06-26-2006, 05:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-26-2006, 05:56 PM by MongoJerry.)
The Midsummer Fire Festival is a time of celebration for all of Azeroth. It's also a great time to sneak into the cities of the opposing faction. If you talk to the Fire Festival NPCs near the bonfires in your faction's home cities, one of them will mention that fires also burn in the major cities of the opposing faction. This is a broad hint that might find something of interest if you visited those bonfires.
The first Alliance city Neriad snuck into was Stormwind. Well really, there wasn't much sneaking involved. She rode straight through the main gate, dodging guards as best she could. She had managed to do this and live during the Lunar Festival earlier this year, but this time "Lagwind" grabbed a hold of her and slowed her down just enough for the Stormwind City Guards to catch up and pound her into the ground just in front of the famous Trias Cheese Shop. Neriad ghosted back to her corpse and, hoping to avoid being spotted by Alliance players, make the mistake of resurrecting inside the Cheese Shop itself. Unfortunately, Elaine Trias didn't take kindly to having an undead priest appear suddenly in her shop, and she began calling for the guards.
Neriad killed one Stormwind guard after another, without getting a chance to drink or step outside to mount up. After the fifth guard appeared, Neriad realized the situation was hopeless and knew that the best she could hope to do was run toward the Stormwind Fire Festival bonfire and make as much progress as she could. She ran outside and found about twenty Alliance players in the main square in addition to the usual Stormwind Guards. A timely psychic scream bought her a few more seconds, but she died in the tunnel leading to the canal district between the mage and trade quarters.
Alliance players were clearly going to be an annoyance on this adventure, and the situation was only going to get worse in Ironforge. So, Neriad came up with a new plan. She would dazzle the Alliance with her new Bloodsail Buccaneer outfit, complete with her Bloodsail Admiral's Hat and Blood Parrot!
You might be thinking, "MongoJerry is crazy! How would a Bloodsail outfit stop Alliance players from killing Neriad?" Well, yes, I am crazy. Thank-you for noticing. Nonetheless, the plan worked like a charm! Neriad rezed up, swapped into her pirate outfit (which has already been conveniently set up for one-button access in Itemrack), and ran toward the bonfire. This time, the same Alliance players who had just killed Neriad /cheered, /gasped, /questioned, and /clapped as she stole the Stormwind fire (she had to psychic scream the nearby guards to be able to steal the fire). After jumping into and swimming across the canal to lose the nettlesome Stormwind Guards, Neriad mounted up and had no more difficulty with Alliance players. She had a clear ride to the tram entrance, and as she boarded the tram, she wondered what her reception in Ironforge would be like.
As Neriad entered Ironforge via the Tinkertown entrance, she was almost immediately beset by Ironforge Guards. She ran all through the Explorer's League area, trying to find a place where the guards would leash. She finally found a spot in a dark corner near some abandoned buildings, where all but one guard leashed. Neriad dispatched the remaining guard with ease.
She then navigated her way toward the bonfire in the middle of the Explorer's League, while carefully avoiding any further guards. Nearby Alliance players stared at the strange sight of an undead Bloodsail Admiral taking some of their fire.
The Alliance players seemed to be such good sports that Neriad took some time to dance around the Fire Festival pole with them. A guard aggroed Neriad at this point, and as Neriad ran back to her spot to leash the guard, an Alliance warrior took a swing at her. However, as she turned around, the warrior apologized (/sorry) and walked away. Boy, if you put on a Bloodsail outfit, normally cutthroat Tichondrius turns out to be downright carebearish!
Neriad hearthed out and made her way to Teldrasil to get the last Alliance bonfire. This was by far the easiest of the three fires to get, because the bonfire is right out front by the docks. Neriad had to psychic scream a couple of guards, but otherwise, she had no problems getting to the fire.
Her hearthstone was still on cooldown, and as she waited on the dock for the boat ride home, a level 60 Alliance rogue chose to rp with her and show off his furbolg outfit rather than attack her. The Bloodsail pirate outfit saves the day again!
Neriad returned to Orgrimmar and clicked on the three items she received from the bonfires. Each one started a quest with festival related rewards. After all three quests were turned in, the Festival Talespinner offered a new followup quest called A Thief's Reward that gave Neriad her Crown of the Fire Festival.
And here Neriad is, sporting her new halo. It's no Bloodsail Admiral's Hat, of course, but it's quite becoming. It's nice to know that the new Bloodsail uniform is paying off, too. It seemed to disarm Neriad's potential foes with its sheik look and trim lines. Or it could be how much extra cleavage it shows. Whatever works.
This report officially inaugurates the "Spot Report" section of the Strategy section linked off the front page of the Lurker Lounge. Write your own spot reports of anything you find fun or interesting in the World of Warcraft, and you may find yourself immortalized off the front page of the Lurker Lounge!