Haldor contemplates the bleak land around him. To the north and the east, a chain of mountains which indeed resembles the Misty Mountains. The cavernous hillscape to the northwest could probably be Carn Dum. To the west, a large plain stands where once was the forest of Ossiriand. And to the south...

If Haldor still had a heart, it would beat very fast. No doubt about it... to the south he can distinguish the forest of Rhudaur. His homeland... Now he has a goal... return home and try to get accepted by his people.

On his way, Haldor finds a strange building. Upon inspecting the inside, he discovers a hidden trap door... and calls for help within. Haldor carefully opens the trap door and enters the dark tunnels below... and the trap door closes itself! Sounds like he's trapped inside...

The tunnels are really dark, and Haldor is wondering what nasty creatures he will find inside. Suddenly, something hits him from behind. Haldor turns around and sees... nothing. Before the dagger stabs him from behind, he turns around again and manages to distinguish a dark figure cloaked in invisibility. Haldor casts a mana bolt and a lightning bolt... and the cloaked figure falls on the ground. The twin daggers and the well-filled purse leaves no doubt: Haldor has entered a thieves' hideout!

A down staircase... and the cries for help become louder. Haldor descends carefully... and enters a huge room full of treasures!

"Welcome to the Assassin's Lair!" booms a man clothed in black. "I'm the Assassin Lord, and these are my men."

"Please help me! I will reward you for your help!" shouts a man chained to the wall. His clothes tell that he is a rich merchant, captured by the thieves for his rare goods. The Assassin Lord hits him in the face.

"Shut up!" roars the Assassin Lord. "You!" pointing at Haldor. "You seem to be powerful... you could join us and work for me. You could even make profit with us. If you refuse my offer... my men will kill you promptly. So what do you decide?"

"I will never join a bunch of assassins!" replies Haldor, as he prepares his freezing spell. The Assassin Lord is hit by the powerful spell and stops moving. Haldor knows he doesn't have much time... the Assassin Lord has to die quickly. Fire bolt, lightning bolt, mana bolt... and the Assassin Lord goes down. Now all the assassins scream in anger and rush to avenge their master. Haldor not only has to fight for his life but must also protect the merchant's life from the assassins' murderous frenzy.

After the last thief falls to the ground, a hidden staircase appears to the place where the Assassin Lord was standing.

"Come, here's the way out." says Haldor to the merchant.

"Thank you very much. I said I would reward you for your help. As you see me, I'm on my way to Minas Tirith to open a Rare Goods shop there. If you go to Minas Tirith, I will give you good prices for my wares there. And take this gold... you deserved it."

"Minas Tirith? I've never heard of that city before... Where can it be found?" asks Haldor. But the merchant is already gone... "Nevermind, I'll find that city when the time is right. But for now, let's go home."

Searching in the depths of his memories, Haldor remembered a place south of the Misty Mountains from the time he was learning magics in the East... a place that was feared by all living creatures, for it was said to be cursed and filled with all sorts of undead creatures. The Paths of the Dead was the name of that place. A quick look around tells Haldor that it had probably been resurrected deep in that dungeon, and it would probably be difficult to get out of the place "alive".

The room he's standing in has two doors in the south wall. Opening them reveals a dark passageway to the west. Rapidly, Haldor meets his first encounters in the dungeon... not the undead he was expecting, but mere mice, rats and worms. After a short while, Haldor felt more powerful: his magical energies had increased again, and he learned how to enlighten his way.

Now a staircase leading upwards appears in the hallway behind a corner. Where could that lead?

Another room on the level above. More rats. More corridors. If only Haldor had some means of magically mapping dungeon levels... But he knows this won't happen until he becomes much more powerful. And then the pain... a bolt of ice had been cast from a trap he didn't see until it was too late. Haldor didn't know undead could be damaged by ice, or even suffer pain... but somehow he's different from the basic undead roaming mindlessly the dungeons. He has his own will, and even his own memories.

The bolt of fire that hits Haldor in the back brings him back to the sad reality. He's wounded and lost in a hostile environment. The creature that stands behind him looks like a twisted clone of himself: a skeleton mage. Haldor quickly hides himself behind a corner and rests, waiting for his enemy to show up. And before the skeleton mage could react, Haldor puts him back to rest with a lightning bolt.

After taking a few stairs up, Haldor begins to feel that the dungeon has become even more dangerous. Now he has to fight skeleton warriors, mages, archers, even elite skeletons in every room and corridor he has to take. And the traps, more and more deadly, start to deal a lot more damage, reducing the energies that maintain his bones tight together to a very low amount...

Haldor is now cornered... skeleton warriors everywhere. With all his magical energies, he manages to kill all of them but two. He raises his staff in a desperate attack and manages to hit the first skeleton, wounding him. The skeleton's counterattack manages to drop Haldor's life energies to a critical level... he knows that he won't be able to survive another hit. He raises his staff again... and kills the wounded skeleton. Now the other skeleton warrior is on him and Haldor doesn't have a chance against such an enemy...

Suddenly, Haldor is sensing power through his bones again. It seems that the last battle had raised his experience to a new level. Not only can he sense the utility of the items in his backpack... but he thinks he can also condense the moisture in the air to cast powerful spells. Before the skeleton warrior destroys him with his sword, Haldor conjures a powerful ice bolt and freezes his opponent. With his now restored magical energies and more powerful lightning spell, it doesn't take him long to cover the floor with skeleton bones...

With his new spells, now including a powerful mana bolt, Haldor progresses nicely through the Paths of the Dead. One more staircase, and he can finally see the light at the end of the dark tunnels... The last room, and a last staircase leading to the surface of the world...

Haldor doesn't see the creature that's approaching yet... but the noise it makes leaves no doubt: it's big, and it's undead. Suddenly a huge skeleton appears... a Bone Giant. But this specific Bone Giant doesn't seem to be complete... maybe his master didn't have the time to finish it... or maybe he was killed by his own creation. Fortunately, this means that it didn't get enough life energies to be too much of a threat. A few mana and lightning bolts... and the huge creature is history.

Among the bony remains, Haldor finds a phial filled with darkness. A nice find: a quick look reveals that it's in fact the famous Phial of Undead, a light source that grants vision in the dark. With his new artifact, Haldor takes the final staircase and exits the Paths of the Dead...

A beautiful sunshine... The wind blows on his chilled bones... Haldor feels fine, and for a moment forgets that he's not a living being anymore. Now it's time to explore the surroundings... Maybe he'll find answers to his questions: how many time has passed since he died? what happened in the meantime? and what will he find in his homeland after all this time? And simply... what will he do now?

Haldor wakes up in a dark and sinister dungeon.

"So that's how the Halls of Mandos look like... I was expecting something much more interesting."

Before him stands a human clothed in black robes, or at least an entity in human form. Could that be Mandos himself?

"Oh yes! I've done it! The most powerful slave ever created! And it's... MINE!"

Something is clearly wrong... This can't be Mandos... And the place... It's not a hall, it looks more like a summoning circle in a dusty dungeon. Haldor can't move... stuck inside the circle made of powerful runes of protection. And now he contemplates what remains of his old self... a set of pathetic bones, brought back to "life" by black magic with some kind of consciousness, a remnant of his past life as he once was Haldor, the Easterling Mage. Silently, he listens to the demented necromancer that created the abominous monstruosity he had become...

"A powerful slave against my enemies! No one will stand against me now!"

"I'm not a slave! I am Haldor, Archmage of Rhudor!", Haldor responds to the necromancer. "Now release me!"

"You're nothing more than a set of animated bones, conjured here to serve me!", replies the dark hooded figure. "Now shut up, slave!"

The ritual must have weakened the necromancer's powers. As he turns around for a moment, Haldor notices a part of the summoning circle starting to fade. A chance to escape? Even without his old body, Haldor still feels the magical energies flowing through his bony remains. Maybe his old magical powers are still intact. Without a moment of doubt, he conjures a powerful fire bolt and aim it at the overconfident necromancer.

"No! This can't be! I am your master! You must obey me! I'll teach you obedience, slave!", shouts the necromancer, as he calls the horrible spell of Soul Rot.

Nimbly dodging the spell, Haldor replies with a lightning bolt... and the necromancer falls to his knees.

"Why did you do that? With your help, we would have been unstoppable and conquered the world!"

"I'm not interested.", replies Haldor. "And I will destroy you for making an undead out of me!"

"Nooo! Please spare me! I'm a poor necromancer who needs his undead slaves to survive in this cruel world", gurgles the necromancer, as his life starts to slip out of his body. "And you will need me anyway to survive too! In your current form, everything you will meet outside of this room will try to destroy you..."

"So what do you propose?", asks Haldor.

"Here, take this cloak. It is an enchanted cloak that will hide your true nature and make you look like a normal human."

Haldor looks at the black cloak which seems to radiate magical energies. As he puts it on, he feels his magical energies increase... a powerful cloak indeed. Looking at himself through one of the polished stones that form the walls of the room, he sees a man, vaguely resembling the old Haldor he once was, the cloak giving an illusion of a skinny body to everyone that would look at him now.

"Thank you for the gift... now you may die.", says Haldor without a trace of mercy in the voice.

"NOOOOO... *gurlgle*."

The necromancer dead, Haldor starts to think about what he should do now. The idea of spending the remaining of his time on Arda as an undead skeleton repulses him... but ending his unlife now in this forsaken dungeon is not the answer. Suicide has never been liked by the Gods, and would probably cost his place in the afterlife... and appearing as this pathetic set of bones in front of Mandos is not really what he's looking for right now. Maybe there's still something to accomplish in Middle-Earth after all, and he's gonna have time to think about his second death later...

Haldor looks more closely at the room he's currently standing in. Where could he possibly be? And a more important question... when? How long did he stay in limbo state before being awakened here instead of in the Halls of Mandos?

The sun rises again, and another battle is about to begin. For the past two days, the armies of Valinor had fought the forces of Morgoth that were spewing forth from the caverns of Anfauglith. The Balrogs had already fallen, now the legions of the Orcs are standing between the armies of the Light and the fortress of Angband.

All the recent victories had given Haldor a courage unknown to himself. The young mage knew that his limited talents would not weight much in the final outcome, but at least he was fighting against the forces of Evil, not like most Easterlings who decided to fight for the Enemy.

And his mentor, Eldorin, was on his side. The powerful Maia had taken a human shape, young, beautiful, and terrible at the same time. With his mighty spells alone, he could defeat an entire unit of a hundred Orcs in no time... Really, nothing could go wrong this day. Soon they would be standing at the entrance of the pits of Angband, and all the darkness would be dissipated...

Suddenly, the sound of the trumpets started to resonate in the sky, and it was the signal all were waiting for. Quickly, the legions of the Orcs perished, exterminated by the swords, bows and spells of the armies of the West. During the battle, Haldor got separated from Eldorin and the friends who were fighting with him. He had to retreat behind a hill after being chased by a dozen of Orcs to regain his magical energies. Using these energies, he could cast minor fire and lightning bolts to dispel the unfortunate Orcs that were stupid enough to attack him...

The top of the hill was a perfect spot to watch the progress of the battle. Looking around, Haldor could only see thousands and thousands of Orc corpses left behind by the armies of the Valar on the desolated plain of Anfauglith.

"Victory!" he shouted, watching the remaining Orc forces fleeing the field of battle.

Suddenly, from the fortress of Angband, came a terrible scream of fear and desperation. Could it be the Dark Lord himself, sensing that his end was coming? And as the scream was turning into a growl of anger, the sky started to become totally black above Morgoth's throne. Surely not a good omen...

And then they came... the great winged dragons with their devastating powers. Fire drakes, storm drakes, all breathing fire and lightning in front of them. Their assault was so brutal that, for a moment, Haldor saw the armies on the plain retreat in front of the raging elements preceding the dragons.

Submerged by the epic battle on the plain of Anfauglith, and in the sky above the plain, Haldor didn't see the huge form coming his way before it was too late for hiding. A massive dragon covered in black scales appeared above him and started to speak:

"Your existance has come to an end, puny mortal. I will destroy you and anyone who will stand against my master, Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. For I am Ancalagon the Black, mightiest of the dragonkind. Now prepare to die..."

Haldor knew he would have to use all he had learned during his training with Eldorin to have a chance of surviving the fight with the dragon. While dodging the first breath, he called for the element of fire and projected a bolt at the massive form...

"Silly mortal, your pesky spells are useless against me!", roared the dragon.

Indeed, the powers of the Flame, Lightning and even Corrosive Vapor were helpless against a creature that seemed to resist all the elements. After spending almost all his magical energies, Haldor could only hope that Eldorin had sensed his fight with the dragon and would come to the rescue... Using his minor teleportation abilities, Haldor managed to avoid the deadly breaths and claws for a while, but the outcome was unavoidable. As his magical energies got finally depleted, he raised his staff high and rushed at the dragon in a final assault.

The dragon's attack in response was brutal and painful. With all the strength of his claws, he threw Haldor to the bottom of the hill. In a last flash of consciousness, Haldor felt the warmth of the Valar enveloping him, as he sensed the aura of Eldorin taking him away from Ancalagon's wrath.

The spell of major teleportation had brought Eldorin back with Haldor's broken body to the camp where most of Haldor's friends had retreated from the dragons. Seeing all the interrogating faces surrounding him, Eldorin could only reply by a negative sign with his head...

In a final effort, Haldor opened his eyes:

"Is Ancalagon dead? Did we vanquish Morgoth?"

"Yes, my friend, the battle is over and the darkness is gone." replied Eldorin.

"Now I can die in peace. The Halls of Mandos are awaiting for me, and perhaps we gonna see each other again in Valinor..."

And with these words, Haldor dies...

I will post here the story of Haldor the Archmage, based on my experience from playing ToME4 beta 13. Since beta 14/15 were released too late to switch to Maj'Eyal, the story will still take place in Middle-Earth. The first twenty chapters were posted on the forums, the remaining parts will be posted here. So stay tuned!