Quest:Ruins of Cardolan

Bestowal dialogue

'We've but one last hope for learning both what became of the Men of Cardolan and how the Barrow-downs became home to such fell creatures. Unfortunately, the answer lies in the Downs.

'The lore fragments you brought me mention a fortress named Ost Gorthad. The Men of Cardolan took many of those who fell sick to the Plague there. The ruins of that fortress still stand today and if we are fortunate, some lore from those times may be preserved in those ruins!

'If you are willing, return to the Barrow-downs and make your way to the ruins of Ost Gorthad in the south. There, search for an ancient chest, where parchments or scrolls might have survived all these long years.'

Background

In the lore fragments you brought him earlier, Newbold Leafcutter has discovered that the men of Cardolan made a final stand at a fortress in the south of the Barrow-downs.

Objective 1

You may find a chest in the ruins of Ost Gorthad in the south Barrow-downs. Newbold Leafcutter waits for you beyond the High Bridge at the southern end of the Upper Way in Bree.

Newbold Leafcutter has asked you to search the ruins of Ost Gorthad for an ancient chest. He hopes that lore from the Men of Cardolan may have survived the long years since the Great Plague in such a chest. If you find such lore, you should bring it to Newbold.

• Search the ruins for an ancient chest

• Bring the ancient journal to Newbold Leafcutter

'Ah, you found something! Many of the pages are missing, but perhaps I can glean something from those that remain.

'This is almost too terrible to read. The author, a Man of Cardolan, tells how those few of Cardolan who remained died in a Great Plague, borne along by dark clouds from the south. Soon after, fell spirits swept down from the north. The man writes of tormenting dreams that followed, dreams of a place called Angmar. Soon after, the dead walked the land once more. In the last entry, the man writes that he fears that he too will succumb to the Plague, but that his body will never know rest.

'How I wish I had remained ignorant of those cursed lands, yet now I find I must know more. If you ever find more pages of this journal, bring them to me. Perhaps in this knowledge, a defence against these spirits can be learned.'