The Road to Edain 4.3: The Path of the Edain news

Have you ever asked yourself the question, what would have happened if the whole War of the Ring would have been only a trap. Nothing but a distraction to lure the attention of the free people of Middle-Earth towards Sauron in the south-west instead of something much older and worse rising in the north. What if Morgoth's most loyal servant was plotting to drain Middle-Earth in the blood of everyone opposing him, with the ultimate goal, of reviving Morgoth at last.

And while the Fellowship of the Ring moves south, all over Middle-Earth evil creatures rise from the depth, to bring terror upon the world. And so a most unlikely group assembles once more in the halls of Elrond to hold council.

There they are, a representative of Gondor, hoping for news of Boromir, a Rohirrim Captain, who hunted a horde of goblins thus far, that he passed through these lands, an elven maid bringing message from the Lady of Light, a wood-elf telling about the evil spreading in Mirkwood, Thogar son of Thorin III accompanied by some dwarven veterans, even a snow troll from Forodwaith, who is seeking answers important to his tribe. But the center of attention is a pale tainted elf, who was fostered in Rivendell.
For many nights this elf had the same dream. He was lead, sometimes it was a hooded figure, sometimes a wild animal, but always it was the same person. In his dreams the elf followed him, through woods, over mountains and into the dark corridors of an old underground fortress. And the a voice kept telling him, to follow this path, the Path of the Edain, if he wanted to know the truth.
And so, the council decides that it is inevitable to follow this path. Lead by Glorfindel and Elrond's sons himself, the group departs upon the old dwarven fortress of Mount Gundabad, but what will await them there, no one might say.

Chose your own custom hero and follow the Path of the Edain yourself, to discover the endless number of dungeons, halls and corridors of Gundabad in this fictional scenario.

The Map

The map is made for 6 custom heroes, either being played by human players or the full working AI.
The players begin at the first upper floor of Gundabad, from where they start exploring the dungeons. At many crossroads, the player has to decide which way to take and can even change the floor using the stairs between them. To use a stair, more than half of the players have to step on it, such that the players will be teleported to the other side of it.

The map consists of 5 normal playable floors reaching from the second lower floor to the third upper floor, plus a bonus floor and the final floor at the roots of the Grey Mountains, making the map is a huge three-dimensional maze. To help the player the mini-map is redrawn for every floor to allow an optimal orientation.

The whole map consists of 60 halls and rooms and even more corridors connecting them. The playable size of the map is 2,5 times as large as the current largest map in Edain and is about 7 times as large as Fords of Isen. Therefore, exploring every part of it needs more than 2 hours.
On the map the player will find 25 different kinds of enemies, reaching from endless hordes of weak orcs, to dragons and other monsters.

Races and Classes

True to real dungeon games, besides the races the player can choose in the hero editor, in the map itself, the player is allowed to choose a classes, too.

• Commander: The Commander is a charismatic leader, who is trusted by his troops. Summoned troops stay twice as long on the battlefield. Nearby allied troops gain +10% armor and damage
• Sage: The Sage supports all those around him. Nearby heroes gain twice as much experience and their cooldowns are reduced by 10%.
• Defender: The Defender is a defensive fighter, who is prepared to all situations. If the defender is not in combat for 10 seconds, then he is able to block the next attack and every other damage in the 5 seconds afterward.
• Marksmen: The Marksmen knows the weaknesses of his enemies, and is able to cause critical wounds. Hit enemies are slowed 90% down for 0,5 seconds. Does effect hordes, too. Only ranged[/li]
• Plunderer: For the plunderer a fight is nothing, profit is everything. The plunderer gains resources for killing enemies
• Crusher: The Crusher is always the first in the army of the enemy and crushes everyone to the ground, who dares to stop him. The crusher is 5% faster and slows much less down, when trampling/crushing enemies.
• Veteran: The Veteran is an experienced fighter, who has the advantage of much battle experience. Depending on the class, he gets different boni: Men of the West: Armor, Defenders of the Woods: Attack Speed, Dwarves: Health, Trolls: Area of Effect
• Slayer: The Slayer enjoys every moment of the fight. With every attack he regenerates some of his health.
• Master Thief: The Master Thief is able to open any lock. Closed doors can be opened
• Champion: The Champion fights determined for his goals With every hit, he reduces the cooldown of the next abilities by 33% for 5 seconds
  
  

These classes can be selected in the spellbook. The player will start with 10 spellpoints, such that he can instantly buy the first class. A very special class is the Master Thief, who can open any locked door, if this door is openable at all from the outside. This class is very useful, allowing the player to enable bonus rooms and even floors, like the birthplace of Durin or the treasury, but it is not necessary for the victory.

The Mission

The custom heroes being separated from the rest of the group at the beginning of the game, have to find there own way slaughtering every foe on their path, to find out more information, about what is going on. This will lead them to the final level and short before that to happy meeting with the other half of the group. Those who survived until the final chamber, will be faced with an ultimate decision and might even have to fight their formerly friends. Depending on the choice of each player the map can have two different endings.