Love hurts…

Thanks Sotan. 

Also, Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone~  <3

Video killed the radio star…

So, I’ve taken to using FRAPS occasionally (excessively) during 10-man and 25-man raids, which means that the Ryoumou Chronicles might get a bit more of a visual facelift in the future… less pictures, more video.  This is a good thing, right?

Examples:  MFB vs. Valithria

MFB vs. Blood Queen Lana’Thel

I am enjoying this far too much… and rest assured that I have a few “special” songs picked out for when Arthas gets put down like the dog he is.  This will happen soon.  Oh yes, this will happen soon.

Tonight… You…

Damn, I look awesome.

Battleskirt for the win!

I’ve got a nightmare to remember; I’ll never be the same…

Within her dreams, the hellish scene played again and again.

In her head, Horde and Alliance alike fell to the betrayers.

“You caused this, Ryoumou.  It’s all your fault.”

In her head, the Red Dragonflight burned away the last of the Blight, incinerating the infected bodies in the valley below her.

“All of this could have been avoided, had you just given up.”

In her head, she knelt before the Red Dragonqueen, tears welling in her eyes, clutching the armor of Dranosh Saurfang to her chest with a vow in her heart that his father would know of his fate.

“Such a brave soul… lost to the void or worse because of your arrogance.”

“You should just give up.”

“Give up.”

“End your crusade.  Live in fear.  Die in obscurity.  Better this than dashing your body and soul against the Lich King to be resurrected as a mindless slave.”

The voices in her head rose to a tumultuous volume, piling atop each other until she could stand it no more.  The images of that fateful day played rapidly in her mind until they were little more than indiscernible flashes of light.  She put her hands to her ears and screamed…

…herself awake.  The fragments of the dream clung to her consciousness for a moment then faded, leaving only an overwhelming feeling of dread and guilt in their wake.  The cold air outside her small tent did little to bolster her spirits, and the excited buzzing of others outside only added to her frustrations.

The day the Argent Crusade had announced that a tournament would be held to determine champions most worthy of facing the Lich King and his armies, Ryoumou had been among the first to put their names on the list of competitors.  Not for glory, not for fame, and certainly not for a chance to battle Arthas.  No, her goals were much simpler:  Loss of herself in the bloodlust of battle, and a chance to forget what she had done.  For months she had fought in the pits of the Argent Tournament, felling foe after foe in the throes of combat.

Ryoumou pushed back the flap of her tent and stepped outside, watching the smoke waft up from the various campfires dotting the landscape surrounding the great coliseum of the Argent Crusade, which stood like a great tower against the backdrop of Icecrown Glacier.  The festive booths and vendors did little to hide the guards patrolling the border of the coliseum grounds; Icecrown was a warzone, and the coliseum was as close to the front lines as one could get.

“Ryoumou, what are you doing here?”

“You don’t belong in this place.”

“You DO belong here… as a competitor, working towards a chance at battling your greatest fear and avenging Silvermoon’s destruction once and for all!”

The smaller parts of her shrieked in protest, but she quickly silenced them.  She had, months ago, made up her mind that this would be her fate.  She would forget herself in the pits and, when the time had come, she would give herself to inevitability.  She stared at the day’s roster and shook her head; the typical assortment of beasts, summoned demons and captured servants of Arthas would stand and fall before her today.  It was a daily routine she had played out for…

“…Months, Ryoumou.  Is this how you’ve been filling your time?”

The voice from behind startled her, but she didn’t even need to turn around to know who would be standing there, or to see the admonishing look in Itsuki’s eyes.  She could feel his gaze boring into the back of her head, as though he could see every thought in her mind.

“You wouldn’t understand, Itsuki.  Nobody can understand.”

“Try me, old friend.  I saw what happened, the same as you did.  After Undercity, you disappeared for almost five months.  We all thought you were dead, Ryoumou.”

“You were supposed to think I was dead.  You weren’t supposed to look for me.  I’ve betrayed the Horde, the guild and my own people.  I’m not worthy of the friendship you offer.”

She felt Itsuki’s hand on her shoulder; a strong grip she could neither shake nor push away.  “Perhaps, perhaps not.  For now, we’ll just settle with camaraderie.”

Finally, Ryoumou turned.  “What do you mean, Itsuki?”

Itsuki smiled at her.  “Today, the Molten Flan Babies fight beside you.  Today, we shall help you face your demons.”

A flash of anger swelled within her heart.  “It wasn’t supposed to be like that, Itsuki.  It wasn’t supposed to be for honor or glory or self-redemption!  I’m here to fight until I die!”

Itsuki shook his head in disappointment, saying simply  “If you die, I die beside you… and I don’t plan on dying today.  You should think about someone other than yourself.”  He then turned and walked away, leaving Ryoumou to her preparations.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Ryoumou stood on the floor of the coliseum as the other combatants gathered in the cold wintery air.  Around her, the other aspirants buzzed with excitement, each boasting of their exploits in the arena in previous matches.  Ryoumou largely ignored them as she always did, but some part of her was scanning the faces of her compatriots looking for the familiar faces of those she had once relied upon.

“How dare you, Ryoumou?!  How dare you?!”

Ryoumou turned, startled, and was met with the strike of a palm across her face.  She stood, stunned, as a familiar tear-soaked blood-elf face met her eyes.

“Lynca, I…”

“I didn’t want to believe Itsuki when he told us you were hiding out up here.  We were so worried about you, Ryoumou!  How could you do this to us?!”

“I betrayed you all.  How can you worry about somebody like me?”

“Because you’re our friend, damn you.  Pull your head out of the sand and stop thinking about yourself!  Get out of this cloud and see reason!”

Ryoumou turned away from Lynca;  “This is reason.  I am not fit to walk among you.  More than one war has been started on my account.  I won’t see more people I care about die because of me.”

“Ryoumou… if we win this day, I’m going to smack some sense back into your head,” Lynca fumed.

She was interrupted by the booming voice of Tirion Fordring, leader of the Argent Crusade, as he introduced the combatants one by one; Ryoumou started at the mention of not only Itsuki and Lynca, but also Moochan, from the Molten Flan Babies.  She turned back to Lynca and whispered “You drug poor Moo along as well?!”

“When she heard we’d found you, she refused to stay behind.  Maybe you should take note,” Lynca hissed back, as Tirion’s booming voice announced the last of the hopefuls in the arena that day.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen of the Horde and the Alliance!  Introducing the crusaders’ first challenge:  The Beasts Of Northrend!”

Ryoumou raised her mace and charged into the fray as her mind wandered…

———————————————————————————————————————

“Beasts!  Betrayers!  They are not fit to count themselves among the Horde!”

Within the walls of Warsong Hold, Garrosh Hellscream spouted his venom against the forces of the Forsaken as Saurfang the Elder stood silent, clutching his son’s armor with tears in his eyes.

“Varok, you have lost a son this day!  The Forsaken and the Scourge alike must pay their dues for this!  Surely you must agree with me!”

Saurfang the Elder merely bowed his head.  “I have lost a son.  The Horde has lost many heroes.  The Alliance has lost a steward.  I wonder which is the greater loss?”

“Pull yourself together, Varok!  Surely Thrall would not stand for this indecision!  The time has come to put aside hesitation and strike!”  Garrosh pounded the table with this final word, shaking the pieces of stone he and Saurfang had been using to represent the forces of the Horde.  “Would you insult your son’s honor by standing aside like a child?”

Saurfang raised his head, a glow in his eye that had not been there a moment before.  “Dranosh would not want to be remembered by a thoughtless, hasty, two-pronged strike that would seal the doom of the Horde, Garrosh.  Thrall trusts my judgement, and even this mighty blow isn’t enough to shake my resolve… and do not forget who is in charge here, child of Hellscream.”

Saurfang turned to Ryoumou and Itsuki.  “I am sorry that you must see such bickering within the horde, friends… and the time has now come to have you report to Thrall with all that has happened here today.  The zeppelin leaves for Orgrimmar soon, and you must be on-board.  Thrall must know all… including the death of Dranosh… if he is to make a decision that will best benefit the Horde.  Now, please go… and I thank you for the small kindness of bringing my son’s armor to me.  At the least, something of his can be given a proper burial.”

As Itsuki and Ryoumou walked past Garrosh Hellscream, he let out a low hiss of disapproval, and Ryoumou knew in the back of her mind that Garrosh and Varok would be fighting within moments of their departure.

—————————————————————————————————–

At the end of the melee, three great beasts lay dead.  Of the multitude of combatants, only a few had fallen; not nearly enough of a dent in their forces to complicate the challenges ahead… and yet, Ryoumou found herself frantically scanning the faces of the deceased hoping that she would not catch a glimpse of a familiar face among them.

“What does it matter to you?”

“You turned your back on them long ago.”

“No regrets.  No connections.  Only fear… and, soon, release.”

Ryoumou put a hand to her forehead; the voices from her dreams had begun to speak to her in her waking hours!  She could feel a pressure in her mind, as though somebody were attempting to force open a barricaded door… it was as if she had been fighting madness for months and, finally, her mind had begun to unhinge.

“We’re not dead, Ryoumou.  We’re standing behind you.”

Ryoumou turned, a slight smile on her face at the sound of Itsuki’s voice; behind her, battered but none the worse-for-wear, stood Itsuki, Moochan and Lynca.

“I’m glad.  I want to see you guys survive this…”

“That’s the first logical thing you’ve said all day!” Lynca interjected.

“…and leave this place.  I won’t see you die for my selfishness.”  Ryoumou finished her sentence as though Lynca had never interrupted.

Moochan glowered at Ryoumou as she spoke, and when she spoke her words were quiet but forceful.

“When this is over today, and we all stand victorious, I am going to drag you home by the tip of my staff in front of the entire Horde if I have to.”

Itsuki grinned and spread his arms wide, putting his hands on Lynca and Moochan’s shoulders.  “There’s no stopping them, Ryoumou.  I could just let them have their way and have you come back to us with a few new bruises, or you can stop this foolishness and come back to us willingly.”

Ryoumou shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but the voice of Tirion Fordring drowned out her words.

“And now, heroes, the Grand Warlock will summon forth your next challenge!”

At his words, a diminutive gnome strolled proudly to the center of the arena.  “Thank you, Highlord! Now, challengers, I will begin the ritual of summoning! When I am done, a fearsome Doomguard will appear! Prepare for oblivion!”  With this, a great portal opened in the coliseum and through it stepped a demon far larger than a Doomguard.  Behind her, she could hear the surprised gasps of the audience as they fled their front-row seats and ran towards the top of the arena.

“That’s no Doomguard, that’s a lord of the Eredar!”

“What is this madness?!  They would see us all dead or damned!”

Unfazed, the gnome laughed in the face of the monstrosity.  “Ah ha! Behold the absolute power of Wilfred Fizzlebang, master summoner! You are bound to ME, demon!”

The demon looked down at the summoner, an impassive look in his burning eyes.  “Trifling gnome, your arrogance will be your undoing!”  With that, the Eredar waved his hand and the Grand Warlock fell dead, his final protest perishing on his lips, as the great demon then turned toward his challengers.

“You face Jaraxxus, Eredar lord of the Burning Legion!” he bellowed as he charged the would-be crusaders.

“Quickly, heroes!” shouted Fordring.  “Destroy the demon lord before it can open a portal to its twisted demonic realm!”

“Great.  More demon troubles,” Itsuki muttered.  “Come, Ryoumou.  These should be your specialty.”

Ryoumou smiled wide for the first time in months as she took up arms with her friends and charged into the fray.

————————————————————————————————————-

“Ryoumou, the portal!  Seal it now!”  Itsuki shouted as the demon hordes began to pour out into the royal chambers of Undercity.

Thrall and Sylvanas stood back to back, fighting off traitorous Forsaken and demonic spawn alike.  “Quickly, child!” shouted Thrall.  “We can’t hold them back much longer!”

Above them, on the pedestal where Sylvanas typically stood, the demon Varimathras grinned down at them.  “Yes.  Struggle.  Struggle and die, heroes.  Struggle and die as your friends did at the Wrathgate!”

“How could you do this, Varimathras?!” shouted Sylvanas.  “You were entralled to me, demon.  How did you manage to betray the Forsaken?”

Varimathras laughed then, shaking his head.  “My masters have long had their thrall over me, banshee witch.  Your words held no sway… although you were meant to think they did until the time had presented itself to make our intentions known.  Putress proved a valuable asset in that regard, working to betray your new friends right under your very nose!”

“Sylvanas!” Ryoumou shouted.  “The portal is closed!  Varimathras’ support is cut off!  Let’s end this!”

Varimathras snarled.  “It’s not going to be that easy.  The master’s plans will not be broken!  Life on Azeroth will end, and the Scourge will be brought to heel as they should be!”

Varimathras leaped off the pedestal into the fray, and was quickly slain, a plea to his master the last words from his lips.  “That takes care of half this little insurrection,” Sylvanas snarled.  “Now, we find Putress and put him down.”

As the four of them dashed out of the throne room, they could hear footsteps advancing down the corridor.  “It appears Putress may have found us first!  To arms, heroes of the Horde!”  Thrall shouted as they stood their ground against the unseen forces rounding the corner…

———————————————————————————————-

The champions stood, gasping.  Jaraxxus had been felled, but the battle had cost them several more lives.  Around them, the spectators still stood in disbelief as tensions grew between the Horde and Alliance onlookers.

“What is the meaning of this?  Are the Alliance trying to sabotage the tournament and bring down the Horde’s greatest champions?”

“It was an accident, you idiots!  The Alliance would never stoop so low!”

“Treacherous Alliance dogs!”  shouted Garrosh Hellscream.  “You summon a demon lord against warriors of the Horde!? Your deaths will be swift!”

The Alliance king, Varian Wrynn, responded in kind from his place across the arena.  “The Alliance doesn’t need the help of a demon lord to deal with Horde filth. Come, pig!”  With that, brawls broke out amongst the spectators as Horde and Alliance launched themselves at each other in the stands.

“Everyone, calm down!”  shouted Fordring.  “Compose yourselves! There is no conspiracy at play here. The warlock acted on his own volition – outside of influences from the Alliance. The tournament must go on!”

“Easily said, Paladin!”  Wrynn responded.  “Our honor has been besmirched! They make wild claims and false accusations against us. I demand justice! Allow my champions to fight, Tirion. We challenge the Horde!”

Fordring shook his head in resignation.  “Very well, I will allow it. Fight with honor!”

The gates opened, the Alliance champions entered the arena, and Ryoumou glowered.  The best that the Alliance had to offer stood before her.  Perhaps this was fate, after all…

———————————————————————————————

Tension was thick in the bowels of Undercity as the Horde and Alliance invasion teams stood face to face in the corridor of the royal chambers.  At the head of the Alliance troop, Varian Wrynn brandished his blade at Thrall and the other heroes of the Horde.

“I was away for too long,” Wrynn mused.  My absence cost us the lives of some of our greatest heroes. Trash like you and this evil witch were allowed to roam free — unchecked.  The time has come to make things right. To disband your treacherous kingdom of murderers and thieves. Putress was the first strike. Many more will come.”

“You have taken down Putress?!  Then the threat has passed,” pleaded Itsuki.  “Varimathras and Putress planned this from the very beginning.”

“Silence, Shaman!  I’ll hear none of your lies!” shouted Wrynn.  “I’ve waited a long time for this, Thrall. For every time I was thrown into one of your damned arenas… for every time I killed a green-skinned aberration like you… I could only think of one thing:  What our world could be without you and your twisted Horde… It ends now, Warchief!”

With that, Wrynn and his forces charged.  “Attack!  For Stormwind!  For Bolvar!  For the Alliance!”

As the armies were mere feet away from each other, a voice echoed through the corridor:  “Varian, no!  Stop!”  A chill wind blew through the chamber, and Horde and Alliance alike found their feet frozen in place.  From the rear of the Alliance forces, a woman Ryoumou recognized as Jaina Proudmoore strode between the gathered foes.

Jaina lowered her head in sadness and waved her hand; as she did, the Alliance forces began to fade from view.  Just before they disappeared, Jaina muttered “It did not have to be like this.”

Thrall spoke sadly as his feet regained their mobility.  “It ends like it began… All that we have fought for in this world is lost. The hopes and dreams carried by my father and mother… by Doomhammer… Gone... If only you were here right now, Grom, my old friend. You would know what to do”

“I know what he would do,” came a voice from up the corridor; Varok Saurfang marched around the corner with several squads of Horde raiders in tow.  “He would say to you what I am about to say to you: Thrall. Lead your people.  Let’s go home, old friend.”

Thrall nodded.  “It’s good to have you back, Varok, old friend. I’m sorry about your son.”

With that, they departed, as Sylvanas remained behind to rebuild her fallen and broken city.

———————————————————————————————————–

“Ryoumou, stop!”

The figure lying on the ground in front of her was bruised and broken; one arm was presented in front of his face in a gesture of pleading submission.  Above her head, Ryoumou’s mace waited to fall, thirsty for the blood that was sure to be spilled in its wake; the only thing holding it back was Moochan’s hand tightly wrapped around Ryoumou’s wrist.

“What’s gotten into you, Ryoumou?  Let it go.  It’s not worth this.”

“They would see us all dead, Moochan.  Better him than me.  It’s not my time yet.”

Moochan yanked Ryoumou’s arm back, tossing her to the ground.  “This isn’t you.  What’s done this to you, made you like this?  Why are you so eager to kill and die?”

Hours before, Ryoumou would have had an answer to this question.  Now, all she could do was pick herself up in stunned silence.

“Moochan… I don’t know.  It’s like there’s more than one of me in my head… and I don’t know who’s real anymore.”

“We’re here.  We’re real.  Trust in us until you’ve got this mess in your head straightened out.”

Inside her, the voices were at war.

“Cast them away.  All you will do is see them hurt.  All you will do is see them dead.”

“Your friends are concerned about you!  Don’t abandon them!  Work together with them and you might see this through to the end!”

Ryoumou put her hands to her ears and fell to her knees as the dueling voices rose to a deafening roar.  She didn’t know how much more of this she could take; something had to give somewhere.

“Ryoumou…  What’s wrong?”

“Did she take a blow to the head?  Is she finally coming to her senses?”

“This is madness.  Help me get her up, Moochan.  She can’t take any more of this.  We need to get her out of the arena, quickly!”

As Itsuki and Moochan helped her to her feet, Ryoumou waved them off.  “I’m fine,” she gasped.  “Only one more battle left today.  I can do this… if you’ll help me.”

Lynca smiled at her.  “It’s about damned time, you stubborn oaf.  What do you think we came here for?”

“Don’t misunderstand,” Ryoumou interjected.  “We can win this if we fight together… but I can’t go back with you.  Not yet.”

Above them, Tirion Fordring shook his head sadly.  “A shallow and tragic victory. We are weaker as a whole from the losses suffered today. Who but the Lich King could benefit from such foolishness? Great warriors have lost their lives. And for what? The true threat looms ahead – the Lich King awaits us all in death.  Now is the time for solidarity!  Only by working together will you overcome the final challenge. From the depths of Icecrown come two of the Scourge’s most powerful lieutenants: fearsome Val’kyr, winged harbingers of the Lich King!”

The gates of the arena opened, and two ethereal angelic figures glided into the coliseum.  As they charged, they screamed in unison:  “In the name of our dark master. For the Lich King. You. Will. Die.”

Ryoumou smiled once more and turned to the few remaining Horde champions.  “Come, friends!  Let us put aside our differences meet this challenge head-on!  For the Horde!”  The responding battle cry rang out through the whole of the coliseum as Ryoumou led the champions into battle.

—————————————————————————————————-

“What are you doing?  You cannot put your trust in these warriors.  It will only end in sorrow.  End in death.”

“I’m doing what I should have done months ago.  I’m putting the Wrathgate and the Undercity behind me.”

“This folly will only result in pain.  You should just give up.”

“I can’t give up.  My friends followed me to the ends of the world because they give a damn.  They’ve stopped me from doing horrible things in the name of my own selfish grief.”

“Killing your foes is not horrible.”

“Killing somebody who has surrendered is murder.”

“You shouldn’t have a problem with murder anymore.  The Wrathgate should have gotten you quite accustomed to it.”

“The Wrathgate was not my fault.  The Forsaken’s betrayal was not my fault.  Reliving my memories of those days  has proven this to me.  I was merely an unwitting pawn, and instead of fixing the problem and mending the fences I’ve been hiding in my own guilt.”

“Hiding is acceptable.  Dying is acceptable.  Why do you not just end it?”

“Who are you?  You are no part of me.  Your influence over me ends now!”

“You cannot cast me out so easily.  You will obey.  When I call, you will come, and you shall be mine forever!”

“We’ll just see about that.”

And, with that, the overwhelming presence in her mind lifted as the twin Val’kyr fell to the ground, motionless.  Whomever or whatever had been influencing her thoughts and actions was, for the moment, silent and still.  She had done it.  Ryoumou was free.

———————————————————————————————————

Victorious, the collective Horde champions raised their fists in triumph as the cheers from the crowd around them rose to a tumult.  Garrosh Hellscream raised his blade triumphantly and shouted “Do you still question the might of the Horde, paladin? We will take on all comers!”

Tirion responded in kind:  “A mighty blow has been dealt to the Lich King! You have proven yourselves able bodied champions of the Argent Crusade. Together we will strike at Icecrown Citadel and destroy what remains of the Scourge! There is no challenge that we cannot face united!”

“Did you hear that, Ryoumou?!”  Moochan shouted excitedly.

“You’ll have your chance at Arthas yet, old friend,” Itsuki said, patting Ryoumou on the back.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve finally come to your senses, Ryoumou,” Lynca said.  “You don’t know how glad I am to have you back.”

Ryoumou smiled.  She felt renewed and refreshed.  The nightmare was over, and so were the battles of the day.

“Let’s go back to camp,” she said to her friends.  “Tomorrow, we can meet with Tirion and begin a plan to assault Icecrown Citadel.  We shall bring Arthas….”

Ryoumou was interrupted by a booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.  “You will have your challenge, Fordring.”

A great gout of flame sprung up in the coliseum, and out of it stepped a form that had haunted her nightmares for years upon years.  Ryoumou glowered.  “Arthas.”

Tirion leveled his blade at the Lich King from atop his podium.  “Arthas! You are hopelessly outnumbered! Lay down Frostmourne and I will grant you a just death.”

Arthas merely laughed in response.  “The Nerubians built an empire beneath the frozen wastes of Northrend. An empire that you so foolishly built your structures upon.  My empire! The souls of your fallen champions will be mine, Fordring!”  With that, Arthas plunged his blade into the ground, and the floor of the coliseum shattered.  The collective Horde combatants screamed as they plunged into an unknown depth and the form of Arthas Menethil, the Lich King, faded into the cold air, a maniacal laughter still audible over the sound of shattering earth.

A moment later, Ryoumou felt water surrounding her; the combatants had landed in a great pool amidst the broken ruins of a great temple, surrounded by the walls of a crystalline cavern.  It was at once terrifying and beautiful, and for a moment Ryoumou’s mind flashed to a similar crystalline cavern, lined with chains, that she did not recognize… but the sensation quickly passed as a voice broke the awe-inspired silence.

“Ahhh… Our guests arrived, just as the master promised.  Welcome, you who shall be champions of Arthas!  This place will serve as your tomb!”

Before them stood a great insectoid beast, its chitinous shell rotting and flaking to reveal the fetid meat beneath. This could only be a Nerubian, ravaged in undeath and experimented upon by Arthas to become something much more sinister.  With a crackling hiss, it lunged at the champions with venom in its eyes, and the combatants found themselves fighting for their lives as the Nerubian’s minions clawed their way out of the ground and advanced upon them as well.

Ryoumou’s mace swung again and again as she beat back the hordes of creatures erupting from the frozen earth; crack after chitinous crack of stone and steel against insectoid carapace rang through the chamber as the champions slowly began to gain the upper hand against the Nerubian swarm.

“Ryoumou!  Ryoumou, watch out!”

With a hiss, the great beast had dug its way under the ground and out of sight.  She could see the earth shifting in a beeline straight for her.  In a panic she attempted to dive off to the side, but it was too late; the creature’s spines erupted from the ground and plunged into and through her body.  As they retracted, and her lifeless form slumped to the ground in defeat, her final memory was of her friends shrieking in terror and grief as they rushed to her side.

Then, blackness.  Nothing.  Obscurity at last.  This was what that part of her that was not her had waited for all this time.  So, now, why did it feel so wrong?  Why did she feel incomplete?

“It’s not your time yet, young elf.”

“You have much yet to do in this lifetime.”

“You are being called.  Go home.  Your friends await you.”

In the blackness, she could hear voices… but these were not like the voices she had heard within her head.  These were calm, kind voices whose tone sounded at once ancient and young, meek and powerful.  A faint light penetrated the blackness, and as she focused on it she realized that it was the crystalline structures within the cavern she had fallen into.  The battle was over, and Ryoumou lay on the frozen floor with Moochan and Lynca standing at her head and feet and Itsuki kneeling over her with a look of relief on his face.  The look of surprise on Ryoumou’s face must have communicated her thoughts perfectly.

“What, you think you’re the only one who can learn new tricks?” Itsuki said with a slight grin.  “I did not spend the last few months idle, like another I could name.  I have learned much in the way of communion with my ancestral spirits from my brethren among the Taunka, and the spirits have shown me how to coax other spirits to their homes.”  Itsuki paused, then added:  “Even the dead ones, like yours.”

Ryoumou looked up at her friends with an exhausted, wan smile on her face.  “I shall never doubt you again, my friends.  Let us leave this place, and let us return home.”

Itsuki helped Ryoumou to her feet.  “We have been put up in Dalaran by the members of the Kirin Tor, who have been kind enough to provide us shelter while we amass ourselves and gather forces for the battle against Arthas.  Let us begin there.  Tirion and his sorcerers have managed to set us up with a portal of return.”

With her friends supporting her still-weakened frame, Ryoumou stepped through the portal and onto the crowded streets of the floating city of Dalaran.  It took Ryoumou and her friends a moment to realize that the activity was that of panic; of chaos.  Moochan stopped a frantic pedestrian as they attempted to dash by and asked  “What has happened here?”

The passerby, with fear and panic evident on his face, shouted “Ulduar!  Up in the Storm Peaks!  The Alliance Expeditionary force discovered something terrible… word is that they have uncovered the prison of Yogg Saron himself!  They’ve said that Yogg Saron is free!”

Lynca’s eyes widened with fear.  “Yogg Saron…  the God of Madness and Death.  If he is indeed free, he will wreak a terrible havoc on this entire world in his hunger to consume it.”

Ryoumou, however, had experienced a different reaction:  At the mention of the Old God’s name, her mind returned to a crystalline chamber, lined with shattered chains.  In the center of a chamber stood a woman she did not recognize, her hands over her ears and her voice a wordless shriek of fear, anger, frustration and madness.  From within her scream, Ryoumou could discern a second voice; dark, sinister and alluring all at once.  A voice that was immediately familiar to her, as she had been listening to the voice for months on end..

“Come, Ryoumou.  Leave your friends behind and return home.  Return your mind to me.  Give in to the fear I was so kind to gift to you…”

“Return to Yogg Saron, Ryoumou.  Come home to Ulduar.”

Ryoumou shook her head.  “Yogg Saron,” she whispered.

Itsuki leaned in toward her.  “What?”

Ryoumou repeated.  “Yogg Saron… must die… if I am to be free of this chaos in my mind.  I cannot face Arthas with my mind in conflict.”

Lynca smiled.  “I think it’s all come together now.  Let’s go put down a God.”

We travel on the quiet road, the overload…

MASSIVE UPDATE TIME NAO PLEES…

On Life:  Life is pretty crazy.  With the addition of school to the mix, I’ve got virtually zero time between babies, work and everything else… and, honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  School is going pretty well for only having one “true” day of class under my belt, and it was rather humorous to see that I was one of only a very few people who came to class fully prepared.  The girls continue to learn at an exponential rate; colors, letters, words, actions are all pretty much fair game and coming into their little heads (and out of their little mouths) by the truckload.  Watching them learn and grow is possibly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing… although Amelia’s nightmares are more than a bit distressing.  The twins woke each other up last night about 1am screaming and, in the course of it all, woke up Ana through the monitor.  It was somewhere between 2 and 2:30 before everyone got settled down enough to go back to sleep… including us.

I try to not talk about work on here too much, as one never knows who might be reading.  Suffice it to say that things there are going fairly well of late, and with the company’s lifting of the salary increase freeze I look forward to the possibility of a raise come review time.

On Visuals:  Lina and I haven’t been watching much of late, except for stuff for the girls.  As noted by Lina, we’ve been pretty much relegated to watching Curious George’s A Very Monkey Christmas until recently… although for the last week or so the girls have seemed to prefer the old animated 101 Dalmatians.  I’ve decided that the line “Get out of here, or I’ll black your other peeper!” needs to go down in the annals of history as the 10th worst line for kids to hear spoken in a Disney film (the other 9 are all from Pinocchio). 

We HAVE managed to catch a few awesome things, though…  Snakes On A Plane was surprisingly entertaining, although it wasn’t without its share of “ewwwww” moments.  It was unashamedly a “B” movie and always seemed to take itself *JUST* seriously enough to not be discounted.  If you’ve ever enjoyed a movie that was “so bad it’s good” and aren’t squeamish about gore, check it out.  It’s worth it just to hear the now-famous Sammy Jackson line about “mothafuckin’ snakes on this mothafuckin’ plane” in context.  Also, the special edition of Watchmen (with the Tales from the Black Freighter bits integrated into the movie) is definitely worth a very very very long (nigh on 4 hours!) watchthrough, even if you’re already familiar with the theatrical version and / or graphic novel version of the story.

Also, fuckingDollhouseomgawesome.  I wish Fox would give Whedon a chance to finish one of his better shows… neither Firefly nor Dollhouse deserved the early cancellations they received.  Also, had Whedon been able to present his initially intended pilot for Dollhouse instead of changing his first 5 episodes to focus primarily on Echo as per Fox’s request, the show might have had a much larger following.  So, he gets to wrap up an intended 5-season show in 2 seasons, which is making the whole thing feel rushed.  Still more than a little awesome even as it stands.

On Gaming:  Lina and I are pretty much back into WoW, if it can ever be said that we were truly “out of” it.  The latest patch and its easy access to PUGs for heroic dungeons, along with the addition of the 3 new dungeons, has pretty much cemented us into sinking what very little gaming time we both have back to that game.  However, on rare occasions I’ve been able to squeeze in some time for Silent Hill:  Shattered Memories (of which I’ve been able to complete one mind-blowing playthrough… 3 more endings to go!) and Shadow Complex (which is just enough Super Metroid to whet my old-school gaming appetite).  I’ve put just enough time into Dragon Age to have advanced through about 1/2 of the game and gone down a romantic path with one character, and Torchlight has seen a bit of play on the occasions I’ve needed a quick time-filler.

So yeah.  Busy life, lots of awesome to be had.  Here’s hoping for an awesome 2k10!

A time, a place, a shattered memory…

This has been a pretty crazy holiday season for me and gaming.  For my birthday, Lina got me the Digital Deluxe edition of Dragon Age:  Origins (which I am absolutely in love with), and I was lucky enough to snag a copy of The Beatles:  Rock Band (and enough Microsoft Points to buy the Abbey Road album for it).  In the meantime, the latest WoW patch has rekindled our desire to play, so we’ve been tinkering with that.

For Christmas, I received an obscene amount of Microsoft Points, and used them to buy a boatload of RB2 tracks (Yay for a huge track pack devoted entirely to Queen!), Shadow Complex and Monkey Island SE… however, I also received a copy of Silent Hill:  Shattered Memories.

Not quite sure exactly what I was expecting when I popped that into the Wii, but it sure as hell wasn’t what I ended up getting.

So yeah.  What you’ve heard is 100% true.  There’s not one lick of combat within the game.  I knew this going into it, but I wasn’t quite aware of the implications of this.  I was expecting something a bit more stealth based, and not the heart-pumping “Oh shit oh shit it saw me and now it’s chasing me FUCKING RUN RUN RUN oh shit oh shit there are like six of them now FUCKING RUN RUN RUN!”  The nightmare sequences are at once hideously intense and somewhat frustrating because, more often than not, you end up getting looped around in your frantic scramble to escape the monsters and backtrack in what amounts to a great big frosty maze.  Of course, this is offset by the somewhat disappointingly “mild” exploration sequences… and the game’s deep backstory and plot do more than enough to fill the void.

So yeah.  About that story.  The core premise of this game is the same as the original Silent Hill:  Harry Mason gets into a car crash and spends the game searching Silent Hill for his missing daughter.  That’s where the similarities stop.  The town itself is vastly different, right down to the street maps, and the whole “cult” concept from games 1, 3, 4, 5 and Origins is completely gone.  Instead, this game’s plot plays out much more like Silent Hill 2; a forward march of unnamed guilt, sorrow, confusion and madness that pile up on the main character until he’s no longer sure of what’s real and what isn’t.  And, considering that the game is constantly profiling you (both during the in-game psychologist’s office sequences and while playing the game itself), that line may blur a bit for the player as well.

You see, I have yet to talk to anybody who’s had the same experience with the game that I have.  Depending on the playthrough, characters and locales may vary drastically both in decorum and, in the case of NPCs, personality.  You may also end up visiting completely different locales as another player, receiving vastly different voicemails and text messages regarding plot points, which is bound to alter the perception of exactly what happened based on who is playing the game.  For example, at a certain point in the game the main character meets up with a police officer.  During my playthrough, this police officer was very frumpy and matronly in appearance, and her demeanor was at once motherly, kind and yet firm and professional.  Another player I have spoken with had a police officer who was fit, trim, very gruff and downright rude; his girlfriend met up with the officer earlier in the game than either of us, and her experience  was an officer who was courteous and professional but certainly not kind.  The level of detail to which the game analyzes you is very well thought-out; even the monsters that chase you during nightmare sequences change based on what the game thinks might make you cringe the most; I’ve seen screenshots of monsters with an almost mechanical bent to them, whereas mine are very organic, very female and very much missing body parts.  o_O

And then there’s the soundtrack.  All I have to say is “Akira Yamaoka, your music will be missed in future installments of Silent Hill.” 

I got sumpin’ brand new for ‘dat ass…

I went to bed last night running Windows Vista.

I woke up this morning running Windows 7.

At first glance I wasn’t really sure the installation took. 

Yeah, for those of you who haven’t played with it or investigated it much yet, Windows 7 is Windows Vista 1.5.  The concept is the same, most of the driver and display architecture is the same… but it takes up less than half the ram.  It’s beautiful to pop into the task manager and see between 2 and 10% of my system resources being used at idle, instead of Vista’s 35-50% usage.

Spent part of the morning playing with the desktop slideshow feature… for those of you familiar with Webshots, it’s a similar concept; drag and drop a bunch of wallpapers you like, and then schedule Windows to change them at set intervals.  Don’t like looking at a wallpaper for more than an hour?  You can change that.  Nifty!

Think I got the last multi-user pack in the entire fucking United States.  Think it was worth it.

Blizzcon 2009

New Diablo III class is the Monk.

New WoW expansion is the Cataclysm, featuring a redesign of Oldworld and trips into the Maelstrom.  New Horde race:  Goblins.  New Alliance race is confirmed as the Worgen.  “Classic zones forever changed by the Cataclysm.”  New secondary skill Archaeology.  Level cap 85.

Starcraft 2 beta confirmed to be starting in 2009, thank God.

More to come as it drops.

Editus Maximus:  Had to stop updating, as our router decided to go all unstable on us and I had to shut off my ‘puter to give Lina’s laptop the remainder of the bandwidth.  Glad it’s covered under an extended warranty~

So, lots of new shit at Blizzcon yesterday and even more coming today.

Diablo III looks to be shaping up quite nicely, although the panelists DID state that while they’ll be keeping the more vibrant motif in the areas they’ve designed, many of the new areas will be darker and more sinister.  The jury is still out on whether or not this is a concession to the pissed-off Diablo fans, or if this was the design direction they’d had all this time.

I *DID* like the panelists’ comment that they’d wanted the monk to feel much like “a much simpler 2d fighting game.”  Watching the monk in action was like watching warm butter glide across a flying pan…  wielded by Chef Ramsay in one of his more furious moods.  I also liked the fact that they did away with certain wizard abilities because they didn’t support their idea of having a giant lightshow for a class (stoneskin, for example, has been replaced with a spell that turns the wizard’s skin into crystal… which creates a very nice lightshow for all involved).  Also a huge fan of the fact that, if you see something drop from a monster, it’s yours.  Each person could kill a monster or boss and see something completely different drop.  NO MORE NINJA LOOTING.  WOOT~

Huge Battle.Net changes…  Looks like they’re aiming at making Bnet a combination of Steam, AIM and social networking sites like Facebook.  In order to play the newer games (DIII and SCII), you’ll ideally have to be logged into the service.  They’ve said that you’ll be able to play offline as well, but any progress made while not connected to Bnet will not be tracked and you’ll have to re-do it while connected to the service if you want to earn any of the achievements or other benefits attached to said content.  They’ve also made allusions to penalties for cheating:  Banishment of your Bnet ID, which will be attached to your game CD key (presumably).  Effectively, this will force you to go out and re-purchase the game of your choice if your key gets banned from Bnet.  Attaching a monetary penalty to cheating?  I can get behind that shit.

I’ll save the WoW changes and awesomeness for another post… that’s a whole huge matter of its own accord.

Reaching for the sky, I stand alone…

So, Lina and I discovered 1 vs. 100 yesterday.

No, not *THAT* 1 vs. 100.

This 1 vs. 100.

We just did the “extended play” session (basically, the crowd of however many people are all playing against each other).  Even so, it was still a lot of fun.  The way it works:  Questions are asked, you have a few seconds to answer.  The faster you answer, the higher your score.  You also gain points for correct answers based on how many other people answered the question incorrectly.  The highest scorers are featured on the stats page (displayed to the public every 10 questions) so you can see how you are stacking up.  The “extended play” sessions supposedly act as something of a qualifying round for the “live” sessions (where it’s 100 people chosen from the crowd against one individual chosen from the crowd); the higher your scores and quicker your response times in the EP sessions, the better your chances at being chosen as part of the “mob” of 100, or the “one” in the pit.

Right now, the “live” sessions don’t give out any prizes, but when the beta period is done there will supposedly be “skill-based prizes” for those that are The One, or in The Mob.  In the meantime, every question answered (be it correctly or incorrectly) gives you a sweepstakes entry.  Even without the prizes, though, the game is a lot of fun (especially if you have a group of people in the room with a diverse knowledge of meaningless trivia).

If you have an X360 and a gold account, play the game already!  It’s free and it’s a lot of fun.

Vivid memories turn to fantasies…

Mega Man 2 was one of my favorite games as a kid.

That said…

WANT!

From what I’ve seen, it appears that this is just a visual demo and that this game concept does not really exist.  Somebody needs to get on the fucking ball.

As usual, Penny Arcade sums up quite succinctly what my reaction would be were this to actually see the light of day.