Professor Teasel and the Highborne Soul Mirror

The Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is an interesting one this week.

For the title I thought we could use something along the lines of an Indiana Jones movie so:
Professor <insert name here> and the <insert your favourite Archaeology item or the one you’re still trying to get>

So I was wondering:

What’s so special about <?> (the item you used in the title)? Do you have an absolute favourite/s that you’ve gathered from the profession? Which ones, if any, are the bane of your existence? Show us pics illustrating those pieces, including an outfit if you use one.

Suggested by Cymre.

Now I fully admit Archaeology is up there with Fishing in terms of professions I dislike but wish I didn’t. That said, I do have a few favourite items.

Professor Teasel and the Highborne Soul Mirror

Mirrors and other such reflective surfaces have always fascinated me. The first film I ever watched in a cinema was Disney’s Snow White and despite being terrified of the wicked witch and refusing to eat apples for at least a fortnight in case they were poisoned it was the talking mirror that stuck with me. I remember being really disappointed that the one in my bedroom said nothing, wondering if I was doing it wrong.

Before the Great Sundering, the Highborne were known among the night elves for their arrogance, avarice and outlandish clothing. It was said that nothing was so pleasing to the gaze of the Highborne as themselves. These mirrors were created so that elven ladies could see their colorful garments in three full dimensions, yet the reflection often exaggerated the already depraved visage of the viewer.

I also love the idea of the mirror acting as a sort of portent of things to come, further twisting the features of the gazer. It’s the Picture of Dorian Gray for the Highborne. For Teasel it serves two purposes, firstly as a reminder of the destruction that arrogance, greed and vanity can bring and secondly as a handy PvP tool.

With the aid of this macro it can function a bit like the forthcoming Spectral Guise for Priests, although you need to be both a Druid and a Nightelf.

So lets say someone is beating up on you, you cyclone them and use the macro. It puts you into cat form, uses the mirror and then shadowmelds you. From shadowmeld you stealth and wander off, ideally behind a pillar, wall or other handily placed architectural feature. They’re left with a slightly shadowy cat trying to figure out what on earth happened to the Druid they were smacking around. It doesn’t work on everyone, but it works on enough in battlegrounds and world pvp to be worth it.

Professor Erinys and the Chest of Tiny Glass Animals

I realise this doesn’t sound like a particularly exciting movie but bear with me please. The favour text for this item reads as follows:

Remarkably, you managed to find an entire menagerie of these elven glass animals in their original storage container. While some of the animals have understandably suffered cracks and chips, it is clear that the head of the stag has been deliberately severed. The initial ‘T’ is carved on the bottom of the chest.

Now there are two reasons why I love this item. First of all, I had a glass menagerie of my own when I was small. My two favourites were a little glass pig and a beautifully delicate swan. 

My second reason is slightly more WoW related. (I noticed this morning that Navi has a completely different and more accurate take on this little chest so make sure you read hers too).

When I first dug up this battered chest and saw the initial carved on the bottom, I thought nothing of it. There must be hundreds of Night Elf names starting with a “T” but as I read the rest of the text a picture began to emerge in my head. I remembered what I’d read of the War of the Ancients. This passage in particular:

But before Krasus could answer, from the battlefield came a terrible cry. As they all turned toward its source, they witnessed Archimonde with one arm around the giant stag’s head, his other hand twisting his foe’s muzzle to the side. Already the stag’s head turned at an awful angle, hence the cry.

Krasus leapt to his feet. “No! He must not!”

It was already too late. The demon, his expression still indifferent, tightened his hold further.

A tremendous cracking sound echoed through the region, one that, for just a brief moment, caused all other noises to cease.

P637 of Richard A. Knaak’s book “War of the Ancients: The Sundering”.

I imagine that as Archimonde twisted Malorne’s neck, the head of that little glass stag cracked and broke even though it was many miles away still safe inside the box. As for who the chest belonged to, well that’s simple. Given that stories link both Elune and Ysera of the Dreaming with Malorne, I like to believe that the “T” stands for Tyrande, High Priestess of the Moon and mother of her people.

Now all I have to do is hunt down The Last Relic of Argus and that’s me and Archaeology at peace with each other until MoP is released.