Veil of Mordor: A Lingering Darkness 2 (Patreon)

Quest Granted: Wraith & Ruin
─ Unlock your true potential as a Gravewalker with the wraith bound to you.
─ Reward: Wraith perk
─ Wraith – It seems you are more than mortal, possessing abilities that the living normally do not have in Middle-Earth. You can fall from great heights without harm, perform incredible leaps, run at great speed, even conjure up phantasmal weapons. Ranged equivalents may need you to locate some form of ammunition or give you time to recharge as unlike others this involves your ghostly energy permanently leaving your body as the projectiles. You can let yourself partially slip into a shadowy netherworld, remaining physically within the living world but able to perceive other beings within either even through solid surfaces. Given time and experimentation, you could develop other abilities such as a second leap off of thin air, unleashing blasts of ice or fire or poison, teleporting yourself or others to you by expending the same energy you would use for projectiles, or fight in multiple places simultaneously as your wraith acts under your mental command.

I’d been in Cirith Ungol for a day now, and while I was intrigued by the perk that was being offered to me, I had no idea how to unlock it. I’d encountered two more groups of those ugly bastards, which ended just as peacefully as the first time. I had gotten some rather unpleasant looking bread off them, but the closest I'd found to food that didn't look suspicious were some hives dripping what looked like some kind of honey.

I had made camp for the night, building a small fire to keep me warm in a rather chilly cave. As I sat, roasting a piece of bread over the flames (mostly to burn away the mold on it and the wriggling grubs inside it), I heard a strange whispering in the darkness. It sounded like a voice, but not quite human.

I turned around, my hand gripping the hilt of my sword, as my eyes checked my surroundings. My eyes and ears found nothing, but I wasn't able to shake the feeling that I wasn't alone. Keeping my guard up, I returned to the fire, taking the bread with its roasted bug larva off the fire. I kept my back to a wall, far more paranoid than I'd been before arriving here.

The rest of the night was uneventful, but that sensation of being watched didn't go away. Even the next day, as I climbed up to the top of one of the many cliff faces to try to get a better view of my surroundings, I wasn't able to shake the feeling.

As I reached the top of the cliff face, I surveyed the land below me. It was a desolate wasteland, filled with jagged rocks and dusty terrain. But as I turned to climb back down, a voice whispered in my ear, “Do not be afraid, Traveler.”

I spun around to find nothing there but the wind. I took a deep breath, before turning back, leaning over and looking down to check the base of the cliff. There were some orcs down there, five in total, all armed with spears, one of their heads moving up and down, almost like he was sniffing the air. A frown spread across my face as I considered how to proceed.

I was going to fight them, that much I knew for sure. But I needed information. I knew basically nothing about the current state of the world, hell I barely knew the movies were based on a book series that was published back in the 40s or 50s. This would be a good opportunity to interrogate one of them and find out what was going on.

I quietly made my way down the cliff face, taking care to not alert the orcs below. As I approached, I could hear what they were saying. They were discussing a 'tark' that had been seen in the area. For some reason, I had a hunch they were talking about me.

Focusing on the apparent leader, I heard a voice whispering in my ear, “Grûblik.”

Pushing the voice aside, I drew my dagger and jumped off the cliff, dropping down on top of the orc I'd targeted. To my surprise, the orc spun around, hooking the haft of his spear around my wrist and throwing me to the ground. Perk granted instincts had me roll with the landing, coming to my feet and barely having time to parry his spear as he leaned his face into my own.

“So you’re the tark I smelled,” the orc seemed to purr, his breath bad enough to nearly make me pass out. “You've wandered into the realm of the Dark Lord, the land where hope dies and fear thrives. Prepare yourself for a fate worse than death, for in Mordor, your very soul shall be consumed by the eternal flames of Mount Doom.”

The two of us pushed the other back, the four remaining orcs circling around me. I narrowed my eyes at the orc's words, feeling a surge of anger. I wasn't going to let this foul creature scare me. I had survived worse.

“Is that so?” I replied, my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. “I think you're underestimating me, orc. I didn't come all this way just to be taken down by the likes of you.”

The orc snarled, raising his spear again, “You'll regret those words, tark.”

I lunged forward, my dagger flashing in the sunlight as I aimed for the orc's heart. He blocked my attack with his spear, the metal scraping against metal, but I used the momentum to spin around and slice at his legs. He stumbled back, but the other orcs closed in on me, their weapons ready.

I fought with all my might, dodging and parrying their attacks, but the odds were against me. One of them managed to get a hit on my arm, causing me to drop my dagger. I cursed under my breath, quickly grabbing a nearby rock and smashing it against the orc's head. He crumpled to the ground, and I scrambled to pick up my weapon.

But it was too late. The other orcs had already surrounded me, their weapons raised. Part of me roared in a mix of indignation and outrage. I was not going to die like this. A cry, half roar and half shout, tore its way out of my mouth as I slammed my fist into the ground.

I don't know how, but just before it hit, my hand glowed white. A shockwave radiated out from where my hand hit the ground, knocking the orcs surrounding me off their feet. It was just as much a surprise to me as it was to the orcs, but I wasn't going to waste the opportunity it granted me.

Drawing my sword, I immediately spun around and ran the tip through the head of the orc in charge. That done, I turned back to the remaining four, who were just starting to rise from the ground. They looked at me with a mix of fear and disbelief, their weapons still hanging limply at their sides. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what I knew I had to do.

With a battle cry that echoed through the valley, I charged at the orcs. They tried to fight back, but they were disoriented and unable to mount any real defense. In a matter of seconds, they lay either dead or writhing in pain on the ground, their weapons scattered around them.

As the adrenaline started to fade, I was left panting and shaking, my sword still gripped tightly in my hand. Forcing myself to keep going, I walked over to one of the two still living orcs and put the tip to its neck.

“You are going to answer every question I have,” I said as firmly and strongly as I could. “Am I clear?”

The orc snarled, spitting up at me, “Go swallow a ghûl!”

I drove the sword through the orc’s neck, before turning to face the other one. I had barely crossed half the distance, when the orc started talking, “I’ll talk! I’ll talk, ask away Tark! Doesn’t matter what you’s want to know, {Name and Tribe} will tell you!”

I raised an eyebrow. That was easier than expected. Stepping up to them, I put the edge of my sword against their throat and said, “Start with the basics. The most recent major events.”

The orc took a deep breath, hesitating ever so briefly, before I pressed a little harder with my sword, and they spilled.

─ Before Shadow of Mordor: “Three of the Dark Lord’s servants, The Hand, The Tower, and The Hammer are gathering tribes, getting ready for an attack on the Black Gate. They’ll take it from the tarks of Gondor who currently hold it.”

─ Before Shadow of War: “The Witch King… he’s organized an assault on the city of Minas Ithil. There’s talk about him being after something called a seeing stone. The spider here in Cirith Ungol’s also been acting something fierce.”

─ After Shadow of War: “The Dark Lord’s returned, you can see him over the tower of Barad Dur, a flaming eye! A tark they call the Gravewalker has conquered the city of Minas Morgul, and is leading attacks against the rest of Mordor.”

I looked the orc up and down, considering. They swallowed, and after a moment, asked, “You’ll let me go then? I did what you’s said, I told you’s what you want to know.”

My focus honestly wasn’t on them. It was on the notifications that appeared in front of me.

Quest Completed: Wraith & Ruin

─ Unlock your true potential as a Gravewalker with the wraith bound to you.

─ Reward: Wraith perk

─ Secret Reward: The Black Speech

─ The Black Speech – This Perk does cover certain secret languages you might encounter, in this case being the Black Speech of Mordor. Not all Orcs know it, with some thinking it’s just gibberish. Speaking, reading, writing and understanding these sorts of languages is instinctual for you, and you won’t suffer from any side effects or negative aspects of knowing or using various dark and eldritch languages, nor do those around you. You can toggle that safety feature off if you really want.

Quest Granted: Build An Army

─ Mordor is in chaos, bring order to it by Domination.

─ Reward: The Power of Domination perk

─ The Power of Domination – You are capable of essentially enslaving the minds of others, bending them to your will. It is faster if you can physically contact their head, but can also be done from a short distance, though still only one at a time. This can be done to any living creature, and some undead, that possess something akin to a functional mind. Those with more power or stronger wills may need to be broken in first by seriously harming them, but average grunts will fall to you within a few uninterrupted seconds. With some practice, beasts can be rapidly dominated without needing to harm them. You can use this ability to look within the minds of others as well. Bear in mind, however, that some beings are protected against this sort of mental interference through some means. They might not serve you with just this power at your disposal, so you will have to find other means to remove them as an enemy, or perhaps find ways to weaken them to the point they are vulnerable. It won’t work on mindless puppet corpses or the equivalent, but you have a chance of dominating anything that actually has some sort of mind. Perhaps even creatures like Ringwraiths, or stranger things, should they lack a way to stop you seizing control.

I turned my gaze back to the orc under me. I’d need to start somewhere with my army, wouldn’t I? Lifting the sword away from their throat, I reached down and grabbed them by the collar of their armor, dragging them up. I’d felt a faint energy within me as I let loose that shockwave earlier, it was something that I also felt within them. Narrowing my eyes, I reached out for that energy within them, pulling and tugging on it.

I didn’t have the words to properly describe how it felt, I was many things, but a wordsmith wasn’t one of them. But as I pulled that energy within the orc into myself, I growled, “I’m not done with you yet.”