#virmen

[moons-guard]

I combined Inktober prompts for days 9 and 10: Bounce and Fortune.

[sekhisadventures]

Xhu Pai Bao, Timelost Pandaren of the Wandering Isle

Important Stories:

The Timelost Pandaren: While enjoying a meal with her lover and said lovers parents, a temporal anomaly rips Xhu Pai out of that reality entirely.

Culture Shock: After appearing on the Isle of Dorn Xhu Pai and several other refugees from across time and space attempt to get answers. Xhu believes herself reunited with her lover upon spotting a familiar pandaren, only to realize that things are not what they seem.

Twisted Paths: Xhu Pai discovers that they may well be trapped in this timeline, the shock of this revelation sending her into a panic and causing her to flee blindly into the wilds of Khaz Algar.

Race: Pandaren

Class: None (is a novice warrior at best.)

Eye Color: Green

Birthplace: The Wandering Isle of another Timeline

Residence: Currently homeless

Abilities:

Heir to the Bao Brewery: Xhu Pai was, in her home timeline, being groomed to take over a prominent brewery on the Wandering Isle and knows quite a bit about alecrafting.

Novice Fighter: She knows a little about swordplay, but only a very little. Her family kept it up as tradition, but on the Wandering Isle such skills were rarely needed and thus her training fell by the wayside to focus on inheriting the family business.

History

Xhu Pai is so out of her depth that the fish have little lanterns on their faces.

She was from an alternate timeline where Shi-won Swiftpaw never died to the virmen, instead became the head of the local granary on the Wandering Isle which brought him into contact with her own father, head of a brewery on the island, and into contact with Shi-won's daughter, Jaie.

The two grew up together and fell in love, but time and fate are fickle things. When another version of Jaie fought the rogue chronomancer Nyloc Athel he invoked a powerful relic of the Bronze Dragonflight, but his misuse of it caused a paradox that ripped and tore at the timeways.

This paradox pulled Xhu Pai from her comfortable home on the Wandering Isle to the Titan's Timeline, and Khaz Algar.

Now she's trying to survive there with the aid of Avalon and Savage United, but being outside of her own timeline is a horrible experience for her. She's stuck with a version of her lover, Jaie, that she barely recognizes and who has no memory of the life they shared together. She has almost no fighting skill of her own at all. Even were she to return to the Wandering Isle she'd likely run into this timeline's version of herself living her life, which would cause more problems than anything.

Trivia

Xhu Pai is another of my wife's characters and well before I started writing Adventures in Azeroth we actually did roleplay a bit with her and Jaie being a couple, which was the basis for their relationship in this story. In that one however Xhu Pai was a fighter herself, a brewmaster monk... but I felt having her start as just an ordinary civilian and having to learn how to fight would be a more interesting story.

Despite her name being spelled "Xhu" its actually pronounced "Shu." I didn't realize this until just a few days before writing this because my wife hadn't told me yet. Thanks hon. >w<;

[ciaran-whoforgetsall]

*Fucking tosses him, through the damn wall if you'll allow.*

Ssshut up.

Virmen, noting but cracks of memories that are barely even there.

You don't deserve greatness.

<fuck it that’s hilarious>

<It’s slammed through the marble wall, rock flying as he hits the grass outside.>

wWHAT THE FUCK????????

[cryosickness]

And now my favorite of the two (And where that chicken comes from) The HalfHill farm! This picture covers two whole pages of the @artistsofazeroth book. I spent so much time here. This was my favorite part out of an expansion I had already loved, and I always wondered what goes on when your champion isn’t around to kill those nasty weeds. I’d love for there to be some sort of halfhill farm 2.0 in the future. It made rep grinding fun for once.

[sparkwell]

I didn’t get a picture of where we were staying the night before, and unfortunately, this one didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped but...there were watermelons with little flags pushed into them by the rodents of unusual sizes, making them into little boats...I think.

[nyewclear]

a lil comic of my friends fantrolls!!! rozana, btw, is troll rosanna pasino LOL

ranzia (oliveblood) - @quiznacker | @/clwnfcker griffe (fuchsiablood) - @vrost | @/hadd0n ennian (pissblood) - @crrckt | @/crrckt

[flamethrowerrz]

Virmen updated

[defness]

THE CHICKEN CANNOT SUCCUMB TO THE WRATH OF THE VIRMEN WHO AWAIT IT IN THE COMING DAYS

[ratchet]

Back at you for the video game asks. 3, 17, 22

OKAY!

3. Game that deserves a sequel? Firewatch, for sure. I’m not even sure what a sequel would consist of? I just want to play more of it. It’s quite a closed game, and you finish it in under 4-5 hours, but the story is really compelling, and the game itself is beautiful, so I just want more.

17. Place from a game that you’d like to visit? Easy - Valley of the Four Winds in the Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft. Take out the murdery virmen and hozen, and you have a little farm you get to tend to, and a brewery where the beer has gone a little rogue? (Okay, a lot rogue) It’s a fun zone to play through, and really pretty.

22. Games you want to play? LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2. I know it’s only “in development”, and it’s probably going to be delayed because of Covid, but when the trailer dropped at E3 last year I cried a little bit. BOTW is such a good game that I have sunk so many hours into and I can’t wait to play more within the same universe. Also I have so many questions based on the trailer, and I need answers. or just some content. Idc.

[fence-macabre]

Death of a Salesman Pt II: Dirty Business

(The following is an excerpt from the ongoing campaign within the Fence Macabre, continued from Part I: Field of Screams...)

Our heroes approached the Varok Saurfang Memorial Conference Center to find that it had been deserted for quite some time. The doors were locked (seemingly Goblin-proofed), and scaling the walls would be a bigger giveaway than a dead fish in a flower shop. As they considered their options, Remington noticed hoof-tracks that led to behind the large dumpsters in the side alley… hoof-tracks belonging to none other than Bumpo the Forsaken Goat, Billy’s trusted steed and business partner! 

Remington attempted to see if Bumpo could track Billy by showing him Billy’s Missing Poster, only to provide the goat with an impromptu snack. The gang then reasoned that if Bumpo has been here and gone without harm all this time, another half-hour or so wouldn’t be much more trouble, and set about breaking into the nearby emergency exit with a smelly, rusted crowbar Remy had found in the nearby dumpsters (not as cool a find as Ratbit’s Perfectly Edible Tuna Hoagie with Extra Pickles, but more useful in this instance). With a group effort, the trio triumphed over this trifling tribulation, traipsing towards the troubling trials ahead...

At last: Inside the Varok Saurfang Memorial Conference Center, into what appeared to be a standard boardroom repurposed for holding coats, luggage, and miscellaneous storage, and performing as an ad hoc office. The seminar was in full swing by the time disaster struck, it seemed. After some careful combing for clues, they found a familiar face in a strange place (along with the lad’s trademark rolling-pop-top-suitcase):

Ratbit pulled a paper out, "Billy's running for ... what?" She sounded out the name, "Braaa-zelll-ton. I thought his name was Billy." Starships: "Who's Brazelton?" Stars raised an eyebrow from the other side.  Remington: "Runnin’ for President 'a the Forsaken. Some kinda prank from last year, No idea who the hell Brazelton is though." 

From there, the crack team of investigators determined that it was time to split up and cover more ground. Starships went forward, into the Atrium. It was never cleaned up from the raid performed on the Vigor & Morris™️ Employee Seminar and its attendees, as dozens of tables being prepped for meals were overturned, silverware scattered, blood and ichor on the tablecloths, a great dishonor before the majestic Varok Saurfang Memorial Fountain. 

While Starships stood Starstruck, Remington uncovered a conference room with Vigor & Morris™️ New Product Demonstrations, formulas and patent designs on a whiteboard. The items tested were clearly absconded with as the scene laid in disarray from aggressive extraction of pencil-pushers. Though the three of them tried their best to make more sense of it all, they were left stumped, and so pressed on. 

The lobby, perhaps the bloodiest and most damaged scene of them all, left our heroes with deeper concern for everyone involved. How many made it out alive? And how many made it out alive and free? Ratbit found none of these answers at the apparently smash-and-grabbed Snack Cafe, where she did the only Virmane thing she could, and grabbed what snacks remained un-smashed. Remington found a schedule for the Seminar’s events, and resolved to figure out the date and time of when this raid took place...

Starships, meanwhile, experienced the struggle of a lifetime in the lock on the opposite boardroom, labeled “VIP Room.” Knowing full well that there’s absolutely going to be something worth while in any room with that letter combination on it, she set about infiltration. Despite assistance from Remy, the lock proved nigh-invulnerable (and her “Goblin” Army Knife quite useless) for quite some time… But not forever! Brute force won the day as Starships poured all her rage into fatally stabbing a door handle to death, a feat previously thought unimaginable! 

 And there, within, Starships found the damning evidence: Meeting notes from what must be the proverbial Higher Ups withing V&M™️… 

 “--impossible to do with the Horde Authorities breathing down our necks, and so this staged raid will be the perfect cover to abscond our best employees and researchers to somewhere where our work can continue safely, in the name of the Banshee Queen...”

“Said Horde Authorities apparently plan to obfuscate the destinations of our underlings using third party caravans and couriers. Luckily, with our wide net of interests, we already own many of the groups in the area, and will be able to track their movements so.” 

 Among those listed, three were circled in red pencil: Silverpine Package Services, Demon Deliveries, and  Boot-Jack’s Skeleton Crew… But there was more: 

“...--the perfect candidate for us to back in the no doubt inevitable elections to decide leadership of the Forsaken community. It will be easy to win him over to our side, as he already trusts Vigor & Morris™️ as a whole…” 

“We will give him all the funding he needs, and a running mate in Tom Brazelton (one of our up-and-comers from Accounting, a loyal numbers man to back our Charming Figurehead). When he wins, he will serve for a time, ‘disappear,’ and Tom will be in charge.”

Starships could barely contain her excitement as she gnabbed the papers and trotted off to find Remington, upstairs. Ratbit, having examined the opposite conference room, found an equally violently disrupted meeting on the topic of Keeping Up With The Competition, and obtained some interesting tidbits herself (but then again, when doesn’t she?): 

“--important to maintain watch over lesser competitors even if their reach does not hold much impact on our own numbers: Their experiences are useful data for our future experiences, and there is no reason to allow them to gain an edge…” 

“Even the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow must be observed in this, for they are still in the habit of giving away services we provide at no fee using their magicks. Local service providers such as Gold Cap Dentistry should also be edged out of the market if possible.” 

The two cheered each other on for their excellent corporate espionage as they found Remington, above, in the Amphitheater. The least distrubed out of all the areas, presumably there were not many people in this area at the time of the raid… as Remington read over the secrets uncovered by her squadmates, she knew immediately where their next move was, thanks to Loira's corroborative investigations elsewhere: tracking those caravans. Ratbit, ever the curious, uncovered a prepared shower of balloons and a banner to unfurl: 

“HIGHMAN/BRAZELTON ‘34!” 

It was clear that Vigor & Morris had every intention of launching the new campaign at this Seminar… but were obviously foiled... but by their own hand? Nothing was adding up.

Just then! A noise from downstairs! Who could it be?! The trio trod trepidatiously down the stairs and found a quartet of Orgrimmar Guard… The Patrol began, and our heroes needed to get out unseen! Using a mysterious ancient Virmen technique known as Gastromancy, Ratbit was able to lure away half the guard by Belching Her Voice into the Lobby… They tried to slip out on the other side of the matching stairs, but one of their pursuers approached! With quick thinking and comical timing, Ratbit had this situation in the bag… or should we say… in the banner? She trapped the guard under the recently unfurled banner and they zipped off to their exit... 

But not before Remington was spotted by a patrolling guard! With cat-like reflexes, cat-like precision, and cat-like ruthlessness, she threw the crowbar from the dumpster into the guard’s face! The impact, and stench, dazed him long enough to get out through the (now, more than ever) Emergency Exit. Ratbit used her Gastromancy once more to plant the rumor that the spotted invader was a disfigured human in a cowboy hat… which seemed to be believable enough for the guard, as they started shouting around to find exactly that.

The Fence Macabre uncovered a great deal of incriminating information... but can they use it to find their missing Billy, and whomever is behind all of these heinous, evil acts? 

TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH...

THE FENCE MACABRE!!

[sekhisadventures]

The Timelost Pandaren

The Wandering Isle, but Not Quite the One We Know

A picture of serenity in a world often beset by peril. A tranquil island that constantly travels around the globe, owing to being on the back of a gigantic sea turtle known as Shen-zin Su. A myth to those in the land of Pandaria until very recently, thought lost to the ages and remembered only as a folktale… until those from the isle made their way to their ancestral homeland for the first time in generations.

This island, however, is not the one that the pandaren monk Jaie Swiftpaw left for Stormwind City as a young woman. Rather, this one is home to Jaie Swiftpaw, but also her mother Xinyi… and her father, Shi-won.

As a young girl, her father met his end when a swarm of virmen attacked at harvest time. He fell in defense of the food needed to feed his family, one of the virmen landing a fatal blow on the pandaren, leaving Xinyi a widow and Jaie without her father.

Overcome with grief, the young girl travelled to Shang-Xi and took up the path of a monk. At first out of a desire for revenge, and eventually a desire to find a path for herself following the loss of Shi-won, and in the end deciding she wished to use her skills as a monk to try to prevent others from going through the tragedy she had, to prevent anyone she could from losing a loved one in such a manner.

But this is not that Island, but rather the answer to a simple question: what if Shi-won hadn’t died? What if he had a friend nearby, strong in arm and quick of reflex, to pull him out of the path of the ravenous rabbit, and only lost a leg rather than something far more vital?

In this timeline Jaie never became a monk.

In this timeline she stayed on the island and took up work on the farms herself.

In this timeline, she still lived with her parents, and had one other thing the Jaie who we know as a valued member of Avalon did not; a lover.

Xhu Pai Bao, heir to the Bao Brewery on the island, which supplied the residents of the Wandering Isle with all they could hope for when it came to ale, wine, and other delicious and intoxicating drinks.

Several months ago, this version of Jaie had a surprising and rather confusing encounter where one day she went out to the fields to do her rounds and was extremely shocked to come face to face with herself… or at least a pandaren woman who looked remarkably like her claiming to be ‘Jaie Swiftpaw.’

While Jaie the farmer was convinced that this girl was an impostor (and perhaps mentally unwell,) her father Shi-won felt differently and insisted that this ‘other Jaie’ stay with them for a time, as she insisted that her friends were likely trying to find her.

A day later, they did. In a swirl of sand and magic, a group of adventurers appeared on the island, following the trail of their ally. Nelen Fullmoon, Nitika Dawnhoof, Sekhi the Vulpera, Grimo Blamstick, Samantha Montebank, and Laurelgosa the Dracthyr appeared on the island, aided by the bronze dragon Chromazdormu (or as she prefers, ‘Chromie’) in pursuit of their friends who had been scattered across the timelines by a freak accident while in pursuit of the rogue chronomancer Nyloc Athel.

The group shared a meal with the Jaie of this timeline and her family (a pandaren tradition, guests should never leave without a full belly) and it was confirmed that the Jaie that had appeared on the island had been telling the truth. Both she and the farmer were one in the same, Jaie Swiftpaw, but from different timelines.

After the meal, the group vanished back into the timeways with their own Jaie, leaving the young farmer with a lot to think about… just how much one day could shape a person’s life.

She didn’t have long to think about it however as Xhu Pai passed by the farm shortly after, en route to make a delivery to the village’s alehouse (an inn, technically, though since the island rarely saw travelers it was more just a place for local pandaren to gather and enjoy a hot meal, good drink, and their friend’s company.) Jaie put those thoughts aside as she and her paramour left to enjoy each other’s company, hand in hand.

That had been several months ago…

Tonight, Xhu Pai was visiting the Swiftpaw family for dinner, the young heiress dressed in red silks with a scarf of bright pink. It clashed slightly with the dress she wore, but Jaie had gotten it for her, and she tended to wear it regardless of what color she wore with it.

Xhu Pai sat down her empty bowl and smiled at Jaie’s mother, “Thank you for the meal, Miss Swiftpaw. It was delicious.” she nodded gratefully to the older woman, who smiled back.

“Oh, its always a pleasure to have you here for a meal Xhu.” replied Xinyi as she began to gather up the dishes to take them to wash.

“Haha! No argument here. Why if you keep bringing more of your dad’s new recipes to try, you’re welcome every night as far as I’m concerned.” laughed Shi-won, setting his drinking cup back down next to an empty jug of what was one of the latest brews from the Bao Brewery.

“Dad…” sighed Jaie, rolling her eyes. The more heavyset pandaren woman was still in her clothes from the field, a loose white cotton tunic and dark brown trousers. Easy to clean and replace but hard-wearing clothing, good for hard work in the island’s farmlands.

The older man smirked and refilled his glass, “Hey, if havin’ Xhu as a daughter-in-law gets me these benefits then I’ll happily pay a dowery if I gotta.”

Xhu blushed as Jaie frowned at him, “Daaaaaaaaad! Nobody actually does that anymore!” she huffed in annoyance at her father.

Shi-won shrugged as Xhu Pai put her hand on Jaie’s, “He’s just teasing you Jaie, relax…” she smirked.

They had met as children, shortly after her father had lost his leg to the virmen. As manager of the local mill, he had to decide what grains would go to baking and food, and what grains would be earmarked for brewing. The two girls would spend time together while their fathers talked business, and one thing had led to another, and now they were almost inseparable.

… though, unfortunately for them, a separation was going to happen.

Xhu Pai gave Jaie’s hand a gentle squeeze, the farmer smiling at her, then blinking in confusion. She took her hand away, then looked at her fur. Mixed in with the dark strands of pandaren fur were grains of something.

“What the…” she shook out her hand over the table, then leaned in and looked at it curiously, “… is that sand?” Jaie frowned.

Xhu Pai looked at it in confusion, “Yeah… it is… where did…” she began, then she looked down and gasped as her eyes went wide.

Shi-won’s jaw fell open in shock as Jaie stared at Xhu Pai. Sand was pouring off her body, pooling on the floor around her!

“Xhu?! Whats going on?!” gasped Jaie aloud as her mother came back into the room, hearing the commotion from the kitchen, and let out a cry of alarm as the sand began to swirl around Xhu’s body.

“I-I dunno!” she stammered, thrashing her arms about as she tried to wave the sand away, the grains swirling faster and faster, “Jaie! I’m scared! HELP!” she cried out, reaching for the farmer.

Jaie swore and reached out, trying to take her hand… and her own hand passed right through it as if it wasn’t even there.

“XHU! XHU HANG ON!” shouted Jaie as she grabbed at her again, but no matter what she did her body refused to make contact! She jumped to her feet, then leapt at Xhu and attempted to wrap her arms around her, and the sand suddenly burst outwards.

Jaie fell to the floor, coughing and shook out her hair, then scrambled up into a sitting position… and screamed in horror. Her father grabbed his walking stick and pushed himself to his feet, staring over the edge of the table onto the floor, and her mother came running in to see if her daughter had been hurt in the fall.

Where her lover had been there was only a pile of sand now… and it was slowly shrinking away to nothing. Xhu Pai had vanished…

Next Story

Previous Story

[katieskarlette]

Quarter Century of Warcraft Audio

I’ll be watching this panel on the livestream and updating this post as it goes, so refresh to see the latest.

------

So far they’re just talking about how they each got started at Blizzard, and how Mike Morhaime was in charge of the sound in the early days.  The current sound supervisor started in MoP making sound effects for the virmen (burrowing, carrots popping out of the ground, etc.)

The music for Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was greatly limited by the hardware specs of the time.  They wanted something a bit different from most other games, going for a more classical feel.

There isn’t much to talk about because they’re playing music clips from the first couple Warcraft games to compare the evolution of the technology and such, which I can’t recreate in text form.  :P 

“Early orc music had some rhythm and grooves to it that you might not see today.”

You can definitely tell the huge difference when you hear the tinny MIDI files from the old days and then the modern music with a full orchestra and choir.

In vanilla they looked at the colors of spell effects and let that inspire them to create the accompanying sounds.  It was important that they be distinct.  Sounds are one of the only components of the game that give you information about what’s happening off-screen, behind your character, etc.  (I’m thinking of the “whoosh, something is stealthed near you” sound effect that strikes fear into people.)

The Horn of Cenarius sound effect from Archimonde’s death scene in WCIII was made of industrial foam tubing with a plastic coating blowing into a metal pot to give it resonance.  They looked in storage to see if they could find the original prop to show off but couldn’t.

Beat up an orc in WoW and the grunting “ugh, arg, nnnng” sounds it makes when being hit and dying are Mike Morhaime.

The groans and roars of the fel orcs being transformed in Blood Furnace is Chris Metzen doing a voice warm-up to get into character for Thrall.  It wasn’t even originally intended to be used in-game, but it got recorded and sounded cool so they hung onto it to use later.

LOL they played the ready check sound effect and everyone was like, “Are you ready?  Got your attention?”

MURLOC SOUND!   They didn’t talk about how it was made, alas.

Fel Reaver horn.   “Every time I hear that sound I have a physical reaction to it.”  It was made with old rusty door hinges being opened mixed with a bear. 

I’ve always wanted to ask if the jinyu voices were made by someone speaking under a showerhead, because that’s exactly what it sounds like (as I accidentally discovered singing in the shower, lol)

They use the cosmology chart from Chronicle as a guide for how sounds relate to each other.

Sometimes new spell effects are made by mixing sounds from WCIII or vanilla and adding new sounds on top of, before, or after.  This helps keep spells sounding like they’re from the same magic school.

Music and sound effects can work together in fascinating ways, complimenting each other to create effects that wouldn’t be possible with either alone.  They gave us a sneak preview of the ambiance from Visions of N’Zoth.

They describe some of the 8.3 mobs as “Big tentacle face, small tentacle face, tentacles going down, tentacles going up (mostly), and room full of tentacles.”  I sense a theme!  LOL

Some of the crazy, gibbering Old God sounds are made by blowing and screaming into a plastic tube with one end in a basin of liquid.  It’s hard on the voice and throat so they can’t do it for long.

A lot of the Mechagon sound effects were made with a $30 metal garbage can with a couple of copper wires strung inside that can be played with a bow like a violin.  Some of the Nyalotha sounds came from it, too, with pitch and reverb altered to give it a more otherworldly, discordant sound.  Creeeeepy results!

Darren DePaul (sp?) is N’Zoth’s VA.

They also included a bit of insectoid sounds as a nod to the Qiraji, Mantid, Nerubians, etc.

The overall effect is that of N’Zoth trying to claw his way into your brain.  Very cool.

[hagiosart]

this was a inspired piece form a Hearthstones new Xpack  at Blizzcon they showed a Virmen  wearing a ninja gear and wanted to see how it’ll look in my drawing style the first one is the one on top not the second one is the new one. 

[chimerabytes]

hmm. warcraft / diablo au jasper, thinkin abt that again

He could be a blood elf or a pandaren... altho virmen are a thing theyre not rly what im thinkin for

[nyewclear]

im in a huge homestuck mood so :^) i wrote some pesterlogs for me n my friend’s fantrolls!!!! i really adore them so i think im gonna write more logs somedaye

revolvatoryZenith (leumas) . asepticPitcher (demiva) . abberantTarragon (ranzia) . precariousOdyssey (ennian) . aromaticKing (griffe)

[flamethrowerrz]

Redesign/New Ref of Virmen https://www.instagram.com/p/CDiD1KIHgok/?igshid=17s27mex15bt1