So, for the longest of time, I’ve been treating myself to 3 Black Lion Keys per week when I had a moment (1 per each of my accounts), and for the sake of my sanity, I’ve been cataloguing my collection.
Recently, a friend of mine asked me if I could share those, just out of curiosity on what common luck droprate looks like, so I thought, eh, why not. It’s usually not much to write home about, but I’ve had some nice catches in the past (hydra staff, Balthazar hound mail carrier, Iron ore node, etc…)
So here you go, first weekly BLC draw. Names from characters who actually did the opening, account order will stay the same (main->US alt->EU alt)
Chest: Mysterious Etchings Chest Guaranteed item: Mini Red Griffon Hatchling, Black Lion Statuette
RAGENAR (got lucky):
STURGAN (US):
TEGUARA (EU):
(My main has a bit of a key backlog, because recent weeks prevented me from playing properly, so I’m pretty short on mini griffons and jackal pups compared to raptor hatchlings. Since I have the focus and there’s nothing else I’d really like from the current chest, I’m holding onto them for the time being).
Nice skin overall. Has a lovely texture detail that’s kind of lost to my computer, but I think I’ll get one of my elementalists a new toy.
My focus is pretty down the drain these days due to recuperating from a schedule blown to bits, so I tried sharpening myself on some warmup sketching. Since I finally figured out what to dress my scourge in recently, it was as good excuse as any to go for some ginger charr. It… didn’t exactly work restoring my working concentration, but at least there’s some silly doodles out of it.
Igrys is Razzikale’s sister, so finding an armor that would speak of common taste without relying on the same wardrobe pieces was a pest even without adding the whole “Scourges are antithesis of reapers” memo. But I’m pretty solid with the result.
Technically, I haven’t done my weekly BL Key draw yet, but remember the backlog I mentioned last time? I used it. And on key number six…
(Yes, ANet did the thing and added a 2000 gem skin as an uncommon drop to Black Lion Chests. If I hear anyone on the forums complain about that, I swear to all the human gods, dead ones included, that I will find you and bite you in the shin.)
Ragenar [got lucky] again. And Pelleara shall take good care of her new pup.
I got to do some avatars for Guild Wars 2 official forums. Since I was mostly working on the branded comic back then, I decided to ride that brainwave and do Almorra Soulkeeper and a branded charr. Not really happy with “branda” here, but at least I found out what not to do and learned how to do branded stuff for later. Progress, hooray. (Also, people seem to like him nonetheless, so who am I to complain.)
To a charr, blood comes as an afterthought. Your pride and joy runs with your warband, your brothers and sisters from the fahrar who grew up by your side, who had your back through thick and thin, who know you like they know themselves. When you carve out your story into Tyria’s ground, theirs is the hand giving you the blade. This is your story, but they shaped it, just like you shaped theirs.
The Forum is busy tonight; what is by day a quiet haunt that feels just a touch too large for a cozy pub always fills up by nightfall, brimming with chatter and roar of dozens of charr, clink of glasses and mugs and always just a few cub reprobates sneaking off from the fahrar to listen to one too many war stories.
Yet it’s still not hard to spot them in the commotion. One just needs to listen to the sharp bark of Reeva’s laugh or watch for Dinky’s form hunched over a table seemingly too small for his size or sniff out the faint whiff of ozone emitted by Euryale’s lightning whip whenever she feels like putting someone in their place.
“Hey, look who’s here!” Maverick rises first, his toothy grin that always seems a bit too large for his face to accomodate growing somehow even wider.
“Late!” Dinky bellows happily.
“Can’t ever be on time, even to your own party,” Euryale drawls. Flames from the candles lit in the middle of the table seem to dance a bit wilder at the remark.
“Come, sit,” Clawspur’s quiet, almost melodic voice says from the shadows, its tone warm and welcoming. “Before that sponge drinks all the booze.”
Reeva’s back straightens at the comment. “Hey!” she yowls, shooting her bandmate a glare.
“Truth hurts, eh, kitten?” Howl’s playful snarl rumbles through the air. He keeps toying with some amulet the way a well-fed stalker plays with a juicy rat, like he always does when he’s particularly satisfied with his share of card winnings.
“Don’t listen to them,” the ginger female snorts in mock indignation. “Here, I saved you one. Not the best brandy in the Citadel, but it’ll do.” Metal studs on her gloves clink as she raises a glass. “To us. The best damn warband in the whole Ascalon.”
One of the reasons for me being shamefully silent recently is working on this beast of a thing.
I joined the collab project, and a fellow (and totally kickass) artist Angelique asked me to join her on a charr illustration. As a predominantly charr player, the theme of Friendship that the collab project was supposed to tie into is pretty easy to relate: every charr player starts with a warband, brothers and sisters in arms, one of whom will always be your best friend and sparring partner. Each player has a different story, yet all the charr ones share a common origin, common childhood friends to stay by their side. And whether we lean on Reeva’s humor, Dinky’s great heart, Euryale’s quiet focus, Clawspur’s shadow arts or Maverick’s bravado, they are the friends we all get to share.
I’m eternally grateful to Angelique who decided to lend her great talent to this piece, agreed to the insane idea and was patient through all my shenanigans. Thank you, my friend!
