Vocah the Hallowed!

I have been fairly anxious all week, this being the in-game holiday known as Hallow's End. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the achievement for participating in this holiday was the last one I needed for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. The reward for completing this year-long commitment is an "extremely fast" Violet Proto-Drake, which is the only extremely fast mount that can be obtained without considerable skill in the Arena (PvP) or the co-ordination required for many of the most difficult raid encounters in the game (PvE).

My progression through this holiday was reasonably straight-forward. Much of the effort was simply remembering to pester an innkeeper as regularly as possible. I was somewhat lucky and my first Trick or Treat resulted in a Toothpick for That Sparkling Smile. This is certainly the sort of treat that would earn uncontrolled quantities of toilet-paper in real life, but of course it is novel and charming in Azeroth. :P

Over the next few days I hopped between inns and flight paths for the Tricks and Treats of Azeroth, completing the holiday quests and engaging in a daily battle with the Headless Horseman himself. In short order I had completed almost all of the prerequisite achievements and it was then that I reached an impasse: Sinister Calling. The completion of this last achievement is completely random. The pieces required are rare loot from the encounter with the Horseman. I could feel panic settling in.

Every day I joined a Headless Horseman party and it seemed like that last little vanity pet would never emerge. I happened to be in a guild group on the sixth day when the Sinister Squashling dropped. Grimreefer, to whom I owe my shiny new purple friend, won it and cheerfully traded it to me. Thanks again, Grim, may lots of Shadow Priest gear drop this week for you!

Without further ado, here are the glamorous shots:

So, did you manage to get your Violet Proto-Drake this year? If not, what holiday are you missing? Was it bad luck with loot?