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EQ2 Lore: By the Wings of Dragons – Part IV

Posted in EQ2 Lore, Game Design, Writing with tags , , on November 10, 2008 by doomcookie

The following is the final story to be released for the TSO pre-launch. It has been so much fun writing about these characters, and I’m glad to see that so many people seem to be enjoying them as well.

By the Wings of Dragons – Part IV

“He didn’t raise.”

Eylee glanced up and over at Kaltuk. The dwarf’s eyes were dark and saggy. The whole of the group stood around, watching him. The Feir’dal had explained what was going on when she reached the rest of the group, and though there had been some semblance of trying to keep at their work, most had been glancing at him so often that they finally just stopped. Most didn’t react to the news. There had been too much, too fast today and everyone was so drained that one more should-be-crushing revelation couldn’t affect them. Asharae, however, cursed audibly, and Illisia actually turned and embraced Bayle, burying her head against his chest. He stroked at her head dully and rested his chin against her head, staring forward.

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EQ2 Lore: By the Wings of Dragons – Part II

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , , on November 6, 2008 by doomcookie

Eep, I realized I never posted part 2 here!

By the Wings of Dragons – Part II

The adventurers stood in the center of a massive cavern of jagged stone. They were surrounded on all sides by members of the Ring of Scale, dragons of many colors and shapes that lounged around the room, sprawled over rock formations that seemed well-worn to their shape, suggesting they had assumed these traditional posts for some time. There was a dark dragon with gray and silver scales and a pair of curled horns, and a blue one with horns running down the length of its head and snout, and in the center was what Eylee took to be Phara-Dar herself, the leader of the Ring of Scale. Her scales shimmered a beautiful azure color, with purple on her wings and chest. Her head was long and elegant and her eyes were frighteningly intelligent.

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EQ2 Lore: By the Wings of Dragons – Part III

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , on November 5, 2008 by doomcookie

By the Wings of Dragons – Part III

As the ship pushed forward, Fiddlewiz approached Bayle cautiously. “I can make us go very fast,” said Fiddlewiz, “but it risks blowing the engines.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” muttered Bayle, harshly.

“We aren’t going to take her much further either way,” said Twiddy. His voice was full of defeat. “We can push her to go hard, but it might ruin her. I don’t think we have a choice.”

Bayle looked out to where the dragon had gone beneath the water sadly and said, “We’ll out pace them too, won’t we?”

“It might be better,” said Twiddy, sadly. Kaltuk had been sitting down but he jumped to his feet, nostrils flared and an indignant expression on his face.

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By the Wings of Dragons – Part I

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , on October 21, 2008 by doomcookie

From the pen of Eylee Zephyrswell –

The last of all our destinations – save the bastion of the invasion, the first location we failed to save, Innothule Swamp – would be the continent of Kunark. The iksar might have once been powerful, if not entirely trustworthy, allies, but they had been reduced to small villages of savage jungle dwellers. Even so, we tried to approach them, but our efforts were met with spearheads in response. We learned to travel by night, as silently as possible, heading as directly as we could to where we found the rifts. Though we were refused entry to Chardok, an envoy of the sarnak heard our story and said the sarnak would not be letting any invaders into their lands. Any found would be killed. It was made clear we were not much more welcome than the Void invaders, and though we would be able to keep our lives as reward for the warning, we had best be on our way. We found ourselves able to close some of the portals, but others were too much for us, and we ran for our lives desperately.

It was then that we were approached by a representative of the dragons themselves, and led to the highest spires of Veeshan’s Peak to stand before the Ring of Scale.
By the Wings of Dragons – Part I

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Legends of Norrath: Ethernauts

Posted in EQ2 Lore, Game Design with tags , , , , on October 12, 2008 by doomcookie

So, for latest Legends of Norrath expansion, they decided to portray the story of the Ethernauts. They used Kaltuk, Illisia, Bayle, and Asharae as the new avatars, the scenarios take you through their story, and a good chunk of the other cards involve other members of the party, significant others in the story, the cloudskipper, their items (bayle’s claymore, illisia’s ‘fang of zek’ bow, etc), etc. So I’ve been working with them, sending them outlines of the story progression as I saw it, and then they worked with it to translate it to their card game. It’s been neat to watch things roll out as they released. In particular, here’s a couple of things.

Firstly, they made a really cool video to promo the game using the card art, which they gave a 3D look that actually turned out really well. If you go to the main page, scroll down to the bottom and it’s on the right.
>Legends of Norrath

Secondly, they have been re-releasing the stories with art. They just started a couple of weeks ago and it’s one per week so thus far they’ve released Asharae and Kaltuk. I was a little disappointed that they chose to use “The Ballad of Kaltuk Ironstein” rather than Escape from Guk, because I think that may very well be my favorite of the Ethernaut stories so far. Asharae turned out really neat though.
Asharae
Kaltuk

Also, I’ve been conducting a poll on the main boards for people’s favorite Ethernaut. Not surprisingly, Asharae is winning, but Nurgg, Illisia, and Eylee are right on her heels with only one fewer vote.
Favorite Ethernaut Poll

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EQ2 Lore: Ethernaut Interview

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , , , on October 9, 2008 by doomcookie

So Rapha and I collaborated to release this lore gem to folks. She approached me about the idea of having an in character interview with the Ethernauts that she would write a small story around to give it context with an interviewer. It took me some time to get back to her because I was so busy with Moors of Ykesha and The Shadow Odyssey signature quest. I’ve worked many, many hours in the last few weeks. (Which is also why this blog has been neglected).

Finally, though, it’s done. Read it here!

An Ethernaut Interview

Anyone waiting for the next EQ2 Players based lore story should be content to know that finishing it was delayed for the same reason the interview was, but it is written and now just needs to go through all of the proper editing channels before it is released. Hopefully we will see part 1 out next week sometime.

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EQ2 Lore: On the Plains of Karana – Part III!

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , on September 25, 2008 by doomcookie

The final piece of the most recent Ethernaut story is up!

On the Plains of Karana – Part III

The denizens of Oceangreen had just begun their day when all preparation came to a stop. The villagers streamed into the streets, peering into the sky where a boat drifted through the clouds, sporting a bright yellow sail with the image of a creature that looked to some like a half dragon, half halfling, and to others, a halfling wearing a costume that made it look as though he was a dragon. Either way, it glared at them, impossible to notice and unlikely to be forgotten, disturbing their peaceful moment.

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EQ2 Lore: On the Plains of Karana – Part II

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , on September 19, 2008 by doomcookie

“King Stormhammer has decreed that we will consider your proposal on one condition,” said Graniteaxe, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms in front of his barrel chest. “We need to know your friend Ironstein has made right his relationship with Brell. We cannot go forward on this without his blessing. Kaltuk needs to admit what happened on that battlefield was due to his own failing, and no fault of the Duke of Below.”

On the Plains of Karana – Part II

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EQ2 Lore: On the Plains of Karana – Part I

Posted in EQ2 Lore with tags , , on September 13, 2008 by doomcookie

From the pen of Eylee Zephyrswell –

We knew that we had a hard road ahead of us, and that the only way to succeed would be to gain allies. Our search, however, met with few results. The men and women of the northlands were too embroiled in their own conflicts, and my own people, as well as the Koada’dal, had too much on their hands with the great migration that consumed them. The Teir’dal could possibly have lent might, if we trusted to work with them, or if Asharae were not considered a criminal and we her accomplices.

So it was, then, that we came then to the dwarves of Kaladim…

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EQ2 Lore: Of New Friends and Troublesome Enemies – Part III

Posted in EQ2 Lore, Writing on September 4, 2008 by doomcookie

The third and final part of this installment is up on EQ2 players for your enjoyment.

Of New Friends and Troublesome Enemies – Part III

The winds had died down over the night, so the boat moved along slowly by the force of its wings alone. The forest was still and silent. Except for the occasional arrow in the side of the boat, one could almost think it was a perfectly peaceful afternoon. Glancing at an arrow that had just struck, Asharae said under her breath, "Goblins have no brains in their heads. They’d have a much better chance of killing us if they hid their position."

"Scare," said Kruzz from where he was huddled against the side of the boat. "They want to scare us. It is good to make your enemy afraid."

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