The Towers of No Return: Might

"Going to Mordor!" Cried Pippin. "I hope it won’t come to that!"
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Fuin
Level 9
Sword and Bow and Arrows


This was for asking how they got the Oliphant into one of the lower levels of the dungeon... She was sure of it some dark and twisted thing was listening to her as the Fell beast screeched horribly. While the sound itself was terrible it was not the worst that she had ever heard and it lashed out at her and she was glad she'd picked up as many of the arrows as she had it bit at her before she even got out of the small door way into the level and she cut at it's head with the sword in her hand still covered in the blood and brain matter of the oliphant. The strike to the beast did little to harm it though did keep it from biting her, she kept to the little alcove, it made it so that it's wings could not hit her fully so she needed only worry about it's savage bite and barbed tail. For the moment at least it seemed to be just it's gnashing teeth. She didn't have time to get the bow and arrow out so that she could shoot the beast in the mouth and hopefully kill it. Instead she found herself charging forward until she was right under the belly of the beast where she slashed at the creatures soft underside cutting open a small gash in it's belly as she ran past it's grasping clawed feet as it took wing. It couldn't get very high and she was at its tail, hacking at it right above it's barbed end leaving it screaming in pain and slightly off balance as the barb fell bleeding to the ground.

Now at least it was just the wings and the head, and a touch of it's insides were falling out out though the opening was not enough to do much harm, yet anyways. The beast tried to spin and bite at her but she grabbed a hold of it's tail and found herself lashed against a wall as she struggled to hold on as it tried desperately to bite at her She kept a hold though and worked at climbing the beasts tail until finally it couldn't smash her into the wall. Her head was spinning from the strike of the wall and the beast tried desperately get away from the stinging creature on its back. as she got onto it's back it was easier to move across it's back. The first thing she did was cut part of the wings membrane as she held onto the center spines on the creatures back. Forcing the beast down permanently causing the creature to lash and struggle as she cut the entire membrane free of the creatures body. She held on tight to the creatures back spines as it thrashed angrily, she couldn't attack from here she had to let go she slid down the creatures side cutting the side of the creature open with the sword leaving her in it's blood and viscera it's feet thrashing at her wilding as it tried to get away from what had wounded it tearing itself apart further it's feet hooking into it's own intestines it bit at her. She ducked back and it's mouth closed on its own internal organs it's venom poisoning itself even as it tore itself apart. She just needed to stay away from it's teeth and that one thrashing wing near her until it's venom brought itself down.

Its movement slowed and she moved away from it nursing what she was sure was a concussion the creature was in no shape to come after her. Simply sat back and let it die from its own venom and it's clawed feet having torn itself apart. This creature she felt no sorrow for as it struggled and died. Fuin for her part just did her best to keep away from it while it thrashed in its last moments angry about its death until finally it grew still and she could safely make it to the next door... The final layer of the dungeon.

She hoped.

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@CHAOS: A hard fought battle, but you won and what’s a little concussion when you’re the victor after all?

Level 10

This last cave is composed of a narrow shore, with the rest being a lake of cold, dark water. Excellent, perfect for washing off all that blood?! You can’t tell how deep it is, but it seems to be VERY deep.

The only thing you find to help you is a primitive RAFT. You may bring all your items on it.

And in the lake... you see the ripples as it moves...
A Watcher in the Water. Tentacles. A toothy beak. It’s HUGE, suckers.

Defeat this Kraken to complete the Tower of Might!
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Fuin
Level 10
Sword, and Bow and Arrows.


She sank weakly to the ground by the deep pool and began washing the blood from her both the red blood of beasts and the black blood of the uruks. She saw no other creature besides her at first so she assumed it would be in the water. Some great whale? A sea serpant of old? None of which were terribly evil as long as one was kind enough to them. There was only one other thing she could think of as she splashed herself the with chill dark water waiting for whatever it was to show itself, she didn't really want to swim across the water it was cold and she doubted that the raft would survive a hit from whatever was in the depths.

She was watching the water closely as the stain of blood spread in the dark water near her on the narrow shore a tentacle shot forth and grabbed her and pulled her into the water even as she slashed at the tentacle leaving it hanging by a thread of skin letting her go she popped back up the the surface and gasped for air even as another tentacle grabbed her by her and started to lift her up and out of the water even as she struggled to cut away this grasping limb as well she could se it's toothy beak opening up meaning to bite her in half and swallow her up. She snarled in rage and hacked at the limb causing her to drop onto the bulbus body of the watcher just away from its maw and she scrambled even as the tentacles worked to grab her her sword sliding from her hand with the impact. "Fredegar." She dove after it, into the depths and grabbed it.

More tentacles. They gripped at her and tried desperately to crush her but ever they were met with slashing and cutting even as she felt her lungs ready to burst underwater. She needed air. She needed to get away from this monster for a moment. Her head was spinning horribly partially from the concussion partially from feeling like she was drowning. She dug the sword into the beasts flesh once more and was released and she swam for the surface getting in a single gulp of air before she was pulled down once more. There had to be few tentacles now that were not cut or missing portions of them the water was a swirl of red both from the beast and from herself her leg bleeding. She kept cutting taking away more and more of the creatures limbs unaware of how close she came twice to being bitten by the beasts maw, each time it touched her until finally it could not grasp at her at all, she was left at the top of the water and she made back for the shore She dragged herself onto the shore gasping and coughing only to realize she was on the far side. The water now dark but red also a great stain. He could see bits of the watcher floating on the top of the water the thinnest portions of it's tentacles each creating their own stains of blood in the water. She glanced at her back she had one arrow left and the bow and the sword still gripped in her hand her arm shaking she was holding it so hard scared to lose the blade in the depths. She started backing towards the door that would release her from this hell. she was glad for it. The beast in one final push of rage lunged out of the water, many of it's tentacles cut deep and mostly useless it's beak coming right for her she dodged to the side and let the sword slide deep into the beasts body itself as far is it could go to the hilt. right beside the beak causing it to quiver and still as it slid back into the depths dead as the blade pulled from its body. Leaving Fuin alone on the shore waiting to see if the creature was truly dead.

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@CHAOS: You have defeated the final challenge in the Tower of Might and return the Victor! You are awarded Renown for every post in here and a neat little badge. Your name will be graven on the wall next to Nyrrigos as one of the two Champions of Might! Congratulations!
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Fuin Victory ...uh Limp?

It was over, she sat weakly for a while to stunned and dizzy to move far bit move eventually she did, crawling up from the dungeon, looking far more like a creature that belonged in Mordor than when she had entered, bloody, bruised and covered in filth. She took her weapons and struggled for several moments before she finally got them settled and then began the long limp to a proper healer, because there was no way she was going to let any orcs mend her, she was not concussed enough to have lost that bit of sanity that still rattled about in her head though her eyes were mostly vacant as she moved on.

although she did now have this neat little badge. When she got better she wasn't sure if it would in fact be worth the ordeal or not.

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Naelia - Level 5 - Net. Shield and Uruk-hai

Although Naelia still had the net, she opted against going back to retrieve the stake, since if she tried to free the spawn of Shelob, it would only result in getting herself killed. By the way things were going within the Tower of Might, Naelia knew that it wouldn't be long before she came across another weapon.

And there it was, lying in the middle of the floor on her way up to the next level; a shield. "My opponent must be a little on the tougher side to actually give me a shield to fend myself off from their attempts to try to put me out of my misery." the minioness thought to herself as she picked up the shield and noticed that her next opponent was none other than a Uruk-hai armed with a rather nasty looking cleaver.

"That explains the shield." Naelia thought to herself as the rather nasty looking Uruk-hai came charging towards her at full speed, so she didn't have much time to think before she managed to block off his attack with the shield that she found. She was holding it so close that she almost felt the impact, and tried to figure out how to continuously block off the Uruk-hai's attacks while trying to find a use for the net that she still had. "Perhaps if I can throw the net over the cleaver, I might be able to manage to yank it away from him!" the minioness thought to herself, as she attempted to ward off another blow, this time keeping the shield a bit farther away from her so that she wouldn't feel it shake from the impact of the cleaver.

If this kept up much longer, the shield would be broken into two, which wouldn't make it a very effective weapon. Crouching down the next time the Uruk-hai made his charge, Naelia made sure she tossed the net at just the right moment so that it would cover the cleaver and held onto the net for dear life. Unfortunately for the minioness, the Uruk-hai saw this coming and was able to slice through the net, effectively cutting it into two pieces, not making it useless, but making Naelia try to come up with another way of using one of the pieces to her advantage.

The Uruk's next move was one she tried on the Warg youngling; throwing the cleaver towards her in an attempt to hit something vital, putting her out of the game, but the minioness was able to duck out of the way so that the only thing the Uruk was successful at was embedding it in the nearest wall. "You weren't expecting me to duck, were you?" Naelia cooed, as she went over to the wall and pulled the cleaver out (luckily, it wasn't embedded very deeply, or else the minioness would have to come up with another plan).

Instead of throwing it back at him, Naelia tucked the cleaver into the waistband of her pants (knowing that it might come in handy, since she had quite a ways to go before she conquered the Tower of Might) and went over to where one of the halves of her net lay on the ground. When the Uruk came charging at her again, she simply threw it over his head and attempted to hold it tight enough so that he would suffocate and collapse. Once he did so, she got the cleaver out and attempted to chop off his limbs before she left the cleaver deeply embedded in his heart. Like with the stake, she left the cleaver where it was, since even if the Uruk wasn't dead, it would be quite a feat to come after her with stumps instead of legs.
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@Lady of Shadow : Naelia sneakily makes use of the cleaver this round - more fool the Uruk for throwing it! But you’ve left it deeply embedded in your opponent and may not take it with you.

Level 6


Your opponent is an Olog-hai. He is armed with a spiked mace - and needs no armour as his skin is very tough. Defeat him to progress.
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Naelia - Level 6 - Net, Shield and Olog-hai

Luckily for Naelia, the shield she found on the last level wasn't broken into two (but it almost was, so she would have to use it more carefully this round, or else it might be and she would have to find another weapon), so she was able to take it with her as she moved up to the next level. She also still had the sheared halves of the net, though she wasn't sure how she would use them on her next opponent.

Her next opponent, she realized, was none other than an Olog-hai armed with a spiked mace, so she tucked away the halves of the net into the waistband of her pants, since she had a funny feeling she would be using the shield more than the severed halves of the net.

This Olog-hai didn't waste any time and came at her with his spiked mace. Naelia was able to block his blow with the shield, but it shivered so much that the minioness wasn't sure how long it would last, so she would have to use one of the halves of the sheared net after all (though after this round, they probably wouldn't be of much use). As she was reaching into her waistband to retrieve one of the pieces, she noticed a discarded piece of material on the floor and surmised it must have been left behind by the Olog-hai's last opponent (but probably not the one she was facing now, since whoever put these challenges out must have many opponents at their disposal, since many of them ended up getting killed by challengers such as Naelia herself).

As the Olog-hai came rushing at her again, the minioness managed to throw the discarded material in his face, momentarily blinding him, though he still managed to swing his mace, missing Naelia by inches, but he did manage to slash the arm of her shirt, turning it into a short sleeve shirt on one side, and her arm where the mace just grazed her seemed to bleed a bit. "Blast you, you know how hard it is to come across new clothing in this land?" the minioness sneered, picking up the remnant and wrapping it around her bleeding arm. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. She might have to rip off her other sleeve if she couldn't come across another shirt so that they would match. Picking up the shield that she put down when she noticed the piece of cloth on the floor, she decided it was time to put this particular opponent out of his misery. But how? "If I could throw this shield like those meddlesome Halflings throw rocks..." she thought to herself as a plan began to form in her dark mind.

It seemed that temporarily blinding her opponent didn't improve his demeanor, and as he was attempting to come charging at her again, Naelia threw the shield like one of the Halflings would prepare to throw a rock, except those rocks didn't have sharp edges, such as the shield had, and although it didn't sever off his head like the minioness was planning, it did manage to sever the arm that was holding the spiked mace, which caused it to fall to the floor, so at least now she would have a new weapon. Slowly sneaking over to where the Olog-hai was holding up his severed arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding, she picked up the mace and managed to hit him in the stomach with it, getting his attention off his severed arm. After she struck him in the stomach, Naelia backed away, in an attempt to get her opponent to come after her, which he did, but slipped on the rest of the arm that had been severed off and went down like a large boulder would, giving the minioness the opportunity to retrieve the shield and drive it deep within his chest (with the help of the mace to drive it in far enough until the Olog-hai lay still). Satisfied with her handy work, she left the shield deeply embedded in her opponent's heart and took the mace with her, leaving the severed halves of the net behind, since she didn't think she would be needing them again (though she'd been wrong before, so Naelia could always backtrack if she had to).
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@Lady of Shadow, Naelia has defeated the Olog-hai and moves onto

Level 7, armed with your SPIKED MACE. You may retrieve your Net *or* Shield if you wish, although they are damaged.

You face two warg-riders mounted on savage wargs. One orc is armed with bow and arrows, the other with a sword. Defeat them all to progress.
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Shamara
Gatehouse


Shamara was not sure what had gone on in her mind that she had undertaken the journey to come all the way here - and for what? Just to test her skills? More likely than not this was a rash step and a very unnecessary one, but she had come, and the gatehouse was right there... and an Uruk-hai coming out to meet her, and all.

The Umbarian had taken great care as she had travelled; trying not to be seen and making good use of the shadows to hide her movements. If anything, the whole place stunk of danger, and it was even more unpredictable than Umbar could ever be.

Hating the very thought of retreating and running away as fast as she could, Shamara came forward and stated her purpose to Karaghan. "I want to enter the Tower of Might," she simply said, and wondered to herself whether there were any chances of ever getting out of there alive.
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Naelia - Level 7 - Mace, Shield and Warg-Riders

Figuring she might need at least one of the weapons she used to defeat the Olog-hai of the last level, Naelia decided to go back and get the shield (though it took a bit of doing to get it out of the Olog-hai, since she even impressed herself of how deep she drove it in) before she advanced up to the next one. The minioness didn't bother retrieving the severed net, since she had a funny feeling it just wasn't worth it anymore (and since her opponents kept getting tougher every time she advanced up, Naelia figured retrieving the shield was the better option).

It was a good thing too, since her next opponents seemed to be a couple of Warg riders mounted on pretty savage looking Wargs, even by the minioness' standards! The one was armed with a bow and arrow and the other with a sword, so it was a good thing that Naelia decided to leave the severed net behind.

"It looks like I made the right call!" the minioness thought to herself as the Warg rider armed with the sword seemed to want his first shot at her and came charging at her from her right, which she managed to block with the damaged shield. Holding her spiked mace in the other hand she was able to block the bow and arrow that came hurtling towards her by the other Warg rider! "Getting past this level is going to be a little trickier than I thought!" the minioness thought to herself, since just as one Warg rider tried to attack her and was either blocked by her battered shield or swiped at by the spiked mace she held in her other hand, the other one was coming up with another way to try and put her out of her misery. "If only I could make them run into each other... " Naelia thought to herself as an idea was forming in that dark twisted mind of hers, but for it to be successful, both Warg riders would have to be on opposite sides of her. She also thought that if she attacked the Wargs rather than the riders, it might cause them to fall off their steeds so that she go after them individually.

"Your time in this land is coming to an end!" one of the Warg riders mocked, as he tried to make a pass on the minioness' left side, but she ducked at the last minute and managed to attack the Warg's hind legs causing it to whelp in pain and throw his rider well across the room. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" Naelia cooed, just as the other rider came at her from the other side, but not at the same time. "So much for that idea." the minioness thought to herself as she struck him with her damaged shield, causing him to fall off his steed as well. The only problem was that she was unable to injure this Warg, and he was now looking at Naelia like she was about to become his next meal.

The rider that was thrown into the wall managed to recover and was planning to use this steed as his new one, but his buddy saw his intention and the two of them got into a rather heated discussion over who's Warg was who's. This gave the minioness the perfect opportunity to get the Warg's attention and duck out of the way just in the nick of time before the Warg that was intending to make a meal out of her made a meal out of his rider instead. "That's takes care of him!" Naelia thought to herself, but what about the other, though the angry Warg seemed to solve that problem for her, since once he was finished with his own rider, he targeted the other one as well. While all this commotion was going on, the Warg that the minioness happened to injure wasn't quite as injured as she first thought, and slowly got up and intended to want to get even with Naelia for trying to put him out of commission, so to speak, but he was still hurt, so that he didn't move as quickly as he was intending, so it didn't take the minioness long to simply throw the spiked mace in his direction and deeply imbed it in his eye while she slowly backed out of the room so that the crazed Warg wouldn't target her next after he was finished with the two Warg riders. Still armed with the damaged shield, Naelia wondered what her next challenge would be, since trying to conquer the Tower of Might wasn't as easy as she first thought it would be.
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@Pele Alarion: Welcome to the Tower of Might, Shamara! Here you are completely disarmed of all weapons and armour. Karaghan shows you to the entrance - roughly cut steps leading down to...

Level 1 Dungeons

You find a ROPE as your weapon.

An average sized goblin crawls out to face you as your opponent. He isn’t armed and doesn’t seem so tough - but you never know with goblins. Defeat him however you can to reach Level 2.

@Lady Winchester Naelia has won through to Level 8

You may take the SWORD and/or BOW AND ARROWS to swap for your two current pieces of equipment.

Your opponent is a young OLIPHAUNT. How did we get it down here? Don’t ask questions. It has long tusks, Stampy Feet and it’s not best pleased about being down here, but its eyesight isn’t the best. Defeat it to get to the next level.
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Naelia - Level 8 - Sword and Bow & Arrows

Naelia didn't usually favor using bow and arrows, but she had a feeling she might be needing them as she advanced further within the Tower of Might. This wasn't the only weapon she took, since she also swapped the Mace of the last level for a Sword, which she was much more comfortable using, being a former member of the Black Guard. One of her ranks within the Guard had been an Dildhan of the Blades, before the powers that be decided to revamp it, so to speak.

This time, her opponent seemed to be a young Oliphant that seemed like it had lost its way. The minioness also noticed that the youngling seemed to be having trouble with its eyesight. "Well, this should be easy enough." Naelia thought to herself as she tried to jump out of the way as the young Oliphant charged at her when it sensed (or heard) that it wasn't alone in the room.

Since this Oliphant was a youngling, as she liked to refer to her latest opponent, it shouldn't be that hard to defeat, if the minioness was able to jump out of the way of those huge tusks, which had the power to pin her to the wall without a moments hesitation. When the young Oliphant tried to charge at her again in a second attempt, Naelia took this as a perfect opportunity to use the bow and arrows she swapped for the shield she had in the last level and try to take it out. Aiming one of the arrows at one of the young Oliphant's eyes, the minioness planned to take it out so that it would have an even harder time trying to find her, since this seemed to be a weak spot.

Unfortunately, being out of the Guard for too long and favoring her whip had made Naelia's aim not so good, since the arrow struck the lower part of his jaw instead of the eye she was aiming at. "That's it, time for a weapon I'm more familiar with!" Naelia said aloud to herself in frustration and dropped the bow and arrows and picked up the sword. After all, she didn't opt to be a Dildhan of the Blades for no reason! The minioness came charging at the young Oliphant determined to take off one of his tusks, but this time managed to stab him (or her) right in the eye, making the youngling back away from his opponent.

"Not so easy to defeat, am I?" Naelia cooed as she tried to stab him in his only remaining eye but nearly got taken out by one of his enormous tusks when she misjudged his reaction. Though one of his eyes was damaged, this only seemed to anger him as he began to slash wildly with his tusks. This gave the minioness an idea; while he was distracted and kept slashing at nothing but empty air, Naelia put down the sword for a moment and picked up the bow and arrows again at one last attempt to take out his remaining eye.

This time, she hit it with no problems, and as the young Oliphant was backing away from her, the minioness managed to pluck the other arrow from his jaw and pick up the sword on her way out. "Not so tough when you can't see your opponent, are you?" she cooed as she slowly backed out of the room, wondering who her next opponent would be. Sometimes she wished she would have kept the Mace instead of taking the bow and arrows, since it was more her style, but it was a little late for that now.
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@Lady of Shadow

Having blinded and defeated the Oliphaunt you move on to level 9…

You find an AXE which you may swap one of your other pieces of equipment for.
You face... a fully grown Fell Beast.

This is going to be a seriously tough one: the fell beast is huge and savage; its wings could definitely break a man’s arm; its teeth drip venom and it has a barbed tail. But it can’t fly very high in the cave, and it’s not very clever: it relies on its rider for direction most of the time.


Defeat it to get to the last level.
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Naelia - Level 9 - Axe, and Fell Beast

Having defeated the Oliphaunt of the last level, Naelia now found an axe on her way to the next level. "Knowing my luck, my next opponent will be even trickier, so I better swap what's left of my bow and arrows for this axe, though I hope I won't live to regret this." the minioness thought to herself as she advanced further up the Tower of Might. She was beginning to wonder (not for the first time) if she chose the wrong Tower, but since she wasn't that good at knowledge (being a minion, she would rather fight her way out than research a weakness that an adversary might or might not have in an effort to use that against them), she was glad that she didn't.

"Knowledge is for sissies! A true warrior would learn to use torture and manipulation to get what he or she wants! And if that doesn't work, fight their way out or die trying!" Naelia thought to herself as she heard a very familiar screeching sound as she advanced further within the Tower of Might. "No, it couldn't be!" she thought to herself as she could have sworn she heard one of the Fell Beasts of all things! Weren't they too big to fit in this Tower (though it did seem quite larger than the minioness had imagined when she first approached the gates, so perhaps one of them could squeeze their way through)?

Advancing cautiously ahead (but still on her guard, since one couldn't let down their guard for a second in Mordor, let alone in the Tower of Might), Naelia came face to face with none other than a Fell Beast, a creature created only to be controlled by one under the will of Sauron himself, but this one's rider didn't look like one of the Nazgul, but by one that looked like he or she had enlisted in the Shadows (Naelia herself had received the summons, but she wanted to wait until she conquered the Tower of Might before she answered it, since the minioness thought that what she learned here might come in handy once she became the name the Elves of Northern Mirkwood had given her when she was forced to live with them for a time against her will).

"You failed to answer the summons, Lady of Shadow..." the initiate (or whatever rank the Fell Beast's rider was), "so now you must die!" the rider cooed, aiming the Fell Beast to attack the minioness.

"I wonder what would happen if I attempted to kill one of the Initiates?" Naelia thought to herself, but because the rider didn't use her true name (and the one the Elves of Northern Mirkwood gave her), she guessed it was just a mockery to get her to attack (which meant perhaps the rider was lying about being a member, or perhaps they got kicked out, but whatever the reason, the minioness would have to act fast if she wished to advance to the final level and find out for herself if the rider spoke the truth). "Tell them they're just going to have to wait until I conquer this Tower!" Naelia shot back, throwing her axe at the rider in an attempt to take out the Fell Beast next.

The axe hit the rider square in the chest, but all they managed to do was vanish into thin air, never to be seen again (or so, the minioness thought) causing the Fell Beast to knock his head on the ceiling of the cave, so that Naelia was able to retrieve her axe without too much difficulty when the beast was partially distracted.

Without it's rider, the Fell Beast seemed a little lost, which the minioness used to her advantage, as she began to throw her axe at the beast in different locations, while often rolling out of the way every time the beast tried to attack her with one of its massive wings. "If I manage to throw my axe in the direction of its heart, perhaps I can advance to the next level without so much as a scratch." Naelia thought to herself as she positioned herself close to the area of the beast's heart and threw with all her might.

It took her quite a few tries (as well as a few scrapes and bruises from dodging this way or that to avoid a hit by either one of the creature's massive wings or being spit on by its deadly venom), but she finally managed to throw her axe in just the right spot, silencing the creature once and for all. "I hope nobody tells those bloody Tarks that this is one way to take these creatures out." the minioness thought to herself, leaving the axe embedded deep within its heart to avoid being struck by one of its massive wings in its death throes. Like she did many times before. she could always come back for it later, but she was still curious as to what its rider said about "not answering the call" was in fact the truth. If it was, she would have some explaining to do once she finally answered it, but this wouldn't be the first time Naelia got drilled for being late...
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@Lady of Shadow (Apologies for delay!)

Level 10

This last cave is composed of a narrow shore, with the rest being a lake of cold, dark water. Excellent, perfect for washing off all that blood?! You can’t tell how deep it is, but it seems to be VERY deep.

The only thing you find to help you is a primitive RAFT. You may bring all your items on it.

And in the lake... you see the ripples as it moves...
A Watcher in the Water. Tentacles. A toothy beak. It’s HUGE, suckers.

Defeat this Kraken to complete the Tower of Might!
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Balrog
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The Gatehouse

Fleeg was still nowhere to be found. No one had seen or heard from him in more than a month now. His shop and his spa stood abandoned, reclaimed by angry hornets and ghosts respectively. None of those that called him friend had any news of him. Letters went unanswered and the hovel that was his erstwhile home was even more of a ruin than before. Phlegm had moved passed anger, though it had taken her some time to move through that particular storm, and now moved into panic and growing dread. As much as he angered her and made her want to throttle him and toss him off a cliff, he was her son. If Mig had gone missing like this she would have felt much the same. Mothers will go to extreme lengths for their children, and Phlegm Fleegsdottir was no different in that regard, even if her sons were hardly worthy of their lineage. She was following on leads now, rumors and whispers of rumors. All of them had led to nothing but riddles and false starts. Today, though, she felt differently. Even if this lead turned out to be nothing, she could vent some of the anger, frustration, and worry that had so balled up inside of her.

The Tower of Might was the last place she’d ever expect her son to go. Yet there were stories of a goblin and an orc getting chained together and entering; bickering and fighting with each other as they went. It did not take a tactical genius (though Phlegm considered herself one anyway) to see who that orc and that goblin were. Like as naught they forgot what they were doing partway down and left to get drunk in some random troll pub.

Phlegm wanted to hit things. She wanted to slash and hack and burn and maim. All in all, the Tower of Might sounded like a place worth investigating. Who knew, maybe they had some variant paths she could sneak down and investigate in between bloodbaths.

“Phlegm Fleegsdottir,” she told the attendant uruk. “I’ve come to see if the tales about this place being where warriors prove themselves is true or a load of mumak shire.”
Strange Fruit got holes in the flesh but it ain't gonn' spoil cause it never was fresh

Orc Chieftain
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Naelia - Level 10 - Axe, Raft and Watcher in the Water

"Finally, the last level!" Naelia thought to herself as she rounded the corner and found a raft in the lake. Luckily, she did go back to the last level and retrieve her axe once she was sure the Fell Beast would no longer be a threat (at least not to her). As she mounted the raft, she started scooping up water in order to wash herself down from the encounter with the Fell Beast. It was at this point that she noticed there were ripples in the water, which meant that she wasn't alone.

"I should have known that this final level wouldn't be this easy!" the minioness thought to herself as she picked up the axe and prepared to face whatever final danger awaited her.

Out of the water came what was sometimes called a Kraken, a large creature with many tentacles, and she would have to time this right in order to defeat it. Naelia had heard of such creatures before, since there were rumors there was one living in the pool outside the Gates of Durin, and although the minioness wasn't planning on visiting the place anytime soon, she would have to defeat this one in order to conquer this Tower and find out if the rider of the Fell Beast of the last level was speaking the truth.

"Come on, you reject from the ocean depths...!" she began, not knowing exactly where these creatures originated, but she had to challenge it somehow, nearly getting hit by one of its massive tentacles that almost knocked her off the raft. If that happened, Naelia wasn't sure if she would live through this final level and all this would have been for nothing. "Is that the best you can do?" she mocked, raising her axe as the Watcher attempted to attack again, slowly hacking at the tentacles until they were no longer a threat.

She had to time her attacks just right, until the Watcher rose out of the depths enough that she could throw the axe either at one of his eyes or into his or her mouth. Naelia kind of was planning on throwing it into his or her mouth, since then it might hit something vital and he or she would duck beneath the water long enough for the minioness to make it to the other side and finally manage to conquer the Tower of Might and move on to her next challenge, but first she might stop by one of Mordor's famous "watering holes" to rest up a bit, even though she wasn't big on dulling any of her senses on any kind of alcoholic beverage, but she could always grab some tasty morsel...

Seeing that she was distracted, the Watcher tried one last time to attack her with one of his mighty tentacles to throw her off the raft and rid his miserable life with this particular adversary, but it was in the perfect spot for her to throw her axe into his mouth which caused him to duck beneath the water once again.

"There goes my last weapon...!" Naelia thought to herself as she waited a few minutes to paddle her raft to the other side and climb out, wondering what adventure would await her next (even though she knew). Even if her nuisance of a half-sister made it this far, she doubted that Lathana would choose to conquer this Tower, since she would probably get killed in the first level. "Good riddance." the minioness thought to herself as she continued up the Tower of Might, looking for a way out, and hopefully being able to retrieve her chest armor, since stuff like that wasn't easy to come by in a place as barren as Mordor...
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He who commands the Ruling Ring... commands all

Arien
Arien
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@Sequestered Keep

The Gatekeeper greets you and looks you up and down. “Looking for someone?” the orc suggests, with a sardonic look (as though she couldn’t hear your shrieking a mile off). “Well, the one you seek may be in here - or not. You’re welcome to look and to brave the challenges, but you must divest of any weaponry or armour you currently carry… NO, that is not an invitation to get naked.”

The orc beckons you into the Tower…


LEVEL ONE


You find a ROPE as your weapon.

An average sized goblin (no, it’s not your errant relative) crawls out to face you as your opponent. He isn’t armed and doesn’t seem so tough - but you never know with goblins. Defeat him however you can to reach Level 2.


@Lady Winchester: CONGRATULATIONS! After a hard-fought battle, you have successfully defeated the Kraken who has sunk to the bottom of its lake to nurse its axe wounds. You are now a Champion of the Tower of Might!
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