Postcards from Gameville

The Mage School in Ironforge sent me to Stormwind to talk to one Jennea Cannon of the school there. When I arrived at the Tower’s inner sanctum, Jennea let me know that there was some sort of disturbance going on at local tavern, The Blue Recluse… a disturbance of an extradimensional nature!

“You want me to blow them up?” I asked her.

She cocked her head at me. “Wha—no, I… no, Eifle, you can’t blow these things up. You can only stun them.”

“So you want me to stun them so you can blow them up?” I asked.

“No.”

“You want me to stun them so that guy over there can blow them up?”

“No. Eifle, what’s this sudden infatuation with explosions?” Jennea asked. It was a good question.

I thought for a moment before saying, “You know, I’m really not quite sure. Something about this place… no, this city makes me want to blow things up. And avoid ice cream.”

“This city is not known for making people lactose intolerant,” she said, turning to the table next to her. “Even so, at least you’re just an exchange student. Here,” she motioned to a few strange devices on the table. “Take one of these, and this parchment as well. The incantation you now hold will make visible the Rift Spawn within the Blue Recluse. Stun them and then contain them in these boxes. Now go and perform this task.”

I took one of the boxes off the table. “That’s it, huh?”

“Bring the boxes back when you’re done, of course. And take Ray Parker Jr. with you.” She jerked a thumb behind her, and I peered around her to see this guy smiling, sleeves rolled up and belt cinched like he was ready to get down to business. He carried some sort of staff that was glowing with an enchantment, so I assumed he was one of the local mages.

Ray and I headed to the Blue Recluse, which fortunately wasn’t busy when we arrived. Not that they’ve ever been busy. Actually I’m not sure how they stay in business.

I read the incantation off Jennea’s parchment, and there was a whoosh and a zap and hey, we could see the rift thingers!

One was near enough to hit with a Frostbolt. “What do you think, Ray? Should I bother with freezing it first?”

“If there’s something weird in your neighborhood,” Ray replied.

“I’d say so.”

“If there’s something strange and it don’t look good.”

“This certainly qualifies,” I said, and cast a Frostbolt at the nearest Spawn. We engaged in a magical battle the likes I hadn’t seen in a while, but I managed to subdue it. Quickly I tossed a box on the floor under it, which sucked the Spawn into it and trapped it. Success!

“Who you gonna call?” Ray asked me then.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh… me?” He cocked an eyebrow back at me, looking at me expectantly. “Me and Ray Parker Jr.?” I tried again. Ray smiled and pointed at me with both hands, like he was holding guns. Damn that guy is smooth. We rocked and locked two more Rift Spawn and went back to Jennea.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghost,” Ray said, unprompted.

“Those weren’t ghosts, Ray, those were extradimensional entities.”

“That… kind of sounds like a ghost, Jennea,” I said.

She swiveled her head to look at me. “They’re not.”

“Are you—”

“Yes.“