Guest: Fazlee of Landroval

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{[["☆","★"]]}

People of North-downs have been afflicted by wargs for long years. Only the young and mighty could travel the broad fields alone, others were easy prey and had to pass by in groups. Luckily, a warden from southern lands passed through the land one day and decided he has to do something about the situation. He managed to kill tens of wargs and drive off every one he has seen, and later patrolled at night to make sure they are not coming back. His mission was successful and people of North-downs are once again safe, at least for this season.

Fazlee's outfits are always unique and exotic. He hasn't broken the trend in this case and prepared very fitting outfit for his warden. I have never seen this chest piece used so well! I'm already looking forward to seeing next outfit from Fazlee, and hope you guys feel the same :)

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

Chest: Esquire's Medium Shirt of Naillan, white dye (Skimish medium armor barterer; shares appearance with Dwarf Leather Shirt available from dwarven medium armor vendors)
Legs: Tavol-socas, sienna dye (Fangorn's Edge Tier 2 drop)
Head: Lesser Arrow of the West Helmet, red dye (Ost Dunnoth level 65 hunter set)
Shoulders: Shoulder-guards of the Eastern Wind, umber dye (Odothuilan skirmish level 75 drop; shares appearance with hunter's level 60 set)
Hands: Cadarn-Durnvol, umber dye (Pits of Isengard drop)
Feet: Fine Grey Company Boots, umber dye (Quest: Volume III, Book 5, Chapter 1: Separate Ways)
Back: Warden's Pack, default dye (Outfitter vendor)

A tale of acorns and nuts

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{[["☆","★"]]}

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.

Winter revelry

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{[["☆","★"]]}

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)

Brave cub of the East

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{[["☆","★"]]}

Phloxie has never cared much about clothes. She is a warden and wardens value utility above everything else - even she as a hobbit prefers protective and flexible attire to fancy mathomy robes. Yet when she saw travelling merchant's goods in Oatbarton, she didn't hesitate for a second and bought this armour. The merchant said he bartered for the leggings and helmet in Celondim harbour (which has been frequently visited by travellers from Rhûn). Phloxie's wary guess is that he'd rather stolen it, but who cares - now, the armour will bear the blood of all who attack Phloxie's friends. She will defend them with her bear strength!

Phloxie is my baby warden, currently leveling in Evendim. Similar to Brewbelly, I've awfully neglected her in terms of outfitting. I have been searching for a nice leathery outfit, which would express the warden character as well as cuteness of a hobbit. I was lucky to get the Survivor's Jacket as nobody needed in it my raid and decided to combine this typical warden piece with more exotic clothes from Dunland.

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

Chest: Survivor's Jacket, rust dye (Drop from Prancing Pony raid level 75; shares appearance with Spear-hurler's Armour - part of Moria warden set)
Legs: Clanweave Leggings, umber dye (Dunland quest)
Head: Helm of the Graduate, rust dye (Drop from School of Tham Mirdain level 75)
Shoulders: Hardened Steel Dunlending Pauldrons, rust dye (Dunland quest)
Hands: (August) Resilient Gauntlets of the Golden Wood, rust dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Vibrant Westfold War Boots, umber dye (T7 crafted)
Back: Heavy Fur Dunlending Cloak, grey dye (Dunland quest)

Guest: Berfandil of Snowbourn

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{[["☆","★"]]}

There are situations when even a captain needs to sneak into enemy's stronghold unnoticed. Still, he has to be armoured properly to be able to enter fight as soon as his secret mission is over, to deliver the final blow and open up the battlefield for his fellows. Berfandil decided to share such battle garb with us, just before entering evil Dragon clan village in disguise. 

Chest: Chestplate of the Gallant Commander, default dye (Captain level 75 epic set)
Legs: Leggings of the Impossible Shot, white dye (Hunter level 75 epic set)
Head: Helm of Vigour, gold dye (world drop)
Shoulders: Cry of the West Shoulders, turquoise dye (Captain level 65 epic set)
Hands: Gloves of the Impossible Shot, turquoise dye (Hunter level 75 epic set)
Feet: Cry of the West Boots, turquoise dye (Captain level 65 epic set)

Guest: Brrokk of Snowbourn

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Brrokk's previous off-duty outfit was ruined by the changes to the Robe of Viisaus. It has changed colour and he can't get it to match the boots anymore. But no problem; there are some nice items of clothing in Dunland and he already did a lot of good deeds to build a new outfit for relaxation and crafting out of the rewards. He is not sure what the rope-like hanging things are, but surely they'll be handy for hanging hammers, chisels and tongs.

Chest: Hill-man's Cracked Leather Jacket, rust dye (Dunland quest)
Feet: Weathered Leather Scout's Boots, umber dye (Dunland quest)

Tip: Visit Brrokk's blog!

Wish: Éomer inspired outfit

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{[["☆","★"]]}

Let me use a way-back machine and take you to long forgotten pre-Isengard era of outfitting :) Today I present you brave guardian Tomeoric of kinship The Westfold Marshals on Riddermark server!

This wish-based outfit has made it to this blog's book of records - as longest time between a reader made a wish and its publishing :) It was still hot summer (July 30th), when I received a wish from a reader who was listening to CSTM cosmetics roundtable and noticed that I'm trying to fulfill readers' wishes for their desired outfits. The process of outfit creation took approximately a month and it was another two months until publishing - we wanted to publish Tomeric's and his daughter's outfit at the same time, but in the end didn't finish the second one (private life & RoI came in the way :)).

Tomeoric gave me very specific and interesting requirements (which I am thankful for :)):

• outfit inspired by Éomer and Théoden battle armours
• brown, burgundy and crimson tones with gold highlights (also typical for Rohirrim battle armours)
• matching to Prized Angmar's Free Peoples Horse

The first design I created seems a little bit funny now - although at that time, I found it quite decent :D I was trying to imitate Théoden's hauberk, which was pretty difficult considering I could work with pre-RoI and non-class specific pieces only:

Tomeoric provided a very detailed feedback, which helped me learn a lot - we discussed many peculiarities of Rohan armour design and I enjoyed it very much. I must quote one of his comments on the design above, because it made me laugh very hard: "I think the color/design from neck to waist and from elbow to shoulder is great - near spot on. From the waist to boot top, if you look quick, it looks like he is wearing an apron.  Now that I've seen that, I can't not stop seeing it!  Give him the Prized Pie to carry around and it would be the perfect Mr. Mom of Edoras." He was so right :)

I created second design, abandoning the hauberk attempts (as most of keen LoTRO fashionistas know, the pre-RoI hauberks were not manly at all and didn't resemble Rohirrim design even remotely). This basically meant getting closer to Éomer than Théoden from the initial idea. I also mentioned there are leggings ingame with plates on thighs similar to Éomer's, but they don't look good, so I used the elven ones:

Tomeoric and his home jury (all family playing together and helping him look the best :)) gave thumbs up for this design, but had particular remarks. The helmet hid character's hair (unfortunately headgear in LoTRO hides hair - I already had a small rant about it when I was designing Link inspired outfit), and he wanted the cloak to match the burgundy more than bronze/silver parts of the outfit. We agreed I will try more helm & cloak combinations. He was also interested in the "ugly plated trousers" I mentioned, so I showed them to him:

As you probably noticed, I didn't try more helmets due to hair hiding and we discussed that using just a circlet or no headgear might work better in the end. Tomeric picked his final cloak and I sent him the final design we agreed on:

Key features of this final design (besides remote inspiration by Éomer's battle armour) were matching the burgundy, silver and bronze parts on all armour pieces and introducing as much plate as possible. I also sent Tomeoric the "shopping list" with pieces used, and he started the journey to obtain them all. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get Gaerdail - boots used in this outfit dying very solid burgundy (similar crafted boots dye differently). So we decided to switch boots for the ones available in the store.

Tomeoric liked this outfit very much and since he collected all the pieces, he even received a lot of ingame compliments. I was a little worried because of how close we got to Kedwyr's Elven Defender's outfit, but you readers can see yourself how long was the process leading there :) Now, even though the fashion trends in Middle-earth have changed a lot with Isengard, we are both interested in your opinions about about the outfit :)

Final result:
Chest: Breastplate of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop)
Legs: Leggings of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop; also available from Rivendell heavy armoursmith)
Head: Circlet of Helmingas, default dye (Isengard pre-order)
Shoulders: Shining Dwarf Leather Shoulder Guards, burgundy dye (world drop)
Hands: Gauntlets of Orod-Na-Thôn, burgundy dye (world drop)
Feet: Brushed Leather Boots, burgundy dye (Skirmish cosmetic vendor or store)
Back: Ceremonial Defender's Cloak, burgundy dye (Store)

Guest: Maeglaz of Eldar

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{[["☆","★"]]}

We have already seen one Maeglaz' outfit. He wore his attire for many days and liked it, but every hunter should blend into his environment. When he entered Mirkwood, Maeglaz realized there aren't many green trees like in Rivendell, nor golden streams, and he will need a different outfit to protect him in battles. Hence he formed this outfit, sewed for the best of footmen and heralds.

Chest: High Herald’s Armour, sienna dye (T6 crafted; shares appearance with Footman's, Scout's and Merchwarden's piece)
Legs: High Footman’s Leggings, sienna dye (T6 crafted)
Head: Traveller’s Hood, sienna dye (store)
Shoulders: Fine Footman’s Shoulder Guards, sienna dye (T6 crafted)
Hands: Fine Footman’s Gloves, sienna dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Brushed Leather Boots, sienna dye (store)
Back: Quiver of Caras Gadahorn, sienna dye (store)

Warrior princess

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{[["☆","★"]]}

Sidgrid comes from old noble Vanyar family. She is a great-grandniece of Indis of the Vanyar and was always raised as an elven princess. Noble, yet still humble, well-mannered and predestined to represent her house. However, this wasn't enough for her, and she decided to join her brothers in hunting and become one of the best sharpshooter. Being a distant relative of Elrond the Half-elven, she often stops at Imladris to rest in his house. Say hello when you see her there!

And please let me know your opinion on the outfit in comments :)

Chest: Protector's Armour, burgundy dye (T5 crafted)
Legs: Footman's Leggings, rust dye (T6 crafted)
Head: Circlet of Men, default dye (Anniversary gift box)
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Swift-Arrow, burgundy dye (Mirkwood hunter purple set)
Hands: Golden Host Gloves of the Awakened, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Feet: Golden Host Gloves of the Gloaming, burgundy dye (T6 crafted)
Back: Cloak of the Autumn Wood, burgundy dye (store)

Guest: Brrokk of Snowbourn

Rate:

{[["☆","★"]]}

Brrokk is already known to us by his battle outfit. He is a great warrior, but he doesn't like to wear heavy armour all the time. When off-duty, it is still important to look good. Brrokk was aiming for a distinctive bright-coloured look, but not overwhelming with bright colours. Has he managed it? I think so :)

Chest: Robe of Viisaus, rust dye (Quest: Vol. I, Book 13, Chapter 4: The Hand of Angmar; also available as Robe of Vigour - lvl 56 world drop)
Feet: Elven Leather Boots, crimson dye (Rivendell medium armoursmith)
Back: Elrond's Exquisite Cloak, default dye (Quest: Vol. I, Book 12, Chapter 10: Half-truths)
Tip: Visit Brrokk's blog!