Happy "Speak Like a Pirate" Day!
See this guy? Yeah, him, Mr. black dragonflight. His name is Serinar and he is a jerk. You can find this SoB in the Obsidian Dragonshrine in Dragonblight, Northrend. Nalice at the Wyrmrest Temple sends you to him and you have to fight your way in just to say hello. Here's a brief summary of our interaction: Me: Yo, s'up, Nalice sent me. Serinar: Puny mortal I've crushed civilizations, you're...hmm...maybe you can help me. If you scout around in this molten, lava infested cave I'll give you this gold. Me: Gold, that all you got? We're talking lava here... S: ...I'll also give you another task when you're done. Me: and that task will be to return to Nalice at the nice, safe, top of Wyrmrest, right? S: sure, now go- *cast's spell to make me look like a cultist so I can wander without being attacked.* Me: wait, why do you need me if you can just create a disguise? I mean, does it only work on mortals? Or- S: It only lasts for 10 minutes... Me: Fine, I'm going. -9 1/2 minutes later- Me: *back from scouting* Damn, this is a big cave full of unfriendlies. Well, now you know what's in here, I'll just be going- S: You're next task is to kill 10 of henchmen-A and 8 of henchmen-B. Me: um, okay... S: You'll get more gold, now go! -9 minutes later, I've fought my way to the back of the monstrous, lava-filled cave._ Me: *yelling* HEY Serinar, there's a guy with a name back here [different from generic henchmen-A & B] You want I should kill him while I'm here? S: No, just finish your task and return to me. -8 minutes later- Me *sweating a bit, with a few scrapes and cuts.* Alright, Those nasty henchmen are dead. You're welcome. S: Now you need to go all the way to the back of the cave again and light these fires, they'll attract the bats that'll eat the flowers growing in the lava; they power the magick of the bad guys. Me: *sigh* oookkaayyy...can I get that nifty disguise again so I don't have to fight my way all the way back there? S: No, now go! Me: ggrrrr... *mutters* this deal's getting worse all the time. -7 minutes later, I've once again fought my way to the back of the monstrous, lava-filled cave.- Me: *yelling louder* HEY Serinar, this guy is STILL here [he's got a name, so he has to be important in some way] He's right here, I can kill him on my way back, easy-peasy...please? S: Leave him be. Finish your task and return to me. Me: I've got a bad feeling about this. - 9 minutes later - Me: *sweat drips down my plate armor, the two huge axes droop heavy in my green, orcish hands.* Ok...*pant, pant* Lit the fires, attracted the bats, flowers are gone. Serinar, it's been nice knowing you- S: One more task before you leave this cave. Me: *very heavy sigh* I can't finish the quest line without doing this, right? I'll just have this quest sitting in my Quest Log for years staring at the one I didn't complete. Nalice will be waiting for me to return for the rest of eternity, right? S: *nods* Me: then what is it? S: I need you to go back into the depths of the cave and kill that guy with the name. Me....What? *stares at Serinar* I ran past him 3 times, I could have killed him at any of those opportunities. We both knew he was a bad guy. Probably the leader of all the Henchmen in here...why in gods name did you not have me kill him then?! S: *blinks* I need you to go back into the depths of the cave and kill that guy with the name. Me: F-I-N-E GGGRRRRRRaaaaaarrrrrrggggggg - 10 minutes later I'm back in the deepest part of the cave, having killed 20 bad guys just to get back here again, because all the ones I killed before respawned and are here AGAIN for my killing pleasure.- Rothin the Decaying (Guy with the Name) - Halt intruder, how dare you- GAA- Me: Die! DIE YOU annoying..stupi...gaaa...just DIE!!!! Rothin the Decaying: *dies* - 9 minutes later- Me: *tosses his head at Serinar's feet.* Here, I'm leaving, give me the quest to leave this god forsaken cave. S: Thank you brave warrior for completing these tasks, here's some gold, you can choose from this assorted, level appropriate armor I just happen to have lying around. Here's the letter to take to Nalice. Oh, and you're going to have to fight your way back out of the cave. Me: GGGAAAAAAA!!!1! *presses Esc key* *"Exit Game"* *Flips Table* I offer a book review. This was one of my favorite WoW books, and I have most certainly enjoyed previous books set in (and around) Azeroth. Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, The Shattering, Arthas, Rise of the Horde- in all of these books as well as in Tides of War, Christie Golden has done a wonderful job both walking in the world and expanding the Lore. She also gives us unique moments of connection, for those of us who play the game. The use of and description of spells, the roles and use of Druids in their animal forms and hunter's pets helped me better visualize the game and feel more connected to it. One of these moments came when hunter's pets were used to find people buried in the rubble after a battle. It's a natural use of animals we see every day, but for some reason seemed so novel in the world of Azeroth. Also, Druids stealthed = pretty fricken scary. I don't know if Ms. Golden, herself, plays or just consults with those who do, but she has an excellent handle on what it is like to live on Azeroth. The story was wonderful and I definitely got to the point in the book where I did not want to put it down. The characters were well rounded and stayed true to them as I've come to know them through in-game interaction and other Warcraft novels. There were those moments when I had to walk away to eat or use the restroom where I argued with the characters, yelling at them to just, for the love of god, put 2 and 2 together! Or bargained with them to not do what they were about to do. Needless to say I found myself emotionally invested and may have gotten a little dust in my eye at a few points. Woot for blue! -is all I have to say. p.s. I also want to punch Garrosh in the face. (I mean, I kind of did before, but I really want to now. ) Makes me a little sadder to be Horde at heart. Vol'Jin's my boy, but there is going to come a time real soon he's going to have to put his big girl panties on.) Now I can't wait for, and also dread, the forthcoming Theramore event. I've already visited the characters in game as they are now and it is such a wonderful thing to know more about them and feel like we are running around with epic characters. We play across Azeroth as it is in a static way between world events and so when change occurs I definitely feel it. I'm more than just hitting buttons and clicking on targets...I'm participating in story and lore. Thank you Christie Golden and thank you Blizzard for tears and cheers!
I recently wandered through some lower level dungeons on mount runs and ended the day at Magister's Terrace on the Isle of Quel'Danas. I did not get any new mounts, but as we contemplated the flight path I thought..."why not?" and clicked on Booty Bay. It took me 14 minutes (flight paths are sped up by a Guild Perk) and it took my friend 18 minutes-ish. While flying I "alt-z"ed it and grabbed screenshots of the best of the Eastern Kingdoms, as seen from the back of a Dragonhawk. And thus was my beautiful trip across a continent. The world Blizzard created is beautiful and wondrous. Can't wait to see Pandaria.
I found this online and had to share. It is just stunning and I hope I can experience this. It really opens up so many movie and entertainment options. I mean, how many would love to be a part of such an immersive experience? Or, imagine it for your favorite video game...say World of Warcraft. Think of it: a tour of Azeroth or a Deathwing Encounter. Battling on the spine IRL-ish. Just so cool, I love to see such creative projects - always gives me hope in the power of imagination.
Last night I participated in the It came from the Blog's Flamefest event. I've only participated in one before this, where we protested the living by walking from Undercity to ended up at the gates of Stormwind... you can imagine how this peaceful protest went...we were dead, undead. But it was a lot of fun. For this one we met at Thunderbluff, took the zeppelin to Orgrimmar and then took the zeppelin to Undercity and THEN portalled to Silvermoon. There we started the systematic honoring of all of the Eastern Kingdom Midsummer flames. We had two rules: - Stay on the Road - Protect the lowbies Roblinator led our band of arsoni...I mean celebrants. Here she is getting down before the event started. Next to her is a pic of us celebrating after an honoring. We ran with the lowbies until Arathi Highlands, and at Hammerfall we began taking wind riders (taxis) to the rest of the locations. We ended on the beaches of Stranglethorn, just outside of Booty Bay. It was fun and I look forward to the next It came from the Blog event! We may have, at one point, slipped over into Alliance territory and desecrated a flame...this might be a picture of us on the run after we flagged ourselves. No one grief-ed us, thankfully. Big news...I have returned to my Troll roots, woot woot! And so, while leveling through Outlands I came across this quest. Any of the quests that are conscientious of the animals in game as animals always makes me smile. Here we have Agadai, a Wind Rider Apprentice, and he's letting me know that they are running low on Wind Riders. He's a good apprentice because he's worried about the Wind Riders under his care (overworked = exhaustion = potential death!) So, he has me fly from one end of Outlands to the other to see if they have more Wind Riders down in Shadowmoon Valley. And now that I think about it, I had my own Wind Rider (which I take excellent care of, naturally) but, instead, I took the taxi down to Shadowmoon . . . possibly exacerbating the problem. I must not have made the argument well enough, or, maybe, Dama Wildmane didn't buy my sincerity since I had taken a taxi when I had a perfectly good Wind Rider of my own. That, or she's just a jerk. Either way, she did not seem concerned at my request. But the moral of the story is: we need more Wind Riders in Outlands, Stat! I wonder what's the gestation period for Wind Riders, what's the average litter size? Are females easier to work with than males? Why are they having trouble breeding them? Is it a matter of not enough trainers? Now that is something worth investigating, why are they having trouble making more, are populations OK in Azeroth? It'll be alright, Pejeta (Troll Hunter) is on the case. So, life got a little busy and a little hectic and I have obviously turned my attention away from here for six fricken months. I will be coming back when Mists of Pandaria drops, well a little bit before so I can experience the lead in story. I am excited at some of the animals I'm seeing from the beta (otters, cranes, more turtles!). I myself am not in the beta (and sincerely do not have time), but I am excited to experience the new upcoming content and story. So, that is all for the moment.
Lok'tar ogar, friends! -Banya Fun fact: VENDING MACHINES kill more people a year than sharks. VENDING MACHINES! So... I'm sensing a new line of pets – grouped into: small appliance, vending machines and then large construction equpment. It would kind of be like that Stephen King short story “Trucks” about vehicles that come to life, except we would tame them and control them from afar. Maybe this is a goblin or gnome specialization. Or, since gnomes can’t be hunters, this is what they get as an equivalent. Couldn't you just see a blender disarming someone, or a microwave AOE-ing with its face-melting radiation or a toaster developing A.I. and then taking the fight back to the human race who created them, all while the human race struggles to understand both their past and hope for the future? Yeah, good times. Vending machines could be both ranged DPS (see 7-up comercial) and a Tanking pet. And for PVP you could use them for line of sight mechanics. I sense a lot of potential, I hope Blizzard is listening... _For me, Zoo Keeping is wonderfully rewarding, fun, and a heck of a lot of work. It doesn't help that I work with poop machines. Thankfully they are herbivore poop machines and so it really doesn't smell that bad. You want foul smelling feces - look to the carnivores, anything that eats meat (especially fowl) has some nasty poop. Though they tend to eat less in poundage, and so poop less.
Huh, I really didn't meant to turn this into an excrement discussion. I do help pick up about 1,200lbs of poop, leftover hay and dirt, a day, so it is kind of pertinent. And it is also the reason I don't currently need a gym membership. I can wield a pitchfork with the best of them! p.s. the only place to currently get a pitchfork is in the Death Knight start area - the citizens of Havenshire drop them. It is, sadly, a grey item and so not available for Transmog. I've created a few Death Knights just to get some of these trusty farm tools. Never the less, cleaning is a hefty part of the day, and we do clean every enclosure for our guys every day. We compost the poop in the back and then use the fertilizer in the park. We also feed them - mostly hay, some grain and the Black rhinos really love their fruits and vegetables. We go though about 8-10 bales of hay a day and 80lbs of grain overall. Each rhino has their own personality and it is so much fun to get to know them. They also get to know you, a little, and they respond differently to the different keepers. They enjoy rubs under the chin or on their backs and a good mud hole is no to be missed. They are virtual mud puppies (it's how they cool off, since they can't swim. It's also sunscreen, bug repellant and moisturizer all rolled into one wet, sloppy package.) We use positive reinforcement training to train mostly husbandry behaviors - behaviors that facilitate our care and maintenance of them. They come to their names, line up so we can inspect them for injuries or draw blood or do ultrasounds (all without sedation - though you do need a bucket of tasty treats or alfalfa, a sweet hay, as a focus for their attention.) The day usually goes - arrive, check on everybody, shift, clean and feed. Training sessions can happen during the shifts (where we move them from one yard to another. Rhinos tend to have pretty mellow personalities, but they are still 1,000s of pounds and we do not go in with them. It's a safety thing. I'm down with it.) Weighing and any planned medical procedures usually happen in conjunction with shifting. You look every animal over, making sure they are moving right, are injury free, their poop looks normal, their food consumption is normal, and their inter-rhino interactions are normal. Once out, and on display, we clean some more and have our guest interactions. Whether it is on the pathways or during behind the scenes tours it is fun to share our animal knowledge and spread the message of conservation. I've had some great conversations with fellow animal enthusiasts. Days can start early (before dawn) or end late (practically into the next day.) And if something special, like a birth, is expected, we might even work overnights. The zoo is definitely different, and a little spooky at night, when everyone has gone home. I will end on this - it is such an amazing experience to be standing out in an open plain, interesting animals I've helped have a better life grazing near by with lions roaring in the distance (or, even better, Hyena's whooping into the early morning haze.) Animals are noisy, and their vocalizations can be heard all over the zoo. So, while I may work with just rhinos, I am immersed in the wildlife from all corners of this amazing world. And that makes my world, just a little more amazing. |
AuthorI'm a zoo keeper. I currently work with Rhinos and it is awesome. -Banya Archives
February 2015
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