Update time

So, I really don't ever intend to have long spells between posts. I really don't. It just sort of... happens. :\

To attempt to make up for this last one, let me mention that there is currently 2 RP things going on at the moment. One with Jahira, Windstar, and a couple other druids, and another with Max and Arnen. Yes, me and sis are finally getting the poor brothers reunited, hopefully sometime in the next couple days. In the meantime, I've been keeping myself busy in between work shifts.

Firstly, Rift-Kel is up to 47, almost 48. Leveling has been slowed lately, in favor of trying to work on professions, but I'm getting myself back in gear. Not much longer, and I will have my first non-WoW max-level toon. Which of course means I will get to start on the next one. >.> Most likely my lil chloro-mage Vanyell. Or maybe perhaps one of my Guardian characters. Hmm...

In Lord of the Rings Online, I have been tinkering on holiday festival stuff. Mostly doing the holiday quests and collecting festival costumes/housing items/ mounts. My burglar Daeren is my official mount collector, and he got both of the in-game mounts on the first two days of the festival. Then Turbine snuck a new one in halfway through the holiday, so I took him to grab it as soon as I learned about it. The festival is almost over now, and I think I'm a little burned out with it, so I probably will be getting back to normal questing/leveling now. Especially since the newest expansion has already been announced for this fall. Ugh, so much to do...

Finally on to WoW-related stuff. Kel has had her first attempt in the raid finder, and I think it went well. She didn't win any drops, but at least I didn't cause any wipes, and she wasn't last on the dps meter, either. My game did go down to 2fps, occasionally dropping to 1fps, during most of the boss fights (which I was expecting, my computer doesn't like 25-man raids). She is also finally almost done with her Molten Front stuff. Yes, I know, I'm a slacker. >.< She should only need another day, maybe 2, of dailies to recruit her last faction, the Ancients, and then she'll have a shiny new hippogryph.

Oh yea, she's in the Wildfire Riders now, too. It still hasn't sunk in completely, and I'm kind of half expecting them to realize their mistake and boot me out. >.>
(Just kidding. :P I <3 you guys)

Jahira has also been seeing a lot of play time. Not too long ago, I sort of realized how much I love her character, and how much I've missed playing her, so she's kind of taken over #2 priority, as far as gear and things. She is way behind Kel right now, but I've been slowly figuring out how to Boomkin with her. She just recently reached the ilvl required for the new Time heroics, although she really needs a new weapon before I'll feel comfortable taking her in there. Which means that Kal has also been getting some attention as well. I had (sort of) recently switched one of her professions to blacksmithing, and have been wearing out her gryphon's wings farming ore to skill it up. She's still working through Northrend levels, but it's so dead up there (harhar) that she has little competition for ore nodes, and it's going pretty quickly. The biggest problem for now is my attention span. I really don't mind farming, in fact I downright enjoy it, but a few laps around Howling Fjord and I swear my brain tries to shut itself off. :P

My brother has finally convinced me to give the PvP server Arthas another try. I only have 3 characters over there so far, a little forsaken warrior, a human paladin, as well as my blood elf hunter Kerrowyn. She has been so neglected on Feathermoon, with 4 other hunters for competition, I decided to transfer her to Arthas, for a couple reasons. 1- I wanted a hunter on that server, 2- I hoped a new server might get me to play her more, and 3- I figured that if I still neglected her, I wouldn't mind as much since it's not my main server. So far I've got her up 3 or 4 levels since the transfer, and while I've switched my 'lowbie focus' to my pally, I do intend to continue working on Kerro in the near future.

And finally, Max has been getting some infrequent play time as well, and is currently 71. It's amazing what a good motivator it is, just having certain pets planned for a character. It was not hard getting him to 69 for his Beast Mastery talent, so he could go tame his devilsaur Fury (formerly King Mosh). And now I keep thinking about the spirit beasts I want to find for him, which means the sporadic leveling will continue. Oh yea, and there will be Max stories posted soon, as well.

And I think that's enough for this Wall o' Text. Time to crank up my new Lacuna Coil album (which is amazing) and do some leveling. Soon as I figure out which game I feel like playing first. :D
/Waves

Why didn't I try this sooner...

Sabre + Kibler's Bits = .....



Yes, he really is the same size as her mount. /boggle
(This is what happens when I get a cold and stay up way too late.)

Storytime: Giving

Slow crappy computer and lack of WoW-time has not overcome holiday writing binge. /flex
And yes, I know it's a few days late. Enjoy anyways!

------------
Stormwind was glowing, multi-colored lights chasing the evening darkness away. Windstar and Jahira were perched on the roof of their little house, silently enjoying each other's company as they admired the view. Eventually Star noticed Jahira glancing in her direction, and gave her a questioning look. The elder elf just smiled and slipped one arm around Star's waist. "Nothing, my love," she assured her. "Just enjoying the scenery." Star blushed faintly as she rested her head on her mate's shoulder.

A few minutes later, Jahira broke the silence again. "Tomorrow is Winter's Veil," she said. "Greatfather Winter is supposedly arriving in Iron Forge and handing presents out to everyone."

Star raised her head, quirking an eyebrow at her tone. "'Supposedly'?" she asked. Jahira gave a slight shrug. "After all the years I've been around humans and dwarves, some of their habits still seem a little odd." she replied. "Sometimes I think they invent holidays just for the excuse to throw a party." Star chuckled quietly. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?" Jahira smiled, giving her companion a gentle, one-armed hug. "Not at all. In fact, gift giving is one of their better customs, I think." She straightened, moving her arm from around her young mate and giving her an expectant look. "So. Ready for bed yet?"

*** *** ***
Star was woken up the next morning by the sound of voices, followed by the front door closing. She blinked sleepily up at Jahira as she came over for a good-morning kiss. "That was just Kal," the older druid said in response to the unasked question. "She needs a small favor, so I'll be a bit busy this morning. I should be done by early afternoon, though. Would a short visit to Moonglade sound good?"

Star nodded. "I can keep myself occupied until then. Would we be spending the night there? Or shall we just see how it goes?" Jahira pretended to think about it for a moment, then replied, "I think we'll see how it goes. For now, I need to go see about acquiring some silver."

*** *** ***
Two druids walked slowly around the southern shore of the lake. As they reached the first tiny inlet, near where the flight master kept her hippogryphs, Jahira stopped and turned to face Windstar. "Dearheart, remember our conversation last night? About Winter's Veil and my opinion about gift-giving?"

Star nodded, tilting her head curiously as Jahira took a tiny box from her belt pouch and handed it to her. She opened it carefully, then stared in surprise. "Jahira, I..." She slowly took out the small, silver locket inside, first admiring the tiny antler design etched into the outside, then opening it to find a miniature portrait of her and her mate inside. She finally looked up at Jahira's smiling face, her expression caught halfway between joy and tears. She reached for Jahira's hand, managing a very quiet, "But... I didn't get you anything." "Ah, love," Jahira replied. "You've given me more than you can imagine. I'm only repaying some of it."

The only response Star could manage was to pull Jahira into a hug. Which was more than enough of an answer for Jahira.

--------------
Kal tried to hide her impatience as she watched Channi pull the colorful wrapping off of the tiny box. She mentally thanked whatever gods were listening (again) that she was related to a jewel-crafter, as her lover opened the box, then, with eyes gone huge with surprise, she slowly lifted out the silver locket. The wolf's head etched on the outside glinted in the soft firelight coming from the hearth, and Kal knew she was going to owe Jahira a danged big favor for the gift.

Channi finally opened the locket, and smiled at the portrait of the two of them inside. Kal couldn't resist a smile in response, and she reached over to gently brush Channi's cheek with her fingertips. "You like it, hun?" she asked, already sure of the answer, but wanting to hear it anyways. The girl turned and threw her arms around the elf in a quick hug, followed by a much longer kiss, before she finally replied, "It's beautiful! I love it."

------------

I know Kal's part is short, but it's kind of hard to write about someone else's character (at least it is for me), especially when there has been no in-game RP between those two in months. Star and Jahira, on the other hand, have been stuck inside my head off and on ever since they 'hooked up'. It would be almost annoying if they weren't such total sweethearts with each other. :P

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, they did wind up spending the night in Moonglade. It's a semi-regular occurrence.

Anyways! Hope everyone had a good holiday. I, personally, am just glad it's mostly over. /Waves

I'm still here...

Yes, I'm having another fail-blogger spell. Work has been insane with the holidays, and me and sis have been trying to get ourselves ready as well. And then there's the stupid $%^$ing virus that got on my good laptop. I'm having to use my old one for now, (thank goodness I've been keeping it more or less up-to-date) which now can only run Lord of the Rings. So unless I get desperate enough to borrow sis's old laptop, WoW is unavailable until my 'puter is cleaned up and fixed.

Lesson from all this? Never trust a website that has issues with pop-ups. Even something as innocent-seeming as a site for song lyrics. :(

This will likely be the only blog post I make til my good 'puter is fixed, since all my screenies and most of my story-related stuff was on that one. Good news is, my dad has a friend that can fix it. Bad news is, I have no idea how long it will take. Hopefully not more than a couple days. This old thing I'm using now has it's fair share of issues, and is slow as heck. If I didn't need my gaming fix, I would probably not even bother. *sigh*

#1 Reason Why Transmogging is Awesome

Kalenedral has her Quel'Delar again.

/Happy sigh

Silence...

Not much interesting going on lately. Mostly just goofing around on Rift, with occasional visits to LotRO or WoW. My rogue on Rift is 45 now, only 5 more levels til I can start seeing what the endgame content is like. And, ya know, start on my next alt. >.>

I've had some interesting things going on in my head, RP-wise. Such as Kal getting a new (and rather impressive) scar, and some back-story stuff for a few LotR characters. The only problem is getting everything sorted out enough to write out. There may be some Storytime posts in the future, but I don't want to make any definite promises. Because I have a bad habit of failing them. :(

One interesting (to me, at least) thing I've been doing is taking screenshots. Enjoy!

Some of these animals in Rift just can't get along...










Moonshade Highlands may be the prettiest zone in the game...


Iron Pine Peaks is second (although the constant snowfall makes me lag)...


Kelesaria the rogue got a new buddy, courtesy of the FaeYule holiday event (and lots and lots of dailies)...


The Defiant capitol, Meridian...



My champion Aravann got himself a fancy horse, and I spoiled him with a /mountrearup emote as well...


My hunter Kelvren in Evendim, another gorgeous zone...


Another shot of Evendim...


And I think that's enough for now. :P
Thanksgiving went pretty good for me. Having the whole weekend off, except for coming in to help another department Saturday night (fun and easy compared to what I usually do), helped a lot. Just have to make it through Christmas and New Year's now. It never stops surprising me how rude and impatient people can get during holidays. Angry people in the check-out lines, drivers in the parking lot acting like they're on the friggin' freeway, it's enough to make me want to hide at home until the season is over. I lost track of how many times some driver came within inches (literally!) of hitting me, whenever I'm bringing the shopping carts back inside. Come on, people, aren't holidays supposed to be happy? What's the huge rush for? Geez... /endrant

Anyways, hope all the (few) people that read this had a good Thanksgiving, and have a good (and safe!) rest of the holidays. /Waves

Meet Khaltagg

Woof.

Lord of the Rings has a version of PvP, called PvMP (Player vs. Monster Player). Once you have a character at or above level 10, you can begin Monster Play. You can play as one of several different classes of orcs, as well as a spider, and a warg. Each monster is a counterpart to a Free Peoples class, with fighters, healers, and an archer. The warg is the baddies' version of a burglar.

Khaltagg is loads of fun. Monster Play starts you off right at max level, so you can head straight out into the Ettenmoors and start beating up Freeps (jargon for the good guys, us bad guys are called Creeps). There are also daily quests everywhere, and they all give destiny points (currency for training traits and skills) and most give infamy (sort of a cross between honor points and rep). Raising your infamy high enough gives you new ranks, which in turn raises your stats and gives access to more skills. So far, Khaltagg is rank 1, with only some limited play time in the evenings, when I'm bored but not sleepy enough to go to bed.

I'm planning a more or less IC post with Khaltagg in the (hopefully) near future. He may become something of a 'silly post' character, being a not-too-bright warg surrounded by not-much-brighter orcs, trolls, and goblins. We'll see how this goes. :D


Something I just found today, was a band in LotR, actually on the Laurelin server, that writes their own music and plays in public events. The band is called The Shades, and right here is an example of what talented people can do with LotR's music system.

And on that note, my minstrel Kyrreth is almost 28. Must go get a ding before this dang cold I'm getting makes me conk out.
... Well, at least getting sick might help my insomnia? :\
Anyways,... /waves