Dispatch from Dun Morogh and Ironforge!

Wasssssup, World of WarCraft fans!

King Magni Bronzebeard of Dun Morogh and Ironforge here, to let you folks know how blown away I was when I checked out Legendary Pictures' brand-new, kick-ass website! As you know, Legendary Pictures is working with our parent company, Blizzard Entertainment, to develop a World of WarCraft movie, to be distributed by Warner Bros. While we want you to know we still haven't as yet cast anything into stone, we really really promise we'll bring you dudes and dudettes up to speed as soon as we hear anything!

Anyway, it's Saturday, November 4th, 2006 (Earth time), and the big news is comin' from the Big Apple, where the New York City Marathon is getting ready to get movin'. Now, I doubt if you've heard this, but we have something similar here in Dun Morogh --- the annual Ironforge Marathon! Yeah, it's the same as the one you Earthlings have --- 26.2 miles, 385 kilometers --- only we Dwarves don't just run, we also dig for one jeweled icon which is hidden somewhere at the end of the course. The first-place finisher must not only reach the finish line, he must stick his shovel into the ground and start digging for that jewel. And if he finds it, he becomes Champion of Dun Morogh, and is brought here to my Throne Room, where I bestow the coveted Ironforge Marathon Medal of Power upon the lucky runner! Cool, huh?

Anyway, gang, go check out the Legendary Pictures website. Believe me, it rocks! Catch ya later, Dwarf-lovin' cool people!

Love,

Bronzie

Why Wizards and Marathons Don't Mix!

By this time tomorrow afternoon, my dear friends, some 30,000 individuals will have completed the 37th Annual New York City Marathon, presented by ING. Fortunately, your Dragonmaster won't be among them. There are a good many reasons for this, not the least of which happens to be that, as a Wizard, my primary responsibilty is to observe my adopted metropolis, rather than zoom through it. The High Istari did not command me to run a literal rat race, they asked me to restore hope to it. Moreover, the New York City Marathon is far too physical a challenge for one such as I. For starters, I'd be dead on me feet before I knew what was happening.

And frankly, the last thing this foolish old Mage needs to do right now is collapse on the pavement, in public. Wizards aren't supposed to do that. I would not oinly be physically drained, but psychically drained as well; and more, it would take days to rejuevenate me powers. Even Merlin, for all the force he himself wielded across the cosmos, was not immune to the ravages of exhaustion and inertia. Like our Exalted Father of Mages, your Dragonmaster tires easily. You've heard me say this many times afore, but given the current situation, methinks I'd best annoy you with those words again:

Magic has a most seductive lure, especially among those who would dare use it for personal gain. That is why I remain careful as to how and where I inflict me Magicks.

Anywho, there are those who crave the New York City Marathon, and those who don't. As a sport, the marathon industry in the U.S. lags sadly behind in the annals of athetic competition; I have yet to find a really good American marathoner around which I could have the good folks of ye Byg Appyl to rally. Meantime, my latest Letter from Manhattan has been submitted to His Majesty, King Henry VIII of England (alias Ray Irving of Chorley, Lancashire, England); I've not been able to reach him this week. Drat! Well, hopefully, that will change. As for the New York City Marathon, good luck to all who shall run therein. Just don't disturb me slumber, that's all.

Master Blackwolf