Episode #83: Everyone loves a good ghost story… especially in Azeroth. Our journey brings us to the ancient halls of Blackrock Mountain and into Forgewright’s Tomb subzone @(20.6,28.8). All explorers have the opportunity to visit a hidden NPC ghost, Franclorn Forgewright. This forgotten, level 60 Dark Iron dwarf once played an important role as a quest giver related to the Blackrock Depths instance. However, with the Cataclysm expansion, Franclorn Forgewright no longer provides ‘The Dark Iron Legacy’ quest. What makes Forgewright special is that he remains one of the few game NPCs that can only be seen by players if they are also dead. Once the visiting adventurer is in ghost form, the shadowy image of this legendary dwarf can be found standing atop his stone tomb. Although his quest is now obsolete, Forgewright’s crafting legacy lives on in the still-obtainable one-handed mace ‘Ironfoe’. This ancient mace grants its wielder two strikes per swing and the special ability to speak dwarvish for a short time. The ghost of Franclorn Forgewright – and learning the legacy of his architecture, crafting, and the existence of weapons attributed to him – is something worth revisiting.

NPC Ghost: Franclorn Forgewright

Quest: The Dark Iron Legacy [Obsolete]

Forgewrite’s Legacy Hammer #1: Ironfel

Forgewrite’s Legacy Hammer #2: Ironfoe

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Episode #82: Daring adventurers have traveled through the Dark Portal, explored the entirety of Draenor, and constructed a personal garrison… Yet have you pondered the meaning behind the mysterious grave in Shadowmoon Valley? Located in the subzone of Lunarfall at coordinates @(40.3, 69.7), a solitary gray-colored stone can be found. Resting at the base of the grave, a small helm and sword decorate the memorial. A shovel is nearby – indicating that the darkened ground here was the result of a recent burial. Etched on the gravestone is the name: “Ray D. Tear”. All lost adventurers are invited to pause at this mysterious grave and discover the secret behind this raid-inspired, Warlords of Draenor “loss”.

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Episode #81: While exploring the northern coastlines of the Kun-Lai Summit zone, explorers should look skyward to catch sight of a wandering NPC named Lon’li Guju. This level 88, flying giant sea tortoise is friendly to both factions. The angelic-winged Lon’li Guju is a special in-game memorial to Lonesome George, the last of his subspecies of tortoise. Although Lonesome George died on June 24, 2012; he now lives on forever in Pandaria. All players who befriend Lon’li Guju by issuing a affectionate emote (/love /wave /hug) will trigger a secret event to occur… because of the player’s show of kindness, this solitary tortoise will follow the player throughout Pandaria for a short while. A memorial like Lon’li Guju not only brings a warm smile to any lost adventurer, but he also stands as a noble reminder of the wise quote: “the way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost”.

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Episode #80: Nested high in one of the isolated mountain regions of Pandaria, explorers can discover a noteworthy subzone called The Secret Aerie. Although accessible with a flying mount, game designers created a way for lost adventurers to make the beautiful journey into this hidden area entirely by foot. The Secret Aerie is home to various Pandaran Hawktrainer NPCs, each titled as ‘People of the Sky’. Various named NPCs have appeared in recent patches, however no known quests of achievements are associated with them. All hunters should take note of the lesser known, tamable Training Hawk (birds of prey) that are being trained by the People of the Sky. A highlight for explorers to this region is the interaction with Hawkmaster Liu, an interesting NPC who has unique voice acting & will respond to characters differently based on their questing experience with the Shado-Pan in Townlong.

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Episode #79: Inside the Shado-Pan Monastery 5-man instance, a mysterious graveyard conceals the location of 2 invisible NPCs, a stone shrine, and a hidden spell buff. Found on a southwestern-central mountain cliff at coordinates (46,65), the instanced Shado-Pan Monastery hides an ornately-decorated Pandaran graveyard. Explorers to this far-removed area can discover two “Shado-Pan Assassin” NPCs, named Hakka and Jae Kuen. In addition, visitors will find a solitary shrine with a bizarre, swirling light called “Unseen Force”. By clicking on the Unseen Force Shrine, players will be given a hidden buff (Unerring Blades) that grants +90% to Hit. As the Mists of Pandaria expansion ends, most players in game today will never know that these unique features can be found here… making your opportunity to see it for yourself truly ‘less traveled’, indeed.

The Unseen Force

Unerring Blades, Spell Buff

Hakka, Shado-Pan Assassin

Jae Kuen, Shado-Pan Assassin

Photo: View of the graveyard, surrounded by tiger statues

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Episode #78: Off the coast of the Dreadwastes zone, an enormous NPC, named Gokk’lok, conceals a secret. This neutral, elite rare clam is found in the subzone titled the Gokk’lok Shallows at coordinates (27, 16). Although Gokk’lok shows no signs of aggression, any adventurer who attempts to attack this creature will need to defend off several waves of lvl 90 protectors. Once defeated, Gokk’lok presents a hidden quest called Promises of Gold. Unlike other quest reward items, this special vanity item – Gokk’lok’s Shell – contains unlimited charges. This bind on pickup item will cause a 2-minute buff that does two interesting things: 1) A giant clam shell materializes around your character, 2) While inside this shell, your toon appears *without* any of your clothes. The Gokk’lok Shell may be one of Pandaria’s most interesting (and conversation starting) items to ever appear in game.

Read more from Cymre’s visit to Gokk’lok at Bubbles of Mischief

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Episode #77: Tales of wicked seduction exist in the lands of Azeroth. With each expansion in WoW, various Steamy Romance Novels have been introduced for players to find. With a total of 7 different volumes in all, the Steamy Romance Novels are readable, gray-quality books with very… um.. risque topics. For many years, most novels were only obtainable through pickpocketing certain high-level mobs. For this reason, these lesser-known items were rarely seen by players outside of rogues. This all changed with Mists of Pandaria! At appears that a certain rare elite NPC has become a big fan of the Steamy Romance Novels. Explorers can find a lvl 86 gnoll NPC, named Martar the Not-So-Smart, in north-eastern Jade Forest @(56.7, 33.1). When defeated, Martar has a chance to drop 1 of 6 Steamy Romance Novels. Adventurers who wish to complete their book collection must find help from an engineer to create a Blingtron 4000. The seventh novel, I’m In Love With a Robot, can only be found as a quest reward from Blingtron. The best part of collecting these once hard-to-find books is reading them for yourself… each offering a new perspective of their title character, Marcus.

Steamy Romance Novel

Steamy Romance Novel: Forbidden Love

Steamy Romance Novel: Northern Exposure

Steamy Romance Novel: Blue Moon

Steamy Romance Novel: Big Brass Bombs

Steamy Romance Novel: I’m In Love With a Robot

Steamy Romance Novel: Hot and Misty

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Episode #76: On a small island (coordinates 18,70), off the southwestern coast of Krasarang Wilds, a mighty guardian NPC elite named Cro’akan protects the defenseless critters that live upon the island. Located west of the Cradle of Chi-Ji, this island is empty of quests, NPCs, or known achievements. However, this emerald island is populated by over 75 frog critters… allowing any lost adventurer to understand this destination’s unofficial name: Frog Island. Multiple small wooden signs are posted around Frog Island’s shoreline. Each sign depicts a drawing of an ominous-looking frog diving down into the water. Previous visitors to it’s shores may have attempted to warn all travelers to beware of disturbing the peaceful critter population living here. The three varieties of frog critters – Krasarang Frogs, Krasarang Tideskirters, Krasarang Croakers – all share the same respawn pool. Due to the quick & nearly-immediate respawn nature of these frogs, this destination provides the ideal place to earn the guild achievement, Critter Kill Squad. But beware! With each critter killed on Frog Island, there is a small chance of summoning their protector, Cro’akan!

Location Map: Frog Island of Krasarang Wilds

Cro’akan is a level 92 Gold Dragon Elite Critter – 8,431,000 Hit Points

Casts a single spell called Frog Justice resulting in instant-kill

Very low % spawn chance tied to critters killed on the island (calculated as .0002% spawn chance per critter killed, 1 in 5000 from personal experience)

Cro’akan spawn rate does not sppear to be time dependent & not impacted by server reboots

Loot table unknown

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Episode #75: Found off the southern Krasarang Wilds coast, atop a rocky hill on Marista Island, a strange scene awaits every Pandaren explorer. Surrounded by seven small skeletons, a large metal hatch can be discovered (coordinates 52,73). Hidden next to the hatch, a special gray-quality item called Stack of Papers, can be looted from the ground. With a vendor price of 15g, the flavor text of the Stack of Papers offers the lost adventurer a puzzle to explain the scene: “It looks like a journal of some kind. The last entry: ‘05151212:01 SYSTEM FAILURE’. What could it mean?”. This unique item may be a combination of fun references to the Diablo 3 launch failures from May 15, 2012 AND the log printout message from the TV series Lost.

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Episode #74: Over the years, Azeroth fisherman have reeled in a great number of interesting items… mostly trash, yet sometimes treasure. The crowning jewel for any angler is the incredibly elusive, ultra-rare item called The 5 Ring. This ring follows in a line of similar fishing-only discoveries: The 1 Ring and The 2 Ring. The 5 Ring can only be obtained as a reward from the Dalaran fishing dailies (Marcia Chase). Amazingly rare, The 5 Ring will only appear 3%-4% of the time inside a Tiny Titanium Lockbox, that only appears inside the Bag of Fishing Treasures 0.2% of the time.

My friends, get comfortable. If you choose to try your luck at obtaining The 5 Ring, chances of getting it are as good as 1 in 46 years.

Protip: Pack a hearty lunch… it may be awhile.

Catching The 1 Ring (El’s Extreme Anglin’)

Catching The 2 Ring (El’s Extreme Anglin’)

Catching The 5 Ring (El’s Extreme Anglin’)

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