The Druid, the RNG and the Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal

My Druid, Varkev, hit 80 on… Wednesday night, I think. Two respecs of his Resto tree and 3k gold down the tubes later, his resto gear was better than his feral gear and I decided to attempt healing a regular. That went well (despite my lack of trinket and several greens), then I found Je’Tze’s Bell on the Auction House for 750g, quickly nabbed the rest of the money I needed for that, aaand… Varkev had his trinket slots filled. I had enough emblems from my daily regulars during the leveling phase that I was able to afford an Idol of Flaring Growth, then a handful of heroics later, The Egg of Mortal Essence to replace that pesky green trinket.

I was shoved into Heroic ToC, flailing and cursing, only to find that I managed it pretty well and walked away with several delicious drops. Oh, and a feral helmet.

Though, I’m thinking I’ll drop the feral off-spec and go Resto/Boomkin.

Needless to say, I was pretty damned proud of my little druid once all was said and done. I logged off feeling damned good about the bugger.

Then I signed into my e-mail this morning to see a ‘password reset’ notice from Blizzard and I knew exactly what was going on.

To be honest, I figured I’d be hacked eventually. I didn’t get an authenticator ’cause I a) just didn’t care and b) didn’t’ want to spend the money. I’d also lose my brain if it wasn’t in my skull, so the chances of it going missing are pretty high. However, I do know what got me – the flash vulnerability from last week. If I had known about it last week, however, I would have updated ASAP.

So, totally my own fault.

The great part is that the hackers wouldn’t have been able to get much worth out of my accounts because, um, I didn’t really have much left over from enchanting and gemming Varkev’s new gear, ’cause I was lazy and hadn’t been working very hard to make more money. They stripped my 80s, but none of my alts that were below 80 and not my hunter.

Derp Derp.

Aw well, I think that’s Djehuty telling me to take a break.

Thanks to Khydann for the screenies of my characters popping in and out of /tbdf, and for reporting the accounts – also, for letting me know and confirming my suspicions. ♥

Big Selling Point? Lol, Riiiight.

Path of the Titans has been yoinked. Apparently it was Cataclysm’s “big selling point”, or something, which boggles my mind. Really? Really?

Forget about the complete transformation of the world we’ve known for five years, the political upheaval and the brand new zones and dungeons! Ha! Those of us that thought all of those were the selling point were wrong – it was totally this unwieldy customization feature all along. Silly us, looking at the content instead of this … what the fuck was it, again?

Seriously guys, whoever was billing Path of the Titans as the selling point of the expansion was shitting themselves – and everyone else. The game will be just fine without it.

There’s going to be juicy new lore, amazing scenery, a new leveling experience and other toys to play with. The classes are being overhauled. Everything as we currently know it is changing.

If that ain’t what sells Cataclysm, I dunno what will.

Oh Lawdy, Loot Debates

Last night there was a debate in the local OOC channel regarding loot in random dungeons, and I am mighty proud to admit that I started it (tongue planted firmly in cheek).

I decided to run a quick random on Dawngarde, my holy paladin, who has no back-up spec but, at her level, still has enough tools to DPS with few issues. I queued as DPS and as a Healer. Lo and behold, I was dropped into ST with a pair of druids, shaman and a hunter. Once the tank realized that one of the Troll bosses (necessary for access to the Prophet) had been forgotten, he dropped, quickly followed by the shaman.

The remaining Resto (or Balance? I don’t know, he was healing and doing very well at it) asked me to tank – but I don’t carry a shield. So he took over tanking while we waited for a proper tank and another DPS or healer.

To re-iterate: My level 49 Paladin on Thorium Brotherhood does not have a secondary spec. I have other more important things to put cash toward, and in the leveling game I am not the only one occasionally DPSing in a healing spec before Outland. Frankly, at that point, I don’t care what your spec is as long as you do your job and you aren’t stupid.

Once I dig up the screenshot of what happened next I’ll post it and name names (especially the druid, because he was awesome and I want more people to acknowledge his awesome), but anywho.

As we ran around destroying shit, another holy pally and a prot warrior zoned in. We finished off that last Troll, dropped down to the next level and ran to finish the Prophet’s room. The warrior was trigger-happy and I occasionally had to stop and toss a Holy Light (with delicious glyphed AoE healing action), but otherwise I happily exorcised/holy shocked/judged/consecrated along. The Prophet wound up getting pulled before all of the trash was finished, the other holy pally died to ghosts, so I healed through what little trash was left (protip: Run from ghosties) and the boss fight. With the boss down, a caster chest dropped, which I rolled on and the other holy pally did not. I rezzed her and we moved on to the next set of bosses.

Fast-forward to the Shade of Eranikus. We were both DPSing through him and tossing the occasional heal, and when he died he dropped a caster shield. I, the Prot warrior and the other holy pally rolled need – and I won.

The other holy pally proceeded to bitch me out and call me a cocksucker for winning her loot, twice, then dropped as the druid and I explained that I’m a healer, too, and in just as much need of those items as she was.

What would she have said if a caster shaman had won the roll, or if the Prot warrior (why she was rolling on a caster shield I’m not sure, but hey, whatever) had won it? I bet they’d be cocksuckers, too.

Nobody ‘owns’ the drops in a dungeon. Just because one is healing does not mean they get all the caster drops, nor does the tank get every piece of plate with stamina on it. Yes, it’s nice when people automatically pass on a piece that can be considered an upgrade for the healer or the tank, but this isn’t always going to happen. DPS need loot, too.

My philosophy is this: If losing a roll on a piece of equipment in WoW is worth nerdraging over for you, it’s time to step away from the computer and visit the outside world. I do not care if the item went to somebody that only heals with their guild or only does DPS once in a pink moon, or if a ninja took it for the vendor value – it’s not worth busting a vein over pixels and the attitudes of people you may never see again.

Chances are, that item will drop again. Chances are, you may see that drop or get something better with emblems.

I have lost a healing upgrade to one of the people that was arguing against those of us who occasionally roll for off-spec loot (and, guess what? I tend to ask first – I’m rarely told ‘no’). That same person has frequently rolled on off-spec loot (why the fuck would that person argue against the concept? I don’t know, head up arse syndrome I guess). I may have said “Aw, darn”, but not once did I ever go off on them for daring to take my loot.

Frankly, that attitude is far more disgusting than any attitude that I cop.

Whether we like it or not, the very nature of dual specs and random dungeons have made how we roll for loot a little different – and really, it’s more the dual spec thing than anything else. Many of us have two specs that we’re trying to gear in our daily dungeon runs, so naturally we’re going to roll on shit that will benefit us. That’s the idea.

How do I handle loot? If I’m running on a tank or healer that has a DPS spec, and a DPS item drops for my DPS spec, I wait to see if anyone rolls need. If someone does roll need, I tend to let it go – unless the group is full of jerks, then I don’t let it go. Hey, I’m not gonna be nice to dickheads, okay? The same goes for running on DPS that have tank or healer specs. If nobody rolls need, I state my intentions – “I’m rolling on this for my off-spec” – and I roll for it.

Last night, I was playing a character whose only spec was one that benefits from spellcaster stats. Should I have passed? No. I have just as much right to roll on those items – which are upgrades – as anybody else that can benefit from them.

And, as far as I’m concerned, so do you. As I say in randoms, “If it’s an upgrade and can benefit you, roll for it. I don’t care!” We should be happy when our fellow WoW players win something shiny and helpful.

The real dicks aren’t those who roll for upgrades against others, but instead are those who get pissed off about losing a roll. That’s it.

Thoriumbrotherhood.net LIVES!

After all this flailing, thoriumbrotherhood.net is now sittin’ pretty on its new server.

I’d like to take this opportunity to be a pest and give the opportunity to the folks that use the site to help me out with operating costs by donating. The site costs approximately $110/year – not much, but on top of the costs of my new-old house, cat and car, well. Every little bit helps, right? It’s completely optional, of course.

So, thanks for the patience with the downtime, folks. You can stop being bored now.

ETA: Now with working button!

[Storytime/Journal] Delplas Rockhide: On Names

Our names have meaning. What they mean to us is what matters – whether or not they have meaning to those who speak to us means nothing.

Delplas Rockhide sat upon a hill that overlooked the ocean that bordered Ratchet. She only had a passing familiarity with the customs and beliefs of her Horde allies, but she had learned several things in her few run-ins with the other races. One, that the pink elves – Blood Elves – seemed to enjoy appropriating the cultural practices of others and two, that some Orcs seemed to believe that the vows they had made meant they could re-name others as they saw fit.

For Delplas, the refusal to use the name someone had been given was disrespectful.

Our ancestors received their names for the things they did and we carry those names with honour and pride because they make up who we are. They are not a lie. We make certain the meanings of those names are remembered in story and song, we pass on those tales so that others may be reminded. When we earn new names, those names have meaning, too. Some meaning is impossible to translate to Orcish – the Orcs’ tongue is too harsh, too unfamiliar, too primitive to truly understand.

The druid adjusted the tiny pair of goblin spectacles that were propped on the end of her snout and that she squinted through in order to write in the small leather-bound book that she held in one large hand. Everything was too small for Delplas, from the armour she wore to the charcoal she was writing with. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she added,

The Orc Gorteta is, I would wager, a child and lacks the understanding of an adult: the name one has been given or has given to himself is the name that must be used when communicating with him. To do otherwise is showing a lack of respect toward that person and to his ancestors, who have blessed the name. It does not matter what that name means to the speaker – but it is vitally important to the Named.

My name is not Druid, it is Delplas Rockhide. My first name was bestowed upon me by my mother at birth, Earthmother bless her, and my second name given by my Ragetotem elders when I sought to break from tradition. I am “Bear-Sister of the Impenetrable Hide”. My name means everything to me.

Delplas snorted as she pushed her little spectacles up onto her snout again and squinted at the words she had written. Her scrawling continued soon after, interrupted by occasional pause as she glanced skyward to track the sun’s progress on its trek across the sky.

It is extremely disrespectful to refuse to use the name that I, or anyone else, was given. It offends me that my name is going to be treated as meaningless by this woman because she does not understand it and because she disagrees with it.

The woman tapped her charcoal against the page. Since setting hoof among civilization she had found some very odd, but interesting, situations – and this one she was having trouble writing about. Delplas carefully closed her book and tucked it under her arm as she pulled herself to her hooves and made her way for the inn. Perhaps some sleep would give her some mental clarity and she could better form her thoughts later on.

A Taste, Just a Taste!

Last night, my friend Roshanar the Original Tauren Pally (on his Blood Elf paladin, mind) put out the call for bodies for the raid weekly, Razorscale.

Twenty-five man Razorscale.

It would be with Bad Moon Rising’s GROWL raid group, which includes Tchann and some other Harbingers and random people from the Roleplay community. I reluctantly offered my undergeared self in Mage form, warning that I wasn’t geared for 25-mans. “That’s okay!” I was told, as everyone else was overgeared anyway. So, I hopped to Kombeya and headed out.

It was my first time gunning for a Demolisher, and it was nice to have more to do than just shoot boxes, towers and giants. I kinda liked the whole hooking fuel thing, and Flame Leviathan dropped very quickly. I love watching motorcycles zoom about, too. Then, we gathered together to face Razorscale. Some in-character dialogue was exchanged, I actually remembered to use Focus Magic on somebody (another mage), and I blizzarded dwarves and pewpewed the dragon like I was supposed to (and I didn’t die in fire!).

In the end, I got a new hat. Kombeya has two blues left before she’s clad entirely in purples!

Really, the whole thing was easier than I thought it would be. BMR’s raid leader was very clear, everybody was really nice (and there was no drama from the one crazy person in raid) and overall it was a pleasant experience, even if I was a bit shy about taking any loot. xD

If I can get into the occasional raid for shiggles, awesome. It’s still not going to be my focus, but poking at this content every so often with people that are patient and in it for the fun, not progression, has been great. Unfortunately there’s the issue of scheduling.

This also leads me to consider my gearing options. Right now, my 80s are Matojo (Warrior), Bellerona (Warlock), Kombeya (Mage), Kinuka (Hunter), Dybo (Rogue), Gahiji (Death Knight) and Grindal (Priest). I most enjoy DPSing as a Warlock and Death Knight (though watching mage crits is about as thrilling as warlock crits), and then I have the Warrior for tanking and Priest for healing (eventually I’ll have a Druid and Shaman).

For PuGs, my poor priest needs more regen and stronger bubbles. Matojo just needs to keep generating insane rage and more threat. The other two? DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE.

I think I’m on the road to  going back to gearing my toons again.

ThoriumBrotherhood.net is Down!

Since I now some tb.net regulars read this blog, please note: ThoriumBrotherhood.net is down. There’s a database issue stemming from an old version of mySQL that’s being used, and I’ve contacted the web hosting provider to see what it will take to upgrade the service. Expect the site to be down for a day or so while this is sorted out.

Keep an eye on this space!

ETA 4:36pm EST: thoriumbrotherhood.net will be down for approximately 48 hours while it’s shifted to a new server – one that supports the proper mySQL version. Thanks for your patience!

Being Different Ain’t Bad If You’re Not An Idiot

Every time I read comments on WoW.com’s Resto Shaman column (I would help the author hide a body, so if that doesn’t tell you my opinion on him, you’re fucking dense) I’m reminded that I wanted to write this particular article.

I strongly believe that, though there are Things We Should Not Do Because They Are Not Beneficial (e.g. stacking spirit as a Shaman) and there are Things That Have Been Proven To Work Very Well And Are Optimal, there’s also the path of slightly more resistance – the Things That Work, Are Not Optimal, But Can Make A Difference In The Hands Of The Right Player (or: TTWANObCMaDitRP). So that’s the “Should Nots”, “Should Dos” and “Can Dos”.

The “Should Nots”, a.k.a. the WTF-U-Doin’s, are things that have been proven to be lacking in effectiveness or that show a lack of understanding of one’s class and game mechanics. They are the things that leave most people shaking their heads, such as the priests that skip Meditation but gem for MP5 (you say you aren’t having mana issues, but you… gem as if you’re having mana issues and skip the talent that can make a difference), or the dual-wielding Death Knights that do not take the Dual Wield improvements available in the Frost tree. The people who make these decisions consistently perform below average in every situation.

The “Should Dos”, the “Tried and Trues” and the “Cookie-Cutters” are things that have been tested to death and proven to be effective. Certain specs that perform very well, stat weights that are considered the best for particular classes/specs/roles, boss strategies that are ideal. In this category are raid tanks that stack stamina, for example, or Resto shamans that favour haste.

The “Can Dos”, the “Red-Headed Stepchildren”, the “Ugly Ducklings”, these are the stats, specs and strategies that people know work for certain situations but are often derided for not being the norm. They’re the non-ICC tanks that look for avoidance stats over stamina, the Shamans that hunt for crit and spellpower, the Death Knight tank that switches a few points around to fit their style that may seem a little odd but turn out to be highly beneficial (Blood tanks nabbing all the oh shit buttons, maybe). They may not be what’s recommended by Elitist Jerks, but they work despite this – maybe in spite of it. They seem to succeed purely to watch the elitist types nerdrage.

I sincerely believe that, in WoW, we should do what we find fun. For some, it’s min-maxing. For others, RP. Some like to PvP. Others like a little of everything – nothing is exclusive. There are several of us that like to try new things, that realize that if an encounter was only meant to be beaten one way and one way only, no other methods would work.

You can fight Ingvar in his first phase with him facing toward the party, heal through all the AoE damage and succeed. You can also turn him away from the party, move when he’s about to do his thing, and succeed with less hardship. If you like, you can play Ghoul Rhoulette and have the Token Death Knight summon their Ghoul Posse – and still manage to clear.

There’s more than one way to succeed and to get what you want out of whatever you’re doing.

With that said, this isn’t a way to defend crappy specs or gear choices. “This is my play style” does not work when you are talking about a strength-stacking hunter or a death knight that wears Spellpower plate. This does not give one license to defend their 71 points in one tree, even, because that style of spec is highly ineffective (Blizzard has stated as much before, they built the trees the way they did to encourage people to select skills from multiple skill sets). It’s one thing to spec or gear, gem or enchant in a way that deviates slightly from the norm but still uses stats and talents that are beneficial to the class, and another to just do what one wants willy-nilly with no reasoning whatsoever to back it up.

In summary: Just because Elitist Jerks doesn’t spout the virtues of a particular stat weight, spec, strategy or play style (that has proven to work and, in the case of stats, actually benefits the class) doesn’t mean it’s utter shit. EJ is not the be all and end all of everything WoW.

Tanking: More Than Just Having Things Hit You OR If You Don’t Know Shit, STOP TALKING

“Okay fine, I admit it, I don’t know anything about tanking.”
“Now you get it!”

Yesterday I was home from work. I wasn’t feeling very well, in part due to drama from the night before (where I got to play moderator again – not something I wanted to do, but I was the only one around at the time that could) but mostly because my body has decided to be a jerk lately (no, it’s not my time of month, thanks for asking). The topic of Death Knight Tanking came up, and guys, I totally learned something.

I’ve had it wrong all along!

Frost? Totally has defense-boosting talents that make it the tank spec and it is not in the party’s best interests for the tank to use their survival-related cooldowns. You’re wasting runes on Vampiric Blood, Rune Tap and other related skills!

Well, consider me schooled.

Gawsh, to think I had it wrong all this time. It’s amazing my party didn’t die with my thoughtless use of these health-boosting, survival-based talents. Why, the loss of threat generation must have nearly wiped us countless times!

Okay, serious business time. Let me put this in bold type for you:

Tanking is not just about pissing off monsters.

Tanking is not just about pissing off monsters.

Tanking is not just about pissing off monsters.

Is that clear?

Okay, good.

What is your job as a tank?

1. Out-threat your DPS and healer.
2. Keep yourself alive.
3. Keep your party alive.

What does this mean?

As a tank, you have to be the one and only thing the mobs concentrate on. They have to hate you. On top of that, you have several skills, several cooldowns, devoted to one of the following:

• Temporary total health boost
• Temporary damage reduction
• Instant % health recovery
• Temporary armor or avoidance boost

It is your job to use them, to love them and to love your healer by loving those skills. By doing everything in your power to help your healer keep you alive, you save your party from death.

But Matojo, it’s the healer’s job to keep me alive!

It’s also the healer’s job to keep him/herself and three other people from death.

Believe it or not, running instances and raiding are about teamwork. DPS prevent nasties from reaching healers or from hitting the boss and causing them to heal back to full, or they interrupt casts, or they aid in adding to your, the tank’s, threat – some provide buffs. Healers keep the party alive and provide buffs. Tanks sometimes provide buffs and distract mobs. The other part of the teamwork scene, for the tanks, is helping to make things easier for the healer which, in turn, helps make their mana pools last longer. No mana, no heals, and if you’re being wailed on like whoa and not doing anything about it, that mana isn’t going to last long.

Those cooldowns help make you last longer in battle, which helps your healer last longer, and helps keep your party alive.

But Matojo! I waste valuable runes/rage/mana on those cooldowns! I need those resources for threat!

As a Death Knight, by the time I’ve started my diseases, dropped Death and Decay and had some crits from Howling Blast/Icy Touch/Frost Strike, I’m generating well over 40k threat per second. On longer fights, it’s more. This is usually at least 38k or more threat per second above my DPSers.

The fact is, if you cannot spare a cooldown to save your ass for fear of losing threat, there is something wrong with what you are doing. It could be your rotation. It could be your gear. It could be your spec (shitty specs do equal shitty threat, but shitty specs are also the product of shitty players and therefore point to more problems). You could be in the wrong presence, stance or you forgot righteous fury again (Paladins? As long as RF is up, you sneeze and LO! there is threat).

The Teal Deer: One, tanking is not just about holding threat, it’s also about using all the tools that are available to you to succeed. Two, if you spec like this to tank* it’s obvious you have not done any research on tanking as your particular class/spec – so please, stop acting like you know what you’re on about.

* Before anyone brings up Gahiji’s current blood spec, yes, I know it’s not optimal for group tanking. It’s meant for soloing instances and level 60 raids, and it’s in the process of being tweaked. If it’s successful, you lot will be the second to know!

[Storytime] To Die Like a Warrior

[ Krillek and Kohle popped into my head just... out of the blue, as these characters tend to. I can't quite put a name to who Kohle reminds me of, but Krillek - at least in my head - plays like Detective John Munch (played by Richard Belzer) of Law and Order: SVU. The voice does not fit a Tauren, I know, but he's punchy and quick-witted and that's just how he represents himself. ]

When Kohle Ragetotem was born, it was not her father that stood with his arms crossed outside her mother’s tent. It was not her father who waited impatiently for the child’s arrival and who paced back and forth before being told by the Greatmother to just stand still.

Krillek Ragetotem was of no relation to Kohle, nor her mother and father. They were tribemates with little aside from their tribal names in common. Krill had no mate, no children of his own and no living family – the calf that was born on that humid summer evening’s only connection to him was that he had been asked to train her when she reached the proper age.

As soon as Kohle’s cries began to echo from that tent, the Greatmother approached the old warrior, patted his arm and told him, “You take care of that child as if she were your own.”

And that was what he would do.

- – -

Kohle did not look like a Ragetotem.

She was short, with black-spotted fur and white-horns. Her hooves were sharp, as were her reflexes, and her eyes were dark. Krillek was no fool, he knew exactly where she came from and he made damned sure that she understood that no matter what anyone said, she was Ragetotem.

Even if she didn’t look like the other children.

Even if her discipline was a little lacking.

Well, that was mostly his fault.

It took every ounce of Krill’s own discipline – not that he had much – to avoid grinning as he asked the grumbly little Tauren girl, “So, why’d you punch him?”

Her mane was cropped – two little tufts of black hair stuck out over her shoulders, the remains of the braids her mother had forced upon her, tied with Kodo hide – and she was dressed in very simple brown garments. Smudges of white war paint were haplessly smeared beneath the child’s eyes, and her arms were crossed over her stomach. Kohle was scowling, her tail twitching impatiently, her hooves grinding into the dirt under the scrutiny of the older male.

“He called me Grimtotem,” she said.

“So you punched him in the face.”

The girl nodded firmly.

Krill grinned broadly and put his arm around the girl’s shoulders, tugged her into a hug and laughed. “You should’ve kicked him in the shin first, doll,” he said. “C’mon. I’ll show you how to do it right.”

Immediately Kohle cheered up and the pair wandered off to train.

- – -

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The Plaguelands were unforgiving. Kohle swung her blade in a wide arc that caught the Scourge and sent parts flying everywhere, splattering her armour and that of her partner with ichor. The elder warrior glanced toward her and growled, “Watch where ya wave that!” as he slammed his shield into the face of a ghoul.

Both had grown into respected warriors of the Horde. Both wore the colours of the Argent Dawn, right down to the symbols and etchings of their armour; they fought side by side and advanced through the waves of Scourge with little care for their own safety. Krillek and Kohle Ragetotem were Scourge-crushing machines.

The years had changed them both, naturally: Kohle had grown into a powerful young woman, built more like a young male and lacking in many of the curves of femaleness that most of her fellows would have. She was a tomboy. Where her hair and fur were richly coloured, black and white like the tabard she wore, Krillek’s was streaked with gray. He was showing his age. Though he was still quick on his feet, it was growing obvious to him and most of his comrades that his fighting years were drawing to a close.

As the pair ducked behind a ruined building to rest and Krill offered Kohle a drink from his canteen, he said the words that she had never wanted to hear:

“It’s time for me to die a warrior’s death, Kohle. I don’t wanna get feeble and die in my sleep in a tent – I wanna die at the end of a blade. Your blade.”

The young woman was taken aback; she gasped, then shook her head violently. “I’m not doing it, Krill, I’m not,” she insisted, and he grinned slightly.

“I knew you’d say that,” he replied as he slowly got to his hooves. “but you’re gonna hafta do it sooner or later.”

Kohle snorted as she stood and slid her sword from her back. “I doubt that, Krill,” she said. “You have a hard enough time getting me to listen to you as it is.”

The old warrior laughed and shook his head. When he looked to her again, however, his eyes widened and he pointed. As he started to shout for her to look out, Kohle spun and swung her blade through an attacking ghoul.

“Ambush!” She exclaimed, and charged into the fray. Krillek took up his shield to join her, and both raised their voices in unison.

“For Kalimdor – for the Ragetotem!”

- – -

By the time the fight was over, both warriors were in horrendous shape. Kohle was the only one of the two that could still stand and it took all the strength she had to haul her mentor from the scene of the carnage. Their tabards were torn, their armour wrenched asunder, their weapons – save for Kohle’s shortsword – abandoned. Krillek’s wounds were extensive, but she could not tell how bad it was until she set him down in the shelter of a sickly stand of trees.

Kohle lowered the older man to the ground as gently as she could and crouched before him. She wiped the blood from her face with her forearm and took a very careful look at the man’s wounds, then frowned and mumbled, “We’ll have to get you back to the chapel.”

Krillek slowly raised his head. Half of his face was caked with blood, she could see the bone peeking through depending on how the dim light hit him, the flesh was shredded. A thin sheen of red coated his armour and he was listless.

“Kill me,” the old warrior whispered. “I’m not gonna make it.”

“No, no,” Kohle replied as she grasped her mentor’s shoulders. “just a little longer, I can get you to the chapel, you just have to–”

The dying Tauren suddenly grasped the younger woman’s armour and growled, “Kohle, if you try to take me we’ll both die out here. Kill me, let me die a warrior’s death, and save yourself. There’s no other way, kid. I’m sorry.” Krill coughed, leaned back against a tree and closed his eyes. His breaths, short and quick, rattled in his chest.

Kohle reluctantly drew her shortsword from its sheath.

- – -

Thunder Bluff was a dizzying cacophony of noise. Kohle Ragetotem stood before the weaponsmith, frowning at the meagre coin in her hand and the selection on display. Her eyes flicked over the sharp blades, axes, polearms…

She drew back. His breaths were slowing, he couldn’t possibly have much time left – but the will is strong. A man so strong-willed could hold on for hours whether he wanted to or not. All it would take would be one thrust.

The young woman ran her finger along the flat of a broadsword, frowning with intense concentration.

That was all it took; Kohle thrust her sword into the exposed belly of Krillek Ragetotem, her friend, mentor and the man she called papa. She shoved the blade in as far as it would go, until she felt it thunk into the tree behind him – and then she let go.

A wave of disgust washed over her and she reached for something else – a staff, made of sturdy oak and decorated with bears and dyed hemp, some feathers and beads. “How much?” Kohle grunted, though the answer did not reach her ears and instead she fumbled, offered the merchant her coin purse and muttered for him to take what he needed.

Death came quickly for Krillek. His eyes shot open and he let out a sharp gasp, then his body went limp. No final words, nothing, just silence. Kohle did not have the strength to say a prayer or offer any words herself – she turned and started on the long, slow walk back to Light’s Hope Chapel.

When Kohle took her money back, she quickly retreated back to her temporary quarters on the Bluff among the Ragetotem where she kept her brand new set of armour and the meagre supplies that the Horde had given her for her post-war rehabilitation. There was still work to be done on the home front. There was no time to mourn.

Not even a year later.