The Further Adventures of Lal and Salthier

It's official, I have done something horrible and created a monster!

No, really, it's not that bad, but it IS funny. Yesterday I got home from work and one of the first things my wife says to me is that she's been wanting to play WoW all day! Later on we had semi-serious talks about paying for a second account for her, because when I tell her that her trial period ends on Friday, she kind of gets a sad look in her eye, distraught at not being able to level up Lal anymore.

Last night we played for a good 3 hours. Salthier and Lal are each level 9 now. We did a smattering of quests in Dolanaar and even made a quick trip into Darnassus to buy some 6 slot bags because our backpacks were filling up way too fast. (Trial accounts don't allow you to trade, so I couldn't have Elionene give Lal some nice 12 or 16 slot bags off the auction hall.) It's a lot of fun to level together, and I am really enjoying my druid. I don't even have an animal form yet.

One quest in particular was pretty challenging. The Relics of Wakening has you venturing into a Furbolg barrow to gather some sleepy druid items. A 3rd person joined us who was also on the quest. It was here that we experienced our first death. Lal fell off a narrow bridge and was instantly set upon by 3 viscious, thong wearing, bear humanoids. I tried to come to her rescue and told her to Fade as I beat on the bears to get them off her. I was able to distract two of them, but the third one did her in. (Sadly, I completely forgot she had just learned Power Word: Shield, which may have given us a few extra seconds.) I wasn't paying attention to my own health and I died shortly thereafter.

It was at this point that Lal decided she DID NOT like dying. Fortunately, it was not enough to make her quit, she wanted to finish the quest, so back into the caves we went, where I rezzed first and then promptly died to 3 more bears that were attacking our 3rd party member. I told Lal to wait on rez until I got back the second time. Upon returning, the three of us found a quiet corner and returned to the living. I decided to change our tactics and instructed Lal not to fight the furbolgs, but to hang back and heal either me or the other druid in our party should our health get low. This would keep her out of immediate danger, and provide longevity for us. She did so, but she then felt like she wasn't contributing as much. I mentioned she could use her Shadow Word: Pain at the beginning of the fight and that seemed to make it a little better, and we finished the rest of the quest with ease.

I've never played a healer myself, so it's almost like I'm learning two new classes myself, Priest and Druid. I'm sure she'll get better with time, and every day I'm becoming fairly certain that we will have more time to do it, as she seems to really enjoy it. She's still a little shy about talking in chat channels. I'm not really sure why. Actually, I think she's so concentrated on completing the quests and remembering which spells to cast that she forgets to look over in the corner and see what people are saying or think to say something back.

The journeys of Lal and Salthier will continue for some time I think.