Follow the Gourd!

Fans of Monty Python may recognize the title from Monty Python’s Life of Brian. As a quick summary, Brian is mistakenly thought to be the messiah. In this scene he’s being chased by his followers, one of whom holds aloft a gourd that Brian had held earlier. As he’s running, one of his sandals flies off his feet. With the crowd hot on his heels, Brian is forced to abandon the sandal, and runs on. The shoe is held up: “Follow the shoe!” they exclaim. Soon most of the followers are running around with one shoe held up in the air (or tied to the end of a stick), looking fairly ridiculous.

In the world of the World of Warcraft there is a cult that is every bit as rabid as the followers of the shoe. They stay quiet and out of sight most of the time; sometimes there’s not a peeop out of them for weeks or even months; sooner or later, they come back. They always do. You’ll be minding your own business in one of the cities when they appear, unbidden. It is the cult of [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker].

The Thunderfury cult had been pretty much underground on my server for quite some time, until last week. I’ve seen them pop up several times in the last week, probably due to boredom. With 4.0.1 being deployed even as I type this, it’s likely that the Thunderfury cult will be too busy relearning the game (and asking ‘Why can’t I roll a Worgen?’) to link the legendary for some time. But when they do, I’ll be ready for them. And I think I’ve got help in toppling the legend.

It started simply enough. Following a raid I found myself in Ironforge, when someone started it:

[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]

[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]?

[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]!

Did you say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]]?

I rolled my eyes at first, but then realized I had something in my bags…something that had somehow hidden amongst the flasks and extra trinkets and fish feasts and, in so doing, had avoided getting sold off along with the detritus of low-level drops. I looked, and there it was: Chipped Timber Axe.

Having discovered this marvelous weapon in my bags, I was ready. When the next fan boi posted ‘I think he said [Thunderfury]’ I was there:

[Me]: No, he said [Chipped Timber Axe]. (and yes, I really do use commas, periods and capitals in-game).

I was a bit disappointed that first time. The only acknowledgement I got from anyone was one of my guildies, who still happened to be in vent with me. He got a kick out of it.

A few days later, it happened again. The Chipped Timber Axe, now safe from vending, was ready at the first sign of Thunderfury spam. And this time, it was noticed.

[Randomguy]: [Thunderfury]!
[Me]: [Chipped Timber Axe]
[Another random guy]: I’ll have the [Chipped Timber Axe].

There’s also my guildie, who linked [The Stoppable Force] (an excellent choice, by the way, and one of my favorites), prefers the [Chipped Timber Axe] and is going to join my crusade against [Thunderfury] spam. And with that, I think it’s entirely appropriate to paraphrase Arlo Guthrie and part of his epic Alice’s Restaurant:

You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people linking [Chipped Timber Axe]. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day linking Chipped Timber Axe. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Chipped Timber Axe Movement, and
all you got to do to join is link [Chipped Timber Axe] the next time someone says [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]

Cast off the shoes! Follow the gourd!