and every single step of the way, every single night and day
Thilan travels far and wide, unearthing the ancient mysteries of Azeroth. He is... an archaeologist!
He's been working away for a little while now, discovering lost relics of past civilizations and all that wonderfully romantic archaeological goodness. He's not really got a good eye for what is and isn't a worthwhile discovery, but he's having the most wonderful time bringing things together and admiring the results. But there has to be something... that one find that'll make the Explorer's League reconsider... the one that'll give him an actual NAME.
He's been travelling to such distant shores in his pursuit of all things past, and seen parts of Azeroth he hadn't witnessed since before the Cataclysm itself. Some places have changed drastically, while some have hardly changed at all. He's been fascinated, delighted and deeply uncomfortable by turns.
Dragon skeletons don't really hold the same sense of terrifying wonder now that he's been to Dragonblight. And speaking of dragons, the one in Duskwood doesn't seem to be there any more. The world itself isn't the only thing to have changed in all these years.
But oh, some things...
The Felwood has changed in bits and pieces, but Thilan could never have imagined encountering this mysterious creature again, one who was and is clearly no usual manner of beast. He's encountered Olm the Wise before, so very long ago, and spent an awestruck afternoon trailing after him - if Olm found Thilan's presence objectionable, he didn't express it.
The world has changed, the woods have changed, and these two... oh, of course they've changed as well. Olm the Wise, once vibrant amidst the plagued miseries of the Felwood... Thilan can't say exactly what happened, but Olm has been reduced to a physical echo of the brilliant creature stumbled on so many years ago. He's a spirit now, something outside of the living, and still he's ghosting around the damaged lands that he presided over in life.
Thilan's been looking for the past lately, but he didn't really expect to find his own, and especially not presented like that. He's never forgotten Olm the Wise. It was such a wonderful experience for him, just precisely a Thilan experience, just precisely something that would reach out to him. And they encountered one another again, the owl and the priest, and they had both changed - but another afternoon was spent, and if Olm found Thilan's presence objectionable, he didn't express it.
Walking on was harder this time.
But little be it for me to end his adventuring there. Thilan soon has reason to search for fossils, which inevitably eventually led to Desolace. And Desolace of course means kodo. Thilan has a bit of a rocky relationship with Desolace as an area, and this being a place where kodo travel to die gives it a... very melancholy place in his heart. He has such love for these cumbersome beasts.
He journeyed through Feralas, which always makes him nervous. He saved a critter from a spider, and felt accomplished and heroic for almost a whole minute before he had to run the heck away from the terrifying prospect of spider vengeance. He's flown north and south and back and forth - armed with flying carpet and sturdy hooves, no patch of ground or soaring sky is beyond the search. He found an ancient elven city populated with ghosts, and left with a nervous shaky impression of 'what's Varyl doing right now?'. He visited a digging site in the Southern Barrens and encountered a dwarf charged with maintaining company morale - they didn't get drunk together, but they made a damn good attempt at it. He found artifacts and relics and traces and history and life and echoes of it.
And eventually, finally, my dear dear boy found THE ONE. A ~druid and priest statue~ which just cracks me up, but that's really an aside. The fact he couldn't really look much camper here if he tried also cracks me up, but that is also an aside. The fact his Durotar Scorpian felt the need to sting and poison him immediately after this screenshot also cracks me up, but there you go.
Assistant Professor Thilan is going places. He's moving forward. The problem with archaeology, though, and the problem with Thilan, is reconciling moving forward with looking back. And these last few days have triggered a strange, touching, intrusive amount of looking back.
He's been working away for a little while now, discovering lost relics of past civilizations and all that wonderfully romantic archaeological goodness. He's not really got a good eye for what is and isn't a worthwhile discovery, but he's having the most wonderful time bringing things together and admiring the results. But there has to be something... that one find that'll make the Explorer's League reconsider... the one that'll give him an actual NAME.
He's been travelling to such distant shores in his pursuit of all things past, and seen parts of Azeroth he hadn't witnessed since before the Cataclysm itself. Some places have changed drastically, while some have hardly changed at all. He's been fascinated, delighted and deeply uncomfortable by turns.
Dragon skeletons don't really hold the same sense of terrifying wonder now that he's been to Dragonblight. And speaking of dragons, the one in Duskwood doesn't seem to be there any more. The world itself isn't the only thing to have changed in all these years.
But oh, some things...
The Felwood has changed in bits and pieces, but Thilan could never have imagined encountering this mysterious creature again, one who was and is clearly no usual manner of beast. He's encountered Olm the Wise before, so very long ago, and spent an awestruck afternoon trailing after him - if Olm found Thilan's presence objectionable, he didn't express it.
The world has changed, the woods have changed, and these two... oh, of course they've changed as well. Olm the Wise, once vibrant amidst the plagued miseries of the Felwood... Thilan can't say exactly what happened, but Olm has been reduced to a physical echo of the brilliant creature stumbled on so many years ago. He's a spirit now, something outside of the living, and still he's ghosting around the damaged lands that he presided over in life.
Thilan's been looking for the past lately, but he didn't really expect to find his own, and especially not presented like that. He's never forgotten Olm the Wise. It was such a wonderful experience for him, just precisely a Thilan experience, just precisely something that would reach out to him. And they encountered one another again, the owl and the priest, and they had both changed - but another afternoon was spent, and if Olm found Thilan's presence objectionable, he didn't express it.
Walking on was harder this time.
But little be it for me to end his adventuring there. Thilan soon has reason to search for fossils, which inevitably eventually led to Desolace. And Desolace of course means kodo. Thilan has a bit of a rocky relationship with Desolace as an area, and this being a place where kodo travel to die gives it a... very melancholy place in his heart. He has such love for these cumbersome beasts.
He journeyed through Feralas, which always makes him nervous. He saved a critter from a spider, and felt accomplished and heroic for almost a whole minute before he had to run the heck away from the terrifying prospect of spider vengeance. He's flown north and south and back and forth - armed with flying carpet and sturdy hooves, no patch of ground or soaring sky is beyond the search. He found an ancient elven city populated with ghosts, and left with a nervous shaky impression of 'what's Varyl doing right now?'. He visited a digging site in the Southern Barrens and encountered a dwarf charged with maintaining company morale - they didn't get drunk together, but they made a damn good attempt at it. He found artifacts and relics and traces and history and life and echoes of it.
And eventually, finally, my dear dear boy found THE ONE. A ~druid and priest statue~ which just cracks me up, but that's really an aside. The fact he couldn't really look much camper here if he tried also cracks me up, but that is also an aside. The fact his Durotar Scorpian felt the need to sting and poison him immediately after this screenshot also cracks me up, but there you go.
Assistant Professor Thilan is going places. He's moving forward. The problem with archaeology, though, and the problem with Thilan, is reconciling moving forward with looking back. And these last few days have triggered a strange, touching, intrusive amount of looking back.