Chapter 521

Chapter 521: The City of the Desert

Gadgetzan didn’t know how much busier it was compared to Steamwheedle Port, maybe they shouldn’t be compared like this, as Steamwheedle Port could be considered a part of Gadgetzan.

Walking between the streets here, Jesse felt that it was even more lively than Booty Bay.

Also, the ratio of goblins here is much higher than in Booty Bay. While Booty Bay is controlled by goblins, it feels like most people there are outsiders – humans, dwarves, trolls, and even gnomes.

But here, outsiders are just a small part, most residents are goblins, and there seems to be a variety of them – short, tall, dark, light, and even quite a few tall and strong goblins who are not much shorter than Greed, walking on the streets. Those little goblins looking at him seemed more scared than when they see trolls.

The Gadgetzan city in the game is like a small village surrounded by mud walls in the desert, but this Gadgetzan here truly feels like a city, with a complex and hard-to-navigate interior, streets crisscrossing each other, the metallic smell of machinery and the scent of oil permeating everywhere, and the noise from the busy streets is deafening.

It is clear that goblins have been running things here for at least decades, many buildings are so old that they seem like they could collapse at any moment.

Although Gadgetzan seems like a fun place to hang out, the three of them didn’t feel like goofing around everywhere once they got here, after all, they were here on a mission and couldn’t waste too much time.

After finally finding a small inn with the help of passersby, when they reached the door, Jesse and Greed couldn’t help but take off their boots and cloaks to shake off the sand.

The biggest similarity between here and the game is that the streets, buildings, and people around are all covered in sand.

Vereesa stood to the side as if nothing was wrong, Jesse looked at her and asked, "Don’t you have sand in your shoes?"

"Shouldn’t we tuck our boots in when entering the desert?" The elf lowered his head and said, "Teacher Kaffir said that when we went to hunt The Shattered Hand and that Death Knight. You have been to that desert before, so you should have learned something, right?"

Greed and Jesse looked at each other, neither responded, they just silently continued to shovel sand.

The inn prices in Gadgetzan are much more reasonable than in Steamwheedle Port, with two silver coins buying a room for a night. Considering this might be the last civilized place before venturing deeper into Kalimdor, the three of them booked three rooms to rest for the night.

In the middle of the night, Jesse approached the counter of the inn’s front desk, gazing at the goblin innkeeper and asking, "I want to know… sir, about the route to the north."

"Just follow the road, cross the mountains, and you’ll reach The Shimmering Flats, sir." The goblin said without looking up, speaking fluently in a common language, "No need to plan a route, the road is crowded, this place is very safe. The most dangerous thing here is the Basilisk that can turn you into crystal."

Seeing Jesse at a loss for words, he added, "It’s okay, it’s treatable. Mr. Malin Noggenfogger has various ways, as long as you haven’t fully turned into crystal when discovered, you know what I mean."

Jesse coughed and said, "I’m not talking about The Shimmering Flats. I mean Maraudon, do you know Maraudon, sir?"

"Maraudon?" the goblin put down the newspaper.

Jesse took out the route map he drew from Reliquary, and showed it to the goblin boss, saying, "Look, sir, this is my plan…"

He pointed north towards The Shimmering Flats and then moved towards Feralas along the narrow Thousand Needles…

When they reached halfway through Thousand Needles, the goblin suddenly blocked Jesse’s finger with force, saying, "Not here, human."

"What’s wrong here?" Jesse asked.

"Do you want to cross the Centaur chieftains’ territory?" the goblin chuckled and said, "You’re not the first adventurer in these few years who wants to explore Maraudon, but you’re the first one I’ve seen who draws a route directly on a map without caring about anything else."

Jesse stared at the map in his hand for a while and asked, "So, do we go north?"

"You can only go through Agama’gor," the goblin pointed to the cliffs north of Thousand Needles and said, "Climb up from this side, then pray that Quilboar haven’t blocked the road. At least Quilboar patrols are not as diligent as Centaur’s. I have seen people take this route and come back alive."

"Will we encounter elves going this way?" Jesse asked.

"You mean the forest elves in Kalimdor? Not very likely," the goblin said with a smile. "Well, maybe just a tiny bit possible, but even if you see them, they won’t harm you. They’ll just watch you from afar until you or they disappear. I’ve never seen them myself, but everyone says so. I’ve never heard of those elves coming out of the forest to hurt people."

"Is there any chance of encountering the Centaur in the Stonetalon Mountains?" Jesse asked.

The goblin raised an eyebrow and said, "I can’t say it’s impossible, you might just stumble into a Centaur Tribe full of blind warriors."

After saying that, the goblin laughed, but Jesse was not in the mood to laugh. He just looked down at his map again.

Seeing Jesse’s expression, the goblin’s face turned a bit cold as he said, "Why worry about the mythical elves in Kalimdor who are harmless, and then think about charging into the Centaur Tribe in the Stonetalon Mountains? In my opinion, you don’t need to worry about the elves at all, but the Centaur have fortified defenses under the mountains, you’ll have to breach their gates if you want to pass through there."

Hearing that, Jesse remembered that in the past, Thrall’s tribe settled in Kalimdor with the help of the troll from the Darkspear tribe when they defeated the Centaur tribes who had been fighting the Tauren.

That means the Centaur in Kalimdor now are actually more prosperous and aggressive than the ones in the game.

"I’m just saying, you probably won’t believe me anyway," the goblin boss said. "You’ll have to see for yourself, human."

"I’m just thinking about the Quilboar, sir. Of course, I trust what you say," Jesse smiled apologetically and then asked, "If I go to Agama’gor, apart from the Quilboar, do I need to worry about the Tauren tribe being hostile?"

"No matter if the Tauren have hostility or not, they are almost extinct!" said the goblin. "I feel like there are more Tauren in Booty Bay and Gadgetzan combined than in the wild. Maybe they are hiding in some unknown corner, struggling to survive. I don’t know. The Tauren I know never talk about their homeland."

"Okay," Jesse nodded and placed two silver coins on the table. "I have another question, sir."

The goblin touched the silver coins, raised an eyebrow, and softened his tone. "Go ahead, I have nothing else to do anyway."

Jesse asked, "Have you heard of the name Dethmoora Darkeye?"

"Um…" the goblin squinted and pondered for a moment. "Not really… What kind of name is that?"

"It might be an elf," Jesse hinted.

"There aren’t many elves in Gadgetzan," the goblin said. "Whether it’s elves from the other side… definitely not the elves from Kalimdor. Your friend alone has injected a lot of elf essence into this city. I mean, haven’t you seen those guys outside staring at your friend?"

Jesse thanked him, found a nearby chair, sat down, and stared at the map in his hands, lost in thought.

If they couldn’t go through Thousand Needles, as the goblin suggested, they would have to head north into a mountain range called Agama’gor. This means they would have to cross a large grassland, enter Stonetalon, and eventually reach Desolace, where Maraudon is located.

Jesse felt he couldn’t rely on his gaming experience alone to navigate the route. It would be best to find a reliable guide.

But even the goblins… were only familiar with the areas around Gadgetzan. Whether it was going to Feralas, or The Barrens, or even Stonetalon, they seemed stronger than himself.

They could only take it one step at a time.