jordangreywolf

Whack-a-C'thrax, Part 2
We finally had our "grand finale" fight against a (weakened) c'thrax imprisoned in the bottom of the base at Tyr's Fall. On a technical level, I think it underscored to the new players just how broken our hodge-podge RP system was. (Play balance? What's THAT?) But it at least offered some opportunities for some silly scene-setting.

The heroes were pounding on this nasty monstrosity doing absolutely no discernible damage whatsoever, until a priestess (new player) did some meditation and determined that the thing had a Void shield that was redirecting all the damage -- so she did a focused attempt to dispel it, got a natural 20 on the roll, and then the worgen (another guest player) THREW THE BERSERKER DWARF AT THE MONSTER'S HEAD. Ker-pow! (That was one way to deal with the dwarf's complete lack of ranged attack capability.)

Rat Situation Under Control!
I tried to find something other than just chronicling the exploits of groups of over-powered and under-powered heroes tackling C'thuloid monstrosities and other weirdness, so I wandered about and found a light RP group based in the Golden Keg (Dwarven section of Stormwind City), where someone would show up pretty regularly to play the part of barkeep. The humor was a bit scatological at times, but I figured I'd do some doodles to pay tribute to their efforts. One "feature" of this tavern is that rats keep spawning in the corner of the pub, so ... I guess that doesn't really say much for the health inspectors in this part of town?

Rat Trap Model X
Related to the above, the barkeep player found a workaround to at least keep the rat population somewhat in check (without simply WHACKING a rat each time it spawns and then leaving a corpse on the floor). Basically, there's a vanity pet called "Creepy Crate" that is among several that "eat" nearby critters. So he just parked the Creepy Crate in the corner (renamed Rat Trap Model X) and when a rat would inevitably spawn, after a few seconds the crate would gobble it up. Tada! I thought it a novel "solution."

Stormwind Surf 'n' Turf
Another thing I checked out was the Monday Market -- basically, some folks hang out in the area overlooking the harbor every Monday evening and pretend to run market stalls, while others pretend to shop. A few programs such as Musician and TRP 3 allow for "real" bardic entertainment (playing MIDIs) and wares (virtual "items" with descriptions and attached actions, icons, etc., that only "exist" for anyone using the add-on), but mostly relying on Google Docs and image-hosting sites to make up fancy menus and advertisements to share with people (often relying in tinyurl.com to make something relatively short for people to type into their browsers, since direct hyperlinks from the game aren't allowed).

I decided to draw the proprietors of one of the booths -- Stormwind Surf 'n' Turf -- which I found amusing because they're a bunch of mechagnomes offering organic food, but their menu entries tended to describe their offerings in rather clinical, technical terms.

I'm seriously envious of the little mecha-whelp. As it turns out, that was a pet you can only get during the WoW anniversary ... and I only learned about this AFTER the anniversary period had ended. Argh!

Hunting for Titan Widgets
A couple of the new players helping look around in Uldaman for a Titan gizmo to help solve a technological issue. (The "regular" PCs tended to dominate the action, but I figured I'd try to focus my doodles on the new faces. Not sure if they'll ever be BACK again, but we'll see.)

Adventurers Will Be Adventurers (Face-Palm)
Next adventure, the heroes headed for Ulduar to search for a Titan gizmo to help fix their Titan Orb "buddy." An Iron Dwarf was assigned to escort the heroes around to try to make sure they didn't destroy anything or get into any trouble. Unfortunately, they still managed to get into trouble. Poor guy!

(In the lower-left corner is Steve the Wonder Lizard, making another cameo. Here, in this adventure, he's sporting a tiny scarf and pair of ear-muffs procured for him by the party's bard.)

Sparky the Musicat
Another doodle of a light RP event: a bard (again using Musician mod) was playing his favorite instrument ... the cat! Or, rather, supposedly he had a magical guitar that was using this mechanocat (or "musicat") as his amplifier.

Lady Rose of the Stormwind Daily
Doodle I drew of Lady Rose, patron of the Stormwind Daily. It's not tied to a story for the Stormwind Daily (Lady Rose doesn't really seem to get into adventuring), but I thought I'd draw a portrait anyway.