User:Aeleas/One Troll's Journey

An account of one troll's journey to the island

 * After reading the words "Despite this internal debate, the Alliance places a high value on law and order in Theramore, and city guards make regular patrols to maintain the peace. When skirmishes break out between high elves and night elves or Alliance veterans decide to settle old debts upon an orc visiting the city, the guards are quick to round up the offenders for a speedy trial at the Foothold Citadel....", I wondered if perhaps Theramore Isle was safe for orcs as the statement implies.


 * In Warcraft lore, Jaina Proudmoore was able to overcome her mistrust of the Horde and work with them. It would make sense for Theramore to be a neutral city like Ratchet or Gadgetzan, wouldn't it? But everybody I knew told me that I'd probably be attacked if I went anywhere near the place. Well, there was only one way to find out, and I was too impatient to wait until I was the toughest troll I could be to conduct this experiment.


 * Braving the Dustwallow Marsh at level 25 as a ghost wolf, I attempted to sneak past the mobs and reach the safety (?) of Theramore Isle. After finding Brackenwall Village I backtracked and set off down the road to the east. Soon I saw some sentries from Theramore up ahead, and they were marked as hostile. Of course, I had run into Alliance NPCs who were similarly marked before, and they didn't attack me when I walked up to them, presumably because I was not flagged for PVP at the time. Would that be the case with these soldiers? Sadly, no. They came at me when I got too close. I tried to run, inadvertently attracting the attention of a nearby crocolisk (or whatever those gators in the Marsh are called). I didn't make it very far before I was killed.


 * Well, I thought, maybe, just maybe, the guards in the actual city are more civil. I returned to my corpse, returned to life, and went on down the road. Seeing more Theramore troops in my way, I took care not to attract their attention and to give them a wide berth. Finally I reached the gates....and ran into a problem. Two soldiers were standing guard, both of them were tougher than me, and both of them would aggro me like the sentries I'd encountered earlier. There was absolutely NO way I would be able to waltz in through the gates without getting a sword in the gut, and no way for me to sneak past them. Even if I did, I'd likely run into other similarly hostile guards inside.


 * While attempting to find another way in, I attracted the attention of a pair of guards I hadn't noticed. In desperation I jumped into the water, hoping they wouldn't follow. The overzealous bastards were all too eager to get their armor wet and rusty by plunging in after me and giving chase. They are deceptively fast swimmers. So it was that I became a floating corpse and was forced to make another long trip from a graveyard far to the west to the location of my latest death.


 * Upon regaining corporeality, I swam onto a nearby rock with what appeared to be some sort of lighthouse on it and spent a few moments healing myself. Then I decided to swim around to the docks and see if it was possible to gain entry to the city from that direction and possibly do so without encountering any bloodthirsty soldiers. While I splashed along I noticed two things that gave me pause. One was a dead night elf floating beneath the waves. The other was the thing that might have killed him: a mean-looking shark. I decided that it might be wise to leave the water and risk getting killed by the guards again, so I tentatively made my way up the shore to the docks. Seeing some more hostile guards not too far away, I was careful not to get too close.


 * I did run into a human privateer NPC from Booty Bay. While unable to talk to him, I was able to approach him without getting aggroed. What a nice fellow.


 * Making my way onto a dock, I decided to try something else: seeing what would happen if I stood around waiting for a ship and what would happen if I climbed onto that ship when it arrived. I was never able to find out, sadly, since as I strolled down the dock a guard appeared out of nowhere right behind me and began hacking away. I died once again, and by now my armour was in pretty sad shape. After I came back to life a third time, I decided that it would be a good idea to give up, log out, and write about my experience so that others would not share my tragic fate.


 * Conclusion? If you're an orc and you try visiting Theramore, you can be damned sure that virtually every human you encounter WILL try to "settle an old debt" with you. At least at this time. Theoretically, Blizzard could change things and make it possible for Horde races to walk into Theramore unscathed. But I doubt they will, because that would make too much sense. For now, Theramore Isle may as well be under the control of Daelin Proudmoore rather than his daughter, because any orcs who visit will suffer the kind of fate that Daelin Proudmoore (not Jaina) would wish upon them. Which, IMHO, is incredibly stupid.

