I stood in the Amphitheater of Anguish with the crowds cheering wildly—not for me mind you, but rather for the lightning-spewing, 20 foot tall magnataur bearing down on me. Far above, the goblin fight coordinator egged the crowd on as I pondered the circumstances that had brought me here. It began with a fishing pole.
I’d been idly drowning worms in the sewers of Dalaran, trying in vain to fish up a giant rat, when the fellow next to me caught one. I congratulated him on his catch and took a peek at his equipment. His fishing pole was significantly better than mine and imbued the wielder with the ability to breathe underwater! Striking up a quick conversation, I find this pole could be easily attained by anyone with an exalted reputation with the walrus people I used to steal puppies for so many moons ago. I decided then and there to improve my standings with them and now was a good enough time as any to start.
There are three dailies to assist with Walrus reputation, inconveniently spread out over three zones along the southern shores of Northrend. As I flew around completing them, I mused that I was fairly close to an achievement for doing a stupidly large number of quests (140, I think) in the Borean Tundra. With just nine quests shy, I stuck around and visited old haunts to see what I might’ve missed. It turned out that most of them involved some mines and farms extremely close to where I’d first landed on the continent. I grinned when they were completed and I tucked the “Nothing Boring about Borean” achievement away and began flying east.
Without realizing it, I’d already begun searching for quests I had missed in Dragonblight. I found them in the northern reaches of the zone and in no time, I was gleefully collecting ore and bones for goblins, deforesting harpy-invested woods in a sawblade-shooting mechanical exoskeleton, and killingtenrats as needed. After winning the achievement, I flew northeast…to the Storm Peaks!
I lacked a couple dozen quests in the Peaks and they took me into spider-filled caverns and across snowy plains, and finally into a dwarven hold. I’d been worried as the achievement required 100 quests in the zone and now, with 93 completed, I was down to two I had found: an elite harpy that had kicked my butt twice (she was very good about encasing me in ice and nuking me to oblivion) and a ‘collect a few rocks for the mountain king’ dealie. Given those choices, I hoisted a pick axe and set to work combing the cliff side for ore-like protrusions.
Upon returning to the king with my sackful of dirt, I was pleased to note that a long quest arc was opened and I was deep in uncovering a plot that involved the creation of an iron colossus when the achievement was reached. I mounted my gryphon and moved to leave.
King Underthedirt: “Hey—where are you going.”
Me: “idk…Zul’Drak? There’s like way too many I need in Howling Fjords”
King: “No—I mean, what are you doing about the colossus?!”
Me: “Huh?”
King: “The iron colossus? The thing you’ve discovered the evil armies are even now assembling with dark armor plates crafted from an unholy alloy of iron and pure saronite from deep within the earth’s crust? Even now I need you to destroy the forges so tha—“
Me: “Yeah…about that. I’m not saying your problems aren’t important, it’s just that I think it’d be better for both of us if you found an adventurer more willing to commit to a long-tem questline.”
King: “But—“
Me: “It’s not you, it’s me. Just keep that exclamation mark over your head and the right person will come along soon.”
I left the King there and flew down to Zul’Drak as promised. This was rough, no bones about it. After finishing the Drakuru story arc I had left in my log for many weeks (great ending I won’t spoil like everything else in this blog), I was still seven quests shy of the magic 100 for the zone. Fortunately, I found a number of 3-man group quests, which shaved the number down to three.
At some point I decided that most (but not all) three man quests can be solo’d if you plan accordingly and can back it up with a little grit and a lot of gear. If the mob has under 130k health, I can generally handle it without concern.
All other quest avenues exhausted, I found myself in the Amphitheater of Anguish, a largish arena-like affair. The encounters were scaled for a five player team, but a pair of well-geared 80s (tank/healer combo) could handle it well enough. Each battle is a quest in and of itself, and each encounter is progressively more difficult.
Each time I had swung by the area, I saw people fighting various giant monstrosities. Returning now, I found another pair of adventurers engaged in mortal combat. They had progressed beyond the first encounter and I watched a paladin and druid team make short work of a giant magnataur, before getting nearly pasted by a vicious air elemental. At that point, I lent assistance from the stands, throwing down a few extra blasts to aid the paladin’s struggle when it looked like things were getting too rough. In time the team bested all of the champions and the paladin hearthed back to points unknown.
I attempted the first quest and hopped down into the arena proper and was soon pitted against a giant worm—it stole my lunch money, but I managed to get it down to 10% health before being bested. Halfway back, I receive a resurrection offer from the very friendly druid who had teamed with the paladin. I readily accepted and she offered her assistance in the battles to come. Knowing a great offer when I see one, I seized the opportunity and this time the worm was slaughtered quickly.
The second fight was against the magnataur and as he strode into the arena opposite me, I regarded my opponent closely and began my pre-combat preparations: trinket, trinket, arcane power, icy veins, mirror image, pray. As the creature charged, I noticed he was enshrouded in crackling electrical energy. With horror, I realized this area of effect attack was quickly killing off my mirrored selves, leaving me the most viable target. I unleashed my arcane fury carving chunks off his hide when the druid, in her treeform, stepped up her healing. Suddenly the magnataur dashed off to stomp my savior. I tried in vain to draw the aggro back to myself, but in the end the tree was felled. Now at a fraction of his health, he and I raced to do the other in. It was scarily close, but I stood victorious.
I checked my quest counter as the druid revived—99/100. Only one more fight was needed and my helper was still game—she joked that she’d “just run faster next time”. I grinned, spoke with the goblin fight master, and the arena darkened as a swirling air elemental blew in. Oddly, the elemental posed less of a threat than the magnataur and was summarily dispatched. The druid asked if I was ready for the next, but I told her that I was done and thanked her very much for the kind assistance and slipped her a hundred gold for her trouble. She was pleasantly surprised, but I’m a firm believer than unexpected help should be amply rewarded.
After speaking to the goblin one last time, I received my achievement for Zul’Drak. Next stop, back to the Fjords!
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