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Monday, December 23, 2013

Furtive Father Winter Gift!

Sitting in the mail this afternoon I found I had an email from Mataoka of Sugar and Blood. My Furtive Father Winter gift! In the email I found this awesome story. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did :) Thank you so very much Mataoka!

Codex
By Mataoka
Nothing came easy for her, nothing. Never did, never will, Vaunt reckoned. She stared at the giant Orc’s bushy, black-bearded face.

Deep in a protected grove of Silverpine Forest rested a small farm owned by a human family. The patriarch of the family gave her father Borbchek his first job, years ago. “Job” is too kind of a word, for he was an indentured servant, working off a debt, and they took him in not out of kindness or charity, but because they recognized cheap, crafty labor. Some say the family had ties to the Proudmoores, but the lady of the house started these rumors. Borbchek kept his mouth shut, and big, green pointy ears open.

The Second War Goblins were notorious financial mercenaries, and would sell their own grandmother if enough gold were involved. Many did. In the case of Borbchek, his father drowned in a crossing, and his mother’s unscrupulous morals and addiction to nogginfogger elixir trumped her motherly instincts, as feral as they were, and she packed off Borbchek to the highest bidder, never giving him a second thought.

From bits and pieces, odds and ends he found in the tool shed, Borbchek crafted a mechanical device designed to dig up rocks, clear debris and scrubby pines, pulverize each stone and boulder to get to the rich soil. His tinkering and engineering contributions to the family are what created their prosperity, and yet they did not reward him or allow him to share in the riches. So, he stole what he needed, or felt he deserved: they seemed none the wiser. A piece of silver cutlery here, or an ivory button there, made no difference. His mechanical cleverness, however, did not carry over to his rapacity skills, and one of the other house goblins tattled on his thievery. He had stolen more than a kiss from her, and she was disgusted in his lack of honor in claiming paternity rights to the green bun in her oven. So, pregnant with his bastard daughter, she told the mistress of the house about his thievery, and his loss would be replaced by the baby’s future labor. He hanged in Gallows’ Corner the next full moon.

The snitching maid raised her daughter, Vaunt, in the household without incident. Her mother wanted to name her something that sounded close to ‘vault,’ to remind herself that she was a secret treasure. Or perhaps her spelling wasn’t too accurate. In any case, Vaunt joined the human household and as soon as she could walk and carry a bucket, began her life of servitude.

Vaunt inherited little of her father’s mechanical skills, so she served the family in the dairy, milking cows and goats. She had a knack for delicious cheeses and butter, and an odd manner or talent with the livestock. Every chicken, barn cat or field mouse would do her bidding: she discovered this talent one pathetic winter morning: slicing snow and sleet caused the milk bucket to freeze up, so she commanded the poor cow to heat up her milk, and squirt faster. The cow obliged. Though she didn’t speak cow, chicken, or goat, somehow she knew their thoughts, and they hers.

The came the Third War: slaughtered by the Scourge, the family members arose, reborn from death, one by one to serve the Lady. Even in death they reigned supreme, chartered by the sensual Sylvanas. Vaunt looked at her own knobby, bowlegged posture, her overly large hands, calloused from milking and churning, and felt that deep acknowledgment that her destiny would never fit in with this beautiful, lost-souls of a clan. Her mother felt dissatisfied too, with serving the ghoulish lot who were ungrateful at best, and damn near elitist puffery at worst. So in the middle of the night, they packed up their things, helping themselves to the family silverware and guild gold, and headed for the sunnier, warmer side of the world: Orgrimmar.

Farming, dirt, and stink were no strangers to the canyon compound of Orgrimmar. It was quite a contrast from the moon-soaked grass and the hushed, haunted pines of the forest she left behind. Homesickness shook her to her core. Her mother had found employment as a hostess and barmaid in a local tavern, and barely noticed her daughter’s comings and goings. To get some different air than the burnt-oil grease fires on the walls of the city, Vaunt followed her nose to an underground, shadowy place, aptly named the Cleft of Shadow. It smelled refreshing to her big green nose: like burnt ink and toad’s kisses, more like home than any other place in Orgrimmar. She tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible while she slunk down the long, rough-hewn corridor. A master warlock trainer, Zevrost, smelled the cow dung and spoiled milk on her clothing, and grabbed her by the nape of her neck, holding her prone to get a good look at her. She pursed her lips in fear, afraid that her big mouth would get her into further trouble: this Orc meant business, growling, “What are you doing down here, little runt?”

Vaunt had had enough: the homesickness, the loss, the solitude, and the stink. She shouted back at the Orc’s angry face, “How the hell should I know! Your breath stinks, this place smells like pig’s ass on a hot day, and you can all go straight to hell and Draenor for all I give a rat’s nipple!”

No one had ever spoken to Zevrost in this way. Not even that barmaid…no, never mind, a story for another time. His Voidwalker, Zekkor, even seemed flummoxed. Zevrost looked in the girl goblin’s burning red eyes, with the ring of deep purple around the green-black pupils, and saw who she would become.

Years later, a powerful warlock in her own right, she found a book.

Or the book found her.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

2nd Place Prize

I won second place in Samaramon's transmog contest and got the cool prize of a black and white drawing of one of my toons. I did a lot of debate about who I wanted drawn but I've been thinking for some time that Awoi needed to be drawn. Seemed like a good idea. And you can't have a hunter without a hunter pet. I debated whether to have the sporebat, lightening wolf, cat, or turtle. After some thought I knew the only pet to pick would be my trusty turtle Soup. I asked to have Awoi shooting her bow because I'm just really happy to have it.

I think it's really awesome. Samaramon did ask if it was alright not to include the shoulders from the set because they covered Awoi's face. I didn't mind having Awoi be without her shoulders. I'm just in love with this. Awoi and Soup look pretty amazing. 


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Week of Raiding mishaps

Last week's raiding was a little off for Spoiled Milk. Thursday night we started late and our druid tank was having computer problems. It kept causing her to lag and even disconnect. We also had to bring in another person because on Thursdays one of our healers can't make the raids. So our shaman dps switched to healing and we picked up one of our friends to fill the extra dps spot. We managed to make it though the first two bosses but it was really rough. Our druid tank disconnected partway though the first boss but it was late enough that our death knight tank was able to solo tank the rest. The second fight went well and we made our way to the third boss. On that fight our druid tank again disconnected and we attempted to solo tank the fight and we were really close when the enrage timer was hit. Our druid tank decided that she couldn't keep holding us back and was tired of trying to work though her computer issues so called it a night. Our pug friend switched to tank and we found a rogue to come in. We made it though the third and fourth boss and called it a night.

Friday night didn't look much better. Our death knight tank wasn't able to make the raid but we already knew who we wanted to fill in the spot. Things went well but usually on Friday we're able to start on the shaman and this time we had two bosses to kill before we could get to them. We also didn't raid as late that night as we usually did. Things went well but we called it a night after Nazgrim.

I was looking forward to Saturday. The day started well and I had lunch with my family and my dad had me drive the skid steer out to the fields to load the last bales of corn onto the trailer. I love driving the skid steer. It doesn't have a steering wheel but two sticks that control movement and direction. Anyway, I started out pretty excited but by the time I had driven the skid steer out to the field and to the barn twice I was starting to feel pretty sick. Thankfully there was only two loads of bales because after that last trip I went back to the house and spent the rest of the day being really sick. It just hit me so quickly. One moment I was feeling awesome and then I was pretty miserable. I spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning being sick. By Sunday afternoon I was though the worst of it. Since then I've been fine. Anyway, I heard that the raid group was able to work though all the bosses and even killed Blackfuse. I'm excited for them although I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't feeling up to raiding that night.

I'm hoping this week will go better and we'll get the Paragons. It's pretty exciting to be so close to the end. I'm really looking forward to being able to kill Garrosh. Hopefully before Christmas!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Tabard of the Hand Transmog

I was pretty excited when I learnt about Sam's Transmog Contest I just knew I had to try my hand. I love the tabard of the hand. I have to get it for all my draenei but I've never thought to make a transmog for it.

This first look is for a paladin. The items can be found here.  I really wanted others to be able to tell at a glance that this was a draenei paladin and no other race or class would be able to wear this miss. I liked the legs because the yellow felt like the yellow in the tabard but darker. I then moved to the shoulders and I loved the flaming sigil because it reminded me once again of the design in the tabard. I went with the book belt because I thought it went well and as a paladin she would want to keep her book close by. For there I began filling in the other pieces. I noticed later that like the tabard the look starts with darker colors at the hoof and becomes lighter as it moves up. I decided for the shield to go with the blue and yellow crystal one because it brought just a little more blue into the ensemble since there was also some from the shoulders and legs. The sword just picks up more of the browns and yellows. I'm really happy with how this turned out. If I ever returned to being Alliance I'm going to have to track down all these pieces for my paladin.

The other look is for a shaman. I really wanted to make sure that when you saw this look you knew it was a shaman and not just any shaman but an enhancement shaman. The items I used can be found here. I loved the legs and how the colors looked with the tabard. The shoulders piced up the dark color while also picking up the bright yellow. I tried to pick pieces that were dark with just a little pop of the yellow. I like this look but the more I look at the chest I wish it had sleeves that went all the way to the gloves. I'm also feeling iffy about the boots. I think people will either like this look or wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Slow but Lucky Raid Week

Spoiled Milk didn't raid on Thursday because it was the day US citizens celebrate Thanksgiving.

Friday night got off to a late start. But once we got started we began moving though the bosses quickly. I accidently pulled the first boss but the tanks picked up the boss and things just fell into place. The second boss once again did not give me a ranged weapon and I figured it would be another week of scarce pickings for me. But I was surprised when the third boss dropped a ring and I won it. Then the fourth dropped the trinket that I've been dying to get. Finally on Galakras I finally, finally got a ranged weapon! I might have squealed like a little girl. I was just really excited. I could finally retire the lfr weapon and use a normal one. My weapon ilvl went up about 30 points. Even before upgrading it, the weapon was a huge upgrade for me. I really expected someone to be a troll and roll against me. We finished the night after killing Iron Juggernaut.

Awoi and her awesome weapon
Saturday started slow as well because one of our tanks couldn't make it because he was moving and was still having issues with his internet. We knew who we wanted to bring in but he wasn't on when it was time to raid. We began thinking about replacements and who could switch to tank to try and get the raid going. We had just made a plan when our tank friend logged on. So we quickly brought him into our group and began killing bosses. It wasn't as smooth of a run as Fridays but we still one shot all the bosses from Dark Shaman to Thok. Everyone was really impressed with how much my dps has improved. I used to be the worst of the dps but now I was battling with our top dps. I even won a few fights. It was pretty exciting for me. One of our warlocks mentioned that we were breaking all our kill records and we thought that Thok was a bit easier this week then last week. We even put in a few attempts on Blackfuse. Our best attempt was 12%. I had to learn to do the conveyer belt. I gave up with trying to jump into the pipe at the end or to jump off the platform. I just couldn't make it and I was tired of wasting our raid's rez. I mentioned that I was just going to stay up there until it was done and the other person on the conveyer belt said they were too. I do wonder about the loss of the dps from not getting on the ground but I just can't seem to make it.

We have confidence that we'll get Blackfuse next week. We also think we'll get Paragons since we've heard that it'll be an easy fight. It's pretty exciting because we're soon going to be working on Garrosh! We might even be able to work on some hard modes before the next expansion. But I think I'm getting ahead of myself.