Wanderer Of The Mist #1

Greetings fellow adventurers! Today's post marks the start of my new exploring series. I will be writing up and new post every Friday, so grab your maps, compasses and long life brews as we take a trip through some of the most hidden, secret and down right weird places that Azeroth has to offer. So if exploring is your thing, maybe a keen eye for lore? Then stick around! I have the feeling this will appeal to all kinds of adventurers! so enough waffling lets get to it! 

- Lost hatch of Bittertide Lake

So our first locations takes us to the hot, humid and dense jungle of Sholazar Basin. At first I thought this place would not hold many secrets but... but! I researched on a location that is still believed to be wrapped in myth, but I can tell you folks! It certainly is not! Known to some as the *lost hatch* it draws in a large amount of uncertainty as to its origin or possible quest linked to the location. 

Further inspection points to a Gnomish creation from its dense metals and lavishly jeweled light box, but we are still unsure as to why its there, or who created it... or better still.. were it leads too. But that's not were the strangeness ends. According to other sources it does have a reference, blizzard are notoriously known for implementing small Easter eggs within their games, either it be linked to a film, show, musician.. the hatch is in fact a link to the TV show, Lost. After hovering over the hatch, a sequence of numbers will appear reading the following: 5-9-16-17-24-43 These numbers are all one number ahead of the ones found from the show: 4-8-15-16-23-42. So there you have it folks, one of many Easter eggs discovered! 

- The Whispering Forest

The next location is actually one of my favorites, I was first told about this years ago while browsing some forums. I never really thought it was true due to the amount of speculation behind it. So last night, I decided to pull out my map and look for it myself, was there really a place above Deathknell (Undead starting zone), only accessible by flying mounts to stumble upon a mystic and remote Forest? Yes.. Yes there is!

The first thing about this place you will notice is the creatures living in the surrounding areas. Stags, does, fawns and fearie dragons. Then the strange almost perfect circle of mystical mushrooms pulsating a blue glow around them.. Not for eating though to stay away! With a long research in to this location, one of the most incredible events can been seen here. The time of which it happens is unknown, it can be from 30 minutes all the way up to a week for it to happen, but when it does.. boy you will know about it. Before the event happens, small creatures are flying erratically over the mushroom. Two are there to begin with then eventually you will see seven of these moths flying around, after that a small song plays in the back ground, a spooky, monotonic song with whispering slowly being heard. The surrounding animals move in on the circle in a formation and green rays shine in all directions as if they are there to protect something. I was not able to capture the ritual but after seeing videos and photos, I know this myth to be true. But what does it mean? A quest is mentioned that something is under ground there, hidden deep away in the earth that was locked away... maybe a demon? Some believe it's a ritual contacting Elune... we may never know... but that's not all...

Towards the north of the forest holds home to a rather large mountain lake.. besides this feature is a small island with what looks like a poor adventurers last moments of enjoying something he/she enjoyed and that's a spot of good ol' fishing. What makes this location so unique is that a plane, which looks like it originated from the goblins is at the bottom of the lake.. so who's sword is that in the poor soul? We may never know! Maybe he stole some chaps fishing rod and wanted some revenge? Maybe a goblin crashed and it just so happened  to not wake the rather drunk fisherman? Who knows.. but what I do know for sure is that the bait he was using is still alive... It's a conspiracy! 

- Challe's Home For Little Tykes

Okay, brace yourself folks, this one is on the strange side here. I was brought to this locations by a fellow blogger. I was asking around if people knew of any locations that were remote and had no connection to quests that I could add to this post.. something unique and different, I was rather shocked to see what DarkLady had in store for me. Tucked away in the rolling hills of the clean, lush fields of Nagrand, to the intense humidity of the Zangarmarsh is a small hut home to a rather unusual troll, Challe. Considering the only way you can reach her home is by a flying mount in strange enough.. wait till you see what she is keeping there. *sad face*

  

First impression of this place, Calm and peaceful right? Ohhhh no! Once you have had a little look around, this Challe is no ordinary troll! It was believed that this has a connection to the Children week event within Warcraft every year, with no actual proof of that, I beg to differ. With cages behind her hut, explosives placed as toys and a dead corpse behind the house, you start to get the feeling something is wrong here, clearly she has no safty in mind for these tykes. Looking inside the hut, you will find dead animals, skinned and stuffed... strange for babies to be around right? Not for Challe. Outside of the hut is a mechanical contraption that holds what is believed to be Azeroths first look at the baby tauren and baby night elfs being swung in a circle over a boiling melting pot. SHE EATS THE BABIES!

A small dog like creature stalks the area, sitting silent in the shadows, until of course a child is fed to it! Inside the what seems to be harmless dog house lies the remains of its last meal, World of Warcraft's first 100% Protein meal no doubt! You guys will have to check this place our yourself and see what your ideas on it are, but for me, I was rather spooked when I saw the rather ill looking child in a cage of bones to the left of the hut. so I jumped on my netherdrake and headed as far away as possible! Challe is one crazy troll. Adventure at your own risk! 

- House Of Balloons

Something a little more calm and collected is needed for my last location. As I mentioned earlier, the lovely folks at blizzard tend to add a ton of Easter eggs in to Warcraft, this next spot is no exception and for those who are familiar with the film will know exactly what I mean. Its a rather obvious one, but I still think its subtlety and location makes it to be one of my favorites. 

The hut on top of the mountain is home to a rather grumpy Pandarian named Kar, outside is a small grummle named Rusty and a little fox hiding in the bushes called Dig. A rather strange place to have a house.. not much of a garden going on or by a local bus stop, nonetheless if you're clued up on your animated films you will know this reference straight away! from one of Pixar's most well known films, Up! 

So there you have it folks, my first entry to a new exploration series I will be releasing every Friday. If you know of any other locations please leave a comment below!  For all you monk lovers out there, I have a special post in the works for next week, I was exploring some areas with Dark a fellow blogger and Yojimbo, A great guild friend of mine, we came across some rather interesting monk lore books tucked away in the cliffs of the Jade Forest... I will do my best to uncover the mysteries there, so stay tuned folks! Until next time. - Vaylen.