Willowbank

Willowbank, as first seen by Ashfall forces

**Willowbank**is the second largest settlement of Highplain County, and a major crossroads for traffic. It was recently the site of a significant conflict, but has integrated into the Kingdom of Stormwind since.

## Geography

The village lies on the eastern bank of the Willowswitch Lake, the single largest body of water in arid Highplain.

**The Colony**

With the aid of the innkeepers, the party learned the layout of Willowbank, and essential information about its landmarks:

1. *The palisade.* Patchy, but improving, the palisade is made up of rough-hewn logs.
2. *The docks.* The colony's primary source of food is fish from Willowswitch Lake, and the remaining fishing boats--those that weren't lost to time or the Cataclysm--bring them in daily.
3. *The general store.* Established as a company store by Bezik Stretchglass, the general store now serves not only as a grocer and goods seller, but also as a trading post and pawn shop.
4. *A digsite.* The reason that the colony was founded to begin with. The digsite was temporarily shuttered because of "hazardous conditions", but since the arrival of experts from the Explorers' League, the digsite has been upgraded to modern safety and containment standards. The site yields a significant amount of trollish artifacts and trinkets, which provide income to the colony.
5. *Mayor's office.* Here, Grixus Thorngaggle held the reins of the colony, and spent almost all of his time here. The rear of the building gave primary access to the digsite after it was enclosed. Since his death, and the election of Helga Steelshanks as mayor, the building has been reopened, and is under renovation to include a library.
6. *The Coin's Rest Inn*. Operated by Jacob Beaulieu and his goblin assistant Myrtle, the Coin's Rest boasts the elegance of high-elven decor, inherited from the original owner, Aellyrah Brightmorn. Her portrait hangs over the bar, smiling on the patrons as she once did.
7. *A warehouse*, where the colony's food stores are kept. Food is freely shared by those who grew or gathered it, a custom begun when the goblins who owned the colony imposed taxes on sales and right of first refusal on all sales. With recent events, crops are better attended, and the warehouse is filling up nicely.
8. *An old "visitors' house"*, which has fallen into disrepair. It was once meant to host visitors of high standing--though there never were any. Now, as it is too dangerous to go beyond the walls, it is unused.

## History

### Before the First War

Before the First War, the town of Waterhole was the heart of Highplain County.  Providing access to the Willowswitch Lake for the entire Open Range, it was fiercely defended by its inhabitants when the Orcish Horde arrived, and was finally utterly razed to the ground.  No trace of it remains, except a lingering name on old maps.

### Colonial Period

Six years after the end of the Third War ((Burning Crusade)), excavations in Tanaris eventually turned up a stone tablet, which detailed the location of an ancient troll artifact.  Though the Steamwheedle Cartel laid claim to it, a handful of goblins decided to steal it for themselves. This map led them to venture into Highplain, and raise an excavation colony there in the unclaimed region.  They felt they needed no permission, and therefore sought none.

They made many promises to their prospective colonists, promises that appealed to present tribulations.  So it was that they had such a mixed bag--outcasts, the disenfranchised, families, anyone looking for a better life than they were fleeing.

Willowbank rose on the shore of the lake--houses, shops, a dock for fishing barges, and especially the digsite.  But as business went on, the colonists found themselves isolated from the rest of the world, forced to keep a low profile lest they attract the attention of the Blackrock orcs who frequently crossed the river south of them.

This head-down attitude suited the goblin masters just fine, and allowed them to direct the colonists’ efforts to the main purpose: unearthing the secrets of ancient Gurubashi ruins below the earth.  The dispirited people worked but slowly, and the promised profits--and better life--never materialized.

The Cataclysm changed the shape of the world, and the colony was no exception.  The earthquakes damaged and even leveled some of the buildings, but more to the point, they raised a curious artifact from its burial place.  The removal of intervening earth and stone made the effects of the artifact manifest--and the high elves who had come to the colony felt them first.  They swiftly became addicted to its arcane aura, and that led them the same path as many of their fellow elves: withering.

The goblin masters had no choice but to drive the Wretched out of town, but the former neighbors lingered around the outside walls, awaiting their chance to get in and taste the artifact’s power once more.  The damaged houses were soon made a far distant priority than shoring up the town walls.