: Ceremonial Mammutti Boots, sea bue dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Elk-Hunter's Pack, white dye (Store)

2nd prize: 1000 TP code (sponsored by Turbine) goes to Jerremiah Jamtoes of Laurelin! This outfit proves the beauty lies in simplicity and that a decent hobbit can be well protected against the cold, yet still unbelievably stylish! :)

His outfit consists of:

Chest: Dunlending's Hunting Jacket, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Shoulders: Tactical Assault Westfold Shoulder Pads, burgundy dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Leather Bracers of the Gentle Stag, sienna dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Torahammas' Cloak, burgundy dye (T5 crafted)

3rd prize: 500 TP code (sponsored by Turbine) goes to Elyata of Gladden! Her outfit is one of the most elegant battle-ready outfits I've ever seen and combines very unusual pieces together into demonstration of feminine elegance. Feeling of warmth and star details on the hauberk just add to the festive feeling.

Her outfit consists of:

Chest: Hauberk of the Mirrormere, Rivendell green dye (Store)
Hands: Scorched Ox-Hide Gauntlets, crimson dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Nightshade Boots, crimson dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of the Mallorn, Rivendell green dye (Store)

The rest of TOP 9:

Kemendin of Nimrodel
(front view and used items)

Frathluin of Riddermark
(front view and used items)

Ehefkae of Elendilmir
(front view and used items)

Diamint of Vilya
(front view and used items)

Twolegs of Landroval
(front view and used items)

Kiayiren of Evernight
(front view and used items)

Devonna of Lotro Stylist prepared a Flickr slideshow of all entries we've received (including the TOP 9), so feel free to check them all and get heavily inspired for your own winter outfit! :)

Big congratulation to the winners, who have already received their Turbine points codes. Do you like the winning outfits? Please let us (and especially the authors!) know in the comments.

Battling the blizzard

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Phloxie is enjoying the holiday spirit, but even in the merry times, she likes to be engaged in a little fighting. As a true warden, her heart jumped of joy when she heard Frostbluff needs driving off some frost grims to protect the poor who were forced to move outside the town walls. Dressed appropriately to resist the freezing cold, she gave the blizzard some good tanking and spanking. People of Frostbluff were so happy and grateful they invited her for some mulled wine and they sang a lot of carols together to celebrate the victory over the cold. And Phloxie was star of the show once again :)

Usually when I'm checking out items' appearance on auction hall on my hobbit main, I'm disappointed, because many items don't really 'shine' on hobbits. However, this chest piece and leggings combo got me excited immediately - altogether it makes hobbit girls look so much slimmer and taller! Paired with a furry hooded cloak, which is absolute guarantee of cuteness on hobbit lass, I like the result this festive outfit gives. The rolled up sleeves don't entirely help winter look, but I have an excuse - a good fight and a little bit of mulled wine can really make any hobbit feel very warm! :)

Do you like the outfit? Please let me know in comments!

Chest: Arth-crus, Rivendell green dye (Drop from Update 5 instance cluster)
Legs: Rhuvel-socas, dark green dye (Drop from Update 5 instance cluster)
Shoulders: Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, white dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Reinforced Leather Dunlending Gauntlets, red dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, red dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Bearskin Winter Cloak, white dye (Store)

The Little Match Girl

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

"Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening-- the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast."

Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl

The Little Match Girl is a very sad story and I don't really want to make Sidgrid bring it alive (I equipped her with warm headgear, boots and mittens to be sure!). I was even hesitating about using it for the title and the introduction, as this outfit isn't truly shabby, except for the cap. In the end I decided to mention it, as I wanted to express that I like the concept of Christmas in LoTRO - how they made us choose between helping poor people and gaining no fancy rewards on the first sight, and obtaining beautiful cosmetics for the cost of letting poor Little Match Girl suffer.

The cloak is one of two new Yule festival cloaks. I had opportunity to play through this year's Yule festival for the first time today and this cloak seemed to be less used compared to the other one, despite its beauty. I think the reason are undyable parts of dull pink and grey (only the ornaments change colour upon dying). The "dull pink" is exactly the shade which most of cosmetics usually dye in rose, and therefore are very rarely used in this colour (even for girly outfits). This gave me wonderful opportunity to create a match which hopefully pleases the eye even though the shades aren't really popular :)

Do you like the outfit? Please let me know in comments!

Chest: Burnished Dunlending Chestpiece, rose dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Shabby Stocking Hat, default dye (Yule festival)
Shoulders: Fated Westfold Campaign Shoulders Pads, rose dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Oven Mitts, grey dye (Skirmish barter - Rift cosmetics)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, grey dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Warm Winter Cloak, default dye (Yule festival)

Fleet Foot

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

It was a freezing morning in Ered Luin and Phloxie was hurrying to Gondamon, hoping to buy lovely Yule presents for her friends. Suddenly, she noticed quick shimmer of bright white fur between the pine needles in the forest. She came closer with curiosity and was left speechless - in front of her there stood a sparkling white goat, peacefully staring at the little hobbit girl. After a while of getting closer to each other, Phloxie knew she could tame the goat, gave her a warm red blanket as a saddle and started calling her Fleet Foot. Fleet Foot seemed to understand her name, because as they ran to Gondamon together, she was trying hard to be the fastest goat ever seen by hobbits or even dwarves. But Phloxie didn't care - she was happy she found the best Yule present for herself, a good animal friend.

I was lucky to win the Fleet-footed Goat in a flash lottery on Friday for my baby warden, Phloxie. In my opinion, it's the most beautiful goat mount currently present ingame - its fur is sparkling white and it's equipped with bright red blanket, little gems and cute metal wings. I wanted to make an outfit to match this extraordinary mount, and I used its christmasy colour scheme.

You can still win the Fleet-footed Goat all weekend long in lotteries, before it comes to store. Please don't forget to let me know if you like the goat, and the outfit as well :), in the comments.

Chest: Reinforced Leather Dunlending Jacket, white dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Yule Stocking Cap, red dye (Yule festival)
Shoulders: Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, red dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: Reinforced Leather Dunlending Gauntlets, red dye
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, red dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Yule Hoodless Cloak, red dye (Yule festival)
Mount: Fleet-footed Goat (coming soon to the store)

Guest: Cookiereth of Withywindle

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Cookiereth, a proud lore-master of Withywindle, has long been watching her friends' beautiful armours with a bit of grief. She could withstand some beating even when dressed lightly - imagine how resilient would she be in a proper battle garb! With discovery of wardrobe, she was finally able to make her dream come true and become a dangerous battle lore-master ready to march to war. She will never hide in the back lines, let the enemies come!

Chest: Armour of the Gloom-bane, Evendim blue dye (Champion Rift level 50 teal set)
Legs: Secret of the West Leggings, default dye (Burglar Ost Dunhoth level 65 teal set)
Head: Secret of the West Helmet, default dye (Burglar Ost Dunhoth level 65 teal set)
Hands: Secret of the West Gauntlets, default dye (Burglar Ost Dunhoth level 65 teal set)
Feet: Boots of the Gloom-bane, Evendim blue dye (Champion Rift level 50 teal set)

Shadow of the night

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

A mysterious lady, accompanied only by her horse and snow-white lynx, recently arrived in the night's midst to Great Lodge of Sûri-kylä and requested immediate audience with Lossoth chieftain, Council Elder Yrjänä. Dressed warm for the freezing chill of Forochel winds, she still seemed a little exotic even to southerners traveling by. One of the visiting elves knew her and whispered to his companion: "She looks like one of the Rhûnen ambssador's companions, remember, in the harbours!" The lady disappeared right after her discussion with the chieftain, still covered by shadow of the night, and only the strange feeling of noble presence was left in those she passed by.

This outfit is basically remastered winter version of Lady of Rhûn outfit I decided to make after Hymne shared her discovery that we can put Ettenmoors armour into our wardrobe as well (we just need tradable Spirit Stones to barter for them). I've been in love with this lore-master's hat since I first saw it on My Precious blog, so I must have got it immediately for my lore-master, who is slowly approaching level 50 :)



How do you like this outfit? Please, leave your feedback in comments!

Chest: Herald's Armour, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Legs: Clanweave Leggings, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Hat of the Learned Master, burgundy dye (Ettenmoors Lore-master trader; shares similar appearance with Stone-reader's Hat)
Shoulders: Disused Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: (August) Resilient Gauntlets of the Golden Wood, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Embroidered Shoes of the Dunland Healer, burgundy dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of the Algraig, burgundy dye (Store)

Guest: Vindrayeth of Snowbourn

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

This is a submission I actually asked for when I saw Vindrayeth hanging out in Shire one day. Just one glance at him immediately caught my attention - this outfit is so cheerful, unique and mysterious at the same time. Magical place like Peaceful Glade just underlines the atmosphere, as well as matching goat :)

Chest: Ceremonial Mammutti Armour, sea blue dye (T5 crafted)
Legs: Clanweave Leggings, sea blue dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Makeshift Ranger Mask, sea blue dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)
Shoulders: Far Arrow's Shoulders, sea blue dye (Hunter Mirkwood level 65 purple set)
Hands: Far Arrow's Gauntlets, sea blue dye (Hunter Mirkwood level 65 purple set)
Feet: Far Arrow's Boots, sea blue dye (Hunter Mirkwood level 65 purple set)
Back: Cloak of Shadow and Flame, sea blue dye (Quest: Quest: Vol. II, Book 6, Chapter 8: New Devilry - rare drop from last boss; ceremonial version in Store)

Winter revelry

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Freyjuska has recently gained a lot prestige among Dunlending folk and even Théodred's riders, by driving off enemy forces and helping those in need. She decided to give herself a well-deserved break from serious business and get some past time for herself only. Freyjuska went on a good old fashioned hunt to her favourite district - Forochel, which always shimmers with northern light and evokes peace and serenity.

Again, I encouraged you, dear readers, to dress up in a winter outfit, and my own beloved lil' hobbit has been left neglected. Until now. After doing many skirmishes for superior 4th marks, I was left with tons of campaign marks and decided to find a decent use for them. I've never been a big fan of skirmish cosmetic rewards (especially hauberks), but sometimes just the right colour or combination is necessary to fall in love with an attire - and this happened to me just today.

I made so many action screenshots I couldn't decided which one to use as an opening picture. So I apologize for screenshot spam - I've decided to include those I liked the most. I don't usually dress up Freyjuska a lot (for some mysterious reason unknown to me, because she's adorable and I love her!) and when I do, I overenjoy it a bit :)

How do you like this outfit? Please, leave your feedback in comments!

Chest: Decorative Hauberk, purple dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)
Hands: Burnished Dunlending Gauntlets, purple dye (Dunland quest reward)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, purple dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Feathered-Cloak of the North-men, purple dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)

Inspiration: Saint Nicholas

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Tomorrow's morning will be very special for all children in my country (and let's face it, us adults love this feast too :)). Saint Nicholas, called Mikuláš in Slovak and Czech, will be bringing delicious sweets and candies to all the baby hobbits who have been good for the past year. Those who have been bad should receive chuck of coal from the devil, but who knows - maybe even them will find something tasty in their polished boots placed on the windowsill :)

I couldn't resist posting this outfit, although I'm not satisfied with this composition very much. It would be so much easier to make Santa Claus using LoTRO cosmetics, but I wanted to portrait our European St. Nicholas. The tradition of him bringing little treats to those who deserve them is based on a beautiful legend, starring good-hearted Greek bishop Nikolaos of Myra:

"Legend says: a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest to help the man in public (or to save the man the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the man's house."

Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas

Mikuláš, Middle-European version of St. Nicholas

In Middle Europe, Mikuláš travels accompanied by an angel and a devil and continues in doing good deeds of his predecessor. I'm very happy that we still keep this beautiful tradition. Today on my way from work, I had opportunity to watch many St. Nicholases, angels and devils visiting little children and making them rejoice. And I rejoiced silently too :)

Chest: Survivor's Robe, white dye (Quest: Vol. II, Book 1, Chapter 8: Before the Doors of Durin)
Head: Scholar's Hat, red dye (T4 crafted)
Hands: Oven Mitts, white dye (Skirmish cosmetic barter)
Feet: Ajokoira Shoes, red dye (T5 crafted)
Back: Yule Hoodless Cloak, red dye (Yule festival)

Explorer of ancient ruins

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Khamrad, a scholarly rune-keeper, is one of the few dwarves who are more interested in ancient parchments and relics than axes and blood. Often he sets off from Thorin's Hall before the dawn, just to get to one of his favourite hidden spots soon enough to be undisturbed and watch beautiful sunrise there. He believes that he can project the wisdom he gains from his explorations into the power of his runes, and so far it's proven right. Disguised under the raven mask, he has brought death upon many enemies of the Free People, as well as saved many lives of his fellows. Power is in knowledge, he says, and we can only agree.

For me, this outfit serves multiple purposes. First of all, it's my personal reclamation of Robe of Viisaus after its redesign. Although I liked the original robe much more, I have to admit I've made peace with the new version also, as it makes perfectly intricate rune-keeper's attire. Secondly, I don't think I've ever used the Raven's Mask obtainable in the Fall festival in my outfits. This was my big impediment, because it is probably the most easily available face-covering headgear ingame. And thirdly, I feel I neglected dwarves and rune-keepers badly since release of Isengard, so this is my sorry to all of you, dear dwarven fellows :) Stay tuned for more outfits coming!

Chest: Robe of Viisaus, burgundy dye (Quest: Vol. I, Book 13, Chapter 4: The Hand of Angmar; also available in Store - ceremonial version)
Head: Raven Festival Mask, burgundy dye (Fall festival)
Shoulders: Vibrant Calenard War Pauldrons, burgundy dye (T7 crafted)
Hands: Steadfast Westfold Campaign Gloves, , umber dye (T7 crafted)
Feet: Weathered Leather Scout's Boots, umber dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of the Algraig, burgundy dye (Store)

Northern light

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Ladriell is currently venturing thought cold lands of Forochel, slowly gaining the trust of its distant people. She and her companions run errands for the Lossoth, help them with provisions in these fierce long nights and in the meantime, admire beautiful northern lights shining up the sky and showing hope in the future. Sometimes just one look at sky above Jä-rannit makes Ladriell's heart rejoice.

I fell in love on the first sight with this year's festival cloak. It is so beautiful and rough at the same time, although its violet and golden shades are hard to combine. I rarely use violet dye, but this time it was perfect - I aimed for gentle, feminine, yet very protective outfit for my lore-mistress. Do you like it? Please let me know in comments :)

Chest: Tattered Robe of the Dunland Sage, violet dye (Dunland quest) 

Shoulders: Vibrant Calenard War Pauldrons, violet dye (T7 crafted) 
Hands: Heavy Plated Dunlending Gauntlets, violet dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Embroidered Shoes of the Dunland Healer, grey dye (Dunland quest)
Back: Cloak of Autumn Nights, default dye (Fall festival)