Stuff I’m doing in Shadowlands that’s NOT advancing the Kyrian Campaign…

My Horde Mage is supposed to be working on the Kyrian Campaign. She’s done Chapter 3 — and is horrified by the implications of Scourge presence in Lakeshire. I keep thinking “tonight I’m going to do Chapter 4”, and then I keep doing other things instead.

As soon as she’d finished up the Necrolords Campaign, my Alliance Mage went back to the Venthyr. When she was in the Venthyr earlier, she’d hardly touched Sanctum upgrades, only doing the Stage 1 Anima Conductor and reinforcing the Greater Greedstone. Upon returning to Sinfall, her first objective was to upgrade the Anima Conductor to Stage 2 and reinforce Darkwing Drills. When that was done, she recruited Laurent and got to work on activating and upgrading the Mirror Network all the way to Stage 3. After I’ve been to Korthia and gotten flying, I want to put both Mages in Venthyr and get working on doing Venthyr Travel Network Broken Mirrors with them until I’ve obtained the Soulbreaker’s Burnished Mantle & Sash. She’s just gotten the Mirror Network up to Stage 2.

Meanwhile, Kaurinka and Kamalia decided that they didn’t want to wait until they’d done the Night Fae Campaign to start working on the Queen’s Conservatory. After doing the introductory quests and reading the Wowhead Guide, I decided to backburner it with Kamalia until she gets her Mushroom Network — recently advanced to Stage 2 — fully upgraded. Kaurika, however, has now upgraded her Queen’s Conservatory to Stage 2 and is farming catalyst seeds while she gathers Anima for further upgrades. The main reward I want from the Queen’s Conservatory which has to be farmed — to my relief, the recolor of the armor set is not RNG-dependent, but can simply be bought for 12.5K Anima after fully upgrading the place — is the Spirit Tender’s Bulb, which is one of the possible rewards from Untamed Spirits with two Wildseed Root Grain catalysts active.

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Kaelinda and Salandria’s Marvelous Adventure

A story in screenshots. See also Kaprikka and Dornaa’s marvelous adventure
~*~*~

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I’m burning out on 9.0 and I just wanna go do 9.2

I’m just not feeling the Renown grind this week. I look at the base zone WQs — what can I do for Anima? what can I do to complete Callings? — and I don’t feel like going out and doing them.

I want to go to Zereth Mortis. I want to explore and scout the place out for pretty locations for Mog photoshoots. I want to do the 9.2 Campaign. I want to get whatever the most easily-obtained coloration of the zone set is. I want to do whichever category of Cipher of the First Ones research it is that gives buffs for world activities, and whichever one opens up the Zereth Mortis puzzle minigames — I enjoyed the puzzle minigames in Legion and Battle for Azeroth — and ignore all the other categories.

But I haven’t yet gotten the breadcrumb quest to even start Zereth Mortis. I think it’s because I’m currently in Covenants for which I haven’t completed the 9.0 Campaigns and because I haven’t done the opening chapters of the 9.1 Campaign. I should go do the opening chapters of the 9.1 Campaign because I’m getting tired of being ground-bound; it would be nice to be able to fly again. And I just read on Wowhead that there’s been a hotfix that “Each of the four original Covenant campaign questlines now reward a total of 20 additional Renown.” So I should do the Kyrian Campaign with Kaelinda and the Necrolords Campaign with Kaelyla, because those are the Covenants that they aren’t maxxed out in Renown already with. Which is all scrambled up from my original plans, but at this point, eh, whatever….

The Zereth Mortis zone set reminds me of the Vulpera aesthetic, so I tried it out on Khariba, and sure enough, it looks super cute on her:

Choral set with Shadowmoon Cowl and Mok’Morokk’s Beat Stick

Why is it that the LFR coloration of raid sets always seems to be the green one?

They all have silly hats; the Warlock hat is thankfully not offensive anymore, but is rather the silliest of the lot. The Warlock shoulders, robe, and belt are the most interesting. The other two robes are handsome enough, I guess, but feel… plain, somehow. Still, if I can get Kaelinda and Kaelyla’s iLevels up enough, I might eventually go do Sepulcher of the First Ones LFR. Fortunately for me as a Mage, the Priest robe, Warlock shoulders, Warlock robe, and Warlock belt all have lookalike pieces– but the Mage robe does not have a lookalike piece.

~*~*~

Even though I don’t intend to do anything with her in the Shadowlands for a long time yet, I brought Karaelia out to Bastion for the sake of having a character of every armor class positioned to prep for 10.0 — and wherever Karaelia goes, her twin Kaohana goes, too. Both of them have activated Threads of Fate and pledged to the Kyrian.


Karaelia has been wearing her outfit since November of 2020, and Kaohana has been wearing her outfit since February of 2021! They are both rather anxious for some new clothes!

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Covenant Cavorting Continues

Kateleina and Kaelyra reached Renown 80 with the Necrolords and the Kyrian, respectively, from “Replenish the Reservoir” last week. Time to do those 9.0 Covenant Campaigns…

Then I had a thought: Why waste opportunities for gaining Renown? I could start gaining Renown with another Covenant. I can just switch back when I’m really ready to begin doing these Campaigns…

And so Kaelyla (as Khrysanthemina) is now hanging out with the Venthyr in Sinfall, and Kaelinda (as herself) is chumming around with the Night Fae in the Heart of the Forest.

Kaelyla will activate the Venthyr Anima Conductor, upgrade it to level 2, and reinforce the Treasure Box and World Quest streams. She won’t bother with any of the other features — not even the Travel Network. I’ve already got all the Venthyr cosmetics that I want, so after she’s finished with the Anima Conductor, all of the rest of the Anima that she collects while working her Renown up to 80 will get turned into Traveler’s Anima Caches to be used for Night Fae and Kyrian cosmetics.

Kaelinda will do the same with the Night Fae Anima Conductor, so that she can use its activities to get her the Court of Night rep she needs to use some of the Night Fae backpieces. She’ll also fully upgrade the Night Fae Travel Network, not just because I find it to be useful but also because she needs the Marasmius rep to use some of the Night Fae backpieces and because I enjoy doing most of the Marasmius dailies.

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Renowned! Covenant cavorting ensues

Kaelinda and Kaelyla both reached Renown 80 last week.

I ran them both through setting their Renown to 40 with each of the other three Covenants using Broker Marks of Distinction. Much to my disappointment, I discovered that the Renown 40 Covenant titles require you to be currently a member of that Covenant to use them. I also sent Broker Marks of Distinction to Kalaneia and Kamalia. Kalaneia is thrilled to now be able to style herself Baroness Kalaneia; Kamalia prefers to remain Farseer Kamalia.

Everyone who is at least level 50 — I checked with my Paladin and Priest, who are level 50 but haven’t been to the Shadowlands yet — now has access to all armor-type-appropriate Venthyr and Night Fae cosmetics that I have collected thus far. To get the rest, Kaelinda (as Kateleina) will need to get to Renown 80 with the Necrolords, and Kaelyla (as Kaelyra) will need to get to Renown 80 with the Kyrian.

In the process of getting to Renown 80, Kaelyla completed the 9.0 Night Fae Campaign. Although there were a couple of times when I kept dying, I quite enjoyed it — it was nicely very different from the Venthyr Campaign, and I liked the visits back to Azeroth locations (the visits to the Maw, not so much!). Getting that goal completed left me feeling energized to jump into the remaining two 9.0 Covenant Campaigns. So with this week’s reset, before I did anything in the Shadowlands, I took Kaelinda and Kaelyla to the Hall of Curiosities in Oribos, and Kateleina

and Kaelyra

emerged to begin gathering Anima, Souls, and Renown for the Necrolords and the Kyrian, respectively. I intend to build up those Sanctums to level 3 Travel Network, level 2 Anima Conductor with treasure box and extra world quest reinforced, and the other features activated but left at level 1.

Meanwhile, WoW’s Anniversary is on. Kasheena is once again camping out in the Caverns of Time for easy XP from Historian Ju’pa’s daily trivia quiz; for the last couple of years, Kaelyla was her companion in that endeavor, but this year it is Kamalia.

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in which Kamalia goes to the Shadowlands at last

The first thing I did on Tuesday was bring Kamalia to Oribos and then to the Heart of the Forest. At level 50 and 1 Renown, I am delighted that she can wear her covenant’s Renown 60 cosmetic armor! She had been wearing her Eternal Traveler outfit for almost a year, so she was very ready for a new outfit!

Next, Kasheena visited the Barbershop in New Dalaran to check out the new customizations for Highmountain Tauren.

She came out with some super cute beaded braids in her hair and a fun tail decoration. She decided it was about time for a new outfit, too.

Then it was time to visit the Barbershop with Kaelinda and Kaelyla to establish some new Alter Ego appearances.

When my Blood Elf Mage is Necrolord, she will be Kateleina:

When my Void Elf Mage is Kyrian, she will be Kaelyra, a High Elf who never left the Allliance:

I am very pleased with the tentacles in some Void Elf hairstyles now being an optional toggle! I’ll have to remember to think about changing up Kaelyla’s hairstyle in addition to her outfit from time to time 😀

I can now also do this “Kaelyla AU Alliance” look with my Void Elf Mage —

— what she looked like while she was still Quel’dorei, before the Fall of Quel’thalas.

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Considering Covenant Hopping, Again

The implications of unrestricted Covenant swapping once at least one alt has reached Renown 80, combined with RL factors that are pushing me toward focusing on fewer alts, and how very far behind the content consumption curve I am, are leading me to contemplate some rather dramatic changes to my plans for which characters will do what for the remainder of Shadowlands.

Specifically, I am thinking about proceeding through the rest of the expansion with only Kaelinda and Kaelyla, and setting aside all other alts until the end-of-expansion doldrums (though I’ll still bring Kamalia through to the Heart of the Forest).

Kaelinda is at Renown 68 and could get to Renown 80 soon enough if I start doing Return Lost Souls and/or Callings again in addition to Replenish the Reservoir. Kaelyla is at Renown 62 and could also reach Renown 80 fairly soon if I put more effort into obtaining Renown.

Kaelinda is Venthyr, and from having done the Venthyr Campaign, I know that it intersects with/shares a climactic cinematic with the Necrolords Campaign. Kaelyla is Night Fae, and I’ve been spoiled enough to know that the Night Fae Campaign intersects with/shares a climactic cinematic with the Kyrian Campaign.

Kaelinda is Exalted with all of the 9.0 leveling zone factions. The Undying Army have cosmetic backpieces available for Exalted+Necrolords; the Ascended do not have any cosmetics for Exalted+Kyrian.

So, my thoughts are running thusly —
1) Get both Kaelinda and Kaelyla to Renown 80
2) Do Night Fae Campaign with Kaelyla
3a) Covenant swap Kaelinda to Necrolords and do Necrolords Campaign, perhaps as Kaelydia or as a yet-to-be-discovered new Alter Ego
3b) Covenant swap Kaelyla to Kyrian and do Kyrian Campaign as a new Alter Ego who is a never-left-the-Alliance High Elf, using one of the new natural hair color customization options for Void Elves that are coming in Patch 9.1.5
4) Covenant swap Kaelinda and Kaelyla back to their “home” Covenants
5) Do Korthia Campaign with both Kaelinda and Kaelyla
6a) Collect Venthyr and Night Fae sets from Korthia dailies
6b) Get to Exalted with Death’s Advance with both Kaelinda and Kaelyla and obtain the Venthyr and Night Fae sets from that source
7) Covenant swap Kaelinda and Kaelyla to their secondary Covenants
8a) Collect Necrolords and Kyrian sets from Korthia dailies and Death’s Advance
8b) Obtain any 9.0 Necrolords and Kyrian cosmetic items that I am interested in acquiring
9) Covenant swap Kaelinda and Kaelyla back to their home Covenants
10a) Do Ember Court and Broken Mirrors with Kaelinda until shoulders of the associated Venthyr Campaign set recolors have been obtained
10b) Do Queen’s Conservatory with Kaelyla until the associated recolor of the Night Fae Campaign set and the pink/purple version of the moths backpiece have been obtained
11) Round-robin Kaelinda and Kaelyla through the Covenants they haven’t been in yet so as to get access to all Covenant cosmetics
12) Return Kaelinda and Kaelyla to their home Covenants
13) Repeat this process as necessary to collect all Covenant cosmetics from 9.2, etc, until the end of the expansion

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considering Covenant hopping

Like my four year-old who is so excited for Halloween, I “can’t wait” for Patch 9.1.5 because I’m so excited to be able to bring Kamalia to the Shadowlands without having to go through that introductory Maw experience one more time. As I’ve played with my Mages, Druid, Priest, and Warlock, I’ve found myself missing slinging Flame Shocks and Lava Bursts and Chain Lightnings and Earthquakes as an Elemental Shaman. I also just miss being Kamalia because she’s my oldest and “flagship” character.

With Kamalia in the Shadowlands, I’ll have three of the four armor classes there. That makes it tempting to also bring out my Paladin, Karelia. Then I’d want to bring my Tauren Priest, Kaohana, so that I’ll have all four armor classes as Tauren, and because the twins don’t like to be separated. But I know that that’s more alts than I can really manage, so I am telling myself quite firmly that I am only going to advance Kamalia.

I plan to matriculate Kamalia with the Night Fae and then slowly level her with my favorite no or minimal combat World Quests. After Kamalia has acquired all of the Night Fae stuff I’d like her to have, I’ll covenant swap her to the Kyrian to get their gorgeous set — at least the Campaign coloration; I may or may not also go for the Renown coloration — then swap back to the Night Fae.

In thinking about what kind of Covenant hopping I might want to do with my other characters, I began to think about which characters I might want to bring ahead to 10.0. Which characters will need to cycle through all the Covenants so that they’ll have access to all the things to Mog with in the future? Over the past few expansions (Shadowlands included), I’ve figured out that I can handle about four active characters at a time. The four characters I want to keep actively playing for as long as I keep playing WoW are Kamalia, Kerisa, Kaelinda, and Kaelyla. Kamalia only wants Night Fae and Kyrian stuff, and Kerisa only wants Night Fae stuff. It’s just the Mages who really want stuff from all four of the Covenants. So, after Kaelinda has reached 80 Renown and unlocked unlimited Covenant hopping, and after I’ve completed all of the 9.0 Covenant Campaigns with the designated characters, I’ll want Kaelinda and Kaelyla to each take turns with all of the Covenants. I’m imagining having them work together to collect the sets from the Korthia daily quests…

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The best thing about Patch 9.1…

…is the Spectacles, of course!


Several years ago, I drew Kamalia wearing glasses.

None of This Nonsense, Please



Dazzling Spectacles, Black Velvet Robes, Shadow Council Boots, Tower of Theramore
Patricia C Wrede is my favorite author; The Enchanted Forest Chronicles are my favorite of her works; Morwen is my favorite character in that series. I was thirteen or fourteen when I first met Morwen, and I wanted to be like her when I grew up (spoiler alert: I’m not as much like her as I thought I wanted to be). When I was first venturing onto the internet over twenty years ago, I used “Morwen” as my screenname. So somehow it was no surprise that my primary Mage character ended up with an appearance very much like Morwen’s description. The Dazzling Spectacles are what I needed to finally complete that look!

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must… have… moar… Anima…

Kaelinda finished acquiring the Renown recolor of her Covenant armor set this week. She doesn’t want any more of the Venthyr Anima collectibles, so she’s Done. She doesn’t need to clear the map of all the Anima WQs she’s willing to do anymore. She can rest and relax and be satisfied with 1000 Anima per week — half of it just from rescuing 20 souls from the Maw — until I’ve finished the other three Covenant campaigns and am ready to start playing the Ember Court.
I’ve been farming Anima so intensively with her for the past however many weeks that it’s being a bit hard to resist wanting to take her out to clear those Anima WQs, though…

Meanwhile, I’d given Kaurinka the task of acquiring all of the Night Fae backpieces that are available from various vendors. There are seven in all: one from the Wild Hunt, two from Marasmius, two from Renown, and two from the Court of Night. I’ve been slowly ramping up her Anima farming, and she’s now got five of the seven; she just needs the two from the Court of Night. When she’s got those, she’ll start saving up the 25K Anima to get the Winterborn recolor of her Covenant armor set from the Court of Night; the Renown recolor is my least favorite version of that set, whereas the Winterborn recolor might be my most favorite. I’d also eventually like to get the Renown recolors of the staff and harp, but perhaps Kaelyla can work on acquiring those. Anyhow, now that Kaelinda is Done, Kaurinka will have first dibs on going out to do WQs each day, and her Anima farming will go faster.

Well, I guess Kaelinda can’t completely take a break. She’ll want to keep running the Blood From Stone wing of Castle Nathria LFR until either the Stone Generals themselves or the Great Vault cough up the robe version of the chestpiece. And she does still have to go to Torghast a few more times to get through the questchains that will be required to unlock the Patch 9.1 content. At least once she’s done that, the rest of the crew will be able to skip that stuff!

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