#I do love Raenor so much <3 he brings me so much joy and happiness to write about

[captainderyn]

for the lotro ask game, what would an intro quest/questline starring Raenor look like? 👀

I saw this pop up and then a lot of stuff went down at work BUT I am answering it now!

An intro quest line with Raenor would first trigger by the ruins of Edhelion when the MC returns there. While wandering around the ruins you can find an old, tattered leather bound notebook protected from the six hundred years of elements by a painted lock box buried beneath the fallen remains of the buildings. Inside the book are time and weather-worn pages filled with poems, sonnets, ballads, and beautiful written words. It will pop up a quest to find the owner of the book and directs the MC to ask around the Refuge of Edhelion where Elladan and Elrohir are for more information on who the owner might be.

The handful of elves there hum and haw at the MC, throwing around how to sonnets sound familiar and how they just can't quite place in their long memories whose book it may be because there have been so many bards throughout the years. Finally, one elf flips through the notebook and lights up, saying they remember the day that one of the poems if referring to. This elf states the notebook is owned by an elf named Raenor and if he is in Ered Luin at all, it would be worth checking in Celondim for him. This elf suggests following the sound of a lute and a voice that sounds like summer rain.

When the MC travels to Celondim they can find Raenor in one of the gazebos around the settlement, near the outskirts closest to the farming fields and wildflowers. The MC will hear him humming as they approach and he will be idly picking at lute strings, tuning it as he goes.

The MC introduces themselves and Raenor is friendly, if reserved, until you attempt to hand him the notebook. At that, his face fills with pain, and he pushes it away saying he wants no part of the memories that book holds. That if you really want something to do with it, throw it into the gorge and be done with it. The MC can ask if that's what he really wants done with it, and that will earn a smile.

If the MC interacts with him again, Raenor will say that if you really wish to know his story, that he will tell you, but on the condition that you actually do toss the the notebook into the River Lune and if you collect five specific herbs and flowers so that he may repaint his lute, decorated with a gorgeous scene that he explains is Rivendell and the Misty Mountains beyond.

Collecting the herbs/flowers and tossing the notebook will bring you back to Raenor, where he will tell you of what happened to him at Edhelion and his journey back to Rivendell after. Mechanics wise, it would probably trigger an instance where you go through the day and the journey with him. The quest rewards you a pocket item that is a small notebook filled with half written songs and poems with a boost for Fate and Will.

Later on, when the MC reaches Rivendell, you can find Raenor in one of the gazebos by the gorge, strumming on his lute. If you speak with him, his dialogue will show that he is singing a longing song for a forlorn woman, but no further quest line triggers.

Even further up the line when the MC reaches Gondor, you can find Raenor again in Minas Tirith. Post War of the Ring he has an optional quest to help find Faewryn, his wayward daughter, who is playing hide-and-seek around the area. The MC can help find her, and she will run from hiding spot to hiding spot. If you find all of Faewryn's hiding spots within the time limit, Raenor will thank you and wish you well and congratulates you on long journey well completed. He promises to spin songs and tales of your heroics, and completion of the quest will grant you a title of 'Song Spinner' which describes you as a inspiration for songs all across Middle Earth, as well as a housing decoration musical instrument of choice, hand painted with the view from Minas Tirith.