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The Ale Association

[ Deutsche Version ]

The Dwarven Ale Association despises the pitiful, namby-pamby drinking culture of their competition, the Hobbits of the Inn League, and does everything in its power to undermine their operations. Does that resonate? Then what are you waiting for!

The Ale Association is headquartered in the back room of the inn at Thorin's Hall. Once you reach the reputation level "Acquaintance," you will be admitted there.

Ale Association Deliveries
Harvest Festival only:
- A Game of Hobbit-harrying
Reputation Titles

The Ale Association Challenge

To become a member of the Ale Association, you must complete this quest.

Andri in the Inn of Thorin's Hall challenges you to speak with Bjarni in the Prancing Pony in Bree. There you must drink 6 mugs of beer and will then be sent to further stops.
Τhe timer starts as soon as you accept the challenge at the first stop, and you must hand in the quest to the host of the table before the time runs out. This starts the timer for the next stop.

Bjarni in the Prancing Pony (1:10 min.)
Daggeir at the Combe-gate (2:30 min.)
Finn in Staddle (1:55 min.)
Gerthar in Jasmine’s Garden in Bree (2:30 min.)
Haddur in the Stone Quarter (1:40 min.)

The quest is very doable despite the timer. However, the beers take different amounts of time to drink:

Garnet Smoked Porter: 9 seconds (avoid it)
Ruddy-nose Lager: 6 seconds
Stonebrow Stout: 5 seconds
Bearded Bear Beer: 4 seconds.

As with the eating quest at the Yule Festival, if you have time left at a station, jump on your horse before handing the quest in. This saves you a little time.

Over the course of the quests you will become drunk. This causes your vision to blur and you will start seeing double. The fainter of two doubled objects is the real one.
A sensitive Elf might perhaps consider unchecking Options - Graphics (Advanced) - Post-Processing Effects. For a true Dwarf, of course, such cowardice is of course out of the question!

Here you can find the locations of the dwarf stops (click to enlarge):

NOTE: Andri only gives out the quest the first time. Once you have completed the circuit once, you can restart it directly with Bjarni at the Prancing Pony.

Rewards:
1200 reputation points (Ale Association).
The first time: 10000 additional reputation points on top. This already makes you an "Acquaintance."
Title: Member of the Ale Association
This quest is repeatable daily.

This quest doesn’t decrease Inn League reputation, so you can use it to max out both factions’ reputation simultaneously.

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Jónar's Sabotage Missions

Do not accept "Jónar's Special Delivery" until you have completed "Jónar's Special Brew"! You need it to complete the delivery, and the timer starts running as soon as you accept the Special Delivery quest.

Tainted Mug

Jónar in the inn at Thorin's Hall incites you to steal four valuable recipes from the Inn League.

The Recipe for Fern Beer can be found in the guardroom at Brockenborings.
The Recipe for Gunderic's Ale can be found in Tuckborough in the library of the Great Smials.
The Recipe for Rootknot's Cider is on a table near the clotheslines in Waymeet.
The Recipe for Perry’s Porter can be found near Stock, a little northeast of the Golden Perch, under a tree.

Return to Jónar with your loot when you are done.

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An Irritating Initiation

Next, Jónar wants you to annoy some insubordinate dwarves who have outrageously joined the Inn League:

Óli right there on site, in the inn at Thorin's Hall
Kópur in Noglond
Grímar in Gondamon
Herluf in Needlehole

Insult each dwarf three times, as he deserves, and then return to Jónar to boast about your success.

On your first run, you will have to accept each quest separately from Jónar, in order. After completing the quest-line once, he will hand out all four quests at once.

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The Draught Drought (optional)

Now, Jónar wants you to empty 7 kegs of the Inn League to help the Ale Association gain dominance over the drinks market. The kegs are located here:

the Bird and Baby in Michel Delving (in the back room)
the Party Tree in Hobbiton (slightly east of the tree)
the Green Dragon in Bywater (behind the bar)
the Floating Log in Frogmorton (near the entrance)
Woodhall (in the northwest of the village)
Budgeford (in front of Odovacar Bolger's house on the top level of the village)
the Golden Perch in Stock (in the back room)

Afterwards, report back to Jónar.

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Jónar's Special Brew

Jónar knows a very special beer recipe and sends you out to gather the ingredients:

5 portions of swamp gas from Rushock Bog near Needlehole
a raw rotten egg from Sandson's Farm in the Shire (speak to the chicken Billina for this)
7 portions of slime from slimy slugs along the river directly north of Celondim in the Ered Luin

Does that sound tasty? No? Hmmm ...

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Jónar's Special Delivery

Do not accept this quest until you have completed the previous quest step! The timer on the "Special Delivery" starts running as soon as you accept the quest, and you need the brew to complete it.

Jónar sends you out to unleash his special brew on the Hobbits where it hurts most: at the Party Tree!

You have 30 minutes to "deliver" the special brew. It appears at the location as an item in your inventory, so you are not actually “carrying” it and can use a Stable-master horse or your own steed to travel to Hobbiton. Then use the brew at the tables near the Party Tree. Yuck! Hopefully you are proud of yourself now.

Return to Jónar and rejoice together with your evil accomplice!

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Rewards for each individual quest from Jónar:
900 reputation points (Ale Association), -500 reputation points (Inn League)
1 Badge of Dishonour

These quests are repeatable every 16 hours.

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Ale Association Deliveries

Throughout Eriador, members of the Inn League are scattered about, waiting for a delivery of their favourite drinks. The Ale Association has caught wind of this and has decided to craftily slip the Inn Leaguers counterfeit drinks. Some devious innkeepers are in on it and will play along with the mean prank.

Unlike with the Inn League delivery quests, you can’t buy the drinks in advance, and you can’t accept the quests at the destination either. Instead:

You must accept the quests from an Ale Association innkeeper at a festival ground. From that moment, you have one hour for the delivery.
Then you go to the innkeepers who are in on it to receive the fake drinks. They do correspond to "normal" items that these innkeepers have for sale, but these do not count for this quest series! You must speak to the innkeepers as quest-givers to receive the correct items.
You then deliver the cuckoo's eggs to the unsuspecting Inn League members.

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Strategy

You can complete all the Ale Association delivery quests at once within one hour. Below you will find a route that makes this possible even with minimal travel skills. (Stable-master fast travels are however a prerequisite.) The more additional travel skills you have, the more relaxed things will naturally become.

Make sure you have enough room in your quest-log. There are 11 quests to accept!

Of course, you can also take it easy and complete the quests one by one.

You can also combine your run with the Inn League deliveries at the same time. This does not take any longer, it only requires a few preparations once: You must become a member there and buy the yellow-highlighted stacks on the shopping list. Once you have done this, you can increase your reputation with both factions simultaneously each day.
Gaining reputation takes longer this way than if you focus on just one faction. Because every time you complete a quest for one faction, your reputation with the other drops a little (900 points gained with one, 500 points lost with the other faction). But in the end you can achieve maximum reputation with both factions.

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Quest Overview

As already stated: you CANNOT stockpile the drinks for this quest in advance as you can with the Inn League deliveries. They are also available in the innkeepers' normal stock, but those do not count for this quest! The innkeepers hand out the correct items for free when you have the corresponding delivery quests active.

Quest	Drink	Inn/Vendor	Destination	Recipient
All But the Good Cider	Fake Stars of Old Cider (= Forsaken Cider)	The Forsaken Inn, Lone-lands	Brockenborings, Shire	Foxglove Grubb
Never Further From Home	Fake Limael's Vintage (= Isenwine)	The Prancing Pony, Bree	Thornley's Work Site, Northern Bree-fields	Wesley Hopwood
One Drink Too Few	Fake Forsaken Ale (= Barliman's Best)	The Prancing Pony, Bree	Thrasi's Lodge, Ered Luin	Alrek
Quite a Tickle	Fake Thistlebelly Brew (= Small Beer)	The Inn at Thorin's Hall	Ost Haer, Lone-lands	Wald Mugwort
A Bit of White	Fake Blagrove’s Brown (= Whitebranch)	The Ivy Bush, Hobbiton	Oatbarton, Evendim	Harigar Mudbottom
Bombur's Breath	Fake Bombur's Beard Lager (= Dragon's Breath Ale)	The Green Dragon, Bywater	Othrikar, North Downs	Múli
A Different Reminder of Rivendell	Fake Dorwinion White (= Dorwinion Red)	Sogadan, Hall of Fire, Rivendell	Refuge of Edhelion, Ered Luin	Lendasil
A Drink of the Best Character	Fake Swill (= Mead)	The Plough and Stars, Brockenborings	Aughaire, Angmar	Nathalan
A Convoluted Wine	Fake Brandy Wine (= Old Winyards)	The Bird and Baby, Michel Delving	Echad Candelleth, Trollshaws	Saerthuithel
A Dark Prank	Fake Moor-boar Beer (= Toad’s Tongue Ale)	The Floating Log, Frogmorton	Zigilgund, Forochel	Lófi
Not Atli's Favourite	Fake Beakbreaker Beer (= 1404 Vintage Reserve)	The Green Dragon, Bywater	Hrimbarg, Misty Mountains	Óli

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Route

There are multiple routes you can take. If you’re a long-time player with many travel skills, you will have no problem figuring out how to do this even faster. This route is for beginners, too. It uses only 2 teleports (1 milestone, 1 return), meaning you can complete it within an hour with hardly any extra travel skills. More skills naturally make the journey smoother and faster. But it works this way too.

Fast travel is essential in places like Forochel. You also need Friend there to use it. If you don’t have that, just skip this step.

If you can’t go to Gath Forthnír yet (Epic Vol. 1, Book 6 fully complete, Acquaintance with the Council of the North), you must get to Aughaire via Esteldín - or skip this step, too.

As minimum travel skills I recommend

Milestone in Bree
and/or Return to Bree from the reputation vendors at the hunting lodge behind the auction house (maximum reputation + 100 Barrow-treasures). If you have quested through the Barrow-downs, you probably qualify already. This skill sits on a different cooldown from the milestone.
Return to Lalia's Market (from Lalia at Lalia's Market at the Boar Fountain for 3 Mithril Coins). It’s a must-have anyway and also does not share a cooldown with milestone skills.

The corresponding Inn League quests can be completed simultaneously, as mentioned above. They can be accepted and completed on the spot, so you don’t need any additional room in your quest-log. Just take the Inn League drinks with you.

ST: Swift Travel, SM: normal Stable-master ride, M/T: Milestone or Travel skill
red: collect fake drinks
blue: deliver drinks
purple: both

Quick Route
Party Tree: Accept all Ale Association delivery quests here. NOT the Inn League ones.
ride to Hobbiton, The Ivy Bush (1 DRINK)
ride to Bywater, The Green Dragon (2 DRINKS)
ride to Frogmorton, The Floating Log (1 DRINK)
M/T to Bree, The Prancing Pony (2 DRINKS)
Festival horse outside the Prancing Pony to Bree-land festival ground - ride to Thornley's Work Site The festival horse is in the stable directly across from the main entrance of the Prancing Pony.
back to Bree-land festival ground - festival horse to Bree - ST to Michel Delving, The Bird and Baby (1 DRINK)
ST to Celondim - SM to Duillond - SM to Thrasi's Lodge - SM to Duillond - SM to Celondim
ST to Bree - ST to Rivendell, Hall of Fire (1 DRINK)
ST to Hrimbarg - ST to Rivendell
ST to Echad Candelleth - ST to Rivendell - ST to Bree Saerthuithel is on the upper level.
ST to Thorin's Hall, inn (1 DRINK) - back out again Dismount at Frerin's Court and use the shortcut to the Inn through the small door to the left of the main gate of Thorin’s Hall!
ride to Refuge of Edhelion - M/T to Bree The Refuge of Edhelion is in the northeast of Thorin's Gate. The fastest way is up the stairs near the Silver Deep Mine. Then in the refuge: 1st junction turn left, 2nd staircase turn left and go up.
ST to South Bree - ST to Bree-land Homesteads - ride to the Forsaken Inn (1 DRINK)
SM to South Bree (grab a coffee or do the dishes) - ST to West Bree - ST to Tinnudir - ST to Oatbarton
ST to Brockenborings (1 DRINK and delivery) - ST to Oatbarton - ST to Forochel
ST to Sûri-kylä - ST to Zigilgund - ST to Sûri-kylä If you don’t have fast-travel in Forochel, maybe skip this step.
ST to Gath Forthnír - ST to Aughaire - ST to Gath Forthnír or ST to Esteldín - SM to Aughaire Acquaintance with the Council of the North is needed for swift travel in Angmar. If you don’t have that or can’t travel to Gath Forthnír yet (you must have completed the Epic through Volume I, Book 6, Chapter 6 for this), travel to Aughaire via Esteldín or skip this step.
ST to Esteldín - SM to Othrikar - SM to Esteldín
ST to Bree - ST to South Bree - ST to Ost Guruth - ride to Ost Haer Ost Haer lies in the south of Harloeg.

Rewards per delivery:
900 reputation points (Ale Association), -500 reputation points (Inn League)
1 Badge of Dishonour

Reward for all deliveries
1200 reputation points (Ale Association)
Title: No-gooder

Each delivery is repeatable daily.

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Harvest Festival Only

A Game of Hobbit-harrying (Ráthgeir by the Haunted Burrow)

Find 6 Hobbits in the Haunted Burrow and give them the fright of their lives!

Beside the Hobbits there are vessels which you must use, from which various terrors will escape.

The already frightened Hobbits are the golden dots on the map.

Map of the Haunted Burrow

Rewards:
900 reputation points (Ale Association) - -500 reputation points (Inn League)
1 Badge of Dishonour

This quest is repeatable daily.

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Reputation Titles

Ale Association Acquaintance: “the Sinister”
Ale Association Friend: “Abuser of Amusement”
Ale Association Ally: “the Great Saboteur”
Kindred of Malevolence: “Creep”

Good luck with your sinister machinations, you creeps!

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