The war with the Enemy began many years before the War of the Ring. In the waning years of the Third Age, the Free Peoples of Middle-earth stand divided from each other, beset on all sides by the Shadow... In the Black Land of Mordor the Witch-king has ascended and taken up the cause of the former Dark Lord. Driving his subjects with an iron fist, his reign of horror has spilled over the peaks of the Ephel Duath and washed into Ithilien for decades. To the West stands Gondor, a kingdom without a king, whose valiant men are the first and, for themselves, the only line of defense against the might of Mordor. Osgiliath, once the fair and regal city of the eastern border, lies in ruins, shattered by the armies of Mordor ere they could be repelled. In the war-ravaged fief of Ithilien, a quiet falls across the land for the time, but the Watchful Peace has ended.

To the South, pale-skinned barbarians of Gondor have been admitted into Haradwaith for the first time in living memory, even as people of the far deserts walk among the white streets of Minas Tirith. Long-held enmities give way grudgingly, and this peace is a tenuous thing, fueled by hidden ambitions, dangerous politics...and is ripe for the machinations of the Shadow. To the distant North in the untrodden paths of Mirkwood, a new terror rises, and its shadow grows long across the lands of Eregion. From the darkest corners of the forest pour forth spies, orcs, and a host of other horrors. The purpose of this power is not yet known, but all who hear of it know it to be a herald of darkness.

First in its path of destruction is Halburg, a small community of rugged northmen standing at the foot of the Misty Mountains. The homestead carries an ill fate: to bear the weight of the Enemy`s next assault on the West. With few warriors of their own and no allies to call on, the men of Halburg look only to themselves for protection, but more fates than their own hang in the balance. Only a day`s march away there is a decrepit stair of stone, once a noble sight to be sure, that leads up into the face of the mountain. Beyond the broken doors lie the dark and silent halls of Moria. Answering the dread summons of both Mordor and Dol Guldur, the orc tribes of Middle-earth have migrated here and threaten to sever the weakening ties between the Free Peoples.

And in the lowest caverns of the mines there lurks a monstrosity from a forgotten Age, and it has no loyalties of any kind nor mercy for intruders in its lair... Welcome to Shadows of Isildur.