[Level 31, Swamp of Sorrows]

Well ... Victorie is getting her little butt kicked in the Swamp of Sorrows!

Let me backtrack a bit. Victorie made it to level 30 only have killed over 1000 red whelps in The Wetlands. The last couple of levels were difficult, as she had no rested exp bonus and the experience gains were minimal. So once I got to 30, I was eager to take a shot at the green whelps in the Swamp of Sorrows -- new places and faces! Well, that was a disaster! Those little green whelps pack a wallop with their Acid Spit ability, and the mobs are very close together making it easy to get several adds. So Victorie slunk back to the Darkshire inn with a bruised ego.

Last night, after she'd cooled her heels for a few days (rested exp!) and got some new gear upgrades, Victorie tried the Swamp of Sorrows again. Yikes. She managed to slay a few, but she had to run away or vanish from just as many. It would take a week to get to 31 at this rate. FAIL.

So I thought about it. Going back to the Wetlands wasn't really an option. The highest level whelps were 27, but those were rare -- 26 was more prevalent, but only just. I'd be grinding for a long time with very slow gains. I needed to stick it out here in the Swamps. So I decided to get creative and asked my friend Azrielis for help. Azrielis and Victorie had met in roleplay the night before (see Victorie's History for an accounting of this), so this was entirely in character. Despite the fact that Azrielis was only 13 levels higher, Victorie's experience gains were cut down to almost 20% of what I should have been getting. Another fail.

Then Victorie's father, Valherst, had an idea. He could come by the swamp, stay out of group with Victorie, and simply HEAL her after all those nasty acid spits. Bingo! It was slow going as I had to stay stealthed and properly ambush each whelp to deal significant damage, but she did it ... with a little lot of help from Daddy! Now she's level 31 and hopefully better able to take the whelps on by herself.

[Level 29, The Wetlands]

Victorie has made it to 29 thanks to all of those pesky little whelps in the Wetlands ... 1014 of them to be precise. She also got her first blue drop -- a Twisted Sabre. I should probably stay in The Wetlands until she turns 30, but I need a change of scenery. I've been resting a day in between dragon slaying sessions to build up her rested XP. But later tonight she will pay a visit to the Swamp of Sorrows in search of the GREEN whelpling.

In the meantime, I've been giving more thought as to how to give away that Tiny Crimson Whelpling Victorie found in her bags a while back. Ellann suggested that I award it to someone who kills a rare dragon and gives proof of its death. It is an appropriate contest that would take a little bit of effort on the part of the participants and still be in-character for Victorie. I really like this idea! I'd rather put a bit less emphasis on the type of dragon and more encourage to roleplay/write about it so that a lower level character has a chance to win, however.

So I present Victorie's Tiny Crimson Whelpling Giveaway Contest. All of the contest details and directions on how to enter are at:

http://www.rpgeeks.com/about-us/93-rpgeekscom-contest-win-a-tiny-crimson-whelpling.html

Contest ends at midnight on Halloween, so there's time to find and slay an epic dragon! I'll announce the winner at RPGeeks.com on November 8 -- the extra time will allow for folks to vote on entries!

[Level 28, The Wetlands]

Victorie is moving right along in her crusade to slay all of Azeroth's dragons. When Victorie turned 26, she ventured out to Stonetalon Mountains in search of the Fey Dragon. She found it, but ... there were only three! THREE! So she quickly dispatched those and waited to see if any returned .. and waited ... and waited. While she was waiting, she learned more about the fey dragon from the night elves in the area and added a page to her new Compendium of Dragon Slaying, which she began compiling after she heard that the famous Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying was going out of print soon. 

Back in The Wetlands she got herself to 28 fairly quickly, thanks in part to a pair of Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders she found in her mailbox one day (she suspects her mother may have sent them, but she's wearing them anyway). 

Somewhere in the time she was slaughtering all those red whelps, a Tiny Crimson Whelpling snuck into one of her bags. She (and I) discovered it when we next went to town to unload all the claws and dragonhides she tends to collect. You can imagine the surprise! Naturally, Victorie does not wish to keep this pet -- she kill dragons, she does not cuddle with them. Victorie considered dumping the tiny thing in the canals, but the memory of the white kitten lingers, and she can't bring herself to kill it. So she wants to unload it on someone else. 

None of my other characters need it, so I'm considering a contest. Anyone interested in a little contest to win a Tiny Crimson Whelpling? You'd have to be on Moon Guard, of course, but I think I can find a way to get it to any Alliance or Horde character who might win it. 

AHA!

I have solved the conundrum of the mysterious kills for which I received credit before I became level 20.

Last night Victorie was in the Wetlands and she grouped with another character who wanted to slay dragons with her. This seemed entirely in character as I could see Victorie joining forces temporarily if it meant she could kill the whelps quicker. My friend -- a level 36 draenei warrior named Azrielis -- knows all about Victorie's quirk, so there was no issue with her killing something else while grouped. At one point, however, we'd killed around the Black Oozes that infest the area and my friend Azrielis decided they were bugging her. Victorie always leaves them alone, but Azrielis has no compunction about killing such things. Before I knew it, she'd left the party (ungrouped) with me and killed a Black Ooze. It threw me for a bit of a loop, because it happened quickly. But, sure enough, I was not in a party with her and my combat log did not reflect the kill. But then I thought I should check my stats anyway, because I was feeling paranoid. And sure enough, I'd been GIVEN CREDIT FOR THE KILL! But, oddly enough, I was not awarded any experience for the kill, which is also reflected in my stats.

So, I've come to the conclusion that the game system has a small lag in determining group status and kill credit. While I'm in the group, I'll receive credit for any other group members kills (so long as they are in range). Technically, as soon as I'm not in a group, that should stop -- but it seems there is a 2-3 second lag before the change is registered. This explains what happened the night I turned 20, as I remember Valherst dropping out of group once to kill something in an attempt to save my life. It was probably at this point that I got credit for killing one humanoid and two critters.

Now I know how it happens, I can easily avoid it. But in the meantime, my stats still reflect these errors, and I definitely consider them system errors because Victorie did not kill them and she was not even in a group at the time of the kills. I'll admit -- with some embarrassment -- that I toyed with the idea of re-rolling Victorie this morning. The perfectionist in me wants to have clean stats. And knowing now what to avoid, I think it is possible to achieve this.

But ... I think that re-rolling is not the right thing to do. Why? For one, it seems obsessive-compulsive. For another, this is a roleplay project, not a straight-up game project. And as roleplay is a way of experimenting with different scenarios, circumstances, and outcomes, unexpected things can happen along that journey. It can be HOW you deal with these bumps in the road that define your character more than anything else. So even though Victorie didn't kill these things, someone near her did, and I should explore that in roleplay.

Victorie is now 25 thanks to the 364 red whelps slain in the Wetlands. I'm thinking Victorie should pay a return visit to Stonetalon Mountains to seek out these mysterious Fey Dragons she's heard talk about.