Artful Dodging

My favorite thing from EQ1 was sneaking Toldain in past the Third Gate of Neriak, invisible. Being spotted by something that saw invisibility was basically certain death, and a very difficult corpse run. It was necessary for some coins in the fountain quest, that I don't quite remember any more. But it involved lots of dodging around, lots of sneaking skill on the part of the player as opposed to the character.

While not quite like that, Lord of the Rings Online has a quest series where you assume the persona of a chicken. Yes, that's right, a chicken. Well, with me, it was a rooster. I was level one, and I had two abilities: scratching for worms, and putting on a big burst of speed (which involved lots of squawking).

You then have a series of quests that first send you across the Shire to speak with some of the animals and then into other zones in the game. Including the highest level zones! Now not everything that would want to kill a human will try to kill a rooster, I suppose. But some things are more likely to try to kill a chicken than a human or a hobbit.

To me, this is a very similar thrill to sneaking into the Third Gate and talking to someone in a quiet corner. And here's to that!