Cressy is immune to the spooks from the Haunted Burrow Museum

As a full blown (and full grown) hobbit, Cressy is and always has been in love with the Shire and its many lovely quirks. There are so many trees to climb, patches of grass to roll around in, flowers to pick, and distant relations to avoid. Hobbits are simple folk and aren't much for adventure, but when the Fall Festival comes around, they gather for scary stories and daring forays into the Haunted Burrow. She's not scared of anything...right?

At the beginning of the festival, the entrance to the Haunted Burrow is essentially guarded by... Lobelia Sackville-Baggins... and a spoon. Really.

Wait, where'd she go?

Talk about scary!

Anyway, as Cressy finds her way around the haunted burrow, she can't help but find a seat and watch people get scared. She gets quite the kick out of it.

One of the quests for the burrow is to find scared hobbits. She finds hobbits all right, who *claim* to be scared, but most of them really aren't. Take this guy, for example. He's practically brewing potions as we speak! He's probably plotting some massive plague. Verdict? Not actually scared.

And then Cressy comes upon this hobbit, who is literally a stoned grim reaper. Verdict? Not actually scared.

Now, this hobbit is pretty much the only scared hobbit of the bunch. There was another one who was crying, but not necessarily scared. This one looks like he's scared of.....the player. Yep. He's scared of Cressy. She probably didn't do anything to scare him (...actually, knowing her, she likely did.). Verdict? Actually scared.

Once Cressy is done finding the hobbits and doing some of the other burrow quests, she decides to go exploring! Let's just sit back and enjoy the beauty of the dungeon design for the Haunted Burrow. First, there's this thing, whatever it is. It seriously looks like Darth Sidious playing the cowbell. Prove me wrong. And he moves. Ever so slightly, but enough to kinda creep Cressy out.

Also, this door looks like a demented, scary smiley face.

"Enough of that," Cressy says with a grunt. "Let's look at the paintings!"

This one is a vintage canvas of Bagshot Row in Hobbiton, as viewed from the South side. Painted by Rose Goodbody in T.A. 2660, "Scene of a Home" serves as the first of three canvas paintings in the "Scenes" series. Of her handiwork, the artist once exclaimed, "It really was no bother. More of a sketch, really."

Self-portrait of...

Tolkien??!

"Serpent's Demise" is a classical Second Age work made famous by an anonymous artisan, displayed here as a rough copy. The ingenuity of the depiction lies in the ambiguity of the title. Demise of the serpent? Or demise by the serpent? Or something else entirely?

Over on this wall lies... Okay, LOTRO. Let's stop breaking the fourth wall. Flaxen hair, with a helm and Rohirrim gear? That cannot be anyone other than Eowyn. She doesn't even exist in the story yet. Maybe whoever painted this one can see the future. So.... Elrond. Elrond painted this one.

Meanwhile, Cressy finds this gem littered on the floor. It's an original map of Eriador.

And all of a sudden, in the basement, Cressy is surrounded by... creepy dead things. Like this sarcophagus.

Or this ACTUAL DEAD BODY.

*Shudder*

"Okay," Cressy whispers, her face as white as a sheet, "let's get out of here."

Yes. Let's.

Current level: 26

Well it's about time, Legolas!

So there happens to be an update coming out for the game tomorrow. Update 23: Where Dragons Dwell. A big part of this update is the introduction of the new areas of Erebor and The Iron Hills. While this is all fun and great, my characters are light years away from being near those zone levels. But as I read through the patch notes, I couldn't help but notice what other things this update offers. I'd like to point out some of the more fun changes with this latest/next update.

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1. Legolas!

You would think with Legolas being an awesome, notable, worthy, talented, handsome, and friggin awesome elf, he would know how to shoot a bow! I was curious as to how he held a bow before, so I set out on Cynfleda to unmask this mystery. She enters the forest with Legolas, and...

He's holding his bow backwards! Legolas, my dear, I don't think you'll kill much with that kind of stance. Fix it or nix it.

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2. Bassoon!

I don't do much music-playing with my characters, but you can bet your bottom dollar that when I eventually bring a minstrel into the LOTRO world (I'm still crossing my fingers for female dwarves), she will have her bassoon in her arsenal, fighting evil with the power of double reeds.

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3. More seating!

Giving the people what they truly want in the depths of their hearts. Sometimes I just wanna sit and enjoy the experience.

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4. Character selection!

This is a nice change for people who have more than one character....which is probably every player out there. The default sorting before was A-Z, but I think it's awesome that I will soon be able to sort my characters by, say, recently played.

Should be a good update.

As for now,