Chapter 59 The Legend of Red Ridge Mountain

Spent the afternoon fishing with Grider, and a couple of local middle-aged guys, not much to show for it, but finally got a good view of Stopwater Lake, and heard a lot of interesting myths as well.

For example, the water monster in Lake Stopover, the mermaid in the lake, and so on.

The locals told these things as legends, but Jacek knew that they were all supposed to be true.

The so-called stop water lake monster, the locals described that water monster as a huge monster fish, every time it appeared there would be heavy rain and storms blowing on the lake, even the orcs were scared to death.

Jace knew that in the game it was a serpent-necked dragon that lived at the bottom of the lake, and as Jace looked out over the lake that stretched almost out of sight, the depth and the impenetrable mystery made it hard for him to imagine what the water monster here really looked like.

As for the mermaids, they’re probably the Naga Water Demons lurking here.

The residents of Lakeside also knew not to head out into the waters too far from the town on their own, not only did these legends send chills down people’s backs, but more importantly Lake Stopper was also the largest fishman habitat in the entire Stormwind Kingdom, and the fishmen who lived here could have built another kingdom.

Fishmen, little monsters with frog-like legs and arms but bearing the head of a huge finned fish are a specialty of Azeroth’s waters.

Some say they are slaves of Naga, some say they are twisted worshippers of evil gods, some say they are the original and earliest denizens of Azeroth, transitional intelligent beings who first came to the surface from the sea.

In short, the fishmen don’t interact with any other races, nor do they live with any outsiders, but they have their own social logic and are even able to control magic, and all the other races can do is stay as far away from them as possible.

In the real Azeroth world, the Red Ridge Mountain is not at all this small mountainous area around the town of Lakeside, but a large mountainous area starting from the coast of Stormwind City, north to the Black Stone Mountains, and south to Karazhan, are all part of the Red Ridge Mountain.

The people of Stormwind like to call this place the Red Ridge Mountains because they live in the plains of Elwyn, and to get here they need to cross a part of the valley of the Red Ridge Mountains, whereas the people on this side of the world prefer to call this place the valley of the Stopping Lake.

Listening to all sorts of rumors and tidbits about the Red Ridge Mountains, and looking further out into the rolling Red Ridge Mountains, Jace was getting the impression that it wouldn’t be hard to find an orc in hiding in such mountains?

He looked at the float of his rod and asked Grid, who was next to him, “In the morning you said there were clues about that orc, what are they, why don’t you tell them now.”

“That orc is a river food enthusiast.” Grider said, “The local militia in Lakeside was on to him early on, and the men said he was very good at fishing, catching fish in an hour or two ……”

He lowered his voice, avoiding the few fish companions not far away, and said, “More than all the amateur anglers here have caught in an afternoon combined.”

With a confident look on his face, Grid said, “He likes to catch fish when it is cloudy, especially when it rains …… It has been cloudy on this side of Red Ridge Mountain for the past two days, and the town scholars say that it is likely to rain to-morrow, and then we will go to the shore of that lake and wait for him.”

“The Militia followed him and he didn’t notice?” Jace said with some skepticism, “Are orcs that unvigilant?”

“He’s a spell reader, not a hunter.” Grid said, “If those orc scouts, there’s no way they could have been spotted by the militia here, the mage probably thought no one would find him and planned to stay in seclusion here.”

“How is he so good at catching fish if he’s not a hunter?” Jace asked.

“With magic.” Grid said, “Didn’t I tell you these people think he’s a mage now, it’s because they saw him catching fish with magic! He stands by the river and recites a spell, and the fish in the lake are killed by magic, and all he has to do is go down to the water and pick them up, like he’s picking up the fruit he’s planted in the ground.”

Jace frowned, he always found the description a bit indefinably familiar, what kind of magic kills fish in water? Ice magic to cool the water? Or corrosive magic spreading into the water?

Grid interrupted his thoughts and said, “Listen to the people of the militia group said, some fish can not even die, was caught up when he is still alive and kicking le, you say that even the fish can not kill the mage, what is so scary.”

“I can’t say.” Jess said thoughtfully.

“I’ve fought mages, Jace.” Grid said, “As long as you’re quick enough to force yourself to his side before he can think of any spells to chant, he’ll be as dumb as a fish that’s been lapped ashore. Even if you run into a powerful mage, like an elf, the spells they can hurt you with quickly will have to be chanted in order for you to do so, and then you can just shoot an arrow through his mouth. Know why there are so many mages on the battlefield, but very few traveling alone? That’s the reason, you let those mages stand far away and leave space, they can exert terrifying power, but once they are close, they are vulnerable.”

Speaking of which, the dwarf cocked his head and said, “There are exceptions, such as the prince of Quel’thalas, that old undead thing. I think he’s been alive for at least 800 years, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t beat him with a sword. And of course we’re not likely to run into an orc chieftain, or his son, in the wild, are we? Like some Gul’dan or something. If that orc’s magic was really that great, why didn’t he attack the stone fortress himself? Stay there and catch fish after all this time?”

“I still think you and the Minutemen are being too subjective in your judgment.” Jace said.

“Both I, and the local militia, have actually fought orcs, but there is another situation.” Grid added, “Like you said before, the people here think an orc warlock is a mage. That could be a bit of a problem, although from what I know, warlocks are probably a bit worse at defending themselves than mages, but after all, I haven’t had many encounters with warlocks one-on-one, so who’s to say what’s really going on.”

He stared at Jace and emphasized again, “I mean meeting a real warlock.”

Jace gave him a blank look and said, “I brought 3 bottles of Shadow Protection Potion, the potency will last for an hour, so when we do run into that orc, we can drink one bottle each.”

“You actually thought we might have to deal with orc warlocks and prepared ahead of time?” Grid was surprised.

“It was supposed to be for dealing with jackals.”

Jace remembered that there were many jackal casters in the Red Ridge Mountains, and that a tribe of jackals called the Darkskins had large masses of warlocks. He just didn’t realize that he would have to use it against the orcs first before he even encountered them.

“All the same.” Grid said, “Great, that’s a lot more reassuring in my mind, the mages are good to deal with, the warlocks have a handful of defenses, so tomorrow will be a handful, and then we’ll show these Lakeside rookies what we’re made of!”

Jace had no idea, anyway, what strength their pair had that was worth showing an orc.