Uldum: Level 83 - Sunday, May 8, 2011

For decades, adventurers have been looking for a way into Uldum, the legendary land of the Titans, located south of Tanaris, but have been unable to find a way in.  However, the Cataclysm has disabled the cloaking device that the Titans implemented to hide Uldum, and now brave archaeologists and treasure hunters are going into the newly-revealed desert to seek their fortune.  

You join up with one of the caravans heading into Uldum, and it isn't long before your entire group is captured by some hostile native pygmies.  

You are sold to the Neferset, a tribe of the ancient cat people called the Tol'vir, who have been tasked with protecting the secrets of Uldum.  The Neferset have been corrupted, however, and you are thrown into prison with Prince Nadun of the rival tribe of the Neferset, the Ramkahen. 

You are able to escape your cell and spy on the Neferset to get an idea of their plans.  Not surprisingly, they have entered into a bargain with the elemental Windlord, Al'Akir, who commands djinns and air creatures who, in turn, is being manipulated by Deathwing.  

You are able to free the rest of your allies and Prince Nadun, create a distraction, and flee the Neferset city disguised as Tol'vir.  Prince Nadun, in gratitude, takes you to the city of Ramkahen.  

Once there, you are introduced to the king of the Ramkahen, who tells you about the their dire situation.  The Neferset are demanding that he give them an ancient scepter that is believed to be the key to the secret of Uldum...a staff which Deathwing believes will provide him with a weapon capable of destroying all of Azeroth.  The Ramkahen refused, and as a result, the Neferset, aided by Al'Akir, buried one of their cities in a massive sandstorm.  

The Ramkahen, unable to withstand such power, are about to concede defeat and the scepter, but you convince the king to hold a vote to determine if they should wage war against the Neferset.  You are sent to the various decision-makers of Ramkahen, who are spread out in surrounding areas of Uldum, and come back with the decision that Ramkahen will go to war with the Neferset.   

The Neferset have powerful colossi and legions of troops, but you are able to enter the city and kill their leader, which in turn, disables their colossi and turns the tide in Ramkahen's favor.  

The remaining Neferset flee to the Lost City of Tol'vir, having captured Siamat, the djinn sent by Al'Akir to oversee them.  

This five-man dungeon involves you entering the city, eliminating the remaining Neferset forces, and putting an end to Siamat's plan to enslave the Tol'vir.  

Players can also enter the Vortex Pinnacle, another five-person dungeon located high in the sky where powerful lieutenants of Al'Akir reside, led by the djinn, Assad.  

Meanwhile, everyone's favorite blatant reference, Harrison Jones is in Uldum, putting together the pieces of a puzzle that may unlock the greatest secret of Uldum, the rumored weapon that lies beneath the sands.  

You follow him around Uldum, activating three obelisks that are spread throughout the zone, and gathering information about the weapon, which he finds is located in a place called the Halls of Origination.   

Jones is not alone in his quest, however.  You stumble across a rival archaeologist's expedition, led by a goblin named Schnottz.  

Hoping to get a better idea of what's going on, you go undercover in Schnottz's operation, but find yourself blamed for an attack on his life.  You are saved at the last minute by Jones, who reveals that Schnottz is under Deathwing's control, and everyone is after the same thing; the power of the weapon that lies beneath Uldum.  After activating all three obelisks, they indicate the location of the Coffer of Promise, which contains the key to the Halls of Origination.  Just as you find the coffer, Schnottz shows up with black dragons.  

From out of the coffer appears Brann Bronzebeard, who had been trapped inside since finding the Coffer first.  Once Jones deshielded the coffer, Brann was free to activate the defense mechanism which destroys Schnottz and his dragon allies.  

Your final task is to meet Brann inside the Halls of Origination and help him deactivate the weapon, which is revealed to be a giant "Reset" button implemented by the Titans, a reorigination system that was placed on Azeroth to destroy all life if the Titans desired.  

The Halls are filled with Titanic guards who have been charged with destroying anybody who tampers with the device.  You must take them all out in order for Brann to disable the weapon permanently.  

Deepholm: Level 82 - Saturday, May 7, 2011

As soon as you hit Level 82, you are eligible to accept a quest that teleports you to the center of Azeroth, where the former warchief of the Horde, Thrall, is attempting to stabilize a massive maelstrom that has opened in the sea.  

Thrall, a shaman who gave up his position as warchief in order to answer the Earthen Ring's call to duty, tells you that when Deathwing erupted from the elemental plane, he damaged the World Pillar that separated the world from the plane, allowing elementals to enter Azeroth at will.  He also tells you that if the World Pillar in Deepholm isn't stabilized, Azeroth might collapse through the maelstrom.  

You board a gryphon to fly into the maelstrom, and enter Deepholm.  

Your first stop is the Temple of Earth, which contains the Stonecore, where Deathwing waited in exile for years before erupting into Azeroth.  

The Earthen Ring has taken over the ground level of the temple, and has discovered that the World Pillar is missing three segments, which need to be returned, or the world above will collapse.  Guess who is going to do the legwork on this one?

You are told that the first fragment was being flown to the temple by the Horde, but discover that the ship was forced down.  After investigating, you find bomb fragments that suggest that the Alliance was responsible...

but after investigating the nearby Alliance airship, and finding the entire crew dead, and Twilights Hammer members roaming the decks, the true culprits are revealed.  

You take a prisoner and use some "enhanced interrogation techniques"...

to find out that the Twilights Hammer has secured the fragment with a dragon for safekeeping.  You lure the dragon into a fight, kill it, and recover the fragment and bring it to the temple.  

The second fragment is in possession of the Earthen dwarves in the southwestern part of Deepholm.  They are engaged in a furious war against the stone troggs of the area, and reward you with the fragment in exchange for your aid.  

The stone giants who roam throughout Deepholm have the third fragment, but are very suspicious of mortals. When you ask this particular giant for the fragment, he responds by kicking you in the chest and launching you halfway across the zone.  

You eventually earn the trust of a few of the stone giants, and are granted an audience with their ruler, Therazane, who is suspicious, but agrees to give you the third fragment if you help her kind drive out the Twilights Hammer from Deepholm, and promise to leave immediately afterward.  (Also, she is really cool to you considering that you probably killed her daughter. 

Naturally, you are able to clear the area of Twilights Hammer members, and you are given the final fragment of the World Pillar to set things right.  You even gain the complete respect of Therazane and her subjects, and they allow you to come and go to Deepholm as you please, and give you a series of daily quests that can provide valuable rewards.  

Evidence of Deathwing is prominent in Deepholm, including the area where he fell years prior on his way into exile.  

The upper portion of the Temple of Earth houses the Stonecore, where Deathwing recuperated and waited out his exile.  Twilights Hammer members fused heavy metal plates onto his body to hold his fiery body together.  Although he is gone, they have remained behind, as they feel the Stonecore is sacred ground.

Vash'jir: Level 81: Friday, May 6, 2011

A slight cheat here.  This post should be numbered Level 82, but I made it 81 because I wanted to keep in appropriate level range for this zone.  The gain I get on Sunday, May 8, will make up for this, as I did not do a workout on Sunday.  

Vash'jir is the other Cataclysm starting area available, and this is the first WoW zone that takes you under the sea.  

There'll be no accusations, just friendly crustaceans.

You begin your journey by answering a call to arms that takes you to your capital city's port, where you are told that you are supplying aid to the war effort for a critical island located off the coast of Stormwind.  The Alliance are trying to keep the island, since if the Horde are able to capture it, it will give them a perfect staging location for attacks against Stormwind.  Your boat arrives, and you and the other reinforcements ship out.  

Your trip is interrupted when your captain spots a wreck nearby, and when you stop to attempt to offer aid, giant tentacles emerge from the sea and consume your boat, dropping you into the water.  

As you sink, a naga appears to take you captive, but he is driven off by a shaman's fire and you go unconscious before waking up in the hold of your sunken ship.  

The shaman who saved you is named Erunak Stonespeaker, and he is a high-ranking member of the Earthen Ring, a group of shaman who seek to maintain the delicate balance between the elemental forces that make up the world. 

The Earthen Ring have come to the underwater domain of Vash'jir because they have sensed a disturbance that might threaten the elemental lord of water, Neptulon, and the naga seem to be the cause of it.  Erunak's attunement to the elements grants him the power to put a spell on you that allows you to breath and move quickly underwater, and you immediately set out to rescue your drowning shipmates and supply them with weapons before the naga return.  When they do, you and your group are outnumbered and are forced to retreat to an underwater cave.  

As you progress through Vash'jir, new caves become available, so you always have a place to rest.  Eventually, you are able to tame a seahorse that you can use as an underwater mount.  

You fight off naga invaders at your new base, and discover that they have taken up residence inside an ancient underwater demigod named Nespirah.  

You go inside Nespirah, and are able to communicate directly with her brain, which tells you that the naga have rendered her powerless and are mining her body for pearls before turning her into a weapon.  

You are able to release the naga's hold on her, and she kills them all by activating a self-defense spell.  

Elsewhere, your efforts to thin out the naga numbers result in you finding a piece of an ancient weapon in the ruins of Vash'jir.  

The Earthen Ring are able to attune your mind to this weapon, and allow you to see through the eyes of the being who wielded it, who turns out to be a fierce battle maiden of the naga from years ago.  

You fight through the battle maiden's memories as you experience their past battle to defend Vash'jir from invading vyrkul forces. This allows you to see how powerful the high-ranking naga are, and the almost insurmountable military force they are capable of assembling.  With this kind of warfare expertise, Neptulon is in trouble.  

You head to the surface to send word to your faction leader, and soon reinforcements arrive, as a giant submarine comes and picks you up to assault the giant creature that shipwrecked you.  

You hit the creature, Ozumat, with all the firepower you have, but it is able to escape.  

Progressing further, you discover another ancient demigod, L'ghorek, is being attacked from the inside, not by naga, but by the Twilight's Hammer, the cult obsessed with restoring Deathwing to power.  

They are using a magi ritual in an attempt to connect him to a unknown powerful creature deep beneath Vash'jir (probably an Old God.) You clean out the cultists and L'ghorek dies, unwilling to be used as a weapon.  

Erunak senses that the naga are ready to unleash their full attack on Neptulon's realm, and you and your allies speed toward the Abyssal Maw, the entryway to Neptulon's realm, where the naga forces are fighting water elementals.  The naga attack your submarine and destroy it, and all seems lost until Neptulon finally shows up to defend his home.  

The naga summon Ozumat back, and the creature attaches itself to Neptulon's head and drags him into the Abyssal Maw as a prisoner, the victorious naga following to lay siege to Neptulon's Throne of Tides.  To make matters worse, a giant tentacle emerges from the whirlpool and sucks Erunak down below as well.  

You descend into the whirlpool and reemerge in the elemental plane of water, outside the Throne of Tides, Neptulon's realm and one of the first dungeons in Cataclysm.  

This dungeon has you attempting to clean out the Throne of naga and drive off Ozumat to rescue Neptulon.  

Some corridors are blocked early on, since Ozumat is holding on from the outside.  

Lady Naz'jar, one of the high-ranking naga,  is the first boss.  

After defeating her, you activate a defense mechanism that is installed in the throne that drives Ozumat off temporarily. Making your way down the previously blocked hallways, you first discover Erunak, who is being controlled by a mind parasite.  

You must fight him long enough to detach the parasite from his body, and then kill the parasite.  Erunak is safe, but he is too weak to help you any further.  

Soon you find Neptulon, temporarily free of Ozumat's influence.  

The final fight in the dungeon deals with you protecting Neptulon from enemies as his diminished power returns.  As soon as it does, however, Ozumat returns, and Neptulon uses his power to make you and your party massive and able to fight him off.  Unfortunately, as you do, Ozumat kidnaps Neptulon once again and whisks him off to parts unknown, probably to be seen in a later game patch.