Made It!

At long last I have made it to the highest rank, ironically right before there will be new ranks to achieve. I do hope that crossing the divide from here to there will not take so long as it did to get this far. I am a gentle soul within the sisterhood and if another should get there before me, then so be it. Odan stepped in front of me, but she needed to. I do believe her strides before me made my road easier. That and, of course, the brotherhood. I believe the two of us achieved the highest rank with Odan going first faster, than if I had gone first.

I am not so gentle otherwise. I must decide what direction I now wish to go. I am interested in going to battle again. I hadn't been much since Vyn's death, but that's going to change. I'd like to step into the arena, too. I have already made to follow in the footsteps of my sisters and visited the tournament grounds to begin my training. I am already a valient. Ironic, too, that I worked so hard to purchase a saber mount in Darnassus and I am forced to return to riding on an elekk to joust. Nothing wrong with the beasties, but I grow tired of bumping my head in tunnels.

I have had a bit of fun during Brewfest. Went after Coren Direbrew, the brute. Piece of cake. Then I talked a night elf into jumping off the Stormwind Harbor wall while we were both smashed up to our eyeballs. I even talked him into taking off his gear. I must say he was well built. Unfortunately, he was unable to follow my instructions to the letter and did not survive the fall. And, fortunately, I was able to bring him back to life and heal him.

Let's see... kill... and heal. My oh my, what fun there is to being a priest!

Noob Meals for Devilsaur? Ha!

Finally! I am shunning the vestments of mourning, though I didn't actually wear black for almost three months. I've been wearing this little red top that shows...well...nevermind. Anyway, Vyn is dead and I'm tired of grieving.

Fortunately for me, another pally agreed to accompany me into Un'goro Crater. The last man standing in Azeroth will be a prot pally. You know this, right?

So, here we go. Well, almost. First, I'm seeing this pally has on grey gear. What?! Wait! I refuse to go with him until he fixes that.

"But it has more armor."
I'm tapping my foot. "Don't care. Only a noob pally wears grey."

Once that matter is handled, I realize I can't remember any of my spells. I did remember to put on my real robe and forego the cute little red number. Fat lot of good it did me when I might as well be a draenei in rags back in the wreckage killing harmless moths. While I'm waiting on the now irritated pally shopping in the auction house for gear, I venture out into the Tanaris desert and kill a few things. Slow going, but I'm not dying. I do not feel much better when we ride past all the bugs to go into the crater. I'm green and the pally's been sitting back a few weeks himself. This could be more fun than I'm looking for.

We start killing a few things here and there.

"Um, could I have a pally buff?"
"Huh?"
"You know how I'm giving you a couple of buffs every so often?"
"Yeah."
"Could I have one of your awesome pally buffs...say 'Wisdom' perhaps?"
"Umm...sure. Let me find it."
Waiting...waiting...waiting. Obviously this guy is a solo man, because if he grouped more often, he'd be used to making peeps happy with frequent buffs.
"Found 'Kings'."
"Umm...sure. That'll do." I really wanted 'Wisdom', but okay. I'll take what I can get.

After killing a few gorillas, finding crates, digging around in dirt piles, and yanking petal butts out by their roots, we decide to get some dino scales for some smarmy goblin at Marshal's Refuge.
No problem, except the pally's not holding aggro too well. He's four levels higher than me. Hmmm...

"Ummm...you're not holding threat too well."
"Yeah, I see that."
"Do you have on 'Righteous Fury?" I see that he doesn't, but I'll pretend I don't know that.
"What?"
"'Righteous Fury'. It ups your threat level when you hit things." Waiting...waiting...waiting.
"Got it."
"Wonderful."

The pally, now in better gear thanks to me and using the proper grouping buffs, is whacking away on a crawling dino and I'm putting on DoTs and thinking about the next zone. I just happen to turn slightly to my right.

DEVILSAUR!

"Run! Run!"
"Wha--"

The pally is now Devilsaur toe-jam and the dino he was attacking is now after me since the pally is no longer generating any threat and my DoTs are eating away at it's hide. The pally gets in a few licks on the devilsaur before he gets feared and starts running around helplessly. So much for me running to safety.

Do I let him die? Do I run back? What about this dino eating chunks out of my rump?

Fine. Run back, DoT up ol' Devilsaur, who is doing a great job deviling the pally, who is about to die. Heal...heal...heal...on the pally, along with a bubble. Now he can heal himself, but damn if he isn't running like a loony man again.

And still, this dino is eating my rump!

DoT...DoT...wand...wand...wand... Die already, dammit! YES!

The devilsaur is about to make a meal of my poor pally friend, who is on his third fear run, his health going down faster than my mana pool is filling up.

Mana pot...DoT...DoT...heal...heal...heal...DoT...wand...wand...wand.

As if that's not bad enough, the pally runs amok into another dino. Great! Just great!

DoT...DoT...Dot on new dino. Heal...heal...heal on poor pally. DoT...DoT...Dot...wand...wand...wand on devilsaur. The pally gets in one of his own heals and lands a judgment on the devilsaur.

I'm starting to see the devilsaur in a truly weakened state. He starts wobbling...wobbling...YES! He's down in a gigantic lump of leathery hide. The second dino is just about on empty and one sword whack from the pally and he's down.

Well, I'll be damned. We did it.

I blow off my wand and sit in the grass to eat and drink.

So much for feeling like a noob.

At My Feet

As one of my last few tasks on Azuremyst Isle, I was sent in to investigate a cave at Stillpine Hold by the furbolg. They used to live in harmony with the wildkin, but no more. I could see the small trail leading off to the left as I entered the cave, but I took a moment to explore and try out my spells on the wildkin wandering about. I've included a picture for you. I ended up with three dead ones at my feet in that particular section.

More to the task at hand, I returned to the left-hand trail and wound my way around to a small underground pool. Across the water, a dark red crystal dripped into the water. This must be the source of the wildkin corruption! I needed to get closer though. I'd heard there was a monster here called a Kurken, but he wasn't around at the moment. I waded through the water and inspected the crystal. As I turned to leave, two wildkin came out of nowhere and smacked me around pretty good. Had I been more experienced I would have replenished all my mana before crossing the water, but I was more intent on getting the job done while the way seemed clear.

Lesson learned.

Stuck

*hunkered down and rubbing her hearthstone*

Master Bo, I send this message to let you know what has happened to me in case I do not survive.

Through odd circumstances, I find myself stuck on a pirate ship here in Tanaris. Vyn and I didn't really need to go on this ship to get what we needed, but I was hoping to find treasure and Vyn indulged my wishes as he usually does. We killed all the pirates on the ship, but found no treasure other than a locked captain's chest. I can't complain too much as there were a couple of other chests we had already looted. We were leaving the ship, and I had made it to the last set of stairs to go up on deck, when I noticed Vyn wasn't following me. He had stopped at the top of the stairs coming from below decks. As I ran back to see what the problem was, I must have become caught in some sort of magical warp that had obviously affected Vyn. Everything went black.

This phenonmenon has certainly happened before. I mean, in a world full of magical properties, time warps, and demon invasions, what more can we expect? Look at my own home of Draenor. It's in fragments now. I did escape from that disaster, but my current predicament is new to me. By the time Vyn and I recover, the ship will be full of pirates again. I don't know what will become of us.

I can only hope that magic will bring us back, should we meet up with our deaths. Sometimes even magic isn't enough.

*sighs*

Be well, Master Bo. I hope to see you again soon.

*blows a kiss through the connection*

Jenkins

Got the 'Jenkins' title last night. I won't be showing the title, but it's nice to have. Our group comprised of a priest, shaman, paladin, all at level 80, and a death knight and me, a druid, both at level 70. All were guild mates except the priest. The paladin ran over the rookery eggs to pop them and when there were enough hovering over their broken shells, he ran through them again to get them to attack and follow him back to all of us waiting by the door. I used my ground target hurricane spell to hit multiple targets at once and the others did similar ground target or burst spells. The whelps went down like stones from the assault of so much energy and power. We were careful not to heal the paladin or use any damaging buffs or shields during the opening/gathering process. The first damage needed to occur as one unit from all of us after the babies were gathered up.

The only trouble I had was getting lost going in. I get very turned around in these dark places and the paladin had to come back and get me. I would have kept up better going over the chains and through doorways and halls except my view across the chains shifted and I exercised more caution to keep from falling. Embarrassing as usual, but he escorted me from there with the grace and kindness he always exhibits toward me.

Northrend, Here We Come

Jade (formerly Nine) and I ventured on to Northrend via a massive ship from Menethil Harbor (Baradin Bay) to Valgarde in the Howling Fjord. I could hardly take in all the new sites.

We were sent out immediately to fight these huge Vrykul dragonflayer men, much taller than either of us, but we managed to do it without too much trouble. The new beautiful staff (Staff of Beasts) that I had received only days ago from the ring of blood in Nagrand is already replaced by an ugly staff (Bramblethorn Greatstaff). Vanity has no place in Northrend. We also ventured into the Utgarde Catacombs to fight in the 'Ring of Judgement' and find broken tablets.

At one point, we were sent by a flying flotation plane to a remote camp to work with a dwarf named Walt and a human named Hidalgo, the Master Falconer. Hidalgo had us train falcons, which turned out to be rather frustrating for me. At one point we had to use the falcon to capture Fjord Hawks. I could not get the ones flying above us, but some landed on the rocks, so I waited for those. They came in pairs, so I captured one each time and ended up killing the other one that attacked me. The last falcon training task sent us to the high bluff at a falcon roosting spot. We had to stand right up against a roosting rock and send our birds down to the cliff face and salvage hawk eggs. Easy enough except for one thing: I became the eyes of my falcon and guided him to the eggs via a channeled ability. My falcon was growing tired when he had gotten seven eggs on his first descent. A mother hawk attacked him and just as I directed him to use defensive flying techniques, our channeled connection ran out. My evasive maneuvers ended up affecting me instead of the falcon and I ran right off the top of the cliff. I fell, much to Jade's horror, but landed on one of the ledges far below. After fending off two mother hawks, I had no choice but to hearthstone out of there. Jumping on down was not an option and I could not climb out.

By the time Jade and I called it a night, exhaustion had claimed me. I did manage to get a picture of us as we rode across a bridge with an outstanding view.

The Making of a Rogue, Part I

Early Summer

Ravendori heard a man shout behind her as she ran down the ship’s boarding plank in the dark and jumped the last few feet to the dock.

“Thief! Get him!”

She ran past one seaman carrying a large soft bundle on his shoulder. The second man had no burden and she ran right into him with a shove, knocking him on his backside with the impact. He fell with a grunt, too stunned to make a grab for her.

“Stop him!”

Ravendori looked up just in time to see a third shape looming up in front of her. His feet spread, the man held his arms wide to catch her. He stood shorter than her, a very bad sign. Had he been larger, he might not move too fast.

Darting left, Ravendori launched herself, diving off the side of the dock, taking no time to assess the distance to the black water below or if anything floated there. She hit the cold surface with a telling splash, the sack she held nearly wrenched from her fist. Plunging beneath, she turned upwards, attempting to halt the momentum downward. Once stable, she turned and swam underwater toward the open ocean with one hand in front. Though her elven eyes could see better than most, she kept them closed. Nothing could be seen down here.

An unnatural wave of water pushed her sideways, the force of it washing around her and she opened her eyes on instinct. Her sight met blackness within more black.

Shark?

Ravendori pushed the notion of being eaten aside, hoping the sharks found scraps thrown off the ships more enticing than her. Already committed, she could only swim the same as they did.

Shouts above were too muted to hear the words, but she could hear feet hitting the boards as they ran to the side of the dock, the vibrations transferred from the wood to the water. Reaching left, her hand met up with the barnacled side of a piling, the sharp edges cutting into her fingers and palm. She moved around the right side and swam forward before coming up beneath the dock inch by inch. As soon as her nose cleared she breathed in, resisting the urge to gasp in air through her mouth. Water ebb and swell forced her toward the piling, but she pushed away with her booted foot.

“Where is he? Do you see him?”

Ravendori recognized the captain’s deep guttural voice. She’d been listening to his booming commands for three days.

“I can’t see nothin’ in the dark, capt’n.”

“Find him,” he growled. “He stole our gold. We’ll all be out our share.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but clamped it shut. She did no such thing! The wicked man meant to use her as a scapegoat for his thievery. How very clever.

“But Mr. Forstair—”

“He’ll have to get over it,” the captain said, cutting off his crewman. “Damn little beggars. I told him already I wouldn’t pay out of my own pockets for thieves or pirates. He’ll take his loss, same as the rest of us.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ho there! What’s the problem?”

Ravendori looked upwards, though she could see nothing through the dark wide boards.

“Stowaway,” said the captain.

“He took our gold,” the crewman stated. “Jumped right in the water here.”

“A stowaway, you say?”

“Aye,” the captain replied, “though I doubt we’ll catch him at night.”

“Where’re you coming from?” the man asked. From the sounds of clinking metal, she imagined him to be a Stormwind City guard on dock patrol.

“Auberdine on the Darkshore.”

“Hmm. Do you have a description? He’ll have to come ashore quick or be eaten.”

With her hand stinging and no doubt bleeding, Ravendori knew the truth of his words.

“I didn’t see enough. Dark clothing, a night elf by the ears I saw, probably a young one, too. Not so tall as a full grown male.”

Ravendori reached up to her head, feeling the wet strands of her hair. No cap after that dive. She bit her lip. Her white hair would shine like a beacon, even at night, if she swam out from under the boards.

“I’ll station men along the entire wharf for a few hours. We’ll see how he fares with that.”

“Good, good,” the captain said.

Not good for her. No way could she explain the truth of it, and even if she could, they would not believe her over the captain’s word. Either way, they would make her pay for ship fare, which she could not do.

The guard whistled. “Bring some lanterns over here!”

Ravendori couldn’t sink any lower and keep her head above the waterline. Time to move. Shimmying out of her shirtsleeves, she pulled her shirt up until only her face protruded from the neck hole. With slow sweeping movements she swam beneath the men toward the shore, pushing off from pilings with her foot when the water threatened to slam her into one. Once all the guards knew to look for her, she’d have a harder time getting across the harbor into the city. At least they assumed she was a boy. All she had to do now was dry out and be girlish.

Easy enough.

Near shore, the pier system grew thicker and she worked her way around toward the right. The last piling supported by cross bracers stood a few feet from a small grassy area. She slogged through the water and pulled herself up on a bracer until she could sit hunched down. A few people crossed overhead here and there, but she heard no guards at all.

Despite the warmth of the air, Ravendori shivered as the breeze blew through the pilings. The wind ruffled the fringes of her hair and shirt, much like it disturbed the feathers of the pigeons cooing a few feet away. The birds were safe from predators underneath the decking and so was she. At least she hoped so.

This wasn’t the first time she had cuddled up with pigeons and rats, nor would it be the last. Without any coin, she couldn’t pay for a room and looking the way she did, all the gold in the world might not be enough to let her stay in a decent establishment.

Ravendori struggled to open the wet leather pack without dropping it in the ocean. She pulled out a water soaked cloth wrapped around a lump. Accuse her of stealing food and she’d confess. Gold? No. Though, if she had the opportunity, she would take it. Just a little.

As the cloth came off, soggy bread fell on her lap and she pushed it off into the water. The chunk of hard cheese, though mushy on the outside, fared a bit better. She scraped it off and sniffed it. Seemed okay. She nibbled a corner and after swallowing, bit off a larger piece.

Nothing seemed familiar here, though she’d been told by the matrons that her mother had lived in Stormwind City. She remembered this place no better than she remembered her mother. Just as well. Everything she knew…

Ravendori looked out from under the dock skirt toward the inky sea, the distant horizon indistinguishable in all the blue-black of night. The past was the past.

Tomorrow would be better.