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

Technological terror: The Foe Reaper 4000

World of Warcraft may not be the first game that pops into your head when you hear the words "rampaging robots". But look at Gnomeregan, Ulduar... and Westfall. And when you have an awesome name like Foe Reaper 4000, who's going to question you?



Now, granted, the Foe Reaper 4000 is classified as a harvest golem but since it's classified as a "mechanical" creature and there's plenty of monsters in the game which are described more or less as robots. The gnomes and goblins both build them, albeit often powered by arcane substances of some kind. I guess it's like the best of both worlds.

Or worst.



Where can I find it?



Now, this guy is a bit harder to track down than our previous entries in this series. The Foe Reaper 4000 is found in Westfall, but can appear in several spots, roughly the same spots where the normal harvest golems can be found. I have seen it in the Dead Acre several times, just south-east of Sentinel Hill.

To add to this, mechanical creatures can't be tracked by any hunter ability, or any other class ability that I know of, making tracking this guy down a purely visual search.

What's the story behind it?



As mentioned, the Foe Reaper 4000 is a harvest golem. The in-game lore contains only brief descriptions of them, but by consulting the now-defunct Warcraft RPG we can actually learn a bit more. Harvest golems were originally constructed by goblin engineers (a fact supported by the fact that you see several similar constructs in employ by goblins in the game) for protection.

Later, when the Defias Brotherhood made their presence known in Westfall and started strongarming the populace, a group of goblins went into the employ of the bandits, either as volunteers or by force. As a result, the Defias now had the harvest golems at their disposal, and sent them off to scare farmers from their lands and terrorize the countryside. Presumably then, the Foe Reaper 4000 is a more advanced model than the generic golems lumbering around.



It may not be immediately obvious by looking at the pictures, but the Foe Reaper is a different color than the other harvest golems in the zone, being a blue tone and much darker overall. It's a quite nice look, and you will see it re-used much later in the game, as far as Northrend.



The Foe Reaper also has a unique drop, the appropriately named Scarecrow Pants. He also has a good chance to drop a 10-slot bag, in case you are running a beginner character in need of more storage space.

Overall, I like the design of harvest golems and how they add to the whole Defias storyline. The story of Westfall is one of the more memorable questlines from the alliance starter zones, and Deadmines is a classic.

Until next time, may your golems remain docile.

~Dragonshade