A Failed Quest, a Campsite, Fairytales, and Peddlers

I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I’ve been able to get a bit of reading in, a game session of LOTRO, and my usual run. With another 3.7 mile run, I was able to virtually cross the I-5 from Trestles to San Mateo Campground, and the fun fact that I am ‘hanging out’ at the beach makes my failed quest in LOTRO bearable. I believe I can retry the quest tomorrow, so I’ll put that on my schedule.

The Rundown

• A Peddler in Edmond’s Field
• A Russian Fairytale
• Fellowship Down
• A Campground Run

The Goods

Peddling a Tale

Today I read through the third chapter of the Eye of the World, and it focuses on the peddler, Padan Fain.  He brings news that things are bad all over the world, and beyond that, there have even been people claiming to be the Dragon reborn.  This can’t be good since the Dragon was responsible for breaking the world, and when a man can use the One Power, like the Dragon, things are bound to get messy.

A Deathless Russian

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is, so far, a pretty interesting novel.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from the title, but a few pages in and I clearly understood that I was reading about Russian folklore.  I’m only a few chapters in, but I loved the whole concept of birds turning into men to marry the sisters of our main character.  I was also drawn to thinking about the house elves of Harry Potter when the Domovoi were discussed.  On the whole, I’ve enjoyed the first few chapters and am looking forward to continuing my read.

A Failed Fellowship

In today’s game session in LOTRO, I experienced my first failure on Pangolyn.  She’s been doing pretty well even at the deadly landscape difficulty, and I think I’ve got a good pattern down for how to do both damage and maintain my health though, with Pangolyn’s bear form, that’s pretty easy.  I’m still confused about how my bear only needs 2 skills but has no problems getting through content, but anyway…I failed a quest.

The Falco’s Garden quest was not a difficult quest, but it was supposed to be a Fellowship quest. So there I was…on Deadly Difficulty…level 10 running a level 14 mission…and trying to run it solo instead of with a group. I had no problem killing all the bad guys. I never even fell below half HP, but I neglected to attend to the Constable I was supposed to be protecting…oops.

I suppose I can blame it on the UI setup in such a way that the escort health bar was on top of Pangolyn’s health bar, so I couldn’t really tell that the Constable was in trouble. But the bottom line is…I never shifted out of bear form to try to heal him anyway. Obviously, that’s something I have to integrate into my flow when I have others in battle on my side.

Anyway, I will give this quest another try tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to pull out success.

Camping by the Beach

So…I ran up the way from Trestles Beach along Christianitos Road and found myself at San Mateo Campground. With all the COVID-19 protocols, I was worried the campsite might be closed, but we’re in luck!  The 150 or so sites all fit cars and RVs, and while I’m running California (virtually), I won’t have to worry about those.  The campsites do offer a great place to use as a base camp for beach hikes, surfing, and the like. 

It’s a Wrap

So I kept marching forward in the Eye of the World, and the Wheel of Time keeps on turning as I got to chapter 3. We’ve seen a dark rider a few chapters ago, but now we’re starting to see that others beside Rand have spotted a stranger on a horse as well. This, of course, does not bode well, and the fact that we’re only in chapter 3 makes me think we might be seeing some action soon.

Campsites, runs, failed quests all are fun and games, but then I also had some enjoyment kicking off a new read. Deathless provides a nice introduction to some Russian folklore, and I’m eating it up. I enjoy how the author has tied in the fairy tales with the march of time in the real world, going from the Tzars to the Bolsheviks to the Communists. It’s been a fun read so far.

Overall, today was a good day, and I hope you all had an interesting and enjoyable day as well.

Ramble 56 Badger 86| A Failed Quest, a Campsite, Fairytales, and Peddlers