It started out like many other stories. Someone send me a letter. A brief, very inconspicuous letter. The person - or persons - writing the letter claimed to know of ancient secret power, power of "unbeliveable scale". Now this is not the first silly letter I have gotten in my time working in the media, but once in awhile you just have to test these things. See where the story takes you - if anywhere. So I did, I copied the instructions of where to find it from the letter and went to the library to do some researching.
The Library is one of my favorite places in Stormwind. So much knowledge, so much wisdom. Books are almost as amazing as Darnassian Cream Liqueur and I the only real complaint I have about the library is that I can't have a Darnassian Cream Liqueur while I visit there. Alas, sometimes you have to choose, and since I was researching for this article then the cream liqueur had to wait.
Not surprisingly then it took a while to go through the books concerning places of power in Northrend. It is ancient land where a lot of stuff has been going on just in the last 100 years - but I got it narrowed down to three places. Sholazar Basin, near River's Heart, Howling Fjord near Utgarde Keep, and Howling Fjord, just south west of Silverbrook. There was actually a potential fourth option, Zul'Drak, but well, its Zul'drak. If it was in there then it can stay, I was not about to investigate that.
Bbbbrrrrrmmmm
With some potential locations jotted down on a paper it was time to plan my expedition. I am mostly a city gnome, but I do have a certificate for operating flying machines and a few hours, and some coins later I had rented one out of Fizzcrank Airstrip in Borean Tundra. Luckily as a mage the transport to the Airstrip was not to bad, convenience magic I call it.
From the airstrip I flew north, towards the Sholazar Basin and the River's Heart.
The view is amazing, I have to say it is one of the most staggering views in all of Azeroth, but I was not there for the view.
Article continues after the ad.
The landing was a little rough, me being rusty and all, but I did manage to land near the waterfalls, and with a bit of magic found it relatively easy to travese the landscape and inspect the waterfalls. No luck, none of them hides any caves that I could find, and hence, no secret power. It was time to move on.
Next stop, Howling Fjord
The trip to Howling Fjord was uneventful, once back in the flying machine it was only a matter of wrapping a few blankets around me and head south east, down through Dragonblight and along the coast, once I spotted Westguard Keep I turned east and flew near Utgarde Keep and spotted the large falls. This one proved a little more dangerous to investigate, Dragonflayer raiders in the area made flying hazardous so I decided to land in Valgarde, have a nice lunch (Salami sandwich and a locally brewed cider) and then carefully proceed to the falls and look for hidden caves and power.
Besides getting wet then I got nothing out of my trouble. No caves here either and it was time to move on to the last location.
Final destination
Back into the flying machine, up up and awayyyy, and then north - and a bit westwards.
Just north of Blackriver Logging Camp, down the cliff from Amberpine Lodge is another set of waterfalls. Majestic, but the view is somewhat ruined by the presence of the Goblin logging camp. Either way, it was time to check the last possible location. Landing the flying machine at Amberpine Lodge, and using a bit of levitation magic I slowly went down the cliffside from the Lodge and inspected the waterfalls. No caves, no hidden secret power. Just water. Again.
As mentioned earlier, it could be a waterfall in Zul'drak, but honestly, I think this might have been a wild goosechase. I expected as much, but at least it was a nice trip and some beautiful nature. No secret power hidden behind waterfalls in Northrend. But who knows, Azeroth is a big place.