Knights Who Say Ni of Quel'dorei

This is an affectionate remembrance of April Michelle Dickerson as known as “Short”.

Her journey of life began August 8, 1978. She was diagnosed with a form of Muscular Dystrophy known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy after around a year of life. Multiple doctors in her time would limit her days to “6 months”, “6 years”, “16 years”, etc. of living, but as we all know she was not keen on being told what to do. She would continue to thrive, inspire, love, and lead for 44 years.

Her younger life was filled with friends and hobbies. Hobbies such as art, music, fishing, video games, technology, and more. By the age of 16 she would have a new born sibling to show all these interesting hobbies to. A sibling that many years later go on to nag her about trying a new, awesome video game called “World of Warcraft”.

And here’s really where things get interesting. By the end of the first year she would go to form her very own guild in the game that, I’m sure you can guess, is known as “Knights Who Say Ni”. The end of this first year would bring us seeing her coming into her own as a leader, and taking her band of misfits into dungeons and even the first 10 man raid of Karazhan. All in just the first expansion!

Upon the release of the much anticipated 2^nd expansion AKA “Wrath of the Lich King”, she would already be planning Ni’s ascent to Wrath raiding. Not only that, but many other guild activities were coordinated thanks in-part to the newly added achievements. Her guild was thriving, but on the horizon a storm was brewing. Midway through the expansion a then raider decided to mutiny and take half of the raid team to a different server (the mutineers were crummy anyway, so in the end it wasn’t that bad). While this held back raiding temporarily, her and the loyal guildies pushed onward. She and her team managed to defeat the Lich King before the Cataclysm began.

The Cataclysm brought with it new challenges for Short to traverse. This expansion expanded on achievements to include Guild Achievements (and perks). Her and Ni’s greatest feat is achieving Realm First Level 25 Guild. This was a gruelling endeavor not only for her and the guild, but the entire realm. Many, many of the larger guilds of the time were racing after realm first 25 as were us. It was calculated that the best way to grind out guild experience was running the dungeon “Halls of Origination” on normal over.. and over.. and over again. At one point in time there were at least 3 groups of Ni running that dungeon. In the end, thanks to her leadership and the determination of all involved the Knights Who Say Ni of Quel’dorei earned the first 25 of the realm!

In addition to the race to realm first 25, Short also survived Cataclysm raiding… As with all early expansion raiding, there are a lot of growing pains. Through brute strategy and teamwork Ni’s first set of raiders pushed through the early bosses of the first Cata raid Blackwing Descent. What really makes Short shine is the fact that back then ONLY 10 people could do a 10 man raid at once. Ni had more closer to 18 or so raiders at one point, so she opted to stay back with the newer people and guide them to victory rather than leave them behind for glory.

Now, I’mma be real this is Feaver writing these glorious memories down, but I was pretty absent late Cata, early Pandaria, and Legion so you’re gonna need to send me your details of Short’s fantasticness for those areas hah. But yeah, I’m highly certain she still maintained some raidness during those times. I wasn’t really back into the swing of it until Warlords of Draenor (WoD).

I know, I know most everyone hated WoD, but me and Short really enjoyed the raiding scene. A lot of cool people were around and it was generally a good time. Writing things like this up really makes me wish we could hop in a Bronze Dragonflight portal and head back to some of those olden days… but hey we still have our memories and that’s something. Which is one reason I wanted to write this up, and PLEASE BY THE LIGHT OF ELUNE SEND ME ANY STORIES YOU HAVE AND I’LL ADD THEM HERE.

Listen, if you were fortunate enough to be around when she was here you know how much she tried, cared, and wanted the best for you. And if you’re new and curious about who she was? She was one of the strongest and best there’ll ever be. Never let the cards dealt to her in life bring her down and never wished the same for others.