WoWFate: Beard War

The Quillboar, convinced by Phred, attempted to react reenact dwarven birth.  They snipped a bit of Brim's beard, and tried to concoct a plan to pass through Urist's legs as the beardless dwarf was probably the female.

Meanwhile, Thorren's air elemental caught up to Etiainen, trailing her back to the caravan.  It agreed with her that most mortals were confusing, but sided with Thorren over the elder shaman's concern for his apprentice.

At the Razor Fen, most everyone had fallen asleep, save for a few Quillboar who began snipping at the hair of Brim and Urist.  In his sleep, Urist registered these sounds and brought Urist back to his traumatic experiences against the Scourge.  He woke screaming about an imminent attack, much to the dismay of the Quillboar.

The adventuring party quickly sprang into action. Yshara gathered a group of piglets to her side.  Phred drew his daggers and encouraged the defense.  Thorren readied his command of the elements. Zulfi'shi summoned spirits. And Brim went right on snoring. After it became clear nothing was actually happening, the stealthy rogue slipped in and knoxked Urist out, ending the kerfuffle.  The leaders of the Razor Fen demanded the adventurers leave because of the disruption, and the group had no choice but to comply.

As they headed back to the caravan with their recovered supplies, Brim woke, having remained unaware of what had transpired.  The party hastily explained to him, and Etiainen, what had happened and Brim, bow quite angry, demanded that he and Urist go back to apologize to their potential customers.

They set out, with Phred in tow, as the rest of the party settled in to get the caravan ready to move come morning.  Once at the Fen, Brim and Urist did apologize.  The Quillboar agreed to accept it should the Lightbrew brothers agree to take on apprentices. Phred backed this plan and Brim quickly accepted for both brothers.  

After quite a bit of debate over how apprentices should be picked, Brim simply approached two Quillboar, asked a few questions and announced he was taking one of them. Urist quickly followed suit.  Their names were Keb-keb amd Hogwa and they were extremely eager to learn the ways of brewing Lightbrew Ale.

Once everyone had regathered, the caravan set out again sending dude to warn Honor Hold about the Undead in Razor Fen Downs.  Hopefully, that garrison would be able to defend the area until Orgrimmar or Theramore could send reinforcements.  Once that was done, the party would continue on their mission to Ashenvale via the Crossroads.

As they travelled, they came upon an oasis.  Thorren felt something off about the elements there and was only just able to warn the others before a sudden storm gathered and something attacked!

That something turned out to be a centaur raiding party, led by a hige centaur in ornate armor carrying a spear of Tauren craftsmanship.  The leader singled out Thorren and told his followers to handle the others while he faced the Tauren.  He charged in , reading a powerful strike, but Thorren was ready and able to mostly deflect it.

Two of the archer centaurs fired artows at Urist, who was lightly injured but undaunted by the attack.  Etianen, wanting to help her mentir, fired a lightning bolt at the lead centaur, but his armor glowed and absorbed the attack.

Meanwhile, Zulfi'shi launched skeletal skulls at some of the centaurs towards the back of the group, burning at their skin.  The centaur stormcallers retaliated with lightning strikes, which most of the adventurers dodged after Etiainen blocked a good amount of it.  Brim and Parker, angry now, angled to get into good offensive position.

The centaur leader backed away, readying for another charge, but Thorren closed with him and disarmed his foe with a mighty swing of his axe. At almost the same moment, Etiainen blasted the centaur with redirected lightning, rocking him.

One of the archers took a shot at Brim, but the Dwarven hunter was ready and fired a blast back into his foe, killing the centaur.  Urist added shielding to his companions as Zulfi'shi attacked another of the lackey centaurs with spirit attackers.  Phred stealthily cut around the groups, cutting off their route of escape.  Meanwhile, Parker mauled yet another centaur marauder to death.

The centaur leader managed to trip Thorren up and moved into position to trample him.  Seeing her mentor hurt, Etiainen asked if he needed healing, but Thorren refused it, despite being heavily wounded.  Instead Etiainen blasted the centaur leader again, and this time it struck home.

Another arrow found purchase in Brim's shoulder, but Urist was already blessing Parker a charge to avenge the Dwarven hunter.  Parker chomped down on another Centaur, taking it out of the fight as the Centaur's companions failed to slow the raging bear.

Zul'fishi began preparing herself for a far greater spell than her norm, chanting quietly in Zandali.  Yshara, needing to close the gap with a distant foe, tookoff running in her bear form, leapt while changing into her Night Elf form, cast a spell, and hit the ground running once more as a bear.  Phred, for his part, used the distraction to down a foe with a well-placed knife to the back.

The Centaur leader managed to trample Thorren, who was badly wounded but refused to yield.  Etiainen went against her mentor's wishes and healed him.  Urist dollowed that up with a heal of his own.  Meanwhile Brim used his rifle to fell another Centaur archer.

In the momentary lull, Zul'fishi completed her spell, using it to have entangling hands grasp at all of the Centaurs, slowimg their leader greatly.  He made to charge, but Thorren was ready this time.  The Tauren had retrieved the spear and found it of Tauren-make.  Etiainen used a spell to blind the Centaur leader, who was left open to a huge thrust from Thorren's spear.  

Phred, Urist, and Yshara finished the remaining Centaur.  Yshara recovered the leather armor of the Centaur and Thorren determined that he would return the spear to Tauren representatives ge hoped to find at The Crossroads.

WoWFate: Rogues Do It From Behind

The next morning, the assembled team was summoned to join the caravan headed to the Crossroads, which only Thorren had much knowledge of, through  his interactions with Taurajo, Razor Hill, and Orgrimmar.  At the caravan, they met a rogue Orc named Fhreyd, who would later become known as Sleepy Rogue.

The first leg of the journey past rather uneventfully.  The creatures, and peoples, of the Barrens kept their distance and the party could relax.  When they stopped for the night, the adventurers started chatting amongst themselves.  Brim, still offended that Thorren had chosen Stormstout Brew over Lightbrew, challenged the Tauren to an armwrestling contest.  If Thorren won, Brim wouldn't bother him about the Lightbrew again.  If Brim won, Thorren would trade his Stormstout in for Lightbrew.  The dwarf struggled nobly, but was no mach for the power of the Tauren.

A bit more conversation, including planning the watch rotation, and the group bedded down for the night.  Brim and Zulfi'shi took first watch.

Ash, the faerie dragon companion of Yshara, flew off investigating.  Not long later Ash returned, clearly alarmed.  He woke Yshara, and in turn everyone else, and set out to kead his mistress back to what he'd found.  The others quickly followed.

Parker and Thorren quickly covered the distance of Yshara's lead and the trio discovered an Orcish farm surrounded by raptors.  Atop the farm was an one-armed Orc farmer, clearly being hunted by the raptors.

Further back, Etiainen tripped Zulfi'shi, drastically slowing the Witch Doctor.  At the farm, Thorren's sharp eyes revealed young raptors eating the farmer's pigs.  Having just arrived and trying to see, Zulfi'shi summoned ghost lights, appearing as skeletal figures.  These glowing apparitions reminded Urist of the Scourge and he turned to head back to the caravan and rally reinforcements.

Thorren's air elemental, Nilc'hi, moved to open the gate to the pigs' pen.  The startled young raptors moved to flee.  Etiainen and Zulfi'shi fired elemental and magical force into the raptors, but it was Parker, at Brim's call, and Yshara, in bear form, who waded in and dealt heavy damage to the raptors.  The farmer called down that his children were inside and threatened by more raptors.  Thorren plunged into the building.

As Brim, Parker, Yshara, Zulfi'shi, and Etiainen tore into the raptors outside, the sounds of Urist and the caravan guards nearing grew increasingly apparent.  The raptors fled before Thorren could find the children, but they ended up being safe.

The farmer thanked the group for saving his family.  Urist's force arrived and began to search for the Scourge.  Zulfi'shi explained that what Urist had seen was her magic, not actual Undead and everyone calmed.  A plan to find the raptors was formulated, at nearly the same time everyone realized the caravan was completely unguarded, save for Fhreyd.

Brim and Yshara set out to hunt the raptors while everyone else rushed to the caravan.  Most of the goods were missing.  One of the guards found tge rogue and accused him of having stolen then, but Fhreyd replied that he'd seen Quillboar taking them and scattering.

Etiainen and Thorren spotted tracks which lent strength to Fhreyd's story, but with Brim and Yshara still after the raptors they'd have to wait.  It wasn't long, though.  The raptors had vanished and tge pair returned to camp.  Brim immediately agreed to track the Quillboar.

As Etiainen and Brim led the way following the tracks, the party set to some arguing.  Zulfi'shi insulted Etiainen and then questioned Urist.  Brim defended his brother as Thorren chastized Etiainen for not giving the others a chance, angering his apprentice.

After some walking, the group arrived at Razor Fen Downs, home of the nearest Quillboar clan.  Once there, the Quillboar threatened the team and claimed rights over the stolen, and unguarded, goods.  Yshara used her memories of Agamaggon to get the Quillboar to hear the party out and Thorren, Yshara, and Brim spoke at length to convince the Quillboar that handing over the goods might be in their best interests.

All of this discussion convinces the Quillboar to allow the adventurerers to speak with their chieftess, named Negara.  In that conversation, Thorren advocated for the Quillboar to petition to join the newly forming League of Kalimdor.  His suggestion is that the Quillboar cede control of the Gold Road, and defend against attacks upon it, in return for status as a member of the League and protection of the territorial boarders around their Razor Fens.

Negara questions Thorren's ability to convince his superiors of this agreement, but also recognized that as a Tauren and a member of the Earthen Ring, Thorren would stand by his word.  Negara had her shamans summon up an earth elemental to make the agreement binding, with the added caveat that Thorren return to defend the Quillboar's territory should the League rebuff the Quillboar's offer.

Etiainen, still irritated with her team and Thorren, set out back to camp to let the caravan guards know that the Quillboar would be returning the stolen supplies.  Thorren noticed her departure and sent his air elemental ally, Nilch'i, to follow her. The rest of the party dispersed to converse with the Quillboar, rest, and load the carts for return to the caravan.

Yshara gathered a large pack of young Quillboar, whom she regaled with stories of Agamaggon and his role in the War of the Ancients.  The Lightbrew brothers introduced their ale to the Quillboar, who loved it.  This led the Quillboar to ask Thorren to leave them behind, but yhe Tauren said he still needed Brim and Urist.

Thorren was also told of a Scourge take over of Razor Fen Downs, leading to Urist being called in.  The Dwarf Paladin suggested that he needed to inform Orgrimmar and call back a large army to stage an attack on the infected Razor Fen.  Meanwhile, Fhreyd, had heard of the Quillboar interest in Brim and Urist and had begun plotting a way to both irritate the Dwarves and placate the Quillboar...

WoWFate: I'm On A Boat

After having completed repairs to the ship and setting off again fron the Murloc-infested island, the travellers landed at Northwatch Hold, near the Tauren village of Taurajo. Upon docking, Brim hurridly rushed off the boat stopping near the guardhouse at the edge of the dock.

Yshara was close behind, walking regally down the gangplank and introducing herself to the guards.  Urist, ever-cautious, followed, keeping a careful eye out. 

Yshara quickly struck up a conversation with a Night Elf guardsman who she initially confused for a guardswoman, much to his embarassment.  Zulfi'shi also headed down the ramp and after a short conversation, Thorren and Etiainen also disembarked.

They passed the guardhouse, heading for the magistrate, who was further down.  He was quite rude, making disparaging remarks about almost everyone before curtly leading everyone to the town hall, where the meeting was set to be held.  The meeting was set to begin in about 30 minutes, leaving everyone time to get settled in.

Most of the party went alone to their rooms, but Etiainen accompanied Thorren to his.  They discussed the need for Etiainen to try and overcone her distaste abd distrust of other people, with no strong resolution being found.

Shortly thereafter a page arrived to each room, summoning the collected adventurers to the meeting hall.  Therin were collected a number of important dignitaries, including Thrall, Jaina Proudmore, Hamuul Runetotem, and Malfurion Stormrage.  The greeted the heroes, who returned the greeting with the respect and awe due the leaders.

Thorren was the main speaker for the Horde adveturers, greeting the Warchief with the phrase "awaihilo ich porah," meaning strength and honor.  The great leaders of Kalimdor laid out the broader mission: ease tension between the Kaldorei and Orcs by ceasing lumbering in Ashenvale.  In return, the Night Elves would cede Fel Fire Hill to the Orcs to lumber.  The gathered adventurers would facilitate this by surveying Fel Fire Hill, gathering intelligence on the inhabiting demons, and reporting back to General Saurfang, who was overseeing the military actions.  This would lead to a concerted effort to purge the Fel taint from the area.

Etiainen and Thorren discussed ways to do this, and asked Thrall and Hamuul's advice.  A few other questions about the region gained the party a sense of the tension that was building in the area and the disposition of Silverwing Lodge and the Warsong Clan in the area.  Everyone signed on to the task and we were informed that the group would make the first part of their trip escorting a caravan from Northwatch Hold to the Crossroads.

Once the meeting had ended, the party tenporarily dispersed but all ended up at the tavern.  Brim, naturally, immediately set to drinking.  The patrons of the bar seemed to universally agree that his family's lightbrew was unappealing and "tasted like piss."  Thorren, having been part of the teams organized by Rexxar, Vol'jin, Rohkkan, and Chen to find Baine Bloodhoof when he was kidnapped, asked after Stormstout Brew, and was pleasantly surprised to find the inn had it. Etiainen, for her part, was uncomfortable in the tavern but unwilling to part from Thorren.

Zulfi'shi, for her part, ordered "something special" and the bartender brought her a Noggenfogger Ale.  As she drank it, she slowly transformed to appear as a skeleton.  Which was not for the best, as Urist saw her and had a flashback to the Scourge invasion. Brim managed to calm him, though, by pointing out the Troll's transformation was cause by the brew and temporary.  A little redirection towards the idea of fresh brewing some Lightbrew didn't hurt, either.

With Urist calm again, Yshara and Brim tried to sit and make friends Thorren and Etiainen, but the Tauren's preference for Stormstout Brew over Lightbrew and the Troll's preference for "not people" prevented much success on that front.  Offended, Brim enlisted Urist to make a fresh batch of Lightbrew. They set to furious work, but it took them so long that everyone else had headed back to the inn before they coukd try the batch.

WoWFate: I Am Murloc

The various individuals assigned to a mysterious mission for the nascent League of Kalimdor boarded a ship headed south.  Yshara the Nightelf Druid was first, in Darnassus.  Thorren, Tauren Shaman, and Etainen, his Troll apprentice, boarded in Orgrimmar.  Brim and Eurist Lightbrew, Dwarven brothers, joined them in Theramore.  They were making good time before being run aground on a small island.

As the crew of the ship made repairs a varitable army of Murlocs advanced on them and the heroic passengers set to the defense.  Thorren, ever vigilant, struck first, but the Murlocs dodged away from his blast of lightning.

Etainen reacted quickly, though, placing an earthbind totem down to slow one of the Murloc packs and followed that by drawing the moisture from their skin, weakening them.

Transformed into a savage bear, Yshara took a surprising tactic, dancing to stupify one of the Murloc packs closing on her.  Brim capitalized by shooting one of the Murlocs in its spear-toting hand, but the blast was so powerful that it incapacitated the amphibious threat.  His pet bear, Parker, waded into the fray chomping on Murlocs left and right.  Eurist placed shields on the other heroes, helping them withstand attacks.

For a moment, it looked like the Murlocs might overwhelm the boat.  Thorren took two massive cuts and Brim was beaten.  Etainen and Eurost worked to heal them as Yshara slammed into several other Murlocs.  Thorren used his immense Tauren size to stomp on the ground, stunning a number of Myrlics who Etainen finished off by dessication.  Eurist layed another shield on his brother and Brim and Parker finished off another pack of Murlocs.

The Murlocs turned and ran as a Sea Giant rose from the nearby ocean.  Unfortunately for the giant, the heroes had finally hit their stride.  Brim put several rounds into him, followed by a lightning bolt from Thorren and the coup de grace consisting of an icy spear through the neck by Etainen.  The giant fell and the journey to the rondevous could continue.

Characters I've Played: Thorren

The goal of this type of post is to update a character that I've played before and intend to play again, though on occasion I may share a character who I probably won't play again.

Thorren was a character I created for Sunday Game Group's Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition campaign in a homebrewed setting in which our group would be playing "monsters" struggling to overthrow a human-elf-eladrin kingdom which enslaved or oppressed all the other races of the world. The intent, eventually, was for the PC's to raise an army and lead the assault on the corrupt kingdom and overthrow it.

Thorren Bluffwatch was a Minotaur Seeker. Given that most of the members of the game played World of Warcraft or WarCraft III, we often referred to him as a Tauren, and the Bluffwatcher NPC type from WoW inspired Thorren's last name. As a Seeker, Thorren was of the primal power source and focused on using that power to aid him in making ranged attacks.

Rather than making Thorren an archer, I chose to make him a thrown weapon focused Seeker, giving him a hammer bound to return to him and a number of axes, javelins, and knives to be thrown situationally. Thorren's abilities generally focused on the production of ice or lightning effects.  He was great fun to play even though the Seeker is a fairly underdeveloped, flawed, and unsupported class in DnD 4e.

In the interim, I've picked up playing WoW and Thorren became a Tauren Shaman, with a leaning toward lightning and fire powers.  So in remaking him for a potential RPG, I'd like to incorporate both versions of Thorren.  As is typical based on Sunday Game Group's system of choice, I'm going to do this exercise in Fate Core's ruleset (just as I did for myself, here).

As a quick reminder, this means I'll need a name, a high concept, three phase aspects, a skill pyramid, and some stunts.  If you'd like more of a breakdown on these, go back and check out my previously linked post for a more detailed rundown.

Naming this character is a simple choice.  The name was inspired by the videogame and transferred out and then back in, so keeping it the same is a no-brainer.
Name:  Thorren Bluffwatch

Next up is the High Concept.  As the most likely place for me to play Thorren is in a Fate WoW RPG as has been discussed several times by SGG, it seems to make sense to involve his race and class here.  Tauren Shaman would be the simple way, but I always try to aim for making the High Concept more dynamic, so I'll try to add a bit on here.  I think Thorren's personality is probably the element missing in this situation.  Thorren's personality, in my mind is based strongly on his loyalty to his friends, people, and the Horde, so I'll call him a Steadfast Tauren Shaman.
High Concept: Steadfast Tauren Shaman

As before, I think of the first phase aspect as "back story" so here's a good opportunity to get in why Thorren is called Bluffwatch.  Tauren have a clan society (pretty clearly influenced by Native Americans) in which children can take on either their parent's surname or a name created by their deeds.  I've always intended that Thorren's family took the name Bluffwatch for being renowned defenders (with keen perception) of the bluffs (or, in WoW terms, Thunderbluff) that are their home.  Thorren carried on in this tradition for a time and took the name, but has since set out on broader adventures.  I summarize this in Generations Watching the Bluffs.
Phase One (Background): Generations Watching the Bluffs

The second phase-aspect is generally the first "guest star" situation that will link a character to the others in the party.  Given that I don't know who else will be in the party, I'll try to leave it a bit open ended.  In terms of the original game, Thorren met his companions because he had been captured by humans who hoped to sell him into gladiatorial slavery, but he escaped with his band of adventurers.  In WoW terms, I tend to consider that Thorren should have entered the lore of the game about when I started playing, and so probably first began his wider journey during the Cataclysm.  So I'll attempt to incorporate those things together.  I think something like, Forced to Battle, talking of Thorren's duty and the fact that he doesn't always look for the battle.  Fighting for Others might actually better sum up my general concept and get back to Thorren's personality, but lacks the outside influence.  I'll split the difference as best I can.
Phase Two: Called to Fight for Others

Third phase is another "guest star" with the same limitations at the moment.  In this case I think it's time to speak to Thorren's connections to nature.  In the original version, he was tied to lightning and ice, and in the WoW version he was tied to lightning and fire.  But in both, he could call upon spirits to aid him.  I think I'll focus on the lightning (or something near to it) and the spirits since they're a commonality.  And I think I have something that sounds cool.
Phase Three: By Ghosts and Thunder

Now for skills.  In the DnD game, Thorren was noted for his perception (which has lived on in SGG by the phrase "what do your ____ eyes see?" since we riffed off Lord of the Rings' "what do your elf eyes see?" by replacing "elf" with "Tauren").  In WoW terms, he's also renowned for his vigilance.  Seems only fitting that his strongest skill be notice.  From there I think fight and empathy make a lot of sense, given that he's a strong fighter in both settings and Shamans in WoW theoretically gain their elemental powers by communicating with and understanding the spirits.  Trailing along with that empathy would have to be rapport and lore, given that they'd strongly correlate the same connections.  I'd include shoot in that same tier as Thorren has always had an element of ranged combat to him, though less so in WoW than in DnD.  I think his Tauren size lends Thorren the physique and athletics skills, he has some ability to ride (aka the drive skill),  and his work and loyalty to the horde have gained him the contacts skill.

Great(+4): Notice

Good(+3): Fight, Empathy

Fair(+2): Lore, Rapport, Shoot

Average(+1): Physique, Athletics, Ride, Contacts

Now to finish off with stunts.  These are the most likely things to change upon actual game play dependent on how we work elemental powers in game. That said, I think the first stunt I should take is one that allows for Thorren to use Empathy to make attacks using elemental powers. To make it aspect-y I'll dub it Speaker to Elements. Next I think I'll add an ability to play off Thorren's ability to notice at a prodigious rate. I'll use it to allow him to use his notice for a trapping of investigate. It seems only right to call it What Do Your Tauren Eyes See? The final stunt should be about Thorren's connections, I think and his ability to call on allies. I'll take a line from the game and call it The Horde is Family.
Stunts: Speaker to Elements
What Do Your Tauren Eyes See?
The Horde is Family

So someday, Thorren will be ready to play again. I'm looking forward to it.