Touring Orgrimmar

Hey there.  Sarra here again to tell you a bit more about my wandering around in Durotar.  While I was out there seeing the sights of the area, I used Orgrimmar as my sleeping place.  Orgrimmar is the main city for the orcs and trolls of the Horde.  It got its name from the young Warchief Thrall:  he named it after his buddy, the former Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer.  Orgrimmar is located in the most northern part of Durotar, in the foothills of the mountain range that separates Durotar from Azshara.  Orgrimmar is laid out in a number of valleys inside the mountain that divide the city into logical sections.

After riding through the massive front gates, the first valley you are in the Valley of Strength.  The Valley of Strength is like the common area of Orgrimmar.  This is where the Bank, the Horde Auction House and the Flight Tower are all located.  The inn, located across the thoroughfare from the bank, has good food and rough company:  just the place to unwind after a long day of adventuring.  Conveniently enough for adventurers just passing through on the way to their next adventure; Boomstick Imports, located behind the bank and beside the Horde Auction House, is very adept at repairing equipment and the staff there are more than willing to pay fair price for any of the bits in your bags that are not worth taking to auction.

The next area I want to tell you all about is The Drag.  While it’s not a valley by itself, it does link almost all of the valleys together.  The Drag is like a main road for Orgrimmar.  It runs from the Valley of Strength through the mountain and to the Valley of Wisdom where Thrall has his seat in Grommash Hold.  The Cleft of Shadow and the Valley of Honor both have their entrances off The Drag.  The Drag is also home to a number of shops and training facilities.  Herbalists, alchemists, leatherworkers, skinners, medics and cooks are all available in The Drag if one knows where to look.  And if an adventurer gets lost, any one of the Orgrimmar Grunts will be more than happy to offer directions.

Now I’m going to tell you about the Cleft of Shadows.  I wouldn’t advise going there unless you have business with someone in there though.  It’s a scary place down there.  The Cleft of Shadow is where the Warlocks and Rogues hang out and get the tools of their trades.  They are not the most friendly of orcs and trolls down in the Cleft of Shadow.  I think it might have something to do with the demonic rituals going on there at all hours.  All that chanting in the middle of the night would surely make me all cranky too!  The entrance into Ragefire Chasm is in the Cleft of Shadow as well.  There seems to be some confusion going on between Thrall and Neeru Fireblade over the goings on in Ragefire Chasm and possible involvement with the Burning Blade.  An adventurer could find themselves occupied for a while helping Thrall to figure out what’s going on down there and in some nearby caves.

The Valley of Honor is off the Drag to the north east.  The Valley of Honor is home to the warriors and hunters of the Horde.  The weapons masters, the warrior and hunter trainers and the Horde Battlemasters are all located in the Valley of Honor.  This is also where the Orgrimmar Orphanage can be found.  The Orphan matron is looking for adventurers to make the lives of the orphans a bit more bright during both Chindren’s Week and at Hallow’s End.  The Valley of Honor is also where the engineers and blacksmiths ply their trades, and the miners work at smelting raw ore into bars and train new miners to their trade.  Of special note is the lake in the middle of the valley.  Although shallow, it holds a healthy population of various species, making it a good spot for beginning fishermen to practice their casts.

At the opposite end of The Drag from the Valley of Strength is the Valley of Wisdom.  The Valley of Wisdom is dominated by Grommash Hold, Thrall’s seat of power.  In the first chamber of Grommash Hold is the shamans’ area.  Here any aspiring shaman can find a more senior member of their …profession?…to help them along in their studies.  The inner chamber is Thrall’s throne room.  Along the walls inside this inner sanctum are the varuious high-ranking leaders of the Horde.  I took the time while I was there to introduce myself to Vol’jin, the leader of the Darkspear tribe, and to let him know what I’ve been doing out in the world.

If you turn right as you leave Grommash Hold, the path there takes you back out to the Valley of Strength, but on the upper level and on the opposite side of the valley from the entrance to The Drag.  There is a hanging bridge to the Flight Tower from this path on the upper level.  I figure this makes it easier for the adventurers working directly for Thrall to move in and out of Orgrimmar without having to run back and forth through The Drag everytime.

The last section of Orgrimmar is the Valley of Spirits, which can be found at the end of the path leading out of the Valley of Wisdom on the upper level of the Valley of Strength.  Just keep traveling along the path and around to the west and you’ll end up in this small valley.  The Valley of Spirits is the home away from home for all of the trolls in Orgrimmar.  Here, the trolls will be willing to teach the young and aspiring mages, priests and first aiders of the Horde.  The huts around and over the lake offer comfortable and breezy accomodations to any adventurers that may find the other areas of Orgrimmar a bit too enclosed for their liking.  Wandering around the Valley of Spirits, you can also find Xan’tish, the snake vendor, who has all sorts of slithery companions for sale for a modest fee.

If you continue on the path that brought you into the Valley of Spirits, you will come to the back gate of Orgrimmar.  This gate leads out and over a bridge into the Barrens near the border with Ashenvale and Azshara.

And there ends our brief tour of Orgrimmar.  I hope it helped to give you a feel for this important Horde city.

Until next time, have fun and don’t let the rapors eat you

~Sarra

Tags: Cleft of Shadow, Durotar, Orgrim Doomhammer, Orgrimmar, Ragefire Chasm, Thrall, Xan'tish