Hidden Elders

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.