I won!  Thanks Curse!

they have already sent out codes I believe

Hmm, it's now ten days past the deadline, so I'll ask a different question; Does anyone know if this contest was even real? I do believe I saw it posted on Blizzard's site, but it was under the community posts.

Poor little scared Grunty found himself alone in a place he did not know. As he heard footsteps coming up the road he stepped under a bush to catch a better look at the travelers as they passed. He gripped his rifle tightly as a small green creature appeared. At that very moment the snacks he had eaten earlier decided to take effect... /fart.. The goblin kneeled down and peeked under the bush. She smiled brightly and reach out to the tiny marine. Grunty was unsure of the new creature but saw the smile as a welcome gesture and began to walk towards her. As he place his hand into the goblins a worgen who had been passing in the woods grabbed him by the leg. Although the goblin and worgen are natural enemies, the cuteness of the tiny marine overwhelmed them. They made a pact of peace for so long as it would take to escort the little guy to a safe place where he could grow strong. Together the odd trio went to the Oracles and ask them to look after the little guy. The Goblin female and the male Worgen now share joint custody and visit Grunty twice a week at the neutral Oracle camp.

Hallo.

I have posted my story here about two days before deadline. I came back the next day and it was there. Now I can't find it. Would someone please tell me how did it disapear? Tnx.

Grunty doesn't need to be with either of them. He needs to be with the gnomes so he can pick on somoene his own size. Lol.

Has anyone heard anything yet as to if winners were picked?

"Anaheim woodlands"

lolwut.

sitting and trying to be patient while waiting for the results

good luck to everyone that made the deadline of oct 31, and sorry for

those that didn't get their entry in by the deadline

It would be nice if they said the reviews are over and winners selected or due to the vast amount of fantastic entries we will complete the review by day X or winning stories can be found at the following link. Something other than leaving this contest in limbo would be appreciated. =)

Has anyone heard if winners have been picked........

gratz to all the winners

I hope they at least announce the winners with links to their stories so we can read them too! I didn't have time to read through all of them out there!

Darn, and I was so looking foward to the Marine pet. It just goes to show ya, nobody likes comedies about Murloc Marines.

haha i missed the big letters too, score one for reading directions!!

…being  blinded  by  the  cameras  nearly  crushed  poor  baby  Grunty,  but luckily  for  the  Murloc,  Goblins  are  rather  small  and  Worgen  are  very  cushioned. Sadly  in  the  stumble  Grunty  did  suffer  a  head  injury  resulting  in  Grunty  thinking  he  traveled  to  the  future  of  2499  to  a  place  called  ‘Koprulu,’  and  now  believes  himself  to  be  a  Human  ‘marine.’

After  the  to  races  recovered  from  their  fall  they  looked  down  to  see  the  little baby.  A  Wargen  named  Nockor  picked  up  the  baby  Murlock  and  after removing  the  carrion  grubs  that  were  crawling  all  over  the  poor  thing  held  him  as  a  female  Goblin  named  Odisia,  wrapped  a  heavy  silk  bandage to his head.  

Not  yet  used  to  their  new  factions  as  of  yet,  the  Goblins  and  Wargen teamed  up  to  make  sure  their  newly  found  baby  had  caring  for,  blaming themselves  for  his  amnesia.  Setting  up  a  campfire  they  made  the  Murloc  a  kaldorei  spider  kabob  and  gave  him  some  milk  they  heated  up  with  the  campfire.   After  Grunty  fell  asleep  in  the  arms  of  a  female  Wargen,  cozy  in  her fur,  the  two  races  debated  on  what  to  do  and  came  to  the  conclusion  to  find  his  parents  and  create  the  ‘marine’  suit  with  the  best  engineers  they  had.

From  that  day  on  Grunty  never  fully  thought  himself  to  be  a Murloc,  seeing  as  his  Father  was  none  other  then  King Mrgl-Mrgl.  And  why  did  Grunty’s Mother  leave  him  in  the  woods  you  may  ask?  Well,  apparently  Rnga-Rnga  had  seen  some  of  Osbourne’s  older  concerts  and  feared  for  her  sons  life.  Now  you’re  probably  asking  why  was  he  left  in  the  woods  for  days?  Well  after  much  investigation  our  team  found  that  she  died  in  a  tragic  fire  caused  from  an  Undead  Mage.  Still  remembering  the  grubs  were  around  him  that  tragic  night  Grunty  still  holds  a  grudge  and  will  kill  anyone  he  happens  to  come  across.  

If  you  ever  come  across  the  Marine and ever think ‘Who dat is?’  just  remember  his  past  and  remember  under  all  that  armor  is  a  confused  Murloc  wearing  white  boxers  with  red  hearts.

We stumbled on Grunty a couple months back.  Yeah, he's cute. Yeah, he's small. He's funny. . . but he's SLY.  We made the mistake of equating his sweet smile, small size, and cute voice to harmless.  Ooooooh, what a huge mistake!  Some of us just got burns on our fingers, others have lead in the butt.  He's fast!

   But, I get ahead of myself....

My fully edited story was posted in the contest thread, sorry for the double post but I seemed to have missed the big letters.  :)

Hello fellow Azerothians. Everyone on our world has been wondering about a little murloc found wandering around seemingly lost near Anaheim which is a city located on Earth in the country known as the United States and the regional area called California. How did he get there? Where is he from originally? What’s his story?

These and other burning questions will be answered in this report. My name is DAG Nabbitt and I’m . . . . Ok, I see the little quirk at the corner of your mouth. You’re wondering if I’m for real. I guess a name like DAG Nabbitt would cause more than a little mirth in some circles but here on Azeroth people in the news business are know by a combination of the initials of the paper that they represent followed by their first name.

Since I work for the Daily Azeroth Gazette and my original name was Nabbitt Darnit you can see why I prefer my new moniker of DAG Nabbitt. Anyway, enough about me let’s get on with the story.

Our research has shown that the little fellow prefers to be called “Grunty”. He has refused all requests for an interview but we were able to track down and locate the one person that seems to know the most about Grunty. Hot on the trail of a good story and a galaxy wide scoop I traveled to Darkshore to meet with a Night Elf hunter named Ularin. He claims to know most of the story of Grunty’s origin.

It’s a cool evening here in the woods in Darkshore near Auberdine. I’m sitting around a pleasant campfire with Ularin and his pet Catamount. Ularin and “Cat” have been together since they first met in these very same woods. Here, in this idyllic setting I heard the story of Grunty.

One evening Ulatin and Cat were resting around a campfire much like this one when they both heard a twig snap in the woods just out of sight in the darkness. Cat silently slipped into the darkness and disappeared. Ularin placed an arrow into his bow and peered intently into the gloom. He was perplexed by a sudden crashing noise and, just as quickly as he had disappeared, Cat reappeared with some sort of tiny creature riding on his back.

That was the night that Ularin and Cat first met Grunty. The creature slipped off Cat’s back and dropped to the ground. It was obvious this that he was in distress and no danger to either Ularin or Cat. Ularin moved to the little guy and helped him to sit up. When he seemed a little steadier the little guy gulped down some of the wine Ularin offered him from a wineskin that had just been filled that morning in Auberdine.

After helping him move closer to the fire for warmth Ularin offered him some of the fish he carried for Cat. It was obvious that he was hungry and the combination of food, wine and the warm fire were having a pronounced effect because he was soon snoring. Ularin decided to let him sleep. Besides, he could get answers to his questions in the morning.

During the night the little fellow appeared to be having nightmares and he tossed and turned alternately yelping and making this weird gurgling sound. At first Ularin was concerned because it sounded like the little fellow might be drowning but that was just not possible. Eventually he settled down and everyone slept.

The next moring Grunty told Ularin his story and here, for the first time, is Grunty’s story as told to Ularin and then to me.

It begins several years ago when Grunty was born. Some have theorized that Grunty was born of royalty but Ularin assures me that this was not the case. His mother and father were poor folk living in a village along the beach right here in Darkshore. The first few years of Grunty’s life were the same as any normal young murlok. I guess I should mention that his name then was Murggley Fishbait.

Always inquisitive little Murggley was walking along the shore some distance from his village. His mother had told him never to wander out of sight of the village but young murlocs are just as bad as the young of any species when it comes to doing what their moms tell them. Murggley was fascinated by a shell and was not paying any attention when he heard this strange sound. It was a sort of humming noise. He quickly looked left and right but the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere. Then he looked up and was surprised to see some sort of strange machine hovering over him. It pulsed with many different colored lights. As Murggley watched some sort of opening appeared in the bottom. It was then that he remembered his mother telling him not to wander out of sight and he began to run towards home and the safety of him Mother’s arms but it was too late. A strange light flashed down from the machine and Murggley was immediately snatched from the shore into the inside of the strange machine.

It was some time later that he found out that he had been abducted by a group of interstellar wildlife traders working for a zoo on some planet named Blizzelskp. Now he knew why he should have listened to his mother and he vowed that if he ever saw her again he would always listen to what she told him.

Since Space was limited on the Space ship and at the zoo he was fed a chemical in his food that altered his body so that he would stay small even as he grew into adulthood. Life on board the Space ship was boring. He was kept in a cage in a room with many other animals of all kinds. Each one was small like he was. With nothing else to do Murggley tried to exercise to keep in shape just in case he ever got a chance to escape.

It was one morning several weeks later just as he was exercising when he heard a loud whooshing noise and the Space ship shook terribly. Then there came a lot of loud clanging and banging noises and finally the sound of people moving thru the ship. He cringed when a group of beings burst into the hold. Although they were clearly from a number of different species they were all wearing the same kind of uniform.

He had been rescued by the Space Marines!

He was amazed by the confident way that they handled themselves. It turns out that they had been alerted to the actions of the zoo trader and had been watching for his return. Now they were faced with the problem of returning all of the captured creatures to their own worlds. Murggley thought it would just be a short time before he felt his mother’s arms around him once again.

Sadly it was a number of years before the Space Marines were finally able to return Murggley to his home. Despite his disappointment, Murggley decided to make the best of his time with the most respected fighting group in the galaxy. Hoorah!

At first the Marines were reluctant to teach Murggley anything but he was so persistent and cute he was hard to resist. In the following years he learned how to shoot, how to protect himself in hand-to-hand combat and much more. Unfortunately they could not teach him how to live off the land since they were on a Space ship and this was why he had stumbled into Ularin’s camp in a weakened state as he had.

The trainer at the shooting range was impressed with the accuracy Murggley demonstrated even though he was forced to use weapons that were designed for larger creatures. As a surprise Sargent Strongsprocket prevailed on one of his friends in the armory to design a rifle and handgun more suitable to Murggley’s diminutive size. With the smaller rifle and pistol Murggley’s scores increased dramatically.

Murggley was even presented with an ingenious device that allowed him to create his own ammunition as long as the raw materials were available. Since the device was able to transmute almost any substance into the required raw materials he would never have to worry about ammunition. To make things even easier both his rifle and pistol used the same ammunition.

A new Marine is called a Grunt. One day one of the regulars used the nickname Grunty because of the little guy’s small size and the name stuck.

It was about this time that the Space ship finally approached earth. Murggley, who now preferred to be called Grunty, was excited to be returning home. Still, he was depressed about leaving his new friends. He had tried to get them to just let him return for a few days on leave so that he could see his mom and dad and then return to the ship to remain with the Marines. Regretfully, the captain of the ship explained, they were required to return him, if possible, and he was still too young to join the Space Marines.

He was full of mixed emotions about leaving his new friends and apprehensive about seeing his mother and father and the rest of his old family and friends. He was deposited on the shore very near the place where he had originally disappeared. As he trudged along the beach he could not help but wonder what had changed. He did not have time to dwell on these thoughts because a moment later he saw a murloc fishing along the shore.

He rushed up to him and said “urglley murgle gurgley!” The young murloc looked up in surprise and saw a miniature murloc wearing a camouflage uniform and carrying a miniature rifle. He proceeded to drop his fishing pole and run back down the beach in terror.

Shrugging his shoulders Grunty continued on down the beach toward his home. Shortly he found himself confronted by three adult murloc brandishing spears. Grunty quickly blurted out his story. Fortunately, the adults remembered how a young murloc had wandered off and disappeared some years ago. The whole village had hunted for him for days. It was then that Grunty thought to tell them that his name had been Murggley.

With his identity confirmed they lowered their spears and headed back to town. His mom and dad were overjoyed to see him again. Naturally, they had thought he was dead. That night a feast was held on his behalf and everyone partied into the early morning hours.

Unfortunately, it did not take long for things to return to normal. In fact, things got worse. Young people of any species can be terribly cruel. Murloc’s are no exception. Because of his small size the murloc children  began to taunt and make fun of him. It did not matter that he could have beaten any three of them easily. He surely wanted too but he knew that Space Marines did not prey on weaker beings. Besides the pain they were inflicting was not physical but emotional. They even began to call him “Runty”.

Soon many of the adults, other than his family, began calling him Runty too. What could he do? The support he received from his family was great but it just was not enough. He became more and more depressed. Even if he had been willing to play games like the other children did he could not participate. In his mind he was a Space Marine.

Things got so bad that one day he simply wandered off into the underbrush and disappeared. It was easy for him to hide because he was so small. He left behind his rifle, pistol and his camo uniform. He wanted to be just another murloc so bad but it was just not possible.

It was just two days later when he stumbled upon Ularin’s camp.

After hearing Grunty’s story Ularin began to think about ways that he could help the little murloc. They decided that before they could do anything else they had to return to Grunty’s home. The first time he had disappeared from his parent’s life it had not been his fault. Even so, they had suffered terrible pain at the loss of their son. He could not do that to them again so the three of them set out for his village.

During the trek Ularin had been thinking about ways to help his small friend solve some of his problems. He had several ideas but all he had told Grunty was that he was welcome to travel with he and Cat.

You can understand how sad Grunty’s parents were to hear that he was leaving them again but they knew that things had not worked out well for him in the village and that he probably would never be happy here. Like all parents, they wanted their son to be happy so they wished him well and hoped that he would discover his place in the world.

So Grunty put on his miniature Space Marines camo uniform, gathered up his rifle, pistol and his ammunition transmuter and left his family behind for the second time in his young life.

He and Ularin traveled for several days. During the trip Ularin did his best to teach Grunty how to live off the land. So it was that Grunty learned how to hunt and skin and clean his food. He learned what plants were good to eat and which ones to use as spices. Ularin taught him how to set up camp and how to locate a good camp site.

As they traveled they talked and Ularin grew quite fond of the little murloc.

After several days they entered a small clearing. There, much to Grunty’s surprise, he saw an older man sitting on the steps of a lovely cabin. Next to him sat Cat. As they approached a plump smiling woman came out the door and stood beside the man.

Crossing the clearing quickly Ularin rushed up to the woman and hugged her warmly then turned and shook hands with the man. Ularin beckoned Grunty over and introduced him to “Top” and Maude.

Grunty immediately liked the woman. She reminded him of his mother who he still missed as she pulled him into a warm embrace. Then he turned to the older man and, as he shook hands he thought to himself that “Top” was a very unusual name.

Maude quickly ushered them all inside and told them to sit at the table where she served what Grunty thought might be one of the best meals he had ever had. Ularin made sure that most of the conversation was about Grunty, where he had been, the things he had done and his desire to become a Space Marine. As the evening progressed they continued the conversation in the main room in front of a fire. They even enjoyed some wine.

Before long every one began to tire and Maude showed Grunty to his room. As he lay there trying to think about all that had happened he slowly drifted off to sleep. One time he thought he heard Ularin and Top still talking but he was not sure. Finally sleep overtook him.

In the morning, at the breakfast table Grunty found out that Top, Maude and Ularin had talked long into the night about what could be done to help Grunty. It turns out that Ularin had brought him here because Top was a retired Space Marines Gunnery Sergeant.

Not only that but he and Maude wanted him to stay with them and finish his education until he became old enough to apply for the Space Marines. In addition, Top would continue teaching Grunty how to be a better Space Marine. Grunty could not believe his ears! These wonderful people were offering him an opportunity to achieve his dream.

During the next several years Grunty went back to school. He studied hard and excelled at almost everything and graduated at the top of his class. For a while it looked like his desire to become a Space Marine might be stymied because of his size but, with Top’s help, he was able to prove that it was not the size of the creature that mattered but the size of the fight and desire within the creature. He was finally offered an appointment to the Space Marines Academy where he rose to the top of the class and graduated with honors.

There is more to this story but we need to move ahead to Anaheim.

Grunty was not lost as reported in that “Other” rag. He was on final leave before shipping out or his first assignment. He had expressed an interest in attending Blizzcon 2009 and so had been assigned escort duty for the Worgens and Goblins that were being introduced.

After the last meeting and all the lights had been turned out Grunty along with the Worgen and Goblins had gone into a wooded area. Transportaion had been arranged off planet for Grunty (the method of extraction must remain a Space Marine secret) and the Worgen and Goblins were providing protection for their new friend.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Note: My mom was trying to help me edit but she didn't have much time... so here is my story :D

“Private Grunty, it’s your mission to go and… umm… how should I put this?… umm… well… uhh.” I learned long ago that it was impossible for Rom’ulis to finish any thoughts coherently, let alone a sentence. Some of the other privates joked that his mind had never matured beyond that of a newborn. “Well, here. See for yourself.” He shoved a slip of paper into my hand and turned away, stomping up the stairs, “I need to get back to the captain’s deck. When you’re ready head to the Aratic Air Force section of the ship. They’ll transport you to that place they ‘Earth'.”

I looked down at the paper in my hand and dashed through the door and down a flight of stairs to the Aratic Air Force. It seemed like every cadet had suddenly found a need to be on deck and I found it difficult to maneuver around them as I sought the lieutenant in charge of transportation.

Finally I got through to him and snapped to attention before him. He didn‘t even look up from his clipboard, “Private Grunty, you know your mission, correct?”

“Aye sir, I am ready to go, sir.”

“Be aware there have been reports of worgen and goblin activity. I would keep an eye especially on the worgens, from all I’ve heard they have quite bad tempers.” He pushed his way through cadets jostling for their first look at the teleporter in use and I rushed to follow. It had taken me two years to earn this mission and I didn’t want to get knocked back to cleaning latrines. He stepped up to a control panel and gestured towards the teleporter pad, "I wish you the best of luck Private Grunty.”

Soon I was on the teleported to the planet, but as soon as I had landed it was knocked out by something hard.

Slowly I regained consciousness, but all I can seem to remember from that dreadful night. Is the flashing lights across the street. The screaming fans, chanting “ Go Ozzy Osbourne! You rock!”  I felt so unloved, cold, and scared. There were so many flashing lights coming from the large building. Slowly I squinted across the street, to see two strange creatures from stumble out of the front doors of the building. Covering their eyes from the flashing lights. One of them was a worgen, the other a goblin. They were both from a distant land known as Azeroth. Slowly they walked across the street. I cried in sheer fright as the Worgen walked toward me.

“Ahh, a nice tasty snack, all those flashing lights have made me hungry!” Said the worgen sharpening his claws and stepping toward me. Quickly the Goblin ran over to me and picked me up. Then out of no where a odd glowing ‘thing’ appeared out of no where, then I was taken into this odd looking portal! Light flashed, I felt like my skin was being ripped from my bones. I covered my eyes as the end of this ‘thing’ come nearer. All movement suddenly stopped and a small kind voice rang out into my ear.

“It is okay, you are safe now.” I slowly dozed off, remembering the evil worgen who was going to eat me.

My eyes quickly opened as I heard the loud crack in the cold thick air. “ Don’t worry I’m okay, just some engine difficulties!”

“Where am I?” I whispered as I looked around the brightly colored room. I saw multiple small trinkets scattered about, some copper wires and bars of metal were placed around the room. I looked down at my arm, to find that none of my armor pieces had been destroyed by the odd ‘thing’ which seemed to be a portal to a distant land. I had read about these creature back when I was young, but never though they were actually real! Quickly I clicked the blue button on my wrist piece of the suit I had been given from a good friend.

“Air: Uncontaminated, Planet: Unknown, Environmental Stability: Lushes, Atmosphere: Detected, Ammunition: 1/3 Full” I looked up thinking of a way to escape, but it doesn’t seem possible at this time. But I should be able to soon, just need to come up with a plan. A goblin slowly walked into the room.

“I’m uhh sorry about the noise I made, my umm vehicle kind of broke down. I am Tony, I am a engineer, and this well doesn’t happen often.” I quickly got to my feet, and reached for my gun. I glanced up at the goblin towering over me.

“I command you to give me back my gun!” I glared at him, expecting him to be frightened.

“Uhh, you seem to be confused. We have taken your weapon to see what technology it seems to be. If would like it back ask politely, and we will give it back to willingly.”

“Gah! Fine, may I PLEASE have my weapon back?” The goblin looked at me, and seemed to be studying my face.

“I will be right back, please wait here until I return.” I watched him as he left out the door. Quickly I looked around the room, looking for something useful to use. But in no time he was back, with my gun in his hand. He slowly handed me my gun and said, "Your gun had been broken, we had looked into its model type, and managed to fix it... I hope that is okay with you."

"Th-thanks, but why did you-" Tony had cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"I had found you, well the worgen had found you first. But trust me, you wouldn't of wanted to of gone with him. You would of been a dinner for one... if you know what I mean. After I had made my portal I had taken you in with me. This was for your own safety, and I'm sorry about the pain. It happens to all new people who hadn't used it before." He stopped and placed my gun on the ground in front of me. I took a step forward and picked it up. Slowly I examined my weapon, to find that the frame work was completely renewed.

"Sir, I thank you for repairing my weapon, but I'd like to get back to my mission."

"May I ask what exactly what your mission would be?"

"Negative, the information is classified." I said as I corrected my poster.

"Okay then, how can I help you then?" Tony said in an odd expression.

"If I could get back to umm, the place called BlizzCon I would be perfectly well on my way to completing my mission... maybe." I looked up to Tony, hoping he could help me.

"I will take you to the Portal Trainer, she may be able to help you. Follow me Grunty." Tony turned around and slowly walked out the room. I think was because he underestimated how fast I could run. I followed closely behind him, and every once and a while he would look behind him to make sure I was there. Soon we got to a big, and nicely designed building. The building was tarnish white, with remarkably glimmering blue details on it. Tony opened the door and said, "After you, sir." I looked at him suspiciously and slowly walked through the door-way.

"Welcome, what do you need young merloc?" The voice echoed through the room, I pulled out my weapon as the voice went away.

"Young! How dare you call me young evil being!" I felt a hand touch my should, quickly I jumped in fright.

"Kneel down, he is the keeper of portals." Tony whispered as he removed his hand from my shoulder.

"I am sorry for frightening you kind sir. I am Kalthaz, the keeper of portals, what do thoust need?" A figure slowly appeared shortly after the sentence was finished. Kalthaz was wearing a Golden robe, with red detailing running down the side of the robe.

"I-I would like to go back to the intervention known as BlizzCon two-thousand and nine." I said, frightened of what would happen next. Kalthaz turned around and out of no-where a portal appeared in the middle of the room.

"This should take you there, would you like to be escorted by two of our guards?"

"No thank you, I will be fine on my own. I thank you both for helping me on my mission."

"No problem, I am glad that I helped." After bowing, I slowly walked into the portal. Within no time I appeared in front of the building. A sign hung outside saying BlizzCon 2009. I slowly walked through the door, slipping past the long legged gnomes feet. As I run through the small spaces I ran into a oddly looking man with a name tag on, that said World Of Warcraft- Administrator. He looked down at me wondering what I was.

"Ahh a Murloc! Last I saw one of these fellas was when I was doing the Game programming."

"I am Grunty Murloc Marine." I said as I took a few steps back.

"How may I help you, Grunty Murloc Marine?" He said with a questioning expression on his face.

"I would like to become a obtainable companion for your game... armor and all. I have recently met one of your new character types, and found that the gaming system seems to be great for my type. But I would also like it if you would stop allowing them to kill my fellow Merlocs."

"I don't think we can do anything about the killing of fellow Merlocs, but, I can see what I can do with making you an obtainable companion for our game. Hmm, only exclusive to people who attend to BlizzCon two-thousand and nine and people who pay for the DirectTV broadcast of this event. How does that sound to you Grunty?"

"Sounds great! Now, I shale be on my way... think you can find someway to get me back to Starcraft 2 so I can resign from their programming?"

"I will work on that." I slowly began to doze off as he pulled out an odd looking clam and spoke into it.