Azeroth Adventures Volume 1
By Uncle Narfboy
Gather around the fire children and hear a tale of adventure from the Gnome who was there and saw it happen. Once upon a time a young Hairfoot by the name of Narfboy set foot to trail and headed out to see the big wide world. It wasn’t long before he discovered a vast land of wonderment and bewilderment in equal measure. He fought and overcame many obstacles over the years, but one thing he never mastered was the art of Fishing. This is the tale of how that came to be.
With a twinkle in his eye and a song in his heart, Narboy surveyed the shores of the vast loch in the province of Modan. He had never seen so much melted water in one place and you can be sure the sight was nigh overwhelming. With his new fishing pole in hand and the rudiments of the craft recently explained to him by the helpful human just a few paces away, Narf approached the water. With a mighty heave his hook sailed into the distance and droped *plop* into the water. He eyed the bobber nervously, but with eager glee. It would be just a matter of time before he started hauling in a catch that would make the grandest angler proud, but as with any newfound craft this would take practice. He saw his bobber twitch and with a mighty heave he hauled back on his pole and caught…… Nothing.
He stared in befuddlement at his empty hook. Perhaps he had not set the worm just right. Maybe his little sparkly thing wasn’t polished enough. He quickly remedied the situation, vigorously rubbing the lure on the sleeve of his robe. Once again he heaved a mighty cast and watched diligently to see if a fish would take the bait. A twitch and pull and another empty hook. Again he cast and again he came up empty handed.
Finally he could stand it no more. There is only so much a young Gnome can take. With one final heave and a curse Narfboy threw the entire pole into the Lock and never looking back, stormed away. That day Narf voiced a solemn vow to never fish again and for many long years he held to it as a miser holds to his gold. Stingily but to no profit.
Many years passed and The curmudgeonly old Gnome forgot all about the old fishing pole until one day on the shores of the Grizzly Hills the vow came back to haunt him. An old man and his hungry bear desperately needed fish. They would starve without help. What was an old Gnome to do? He couldn’t just leave them to their fate. How would he look at himself in the sparkling pools if he let them die? His conscience simply would not allow him to do nothing, so with a sigh of resignation he ported home and bought a shiny new fishing pole.
Upon returning to the Hills he discovered that the task was not as miserable as he remembered. It was still more chore than fun but it was something he could reasonably do. Perhaps you could teach an old Gnome new tricks he thought. Soon his skill began climbing to unbelievable heights but it still wasn’t enough to secure him the delicacies he most craved. He called out to his companions for advice and they said “what is your fishing skill?” 12 he replied through gritted teeth. That is eleven points higher than it was 20 minutes ago.
After some gentle mocking it was discovered that the bear handler had actually provided a net just for this purpose and the pole was not needed. Narf quickly rid himself of the hated instrument once more and thought he had seen the last of it’s kind until last night.
You never know when some insidious denizen of Dalaran will once again trick you into spending 4 copper on a device you know you will hate, but with the promise of unspeakable treasure, how could any Gnome resist the temptation to once again pit his wits against the fish once more. With his newly acquired pole in hand Narfboy bellied up to the docks in the sewers of Dalaran and began casting his line into the depths in search of lost jewelry. Before long it became apparent that his prowess was growing by leaps and bounds. To his dismay a friend took note of his 25th successful cast. When Narf explained his quest the friend’s jaw dropped. “There is no way you’re ready to find jems he stated, you need to train and perhaps invest in a better pole. “ Narfboy scrutinized his pole and then demanded “What’s wrong with this one, I just paid four hard earned coppers for it?” The friend explained that while it may be a fine fishing pole for a beginner it would take much better gear to get this job done and that would take patience, time, and training.
Narfboy was about to wash his hands of the whole thing one last time when a slight tickle at the back of his noggin made him hold back. He remembered once hearing of a spell that would make these long hours of training worth it. To be able to polymorph his enemies into turtles, that would be something. The more he thought about it the more it came back to him. There was a dungeon somewhere with a curious monster that would teach an aspiring mage this very spell. But it would take fishing skill to the tune of about 300. For that, Narfboy would master this art and then watch out Horde, Your turtle is on it’s way.
Stay tuned for progress reports on this personal goal and other happy little tales of Narfboy as he makes his way across the land with eyes wide open and mouth handing down.