Old Things, New Again

This is my second trip through Outlands, but this time its from the Horde prospective; and came with new friends, and renewed adventuring interest.

However, the heat and supernatural glare of Hellfire Peninsula requires a poor Orc to sometimes wear special attire......like ruby sunglasses. I never looked better! (click to enlarge)


Speaking of looking good, I picked up that spiffy new gun during my adventures. This well oiled steel beauty is not only a trusty weapon, but its intimidating looks scares off Gnomes at Broken Hill. When casting a simple gaze at it, lesser classes are forced to ask "hey, did you steal that off a dead Fel Reaver or something"?

And fresh to my stables is Terok the Terrible. This exotic pet once terrified travelers of the Ungoro Crater (aka Land of the Lost), sneaking up on the innocent and stomping them into a mud hole. I saved him from this repetitious, yet rewarding, life.... allowing him the privelage of fighting along side our main tanks and dutifully saving our healers from certain deaths. He and Mugato seem to be getting along fine. (click to enlarge)

My adventures began with a visit to Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace, with old friends Asterien and Fluoxx. We were also joined by new friends Paladills and Thelindael. See performance report of that 01/02/09 Blood Furnace mission here. My loot included the earlier mentioned gun.

The next trip was into Zangarmarsh, a swamp filled with fungal giants and giant mushrooms. After the long swim into the depths of the Coilfang Resevoir, we arrived at the entrance to the dungeons of Slave Pens and the Underbog. View the 01/09/09 performance of Slave Pens here, and Underbog here.

A few days later, we joined our old friend Darkdoc, who applied his healing arts on our party as we all looked for loot in a return visit to Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace. Doc also brought along his new body guard, Zartin. Zartin the Deathknight performed his duties very well, as it seemed that he never left Doc's side; always staying within two feet of him. Below we are shown standing at the feet (are those feet?) of Broggok, one of our defeted foes. View the 01/10/09 performance report of Hellfire Ramparts here, and Blood Furnace here. (click to enlarge picture)


Then came another visit to Slave Pens. We were join by new friends Scynteck and Dauntless. View the 01/14/09 performance report of Slave Pens here.

Wrapping up the week, our travels into the Terrokar Forest ended as we arrived at Auchindoun, a former Draenei holy site. Within that site, the ethereal beings of the Consortium allowed us to pass into the Mana Tombs to hunt down Prince Shaffar.

There were some strange gadgets in that place. I'm not sure what this was, but I felt compelled to stand on it for some reason. (click to enlarge)


Joining us in this lastest mission was our old friend, Firfeldre. View the 01/15/09 performance report of Mana Tombs here.

All that traveling around can wear an Orc out. Its a good thing I had this speedy new mount to carry me around. I never had to wrangle this Zhevra steed, it just strangly showed up at my home one day.... ready for use. (click to enlarge)

At the end of the day, its great to kick back and maybe even have a little cook out. My new Survivalist Pike came in handy for that job. But as you can see, my weenie kept falling off into the fire....I hate it when that happens! (click to enlarge)

Merry Christmas

A group of us ventured into the watery depths of Sunken Temple a little while back, with some of us finishing up our class quests. Here we are playing with our pets after killing one of the dragons.


My wife got to do some adventuring lately too. Here is Nahrcissa taking a break in Duskwood after becoming an expert skeleton killer there. She was fascinated by that critter in the bushes and kept trying to coax it out to make friends. It was a little shy.


Tyberiuss moved on through the Dark Portal finally! Outlands await.....


But when I get there, I find all these great gifts lying around for me ..... some on the ground, others in my mailbox.


Oh, look at this one .... a mechanical squirrel. That's cute, but why is it looking at me like that? I really need to find the directions to this thing.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Moonglade

Wasn't Princess Theradras of Maraudon a real cutie pie?

~Princess Theradras Bio (from Wiki)
She is an elemental force of earth related to the Old Gods, a daughter of Therazane the Stonemother. Ages ago, Theradras and Zaetar, first son of Cenarius, began a relationship. The offspring of their time together became known to the people of Kalimdor as centaurs, who promptly slew their father for his part in their misbegotten creation. Fearful of Cenarius' wrath, the grief-stricken Theradras sequestered her dead lover's body in her secret sanctuary, the Crystal Caverns of Terramok, where she watches over him to this day. Travelers who come to Desolace have little trouble spotting Zaetar's tomb, for the blessing of nature that permeates his being transformed his resting place into a verdant paradise of flora and tranquil pools. Today, this tomb is now trodden by the hooves of Zaetar's children, who have claimed this great cavern as their sacred stronghold Maraudon. The subterranean tunnels are populated by the vicious, long-dead ghosts of the centaur Khans, as well as Theradras' own raging, elemental minions.

I managed to get to Moonglade last night to turn in the Seed of Life quest. My first attempt to drown myself so I could exploit the spirit rez didn't work so good. Just before drowning I must have tapped one of the move keys and it nudged me into the adjacent zone....I rezed in Darkshore instead. The next attempt went fine. Afterwards, I stopped in at Nighthaven to see what they had to sell. I couldn't leave without getting Mugato some peaches.

~History of Nighthaven (from Wiki)
This city once held the largest concentration of night elves anywhere on Kalimdor. Massive trees, ancients, and many forest beasts fill the surrounding woods. Nighthaven has survived for centuries despite demon and undead attacks, and the night elves protect their home fiercely. They are very cautious of whom they let enter the village. High elves are not allowed under any circumstances, and anyone smelling of arcane power is likewise turned away. Those allowed entry find Nighthaven hospitable, though a subdued and even eerie place. Night elves run the inns, taverns, and shops, and their way of life is rooted in nature. This spiritual heritage manifests in many small ways that foreigners may find unsettling - from how the buildings are constructed to mesh with the surrounding woods to a wildness that seems to lurk just beneath a quiet demeanor. While visitors may come and go as they please for the most part, they are never allowed near moon wells. In addition, any high elves seen near a moon well are attacked on sight.

Instead of hearthing out, I decided to explore some and then visit Felwood, a zone I had never been in. That plan involved traveling through the tunnel of angry Furbolgs to get out. Before leaving Moonglade I grabbed the Horde flight point very close to the tunnel entrance. Most of the way through the L53 Furbolgs went fine, with 2 and 3 pull encounters. However, things got real difficult towards the exit when Mugato had to tank 5 of them, and I had to chain-trap a 6th. We lived!....much to the surprise of two waiting Draenei, who were able to then waltz right down the tunnel without a scratch. They could have at least given Mugato a thank you banana.

Felwood is a little depressing, but after visiting Bloodvenom Post, I'm considering doing my L50s questing in that zone rather than Hinterlands. They also have three cooking recipes there that are good for progression of that skill. I'm interested in seeing what fish come out of the slimmy ponds in Felwood. Another motive for staying is that during some of my older AH research, I discovered that this zone can yield a vanity pet called a Disgusting Oozeling. Maybe I can bring one home for each of us.

Maraudon

Maraudon has GOT to be the longest instance in the game. We have still not gotten all the way through it, but have hauled in some good upgrades and had lots of fun. I'm still refining my guide for this place.

Tyberiuss replaced his helmet with the Bloomsprout Headpiece (kinda looks like a hippie headband), and his pants with the Infernal Trickster Leggings.

Over both sessions, attendees were:
Tyberiuss, Asterien, Nowand, Darkdoc, Vynaron, and Fluoxx.

Here is the stat report from the second mission to Maraudon.

~Bacchus Achievement
You may remember me writing that I’m not interested in any of the achievements; if I get one, great!.if I don’t, that’s ok too.

However, before the achievement system was added, there was one "goal" I had in the game that has continued to elude me!.. winning the Stranglethorn Fishing Tournament with my alliance hunter, Bacchus.

The event is held every Sunday at 2pm (server) and I have participated many times; and at best, I come in around 5 fish short of the winner (first to 40 wins).

Last Sunday, I hoped to take advantage of the WotLK launch and win the tournament while all he L70s were in Northrend. No such luck! There were still L70s there, apparently with the same idea as me. I lost by 5 fish again......dang it.

Zombies in my Bedroom

So, starting this post off in a personal direction, I have a funny story to tell you. When I sleep, I like to have the room totally dark.....and there is a good reason for this. Any kind of light shadows on the wall or ceiling will cause me problems when I occasionally stir, because in my groggy, dream-fading thoughts, my mind starts to play tricks on me and makes up strange reasons for what I'm seeing. This happens a lot to me, but on rare occasions I will act upon or speak out loud about what I'm perceiving....much to my wife's amusement. Also, stressful life events of the day have also caused me to partially awake and act-out remaining portions of dreams related to those stressful events. During morning breakfast I will get laugh-filled reports from my wife about these rare antics of mine.

Some of my more funny episodes include:
New Hotel Accounting Job - My wife and I awoke one Saturday morning, to see strange and expansive scribbling on my side of the bed sheet. After closely examining these marks, I discovered that some time during the night I had reached over to my nightstand, grabbed an INK PEN, and began writing room rates and accounts receivable info on the bed. I'm glad she was not too mad about that.

New Aircraft Mechanic Job - My wife was awakened when I asked her to pass me a 5/16" wrench. When she asked "what for?", I told her I was taking the engine starter off. She proceeded to play along by passing me imaginary tools as I asked for them....all while I made wrench turning motions in the air.

My newest episode can be blamed on WoW. I routinely stir and have dream-fading thoughts about WoW, but last night I spoke out about it......waking my wife in the process. Her morning report included accounts of me pointing to our bedroom ceiling fan, and referencing a zombie necropolis in the sky. I then began pointing to the light shadows on the wall, and started explaining to my wife that wherever the light beams come out of the necropolis, zombies will be there. She opted not to play along with this one, but knew exactly what I was talking about. I went back to sleep after the raid wiped them out.

Look at this. You can totally see how I could have gotten freaked out.

The zombie event was fun, but apparently I've gotten too large a dose of them.

~Zul'Farrak
This instance is one of my favorites. And fresh into my stables, Mugato made an appearance with me in his first instance. He was a little overzealous on the thunder stomps, but I finally got him calmed down. Make sure to give him a hug when you meet him. He is very anxious to meet the rest of the group, especially Nowand, since I had to explain to Mugato that there are actually boy and girl bloodelfs. He is not convinced, and still thinks all bloodelfs are girls.

The rest of our ZF crew consisted of Asterien, Darkdoc, Firfeldre, and Yrys. While almost everyone came away with the Carrot on a Stick as a quest reward, some folks also got some blues.

Firfeldre picked up Big Bad Pauldrons. Darkdoc got the Bad Mojo Mask.

I recorded the combat log that evening on a WoW Web Stat Report. Make sure to click on the toon name to get even more details. This is a great tool, and reviewing the content may help the attendees get a better idea of their performance at the micro level. Check it out soon, as the free version only maintains the report for around two weeks.

Report Snapshot

~Running of the Beef 4: The Resurrection
Some of our group did partake in this event. We all rezd on the Stormwind Cathedral steps, and proceeded to wreak havoc amongst the terrified inhabitants. Here is a pic of us all in the spirit world just before resurrecting. My toon created just for the event was named Fmundacheeze.

Halloween Thoughts

"You guys look so much alike. Are you brothers?" was a common question folks would ask when seeing us brothers running around in the summer.

Not knowing if that was good or bad to look like your brother, we would begrudingly respond with "Uh....yea, we're brothers." ---> /Smack little brother on back of head

Now we play WoW together, and get the same question. See picture of us.......yes, the resemblance is uncanny. Now stop bugn us about lookn alike!

~Don't Go In There
When growing up in the desert & mountain areas of California, my youth was not filled with X-box and PC games.....rather, the outdoors was my playground and the toys made from the cool stuff I found.

My brothers and I figured out ways to entertain ourselves by catching snakes, black widows, and scorpions (future WoW Hunters in the making). We built awesome forts out of anything we could find.....car hoods, tumble weeds, and sun-bleached bones were just some of our building blocks.

When not on foot through the rough stuff, we rode our bikes with abandon. We did crazy stunts, got skinned up, and got up to do it all again..... all without helmets! We would even wreck on purpose sometimes......into each other......in front of an on-coming car ..... just to freak them out. It was a different time then.

When I think back on those times during Halloween, I consider how different the culture is today by comparison.

When we went trick-or-treating then, it was till 1AM. And the last part of that evening was not spent asking for candy, but just being mischievous. It was like a night unlike any other. Our folks let us be......we came back alive, but maybe with more fake blood on us than when we left.

My most memorable Halloween involved an occurrence that was very unusual for me. It was at a mobile home, where the inhabitants invited us in for treats (you parents reading this are probably getting the willies right now). I was thinking that there must be really good candy inside, right......there wasn't. Instead, there was a long table set up with all kinds of delicious foods. These weren't the kinds of foods you stuff in a pillow case and leave with, no. It was deliciously messy foods like cake, ice-cream, donuts, yummy sandwiches, and hot cider. This was so different! We had to sit around the table to pickup and eat what we wanted, because we couldn't carry it. In the midst of this once-in-a-lifetime buffet, was a weathered old man, seated directly at the head of the table. Is this sending up a red flag to any of you readers?

Admittedly, this was a little weird to me then, but our group stayed anyway. As we ate, the man's eyes moved to each of us one by one, and he asked us about our costumes. "Who are you dressed up as", he would dryly ask. We responded between bites with, "a ghost" .... "a devil" .... "an angel" .... "a vampire", and around the table we each revealed the mystery of our costumes.

Continuing to eat what was on our stuffed plates, the old man told us stories of his youth and the spooky things he remembered doing on Halloween. I don't remember any of those stories now, but have always remembered how he brightened up and transformed into a seemingly more youthful person as he spoke. We left there with no more candy than when we arrived, but instead I took away the memory of that event.....it has always stuck with me.

It's 30 years later now, and if I could somehow visit that old man today, I would. I have always wanted to hear his stories again, listen to the details of his youth, and remember them this time.

Razorfen Downs and more

~Scarlet Monastery
The Cathedral section was the next stop in the monastery, and required carefull pulls. Use of Freeze Trap, Concussive Shot, and well-timed ranged shots helped keep the fights controlled to 3-4 mobs at a time. We did have a couple of wipes when pulls went bad, so we kept learning along the way. Here we are at the altar after killing the final boss, Commander Mograine.

~Razorfen Downs
This was a step back in difficulty level, but was extremely long for this level of dungeon. Is was great to have Vynaron along for his Shackle Undead, since the place was full of them. The crowd control of Sap (care of Zeil), Freeze Trap, and Shackle really helped when the pulls were five at a time. Here you see Tyberiuss and Porkchop standing on the massive pile of bones that served as Mordresh's throne......but our team de-throned him.

~Other News
My brother has begun playing WoW. He and I are linked under the Refer a Friend program, so expect to see us leveling together at 3x the experience points. His toon is a hunter named Wulfgahr, and I created a paladin named Retnox to hang with him. As we level up, I may dust off Ponfarr to adventure with him, and then later Tyberiuss will step in for the final stretch to L60 (when the 3x bonus stops). So put Retnox and Wulfgahr on your friends list, and pitch my bro a "hello" from the gang.

~Runetotem
Bacchus finally dropped the gold on a Swift Stormsaber. This cat is fast .... and its a real chick magnet too.

And after the guild found out one night that Bacchus was three bubbles from L70, they all teamed up to help me push through to the end. Here is Bacchus at the moment L70 glory. /cry .... I finally made it!

With L70 comes a few perks. One of which is the opportunity to get your own flying mount. Bacchus painfully plunked down the 6000 gold (ty Midgetfist) for the epic fast flying mount, but giggled the rest of the evening while trying out his new Swift Red Griffon. Yes Mom, I just HAD to get the red one!