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Victorie's Compendium of Dragon Slaying delves into the mysterious world of Azeroth's most infamous creature: the Dragon. From whelps to wyrms, from the lowly to the legendary, this compilation explores all dragonkin. Find the dragons' lairs, explore their lore, and learn how to slay them! 
The Black Dragon Whelp Like all creatures, dragons have a childhood. The babies of a dragon brood are known as whelps, and as such, they're typically the weakest and least powerful members of their dragonflight. Azerothian adventurers are likely to encounter whelps before anything else, specifically the Black Dragon Whelp in Redridge Mountains in the Eastern Kingdoms. Lair: I encountered the Black Dragon Whelps in Redridge Mountains, which they've made their personal playground. They tend to flit about the area south of the main bridge (mostly on the eastern side of the road), congregate south of the Lakeridge Highway, and pester travelers in the north alongside the road leading into the Burning Steppes. Level: 17 and 18 Looks: The whelp is small, about the size of a large bunny, which might be what's stuffed inside their protruding tummies. Their leathery wings keep them aloft -- I've never seen one willingly touch the ground. Dark scales effectively stealth the whelps, making them hard to spot in the shadows. Combine this with their tiny size and a tendency to speed up as they flit about, and it's quite easy for them to sneak up on their prey.
Lore: These little buggers are the spawn of black dragons, the cruelest of the dragonflights. So it should come as no surprise that black dragon whelps are taught to hunt and kill from birth, and take pleasure in causing as much pain as possible in their prey. I figure they've migrated down south from Burning Steppes where their older cousins are terrorizing the land. They appear to prefer to attack in groups whenever possible. (WoWwiki.com entry) 
Lessons from the Lance: Slaying these dragons may seem easy, but don't be fooled by their low level and small size. First, they have a large aggro radius -- always be aware of the proximity of other whelps may be before you engage one. They pack a powerful Fireball which has a 40 yard range and can do a lot of damage, especially to adventurers wearing cloth. Don't try to pull them away -- they'll stubbornly stay in place for a long while (thanks to their long range) and their fireballs will go right through the rocks if necessary. If you are at the same level or lower, be careful not to aggro more than one and keep a potion handy, just in case. How I Did It: I had a few levels on them on my first attempt, so I simply charged in, swords flashing. Later I discovered that I could stealth and sneak up on them easily enough, ambushing them for more than half their health. Loot: Black Dragon Whelps tend to drop coppers (anything from 7 to 51 copper), shed body parts (Tiny Fang, Small Claw, Sharp Claw), give up their gems (Shadowgem and Moss Agate) and lose treasure (mostly green items, such as the Seer's Boots, Blazing Wand, Bard's Gloves of the Monkey, and so on). These whelps are not known to drop rare or epic items. Learnings: Here are some interesting things I learned about these whelps while I was slaying them: - Black Dragon Whelps drop Underbelly Whelp Scales for Alliance players when you are given a quest from Verner Osgood (he needs the scales to pay for shoes). The scales drop about one-quarter of the time, so you may need to kill many whelps. If you complete the quest, Verner gives you either Black Whelp Gloves or Black Whelp Boots (I chose the latter because they look so awesome). - One of the whelps stands out from the others: Snarlflare. This is a rare, non-elite, named whelp that spawns in various places in the region, supposedly on 2-3 hour timer. He looks the same as the other whelps here. I've seen him twice personally, both times just south of Everstill Lake. He usually drops at least one green item -- I got the Bard's Gloves of the Owl. Some adventurers report getting more than one green item to drop. - I hear there's another black whelp named Singe in the general area -- adventurers say he's hanging out with a bad orc known as Gath'ilzogg in Stonewatch Keep on the eastern side of Redridge Mountains. - You can get a vanity pet that looks like these little guys, the Dark Whelpling. But note that the pet does not drop from the Black Dragon Whelp -- it drops from either the Searing Whelp in Dustwallow Marsh or the Scalding Whelp in the Badlands. - Higher level players can transform themselves into a black whelpling for 15 minutes which looks just like the whelps here. The transformation is made with an Orb of the Blackwhelp, obtainable after completing a quest line in Blade's Edge Mountains.
 Victorie's Compendium of Dragon Slaying is a regular column detailing dragons of all shapes and sizes. The compendium is written from the perspective of Victorie, a human rogue who slays dragons -- and only dragons -- across the face of Azeroth! To learn more about Victorie's adventures in emergent gaming and dragon dementia, see The Dragon Slayer Project.
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Kikyo
Loremistress Cordillia Angelprice
