#we need a chapter or two from npc pov tbh

[evilkaeya]

Living in yokohama in bsd must be crazy. Imagine you go to your balcony for some alone time after a long, tiring day and you see a kid driving up the building vertically in his pink motorbike

[lightandwinged]

ALSR, Chapter Two: Rogues = Master Class

Nazmir: Apari’s Perspective

I had to google Apari to make sure she wasn’t an NPC I missed during my rushed questing through the Horde storyline in BofA deez Factions, and she’s not. Apparently, Roux created her just for this novel, which is exciting! I like seeing OCs in novels. I bet Roux plays her on some RP realm somewhere, and none of us know it.

Apari is watching a troll named Seshi slowly die, and she’s into it enough to ignore the pain in her leg from an old wound. Seshi dies, Apari has a little pet dreadtick named Daz (which I find relatable, please let her be in the next expansion, I already love her), and it turns out that Apari is a talented poisoner whose current concoction makes people basically pop like unto ticks squeezed hard. 

She’s joined shortly thereafter by her most trusted general, Tayo (“a huge slice of bone pierced her septum, her elongated tusks capped with sharpened gold points. Mud and black paint made her long ponytail look like a tar spill”). These two were on Yazma’s side of things during that particular coup adventure, and they aren’t terribly fond of Talanji (in fact, they’re hype about giving her this exact poison to kill her! These gals have fun). 

Apari knows her plants because when her leg was hurt, she basically tried everything ever to fix it and nothing worked, so she just accepted it and all the other betrayals in her life, which is a far healthier outlook than most WoW characters have, tbh. The poison she’s made here is concocted of “retchweed and riverbud root,” for all you herbalism students out there.

At their core, our new friends here really hate that Talanji’s so into joining the Horde (but she’s also kind of their bitch eating crackers…)

...so they’re hoping to poison her in front of said Horde at some point in the near future. In the meantime, though, a pale rider and an unliving elf have arrived! Apari watches her victim explode and have black bile come spewing from his mouth. I love her so much. 

She sends her tick off hunting (bye Daz, I love you!) and goes to meet the pale rider (“dark of hair and red of eye”). Said pale rider (good ol’ Nathanos, if anyone didn’t read between the lines) wants to chat somewhere that she’s not been practicing poisoning techniques, and Apari’s like “oh no, my good bitch, we meet here so you know what I’m going to do to you if you fuck with me.” Nathanos’ elf companion (“her pink skin, veined and mottled, was sickly as a skyterror’s webbing [...] the murderous glint in her eye transcended culture and custom”) is impatient, and Apari’s like “listen, we’re all poisoners here, and I’m not resting until Talanji is toast.” 

And we SWITCH PERSPECTIVES!

To ZEKHAN!

Zekhan is living his best life after Saurfang’s melodramatic death and serving as Thrall’s page. He’s all about being useful, bless him, and after Thrall and Old Shaman go to have their chat, he follows along after Rokhan and talks about being a shadow and how it’s important to be a shadow, and this book is feeling quite rogue-centric, which is probably why I’m enjoying it so much so far. 

Orgrimmar is having some big festival about “yay fuck Sylvanas” or something, there’s naked dancers, there’s kids with balloons, it’s a good time. Everyone is involved in the festivities, except Talanji, with whom Zekhan is “intrigued, and, admittedly, a little besotted.” He decides to make himself useful to Talanji and offers her any help she needs, to which she’s like “yeah, no, don’t spy on me, zappy bitch.” 

Zekhan is all ready to back off and let her be cranky, but then he gets a premonition that Something Isn’t Right. He knocks over a goblet of wine intended for Talanji, only something is very not right about the wine. It’s supposed to be some fancy arcfruit sangree (Thalyssra brought it special, and that is just so very precious lmao), but it’s turning black and smells like death. He notices it smells less like wine, more like herbs, and wants to know wtf this is. 

(it’s poison, btw)

Zekhan stands between Talanji and the servant who tried to give it to her just in time for the servant to be like…

...at Talanji. Everyone is upset about this, understandably, and the troll servant who tried to do the poisoning kills himself before they can interrogate him, which a lot of people do in this book so far. All he says is that “she… will know… our b-bite.” Talanji is stunned that one of her own people would try to kill her, which is like… didn’t we just have an entire expansion about how a lot of people want her dead? 

Thrall suggests questioning her own people, but Talanji, despite having seen that the person trying to kill her was literally one of her people, is like “no, y’all are the worst, and I am leaving this circus.” Everyone’s uncomfortable about this specifically, but Zekhan and Thrall are otherwise preoccupied. Thrall is probably like “geez, could this day GET any worse? Why did we start allowing more than four races again? This all went downhill with BC.” 

But Zekhan is confused because it felt like something that wasn’t him was directing him to protect Talanji--like his body moved of its own accord and knew things he didn’t. Everyone’s like “wow, Zekhan, you’re the best zappy boi!” but he has no idea wtf is going on and is so delightfully humble that I love him even more. Revisiting my earlier statement, it seems like Thrall is concerned about this, and Zekhan is like 

And I am about this, these POV characters are fun! Onto the next chapter...

[galadrieljones]

Gaming: About Me

I saw @starsandskies do this, and I was bored, and it looked fun. So here we go!! <3

favorite game from the last 5 years?  ‒ Dragon Age: Inquisition, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Rise of the Tomb Raider

most nostalgic game? ‒ Skyrim. I know I have characterized it before by saying it feels more like a place I used to live for a little while than an actual game I used to play.

game that deserves a sequel?  ‒ :nervous laughter: DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION. Also, I think that after the ending cut scene with Silens, Horizon: Zero Dawn would do awesome with a sequel.

game that deserves a remaster?  ‒ I kind of would love a remaster of Dragon Age: Origins.

favorite game series?  ‒ I am terrible at series. I don’t make it through them very often. But I would probably say Dark Souls. Even though I, myself, have only played a teensy bit of the original, I’ve watching my husband play all of them, the first two multiple times, and the games are just breathtaking and bizarre, and I love the sort of hidden capacity of all the stories and different locations, how hard we have to work to put the pieces together and understand what’s going on in the world. It’s extremely challenging on all fronts. I wish more games would trust their players as much as Dark Souls.

favorite genre?  ‒ Fantasy RPGs. But I also really love these super immersive choice and consequence adventure games like Life is Strange. I would really like to play Until Dawn, but I’m super nervous lol. It looks scary af. I like any games that complicate the point of view of the player, particularly via morality scenarios. I feel like that is when games are at their best. This is a part of why I love The Last of Us so much.

least favorite genre?  ‒ Probably science fiction in space? I have a hard time getting into any space text, tbh, unless there is a BIG human component, and a lot of themes that make the setting feel more like a metaphor (ie: Battlestar Galactica). Like the Mass Effect games, for example, while I think they have some good characters, bore me after a while, in terms of their aesthetic (don’t kill me lol). But I DO really like the sort of loopy space scifi you see in series like Borderlands and Halo. I think those two series are pretty genius, and their POVs are unique.

favorite song from a game?  ‒ Can it be from a game trailer? Ellie’s version of Through the Valley, for sure, from the teaser for The Last of Us, Pt. II

I also really like “I Shall Rise” by Karen O from Rise of the Tomb Raider.

favorite character from a game?  ‒ Joel from The Last of Us [painful sobbing], and Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition [more painful sobbing]

favorite ship from a game?  ‒ Solavellan, baby. Give me all the god angst.

favorite voice actor from a game?  ‒ Troy Baker...how is he at once so sexy and so dorky? No one will ever know. The perfect man.

favorite cutscene?  ‒ The final cut scene of the Winter chapter from The Last of Us:

I love this scene for so many reasons, but honestly my favorite part is right at the end, when we see Joel telling Ellie something before they leave the restaurant, and we don’t get to know what it is. Like it is just between them. This moment is incredibly private and intimate and just beautiful to witness, particularly given its context.

favorite boss?  ‒ I really enjoyed the final fight with Konstantin in Rise of the Tomb Raider. I feel like it was somehow inspired by Ellie’s battle with David in The Last of Us (which I’d say is my favorite but it’s actually just too terrifying and I dread it). Like Ellie, in this fight, Lara has been stripped of her guns, bow, and general defenses, and she must sneak around a slowly deteriorating setting while using mainly her environment to win the battle. She has to toss cans and bottles around to distract Konstantin, and then sneak attack him. It is time-consuming and very intense. There is also a distinct and terrifying predator/prey dynamic at work in both scenes, and at some point, like right at the end, it shifts. This feels very realistic and immersive. Granted, I sympathized with Konstantin, which made the ending of Rise of the Tomb Raider all the more powerful, whereas I thought David was bona fide scum of the earth and deserved exactly what he got and more.

first console?  ‒ Super Nintendo

current console or consoles?  ‒ PS4 and XBOX ONE, though mostly it’s been the PlayStation lately.

console you want?  ‒ We have talked about getting whatever the newest Wii is? We don’t need it lol, but like, Super Mario Galaxy is THE BEST. Also, Zelda.

place from a game that you’d like to visit?  ‒ Maybe Skyhold? I love it there. I want to hang out with Cole on the battlements.

place from a game that you’d like to live in?  ‒ Skyrim. Particularly the Whiterun Hold. I know it’s an awful place, but it’s so exciting and pretty and it would be so easy to just be an NPC, living out your simple life in Rorikstead, waving hello to the heroes as they pass through.

ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?  ‒ I don’t tend to think in these kinds of terms. But I think it would be interesting if Sene Lavellan was sent to Skyrim as the Dragonborn lol. There would be a LOT of “What the fuck” moments. FUS RO FUCK YOU DRAGON PRIESTS

book that would make a good game?  ‒ There’s this terrible but extremely addicting horror novel called The Ruins about a bunch of idiot college kids that trespass on a cursed Mayan ruin while on spring break and get slowly consumed by these carnivorous vines that grow there. I that it think would make an awesome like, choice and consequence horror survival game.

show/movie that would make a good game?  ‒ From Supernatural: Dean in purgatory, having a bromance with Benny the vampire while trying to escape and get back to his baby brother would be an awesome video game FOR SURE. BENNY! DEAN! Oof.

games you want to play?  ‒ God of War, The Last of Us, Pt. II, Life is Strange 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Uncharted games. Seriously I am booked through 2020 bye

have you gotten 100% completion in a game?  ‒ Lol. Never. I am the opposite of a completionist. I tend to go through games only making decisions and doing shit that feels organic and immersive in the moment. I actually skip a lot. But I tend to replay games often, so I think I see most everything over time.

have you cried over a game?  ‒ hhahahhahahahahahhahhahahahhaha. I just cried rewatching that cut scene from The Last of Us. I am hopeless. I cry in EVERY game I play.

tagging @thevikingwoman @wrenbee @ladylike-foxes @hidinginthehinterlands @kaoruyogi @buttsonthebeach @ellstersmash @a-shakespearean-in-paris @vinegartits @ithun and any one else who wants to do this!! Tag me if you do.