Memories of Vanilla #10 - Arathi Adventures

Hey dudes! Welcome back to Memories of Vanilla, my reflective series of my adventures back in original Classic World of Warcraft. Last time, I told the story of how I became a ninja by accident due to my noobishness. Well today, I've got another story of wonder and adventure.

Southshore, My Destination

I'm not 100% sure when this happened - pretty much like all of my memories from this time, it's all a bit foggy at this point - but it must have been before the ninja event, as at that point I had the Yeti Fur Cloak, which is a reward from a quest in Hillsbrad. But anyway, at some point in the late 20s or early 30s, I decided to head to Southshore, as I had a quest telling me to.

The Thandol Span

As a human priest, the furthest north I'd gotten until this point had been Menethil Harbor, so that's where I began my journey. Upon landing there, I headed out into the marshes along the road, back to that northward crossroads I had paused at previously. When I arrived, roughly halfway across the zone, I began heading up towards the border - the Thandol Span.


Crossing the bridge, I admired the detail of the huge chains holding the bridge up. Sure, it's all digital, but it looked epic. And with all the cracks and bits of broken rock, you could tell that this was a place that'd seen battle. Soon, however, I had gotten all the way across and I continued along the path winding across the highlands.

Arathi Highlands

I was getting pretty used to discovering new places at this point, so I knew to stick to the road and not to wander off, lest I be chased down by some spiders or something. And so, that's what I did. Running along the road, I looked left and right at the orange raptors and grey tarantulas wandering in the grasses. They weren't too much higher level than me, so I began to relax a bit. I made my way to Refuge Point, grabbed the flight path, and set out again onto the road.


Letting my guard down, as you probably guessed, was a mistake.


I got back onto the road and headed west towards Hillsbrad, enjoying the scenery as I did so. As I walked on, I noticed Stromgarde to my left and wondered what there was to do there. But as I was looking at the keep, I failed to notice the group approaching me on the road: the Forsaken Courier and her entourage of bodyguards...

A Forsaken Bodyguard

The Forsaken Courier

Quickly, I ran off the road and tried to dodge the group, but I had gotten too close to the patrolling pack. They began chasing me - over a hill and right into a spider creeping by the path. And, of course, just as I thought I might manage to escape, a web appeared at my feet - I was snared. Within seconds, the swarm of undead ran back to the road, leaving my priest lifeless under the spider's feet.


I made my way back to my body...again...and resolved to be more careful as I continued on my journey. I would eventually learn to constantly be wary of mobs, patrols, and general dangers out in the open world, but this was not that day.

I hope you enjoyed my short story of getting slaughtered out in Arathi. Looking back, I'm starting to notice a pattern in my memories of classic back in the day - lots of dying and noobishness. But that was where most of the fun came from back then: learning about the world and the different zones, monsters, and obstacles as you went. Nowadays, I think a lot of people already know or have experienced situations like this, and so it's a lot less likely that situations like this will arise. But then again, maybe not. Hopefully, WoW Classic will bring in, and keep, a lot of people that never experienced the old world, so maybe it will be their turn to line the streets and forests with their skeletons while the classic veterans look on.


Anyway, that's all for now. If you liked this story, let me know by leaving a comment down below. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and check out my YouTube channel for more content like this. Until next time guys, take it easy!