Urban Legends of Warcraft: The key, the essence and the ship
Urban Legends of Warcraft: The key, the essence and the ship
Everyone seems to be talking about Cataclysm these days — and that’s not a bad thing, after all the expansion is completely overhauling everything we knew and were familiar with. A lot of the Cataclysm hype surrounds the thought of “finishing” the original game as completely as possible, because many of those beloved quest chains and moments from vanilla will be gone without a trace when the expansion launches. Yet even as these chains are recommended, players forget some of the earliest quests in the game — mysteries that were never fully explained.
There has been a long-running idea since the days of vanilla that there are still quests out there in vanilla that have not been completed. Despite the addition of the Loremaster achievement, there still isn’t a single player in this game who has finished “every quest,” because some quests have never been completed or even discovered. The thought of undiscovered quests sets people on a flurry of activity, speculation and forum threads that often provided more entertainment than whatever quest they were seeking answers for. One of the biggest mysteries in vanilla WoW didn’t involve dragons or legendary swords or epic moments at all — instead, it all began with a simple, unassuming box located in a quiet glade.
The Key to Salem’s Chest
The box in question looked like any other lootable item in game — a lockbox similar to those used for enterprising rogues that were leveling their lockpicking skill — but mousing over the box revealed a name: Dark Cleric Salem’s Chest. Trying to open the box prompted text that informed players that they could not open the box without the Key to Salem’s Chest. This box can still be found in Tirisfal Glades, at a small camp east of the Scarlet Monastery. The camp is predictably full of Scarlet Crusade members, including Lieutenant Sanders, the only named NPC in the area.
Endless speculation surrounded this box. Some believed it held gold, others that it held epic gear or items, and still others believed that it had something to do with Ashbringer and the quest to obtain the legendary weapon. At this time, one of the only places to look up quest and item information was Thottbot — and players who traveled to Thottbot to look up the item found a very odd comment that has since been removed from the site, by a poster named A Natural Shadow.
The lost key is what ur [sic] looking for. Once hidden amongst the rubble of a statue out of place in the great city turned forsaken. Humans will never return for the sounds of the dead ring loud in the halls surrounding the throne room closed from the world. The sense of the unseen bushes you as you pass. The key has been stolen by one man not quite dead, but not quite alive, cursed by the touch of Salem. He lost himself to the world so that only those whom can save him, who would risk their own life to hand him an unseen arm of salvation. The man has been driven mad by his solitude and often speaks to himself to easy the loneliness of eternity torn.
Have you paid attention to the voices that land on deaf ears in the hall of the undead?
Naturally riddles spur interest — even if the riddle means nothing at all. Players continued to come up with wild theories surrounding the chest, its contents and the location of the mysterious key to no avail. Players asked GMs at every opportunity about the key and the chest, what it meant and where the key was located, but GM response was just as cryptic as the faux riddles posted on Thottbot. Speaking of Thottbot, other riddles appeared and prompted another flurry of speculation, including the one quoted below by a poster calling himself Trust of Whisper.
Find the being in lustrous sheen, in the pale grey nothing alone!
Up in the fingers of lively boughs, Above the calm of this present.
Down in the roots of the grey and thin,
Below their chaos of the past: staying between these two before the last turn.
Lift from the flesh of the earth, the eloquent posture was never praised at all.
Rights of the wild in the rough, there is the scar of life.
Left alone: A woman and man, calm and chaos.
Write to him from Lordaeron, rotting with laughter remember:
Be shy and smile softly to easily trick him.
A meeting will take place, that has taken place before!
Begin in the cavernous tapestry of mortality, knowing forsaken’s bright lore.
Undead concentration wrought of pure mana…
Thrust of whisper on green,
hushed body to pull
taught and stir.
Rushed azure
wide arching null,
flooding upside-down deep.
In the same location but ages, ages past.
Terribly interesting yet not at all useful, the poem seems to make vague reference to both the dragonflights, and the crypts below Karazhan and the room known as Upside Down Sinners — places that hadn’t been implemented with any quests or information but were still some of the creepiest locations in Azeroth. Much like the riddles before them, these led exactly nowhere.
Frustration with the key and the chest grew, and players continued to beg GMs for clarification about the key’s existence. Finally, in 2007, a blue poster named Eilanai confirmed what everyone had been fervently hoping wasn’t the case for the past three years:
Eilanai
Hi Xive,
You cannot currently gain this item in game; perhaps it will be introduced in the future 
source
So much for that mystery. With the announcement of Cataclysm’s launch, players who were around for the original flurry of interest involving Dark Cleric Salem’s Chest have hopes of the chest finally, at last, being implemented in game. Unfortunately, for now, it looks as though something odd went on at that little camp of Scarlet Crusaders — the corpses of the camp’s occupants lie charred on the ground, bathed in violet flame — and as for Lieutenant Sanders, well, at least he’s still hanging around.
Oddly, though, he seems to be in a bit of a jam; he is currently flagged as a green mob to players. You cannot attack him, but you cannot speak with him, either — he merely hangs suspended from a chain next to a suspended cage, cowering occasionally. What decimated the camp? Why is Sanders hanging there, and how did he avoid the fate of his comrades? Most importantly, it’s no longer a question of “Where do you get the Key to Salem’s Chest?” Instead, it’s “Where has Dark Cleric Salem’s Chest gone?” The box is mysteriously absent from the glade. Either something wanted the chest very, very badly, or whatever was in the chest escaped, to the horror of the camp’s terrified inhabitants …
The Essence of Eranikus
“Mortal, heed this plea. I am Eranikus of the Green Dragonflight, keeper of this accursed temple. My charge to ensure that the trolls never again bring forth their abomination of a god has for now ended in failure. As I imbue this gem with part of my essence, I sense my grip on the Dream twisting into chaos. Please – place this gem into the essence font in my lair, and let our magic there purge the taint from my psyche so that I may rest.”
The Sunken Temple was never a fan favorite as far as instances went. A maze of narrow passageways and endless stairwells, the temple was tricky to navigate at best, and at worst, one could expect to be lost in the passages for hours, trying to complete quests that originated all over the world.
While most players considered the instance itself “complete” when Hakkar was resurrected and summarily defeated, there were other portions of the temple that had to be cleared out, including an area filled with hostile green dragons, headed by the Shade of Eranikus. Killing Eranikus prompted the drop of the Essence of Eranikus, a quest item that started the dialogue quoted above. Cleansing the essence did not have the effect that the green dragon hoped for:
“Thank you mortal, you have — no… this, this cannot be! No! The corruption of this accursed god even taints the sanctity of a Green Dragonflight Essence Font! No please, I feel my essence ripping from me! THE PAIN! I feel the grip of an eternal nightmare taking hold on me…”
“Mortal, I implore you! Find one of the Green Dragonflight to stop this … help me … I am chained in darkness… forever in agony … please do not torture …”
It also gave players a trinket called the Chained Essence of Eranikus that could be used to release a poison cloud that would harm enemies. More interesting than the trinket were the whispers of the chained essence:
“Will the nightmare ever end?! I cannot force myself awake!”
“My soul is not a trinket! Mortal, you must release me from these chains!”
“My eyes! It burns … it burns …”
“Torture me no more! Release me, mortal! The Swamp of Sorrows … mortal … please …”
“Foolish mortal, I will rend your soul in two once I am released!”
“Foolish mortals you do not yet see the potential of that Artifact.”
“You are an agent of their wicked god, fool. I will see you destroyed!”
“My charge to watch the temple has failed … my corrupted soul knows no peace …”
“It hurts so much … Itharius, my old friend … Please help me …”
Other than the whispered name, there is no hint as to the quest line’s next stop — which ends up being a green dragon named Itharius who lives in a small cave in the Swamp of Sorrows. Itharius, who has taken the form of a high elf, is very concerned with Eranikus’ fate — because he is Eranikus’ brother. He has players take an oath to help redeem Eranikus from the Nightmare that has entangled the green dragon and asks that the chained essence be turned over as well, before sending players out to Winterspring to speak with Umbranse the Spiritspeaker who will doubtless be the beginning of a long and interesting quest chain.
Except … it isn’t. Players who turned in the essence and visited Umbranse were treated to the following text:
Itharius was wise to send you to me. While he is not dead as you understand death, Eranikus will soon give us advice in his own words. For now though, I cannot directly help you … at least not yet.
I will lend my skill at death-speaking to you, but first I need the help of one who — unlike me — is not limited by the frailties of old age. My most potent augury device has been taken from me against my will, and unless I have it back we will be at a loss to help Eranikus.
And then the quest line abruptly halted. Not to be outdone, players scoured the corners of Azeroth for possible clues, certain that somehow, someplace in Azeroth there must be a quest giver or an item that would lead to the augury. Or perhaps the augury itself was hidden away, much like the Ashbringer. In fact, some players tried to tie the two together, suggesting that Timolain’s Phylactery, an item commonly thought to be a piece of the nonexistent chain for the legendary sword, was in fact the “augury device” that Umbrase sought.
Bringing the Phylactery to Umbranse did nothing, however. And other clever methods were sought out — some suggested that players needed to bring the Spectral Essence from Scholomance to Umbranse, or even the Eye of Divinity, only obtainable in Molten Core. But none of these items appeared to offer any kind of continuation. Players kept their essences, unwilling to turn them in for fear of the chain eventually being continued and all their work that had been poured into the chain so far being for naught. The plight of the corrupted green dragon drove players crazy for years, and as with other unfinished chains, the response from GMs was either infuriatingly cryptic or just plain unhelpful.
Eventually Ahn’Qiraj was released, and the corruption of Eranikus was addressed. Tyrande Whisperwind redeemed him in Moonglade with the help of players as part of the quest for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands; and Richard A. Knaak also addresses his corruption and redemption in the novel Stormrage that was released earlier this year. Unfortunately, there was nothing more said regarding Umbranse the Spiritspeaker or Itharius. While Umbranse still sits in his tiny shed out in the snowy peaks of Winterspring, Itharius, at least, has gotten a larger role — you can now find Itharius in Northrend at the temple in Dragonblight, serving as the Ambassador of the Green Dragonflight to the Wyrmrest Accord.
The mystery of the Horizon Scout
Azshara is one of those zones you either hate or love, depending on how much time you’ve devoted to finding the small handful of quests that are available in the area. One little-known quest lies along the southern coast of Azshara, tucked away in the rocky chasms along the shore. Players that manage to find their way to the southern reaches will encounter a stranded group of sailors led by Captain Vanessa Beltis. The captain explains that her ship was looking for a safe place to anchor when they were attacked by naga.
The crew managed to fight off the naga at first, but it appears that whatever the naga were searching for was important enough that they continue to attack the stranded crew. Players are given a quest to defend Captain Beltis and her crew from the naga attack. Oddly, the quest offers no experience or rewards when it is completed, and it is repeatable — perhaps one of the lowest-level repeatable quests in the game. Captain Beltis expresses her gratitude and suggests that players speak to the other surviving passengers for more errands, but the crew isn’t talking. The quest seems to serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever, a forgotten beginning to yet another chain that looked to be interesting.
Some players were annoyed by the lack of quests and decided to explore the area to see if there was something they were missing — and there was. Just off the coast of Azshara at the edge of fatigue waters was a mess of floating debris, which wasn’t really peculiar — but the water around the debris appeared to be boiling. A trip down into the depth revealed the sunken remains of the Horizon Scout. While swimming to the ship could flag a player with the fatigue bar, once on the ship, the fatigue bar would disappear.
Interestingly enough, there appeared to be other survivors. In the hull of the ship are a few crew members and a gnome named Roland Geardabbler, who is surrounded by a barrier-like bubble and is casting some sort of spell. Apparently, he’s responsible for the crew’s being able to breath underwater all this time, and the boiling effect of the water above is simply air bubbles from his spell, rising to the surface. Roland is friendly to both Alliance and Horde, but doesn’t have anything to say; the crew members are also silent.
On the floor of the hull is a chunk of azsharite, a mineral found throughout Azshara. Whether this has anything to do with what the naga are after is unknown. Players have long searched for quests regarding this crew, but the only clues that there was more intended for the little band of sailors is one quest, unimplemented, that can be found on Wowhead, and a curious item. The quest, titled <UNUSED>, requires players to slay Roland, the First Mate, the Engineer and the Cook, all aboard the sunken ship. The item is Roland’s Mana Gem — an object that doubtless belonged to the gnome mage.
What exactly was the purpose of the Horizon Scout? What were they carrying that the naga wanted, and why was their story unfinished? Did the developers simply run out of time, or was the chain removed from the original beta and the NPCs left as they were? It’s all up in the air, although the unused quest suggests that Roland and friends may have somehow been responsible for the naga attack, or that perhaps the naga were after Roland’s mana gem. Likely this was meant to be a hub, similar to the one that exists in Faldir’s Cove, and simply wasn’t finished in time. While the debris, strange bubbles and sunken remains of the Horizon Scout exist in the Cataclysm beta, Roland, Captain Beltis and the rest of the crew are nowhere to be seen.
The interesting part about these quests isn’t the quests themselves but the sheer ingenuity that people displayed in trying to puzzle out the impossible. Despite knowing from a rational standpoint that these things more than likely were just never implemented, players still scoured Thottbot and the game for clues. Gigantic forum threads about the broken quest lines were created that delved into theories behind the quests and possible solutions that would get players to that next step. And then, of course, there were the riddle masters of Thottbot, who came up with clever clues for the sole purpose of keeping people guessing.
It often raised the question of whether it was the item or quest that people were obsessed over, or the simple thrill of the chase — there’s nothing like coming up with a really clever solution to a problem and then sharing it with those around you. Though some unfinished quests like The Missing Diplomat and The Black Shield chains in Dustwallow Marsh received updates that completed them, there were many others that were simply left to sit unfinished, their questions never answered.
Ever since the first coy suggestion from a GM that nobody had ever completed every quest in the game, players have been trying to accomplish just that. As Cataclysm approaches, the deadline to complete the quests that do exist draws ever closer. Back in vanilla, players had Thottbot to go on, but these days they have Wowhead — and Wowhead is an extremely useful tool. Since the site pulls its information from the game, if there is a quest in the game that exists, it exists on Wowhead — even the ones that were never implemented. This makes the guessing game a little less mysterious and a lot more analytical. Still, it’s fun to reminisce about the days when players spent long, spellbound hours poring over a simple wooden box, finding it firmly locked with nary a key in sight.
