Into Tanaris

Putting a blissful week of vacation in tropical lands and the jungle behind me, it was time to return to virtual tropical lands and the jungle. In my absence, my competitive guildmate had yet to hit 40, so that seems to be that for now.

Back in Stranglethorn, I teamed up with a couple of ragtag groups to finish off a couple of lingering quests, namely killing a few pirate captains and annihilating that damn gorilla from the previous update. These went much smoother than expected, with only a few harrowing seconds. With much of it behind me, it was time to venture to new stomping grounds and that meant Tanaris, but in my usual indirect way.

First it was a flight to Nethergarde Keep in the the Blasted Lands to turn in a quest... only to find too late I was missing item I needed to hand in. Sure enough, I had stuffed it in the bank for safe keeping (and to free up the precious inventory slot). Ah, when will I learn? (Spoiler: Never.)

I returned to STV and took the boat to Ratchet. Rather than go straight to Tanaris, I stopped by Theramore to take care of a little side business.

In Theramore's Keep, there's a quest to unlock First Aid 226-300. For all the flak I give the "retail WoW" experience, it's important to remember that in Vanilla/Classic, nearly ALL of the quests are of the "kill 10 rats", "collect 10 bear asses from 30 bears", "click static things", "escorts", and FedEx deliveries. Anything outside of those 5 are rare. With this quest, you're given a roll of 20 bandages and must heal patients around the ward, giving care to treat the worst off first. The quest fails if too many people die from being neglected too long. It isn't a hard quest by any stretch of the imagination, but it is novel enough to provide entertainment.

I'll need to return to the Keep as my First Aid improves as the good doctor there is the only one who teaches you how to make the most advanced bandages and I love bandages. Not for me, though. I slap them on Fluffers like they're going out of style. It's a lot more mana-efficient than Mend Pet and I can always imagine he looks like a cross between the cereal mascots "Fruit Brute" and "Yummy Mummy"


But never this cute.

So into Tanaris I fly. I'd adventured here briefly before, picking up the low-hanging fruit. Figuratively, not literally, since it is a desert, after all. So many pirates. The east coast is crawling with pirates and they had to be culled by the score. In the far west, the mobs start getting serious, with silithids hitting level 47-50. My coastal cleansing had taken me to the lofty level of 45 and I was itching to try my luck. It was slow going, but I eventually felled enough to complete another quest.

I continued my explorations further to the southwest, looking for mithril, when I came across a turtle with a quest. Ok, Mr. Turtle, what do you need? An escort mission? OH, JOY! I accepted it, because I wanted to see how badly it would suck and when I failed, I could always drop and pick it back up again. (cough)

Yeah. What I wasn't expecting was a timer to appear. "29:59"... oh, dear. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I expected. Instead of following a set patch, he follows behind you (slowly) and you have to guide him from the far SW of the zone to the far NE to meet up with his wife by the coastline, aggroing every damn thing along the way if you're not careful.

I am very careful when it comes to matters of the heart and I can proudly say:

"A turtle has made it to the water."