Another ARCADIAN tale
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:04 am
I just loved my good friend and guildmate Theropodas story which is also on this forum and was driven to create one myself,
Its only a first draft and un-edited as you'll see but i hope its still readable please gives us feedback on it !
It was only just past mid-day when Starzein rode into the small valley she had seen from the cliff tops the day before.
The Valley itself was if anything uninspiring, it was surrounded on three sides by high cliffs pockmarked with caves and
had no real features that singled it out among the dozen or so other valleys that dotted the map within the same area ,
except this one was special, this was the valley Starzein had felt drawn too.
She had been on the road for four days searching after this place sent chasing a dream by her 'brother' the mighty Draenei Warrior Astralis,
It was Astralis who had raised Starzein after finding the small human girl abandoned on the shores of Azuremyst isle.It was Astralis who
finally shooed the eager young Hunter out of the Guild house four days previously when her chattering about the latest rumor bought
back by Kheidu of a great ancient cat had driven him almost to tears, 'The next time i hear you talk about that bloody cat Starz it better be to say see look at him'
Now she was here, this uninspired valley amongst the bucks and does the only predators a few stray worgs, there was nothing here to suggest
the presence of some great beast , except Starzein knew this was right, it was her hunters instincts that told her there were not enough worgs here for the prey,
No something else called this valley home.
Starzein set up a base camp and began building a blind she could hide herself behind away from the wind so her smell would not alert the animals
and was almost finished when she noticed the party that had been following her for the past day had somehow found the path down to the valley she had first
seen them and had just assumed they were traveling through but now to be here coming into this place from which there is no exit save going back the way they came
and if this weren't enough to gave her reason to be alarmed the make-up of the party was. Astralis had drilled Starzein on how to recognize a class from a distance,
be it the way they move through the landscape or the way they start their nighttime fire, knowing your enemy Astralis would say is 1/2 the battle won.
Starzein could see coming into the valley orc ,forsaken and a tauren, one a rouge one a palli and a mage,If she were to guess their intent she would have to say to kill,
they have no hunter to trap no cage for carrying a body, this was a team put together to kill someone and they were coming towards her.
Starzein looked at her options She knew what Astralis would tell her about the rogue, he was the biggest threat to her if he could get close, she thought of the
time she watched the guild master Rogue Shadis creep up on her brother to steal a coin from his hand all without being seen or felt. for the rogue then she needed her back against the wall and the caves in the rock wall would provide that and maybe a place for her to set a trap, the mage well again the mage can move fast can be in one place then another in the blink of an eye she would need a small area to counter that, the caves were looking better and better.
She thought about the Pally, Astralis never talked about pallies he could list a thousand ways to kill every other class but he never talked about the pallies, Starzein looked at the pallies she knew, Astralis's two best friends, the guild leader Fogone and Kylandread, Fogone was a healer without par Kyl though stood shoulder to shoulder with Astralis on the front lines a powerhouse and master swordsman, this didn't help either she had to remove the pallie first to stop him healing his partners or avoid him altogether, oh why could Astralis have not shown her how to see the difference if she guessed wrong here it could be the end of her, she picked up her weapons and her backpack and ran towards the caves her first thought to have solid walls around her still seemed the best.
She paused just long enough at the entrance to the cave to set a trap, it would be difficult to go around with the mouth of the cave being smaller than the inside but it was also hard for her to conceal what she had done in the dust and rocks, the two other traps set inside the darkness of the cave though were invisible even to her after she had them in place, with a few hours before the three horde would be upon her Stars walked blindly into the deep recesses of the cave hoping to find cover she could shoot from as her eyes adjusted and then she felt it, she was not alone here.
First a sniff loud in the darkness but unmistakable something big was smelling her out forgetting the danger from the horde and without even being fully aware she was speaking, Starzein began to whisper, strange melodic words filled the cave a resonating tone that ebbed and flowed with the words now more a song from the lips of Starzein and the
beast began to waver, the sniff again now less urgent and a wimper, now a purr and the great Lion the fabled Sambas visible now that starzeins eyes had adjusted, He was more beautiful than she could have imagined and though his legend was lifetimes old he looked as young as vibrant as any Two year old Kitten .Starzein smiled she had very little magic
enough to maybe heal her pets or use her hearthstone to get back to the guildhouse even a warrior like Astralis had more magics to use than she but this, he could not do magic that allowed one to bond with these animals this was the real magic she thought This was why she was called Beast-Master
It was the sound of her trap being activated that bought Starzein around and the rogue caught in her wall of ice had lost his attempt at surprise, but starzein could already see (and hear) the cracks in the ice block, the rogue must have some amulet that is breaking the trap but not before she can dive behind a rock and get a shot off , the rogue still slow from being frozen then stumbles into the second trap which explodes and Starzein sees the huge bulk of Sambas as he leaps to attack. A fire ball from the cave entrance hits the flank of the great lion and She looks across at the mage , no longer worried about her chances now she unleashes on the horde her fury not at being attacked but at this vile thing that dared to attack Sambas,
She fires and screams then feels the mace as it hits her back, the pally, only a glancing blow but she should have heard it coming she rolls and turns to see if she can get a shot off enough to get her distance from the enemy she stupidly forgot the one who got behind her , but before she can fire Sambas now finished with the rogue and as upset at seeing her hit as she was at seeing the mage attack Him jumps clear over her head and into the face of the forsaken, Starzein sees the mage now running away from the horror the ambush has become and coldly tracks him for a moment then finishes his flight with a single well aimed shot through the heart.
Starzein and Sambas didnt stay long in the valley after the battle they took time to make a crude scratching in the wall to let others know what happened here why the bones of three horde
can be found in this little cave in an otherwise quiet valley but even with that they didn't waste time the message was a simple one her name and a little saying she had heard continually growing up on the wall she scratched the guild flag and wrote 'Starzein was here, ARCADIANS FTW'
Its only a first draft and un-edited as you'll see but i hope its still readable please gives us feedback on it !
It was only just past mid-day when Starzein rode into the small valley she had seen from the cliff tops the day before.
The Valley itself was if anything uninspiring, it was surrounded on three sides by high cliffs pockmarked with caves and
had no real features that singled it out among the dozen or so other valleys that dotted the map within the same area ,
except this one was special, this was the valley Starzein had felt drawn too.
She had been on the road for four days searching after this place sent chasing a dream by her 'brother' the mighty Draenei Warrior Astralis,
It was Astralis who had raised Starzein after finding the small human girl abandoned on the shores of Azuremyst isle.It was Astralis who
finally shooed the eager young Hunter out of the Guild house four days previously when her chattering about the latest rumor bought
back by Kheidu of a great ancient cat had driven him almost to tears, 'The next time i hear you talk about that bloody cat Starz it better be to say see look at him'
Now she was here, this uninspired valley amongst the bucks and does the only predators a few stray worgs, there was nothing here to suggest
the presence of some great beast , except Starzein knew this was right, it was her hunters instincts that told her there were not enough worgs here for the prey,
No something else called this valley home.
Starzein set up a base camp and began building a blind she could hide herself behind away from the wind so her smell would not alert the animals
and was almost finished when she noticed the party that had been following her for the past day had somehow found the path down to the valley she had first
seen them and had just assumed they were traveling through but now to be here coming into this place from which there is no exit save going back the way they came
and if this weren't enough to gave her reason to be alarmed the make-up of the party was. Astralis had drilled Starzein on how to recognize a class from a distance,
be it the way they move through the landscape or the way they start their nighttime fire, knowing your enemy Astralis would say is 1/2 the battle won.
Starzein could see coming into the valley orc ,forsaken and a tauren, one a rouge one a palli and a mage,If she were to guess their intent she would have to say to kill,
they have no hunter to trap no cage for carrying a body, this was a team put together to kill someone and they were coming towards her.
Starzein looked at her options She knew what Astralis would tell her about the rogue, he was the biggest threat to her if he could get close, she thought of the
time she watched the guild master Rogue Shadis creep up on her brother to steal a coin from his hand all without being seen or felt. for the rogue then she needed her back against the wall and the caves in the rock wall would provide that and maybe a place for her to set a trap, the mage well again the mage can move fast can be in one place then another in the blink of an eye she would need a small area to counter that, the caves were looking better and better.
She thought about the Pally, Astralis never talked about pallies he could list a thousand ways to kill every other class but he never talked about the pallies, Starzein looked at the pallies she knew, Astralis's two best friends, the guild leader Fogone and Kylandread, Fogone was a healer without par Kyl though stood shoulder to shoulder with Astralis on the front lines a powerhouse and master swordsman, this didn't help either she had to remove the pallie first to stop him healing his partners or avoid him altogether, oh why could Astralis have not shown her how to see the difference if she guessed wrong here it could be the end of her, she picked up her weapons and her backpack and ran towards the caves her first thought to have solid walls around her still seemed the best.
She paused just long enough at the entrance to the cave to set a trap, it would be difficult to go around with the mouth of the cave being smaller than the inside but it was also hard for her to conceal what she had done in the dust and rocks, the two other traps set inside the darkness of the cave though were invisible even to her after she had them in place, with a few hours before the three horde would be upon her Stars walked blindly into the deep recesses of the cave hoping to find cover she could shoot from as her eyes adjusted and then she felt it, she was not alone here.
First a sniff loud in the darkness but unmistakable something big was smelling her out forgetting the danger from the horde and without even being fully aware she was speaking, Starzein began to whisper, strange melodic words filled the cave a resonating tone that ebbed and flowed with the words now more a song from the lips of Starzein and the
beast began to waver, the sniff again now less urgent and a wimper, now a purr and the great Lion the fabled Sambas visible now that starzeins eyes had adjusted, He was more beautiful than she could have imagined and though his legend was lifetimes old he looked as young as vibrant as any Two year old Kitten .Starzein smiled she had very little magic
enough to maybe heal her pets or use her hearthstone to get back to the guildhouse even a warrior like Astralis had more magics to use than she but this, he could not do magic that allowed one to bond with these animals this was the real magic she thought This was why she was called Beast-Master
It was the sound of her trap being activated that bought Starzein around and the rogue caught in her wall of ice had lost his attempt at surprise, but starzein could already see (and hear) the cracks in the ice block, the rogue must have some amulet that is breaking the trap but not before she can dive behind a rock and get a shot off , the rogue still slow from being frozen then stumbles into the second trap which explodes and Starzein sees the huge bulk of Sambas as he leaps to attack. A fire ball from the cave entrance hits the flank of the great lion and She looks across at the mage , no longer worried about her chances now she unleashes on the horde her fury not at being attacked but at this vile thing that dared to attack Sambas,
She fires and screams then feels the mace as it hits her back, the pally, only a glancing blow but she should have heard it coming she rolls and turns to see if she can get a shot off enough to get her distance from the enemy she stupidly forgot the one who got behind her , but before she can fire Sambas now finished with the rogue and as upset at seeing her hit as she was at seeing the mage attack Him jumps clear over her head and into the face of the forsaken, Starzein sees the mage now running away from the horror the ambush has become and coldly tracks him for a moment then finishes his flight with a single well aimed shot through the heart.
Starzein and Sambas didnt stay long in the valley after the battle they took time to make a crude scratching in the wall to let others know what happened here why the bones of three horde
can be found in this little cave in an otherwise quiet valley but even with that they didn't waste time the message was a simple one her name and a little saying she had heard continually growing up on the wall she scratched the guild flag and wrote 'Starzein was here, ARCADIANS FTW'
Eagerly awaiting your next installment!!! And indeed, ARCADIANS ftw!!!