Deathknell

[MongoJerry]

ADVENTURES OF NERIAD: Prologue

For perhaps the thousandth time, Neriad was knocked over the head.

"Not again!" Neriad thought. "Where am I going to be sent this time? Ah, a land of trees. I must be back in my elvish homeland!"



"Strange," thought Neriad. "This place doesn't look familiar. And what is that human mausoleum doing over there?"



"What in the...?" said Neriad.

Looking down, she exclaimed, "My robes!"

Feeling her head, she cried, "My ears!"

Pulling strands of her hair in front of her eyes, she yelled "MY HAIR!!"



THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF NERIAD: Deathknell

Neriad walked out of the mausoleum and found a robed undead undertaker named Mordo.

"About time you woke up," said Mordo. "We were ready to toss you into the fire with the others, but it looks like you made it."

"There's been a terrible mistake," said Neriad. "I'm a night elf. Night elves don't become undead!"

Mordo replied, "Speak with Shadow Priest Sarvis in the chapel at the base of the hill. He will tell you more of what you must know."

Bewildered, Neriad walked down the hill and entered the chapel Mordo had indicated.



Inside, she found a chaotic scene as undead of all kinds were being processed by the person identified as Shadow Priest Sarvis. It was clear that Neriad was only one of many who had recently discovered themselves to be undead. When it was Neriad's turn, Shadow Priest Sarvis began what was clearly a well rehearsed litany.

"Another of the walking dead, hm?" said Sarvis. "Must have been quite a shock, waking up in the crypt with only the cold and Mordo to greet you... I see the confusion on your face. Let me try to explain our... situation... to you.

"We have been freed from the control of the Lich King by our new leader, Lady Sylvanas. The Dark Lady guides us in our war against the hated Scourge and the holdouts of humanity who dog our every step."

"There must be some mistake," said Neriad. "I'm a Night Elf. We become light fuzzy wisps when we die. We don't wake up undead!"

But the chapel was too noisy and Sarvis was too busy to listen. Ignoring her statements, he quickly told Neriad that their present location, the village of Deathknell, was under siege by the forces of the Scourge and assigned her the task of killing 8 Mindless Zombies and 8 Wretched Zombies.

"Mindless and wretched zombies?!" cried Neriad. "Why, just last week, I was with a group of heroes who fought Onyxia herself! Ten times in fact. And we almost got her, too. Well, we got her to sixty-five percent, but that was pretty good..."

Sarvis pointed to the doorway.

"Right, mindless and wretched zombies," said Neriad, walking pitifully out the door.



The long wait is over. The release of World of Warcraft is here!

I played an undead priestess and an orc shaman way back in beta 2, but ever since the PvP server was introduced, I've played nothing but alliance characters. Now that the release is here, forcing me to start from scratch, I felt it was time to switch back to the Horde side. I can't wait to see the redesigned Barrens (it was awful before), along with all the other areas that have been redesigned or fleshed out in Kalimdor. Plus, it'll be fun to see areas like Ferales, Western and Eastern Plaguelands, the Swamp of Sorrows, and Dustwallow Marsh from the point of view of the Horde.

I and some friends decided to play on one of the servers on which we knew some of the bigger PvP guilds were going to play. This meant, of course, that the server was one of the busiest servers, and I had to spend fifteen minutes in the queue just to log on. Oh, well, that was to be expected. (I'm not going to mention the server name, although it probably wouldn't take long to guess it. I don't want even more people clogging up my server. :lol:).

I worried about how camped the initial undead area would be on the first evening of the release. When I played my undead priestess on the first night of beta 2, the area was horribly camped and people madly fought over spawns. I hoped that some of my and other's /suggest's had paid off.

The first quest one gets as an undead player is to kill some Mindless Zombies and Wretched Zombies in the part of Deathknell under the control of the Scourge. Despite about a dozen others working on the same quest, I found I had no trouble finding and killing the zombies I needed, because the spawn area was large enough and the respawn rate was fast enough. Score one for Blizzard.



After killing the requisite number of zombies, Neriad returned to the chapel, intent on getting answers from Shadow Priest Sarvis.

Before Neriad could speak, however, Sarvis began, "You've shown your potential to the Forsaken under normal circumstances, Neriad - now let's see you under pressure."

Neriad stammered, "But...".

Sarvis continued unimpeded, "The Rattlecage skeletons, more mindless minions of the Lich King, are a tougher foe than the zombies you have faced thus far. Again, thin their numbers and prove yourself to the Forsaken. Do not tarry - when you are done, speak to me again."

Then, almost as an afterthought, Sarvis tossed Neriad a scroll written by Dark Cleric Duesten.



Back in beta 2, this scroll was the welcome message new players started with in their inventories. Undertaker Mordo didn't exist. Many players commented that, although in principle it this was a decent way to welcome players and get them into the spirit of being an undead character, it unfortunately required one to already know how to open one's inventory, to already know how to read messages, and for that matter to know to open one's inventory and read the message in the first place. Blizzard switched things around a bit and added Undertaker Mordo to help new players have an easier start to their character's life. It's a good change.

But it feels a little awkward getting the same scroll from Sarvis when Duesten is standing only a few feet away.



Neriad turned and found Dark Cleric Duesten standing off to the side in the crowded chapel. After reading the scroll, Neriad hoped that Duesten would be able to better answer her questions about how she got to be there and most importantly, how to get back. But Neriad was to be bitterly disappointed.

"Allow me a moment to explain a thing or two," said Duesten. "The Holy Light no longer concerns you, the spirits of your forefathers are fairy tales, and creatures from the Nether don't want you. Do you understand me so far?"

Neriad bit her bottom lip and stared at Duesten in anger.

"There is only one thing you must know," continued Duesten. "We have survived through will alone. It is faith in ourselves that separates us from others, and with our powers, we will cause great change in all of Azeroth. The weak will come to lean on you. The lepers will call you Lady. And the ignorant will look to you for guidance. It is my duty to make sure you have the necessary tools so when the time comes, you are prepared. I will teach you greater powers if you are ready."

Neriad stared at Dark Cleric Duesten. It was clear that she wasn't going to get any useful information out of him, and it was equally true that whatever caused her to show up as an undead elf in Tirisfal Glades wouldn't be reversed overnight. She would need all the strength and help she could get to survive in this maddening new world -- even if that help had to come from this strange band of undead creatures. She let Duesten teach her how to cast Power Word: Fortitude.



One other person in the chapel wanted to talk to her -- Novice Elreth, whose job it was to mend wounded warriors and to tailor armor and clothes for the local garrison. Unfortunately, she was low on supplies, so she quietly asked Neriad if she would be willing to kill wolves and bats to collect the six Scavenger Paws and six Duskbat Wings she needed. Neriad agreed and then asked Elreth the question she had been dying to ask ever since she had spied Elreth in the chapel.

"How do you get your hair so green?" asked Neriad.