Flash Back: Orgrimmar

Sun Rise Over Orgrimmar

Pre-Cata, that tall tower to the left was the Flight Master's spot. The rise Anou is standing on was the rise just before the sole bank in Org., and the roof you see to the right is the building neighboring the Auction House. Take a trip down memory lane by Youtube-ing "Orgrimmar Pre-Cataclysm".

Flash Back: A Date with Victor

Victorvolkov was a well-known warlock on our realm. Anou's DPS was terrible, but she has a competitive nature, so she was doing her research. One night, he happened to be standing at the bar of a shady inn in the less reputable part of Dalaran, and she pounced on the opportunity. Leaning against the bar, in her most sultry Blood Elf voice, Anou offered him a glass of Snowplum Brandy and asked him if he cared to join her...

Cantrips & Crows Tavern, The Underbelly

Various beverages ensued, and the ambiance got a bit hazy. (Dagrin made a lousy chaperone, perched on Anou's lap the entire time, cowering away from the evil charisma emanating from Victor.) But Anou came out of there with an excellent rotation to practice and a lot of useful statistical information (that she luckily jotted down), as well as a new name on her Friends List. Thank you Victor. ;)

Flash Back: Black Rock Mountain

Hapis, Kazam, Tomute and I went into Black Rock to get the Jenkins title. It was back in the day when you couldn't fly past the gates, you got dismounted, and there was a little trick to get into the upper instance. Also, the cooldown on a Hearthstone was one hour! (Remember that?) We were all heavily geared and overpowered, so it should have been a simple matter. However, me being who I am (always getting lost, quite clumsy, etc) proved to the group that the biggest challenge was going to be getting there and back.

Leap of Faith My #$% !

[Guild] [Hapis]: lol Anou is stuck between a rock and a hard place

Needless to say, I think I was the entertainment that afternoon. Not like I did it on purpose! See how dark it was in there? That's what I could actually see! And seeing as I am directionally challenged and I was following someone who knew his way, I missed the ledge so my leap did not go far enough and plunk. Anou was stuck for quite some time, with me clicking and space-bar-ing like a madwoman.

Flash Back: The Dark Portal

Facing the Dark Portal

Flash back to June 2008. Hapis and Anou prepare to pass through the Dark Portal into Outland for the very first time. Together.

I can't begin to tell you how I felt sitting at my desk, facing this dark portal for the first time ever, knowing it's just a game but feeling that my character was going to cross into a new dimension full of  scary demons and evil creatures. And it's so big and intimidating! My husband stood there patiently while I took a few snapshots of this pivotal step in Anou's life. He's so good to me. ;)

Then they held hands, took a breath, and walked through the portal into the barren wasteland that is Hellfire...

Killer Prairie Dog

“The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don’t ask for their love; only for their fear.” - Heinrich Himmler

"Not another step, humanoid."

Darger brought me here. Teniah made him do it. Poor Anoukisse, she is a sensitive level-one-critter-lover. But these little monsters spent the morning threatening mice and rabbits who then mutated into axe-carrying, skull-cap-wearing critters of terror to carry out merciless revenge upon them!

Meet Octavien

"I know every rose has its thorn, but if you would just pour some sugar on me, we could rock and roll all night and par-tay every day."

Shake it to the right...

Shake it to the left...

Get down tonight!

Wooo!

So. Now that you've met Octavien, let me give you some background.

Anou was swept off her feet one day by Evade, a Blood Elf Paladin played by a father-son combo in both PvP and PvE. Evade was a hero. In Arathi Basin he bubbled her before tragically dying at her feet, thus saving her from two merciless gnome savages intent on her death. (At the time, I didn't know this was an actual spell (Divine Intervention), so it impressed me to think he bubbled Anou nanoseconds before dying. What a noob, lol.) Aaaaaanyway, moving right along... In the Alliance town of South Shore (whilst it still belonged to the Alliance), Evade heroically killed everything and everyone in his path--keeping my low-level Anou as a bubbled spectator and out of harm's reach. Then, on the second floor of the Inn, after slaughtering his victims in the name of the Horde, he did his dance of victory sans epic chest-piece.

Uh-huh. /drool

Thus, Octavien was born, a little Evade duplicate to take care of my bank Guild, and buy and trade stuff for Anou and her "sisters". There was one catch though. A low-level, grey-quality cloth shoulder piece dropped off a random mob for Frostbayne, and I was dedicated to leveling him to 14 so he could wear them, bare-chested, and do the little victory dance for the spectators in Silvermoon City. He was named Octavien as a French twist to honor the first Roman Emperor, known as Augustus, born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, a.k.a. Octavian. (At the time, I was heavily into a book documenting the History of Rome.)

However, he was fun to play, I had time to kill (whilst hiding from a certain dictatorial raid leader), so Octavien continued to grow and ultimately became a healer for one of the What A Toon/Shattered Skull raid teams. When the scary raid leader left (after much drama and politics), I brought him to Savage Darkness and won him a spot on the Killer-Bees team, which proceeded to vanquish the Lich King in unabashed glory.

Octavien is without a doubt my favorite 'toon to play--I absolutely love to heal and am not without some skill.

"For the hundreth time! Octavien is not a Gayadin!" /angry

Oh! And I'd like to take a moment and offer special thanks to Blizzard for Transmogrification, for the simple fact that my big, strong guy doesn't need to wear a skirt anymore.

Belly of the Cave

Erysi took a leisurely swim in Daggercap Bay--the body of water near Utgarde Keep--last night, after turning in some low-level quests in UK. Deep into the cave she went, toward the flickering light of a fire. However, when she turned, this is what she saw:

Skull in the Cliff Side

Digression: The quests she was turning in were to Dark Ranger Marrah. I'd simply forgotten to turn the quests in when I went with the group, initially. But every time I tried to turn them in after, she never spawned for me to turn them in! Wowhead comments mentioned her spawning after a minute, others said she appeared after pulling some mobs, and others still mentioning they were able to see her once they were half way into the dungeon. My experience is this: If you're in a group, she will spawn. If you go solo, she will not. I learned this after trying all of the above, and finally got a guildy (Pallyblood, thank you) to group with me, we both went in, and she spawned a few moments later, without us attacking anyone.

Bunny Madness

Blizzard's Noble Garden tends to prune a whole lot of Blossoming Branches every year and Mockingbyrd--whom I secretly believe is a garden gnome and has some sort of contact in the pruning business--borrowed Hermione's small beaded handbag, to stash them all in. And I do mean all. Any occasion is a good occasion to turn someone into a bunny...

Quand le chat dort, les souris dansent.¹

"Why grandmother, what a long tongue you have..."

Ice Crown Bunny Corporation Headquarters

"Blackhorn, you're going down!"

¸¸.☆*´¸.☆*´ღ`*☆.¸`*☆.¸¸♥¸¸.☆*´¸.☆*´

¹ A french proverb that translates to: "When the cat sleeps, the mice dance."

Dinner Party

Moments ago, while waiting for the group to assemble, Pallyblood (the one with the green shark's head helm) decided to get us 100 feasts closer to the Guild Achievement: Dinner Party. He got Mockingbyrd to contribute 100 of her stored Giant Feasts and Fish Feasts for the occasion.

Army of Slaughtered Pigs

SD :)

WoW "Quirks"

Kirina over at Kirina's Closet (as well as all the cool people who share their screen-shot addiction within her forum), has inspired me to post a couple of recent pictures I snapped that are, let's say, beyond the norm.

For example, the mage table. Perhaps I had never gotten as close to it as I did last night, or  maybe I was just paying attention. But did you notice how adorable all the tiny food on there is? The bottles, the miniature fish feast, etc. Very, very cute.

The Mage Table

Or, how about this bowl of apples Erysi found waiting for her at Nesingwary's Basecamp in Sholazar.

Now, these next ones were taken sometime during this past winter, while Anou was farming rep in Nagrand. One ogre was trying to kill her when she noticed a fallen enemy at the top of the small rise...

First Point of View

Up Close

Frontal View

In that first picture, I could not for the life of me figure out what exactly that was. Once I got close enough, I realized it was a two-headed ogre, fallen dead on his back. In that second picture, it even looks like there's a nose in the center of the two "eyes". It almost reminds me of a Muppet, with the heavy lids and long lashes!

Lord Rhyolith

Last night, during our Anything Raid Night, Savage Darkness returned to Firelands to continue our progress there, albeit slightly more geared. We downed Shannox and Beth'tilac prior to hitting Lord Rhyolith for the first time.

Verdant Hope Before  Battle

The Challenge Ahead

Startled by a Meteor

Tenaz, SD's resident hunter, feigns death in bunny form. This is by far one of the cutest things I've ever seen in game. When feign death is cast, the rabbit (hunter in disguise) leaps up somewhat, squeaks loudly, and falls to its side.

Feign Death

Firelands has been nerfed somewhat, and as stated above, we are in better gear than when this raid first came out. The stone giant went down after our third attempt. Some of the party hearthed before Kuiper (Fereldin) thought to snap a shot of it.

Important Update

The Deathwing series (posted on Blogger on April 20th, 2012) were the last photos posted to the Savage Darkness website.

From here on, the photos will be bigger and better, with a bit more explanations, etc. I chose to switch Diary of a Gnome Spy over to Blogger to have more options and easier access. I hope you all enjoy these memories as much as I have enjoyed--and will continue to enjoy--compiling them.

Pre-Cataclysm Content

Behind the tornado you can make out the faintest hints of an enormous dragon...

The Sky Turned Red...

As Deathwing flies overhead, Anoukisse dies a hideous, flaming death.

Stood in the Fire

The gigantic black continues his destructive flight over the Tanaris Desert.

Deathwing

 Anou lies dead, yet Deathwing moves on...

Sands Aflame

Dalaran at Night

Follow that Gnome!

SD's first annual Dalaran lamp-lighting race, featuring Windle Sparkshine. (LOL) We actually only did this once, but it was really funny. (Posted in SD: 9/14/2010)

Release...

... and run back. ICC 10, 2nd T2.

(Posted in SD: 9/14/2010)

The Pagoda

Hapis and Anou admiring the sunset. (Posted in SD: 9/14/2010)

Within the Ice Tomb

Why?!

Octavien trapped with style in an ice tomb, 10-man Sindragosa.

T2 downs the Professor...

... and his little dogs too!

Bunny suit by request.

Professor Putricide encounter in ICC 10-man. (Posted in SD: 7/1/2010)

Blood Princes

T2 downs royalty...

Team-2 downs the Blood Princes in Ice Crown Citadel after many, many, MANY attempts. Boy were we happy! (Posted to SD: 7/1/2010)

Every Girl's Dream

Cue the music.

 

Octavien + Mechano-Hog = <3

Hot guy. In plate. Big muscles. On a motorcycle. (Posted to SD: 7/1/2010)

This photo was taken inside Ulduar on one of the bikes for Flame Leviathan.

Love is in the Air

Venitian Romance

Anou and Hapis on the Loveboat in Undercity. (Posted in SD: 7/1/2010)

Damage Done

/flex

Lady Deathwhisper, 25-man ICC, overall damage done. (Posted to SD: 1/11/2010)

Let me quickly put this into context. I was usually a fail lock with this group. This fight made me look important. Incidentally, we wiped that time and now I'm standing in front of the boss before we tackle her once more.

Team Spirit

We Pity Anub

Mr.T's mantra follows us into 25-man ToC. (Posted to SD: 12/7/2009)

Kuiper's Market

... And he cooks!

Rows upon rows of Bountiful Feasts. 25-man ToC (Posted on SD's website: 12/7/2009)

A Dark Path

Deadwind Pass

The road to Karazhan. Doesn't it feel/look like the path Ichabod took in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? (Posted to SD's website: 12/7/2009)

Hallow's End

Trick or Treat!

Ysobel doesn't need to dress-up for Hallow's End. (Oct. 2008)

Onward to Dalaran!

Shining, Shimmering, Splendid!

 (Posted to SD's website: 11/24/2009)

Anub'arak

"Doing" Anub'

Killer B's in ToC-10. I won't say what Berdine had planned...  (Posted in SD's website: 11/7/2009)

Hallow's End

Trick or Treat!

Frostbayne mocking Octavien. (Posted to SD's website: 11/5/2009)

Day of the Dead

Hapis, Anou and the kids. Oh! And the dog. Gazing at the roaring fire on our summer camping trip. This screenshot was taken during Day of the Dead, and the event coincided with our not-too-long-ago-return from our real family camping trip. (Posted to SD's website: 11/5/2009)

Family Camping Trip

And not too long before...

Married Bliss

Hapis and Anou, honeymooning in Eversong Woods.