A Vision Quest

"Theramore destroyed... Ashenvale attacked but holding... The Alliance leadership calling out for Horde blood and vice versa... We of the Cenarion Circle must stand together more so now than ever before. This is why I have gathered you, my closest druid friends, here for this most sacred rite. Will you partake with me in this ceremony calling on the Earthmother for guidance, here in this land most troubled by recent events?"

My eyes roamed over those gathered, taking in the calm fierceness of my tauren friend, the wild strength of my worgen friend, and the spiritual vigor of my troll friend. Each of them nodded in solemn affirmation.

I knelt on the red clay earth of the mesa we had chosen for the ritual. Touching my hands to the warm ground before the fire I looked up at my friends. "We are of all different races and all different beliefs, but we all strive for a common goal. This is not a rite of my people, but one of yours." I nodded significantly to the tauren. "Will you lead us?"

He tossed his tawny mane and grunted, the sound coming from low and deep in his chest, then nodded in agreement. He silently gestured for the rest of us to kneel in a circle around the fire. "I have already prepared the Water of the Seers," he rumbled as he began to poor the liquid into small clay cups, delivering them to each of us, then taking his place to close the circle. He began to chant slowly in Taur-ahe. When his chant was complete he poured the remaining sky blue liquid from the ceremonial pitcher into the fire. The fire burst up into bright white flames licking at the moon-filled sky. Then he nodded for us to drink. "Now be silent with your thoughts. Watch the fire or the sky. Feel the Earth. It will not be long before she speaks to us, although we may each experience it in different ways."

I turned my eyes to the earth and found there a group of ants toiling away at some project. They were carrying small pieces of grass and dirt, marching off in a straight line as if to war. I sat and watched this for a long while, my thoughts slowly changing, my mind and spirit opening to new ideas. Eventually my mind wended its way to the realization that we are just like the ants, with the Dragons and Ancients watching over us, and the Titans watching over them.  And what if there are bigger things watching over them, and bigger things watching over them, and so on... Where does it stop? What is the meaning of it? Why?

Feeling rather panicked and nearly overcome with the feeling of smallness and unimportance, I suddenly heard a deep, calming female voice telling me to be at peace. If you've ever spoken to the Stonemother, Therazane, this is what the voice sounded like, slow and deep and very peaceful, but also very powerful. I can't remember the exact words that She spoke to me, but I am very certain that I did indeed hear from the Earthmother that night. She told me that all would be well, that there is meaning to the world and the things we do, though She could not tell me more than this. She told me that the choices I have made are right and that as long as I follow my heart and soul my choices will continue to be right, at least to Her.

This is all I remember. I woke at dawn, the fire still blazing, but I was the only one there. I stretched and took a drink of water from one of my travel pouches, then doused the fire with the rest. I shifted into Storm Crow form and flew off in search of my friends.

A lovely day for a waltz through the minefield

The night elf is obviously not in good shape. Her hair is blackened on the ends and smoking, and she is covered in soot. She limps up to the goblin and throws a dented and soot smudged toolbox at his feet. "Here's your damn toolbox, Jeer! And if you happen to leave it in a minefield again, don't look at me to go get it!"

The goblin shrugs and mutters his thanks. 

"By the way," she frowns at him, "You really should have warned me not to fly in. It's going to be a while before I'm able to transform into my storm crow form again, thanks to you!" She rubs her sore arms, which are scraped and bruised, but no where near as bad as if they were her wings.

"Hey, doll, I didn't tell you to fly in. I said you should try to follow the path I took to get out!"

"Who sets up turrets to protect a minefield? What the heck is that minefield protecting anyway? There doesn't seem to be anything over there."

The goblin shrugs again, rummaging through his recovered tools to ensure they are all there, "You know, important stuff."

She sighs and half stomps, half limps away, disgusted.

Nuts!

I was just going to the Bough of Eternals bank in Darnassus to deposit some of my new and more valuable archaelogical finds, when I saw something rather unusual. There was this adorable squirrel trying in vain to get the attention of one of the bankers. He was chattering and scampering from foot to foot, trying to leap high enough to attract attention.

Now I have no idea what the fellow wanted, or how he expected to communicate with said banker, but I flagged the banker down nonetheless and went about my business. I suppose it's entirely possible that he had left his cache of nuts at the bank, after all it is in a tree. Or maybe he had come for help, having been polymorphed into a squirrel by a mad magician.

I may never know, as I couldn't bear to stick around, for I was struggling to control a fit of laughter. I quickly shapeshifted into my storm crow form and flew away, cackling to my hearts content.

It's Scandalous!

She wipes a bead of sweat from her brow, inadvertently smudging her face with dirt, and continues digging, muttering to herself, "There's just got to be something here!" She stands up and backs off, dusting the dirt from her britches and surveys the area once more. "Yep! Definitely something here," she says over her shoulder to her partner and goes back to the dig.

Her partner saunters up and looks over her shoulder, "Looks like it might be one of those famous 'Scandalous Silk Nightgowns' so often found here. Eldre'thar is well known for them."

She peers up at her partner, eyes wide, "You really think it might be one? Oh! I hope I can get it out without damaging it."

Her partner chuckles and wanders off to his own dig site.

Hours later, as the sun is setting over the mountains her partner makes his way back to her, startled to find her crying over a strewn mess of dirty and tattered cloth. "What happened?" he asks.

"Oh! It fell to shreds when I finally managed to release it. Now I'll never know what made the garment so scandalous!"

"Maybe that's why it is in shreds." He winks slyly at her.


Edit: I really wish this was a wearable item, even if still gray. Then again, I imagine our lovely ESRB rating might have to be changed if it was wearable. Lord only knows what the Night Elves would find scandalous!

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Rats and Turtles and Pinchy, Oh My!

StringTheory of Perish Twice has submitted this week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic as follows:
(See other bloggers take on this topic here)

Fishing is an odd sort of minigame in WoW and people I've talked to either love it or hate it. So what's your take on the most grindy of sports?
If you love it: Why? Where's your favorite spot to go drop a line and veg while waiting for a strike?
If not: Why not? What would make it more fun? Or is there a way to make fishing fun?
And lastly, for those of you with hard-won turtles and rats and lobsters 'o doom—show 'em off!  (Because I'm proud of my stupid rat and darned if I'm not going to sneak my own screenshot in.)

This has prompted the following vignette:

There's nothing like fishing. Pulling on my waders and relaxing in the great outdoors, listening to the water lap against the shore, waiting for the excitement of that first nibble.

I think part of the reason I enjoy fishing so much is because it gives me a chance to unwind from the battles of the day. This is the same reason I like picking herbs and archaeological digs.

The one thing I dislike most about fishing is the bait. I hate spearing poor wriggling worms onto the hook. That's why I was so excited to find a Bone Fishing Pole in a Bag of Shiny Things. It may be a little creepy using a rod made of bones, but it comes with an unlimited supply of phantom worms pre-hooked. The fish seem to like it just as well as real bait, maybe even better.

Another one of the other reasons I enjoy fishing so much is because I love to eat fish, all kinds of fish. I'd go so far as to say it is my favorite kind of food, from Bristlewhisker Catfish to Golden Fishsticks. I like it all.

Mmmm... On that note, I'm off fishing. I'm hungry!

Big Bear Butt's Writing Challenge

Big Bear Butt has given us a challenge as follows:

I have a little creative writing challenge for you… purely for fun.

My challenge is simple.

Write a short story. I don’t care how short, or what kind of story, or even what form your story takes. BUT… your story, poem, dirty limerick or whatever you choose to do must incorporate within it in some way the following words;

1. juicy
2. slender
3. vain
4. shaft
5. torch
6. star
7. hidden

Here is my offering:

It had been many years since she had visited this hidden grotto, her personal place to worship the goddess. She needed no torch to guide her in this dark place. Many years of visits had ingrained the details into her mind. Though now a druid in training, this former priestess had never forgotten her first calling. Now wearing her old but well preserved mooncloth robes, as though it was only yesterday that she had been expelled from the Temple.

It was after the Sundering, after the previous cataclysm, that she had been removed from the priesthood. Prior, priests of Elune had been able to cast arcane spells with the goddess' blessing. With the corruption of Lady Azshara and all that came with her lust for arcane power, use of these spells became taboo, and eventually were forbidden to the priests.

This priestess' favorite spell had been the one known as Star Shards, dropping bits of starlight down from the heavens to harm her enemies. She refused to stop using her arcane spells, and so she was stripped from the priesthood, but she never stopped worshipping Elune. Thankfully the druids were more tolerant and took her in.

She moves slowly and sensually, slender pale purple arms swaying rhythmically as she casts her spell, summoning a shaft of moonlight, the gift of Elune, purifying the area. The beauty of her movements and her dress, the pale blue of her robes accentuating the glow of her eyes, she knew would please the goddess, though she is not vain. She kneels and places her sacrifice on the altar, a bowl of juicy moonberries, and begins her prayer. She comes seeking guidance in her missionary work in the land once known as Draenor. Though the battle against the Legion in that world has been won, still it's corruption washes over the land.

The goddess is pleased by her offering and grants her strength in her mission to quell such corruption, her skin briefly glowing with blue-white light as Elune's blessing washes over her. She bows her head in silent thanks.

I'm going to Outlands!

I just ran away from home

I'm going to Out-lands

I just picked some herbs again

I'm going to Out-lands

I just robbed a goblin vendor

I'm going to Out-lands

And I just flipped off Varian Wrynn

I'm going to Out-lands!

It was terrifying, but awesome!

Edit: Apparently there is a large group of people who are not familiar with the dada song parodied in this post. Please let me know if you remember the song, or if for some reason it was only popular in the Midwest in the early 90s.

In which the moonkin hatchling "helps"

"Oh no!" the druid shouts as two wolves circle round to attack her while she busily tries to contend with her current enemy, one very large and angry kodo. Feathered arms wave quickly casting thorns and barkskin on herself, she glares down at the tiny moonkin hatchling at her feet, her mini-me if you will.

"You know, you could be helping!" she grumbles, as she goes on to pin one of the wolves with an entangling roots spell.

The kodo goes down with a mammoth groan, and the druid finishes off the wolves with a couple more casts of nature's wrath.

She shifts back into her normal elven form and after checking herself over for serious wounds and wiping the sweat from her brow, she glances again to the moonkin, only to find it has cast the one spell it knows in an effort to help, a tiny yellow flower coming up from the ground at it's feet. She can't help but chuckle and pat the little creature on the head, as it looks up at her for approval with huge moonkin eyes.