Shields for @abighail-stalsworth / @elaianna and @kaerlic-ironshield

Expectation

There was a quiet in Ardenweald unlike any other. A comfortable hush of whispered voices under a blanket of starry nights, reflecting off impossibly clear water and sinking into soil so rich and good it would be the envy of anywhere on Azeroth. Great arching roots and the spirals of branches tangled with constellations swirling overhead, lulling wandering souls into a dreamy stupor beneath their yawning canopies.

Lane was one of them, sitting in a form unusual to him by a pool of still water not far from Claw’s Edge. He’d been told to experience it in his worgen form. How much more natural it felt, devoid of rage and hunger and the need to run and breathe and move. An exploration of rest with paws and claws bigger than a human head. Clarity for the mind and soul.

Little nightmares lingered there still, just at the corners of his vision. Grabbing hands wrapped in rotting flesh, muscle dripping from bleached bone. The unmistakable stench of rot that travelled with the scourge and forsaken alike, not that there was any difference in that mingling of memory. Exposed teeth and hollow eyes, hair that fell away in clumps. The sudden sharpness of their claws and the threat of exposure. His brother pulled apart in the middle of a golden field.

The fear that kept him awake was quiet too, even if the lingering remnants were not. He slept easily on a bed of leaves, comforted by the fur covering his body. It was the first time he hadn’t had a drink before bed in a decade. A sliver of tranquility among the rampant shit of the waking, living world, free from the responsibilities waiting for him back in Stormwind and peppered with Abby’s pleas for them to take a break and explore. Live, she said, as if he teetered on the brink of death more thoroughly than the rest of them.

But that wasn’t his draw. He was good at dice and lucky with cards, blessed by a luck he must have shared with his childhood friend, shielded from that finality regardless of the world around them. The burden of survival. And what was worse: To live lavishly, indulging in a world that rejected those who stood beside you? Or to put your heart into making it better for those left standing, even if it meant a stretch of misery longer than the shore?

He would have praised indulgence when he was younger. Hell, he would have praised it a year ago, and happily spent his nights bruised and bloodied in whatever bar let him stay latest. Funny how much can change in a year.

Lane pulled himself to his feet with a groan, feeling the stiffness in his joints that came with too many birthdays and straightening the soft cotton of his Gilnean tabard. Other people could take a break. Other people could explore and drink and laugh and party as much as they wanted, and he wouldn’t hold a bit of it against them. But there was work to be done, and with survival came expectations and duties he could not ignore.

The lord of the house turned on his feet and shifted back to a form more comfortable, relishing in a lingering sharpness in his ears and eyes and nose, up the beaten paths of Ardenweald toward Oribos and the shimmering portals ripped open to the realm of the living. To Stormwind. To home.

Oh argh, the Filthy Warg has been invaded by sailors! Possibly even pirates! Is Lane tied up in the back? Has he been carelessly thrown into the harbor to drown? Who cares! The crew of the Golden Banana is running rampant and has taken over the bar, serving their cursed banana and rum drinks and winking at everyone in sight! The horror! Totally don’t go and fall prey to their whims tonight!

Bartenders will be @levigosa and @valorensails!

Open again tonight, with extra special saucy bartender @kaerlic-ironshield!

Harbor Games: Raffles

During the Fourth Annual Harbor Games, we will be having a raffle on Saturday and another one on Sunday– completely free to partake in!

At the beginning of each major game taking place during the Harbor Games there will be a member of the Anchor Trading Company who will be taking names for that day’s raffle. In order to claim the prize you must be present at the conclusion each day. Winners will be announced at the ampitheatre in Unity Square after the last game of the day. The winner must be present, otherwise another will be chosen.

The Prizes

Saturday’s Raffle:

A bust drawn by the talented Rasek on Artstation. Artist does not draw worgen, pandaren, or tauren. 

Sunday’s Raffle:

A bust drawn by @whimsicallyart. Artist does not draw worgen, pandaren, tauren, or goblins. [ Art pictured right ]

As always with the Harbor Games, the four main games will have a total of 6 prizes of portraits as well. These portraits have been commissioned by Anchor Trading Company to be done by the always amazing @the-zombee-cat​!

Eritha Sen’dathil

The Basics –– –

Physical Appearance –– –

Personal Information–– –

Relationships –– -

Mental –– -

Traits –– -

Additional information –– –

RP Hooks –– –

Jasmine pearls bloomed elegantly in the bowl of the glass tea kettle, the bubbles that rose up as each bud unfurled was accompanied by the distant crackle and boom of fireworks. Bright splashes of pink, green, blue, red and gold crested on every wave that rippled across the lake. Moonglade, during the Lunar Festival, was awash in all the elegance the Circle could muster. Many were missing — good friends she knew she’d never see again. She had to stop counting the papers tacked to the temple shrines, the air around them heavy with the scent of incense.

The air was clearer in the tea house. Asana poured a cup — this was not the first time they had met since her hair had been shorn in mourning, but the short-cropped dusk-blue locks now matched the deep black of her eyes. Elune’s blessing was worn well on her form. Yserina knew what Asana was going to ask before she asked it; This would be the third time. The younger Kaldorei poured her own cup first, blessedly. It gave Yserina time to savour a sip of her own.

“It’s hard to be here this year. I did not expect it to be so quiet, though I should have. You are missed, you know. All my companions speak of is how we would be better off to have you alongside us, like in Hyjal,” Asana sipped from her own cup, the shadowy tones of her skin so foreign from the lilac that used to be.  

Yserina sipped on her tea again, the delicate flavors of the leaves so different from the acrid, ash filled fields of Hyjal. The concepts clashed, warring. Jasmine won out over distant memories. She would not interrupt, it was better to let Asana make her point than to lead her on with conversation. It was better to finish her cup of tea in contemplation.

“Will you join us in Darkshore, Yserina? You would be welcome, the Circle would understand. The Forsaken are blighting the land — you owe it to your order to help restore order,” there was desperation in her voice, hoarse at every edge. She had not healed from the smoke of Teldrassil. “I have your daggers with me and I would be glad to give them back to you. You know I cannot let anyone else wield them.”

The blades would not obey, if she did. Yserina set down her cup and folded her hands in the lap, watching the colors spill into the water from another bold round of fireworks. When she looked back to the younger Kaldorei warrior, her hands signed simply, ‘No’.

Asana’s hands slammed down on the table in an instant, her face contorted in grief-wracked fury, “Again you refuse, how dare you. You dishonor your children! You dishonor my children, your grandchildren! To think I called you Umma with respect. Your son would be ashamed of you.” Her rage rattled the cups. Tyrande would be proud.

Yserina gestured to her empty cup. Asana would have to pour the tea, to not would be a grave insult. There was a beat, then two. Another cadence of rattling pops from across the lake followed by a roar of cheers from those who had defeated the shade of Omen.

Asana poured another cup of tea. In the wake of it all, they would be nothing without their traditions.

She did not hesitate then, to respond, her hands almost luminous in the Glade as she spoke to the woman who had bonded with her son in the only language she could, ‘It was your choice to pair with Talafran. To bear Sildryn and Lylaste. It was your choice to be away from Teldrassil on that day. It was Astaria’s choice to stay with the Priestesses and do her duty. We all make choices, Asana. I have made mine. It is unfathomable to you, I know, but I have chosen to remain recognizable to my children, to my grandchildren. Do you think they know you, anymore? You have changed, as I would change. Mentally. Physically.’

Yserina paused to scoop up her teacup and have a sip, knowing full well Asana would not interject. Her cup clicked delicately against the lacquered table top before she began again, ‘Talafran and Astaria would not, do not question my choice, as you should not. I am your elder and you have shown me great disrespect by trying to use them, and your own children, to manipulate me into action. I say again, no, and you will have to respect that. Return my blades to me if they burden you so, but do not ask me again.’

Asana’s dark eyes burned with a mix of high emotion at the chastisement, as silent as her mother by bond. Yserina gestured once more to her cup, the small glass still half-full.

The younger woman poured the tea.

I’m finally doing my first giveaway everyone!

Prize: 1 drawing of 2 characters, half-body. 

How to enter:

Rules 

I will announce the winner on January 1st and tag them in the announcement post! Good luck everyone, I’m excited to finally do this for my Tumblr followers! 

Glad to see everyone getting so involved! I just wanted to let everyone know that reblogging multiple times in a row in a short amount of time can sometimes not show up in the notes, while others that are reblogging every couple hours or so in a day are a lot easier to keep track of! If you did reblog multiple times in a row don’t worry, I still have all of your entries recorded, I just thought I’d offer the little tip to make things easier! 

quiet lake view

by Denny Bitte

This is a bust commission I did for a guildy of his character Kaerlic Ironshield :3 He a good boi

Kaerlic Ironshield:  kaerlic-ironshield.tumblr.com

(This character doesn’t belong to me I just drew him)

No Longer

He had been through much loss. It wasn’t rare for the elder knight, after all. He lost his homeland, his people, his paragons, and his close friends. Gareth understood loss at a young age as his life was completely focused around warfare, after all.  Gareth then lost his brothers; the last of his family thrown to the dirt either by the Horde, or even by their own hands.

Yet, this was different.

For every loss, there was at least distance. For his homeland, there was a fight to continue chasing, for his people, there was still many to protect, for his paragons, to uphold and spread their values, and for his close friends, to remember that they died with honor. His brothers were already so detached from his life that his ability to overcome the grief was far easier when compared to any other (That is not to say he did not feel heavy grief, of course). 

Yet, this was different.

Gareth adopted his sons, each handpicked for their values and separate upbringings. He was wholly prepared for his own life to be taken, that he wished his sons to be the ones that raised his Nathaniel. Each would provide differing perspectives that would change the very way how Nathaniel thought, and each would create a Paladin that would bring pride to the family name once more.  Then they took him.

The Horde. Vile Greenskins. Traitorous Elves. Naive and simpleminded Tauren. Grotesque, disloyal Goblins. Primitive Trolls. Heretical Undead. They would be expunged from this world. Agents of chaos, and nothing more. The true enemy of all that was pure in this world; the ones who slaughtered his son, his sweet… son.  Gareth’s fingers barely folded into his cyan tabard, the symbol of the Silver Hand barely wrinkling.  The Orcs shall pay for their crimes upon all of peace. The Tauren will be taught and trained like the beasts they are. The Goblins thrown to the Maelstrom, and their machinations cast in as well. The Trolls will learn the feeling of fire rolling over their primitive, abhorrent flesh, their ancient civilizations torn down. The Undead will finally know the memory of the North; the pain as the Light turns them all to ash and cinder. The Dark Lady shall know the darkness like his Prince must. The Elves will be converted or removed so that the Quel’dorei might stand once more, while the traitorous Nightborne are slain for their transgressions. Gareth folded his tabard, gently placing it down, lifting a far darker blue, though rather ragged one over his head. The Lion crest fluttered down and along his chest. I am a knight of the Alliance. Gareth turned, making his way to the keep. Left behind was the graveyard of his family, a freshly built headstone resting within it. 

                                    Here lies the Hand of Serenity.                           Loving father and devout follower of the Light.

                                                Calel Davice

((Nothing like a son dying to get Grampapa to feel all that Second War hate again! Well, I was looking for a way to keep Gareth for BfA; here it is! I am gonna miss the story with Calel, but his decision is well respected and has helped move along the family story.))

Obligatory Family Mentions: @sunset-sword

@danirel-davice

Send 3 assumptions about my muse and I'll tell you if they’re right or wrong.

For Saeil, @inerris-sunsong @little-amri @maraiya-wra or any of my others

HEY GUYS! I recently just signed off on my first apartment and I’m looking to build up some money to help pay off some bills I still have at my residence hall! I’m opening up bust commissions with an unlimited amount of slots! With that in mind, I cannot guarantee any sort of timeline, but I’m very excited for these. I am offering a full color sketched style and a full color painted style! If you are interested, send me an email at ehrouse@gmail.com

Buy my silence.

Send me a number from 1-500 and I’ll tell you how I feel about you in a post without anyone knowing your identity.

For any of my characters. IC or OOC.

HEY GUYS! I recently just signed off on my first apartment and I’m looking to build up some money to help pay off some bills I still have at my residence hall! I’m opening up bust commissions with an unlimited amount of slots! With that in mind, I cannot guarantee any sort of timeline, but I’m very excited for these. I am offering a full color sketched style and a full color painted style! If you are interested, send me an email at ehrouse@gmail.com