The Three Hunters

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* Map Layout

"Yes," said Aragorn, "we shall all need the endurance of Dwarves. But come! With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter! We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!"
Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift, now that his mind was at last made up. The woods about the lake they left behind. Long slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. Dusk came. They passed away, grey shadows in a stony land."
—The Two Towers, Departure of Boromir

Following the skirmish of Parth Galen, Aragorn and his loyal companions, Legolas and Gimli, pursue the party of Uruk-hai and their captives, Merry and Pippin. The Three Hunters' chase leads them to the plains of Rohan, the land of the Horse Lords, which is under attack by Isengard raiding parties. Although Théoden has been incapacitated by Saruman's leechcraft, the Riddermark is defended by Éomer and the Rohirrim. Éomer directs the Hunters to the Eaves of Fangorn, where the Uruk party was destroyed; the captive Hobbits are not present but their tracks lead the Hunters into the forest of Fangorn.

The Three Hunters is the thirteenth mission of the Lord of the Rings Campaign. The player initially controls Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and, if he survived the Breaking of the Fellowship, Boromir. The player later assumes control of Éomer as well as Merry and Pippin. If any hero dies, the mission is failed.

## Guide

**New Objective - Track the Uruk party across Rohan**

**Bonus Objective - Find all clues of the Uruk party**

The mission begins with the Three Hunters' arrival in Rohan after three days and nights pursuit of their quarry. The player must navigate the Hunters into the valleys of Rohan to find clues of the Hobbits' whereabouts. There are three clues to find for the bonus objective, the first of which is found before entering the valley: it is an abandoned piece of Uruk-hai armour which can be collected. The second clue is found immediately after entering the valley, it is Pippin's Fellowship brooch; once collected, a cinematic plays in which the Uruk-hai party is joined by a host of Mordor orcs, led by Grishnákh. Aragorn deduces that the party is now less than a day ahead of the Hunters but the Uruk-hai have caught the Hunters' scent and quickened in pace.

The Hunters must traverse through the valleys, which are inhabited by wild Wargs. The player must fight their way through the Warg packs, which do not pose a significant threat thanks to Aragorn's **Kingsfoil** ability that can heal, as well as abilities such as **Stubborn Pride** and **Faithful Protector** which increase the Hunters' strength in combat. The third and final clue of the Uruk party can be found in a small Rohan settlement destroyed by Wildmen raiders; the settlement can be accessed by walking across the rock formation lying across the gorge. Once the clue has been collected, the Hunters are ambushed by Wildmen of Dunland which are easily dispatched by the players' heroes.

As the player draws close to the gorge's exit, the Hunters are attacked by more Warg packs led by a Warg Matriarch, which has a large amount of health and is immune to knockback - preventing Boromir from knocking the Matriarch back with his attacks if he is alive. The Matriarch can be killed via a combination of the heroes' abilities including Legolas' **Piercing Shots**, which ignore its armour, **Stubborn Pride** and **Faithful Protector**; **You Can Go No Further** can temporarily stun the Matriarch to give time for additional hits without the heroes taking damage themselves.

The gorge opens into the Eastfold, a sweeping plain of green land. The Hunters encounter Éomer and his riders and question him regarding the Uruk party and the captive Hobbits. Éomer recounts his defence of the Eastfold and the destruction of the Uruk-hai party at the hands of his riders, leading into the next segment of the mission: a flashback of Éomer's defence.

The player now controls Éomer and a battalion of Mounted Kingsguard, Éomer sends out scouts to spy on Isengard's forces whilst he and his riders liberate a nearby village under attack from Wildmen and Dunlending forces.

**New Objective - Rescue the village from Dunland and Wildman raiders**

The village is inhabited by Peasants and Yeomen Spearmen who are outnumbered by the attacking Wildmen and Dunlending Axemen. It is possible to rescue these defending battalions with Éomer and his Kingsguard by trampling the attackers, using spellbook powers such as **Hide!** and **Rallying Horn** to buff friendly units and debuff the enemy, and pulling battalions out of combat when their units are nearly depleted. Once the attackers are killed, a Rohan Porter arrives to extinguish the fires in the village to allow construction of structures on the two build plots available; all fires must be extinguished before the build plots become accessible. The player's options of structures are limited to Farms, Windmills, Heroic Statues and Wells. Farms and Windmills can recruit Peasants and Horsemen of the Mark - the Eastfold is vast and so Horsemen of the Mark are preferable to traverse the map much faster albeit at the cost of being more vulnerable to Wildmen Pikemen encountered across the plains.

**New Objective - Find and liberate all villages across the Eastfold**

**Bonus Objective - Destroy all raiding parties across the Eastfold**

There are seven more villages to defend and rebuild across the Eastfold, each village is under attack and burning: the attackers must be cleared out and fires extinguished by Porters before they can be rebuilt. Additional Rohan units, such as Rohirrim Warriors and Rohirrim Archers, can be discovered at these villages, therefore it is recommended to station the Peasants and Spearmen rescued from the first village at rebuilt villages to defend them from random attackers whilst Éomer and cavalry units ride from village to village. To complete the bonus objective, the player must traverse the map and destroy not only the enemy units actively attacking villages but also enemy battalions scattered across the map. The player initially has control of one Porter, more are discovered as more villages are liberated. If a porter is killed when travelling from one village to another, a replacement Porter will eventually respawn at a rebuilt village.

**Bonus Objective - Rescue all refugees**

In addition to defending villages and encountering friendly units to join the player's army, Éomer can discover refugees being pursued by Wildmen. If the refugees successfully reach the closest liberated village, they will drop a chest of resources and give the player control of unique Porters who can grant unit upgrades to the player's units, such as forged blades and heavy armour. There are three groups of refugees that can be saved throughout the segment.

**New Objective - Find the Uruk and Orc party**

**New Objective - Report back to Éomer**

Once all seven villages have been defended and rebuilt, the mission cuts to later that night when the scouts sent out by Éomer discover the Uruk-hai party at the Eaves of Fangorn. The scouts must now regroup with Éomer at the first village to report their findings, they must be quick as they are pursued by Dunnish Outriders.

**New Objective - Destroy the Uruk and Orc party**

The player regains control of Éomer and all the units built/rescued during the liberation of the Eastfold, they must return to the Orc camp and destroy all enemies there. Cavalry units are most effective at destroying the Orc camp as there are no enemy pikemen and so the player can trample the Uruk-hai and Orcs freely. Uglúk is present at the camp and must also be killed, this can be achieved easily by using Éomer's **Spear Throw** and **Thirst of Gúthwinë** to deal high damage. Once all of the Orcs have been killed, the segment ends and the mission returns to the present with the Three Hunters questioning Éomer about the Hobbits' whereabouts.

**Bonus Objective (*player determined*) - Find a new shield for Boromir**

Éomer and his banished riders depart and the player regains control of the Three Hunters. If they did not do so during Éomer's segment, the player can track down and destroy the raiding parties scattered around the Eastfold the complete the bonus objective; otherwise they must simply traverse the plains to return to the Orc camp to find clues of the Hobbits' whereabouts. If Boromir is alive, a new shield can be found for him at the pile of Orc corpses at the Eaves.

**New Objective - Use Aragorn to find clues of the Hobbits' fate**

Aragorn can find one of the Hobbits' belts and subsequent footprints leading away from the Orc camp into Fangorn forest. The mission cuts to the Hobbits' perspective: during a dispute between the Isengard Uruk-hai and Mordor Orcs and Éomer's raid on the camp, the Hobbits were able to escape into Fangorn forest. The Hobbits are temporarily invulnerable during the escape from the camp, but the player must be quick to enter the forest as otherwise the Hobbits may be killed by one of the Uruk-hai or Orcs.

**New Objective - Find a way to cross the Entwash**

**Bonus Objective - Avoid detection in Fangorn forest**

Orcs and Uruk-hai patrol the forest and must be avoided, they deal significant damage against Merry and Pippin and so combat is not a viable option. The Hobbits have various means of stealth to avoid the Orc patrols: they can use **Elven Cloaks** to quickly hide and avoid discovery, **Lures** can be thrown to draw patrols away and to clear a path. These abilities can be used in combination to complete the bonus objective: hide Merry and Pippin with their cloaks nearby an enemy horde before throwing a lure, whilst still stealthed, to divert the Orcs from the player's path. The Hobbits must reach the Entwash, listen for audio cues such as flowing water to navigate through the forest successfully. Upon reaching the Entwash, the Hobbits are chased by Grishnákh who has survived the Rohirrim attack. Grishnákh successfully corners the Hobbits but is killed by Treebeard, a shepherd of the forest, who takes Merry and Pippin into the care of the Ents.

**New Objective - Find Merry and Pippin**

The perspective once again switches to the Three Hunters, who enter the forest in pursuit of Merry and Pippin. The forest is now clear of Orcs and Uruk-hai, but is now infested with Spiders. These can be killed by making use of the Hunters' abilities, but can inflict considerable damage before dying. Trace the Hobbits' steps to the Entwash to trigger the mission's final cinematic: the Hunters are confronted by an old man robed in white, whom they presume to be Saruman. Stepping out of the light, the robed wizard is instead revealed to be Gandalf revived from his battle against Durin's Bane and the new head of the Istari order. The mission is now complete.