Blackmane said:
Out of interest how does one beta?

Goes through and corrects spelling mistakes, or notes spelling mistakes?
Goes through and look for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, that kind of things and correct them. I personally I like if the beta mark what he changed in red so it is easy to inspect.
 
33
I let out a small sigh as I started to slowly wake up.

Too comfortable.

Opening my eyes slowly revealed the small, warm room. Maybe three meters square, a small window on one wall and a door on the other.

There were two beds and two shelves on the walls above them. Between the beds there was a small table with a unlit candle on it.

The sun was streaming in through the window and the room was warm, almost hot.

I closed my eyes again. A real bed...This was the first time since I left Sunnydale to look for Dawn that I was able to sleep in a real bed.

It's been hammock after bedroll after hammock....if not just the solid ground.

A real stuffed mattress, if a hay one.


So comfortable.


Wouldn't hurt to stay here for a day or two I guess. We do need to figure out where to go next and that depend on what kind of Land Dawn want to learn first.

As far as I know, she has not picked yet.

That thought trickled into my head and my eyed went wide, staring at Dawn's bed. It was empty.

Slow breath.


There is no need to panic. She is likely just downstairs finding something to eat.

I sat up and swung my legs of the bed before I pulled my shirt on, glancing at my chest armor before I shook my head.

No need to panic. She was likely downstairs...except her chest armor on the floor next to mine.

I...had actually never known her to wear anything else since I arrived on this world.

I blinked at that. Ok, I didn't actually think about that before. She always wore her armor.

But she had taken it off now...and left it here.


Ok, now it was time to panic.


I pulled the door open and quickly headed out into the small corridor before going down the stairs. Now, as soon as I get out I summon a bunch of Varrens to catch her scent trail while I interrogate the inn keepe...

"Oh, Good Morning, Winter." Dawn called out with a smile from her place by one of the smaller tables in the main room, eating some kind of soup and some bread. She was wearing those leather pants of hers and...is that one of my shirts?

"Morning..." I said and made my way over to sit down across from her. Oh goody, she was fine.

Panic over.

"Hope its ok that I borrowed one of your shirts." Dawn said with a small embarrassed grimace as she dipped some bread into her bowl of soup "I don't actually have any actual clothes...Just wanted to get out of the armor for once. Well, parts of it at least. You didn't have any pants that would fit."

I blinked in surprise at that. She didn't? "You don't? Really? Didn't you buy some in Thunderbluff? Hell, didn't you have any on the list to Buffy?"

She shook her head "No. I mean, the armor is self cleaning, just needs to be washed with water. I didn't actually 'need' more clothes and I didn't want to put even more of a drain on Master Cloudsongs funds. My old stuff was falling apart by the time he bought me the armor."

"Well, that is understandable I guess...but what about the supply run? I could have brought clothes then." I then asked, giving the innkeeper a wave for some food.

"You had a limited amount I could send for, you made that pretty clear." She said with a grin as the old inn keeper walked over and put down a bowl of soup and a plate of bread for me.

I gave him a nod "Thank you." and then handed over a gold coin in return. From the look I got I might have overpaid, but whatever. Only money.

"Well, you could still have added some clothes..." I then said to Dawn, trying the soup. Hmm, pretty good.

Chickenish and rich. I really doubt it is actually chicken though...

Dawn shrugged "I had to get supplies for three years in your one trip. I didn't want to waste the space as running out of things you don't want to hear about is a absolute pain." she said and then finished off her soup "This stuff is pretty good."

I nodded "Yes it is." and then I smiled "And just so you know, we go and buy you some clothes as soon as we get to somewhere where you actually have a selection to pick between." I said before I frowned "You should have told me about this before you know...I bet they sold plenty in Booty Bay."

Dawn shrugged "Not like it really mattered until now." she said before she relaxed and smiled "But thanks. That will be fun."

Yes. Clothes shopping.

Fun.


"Where did you get this anyway, this is a really nice fabric." She then said, feeling the sleeve of her new shirt.

I shrugged "I think that one might have been imported from the Dragon Kingdom, they do have the best fabrics. Feel free to keep it if you want, I have more."

Dawn frowned "The Dragon Kingdom? Is that a country on that Plane you was on?"

"A rather new one consisting of what used to be the free cities. They and the Seven Kingdoms are at..." I started and then I sighed "Well, peace is the closest term, I guess. It's a bit strained though due to the massive Westerosi tech advantage, the Dragon Queen's past and the dwindling trade superiority of the former free cities..."

"I...see?" Dawn said with a small frown, playing with her spoon.

I simply shrugged and dipped my bread in my soup with a sigh "Politics. Don't worry about it. Anyway, I was thinking we could stay here for a day or two. Get away from the traveling for a moment."

She nodded with a small happy sigh "That would be nice. Having a actual bed for once is amazing."

"You have my complete agreement on that one. Have you put some thought in what Land you want to try for first? That kind of determine where we go next." I then asked her with a smile, taking a bite from my bread.

Dawn hmmed and then shrugged "Not sure yet. I'm thinking green or red from your descriptions."

I nodded "It is up to you. All I ask is that you pick up one of each before you start on a new set."


Dawn nodded in return "I know, I just don't know what to pick first." she said before she stood up and stretched with her arms above her head "Anyway, I'm going to go take a bath, I saw they had a room with a tub."

I nodded, quickly focusing back on my soup as she did. Apparently her lack of clothes included a lack of bras and that shirt was not one of my thicker ones.

Buffy would 'not' be happy if she ever found out that I ogled her sister.


"I'll tell you when it's free in case you want to have a turn." Dawn then said with a grin before she turned to walk over to talk with the old innkeeper.




AN// Many thanks to frozenchicken for betaing this section.
 
Brellin said:
Oh man, Winter needs to talk her out of getting Red first. The *last* thing she needs is to get a land that makes her even more emotional and prone to rash decisions. Red should be like the last color she picks up for her first set.
Hopefully, if only so we can see the reactions of Buffy and the others.
 
Brellin said:
Oh man, Winter needs to talk her out of getting Red first. The *last* thing she needs is to get a land that makes her even more emotional and prone to rash decisions. Red should be like the last color she picks up for her first set.
Actually it should be second I think. Because black is worse counteractor. And because of mind effects it's better to get colors in pattern of drawing star - and preferably start from white. So W->R->U->G->B. W->B->G->U->R is IMHO less optimal, and everything else is even less than that.
 
Eh, I think it's a pretty realistic interaction, but my social skills are notoriously bad. So... Eh.
 
Hmm.

Keep in mind how many of the original dual land types are represented here - I can see at least four, maybe five of them, just in the Western Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and all of them are easy to get to....
 
To be fair, on regards to the flirting issue, a female not only being willing but comfortable in wearing the clothes of a male (of her own volition) is usually a sign of at least some degree of interest.

At the very worst, based on that scene, Dawn is just playing with Winter in a platonic but close-friend kind of way to see if she can get some reaction from him for a few laughs, while taking ruthless advantage of available resources to ditch her armor for a moment.

And notice this did get him not only to agree to go clothes shopping with her, but actually propose the activity on his own.
 
Good news: I have started to save my stories directly to dropbox so never again will a computer self-destructing on me make me lose my stories and it make backing it up easier.

Bad news: No update tomorrow. My grandmothers 75th birthday so I will be busy all day.
 
CKirk said:
...Or, you know, a Volcanic Island (Taps for U/R)
or a Jungle Island (taps for U/G)
Please don't forget that the majority of Dual Lands are generic locations, except the Ravnican ones.
I think the main problem with dual lands is balancing the mental influence. You need two of them with the same colours to get the same amount of mana to balance out normal lands. The amount of effort and time stays the same, and you get the same amount of many in the end.
 
You know what would be funny?

If Winters would end up in one of Hvers other SI worlds and meet the other SI character, but not realize it in any way.
 
enderverse said:
I wouldn't want it to be part of the story like the one where he meets that other SI in zombie world. That seems to be canon.

It would be fun for there be a scene written up for it though. Just not actually part of the narrative.
Names for the scene ... Order of Hiver? The Council of Winter, The We Hate Rob Club: Hiver Branch?
 
34
I yawned and cracked my neck as I relaxed in front of the fireplace in the large common room of the inn. It was starting to get dark outside. We were not alone in the Inn, the Innkeeper was doing something by the counter, and a old man with an epic beard was sitting at one of the small tables. A dwarf was sitting by the counter, drinking something out of a tiny glass.

None of them was paying any attention to us. Well, Dawn caught a look or two, but who could blame them for that?

"Here." Dawn said as she walked up to sit down on the chair next to mine, handing over a plate of smoked meat and bread along with a cup of dark tea.

"Thanks." I said and leaned back against my chair as she took a sip from her own tea, making a bit of a face.

Bah. Tea noob.

This was the second to last meal in the inn, we are heading out tomorrow morning.

"How is the big green thing?" I asked Dawn and she shrugged.

"Mr Fluffsy is fine. I worried that he might overeat though so he only got half rations today." she answered "So where will we find a green land you think?"

"Well, I was thinking Elwynn Forest might be a good spot. It's Close-ish to here and will give us access to Stormwind as well. Also a somewhat peaceful place where we can focus on you getting a connection without needing to fight off the wildlife and locals at the same time." I answered and tried the bread.

Mmm. Freshly baked. Need to remember this Inn on the way back.

Dawn nodded and leaned back in her own chair, sipping her tea again. She was wearing her leather armor again, having taken to sleeping in the shirt instead of wearing it around.

"What kind of spells that use Green mana can you teach me?" she then asked.

I shrugged "Most of my green spells are summons and enchantments for living creatures along with a couple of healing spells, but we'll get to that part once you actually connect." I said and tried the meat.

Hmm, can't remember tasting something like this before. Wonder what that was... it wasn't beef and it's not pork. Lamb? I'm no expert.

"Do you think we have enough supplies? I looked at the map and it looks like we are at least a week away from Elwynn" Dawn then asked as she pulled out a knife to cut her bread up to stuff the meat inside "We don't know how much we can buy at the villages on the way you know, and we're not as well stocked as when we started."

"I would say the trip will take two weeks, not one. Always put it on the high side to make sure you don't run out." I answered, shaking my head "I checked earlier and we have at least enough for that left, and I talked to the Innkeep earlier. Next stop is the guard tower at Sentinel Hill and after that there are two more villages before we reach the Elwynn Forest river. We will be fine, even without gathering on the road like we have until now."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

In the end it took us a week and a half to get to the edge of Westfall, but it was an easy journey. Good, well traveled roads and no bloody bandits.

"Well, there it is." I commented as we slowly rode across the large stone bridge. At the side there was a small guard house and two guards were standing on duty, one on each side of the bridge, lit up by the fire of torches.

Night was falling, but we wanted to press on to get into Elwynn before we stopped. While we had plenty of supplies, the thought of finding an inn and a bed again was a tempting one. Last one we had access to was five days ago.

We did manage to get a roof over our heads a day and a half ago, paying (very little granted) for a spot to sleep in in the barn of a farm, but that was was about it.

Dawn nodded "Yeah. Finally." she said with a sigh before leaning back against me "So. Tired.", before yawning.

I chuckled at that "Well, we should be able to find somewhere with a roof to sleep tonight if we are lucky. Let's ask the guards."

She nodded with a smile and straightened up again as we got closer to the bridge.

The guard to the left of the bridge walked up, holding his hand up when we got close enough "Halt. We need to do a border inspection. We have been having problems with smugglers lately."

I raised my eyebrow at that. I thought we were already inside the borders, Westfall and Duskwood also had patrols.

I then shrugged as Dawn nodded "Go ahead. But wouldn't it make more sense to focus on ships instead of people simply moving along the roads?" she asked him.

The guard in the silver armor simply shrugged "Don't ask me, I simply follow orders." before he walked up and did a cursory look in the packing crates that used to be full of supplies and now simply contained our bags and remaining food.

We did stretch the food supply with plants and tasty looking animals on the way which was about the only reason the food supply lasted as long as it did.

Was a bit harder to do in Westfall, but we could usually buy bread and meat on the farms we moved past.

He spent maybe thirty seconds looking before he closed them both again "What are your destination and origin?"

"We are traveling from Booty Bay and our destination is Stormwind." I answered him, putting my hand on Dawns waist to get her let me do the talking. It was kind of true, we just took a bit of a shortcut across outland.

"Your purpose in the city?" The guard asked in a bored tone. I could hardly blame him for that, he have likely asked the same thing a hundred times just on this shift.

"Purchasing wares." I told him. Also kind of true, we were going to go buying things, mainly clothes for Dawn and perhaps some books if I could find any.

"Very well. Move along." the guard said, waving us forward.

"Thank you." Dawn added "Wait, do you know a good Inn we could reach before it gets too dark?" she asked.

He nodded, giving her a smile as he answered "There is an Inn outside the Westbrook Garrison, Miss. A couple of hundred meters further down the road from the bridge."

"Thanks!" She said, giving him a smile in return before glancing back at me "Guess we get better than a roof tonight." she then commented with a grin.

I just snorted and shook my head as she urged the large animal to get moving again.

Nothing like needing to go without them make you appreciate the luxuries in life. Like having somewhere warm with a roof you can sleep under.

While we have a good amount of cash and some more jewelry to sell, we won't be staying at inns for the entire stay. Especially not if I take Dawn on a shopping spree.

Not if she is anything like her sister...

But then again, she managed to go for years without buying a ton of clothes so I guess it might not be quite that bad.

I do wonder though how quickly Dawnie will be able to connect to the land. My record doing it the right way was just over a week. My first try took significantly longer.

Likely it will take at least a month as she also has Shamanistic training to do and she has been slacking on that, only getting an hour or so in a day while on the road. Dawn did mention earlier that she wanted to try to catch up when we finally stopped. She have several books and instructions with her from Cloudsong on what to practice.

I was also told quite firmly by him to stay away from her books.

No objection there from me. I won't be teaching him to use the power inherent in the Lands either.




AN// Big thanks to Robo Jesus for betaing this part.
 
Selias said:
So, is Winter going to be trying to learn WoW magic while Dawn is connecting to the land?
Wonder if he'll manage to learn it. You know, with his magic being different and all. He's already having trouble with one of the spells.
 
Paladin class has some awesome spells, lay on hands for absolutely MASSIVE healing (tanks can full heal themselves) and divine shield which is an invuln.

Weren't you also looking to get some dragons as summons? WoW is full of them and dragonic creatures. Fairly sure that there's even quite a few on the same continent as you are.
 
Even if not dragons, there's still Drakes. Which I think are flying around in a swamp somewhere southeast of him.
 
Back
Top