'Never have I been a poet of war. If we found glory in naught more than gleaming armour and feats of battle, then the Enemy has won his first victory against us.

'And so I wrought poetry of the grandeur of works or stone, of the beauty of blossom and branch, of the love of young men and maidens, fair and proud. When I put history to verse, it was of our works and journeys and failings.

'But today - today is a day of war! It is close upon us as the breath in our lungs, and I would write a song of it. As you came upon me here, I was brooding on how to begin. I think I must fill my senses with things dark, dread, and bloody. Will you help me in this?'

Soldiers can be found training and making ready in the Second Circle.

Dúrbethir asked that you go among the soldiers and listen to them train, as well as retrieve a cold knife and a sweaty rag.

Objectives

• Listen to the soldiers training
• Find a sweaty rag

Pillaged farmsteads and the enemy army can be found across the Pelennor, outside Minas Tirith.

Dúrbethir asked that you find ruined farmsteads and gather charred wood and trampled wheat. He also asked that you hear for him the death-rattle of enemy soldiers and see the gleam in an enemy captain's eye in combat and defeat.

Objectives

• Find trampled wheat (0/3)
• Hear the death-rattle of enemy soldiers (0/4)
• Observe the gleam in the eyes of a captain

Return to Dúrbethir in the Fourth Circle of Minas Tirith.

Objectives