Rearguard action

Poor Clara. Lithui is putting up a valiant defence, but despite his efforts to purge midlevel crafting mats from our own personal guild bank without flooding the market, my alts are replacing those mats just as fast.

PvP Experience

Last night we took Ikoli and Mornara into the battlegrounds! We went into Alterac Valley and Strand of the Ancients. They garnered wins and all kinds of achievements!

The experience gains from Alterac Valley were insane. Capping a tower or downing Balinda were almost 12000 xp each. Ikoli gained 25% of level just in the battlegrounds. My goal for her is to get the [Medallion of the Horde] for her by the end of the weekend. I'm not sure what Clara's goal is for Mornara, or if she even has one, she was having so much fun.

Healing in a battleground is weird. I need to adjust my raid frames a bit as I do not grey out people who are out of range. This was never a problem with Kuan in the battlegrounds but is a big pain on Ikoli. I also need to reconsider her spec, but she's still too little for it to matter.

Maarli and Chikari

Hyjal was down most of the night... it's still down. So, we rolled toons on Black Dragonflight, which is a PvP server. Clara rolled Chikari, a female orc rogue who spent quite a bit of the evening playing target to various turkey shooters. I rolled Maarli, a female troll hunter. For all this is hunter #4 or 5, I've not had a Troll hunter before. They've all been NEs or Tauren.

We grouped up since it was for fun, which slowed the leveling down, but Maarli got to 11 and Chikari got almost-not-quite to 10. Maarli has a Bloodtalon Scythemaw for her pet, which I chose because it's a pretty red raptor, and was unexpectedly pleased at it already having Savage Rend.

But now it's time for sleepies. way past time for sleepies.



Did I mention Hyjal was still down?

It's that time of year

They've made it so hard to retain a rogue's dignity, just so they can have a pun in the name of an achieve.

Fuck Yeti Cheese.

Fuck Mountain Water.

Fuck Snowballs.

Fuck the Brunhildar ice bitches. Give me my goddamn White Bear!

Once Upon a Time: Teltanara

 

My proper name is Telta'anara, which means "Over-shadowing Sun" in Thalassian, however, those not of the Sin'dorei mangle the accent.  In the world outside Silvermoon city and the Evensong woods I go by Teltanara.  I am a priestess of the Sindorei, and you are honored to have me heal you. 

I am a child of the dark times.  I was only a young elf when Arthas burned a swath through Evensong Forest and fouled the Sunwell.  My parents were killed in the defense of our city.  I barely remember the time when magic was plentiful and unfouled in our city.  A time before the weakness of our current magical hunger. 

When it was shown that I had an aptitude for the priestly arts, I was sent to training.  I learned my lessons well, and learned just as well the things that were unsaid but just as directly taught.  Good things come to those who take them, for nothing is free.  This lesson was driven home early on, when my instructors taught me of the value of Power Word: Fortitude.  I was told to cast the spell on at least 5 guards who were still defending the scar that Arthas carved, and which the undead still follow to attack us.  By the time I had returned to my teacher, people had already told her of the wondrous blessings I had cast on them.  They looked up to me, and all priests, for that. 

For a time as a young elf I succumbed to the magical hunger that plagues us all.  I tried bloodthistle.  The rush was so addictive.  I could heal myself faster and kill the undead more efficiently.  But it's ill effects were terrible, I had to keep taking it so I didn't feel bad.  The power was so addictive.  I finally stopped myself, and vowed never to take bloodthistle again.  While it might give me extra power for a time, it made me sick and weak afterward. 

When I left Evensong Woods and ventured into the Ghostlands, I encountered the Forsaken for the first time.  They were once the humans of Lorderon before the Plague turned them into undead.  They claim to not be under the control of the Lich King and are led by Sylvanas Windrunner.  These Forsaken say there are here to help us reclaim our land.  I did not trust them at first, when they were human they failed to aid us enough.  Why should it be different now that they are undead?

I met Sylvanas Windrunner, the Dark Lady of the Forsaken, for the first time after helping to clear out the scourge in the Ghostlands. I had been directed to kill as many scourge as I could in the former Windrunner estate.  When I looted the body of one of them I found an amulet that, though I did not know it at the time, had been a gift from Lady Alleria to Lady Sylvanus.  Not knowing if the amulet was a new magical weapon or just decoration I took it to the Magistrix of Tranquilien.  She directed me to the chief Forsaken present, and he bade me journey to Undercity and present the amulet to Sylvanas.  Sylvanas was not pleased to receive such a gift.  It, and I, reminded her of the life she had lost.  For she had once been Ranger General of Silvermoon.  Despite her rudeness I stayed and heard her sing her grief to the world.  I grieved with her for all that was lost of Silvermoon. 

When I had become skilled enough in my arts that I would not embarrass the Sin'dorei, I was sent to the Warchief of the Horde.  We Sin'dorei were treated badly by the bigoted alliance and have now allied with the Horde.  I was told to help the Horde however they desired.  I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls, and the Tauren are too full of druidic magic, but Sylvanas leads the Forsaken.  It was never explicitly stated, but my lessons had taught me that they would only help us if we helped them. 

I am an enchanter, and when I was wise enough to learn more enchanting I persuaded a troll shaman to accompany me into the depths of Uldaman, a Dwarven excavation site.  There I paid a human to teach me more of the art of enchanting.  It was not cheap, as learning never is, but it was well worth it.  The troll's price for helping me was that I would then perform enchants for him and disenchant his unused armor and weapons.  This shaman is strong, and for his help in the future I barter my services now. 

I have also met an undead rogue, named Eeyan, who is friendly to me.  He does not seem to be the brightest, but he is good at killing things.  I enchanted a mighty weapon for him recently.  He told me how after much searching for all the materials necessary he had finally been able to make it.  His skills in reducing the numerous enemies in front of us to corpses is quite useful to have around.  And with me healing him he is even more effective.

The undead rogue and I recently went into the Temple of Atal'Hakkar with several other adventurers.  There trolls attempted to summon an evil god into the world, but the green dragon flight stopped them by sinking the temple under the swamp.  However the evilness of the god has corrupted the dragons. So we fought against both the dragons and the trolls.  They all fell before us, and upon looting the body of the chief of the trolls I was able to get a kilt.  This kilt will help me more than the pants that I was wearing previously, but it is strange to be wearing a skirt again.  I had just gotten used to the pants I had made myself.  And it is strange to think of the kilt as having come from a troll, I have cleaned it quite thoroughly several times and I think I finally have the troll stink out of it. 

Eeyan, in return for my help later, has consented to help me kill the Scourge in the Western and Eastern Plaguelands.  The scourge there are stronger than the ones I was used to in the Ghostlands.  Fortunately they all fell to Eeyan's sharp blades and my wand and magic.  We even helped out Nathanos, the Champion of Sylvanus. 

Eeyan was also kind enough to lend me the gold to purchase my epic hawkstrider.  Though it is stereotypical of me, I choose the Swift Pink Hawkstrider.  My intent is not to be girly, the pink hawkstrider is really red, not pink.  However that has not stopped Eeyan from teasing my about riding a "chicken" that is pink.  Ah well I suppose that is a fair price to pay for having such a fast mount. 

Anyway after getting my fast mount Eeyan decreed that since he had helped me so much it was time for me to help him.  Therefore we went through the dark portal.  It was my first time going through the actual portal.  I have been going to Shattrath and learning the more skilled aspects of Tailoring and Enchanting there, but I had never gone through the portal directly.  It was strange to follow in Kael'thas' footsteps.  Though I do not think that I shall help Illidan or the Burning Legion ever. 

Once we were through the portal, I went to Thrallmar and aided the war effort there.  The fel orcs are making a nuisance of themselves in their citadel.  So Eeyan and I and a couple of others went into Hellfire Ramparts and killed as many of them as we could.  We did this a couple of times and were quite pleased to rid the world of a few more fel orcs.  And the commander of Thrallmar was quite pleased to receive proof that the guards of the Ramparts had been dispatched.

I have recently been perfecting my tailoring.  My skills are quite good, and I specialized in primal mooncloth tailoring.  When I choose that specialization I was taught several recipes that only those of that specialization could learn.  They are several very special armor pieces that will boost my healing when I am powerful enough to wear them. 

Recently Eeyan and I helped the Violet Eye, the mages of Dalaran, discover some information about Karazhan, the last residence of Medivh.  In the course of our research Khadgar told us that if we really wanted to know more about it we would need our own key.  After fighting many monsters and gathering the separate pieces that Khadgar had hidden around Outland we had to travel back in time to the original opening of the Dark Portal.  There we gave Medivh the reassembled key of Khadgar and in return Medivh gave us his very own key. 

The gaining of this key is a rite of passage among those in our guild.  They helped us at every step of the way, but we still had to go through all the steps.  Also once we had this key we could go into Karazhan, and kill the monsters and undead beings there.  Sadly these undead won't stay dead very long and our guild regularly kills them.  Fortunately not long after Eeyan and I had received our keys we were invited to go with our guild to Kara.  There we received many pieces of fabulous loot that dropped off the undead creatures of Karazhan.  Consequently I am a much better healer and less likely to die and Eeyan is also a lot more deadly. 

After this trip to Karazhan I was occasionally invited to go with Darkfall to help fight more creatures.  I have helped to kill Gruul, Magtheridon, and some of the lieutanants of Lady Vashj and Prince Kael'thas in Serpent Shrine Cavern and Tempest Keep.  My abilities as a healer, while not as powerful as some of the other members of the guild, are still strong and have been helpful. 

Now the Lich King has awoken and is sending his minions out of Northrend to fight us.  He unleashed a plague of undead on us again,  and it took much work of the Forsaken Apothecaries to defend us against it.  I aided the Argent Dawn in fighting it as well. and for my efforts they let me purchase their tabard. 

The ways to Northrend are open.  The Horde, and also the Alliance, are fighting their way into the newly opened continent.  Teltanara and Eeyan have gone to Undercity to catch the blimp from there to Vengeance Landing, in the Howling Fjord.  There we help the Forsaken Apothecaries set up their research to brew some sort of plague to help defeat the lich king.  Telt and Eeyan also helped the Taunka and the Kaluak to fight against the Lich King and deal with the changes that his newly active armies had wrought on the area. 

Once they were done in Howling Fjord Eeyan and Teltanara went to Dragonblight.  That is where the dragon flights and aspects were created and empowered by the titans.  The whole area was currently under heavy siege by the Scourge.  Dragonblight is where the dragons came from and it is also where they go to die, so the Scourge wanted all of the skeletons of dragons to make in to frost wyrms.  Telt and Eeyan reported into the apothecaries at Venomspite and helped there, and reported to Agmar's Hammer.  There they went to rescue the Taunka and deal with the attacks of the Scourge. 

Once all was made ready they joined their friend Evallen in the attack on the Wrathgate.  They watched, unable to stop it, as the apothecaries betrayed the horde and attacked horde alliance and lich king.  Then they reported to Thrall and helped Thrall and Sylvanas retake the Undercity.  And until Jaina interfered they were helping Thrall kick the King of Stormwind's butt.  Unfortunately the stupid humans, ignorant and xenophobic as ever, blamed all that happened on the Forsaken.  Instead of listening to Thrall and Sylvanas about the betrayal from the apothecaries and Varimanthas. 

After the Wrathgate battle Eeyan and Teltanara continued their journey.  They traveled to Grizzly Hills and helped the Taunka and the Orcs there.  They also ran into a curious troll.  He wanted their help to fight against the scourge in Drak'tharon Keep.  So they did a bunch of quests to help him.  This culminated in their fighting their way, along with several other people, into Drak'tharon Keep.  However it turned out that this troll, Drakuru, had lied to them this whole time.  They weren't helping him fight the Scourge, they were helping him fight as part of the Scourge and defeat the remaining Drakkari trolls.  It was quite a nasty shock to both Eeyan and Telt when Drakuru summoned the Lich King at the top of Drak'tharon Keep.  Telt watched in horrified fascination as the Lich King turned Darkuru into a full fledged member of the Scourge. 

Telt and Eeyan wandered to the Storm Peaks.  There they found the goblins at K3 bemoaning the recent kidnapping of most of the men in the encampment.  So they went up to help rescue them.  This lead to uncovering the whole point of the Vyrkul work at Brunhildar.  Which was to find a new wife for Thorim, and thus pull him out of the stupor he'd been in since Sif had been killed by Loken.  After getting disguised as Vyrkul women and defeating all the challenges of they Hyldsmeet, Eeyan and Telt went to meet Thorim.  Their disguises did not fool him, but he realized that his moping served no purpose.  So they helped him mend his argument with the Sons of Hodir and rearm himself.  Unfortunately when he went to confront Loken everything went badly.  Loken had been watching and manipulating all along.  While Eeyan and Telt were unable to intervene Loken summoned some evil tentacle things and captured both Thorim and his drake Veranus. 

After Loken captured Thorim, Eeyan and Teltanara returned to the Sons of Hodir.  They told them of what had happened.  The Sons helped to plan an attack on Loken, which Eeyan and Telt gathered a few friends to carry out.  It was an epic battle, but Loken fell dead.  Teltanara's healing skills were sorely tested, but it was a good learning experience for both her and Eeyan. 

Recently Teltanara and Eeyan ventured into Naxx.  They went on two separate occasions.  And while the second time was not as successful as the first they both gained several upgrades.  Eeyan especially made out like a bandit.  It truly is the luck of the rogue that he received so many lovely pieces of gear.  He even got a most awesome fist weapon off of Kel'thuzad.  Teltanara lacked the best enchant to put on it so we convinced our bear friend, Cemaros, formerly Leif, to go with us to Karazhan so that we could kill Moroes and Telt could get the Mongoose enchant. 

Teltanara has not yet ventured into Ulduar, but she has tried out a small version of the new arena that Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have built.  Healing the heroic is challenging, but the arena itself is quite boring.  Having the enemies come to you to fight lacks a certain adventuring spirit.  At least the Argent Crusade is free with their rewards.  In fact they are often too free, and Telt's skill as a dis-Enchanter is very handy. 

Burakai

The warrior swung again and again at the masses of scourge attacking him. He swung widely to give himself a bit of breathing room to wipe sweat from his eyes. He needed all his attention on the scourge around him. The masses of undead kept coming. He had piles of twice dead bodies around him, skeletal hands and legs sticking up at odd angles. He wasn't sure if he was getting weary or if the dead limbs really did try to trap his sword.

The mob of undead started to thin out, and he began to hope that he would make it home to see his nephews and nieces. From the trees a horrible wailing sounded. Banshees and a terrible lich drifted out of the blighted remains of the forest. He could feel the curses of the banshees draining his strength. His sword didn't seem to do much to them. He heard the lich chanting something foul that hurt his ears. But he had no attention to spare for the lich, the banshees were in his face and he had all that he could do to keep them away from himself.

Suddenly the chanting stopped and the banshees fell back. He was facing the lich. It had a mass of blue energy swirling and crackling in it's bony hands. With a final word of power that rang in the warrior's ears, the Lich threw the blue mass. The last thing the warrior saw was a great blue frostbolt streaming towards him.
__________________

He had fought bravely and perhaps foolishly in the Plaguelands. When the orders had come down to retreat, he had sent his men back. He had planned to fall back after they did, but there were too many Scourge. He had known that was a possibility and had resigned himself to death at the hands of the undead attacking their small outpost. He had even thought that was his fate when the lich aimed the frostbolt at him.

He hadn't expected to be frozen and captured. He had vague memories of a knight with black armor ornamented with skulls inspecting him while he was trapped in the block of ice. But the pain of freezing had knocked him unconscious. He had come to momentarily when he was chained and put on a skeletal griffin.

The warrior was alone in a small cell. He was chained by his wrists to the back wall, farthest from the door. He had only his legplates and boots on and the thin linen shirt he wore under the padding for his armor. His sword and the rest of his armor was nowhere to be seen, and he suspected it was still on the battlefield. He was thirsty and hungry and every single muscle hurt from being frozen. He also had two serious wounds. His left ribs stabbed him whenever he took a breath, and there was a deep gash in the armor over his right thigh. Whenever he shifted in his crouch on the floor he felt the wound on his leg pull and start to bleed again.
_________________

He woke to feel someone's hands on his chest. The sudden pain brought him to full wakefulness. He lunged to his feet and swung at whoever had touched him.

The chains caught his swing far short of his intended target. "Get away from me you Scourge bastards!" he shouted. He breathed raggedly, leaping to his feet had reopened his leg wound and caused his ribs to stab him anew. He could feel a warm trickle of blood starting down his leg.

"Silence, you dog!" the gauntleted fist of a black armored death knight smashed into the warrior's jaw. The warrior's wounded right leg buckled, and he dropped to one knee as a gasp of pain escaped his lips.

A scraggly haired man in dirty gray robes stepped forward. "I'm here to heal your, ah, more serious wounds." He held his hands out and as he touched the warrior coolness spread into the warrior's wounds. The gray man frowned. "I'll need full access to the leg wound," he said to the death knight.

The death knight knocked twice on the cell door. It opened immediately and a ghoul stuck its head inside. "Two of you in, and take the rest of his armor off." The death knight pointed at the warrior.

As the warrior painfully got to his feet, two ghouls shambled into the cell. The gray man stepped to the side and twitched his robes out of their way. The death knight grabbed the warrior by the throat and shoved him against the wall. As the ghouls came within range the warrior kicked out with his good leg, sending one of the ghouls flying.

The death knight smiled evilly. "You're feisty. A little too feisty for my liking." He backhanded the warrior twice and increased the pressure on the warrior's throat. The warrior's head rang and blood dripped from his split lip. The lack of oxygen made everything start to go dark. He tried to grab the death knight's arm and pull it away, but his arms were too heavy to do more than tug ineffectively at the gauntlet squeezing his throat. He vaguely noticed the ghouls ripping his leg plates off, and the renewed bleeding that caused in his leg. He also vaguely noticed the man in the gray robe stepping up and laying cool hands on his side and leg. He felt the wounds close and heal, but only partially. Enough that he was sure he wouldn't die from them.

"You'll live." The death knight released his hold on the warrior's throat. "Though you may regret it." He strode out the cell door and slammed it behind him as the warrior slumped to the floor gasping for breath.

The small snick of the lock echoed in the cell along with the death knight's words.
________________________________

The warrior didn't know how long it had been since he had last eaten or drunk anything. It had been before the battle in the Plaguelands, but he had no idea how long ago that was. The only light in his cell was a low blue glow from near the ceiling. There was no indication of day or night, just that blue glow. He was so thirsty his tongue felt three sizes too big for his mouth.

Every so often he would get up and take the few steps that his chains would let him make. He did this to test his leg and ribs out, and to keep himself from going completely stir crazy with boredom. The leg was better, though still not up to fighting strength. The ribs seemed to be completely healed but for a small tenderness when he touched them.

With a click and a creak the cell door opened. The same death knight as when he had been healed stood in the doorway, back lit by the glow of torches. The warrior warily got to his feet as the death knight motioned a pair of ghouls into the cell.

The ghouls grabbed the warrior and pinned him against the wall. The death knight tipped the warrior's head back and held a mug to his lips. When the warrior would have fought one of the ghouls held his head while the knight pinched his nose. The contents of the mug went down the warriors throat. He coughed some but his mouth and tongue already felt better. Whatever was in the mug wasn't making his stomach feel all that well, but he wasn't sure if that was because of what he had been forced to drink or because his stomach was so empty.

The death knight backed up and then waved the ghouls out of the warriors cell. The warrior was still leaning against the back wall of the cell. His chains clinked as he used the back of one hand to wipe his mouth. "Was that poison?" The warrior lifted his head to look the death knight in the eyes. The death knight's glowing blue eyes unnerved the warrior but he refused to let himself feel any fear. "Or was it the plague?"

"Neither." The death knight made a gesture and a green and purple globe of energy sped from his hand to hit the warrior in the chest.

The warrior bit back a curse. All his muscles tensed as the death coil's shadow energy coursed through him. He sucked in a ragged breath as the death coil faded.

Before the warrior could gather his composure for some sort of defiant remark, the death knight's hands were gathering shadow energy again. The warrior gritted his teeth and set himself to endure the pain as best he could. He would have tried to attack the death knight, but the death knight was out of reach of his chains.

The third death coil sent the warrior to his knees in pain.

The sixth death coil wrenched a scream of pain from the warrior.

At the tenth death coil the warrior blacked out. The last thing he remembered was the death knight smiling.
_______________________________

The warrior lay on the floor and shivered. The linen shirt and pants he had on were not enough to keep him warm in the cold blue-lit cell. He knew that his chances of fighting his way free diminished with each moment he didn't get up and do something to keep his muscles limber and himself warm. But he couldn't force himself to stand.

He lifted his head as the door to his cell was unlocked and opened. Again the death knight entered. "Get him up, and unchained," ordered the death knight.

Three ghouls shambled into the cell. The warrior thought about getting away from them, but before he could move two of them hauled him to his feet while a third unlocked the manacles on his wrists.

The warrior shuddered at the touch of the ghoul's bony hands as they held him up. He tried to pull away from them and walk on his own, but they wouldn't let go. When he stumbled on the steps out of the cell they caught him and for a moment he was grateful that they were holding him so that he didn't fall to his knees in front of the death knight.

He was guided out and up past many other cells. The hallways were all lit in a eerie mixture of flickering torches and that odd pale blue glow. He didn't know how many of the cells were occupied. Screaming or moaning came from some of the cells. Most of the cells were quiet, but he couldn't tell if they were empty or if the prisoners were too weak to do anything.

The ghouls and death knight escorted him to a balcony. There were braziers and torches lighting the back and sides of it, but the railed edge was dark. Several ghoul guards and death knights were scattered around the edge of the balcony, but they all stayed back from the dark railing.

The sky over the railing was dark and star spangled, There was a tiny hint of dawn off to the side in the east. The warrior stole a glance at the sky. The stars enthralled him, as they always had, with their pure and pale light.

"Wha-"The warrior coughed and tried again. "What do you want from me?" He felt naked and vulnerable with no armor or weapons, and all the Scourge surrounding him.

A shadow moved at the balcony rail. "You will serve me" said a terrible voice. The Lich King, with Frostmourne in his hand, stepped away from the edge of the balcony and into the torchlight.

The ghouls roughly shoved the warrior to his knees. "Never!" The warrior tried to stand, but the ghouls held him too tightly. The death knight stepped behind him and pinned his head. The warrior couldn't physically resist, but he continued to speak defiantly. "I will never serve you Arthas, you traitor! You have become what you swore to protect your people from."

The stream of cursing continued as Arthas paced slowly towards the kneeling warrior. When the Lich King stood in front of the warrior, the warrior's words slowly ground to a halt.

The warrior looked up at the glowing blue eye sockets of the Lich King's helm and spoke quietly but defiantly. "I am not afraid of death, do your worst. I will never serve you."

The Lich King laughed, and the hair on the back of the warrior's neck stood up. "There are far worse things than death." He touched the flat of Frostmourne to the warrior's forehead. The sword pulsed blue several times and then the warrior's eyes flared a matching blue. Both the sword and the warrior's eyes settled to the same blue glow. "Rise, my new death knight, rise and serve your master."

The ghouls and death knight let go of the former warrior, now death knight, and stepped back. The new death knight slowly stood and looked about him. Ghouls brought armor and put it on the new death knight.

As the sun broke over the horizon to the east the new death knight stepped to the balcony. He stood by his new master, "What is your will, my king?"

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Burakai Eta
Human male
- Eta is Japanese for "filthy mass" the lowest caste of Feudal Japan. These people were in charge of "tainted" work, mostly they worked with the dead. They were executioners, leather workers, butchers, undertakers, and gravediggers. Modern usage of the Japanese word buraku is 'village' meaning a segregated village where the eta lived. Buraku is considered a derogatory word.

- Burakai has long-ish brown hair. He keeps it loose. He can't remember if his eyes used to be green or brown, but they now glow with the blue of the Lich King. Though he was part of the Scourge and the slave of the Lich King his expression is not bitter or angry.

Before Burakai was a Death Knight he was a Warrior. Burakai is the name he took after becoming a Death Knight. He doesn't use his original name anymore. Initially that was because as a new member of the Scourge he thought he had moved above and beyond his family and his past. But after he was freed by Tirion Fordring it was because he didn't want to shame his family, so he chose the name Burakai then. He has occasionally seen a few of his family members when he was in Stormwind, but he avoids them so they can continue to think that he is dead on a battlefield in the Plaguelands. He reasons that they have already mourned him, and letting them know he was part of the Scourge and all the terrible things he did would only reopen their mental and emotional wounds.

Burakai committed many atrocities while under the Lich King's control. He would like to blame all of them on the influence of Arthas, but he knows in his heart that he could have refused his initial training as a Death Knight. He could have refused to serve the Lich King. He would have been slowly and painfully tortured and then turned into a ghoul for anything but complete obedience, but he could still have refused. So Burakai accepts the responsibility for his actions, even if they were not completely his own. However, he harbors a great hatred for the Lich King for making him a Death Knight, and causing him to murder all of the people he did. Even if most of the people he killed were Scarlet Crusade, he still feels bad about their horrible deaths at his hands.

Burakai took the surname Eta because he refused to use his family name. He was the eldest son of a moderately prosperous merchant family. Growing up he wasn't interested in the family business. When cornered he could do the business management, but he was only interested in the guards who went with the caravans or guarded the warehouses. Burakai never married, and now that he is a Death Knight he is glad of that. It is bad enough that his family thinks he is dead, but at least he didn't leave a wife or children behind. His younger sister has a husband who is devoted to her and their children were already more interested in running the business than he had ever been.

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Note: This story and character came out of my thoughts on how the alliance has Death Knights. Given the Alliance rejection of the Forsaken I can't really see them accepting Death Knights that were actually dead. If humans are dead and controlled by the Scourge they become Forsaken when they break free, not Human. So I wrote it so that Death Knights aren't dead, just uber agents of the Scourge.

Kara keyed!

Last night Mornara and Ikoli convinced our excellent druid friend Cemaros to take us through Black Morass. It was the last thing that they needed to get the Kara key.

First Cemaros was going through Sethekk Halls in an attempt to get the Raven Lord for another guildie. He was kind enough to let us tag along. It was a speedy and hilarious run. Ikoli, like Teltanara before her, has aggro butt. DraNgNon is used to playing a higher level character or her rogue, who can stealth. So Ikoli, being the lowest level in the instance might have face pulled, a couple of times. Or as Cemaros and I have come to call it: Ikoli has aggro butt.

But we made our way through the instance successfully. Anzu died but dropped no mount. Ikiss died, after killing Ikoli and then Mornara. Mornara got the snazzy looking Spaulders of Dementia. I think I need to do a little bit of math and possibly some regemming to see if they are actually better than the shoulders she already had. But they certainly look better so I may wear them anyway. :D

The BM run was smooth. And Ikoli and Mornara are now both proud owners of The Master's Key. They have all the Outland keys and are ready to head on over to Northrend.

It was strange to be dpsing. I think that I like tanking better, just because I get to position the mobs. As a dps I have to run around and try to figure out where and when the tank is going to pick up the mob. It's not too bad after the first couple of times the tank pulls, but it's still nicer to be in control.

Some WoW Blogs

I've been reading a pretty varied bunch of WoW blogs lately.

LoreCrafted - Good lore blog.

WTT:[RP] - Role playing blog. Written by Feathermoon Alliance players.

Greedy Goblin - Decent WoW gold making blog.

Big Bear Butt - Feral druid goodness.

Forbearance - Ridiculous epeen waving ret pally blog. I read it for the lols.

Through Death's Eyes - Role playing blog. Only recently found this, but the stories are good.

Acceleration

Yesterday we played Tylara and Kairon mostly. Since going for Outland reps worked so well for Mornara and Ikoli, we decided to follow the same path with Tylara and Kairon. They needed everything.

We're starting earlier but they are wearing the Heirloom Shoulders, e.g. [Polished Spaulders of Valor], which has the 10% experience point gain. So yesterday we got them to Honored with Thrallmar, Friendly with Cenarion Expedition, and they went up a full level to 64. Weapon skills are falling behind, from the acceleration...

Hm, they're also catching up to Mornara and Ikoli. Time to play them next!

I love Kuan so much. I just uploaded this screenshot of him from June 2008 right after he got his T5 shoulders. So pensive.




Wow is not just about raiding and "getting the next purple." These characters have stories and personalities, and I love how Kuan's actually shows on the avatar from time to time.

Achieve-O-Rama!

Kuanchichi and Viljo went to Old Kingdom with Naleana and Ahngusbeaf and Sunuru. It was the daily heroic so we all wanted some badges. In the usual way of things I like OK. It's got a couple of bosses with fun mechanics. Especially the end boss where you have to kill a copy of all the rest of your group. Unfortunately we ran into bugs on both crazy-cultist-lady and Herald.

Crazy cultist lady had about 10 of her elite minions run up the stairs and start beating us as soon as we pulled her. They aren't supposed to do that. But after a wipe we made sure they didn't do that again, and killed her handily.

Herald Volazj was more of a pain, with a much more difficult to work around bug. When he cast insanity each of us was faced with several copies of our team to defeat. Viljo was prepared to deal with the rest of his team, but not three copies of the rest of his team. So we wiped on him twice. The third time we actually managed to all survive the insanity, and killed Herald in 1:59. Just one second in time to get the speed kill achieve, Volazj's Quick Demise, for everyone in the party. It was epic, but usually I prefer not to have to work around the game's bugs.

After that DraNgNon and I were going to go to bed, but we were tootling around doing a few dailies and crafting stuff and Teltanara got pulled into VOA25. It was a good group, so it all went quite smoothly. Apparently Telt had never done any of VOA25 before. So she got all three kill achieves.

While Telt was in VOA, Rahlenti asked in guild chat if there was a shaman who wanted to be part of a Sarth+3 zerg attempt. Kuanchichi said yes and after several wipes Kuan is now the proud Kuanchichi of the Nightfall, and has the achieves Twilight Duo and Twilight Zone

Random happenings

This week has been a pretty good WoW week. Viljo and Kuan got some gear upgrades. Mornara and Ikoli got another heroic key.

Viljo gathered mats and found a tailor to create the Bejeweled Wizards Bracers. Kuanchichi was awarded a Trophy of the Crusade and used it (and a large amount of badges) to buy Thrall's Shoulderpads of Triumph. Vijjo also won the Netherwind Crown from Ony25. He wore the level 60 version of that hat for so long, I need to make sure that he shows helm.

Mornara and Ikoli convinced Ildiavolo, a level 80 Death Knight to go to regular Magister's Terrace with them. It was fun for the whole group as none of them had the attunement for the heroic version.

the hunt ends, once the hunted is caught

Kuanchichi, Viljo, and Maiev Shadowsong had a long overdue conversation with Illidan last night.