Legends of Redridge

Jess spent the afternoon fishing with Gred and several middle-aged locals. They didn't catch much, but at least he got to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Lake Everstill and hear some interesting stories.

Stories about the monster in Lake Everstill, for instance, and the mermaids along its shores.

The locals treated them as legends. But Jess knew those things were probably real.

The so-called lake monster was described as a giant strange fish. Whenever it appeared, heavy rain would fall and storms would sweep across the lake. Even the orcs were terrified of it.

Jess knew that in the game, there was a plesiosaur living at the bottom of the lake. He stared over the water as it stretched almost out of sight. The depth and mystery of it made it hard to imagine what the creature actually looked like in this world.

As for the mermaids, they were probably naga hiding in the lake.

The people of Lakeshire knew better than to venture alone into the waters too far from town. Those chilling legends weren't the only reason. More importantly, Lake Everstill was the largest murloc habitat in the entire Kingdom of Stormwind. There were enough murlocs living here to form another kingdom.

Murlocs were little creatures native to Azeroth's waters, with frog-like legs and arms and huge fish heads topped with fins.

Some said they were servants of the naga. Others called them twisted worshipers of evil gods. Still others believed they were among Azeroth's oldest inhabitants, intelligent beings from the first transition between life in the sea and life on land.

Whatever the truth, murlocs didn't communicate with other races or live alongside outsiders. They had their own way of organizing society and could even wield magic. The best other races could do was stay as far away from them as possible.

In the real Azeroth, the Redridge Mountains weren't just the small range surrounding Lakeshire. They stretched from the coast of Stormwind north to Blackrock Mountain and south to Karazhan. All of those mountains belonged to the Redridge range.

People from Stormwind called this region Redridge because they lived on the Elwynn Plains and had to cross part of the mountains through a valley to get here. Local people preferred the name Lake Everstill Valley.

Listening to all the rumors and tales about Redridge and looking at the endless mountains in the distance, Jess grew increasingly convinced that finding a single orc hiding somewhere among them would be terribly difficult.

He watched the float on his fishing line and asked Gred, "You said this morning there were leads on that orc. What leads? Might as well tell me now."

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"The orc likes fresh fish," Gred said. "The Lakeshire militia noticed him ages ago. They say he's good at catching fish. In an hour or two, he catches..."

Gred lowered his voice to keep the nearby fishermen from hearing.

"...more than every amateur angler here has caught all afternoon put together."

He looked completely confident. "He likes fishing on cloudy days, especially when it's raining. It's been overcast in Redridge these past few days, and the town scholars say it'll probably rain tomorrow. We'll wait for him on that stretch of shore."

"The militia followed him and he didn't notice?" Jess asked skeptically. "Are orcs really that careless?"

"He's a spellcaster, not a hunter," Gred said. "An orc scout would never let these militia boys find him. Maybe the mage thinks nobody's seen him and plans to settle down here."

"If he's not a hunter, why is he so good at catching fish?"

"Magic," Gred said. "Didn't I tell you they think he's a mage because they saw him fishing with magic? He stands by the riverbank and chants, and the fish in the lake die from the spell. Then he just wades in and picks them up like fruit in a field."

Jess frowned. Something about that description sounded vaguely familiar. What sort of magic could kill fish underwater? Ice magic that lowered the water temperature? Or Corruption spreading through the water?

Gred interrupted his thoughts. "According to the militia, sometimes the fish don't even die. Some are still flopping when he pulls them out. What's so scary about a mage who can't even kill a fish?"

"I can't say," Jess replied thoughtfully.

"I've fought mages before, Jess," Gred said. "If you're quick enough to get beside one before he decides what spell to chant, he's as helpless as a fish slapped onto the shore. Even powerful mages, like elves, have to chant the spells that can hurt you quickly. Shoot an arrow through his mouth before he finishes. Know why there are so many mages on battlefields, but so few traveling alone? That's why. Give them room to stand back, and they're terrifying. Get right next to them, and they're fragile."

The dwarf tilted his head. "There are exceptions. Like that prince of Quel'Thalas. The undying old bastard. Must be at least eight hundred years old. I'm sure I couldn't beat him even with a sword. But we're hardly going to run into some orc Warchief or his son out in the wilderness, are we? Someone like Gul'dan. If this orc's magic is really that strong, why hasn't he attacked Stonewatch Keep himself? Why spend all this time catching fish?"

"I still think you and the militia are making very subjective judgments," Jess said.

"Both the militia and I have actually fought orcs," Gred replied. "Though there's one other possibility," he added. "Like you said before, the townspeople might be calling an orc warlock a mage. That could make things trickier. From what I know, warlocks may be even worse at protecting themselves than mages, but I haven't had many chances to fight a warlock one-on-one. No telling how that would go."

He stared hard at Jess and emphasized, "I mean a real warlock."

Jess rolled his eyes. "I brought three shadow protection potions. Each one lasts an hour. If we do run into that orc, we can each drink one."

"You thought ahead and prepared for a possible orc warlock?" Gred asked, surprised.

"They were originally meant for gnolls."

Jess remembered that there were plenty of gnoll spellcasters in Redridge. One clan called the Shadowhide had large numbers of warlocks. He just hadn't expected to use the potions against an orc before meeting any of them.

"Same difference," Gred said. "Wonderful! I feel much better now. Mages are easy to deal with, and we've got protection against warlocks. Tomorrow should be a piece of cake. We'll show those Lakeshire rookies what we can do!"

Jess, for his part, had no idea what great abilities the two of them had that were worth showing off to an orc.