BEFORE THE FIRST PAGE

Preface

My name is Bastian, treasure hunter, of Goldshire. I put the Goldshire in because famous men always come from somewhere, and one day there will be a statue of me in the Trade District of Stormwind with both names on the plinth. A statue costs money. I am working on that part, which is why there is a book.

I've hunted treasure since I was old enough to hold a shovel. So far I've found a rusty spoon, a boar that didn't want to be found and a great many people who know exactly how to get rich. They are always happy to explain it, as long as I buy the beer. I carry the spoon for luck, and I wrote every plan down. Each page is one of them: why it pays, what you need, where to go, what to do, and what happened when I tried it. Usually something happened. I put that in as well, so you can do it properly.

The drawings are mine. My mother could draw, and my father was a smith who could not, and in this one thing I take after her. I draw in the evenings at whatever inn will have me, so the pages have seen some beer, a little wine and once most of a candle. Where a drawing makes me look braver than I was, the light was bad.

The plans aren't mine. Every page names the travellers who told them first, most of them on YouTube, with the minute in the video where they say it. Go and listen to them. They explain it better than I do and they did the work.

The numbers come from the auction house. Where a page says what something is worth, it's today's price, not a price somebody remembers from last week. I update the book often, and what's new is listed on the first page.

A page opens when you reach its level or first set foot in its zone. I read the Bael'dun page at level 6 and went there anyway, because a sealed page is obviously the one with the treasure. The spirit healer in the Barrens knows me by name now. She says she will come to the unveiling.