Deadmines Tour, Part Three of Three

 Now about that ship we found.   There was a massive cavern with an underground bay behind the last doors and the warship was sitting placidly amidst a network of docks and gangways.   The docks were crawling with Defias Shipbuilders, Pillagers and Pirates.   And to add insult to injury, even the Pirates’ parrots are trained to attack. 

At the bottom of the gangplank, there were two rogues carefully lying in wait for the first unfortunate person to set foot near the ship.   At the top of the gangplank was Mr. Smite, the ship’s First Mate.   Whoever said that Tauren were placid has obviously never met Mr. Smite. He was not pleased to see us at all! 

After my …chat…with Mr. Smite and his War Stomping self, we were able to gain the deck of the ship.   The Defias must have an impressive payroll!   I’ve never seen so many Pirates in one place without it resulting in total mayhem.   Making our way around the left side of the lower deck, we found one of the reasons why.   The Ship’s Cook, Cookie (original, I know), was wandering the deck and letting the loafers know what he thought and where the galley was for potato peeling duty. 

Personally I think it is fairly obvious that the Pirates and Smugglers have way too much time on their hands here.   Any crew that has time to paint flames on their cannons just to make them look more impressive obviously has not yet been shown the finer points of polishing the ship’s brass fittings!   Apparently Captain Greenskin didn’t agree with me.   As I was “admiring” the paint job on one of his “pimped” guns, he tried to forcibly get me to leave the ship.   I didn’t want to leave yet, having not reached the upper cabins to see exactly what he had up there.

Once we finally reached the upper deck, we found Edwin VanCleef himself lurking in a cabin. But he is never alone.   It’s a good thing we remembered this before we tried to talk with him. When we approached him, two Rogues engaged us and VanCleef himself seemed to take an instant dislike for us and attacked.   After taking out VanCleef, we still had his Bodyguards to deal with before we could relax. 

VanCleef had a letter on his person that Varimoog picked up so he could deliver it to the appropriate authorities.   The only remaining task was to get back out of the mine safely. 

We jumped down off the upper deck at the far side of the ship, using the tops of cabins below to break out fall so we didn’t injure ourselves. We had plans to leave by the tunnel at the back of the cavern.  However, before making our escape, we decided to cause a bit more disruption by introducing a bit of chaos into the camp on the shore. 

After that little duty was performed, we made our way out the back passage and into the light of day.   This back passage led us out at the very southern most part of Longshore. In fact the lighthouse was in view through the fog in the distance. 

And that was the adventure in “the Barn” in Moonbrook.   This is what the locals have been referring to as “The Deadmines”.   Sarra is going to be upset she missed this adventure, but there will be many more I’m sure.

Until next time, keep safe. 

–Zyrena

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Tags: Captain Greenskin, Cookie, Deadmines, Edwin VanCleef, Mr. Smite, WoW

Deadmines Tour, Part Two of Three

 We’re back again and ready to continue on into the deep entrance into the Deadmines. Upon moving on through the deep entrance, we initially found more of the same:  miners, rats and henchmen.   The difference was that the miners were more rugged and more ready to jump in and defend their territory.  There were also more patrolling non-workers.   The Defias must be offering very good pay to have so many wizards at their disposal for walking damp mine tunnels. 

We continued deeper and deeper through the miners and rats and slag until we came upon a large ogre in our path.   I guess it makes sense to have an ogre in the mines as they seem to favor subterranian dwellings and cave complexes.   I would have preferred to leave the ogre,  Rhahk’Zor he said his name was,  alone with his two buddies but he seemed to take exception to my presence and he attacked with some drivel about how he’d get paid for our heads.   Not a friendly sort at all.   His friends were about the same.   Although they likely decided we weren’t friendly when Rhahk’Zor fell. 

After Rhahk’Zor was dealt with, the doors behind him swung open revealing yet more miners.   Before we could continue through, we were surprised by a patrol coming from behind us.   It seems they were coming to investigate the disturbance at the door.   We found that at every further set of doors we came upon and managed to open, another patrol would appear to investigate.   This seems a bit of the “closing the gate after the horse” to me. 

Through the doors there was another branching of tunnels with the main tunnel continuing on to the right and a short shunt off to the left.   Down the left tunnel, we came across a gentleman who seemed to be more astute than the other miners.   His name is Johnson and he was very intent in his work.   In fact, he was rather grumpy to be interrupted. 

We went back and took the right branch down to another door.   Upon opening it we found what seemed to be a Mast Room.   There were a bunch of goblins in there hacking away at long poles.   Patrolling along the boardwalk and handling the heaviest cutting was Sneed in his Shredder.   Nasty bit of machinery that. 

Once the shredder and Sneed were out of the way, the next set of doors opened to more miners and more downward sloping tunnels.   Eventually we came to the doors to what turned out to be the Goblin Foundry.   This is where all the ore was disappearing to! 

The spiral walkway around the outside of the foundry wall led down to the bottom where cannon balls were being cast at an alarming rate.   Gilnid, the Smelter in the Foundry, took exception to us being there and came to have words with me.   It turns out that when you fight one goblin, you end up fighting them all!   In no time at all I had a pile of goblins flailing at me with torches and sending mini-shredders after me.   It was quite a fight to win our way through to the doors out the back of the Foundry. 

Once to the doors, we made our way through more sloping tunnels with what seemed like an endless supply of Wizards and Henchmen determined to slow our progress and stop us if they could.   At one point, in an alcove to the left of the main shaft, I found a cask of Defias giunpowder.   I thought they really didn’t need any more weapons to cause trouble with so I had my tourist friend, Varimoog, scoop that up and load it into his bag.

This turned out to be a good thing.   When we got to the next set of doors, they were locked solid; and us with no Rogue to pick the lock and help us sneak in.   So Varimoog loaded the cannon and used the powder we had scavenged to fire the cannon to blow open the doors. Unfortunately, since we had to be so noisy, there was an immediate alarm raised.   Again, I was lamenting the lack of a Rogue.   No firing of the cannon would have meant there would have been no immediate attack when the doors were blown open. 

Once the doors were open and the opposition cleared, we had a wonderful view of, of all things, a warship!   But not just any warship.   The hull was being fitted with metal plating and the decks were bristling with cannons.   We knew we had to get onto that ship and find out the plans for it.   I’ll tell you all about that the next time.   One more installment and we will have explored the entirety of this “Barn”.  

–Zyrena

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Tags: Deadmines, Gilnid, Miner Johnson, Rhahk'Zor, Sneed, WoW

Deadmines Tour, Part One of Three

 Hello all, Zyrena here. 

Last evening I decided to check out the reports of a Defias hideout in Moonbrook.   The first step was a gryphon ride into Sentinel Hill.   Sentinel Hill is the Alliance outpost in the Westfall area.   It garrisons the local militia, a sawmill, a forge and a trade caravan where the local farmers can find a few of the essentials and an occasional luxury.

The “official” military presence is housed in the tower.   Gyran Stoutmantle is up there along with the Quartermaster and a couple other stalwart military men.   They are always looking for assistance with the Defias infiltrators.   This is where I first learned of a “Defias hideout” in the area.   Through some investigative work, it has been determined that there is more to “The Barn” in Moonbrook than it appears.   So I travelled to Moonbrook to see for myself. 

Moonbrook looks like it was a very nice little town at one time.   The buildings are all run down now, however.   It seems the maintenance skills of the Defias leave a bit to be desired. My guess is that they were not chosen for their abilities with hammer and saw or their expertise in the application of whitewash. 

At the far end of town is a large barn.   Current intelligence is that this barn is a front for some sort of Defias operation.   When I got to the front of the barn, I could see why it had gone so long unnoticed; other than the Defias operatives all over the town that is.   When I went into the barn, I didn’t find any animals at all.   In fact, I think it was the cleanest barn I’ve ever walked into.   Even old barns usually have some stray straw laying around somewhere.   This one doesn’t.   After making my way to the very back of the building through the inside I found what it did have:  a hole where the wall should have been and a mine shaft entrance. 

Being the intrepid explorer that I am ~smirks~ I made my way down the ramps and steps to see what I would find.   I wasn’t expecting a whole mine complex.   But something seemed a bit off about the whole thing.   The ore was not being hauled to the surface, but farther down into the tunnels.   I decided to continue on to see what I could find.

At the first real fork in the tunnels, I chose to go left.  This branch took me over a bridge with miners working in a pit below.   I stopped to look over the side and I caught a glimpse of a lady who had been reported to have fallen in with the Defias, and with Edwin VanCleef in particular.   Marisa du’Paige does indeed seem to have joined with them here. 

I continued on down the branch I was exploring and was stunned to find a bunch of ghouls and skeletons running around.   They seem to be former miners and foremen as they are continuing in un-death the jobs they must have had in life.  Near the end of this branch I found a former foreman.   I believe he has a brother still alive in Stormwind that is looking for information on his whereabouts.   Thistlenettle is the nondescript…err…chap…at the back in the middle of this particular picture.   I can understand why his brother is having a hard time getting information.   Not only is it hard to recognise anyone after their skin has rotted away and is covered with bandages to try to hold it in place, but upon trying to talk to him I found him less than friendly.   Makes it kind of hard to pass on messages when you are being beaten upon. 

Back to the main branch, there is a bridge from which you can see the main mine entrance. I’m told that’s where the most secret operations are being carried out and thus, it is my main goal to get in there and see for myself exactly what is going on.   The main mine entrance is to the right of the bridge and the bridge is heavily guarded.   Behind me is the tourist I brought with me into the mines.   I think it was his first time and like all tourists, he kept getting into my pictures . 

I cleared the guards off the bridge and then just jumped over the edge to the floor.   It is possible to cross the bridge and then go around to the left and back under the same bridge and then left again to the main entrance.   I just decided to do things a bit faster. 

Now that we’ve managed to make it to the deep entrance with our tourist intact, I’m going to stop for now.   But please come back for the next part when we continue on into the deep mine to see what the Defias are up to.

 –Zyrena

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Tags: Deadmines, Defias, Gyran Stoutmantle, Marisa du'Paige, Moonbrook, Sentinel Hill, Thistlenettle, WoW