A Beer-Stained Journal ((Img heavy))

[Varethyn]

I was reading this out loud in a dwarven accent to get a better feel for it. Given the clip upside the head my brother gave me I guess I didn't do very well >_>
Anyway, another very good read. Can't wait to read these "interesting events"

[Lupis]

((I didn't lie when I said I wouldn't give this up. >.> I'm just really, REALLY lazy.))

Entry... number.

Meander made the journey back to the lodge pretty easy, though he was livin' up to his name alright. No ram can stop and graze as quickly as that damned beast. Nearly threw me off the saddle a few times. By the end of the trip he was stoppin' and startin' like some gnomish device, so I gave up and let him eat his fill. At first I was worried about lynxes gettin' him, but he proved that I was worryin' too much by kickin' one in the face. Hah. I chose the right ram.
The gnome was still workin' away on his new device, so I spent some time huntin' boars. Well, I was told to hunt bores, then kicked out into the wilderness. Not much choice involved there. Splotch had loads of fun, though, so I can't really go complainin'.



These boars are BIG. Must be all the food and the not-freezin'-to-death. With all the other bears around, they seemed pretty unsurprised to see Splotch chargin' them and easily evaded most of his attacks, but they sure didn't expect me.
By the time we got back, the gnome was ready. But, wouldn't ya know, he wasn't just going to ride around on his new and improved Sky Strider. No, he had to have his son pilot it. "He's the only one that will be good enough for my creation!"



Excuse me? That gnome, the one that crashed his plane? I'm surrounded by bloody great idiots! Not only was he an awful pilot, he was one sorry sack of fluorescent hair. Whinin' and cryin' 'bout how all the heroes were gone and nobody was there to help save Loch Modan from the Cult. Wait, the Cult? What Cult?



Oh. This Cult.
Usually I'm not one to attack unprovoked without any alcohol in my system, but they were tearin' up my land! Well, not my land, but land that I was standin' on and that's enough for any good dwarf. Splotch really hated 'em, too, tore 'em to little bloody Cult-y bits. Hmph, take that, un-pleasable gnome. How's that for a hero?
Apparently, it wasn't good enough. He kept on moanin' and then said that even with those cultists gone, there were still some nasty Cult ogres to the northeast. I wasn't particularly eager, but Splotch was. Guess he wanted to see what an ogre looked like.



Will ya look at that! Right over the hills was this massive glowin' structure. What the heck is goin' on over there? Isn't that Wildhammer territory? I vowed to ask someone later, but first things first, I had to deal with the ogres so the prissy little gnome would finally fly his pa's 'Strider.



I think Splotch was impressed by how big the ogres were - or maybe he just wanted to chew on their incredible amounts of lard. Either way, he was as excited as ever. I dunno how I'd ever get anythin' done without him draggin' me forward. It wasn't long before we were headin' back to Mr. Prissy Greenhair, smellin' like fat and blood.
To my great surprise, he was actually impressed - happy, even. Roused out of his mopin', he finally agreed to pilot the Sky Strider, and even invited me along for the first ride. Well, I wasn't exactly trustin' his flyin' ability, but it was a very impressive machine. I finally agreed.



…Ya know, if I train real hard, maybe I can become a professional thief and steal the Sky Strider for myself.
I had to part with my new metal love far too quickly. The hunters were shoutin' this and that about the Wetlands up to the north and Splotch had this crazy adventurin' look in his eyes, so before I knew it I was ridin' Meander towards the swamp. We made good time, though with Meander around that's really not sayin' much. He did speed up once, though, soon after we got ta the nearest camp in Wetlands… Though only because he saw some pretty girl ram.



What a showoff. He should know he's no match for that beast, the girl was all muscle, topped with a layer of metal. The best he'll get is a kick in the neck. I let him strut uselessly and headed off to check out the new land, Splotch by my side.



Y'know, if I was an elf, human, or really anything other than a dwarf, I'd comment on how the minglin' of danger an' beauty made an awfully nice balance. However, I'm a dwarf. So I shot the giant lizard and hauled it back to camp for food. Well, about half of it - Splotch was diving towards it and ripping off giant chunks. I think he's starting to eat more - maybe he's growin'. Good thing, too, he needs to.
The meal was greatly appreciated and the people at the camp decided that I was needed more at the human keep down the road, Menethil Harbor. They didn't really say why besides "Water problems". Through a lot of bribin', beggin', kickin', and swearin', I managed to drag Meander away from the other ram. He rode away extra fast, probably to show the other ram just how fast he was. Hah! He was slowed down back to a bumblin' trot-walk before we were even out of eyeshot.



Huh. Water problems is right.
There were lots of other people there helpin' out, so I just wandered past and found myself talkin' to some drunk sailor. He said that his ship had sunk and was now cursed, and all his friends were ghosts. Riiiight, and I'm a trogg's drinkin' buddy. He swore it was true, so I headed out just to prove he was stupid.
There were murlocs. Lots of murlocs. I had to clear them out before I could even see the boat.



Oh, come on! Why me?



Oh for the love of my liver… To top off the parent-slayin', the damned sailor was right. There were ghosts everywhere. Apparently they had some crazy artifact down in the sunk hull, and that was causin' the curse. I headed in to help - besides, it washed the innocent murloc parent blood off of me.
…Now, I know for a fact that Splotch is a male. These ghosts got a sense of humor, apparently, because they decided to turn him into… well, this.



Har. Har. Har.



Bloody fel! I grabbed the artifact and ran. Luckily, the curses faded as soon as we were away from the rest of the crew. I wanted to tell the sailor that I'd gotten the artifact, but I couldn't find him for the life of me. Then a priest got my attention, and when I told him what I was doin', he said that the sailor had been dead years. What in Magni's name was I talkin' to, then?! Bah! Menethil clearly had it out for me. I was out of there.
…And I was almost to Arathi Highlands when I saw this.



Gnolls in cages, surrounded by tons o' Dark Iron. Now, I'm definitely no friend of the gnolls, but they were all caged up! One even wailed at me when I was passin'. Splotch stopped short and wouldn't move until I approached the cage and busted the lock off, letting the gnoll out. It ran like it's life depended on it, and it probably did.
Now, really, what kind of dwarf am I? Freeing gnolls, of all things! I need a really, really strong drink after all this.
I turned back towards Arathi, and wouldn't you know, I was stopped again. By a bloody dragon. A bloody HUGE dragon.



Meander decided that he knew where to go and charged in a random direction, leavin' me clingin' on and hopin' that the dragon didn't chase us. Luckily he didn't, but that wasn't the last of the black dragon sightin's. There were whelps everywhere, fightin' - and dyin' to - a bunch o' Dragonmaw orcs. One of the poor little things was staggerin' through the air, surrounded by dead whelps, havin' just killed the orc that had attacked them.



It was not a very nice sight. We hurried on, and eventually came to a dwarf standin' on the road before the bridge to Arathi. He was in full battle armor and was lookin' mean.



It took me a minute, but I recognized him eventually. I was in the presence of a hero! He was surrounded by dead Dark Iron and gestured towards the nearby town - it was swarming with them. Then he asked me to clear out the town. I was happy to help a hero like him, though I could see that Splotch was gettin' a bit tired. I was pretty exhausted too, actually. But apparently, not quite as tired as Splotch. Once we were done, he lied down by a fire and refused to be roused.



Suppose that means I'll continue writin' later, then.

[Kamalia]

Yay, you are continuing with this! I was missing this journal.

Good update as always, Lupis!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yay you're still writing this. I love reading about this guy's journey. Splotch is adorable.

[Varethyn]

(Echoes the others.) Yay, good to see you still working on this Great entry, Meander's a silly little ram.

I'm jealous of your screenies D: Especially the threshadon and the baby murlocs.

[Lupis]

((I'm screenshot happy. >.> I usually end up with wayyyy too many screenshots, and usually three or four of the same event, if it's something in a fight. Oh, and sometimes I wait for the mob to respawn just to get a better picture of it. >.<
Oh, and the next update is going to be *tiny*. And here it is.))

Entry _____

Spendin' an entire night in a potentially dangerous house while listenin' to your only protector sleepin' away isn't all that it cracked up to be. Never been so jumpy in my life. Finally the lazy bear woke up, happy and energized. Well, at least that's one of us. We returned to Thargas and this time he had friends. He told us about some crazy Cult-Iron leaders on Thandol Span, and said it was time to fight 'em. And he wanted me to come along. Fightin' alongside a hero? Splotch was racin' towards the bridge before I could even nod my head. There was nobody there at first, but then all these crazy dwarves teleported in and lit the ends of the bridge on fire. No escapin'.



The leader o the culty-dwarves boasted his head off for a while. In the art of tootin' your own horn, he was the entire parade. Then, of course, they attacked. I was expectin' magic bolts and axe swings, but it was a bit louder than that.



I'm surprised the bloody bridge didn't come down! Splotch immediately charged the leader and we took him on while Thargas and the others kept the backup away. Before long, the bridge was clear - if probably permanently damaged. Well, it's seen worse. Thargas rewarded me with a load of gold, but I find that I'm not usin' gold much beyond buyin' ammo. I grabbed Meander and we headed north. At first I planned to stop at Arathi, but the entire ride all I saw was buzzards, spiders and raptors - not a single friendly face. I didn't see anyone until I arrived at Aerie Peak in the Hinterlands, home of the Wildhammer. I let Meander graze there and wandered out with Splotch to see the sights.



Splotch was seein' a lot more sights than I, because I was swarmed with wolves. Every time I'd get in a fight with one, he'd dash off after an interestin' smell or sound, leavin' me trailin' behind. Eventually he lead me to some sort of ruins, and I could see what was interestin' him - old troll ruins.



Or maybe not ruins after all. There were a bunch of trolls. I could see spiders around, though I didn't get too close. Splotch was wise, for once, and stayed pretty far back - I doubt even the troll scouts will see us thi

*The writing cuts off here, and there's a small spatter of blood on the bottom of the page.*

[Azunara]

Supense! You have one of your pictures wrong, though. The last one.

[Lupis]

Woops, you're right. Thanks!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Ack, cliffhanger!