The night elf at Moonglade did mention that finding all the
elders would be a difficult task since not all of them are out in the open. He
is not joking. Some elders hid themselves in areas that are not easily
accessible or safe but that will not stop me! I started this journey and I will
see through it until the end.
The elder in Gadgetzan mentioned that another one hides in
the shadows of the troll city of Zul’Farrak. A city with nothing but sand and
stone? It is fitting I guess for a dying tribe of trolls. I made my way into
the city. A few trolls barred my approach but were destroyed in seconds, the
rest of their crew froze in fear as they saw their warrior obliterated in mere
seconds. All of them flee as I get near but I can see they are still within
sight of me, observing but too afraid to do anything.
These people are broken and in pieces, a shame since they
used to be one of the threats that we needed to take care of before. I met up
with the elder by the Altar of Gahzrilla. She has been bearing witness to the
rise and the inevitable downfall of the sand troll tribe. After hearing the elder’s
wisdom as well as her blessing, I rode out of Zul’Farrak leaving the rest of
the trolls at peace.
The centaurs are barbaric beasts that continuously attack both
Horde and Alliance alike. Their birth is a mysterious one, an unholy union of a
demigod and an elemental. The Maraudon is a cave complex where the parents of
the centaurs lie and the centaurs guard it well. Though strong and brutal they
writhe in pain and ran in panic as I approach. Their guardian beasts and
elemental servants crumble and die as I scour the labyrinth of stone and water
to find the elder. When I finally found him, he asked me for a drink. I offered
him some and told me a story about the myriad of stone in the area. I teleported
soon after getting his blessing.
Stratholme, this place used to be a shining in the forests
of Lorderon. Now it is a scar, a nightmare. The Argent Dawn has cleansed most
of the city but like the dead scar at home, the curse runs deep and they are
having trouble keeping it cleansed. Vengeful spirits and what remains of the
undead still haunts the streets. The elder roams these streets and have
witnessed the massacre that occurred. How Arthas slaughtered innocents for the
salvation of the many. He ponders whether the sacrifice was worth it or has all
these actions been for naught. “Time will tell” I said to him. He smile and gave
me his blessing. I took flight towards my next destination.
Deep in the Swamps of Sorrows lies the Sunken Temple.
History books tells of an ancient blood god that was being summoned inside its
dark halls. Thankfully the aspect of nature, Ysera, thwarted their attempt by
sinking their temple to the swampy waters. This didn’t stop the trolls from continuing
with the attempts to bring their god into this world though. Little remains of
the temple and most of its corridors are flooded but you could still see the
remnants of the foolish troll priests. The elder stands on one of the temples
empty halls. She has seen the madness that these trolls have done, just to
reclaim the glory that they have once held. Bearing the wisdom of the elder, I
left the murky temple.
Within the volcano called Blackrock Mountain lies a
battlefield that has long been hidden from the outside world. The Dark Iron
dwarves against the elementals against the orcs against the Black dragon
flight. The elders here on the other hand tells of another story, not as a war
torn fortress but as the gleaming capital of the Dark Iron dwarves. The elders
regaled me of their past accomplishments, how they turned this mountain into a
city. “You speak of glory and enlightenment but what I see now is quite the
different” I said to them. Their smiles turned to frowns and replied “Aye, we
were powerless to stop them. The least we could do is to tell people like about
our past so you could shape a better future for all” I nodded my head in
agreement. The Sin’dorei will not repeat its past sins or the mistakes of
others. We will rise from the ashes and build a better future.
A fortress made by the mighty Vrykul. Utgarde Keep stands in
the middle of the Howling Fjord. These elders seems to like challenging adventurers.
The Vrykul are gigantic in terms of stature and unlike the ogres, they are
actually very organized, making them really dangerous. I have to resort to
guile and a little bit of fel magic to sneak my way into their fortress to meet
up with the elders.
The forgotten city of Azjol-Nerub, the capital of the
insectoid race of the Nerubians. Stories tell that these grand network of
tunnels spans the whole of Northrend. Being here and seeing the tunnels myself
fill me with wonder. “What kind of magic did these spiders use?” “Did they
leave records?” “Are they free form the whispers of the old gods?” these
questions fly over my head but I doubt undead spiders would even tell me their
secrets. The elder likewise is not a Nerubian and instead just a witness to the
valiant attempts of the spider-like race to fend of the scourge. If only we could find remnants of these
spiders willing to work with us…
I accessed the Nexus, the domain of the Blue Dragonflight.
It is all that remains of Malygos’s plans to destroy Azeroth. There isn’t much
here now. Any dangerous secrets here are probably destroyed by the dragons. As
I walk around the halls of this place, the more I feel like I would love to
stay. There is so much magic in here! The very walls are composed of pure
magic. The plan to connect all the ley lines to this place has resulted to the
unusual concentration of magic into this place. I could just stay here and take
in as much as I want but I know my limits, I was given permission to access
this place and I will not make an enemy of the dragons with jurisdiction over
magic. I just need to talk to the elder here and leave.
From the Sand Trolls of Zul’Farak, Jungle Trolls of
Zul’Gurub and now Ice Trolls. These tribes of trolls are tougher than their
cousins down south. They are also more brutal. Their strength though slowly
dissipated as my curse rip through their very flesh not to mention an Abyssal
punching them over and over. They are cunning though, using poison as well as
voodoo to bolster themselves but they are still out of their league. It didn’t
took me long to find the elder in this place. He told me that there is a giant
snake hiding in this very halls but I was not able to see this enormous snake.
What’s worse than Ice Troll? Zombie Ice Trolls! The scourge
has taken over this troll fortress. They’re using the corpses of the trolls to
bolster their army. Thankfully adventurers were able to halt their plans but
there are still a lot of undead trolls everywhere. The elder saw how the
countless undead were able to brute force their way into the keep. Few could
actually survive such an assault without assistance, Lorderon as well as
Quel’thalas has fallen from such assault.
In the icy mountains of Storm Peaks lies the Titan city of
Ulduar. An elder hides in one of its complex halls. Elementals and Iron Vrykuls
guards the place. Getting pass them isn’t much of a problem but not getting
lost in these halls is the real challenge. Titan relics are powerful but very
complicated, requiring astronomical amount of energy as well as devices that
spans continents. I don’t think we can use these yet as intensive amount of
research as well as the participation of the watchers. The elder here still has
no idea on how to use these devices but they will not tell the secrets to
constructing them.
The seas hides a lot of secrets, the ruins of the ancient
Night Elves, the realm of Neptulon, the Maelstrom to name a few. A Night Elven
elder hides in the ruind of his city, reminiscing the once glorious empire of
the elves. Now it is in ruins and hidden at the bottom of the ocean.
My last stop is the realm of the Earth Elementals. These
realms were created by the Titans to seal elementals away from Azeroth. At the
very center lies the Temple of Earth, now being held by the Earthen Ring. The
elder here is an Earthen that helped in the construction of the realm. He
mentions being at home at this place.
I barely finished my quest before the festival ended. The druids
of the Moonglade gave me the title “Elder” for overcoming the odds of honoring
all the Elders of Azeroth. Hopefully with this the Blood Elves could establish
a more trusting relationship with the Cenarion Circle.
