Postcards From Pandaria

My Winter Veil present finally got here!  Thanks to Typhoon Andrew for a thoughtful and imaginative post.  I love this stuff!

Hey there Jen,

You do regularly one of the things as a blogger that I find hardest, which is to place personality into the commentary which makes the content relevant to the character; rather than just the wow player. Tis one of the key reasons I’m enjoying Escapist Scrawl. I mainly write about numbers and ah-shit moments.

With that in mind, I thought I’d try to write something from a character’s perspective and see how it goes – An alt character’s first steps in Pandaria via a postcard home.

As background – Raze is probably somewhat of a cliche in the WoW universe, as I think of her as a Warrior who is wandering through lands opportunistically, rather than questing for the greater good. The rewards of adventure drive her, not the achievements of an army or raw gold.

Somehow unscarred by her adventures, she travels on…

The First Days – Pandaria is a wild but not overtly dangerous place to travel. I’d been warned by a former commander who visited before me that the journey itself is likely as hazardous as the environment itself and I think he was right as that flying deathtrap gunship is worryingly unstable. The journey was overnight and I heard the gnome chief engineer say “oh shit” at least twice, and one time he sprinted to the hangars after a god awful clang sound.

Upon arrival in Pandaria I was incredibly overwhelmed by the stunning beauty. The shores of the Night Elf lands were wonderful before the cataclysm, but this place is basically untouched and pristine all round. It’s like its a tiny Un’goro Crater just waiting for discovery. Well except for all the Mogu and Pandaren and others who live here. Wink.

My first advice would be to stay with the roads, and tip the Pandaren with plenty of ale. One young bear (don’t call them that by the way, snigger) took a liking to me and started showing me all around his village. It was modest in size and like most Pandaren sites is based around an Inn, an alcohol distribution system, and small amounts of farming. I think the Dwarves in Loch Modan could get competition for the most sloshed but still functional sub-species as these guys drink all the time.

Visit a site, drink, find a nice tree, drink, look at an old stone marker….drink.

Once I left that village I did get into a mix of trouble with some local Mogu and some of the native wildlife, and yes a few scratches here and there. Quick tip, if you happen to get into a snaffle of trouble with a Mogu and they start blubbering and chanting, just sidestep them. Something in the “great and powerful” magic they use does not go in anything except straight lines. Good times.

The first real moment of amazement was seeing the massive jade statue being erected by the jade artisans. Holy crap that is dedication to a cause, and such perfect workmanship – it is almost alive. They’re finishing soon, so I’ll come back here in a week or two to see the final unveiling.

The lead engineer couldn’t talk at all but one of the junior team said they’ve been working on this thing for years and its all to act as the final resting place for a powerful dragon. My skin pricked at that. After Deathwing’s jaunt through home I’m not keen to meet a new dragon any time soon. Perhaps it’s best this one is going to pass peacefully away without hurting anyone.

I’ve also found that the land is overtly rich in resources. My old interest in minerals and plants has me veering off on tangents all the time. Ride a half mile here and if you have any interest gathering up stuff you’re going to be busy. I’ve been pocketing the odd junk and the silver from the Mogu slapheads to keep traveling, and you can tell Yierah that he should expect a few crates of materials to arrive eventually. No idea when, as the postmaster I spoke to was drunk at the time, and I think he thought I was a “shaved hozen”… whatever the heck that is. He was polite though and grinned a lot.

I have to stop writing, as the card we’re in is approaching a crossroads and I think there is some trouble ahead. More Mogu troublemakers by the look.

Hi again. Another vista that I had to share. The image does not impart the true depth in the landscape. The mist covers much of the low lands when you’re standing within in, and from up here it forms a blanket hiding all the small turns and details. It gives the land that untouched and peaceful feel.

Standing on the edge of the cliff almost felt like we were meant to fly here.

Just around the corner from here was a set of small ruins (you can’t go far here without finding some) and these ones were still actively haunted by spirits. None of the “beware the old man’s haunted house” stuff,  this place had actual ghostly apparitions floating smoothly across the stone blocks. It was fantastic. Old Swizzlewrench in Gnomertown would say he could do similar with a set of wires and some patient nightelves, but he’d be lucky at best. The screeching wail was a bit hard to take, but if you kept distant its not too bad.

I ended up clearing some of the ghosts and the enchanters who were manipulating them, and then had a poke around in detail. I laughed a small bit of graffiti that somebody had scratched into the base of the Mogu monument: Not Actual Size. I think the mogu would really hate that, and given how much of the architecture is devoted to telling people how wonderful and perfect and strong the Mogu are – that’s awesome.

Will write more soon, Happy adventuring.