World of Warcraft 1
Name: World of Warcraft
Player: Joemama
Argent Dawn Server -- Human Mage
In the northern reaches of Lordaeron, there is an area known as the Arathi Highlands, filled with beasties galore. This is also a contested land, meaning that contact with the Horde is all but guaranteed. Venturing in these lands, I continuously heard the cacaphony of battle just over the hills to my west. Before long, word reached me that we were laying siege to the Horde town of Hammerfall, and all able bodies were requested. I continued on my merry way for a while, pursuing my current task of slaughtering masses and masses of Drywhisker Kobolds. After some time, my path brought me within close proximity of the afore-mentioned Hammerfall, so I decided to take a peek at the current ebbs and floes of the battle. Venturing within sighting distance of the town, I see not a single Alliance standing against the Horde. I meander a bit closer to the town's entrance, and am quickly surrounded by Horde. As I have not attacked any, they have no cause to strike me, yet they all taunt and ridicule me while I'm standing there, surveying the lay of the land. I am challenged by an obviously much more powerful combatant, which I quickly (and prudently) rebuff. One fighter was taunting me the most, a foe of relatively equal skill. While attempting to challenge him to a duel, I mistakenly struck him with my staff. Now the entirety of this small Horde army quickly strikes me down as I attempt in vain to flee.
Returning to my corpse from the graveyard, the scene is now joined by several very powerful Alliance Hunters, Warriors and the like. I resurrect in a relatively safe location, quickly heal and recover mana, and now join the ongoing fight. I take out two or three Horde fighters prior to being brought down by a concerted effort between two of my enemies. Returning to the scene in ghost form this time, my Alliance brethren are nowhere to be seen. I find a nice big rock to hide behind as I resurrect and recover, and then beat a hasty retreat into the hills of Drywhisker Gorge.
Resuming my earlier task (that of mass slaughter), I finally reach a cave that is my ultimate destination. Filled with Kobolds both melee and caster alike, this is no simple den. While on their own, they are neither match nor challenge, they tend to patrol in relatively close proximity, and there are scores of them, with more joining seemingly instantaneously as I thin their ranks. My task is to gather certain materials off their bodies and bring them to a large, floating Shard in the depths of their tunnels. At one point, I am overwhelmed by their numbers and fall for the third time this day. By the time I arrive at my corpse, the Kobold's numbers have swelled, and there is very little safe quarter. Yet I manage to find a corner out of prying eyes in which I can recover for a bit. Before I am fully rested, however, I am spotted by one of their Surveyors, who begins pummeling me with Frost Bolts. While working diligently to bring him down, one of his buddies spots the fray and joins in. At this point, I sense the futility of my situation, and make haste to remove myself from the vicinity. Yet my egress is now clogged with seemingly hundreds of Kobolds, all of which join in the chase - a chase that ends rather abruptly in, what is it now, my fourth death of the evening.
Rinse and repeat: run back to my body; find a sliver of refuge in which to resurrect; recover and attempt to take out another one or two of these bastards. On the body of one of the Surveyors, I find what I immediately sense is a very nice item - a [Stone Hammer of the Eagle]. I quickly secure this in my pack and continue my journey. Again, the tides turn against me, and I flee the caverns. This time, I reach the exit, yet there are more Kobolds patrolling outside. I throw on my Mana Shield to absorb their hits, Frost Nova to freeze some of them in place, and Blink forward to gain some distance. Yet something goes horribly, horribly awry - I now see the ground receding rapidly above me! I have somehow warped deep into the earth, yet am on a freefall towards the molten core (not to be confused with the Molten Core). This is bad. Soon my Mana Shield dissipates and I am quickly crushed by the rock and earth. Death number five, but this one feels somehow more final, more death-like.
I return to the location of my body from the graveyard yet again - this is actually quite a trek, as the nearest cemetery is miles from Drywhisker Gorge. This time, however, my corpse is buried so far within the earth that I simply cannot get near enough to resurrect. So now I have to reverse the trek, running from my body back to the cemetery, and enlist the aid of a Spirit Healer in order to return to my more corporeal form. The Spirit Healer takes a hefty toll, however, as now I am sick from the resurrection and all my equipment has been damaged from being pulled through the ground, the earth, the rock and the ether.
At this point, I really need to rest, repair and restock, so I quickly portal to the closest inn. Repairing my equipment, damaged from the Spirit Healer ripping my body out of the ground, costs me a hefty sum of nearly 30 silvers. There wasn't much I could do about it, other than forever walking the earth as a ghost, in which case you'd never be hearing my tale (and wouldn't that be a shame?!).
"Hey vendor," I ask. "How much would you give me for this nifty hammer. It's none too useful to me, but perhaps you have a client in the mood for such a cudgel."
"Hmmm..." she responds. "That's quite a lucky find. I could do maybe a gold and change. Does that sound equitable?"
My pulse quickens as I realize the true value of this mace. I can't use the item itself, but I can certainly use the coin. However... "Let me think upon your offer. It seems fair, though I feel I may be able to do better in a larger city."
"Fair enough." she replies. "Return to me when you realize the futility of your greed."
It is now sitting in the Auction House in our stronghold of Iron Forge. My auctioneer is attempting to get me three times the vendor's offer, but I somewhat doubt in her abilities. Who knows, though, I may be pleasantly surprised when I next check my mail.
It is a long trek back to Drywhisker Gorge from Menethil Harbor. I make a quick stop in Dun Modr and kill some filthy Dark Iron Dwarves. These tough little buggers are always good for some coin, and the rather frequent Uncommon item. This time, they yield to me a [Dwarven Magestaff of Fiery Wrath], another worthy find that is going on the auction block.
After the senseless deaths of half a dozen or so dwarves, I proceed back to the location of my quest. This time, there is another friendly in the area, a 41-year-old Priest that turns out to be oh, so very helpful. Together, we clear the caves of any and all Kobolds and make our way to the Shard. Peering into its murky depths, we glean the next stage of our quest involves battling Elementals and retrieving keys from Binding Stones in order to free a trapped princess. Our weariness is overcome by our desire for conclusion, and after some brief discussion, we agree to proceed to the next stage. For this, we need to visit Circles of Binding scattered about the countryside, kill Elementals, retrieve the necessary keys and venture to the Circle of Inner Binding. With my companion, we make short work of each Binding Stone, leaving untold Elementals in our wake. However, yet another key is required, this one held by a foe well beyond our abilities. So someday I will need to return to these Binding Circles.
Gwynnara