World of Warcraft®

“Hail, shaman,” said the bull. “What brings an elder like yourself to these Barrens on such a hot day?” he asked, lowering his voice that the two of them could speak more privately.

Grennan stepped back slightly and leaned on his staff a little, making it a point to speak from within the shade of the tree. “An errand from the Earth Mother. I was recuperating under this tree when I sensed your party’s approach.”

“A wise decision,” said the bull as he glanced up at the tree’s branches. “Might we be permitted to do the same?”

Grennan let his staff lean in the direction of the tree, his way of gesturing toward it as he nodded. “My thanks,” said the bull before turning to the group of tauren, who looked his way as he faced them. “We can rest beneath the tree,” he told them with more volume so they could hear him clearly. Relief showed on their faces, and they wasted no time in finding promising spots to settle in the shade.

Grennan cast his eyes about on the party, looking over its various members with mild curiosity. Besides their leader, there were six in all that he looked over in order: two brethren, two sisters and two younger bulls.

It was when his eyes passed over the young pair, that the sight of one of them moved him visibly. His heart twinged in pain, and he grunted as his free hand went to his chest and his face wrinkled in discomfort while he averted his gaze.

The leader, noticing this, raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you well, shaman?”

“I’m all right,” answered Grennan, composing himself, but he couldn’t help but steal glances at said pair. At first, he thought he was seeing some sort of vision, but as he righted himself, he could sense that the one who caught his eye was very real.

The leading scout followed Grennan’s glance, giving the shaman an odd look before introducing himself. “I am Thateas, son of Paharo Swifthoof, Holy Strider and mentor to these brethren and sisters here. We are searching for suitable areas for our tribes to move, preferably a place with water. Have you seen any such places?”

The chieftain had a distant look in his eyes, despite not focusing them on the young bull of interest at that moment. “What tribes, and how great?” he asked.

“Mostly Winterhoof and Dawnstrider,” answered Thateas. “..numbering a little over fifty in all.”

“Hmm.” Grennan still looked mildly distracted as his gaze continued to drift. “No,” he then answered after some thought, then adding, “at least, not one that could sustain a family that great.”

“Any place with even a little water would do, shaman,” said Thateas, as though he were almost pleading.

Grennan shook his head, frowning slightly. “I am sorry, I have not seen anything since leaving Stonetalon. But perhaps..” He looked over the group again, his eyes lingering on the young one a little longer than the others. At one point they made eye contact, but the young one by then had noticed the chieftain taking interest in him and was becoming uncomfortable, trying to lose such feelings in conversation with the other young tauren with him.

“..perhaps if I were to know where they were, I might be able to persuade the heavens to bring the water to them,” finished Grennan.

“You can call upon the heavens for rain?” asked Thateas, his face brightening with hope. “Our own shamans have tried in vain, but it is not their specialty, I’m afraid.”

“I can,” affirmed Grennan, taking this moment to introduce himself and his errand in return. “I am Grennan Stormspeaker, chieftain of the Stormspeaker tauren. The Earth Mother has tasked us with searching for gatherings of our brethren and sisters and lend our gifts to their aid.”

“Thank the Spirits we crossed paths, then,” said Thateas with relief, readily sharing information at this news. “They are in Mulgore, near the borders of this land. We would be deeply grateful if you could honor them with your presence and quench their thirst.”

The chieftain’s staff switched hands as he bowed. “I am duty-bound to do so. I shall begin making my way there now. But, before I do, I have one question, Brother.”

Thateas arched an eyebrow again, curious. “Yes?”

Grennan let his staff tilt forward in the direction of the younger pair of tauren under the tree. “The young one with the titian mane...who is he?”

Thateas glanced in that direction, making brief eye contact with the young one in question before looking back to Grennan. “Mm..I noticed your interest in him. That is Kaeevanrash, son of Lohtas Winterhoof and Saeuna Dawnstrider.” The holy strider then began to look and speak a bit warily to the chieftain. “He is the youngest of my students, the youngest I’ve had for some time, in fact.”

Grennan’s eyebrows raised briefly, noticing the strider’s look. “An interesting choice for a name,” he remarked, as though he knew its meaning.

“Have you both met before?”

The chieftain shook his head. “No.” He gave another glance at Kaeevanrash, and then a parting nod to Thateas before he stepped back into the sunlight, making his way south as the holy strider had directed. “He just looks a lot like someone I once knew,” he spoke as he departed.

At this moment, most of the group was busy chatting away, eating or simply relaxing. They did not notice the chieftain take his leave. Only Thateas, Kaeevanrash and the other young tauren seemed to notice, and they watched the figure for some time before the young pair got up and went to Thateas as the holy strider rejoined the group.

With Kaeevanrash close behind, the other young tauren piped up, “Strider, who was that?”

Thateas’ gaze had not left Grennan yet. A look of mild suspicion was actually beginning to show on his face, for he had a hunch as to why the shaman was eyeing his youngest pupil so much. It was a hunch he did not like. He looked between the pair and shook his head slightly. “Just a shaman, Mot’aru. He’s just passing through, nothing you nor Kaeev need to concern yourselves about.”

Notwithstanding the strider’s attempts to downplay the meeting, ‘Kaeev’ and Mot’aru both watched Grennan depart with a look of fascination common to children. It was rare for them to see shamans outside of their tribes. Thateas gave them both a slight nudge with his hands. “Come on now, gather your things. We will be leaving soon.”

Looking a little disappointed, the two nevertheless obeyed. Kaeev looked back at Thateas and asked, “Think we’ll run into him again?”

With the hunch still on his mind, Thateas sighed before he answered belatedly.

“I’ve little doubt we will.”

((EDIT: A little lengthy, I know, but when I saw this thread, this prologue is the first thing that came to mind. Hope you enjoyed.))

((Bumping because well, drama posts should be lower than awesome writing posts. So support bump? Yeah, Support Bump. It lifts and separates to give you that perky feeling.))

08/06/2012 11:21 PMPosted by Izby

((Bumping because well, drama posts should be lower than awesome writing posts. So support bump? Yeah, Support Bump. It lifts and separates to give you that perky feeling.))

((Totally agreeing & Bumpity-Bump-Bump!))

What kind of person would report this?

...bump.

quick question: does the story need to be posted here in the body of a comment, or can we link to it hosted offsite?

No, it needs to be posted here. The contest is a tribute to Dhaymon who used to work very hard to promote rp stories on our forum and get more people rping.

We look forward to seeing your story.

okie doke, not a problem at all. Thanks for the prompt answer!

"How much for the girl?" The cloaked man nodded in Kim's direction.

"Oh well, she isn't exactly for sale..." The girl overheard her owner reply, somewhat hastily.

The man glared poisonously at her owner and repeated himself.

“How much for the girl?"

Her owner began to buckle, he started to repeat his previous statement but shuddered and and merely said they could work out a suitable price and to follow him inside to discuss it. Kim knelt in the mud and rain, nervously, as she had understood all of what was said between the two men, for she understood the language. Shifting slightly were she sat made the chains around her wrists clink together causing the near by guard to growl at her to be quiet. She put her head down and wondered who the man was, she had never seen him in town or around any of the estates she worked at. Could he be from the city maybe? No, even if he was you'd never escape.

The two men walked back out into the rain, her owner nodded to one of the guards and then slinked away back into his house with his hand clung to a small leather purse. The guard next to him picked her up by the arm and walked over to the man handing him a key.

“Wha' you plan on doin' with this one then? She is a bit of a fighter.” The guard jested at him but quickly fell silent when he saw the glare of the man through his hood.

“I'm counting on it, heh, I intend to have my fun with this one.”

Turning and looking at her with devilish eyes he spoke to her. “Whats your name luv?” His eyes gleaming with a undeniable malice.

She looked away quickly as she caught a glimpse of herself in his empty eyes, painted black, boring through her, studying her. The man stood there and cocked his head to a side and raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to say something. Putting a hand under her chin he tugged her eyes back to him, again fear seemed to grip her as she was forced to stare into the empty voids. Kim had always read peoples eyes like a book into their character but these only professed a sense of age. They are old, incredibly old. She shuddered at the thought, who ever he was, he wasn't as human as his form made him out to be.

He finally sighed and grabbed her arm and began towards the gate, hurrying his steps until they were both out of sight of the town and its people. The man look around quickly once they had stopped at a relatively dry spot beneath the trees, he turned to her and looked at her with a strange, but almost reassuring look, before breaking into a smile.

“Heh, the chains should be unlocked dear, terribly sorry about the big show back there but honestly I find that the easiest way to deal with slavers.”

He pulled off his hood to revel short choppy dark hair, everything about him seemed to change from menacing to welcoming, everything except his eyes. Kim stumbled back a bit dazed, when almost by command the chains slipped off as if they had never been locked, she opened her mouth several times before finally she found her voice again.

“W-who the hell are you? What do you want with me?”
The man stood bolt upright almost in shock, and then covered his eyes with his palms and groaning.

“Awwww...dammit, please tell me I rescued the wrong girl again.”

Kim frowned and folded her arms, her confidence bolstered by the mans clear distress.

“Maybe I am, whats it too you?” She said, trying to keep a straight face as to not reveal her joy for being so tough.

The man looked at her oddly with wide eyes, partially confused and partially hopeful.

“Is that a yes or no, cause if it is a no then I've gotta go back and get the right girl and I doubt that idiot will be willing to sell anymore to me” He looked thoughtful and completely set on returning to the town. “Well, I guess I could just kill him”

He started counting on his fingers how many guards completely oblivious to everything around him before looking down at his rather unique clothing and grumbling to himself.

“I'll probably get blood all over my cloths, dammit, just cleaned them after the merc incident.”

“Wait! Please, yes I am Kim. I'm not sure I am who you are looking for though but please don't kill anyone.” Kim shouted at him before he was able to tread back to the town.

He stopped for a second and thought about it. “Well the probability of there being two Kim's in the same town that were slaves...taking into account the population, where every 25th baby is named with a K...umm...the chances are...Highly unlikely!”

He ran back to camp and grabbed her and hugged her stopping just short of a kiss before letting go of her and standing back, bolt upright and looked back and forth with shifty eyes.

“Ahh...Sorry, I get a bit excited sometimes y'see? I can't really help it...sorry.”

They both stood there awkwardly for a minutes before Kim, still quite stricken from all that had happened spoke as kindly as she dared as to not sound offended.

“Do you, umm have a name?” He smiled. “John, other people call me Weird sometimes...His eyebrow curved into a frown over his black eyes.

“I was never quite sure why they said that, I think it is my nose that turns them off." He said, putting a hand by his perfectly normal nose. "Only logical answer...John, yeah think that Is my name, either way you can call me John.”

“Well...John...What exactly did you want with me, since clearly it wasn't what I originally thought it was.” Kim said looking at him questioningly.

“What? You mean you don't know already? Damn...You sure, I mean you aren't just playing with my head, right?” Kim shook her head and gestured at him to finish.

“Well my dear...I should really stop saying dear, makes me sound way older then I am...doesn't it just a bit? What were we talking about again?

John stopped for a second to think, he looked up at the dark clouded sky then back at Kim. “You've got power, something rare among your kind.”

Kim stared at him even more confused then before.

“'I've got what?”

John winked at her and looked back at the sky to see it clearing up, with sun piercing through the clouds. "I'll explain everything in due time, but first, snack time, which is my favorite time of all."

Fool's Errand: (1/3)

Kalecgos stood on a low hill, looking north. Charred fingers of rock broke against the endless yellow sand of the Barrens, artifacts of the chaotic rebirth of Deathwing. Across one of the bigger fissures, he could see the smoke from dozens of fires smudging the horizon. Small popping noises sounded rhythmically near his feet.

“Will you stop that?” he hissed at Chromie, his eyes straining to see through the dust to the orc troops beyond.

“Who are you talking to?” Her voice came from behind him, and he spun about in confusion, his blue hair tangling around his face. Despite his precautions that they were trying to be inconspicuous, the little bronze dragon was zipping to and fro in whelping form.

“You!” he said. “And change into something less obvious. Please.”

Chromie thumped to the dusty ground, wearing her usual gnome form. She twisted her hair into two quick buns, grinning at Kalecgos as he brushed the hair out of his eyes. “Ready for action, chief. What’re we doin’?”

“We are keeping an eye out for any unusual activity. Which Chromie are you, anyway?” She waved a pudgy hand to hush him, eyes scanning the lands ahead them. They were wide and blank, and Kalecgos sighed, unsure about where - or when - she was looking.

“What do you see?” he asked her when he was unable to wait any longer.

“Nothing...”

“Noth- Chromie, I can see orc war camps. They’re right there!”

“You said to look for unusual activity. Orcs acting warlike is pretty normal behaviour.” Her voice was dreamy, distant. Her head moved back and forth as she searched, and he swore she was sniffing the air like a hunting animal.

Unnerved, he bent to brush away the marks they’d left in the dirt. Whatever she saw, despite the preparations for battle, there was nothing urgent here. Nothing that would warrant Nozdormu’s request that he come to Kalimdor’s coasts and scout for turmoil. It sounded suspiciously like meddling in mortal affairs, he’d protested, but the bronze leader had been firm. The ground beneath Kalecgos’ fingers was scuffed with handprints now instead of boot marks. With a sigh, he realized his ministrations only made it look more obvious people had been there. He stood up, bumping Chromie as he straightened.

“Ack!” she shouted, before disappearing with a small pop.

“This is starting to get annoying,” he said.

“What is?”

This time Kalecgos didn’t startle, though he could hear the heavy flapping of wings behind him.

“Chromie...” he said, both in answer and greeting. He closed his eyes in weary anticipation of having to explain their mission to her. Again. A guttural snarl tore through the air, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose as a reeking wave of hot metal rolled over him.

“Chromie’s not here. There is only... Chronormu,” he said to Kalecgos in a deep voice.

Uh oh. Chronormu was perhaps as much of a trickster as his feminine guise was, but not nearly as small, and with a serious weakness for silly honorifics. Was it an insult to keep his back to the dragon, or a sign of trust? Kalecgos wasn’t sure. The rules changed weekly, it seemed. Kalecgos was getting a headache, something he didn’t think dragons were prone to. No one told him how unpleasant being mortal was.

“Chronormu, your… um, Bronziness,” Kalecgos said, tilting his head to the side in acknowledgement. ”I am honoured you have come to join me in my mission.”

He opened his eyes, resolving to face him before settling down to the business of explaining where they should go next, only to find two blurry, bright green eyes staring at him from inches away. He stumbled backwards with a yell, blinking his watery eyes as Chromie – gnome Chromie – who dropped lightly to the ground, snorting with laughter.

“Keep it down, Kalecgos, jeez, do you want them to hear us in Orgrimmar?” She wiped her own teary eyes as her giggles subsided. “Nozdormu should’ve never let me do the Chronormu/Chromie thing. He must have known how long you’d believe it too, the jerk.”

“I- ! But you-!” His heart was leaping wildly, and he had no idea if it was the scare or the validation of his privately long-held belief that the leader of the bronze dragonflight was kind of, excuse the Thalassian, a prick.

Fool's Errand (2/3):

“Come on now, do your arcaney thing and make the portal happen,” Chromie said, wiggling her fingers and getting to her feet.

“Of course,” he said, trying to recover a semblance of control. If there was a world after this one, surely Anveena was laughing at him. “Uh… where are we going?”

“Oh, right! Duh, future Chromie, present Kalecgos is a mortal. We’re going to Theramore. Orders from the head honcho.”

A simple spell - this, at least, he could do. Kalecgos began working the sigils, glaring at Chromie. “What does being mortal have to do with anything? You’re mortal now too, you know.”

“It means somewhat less to us in the bronze flight. The amount of time we spend in the timeways makes a singular point in history - like our deaths - kind of fuzzy after a while. We spend much less time hopping around since defeat of the infinite flight, but there’s always something that’s putting Azeroth’s future in danger.”

He completed the portal spell, stepping back to allow Chromie to pass through first. As she did, he asked her, “If death matters so little on the time ways, how is it the infinite flight were defeated for good?” But she was already through in a flash of pink and purple, so he shrugged and followed her to Theramore.

*~*~*

A rushing wind, as high as a woman’s scream, greeted him on the other side. Of course, he thought, Lady Proudmoore built the dragon-attuned portal atop the tower after one of Alexstrasza’s hatchlings turned a series of scrolls on ley lines into blooming lilies on accident. He remembered the sea as more of a loud roaring, though; this was -

“Kalecgos!” Chromie screamed. “Get it together, we’re under attack!” He looked around, counting three - or was it four? - dark hazy shapes, that chittered in high voices and slapped their weapons against the tower’s ramparts. As he watched, he saw pieces of their flesh break off and float into the air like ash. Infinite dragons.

Grabbing his arm, Chromie flipped a tiny, sparkling hourglass like a coin high into the air. It exploded in a burst of gold sparks to form a dome above them. Frightened, the dragons they were facing stopped, their snouts pointed upwards at the spell’s curving ceiling. Kalecgos gathered himself, and with a shout, cracked the middle one with a lance of power that snapped like a whip, cutting it to pieces. The other dragons barely reacted when their ally was torn to shreds. Meanwhile, Chromie drove another hourglass deep into the flagstones with her foot, where it detonated below with a hollow boom.

“I’ve slowed their time,” Chromie told him, “but it won’t keep for long, so don’t hold back.” She cast a spell of her own, sending thin rays of light out from between her clenched fingers, flaying the scales off the dragons as Kalecgos laid into their vulnerable flesh with more lashes of power. By the time the dome above flickered out of existence, their enemies were little more than ashy grease stains on the crenellations.

Chromie knelt to unlatch the trapdoor leading to the tower stairs.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” he said. She shook her head, allowing wisps of hair to work free from her buns.

“I swear, I had no-“

The door beneath her burst upwards, and she barely had time to jump back as a tidal wave of power washed over them both. Kalecgos dropped into a low crouch, hoping to lay a series of arcane bombs beneath the dragons’ feet as they came towards him. His spell fizzled into nothingness when, to his surprise, a lean, muscular young woman pushed her way through.

Fool's Errand (3/3):

“Wait!” she cried out. Contrary to her cracking voice, Jaina Proudmoore looked fierce and proud. She was braced for battle, a worn wooden staff bearing teeth marks planted in the ground as she stood side-on to the two dragons. Her eyes fell on the marks left by the defeated infinite members. “Well, well,” she said. “I have you to thank for the assistance below, I take it?”

Chromie stepped forward, flicking her fingers to her forehead in a quick salute. “At your service, Jaina.”

The Lady of Theramore cocked an eyebrow at the familiarity, but her startled expression gave way to a delight. “A bronze dragon! Chromie, am I right? It seems it we are to become good friends.”

“Why not start today?” Chromie shared Jaina’s grin as if they were sisters, and though he hadn’t moved from where he stood, Kalecgos smiled too. It was the awkward wallflower smile of an Aspect elevated and dethroned before forming the vital connections to the peoples of Azeroth he had been charged to protect. Perhaps this is what Nozdormu foretold and sought to correct, he thought.

Chromie leaned over and looked into the open trapdoor, letting out a long wolf whistle at the corpses piled on the stairs. “You fight like a wolf, my lady.” She stood up and looked at the remnants of their own battle, producing a vial from her pocket. “I better get some evidence of this for the boss man.” She began sc#!!%#! the vile stuff up.

“Lady Proudmoore,” Kalecgos said, stepping forward to shake her hand. “It’s a pleasure.”

“Please,” she said, smiling and squeezing his hand with her cool, ink-stained fingers. “Call me Jaina.” The wind, tangy with salt from the sea, was whipping her hair around her face. “Inside isn’t much better than up here, I’m afraid, but allow me to offer you some hospitality.” She rucked her skirts up about her knees to keep the gore from staining them - a fruitless exercise at this point - and went down to prepare some tea. Kalecgos made to follow but stopped with one foot on the top step when something occurred to him.

“Chromie…” he said.

“Mmm?” she replied, intent on her task.

“You said you didn’t know the infinite flight would be here, but Nozdormu must have known something to send you to me.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“What was their purpose here? Stratholme, the Black Portal - those made sense. Nothing about this makes any sense.”

“Well,” she said. Her words were measured and careful as she spoke them. “Jaina must play some significance in the time to come. When the infinite flight sought to keep Thrall from fulfilling a destiny as Warchief - and eventually, his role in the downfall of Deathwing - they kidnapped someone he loved. But they did it to save her life, not to kill her. Anachronos intervened to halt their destruction of the timeways and Taretha died so Thrall would become the Warchief as he was meant to be. The Black Portal was opened, causing the death of thousands. That’s what the infinite does - did. They tried to steer the wheel of time to a better place.” The face she turned towards Kalecgos was solemn. He was seeing the true Chromie for the first time, beneath the weight of her duties. “We seldom preserve happy timelines, Kalec.”

“I understand,” he told her. He did see, though it hurt his heart to know Anveena could have never been saved. The noise of Jaina cursing floated up through the trap door, fit to make a sailor blush, as she stomped about her tower cleaning and Kalecgos turned his head to the sound. As he put his other foot on the step, Chromie saw a smile, tentative but genuine, creep across his face before he disappeared into the tower.

“Nozzy, you sentimental old geezer. Maybe we don’t preserve just the tragedies.” Chromie’s laugh rung out under the cloudy skies as she gathered her things and joined her friends below.

((Final word count: 2007. Thanks for your consideration!))

Entries are now closed. I am trying to line up judges. Unfortunately most of my friends are attending writer's conferences soon so they are swamped.

Check back for an estimate on when we will announce the winner

((*bumps*))

*bump* Who won? 2nd, 3rd, honorable mention?

We're still judging. Unfortunately, my list of friends I had hoped to tap had to bow out due to commitments elsewhere. So, we're judging now. I will post as soon as everyone is in agreement.

Thanks for everyone's patience.

Gen's player.

so what's the haps, here? everything get delayed by 5.0.4/mists excitement?

so what's the haps, here? everything get delayed by 5.0.4/mists excitement?

No, my first and second round of judges are attending writing conferences, either as attendees or serving on panels, judging conference story contests, busy trying to hit a publishing deadline or promoting new books. My whole writer's group effectively got knocked out.

My next round of judges caught caught up in real life and I waited as long as I could before calling in the current round. I hope to have winners posted this weekend.