Have a Random Screenshot Post

Eavesdropping...

Rheugan is still same as always. I'm not logging in except for the Tuesday night RP nights, so... yea.

His name is J'atoh.

I've started playing Final Fantasy XIV, though at the moment I'm just using the free month you get with purchase. I'll just be getting game time cards for it whenever I actually feel like playing it in the future. I'm loving the game so far, but it's also very frustrating as it's hard to just log in - the servers are all very full and I usually just make one attempt to log in, get the "server is full, please wait" screen, and give up.

One down, dozens to go?

Arvallon hit 55. \o/   He's still working his way through Makeb - I really ought to knuckle down and just get him the rest of the way through it. Altitis ftl.

Ard'riin's finally done with Tatooine.

Made another new agent. This is Lekhi. He's a jerk.

Taohn'reelta the bounty hunter. Because I love Chiss.

Still having fun with my various alts. Some of them are getting neglected, which makes me sad, but I'll get back to them eventually. (Valkogo, Raiffa, and Arv'ak, I'm looking at you!)

"Breaking Point"

Finished another Rheugan picture, and have another in the works. If I can't make myself play the game, at least I'm still doing something with the character. And the next pic is more of a "happy/normal" one, I promise.

Stuff 'n' Things

I am still here. Still playing SW:TOR mostly. Been dinking a bit more on WoW here and there, but I still don't feel much like doing anything besides a few pet battles and talking to folks. We did just recently get back from this year's Feathermeet (which was predictably awesome!) so I'm hoping I'll feel like playing again soonish.

I'm still posting semi-regularly on my non-WoW blog, so if you feel like reading stuff there go ahead. I've also started a Tumblr blog, although I make no guarantees on what you'll find there. Consider yourselves warned! XD

I'm not quitting WoW completely anytime soon, just to get that out of the way. I've met too many awesome people there, and for some WoW is the only means I have to talk to them. And I still love my characters - I'm just tired of the way the game has turned out right now. But there's still RP, and pet battles, and maybe even the occasional LFR or PVP to do. I'm not quitting, just taking a break.

Updates (Because this blog needs more Star Wars)

So 5.3 is out, and I am underwhelmed. Still feeling the WoW-blahs, so I haven't done much in-game yet. I did get 2 of the new battle pets, but the RNG hates me and hasn't let any others drop yet, and I just don't have much patience.

Still doing a lot of SW:TOR, in fact I've done a full post on my non-WoW blog here, if you wanna read. I believe my biggest problem in WoW right now is that everything is so focused on the Horde-Alliance war, and I'm just not a war-like person at all.Yes, there is fighting going on in Star Wars, but it's not so focused in most of the class storylines, so it doesn't get me so burned out.

There's a lot more going on too, like my depression that still hasn't completely gone away, but I really don't want to get into it here, so...

Anyway.

I do plan on taking Rheugan out to the Barrens and do some Troll Rebellion Stuff eventually, though I'm probably just going to get the hydra pet and leave it at that. Still, pets. Also planning on doing more raid-farming with Sis for the other pets, plus dino bones on the Isle of Giants and stuff like that. It is easier to stay interested in WoW if I have someone else with me.

Rheugan is still complicated. I brought him to last night's RP and he did okay, so that's good. Plus I got some good intro possibilities for him going to the Barrens ICly, so that's another thing. I'm hoping that if I just let him go along and don't poke him too much, he'll get stuff sorted out and become "fun" again.

I can't really think of anything else to add, so have some SW screenshots. It's not WoW, but it's still pretty.

Break

Rheu: "Go away and quit bothering me."

 Yes, I am taking a bit of a break from WoW at the moment. I'm still logging in for RP and occasional pet battles/dailies/farming/what-have-you, but it's only been for short stretches. This is probably going to continue until 5.3 drops.

Reasons are many - I've gotten burned out on a lot of stuff lately, some of it because it's been so frutrating (LFR I'm looking at you >.>), and some of it because I was just trying to do too much too fast (pet battles/collecting *cough*). I'm still enjoying parts of it well enough, but I end up getting bored fast.

 - Rheugan has become incredibly difficult to play, since whenever I'm on him (even if it's just for a few dailies) I wind up trying to get inside his head and figure out what he's thinking. And frankly, he's been stupidly depressed lately - and my own depression has just been making it worse. I have a feeling that I know what it'll take to "fix" him, at least temporarily, but I'm still not sure if I want to go that direction with him...

 - RP in general has been kinda meh lately. Not that there isn't stuff going on, but there's not much that's really affecting my characters. And the depression has made it hard to get into anything, anyway.

 - I am tired. No, I don't mean I need to sleep more (although that'd probably help >.>). I mean that I have no energy, physically or mentally. My workdays have consisted of digging up enough gas to get through my shift, then pretty much collapsing at my desk and not moving until I go to bed. My days off are mostly just spent recovering from work, which means sleeping late and taking everything easy. And I hurt. My joints haven't given me this much trouble for ages, and I'd just kinda like it to stop.

 - My schedule at work has gone crazy. One of the higher-ups got the "brilliant" idea of letting a computer decide schedules, instead of having the department managers write them. This means that everyone's schedules have been flipped around and changed up, and mine is no exception. Fun fact: I've worked the exact same schedule each week for over a year. My internal clock has gotten so used to this that I'm having a super-hard time adjusting, and this is just the first week, which makes it worse. This week, for example, I have 2 shifts that are early, but still not the time that I'm used to. The other 3 shifts are all late, from 12:30-9:00pm. Which means my brain is telling me it's time to go home when it's really not even my lunchtime yet. To top it off, the screwed-up times are making it hard to sleep well at night.

I will get through this, I just need some time.

In the meantime, I've started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic again. Haven't resubbed, but the FTP account is good enough (though some of the restrictions make me want to /headdesk). My Imperial agent's story has sucked me back in, and I'm having fun on my Sith Warrior and my two Jedis. I've been looking at the Mass Effect series too, even found a free demo on Steam, though I'm not sure yet if I want to spring for it. In other words, I'm keeping myself occupied when I'm not at work or sleeping.

And I gotta say, the Sith warrior's starship might be the prettiest in the game.  >.>

My SW Valkogo and his companion Vette in the foreground, getting their first look at it.  XD

I will try to keep poking on here, just in case people want to know what I'm up to. Might even toss up some SWTOR screenshots, goodness knows I'm getting enough of them. So til next time, Happy Hunting!

Catching Up- the Blah Edition

Apologies again for the blog silence. I've had a lot of stuff going on outside of gaming, mostly just stuff in my head driving me crazy (and not in a good way). To be brutally honest, I've had problems with depression and stuff for a long time, and various things going on IRL have just been piling up lately, so I've barely been in the mood to play anything, let alone try to write up a blog post.

Anyway, WoW stuff. I've been playing Rheu a lot since he hit 90, and I'm steadily working on gearing him up... through PvP. >.>

Yes, I hate PvP. But there's a lot of folks on Feathermoon who don't, and doing things with friends you enjoy chatting with can make anything bearable, even enjoyable. I'm still mostly a lost cause as far as usefulness goes, but as Rheu gets better gear I'll be able to survive for more than a few seconds, and hopefully I'll be able to learn some skills.

PvPing is reminding me on a regular basis just how weird some people are in regards to naming their toons (no offense if you happen to be one of those >.>). This particular one cracked us all up.

Pitch and Lark have been mostly sitting, except for a few LFR runs for each. Lark's gotten some good pieces from her Mogu'Shan Vault runs, though Pitch has gotten nothing at all from Throne of Thunder yet. "Failbags" galore, but no gear. Although I have to admit I'm a little more excited over the pets than the gear...

Can you tell which one is Sadhe and which is the pet quillrat?

Booggah's finally getting the attention I've been wanting to give him, and he'll be my next to 90. He's already reached 87 through some pet-battling and a dungeon run, and I'll be PvPing with him as well. He'll be getting geared up the same way as Rheugan, both because it's been surprisingly quick and easy so far, and because Horde seems to dominate things here most of the time, so hopefully Boo will be getting regular wins. Though if my usual luck holds, it'll just mean that once Boo does get into the level-90 bracket, we'll just be losing more often...

Pet-battling and RP have been the main things keeping me logging in, as usual. Both are going well, though there's been nothing really note-worthy, just a few plotlines getting their groundwork started. For pets, I've been going back to older zones and trying to upgrade as many wild pets to rare as I can, though my patience is a bit limited as far as that goes. Terokkar's warpstalker hatchlings have been particularly frustrating (and no, I don't have my rare yet). But I'll get there eventually.

Battlestones have been hit-or-miss lately, mostly miss though I've gotten a couple. Leveling is still the most fun and relaxing part of it, and I'm only 2 25s away from my Pro Pet Mob achievement. I've also picked up a Spawn of G'nathus when a few friends and I decided to go farm him for a bit, and found a Sunfur panda (my favorite color) for cheap in the AH.

I don't really remember if there was anything else worth mentioning, so I think that's enough for now. Here's hoping my moods will get better, and I'll be able to post more often. Til next time, Happy Hunting!

And then this happened

(Last night's RP.)
_______________________

Tarquin is nursing his cigarette, leaning back relaxedly.

Tarquin: Master Jameston. How're yeh?

Rheugan: Well enough

Tarquin: Pitch suggested yeh maun want an' talk ta me.

Rheugan: I had expected as much

Tarquin: Aye.

Tarquin: So what d'yeh want ta talk about?

Rheugan: Bricu suggested there might be a spot for me in the Riders. I just asked him, and he said it was still open

Tarquin: Right yeh are, lad.

Rheugan eyes Tarquin, a bit hesitantly.

Tarquin scratches at his chin.

Tarquin: Yet, I canna help but notice, wey yeh say that - it's still oan account some punter else suggested it.

Tarquin: The wey Pitch asked me.

Tarquin: The wey...well, look, mate.

Tarquin plucks the cigarette from his mouth and rests his fingers on the tabletop, letting it smolder.

Tarquin: This outfit, we started it up oan account we wanted ta make our ain wey.

Tarquin: Yeh heard how we say it. Nae crowns, nae flags, nae causes an' all that.

Tarquin: Things come an' go, but what remains is, wir doin' this ta...what's the phrase?

Tarquin leans back, closing his eyes briefly.

Tarquin: Wir seizin' what the world withholds.

Tarquin: An' Master Jameston, welll...ambition's no' a requirement fir the gig.

Rheugan drops his eyes to the tabletop and nods.

Tarquin: But it ha' got a certain relation.

Tarquin: So what I am wond'rin' is, why d'yeh want ta wear the colors?

Tarquin: Besides jus' other folks sayin' yeh ought ta?

Rheugan looks back at Tarq.

Rheugan: Because, honestly, I have no other options

Tarquin tilts his head.

Tarquin: How's that, mate?

Tarquin picks his cigarette back up and trims a little ash off the side with his thumbnail.

Tarquin: Thinkin' about it, mate?

Rheugan frowns at the tabletop and nods.

Tarquin: Well. Put it this wey, then.

Tarquin: First - what wid yeh be doin' if yeh'd never come up the Pig, or met the Black an' Red?

Rheugan glances at Tarq, then looks away again.

Rheugan: I would... probably be dead

Tarquin lifts both his eyebrows.

Tarquin: Really now.

Tarquin: Fra' what?

 Rheugan: I-.. well, the cat- attacked a frostsaber in Darnassas, shortly after we'd left Gilneas after the fighting. When a Sentinel tried to intervene, he turned on her as well

Rheugan: The saber was killed, the Sentinel was wounded badly. They shut me away while they tried to.. decide what to do with me

Tarquin takes a slow, silent drag on his cigarette, his eyes glinting slightly.

Rheugan glances briefly at Tarquin.

Rheugan: That was how Pitch became my mentor. If he hadn't... they likely would have killed me

Tarquin: The Kaldorei dinna care much fir liabilities, 'tis true.

Tarquin: So Pitch's been sortin' yeh out wi' that, an' that is a fine thing.

Tarquin: But Rheugan, me lad - yeh seen what we do.

Tarquin: Up close, even.

Tarquin: Oan the balance, we are closer ta the cat than the Sentinel.

Rheugan: Do you think I haven't realized that?

Rheugan quirks an eyebrow.

Tarquin grins faintly at that.

Tarquin: I think yeh expressed a certain, uh, discomfort.

Tarquin: An' the wey we do things has no' much changed.

Rheugan: No, but I have, whether I wanted to or not

Tarquin nods thoughtfully.

Tarquin: Meanin' yeh can work.

Rheugan nods.

Tarquin: Awright.

Tarquin leans back.

Tarquin: Awright. An' is there anythin' mair yeh want outay it, Jameston?

Tarquin: Asides a chance ta stick by yir mentor?

Tarquin: An' fill yir hours?

Rheugan gives Tarquin a rather sardonic look.

Rheugan: You think that's why I wanted a job?

Tarquin: I dinna ken at all why yeh wanted a job, mate.

Tarquin: All I heard is other people askin' oan yir behalf. An' I am glad yeh come ta me yirself.

Rheugan: I want it because... it's either this, or I keep drifting like I have been

Rheugan: And I'm tired of it

Tarquin pulls the cigarette out of his mouth again and leans forward.

Tarquin: Yeh want purpose.

Rheugan nods.

Tarquin: Well, mate.

Tarquin: All we got is watchin' each other's backs while we grab the world by the bollocks an' squeeze.

Tarquin: If that's eno' purpose fir yeh, that's guid eno' for me.

Rheugan nods again.

Tarquin: Well, then.

Tarquin: Moan oan downstairs, me lad.

Tarquin claps Rheugan on the shoulder.

Tarquin: Yeh drink mead?

Rheugan: Ah, yes

Tarquin: Barry.

Threnn eyes Tarquin up and down.

Tarquin says: Oi! Black an' red.

Tarquin says: Come 'round.

Bricu says: Oi.

Illithias says: Hnhhh.

Lorelli says: Hrm?

Tarquin stretches over the bar and retrieves a dusty bottle.

Pitchblàck raises his eyebrow inquisitively at Rheugan.

Elohn weaves his way over.

Lorelli says: Ah, lovely.

Tarquin says: Bric, make yirself some tea or something'.

Bricu says: Aye.

Elohn blinks at Rheugan.

Tarquin says: Had a wee chat wi' Jameston here.

Elohn says: ...I'd always assumed he was an elf.

Rheugan leans back on the bar, half-trying to blend in.

Illithias snorts.

Tarquin says: Aye, turns out, there's a lot ta the lad we dinna ken.

Tarquin says: But we shall learn it.

Pitchblàck snerks.

Tarquin says: As he, in turn, shall learn how we do things.

Bricu says: Seltzer, with lemon.

Lorelli looks at Tarquin a bit wary.

Tarquin looks around, fingers curled around his own glass.

Tarquin says: A bit sideweys.

Tarquin says: A bit underhanded.

Tarquin says: An' together, as brothers an' sisters ought ta do.

Tarquin says: Us, yeh bastards.

Tarquin lifts his glass.

Elohn lifts his own.

Bricu lifts his glass.

Tarquin says: Wir one larger.

Illithias raises her mug.

Threnn raises her glass.

Tarquin says: Welcome ta the black an' red, yeh puir sap.

Tarquin raises a drink to Rheugan. Cheers!

Elohn salutes you with respect.

Rheugan grins ruefully, then downs his mead.

Bricu nods at Rheugan.

Tarquin claps Rheugan on the shoulder.

Pitchblàck raises a drink to Rheugan. Cheers!

Just a Picture...

He dinged on a discover, right after a pet battle. XD

All I'm gonna say for now is... It's about time!

5.2 Updates!!

One month since my last post, I know, I know...

First off, the patch broke all my addons, so I couldn't even play for very long, since my game would freeze up and I'd have to close it and restart manually. Ugh. I think that's been fixed now (mostly) so I'm getting back into things.

First thing - Sis and I took our hunters (Lark and Kelesaria) out to Dino Island and killed Dinomancers. A lot of Dinomancers. It did take a while, but it was well worth it!

Dinosaaaaaur!

I love him. Holy flip, I love him. Even his noisy footsteps (and they are pretty loud) don't bug me. Kel tamed a white one, though I was a bum and didn't get any screenshots of hers. And we both managed to get one of each baby raptor, though it took Lark forever to get her last.

I now have an even better excuse for pet battles. Rheugan's become my main battler, and he's since hit 89 and is working steadily towards 90. He even dinged from a battle. XD

Leveling pets is going even faster than Rheu, partly in thanks to the safari hat that everyone now has. I've finished Rookie Pet Mob, and gotten 51 now to 25. The Pandaren spirit tamers are done, and at the moment I'm down to 1 last elite for the Beasts of Fable (which I'll probably track down tonight >.>). The elite battles have been surprisingly fun, and I've been discovering just how strong some of my pets are. For example- my nether faerie dragon soloed Dos-Ryga the fish, and Bash the Kun-Lai runt soloed Lucky Yi the cricket. Some of the rest have been tricky, and some have been pushovers. Overall I'm really happy with how Blizzard designed them all.

An added bonus to the elites is that many of them have normal battle pets congregating around them. I've upgraded several of my current pets to rare this way, so now I can level them, without having to worry about it being "wasted" if I stumble on a rare after.

I've captured all 4 of the Isle of Thunder pets, so now all I need is the drop pets. My snake and thundertail are both rare (and 25 \o/) already, though my croaker and razortooth are still just green-quality. It feels almost a waste to be pet-farming there, cause Pitch and Lark don't need the battle xp. I doubt they'd let Rheugan out there yet though, so I'll just deal with it. XD

Isle of Thunder is... well, it's kinda meh, for me at least. I just can't get myself excited over more dailies, and the zone itself is kinda dull and dreary looking. Hopefully it'll get better after I learn my way around and aren't getting lost constantly.  >.>

Pitch has run through the LFR version of the raid already, along with a bunch of fellow Feathermoonies. It's fun enough, although some of the fights were confusing at first. They're not hard to learn, however, and next time I'll probably know what I'm doing. XD

That's about all in WoW. Still playing Rift a lot, although my month there is about to run out, so I need to decide if I want to pay for another one or not. I've become addicted to their player housing, dimensions- enough so that I farmed up the money to buy Kirit something bigger than the newbie one they give you, and I'm currently building her a house in the middle of a forest. :D

House! Still a WIP.

Kirit is closing in on level 30, and my cleric Shaurria is up to 35! I also made some new alts (like I really needed them >.>) so if I do decide to let my sub run out I can still play now and then.

Can't think of anything else to add, so have one last shot of Lark and Devil. Til next time, Happy Hunting!

Guard-dino. Rawr.

More Catching Up!

I really need to stop procrastinating on doing blog posts - it makes it hard to remember what's happened.  :P

Rajast was just a little bit from 78 the last time I played him, so my last day off work I spent some time on him. Shortly...

That went shockingly fast. I didn't even start on any Storm Peaks questing, just finished up a few things in Sholazar, then took him to Icecrown. Rajast is parked in Hyjal now, waiting for the next day that I feel like spending time on him.

Pet battles!

Gypsy the Feline Familiar has become my new lowbie-leveler. She is beastly against critters, and she even has a magic-based attack to take down those pesky flyers (who take reduced damage from beast attacks). Throw in her Devour and she finishes every fight at full health. I've been using her mostly to get my little babies up for my Rookie Pet Mob achievement - up to 50-somthing now, so it won't be long now.

I've had an awesome string of luck with pet battlestones lately, I've been getting one almost every day for almost a week now. Combine that with my OCD-driven hunting sprees, and my list of non-rares is steadily dwindling.

I've been plinking along on Lark, she's doing okay so far with rep (honored with most of the factions I wanted, and almost exalted with Tillers already), but the issues I've been having so far have been with Valor Points. She's just not getting enough from the dailies I do on her, and I never have the time/energy to do dungeons or scenarios. I've gotten a few done, and she got lucky with a 463 bow drop in one, but it's going so slow.

Still messing around on Rheugan too, although his RP storyline has stalled out for now. He managed to hit 88 through archeology, though I think I want to do more questing in Kun-Lai before I take him to Townlong Steppes. I have no plans on gearing him once he hits 90, however, aside from whatever's easiest to get just to make farming/questing easier.

I've also renewed my Rift sub temporarily, though I don't know how much I'll really be playing. I spent all this afternoon on Kirit, my ranger, though. I'd almost forgotten how much I missed her.

Rift invasion, ho!

I also used some of my tax return on a year-long sub for Lord of the Rings Online, just because my sister's been playing that lately, and I miss both her and my toons there. One of these days I'm going to get on Basten and do a leveling marathon; he's been at 41 forever.

So, looks like I've got more than enough to keep busy for awhile. Can't really think of anything else, so I guess that's it for now. Til next time, Happy Hunting!

Catching up

Apologies for the blog silence, but I've been so danged tired over the last couple weeks that I haven't even been doing much on WoW, and I figured I would wait til I had enough to actually make a decent-sized post. So.

First things first - Lark is finally 90. She dinged a few days ago, actually, and she's gotten her Cloud Serpent rep finished already, thanks to finding a ton of eggs; it only took about 3 days of actual dailies to get there. Most of the time there was nobody out there while doing them, so all the eggs that spawned were all hers - one advantage to leveling her so "late", I guess.

I have a jade hatchling I named Sheth, so this is his grown-up version. Blame Mishi. I figured if she can be all tiny one minute, then grow up to full size to give someone a ride, then all cloud serpents ought to be able to, right?

Now that she's done with that, I'll start working on Golden Lotus and stuff. She's been doing Shiedwall stuff too on occasion, though I'm still toying with the idea of duoing her and Pitch through dailies as much as possible.

Planning to level Booggah next, so I'll have a max-level on Horde-side. Still working on Rheugan, too - he's still 87, but he's about to ding thanks to a lot of recent archeology. And I also want to level Barraccus, since everyone I know that has a DK has been crowing about how awesome they are.

I got him to 85 a few weeks ago, then took him out to get the beginning MoP quests done. He's been parked since then, waiting his turn with the rest.

Laoden is now 63 and working his way through Zangarmarsh, which is still one of the few zones I'm not tired of yet. I'm trying to avoid thinking of leveling him through the Cataclysm zones, though. >.<

I've been wanting to level my guys on Wyrmrest Accord as well, my troll shammy Rajast is 77 now so he doesn't have too far to go. My next highest are all in the 71-73 range, so I have options if I want them.

Pet battling continues as well. I just got the achievement for 30 pets at 25, which gives a better trap! Still have a lot of wild-caught pets that are grey/white/green, so that'll come in handy. And I've still got a bunch I want to level, so hopefully the next cheevoh won't be too bad to get. I've finished the Northrend trainers, and now I'm working on Cata ones, so more dailies too! And I got lucky with a dragonkin battlestone, which I'm going to save for whenever the Riders finish a Tarecgosa and I can get the whelpling.

There was probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. So, til next time Happy Hunting!

Catching Up - Pet Edition

I don't even know where to start, so here, have a bunch of pictures.

Finally found one of these guys, and it was a rare!

Tried duoing BWL with Pitch and Lark. It worked surprisingly well, and I wound up with this guy (finally)!

And once I had my chromepuppy, I got this guy!

This girl turned out to be a beast, and now she's my go-to lowbie-leveler. Varshuna is getting a well-deserved break.

Was checking Tanaris one day, and noticed the sky turning dark just as I logged out. Logged back in quick and nabbed myself a couple of these!

Had a rare one of these and leveled him up. Turtles are pretty awesome. He's named after a RL snapping turtle I used to have. :D

This guy has become one of my faves, he's a little powerhouse. I named him Ceasar. :D

Finally found a minfernal (gray quality, boo), but forgot to take a screenie of it. I've been going through several zones and upgrading all the pets I can to rare. I have quite a list of them at 25 by now, and still working on leveling. And I've unlocked 3 of the trainer dailies (really need to get going on Northrend trainers >.>), so I've been doing those pretty religiously. Gotten several battlestones from them, and I've upgraded a number of my pets- my worg pup, pug, and feline familiar are all rare now!

I'm 5 pets away from the "Level 30 to 25" achievement, so that's my main focus right now. That and getting the rest of the trainers unlocked, though for every trainer I've read up on, I find another pet that I need to level for it. Sigh...

Other than that, not much has really happened. Rheugan's current storyline is mostly wrapped up, just need to wait and see where he's going to go next. Lark is 89, closing in on 90. Once she does ding, I'm thinking of trying to duo her dailies with Pitch, so he can get exalted with a few more factions (Golden Lotus and Shado-pan, specifically). And there's the gearing up thing, ugh.

Laoden is 58 and in Outland now, though I haven't really done much yet. Debating running him through some dungeons before I start seriously questing. And I've decided to get Booggah to cap next, once Lark is finished, although I'm not really sure how much rep-grinding/gearing-up I'll be doing with my Hordies yet. Still, getting them both to cap would be nice.

I've picked up a few new mounts too, which I keep forgetting to mention. Sis and I decided to see how well we could 2-man Sarth for the drakes, and we actually did pretty well!

We did need help with the 25-man version. One of the Riders came to help for the first run, and we managed to 3-man him, just barely. Next week we had a bunch of Riders and friends to help, and we stomped him. So now Sis and I both have pretty new drakes!

Rheugan:... and Found

SO VERY DELAYED.

I don't even have a good excuse. Can I blame pet battles? And writer's block, though most of my distractions were simply doing other things rather than writing. I will try not to do this again... but no promises.  >_>

ANYWAYS, this pretty much catches up to where Rheu is at in-game. Things are starting to look up now, at least. Enjoy!

__________________

Pitch wouldn’t admit it, but he was far more worried than he’d let on. He was certain Rheugan wasn’t in the Vale, but Kun-Lai was so Elune-blasted big, and he’d stupidly let enough time go by that he didn’t have a trail to follow. He kept searching anyway, unwilling to give up on the druid that had become almost like another brother.

By the third day, Pitch was feeling certain Rheu wasn’t in the Summit. He’d checked the Valley of Four Winds off and on too, but there was no trace of him there, either. He finally turned his wings east, hoping while he flew that his hunch was right.

The Tian Monastery hadn’t changed a bit in the weeks since he’d last been there - not surprising, since even the Sha attack on Serpent’s Heart hadn't ruffled the monks there. He found a groundskeeper in short order and gave him the name he’d gotten from Rheu, and within five minutes he was following the ‘keeper through the grounds.

Pitch had never met Laoden, but the pandaren that the groundskeeper led him too looked pretty much the same as any of his race. It didn’t take an especially sharp eye to tell that most of his heft was muscle rather than fat, but otherwise he could have passed for any Shado-pan fighter or Halfhill farmer. He turned to regard Pitch with friendly yet wary interest as introductions were exchanged, favoring the druid with a brief bow, then he dismissed the groundskeeper. His expression sharpened as he turned back to Pitch. “You’ve certainly taken long enough to get here.” Pitch’s ears went straight up in surprise. “Yes, I had guessed you would be coming,” Laoden said. “We’ve both been expecting you. Now come.”

*   *   *   *   *

The cat was sitting down beneath the orange tree, not moving except to test the breeze when it blew past. Pitch supposed Rheugan was down there too, but he had no way of knowing if he and the cat were “sharing,” or if he’d gone wherever it was he went when he wanted to think or hide. He - they? - looked at peace, at least, so that was something.

“He is fighting it.” Pitch glanced at the pandaren seated beside him, but Laoden was still watching the cat, with the same inscrutably calm expression he’d worn all day. “He is not tainted, not yet, but the temptation is there.”

Pitch turned back toward Rheugan, suppressing another pang of worry. “Is he a danger?” he asked, after a minute or two of silence. Laoden frowned slightly, considering. “At the moment, no,” he replied. “I wouldn’t presume to know the future, however. If he continues as he is, he could become one.” Now he looked at Pitch, offering the druid a faint smile. “He hides much. Maybe too much.”

Pitch flattened his ears briefly. “He’s had reason to,” he said. “He.. hasn’t been treated well in the past.” Laoden looked at him curiously, then shrugged when the druid said nothing more. “He is welcome to spend a few days here, to rest,” he said as he climbed to his feet. “After that...” The pandaren shrugged again.

Pitch blinked at him in surprise, which quickly turned to anger. “What, you’ll kick him out again? Isn’t that more or less how he wound up like this?” Laoden favored him with a reproachful look. “We did not ‘kick him out’ the first time, and we will not this time, either,” he replied. “You are assuming he will want to stay. He is looking for something here, druid, and he has not found it yet.”

Pitch felt himself flushing under his fur. “I’m sorry,” he started, but the pandaren was already gone. Pitch looked back down at Rheugan with a sigh. He wished Alanon was there. This was his job, not Pitch’s. But his brother was still back in Stormwind, so he would have to do what he could.

The cat glanced over briefly as Pitch padded over to sit next to him, just long enough for the elven druid to see the flash of guilt in his eyes. So, Rheu was in there. Pitch considered his options, then unshifted and made himself comfortable on the grass before finally breaking the silence.

“Do not,” he began, as forcefully as he dared, “think that this was all your fault. I’m to blame at least as much as you, I should have noticed something was going on and said something.” Rheugan shrank down as he spoke; Pitch tried gentling his tone a bit. “Rheugan, those things are like... like old gods. They’re strong, they’re evil, and if they want you, they’re darned well going to try and get to you. Cenarius’ horns, Rheu, even I had some trouble with them when I first got here.”

That got his attention. Rheugan sat up and blinked at him, the last traces of the cat’s presence fading. “I... but...” Some of the shame returned, and he ducked his head again. “I.. I am sorrry,” he rumbled. “I didn’t want you to worrry.” Pitch just made a noncommittal sound as he eyed the younger druid carefully. “Do you need to go home, Rheu?” he finally asked bluntly. “Mean, this kind of thing might happen again, and if it’s too much for you...”

Rheugan shook his head firmly, then unshifted to settle on the grass, in an unconscious mimicry of Pitch’s pose. “I.. I have to be here,” he said, a bit uncertainly. “I don’t know if I can put it the right way, but...

“Shaurria said once that I was out of balance. I... I’m starting to get it back, but it’s all in.. in pieces. Northrend was a part of it, and so was Gilneas. But I’m not finished yet, Pitch. There’s something here that I have to find; I just don’t know what it is yet.” He looked up again, and a trace of what might have been a smile crossed his face at Pitch’s expression. “What do you think I do when I’m out ‘thinking,’ Pitch? I’m not debating the color of the sky, I assure you.”

Pitch coughed. “Yea, I suppose not,” he said with a bit of chagrin. Then he focused back on the younger druid. “Are you really, really sure, Rheu?” Rheugan nodded again wordlessly. Pitch sighed and looked up at the tree branches overhead, as if searching for inspiration.

“Well, we both need rest,” he said finally. “Why don’t we stay here a couple days, then maybe take a trip back to Stormwind? Just a short visit.” Rheugan nodded, his eyes fixed off in the distance again. Pitch reached over to gently touch his arm. “We’ll figure something out, Rheu,” he said softly. “I promise.”
____________

Small disclaimer- I am not trying to meta-game here. Pitch doesn't know that the Sha really are part of the Old Gods, but he needed a comparison and, since a good deal of the last 2 expansions involved the Old Gods and their effects, that was simply the first thing that came to mind. So, carry on. XD