...whoa.

Well, that was really awesome. A really great start to a series, overall, both really interesting and really well put together. As somebody who doesn't know the slightest thing about WoW and had to look up what a tauren was here, I didn't have much trouble following the WoW-related sections, which is a testament to writing skill.

A few things in particular stood out as good in this little introduction/opening/whatever it is. Firstly, the interactions between your characters for the pen and paper sections were spot on, if a bit out of place given the situation. You gave the reader a good impression of the group dynamic in very little space. Even better, you hinted and exposed just enough to show that all of these characters have significant history, but you didn't go too far and make it tedious or annoying to read.

The other thing I really like about this chapter was the use of the staff; or, more specifically, the two halves of the staff. Throwing that in there is an excellent hook for the rest of the series, and I feel it really set this apart from being just the first in a series of directionless stories.

That said, I do have a few small criticisms. Specifically, when all of those warriors and mages and such were fighting the Maw, and Vinden destroyed it in his magical comet cocoon thing. It felt kind of... imbalanced, I guess. The description of the worm shows some really great starts at a horrific, Lovecraftian monstrosity that's really going to cause dread, and the description of the effect it has on Zigzahal also shows promise. But then, when Vinden destroys it, it feels so... anticlimactic. You sort of set it up as this really, really big, earth-shattering deal, and then in a few quick lines, it's been dealt with, crisis over, everything's fine. I feel like that event should have just been... bigger, I guess.

Secondly... well, I guess it's a bit early for me to be making a criticism like this, but I've read a lot of stories like this before, so it makes me kind of wary. Both Vinden and Zigzahal are kind of... well, they're a bit too good. I mean, from what I can gather from this chapter, Vinden is a wise-cracking guy who has no trouble finding sex and on two occasions is willing to sacrifice himself at the drop of a hat. On top of that, throughout all of these events, he's a bit too... cool. And all I know about Zigzahal from this chapter is that he's a powerful warrior who is immediately willing to give people the benefit of the doubt and stand up for random people he's just met. Of course, this is the first chapter, and it was pretty action-heavy, so it could just be that those are just the sides of the characters that came out. However, both of your major characters are showing signs of being a bit too good and too cool, which could wind up making them uninteresting.

Overall, though, this is awesome, man. I hope you keep going with this. Have you considered submitting it to fanfiction.net? I know stories of this sort have a tendency to fare better and get more exposure on websites like that. Can't wait to see more, though.

PS: ...a description of Vinden would be really nice. As soon as I knew he was a mage with a Staff of Power, I got an immediate (stereotypical) image in my head. A bit of your later description is making me think that image might not be accurate, though. Can't wait to see!

Mine's bigger than yours. 8\_______/

... I approve. Carry on.

There's no more than this?

No. Figured on scrapping and rebooting this. Probably do a do-over with my minotaur magus instead. Could have more fun with that, when tauren encounter a minotaur.