Kaledain & Khaotic

Couldn't think of a title for this one. Oh well.

Oh, and I got Khaotic into her first battleground (Arathi Basin). It lasted all of about 5 minutes and we lost miserably. If I'm remembering correctly, they 5-capped us at the end. >.<

One mark down, 29 to go. Then 30 each from the other 2 battlegrounds. /dramatic sigh


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The relative quiet of the Western Plaguelands was broken by the sound of two people arguing.

"Come on, Kaled, if you really didn’t see that bear just because you were distracted by an herb,” Khaotic was saying, “what kind of hunter are you? If I wasn’t watching your back, where would you be?” “Home,” laughed Kaled. “And probably still camping in the woods because I’d be too anti-social to buy a house.” She laughed with him. “You’re probably right. Now aren’t you glad I found you?” she said. “Wait, who found who?” he countered. “I seem to remember I saw you first.”

Their banter continued until they reached the Bulwark, there on the edge of the Plaguelands, and turned in the samples they had gotten from the Scourge cauldron. Then they headed back out again. “What’s next on the list, love?” Kaled asked. Khaotic scanned the notes that the Forsaken priestess had given them. “Umm, the Writhing Haunt,” she said, then checked their map. “It’s further south, near Andorhal.”

They reached the field and began methodically thinning out the undead, so they could safely reach the huge cauldron spewing something out into the air. Once at the cauldron, they searched the Scourge bodies for the one that held the key to the cauldron's spigot, then gathered the sample they needed and headed back again. “On our next trip out,” Khaotic suggested, “let’s get the kitties. They need to stretch their legs.” Kaled nodded, and Kechara hooted from her perch on his shoulder, sounding like she agreed.

Once they had returned and gotten Ashke and Alti from the resident stable keeper, they realized how late it had gotten. They promised the Forsaken there that they would return the next day to finish up, then headed toward the Undercity.

As they rode back home, Khaotic said to Kaled, “I would almost like to know what they plan on doing with the cauldrons. Somehow I doubt they’re trying to cleanse them.” “Not likely,” Kaled agreed, “but I’m not sure if we’d want to know, love.” She conceded the point.

They trudged into the house together and immediately shed their armor. Kaled racked everything while Khaotic started looking for something quick for supper. “I’ll have to clean this before bed,” he told her while he examined a tear in the leather backing of his chain shirt. “It has Scourge blood all over it.” Khaotic shook her head. “I imagine it all does, love. Come eat, then we can both work on it.”

They spent an hour working on the armor after supper, then finally went up to bed. Kaled was standing beside the bed, pulling off his shirt, when he heard a low whistle. He glanced over to see Khaotic sitting on the bed, looking at him with a mischievous grin. He gave an answering grin and stepped over, bending down to kiss her tenderly. She grabbed his belt before he could move away and pulled him down next to her, determinedly unfastening the buckle. He reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand, making her pause and look at him; he was smiling broadly. “O fulo osa, su balah,” he said softly, and she grinned back, then leaned in and kissed him soundly. He returned it, with a good bit of heat, then moved to her neck and shoulder as he reached to help her with her own shirt. She moaned softly and leaned back on the bed, and he slid closer to her. That was when they both heard a deep, blood-chilling growl.

They both looked up to see Alti at the top of the stairs heading toward them, his eyes fixed on Kaled, an unfriendly glint in them. Kaled cursed softly and moved away from Khaotic, but she grabbed his arm. “Nuashdie, Alti!” she commanded, and the lion obeyed, coming to a halt. She proceeded to scold him soundly, with a few choice curses thrown in. Alti stood still, eyes closed and ears flattened, while he took it all. “Anord, Altiuiqo. Baar,” she finished firmly, and he looked at her, his eyes calmer now, then with a quiet rumble he turned and went back downstairs, where he lay down next to Ashke.

Kaled gave Khaotic a shaky grin. “Maybe we should put him outside when we’re going to do this,” he said, but she shook her head. “He’ll behave now, or else we’ll have a new rug,” she said firmly, then reached for his arm again and pulled him close. “Now, where were we?”

* * * * * *

Later, as Kaled cradled her spoonwise against his chest, she said quietly, “We’ll have to watch him for now. I don’t want one of my pets turning into a killer. I don’t care how protective he thinks he’s being.” Kaled kissed the back of her shoulder. “I think he’ll be alright, love. He listened to you right away, so he’s not turning mindless or anything. He just worries, like I do.” She turned her head to look at him, and sighed. Then she twisted around in his arms to face him and kissed him gently. “Naaru burn me if I’m going to let my cat keep my husband from touching me,” she said, then she slipped out of his grasp.

She started down to the main room, but stopped when Kaled said, “Ahem, love?” She looked back to see him holding out a robe. She gave him an impish grin, then continued down, ignoring the robe. Kaled sighed, then watched her as she went down and knelt next to Alti. She spoke to him quietly for several minutes, the cat watching her raptly. Kaled caught a few words now and then; she was just speaking nonsense to him, her equivalent of baby talk, but the big lion was paying attention to every word she said, not even moving except to twitch an ear or blink at her. Finally she stroked his head; he pressed against her hand with a throaty purr. Then she stood and made her way back to bed. Alti watched her go but stayed where he was, and shortly he laid his head down and closed his eyes.

Khaotic clambered back into bed, climbing over Kaled to get to her side, then snuggled back into his arms. “He’ll be fine,” she said sleepily, closing her eyes. She opened them again abruptly as Kaled began rubbing her back and shoulders with both hands, and looked over her shoulder at him in surprise. “What, again?” she asked, and he chuckled. “Hey, you’re the one running around without even a robe on,” he said quietly as he pressed closer. She managed one laugh before he silenced her with a very thorough kiss.

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Running through those quests got them both almost to level 57. I'm going to go back & finish up the cauldrons, then maybe take them to Eastern Plaguelands. That will definitely ding them.

I'm having thoughts of just getting them up to the next PVP level bracket & seeing if it's any better there. If they hit 60 before they get their mounts, I have no problems with them buying the epic hawkstriders. Although Khaotic will be pretending she is NOT on a big pink/purple/what-have-you bird...

The commands Khaotic uses are not what you would get from speaking Thalassian in-game. I used a translator for them. Apparently what comes up in-game is different from "real" Thalassian. O.o

Introductions: Arvoss and Shaurria

I promised an introduction to the newest members of my troupe, so here they are. Starting with a bit of their backstories, then finishing with what has happened so far in-game.
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Arvoss-

Arvoss was a paladin of the Silver Hand, living near the capital city of Lordaeron. He faithfully served his king and country for almost 30 years, until the day he and several others went with Prince Arthas to investigate rumors of a plague. They found the rumors were true, and worse. When they reached the city of Stratholme and Arthas announced his plans, Arvoss was shocked. But despite his misgivings, he followed his Prince inside.

The slaughter of the unsuspecting citizens would haunt Arvoss for the rest of his life. He continued to follow Arthas' orders, but began losing his focus as they moved through the city. The townspeople began to fight back against the paladins, and as Arvoss tried to hold off 3 at once, another slipped behind him with a kitchen knife. He never saw it coming.

In an even crueler twist of fate, his body was taken to Acherus and he was raised as a death knight. His memories of the following years are hazy at best, and he never speaks of them. The only good that came from them was his friendship of a gnome death knight named Frazle. Then came the day of the attack on Light's Hope.


After the battle at the Chapel, Arvoss and Frazle helped their new brothers of the Ebon Blade retake Acherus and fortify it as their new base. Then they were sent to Stormwind, papers in hand, to recieve (they hoped) a pardon from the King and acceptance into the Alliance. ((See the movie in my last post.)) They got it, and upon leaving the palace they ran into a curious druid, who had followed them through most of the city. She introduced herself as Windstar, and they became unlikely friends. With nothing better to do, Arvoss spent much of his time with Windstar, and also met her twin brother Tadrith, a hunter, the following week. He appreciated the Night elves' friendship, and began taking a sort of fatherly interest in them, spending time with them when they were in the city and keeping in touch when they left.

Frazle also stayed in Stormwind for a time, but then moved to Ironforge, to better pursue his interest in engineering and gadgets, so when the twins were out doing their own thing, Arvoss spent a lot of time alone. He also began slipping into a depression as his memories of when he was a paladin came back. He missed the Light badly, but naturally he couldn't do anything with it as a death knight. So he spent many nights drinking at the Pig & Whistle tavern.

Windstar found out about what he was doing and tried to talk to him a few times, but finally wound up sending her brother a letter. Tadrith found Arvoss at the Pig one night a few days later, and they had a long talk. Finally, Arvoss promised he would think on what Tad had said.

The next day he went to the Dwarven District and asked for a blacksmithing hammer. Over the next few days, he would go out to mine ore, then returned to Stormwind and pounded the metal into things. He also stopped drinking, except for special occasions, and didn't get drunk like he used to. With Frazle's encouragement, he took a trip to Ironforge and started looking at houses for sale.



Shaurria-

Shaurria knew she wanted to be a druid from the time she could understand things, and started her training as early as possible. She focused mostly on the healing aspect of druid magic, with her doting parents' blessings. She also made a fast friend of a rogue named Sydana, and they spent most of their time training together. While they were out one day, they ran into a hunter named Tadrith, who helped them out with a few things, then gave them some leather armor pieces he had made. He introduced them to his sister Windstar the next day, when they ran into the twins in Darnassus. Windstar took a special interest in Shaurria, answering the shy, younger druid's questions and giving some advice. The two became close very quickly.

Even though she wanted to become a healer, Shaurria still went through lessons on a druid's feral forms. When she learned how to shapeshift into a bear, she went running to her parents' home in Starbreeze Village to tell them. What she found was the village overrun with crazed furbolgs. She managed to sneak through the village without being caught to her home. There she found her parents, killed by the furbolgs. She went into shock at the discovery, and remembered nothing until she found herself wandering the southern edge of the Moonglade. Overcome by grief, she kept wandering aimlessly until she heard a deep, rumbling voice in her head. You don't have to be alone, it said. Come to me little one. She followed the voice to find an enormous cat, an animal spirit, waiting for her near the Barrows.

The cat spirit cared for her until she was over the worst of her grief, then began teaching her the feral path. She learned quickly, but her parents' deaths had shocked her, and she tried to avoid contact with others. The cat spirit urged her to go out, however, so she made her way back to Darkshore, feeling more comfortable among her own race. It was there that Windstar found her again.

Windstar convinced her to come with her to Westfall, accompanied by the twin sister of Shaur's old friend Sydana. Although Shaurria was terrified for most of the trip, especially when they got to Stormwind and she saw the crowds there, Windstar guided her carefully and didn't let her panic. Syeana, their companion for the trip, also helped some. When they finally arrived, Windstar and Syeana explained to Shaurria how the Defias organization was making things tough for the farmers there, and Shaur began feeling an urge to help. She wound up settling in nicely, and after a few days Windstar felt it was safe to leave her.

Shaurria did whatever the militia leaders asked of her, and finally the Defias were somewhat neutralized. Shaur was feeling much more confident about herself by now, and even surprised Windstar a time or two by visiting her in Stormwind. Around that time, Windstar began having thoughts about Shaur, and her other friend Arvoss...

Then Shaur was called back to Moonglade by the cat spirit, who had an important lesson for her; with his help she finally learned to shapeshift to a cat. With the lesson came sadness, though, because the spirit told her she shouldn't visit him often again. Now that she could take on his shape, she should stay with her own people more.

Shaurria was feeling a little bit lost and lonely when she returned to Westfall. Windstar found her there and asked her to come to Stormwind for a bit. Shaur agreed, doing her best to appear normal in front of her mentor. Windstar took her to the Pig & Whistle, which was crowded that night. Shaur kept to the shadows mostly, watching the other people. She finally felt confident to sneak out and steal a few scratchings from the friendlier folks, and was feeling pretty good when Windstar took her up to the second floor. There they found a pair of death knights at a corner table.

Windstar walked up to them. "Hello, Arvoss, Frazle," she said. "This is Shaurria." As the two death knights turned to look at her, Shaur found herself strangely drawn to the human. She purred politely to the gnome, then stepped closer to the one Windstar had called Arvoss. He grinned down at her. "Ah think Ah ken what ye be lookin' for," he said with a rather thick Lordaeron accent, and began scratching her around the ears.

That was possibly the best evening Shaurria had had since she could remember. As the number of people in the tavern dwindled, she became brave enough to mingle with those that stayed, and wherever she went, Arvoss and Windstar stayed close. For the first time since her parents died, she felt safe. Arvoss even went to the kitchen and came back with a heaping plate for her, which she bolted, then went back to begging ear rubs. She barely noticed when Windstar took Arvoss to a corner and they began speaking in low voices. She heard her name once or twice, and knew they were talking about her, but she was too distracted by the other people to care much.

Finally the tavern was mostly empty, and Shaurria was yawning every few minutes. She followed the others as they left the Pig and they stood at the door for a few minutes, saying their goodbyes. Shaurria wanted to say goodbye to Arvoss, but she didn't speak well while in her kitty form, so finally she did something that she usually never did; she shifted to her Night elf form. "Goodbye, Arvoss," she said shyly, while Windstar gawked at her. "It was nice meeting you." "S'a pleasure," Arvoss replied, surprised. Shaurria smiled at them all, then turned and headed off to her favorite sleeping spot in the Park, shifting back to a cat as she went.

Arvoss, Frazle, and Windstar talked for awhile longer, mostly about Shaurria. Finally they parted ways, each heading to their respective homes. Arvoss found himself thinking hard about the little druid as he rode his charger Shade back to the inn. Windstar had told him what she knew of Shaur's history; how she had disappeared for several weeks and had returned skittish and wary, how she lived either in the Park or out in the wild, and how she didn't seem to have anyone caring for her, outside of Star herself. He thought about it all the way to his room. By the time he lay down to sleep, he had reached a decision.

The next day he took a picnic lunch out to the Park where, just as Windstar had said, he found a young druid kitty playing in the sun. It was the first of many.

I'm not dead

Yes I know it's been awhile, but haven't had much of anything going on. I've been taking a semi-break from raiding, most stories I've come up with have fizzled before I finish them, and I just recently started trying out Runes of Magic (No I am NOT quitting WoW, it's mostly just for a change of pace).

So what exactly have I been doing? Working mostly, and I've been tired enough when I get home that I usually just plop in front of the computer and tinker til bed. I am debating making a pvp movie (will be my first!) involving Kaled and Khaotic, but I haven't even started recording stuff for it or anything, so it's still a work in progress.

I've spent alot of my playtime on the Feathermoon server. I've made 2 Alliance alts there and 1 Horde, just to see what goes on so I can try to decide where I'm going to transfer Kaled & Khaotic. My troll hunter is level 12, and I have a level 20 Nelf druid and a level 58 human death knight. Arvoss, the death knight, hasn't done much of anything but RP and skill up his professions since he left Acherus, though I'm going to start leveling him soon. Shaurria the druid is my "main" right now. I had almost forgotten how much fun a lowbie druid can be, and I'm getting a little excited for all my druids about the new cat/bear skins that are coming with the next patch. When the patch goes live, Shaurria will look something like this-

Now, they are on an RP server, so yes I've been roleplaying them. I've actually got a pretty nice storyline going with my sister and a friend, and will be doing introductions soon, probably in the next blog post.

My computer has been having issues again lately, so I may be taking a vacation from raiding or anything else serious until the new one is finished. If that's the case, I'll be leveling alts, and hey! more time for the blog! I hope, hehe.

Going to end this with another movie. I recorded Arvoss' walk through Stormwind, when he gets his pardon from King Varian Wrynn. The song in the background is "Micah", by Russian Circles, and I've been thinking of it as Arvoss' theme song, kinda. Enjoy!

Breaking news: 2 long hunts are finished

First bit of news is this.



The leveling grind is over! And yes, I know it says they are 56 instead of 55. I took them both into Sunken Temple with my sister's hunter Rajji a few days ago, and that leveled Kaled. >.>

Now I get to farm battlegrounds til they get their epic mounts. Oh joy.

Second bit of news is this: When I got up this morning for work, I discovered that my sister had been up literally all night. But! She had a surprise for me. She had just found and tamed Loque'nahak!! Don't have any screenshots yet, but I'll be sticking them up here when I do!

Edit: This is on her Ne hunter Kelesaria. Her troll Rajji tamed Gondria the very next day after Boogga got his.

I'm reallly happy for her, since this has been about a 6-month search. She's even had him stolen from her a time or two. But now, she finally has him! Yay!

Edit again: Screenshots of the pretty new spirit beast-

Khaotic: Zul'Farrak

I meant to post this a few days after their last story, but it took longer than I thought (darn cold). But better late than never, right? So yea, this is from a couple weeks ago
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Khaotic stood in her underclothes in front of the mirror they had hanging on the wall, examining herself critically. “It’s starting to show, isn’t it?” she asked Kaled. He looked over from where he lay on the bed, reading. “Yea, if you had waited another week or two, we wouldn’t have needed Harene to tell us,” he said. She grimaced. “I still can’t believe I didn’t figure it out myself. Ugh, I’m naïve.” “Don’t worry about it, love,” Kaled told her. “We know now, that’s all that matters.” “I suppose,” she said distractedly.

Kaled watched her for a few minutes longer. “Love,” he said finally. “You’re supposed to meet Rajji today, to go to Zul’Farrak and scout it out. You really ought to get dressed.” “True,” she sighed, and turned around to go get her clothes and armor. “Besides,” Kaled added with a mischievous grin; she paused to look at him. “If you stand there much longer, I may not be able to behave myself.” She laughed at him as she pulled on her shirt.

Kaled helped her buckle on the last of her armor, then she belted on her swords and grabbed her bow. Kaled stopped her long enough for a kiss, then she turned toward the door. “Be careful love,” he said seriously. She paused at the door and looked back. “I would rather you were with me,” she said softly, and he nodded. “So would I, but Rajji will take care of you. I have to go see about my business back in Orgrimmar. Good luck, love, and Light go with you.” She smiled back at him as she stepped out the door.

Khaotic met Rajji in Gadgetzan, and after saying hello to his pet warp stalker, they mounted up and rode to the gates of Zul’Farrak. "It doesn't bother you, to kill your own kin?" she asked the troll as they rode. "Nah," he replied. "These aren't my kin, see. They would kill me wit'out a thought, so why would I hesitate to return the favor, eh?" She had to concede his point.

They entered the city of the Sandfury trolls cautiously, keeping to the cover provided by the rocks and dunes. They were able to bypass the first few groups of trolls without being seen, but then they came to a long, narrow corridor. Up ahead Khaotic could see the movement of a patrol. Rajji turned to her with a wicked grin. “Ya ready to get bloody?” he asked, and she answered with a grin of her own.

They dispatched the patrol with ease, sniping them from a distance then dumping the bodies behind the wall. Rajji had to do the work, both because of Khaotic’s condition and his superior height. They pressed on, soon coming to the end of the corridor and looking out at a wide, open area, populated with several small groups of trolls. Stealthily, the two hunters started making their way across.

They had almost made it when a patrol came out of a doorway behind them. They still might have escaped notice, except this patrol had a basilisk with them, and the huge lizard scented them immediately. Their first warning was when Blinkin, Rajji’s warp stalker, spun around and hissed. Then Khaotic suddenly felt a blow to her back as the basilisk rammed her with its nose. As she fell, she saw a black blur fly by next to her, followed by a savage growl that stood the hairs on her neck on end. She caught herself on her hands and knees, then she looked up to see Rajji already turned around and pulling the hammer back on his gun, and ducked her head again as he fired. She then rolled to her feet and turned, nocking an arrow to her bow and firing at one of the Sandfury in one motion. The blur she had seen turned out to be Alti, who was furiously attacking the basilisk; the big beast was blinded by blood from Alti’s clawing, and the black lion had his teeth set in its short neck now. With a powerful jerk, he snapped the bas’ neck, then dropped the corpse. The rest of the patrol had been killed, luckily before they had shouted a warning, and the brief scuffle somehow hadn’t attracted attention.

Alti padded up to her, basilisk blood staining the fur of his muzzle, and she sank her fingers into his mane gratefully. Her other hand went to her stomach, almost unconsciously, as she thought of what could have happened when the basilisk attacked. She looked up at Rajji to find the troll studying her. His gaze went from her face to her hand resting on her belly, and his eyes widened slightly. “Ey, Khaotic, you shoulda told me when we started. I woulda taken more care, ya know? Are ya all right?” She nodded. “I’m fine. Just don’t mention this to Kaled, will you? I don’t want him to worry.” The troll eyed her, but reluctantly nodded.

They finished their mission without any further fuss, though Alti seemed glued to Khaotic’s side and was watching everywhere at once. After turning in their report back at Gadgetzan, they said their farewells, and Khaotic headed to the wyvern master outside. She turned to look back once, and found Rajji watching her. He simply nodded to her, then turned and went back into the town.

Khaotic returned home as night was falling to find Kaled still gone, so she reheated some leftover soup, grateful that her nausea seemed to be gone. After supper she cleaned up her dishes, then took her book and sat on the bed to read.

Kaled woke her sometime close to midnight with a gentle kiss. “Sorry, love,” he said softly. “It took longer than I thought, then the zeppelin needed repairs. How was your day?” She blinked up at him, then smiled. “Good. Everything went well. Alti was amazing; he killed a basilisk by himself.” He smiled back at her. “Good. Go on back to sleep, love.” She shook her head, then reached for him, saying softly, “I was just waiting for you to get home.”

Test Realm Patch Notes

Read them here.

Oddly enough, you know what has me the most excited? This:

Quests

• The ravasaur trainer Mor'vek has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.

Horde equivalent of the Alliance's Winterspring Frostsaber at last!! /dances

Also new non-combat pets!

Non-Combat Pets: 8 new pets have been added (not including Argent Tournament rewards). Raptor Hatchlings can be found on rare and elite raptors throughout the game world. In addition, an Obsidian Raptor Hatchling can be purchased from Breanni in Dalaran.

The change to Unholy Blight has made Barraccus unhappy enough to briefly consider changing specs. Only briefly, though.

I am very happy that they put a time limit on WSG. I wanted to get a black warstrider for Khaotic, but the thought of suffering thru 30 WSG matches made me twitch. But now, yay!

I am undecided about how I feel about the mount changes. Lowering the level requirements does make it easier to get around, but, well.... If they keep this up, you'll be able to get a mount as soon as you roll your character soon.

Rogues will be able to use axes. This has Zuuluu rubbing his hands with glee.

Shaman: This has the potential to be very cool, I think-

A customizable totem bar will now be available for shaman allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems.

No comment for the profession changes; they all look good.

I am a little excited about the new dungeons/raids at the Crusaders Coliseum and the new battleground, but am mostly having a "let's wait and see" viewpoint.

I think that's about it for now. Anyone have any comments of their own, feel free to post them here. Til next time, Happy Hunting!

Secret Project is finished!

So what is the Secret Project? I've been taking screenshots and small movie clips of various random things while questing thru Northrend with Barraccus, with the idea of making a little movie montage about his experiences. And here it is, all ready to go!

Music is a bit of a mix, in order it is- RED, Russian Circles and As I Lay Dying. Enjoy!



EDIT: Youtube link is here