Doting daddy dragons and fire festival fun
I finished reading the newest Warcraft novel last night: Beyond the Dark Portal by Aaron Rosenberg and Christie Golden. It was really good, and since I've never had the opportunity to play Warcraft II or its expansion, it was a great way to flesh out my knowledge of that time period.
OMG Deathwing/Gruul battle = SO AWESOME!!!
After spending months wiping to Gruul before finally killing him, it was absolutely awesome to watch my favorite dragon basically holding him back with one finger while yawning and saying, "Really? That's all you've got?" XD
In fact, there was so much black dragonflight goodness in this novel that I'm downright giddy. Sabellian, a.k.a. Blade's Edge's Baron Sablemane, was apparently one of Deathwing's top lieutenants during the Second War.
We finally got confirmation that Deathwing did indeed give Nefarian orders to conquer and hold Blackrock Mountain. Onyxia's stint as Lady Prestor isn't mentioned so we don't know if that was his idea or hers, but just having a scene of Deathwing together with his two most famous children made me squee in geeky fangirlish delight. (Pages 121-122)
It also reinforced my favorite thing about the black dragonflight. They may be devious, cunning, corrupted and utterly disregarding of mortal lives, but they love their family. Dad compared it to the mafia when I was talking to him about it yesterday, and it's not a bad analogy. It's also in stark contrast to the way that Brian Jacques writes "villain" families. As I already expounded upon in my review of High Rhulain awhile back, the Redwall novels will not allow the "bad guys" any kind of true affection, even for their spouses and children. Instead they use and abuse their families, never trusting them--and with good reason, as their relatives consistently doublecross, overthrow and/or murder them. It's bleak and not even realistic, IMO.
Deathwing obviously loves Nef and Ony very much, and not only in a, "I'm so proud that my offspring are capable of such violent destruction, mwaahahah!" kind of way. At the end of Chapter 8, Onyxia and Nefarian are happy to see him, not afraid. Deathwing is tactile in his affection, putting a hand to Onyxia's cheek and kissing her forehead, and clasping Nefarian by the shoulder. He gives them important tasks because he trusts them, not simply to use them.
Then, instead of bitter sibling rivalry, we see Nefarian offer an arm to help his sister up from sitting on the ground. They smile and laugh together.
On a more tragic note, Deathwing is also deeply attached to his other children, even those still in the eggs that Gruul and the Alliance smashed.
Even Turalyon hesitates, saying "Dragons are sentient creatures. They think, they feel. It's one thing to fight the drakes, but--these are infants. Just...babies, really. They can't even fight back. And we'd be butchering them." (page 339) But, knowing what a fresh batch of black dragons would mean for the Alliance, they go ahead and smash the eggs.
Deathwing's dialogue in response is just great. "My children, murdered! Come forward, disgusting, cowardly wretches, murderers of defenseless infants, and know torment and madness before I devour you whole!" After a bit of posturing with Gruul over who's the lord of Blade's Edge, we have this on pages 342-343:
Deathwing's roar of fury nearly deafened Khadgar. "My children!" he wailed, and the pain in his voice almost--almost--made Khadgar feel a twinge of sympathy. "Perfection incarnate...beautiful and defenseless..." The words turned unintelligible as Deathwing howled and almost flailed in his anger and grief, magma dripping from his jaws, shredding the stone upon which he stood, his flapping wings creating almost tornado force gales. Khadgar began to wish he's listened to Turalyon's reluctance to smash the eggs.
...
"Oh, how brave of you!" Deathwing's grief had sharpened into scorn, less raw but no less deadly. "Such courage it must have taken, to smash shells and murder defenseless infants! A pity you will not live to brag about such a noble feat!" His wings flared out behind him and beat down again, the powerful gust they created slamming Gruul back against the wall.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a great dragon father. Not a mindless, lava-spewing juggernaut of destruction. XD
*cuddles Deathwing and gets burned by molten rock* Ow.
Er, anyway, yeah, I absolutely LOVE the new dragon lore stuff in this most recent Warcraft-verse novel. ^_^;
I've also been having fun with the Midsummer Fire Festival events in WoW.
I've killed Ahune several times but no Scorchling pet has dropped yet. Damn, I really really really want that little bugger. As a fire mage, it's absolutely perfect.
On Skarlette I've visited every single flame in both Azeroth and Outland, both Horde and Alliance. I only died once, when a warlock jumped me at the Thrallmar flame. I just let him kill me then waited to rez until my PVP flag dropped. PVP, me no likey. And me suck at. ;)
With all the burning blossoms I collected I was able to get Skar the dress and the spirit of summer pet. I should be able to save up enough from doing the daily to get the shoes, too. I had the shoulders from a previous year but I'd long since trashed them to free up bank space. :\
Meanwhile, I thought I'd pick up from easy XP for Eitak by collecting flames on her, as well. I ended up doing a few quests in Nagrand, too, and ended up getting her from about 70% through level 64 to about 60% through level 65. I also majorly lucked out by answering a message in the general chat "Any skinners around?" I whispered yes, and discovered a level 70 tauren druid who needed Clefthoof leather for some armor he was having made. I just happened to be killing Clefthoof #12 out of 30 for Mr. Animal Genocide himself, Hemet Nesingwary. The druid happily helped me kill the rest of the animals for that first quest, then another 30 for the next quest. It took about five or six more kills after finishing the quest to get the dozen Clefthoof hides he needed, and he paid me 20g for them, plus another 20g for 40 knothide leather. Woot! Two quests done easily with the help of a 70, a ton of XP, plus 40g toward my flying mount fund. Not too shabby!
Having dinged 65 and collected the festival flames from Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, Terrokar and Nagrand, I set off to explore Blade's Edge and Netherstorm, neither of which had Eitak visited. I obviously had never been to the Horde town there before, but I knew where it was from avoiding it on Skarlette and Obsydia. ;) I got the flame and the flight path from Thunderlord Stronghold, the FP from the Cenarion town, then high-tailed it to Area 52 for the FP and flames. At only level 65 I got dismounted and had to Vanish a couple times, but I got there without dying.
Emboldened by my success, I started to think about stealthing into the enemy capitals for their flames. I flew/rode around the Eastern Kingdoms collecting flames from the smaller towns, both Horde and Alliance, and wasn't encountering any resistence. Finally I thought, what the hell, might as well give it a shot.
I put on my festival dress and shoulders (I still had the shoulders from a previous year on Eitak, even though Skar trashed hers) and stealthed up to the gates of Stormwind. The guards are level 65, so being at the same level I had a decent shot at getting past them unnoticed. I tossed Distract and waltzed in without aggro. I gave General Marcus Johnathan a wide berth but had no problems there either. Then I got to the crowded main square outside the auction house and got detected. I don't know if it was a player or an NPC who spotted me, but I died very quickly.
I managed to run around to the right a bit before I died, so when I finished the looooong run back from the Eastvale Logging Camp graveyard I was able to rez really close to the canal between Old Town and the Trade District. I waited until the coast was clear, rezzed, immediately stealthed, and jumped into the canal.
As luck would have it, I'd just completed the quest for Nagrand Cherries earlier that night, so I used one to give myself underwater breathing. Stealthed and in no danger of drowning, I swam along the bottom of the canal all the way around the city to the pier between the Park and the Mage Quarter.
No NPCs or players around, I crept up onto dry land and went over to the festival flame. The only players around were level 30-something and under so I didn't figure they'd give me any trouble. Besides, in my festival dress they couldn't judge my level by my armor so I'd just show up as "??" and they'd assume I was 70. ;) I grabbed the Flame of Stormwind and didn't even aggro a guard.
Immediately popping back into stealth, I jumped back in the canal and swam back across the city. I got out at the pier between the Cathedral District and the Dwarven area, then headed toward the tram.
And there was Shoni the Shilent, and annoying gnome NPC who gives stupid dungeon quests that I never get done. She was only level 19. Hmm...
One level 20-something guy at the forge, but no other players around.
Oh, what the hell. I equipped my swords again, one-shot the gnome, and Vanished to get the guard off me. (Guards spawn automatically if you attack a civilian NPC.)
Giggling madly, I escaped into the tram.
There was nobody in the tram and it was just arriving so I hopped aboard right away.
A level 70 and a couple lowbies were waiting to get onto the tram at the Ironforge end but they either didn't notice me or didn't care, because I made it out into Tinker Town unmolested.
I figured there was no way I could get past the boss-level gnome king without being detected, but I stayed as far away from him as possible and didn't aggro anything. I headed off toward the Hall of Explorers and saw a fairly large crowd gathered at the festival site. I slunk off into the shadows along the wall, then into an empty building to hide for a minute or two. When I peeked out again the crowd had thinned a bit so I tip-toed closer. Finally, the only people left were some lowbies and a single level 70 who hadn't moved in awhile and was probably AFK. As soon as the guards patrolled away I dropped stealth and grabbed the flame--and didn't get attacked!
Amazed at my good fortune, I stealthed again and headed toward the front gates of the city. I managed to avoid all the guards, even the elites that see through stealth, and exited Ironforge utterly unscathed. I was flabbgergasted! I had gotten the two most populated Alliance capital's flames and I'd only died once!
I grabbed the flames from Kharanos and Thelsamar, stealthed through the tunnels of Dun Algaz, rode to Menethil Harbor, got their flame, then stealthed over to the docks. A few lowbies were waiting for the boat but neither they nor the guards were a high enough level to detect my presence. I stayed off a short distance until the boat arrived, then got on board and immediately headed up toward the wheel, away from the players.
Unable to restrain myself, I yelled, "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" from up at the bowsprit. Bwahaha! Of course, the Alliance just saw some gobbletygook in Orcish, but it amused me.
It also got the attention of a 40-something NE shadow priest, who started running all over the boat looking for me. Due to the level difference (and him standing out like a sore thumb in shadowform) I avoided him completely, LOL-ing IRL the whole time.
When the boat docked at Auberdine I headed straight across to where the ferry to Ru'theran arrives. I must have just missed it because it took forever. Fortunately no other players were around and the guards were a low enough level that they didn't notice me. Finally the ferry came and I had the boat all to myself.
I arrived in Ru'theran, stealthed down the dock and scoped out the situation. No players over level 40 in the vicinity. Perfect. I headed closer and grabbed the flame. Immediately two guards rushed to apprehend me, but I just hit Vanish and they disappeared. As I headed back to the dock to wait for the next ferry, I realize that I never even got flagged for PVP. Ru'theran is outside Darnassus proper, so I wasn't automatically flagged by going there. Ha!
Safely unflagged, I de-stealthed and started fishing.
A Night Elf in her teens came over to check me out, then started fishing beside me. When the ferry came we got on together and I activated my festival dress so I did the flame dance for her. I went back into stealth as we approached the Auberdine dock, then grabbed a boat to Azuremyst.
Three flames down, one to go. I didn't count on much trouble in Exodar, as it's notoriously deserted. I made my way through the city, avoiding guards, and only saw two players, both Draenei under level 15. No sweat. I found the flame (having already visited it on Skarlette to scope out the location, hehee) and looked around for any players. There was a level 70 gnome warlock. Dang! I waited a minute for her to leave but she didn't, and I could tell she wasn't AFK. I made wide circles around the festival area, then realized that I could probably grab the flame from around the back side where she couldn't see me. I held my breath and clicked...and got the flame, completely unnoticed by the 70 and the guards. WOOT!
Cheering and amazed that I'd managed to get all the Alliance capital flames with only one death, I left Exodar and went to get the flames from Azuremyst and Bloodmyst, too.
Then I got the bright idea to farm for the Blood Elf Bandit mask. An hour and a half later I went to bed without a mask despite having ridden around Azuremyst island dozens of times and killing the bandit on each circuit. I did look up his spawn points on the internet so I knew where to look but it was still time consuming and pretty frustrating.
I couldn't be too disappointed about that, however, because I handed in all four of the Alliance flames and got a nice chunk of XP, enough blossoms to buy the fiery shoes, and the cool-looking floaty fire festival crown! So Eitak has the entire outfit now! Yay!
After Eitak had such amazing luck, I figured I might as well try it on Skarlette, too. I figured I'd die a LOT more as her, since I lack stealth.
I tried Thunder Bluff first. I rode up the elevator nearest to Spirit Rise, hit Invis at the top and ran as close as I could. I made it into the building leading to the rope bridge before Invis faded and I got attacked by guards. I hit mana shield and blink and got out onto the bridge, where the guards apparently lost interest and returned to their posts. Woot! I bandaged up, ran for the flame, grabbed it despite the new guard beating on me, and leaped off the cliff. One leisurely Slow Fall later, I touched down safely on the grassy plains of Mulgore, mounted up, and was off to Orgrimmar.
Orgrimmar proved more of a challenge, as I knew it would. I went in the side entrance, as I'd been too stupid to do a few years ago when I was collecting coins for the Lunar Fesitval. Doh! I got dismounted not too long after entering the city but the guards reset when I got a little over halfway to the pond where the mage trainers are. I was out of combat so I ate some food to heal up, then mounted and headed toward Thrall's fortress. Just as I passed the PVP hall, however, I hit a MAJOR lag spike for some stupid reason and everything froze. Next thing I knew I was down by the zepplin tower with a crowd of guards beating the snot out of me. Ooooops. Guess I fell. I Blinked almost to the Drag before they finally killed me.
Okay, I expected to die in Org, just not due to lag. >_< Sigh.
So, I ran back, waited until there were no hostile NPCs around, rezzed, and scooted up by the cooking trainers. I hit Invis and continued on toward Thrall's fort. Just as I came out of Invis, a lone guard happened to be nearby and aggroed.
Normally I could kill a level 65 mob very easily, but I was only wearing my festival dress so I had zilch for spell damage. Instead I sheeped him and made a mad dash for the flame. Amazingly, I got the flame without aggroing any other guards, and the sheeped one must have reset because I dropped out of combat. Phew!
I ported to Ironforge, then flew north. Undercity was a piece of cake, as the flame is in the courtyard just inside the gates, not down in the city proper. There were quite a few lowbie Horde about but nobody attacked me.
I flew from Chillwind to Zul'Aman, then rode north to Silvermoon.
I got swarmed by guards at the front gate and got dismounted. I managed to get almost to the corner where the fishing and first aid trainers are before I died.
I ran back, rezzed in a corner where no NPCs were around, and mounted up. I made it to the courtyard where the flame is but by that time I had like three guards and a Curator-style robot on me. I rode around in circles until all but one reset, then jumped into the fountain to get rid of the last guy. Now out of combat, I ran over, grabbed the flame, and teleported out to Stormwind to hand in the flames.
So in the end both Eitak and Skarlette got all four flames from the enemy capitals, with only one death for Eitak and two for Skar. Not bad at all! :D (Especially for a non-PVPer like me.)
It was a lot of fun and felt pretty epic.
OMG Deathwing/Gruul battle = SO AWESOME!!!
After spending months wiping to Gruul before finally killing him, it was absolutely awesome to watch my favorite dragon basically holding him back with one finger while yawning and saying, "Really? That's all you've got?" XD
In fact, there was so much black dragonflight goodness in this novel that I'm downright giddy. Sabellian, a.k.a. Blade's Edge's Baron Sablemane, was apparently one of Deathwing's top lieutenants during the Second War.
We finally got confirmation that Deathwing did indeed give Nefarian orders to conquer and hold Blackrock Mountain. Onyxia's stint as Lady Prestor isn't mentioned so we don't know if that was his idea or hers, but just having a scene of Deathwing together with his two most famous children made me squee in geeky fangirlish delight. (Pages 121-122)
It also reinforced my favorite thing about the black dragonflight. They may be devious, cunning, corrupted and utterly disregarding of mortal lives, but they love their family. Dad compared it to the mafia when I was talking to him about it yesterday, and it's not a bad analogy. It's also in stark contrast to the way that Brian Jacques writes "villain" families. As I already expounded upon in my review of High Rhulain awhile back, the Redwall novels will not allow the "bad guys" any kind of true affection, even for their spouses and children. Instead they use and abuse their families, never trusting them--and with good reason, as their relatives consistently doublecross, overthrow and/or murder them. It's bleak and not even realistic, IMO.
Deathwing obviously loves Nef and Ony very much, and not only in a, "I'm so proud that my offspring are capable of such violent destruction, mwaahahah!" kind of way. At the end of Chapter 8, Onyxia and Nefarian are happy to see him, not afraid. Deathwing is tactile in his affection, putting a hand to Onyxia's cheek and kissing her forehead, and clasping Nefarian by the shoulder. He gives them important tasks because he trusts them, not simply to use them.
Then, instead of bitter sibling rivalry, we see Nefarian offer an arm to help his sister up from sitting on the ground. They smile and laugh together.
On a more tragic note, Deathwing is also deeply attached to his other children, even those still in the eggs that Gruul and the Alliance smashed.
Even Turalyon hesitates, saying "Dragons are sentient creatures. They think, they feel. It's one thing to fight the drakes, but--these are infants. Just...babies, really. They can't even fight back. And we'd be butchering them." (page 339) But, knowing what a fresh batch of black dragons would mean for the Alliance, they go ahead and smash the eggs.
Deathwing's dialogue in response is just great. "My children, murdered! Come forward, disgusting, cowardly wretches, murderers of defenseless infants, and know torment and madness before I devour you whole!" After a bit of posturing with Gruul over who's the lord of Blade's Edge, we have this on pages 342-343:
Deathwing's roar of fury nearly deafened Khadgar. "My children!" he wailed, and the pain in his voice almost--almost--made Khadgar feel a twinge of sympathy. "Perfection incarnate...beautiful and defenseless..." The words turned unintelligible as Deathwing howled and almost flailed in his anger and grief, magma dripping from his jaws, shredding the stone upon which he stood, his flapping wings creating almost tornado force gales. Khadgar began to wish he's listened to Turalyon's reluctance to smash the eggs.
...
"Oh, how brave of you!" Deathwing's grief had sharpened into scorn, less raw but no less deadly. "Such courage it must have taken, to smash shells and murder defenseless infants! A pity you will not live to brag about such a noble feat!" His wings flared out behind him and beat down again, the powerful gust they created slamming Gruul back against the wall.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a great dragon father. Not a mindless, lava-spewing juggernaut of destruction. XD
*cuddles Deathwing and gets burned by molten rock* Ow.
Er, anyway, yeah, I absolutely LOVE the new dragon lore stuff in this most recent Warcraft-verse novel. ^_^;
I've also been having fun with the Midsummer Fire Festival events in WoW.
I've killed Ahune several times but no Scorchling pet has dropped yet. Damn, I really really really want that little bugger. As a fire mage, it's absolutely perfect.
On Skarlette I've visited every single flame in both Azeroth and Outland, both Horde and Alliance. I only died once, when a warlock jumped me at the Thrallmar flame. I just let him kill me then waited to rez until my PVP flag dropped. PVP, me no likey. And me suck at. ;)
With all the burning blossoms I collected I was able to get Skar the dress and the spirit of summer pet. I should be able to save up enough from doing the daily to get the shoes, too. I had the shoulders from a previous year but I'd long since trashed them to free up bank space. :\
Meanwhile, I thought I'd pick up from easy XP for Eitak by collecting flames on her, as well. I ended up doing a few quests in Nagrand, too, and ended up getting her from about 70% through level 64 to about 60% through level 65. I also majorly lucked out by answering a message in the general chat "Any skinners around?" I whispered yes, and discovered a level 70 tauren druid who needed Clefthoof leather for some armor he was having made. I just happened to be killing Clefthoof #12 out of 30 for Mr. Animal Genocide himself, Hemet Nesingwary. The druid happily helped me kill the rest of the animals for that first quest, then another 30 for the next quest. It took about five or six more kills after finishing the quest to get the dozen Clefthoof hides he needed, and he paid me 20g for them, plus another 20g for 40 knothide leather. Woot! Two quests done easily with the help of a 70, a ton of XP, plus 40g toward my flying mount fund. Not too shabby!
Having dinged 65 and collected the festival flames from Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, Terrokar and Nagrand, I set off to explore Blade's Edge and Netherstorm, neither of which had Eitak visited. I obviously had never been to the Horde town there before, but I knew where it was from avoiding it on Skarlette and Obsydia. ;) I got the flame and the flight path from Thunderlord Stronghold, the FP from the Cenarion town, then high-tailed it to Area 52 for the FP and flames. At only level 65 I got dismounted and had to Vanish a couple times, but I got there without dying.
Emboldened by my success, I started to think about stealthing into the enemy capitals for their flames. I flew/rode around the Eastern Kingdoms collecting flames from the smaller towns, both Horde and Alliance, and wasn't encountering any resistence. Finally I thought, what the hell, might as well give it a shot.
I put on my festival dress and shoulders (I still had the shoulders from a previous year on Eitak, even though Skar trashed hers) and stealthed up to the gates of Stormwind. The guards are level 65, so being at the same level I had a decent shot at getting past them unnoticed. I tossed Distract and waltzed in without aggro. I gave General Marcus Johnathan a wide berth but had no problems there either. Then I got to the crowded main square outside the auction house and got detected. I don't know if it was a player or an NPC who spotted me, but I died very quickly.
I managed to run around to the right a bit before I died, so when I finished the looooong run back from the Eastvale Logging Camp graveyard I was able to rez really close to the canal between Old Town and the Trade District. I waited until the coast was clear, rezzed, immediately stealthed, and jumped into the canal.
As luck would have it, I'd just completed the quest for Nagrand Cherries earlier that night, so I used one to give myself underwater breathing. Stealthed and in no danger of drowning, I swam along the bottom of the canal all the way around the city to the pier between the Park and the Mage Quarter.
No NPCs or players around, I crept up onto dry land and went over to the festival flame. The only players around were level 30-something and under so I didn't figure they'd give me any trouble. Besides, in my festival dress they couldn't judge my level by my armor so I'd just show up as "??" and they'd assume I was 70. ;) I grabbed the Flame of Stormwind and didn't even aggro a guard.
Immediately popping back into stealth, I jumped back in the canal and swam back across the city. I got out at the pier between the Cathedral District and the Dwarven area, then headed toward the tram.
And there was Shoni the Shilent, and annoying gnome NPC who gives stupid dungeon quests that I never get done. She was only level 19. Hmm...
One level 20-something guy at the forge, but no other players around.
Oh, what the hell. I equipped my swords again, one-shot the gnome, and Vanished to get the guard off me. (Guards spawn automatically if you attack a civilian NPC.)
Giggling madly, I escaped into the tram.
There was nobody in the tram and it was just arriving so I hopped aboard right away.
A level 70 and a couple lowbies were waiting to get onto the tram at the Ironforge end but they either didn't notice me or didn't care, because I made it out into Tinker Town unmolested.
I figured there was no way I could get past the boss-level gnome king without being detected, but I stayed as far away from him as possible and didn't aggro anything. I headed off toward the Hall of Explorers and saw a fairly large crowd gathered at the festival site. I slunk off into the shadows along the wall, then into an empty building to hide for a minute or two. When I peeked out again the crowd had thinned a bit so I tip-toed closer. Finally, the only people left were some lowbies and a single level 70 who hadn't moved in awhile and was probably AFK. As soon as the guards patrolled away I dropped stealth and grabbed the flame--and didn't get attacked!
Amazed at my good fortune, I stealthed again and headed toward the front gates of the city. I managed to avoid all the guards, even the elites that see through stealth, and exited Ironforge utterly unscathed. I was flabbgergasted! I had gotten the two most populated Alliance capital's flames and I'd only died once!
I grabbed the flames from Kharanos and Thelsamar, stealthed through the tunnels of Dun Algaz, rode to Menethil Harbor, got their flame, then stealthed over to the docks. A few lowbies were waiting for the boat but neither they nor the guards were a high enough level to detect my presence. I stayed off a short distance until the boat arrived, then got on board and immediately headed up toward the wheel, away from the players.
Unable to restrain myself, I yelled, "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" from up at the bowsprit. Bwahaha! Of course, the Alliance just saw some gobbletygook in Orcish, but it amused me.
It also got the attention of a 40-something NE shadow priest, who started running all over the boat looking for me. Due to the level difference (and him standing out like a sore thumb in shadowform) I avoided him completely, LOL-ing IRL the whole time.
When the boat docked at Auberdine I headed straight across to where the ferry to Ru'theran arrives. I must have just missed it because it took forever. Fortunately no other players were around and the guards were a low enough level that they didn't notice me. Finally the ferry came and I had the boat all to myself.
I arrived in Ru'theran, stealthed down the dock and scoped out the situation. No players over level 40 in the vicinity. Perfect. I headed closer and grabbed the flame. Immediately two guards rushed to apprehend me, but I just hit Vanish and they disappeared. As I headed back to the dock to wait for the next ferry, I realize that I never even got flagged for PVP. Ru'theran is outside Darnassus proper, so I wasn't automatically flagged by going there. Ha!
Safely unflagged, I de-stealthed and started fishing.
A Night Elf in her teens came over to check me out, then started fishing beside me. When the ferry came we got on together and I activated my festival dress so I did the flame dance for her. I went back into stealth as we approached the Auberdine dock, then grabbed a boat to Azuremyst.
Three flames down, one to go. I didn't count on much trouble in Exodar, as it's notoriously deserted. I made my way through the city, avoiding guards, and only saw two players, both Draenei under level 15. No sweat. I found the flame (having already visited it on Skarlette to scope out the location, hehee) and looked around for any players. There was a level 70 gnome warlock. Dang! I waited a minute for her to leave but she didn't, and I could tell she wasn't AFK. I made wide circles around the festival area, then realized that I could probably grab the flame from around the back side where she couldn't see me. I held my breath and clicked...and got the flame, completely unnoticed by the 70 and the guards. WOOT!
Cheering and amazed that I'd managed to get all the Alliance capital flames with only one death, I left Exodar and went to get the flames from Azuremyst and Bloodmyst, too.
Then I got the bright idea to farm for the Blood Elf Bandit mask. An hour and a half later I went to bed without a mask despite having ridden around Azuremyst island dozens of times and killing the bandit on each circuit. I did look up his spawn points on the internet so I knew where to look but it was still time consuming and pretty frustrating.
I couldn't be too disappointed about that, however, because I handed in all four of the Alliance flames and got a nice chunk of XP, enough blossoms to buy the fiery shoes, and the cool-looking floaty fire festival crown! So Eitak has the entire outfit now! Yay!
After Eitak had such amazing luck, I figured I might as well try it on Skarlette, too. I figured I'd die a LOT more as her, since I lack stealth.
I tried Thunder Bluff first. I rode up the elevator nearest to Spirit Rise, hit Invis at the top and ran as close as I could. I made it into the building leading to the rope bridge before Invis faded and I got attacked by guards. I hit mana shield and blink and got out onto the bridge, where the guards apparently lost interest and returned to their posts. Woot! I bandaged up, ran for the flame, grabbed it despite the new guard beating on me, and leaped off the cliff. One leisurely Slow Fall later, I touched down safely on the grassy plains of Mulgore, mounted up, and was off to Orgrimmar.
Orgrimmar proved more of a challenge, as I knew it would. I went in the side entrance, as I'd been too stupid to do a few years ago when I was collecting coins for the Lunar Fesitval. Doh! I got dismounted not too long after entering the city but the guards reset when I got a little over halfway to the pond where the mage trainers are. I was out of combat so I ate some food to heal up, then mounted and headed toward Thrall's fortress. Just as I passed the PVP hall, however, I hit a MAJOR lag spike for some stupid reason and everything froze. Next thing I knew I was down by the zepplin tower with a crowd of guards beating the snot out of me. Ooooops. Guess I fell. I Blinked almost to the Drag before they finally killed me.
Okay, I expected to die in Org, just not due to lag. >_< Sigh.
So, I ran back, waited until there were no hostile NPCs around, rezzed, and scooted up by the cooking trainers. I hit Invis and continued on toward Thrall's fort. Just as I came out of Invis, a lone guard happened to be nearby and aggroed.
Normally I could kill a level 65 mob very easily, but I was only wearing my festival dress so I had zilch for spell damage. Instead I sheeped him and made a mad dash for the flame. Amazingly, I got the flame without aggroing any other guards, and the sheeped one must have reset because I dropped out of combat. Phew!
I ported to Ironforge, then flew north. Undercity was a piece of cake, as the flame is in the courtyard just inside the gates, not down in the city proper. There were quite a few lowbie Horde about but nobody attacked me.
I flew from Chillwind to Zul'Aman, then rode north to Silvermoon.
I got swarmed by guards at the front gate and got dismounted. I managed to get almost to the corner where the fishing and first aid trainers are before I died.
I ran back, rezzed in a corner where no NPCs were around, and mounted up. I made it to the courtyard where the flame is but by that time I had like three guards and a Curator-style robot on me. I rode around in circles until all but one reset, then jumped into the fountain to get rid of the last guy. Now out of combat, I ran over, grabbed the flame, and teleported out to Stormwind to hand in the flames.
So in the end both Eitak and Skarlette got all four flames from the enemy capitals, with only one death for Eitak and two for Skar. Not bad at all! :D (Especially for a non-PVPer like me.)
It was a lot of fun and felt pretty epic.