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I may have to move Azshandra's hearthstone location away from Darkshore, although it does provide me a quick way of reaching Darnassus. The levels are current as of July 9, 2025. |
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Such as Gnomeregan. |
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I may have to move Azshandra's hearthstone location away from Darkshore, although it does provide me a quick way of reaching Darnassus. The levels are current as of July 9, 2025. |
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Such as Gnomeregan. |
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For the record, he doesn't pester me about playing FFXIV. I'm grateful for that. From Reddit. |
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Having blown up the world and starting over, A Realm Reborn is different than what was expected. Still, it led to some good stuff later. From Reddit. |
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Then FFXIV got popular. From Owlturd. |
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While it may be FFXIV, it's pretty generic for most MMOs. From Facebook's FFXIV A Meme Reborn group. And Moon Knight. |
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And finally I couldn't resist. Just what number are we up to right now? XVI? From Imgur. |
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Truth, but I have it anyway. From StatsGlitch. |
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Here's the proof. |
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From argentarchives.org as of July 1st, 2025. |
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I still have the apron, btw. |
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Sindorei this, Sindorei that. It's not like the Queldorei didn't eat it before them, you know... From World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, Page 79. |
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That's after brushing it with melted butter once it came out of the oven. |
Previous Installment:
Winter's Veil and the Light -- Part 1
Several days later I paced restlessly in the foyer of the Cathedral of Light.
I may not be the focal point of today’s events, but I was going to be in front
of the High Priestess of the Church of the Light herself. The Cathedral may not
be the Keep, but that didn’t mean the nobles of Stormwind weren’t paying
attention.
I paused for a moment to rub at the ache on my shoulder.
“Stop playing with it, Apprentice,” Mistress Elsharin said in Thalassian,
her voice thick with disapproval. “It will take longer to heal.”
Pulling my hand away, I rolled my shoulders to move my old purple robe
around a bit. “It’s…” I frowned as my voice trailed off. Searching for the
right word in her tongue and realizing I didn’t know it yet, I changed
directions. “How long before the pain goes away?”
“About a week.”
“A week?” I was about halfway through.
“Surely you’ve been hurt from being out in the sun too long, it’s no worse
than that.”
No, it wasn’t, but that burn usually faded after a couple of days, and this
was still going strong. I frowned, realizing that this was likely Elsharin’s
way of saying “don’t be such a baby,” only since she said it in remedial
Thalassian it sounded worse.
While Mistress Elsharin had given me another present –a warm bathrobe—for
Winter’s Veil, her primary gift was a tattoo of her family’s crest on my
shoulder. The concept of bearing the Dawnweaver crest sounded exciting and sophisticated
at first, but the moment the Queldorei tattoo artist began, all those emotions
vanished in a puff of smoke. I’d been beaten and stabbed and shot with arrows,
but this so-called “small thing” hurt more than it had any right to.
Still, it kept me from thinking about Linna’s acceptance into the Order for a while.
“Remember, Apprentice,” Elsharin said, interrupting my musings, “Give the
Knights what is asked, but no more. You have a talent for talking too much.”
“Yes, Mistress Elsharin.” I opened my mouth to continue, but I realized I was about to demonstrate my Mistress’ rather apt critique and shut it instead.
The doors to the Cathedral opened and my family entered, with Linna in
front. She was dressed all in white, as was the custom for a supplicant, and
she’d even taken care to brush her tangled blonde hair and tie it back into a
smart ponytail. Her easy, casual smile was nowhere to be seen.
Yes, you read that correctly. I suppose you could call this a "Christmas in July" surprise, given that I'd originally meant to have this ready for last year's actual Christmas season, but stuff happened and I got stuck finishing the story. I'll explain more in a follow-on post after this is complete.
This story is set after the events that culminated in The Deadmines and then The Stockades in Vanilla Classic WoW. When I write I tend to jump around the timeline when I find a compelling scene, which is why I have other works of fiction in the pipeline. I may eventually begin creating completely original works of fiction again, but that also assumes that Cardwyn won't kick my ass or something and demand more be written.
The full list of attributions will follow at the conclusion of the story, so I won't give anything away, but here's a standard disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Any characters and locations created by Blizzard for WoW Classic remain their property. This work of fiction uses WoW Classic as the primary reference point. Copyright by Redbeard of Parallel Context, 2025.
Winter’s Veil and the Light
"Apprentice, your sister is here!"
I stuffed the last wrapped present into my pack and slung it over my
shoulder. "Coming!" I called, flying out of my room and to the top of
the stairs.
At the bottom stood Mistress Elsharin and Kira, chatting quietly.
Considering she’d just arrived from Goldshire I expected my big sister to at
least appear like she’d been traveling all day, but no, she looked like her
typical perfect self. She wore her formal Journeywoman's outfit, complete with
the badges signifying her rank in the Goldshire Bakers Guild stitched onto her
breast jacket. The only indication she’d been on the road at all was her
travelling basket by her side, which she used to carry baked goods throughout
central Elwynn. I bounced down the stairs and into her arms, clapping her on
the back. “Kira!” I cried.
"Card!" she exclaimed, squeezing me tight and holding me at arm’s
length. "Look at you! You're wearing a new robe!"
"It took me quite a while to figure out how to stitch the material,” I
grinned, “but I had some help from around the Quarter."
That was quite an understatement. When Mistress Elsharin suggested that I
should mark the ending of the Defias affair by making my own robe, I was a bit
hesitant. After all, she'd made it rather plain to me that despite her Queldorei
house name she was not a tailor and had no interest in becoming one. After my
experience with a tailor accosting me to examine my robe when I first arrived
in Stormwind, I wasn't so keen on asking for help, either. However, Elsharin
recommended a different tailor, and Mistress Larson took me under her wing to
show me the basics of dealing with bizarre items such as spider silk thread in
the creation of this new white robe.
"I love your Journeywoman's outfit!" I added as took in my
sister's uniform. "Isn't it different than last year’s?"
"Yes!" Kira pulled her sleeve over, exposing some new stitching.
"The gold stripe along the shoulder and down the sleeves signify Senior
status."
"That's wonderful! Does that mean you're the Senior Journeywoman in the
Guild?"
My sister grinned from ear to ear and nodded.
I dropped my pack and embraced her in another tight hug.
"Congratulations!"
"That is wonderful news!" Elsharin exclaimed, crossing over to our
kitchen. "This calls for a toast before you leave."
"You're not coming?" Kira called after her.
My sister released me, and I shook my head and sighed.
"I shouldn't intrude, as it is a family event, and a Dawnweaver always
puts family first," Mistress Elsharin replied, returning with three
glasses and a bottle of wine.
"I tried to convince her that she's family now," I added,
"but..."
"No buts, Apprentice." The Elf handed out the glasses and poured
some wine into each. "To Kira Songshine, Senior Journeywoman!" she
exclaimed, raising her glass in a toast.
"To Kira!" I saluted my sister and drank.
"To Card and Elsharin, my Stormwind family!" Kira added.
"And now," Elsharin said, setting down her glass, "I believe
you two have a date to keep back at your farm." She walked over to
the foyer and raised her arms to cast. "Apprentice, you have my presents
with you?"
I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder. "Yes, Mistress
Elsharin."
"Very well, I'll open the portal." She focused and brought the
arcane to bear before us, and a portal to the farm opened. "Tell everyone
Happy Winter Veil for me!"
"I will!"
We stepped through the portal and into our barn.
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I should try this sometime. From Thunder Dungeon. |
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Okay, I chuckled at this. After all, I do live on the northern edge of the Bible Belt. From Memedroid. |
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My son's room is like this. It gets the afternoon sun and not enough airflow from the HVAC system. From 9GAG. |
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If it were hell, it'd be a lot closer to what work feels like. From Thunder Dungeon. |
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And because I prefer winter.... From Facebook and Castillo. |
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From The Ballad of Busker Skruggs and really from all over the internet. |
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Winging by Grom'gol on my way north from Booty Bay. |
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Let's get the original out of the way, shall we? From Incorrectwhoquotes, but really from all over. |
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Okay, I'd argue yes to both, because I'm old enough to know I need to do more per day than just game. From the Facebook Geeks are Sexy group. |
Of course I had to go and put a Minecraft meme in here. I can even here the nasally "huh?" sound that character makes. From Reddit and Know Your Meme. |
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From Battle.net, although a slightly different color tone than found on the front page. |
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It's that "I'm the smartest person in the room" look that gets you. From Wowhead. |
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Well, except for the white hair and the non-glowing eyes. And the carvings. And that Minthara is obviously pissed off. From IGN and Larian Studios. |
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Oh yeah, Ahmanet works. Better than the movie itself, to be honest. From 2017's The Mummy (and Reddit). |
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Yes, I pulled this gif from Bedazzled. So sue me. |
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Yes, there it is. |
When I logged into Steam today, I wasn't expecting to see this:
Honest!
I guess that makes yesterday's Meme Monday all the more appropriate, I suppose.
It's like seeing a random comment by an NPC and saying to yourself "What the hell was THAT?" Like this one I saw last night in Stormwind on the Anniversary Server:
I can't say I've seen THAT one before, and given the lack of context (and to be fair, Blizzard's company culture's reputation these days) that just sounds so wrong.
There's one last little bit of serendipity that has nothing to do with gaming. I was working away at the end of May when I happened to look outside the nearby window and saw this:
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I'm with you on that one. From Reddit. |
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This could be my Questing Buddy saying this too, you know, given that I've been fishing a lot lately in game. From imgflip. |
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Heh. I like this. From Midday Memes. |
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If you're doing this while listening to Otis Redding, I can get behind this. From the Facebook group Final Fantasy XIV: A Meme Reborn. |
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This one needs no comment from me. From Reddit. |
I will not try Dragonflight in a boat, or with a (space) goat, Blizz-I-Am.--Dr. Seuss, maybe