New characters arrive in one of two regions: humans and hobbits arrive in the general vicinity of the Shire and Breeland, whilst dwarves and elves enter the game in another area of the world. Each region is associated with an introductory quest arc, parts of which are shared by both races of that region. The first quest demonstrated to me takes place near the end of this introductory cycle.

A recurring character from earlier in the cycle, a non-player character ranger named Andlum, suffered a wound from a Morgul-blade earlier in the quest arc, and by this point has begun fall under the dominion of the Nazgûl. The quest is led by another NPC ranger (and 'led' is the operative word here - the ranger physically lead us through the instance), with the aim of rescuing Andlum before his transformation to a wraith becomes complete. Alas, we were not successful in this, and Andlum is last seen disappearing in the company of another recurring character of the evil persuasion: the Pale Dwarf.