The launcher started showing signs of life around 12:01am. I stepped away from the computer for a bit but by 12:05am I was showing roughly half the servers up. 12:08am Arkenstone came online and Arwellyn was one of the first 20 people to get in before the World Queue server started having issues from being overloaded. I was in Ventrillo with a couple different kinships and none of them were able to login. Those of us who did laughed and chatted it up in GLFF and headed into Eregion! To the rest of you… neener neener! 
Visiting the Last Homely House in Rivendell, Elrond now offers the quest to get started on Volume I, Book 15 but that is not required to get started on Volume II.
As I mentioned in the previous article, I left Arwellyn camped at what was a closed gateway in the Trollshaws’ Giant Valley. The gate is no longer there, and while that is the path I took into Eregion, I would actually suggest another road for your first trip here.
The route through Giant Valley is simple enough though once into Eregion you have a ways to go until you get to any of the camps or outposts in the zone. However, if you go to Garbert’s Cottage along the Bruinen, across the river you’ll see a path leading up the cliffs towards Eregion. Follow that road and you’ll end up in Gwingris at the top of the cliffs. Talk to the stable master and feel free to grab some of the quests here. Further exploration will yield three more outposts: Echad Eregion, Echad Mirobel and finally Echad Dunann which is located at the Walls of Moria. Speak to Rathwald for the quest Volume II, Book 1, Chapter 1: Strangers in Hollin.
This quest arc will take you inside the Walls of Moria, which is publically instanced from Eregion. There’s a reason for the instance portal relating to your Legendary Weapon, which you receive during part of the quest chain. In addition to the Book 1 quest arc, there are some Expedition quests inside the Walls of Moria. These are only available before the dwarven expedition heads to the Hollin Gate, at which point they will be deleted from your quest log if you’ve not completed them, and will become unavailable. The Expedition quests are not required, but it’s good XP to get you started towards level 51. They can be soloed but some classes might have problems in the caves if too many mobs aggro. I stayed in a small group all day so it wasn’t an issue. Chapter 8 is the dwarven expedition to the Hollin Gate, and you’ll see big red warning text that Expedition quests will be terminated if you continue.
Book 1, Chapter 8 is a solo instanced quest at the Black Pool. When the Watcher in the Water attacked the Fellowship as they entered Moria the entrance was blocked by rubble. I rode Arwellyn along a path on the outskirts of the Black Pool, occasionally meeting some dwarves along the way and a few small camps. On the far side, the leaders of the expedition are guiding their workers and she helped clear some rubble, though she kept getting a creepy feeling along the back of her neck, as if something wasn’t quite right. Or as if she were being watched. A few of the workers were getting bored of staring at the calm black waters and were tossing rocks into the water to pass the time. Their bosses didn’t like this and asked Arwellyn to scold them. They were quite apologetic, and everyone returned to work.
The new cinematic camera technology kicks in now, scrolling from point to point as it becomes apparent something just is not right. Very nice touch and an improvement over the first implementation of the cinematic we saw at the end of Volume I, Book 14. Suddenly a tentacle snaps out of the water and quickly drags one of the dwarves under! The other dwarves spring to the alert when the Watcher of the Water attacks the camp!
One of the expedition leaders asks us to run and warn the other camp as they fend for their lives. It was a close call, Arwellyn being a light armour class, but eventually the Watcher stopped attacking her as she ran along the Black Pool to warn the other dwarves. The instance ends there and we’re returned to Eregion where Rathwald suggests we head to Rivendell with items to forge a Legendary Weapon.
Once that’s done, we’re locked out of the Walls of Moria until our Legendary Weapon has reached level 10, where we can continue the next Chapter of the Book. Use the quests in Eregion to level not only yourself, but your weapon as well. This is why I suggest getting to the Walls of Moria as soon as possible to get started on Volume II rather than doing what might come naturally and doing quests in the various outposts as you get them. Arwellyn’s Legendary Staff is nearly level 9 at the moment. At level 10 it can be re-forged and improved but I get the impression that is not obvious because a few kinmates have been wondering why their weapon suddenly stopped earning XP. I’ll find out for myself if anything tells me this or not; I’m inclined to think they probably just didn’t read the quest dialogue or hints along the way, but we’ll see…
Dinner time, then I’m headed back in to finish up Volume II, Book 1 and gain access to the Mines themselves!
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Ah, so you go into Moria AFTER the Fellowship has already been through. That makes sense. I had visions of ten thousand people tramping through Moria, then quickly tidying up so the Fellowship would think they were the first since Durin.
“I was in Ventrillo with a couple different kinships and none of them were able to login. Those of us who did laughed and chatted it up in GLFF and headed into Eregion! To the rest of you… neener neener!”
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Ok, I was one of those losers who couldn’t get in, and had to listen to you describe Eregion and its creatures on the vent. You are so mean Arwellyn
@Tipa: Yeah the entire game world is setup chronologically following the Fellowship through the novels. All of Volume I gradually progressed the Fellowship to Rivendell towards the end, and in the last update Book 14, a Prologue to Volume II was included where Elrond bids the Fellowship goodbye and safe tidings as they leave Rivendell towards Mordor. By the time we get to Hollin Gate early in Volume II, the Fellowship has already been through and dwarves are attempting to clean things up and reclaim Khazad-Dum.
@Glie: On the one hand, it was mischievously humorous that I got in and none of you or my kinship did, so I had a chance to gloat. On the other hand, I was all alone in the initial exploration other than the few random people in GLFF chat who managed to get in. I didn’t mind being “FIRST!!1!” at first (haha) but after a few minutes I was getting tired of being the only one in my circle of friends who made it.
Well, it was worth the wait - cause we got through most of Vol2 Book1 together and had a great time grouping with each other. Watching our legendary weapons advance was a treat.
BTW, we did’nt do too bad in the Mirobel “School” instance (Anzac PUG)! If we had Myrra, we would have been in good shape!
I’ll be getting Myrra soon enough, I’m just having too much fun learning everything with Arwellyn!