Petoholics Anonymous

In Memory: Vinny

// January 29th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Random Stuff
Tags: friends, guild

On Sunday night, I got a whisper from Myst giving me some awful, awful news. Our long-time guild mate, Vinny (aka Solarion aka Ebonwind) had passed away just a couple hours before. Everyone was in a complete shock. He was so young and vibrant that we had never suspected a thing. We had just raided with him the night before, and someone had even talked to him that afternoon. It was just so sudden.

Here it is a few days later and I still don’t think I’ve come to terms with it. A part of me is still expecting him to log on and yell “Surprise!” in guild chat. He was almost always  in vent, even if he wasn’t on WoW. It’s so very quiet without him.

There are so many things I remember about him. How he would sing that corn nuts song over vent or yell “Kungaloooooosh!” at random. One of my favorite stories about him was when he was wandering through Orgrimmar with his lowbie tauren warrior Ebonwind and suddenly a level 80 Alliance death knight raced past him, trying to get away from the guards and the other players. He attacked…and landed the killing blow on the DK. For about a month, he would randomly assume his deep Ebonwind voice and say “Poomf! …Fucking death knight.” It always made me laugh.

What I remember the most clearly though was just how he was always there for everyone. He would run alts through dungeons, provide services to guildies without payment, make suggestions for events and such, and greeted and talked to everyone. Whenever he would notice that I was down, he would whisper me and let me know that I could talk and rant to him whenever he wanted. Even when he quit WoW for a while, he would still talk to me over Xfire, even trying to convince me to join him in City of Heroes. When he came back to the game, he said that the reason he did so was because he missed us.

His funeral is today and being in another country and without a passport or the money, I can’t be there. But that doesn’t mean I can’t honor who he was. He was brash and crazy…but we all loved him for it. My characters are proudly going to wear the guild tabard he designed. And I am going to hope that Bloodriver and our new Alliance sister guild Obsidian Phoenix do him proud.

One day, Vinny, we’ll meet again on the other side. I promise to play City of Heroes with you then.

Lok’vadnod for Niqora Wildstride

// January 15th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Random Stuff
Tags: friends, Niqora, roleplaying

No, Pookii, I have not been kidnapped.

So…the truth is that the reason I have not been posting here for a while is because I’ve been spending just about every spare moment during the last two months with the most incredible man on the planet (and I know he will blush violently when he reads those words). You all know him as Kazimierz. I won’t go into lots of mushy details because I don’t want everyone reading this to die from a sweetness overload. >.>

However, I would like to share one of the things he gave to me for my birthday, a poem he wrote about my very favorite character, Niqora. He’s so wonderfully eloquent. I hope you all enjoy it (although I can’t imagine everyone squeeing over it like I did).

Harken, spirits, and heed my calling
That I may speak with sageful truth
Of the tranquil towering hunter
Of the mighty Wildstride

Born to warring plains and peoples
‘Twixt hateful hooves and twisting thorns
Dwelled her kind in cruel-edged battle
Dwelled the staid Shu’halo

In bitter strife did Wildstride strengthen
Sharp of wit and bright of soul
With her aim she warded elders
With the land she made her bond

Battered from the battles many
Bleeding stood the Shu’halo
Defiant through their doomed resistance
Defiant through their people’s night

Roamed Wildstride the barren badlands
Seeking shelter for her tribe
Ever stalking safer havens
Ever charting unknown lands

And as the Horde made hasty landfall
Wildstride wandered wide and long
To the woodland deep and looming
To the depths of Feralas

There, beneath the boughs of emerald
Found Wildstride a wolf of worth
Her hide of sable hue and luster
Her eyes of brilliant topaz gleam

Patient as the peaks above her
Stalked the woods did Wildstride
With skillful eyes she tracked the wolfling
With silent stillness she bode her time

And as the wolf loped lightly near her
Near the trap the tauren set
Readied her the rhyme of ancients
Readied her to sinter souls

Whispering her heart-wish swiftly
Before the snared and snarling wolf
Niqora formed her fastest friendship
Niqora to the beast was bound

Through slogging moor and icy mountain
Wandered Wildstride again
Always seeking, ever finding
Always Blacky by her side

Across the Plagueland’s fallow fields
And through the burning Blackrock mount
There was no shoreline shunned to travel
There was no stranger she’d not aid

With canny aim and cunning prowess
They ranged to regions strange and far
None may know their deeds for number
None could call their quests in vain

And as the Horde in heated battle
Sounded summons to the fray
Ready with her wolf she answered
Ready Wildstride marched to war

Amidst the spilling soldier’s lifeblood
Skirmished swiftly Wildstride
Gentle as she mapped and scouted
Gentle as she slew her foes

Never born to blood or thunder
Still Niqora knew their ways
Without fear she served her Chieftain
Without rage she earned her due

On her war-wolf swiftly riding
With her heart-bound at her side
Feared she made her name amongst them
Feared is Wildstride by our foes

And when honor’s hold was loosened
To savage southern dusts she strode
Seeking once more sights of wonder
Seeking secrets long unheard

In the bleached and bone-strewn desert
Stirred a strange forgotten foe
Driven by the voice of madness
Driven by the Old God’s gaze

Countless came the might of mortals
To face the fearsome threat again
Many stood and fought with fury
Many died to breach the gates

Yet Wildstride would not be among them
And though the thought was naught but desperate
Went she with the band of heroes
Went she to the Old God’s lair

None know aught of all they found there
Or of the wrathful ruin wrought
By the forty fearless mortals
By those who dared defy a god

Thought the toll was cruel and costly
Stood she with those who survived
Bow your heads and give her honor
Bow to Niqora, Old God’s Bane

Not content with quiet respite
Again she dared walk distant lands
Wandered with her wolf and weapons
Wandered to a broken world

Onward through the Outland wastelands
Wildstride wandered, Blacky near
‘Cross the crumbling crust of Hellfire
‘Cross the lakes of Zangarmarsh

Through Terokkar’s tainted woodlands
Across the nascent Netherstorm
Niqora ranged with green eyes watching
Niqora to the Mag’har came

On the gale-swept ground she battled
In service to our long-sought kin
Ogre’s blood she spilled in rivers
Ogre’s fear Nagrand now knows

With honor over those in waiting
Wildstride went to serve again
To the place we formed our folly
To the blackened Shadowmoon

Through the damned of Draenor’s darkness
Niqora watched and warred and won
Stood she at the black-built temple
Stood she at the Warden’s side

Amongst the needles born of nether
Those of shackled scales she found
Abandoned by black-hearted breeders
Abandoned once, but now no more

Disdaining doomed assault and slaughter
With beguiling guise she crept
Among the slavers, sly and slinking
Among their victims, breaking bonds

And with her cunning, canny luring
A sentry’s knell Niqora knew
Free was sable-scaled Saraku
Free again to aid his kind

Made them masquerade together
Foiling fel-orcs from within
Standing steady near the slavers
Standing, soon to pounce and strike

At last, the long deception dwindled
Before Betrayer’s blinded eyes
Away they fled on flows of nether
Away, in friendship forged of flame

And through her deeds so wide and wondrous
Her chieftain’s heart had with hers held
Together with her mighty Mysthowl
Together in bliss they would dwell

Yet peace was sparse and soon abated
As the Lich-King’s languor fled
Again with gun and gentle grimness
Again went Wildstride to the fray

To Northrend went Niqora freely
Not for only honor’s sake
Fought she for the fates of many
Fought the fallen, for their souls

At Angrathar she marched with honor
With the vanguard’s vengeful charge
Watched her Saurfang’s final challenge
Watched her Putress betray us all

And when the Warchief, ever watchful
With Sylvanus purged the halls
Niqora with the Kor’kron sallied
Niqora close beside them fought

Always seeking strange new visions
Through northern wilds Niqora strode
Finding friends to aid in battle
Finding sights of beauty deep

And when her clan with calm-set faces
Marched to slay the Lich-King’s pawn
With them Wildstride was stalking
With her, they felled dark Kel’thuzad

Bathed in honor bright and shining
She was granted duty great
Ambassador, of all our peoples
Ambassador to the Crusade’s call

Rose Wildstride through all aspiring
Skilled with lance and shield and bow
Until the Crusade called her sister
Until a Champion she was named

Now new terror haunts the northlands
Sibling spawn of dread C’thun
Dauntless, Wildstride advances
Dauntless delves to Ulduar

Hunts she now the ancient evil
Leading those who call her friend
Seeking through the Titan’s prison
Seeking dreadful Yogg-Saron

All who call her captain honor
Brave and valiant Wildstride
Always with her black-furred packmate
Always patient, always strong

Harken, spirits, and heed my calling
That I may swear with solemn vows
Of the truth of all I’ve spoken
Of the tale of Wildstride

Patch 3.3.0 cometh

// December 8th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Random Stuff
Tags: patch

Yes, I am very much still alive. I’m just been…rather preoccupied with other endeavors. I have still been playing WoW quite a lot, including raiding every Saturday and Sunday.

…Yes, I have become a casual raider. Let’s not delve too much into that statement at this time, shall we?

As I’m sure you all know, the new patch is out today and I’m very excited about all the changes that it’s bringing. I’m not even going to go into detail about all the hunter and pet changes, which are full of a whole bunch of win. Non-hunter things that I am also pumped about are:

• Heirloom items can be sent across faction
• New heroics for us to play with
• New totem designs for orc and troll shammies (Zulrea be lovin’ dah new look, mon)
• Fire Nova introduced and shorter cooldowns on Elemental totems (although Kazi is much happier about that )
• Meeting stones have greatly reduced requirements (That was so ANNOYING)
• We can go directly to Sapph in Naxx
• Whole bunch of interface upgrades (that will probably break my mods )
• New fishing tourney and a new use for all that damn pygmy suckerfish!
• Weekly raid quests
• And last but not least…head and shoulder enchants are now BoA! Thank god Niqo is exalted with all those factions already

I have a feeling that as soon as I get on tonight, there’s going to be people eager to check out the new heroics so I’ll see just what they’re like.

I’ve never been so eager to be done work for the day…

Healing lazers go pewpew

// November 6th, 2009 // 21 Comments » // Non-hunters
Tags: friends, Zulrea

Remember less than 2 weeks ago when I was complaining about how I can never seem to find a leveling partner that sticks with me? Well Kazi so kindly offered his warlock to level with my shammy Zulrea and in that small time frame, we’ve gone from level 33 to dinging 51 last night. I have to admit that I never thought Zulrea would get that high, at least that fast. I figured she was going to mull around the 30s for a long time, only coming out to heal the odd lowbie run through Scarlet Monastery and grabbing a level here and there. Anyways, while it is great to be leveling so quickly, the majority of the enjoyment comes from having Kazi there and how well our characters work together.

You see, I’m leveling Zulrea as elemental. From what I’ve gleaned from others, enhancement is the preferred leveling spec and probably for good reason…you can take more hits. I choose elemental because I figured this would be the closest I ever get to playing a caster and I wanted to try something other than melee after having leveled Saraku for so long. And I also knew the elemental would be a good off-healer when the situation needed it. We’ve actually discovered that this is a great combination to have with Kazi’s warlock Basi, who’s specced Affliction.

In general, our fights go something like this: We find a bunch of mobs, the more there are the better. Kazi starts dotting them up while I throw around a couple Earth Shocks and maybe some Lightning Bolts (usually on the target that’s being taunted by Kazi’s voidwalker because I’m pretty squishy despite all my mail gear). Once Kazi has them all gathered up, he uses his voidwalker bubble (the name of the spell eludes me) and starts using Hellfire. I can usually get off a Chain Lightning before his bubble wears off and he starts taking damage. Then I throw him a heal and by the time that’s done, his Hellfire has killed everything. He uses Life Tap to regain his mana and I heal him to full health again. That way he never runs out of health and mana, and the mana regen for an elemental shammy is so good that this all barely makes a dent in my mana pool (I’m fondly referred to as his mana battery ). Then off we run to our next set of victims. I believe our record for the amount of mobs we can take on at once is 12 or 13 16 or possibly more as Kazi pointed out. I can count on one hand the number of times we have died since we partnered up. Who would have thought that a shaman and a warlock would go so well together?

Hellfire + Healer is OP but I'm not gonna complain

It’s also very amusing to hear Kazi cackle manically over vent when he sucks the soul out of a particularly annoying mob. I laugh every time.

Saraku – Part 2: Fire

// November 2nd, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Non-hunters, Roleplay
Tags: Niqora, roleplaying, Saraku

“You have a choice, Saraku.”

That is what my tauren said to me the first day, when we stood on a windy ledge before another netherdrake disguised as a blood elf. I would not forget the way her eyes held my gaze as she spoke, because I would see that same glint in them every morning after. She did not speak those words again but then she did not need to. My choice was my own and only my own. At a moment’s whim, I could have flown away from Netherwing Ledge, away from Shadowmoon Valley, and I would have never had to return. She would not judge, she would not argue. My life was my own now, as she said it.

At first it was confusion that made me follow her back to the Ledge. The blood-elf-drake spoke of things that would only make sense much later, and all the while he looked down his nose at me with pity and frustration. My tauren, on the other hand, had been giving me the same gentle care that she gave her wolf Blacky and without my slaver, I was at a loss for what to do. She also cooked better food than I had ever tasted in my life. Merely thinking of her feltail delight made me drool.

I stared at her for a long moment when she said those words to me, not understanding what they meant. But I knew I was not allowed to ask any questions so I simply nodded my head. The blood-elf-drake then spoke some words to her and handed her a small metallic object. As soon as it brushed her fingertips, my tauren was gone and a slaver I had never seen before stood in her place. I shied away abruptly, fearing that another slaver had finally come to beat me for losing the first one. Then the slaver dropped the object as if it was burning him and just as suddenly my tauren was back. She dashed over to me and reached up to softly hold my head in her hands as she explained very patiently how it had simply been an illusion, nothing more. Once I had calmed down and understood what was happening, she scooped up the object to transform once again. She and the blood-elf-drake worked efficiently to secure already prepared packs to my back while Blacky weaved in and out under my legs. Before she heaved herself up on my back in a rather ungraceful manner, she bent over to give her wolf a tight hug who whined mournfully in response, to which my tauren whispered something softly in the beast’s ear. The Nether stirred itself forcefully the instant I snapped open my wings and threw us over the void.

The slavers were none the wiser of who my tauren really was, but seemed content with giving her menial tasks and then dismissing her with a crude grunt. Blacky joined us on the island sometime during the night, materializing out of the shadows with a wolfish grin that made my tauren laugh heartily.

“It is this gift she has,” she explained to me with a similar grin after she had finished hugging her pet and had noticed my startled expression.

The mundane tasks my tauren did each day appeared strange to me but soon she explained that her purpose–our purpose–was to sabotage the slavers from within. My part to play was not only to be her means of flying, but also her guide and sentry when her attention was otherwise on her mission.

At the time, I did not appreciate or understand her work as she did…it was our meals that were the highlights for me. She would make a small smokeless fire and the three of us would gather around it as she passed around whatever food that a certain netherdrake-disguised-as-a-goblin had smuggled to her that day. It was never the same thing twice but every meal was as tasty as the last. These were also the times when she would explain everything she did that day, why she did it, and then she would finish up with a tale of her own experiences before coming to the Netherwing Ledge. Slowly, under her careful encouragement, I began talking as well and asking questions.

One of the first questions I asked was if she was my new slaver.

Her stone green eyes widened at my words and she waved her hands at me frantically. “No no no, Saraku. I am not your new slaver, and never again shall you be a slave. You have your freedom now just as I or Blacky does. You need not listen to anyone’s orders anymore, not a slaver’s or even my own.”

“But you do the slavers’ tasks, you listen to their orders. Which is the orders that blood elf gave you. And Blacky listens to your orders,” I pointed out around a mouthful of grilled mudfish.

“It is my choice to follow those orders, because what I want to do is to help you and the other netherdrakes. If I did not want that, then I would not listen, and I would fight them tooth and nail if they tried to force me to do them. Blacky listens to me because she is my dearest friend and she wants to protect me as I protect her. If it was what she wanted, she could try to attack me and chew on my bones as her next meal, but she does not want that.” Smiling wryly at her wolf, my tauren added, “At least I hope that she does not want to do that.” Blacky huffed indignantly and cracked the large talbuk bone she had been chewing on as if to prove a point. My tauren laughed in response.

I scratched an itch under my chin with my right foreclaw. “So Blacky is your wolf, your pet, your friend, and you are her hunter, her friend as well. Then what am I to you?”

My tauren prodded the fire with a small thin stick, stirring up the ashes and sparks that floated up high into the night sky. “You are my guide, my drake, and if I may call you so, also my friend,” she said gently, eyes drifting from the flames to meet my gaze.

This concept of having a friend…I turned it over in my mind with a facination of someone who had just discovered a strangely brilliant gem hidden among dull grey stones. “So to me,” I mumbled slowly, “you are my friend, my rider, my…tauren.”

Her face broke out in a smile and she chuckled softly, her eyes lit with humor. “If that is what you wish me to be, Saraku. I would be honored to be all of those, especially your tauren.” She bowed to me awkwardly from her seated position and I could not help but return her infectiously good mood with a smile of my own, even though I was not quite sure what the joke was. It was then that she told me her first story of how she had met the blood-elf-drake and in joining the Netherwings in their cause, came to meet me. And it was also then that I realized, without even knowing what I had been doing, I had made the right choice and made my own dearest friend.