The Bogmoor Drake

Author: Mahdaan

From 'Songs and stories of Khaz Modan', translated from Dwarvish.

There was once near Dun Modr, a local mountaineer that had discovered the site of a destroyed dragon roost, but more importantly, an egg that was still intact. He took it down to his village of Bogmoor, and showed it to his dearest friends. After a week or so, the rumour had spread, and the dwarf’s neighbour came by to look at the egg. Then another one knocked at the door, and soon the whole village was in his living room, looking at the egg.

One of the dwarves suggested making an omelette with it, for the whole town to share, but another dwarf thought it would fetch a good price in Thelsamar. The dwarves argued over the mountaineer’s possession until he himself spoke up. “Me good lads an’ lasses, I’ve seen dragons and how they defend their nesting places. We are nae safe from red nor black, and we must always live with an eye to the skies. I was thinking we could do with a dragon of our own.”

All dwarves looked stunned as the mountaineer lifted the egg and placed it into his hearth. “I will hatch the egg meself and train the whelp, until it defends our home as its own. We will be safe and no bandit or drake will ever dare to threaten us.” The dwarves all cheered at their neighbour’s courage, all but the elder, who said it would be dangerous to keep a dragon, no matter how little. No one would listen though, and the mountaineer ended up stoking the fire to hatch the egg.

Weeks later, the egg finally cracked, and out came a little hungry whelp. The mountaineer cared for it every day, feeding it raw raptor meat at alarmingly increasing volumes. It didn’t take long for the little devil to fill up the entire living room, so he moved him outside. The elder protested a last time, but without success. The mountaineer had the support of the whole village, and he started dedicating his whole day to the drake, relinquishing his scouting duties.

The three Dragonslayers

Author: Mahdaan

From 'Songs and stories of Khaz Modan', translated from Dwarvish.

There were once three dwarves, living in a village in the mountains of Khaz Modan, overlooking the great Loch. Their names were Brom, Hewe and Ruhn. They were at a local brewery, drinking away the remaining hours of the day, when a message came that a fearsome drake had made its lair in the hills close by.

They vowed to kill the drake before it could permanently settle, for that would have meant the end of the village. The three, each skilled in some form of combat, immediately volunteered to set out to slay the beast. They did not care to call in the mountaineers, because they had had each other’s company for many adventures already.

Brom was a warrior, and he relied on his shield and a great axe, passed down to him for generations. Hewe was a hunter, skilled with a gun, and the fastest shot in the village. He never missed. Ruhn was a user of magic, and his tongue was as quick as Hewe’s triggerfinger. Together, they left before dawn, and headed into the mountains.

It took these experienced heroes just two days to track down the lair of the drake, and they hurried to trap it inside. As they rushed towards the cave, they did not see the shadow behind them. The great black lizard landed and caught the three off guard, and the laugh of the evil drake echoes throughout the area.

He was gleeful, because to a black dragon, a reputation counts. The more that try to kill you, the more powerful you are seen as. He was glad to be a threat, all by himself. He was cheerful even, because he had these three adventurers trapped at the mouth of his lair before they could even strike him once. So cheerful, he decided to play with his prey.

Of Goggles and Imps

Author: Kayaara

“Beltal, pass me my arclight spanner.”

The small imp stood up lazily from its seat, arclight spanner already in his hands from idly fiddling with it. He poked Taiream’s leg with it, and she took the spanner from his hands, quickly tightening the blue goggles on her workshop table. She mumbled a quiet ‘thanks’, and the imp returned to his seat, legs up on the armrest.

“He-e-e-e-y, Taiream. Are we goin’ out today?” Beltal asked – or more like whined.

Taiream squinted at the goggles, putting the arclight spanner down and picking up her gyromatic micro-adjustor, finishing off any final touches she needed to give to her new pair of goggles. “There!” She put them on over her hair turning the dials on the side until she deemed them at the perfect setting. “What do you think of them?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just as good as your last pair. We goin’ out or not?”

Picking up the tools scattered on the table, Taiream opened the draw below the desk and shoved them all inside. Then she gathered the blueprints set out and tidied them up and away in the draw just above the tools. “I’m glad to see you’re as enthusiastic as ever about my new creation. Well – I was planning on going out. I wasn’t going to take you with me.” She walked over to her small wardrobe, picking out a simple black shirt and matching black trousers, picking from the bottom of the wardrobe some fingerless gloves.

The small imp frowned, stretching himself over the seat, letting out the loudest sigh of frustration he could muster. “But why don’t ya want me to go? I helped make those new goggles of yours!”

Taiream’s bones creaked as she swapped her outfit, the sleeves of her shirt just short enough to show the decay on her elbow; not much, but her bones were clearly showing. It was the same with her shoulders – the bones broke through her skin, precise holes in the outfit she had exactly where the bones poked through. She patted her shirt down, turning to face Beltal. “Because. I don’t think you’d want to come with me today. I’m meeting up with some people.”

“People? I love people! I can go, can I go please? Do they got money? Are you getting some money from ‘em?”

“No, they don’t have money – not for you, anyway. Do you remember Alaeryn? I’m just catching up with her.”

Beltal sat up slightly. “The elf lady? Yeah, yeah I know her! She didn’t like me, whys you going to see her now?”

Taiream came over towards the small imp, giving him a gentle flick to the nose with a bony finger. He scrunched his nose in protest. “I wish you stopped being so nosy! She’s my friend, and friends happen to see each other from time to time. Maybe you should get some of your own.”

“I happen to have all kinds of pals, thank you very much.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I do!”

“Uh-huh. Now – I’ll be off.” Taiream headed for the door, opening it and taking a step outside into the cold, chilly air. She stopped in her steps and turned her head, jaw clicking. “Don’t make a mess.” Then she closed the door behind her. As she took her steps away from the small house, she was sure she could hear something clatter and something crash.

Watching

Author: Kayaara

“You can’t spend every day sitting watching the baby turtles, Venufii.” Akande let go of her mace, gently placing it beside the sitting pandaren while she took her seat beside her.

 The pandaren in question nodded her head, not turning to face Akande but acknowledging her anyway. It was always like this between the two of them; Akande would find Venufii at the Singing Pools, Yakkun tucked inside his shell just to her side while she admired the newly hatched turtles splashing about in the pools. Other days, she would sit atop the bridge and watch the budding young pandaren practicing on the balance poles until one by one they fall into the magical waters. Whatever it was, Venufii was always watching.

“I was at the training grounds today. I thought we said we’d meet up there.”

A shrug.

“If we want to leave this island one day, you can’t just sit here every day.”

Another shrug, this time she turned to face Akande. Her expression was a mix of wonder and amusement, if not some confusion.

“What is it?” Akande asked, knowing fully well she wouldn’t give her a verbal reply. Venufii rested a hand on top of Yakkun’s shell a silent sigh escaping her lips. She opened her mouth, as if she were about to speak, and then decided against it. She looked at Akande, frowning.

“Sorry… Are you going to do some training today?”

The mute pandaren shook her head slowly.

“Okay.”

Akande leaned her head against Venufii’s shoulder. The latter wrapped an arm around the shaman, pulling her a little closer to herself. The baby turtles were beginning to return to the land, the parents waiting patiently as they took their time to return to their homes. The sun was setting just behind the trees, beyond the vast ocean that surrounded the Isle and it glistened against the wet shells of the turtles.

It always made Akande wonder just how Venufii could spend her days sitting, watching the trees sway in the background; watch the clouds form into flowers and animals and even her favourite foods; or watch the baby turtles swim in the pools. But now, as they were together, watching together, she finally began to see the beauty Venufii had always seen. And she looked to her side, and watched the glint in Venufii’s eyes sparkle and her gentle smile and her hair falling over her shoulders.

And she decided that yes, maybe there was something about taking the time to just watch.

The Ritual of Synn (Part 3)

Author: Taarhal

Rowanne stumbled along behind the Felsteed, the bottom third of her yellow dress caked in mud , a large leather pack strapped to her back and an imp sat on top, pulling at her long black hair as she moved.

The girl looked up at Synn who rode the mount, looking all the world like a queen from her lofty position.

“ummm my love , do you think we could stop and rest soon, my feet are getting very sore, maybe it would have been better had you let me wear some boots instead of going barefoot….” Rowanne held her breath, hoping her words did not cause to much of an outburst from the succubus.

Synn looked back at the bedraggled girl following the Felsteed “really girl, I agree to take you out on an adventure , which is what you wanted and when I do, all you do is complain and whine, I don`t wear boots and you don`t hear me complaining about being sore”

“but…umm, my love…you have hooves and not feet, feet are much softer, and umm also your not walking your riding my mount”

“Oh…so its my fault, is that what your saying girl?, its not my problem that you have inferior body parts that don`t enable you to walk is it!, we will keep going another few miles then I may allow you a break, now stop your complaining and entertain me with a song”

Rowanne bit her lip, not wanting to anger the demon any further, and started to instead sing a rather vulgar song about drunk pirates at sea , much to the delight of Synn, but a delighted Synn was much better than a grumpy Synn, Rowanne thought to herself as she sung the words, words a lady of her noble upbringing really shouldn’t have been uttering at all.

Why Turtles are Green

Author: Taarhal

Once long long ago in a distant land there lived two Draenei, they were sisters and one was a pretty blue colour with a very swishy thin tail and the other was taller and not as blue and had a much fatter tail, but they loved each other very much.

The two Draenei journeyed together far and wide across the lands, stopping to study the wild life, or sniff the flowers or when they got very smelly to take a bath.

One day they came across a very large and wide river, the waters were running very fast, fed from the distant snow capped mountains.

The two Draenei stood upon the river bank looking across at the tree lined slops beyond

"What are we to do?” The fat tailed Draenei said to her sister

One Final Goodbye

Author: Kayaara

Lyra walked down the path towards her small home. In the front garden, a pandaren with long, ginger hair pulled into a plait dotted with pink and blue flowers, knelt down in front of an arrangement of flowers. Grinning to herself, the young warrior gently placed her sword down on the path and tip-toed towards the other, until she was directly behind her and put her paws over her eyes.

“Tashya, come on. I need to finish watering the flowers!” A rather grumpy Akande moaned, leaning back into Lyra to get away from her paws.

Lyra laughed, removing her paws and looking down at her older sister. In return, Akande gasped and her eyes widened. She turned herself around and stood up, embracing her sister in a tight hug. “Lyra! I was wondering when I’d see you again. It’s been what, a week since I last saw you?”

“Well if you’d have come home from training too you would have seen me. And stop acting like it’s been ages!”

“I can’t help it, Ly. I’m just so happy to see my little sister! Now let’s go inside, mama is finishing dinner up so you can tell us about your day over some rice buns.”

The Fist of the White Tiger

Author: Janna

The view that stretched out before him when he exited the Temple of Five Dawns was breathtaking. The afternoon sun bathed the lands below in a soft golden light that made the ponds and brooks, the paved paths and the roofs of the villages glisten with splendour. The young pandaren's heart was swelled with joy and sadness all at once. The events of the past few days had yet to fall into their proper place within his memory; as for the moment, his thoughts were scattered without a thread. Images would float by before his mind's eye of his old Master bidding him a last farewell in the wood of staves, of the blood (so much blood) gushing forth into the ocean from the wound the explosives had torn into the land. Images also of his friends, patting his shoulders and smilingly offering words of comfort.

Yan Yong dabbed at his eyes with the furry back of his paw. He mustn't show weakness, now that his great day had finally come. Descending the temple steps, his eye was drawn again to the lands below. As he would always do he searched the roads for lamplighters who were going about their business ensuring the street lamps would remain lit despite the heavy winds and rainfalls they had become used to as of the past few weeks. Most of the lamplighters were family. The Goldenglows went back many centuries and perhaps longer still. All of his family members took up the honourable trade as they reached maturity; all but himself.

Uncle Gao

Author: Mahdaan

“We call it wanderlust,” uncle Gao said. “It is in our blood. Ever since Liu Lang gathered any who would rather travel than stay within the safety of home, we have all shared that bond. There comes a time in every wandering Pandaren’s life when they feel the call to explore.”

Chin Su pulled a sceptical face and looked from the temple of Five Dawns to her uncle. “Even my father?” she asked in unbelief, about the man who was so dedicated to his comfortable chair, his noodles and his evening pipe.

Uncle Gao let out a hearty laugh that shook his whole body, so he held on to his large furry belly. “Yes, even your father. I remember well how he explored a tropical peninsula with some friends and came back with a sort of fruit we had never seen before. How else did you think he got your mother to like him back? He was quite the daredevil too, back then.” Uncle Gao’s story faded in mumbles about the excellent brew they had made with the precious fruit.

Chin Su had this special bond with her uncle, perhaps exactly because she always felt that her father was much different from her. It had been uncle Gao who told her when she was just a cub, that the Wandering Isle was in fact a massive turtle on whose back they once climbed thousands of years ago. It was uncle Gao’s iron shield had inspired Chin Su to make her own, out of string and an old bamboo basket. Both times, she had looked like this, in wonder and curiosity.

“Why doesn’t the turtle visit the continents anymore then?” she asked, although that wasn’t the most burning question Chin Su had. She really wanted to know why her father had shown so little support when it came to her need to explore and find adventures, but she was about to get both answers from her uncle anyway.

“In our time, it used to be safer. The people across the world now don’t have the same welcome for travellers they showed us back then. They now wage war, for land and riches and to conquer all that is strange to them. The masters agreed to avoid the shores of Azeroth for the time being.”

Chin Su’s curiosity made way for indignation, and she challenged uncle Gao with her eyes, to which he responded with a warm smile and a cryptic explanation: “Can you blame the parents to worry for the cubs? Can you blame the crane for running from the tiger?”

“I’ll be a tiger myself!” Chin Su exclaimed, and straightened her back, then struck a blow in the air, clumsily, but passionately all the same.

Uncle Gao chuckled again, then pushed himself up by his staff. He took the time to scratch his face and then greeted a passing lamplighter with a half bow before turning to Chin Su again. “I don’t doubt it, little one,” he said as he glanced at the rising sun the great turtle was swimming towards. “We better get going, or you’ll be late for your first day at the Academy.”