Options, part 2

And finished!
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The list lay in the middle of the kitchen table. On either side sat the two Kal'dorei, Lark sipping her tea while Pitch studied the paper again, chin on his fists on the table. He glanced up just in time to catch Lark's grimace, and grinned. "My sisters have told me that earthroot tastes terrible," he said helpfully. Lark swatted at him.

"Just make up your mind which item you want to try for first," she told him. "Besides, I'm not sure I want to know why your sisters were telling you about earthroot anyway."

Pitch smirked, but went back to the list. He tapped the name on top with a finger. "This totem thingy might be easy to find. Maybe." He looked up again. "I still say we should at least try Ulduar. It would save time."

Lark shrugged. "Do we really want to drag who-knows-how-many others into it? Besides, what if no one's interested?"

Pitch gave an exasperated sigh. "They are Riders," he said slowly and carefully. "So are you. If nobody's interested I'll eat my tail." He cocked his head at her. "It won't hurt anything to ask, and if no one comes..." He tapped the paper meaningfully.

Lark watched him with a rueful half-grin. "Are you trying to say that I'm too used to working on my own?" she joked. Pitch didn't bother to answer the mostly-rhetorical question, absorbed in studying the list again. Lark sighed. "I am, I think. All right, what do you say we make a notice or something, and see who shows interest?" Pitch's reply was a broad grin.

The next day a small sign was posted on the Pig's bulletin board. In an untidy scrawl it read:

("Good gods, Pitch, that's your handwriting? They won't even be able to read it."

"Hush you.")

Riders-
Pitch and Lark need assistance in getting into Ulduar. Further details will be provided at the Pig on the next pub night.

("Hopefully that will keep people from trying to track us down every hour of the day."

"Should I add anything else?"

"No, that's probably good.")

Signed, Pitch and Lark

("That was probably pretty obvious from the first line, Pitch."

"Eh, I like to be thorough.")

Pitch and Lark: Options

I mentioned before that Lark was involved in some RP to fix her infertility. Shad's player has been helping out with that, and she's been beyond awesome. Lark had her initial tests, and last night Shad let them know that he had some news for them.

Yay, chatlogs?

I'm actually writing the next part for this, which should hopefully go up later today (because if it doesn't it'll be late >.>).

Note: Yes, they are talking about girly things. There's nothing explicit going on, but if you're easily embarrassed... well, you've been warned.

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[ExileIC] Shad: Pitch? Lark? Are you about?
[ExileIC] Wildlark: Yes
[ExileIC] Shad: Would you be interested in meeting?
[ExileIC] Wildlark: Yes, where did you want to meet?
[ExileIC] Shad: Either the Pig or out by Olivia's Pond. The Pond is quieter.
[ExileIC] Wildlark: Pond sounds good, we'll be right there

Pitchblàck says: Found you!

Shad smiles. "Good job."

Shad says: How are you both doing?

Pitchblàck says: Our house has a porch!

Wildlark snerks at Pitch.

Shad grins at Pitchblàck wickedly.

Wildlark says: We're both fine

Shad says: Some of you seem to be in particularly good moods.

Pitchblàck says: This is fairly typical for me

Shad grins.

Wildlark says: It is

Shad says: Well, hopefully this will only make things better.

Pitchblàck 's ear twitches as Wynd gnaws on his tail.

Wildlark says: You found something?

Shad says: More precisely, I found absolutely nothing.

Wildlark pulls a toy from her pocket and tosses it.

Shad says: Which is, in its way, something.

Wildlark raises an eyebrow. "Something good?"

Shad says: In this case, yes. The female reproductive cycle depends on a certain cycle of chemicals the body produces. At present, your body is not currently producing one of them, so your cycle has simply...gone dormant.

Wildlark blinks.

Shad says: It is not altogether uncommon amongst kal'dorei.

Wildlark says: ... makes sense, I guess. Can you fix it?

Shad nods.

Shad says: The question is how you wish to go about it.

Pitchblàck looks curious. "Is it something you can just... magic up?"

Shad shakes his head. "Not I. There are...three options. One is, I give you herbs to take. You can take them in tea or simply eat them. In six to nine months, you should begin to have cycles again."

Wildlark nods.

Shad says: Another route is, you obtain a few items of potent healing power from certain locations in Outland, and I can treat it magically over the course of four to six weeks.

Wildlark blinks, looking extremely curious. "What items?"

Pitchblàck pricks his ears.

Shad says: I have a list here. I would need...either the Totem of Spontaneous Growth or Quagmirran's Eye. Both of those would be found in the Slave Pens.

Shad says: In Underbog, you could find either the Alembic of Infernal Power --do not be disturbed by the name--or the Stormshield of Renewal.

Wildlark nods again.

Shad says: And then...in the Botanica. Either Prismatic Mittens of Mending or the Warp Splinter's Thorn.

Shad says: But, if you wanted instantaneous and absolutely certain results, there is still one more option.

Wildlark cocks her head.

Shad says: You would need to travel into Ulduar and touch an Eonar's Gift.

Wildlark blinks. "And that's it? That's all it would take?"

Shad nods. "They are extremely powerful healing plants. The problem would be getting to them and not, ah...being smashed by Freya, if she is unwell."

Wildlark says: True

Pitchblàck does not look happy about the smashing bit.

Pitchblàck says: If you do that, I'm coming with you

Shad says: But yes. You could start trying immediately then, though no guarantees you would become pregnant immediately.

Shad grins. "And I would recommend going home first, naturally."

Wildlark says: Babe, I wouldn't make you stay behind

Shad says: You would probably need several helpers. Something we could likely cast about for.

Pitchblàck looks mollified.

Wildlark nods. The wheels in her head are obviously spinning.

Shad says: I would leave the choice to you. If you like, I can give you a two week's supply of the herbs to use while you decide. No reason not to get started on them.

Wildlark nods again.

Shad reaches into his bag for a few small pouches and offers them over. "Crush all three herbs together."

Wildlark takes them with a brief smile. "Thanks."

Shad smiles.

Shad says: Do you have any questions?

Wildlark says: This will fix it, right? Any of those three?

Shad nods. "Yes."

Wildlark says: I mean, permanently?

Shad says: Well, it is possible your body might sink into dormancy again if you had a long period of sexual inactivity.

Wildlark gives a crooked grin. "Not too much worry there."

Shad smiles. "I did not think so."

Pitchblàck clears his throat, turning a shade or two darker under his fur.

Wildlark grins again, reaching over to ruffle Pitch's ears.

Shad chuckles softly.

Wildlark says: We'll talk this over, and I'll get back to you once we've decided what to do

Shad nods.

Pitchblàck nods.

Shad says: Very well.

Shad says: And do let me know if you have any questions in the meanwhile.

Shad brushes his pants off.

Wildlark says: Of course

Shad says: Oh...and where -is- this house with a porch?

Wildlark grins. "Little place right next to the enchanter's shop."

Shad says: New lodgings?

Wildlark nods.

Shad says: Congratulations.

Shad grins. "Solid lodgings are the first step toward becoming a parent, you know."

Wildlark says: I had been staying in the University dorms. Arrens wouldn't have kicked me out, but I prefer not to impose

Shad nods.

Wildlark grins back. "It even has a spare bedroom."

Shad says: -Perfect-.

Shad says: All right. Do have a good evening, both of you.

Pitchblàck says: You too!

Shad bows down graciously.

Wildlark says: Goodnight Shad, and thanks

Molten Front Update- Lark

Lark has been doing her dailies pretty faithfully, even when the others haven't gotten around to them. So naturally, she was the first one to get past the beginning area in the Firelands. I decided to unlock the Druids of the Talon first, mostly because I fail at rock-hopping. >.>

Their dailies are pretty fun, and easy enough. She was lucky enough to finish off a couple more achievements, then when I was wrapping up I had a surprise NPC_Scan alert.

Karkin had just spawned. I decided to go look at him, even though I wanted him more on Booggah. I didn't log over mostly because Boo was nowhere near his spawnpoint, and I figured that by the time I'd gotten him there, someone would have tamed the crab. So Lark went to get a peek at him, and while she did I started thinking...

And then I noticed the blood elf hunter behind me emoting at me.



She not only let me tame him uninterrupted, but she even silenced him for me! (His "special" attack stuns and does heavy damage, possibly one-shots you, so interrupting it is a must.) So after a few seconds, Lark had herself a crab.



Next he needed a name. It took me a good while, but one finally came to me.

If you were wondering, yes that is Pitch in the background.

He went to Tol Barad with her to do those dailies (which got Lark honored with her guild), and while I'm not as smitten as I was with Oen, I think he's gonna be a keeper. And I don't feel too badly for Boo- he'll respawn again, and then Boo can have his turn.

It's kinda funny that I mention all the grief these rares are causing, and then a couple days later this happens. It's almost enough to hope that maybe I was wrong, and there are still more good people than bad out there. :)

A Ding, and a Decision

Firstly the ding! Rillian has joined the Level 85 Club as of this afternoon, and the rest of the day was spent running around trying to get his gear up to where he could actually queue for the 85 dungeons. >.> Leveling mostly through gathering and archaeology doesn't make for easy gearing, just fyi.



He did get to do the Thrall questline, although he has a lot of questing to do in Hyjal before he can get to the Firelands. All I really want to get there is the ring from the first vendor, so it's not a huge deal, and once he has that he likely won't do another daily again.

With the cloak from the quest and a couple 85 pieces (including an epic dagger, compliments of Lark and a lucky greed roll) he now has the ilvl to get into the normals. Heroics will be another matter, but he'll get there. Sis's hunter Kel is also going to make him some stuff to help out (so long as she doesn't misspell his name and send it to the wrong person *cough*again*cough* >.>).

Now the decision. This isn't really a huge deal, but I think I'm calling off my spirit beast hunt for the time being. Biggest reason is simply this- patch 4.2 seems to have brought out the worst in people, as far as hunters competing against each other, tame-stealing, pet-killing, etc. Not to mention all the non-hunters that will kill a mob just to spite the hunter, for no apparent reason at all. This isn't even counting the people that will kill a rare thinking that it'll drop some fancy blue or epic (which they WON'T, people, so get the BC/Wrath thinking out of your head!). If you don't understand what I'm saying, just hop over to the Petopia forums and start reading the stories posted there.

(As an aside, I am SO glad I don't want Deth'tilac- eww spiders- because he seems to be the most-griefed pet out of all of them. Ugh.)

I've tried camping for Ban'thalos a couple times. I've seen him spawn once, a few days after the patch, and didn't even have a chance to try taming for all the other hunters that swarmed him. I'm glad he was tamed and not killed by accident, but he's hard enough that you can't just sit back and mash "tame", and when you're competing against 2-6 others that want him too, if you screw up one chance you won't get another. And after camping in a tree for 6+ hours and not seeing so much as a feather, I'm about to give up hope of even seeing him in the wild again.

Not to mention that when I'm not camping, I wind up thinking nonstop, "But what if he pops and I'm not there?" That's what finally did it. If I'm online, I want to be having fun and/or doing something productive, not sitting in a tree bored out of my mind, but afraid to do anything else for fear of missing my tame. And when I have other hunters all come over to camp the same place, even logging in right on top of me- well, I'm not holding out hope of me beating out every one of them. And if one of them happens to be a *fillintheblank* and deliberately messes up my tame so s/he can steal it.... No thanks.

I'm not happy with the decision. I still want my spirit-owl, almost as much as I wanted to tame Loque'nahak. But I don't want to go through who-knows-how-much struggle to get him.

Finding and taming Loque is still one of my high points in the game. I want my Ban'thalos tame to be just as wonderful. And I have the feeling that right now, it won't be.



I'm not giving up permanently. I'll get back and try camping for him again, and Magria too. But it won't be before the craze has died down. If I have to wait a year or so... well, I had to do it before, and I can manage again. It's only a matter of time.

Dang but this feels good...

Remember when I said that Nef was still defying us, but we'd get him down? Well, see for yourself!


We had a lot of trouble at first with the first phase and add control and positioning, but eventually everything came together, and he went down pretty easy. No hunter loot, but Lark got a pretty achievement. :D

After Neffy we went back to a fresh Bastion of Twilight, and proceeded to one-shot everything, including Cho'gall. I forgot to take a screenshot last time, so got one this time. Also, Halfus gave Lark a very nice present!


I happened to glance at Recount after the fight and got another nice surprise. She was Marksmanship for the fight, but still.


Her new owl finally got a name. Thanks Domin!


I'm pronouncing it "Owen." He got to come along and help with the trash, though I pulled out Quiloe or Trev for the boss fights.

We went on to Throne of the Four Winds, and got the Conclave down on our second try. Lark got a new belt with some decent stats, so she is now fully epic-geared. She almost has enough JP for her second piece of t11, and we're going back to Firelands tomorrow night to try some bosses.

That's about all I can think of. Planning on camping for Ban'thalos until I get tired and go to bed (or until he spawns >.>), though not sure how long that'll be. Hopefully I'll get lucky and Lark will have a shiny new pet to take to the raid tomorrow. Til next time, Happy Hunting!

I don't know how this happens

I tamed this guy on a whim, because I liked the white owls around Avianna's shrine. He went immediately into the stables, so Lark could go on and camp for Ban'thalos as I originally intended. Banny was being a brat and never popped for the 6 or so hours Lark sat there, so I finally gave it up and went to do dailies. I remembered this guy and pulled him back out of the stable, just to get a feel for him and see if he was a keeper.

Long story short, I'm in love with him. Go figure.

He really is a pretty boy- he's got brown markings on his head and wings that aren't really noticeable until you look close. And he was grabbing and holding aggro like a champ, even with Lark and Pitch both whaling on the mob. And I've always liked owls anyway- that's one of the reasons I'm camping Ban'thalos, so I'd have an owl that's also a ferocity pet. Lark will keep looking for Banny, but until she gets him this guy will keep her pretty happy.

...he really needs a name, though.




The new 4.2 dailies are pretty fun, although I sometimes feel a bit guilty about punting the poor turtles. They have shells, I know, but still! All my guys are a bit behind the majority as far as marks go, since I think I've managed to skip a day or two's dailies on all 4 toons at some point, but I'm not in a terrible rush, so I'm fine with it. I do kinda wish the rest would all get farther into the Firelands, just so I'd have less competition when I'm pet-camping. >.>




Lark's raid group did manage to kill Cho'gall after the patch (yay nerfs? :P) We tried out Firelands, but weren't able to do any major progress on the bosses, so we just killed trash. We had some epics drop and most of us got to friendly with the Avengers of Hyjal, so it was still fairly profitable. We'll be heading back in later this week, after smashing some more BoT/BWD. Nef was still a bit beyond us last time, but we'll get him yet.




Pitch is doing pretty well, though he doesn't have a raid of his own yet. Honestly, I don't know if I'll be raiding on more than 1 toon at a time, so until I get bored with Lark or her raid calls it quits, he'll probably just sit out. He did have enough Justice points after the patch to pick up 2 pieces of his tier 11, which I gemmed and enchanted for tanking, so I finally feel like I can tank reasonably well with him. Still would like more tank-specific pieces, but unless I want to re-work his current kitty gear... well, yea. Ahune did decide to be nice and give him a frostling, and now he's up to 113 pets!

Can't think of much else. Rill is up to 84 now, so he might yet be my next to cap. I've been wanting to level Taurros too, so after Rill I may be back on Horde-side. I'm still debating seeing if I can improve Turron's tanking gear and instancing him the rest of the way (he's still 83), but haven't made up my mind yet. And honestly, I've been focusing so much on my main characters that I haven't been doing much alting lately. The other games I play have been a bit neglected as well, although I did briefly get back to Rift. For now, at least, I think my high-levels will be getting the most attention, although we'll see how long that lasts.

So that's about it. Til next time, Happy Hunting!