The Ongar - Chasing a slime for months

You can't tell because of how I structure the entries, but some rarespawns took me virtually no time at all to find, others eluded me for months (some still do as of this writing). Today's entry, another slime (thus untrackable by hunters), took me a very long time to track down. I visited Felwood a lot, but never quite managed to find it until a friend of mine accidentally stumbled across it and asked if I still needed to photo it. Quite a bit of luck for me!

This post is about the Ongar.



What is the Ongar, and where do I find it?

The Ongar is a rare spawn slime found in Felwood, on Kalimdor.



The Ongar appears in and around Bloodvenom Falls, in the center of the Felwood zone. As mentioned, the Ongar has no creature type and thus cannot be tracked by common means. This means you must use a rarespawn finder addon, manual targeting, or visual searching to locate it. The Ongar can spawn in several spots around the falls, several of which are wholly or partially underwater. A common spot to find it (as it is often killed when it spawns around the large pool by the road) is the smaller pool near the waterfall up near the eastern cliff face. Get there by going east from the southern end of the bridge and up the hill. Other spawnpoints include the small waterfall under the bridge and the large pool by the road, as mentioned.



It appears that the Ongar has a rather slow respawn timer, and is thus hard to find. I don't know the truth of this, but as it spawns in an area where there are a few quests, and since many people pass by here (the Horde flight point is nearby), seeing the Ongar may be a rare occasion. The Ongar does wander around a bit, so be patient and thorough when looking for it.

Battling the Ongar

As hard as it is to locate, the Ongar is a definite pushover in combat. Possessing no special abilities whatsoever, and little health. It is basically just a regular slime with a name. As such, any class can take it out easily, for that delicious extra loot.



While it has no unique loot, the Ongar does drop a couple of things of interest. First, it provides a slime sample for the Undercity questline to test the oozes of the world, which seems natural. Second, it has a somewhat high chance of dropping an Oozing Bag, the only source of the rare Disgusting Oozeling vanity pet. Be warned though, even if the Ongar drops the bag, the chance of it containing the pet is low as well. But sometimes the gamble pays off! I'm also amused that the Ongar often drops the trash item "Bubbling Green Ichor", as the creature is in fact not green.

On a somewhat odd note, one of the old patches contains the note that " Rare Felwood creatures should now have loot." Presumably at one point the Ongar and the other Felwood rares had poor or missing loot (similar to the situation with Ruul Onestone and some others still) but that this was corrected.

The lore of the Ongar

My personal belief is that the name of this slime is a pun on "hunger", referring to the devouring nature of ooze creatures. It might be totally wrong though, and if anyone has a better hunch, please let me know! I'll also assume the thing was named by someone, as I cannot imagine a slime being that sentient.



The slimes of Felwood are among the most heavily corrupted in any part of the world. They have become deeply tainted by the same demonic energies which have turned Felwood into a twisted, nightmarish land. As oozes are quite susceptible to these kinds of influences, it is a clear indicator of how much the surrounding habitat has been affected. In a way, slimes and oozes in World of Warcraft are indicator species, giving important hints about the state of their environment.



There's not much I can say about the Ongar as an individual, as that concept is hard to apply to a slime. I will say, however, that the blue-green color is quite nice, probably my favorite ooze coloration. Interestingly, the Ongar shares this color with Sludginn (which I covered here), an ooze found in an area not usually considered to be corrupted. Maybe the Ongar is a rare, uncorrupted Felwood slime?



In closing, I love this guy if only because of the enormous joy when I finally found it. I love the slime model and the color and the Ongar has a nice surrounding to slush around in. All in all, a nice rare to encounter.

Until next time, bring a change of clothes. You might get slimed.

~Dragonshade

Corruption-resistant? : Mongress

Some time ago I covered a very generic rarespawn bear named Old Vicejaw. This post covers a second rare mob bear which is basically identical to Vicejaw, and about as bland. This is the downside to being devoted to cover every rarespawn, I have to cover even the ones that there is very little to say about.

Without further ado, here's Mongress.



Short and sweet

Mongress is a rare mob bear found in Felwood on Kalimdor.



Mongress wanders around the forest of Felwood pretty close to the Emerald Sanctuary. She can be found west or north of the small druid base, wandering a small patrol path. Mongress is easy to spot even at a distance, because she has the normal bear skin, not the corrupted one prevalent in Felwood.



Be aware that Mongress is one of those mobs that sometimes spawns inside a tree. This is a somewhat common occurance in areas with lots of tree objects. I remember visting Darkshore for the first time and being attacked by bears inside trees which I couldn't target. So, just like with Lord Maldazzar, you may be able to target but not attack Mongress.

Scant facts

Mongress has a standard bear model, as mentioned, and one of the most common colorations. The standard brown bear can be found in classic, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content. Her only special ability is a damage-increasing enrage, and she is quite easy to defeat.



Mongress has no unique drops, and will look like any other brown bear if tamed. From the name I have guessed that Mongress is a female bear, but sadly she has no cubs to care for.



The only really interesting trivia about this rare is that it is one of few creatures in Felwood that's entirely corrupted by the lingering fel presence of demons. Presumably that is why Mongress has been given a name (perhaps by the nearby druids), noting her resistance to the decay afflicting the forest.



One of the most generic and bland rares in the game, Mongress is little more than a name and a source for a green item. Next time I'll cover something more interesting, I promise.

~Dragonshade

Corruption spreads: Dessecus

In the aftermath of Archimonde's demonic invasion of Azeroth, many regions were left badly scarred and tainted by the Legion's twisted presence. One such region is Felwood. Once part of the vast, ancient forest of Ashenvale covering the slopes of Mount Hyjal, site of the world tree Nordrassil, the forest that is today Felwood was tainted by the Legion and even today remains a stronghold for demonic forces, such as the secretive Shadow Council. Virtually every form of life in Felwood today is tainted.

Today's entry is about Dessecus.



Corrupted nature

Dessecus is a rare elite elemental found inside Inrontree Cavern in northern Felwood, in Kalimdor.



Dessecus can, as far as I have been able to determine, always be found in the exact same spot inside the cave. If you enter and quickly drop down, there is a large circular chamber on the lower level rather close to the entrance. Dessecus can be found here, attended by a number of regular Warpwood elementals.



Visually, Dessecus is not very different from the other elementals in the area. However, he hits very hard in comparison and has a lot of health. In addition he can summon a small thunderstorm on top of attackers making them take even more damage while fighting. This makes him a dangerous enemy. If you plan to attack him, make absolutely sure you clean out the lesser elementals first, as you will want room to maneuver if needed. He has no unique drops, providing only the standard uncommon quality drop.



The model that nature elementals use is usually referred to as the "Bog beast". This model is very frequently used in classic World of Warcraft, and you can find it from starter zones all the way up to the upper 50's areas of Azeroth. After Classic, the model has received somewhat less exposure. The basic movement pattern and physique for bog beasts is shared with a couple of other creature models, such as dire trolls and wights. Tellingly, you can recognize their idle animation where they swing around, dangling their arms.



When seen up close, and especially when increased in size, the bog beast model looks rather dated. It's somewhat blocky and undetailed, and the odd coloration chosen for the Felwood elementals does not help. It's one of those models that holds a lot of nostalgia for me (having leveled through Teldrassil many times as a newbie) but could do with an overhaul.

What we know

In the Warcraft universe, bog beasts and the many other creatures using the same model (such as Timberlings) are classified as elementals. However, in the Warcraft RPG they are described as ambulatory plants. The main difference would be that these creatures are not summoned from any of the elemental planes of the WoW cosmology, but rather "native" creatures.



The elementals of Felwood were not immune to the corruption spread by the demons and their minions, and have been infected by fel energies. Even the fire elementals show this corruption, and the plant beasts are no exception. They are hostile and dangerous, and the Cenarion Circle consider them beyond saving. Their sap is suspected to hold clues to helping other forms of life in the twisted forest, though, and since Deseccus will drop a piece of Blood Amber for the quest, he is probably just as badly corrupted as the rest.



Dessecus' power probably means it is an elder among the elementals, a creature that had lived in this forest for a long time before the demonic taint spread. This would probably also explain why it has powers beyond those of the other creatures, like summoning lightning. Like the treants nearby in Irontree Woods, these bog beasts were probably once peaceful creatures, and their loss to fel taint is truly a sad thing.



Next time you're questing in Felwood, take a moment to consider how destructive the Legion truly is, if their mere presence can cause deep scars in an area and cause the creatures there to become dangerous beasts that have to be put down. Regardless of the corruption, Irontree Woods is a wonderfully designed area and well worth visiting if you have the time.

Who knows? Maybe in Cataclysm the efforts of the Cenarion druids have shown results.

Until next time.

~Dragonshade