Sarracenia’s First Impressions of Zangarmarsh

 Hey there everyone.   Sarra here with some nice pictures I took when I went to Zangarmarsh this afternoon.   Zyrena says she has to translate my whole article, but I’m not sure why (She hasn’t caught on yet that not everyone reads “Sarracenia” — Zy).

I was out traveling around in the Outlands and when I went down the hill out of Hellfire Peninsula through the brambles of Thornfang Hill I nearly fell out of my saddle (most undignified if you ask me – Zy).   What I saw can only be described as the BIGGEST fungus I’ve ever seen.   The mushroom caps towered yards and yards above the ground and some of the stalks were as big as the biggest trees in Stonetalon!   They also have a strange “glowiness” about them.   I can only presume that the dampness of the marsh along with all the rotting vegitation have created the perfect conditions for them to flourish.

My first stop was the Cenarian Refuge.   Those Druids sure have set up a nice place for themselves there.   They have a cosy inn and a watch tower and a moonwell.   They even have a couple of their “Elders” there who, so I’ve heard, give blessings to those adventurers who have proven themselves to be friends to the Druids.   I’d think you have to be watching yourself there though.   Adventurers must look awful small to those Elders.   I’d hate to get caught between the toes of one of those guys!

After taking a quick look around the Refuge to see all the pretty things, I rode on to Swamp Rat Post to introduce myself to the Flight Master.   Seems like a decent sort of trollie.   (She said he had nice hair ~sighs~ –Zy).   The post is a nice little place to visit.   It reminds me a bit of Sen’Jin Village back in Durotar.   Except these guys are more serious and a lot more experienced.   I especially liked the apartments hanging from the mushrooms.   Those were really interesting.   I think if I was going to move in there for a while, I’d want me one of those.   At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about having my feet wet all the time.   But I must say, the huts we trolls usually build are well suited for the marsh.   Stilts are good!

The next place I checked out is a place the trolls at Swamp Rat Post call the Dead Mire.   I guess it used to be a nice lake, but now it’s more of a mud hole.   I think that’s why the hydras there are so grumpy.   They got all dried out and the mud isn’t enough of a moisturizer for their scaley hides.   While I was there I noticed a machine in the mud hole.   It seemed to be trying to pump something up.   I know the Bog Giants seem awful upset about the whole thing.   I think they were getting kind of dried out too.   Whoever put that pump-thing out there obviously wasn’t too concerned with the local creatures.

Another place the Swamp Rat Post Flight Master mentioned to me was the Spawning Glen.  Apparently there are these little guys running around out that way that are kind of like part of the marsh.   He told me that they don’t do things like we trolls do.   They have little ones in spore sacks almost like the mushrooms around them.   Sounded kind of dubious.   Me being a tourist and all, I thought maybe he was pulling my leg a bit so I went to see for myself.   Imagine my surprise and delight when I got there and actually saw some of these little spore-guys running around!   There were spore sacks everywhere too.   I was distressed to see that there were bog giants there though.   The giants were running around and harassing the little guys and eating their spore sacks.   It made me sad to see it, so I stayed a bit and helped them out.

As I was traveling from place to place I noticed all kinds of odd and interesting looking things.   There were some pretty plants of the regular size under the mushrooms, like these water lilies.   What wasn’t “regular” was the Fen Strider walking through the lilies.   I had to ask someone back at Cenarian Refuge what exactly it was.   I had an awful time describing it to them.   They couldn’t figure out what could be “like a squid that walked upright on it’s tentacles but with more attitude…all of it bad”.   They explained to me that it’s not a squid.   And it’s not related to murlocs, even though it apparently went to the same drama classes.

In some places in the marsh there are bugs so big they could carry you away.   And I’m not talking about how the guys at Stonard complain about their mosquitoes.   These things are “really” big!   There are different ones out there too.   Some have purple backsides.   And each of the breeds have a different kind of poison that they inject with their stingers.   Some of it even makes you glow.   (Now I think she’s just pulling your leg, but I’m just the translator – Zy).

There are apparently more kinds of mushrooms out here in Zangarmarsh than I could ever cover in one report so I’ll just add one more that I saw.   This one gets used by the people that live out in the marsh as a decoration.   I saw them out growing on their own and in places like beside the moonwell in Cenarian Refuge and in the graveyard near Telredor.   It looks like a set of cups attached one above another and they spill water out their mouths and down into the cup below.   They are really very pretty.

I took the time outside Telredor to take a picture to show you all.   I had to work fast though because the Draenei guards seemed to assume I was there to cause trouble and…umm…insisted I move along.   But I did manage to get a shot of the lower dwellings and the magical lift that the Alliance people use to get up and down the huge mushroom that holds the village.   Now you all have to keep in mind that I took this picture from farther away than I would like and I’m looking up!   The lift is to the right of the picture and has just left for a trip to the top so it looks like it’s floating away.   I can’t figure out how they do this at all.   I’m very impressed! (me too actually –Zy)

In my travels in the marsh I noticed that there are an awful lot of naga slithering around. But I guess that makes sense since there is water everywhere.   Naga like the water.   But I also noticed that almost everywhere there were naga villages, there were also more pumps like the one I saw in the Dead Mire.   It seems kind of counter productive to me for a bunch of water loving naga to be pumping the marsh dry.   I’m thinking there is more going on here than it appears.

When I went and checked out one of the big lakes, I found the biggest pump so far!   It seemed to be spewing stuff up into the sky though.   And it wasn’t water because that would have come showering back down.   I think someone somewhere is using those naga to do their dirty work.   I just haven’t figured out what that “dirty work” is yet.

I’m going to go and put some thought into that I think.   Maybe I can get Zy to think with me. I’m going to ask her to come and look at this with me.   (I think I’ll be making that trip with Sarra to see what’s going on with my own eyes –Zy)

I hope you liked seeing someplace as different as this.   We’ll be looking for more to share with you.

Until next time — Sarracenia

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Tags: Cenarian Refuge, Dead Mire, Spawning Glen, Swamprat Post, Telredor, WoW, Zangarmarsh