Hello and welcome back to Raresbanes Hardcore Journey. Pull up a seat and pour yourself a pint, we are going to dive into Dun Morogh proper in this post. We have some quick housekeeping to rundown before we get into the hunting rare’s. I don’t want to bore you with the minutia so I summarized it for y’all:

1. We completed all the introduction quests that were available to us.
2. We visited Iron Forge and picked up our Skinning/Leatherworking professions.
3. We reached level ten, learned Tame Beasts, and named a boar Goobie <3.

Back in Kharanos we slept off the prior evening’s stupor in a cozy private room in the Thunderbrew Distillery. The following morning Goobie and I studied the map of the region. We needed to travel to the West to complete the majority of the quests we had available which involved hunting down more boars, snow leopards, bears, and wolves for their meat. Mountaineering is hungry work and it’s tough living in Dun Morogh but the dwarves are hardy people making due with a helping of Beer Battered Boar Ribs and cask of Evershine.

Ragnar Thunderbrew, the head proprietor of the distillery was generous enough to teach me the recipe. (But 50 copper per serving was well out of my price range this early in my career). 

Questing in Dun Morogh kept our bags filled with junk loot and the occasional green drop but the biggest boon were the skins we gathered and crafted into our best in slot items. We picked up the Ornate Blunderbust from Hegnar Rumbleshoot (One of those drunks blowing shit up on the shoulder lane on our way into Kharanos), and a Tomahawk from the provisioner in town. 

We were ready to begin seeking out and slaying our first Rare spawn of the account: Edan the Howler in the caves below Kharanos. But first we need to talk about Caves because this is a World of Warcraft fundamental, and as I have stated before, it is important we establish these early so we can watch them develop as we journey across Azeroth.

Caves have always been deadly dens, dripping with the allure of treasure, and frequently the location of quest objectives. They are effectively miniature dungeons. You could log onto any server right now, find the mouth of a cave, and I can almost guarantee there would be a Player Characters lifeless body being teabagged by an NPC. Luckily for you I am no rube and know a few things about Wow’s caves. Allow me to elaborate:

1. Caves can often become Hyperspawn locations. A hyperspawn location is characterized by the need for a minimum number of monster to be spawned in at any given moment. If that number is not met then the game will spawn new monsters immediately.
2. Monsters tend to patrol their caves. Patrol units pathing code will cause them to walk the length of the cave system rather than pace in a small radius.
3. There are almost never safe spaces to hideout. The layouts of caves can become tight with multiple monsters overlapping. Couple this with patrols and rapid respawn rates means there are few spaces to rest between fights.
4. Proper camera management is a skill. The tight spaces, low ceilings, and twisting corridors severely limit what is visible. It takes practice and wherewithal to keep your camera moving effectively and efficiently.

I did not have the foresight to screenshot the mouth of Edan’s cave but there in fact a Players corpse ominously splayed across the snowy bed. I was fully geared and well above the Wendigos level and made quick easy work through the entrance; we ducked into the tunnels until the cave opened into a domed cavern. To the right were spires of rocks much like teeth at the back of this cavern’s maw, and beyond them were 4 Wendigos. One of them was our mark. 

The map bellow has been marked in Red to show the path we took and where corners can create limited visibility; the orange circles show the numerous Wendigos we encountered.

We cut through the chaff, healed up, and proceeded to put Edan the Howler down. I snapped a quick picture to commemorate our first kill, and looted a nearby chest. But, I knew I had little time to celebrate. A less experienced or self indulgent player may have stuck around and got themselves killed but I knew the mobs around me and outside the Cavern would begin respawning in a few moments.

That is precisely what began to happen. The four Wendigo at the back of the caverns maw started popping up like snow-lilies. I smothered them under foot.

Once again patience would be the key here. It is of the utmost importance when spelunking in World of Warcraft to let all the mobs respawn before fighting your way back out of a cave system. The worst thing you could do is rush back to the cave entrance, get caught in a few to many mismanaged fights, and then suddenly mobs begin spawning behind you. Patrol respawns could spell the death of even the most well geared adventurer. 

I won’t labor you with the minor details as I made my way out from under Kharanos. Edan was dead and it was time to set our sights upon our next rare spawn: Timber

…

Ohhh Timberwolf! I see what they did there lmao. Just goes to show you that even 20 years later there are things to discover. Well, as always thank you for joining us on Raresbane’s Hardcore Adventure. Till next time friends – Happy Hunting!