V
Visions of machines haunted my thoughts. There had to be more to the story. How did Mechazod end up buried in the Geyser Fields to begin with? What happened to the Titans? What is Ulduar? I spoke briefly with Flizzlecrank as I readied my things. He told me that many of the answers I seek could be found to the far north in an area known as the Storm Peaks. I decided then to stop there on my way to Icecrown.
I suited up and rode away from the Airstrip still distracted with visions of the past. As we trotted along, I began regain focus. The next area was a large, unforgiving, frozen graveyard called Dragonblight. Putting my thoughts aside, I stopped took out my compass to make sure we were headed in the right direction. Things didn’t seem quite right. I was expecting to see snowfall, but instead found myself at the top of a long, battered shore. A quick look at my map confirmed that we were going in the complete opposite direction!
I must stop getting so distracted. If we turned around now, we’d make it to Dragonblight in the dead of night. It might be best to take refuge here for the night. Perhaps I could gather some fish in the meantime. Feeling optimistic, I walked down the hill to a strange peninsula. “Great, Murlocs” I groaned. A huge, awkward looking murloc stumbled towards me. To my surprise, it could speak. “Shhhhh! Don’t let them see me talking to you!” It became apparent that this was not a Murloc at all, but some nut in a crude disguise.
“I assume you’ve come to help?” he whispered. I didn’t have a chance to answer. “I’ve been studying these murlocs for some time, you see. It was all going well until the earthquake in Coldarra. A cave emerged after a landslide. Hordes of makura emerged from these caverns and stole the Winterfins’ tadpoles. When they went into the cave to save their young, they were never the same! These were once peaceful beings. Now they are under the control of the makura! Please, go in there and save the tadpoles or my work here will be for nothing!”
I began to respond, but was overwhelmed with a the stench of old fish. “There, now you can understand them. And take my spare suit!” He tossed a ragged murloc suit in my direction. A little dazed, I stumbled over to a group of strangely friendly looking murlocs. “Are you going to kill them and save our kind?!” A vibrant red and green murloc was staring me in the eye, speaking to me as if I was one of his own. “Uh, I am going to try?” He nodded and stomped off. “They’ve gone crazy!” Another one exclaimed. This was truly bizarre.
“You look familiar” another one gurgled. “Me? Surely you must be thinking of another Gnome.” He paused for a moment and said “Lake Everstill.. my.. brother Mrmrlrgr and his whole tribe were wiped out by a Gnome with an axe long ago. Massacred. You look familiar.” I stood there breathless. Many months ago I did in fact destroy a whole tribe of murlocs. Fearing retaliation I shrugged sheepishly and swam across the water.
There were cages laying everywhere filled with tiny murloc tadpoles. I cautiously opened the cage, and found myself surrounded by tiny, gurgling creatures. I found some whale meat on the ground and began feeding my little friends when I heard an all to familiar war cry over my shoulder. A white murloc with an unnatural purple glow was rushing towards me with a jagged spear in hand. I pushed my little friends aside and fought back, taking the rabid creature down in one swipe.
This wasn’t right. I could save all these tadpoles, but the grown murlocs would still be cursed. I had to get to the bottom of this. With a group of tadpoles following me, I approached the cave. Maybe I wouldn’t have to kill these creatures at all. I took out the old murloc suit and put it on. I awkwardly stumbled through the cave like the captain of a miniature murloc army.
To my surprise the suit appeared to work just fine. I walked through the cave, past groups of possesed murlocs and other sea creatures, looking for the cause of this curse. At the end of the cave, something stood out. An enormous crablike creature was waving it’s claws over a purple, glowing pearl. I carefully walked towards the monster, and it snapped into action.
I doubled back, and took off my disguise. The creature snapped its claws over my head, trying to catch me in its grip. I rolled on the ground dodging its huge claws. The beast squealed and snapped as I dodged its attacks, making my way to the pearl behind him. In an exhausted swing, the creature missed me again, and smashed the pearl into pieces. The ground began to shake as the creature reeled in anger. This fight was going to finish itself with or without me. Time was running out. With even more murlocs trailing behind me, we ran out of the cafe just as it collapsed on to itself.
Lake Everstill.. my.. brother Mrmrlrgr and his whole tribe were wiped out by a Gnome with an axe long ago. Massacred. You look familiar
Outside, the surviving murlocs gathered around the tadpoles, no longer under their spell. After returning the disguise to a very relieved murloc leader, I ran back up the hill to my steed recounting my unexpected adventure over the mountains ahead, the cause of all this waited silently. I saw the glow over the mountain tops and found myself at a crossroads. Should I investigate Coldarra, or stay on course?
