My life as a Night Elf...

[Finna]

There is something not quite right here… am I dreaming? A moment ago I walked in town, watching shops for a pair of new shoes, my old ones will have holes in them very soon and… well that’s another matter. So I was walking in town, when suddenly, there was this strange fellow, short and with a crazy hat, he was actually dressed as Robin Hood, stopped a few people and gathered us. He then spoke some words in a language I didn’t understand and then there was this bright flash… When I opened my eyes I wasn’t in town anymore.

So here I am. I close my eyes as bright sunlight blinds me. Turning my head I carefully open them again and am amazed at what I see. A vast grasland with trees and mountains. Where am I? I look around and walk a bit. I stand on a road. Behind me the road goes down and I see some kind of watchtower and a bridge. Somehow it looks familiar. In front of me the road goes up a hill and I loose sight of it in the distance. Left of me is a hill and grassland going nowhere as fara s I know. It’s the same on the right. I’m surrounded by yellow grass and dried out trees. It looks barren.

… Barren? With a shock it comes to me… I don’t believe it! This is the real life version of the Barrens! How did I come here? Now I look around me and see it clearly. How could I not see it? The watchtower and the bridge… that’s the road to Durotar! How in heaven’s name did I get here? This cannot be real… can it? Somehow Blizzard found a place they liked and recreated it in WoW… right? Right? Must be…

I start walking and slowly get nearer to the watchtower. I’m a bit afraid of what I might find, but I start reasuring myself: ”Ofcourse this cannot be, how could it? It’s just not pos… Wait, what is that?”
I see a person running towards me. It’s a rather big, green… person…? I yell in fear as I turn around and run away.
“It’s an orc! It’s an orc! It’s really an orc!” I run on and turn left, only to be greeted by strange little creature who strangely remind me of hedgehogs. They squeel and also attack me. I turn around again and run the other way where I’m afraid I’ll find the orc again. I’m glad to see that the orc has given up. After running awhile the hedgehogpeople give up too and squeel something at me while running back again. Panting, I stand still and have a closer look around me while it starts dawning on me…

I’m really here, I’m in the Barrens… however did I get inside the WORLD OF WARCRAFT?

[Finna]

So here I am… untill now I’ve discovered I’m in a fantasy world, but this is real… I’ve been chased by orcs and what are those creatures called again… well those, too.
I stand still for awhile to catch my breath and to look around and suddenly I realise that I don’t quite feel like me… I don’t feel quite like myself, what’s going on? Looking down I realise that my vision has changed. It’s clearer, brighter, but also… higher. Higher? I’m taller! Well, there’s something that’s positive. I always wanted to be taller. I grin.

I also seem to be wearing different clothes. My jeans have changed into a pair of sturdy reddish pants. Is that mail? It sure doesn’t feel like leather… my sweater has changed into a blueish thing of the same material and I now seem to be wearing some – very stylish… – red… and yellow… boots. Strange colour combination.
Furthermore I’m carrying a crossbow and a beautifull stave with a globe on top. In the globe burns a flame. The stave looks all too familiar and by now I’m dying to find a pool of water or a mirror to see if what I think is right. If it is… well then at least I know something about my situation.

Luckily I know quite a bit of Azeroth and I start walking towards where I know Ratchet should be. Finally, after walking a lot and hiding from several hostile creatures, I enter a town. It’s very strange seeing goblins in real… The bruiser looks at me in a way that clearly tells me that I shouldn’t cause trouble. I walk into town and look around. A Tauren Druid greets me, which is strange, considering he’s horde and I seem to be alliance. The orcs attacked me, after all.
I realise that the Tauren people only are considerate towards Night Elfs, which also strengthens my assumption.
I walk to the water and look down. When I see my reflection, I stumble back in surprise, but it assures me that what I thought by now, is right.

From the water, staring back at me, is Ninaste, my Night Elf hunter.
Somehow, I have become my character… I, the real world human helpdesk agent, am now Ninaste, a night elf hunter in the world of Warcraft.

[Finna]

This new knowledge takes me awhile to sink in. I walk to the inn and take a table inside, and while the goblin innkeeper fetches me a melon juice (I always wondered what that tasts like) I go through my bags. Like so many times when playing the game, I now wonder for real how I can carry so many bags and how so much fits in there. I now see however that the bags are conveniently placed on holders on my belt. I pay the innkeeper 2 silver for the melon juice and tast it. Hmm, it’s actually not quite bad!

So… what’s next? I wander out of the inn and hop on the boat to Booty Bay. There I take a gryphon. This is even greater then I ever imagined! I feel the wind in my hair and fly high about the land. Looking down I enjoy immensely what I see. Stranglethorn Vale… there! a real troll!, Duskwood… ewwww Stitches looks even more gross now!, Elwynn Forest, and finally I land in Stormwind.

I walk off the ramp and look around. Stormwind is buzzing with life! I get to see gnomes and dwarves for the first time in, what I now see as, real life. Let’s face it, I’m here, this is real life now. I’ll see however I get back, for now I just have to sit this out and probably enjoy it too. I look at everything, hop in the auction house, see the bank inside, the barbershop, greet Little Timmy who just sold his kitten and now looks very sad.

“Hello Little Timmy, sold your kitten yet?”
He looks at me with a sad face. “Yes miss. I don’t know why but my father wanted me to sell it… but how did you know?”
I realise that perhaps, in this “life”, things do actually happen only once… “I, erm, heard about it from other people who heard you talk about it.” He nods and walks on, still looking sad.

Then I spot a boy and a girl running and almost emediatly I know who they are.
“Nya nya I’ve got your dolly!” “Give it back! You’re hurting her!”
Ok, that’s it. This time young master William is gonna have it. I look the other way but stick my stave backwards so the boy trips over it and falls into the canal with a yelp. Donna looks up at me with tears in her eyes and panting from running. Her doll lies in front of her. William had dropped it before falling down. By now he has reached the stairs and is climbing them, soaking wet and mumbling not too nice words which are clearly meant for me.
I chuckle and look at the girl. She has now picked up her doll and is hugging it tightly. “Thank you miss!” she smiles happily. I act like I have nothing to do with it and tell her she has to look after that doll. She nods and runs off, while William glares at me and I smile back at him, innocently.

Hey! I suddenly realised that I have a hearthstone in my bag, and last time I checked (but that was online, so who knows where I’ll end up) it was set to Dalaran. I take it out of my bag. But how does this thing work? Now if I rub it…

“WEEEEEEEOM”

I feel my atoms being shattered and being put together again. In the wink of an eye I’m standing in the inn in Dalaran. Wow, this is actually smaller then I thought! The sign on the wall says “Hero’s Welcome”. Yes, I know. I walk outside and am greeted with the busiest city I’ve ever seen in my life! But then again, I’ve never been to Hong Kong.
Now… where to go next… I still have the feeling I’m missing something. I turn left from the inn and walk past the toy store (I already have a trainset in my bags so no need to go there), past the entrance to the Trade District and the bank, looking at everything. I stand at the mailbox for awhile, wondering about all the people in Dalaran and watching them as they go by. I finally get to see all the races here. Orcs look even more ugly than on screen, the Tauren are about as tall as I am and the undead… well let’s just say I’m glad I usually don’t have a monitor I can smell with… I cover my nose and walk on while being a bit sick. How can these undead just walk amongst the others while everyone just goes about their business? While walking I almost trip over a gnomette who glares at me. Seems she’s a warlock considering the big blue blob that follows her. Then I see the most beautfull gryphon there ever could be… totally white, black beak, black paws… too great. I admire the beast for awhile and remember I have one in my bags… hmm perhaps not in this situation. Would not seem real to have a gryphon in your bags.

I see I’m standing in front of the animal shop of Dalaran and suddenly it hits me: Ofcourse! That’s what I’ve been missing all the time! I’m Ninaste! I’m a HUNTER and I don’t have my pet with me! I run into the shop, ignore Breanni who starts a greeting but stops midsentence, almost trip over the small table in the middle of the shop, and enter the stable area. I don’t believe my eyes! There, in the cages in the back of the store, are my pets! Or, rather, my companions.

I stare at them. They see me too and they are overenthousiastic. One by one I go into their cages and greet each one of them. I get a hug from Pokerface, my big white gorilla, a lick from Nicky, my great coloured hyena-like wolf, I get jumped on by Dash, my beautifull black and white cat with red glowing eyes and gently picked in one of my long ears by Kealanae, my bright white owl. I finally choose Dash to come with me. Overjoyed he jumps next to me, so happy that I finally have to tell him to calm down.

Now, I finally feel complete.

[Finna]

Dash and I walk through Dalaran, checking shops, eating and drinking something and just be amazed at everything. That is, me, because Dash thinks everything is great as long as he’s with me. We enter the hall with portals.

Now where will I go… oh, I know! I want to see Ironforge! I step through the portal and again feel my atoms being scattered and being put together again and then I’m in Tha Forge. This actually goes a lot quicker then waiting for a loading screen… I walk out and call my swift saberkitty. Ah, Dash doesn’t dissapear here, nice. Together we run through Ironforge, looking at everything. This place is so great! In Tinkertown we are stopped by a gnome that calls us. “Hello there! Have you seen our latest inventions?” I check them and buy an engineering scroll. I put it in my bags. I cannot learn it yet, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy later.

I enter the Deeprun Tram. I’m surprised to see that there is no blue swirling light in the middle of the tunnel, but it runs right through to the Tram. Dash runs off and when I arrive at the tram, he brings me a gift… a dead rat. I praise him and pet him and when he doesn’t look I shove the dead rat off the tram. One moment later I see a very confused cat sniff the place where the rat was and looking at me. I pet the cat behind his ears and he quickly forgets about it, even rolling on his back to have me scratch it’s belly. It’s a great cat.