The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
Helighast - A Murloc’s Tale
by Vonya
Helighast the murloc stood at her post, though she would have been severely reprimanded for slacking in her duties had she been seen by Ranglash the Spotted.
It wasn’t her stance that gave away her inner turmoil – she stood up straight and held her polearm at the ready. The long, colorful spines that lined her back lifted at the proper angle to show her current status as an outer guard for the colony. Nor was it her expression that would have gotten her in trouble, for it was was suitably solemn and businesslike.
No, it was her skin that gave her away, the bright patterns that lined her froglike back shifting from green to blue to purple and back again, her vivid excitement spilling in uncontrolled pigment across her back for anyone to see.
Luckily, she was alone and had no superiors nearby to accuse her of inattention, no fellow guards to try and pry her secret from her.
Although she seemed outwardly calm to a casual inspection, inside she danced with jubilation.
She was going to be promoted! To guard captain! She! She was one of the youngest recruits in the southern guard station, yet they had chosen her anyway. She had deported herself with honor at the Battle of Gurmurgle, when the neighboring clan of Marshwomp murlocs had attempted to invade their coastal village. It had been she who had sounded the alarm, and it had been her polearm that pierced the heart of the murloc that nearly killed the Western Guard Captain.
He had said he was going to put in a good word – he must have put in a very good word indeed.
Oh, she was so excited! When she was naught but a tiny tadpole, her father had told her she could be whatever she wanted. Her mother had disagreed - told her she needed to face facts and be happy to find a nice murloc boy and raise some eggs of her own.
But she wanted to be a guard, just like her father, and just like every one of her fifteen older brothers. Every time they came home on leave, they told such incredible stories of bravery and glory that she felt her heart must surely burst. She’d forced them to teach her how to use a polearm, using long cattail whips instead of weapons. Begged them to tell and retell every story until they laughingly cried to for her to stop and let them get some sleep.
She had dreamed of this moment for so long, and yet she’d never dared hope it would come so soon.
She, Helighast, daughter of Grundmar the Croaker, was going to be Captain of the Guard! The entire southern shore ground force was going to be her responsibility. All patrols and sentries would be her duty, and the colony would depend upon her for their safety.
It was intoxicating and she didn’t even try to control the wild and thrilling skin pattern shifting that gave away her excitement.
Without warning, a sleek rectangular head parted the tall water grasses at her left, a wicked array of jagged teeth darting forward and snapping dangerously at her torso. She barely managed to leap back in time to avoid being gutted, and drew her polearm around to jab at the beastly head.
While she defended, her mind raced. A raptor? But raptors aren’t native to this area. Why would a raptor be all the way out here…a hunter! A landwalker hunter! She had to give the alarm!
She opened her mouth to sound a rallying cry and an arrow buried itself in her throat. The sound died before it escaped and she felt the raptor give a bone-chilling trill just before it kicked forward and slid its crescent claw into her side.
Three more arrows found their mark and she fell to the swampy ground, her blood drifting through the puddles in delicate ribbons away from her body. With effort, she lifted her hand and slapped the water briskly, three times in a memorized pattern. If the next guard was close enough, observant enough, and quick enough, they might be able to catch the warning on the current and protect the colony.
As darkness crept around the edge of her vision, the pain from her wounds faded. She was dying, and she knew it. She tried to lift her arms, but couldn’t. Helpless, she lay on the ground and waited for the end.
The landwalker hunter finally moved out of the reeds and stood over her body, turning her turtle-skin bag inside out and picking through her belongings with careless ease. It was one of the longears – the sun-lovers. She carelessly threw aside the shell that Helighast’s father had proudly gifted her with on the day that she’d become a guard. The webbed pouch given to her by a tearful mother in hopes that she would still one day settle down and find a suitable murloc fellow to present it to met a similar fate. Idly, the landwalker tore through all of the small items and trinkets that made up Helighast’s life, looking for anything of value.
Just before the final darkness claimed her, sending her spirit to the Great Sea to swim in the dark depths of the sky with her bretheren, Helighast heard the sunlover call out to a companion, “The magistrate wants us to turn in five Saltspray Command Idols, but I don’t see one here.”
“Only the guard captains carry those – this one’s just a regular guard. We’ll have to keep moving in to find the captains.”
“Oh, right. Well, let’s get going, Roshii’s getting bored here…oh for the love of stardust, here comes a whole troop of the bloodletting fisheads.” The landwalker grimaced. “Aaaarg! I hate murlocs! They always travel in packs and sneak up on you. Impossible to pick them off one at a time. Let’s get out of here and try again later, there’s too many for just the two of us.”
When the Captain of the Western Guard came to Helighast’s broodhome to deliver the news of her death, they presented her father with the broken tip of her polearm and told him that she had died in honor, as a warrior, and that her warning had possibly saved the colony from a landwalker invader.
June 19th, 2008
That’ll teach those damned slimy-skinned reptiles to try and live a normal, peaceful life! Go warmbloods!
Really, if it had been *anything* other than Murlocs, I probably would have pitied her. But not the fishheads. I’ve been mobbed to death too many times to be content with anything less than their complete and utter annihilation.
But aside from that, really nice story!
June 19th, 2008
I’ve always quite liked Murlocs (except when there’s 6 of them hitting me!); such a lovely story but so sad :’(
June 19th, 2008
@Easy
Pfft. Murlocs are so misunderstood!
I’m excited to meet the WotLK murlocs! *grins*
@Hulan
*laughs* They aren’t easy to love, that’s for sure. But they’re so vurra pretty!
June 19th, 2008
MURGURGGGLGURRGLLLL!!
June 19th, 2008
Murlocs - the next playable faction, FTW!!!!
June 19th, 2008
Wait a second… How did you…? What did you…? I…
You just wrote a story STARRING a murloc and made it work. I actually felt sorry for poor Helighast! Please tell me she’s waiting at the spirit healer for a repop! =)
Once again, well done, though I do have one criticism: we’ve waited so long for this story to continue. Can we expect more in the future, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?
June 19th, 2008
@Khol
Such language!
@Dax
Confession time - I was a Froglok in Everquest. I would totally play a murloc, if only so that Kevra Doomhopper could be reborn!
@Chris
Yeah, see…umm…*twirls a strand of hair around a finger* Here’s the deal.
I need a storyline.
And I don’t have one.
Plus, I’m not playing the hordelings anymore, so the stories I think up are all Alliance related.
*cough*
*coughs again*
*shifty eyes*
*runs away*
June 19th, 2008
I never thought about all the colors they come in. Thinking back, they are the most colorful creatures in a lot of lands.
June 19th, 2008
Makes you wonder.
This MMO you play is a huge place. Think of the thousands upon thousands of NPC’s out there, and the stories they have to tell, if they were given a chance to tell them.
We have all these thousands of quests, each one a brief snapshot into the life/lives of the characters in question
This fellow here isn’t random guard captain #55. He has parents, a girlfriend, possibly even a wife, and maybe some kids, and here he is in some gods forsaken hellhole surrounded by ogres, trusting his life, and the lives of his men, to complete strangers.
Or how about bandit #7172, signed up with the Defias crew in the hopes of making a quick gold or two. Imagine his surprise when he turns a corner, face to face with a group of five people intent on killing him efficiently as possible.
Frick. Now I’m going to be attempting to write fanfic. This is just too cool to pass up.
Internet, consider yourself warned.
June 19th, 2008
WE. WE PLAY.
GAH. It’s like a typo, except it originated in the brain, and somehow slipped past my stupid filter and my idiot firewall.
June 19th, 2008
@Euripedes
Where did you get your firewall? My last one was admittedly shoddy to start with, and it gave out on me months ago, but I’ve not been sure where to get a new one. I know I’m done with the black market - all kinds of stuff slips past those!
My original thought for this was to make it a random orc, but I decided to swap it to murlocs because of how hated they are. =]
If you end up writing more, please toss a comment down here with a link to wherever you post it!
June 19th, 2008
Are you saying you can only write stories for the Horde? I’m going to have to call you out on that one.
You’re playing Vonya again, and she apparently had some story to her. I remember a couple of dwarves and a ram, for instance.
And what about that wee Draenei lass? The corrupted and recovered one? She’s certainly not a hordeling, as much as her story may be entwined.
Heck. You’re playing with a group of characters now who all have very unique voices behind them, now that Aetherial Circle has you. Or are the stories harder with the broader view of the high-levels?
June 20th, 2008
Does that go for me, too, Ego?
http://tehkholabides.blogspot.com
>.>
June 20th, 2008
Oh man.
I’m levelling a priest with the intention of speccing holy at 70, and I’m sort of idly trawling the ‘net for info on healing in the meantime. In response to a “how I has heals?” post on the wow ladies community on LJ, someone linked to your raid-healer tutorial posts. I’ve only read the intro so far, but it was so lucid that I thought I’d bookmark the blog proper and read this. Thanks for making me giggle a little in my insomnia!
June 20th, 2008
I’m not real big on Fanfic usually, but after the wife started looking to your blog for priesting advice, I found my self heading over here on a regular basis, and I relized today that everytime I click over, I’m really hoping for some continuation of at least one of your previous stories. Even more than I look forward to some decent Info posts from the Ego crew. I get so involved in these stories so fast. It’s the development of the character, I read the first paragraph, and I feel like I know him/her already.
Another great story, and thanks much for the few minutes of enjoyment at work
June 20th, 2008
@Gauntlet
Eeek. Umm. Okay. Here’s the deal. The story of Whiska is on permanent “no posty” because it’s a shared story, and we’re stealing our favorite bits from it and rewriting it as a book. So I don’t want to rewrite it again. Again again. Whatever, you get the picture.
Vonya doesn’t have a story so much as a not-very-well-kept secret, which doesn’t make a story in and of itself.
What I NEED is a plot.
=]
@Khol
You better believe it does!
@Prathi
*grins* Excellent! The stories are intended to provide levity and compliment the original purpose of the blog. I’m glad it’s doing its job!
@Sunrath
Wow, thank you so much! I certainly never intended those who were here for the priesting stuff to get to the point where they enjoyed the stories so much. *blush* That’s a huge compliment. I’ll have to start seriously working on a plotline!
June 20th, 2008
Oh that was just great! I haven’t read any fiction from an NPC point of view before. Just lovely. Or is that just grmmurglllmurggulgg….
June 20th, 2008
way to make me cry! and feel regret for all of the murlocs I had to kill in this game. Why blizard WHY????????????????????