Hellgaash Trialz! (20 pics)

January 14th, 9:00 Past Midday

Velgamosh, along with Grotmog and Zrugpug, came with us to this evening's Hellgaash Trialz. Namely, the Hellfire Trials. The Trials are a friendly competition where participants acquire points by winning events ranging from hide and seek to fighting. It's always been great fun to get off the battlefield and join the odd yet friendly people of the Shadowclan. By now, I've learned to 'decipher' their language, as have some of the Bloodfury and Shadowtusk, a fun excercise for any of us.


The evening's "Goth" was Zebrinnu. Which meant he got the cheat. It didn't help him much at the end of it all, but it's definitely an advantage to look foward to when participating in the Hellgaash Trialz.


This evening's games were a little different than most of us had known from times before. Instead of Velgamog hiding so we could go find him, WE were the ones hiding from him. It was quite fun. I found Grotmog hiding up at the same tower I was, before an idea struck me... Packing my rocket boots and my parachute cloak, I managed my way onto one of the building's ceiling. A good hiding spot if there ever was any.


Lucky for us, Velgamog wasn't as good at finding us when he's forced to play fair. Grotmog, Zrugpug and I all got points, while Zebrinnu and Aketzu got bonked by him. For this event, we were awarded 15 gold coins, if memory serves, and 1 trial point.

The second trial was called The Big Leep. It was a little confusing for us all. Velgamog had to stand high up while we all stood down on the ground. At a given time, he'd yell STOP, and then randomly jump off what he was standing. The one standing closest to him got a point; the first to get three points, got a trial point. Simple... or it looks like it.


So Velgamog chose one of the highest places in Thrallmar to jump from... the top of the totem by the Flight Master. I'll hand it to him, he sure has some stable feet, to jump off that thing so many times and not get hurt. But I wouldn't be surprised if he was used to falling on his head by now, hehe...


All in all, Zebrinnu won the challenge, and was awarded 1 trial point and some gold.

I forget what the third trial was called... Slime Race! Maybe.


This was a trial that I had gone through before, but that Velgamog hadn't brought up in the Hellgaash Trialz for the longest time now. It was always very fun and I was excited to hear that he was bringing it back once again. We had to go through the path of slime in the Pools of Aggonar until we reached Velgamog at the very end. However, if we were attacked by any of the slimes, we HAD to stop to fight them before moving along.


But here was the twist... Velgamog told us to take off our chestpieces, shoulderpads, pants, helms, boots... everything but our belts and bracers!Some wore shirts, but the idea of running half-naked in the slime was all too intriguing for me, so I went along!


It was messy, all right. We were literally swimming in the slime towards the end. And slime gets slippery sometimes.


It was a close one between me and Aketzu, but I beat him to it. I got a bag of gold and a trial point. And after all that running in slime, I was hesitant to put some of my clothes back on. Plus Hellfire was so hot, I figured I'd just don my shoulderpads and boots and let that be it.

The next trial was Box Jumpin!


Usually, this trial was held over by Falcon Watch. However, it looks like Velgamog found a way to stick closer to home and make the challenge move interesting by giving us a new set of boxes to jump on. The first one to get to the top and yell "HOOWAH!" wins!


For as much agility as I have, it was still rather tricky to climb up those boxes without falling down. I found myself back at the bottom a few times. It's easy to slip from one of those boxes. For all my effort, just when I was getting the hang of it, Zrugpug had finally made it to the top and given the yell. I couldn't help but wonder how on Draenor did he get up there...

Then there was a bonus round...


Velgamog decided he was going to roll a die. He had us roll one as well, and whomever of us got the same number as he did got an extra trail point.


Grotmog and Aketzu rolled the same as Velgamog and both got a point. Zebrinnu, the Goth, had two chances at rolling, but didn't have the same luck; he didn't get any points on the bonus round.

KLOMP! Fight! was the last competition of the Hellgassh Trialz. One-on-one battles between us to determine one sole winner. Since we had uneven numbers - Zrugpug, Aketzu, Grotmog, Zebrinnu and I - and Zebrinnu was the Goth, he got immediately sent to the second round.


The first round was two fights. First Grotmog versus Aketzu. Grotmog defeated Aketzu with sheer power from his bow and his wasp companion. Velgamog told Aketzu not to feel bad, for Grotmog is one of the strongest of the Shadowclan.


The second fight: Zrugpug against me. Zrugpug and I had fought in the past, back when he dedicated his skills to the usage of weapons rather than magic. But this time around, Zrug packed a much more healing power behind those green glowing fists. Still, I managed to hurt him more than he could heal himself, and win me an advancement onto the next round!


The next bout was Zebrinnu against Grotmog, hunter versus hunter. Since Velgamog had said that 'Everything goes', Zebrinnu got the idea of flying off the pillar while his pet companion fought. Of course, that wasn't what Velgamog meant, so he came on down to fight. Witty, still. Grotmog, however, fought hard and defeated Zebrinnu while keeping most of his composture.


Then the last fight: Grotmog against me. Grotmog set down a trap and a flare right away, which I knew would disrupt my ability to hide in the shadows, having no shadows to hide in. So I decided 'orc up'. No sneaking around this time; I went around the trap and towards Grotmog himself, fighting him face to face. The fight was intense, and quite close, for that matter. His arrows put some really good holes in my armor and his pet companion constantly on me was a nuisance. But I managed to strike him with my daggers nice and deep, deep enough for him to go on his knees in defeat. Experiencing Grotmog's power first hand, I felt proud to have defeated him.

With that, I won the trial, and won me one more point in the Hellgaash Trialz.

At the end, Velgamog counted score. ...In retrospective, I don't see why Grotmog had three points. He won the Hide and go Peek, same as I. I won the Slime Race. And he won a bonus point in rolling dice. But I had won Klomp! Wouldn't that put me 1 point ahead...? Bah! It doesn't matter. What matters is that it was decided that we would do it the way it should be done: Fighting each other.


The fight was intense. Grotmog gave it all he had, but so did I. Having fought him once before, I was better prepared to fight him this time. No sneaking around. I went right at him, though I recall tripping his trap once, maybe. I put all my focus on dodging his arrows and his pet companion's strikes, all to get to him and sink my daggers into him. I had to use all my speed for it, too, as his poison arrows would slow me down. Finally, though, I managed to get enough hits on him for him be unable to carry on.


And so, I was crowned the new Hellgash Gothezz! It was a great honor, and great fun to have attained it as well. Zebrinnu gave me props. He said he was happy to hand over the tittle to me. It was a gesture I still appreciate.


As always, Velgamog closed off the Hellgaash Trialz with a big bang. No one ever knows what is it that happens to him when he crashes the ground, though. You'd think the parachute would break his fall? I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't though. It IS Goblin technology! Well... at least he's still alive with us.


Lok'tar, Shadowclan! Thank you for inviting us to the Hellgaash Trialz! I'll be proud to come and defend my title when you next hold the Trialz. Until then, aka'magosh brothers and sisters!

HOOWAH!!

Kilgora wrote:

Velgamosh,

DUM MOSH!