In a nutshell, things have gone to hell for me yet again. After circumstances led to it being necessary for me to move out from where I was living I’ve had to make an unexpected drive of 800 miles to leave my cats with my dad to take care of for a while. After that I will be staying with someone kind enough to offer me a bed for the next month until I make the move myself. Where I will be staying there is no internet. So I will be out of game and offline for the foreseeable future.

I have one more Ithrene story snippet in my head based on an event in game if my stress level will let me actually write but I don’t guarantee anything.

So for now, I will be off tending to my crappy life and will hopefully get to return to something resembling stability before Christmas.

Thanks to my friends, my readers, and everyone that has touched my life recently through WoW and beyond.

<3 Nau

She thumped up the stairs to her second story room anxious to drop off her small pack and pick up her towel and a change of clothing. She stepped in to find a red haired dwarven woman turn away from the window and rake her with her gaze.

“Well woul’ ye look wha’ th’ cat dragged in.” The woman crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “Ye look like ‘ell.”

Ithrene felt her face burn and her hands begin to shake. “Wha’ are YE doin’ ‘ere. In my room!”

The woman looked around and wrinkled her nose. “So is tha’ wha’ ye call it? Looks like a slum t’ me. Y’r lucky ye ain’ got fleas from it yet.”

Ithrene grit her teeth and clenched her hands. She absolutely refused to admit to her sister that this place was all she could afford at the time. “Say y’r piece, Arlene then be on y’r way. Ah got thin’s t’ do.”

Arlene sighed dramatically giving the room one last slashing look. “Pap sent me t’ check on ye. Nobody ‘cept Evelene ‘as ‘eard from ye an’ Evvie said th’ las’ time she saw ye, ye showt up on ‘er stoop black an’ blue.”

“Well ye c’n see Ah’m fine,” she planted her hands on her hips and squared her feet as if preparing for a fight. She felt like she was, which was a familiar feeling when she conversed with her older sister. “Ye c’n go back an’ report an’ leave me be.”

“Fine? Oh, aye. Y’r fine a’righ’. Livin’ inna fleabag, comin’ in scorched an’ smellin’ o’ Dark Irons, an’ tumblin’ onto y’r sister’s stoop black an’ blue an’ barely able t’ stan’. Aye, y’r fine, Ah’m sure! Ah though’ tha’ mongrel there was goin’ t’ be some sort o’ guard.” She waved a dismissive hand at KaeAskavi who stood just outside the doorway fidgeting.

“Kae’s no mongrel!” Ithrene advanced on Arlene, fists clenched at her sides. “An’ ye go’ no righ’ comin’ in here an’ insultin’ ‘im like tha’!”

Arlene stared at her a moment wide-eyed before putting up her hands. “Y’r righ’. Ah’m sorry. Ah shoulna’ said tha’. Ah’m sure ‘e’s a good bear.”

Ithrene sighed, still shaking but her anger quickly turning to shame and frustration. “Ye knoo’ how Ah’m doin’ now. Ye bes’ go.”

“Nae wit’oot ye.” Arlene picked up a pack from the floor and stomped toward the door. Ithrene heard her armor jingling beneath her tabard. “Ah promised pap Ah’d make sure ye were takin’ care o’ an’ Ah’d rather face y’r wrath than Pap’s! C’mon.”

“Wha’ ye mean ‘c’mon’,” Ithrene snarled as Arlene pushed her way out the door and past Kae. “This is m’ room an’ ah’m goin’ t’ go get a bath an’ take me a nap!”

Arlene laughed, her hearty voice carrying back through the open doorway. “Ain’ y’r room nae more. Pap sen’ coin an’ Ah used it t’ get us a decent place oot’ in Canal Distric’. Room f’r both o’ us an’ y’r bear. Ah already had y’r stuff moved.”

The sound of her heavy boots clomping down the rickety stairs sounded so final to Ithrene. She felt her heart sink as will deflated and she meekly followed her older sister out of the building. Kae sensing his mistress’ mood plodded as close to her as he could, rumbling comforting sounds. All she ever wanted was her own life. She thought she had achieved that finally and now, once more, her eldest sister was dragging her around by the ear telling her what to do. She sighed. It seemed some things couldn’t be gotten away from as easily as she thought.

I decided to re-race a character. Simple process really. Go pay the fee, choose the character, log in and find the magic button that actually performs the action next to the character on the login screen. Piece of cake!

So I go in, pay my fee, choose my character, finalize and off I go to log in!

TO FIND THAT THE MAGIC “CHANGE ME” BUTTON IS NEXT TO ITHRENE!!! NOOOOOOO!!! Dun wanna change the dwarf!

Think Nau! Don’t touch anything! Ooo! There’s an 800 number. Quick, its still early! CALL!

So I dial up the number and there is a 45 minute wait just to talk to someone. /sigh. So I put the phone on speaker, and putter around with other things and chat. During this time my poor little brain overworks itself almost to a frenzy. What if they won’t let me fix it? What if they CAN’T fix it? I’ve just wasted my chance to re-race that character! Oh noes!!!!

So I wait and wait and wait and chew on my nails and fuss and whine at my friends and wait some more.

FINALLY a customer service agent comes on the phone. I will call him T.

So by this point I am completely whiny and scared that something is going to happen to Ith and not to the one I intended and I immediately start babbling my tale of woe to T. It seems T is used to fussy gamers babbling and crying and whining at him because he quickly understood what the blazes I was saying, found the issue, and said “I can help you with that.”

Really?

So he starts explaining what he can do to fix it. Because I wisely did not touch that magic button AT ALL mind you! Because once you touch that magic button, game over! Now honestly, I don’t remember all of what was said, I was happily babbling at him in giddy relief now, telling him all about the new gnome (more on that later). But it involved refunding the transaction and clearing it off the account. And something about he needed to get some sort of approval and this and that. I pretty much figured it was going to be a couple days until everything was done and I could complete the intended process.

So I asked him about it. You know what he said? “You’ve been so nice and waited on hold a whole hour, I sure would like to be able to help you out tonight. Let me see what I can do to get this all finished for you.”

AND… to make a long story short (too late)… he did. Everything was resolved in probably about 20 minutes, I was able to go back and re-do the transaction and get the change done and even play my new gnome for a while before bed.

All of that thanks to T. He worked so hard, was so polite and friendly and did such an incredibly awesome job.

Thanks T. You really deserve a raise.

<3 Nau

PS- click the pictures to see them full size! ))

KaeAskavi, the huge white bear that followed her and was her closest companion, ambled over and leaned heavily against her. She absently dug her fingers into his ruff to scratch him. He growled in pleasure and let his eyes drift shut. The room seemed considerably smaller with both him and Cubby, Kae’s offspring, there but she wouldn’t make them sleep out in the street. It wasn’t right. And Cubby was still too young to understand danger. He might just amble off after the first weirdo he saw and she’d never see him again. She missed the big room she’d had at the manor but there were so few others there anymore. Many of the rooms had dust covers draped over the furniture, the windows shuttered and locked. It just seemed…. Abandoned. Sad. Even the Lady had left. Gone off to become a Warmage.

Perhaps that was part of what contributed to Ithrene’s loneliness lately. A home that used to bustle with friends and family, used to be filled with laughter and friendly voices, now just echoed. Some of the staff still remained and were friendly enough, but never seemed to warm up completely with those who fought. Their reverence always made Ithrene nervous though the Lady seemed to take it in stride.

Then she met the Boomsticks. She had known Fjuinen for some time already. And the sound of his voice always sent a curious little shiver down her spine. When he mentioned the Boomsticks tavern she thought that might be a good place to catch sight of him more often. Though she couldn’t bring herself to talk to him for very long. She always got so nervous and ended up rambling on about Kae.

But when she arrived that first time at the pub she realized quickly that she didn’t just feel comfortable among them, but welcome as well. They treated her with respect despite her youth and were quite friendly. She found herself returning less often to see Fjuinen and more just to enjoy the company of all of the Boomsticks. They even put up with Kae and his nasty bear odors.

Then something happened that completely knocked the wind out of her. She heard the Boomsticks were gathering someplace called Shadowmoon Valley. She had contacts in Shattrath City already through some creative work with a mage and knew it was on Draenor so she set out to join them. Not entirely sure she would be able to, due to her lack of experience. However she did manage to get close enough and when Fjuinen found out she was coming, rushed out to pick her up on his mammoth and carry her to Wildhammer Stronghold. Her heart still fluttered a little about that!

A few of the Boomsticks seemed surprised that she actually made it there in one piece and after seeing some of the things that wandered that dark, acrid valley, Ithrene was a bit surprised herself. However with a laugh, Corise handed her a mug when she arrived and said, “Gal your age willin’ to come all the way out to Shadowmoon Valley for the sake o’ boozin’ it up with us… ya got a standin’ invitation to the Boomsticks any time ya want, far’s I’m concerned.”

It was all she could do to keep from asking for a tabard right then and there. She spent the rest of the evening feeling like she was floating. Later as she thought about it she wondered how serious Corise had been though. After all Ithrene was young, unskilled and Corise had been drinking pretty heavily. But Ithrene clung to that feeling of belonging letting it warm her heart for days afterward.

Even after they invited her to listen in to their channel on the buzzbox, she began to doubt the sincerity of the offer. What would they want with her? She had nothing to offer. Maybe after they learned more about her or after she gained more skills and experience she could be one of them. Perhaps Corise just meant that she could apply when she had gained more skills. That made a great deal more sense to Ithrene.

Until Homrend firmly reiterated the same message over the buzzbox channel. The leader of the Boomsticks himself said that! She felt giddy all over. But still she wondered what she could offer. There were so many who were so much more skilled than she. So much stronger and tougher.

Of course she never let her lack of experience stand in the way of other things. That was precisely what happened the night she ended up stumbling to her sister’s doorstep looking for a place to sleep. During a gathering at the pub a box that had been left there was opened and found to contain a bloody and tattered Boomstick tabard. After some discussion and a determination of whom it belonged to, a group decided to head out to Light’s Hope Chapel to look for Salakayin. She immediately volunteered. She couldn’t, in good conscience, stand aside when one of the Boomsticks was in trouble.

Perhaps volunteering for such a mission hadn’t been the wisest thing she’d ever done. She didn’t fully understand half of what went on except that a Boomstick was hurt and some human female “paladin” seemed to be the cause. Though she’d never seen a human strong enough to toss around so many Boomsticks before. Foolishly (her Pap would say) Ithrene jumped into the fray and found herself thrown aside like nothing so much as a cheap rag doll. She liked to think she at least provided a distraction so someone else could take her down.

Unlikely, but a little daydreaming never hurt. However she had gotten pretty battered in the process. Her mail armor wasn’t up to that kind of beating. The healers had clucked and fussed at her when they found out the story and she’d growled at them until they let her leave after they bandaged up the worst of it. She should have known she would get the same treatment from her sister.

What shocked her most were Homrend’s parting words to her as she clutched her hearthstone to depart. “Lass, y’r now an honorary Boomstick f’r what ye done tonight.”

Ithrene wiped at moisture creeping from her eyes as she continued to stare out the window at the Boomstick Tavern. She could never tell him how much those words meant to her. These Boomsticks were becoming as important to her as family. Maybe she really did belong with them. Maybe it wasn’t all about what she could do for them, but how she fit with them. And how much she cared. She knew she would do anything for the Boomsticks. Maybe that’s all that was needed.

She smiled as she wrapped one arm around Kae and hugged his huge head close. He rumbled affectionately and nuzzled his mistress. “Ah thin’ Ah foun’ us a new family, Kae. Ah really thin’ Ah have.”

“So y’r finally awake, eh?” She turned her aching head slowly to the sound of her sister’s voice as she approached the bed. Evelene shook her head and set a steaming mug on the table beside the bed. “Damned healer n’er shoul’ ha’ let ye leave th’ temple las’ nigh’. Ah’m still worried ‘bout tha’ lump on y’r noggin.”

Ithrene rubbed at her crusty eyes and slowly sat up, using the gesture to hide her grimace of pain. Normally she would stay in bed and rest off the beating she’d taken the day before but she didn’t really want her older sister fussing over her today. “Ah’m fine. T’weren’ tha’ bad, really.”

“Nae tha’ bad??!!” Evvie rounded on her and pointed an accusing finger at her. “Y’r eye is still swollen an’ y’r lucky ye din’ lose it! Ye coulnae har’ly stan’ when ye showed up a’ m’door an’ tha’ was AFTER they was done healin’ ye! An’ ye spen’ all nigh’ hollerin’ ‘bout demons an’ undead an’ th’ like, thrashin’ aboot in y’r sleep!”

With a shrug, Ithrene reached for the steaming mug and sipped at the soothing brew within. “Happens sometimes,” she muttered.

Evvie snorted. “Seems t’ be happenin’ t’ ye a lot lately.”

“Ye dun knoo’ wha’ its like oot’ there, Evvie,” she said after several moments and drinking down most of the brew. “There’s battles t’ be fough’ and folks t’ figh’ f’r an’ protect.”

“Ye dun thin’ Ah understan’ tha’?” She replied very quietly, her face drawing up angrily. “Ah unnerstan’ quite well. Me own Hamdel taugh’ me tha’ an’ Ah los’ ‘im t’ them same battles. Like Ah’m afraid Ah’m goin’ t’ lose ye. Ye take too many chances, Ith. Ye shoulda stayed at the temple. Learned wha—“

“Dun ye start!” Ithrene leapt to her feet so fast her head swam for a moment but her hand on Kae’s shoulder steadied her. “Ah din’ belon’ a’ th’ temple. Ah’m nae Arlene an’ will ne’er be! Ye shoul’ knoo’ better’n annaeone th’ need t’ fin’ y’r own place! Y’r a bloody ACCOUNTANT f’r Light’s sake! An’ Ah remember th’ ragin’ fit Pap had o’er tha’ so dun ye start tellin’ me wha’ Ah shoul’ha done!” She snatched up her cloak and stomped toward the door of Evvie’s small apartment in Stormwind. Kae followed close behind her, rumbling and growling in confusion and concern.

“Ith! Damn y’r eyes! Ah jes’ worry tha’ y’r bitin’ off more’n ye can chew! Ith!!”

Ithrene ignored her sister’s calls as she climbed onto the back of her ram, Billy and charged through the streets of Stormwind.

Some of you are aware that recently my stress levels have been way way way beyond excessive and my moods have been pretty…. moody. Rather than inflict them on others that really shouldn’t have to deal with me being emo (and likely don’t want to anyway) I’ve just backed away from everything.

Looming in the near future I have a physical move of over 800 miles. And as stressful as that sounds, it will actually lessen some of the stress I have been under lately. However during that process (which isn’t happening RAIT NAU but will be before the end of the year) it is not likely I will be in game or doing anything with this blog.

I do have one character that is talking and so until that time I will be trying to write some fluff posts for her. Nothing deep and meaningful but a bit of light entertainment. I should start posting those before the end of the week. Light RP posts, though, are about all I’m feeling up to right now.

Again, my apologies and hopefully I will be able to get back up to speed before too long.

Nau

Thursday RP Challenge for July 29, 2010: Sweet Emote-ion!

This week your challenge is to emote something at 10 strangers over the period of a week. It could be something as simple as a nod as you pass them in the street or as complex as blowing your nose on their shirt sleeve… as long as it is IC! Now sure, it isn’t very difficult to just walk past someone and nod. So maybe try something that encourages interaction? How about bumping into them in the street? Staring at them as they sit at that table? Be creative! The choices are endless!

Remember, they must be strangers. Someone you have not interacted with previously. It’s a big server! That shouldn’t be too hard!

Come on back next week and lets talk about how it went!

Which race would you like to see drawn as a pinup girl?

Later I began thinking about some of the things we, having “grown up” on a role play server, might take for granted. How could one explain the minor technical details? The odd server “history”? Where would one begin to help someone coming to the server as a level 80 understand and not feel overwhelmed by the RP atmosphere and feel the need to retreat into non-rp just to survive?

I’m sure others have their own ideas of where they would start so feel free to add your bits and pieces in the comments but here is the information I would give to someone just coming to a role play server.

“WTF is up with the (( )) ?”

Bracketing is a form of indicating one is speaking out of character. It can look many ways. Double parentheses (( )), singles ( ), brackets [ ] or any number of other bracketing form. The most common is the double parentheses.

By indicating that one is speaking out of character, they are saying “You are speaking to the player right now, not the character.” It’s good to know the difference (in case the character is particularly abrasive).

Sometimes a group will indicate that Group chat is automatically OOC while /say is automatically IC. In such a case, when speaking in group, (( )) is not necessary. There is no standard as to what channels are IC and which are OOC. It is entirely subjective depending on who you’re with…. With one exception.

“/say Chuck Norris ROXXORS!”

…. Please don’t. /say should always be assumed to be an IC channel. Though they don’t enforce it, Blizzard has designated it as such on role play servers. If you MUST speak OOC in /say, please bracket. No, not everyone does it. No, not everyone is going to be bothered by it if you talk about Chuck Norris, your latest Facebook picture or how much cheese it takes to make a really good Welsh rarebit… but why start off in bad habits? If you want to play on a role play server then start off in a good way and keep good habits all the way through.

“Dude! Where’s your armor?!”

Likely what you’re seeing is their RP clothes. Don’t worry, that warrior doesn’t really fight in that lavender mageweave shirt. RP clothes are pieces that are kept strictly for appearance. Who wants to sit around in smelly old leather armor all day? Who wants to sit down to have a drink with friends while their unmentionables are being pinched by armor plates?

Most role players have at least one set of rp clothes. Some of us have entire bags of clothing for different occasions. Robes for special occasions, overalls for schlumping around, shorts and vest for swimming. There are some great outifits out there. For more on RP clothing check out my What To Wear post and my Tauren What To Wear post or have a visit over at Kirina’s Closet.

For those brand new to the server, talk to the first tailor you make friends with and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to toss together some basic starter RP clothes. There are some really good linen, wool and silk pieces that are tailor crafted.

After you have your RP clothes, try them out. Wear them when you’re not out adventuring. Wear them when you attend get-togethers. Wear them when you’re bored and just wandering around town.

“How do I find the role players?”

This is always the toughest part. It’s easier if you know someone on the server and they can drag you around and introduce you or show you where the events are. Otherwise you have to rely on your own detective ability.

Step one: Read the forum of the realm you have chosen (though hopefully you read them before you joined). Before you jump on there going “HEY! WHERE’S THE RP??” make sure they are not a hive of scum and villainy. Be sure they aren’t a putrid den of RP hatin’.

Step two: Talk to other people. Whether you meet them in a group, on the street, see them fishing in blue overalls, talk to them. Ask questions. Make it a point to reach out to others. Let them know you are new to the server and trying to make contact.

Step three: ImmersionRP, MyRolePlay, FlagRSP2 are addons specifically created for role players. With these addons you can add surnames, descriptions and other information about your character. More importantly for new to the server players, you can SEE the other role players. Check them out and give them a try. They are also a useful tool for interaction because if used properly they tell other players what your character looks like, is wearing and how they present themselves more accurately than the game can portray.

“Why are those Death Knights sitting on that bed without any clothes?”

Just turn around and walk away. Likely there is something going on you don’t want to know about… something nasty…. Involving rotty bits…. Just ask Oroleus.

Playing on a role play server can be a fun and rewarding experience. You can meet some incredibly imaginative, creative, and fun players. There also tends to be a higher maturity ratio among role players. The most important thing to keep in mind though is you are coming to a role play server. Don’t come to one with a LAWLRPSUX attitude because you are a guest. The rules of the house were set long before you came along. If you respect those that choose RP servers because they are role players, you will have a much more pleasant experience on our server. If you give it a chance, it is very likely you will find that RP brings an extra element of “adventure” to your game. One much more unpredictable and fun than anything Blizz could program in.