Part 10: Why can’t we all just get along?

Part 10: Why can’t we all just get along?

Ariciel and Mareva arrive in Ratchet, with moods that are less than completely tranquil. Ellandriel arrives in Booty Bay, and is mighty glad of the change. Stetson finds himself in the city of Dalaran, and is rushed straight off to hospital.

As she looked up, Ellandriel noticed a light a few hundred yards away, of a red lantern. She had read somewhere that Humans used red lights to read by at night so as not to spoil what little night vision they had. Elves simply read by the light of moon or stars. The light was at the stern of a boat that had just been pulled up on the beach. As she watched, the Humans brought down their sails. One of the sailors grabbed the anchor, walked a few dozen steps trailing the anchor chain with a rattling sound, then buried it into the sand. There was the sound of bottles clinking together. Well, thought Ellandriel, if we are going to sail, then I might as well make some inquiries.

O dear…

 

Part 9: No love lost

Part 9: No love lost

Ellandriel is finally starting to enjoy herself a bit outside the safe and comfortable walls of the Athenaeum. Mareva’s light sleep gains her some valuable insight into the motives of their Night-elf healer Hirudo, and Stetson has some of the less attractive aspects of Death Knights explained to him.

Mareva woke up at the sound of someone moving past her. She opened her eyes a crack, and saw Healer Hirudo leave their camp. It wasn’t much of a camp. Nothing could be found in the Barrens that would burn, and anyway, attracting the attention of the ever-present Horde would be unwise. Still, why would Druid Hirudo be wanting to leave them? The habit was to make Calls of Nature before you started your watch. Before she knew what she was doing, Mareva opened her sleeping furs, and quietly followed Hirudo. The Druid stopped at a small distance from the camp. As Mareva watched, he pulled some kind of device from his pocket and placed it on the ground in front of him. It glowed with a slow pulsating light. After a few moments, it started to make small noises. Mareva frowned. Communication devices? Someone had been selling things they should not have.

The Druid, the Shaman and the Mage, part 7

Part 7: Strategy, Tactics, Operations

Ellandriel and her Teacher enjoy the company of the Goblins of Mudsprocket. Stetson is being entertained by Stefan Vadu of Ebon Watch and his lovely assistant Bloodrose Datura. And finally, thank goodness, Ariciel and Mareva have some big strong Warriors to protect them. Or is that “to protect”?

Ariciel sat on a fallen tree by the fire, watching Ripface and Skullcrusher. They appeared to be practicing swords, but they seemed more interested in hitting each other’s blades than they were in hitting each other. Perhaps they were performing some kind of interpretive dance entitled ‘Sword Fighting For Idiots’. Hirudo had made himself comfortable with his back against a tree. He had pulled the brim of his large pointy hat down over his face. Mareva walked up to Ariciel, nudged her and pushed a mug of tea into her hand. She sat down next to her.

“What do you think of our savage protectors?”

The Druid, the Shaman and the Mage part 6.

Part 6: Everybody has work to do

Stetson is on the trail of his brother, which leads to the frozen lands of Death’s Stand, the Wailing Ziggurat. Here, he finds the Death Knight named Thassarian, naked, in a passionate embrace with Koltira… OK, that is a lie. Koltira is nowhere near. And he has all his clothes on, it’s freezing there. Thassarian has a job for Stetson. Ellandriel is enjoying the soggy lands of Dustwallow Marsh. Ariciel and Mareva are merrily skipping through Ashenvale, getting in touch with the trees and the flowers and perhaps some other things that are green.

After Teacher’s admonition about the scorpid in the Shimmering Flats, Ellandriel had developed a keen eye for anything red in tooth and claw, that looked like it wanted to make lunch of two passing High-borne Night-elves. With practice, the paths of magic in her mind became more and more familiar, and as a result, her fireballs became both more accurate and more deadly. She felt a strange satisfaction in watching them strike home. Must be her forest-dwelling hunter instinct awakening in her scholarly, timid, book-wormish bosom.

The Druid, the Shaman and the Mage new chapters

Part 3: Friends and lovers

“Idiots. Zlotniks. Imbeciles.”

Stetson was hidden in the undergrowth, keeping an iron grip on Morgan’s collar with one hand, his crossbow in the other. Vicious spells turned round in his head, waiting to be cast. His eyes turned upwards, as a raven passed overhead. Bloody Druids. What did they expect a polar tiger to eat? Cabbages? The worst thing was that he’d be pretty hard put to it even to win over one of them, and there were at least a dozen. Tauren, Night-elves. Even one Frost-nymph, may the Light forgive her. A plague on all of them. Stetson’s hunter senses worked overtime, now alerting him to the presence of humanoids, then to beasts. At least there were no Undead. He wondered how long it would be before these madmen would give up. Surely, they would before nightfall?

“Morgan, stay. Do not attack unless I tell you.”

Morgan’s eyes glowed in acknowledgement.

“It’s going to be a long afternoon.”

It seems that Stetson has just met the Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals. They’re a lovely bunch of people, really, as long as you remember not to… Oh. I see you know already.

Part 4: Ouch!

There was a sudden, loud noise, and seemingly from out of nowhere a gruesome creature appeared. It walked close to the ground, on six short strong legs. Its head was dragon-like, with many teeth.

“Basilisk,” shouted Teacher. “Don’t let it look you in the eye!”

At the sound of Teacher’s voice, the basilisk turned round. Teacher raised a hand, but there was a cruel light from the basilisk’s eyes and Teacher froze mid-cast.

“Get… it!” Teacher could only just utter the words, then stopped moving completely.

Ellandriel raised her hand, pointed it at the creature and cut loose.

Ellandriel has a fun and educational meeting with the wildlife native to the Shimmering Flats…

 

Part 1 – Time to get out of here – The Druid, the Shaman and the Mage

And… we’re off! Sit back, friends, because here is a long one again. 23 chapters of WoWfic.

Part 1: Time to get out of here

Deep within the walls of Eldre’Thalas, the Daemon-creature Immol’thar lay dead, its unworldly body slowly dissolving into nothing as is the way with Daemons. Whether this was truly the end of the creature, or whether its incomprehensible soul would be roaming the Twisting Nethers still, looking for a way to re-enter Azeroth, and take a terrible revenge, nobody could tell. What was clear, was that the Shen’dralar would no longer be able to drain it of mana. Immol’thar would no longer power the spells the Shen’dralar used for their research into the arcane magics of the High-borne. Magics to grant them what, through their own great folly, they had lost. Immortality.

 

Placebo totems?!

Um… regarding the Bravetank post here, I received this message from one of my tale characters. If the Good Doctor were considering to present his findings on one of those Exodar holographic projectors, he may wish to reconsider.

=======

Dear Miss Bravetank,

Please to be forwarding this to the Good Doctor, as I am most desiring to meet with him and discuss his work on the efficacy of totems and the intelligence of Shaman when compared to common or garden variety zlotniks. I may have been able to detect a certain amount of bias in the results obtained.

As any scientist knows, who did not get his qualifications in a fortune cookie, the Scientific Method includes the notion of the “Double Blind Experiment”. In his account of the experiment performed, there is, sad to say, the small flaw that the two test groups were given different instructions. In an experiment conducted with proper scientific rigour, both groups would have been led to believe that their totems were real. This approach would only have been slightly complicated in that even Horde Shaman can tell the difference between a totem and a pebble with the same ease as the Good Doctor can distinguish between the personal attributes of his wife and those of his young assistant.

To settle this matter once and for all, I would suggest the following approach: A small group of volunteer Shaman will call up a specific number of fire totems, while another group produces a life-like facsimile of those totems out of stone. All these ‘totems’ will then, one by one, be inserted in the final part of the Good Doctor’s digestive system and ‘activated’. I will, of course, not be told which is which at the time of experimentation, to avoid bias. If fire totems are, as the Good Doctor claims, no more effective than a placebo, then the experience of having a real live magma totem inside one’s anatomy should be indistinguishable from the experience with a blank.

While a Scientist should not make assumptions before the results are in, I am confident that the results will disprove the Good Doctor’s statement. I am quite willing to repeat the experiment as many times as necessary to avoid statistical errors caused by too small a sample size.

Kind regards,
Engineer Mareva, Shaman of Exodar.

End-of story tristesse…

The current work in progress is drawing to its end. I’ve got one big fight scene to do, and then I need to put my characters in the inn, and like as not put a little sting in the tail like I did with most of my other stories. If you look at the copyright notices at the bottom of my chapters, you’ll see that I’ve been writing WoWfic since 2008. I’ve written four novel-size stories. The meeting of Bannog and Ariciel, the siege on Bannog’s home. Selena’s adventures, growing from a little girl into a fully-fledged hunter. Cuchullainn. The Steambender family. Mareva’s journey to Azeroth. And now then, Ellandriel the High-borne Mage. I’m going to treat myself to an art commission for that story, I think. I have to see if Lindsey is still into WoW fanart.

There are so many people in my head. Naegling, the tough-as-nails Paladin broken because too much force was put on her. The crew of Aviana’s Wingbeat. I hope they will be alright.

I read my first story on the train again – not the story you can find here, but the one before I cleaned it up. Ye gods, I was green then. I tried speaking Saga. Big, big mistake. I think I’ve gathered a nice collection of Stupid Things I No Longer Do. My points of view used to be all over the place. To be honest, I still don’t like to stay in just one character’s head, but I hope I’m handling it better now.

I like my characters. Reading back Interalia’s bits always cheers me up. And I left the poor girl pregnant with Nix’ son. I can’t just leave her like that! I want to know if Smitty and Selena ever find each other. So I’ll probably keep writing the odd bit of WoWfic when I need to escape from the world for a bit, and play with people whose problems I can solve with just a few moves of the keyboard. I’ve got scraps of story for Cresside, V’s main until recently.

But it’s time to move on. My next literary piece will be set in a universe all my own. Much as I enjoy writing WoW, I want to produce something that is mine from the first letter to the last. I’ve been reading steampunk recently. I’m going to give that a go. All I have is a few people in my head, and a shimmer of plot. I wonder who they are, and what they are going to do.

Thank you, thank you!

Wow! This might be one specific of the most useful blogs Weve ever arrive across on this topic. Basically Fantastic. I am also a specialist in this subject so I can understand your effort.

There. I needed an ego boost.

A matter of character

OMGWTFMemes? I found this in someone’s post on wow_fanart, and I’m frankly surprised how many questions I can answer from the actual stories, or infer. I can not be arsed to take a whole month to do it, though.

1. Describe your character’s relationship with their mother or their father, or both. Was it good? Bad? Were they spoiled rotten, ignored? Do they still get along now, or no?
   • Bannog: Had a good relationship with his father, mutual respect. Father was killed by Orcs fairly recently. His mother died in childbirth when he was a young boy, which makes him hesitate to have children of his own.
   • Ariciel: Loved her mother, and worked in the same place she did. After they became separated, Ariciel spent two years searching for her before finding out she was dead.
   • Mareva: Not defined actually, and since she’s Draenei, family is rarely a happy subject.
2. What are your characters most prominent physical features?
   • Bannog: A massive, tall, broad, man with a bald head and a neatly trimmed short beard.
   • Ariciel: Short for a Night-elf, tall for a Human. Long snow-white hair, long ears and two crescents tattooed on her face. She also has exotic piercings, but they are well hidden.
   • Mareva: A stunningly beautiful, tall, blue-skinned woman with horns on her head, hooves on her legs, and rather well-endowed in the chest region. She also has a long, smooth-skinned tail. She spoils this by wearing extremely practical clothes and an aura of cynicism that puts off all but the most determined.
3. Name one scar your character has, and tell us where it came from. If they don’t have any, is there a reason?
   • Bannog: He’s a warrior, had been in lots of fights and has the scars to show it.
   • Ariciel: No scars on her body, as Night-elves don’t tend to get them. Her scars are inside her head.
   • Mareva: Scars on her stomach from Orc-arrows that nearly killed her. They remind her of how lucky she is.
4. How vain is your character? Do they find themselves attractive?
   • Bannog: Can be a bit boastful of his exploits in battle, but not about his looks.
   • Ariciel: She’s not vain, but aware that she can, if she wants, turn on the charm to great effect.
   • Mareva: Will occasionally joke about her unparallelled beauty, but doesn’t really mean it.
5. What’s your character’s ranking on the Kinsey Scale?
   
   • Bannog: Straight as straight can be.
   • Ariciel: Unashamedly and enthusiastically bisexual.
   • Mareva: Prefers boys, but would not refuse a girl simply for having a smaller tail. (Or in one case, no tail at all).
6. Describe your character’s happiest memory.
   • Bannog: Hard to say. He’s had a pretty happy childhood marred by the odd disaster. One hot night in Ironforge with a certain Night-elf would be close.
   • Ariciel: Working as a house servant in Darkshore, with friends, family, lovers. Standing naked under a waterfall with one of them.
   • Mareva: Listening to the wind-chimes outside her home on Draenor, before it became Outland.
7. Is there one event or happening your character would like to erase from their past? Why?
   • Bannog: He was once betrayed by a woman who he thought loved him, but then kidnapped him for a ransom.
   • Ariciel: The death of her lover Lesta, just one day after she found her back.
   • Mareva: Her husband-to-be was killed by Blood-elves.
8. Day of Favorites! What’s your character’s favorite ice cream flavor? Color? Song? Flower?
   Ice cream is so rare in Azeroth that they really don’t have a favourite.
   • Bannog: The Rising Of The Moon, a rousing warrior’s song. Sung by a young bowman one fateful night.
   • Ariciel: The only song I’ve ever had her sing was the Azeroth version of “The Manchester Rambler” by Ewan MacColl.
   • Mareva: There’s a spacers’ song called “Carry me safe to land“. She sings it as she leaves poor wrecked Exodar.
9. Who does your character trust?
   • Bannog: Ariciel. Unwaveringly, unshakably. His family back home. His friends.
   • Ariciel: Bannog. Her teacher Bearwalker in Darnassus. Her priestess friend Lirael. Mareva.
   • Mareva: Everyone, and no-one. She trusts everyone to have their own interests at heart, and to screw her over when it suits them. She is a woman with very few illusions.
10. Can you define a turning point in your character’s life? Multiples are acceptable.
    • Well, Bannog and Ariciel’s was obviously their meeting.
    • Mareva: Finding out that her calling was to be a Shaman rather than a sucky Mage. Then, when Viral proposed to her, then died. Finally, meeting Ariciel, which opened her up to starting a relationship with her much-beloved Hunter Stetson.
11. Is there an animal you equate with your character?
    • Bannog: Described by his loving sister as “A great big ape”.
    • Ariciel: She’s a bear. Literally. She’s a Druid shapeshifter, and her most potent animal form is the bear.
    • Mareva: Well, she has a kind of Goatish appearance, but I wouldn’t associate any spiritual animal with her. She’s actually quite fiercely Human. Don’t tell her I said that.
12. How is your character with technology? Super savvy, or way behind the times? Letters or email?
    “Tech” in Azeroth varies wildly. Humans and Elves are a little before the technical revolution. Draenei are a space-faring race.
    • Bannog: He’s a pretty good blacksmith and crafter. Can make good quality weapons.
    • Ariciel: Good with her hands, as a house servant should be, can make good quality leather armour.
    • Mareva: She’s a shit hot Engineer, with a working knowledge of trans-dimensional engines, network tech, heating tech. And hates her job.
13. What does your character’s bed look like when he/she wakes up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, are they all curled around a pillow, sprawled everywhere? In what position might they sleep?
    • Bannog, unless prompted otherwise by a certain Night-elf, wakes up in the same position he went to sleep in. His clothes will be neatly folded over a chair by the bed. He also has a Warrior’s trick, Watchful Sleep, where he will sleep very lightly and spring like a bear trap on anyone who touches him (oh, sorry Ariciel), unless someone wakes him up by hissing.
    • Ariciel has two modes: Actual sleep sleep, when she’s dead to the world from start to finish, and happyfunsexytimes, where her clothes will end up scattered over an impressively wide area and she has to collect them all in the morning under Bannog’s appreciative gaze.
    • Mareva: I’ve only shown her asleep a few times, most significantly the first time in Viral’s bed after a long stint of work. Her eyes shut as soon as her body touched the memory-foam mattress, much to Viral’s disappointment.
14. How does your character react to temperature changes such as extreme heat and cold?
    • They all put on nice warm clothes, or take them off as appropriate.
15. Is your character an early morning bird or a night owl?
    • Bannog: Off-duty, likes to sleep late. On-duty, whatever is called for.
    • Ariciel: More of a… morning Elf. Will wake up early to meditate and practice staff fighting.
    • Mareva: Don’t actually know.
16. Are there any blood relatives that your character is particularly close with, besides the immediate ones? Cousins, Uncles, Grandfathers, Aunts, et cetera. Are there any others that your character practically considers a blood relative?
    • Bannog: His brother, Gerrig, and his sister Selena.
    • Ariciel: She’s taken to Bannog’s little sister Selena, and loves her as her own younger sister. Ariciel’s own sister is dead, which may explain.
    • Mareva: Draenei have spent their lives running away from wars and conflict. She rarely talks about her family, and whether any of them are still alive is unknown.
17. What’s your character’s desk/workspace look like? Are they neat or messy?
    • Bannog: He’s almost obsessively neat and tidy.
    • Ariciel: She’s neat, a habit easy to pick up if you’re a house servant who gets shouted at if you’re not.
    • Mareva: Mind like clockwork. All tools in their rightful place, everything present, correct and labelled.
18. Is your character a good cook? What’s their favorite recipe, whether they’re good or not? (Microwave mac-and-cheese applies.)
    • Bannog: Pretty good, especially a mouth-blistering Westfall Stew for a company of thirty or more.
    • Ariciel: The one you want is her mother. She was a cook to the High-borne. Ariciel will do fine when needed.
    • Mareva: She can open a mean Emarree.
19. What’s your character’s preferred means of travel?
    • Bannog: A horse.
    • Ariciel: On her own four feet, shape-shifted into a cheetah.
    • Mareva: Sitting behind Hunter S’dezo’houn on his large elekk.
20. Does your character have any irrational fears?
    • Bannog: Childbirth. He does not want to put anyone through pregnancy, as they might die.
    • Ariciel: None. All her fears are perfectly rational.
    • Mareva: She is fearless to the point of recklessness.
21. What would your character’s  cutie mark be?
    Ponies?! Oh please…
    • Bannog: Wouldn’t have one.
    • Ariciel: Big, scary, pointy bear teeth.
    • Mareva: A Draenei-standard adjustable spanner.
22. If your character could time travel, where would they go?
    • Bannog: Nowhere. He’s fine where he is.
    • Mareva: Ditto.
    • Ariciel: To when she was taking Puissance to the flight point, and this time kill the bitch, so Lesta would live.
23. Is your character superstitious?
    None of them are. They’re remarkably level. There’s plenty of real magic – no need to imagine more.
24. What might your character’s ideal romantic partner be?
    Mostly, the ones they have already.
25. Describe your character’s hands. Are they small, long, calloused, smooth, stubby?
    • Bannog: Large, calloused, scarred coal-shovels.
    • Ariciel: Nimble, strong, hardened by work.
    • Mareva: Long, slender, delicate, apt to subtle work.
26. Second day of favorites! Favorite comfort food, favorite vice, favorite outfit, favorite hot drink, favorite time of year, and favorite holiday.
    • Bannog: Large Lumps of Meat with Token Vegetables, “embellishing” stories of his own exploits, blackened plate armour, tea with milk, autumn, Brewfest.
    • Ariciel: Strawberries and white wine, a combination of Lust and Sloth, practical leather armour, any time of year, Fire festival.
    • Mareva: Any food that isn’t Emarree, definitely lust, loose shirt and trousers, dark tea with honey, winter, no particular holiday.
27. Pick two songs that describe your character at two different points of their life, and explain why you chose them.
    • Bannog: The Rising Of The Moon suits him perfectly early on, as he’s eager to fight, to protect his loved ones, and to remove their enemies. Later on, he’ll become battle-weary and dispirited because he can no longer see the end of War. “War, what is it good for?”
    • Ariciel: “What a wonderful world” – She is very much connected to Nature, takes delight in growing things. Can’t pick one for later.
    • Mareva: Can’t say.
28. If your character’s life was a genre, what would it be?
    • Bannog, Ariciel: Fantasy, obviously.
    • Mareva; Sci-fi.
29. How does your character smell? Do they wear perfume or cologne?
    Personal smells are notably absent from my stories, but none fo my characters would wear perfume. Soap and water, more likely.
30. And finally: Write a letter to your character, from yourself.
    An exercise for another day, I think.

A most useful exercise, as I’m planning a lot of story on Mareva and Ariciel, and Bannog later on.