Because Tir said he didn’t have a post to read

I wasn’t going to post today.  Not even a filler post saying that I wasn’t able to get a post up.  I just was out of it last night and crashed out.  This morning I was busy at work.  Things just conspired to where I decided to not write anything.  Then Tir got bummed when I told him, so to prevent me getting flack I am posting on my lunch break.

Last night was interesting.

Tuesday nights are 25 man runs.  We do the weekly and then if we have Tir (and he is willing) we do 25 man ICC.  Normally we don’t make it past Saurfang.  Last night we downed Festergut and had several attempts on Rotface.  Festergut on 25 man is a bit more complicated in the positioning than 10 man.  Instead of just 3 people in ranged, you need 8.  The strat we use in 10 man is to have the 3 people in the back fall on the “anchor” person when the spore hits.  In 25 man we have to stand in a rectangle shape and all run to a specific place.

I’m a visual learner.  Tir’s explanation didn’t make much sense to me.  I will admit that I was bad and didn’t research the 25 man strats.  I honestly didn’t think to do it.  Will I before next week?  Yep.  My main explanation for not is that we are not yet into 25 mans and focus on 10 mans.  I do my 10 man homework.  Guess I need to start doing the 25 man homework.  *sigh*

I have problems with videos.  Everything is all clean and the voices happen AFTER the recording.  I think I would just be happier with a diagram and then doing the fight once to see how it happens.

Take Rotface for example.  EoF had cleared up to him and so being the raid leader I had to know what was going on so that I could explain it to the kittens that almost assuredly had not read the strats.  I had never done that fight.  Trying to explain it based on a video and long winded technical strats is damn difficult.  I think Tir and Ari were listening in on the vent channel when I was trying to explain.  I got lectured by Tir for making the strats too difficult.  We of course went in and wiped horribly.  No one, least of all me, knew what the hell was going on.  Yeah, not a fun time.

Now look at it with SR.  Simple explanation by people who know what the fight is about.  Don’t stand in the slime.  Stand behind him.  When he pukes, run through him to get out of the puke.  If you get a slime run to the OT from the front.  Cut across the area in front of the big slime to merge your baby slime.  Wait for it to merge, then go back and dps.  It is in fact THAT easy.  The first time I fought him with SR we killed him.  Of course they said that they wiped 44 times before they got their first kill.  Every time since then that we have gone up against him in 10 man, we have taken him down the first time.

We can kite slimes 😀

PuGs apparently cannot kite slimes.  >.>

If the PuGs hadn’t been complete fails we would have downed Rotface on 25 man.  Everyone that was a guildie was doing their job.  The bads were standing in the puke, not moving in the slime explosion and not taking their fucking slimes out of the raid.  When the raid leader yells at you to MOVE AND GTFO OF THE RAID then you better move the fuck out of the raid.  Don’t stand there continuing to DPS, trust me, your DPS was NOT that great.

Have I mentioned that I hate PuGs yet?

*sigh*

Tonight is a non raiding night.  I am hoping to get all of my dailies done.  The last couple of days I haven’t gotten more than my tourney stuff done.  Zam picks on me because I have to do them in a specific order.  This order makes no rhyme or reason to anyone but me.  I just HAVE to do them that way.  Just like I have to pick up the Hodir dailies in a specific order, complete them in a specific order and turn them in in a specific order.

No I don’t have CDO, whatever gave you that idea?

Oh well.  Guilt post is finished.  Comment away! :-p

bwah?

Arioch and Tirael have been lapping up my creative juices (giggity) lately and I just feel like I need to do nothing but write.  The first story came out easily enough.  I wrote it in like an hour, but the second story took several hours and I still am not happy with it.

I am not really sure what I want to write about.

I mean, I could write about the guild drama that happened on Wednesday, but Nite touched on it.  Plus I just don’t want to deal with the fallout that will become the comments section.

I could write about the GotUR runs we did on Friday and Saturday.  How I am now 10/13 towards my drake.

Ehh that just will piss me off about how people cannot stay out of the bad or keep spread out.  I pride myself on making sure that I am the appropriate distance away (/range FTW) and yet staying in range of the healer.  I keep vuhdo up on my dps characters just for this specific purpose.  I go bat-shit insane when other dps starts crowding in on me.  Do not follow me around!  I might have dots, but I still need to stand and cast shit.  I cannot do that if you keep moving into my bubble!

I know!  I will give you all a little lesson on how affliction warlock dps works.  Courtesy of Andrew:

Every class takes a certain amount of time to ramp up to their full damage potentials. Hunters are almost instantaneous, Rogues, like 3 seconds, not counting the time it takes to run in, etc. etc. Warlocks are the slowest of the bunch, I think their ramp time is on the order of 30+ Seconds. Well shit, let’s have a look:

• S.Bolt (3s)
• S.Bolt (3s)

• Haunt (1.5s)
• CoA (GCD)
• Corr (GCD)
• UA (1.5s)
• Haunt (Because it’s wearing already)
• SB spam

That’s what you have to do to START doing damage.

Now, Afflocks are supposed to be cool because they can do damage and move at the same time. Except if they have to move their DoT stack falls partway or all the way off, and their dps goes down the shitter. Sure they’re doing damage when other people aren’t, but then they have to ramp again. Same thing if they get silenced, interrupted, etc. Did you get stunned in the middle of your UA cast? Fuck. Cast it again, and watch your CoA or Haunt fall off, You’re already losing DPS because you aren’t casting SB. Did you get your Haunt reflected? FUCK. 15% total damage MINUS for 10 seconds. And you may have to burn a GCD to cast Corr again. And a lot of their single-target damage is dependent on SB, so they have to stand and cast just like a Mage anyway. Except mages don’t have a DoT rotation to maintain. (Not that I’m super knowledgeable about mages, I could be wrong.) Oh and do you need a little extra damage real quick? Well then just hit your DPS cooldowns- …wait. …uh…

So far as I can tell, Warlock is the only class that works backwards. There’s a theoretical maximum damage output, (Determined by your gear) and your performance really only sets the % of that maximum output you can reach.

 

So yeah.  This is why I fail at putting out damage on bone spikes.  The last time we were in ICC I popped a Corruption on each one and got lucky with a few Nightfall procs so I managed to show up on the damage meters for them.  I think I did like 13k, Zug did 140k.  Yeah go me! >.>

Fights where I can stand still and stay in the groove (the anchor position on Festergut) is where I will shine.  Depending on my haste levels I can get 3-4 shadow bolts off between DoT refreshing.  I am currently sitting at 704 haste, with my spellstone. 

WTB MOAR HASTE!

Seriously, what is up with all the fucking crit on everything?!  I’m swimming in hit too.  I have actually thought about changing around my talent points to get rid of the points in suppression, but then I need to figure out where I would put them.  I know that Nibuca recently posted about how she has been fiddling with her spec to deal with all the excess hit.  I play horde, I don’t have an extra 1% hit.  It makes me sad that I no longer have the guarantee that there will be a draenei in the party.

I need to just look into things.

So yeah anyway it is now 12:30 am and I need to crash out.  Laters!

Random picture day!

Yes I took several days off from work, but it was a busy four days.  Not only did lots of raiding occur, but drama galore and a new project.  Needless to say I am drained and my creative juices used up on the new project.  So today you get to check out some pretties from my screenshot folder.

As always, come for the posts, stay for the epic comments thread.

What kind of fertilizer are they using in Sholazar?!

That is at the end of a heroic HoR run

To think, all of this for such a tiny guy

Goddess of Death Mode indeed

He has teh mathz down

Don’t forget to turn to page 6 for a good time.

Screenshot Friday

We have another picture that Arioch put together with the model viewer.  These are two of Tir’s characters.  I am sure he will have a story to go with this picture as well.

Enjoy!!

And just where do you think you are going?

What? Another one?

Since I have today off from work I am making this easy on myself and just sharing with you a story that Tir sent me.

It was brought about in his head from the picture posted on Friday.

So without further ado:

Residing over the Argent Tournament Grounds one day, Tirion saw the last of the tournament’s games coming to an end.  He decided then and there that the time was right to advance forward into Icecrown Citadel.  He left the stands to find Darion.  As he was leaving the arena, he saw Darion near his champions on the northern side of the grounds.  As he approached Darion, he saw a smile come across the death knight’s face.

“It is time, isn’t it,” Darion said, a hint of joy in his voice.

Tirion also noticed an ever so subtle hint of a plea.  He brushed this off and continued the conversation.

“Yes, old friend.  We must gather the armies of Azeroth and storm those gates.  I am weary of Varian’s and Garrosh’s attitudes toward each other.  This may affect our goals.  I am counting on you to see that it doesn’t,” Tirion said with disgust in his voice.

He was often disgusted at the way the Alliance and Horde leaders carried on with each other, especially at a time like this.  He prayed to the light each day that Varian and Garrosh would see things the way Jaina and Thrall did, but even he knew this would probably never come to pass.

“Tirion, you need not worry about my death knights.  Regardless of faction, they are loyal first and foremost to me.  I will ensure things go as smoothly as possible.  Let us scout a way to Icecrown Citadel, whilst these games finish,” Darion said hardly able to hold back the excitement in his voice.

Tirion called for his gryphon as he watched Darion mount his bone gryphon.

“I never understood why you would ride such a creature,” Tirion pondered openly.

“The creatures of the living do not respond well to the hands of the damned, old friend,” Darion said with disgust.

With a rush of bitter cold wind, they pair took off into the gloomy Icecrown night.  As they rounded the mountains past Shadow Vault, they noticed a very odd site, even for the dreary passages of Icecrown.  A pillar light, brighter than anything either had ever seen, could be seen far off in the distance.

“What must that be?” Tirion asked with amazement.

“I cannot tell.  It is the first time I have seen such light in this dark continent,” Darion said with equal surprise.

“Make haste, Darion.  We must see what the source of that light is,” Tirion said, almost in desperation.

Tirion secretly hoped that there was some light still present in this place of death.   He knew that both sides needed hope.  This could be it.

As the pair flew on, beckoning their gryphons to fly faster than ever before, the light seemed to stay far away, as though untouchable, unreachable…unreal.

After hours of this, Tirion’s gryphon finally gave the sign it was tired.  After several minutes of silence, Darion spoke.

“There are some advantages to my mount,” he said, looking at his bone gryphon who felt neither sleep nor hunger.

“Now is not the time, Darion,” Tirion said with a small amount of disgust, maybe even a hunt of jealousy. “This light seems to be out of reach, as though it is nearly within our grasp but not.  I have never seen the light react in this way.”

“Maybe it is a forshadowing of things to come, paladin,” Darion said, knowing what his friend needed, but unable to provide it. “We must ride on.  Icecrown Citadel is in the distance and we have already been gone for hours.  People will start to wonder.”

“You are right,” Tirion said. “We must scout the way.  I hope the light will come to us when we need it most, like it always does.  Even a place like this makes me wonder.”

“Do not lose you faith, Tirion.  That is exactly how he turned us all to his service,” Darion said, somewhat worried.

“You are right.  I am a fool to think such things.  These times make even someone like me weary.  Come, we must ride on,” Tirion said, sounding as tired as his gryphon.

The two turned toward Icecrown Citadel in the distance.  No light shown here…yet.  Tirion was determined to change that once and for all.  –End

Filler post is filler

I am very tired.  Tir decided to take us all into ToGC 10 last night AFTER we had already done ICC 25 cit and vault 25.  He wanted the wand that drops.  See I thought that we were going to do just regular ToC 10, but noooooooooooo.  Suddenly it was Grand Crusader!  >.<  I had only ever seen the first fight on heroic.  Fail lock activate!

I was actually quite proud of myself.  I managed to not die (other than the wipe on Lord J) until the FC fight where I promptly pulled aggro on EVERYTHING and was killed down into nothing.  I fail so much at PvP.

The best part?  I won the wand that Tir wanted. 😀

Then I went and was nice and gave it to him.  He now needs to take me through there again because I need that wand too.  Delicious haste with no hit, mmmmmm nom nom nom.

Anyway I am tired, busy and drained.  So sorry but filler post is filler.  Please feel free to fill up the comments section with the lovely stuff we have all come to expect from my comments section.

If you are confused about that then you are obviously not reading the comments.  Go look at yesterday’s for a taste.

Patch day, what?

Ha! You probably thought I would be talking about the upcoming patch today.  Yeah not so much.  If you want to read about patch info then you are really in the wrong spot.

Some self plugging – my interview

I still think I talked too much but I was informed that I was supposed to.  So there! :-p

The interview was a really good time.  I was asked to possibly participate in a round table discussion at some point in the future so I will let you know if that happens.

I went back and listened to the show and I still cannot stop freaking out over how much I sound like my older sister.  We already look a lot alike, and now we sound the same. >.> Yeah so that was weird.

I have been doing dailies like a crazy person on Lyssianna.  I have been able to knock out 21-23 dailies a day on her.  Yes I am insane I know, I know.  I needs to get monies on her and since I don’t have money making professions I need to do what I can to get money.  Zam has offered to work out a deal with me but I need to figure out if it really is doable on my end.  Hex offered me a similar deal.  We shall see though.

The main push behind this is my slow mount is slow.  I have 2 epic mounts and I want to be able to use them.  My other 3 80s have epic flying so I am used to having it.  I took Thursday and Friday off from work, so I am hoping to be able to get some IC quests completed.  They give pretty decent money.  I have been making around 450g-550g  a night.  To which I mail to my bank alt like a good girl.  Now that the patch is dropping I can finally get the cloth needed for the 32 slot soul shard bag and the 32 slot enchanting bag.  Yes I know soul shards are going the way of the dodo but I only have a 20 slotter and getting 12 more shards in my regular bags is a pain.

I have a raid tonight at 5:30 pm, a raid tomorrow at 7:15 pm, another raid Thursday at 5:30 pm.  Ulduar hard modes on Friday.  Saturday is another raid at 7:30 pm and there *might* be a raid for me on Sunday.  I will most likely just keep myself available if I am needed.  You know, for someone who didn’t want to raid daily, I sure as hell am raiding daily.  >.>

I went to the training dummy last night.  Self buffed with my pvp trinket on (because I am a tard and forgot to switch it out) I did 4k.  This was without doing the finishing move with drain soul.  I am not happy.  I need to figure out what I am doing wrong.  With my gear level I should be doing 5k if not more.  I need to get some research done.  Maybe that is what I will do on Thursday.  Tir sent me a link (which I have since lost >.<) where the top warlocks in the game are talking.  These guys have 1k haste.  How the fuck did they get 1k haste?!!?!  I think I have like 600 and I am gemming for it!  *sigh*

If anyone knows of somewhere I could read up on afflocks (that isn’t EJ) please let me know in the comments.  I am tired of being fail lock.

Wowza

This was quite the weekend.  Friday night I was the guest on the Twisted Nether Blogcast, Saturday was ICC with EoF and Sunday was ICC with SR.

I did manage to get my laundry done so all is good! 😀

The blogcast was pretty awesome.  My guildies came out in force.  My mom even made an appearance.  It was amazing how many people showed up.  Thanks so much guys. 😀

Saturday EoF made some great attempts at Festergut.  We had the dps, but were just lacking on the heals.  We had a guildie Holy Pally come in for the first time.  He usually comes in on his mage, but I was the only healer we had so I needed him to come in and heal.  We nabbed Slo on her DK and had her tank.  People have definitely picked up their dps.  I am quite proud of them.

Last week I was able to join SR in ICC 10.  Thursday night is their 10 man runs.  Normally I wouldn’t have gone with the progression team, but they were short dps.  Woot for me!  We cleared all the way up to the Professor.  I had never seen beyond Rotface.  We one shot Rotface.  That was pretty awesome.  Watching the video just confused the hell out of me.  It was surprising much easier than it looked.  I know when I tried healing it, I was just completely confused.  DPSing that fight is soooooooooooooooo much easier.

We went on to the Prof and gave it several attempts.  I think that we would have had it if everyone was more situationally aware.  I really like the professor fight.  There is so much going on and yet it is so much fun.

Sunday I didn’t expect to be asked to come.  Sunday is for the progression team to go in and, you know, progress.  Again they were short DPS so I got to go.  We decided to start on VDW.  We had Sorak and Hex on their shammies healing inside the portals.  Tir and Zug were tanking it at first, but then it was decided that Zug would dps and Tir would solo tank it.  We made several good attempts and finally we managed to heal her up and complete the fight.  This makes Shadow Rising now 10/12.  Major excitement.  I think we had 3 people left alive when the dragon was fully healed.  It was pretty awesome.

I am behind the totems that Hex wouldn't recall

 

Fucking totems.

I got lucky because Arioch and Moogik didn’t need this awesome staff off VDW so I won it. 

So delicious

 

I am back over hit again, but the staff is soooo delicious.

We then decided to go give the blood princes another shot.

OMG that fight sucks.  It is insane with all of the things going on.  I thought I was doing ok with staying 10 yards away, then when people would run, BOOM I would have 3 people next to me.  Gahh.  We wiped a bunch and then Zug had to go afk for 5 mins.  The 5 mins turned into like 20 mins.  We had decided to clear trash while we were waiting on him when he came back.  There was an epic fight with the flying bitches and the copies.  I did 12k dps on that fight.  I fucking love Seed of Corruption.  😀

We went back in, wiped again then came back and took the fuckers down.  We also managed to snag this:

Boom bitches!

 

I used my imp on this fight.  Kazadora the hunter and I were in charge of the disco balls.  I know other people have said it, but I will say it again.  That room is fucking huge.  I just couldn’t see a damn thing.  I was having a hell of a time just finding which prince I had to kill.  I have to give mad props to Kaza, the dude knows his stuff and is definitely not a huntard.

We lined up and took a pretty picture to remember our kill by.  This was not the first kill for SR, but it was the 2nd kill.  I have a feeling they were worried they weren’t going to be able to duplicate the kill.  It made me excited to be a part of the 2nd kill.

Oh look, you can see me this time

 

I wanted to go try the professor again, but it was decided that we would go look at Sindragosa.  We cleared the trash and the 2 mini boss dragons and then nabbed the queen.

I just had to take a picture.  It was seriously too epic to describe in words.

holy shit

 

I don’t know if I will get to go back with the progression team later this week or not.  It really doesn’t matter.  I still think it was pretty awesome that I was there period.  Thanks so much guys for letting me tag along.  Congrats again to Shadow Rising on being 10/12.  We will be taking on the Lich King sooner than we think!

Screenshot Friday

Just a reminder – My interview with TNB is tonight at 8 pm PST.  Go to http://twistednether.net/live to join in with the live chat and to listen in to me babble.  You can see that yes, I really am a girl.  😉

Anyway, onward with your weekly dose of pretty!

They are opening up!

Last but not least . . .

Our other winner is Tirael. 

As I did with Angerfork yesterday I am going to post snippets from the email he sent me:

I am a Medic in the US Army who likes to spend time with me wife and son.  I also enjoy playing the guitar and listening to any type of music..except country.  I have also deployed to Iraq for 14 months from May 2007 – July 2008.  I will be leaving the Army soon to go back to my civilian job as an EMT and will begin college in software engineering.  I have been playing WoW for almost 4 years.  Throughout that time, I have been an officer, a class lead, and regular old kitten in many different types of guilds, from casual to hardcore 5 days a week 6 hours a night raiding guilds.  I enjoy raid leading as well as being a kitteh.

Having raided with Tir, I still find it hard to believe that he is cool with being a kitten and only a kitten.  He says he is, but I don’t believe him.

Here is the info he sent me on his toons:

Paleteal – level 80 Tauren Prot/Fury Warrior – Drak’Tharon

Pale was originally a human warrior and was my first toon.  I faction changed her sometime after ToC first came out.  With Pale, I have tanked or dps’d from Kara to RoS pre-nerf in BT to BP in ICC 25 including ToGC 10 Mad Skill.  I really enjoy my warrior.  For tanking, she has a vast array of tools that can be used for different situations.  Prot warriors aren’t really more difficult to play than other tanks…just imagine you have Neil Peart’s drumset…with one stick.  Pale’s name was a product of one part random name generator (it gave me Tealariya, which I didn’t like and one part her hair color (when she was human, her original hair color was white).  As a tauren, she is black….I love a good paradox.  Pale’s prot spec is currently geared for ICC 25 and her fury spec is currently geared for ICC 10.

Naerityah – level 80 Blood Elf Disc/Shadow Priest – Drak’Tharon

Naer started out as a healing twink.  She was at 27 for about 2-3 years before I decided to level her up over the past couple of months.  I don’t know why, but I absolutely love priest healers, especially disc.  Maybe it is because a priest closely resembles a prot warrior in the amount of skills they have.   Naerityah’s name came from somewhere is that mangled web of dead cells and air that sits between my ears.  I never knew how much I would love healing until I did my first ICC 10 (which was Naer’s first raid).  It was challenging for me, since all I had ever done was play melee dps/tank.  I have still yet to completely figure out shadow spec.  I do decent damage, but I am not seeing the numbers I want.  When I do, I may do it more often.  Naer’s disc spec is currently geared for ICC 25 and her shadow spec is currently geared for ICC 10.

Tirmanel – level 80 Night Elf (MOHAWK!) Unholy/Frost Tank DK – Bloodhoof

Tirmanel was originally a Night Elf named Tirael.  He then became an Orc named Tiræl.  As you can see, he is back to his roots.  I started Tirmanel with the mindset that I would only play him (as I used to be against having multiple max level toons) through all of WotLK.  That obviously didn’t pan out.  I have done all Wotlk raids up to BP in ICC 25.  Tirm is also my furthest progressed toon as he he not only has ToGC 10 Mad Skill, but has also done 4/5 ToGC 25.  I really enjoy my DK as he has a lot of raid utility combined with a high dps threshold.  DKs are also viable tanks (if played correctly) and I enjoy seeing tanking from a different perspective (CD based/AoE tanking vs Gear based/Single target tanking).  Like my warrior, I feel fully confident with Tirm regardless of the role I am providing to the raid.  Both of his specs are currently geared to handle ICC 25.

As you can see, he is a machine.

Yet, his response to this picture:

 

was so sweet and romantic, you would think that you were talking to a different person.

Once you get to know Tir you find out that his brash nature is not the real him.  Crusty outer shell and all. 😀

As a wrap up, here is his post again for your viewing pleasure:

Tatia sat alone in the glades of Ashenvale, grateful for the solitude. Normally relishing in the heat of battle with her allies, she was thankful to be surrounded by the green countryside of her homeland. Her recent encounters with the lieutenants of the Lich King had made her weary, longing to reconnect with the lands that she called home.

As her delicate fingers brushed across the lush greenish blue grass, the druid in her sensed something unnatural. It was as if the very power of the arcane had swept over the area. As she turned on her seat, she was blinded by the intensity of the sun that was showing off the source of the arcane power.

As her eyes adjusted, she made the faint shape out of a humanoid…then the white skin…then the eyes..glowing green eyes. Her mind raced. “Oh no.”, she thought. “This blood elf is here to slay me. Countless times I have avoided death by the the hand of the Lich King’s minions..only to be killed by a hero of the same cause…yet different beliefs.” She readied herself as best she could..ready to transform in the event that the Blood Elf attacked.

As the Blood Elf approached, Tatia noticed something very odd. The being was carrying a Talandra’s Rose, one of the most beautiful flowers of Northrend. Tatia knew that the Talandra’s Rose could only survive in the soil of Northrend (she is a druid of course), which she thought even more odd that one would be alive here in Ashenvale.

As the being grew closer, she realized that the arcane resonance wasn’t just because the blood elf was a blood elf, but that it was as if he was arcane magic itself. At this moment, she truly realized her peril, as she knew this Blood Elf could be only one thing…a mage.

The mage was no more than 10 feet away when he spoke…

“Hello, Tatia. My name is Arioch. I have traveled from the shores of Howling Fjord to here into enemy territory just to find you.”

Tatia shuddered internally as she said, “Do as you must mage….I fear no death you could give me.”

Arioch replied, “Oh no, my dear druid. I mean you no harm. I searched for you because I admire you. I have seen you many times as you and your allies stormed the gates of Icecrown Citadel. I have heard of your exploits, even in the Sunreaver’s Sanctuary. I have seen the marvelous things you do. You are truly amazing.”

Tatia was taken aback. She knew, better than anyone, the reasons why the High Elfs split into the races they are today. How could one of the arcane feel so for one of the earth?

However, Tatia had heard of Arioch’s weird mannerisms. She knew from stories that one such as him could have feelings for someone like her. Still guarded, she decided to choose her words carefully.

“I, too, have heard of you, Master Arioch. They say that nothing you pursue ever escapes your grasp. You lead you allies with a fierceness of determination that even the Alliance can admire. Of all these things, I must ask, how did you get a Talandra’s Rose to survive a trip from Northrend to here?”

Arioch replied, rather more smug than intended, “You know not of the ways of the arcane, my dear Tatia. I placed Northrend soil and the rose inside a ward of arcane, freezing it in time. As I teleported from Northrend to Kalimdor, it was protected. The moment I was near you, I removed the wards and sprinkled the flower with some water from a nearby stream. The waters here are exceptionally potent at bringing life to things of the earth. I did this all for you.”

For the first time since she could remember, Tatia could find no words. She could only see this beautiful flower..this beautiful man..the beautiful earth. Maybe it was the battles within Icecrown, seeing the dead on both sides, the horrors the Lich King had performed on Saurafang the Younger, or just the electricity of Arioch’s beauty itself, but she couldn’t help but be drawn to Arioch…as if the arcane itself had grasped her every limb and she collapsed to the ground.

Arioch saw this and moved forward at once. Tatia, frightened that her fears had come true, raised and hand to begin casting a spell…but stopped. With one hand, Arioch was handing her the rose, and with the other, grasped her about the waist and lifted her to her feet.

She felt it. She new he did too. Their eyes were set at one another. They grew closer..at first into an embrace..then a kiss. A surge of arcane flowed through Tatia’s body. It felt unnatural and blissful at the same time. Every nerve in her body tingled with excitement and pleasure. She could think of nothing else. It was only her, Arioch, the arcane, and the earth…all as one.

—End