The Running Aurin

Blaugust is in the final stretch. Hang in there, Cupcake!

Minor SPOILERS for WildStar

I have a great idea for a post, but haven't had time to develop it. Hopefully, tomorrow will be the day. Not to complain once again about the daily blogging thing, but while I think it's a great exercise, I don't feel it allows me to really go in depth with a topic. That may be my own hang-up, since Belghast, Wilhelm Arcturus, and others frequently crank out insightful posts despite a daily or nearly daily schedule.

Anyway, Flint and Lave have buttoned up the case of the Darkspur Cartel and are basically moving past the town of Gallow into what looks to be the last area of Algoroc.

We had fun with the tropes of the Western town, right up to the final confrontation with Throg. This despite Scooter being inexplicably disconnected from the game almost constantly, leaving poor Lave running in place while Flint stood by to defend her. It wasn't our network, because I had no trouble with my connection to the game besides an occasional lag spike.

We considered switching over to WoW, but there wasn't enough time left before bed to be worth it. 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Unexpected Guests

Flint Buckthorn looked out across the Algoroc Valley. The sun was just peaking over the mountains. Loftite spires reached up into the sky, shards of the strange ore floating around them as if in orbit, catching the dawn's rays. He had been in the area just a few weeks, but it was already growing on him. The sparse environment reminded him of his village on Gnox, but he pushed that down. Even three centuries later, the rejection of the Free Companies by the Granok chieftains felt like a fresh fissure. A heavy sigh came out from under his mustache. He wasn't even middle-aged, but Flint felt old. He leaned on his sword, squinting into the distance. A ship was landing across the valley, but he couldn't make out its markings.

"Heya, Flinty!" Lave came bounding up the boulder he was standing on. Jumping onto his broad back and clinging to his shoulders, she asked, "What's so interesting up here?"

Flint barely felt the young Aurin's weight. The burden of her history was a different story. Seven years ago, he'd been part of the operation on Arboria. Unfortunately, they couldn't save the Aurin homeworld the way they had Gnox centuries earlier. Lavender Daisy had been orphaned by a Chua planet reaper attack that razed her village, and Flint's team was the first on the scene of destruction. He had found her huddling in a pocket under the rubble. The Aurin girl had scarcely left his side since. Flint had sworn that even if he couldn't rescue them all, he would make sure Lave wmade it out.

"Ship touched down over yonder," he responded, pointing. "I don't know that we're expecting visitors today. Might be the Marauders."

"Ya wanna check it out?" She dropped off his shoulders, landing lightly.

Flint hefted his claymore over his back and grinned at his companion.

"Sure. I love a good asskicking in the morning."

It's not too late to enjoy the Battle of Blaugust. Field Marshall Belghast has promised spoils for the victors.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.