Thursday, June 24, 2010

Story Snippet: Where Kings Walk

The following is a piece of a story, or rather, a glimpse of my death knight's character, that I'd forgotten I'd written. I found it while looking for another story about her that I'm considering finishing and submitting to the 2010 Blizzard Writing Contest. And as with anything that one's forgotten about and uncovered like a buried treasure, I was really fond of this snippet I found. :) So I thought I'd share it here.

It's a depiction of my death knight's experience of the quest Where Kings Walk, the alliance-side end of the death knight quest chain from Acherus. In short, since it's not explained here, Rehina was a young gnome warrior of high standing from Gnomeregan who, instead of being left to rot on a battlefield of the Third War, was taken by agents of the Lich King to be resurrected as a death knight. Before this happened, she "lost" everything she cared about, which fueled in her the anger necessary to be a respectable death knight. I don't want to say much more because it would give away my other story!
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It felt strange to be walking through the canals of Stormwind to seek reacceptance. Before becoming … before the events of the Third War, Rehina had only been to the human city a few times, on minor diplomatic missions as a representative of Gnomeregan and guardian to the emissary. Most major dealings she had were with Ironforge and its surrounding towns. But now Stormwind was the figurehead of this new “Alliance”, so this is where she must be.

But then again, many things felt strange recently… willpower being one of them.

And thankfully she had the willpower to avoid reacting to the less-than-joyful cries that could be heard; spectators lined the streets as she walked among the other armoured Death Knights toward the keep. There were not only humans here, but seemingly every race of the alliance. They had come to watch this new addition arrive, for it would be difficult to describe in words all the different feelings that were radiating, almost tangible, arising from this… macabre sight. How fitting, she thought.

Although she knew any emotions and reactions toward the Death Knights, toward herself, would be negative, it was still somewhat saddening to hear it all. She couldn’t help but be a little put down. Things began raining down on the parade of knights as they marched, to highlight the fact they were unwanted. A bright red tomato smacked into Rehina’s cheek, smothering it in pulp and juice, then slopped to the ground. It got to her nerves a little bit, but she wasn’t worried about the physical pain of the impact… no one wants to feel unwanted. Wiping her cheek clean with the back of her gauntlet, she kept her face straight, a skill all “retaliating” Death Knights seemed to be good at, and continued on as if it hadn’t affected her.

“What a waste,” She whispered dully to no one in particular. A human on her right glanced down at her with the constant glower that seemed to be etched into his face, then looked forward again. She wasn’t sure why she said it, and she wasn’t really intending anything when she said it. Maybe he was amused by the dry humour of her utterance.

Impatience was growing on her. Scrnn, scrnn, scrnn, the footfalls of her plate boots on the stonework. Clang, clang, clang, the uniform sound of their march. It will be over soon enough, she thought, then I can get back to... what am I getting back to?

Why am I even here?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

What was missing.

I realize now what I thought was missing from defeating the Lich King. There was nothing wrong with the cinematic; in fact, the cinematic was great. What's missing is the after-story. So far in the story, there has been no resolution.
I'm not an English professor, but this is my take on what has happened. For the Wrath of the Lich King story, the exposition would be our first steps into Northrend, seeing the scourge's effect on the world. The rising action would be our encounters with the Lich King himself: tension is building and we're being given reason to resist him (at Naxxanar, Angrathar, Utgarde, and any quest involving him). The climax is our fight against him in ICC, and the following cinematic is a mix of the climax and the falling action. But... how does the story end? What happens afterward, what does everyone think, where do they go? Where is the resolution?

For example... what if The Lord of the Rings ended at Mt. Doom, with the Ring being destroyed -- and that was it? We don't know that Frodo goes back to the Shire, that Aragorn and Arwen get married, that Bilbo+crew go to the Undying Lands, that Sam has a gaggle of Gamgee hobbit children. There's no cool down! The story isn't over!

Aside from the fountain in Dalaran, nothing changes after we defeat the Lich King. I didn't go back downstairs afterward to Light's Hammer... was there some party that I missed my invitation to? What do Jaina, Muradin, and Varian have to say about his death? Sylvanas, Saurfang, Thrall?

What do Darion and his death knights do now that they've had their vengeance? Do they even feel that way? Maybe they're still burning with rage... or are they just empty now? Where does Tirion go, now that he's defeated one of the Light's greatest threats?

And oh gosh, where's Old Blanchy??? :( Shouldn't she have her own pasture in Westfall by now or something? I think she deserves it.

Maybe there will be a bunch of story updates in 3.3.5... but so far all I've heard about are the Ruby Sanctum, Real-ID, etc. At least now I know what was missing, feeling better about that. Now I know what I'm waiting for: the end of the story.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Ding, dong, the Lich is dead...

We finally killed him, the Lich King is dead!!!
Though the ending cinematic was cool, I did find it lacking... something. It needed a little more oomph. A sigh of relief that, yes, it really is over.

(Spoilers below, kinda... stop reading if you don't want to know the encounter.)
I think the best part of the encounter is when you're just a few percent away from the last phase... the raid is tired and straining, you're so close... and he casts an explosion that engulfs everyone. Your immediate reaction is AGH NO I DIED, even if you know what comes next. It's an instant flip from feeling awful to feeling awesome. The Lich King begins his monologue, very dramatic. He explains his evil plan... just in time for Tirion to burst out of his constraints, leaping over the Lich King, breaking Frostmourne in two? Pretty awesome. You can feel the astonishment of Arthas as he buckles over, "the lion before the lambs [that] do not fear.

They cannot fear."

Alt mailing.

I do a lot of mailing between my alts, as any altoholic would. Sometimes I'll be crafting something, sending materials between a few characters, and as I'm logging into the next character, I have this little twinge of panic, of "uh oh, did I send that to the right character?!"

I'm not sure why, as I've never actually found myself to have mis-mailed something after one of those pangs.