Tuesday, March 16, 2010

You no take candle! - Master Digger

There are volumes of lore written about the famous races of Azeroth and Draenor and their mighty deeds. The libraries are filled of tales of night elves, orcs, humans, trolls and other mighty people. But some races exist which are constantly in the shadows of others. They have no great tales to tell, their origins are clouded, and they seem little more than savage monsters to the other races.

Kobolds are one such minor race of the World of Warcraft, and today's rare is Master Digger.



Who is Master Digger and where can I find him?

Something I realized when writing this entry is that, since most of the "lesser" creatures of WoW do not have models for a male and a female gender, I can't really be sure what I should call each mob. Is that a male or female gnoll? What about kobolds? I tend to default to using male pronouns, and hope nobody feels offended by this.

Master Digger is a rare mob kobold found inside the Jangolode Mine in Westfall, in the Eastern Kingdoms. He is a rather typical kobold, carrying a mining pick and the obligatory candle, and wearing blue.



The Master Digger is fairly easy to locate. Jangolode is a small mine, with few possible hiding places. Just run through and you should find him, as his respawn timer is also fairly short.



If drawn into combat, he attacks with standard warrior abilities, but poses little threat unless you are of a much lower level.

What's his story?

As mentioned in my earlier Westfall post, the region is under constant threat from the gang of bandits called the Defias Brotherhood. Based in the Deadmines underneath Moonbrook, this gang of thieves, murderers and renegades have a network of operatives and alliances with other races. It seems one of those alliances is with the kobolds, who seem to tolerate the defias.



The ratlike kobolds are covetous and respect strength, so it is quite possible the Defias have simply proven themselves strong enough to earn their respect, or drawn them into service with offers of riches. That would make the Master Digger the overseer of Jangolode, and the largest and strongest kobold there.



While the poor fellow doesn't even have a proper name, the Master Digger does have two quite interesting unique drops. One is a two-handed axe in the shape of a mining pick, and the other is a mace in the form of a shovel. Always fun to see everyday items even in a fantastic game like this. Reminds me of the pitchforks carried by the farmers in Hillsbrad.

We may not know much about kobolds, but who hasn't been chased by a swarm of enraged ones while trying to quest in some low-level mine?

~Dragonshade

4 comments:

johnliu.net said...

really lovely concept for a wow blog - adding it to my blog list.

a few suggestions:

I love some of the tags "westfall" - which will, overtime, allow the readers to check out all the rares in one particular area. Was wondering whether you'd want other tags, such as "humanoid", or "beast".

space out the blogs a bit - I'm not sure how you can keep the current pace up!

:-)

Dragonshade said...

Creature type tags sound like a good idea, great suggestion.

The main reason I'm posting at a fast pace is that I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, and I think the blog would look better if I built up a decent archive at the start.

CrankieFoodie said...

Just found you through Hunter's Mark - wow! (No pun intended.) Love your blog's focus, layout (lots of pics!), and your writing style. Thanks for all your work and I look forward to more!

Dragonshade said...

Thank you very much, Rene.

Please feel free to suggest anything you think may be improved in the future.