Diesen Artikel auf Deutsch lesen

The time has finally come: You have followed the four unwilling heroes Caroline, Marcus, Angie and Pauline across Connectalot, experienced how they have settled into their new roles, sought the wisdom of the dragon Atlas, set out to track down the mythical Eierlegende Wollmilchsau, were trapped in a camp of strange beings ("Mimics") and their megalomaniac leader Luciffy... And now an epic battle is about to begin, in which the Agile team "Fiends & Foes" must face an almost indomitable superiority to save not only Connectalot, but also their own world from Luciffy's diabolical plans ...

Caroline stands protectively in front of the other team members and lets her sword fly through the air. Marcus, standing directly behind her, places a hand on her shoulder and a golden glow emanates from it, becoming a cloak of light that wraps itself around Caroline. She feels powerful forces awaken within her, and at the same time she feels as if she is protected by an invisible armour. As two Mimics charge at her, her sword moves as if by itself, and with a mighty blow that would have done the Hulk credit, she splits the two mimics in half. Splinters of wood fly in all directions and the slobbering mouths stop moving.

Meanwhile, Angie the cat is hardly recognisable. With breathtaking speed, she dives between the attackers, piercing unprotected areas with her sharp claws, and has quickly incapacitated a considerable number of enemies. But where one falls, two more quickly appear, and Luciffy's shrieking laughter tells the four heroes that the final opponent is waiting for them.

It is Pauline who now turns the tide. She quickly realises that despite all her heroic powers, the number of Mimics is simply too overwhelming. In the slipstream of Caroline, who thanks to her fighting strength keeps most of the opponents at bay (the rest of the cupboards, chests, jugs, cooking spoons, candlesticks etc. are partly in each other's way), she raises her hands imploringly before her magic draws them into the air, which seems to become electrically charged. All mimics with metal anywhere on their bodies pause.

The elf concentrates and closes her eyes for a moment before all the incomprehensible words burst out of her. A massive surge of ice, directed by her hand, crashes into the first line of attackers and lifts them off their feet. Some of them are covered by a shell of ice and break in the subsequent fall. The surge spreads, and though its force diminishes, it wreaks havoc among Luciffy's followers. A roar and hiss fills the air as the ice wave finally dissipates, drawing another chain lightning bolt that roasts all beings with metal on them (with the exception of our hero squad).

Silence falls, here and there a chest lid rattles, a bent ladle, from which two fangs still protrude, rolls off to the side. Marcus whispers, "Are they all gone?" The team looks at each other, hope spreading across their faces, when an ugly sound is heard behind them.

Evil does not give in

Angie the cat slams her claws in front of her ears with her face contorted in pain, Pauline goes down bleeding from the nose, and Caroline and Marcus turn around staggering. Behind them, Luciffy has apparently tried to sneak up to stab the quartet in the back.

But the chain lightning has not left the insane ruler of the Mimics unscathed: The metal fittings of the treasure chest have turned black at the edges and are partly bent, the wood charred, but the creature seems unwilling to give up. A greenish glow emanates from its salivating mouth. "I will still destroy you! I only need one wish spell!" Luciffy spits a caustic yellow liquid at the two team members still standing, which certainly contains neither orange juice nor whisky and makes a move to seize Eierlegende Wollmilchsau, who has only been watching the proceedings with a wide-eyed stare up to this point.

But now several things happen simultaneously.

Some kind of huge gong booms through the cave, and the mad Mimic pauses for a moment.

Pauline and Angie are pulled to their feet by an invisible force and the cat shoots towards Luciffy with the speed of a torpedo, holding something in one paw.

Marcus feels the power that is within him surpass him and envelop his friends, while Caroline leaps with a mighty leap between the Wollmilchsau and the drooling chest and resolutely raises her sword.

All this took only a split second. As Luciffy shakes off the spell, Angie lands at his side and hurls something into his mouth. "Caro, NOW!" she screams, and before the antagonist can do anything, she rolls to the side.

The Product Marketing Manager feels some kind of gentle push before her sword crashes down on the lid of the chest with a mighty slash. Luciffy makes a noise as if he has choked, and then a huge detonation sounds, sweeping all the bystanders off their feet again. Pieces of wood, iron fittings, and splinters rain down on the group before silence falls once more.

The end of an epic journey

"What in the world was that?" Caroline asks, puzzled, and gets to her feet. Angie is already pulling the splinters out of her fur, and replies, "I'm not sure, but there was suddenly this little vial right next to me, and I just KNEW it wouldn't go down too well with that wacky treasure chest. Where it came from - I don't know." Pauline and Marcus also look at each other, perplexed.

"I think I can explain that", a deep voice suddenly says, making the team flinch. King gaudenz the Elder strides across the room towards them, bows briefly to the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau and then turns to the four heroes with a beaming smile. "You have done it! You have banished the evil that threatened to destroy my wonderful Connectalot, and saved us all from a terrible fate!" The ruler bows deeply to the whole team.

Pauline takes the floor: "King Gaudenz, that mad Luciffy threatened to turn our world into a nightmare too. Who knows what would have happened if he had succeeded... It turns out everything is connected." Marcus' deep dwarven voice adds, "You were right, Your Majesty. Our victory here was also teamwork..." - "...and a little help from the outside," Gaudenz adds with a smile. "Because you see, the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau actually can do anything. They say it is able to create exactly what someone needs at that moment. And apparently you" - he nods to the quartet - "... needed a means to defeat the evil creature. And that is exactly what appeared: a magic bottle that, once ignited and deliberately destroyed by you, had the power to stop the evil!"

Caroline, Marcus, Pauline and Angie look first at Gaudenz, then at each other and finally at the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau. The mythical animal seems to contemplate the chaos around it. Only now does the team notice that the mimics have become normal objects again. Even the remains of Luciffy now look like the pitiful remains of a once magnificent chest.

"All my missing citizens have reappeared! Many of them were held captive here, others tell of dark dungeons and still others of being forced to search for something they didn't know what it was..." - " That must have been the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau!" interjects Caroline. "From what Luciffy has told us of his plans, it's a logical explanation." The monarch nods. "Indeed. I am forever indebted to you. You have saved my kingdom and all who live here. You have kept your word, and now I will keep mine: I will send you back to your world!"

A way back

"We thank you, King Gaudenz," says Angie, and the others also thank the old man from the bottom of their hearts. But as happy as the four are, you can tell that it's not easy for them to say goodbye. But when do you ever have the opportunity to test for yourself whether the "Fiends & Foes" have the right level of difficulty within a game? Gaudenz seems to sense this, because he smiles mildly and exchanges a glance with the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau. 

"Our thanks accompany you to your world - and if you want, just come visit us from time to time," he says before taking a step back and standing next to the mythical creature. He raises his hands and a roar fills the air, a vortex seems to rise up in front of Caroline, Marcus, Pauline and Angie and they feel a little uneasy. But then they see the face of the Egg-Laying Wooly Pig, which seems to smile, and then, before the astonished eyes of our heroines, the space dissolves and they are drawn into a rainbow of colours…

"Ouch!" - "Watch it!" Pauline picks herself up in a daze while Caroline and Angie rub their heads. Only Marcus seems to have survived the transport back without any major bruises. "What did he mean by 'Just come visit us from time to time'?" he asks doubtfully, while the rest of the team are still trying to sort themselves out to some extent. "What do I know," Angie counters sullenly. As a cat, this would certainly not have happened to her.

"Hey, what's this?" Caroline holds out an object to the others that looks like some kind of tiny card. "Hey, Marcus - you've got one of those too!" Sure enough, peeking out of Marcus' pocket is a roll of cards just like it. A quick check on Pauline and Angie yields the same result. Pauline unrolls the card and exclaims in amazement, "Oh my goodness!" The others crowd around her. It is a map of Connectalot, and right in the middle is the King's castle, from which a soft glow seems to emanate. 

"Could it be...?" whispers Caroline. "Sure," says Marcus. "But I need something to drink for now. And I could eat something too..." - "Typical dwarf!" winks Angie at him before striding towards the door. The other three grin, look at each other and follow her. As long as they don't have to save the world again right away, they would certainly be up for an adventure or two.

Famous last words

And here ends the journey of Team "Fiends & Foes" - at least for now. We hope you had as much fun as we did following our classic high-fantasy adventure. By the way, the evil Luciffy was actually defeated at Atlassian Team '23! Speaking of Team '23…

Follow-up report: The beaming winners of Atlassian Team '23

It takes a certain something to stand out in the opulent surroundings of Las Vegas. But if there's one thing Team draw.io loves - besides Dungeons & Dragons and similar nerdy themes - it's a challenge! Our goal was to make Atlassian Team '23 our best event ever. And after a whole week packed with valuable meetings with customers, partners and Atlassian people, we left feeling like we were the big winners in the expo hall.

Our latest feature: Smart Templates

Finally, we were able to show Team 23 visitors a brand new feature: Smart Templates. We know that when it comes to creating complex diagrams, thousands of templates are no use - you need the right template. The Smart Templates feature uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to create diagrams that can then be edited in seconds, based on a simple text input. All the users we showed this feature to were impressed, and many were sure that it would save them a lot of time in the future when creating diagrams.

In this video, our Community Engagement Coordinator, Emily Fedor, introduces you to Smart Templates:

From Smart Templates to Smart Partners

The "premiere" of our new feature took place the day BEFORE Team 23 - Seibert Media had invited its partners to the info session. This event brings together partners from the entire ecosystem. The latest news, best practices and tips/tricks are shared to help customers get the most out of their Atlassian tools. 

This year's event featured two sessions from draw.io: Mike Rink presented our vision for building successful applications in the Cloud. Then Ashley Flanagan and Carlotta Kuhn showed partners how to run better meetings with Confluence (and a little help from draw.io). These sessions will soon be available on our YouTube channel.

What the heck is the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau?

That was the question we asked everyone who visited our stand. There was a lot of guesswork and some very creative answers. But the correct answer is of course this: The Eierlegende Wollmilchsau is the mascot of draw.io! This creature comes from a German expression that can be translated as "an animal that lays eggs, produces wool, gives milk and is also good for Sunday roast doesn't really exist; you can't get everything you want".

We disagree! We think our clients should have everything - especially everything they need to be successful. That's why we see draw.io as the one tool for every team. 

Our mascot featured prominently on our stand and in our merch and has definitely found a place in all our hearts. It's no coincidence that the Wollmilchsau was also an important supporting character in our Dungeons & Dragons adventure, the finale of which we played with the visitors at our stand. 

Admittedly, the word is not necessarily familiar to English speakers, but as we all know, the best way to learn is to try it out! So we asked the participants at Team '23 to pronounce the name of the animal. You can see the funny results on our YouTube channel:

One thing is clear: we still have a lot of plans! Feel free to follow us on social media https://linktr.ee/draw.io, where we'll keep you up to date on everything. 

Test draw.io yourself!

Are you ready to try out the "egg-laying pillow" (i.e. draw.io)? Then take a look at the Atlassian Marketplace and get your free 30-day trial version.

Happy Diagramming!

---

Further Reading

• All published articles in the "An Unexpected Journey" series
• All articles in the “I 🧡draw.io” series
• draw.io – What Does the Chevrolet Corvette Have to Do with Diagramming?
• Using the draw.io Board Macro during Agile and Scrum Meetings
• Collaborative document editing with Google Workspace
• Hybrid Work with Google Workspace – Part 2: How Collaboration Tools Boost Your Productivity – and That of Your Team!